Jump to content

Menu

Little-known, "secret" curric to try?


Sarahkay

Recommended Posts

Hi,

  My favorite little known curriculum has formed the spine of our Language Arts programs for year one and two - Language Lessons Through Literature by Kathy Jo DeVore (either in book form 500+ pages or an ibook format). The program has 108 lessons per year (so 3 lessons a week). You read a chapter of a great work of literature (Pinocchio, Blue Fairy Books, Five Children and It) and every lesson also includes an Aesop fable, and poem picked out for you.  On a rotating basis she introduces maxims, Bible verses and picture study, along with memory work like the months of the year, seasons, parts of speech, etc.  The workbook has the copywork sentences (which include sentences from the book you are reading, poetry, Bible verses and maxims - depending on the day), space for narrations, and sentences for identifying parts of speech (year 2).

 

    She goes through a book faster than some CM adherents might - 3 chapters a week instead of 1.  She also might have children write more than CM would - but you as a mom - can decide what is best for your children.  Plus, with only 3 lessons scheduled you can spread it out through the week.  

 

    The workbooks make it easy to use but she does have the copywork and other items in the text itself so you could make your own copywork sheets from it if you'd like.  You receive the workbook as a PDF so you can use the program for multiple children - just print off what you need, when you need it.  It also has 5 different fonts available - so choose what your family likes to use.  She also has the art prints - in color - for free that you can download as a PDF file and then use them as you like (or just look at them on the computer).  

 

It brings together so many things in one place.  It appears she has just created a year 3 - so I will be looking into that!  It appears she introduces diagramming at this stage. She has plans for more too.

 

http://www.lulu.com/shop/kathy-jo-devore/language-lessons-through-literature-levels-1-2/paperback/product-21111134.html    

 

I think it is great for a gentle approach to literature.  She does not delve into spelling or learning how to read but she covers pretty much everything else you would want for your first and second grade child.  Her books are printed through Lulu and about 2 or 3 times a year they have a 15% to 20% off discount sale - so you can wait to get them then if you watch for the sales.  

 

Missy

 

 

This looks excellent!  Level 3 is out already, wonder when level 4 will be out, I can't find her contact details

Stephanie

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ball-Stick-Bird reading (link in my sig) had a little ad in the back of most homeschooling magazines when I first discovered it in '99ish but it's pretty obscure now.

 

It's pretty special too, especially for older beginners. There's no condescending fluff in the content whatsoever.

 

Is anybody who isn't me still using it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi,

  My favorite little known curriculum has formed the spine of our Language Arts programs for year one and two - Language Lessons Through Literature by Kathy Jo DeVore (either in book form 500+ pages or an ibook format). The program has 108 lessons per year (so 3 lessons a week). You read a chapter of a great work of literature (Pinocchio, Blue Fairy Books, Five Children and It) and every lesson also includes an Aesop fable, and poem picked out for you.  On a rotating basis she introduces maxims, Bible verses and picture study, along with memory work like the months of the year, seasons, parts of speech, etc.  The workbook has the copywork sentences (which include sentences from the book you are reading, poetry, Bible verses and maxims - depending on the day), space for narrations, and sentences for identifying parts of speech (year 2).

 

    She goes through a book faster than some CM adherents might - 3 chapters a week instead of 1.  She also might have children write more than CM would - but you as a mom - can decide what is best for your children.  Plus, with only 3 lessons scheduled you can spread it out through the week.  

 

    The workbooks make it easy to use but she does have the copywork and other items in the text itself so you could make your own copywork sheets from it if you'd like.  You receive the workbook as a PDF so you can use the program for multiple children - just print off what you need, when you need it.  It also has 5 different fonts available - so choose what your family likes to use.  She also has the art prints - in color - for free that you can download as a PDF file and then use them as you like (or just look at them on the computer).  

 

It brings together so many things in one place.  It appears she has just created a year 3 - so I will be looking into that!  It appears she introduces diagramming at this stage. She has plans for more too.

 

http://www.lulu.com/shop/kathy-jo-devore/language-lessons-through-literature-levels-1-2/paperback/product-21111134.html    

 

I think it is great for a gentle approach to literature.  She does not delve into spelling or learning how to read but she covers pretty much everything else you would want for your first and second grade child.  Her books are printed through Lulu and about 2 or 3 times a year they have a 15% to 20% off discount sale - so you can wait to get them then if you watch for the sales.  

 

Missy 

Is there a lot of Christian content in this?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Since I liked CHOW so much, I have bought a couple of Hillyer's other books:

A Child's Geography of the World

A Child's History of Art

(Beware--they are old books!)

 

I also enjoyed Builders of the Old World (Lansing and Chase) so much that we are going to use another one:

Makers of the Americas

 

I also love Eggleston:

Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans

A First Book in American History

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is there a lot of Christian content in this?

Hi,

There is a verse every other week for copywork but other than that, not really. It uses narration so you can go where you want with that. All of her commentary is factual in nature, drawing the child's attention to the lesson at hand - capitalization, finding the noun, etc.

 

I have not been able to find her contact info. either. Sometimes when you buy something from Lulu the author will send you a greeting of sorts. I can't remember if she does or not.

 

Kimberly Garcia also has a copywork, dictation and narration program that is based on history - it includes historical narratives, poetry, myths/tales, and some original documents. It comes in two levels K-2 and 3-5. She has a great explanation of how to use CM methods in writing. http://www.writefromhistory.com/

 

I do plan to order level 3 the next lulu sale.

 

Missy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't see any samples, either.  I'm actually interested in the nutrition book, but not without samples.  Maybe I'm somehow missing them?

 

Go to the Lulu Storefront, then click on the book you're interested. Below the picture of the book, it will have a small link that says, "Preview". Click on that, and you see a brief sample.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Go to the Lulu Storefront, then click on the book you're interested. Below the picture of the book, it will have a small link that says, "Preview". Click on that, and you see a brief sample.

 

Ergh...requires Flash so won't work on my ipad. I'll try it on my pc tomorrow. Thank you, I had completely missed that!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So far, my favorite spelling curriculum is How To Teach Spelling:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Teach-Spelling-Laura-Toby-Rudginsky/dp/0838818471/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1376578259&sr=1-1&keywords=How+to+teach+spelling

 

I don't see it referenced too often.  Once you purchase the teacher's manual, then you only need to purchase the individual workbooks according to learning level

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not a curriculum, but an excellent and affordable resource for classical music: http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/sku/002959/efaa8e8dc63c20be4b4f1ced

Music and a lecture! I think they're cheaper on Amazon.

Did someone already mention this?

Two thumbs up on this resource, I've been using it for over 20 years. Adoremusbooks.com has the best price, $59 for the entire set. Handel, Haydn, and Chopin are at a reduced price of $1.99 on amazon right now: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dpopular&field-keywords=vox+music+masters+cds&rh=n%3A5174%2Ck%3Avox+music+masters+cds

 

Yes, I'm a shameless cheapo. :p

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jenn your post made me thing of your amazing curriculums!! http://www.guesthollow.com/homeschool/curriculum.html I think they are a best kept secret for many people!! True gems! I adore browsing your booklists and slowly collecting the books for when my girls are old enough to use your programs. We plan on doing Otter's Elementary Science next year and I would love to do your Botany the year after.

 

Another blogger who's curriculum's I love is Wateronthefloor.  We are doing her Magic School Bus science and some of her Earth Science curriculum this year.

 

http://wateronthefloor.wordpress.com/earth-scienceastronomy/

http://wateronthefloor.wordpress.com/magic-school-bus-science/

http://wateronthefloor.wordpress.com/middle-ages-history/

Awesome Magic School Bus info to go with what I've got planned.  I love it when a plan comes together :laugh:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Exploration Education -- physical science curriculum for 3rd (ish) through 8th possibly 9th.  I LOVE two things about this curriculum: everything you need (a paperclip, a piece of string, you name it) is in one box and every single lesson has hands-on experiments or projects that are SO COOL! My kids made racers, steam boats, gliders, a house with electricity, insulation, etc., and much more!  They loved it!

 

And for high school, two of my favorite writing resources that I rarely see mentioned:  

 

Rhetoric in the Classical Tradition by Horner.  I picked up a pre-release copy of this at a used sale and used it with great success with my high schoolers.  In fact, I coupled it with

 

The Writer's Workshop: Imitating Your Way to Better Writing by Gregory Roper.  Roper is professor at University of Dallas and used this book with his students.  It is excellent.  So many love Lively Art of Writing, but that book just fell flat for us.  

 

Lisa

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So far, my favorite spelling curriculum is How To Teach Spelling:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Teach-Spelling-Laura-Toby-Rudginsky/dp/0838818471/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1376578259&sr=1-1&keywords=How+to+teach+spelling

 

I don't see it referenced too often. Once you purchase the teacher's manual, then you only need to purchase the individual workbooks according to learning level

 

We tried a few different spelling programs before settling with this one. Both my kids do good with this, and it's rather simple to use.

AL

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We are enjoying the Just Write series from EPS.  My DD looks forward to it the most of all her Lang. Arts stuff.  We're doing the very first books (Write About Me, Write About My World) this year... and they are just right for my late-blooming-reader-pencil-phobic 2nd grader.

These look great for my kiddo too! Thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...