Curriculum Critique

[Mommybostic]

I'd love to hear thoughts on what I am choosing/have chosen for my son's curriculum. He's in fifth now and I am pulling him out over Christmas break. The K-12 courses and the MCT are already implemented for afterschooling and have been since Oct. 5.

 

Math

K12 Pre-Algebra

Life of Fred Fractions

Grammar

MCT Basic Homeschool Package

Spelling Workout Level D and E

Writing

Writing with Ease Workbook 2 OR Wordsmith Apprentice--can't decide

Science

K12 Science 5

Foreign Language

K12 Spanish

Prima Latina

History

SOTW Volume 1 and Activity Book

Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History

Reading

Still deciding on a formal program

Various real books from our historical period and the Bible

Art and Music

Artistic Pursuits and I don't know what for music

 

We do soccer, hiking, and whatever outdoor activity appeals to us at that time and weather permitting.

 

And I have one last question about history. My ds is a Civil War and WWII buff. He loves to read about them and watch the documentaries on The History Channel. Does it undermine his other history stuff to continue to let him read these books during his free reading? There are MANY Civil War sites all around where we live--battle fields, buildings, trails, you name it, and we visit them all. I can't imagine waiting until eighth grade to pick it back up.

 

Thanks!

[LisaKinVA]

In all honesty, I would avoid K12's Pre-Algebra courses. The Pre-Algebra A course uses a book that is light on examples -- goes from simplie examples to complex problems with little (usually no) explanation. The instruction just isn't as good, which is possibly why you essentially repeat Pre-Algebra A in Pre-Algebra B in a an even more infuriating format. Pre-Algebra B will take things a step farther --- but about 3/4 of what you get, you will have already learned. I would stick with LOF -- the two Pre-Algebra books (plus decimals/fractions) is more than enough, unless you need extra practice, in which case I'd recommend the Key to series to beef up the math (or possibly Chalk Dust). I see you already have these... (we completed A last year, and are doing B this year -- this is our final year with K12 for 3 children)

 

Spelling -- if your son is a good (natural) speller, you could drop spelling and focus on vocabulary (I have two boys who "get" it, and for whom it is a waste of time, and a daughter who needs it). The vocabulary words are often more difficult to spell (foreign words, don't follow rules, etc.), and it frees up time for other pursuits.

 

K12 Spanish is just Powerspeak... meh.

 

We very much enjoyed K12 5th grade Science.

 

Everything else looks pretty good. Reading, it will really depend upon your goals -- do you want it to dovetail with your history, how detailed, intense, etc.

 

Those are my thoughts...

[Shawna in Texas]

I'd love to hear thoughts on what I am choosing/have chosen for my son's curriculum. He's in fifth now and I am pulling him out over Christmas break. The K-12 courses and the MCT are already implemented for afterschooling and have been since Oct. 5.

 

Math

K12 Pre-Algebra

Life of Fred Fractions

Grammar

MCT Basic Homeschool Package

Spelling Workout Level D and E

Writing

Writing with Ease Workbook 2 OR Wordsmith Apprentice--can't decide

Science

K12 Science 5

Foreign Language

K12 Spanish

Prima Latina

History

SOTW Volume 1 and Activity Book

Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History

Reading

Still deciding on a formal program

Various real books from our historical period and the Bible

Art and Music

Artistic Pursuits and I don't know what for music

 

We do soccer, hiking, and whatever outdoor activity appeals to us at that time and weather permitting.

 

And I have one last question about history. My ds is a Civil War and WWII buff. He loves to read about them and watch the documentaries on The History Channel. Does it undermine his other history stuff to continue to let him read these books during his free reading? There are MANY Civil War sites all around where we live--battle fields, buildings, trails, you name it, and we visit them all. I can't imagine waiting until eighth grade to pick it back up.

 

Thanks!

 

I think it looks like a fine start, though I don't know much about K12. Since K12's math is light, I would start the Fred and maybe print off some MEP Math. You've really so many options and Fred should keep you busy for a while.

 

As for history, absolutely let him enjoy his current interests. If you put emphasis on the wars of ancient times, he might redirect is interest a bit. I would use SOTW and the Usborne as framework for the year and plug in books for whatever is being studied. I would maybe spend half the year at least on Greece and Rome because of all the wars.

 

ETA I think it would be neat if you did a war timeline.

[Rhondabee]

Free reading is "free" - he can read *whatever* he wants!

 

I thought I'd pipe in and say I think the SOTW series is great for middle schoolers who haven't had classical-style history before. (Even my now-7th grader who *has* read SOTW before is still getting a lot out of it!) I did the same thing when I took my now-10th grader out of school mid-way through his 5th grade year, and I have absolutely no regrets!

 

Here's to a great year!

[Mommybostic]

The war timeline is a neat idea--I found a great big book at the book store in the mall the other day called War Through the Ages, and it's sort of neat because it's chronological like TSOTW, but it goes into A LOT of detail about wars, weapons, what life was like for soldiers, on and on. PLUS it was only 9.99, which makes it even better! It will be a neat thing to go along with the rest of his history study, and will hopefully help pull his interest that way. I've got it lined up as a Christmas present.

 

As for spelling, he is a pretty good speller, and he likes the Mystery Spelling in the MCT series. You use the stems you studied that lesson and try to spell the "mystery words." He did a couple of lessons for fun out of the Spelling Workout book, and he really liked it. It was pretty simple for him, but he likes worksheets, and it has a little word puzzle which he REALLY enjoys, so as long as we don't get really pressed for time I will let him continue with it.

 

Pre-Algebra from K12 is not all I hoped it would be, and I do A LOT of teaching to reinforce the lesson--luck is on my side because he is very strong in math and picks it up easily. However, I was already wondering if I would continue with B, and after seeing my own thoughts in print from someone else, I may well let that one go. LoF seems really cool, but will it stand alone? If so, I'll be a happy camper.

 

Spanish--well, he really likes the program because it's fun, he earns "money" that he can spend on his avatar, and he likes the fact that it's all on the computer. I'm still considering this, but I had signed up for it before I ran into all of this, and now I wish I had started Latin already and just saved Spanish for later. As long as Spanish stays as simple as it is, he could do both.

 

I like Science so far--the experiments are neat and science is his thing. It's funny that he is such a war buff but loves science so much, too! He totally guides himself in the program and is really enjoying the program.

 

We haven't started history, writing, or the reading program yet, but I'm pretty sure about where I want to be. I got a suggestion for Mosdos, and I liked the look of it. I am NOT anti-religious, but I want him to read real literature, and some of the programs seem like cute little stories with morals, which is not what I am looking for right now. I want him to be a strong reader, because right now the only thing he really reads on his own are his war books--biographies, facts, no fiction. He likes to read about things that really happened. I found a little historical fiction book about a boy who spied for Washington during the Revolutionary War, and we are going to start it after he finishes his Civil War Spies book. I hope it will interest him.

 

Thanks for the input and I'd love some more. What about Mind Benders? What sort of art or music can homeschoolers use? Thanks again!

[LisaKinVA]

I'm sorry about the math -- wish I had been able to advise you earlier. It was such a dissapointment coming off what we had been used to. LOF is a solid Pre-Algebra course. Do fractions, decimals, and both courses and your son will be ready for Algebra 1. If he needs additional math reinforcement, I think others have listed some sites that have things you could use.

 

Mindbenders are almost always a hit (at least with my kids).

 

Music -- You could look into Music Ace (CD program, paired with listening to music) -- my son is going to start teaching himself guitar next year via free, on-line videos). We've been through 4 years of music from K12, plus piano -- so they have gotten a decent music education thus far. FTR, K12 uses Music Ace in it's 6th grade program.

 

Art -- I like the programs from How Great Thou Art. My younger ones will be doing I Can Do All Things. Christopher will be starting God and the History of Art, with some other art resources I found through Veritas Press. I plan to spread this out over several years, though. It's art instruction as well as art history. I think it will be really good for my not-so-artistic boy...

 

I liked the looks of Mosdos too, I had planned on Abeka, plus 4-6 novel studies from Progeny Press, the Abeka just to keep him exposed to different generes, poetry, plays, etc. -- and the Progeny Press to really study literature, without trying to cover every LA/History subject through the books. If I can see Mosdos in person, I may change myself :D

[Matryoshka]

About the History... I think SOTW 1 might be a bit light for a 5th grader... I see you're using a lot of K12 - their history classes are fabulous. Well, at least their texts are; I'm using their texts without signing up for the course. But for a 5th grader doing Ancients I'd pick K12's Human Odyssey hands down over SOTW1 (which was written for lower elementary). I think technically K12 uses their HO Ancients book starting in 6th grade (Intermediate World History A), but he's already halfway through 5th...

[PeterPan]

On the writing, I think you'd be fine to let him do Wordsmith Apprentice independently *and* do WWE. But don't get the workbook. Get the main book and just work through it as he needs. He's not a 2nd grader, and he's NOT going to need that slow pace. You want the main book, not the workbook. I did a good chunk of it with my dd last year. You just pick a reasonable amount of time, say 15 minutes, and see how much you get done. Easy peasy. It will clue you in if he has any specific skill holes, and you'll see better where you're going. (narrations leading to outlining leading to...)

 

On the history, I wouldn't feel compelled to start ancients this January, not with a dc who is new to homeschooling and so into the Civil War and modern. Ask him and see, but I'd at least give him the choice. He could do the Civil War up through the present 2nd semester, next year do the VP Transitions class to survey Ancients all the way up to modern, and then in 7th start with Omnibus. He could do the Civil War to modern 2nd semester and through the summer for fieldtrips, then start ancients for 6th. Think about it a bit more long-term. He's not BEHIND if you decide to schedule differently. He might enjoy having a bit of time for his interests (which are more the end of the history cycle), then a full history cycle of 4-5 years, then a year or two at the end for his own interests again, kwim?

 

Reading. Well if you read WTM, there's not really a specific reading program recommendation. I use the reading lists in the VP catalog and WTM to give me a basic sense of where my dd should be and how to help her move forward. I require book reports, as WTM indicates. We've done reading programs (BJU, McCall-Crabbs, etc.), and I haven't really found them to be worth that much. If you have an actual issue underlying an unwillingness to read, then you have to solve the problem. If there are no problems, then good books and plenty of time will result in plenty of reading. In other words, I don't think reading problems are solved by reading programs. Reading programs are just convenient ways for a school to get a whole bunch of kids reading the same thing.

 

I've never used those workbooks for spelling, so I can't help there. I will say you're probably going to get a lot better feel for where he's at with spelling once you start working with him for all his subjects and are actually seeing his output. I would probably wait until then to see what, if anything, you need. (Unless of course you're already using those workbooks and find them a good fit!) You don't generally need to do vocab and spelling. There's really only time to do one or the other.

 

Prima Latina will be exceedingly light for him. Expect to finish it in a semester easily. He may finish much faster. Now just a word of warning, not all kids take to foreign language. That's just your word to the wise. Has he done any yet? I probably wouldn't go gung-ho and start two at once, until you know his propensity to them. I'm a serious language person, and with my dd it's like pulling teeth. We'll just leave it at that. Somehow WTM manages to make it sound like kids are pat, like education is formulaic, and it's NOT. Look around these boards, and you'll find that variety is not just a matter of personality but NECESSITY. For almost NO ONE on the boards (very, very few) does it work to just do the WTM recs straight. Every year I remember a tip my SIL gave me when I started and give myself grace: start with a couple basic things and work up slowly, building up to full speed over several weeks. Remember, with amazon your next purchase is only two days away. :)

[LisaKinVA]

K12's HO begins in 7th grade. 5th grade is US history (using Hakim) to 1865. 6th grade is US history 1865 to present (using Hakim). These two years of history are the most boring we've been through. My child loved K12 history...until last year.

 

Streams of Civilization might be another option... although I don't think doing SOTW as a 6th grader is a huge issue, if she picks different books to be read (maybe from Sonlight or TOG?) in addition to SOTW (granted, a LOT of the TM/Activity pages are really geared to younger children). My son is going to do all 4 books next year... kind-of through world history in 365 days type of thing. He's really looking forward to it.

[PeterPan]

Bostic, he might enjoy using Hakim (the series LisaK mentioned is used in K12) for that Civil War to modern study. You could use the VP cards to help you select the main passages so you don't feel compelled to read it ALL. Your library would probably have Hakim, or you can find the set used, inexpensively.

[PeterPan]

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=211799&highlight=writing Have you seen this thread on writing? I found Lori D's comments particularly striking. I'm reading through them and taking notes right now. :)

[Mommybostic]

For history, I was going to use SOTW to go along with the Usborne book, plus other books, studies, etc., similar to what it outlines in WTM. I'm glad he is SO interested in the Civil War and WWII, but he will also have to expand his knowledge into other areas. As someone else posted, I think he might be fascinated by the wars of ancient Greece and Rome, and so thats my reason for starting at that point. I'm not bragging, but I bet he knows as much about American history as any ps eighth grader, if not more, so in my humble opinion it is time to broaden our horizons. I just didn't want to completely cut him off, but who know? They way he takes to stuff like that, his headboard bookshelf may be stuffed with the stories of the ancient world before I know it! Honestly, I think part of his love is that we live in an area that was close to the heart of the Civil War. Literally 100 yards from our home is an old house where Robert E. Lee stayed and which served as a hospital. He stands in one spot and says "A Civil War soldier might have stood right in this spot!" It's a tangible history to him.

 

OhElizabeth--he already started the Spanish, and he likes it. It is painfully simple so far, though, because I started on a low level. He can do two or three lessons at a time. I was just afraid of making it too complex because he has NO exposure to foreign language at all. I don't want to make the same mistake with Latin, and honestly, I wasn't even sure if we should do Latin in the beginning.

 

I guess what it boils down to is that I'm regretting waiting so long to make this decision, and I just keep thinking of all of things we could have already done if I'd just had the guts to do it. Sigh.

Edited November 30, 2010 by Mommybostic

[2cents]

Personally, I probably wouldn't do k12 math and I would choose either Spanish or Latin but not both at the same time unless the Latin was more a word roots approach. You might check out the Elson Readers. :)

[Mommybostic]

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=211799&highlight=writing Have you seen this thread on writing? I found Lori D's comments particularly striking. I'm reading through them and taking notes right now. :)

 

 

I took a bunch of notes, too. Great thread!:D

[EKS]

I'd love to hear thoughts on what I am choosing/have chosen for my son's curriculum. He's in fifth now and I am pulling him out over Christmas break. The K-12 courses and the MCT are already implemented for afterschooling and have been since Oct. 5.

 

Math

K12 Pre-Algebra

Life of Fred Fractions

Grammar

MCT Basic Homeschool Package

Spelling Workout Level D and E

Writing

Writing with Ease Workbook 2 OR Wordsmith Apprentice--can't decide

Science

K12 Science 5

Foreign Language

K12 Spanish

Prima Latina

History

SOTW Volume 1 and Activity Book

Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History

Reading

Still deciding on a formal program

Various real books from our historical period and the Bible

Art and Music

Artistic Pursuits and I don't know what for music

 

We do soccer, hiking, and whatever outdoor activity appeals to us at that time and weather permitting.

 

And I have one last question about history. My ds is a Civil War and WWII buff. He loves to read about them and watch the documentaries on The History Channel. Does it undermine his other history stuff to continue to let him read these books during his free reading? There are MANY Civil War sites all around where we live--battle fields, buildings, trails, you name it, and we visit them all. I can't imagine waiting until eighth grade to pick it back up.

 

Thanks!

 

If you like K12, I've heard great things about their middle grades history courses. They do American in grades 5 and 6 and world in grades 7 and 8. They get to the Civil War in grade 5. If you prefer to start with the ancients, I highly recommend K12's Human Odyssey series (we used it by itself, without the courses) over SOTW for the middle grades.

 

My experience with K12's science for grade 5 is that it assumes too little knowledge (making it boring) and too much knowledge (making certain questions way too difficult) at the same time. I prefer Science Explorer for the early middle grades.

[PeterPan]

He'd to better with Latin Prep or LfC or another program meant for an older dc. I did Prima Latina over a summer with my dd when she was going into 1st or 2nd, I forget. It's just going to be very simple for him. (5 words per lesson, next to no grammar, mostly basic memorization) If you're wanting to make up for lost time, don't start with PL.

[Guest]

I agree with OhElizabeth -- let him go with his interests for history right now, and then take the time to line up what you want to do with ancients next year. There's a great book called Civil War For Kids which mixes plenty of text with some hands-on activities; add in your field trips and you are all set.

 

Look up some of Corraleno's posts; her son is a science/technology kid and his interests in history are being structured around the technology of warfare. Corraleno has some wonderful lists of the kinds of books and DVDs she found for him about ancient warfare that you could add on to Story of the World next year.

 

I think your idea of slowly coaxing him into fiction through the story of a boy during the Civil War period is a good one. Also try things like Jules Verne (as audios or read-alouds if the reading level is an issue)... there was a thread in the past two or so days on books for 11-year-old boys. It would give you lots of ideas.

 

You could also tie in art to the historical period he likes so much, if you make that a centerpiece of his studies. The Civil War is a fascinating moment because traditional painting and sculpture takes place alongside the first battlefield photography.

[angela in ohio]

Prima Latina will likely bore him, and he may find it "babyish." I would just go ahead and get Latina Christiana I if you are going to use the series. :001_smile:

[Mommybostic]

I'm glad I found this forum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

If I do decide I want to go with Latin, I'll bypass the Prima Latina. I will finish out this series of Spanish first, though. I don't think I'll ask him to do two right now. I'm going to try to make the transition as easy as possible.