Working with Josiah and Benjamin (Both from Bulgaria) brings so much happiness to my heart because I saw where they once were cognitively...... there were times I thought there might not be hope for them learning at all. But I get to watch their brains develop week after week, and I see them making leaps and bounds in their reading and logic and overall education. Just four years ago, Benjamin, at 10, couldn't even write his own name in his Bulgarian language....he didn't even know any letters of his alphabet. And now, he is reading on a second-grade level. He LOVES learning and would homeschool all weekend if it were up to him. To think that, three years ago, when I had him tested at the public school, they were going to place him in a class in which students had moderate cognitive disabilities. Benjamin does have a moderate cognitive disability, BUT he performs at a much higher level.
COMING SOON: There will soon be a link for you to purchase the memory songs which I write for our kids year after year. They are an incredible way for kids and adults to memorize scripture, as well as science, history, and math concepts. The songs I have so far are:
**Scripture Memory Songs
**Ancient History Songs (To go with Story of the World and Mystery of History)
**Medieval History Songs (To go with Story of the World and Mystery of History)
**Early Modern History Songs (To go with Story of the World and Mystery of History)
**Flying Creatures Songs (To accompany Apologia Science)
**Swimming Creatures Songs (To accompany Apologia Science)
**Land Animals Songs (To accompany Apologia Science)
**Spanish Memory Songs
**Math Memory Songs
Some of Our Favorite Curriculum:
Math
**Math Mammoth workbooks—my absolute FAVORITE math program—teaches students to think mathematically!!
**RightStart Math (for struggling learners)
**RightStart Math (for struggling learners)
**ReflexMath--fun games to practice math facts
**Mathbuddy.com—problem of the day
**Dreambox.com--Games that help manipulate numbers in your brain
**Memory Songs
**Memory Songs
History
**Story of the World--chronological history curriculum
(Mystery of History when kids are older)
**Supplemental library books and videos
**Story of the World--chronological history curriculum
(Mystery of History when kids are older)
**Supplemental library books and videos
**Memory Songs
Bible
**Day By Day Kids Bible
**What's In the Bible series
**The Storybook Bible
**What's In the Bible series
**The Storybook Bible
**The Tree of Life (my book that I wrote!)
**Scripture Memory Songs
Science
**Apologia Exploring Creation Science Series
**Supplemental library books and DVDs
**Science Memory Songs
Reading
Reading
**Chapter Books (Lots of reading aloud)
** Library books
**Phonics based readers (for struggling learners)
**Pathway Readers
** Library books
**Phonics based readers (for struggling learners)
**Pathway Readers
**RAZ Kids/Headsprout.com
Spelling
**ClickNSpell
**Spelling Workout
**Spelling Workout
Phonics
**Explode the Code
**Handbook for Reading
** ClickNRead
**Handbook for Reading
** ClickNRead
English
**Climbing to Good English
**Simply Grammar
**Simply Grammar
Handwriting
**Cursive Workbook
**Draw, Write, Now
**Draw, Write, Now
Writing/Composition
**Narration and Dictation
**IEW
**IEW
Geography
**Map of the Month
Spanish
**Memory Songs/ Memory Phrases
**Risas Y Sonrisas curriculum
**Foreign Language for Kids by Kids videos
**Risas Y Sonrisas curriculum
**Foreign Language for Kids by Kids videos
**Fun Spanish, by Study Cat (Kindle App)
**Spanish children’s books
Critical Thinking
**Analogies
**Mindbenders
**Mindbenders
**Dr. Dooriddles
Art
**Discovering Great Artists
**Draw3D.com
**Draw3D.com
Music
**Composers and their music
**Ukulele practice
**Piano practice
**Ukulele practice
**Piano practice
Cooking
**Raddish
My Thoughts on Latin:
Teaching children Latin (and sometimes Greek) is popular in the home school community,
but I haven't heard a good argument as to why Latin is more beneficial to
students than learning Spanish or another foreign language. In my opinion, you don't need
to teach your children Latin or Greek in order to follow a Classical education
model. The original Greeks from whom we get our "classical"
model, spoke Greek. They didn't have to learn an ancient language so that
they could read "classics" in that language. To copy their
style of learning doesn't mean we have to speak the same language and read the
same literature that they read. English is full of excellent literature,
and if you want to read The Iliad or The Odyssey or the Vulgate, there are good
English translations. I'm not saying that it isn't valuable to study Latin
and/or Greek if one so chooses, but I believe that learning languages in
which one can actually communicate has far more merit than that found in studying the
ancient languages. And particularly, in the US , it's valuable to have a good
handle on Spanish. The fact that students who take Latin perform a little bit better on SAT's than students who take Spanish doesn't sway me. Students who take Latin were probably going to do better on the
SAT's to begin with. One argument for learning Latin is that by studying Latin you
can contrast it with English and better learn the rules of English. But the very same thing is easily done with Spanish.
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