Morning Walkies....

It's been lovely the past few mornings; not too hot, not too sticky, just right for a nice walk. We usually take a dog - today we rode bikes instead. (These photos are from the past few walks, not today.)

( Cut for photos! )

Also, homeschool peeps: some links for you -

Udacity - *free* online courses, look like college classes. We're going to be doing the Physics 101 course - maybe more, but that one for sure.

Stanford University's Free Courses

MIT's Open CourseWare - I've posted this before, but it's worth re-posting. :grin:

Also-also, I have Singapore Primary Math 5A/B and 6A/B, both with the workbooks and intensive practice books, plus Singapore's Discovering Mathematics 1A/B books and workbook. Anybody need 'em? We're done with them - we DO NOT write in our books, I photocopy the problems and the kids work them on paper or marker boards. I don't have the Home Instructor's Guides; haven't found that I need them (yet). We're working on DM 2A right now....I might have to break down and buy the Guide, because I am getting lost in factoring Algebraic fractions. (YouTube has helped, thankfully!) Drop me a line at my livejournal.com address ( go to my "about" page, and there's a link. :grin: Don't wanna post an email here.) and I'll be happy to drop them in the mail, next time I go to the Post Office (which...I REALLY need to do. :sigh:)

AND. :sigh: Mike has defaulted - he hasn't responded to the papers. The court worker said we'll still get a court date (sometime in September - they are backlogged); the judge will hear us and determine judgement then (but, if he doesn't show, we win by default.) Getting the $$$$ looks like it's going to be problematical.....:big sigh:

Retrenching....

Y'all get 2 posts today......

Today did not go so well. We had a test on the first chapter of History (Streams of Civilization, Vol. 2)....Herself didn't do great - but she only missed 5 (out of 20). Himself, however.....missed 11. I told him he needed to review his notes ("Notes? What...notes? I didn't know I had any worksheets for History!" :bangs head:) and then he could re-take the test.

We had a melt-down of epic proportions. (He did retake the test, and he also missed 5. Better than 11, but still not great.) After a lot of crying and whining and slamming-of-doors, it comes out that he HATES History, HATES this textbook, and just all around hates everything. (I just LOVE the drama-llama, don't you? :sigh:)

I had been told that Vol. 2 was MUCH different from Vol. 1. I have skimmed the book - it's a great big wall of text, not at ALL like Vol. 1. (Which has a sort of fun, chatty aspect.) I slowed things down - scheduled Ch. 1 for 3 weeks, not my usual 2, and I typed up the end-of-Chapter study questions, vocab, etc, so that they'd have an outline to work with and study from. I even WARNED them that things were going to ramp up this year. :sigh:

So. After things calmed down, we talked. He doesn't LIKE reading that much. (Even though, according to the public school, he was reading at 12th+ level in 5th grade. So, we're not dealing with any sort of LD or problem.) He doesn't like History - it's boring. :bangs head: I asked him if a graphic-novel approach would help; he said probably not. I left him alone, and took Herself out for a swim.

She said that yes, the book is BORING, but *she* can deal. I asked her for her input; she'd like something a little more fun, and less wordy - but, again, she can deal with what we have.

Anyway - after our swim, I sat down and started researching. (Not frantically - we have plenty of time, here. He knows that we might have to do some more in this book, but that I AM working on it.) I went to Mystery of History first, because I've seen 1 of the books at Half Price, and thought it looked interesting. They have samples online...so I read a bit of the book.

Himself sighed with relief - "Yeah - that sounds OK. I still don't like History, but...yeah, that'll be OK."

Cue price-comparing. :sigh: Vol. 3 - which we need - is EXPENSIVE. And you need to buy 2 books; 1 is the student book (the "textbook"), and 1 is the companion guide (where the tests/quizzes and extra stuff is). New, the text is $60. That's......WoW. I did a LOT of hunting, and found a copy at the Dallas Half Price for $47...not great, and OVER my price cap, but what'cha gonna do? (I did call.....the local store (the DALLAS store) doesn't have it, and they don't show it anywhere locally. I think it's at the Intake store, not the retail one, but whatever - I grabbed it. Ebay's cheapest is $45.....and shipping was more. And it wasn't local, meaning a longer lead-time. If HPB ships today or tomorrow, I should have it no later than Tuesday. :fingers crossed: I'll do...something else for History in the mean time.)

I still need to get the companion guide, but Ebay has the CD cheaper than anywhere else. I need to check Amazon, too......

It helps that the chapter sample - the complete chapter! - was only 6 pages. SoC 2, it was 45. :blink: With very few pictures - just a huge wall of text. I get why he hated it....but I need to turn that around, because History is SO important. :sigh:

So...that's my homeschool confession for today. I screwed up with my choice of History book....but I'm going to get it fixed. And Himself knows I'm willing to listen to him...he might still have to do the work, but at least he can TELL me what he doesn't like about it. :smile:

Tonight's menu: Pot Roast with steamed veggies, fresh challah, and a Funfetti cake baked by Herself. Shabbat Shalom!