Introduction and question - long...

[JenBlok]

This is somewhat long... thanks for reading :)

 

Hi! My name is Jennifer (along with several others here!) and we have been hsing for about 4 years now and hanging around the boards for several months now.

 

Here goes:

 

We used the entire Abeka program with my dc (ds9, ds7, dd3) until I read WTM last Jan. Over the course of the year we slowly transitioned - History first with SOTW 1 with AG and adding narrations for history related library books. But since I already had the K-3rd grade American History materials - we worked on that also.

 

Abeka Penmanship books have a lot of good quotes and Bible verses, so I stuck with that for copywork and have since added some of the Happy Scribe copybooks (Lord of the Rings was a hit! - BOYS!!). Spelling took care of dictation for the time being, also. I have ALL of the materials for K-3rd grade Phonics and Reading instruction from Abeka, then I jumped on the OPGTR and FLL bandwagon and bought that, too! I found that I was a more comfortable teacher with the familiar bells and whistles that the Abeka Language materials had to offer... This Sept., we added Latin and Classical Writing for ds9.

 

For math - we switched to MUS for ds9 now in 4th grade(Abeka became too repetitive for him), but the switch to MUS didn't work for ds7 - he needs more pictures and games-back to Abeka.

 

For science - we were already switching to Apologia based on friend's suggestion and had just started Astronomy when I read WTM - uh-oh... not in sequence! We finished that and moved on to Zoology 1, but my boys are bored - too much information! I'm looking into God's Design for Science and plan to work through the series in conjunction with SOTW sequence. I need a whole package approach to science or else I won't stay on track. We are only on Ch 14 of SOTW 1, so starting Life Sciences now would still work out. My kids love everything about it and we end up doing everything in the AG - per the kids request. The first Egypt chapters took 3 months! We added Pocketbooks and pyramid building... anyway.... there is a question in here somewhere!!!

 

Ok,OK... for my ds9, 4th grade: He is curretly halfway through LfC A and CW Aesops A = do I need to continue with the Abeka 4 Language series? I don't want to skip any important steps in the grammar/writing/composition area.

 

BTW, since we all are interested in hearing about the "whole education" - my boys also work on the following each week: piano, sports(soccer, swim, Basketball, track- whatever the season), Cub Scouts, Awanas, chess club, fun science co-op, ds9: Spanish class, Music History co-op, band-trumpet. DD3 loves her 'schooltime' of sitting with the boys and coloring SOTW maps and pics, reading her letters/numbers, counting MUS blocks, and using the computer :)

 

Thanks for your input - I love the WTM boards.

 

Jennifer Blok (in SoCal)

[Narrow Gate Academy]

Grammar: There is enough grammar in CW Aesop at this level that you don't really need an additional grammar text.

 

Writing: A combination of CW Aesop assignments, dictation, and writing history narrations is also plenty for this age. We dictate out of my DD's favorite books (right now we're using the Chronicles of Narnia).

 

I don't see any reasons that you would need to continue with the Abeka Language. Keep it simple and have fun.

 

HTH

[siloam]

Grammar: There is enough grammar in CW Aesop at this level that you don't really need an additional grammar text.

 

Writing: A combination of CW Aesop assignments, dictation, and writing history narrations is also plenty for this age. We dictate out of my DD's favorite books (right now we're using the Chronicles of Narnia).

 

I don't see any reasons that you would need to continue with the Abeka Language. Keep it simple and have fun.

 

HTH

 

I agree. You will be fine without it.

 

Heather