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We are starting our second week in Wayfarers Ancients. It’s way too soon to give a proper review, but we are enjoying it so much that I just had to say something. J

 

ELTL – I had considered this before and wish I had started it then. My dd and I are both happy with this approach of using literature for English. Dd says she likes doing dictation, which surprised me. She’s paying attention…recently she informed me that she did not agree with one part of the author’s condensed summary. J (I am still using BJU English some; dd and I are both writing papers. She is writing about Rachel Carson; I am writing about Charles Dickens. She likes when we do things together like that, which is one of many reasons why I really want to incorporate more BraveWriter into our plan next year.)

 

We are enjoying the science. Dd loves McHenry’s Botany and always likes the Tiner books. Quark Chronicles looks good. The Hakim book should be excellent. Various books are listed as optional for science and history, and we will read some of those too.

 

History is going well. Ancient Egypt is not our favorite, but the books are engaging. I love that she includes real books for geography. We have not done the mapping yet.

 

Wayfarers has great literature choices. One suggested read-aloud right now is The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Since we read that recently, I am reading aloud Wizard of Oz (and other eclectic personal choices like Jan Karon’s books and Wind in the Willows).

 

Music; Timeline; Book of Centuries; Art; Narration – I love the visual reminder to include these things. We are enjoying Vivaldi and dd is narrating. Since we have been dealing with things like sick cats (they are doing much better since the $$$ vet visit!), we have not started the art program. I may start doing it on the weekend.

 

A daily Bible reading and some book choices relating to Bible are listed. We are doing the Bible reading (currently Genesis) and one of the books.

 

Yes, I will tweak. I tweak, therefore I am. J I have used Heart of Dakota twice (Bigger and Preparing) and we liked a lot of it. But I really like that the Wayfarers layout has more white space (to write notes and substitutions) and less wordiness. With Wayfarers, I have finally decided to WRITE IN THE GUIDES! In pen! I no longer see the guide as something to give away or sell later; I now see it as a record of all the great reading and learning we are doing together. In the bottom right-hand corner of each two-page spread, I am jotting down the date we completed that day. I love that you can buy one-third (one term) of the year at a time. It keeps the guides a great size and lets you try Wayfarers for about $32. I think the guides are well-priced and completely worth it. One big reason I chose Wayfarers was the daily plan. I have many ideas, lists, etc. but have trouble pulling those together into a coherent plan. Speaking of tweaking and trying to do too much…We may join friends who are starting TOG Ancients this fall. J There are several reasons; one big one is that dd is a fairly social only child and we NEED to see our hs friends regularly. If we do TOG with friends, I would either drop the History part of Wayfarers or merge it together (there is some overlap).

 

The books in Wayfarers are a great mix of older and newer, Christian and secular. I found a lot of the books at Half-Price.

 

Congratulations to Kathy Jo DeVore for this amazing achievement!

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When the other levels are completed, this is going to be a very popular curriculum.

 

A recent email said that Medieval History Term Two is now available for purchase.

 

I am truly amazed that anyone can write things like this while homeschooling several children! I can barely keep my head above water, and I only have one. :)

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A recent email said that Medieval History Term Two is now available for purchase.

 

I am truly amazed that anyone can write things like this while homeschooling several children! I can barely keep my head above water, and I only have one. :)

I know. She amazes me, too. It's rare to see such a prolific author that puts out such quality. She really nails what a CERTAIN group of people are looking for NOW. She knows her audience and delivers what they want.

 

What she is delivering isn't what *I* need right NOW, but that doesn't stop me from being mightily impressed with her work. I'm really glad to see this resource being published for the homeschooling community as a whole, as I don't think it's just another of the same thing.

 

This is my personal favorite for family-style neoclassical/CM slow readings.

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" I no longer see the guide as something to give away or sell later; I now see it as a record of all the great reading and learning we are doing together."

 

I really like this. Yes! Free from the tyranny of needing to resell and therefor not really using it fully while you own it. Not to mention having that record. Awesome.

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With Wayfarers, I have finally decided to WRITE IN THE GUIDES! In pen! I no longer see the guide as something to give away or sell later; I now see it as a record of all the great reading and learning we are doing together. In the bottom right-hand corner of each two-page spread, I am jotting down the date we completed that day. I love that you can buy one-third (one term) of the year at a time. It keeps the guides a great size and lets you try Wayfarers for about $32.

 

This sounds great, but then I wonder... What about your next cycle through?

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Do you think this is high school worthy? We're just finishing up year 2 of the history cycle and love veritas press self paced history right now. I'm thinking long term. I briefly looked at it, but it was from the perspective of where my daughter is now.

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This sounds great, but then I wonder... What about your next cycle through?

 

Well...I have only one child, who would be finishing fifth grade right now if she were in a b&m school. I really don't know what we will do for high school, but if we decide to use Wayfarers, then we will both want a clean, shiny new copy. :) Dd is absolutely sure she wants to hs through 12th grade, but I'm honestly not sure what we will do. There is a local classical Christian option of school one day a week, then study at home the rest of the week. That is a possibility. I just don't know right now what will happen. I would like to hs high school, but without some major outsourcing, I don't think I can give her the kind of education I want her to have. I'm trying to self-educate, but there are only so many hours in the day.

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Do you think this is high school worthy? We're just finishing up year 2 of the history cycle and love veritas press self paced history right now. I'm thinking long term. I briefly looked at it, but it was from the perspective of where my daughter is now.

 

I am sorry that I am completely unqualified to answer your question! :) I looked at the rhetoric selections after reading your question. Some sound familiar, such as SWB's History of the Ancient World, and other selections I can't really comment on because I simply do not know much about them. For me, as I look at potentially hsing high school, I would really like to have some other teachers in my dd's life. I would love for her to have some teachers who are passionate about things like biology, Latin, Spanish, pre-calculus, rhetoric, etc. :) I am very fortunate to have a friend who was a doctor and now homeschools. She is a gifted teacher and dd attends her science class. This friend also teaches hs high school level science, complete with labs, so that is a great option for us. I really don't know yet what we are going to do in high school.

 

EDITED to add: If I wasn't clear in this post, I was simply trying to say that I personally do not think that I want to/am able to homeschool my dd through high school without the benefit of having some other teachers in dd's life. I was not saying that Wayfarers was not high school worthy. :)

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As a piggy-back, we just started Medieval Term 2 (yep,  mid-term!) since I'm slow and she caught up with me.  (We started Medieval time period before she had it written.)  We LOVE it so much.  I never ever wanted to follow someone else's plan...but this is the pulling it all together (as OP mentioned above) that I needed.  I bought the pdf and printed it out so I could write all over it and swap out some books, take notes, make records.  LOVE IT!  I tell everyone about Wayfarers!   :hurray:       Wish I knew more people...

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Do you think this is high school worthy? We're just finishing up year 2 of the history cycle and love veritas press self paced history right now. I'm thinking long term. I briefly looked at it, but it was from the perspective of where my daughter is now.

 

I'm not qualified to answer your question either...but I would definitely download the sample - I think it may be a free download on Lulu...I will find out when I have a minute later today.  However, it's a generous sample, complete with the book list for rhetoric stage kids.  I think that might give you an idea if it would suit your needs.  I am sure you would be okay adding electives or life skills you wanted to cover.  HTH!

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As a piggy-back, we just started Medieval Term 2 (yep,  mid-term!) since I'm slow and she caught up with me.  (We started Medieval time period before she had it written.)  We LOVE it so much.  I never ever wanted to follow someone else's plan...but this is the pulling it all together (as OP mentioned above) that I needed.  I bought the pdf and printed it out so I could write all over it and swap out some books, take notes, make records.  LOVE IT!  I tell everyone about Wayfarers!   :hurray:       Wish I knew more people...

 

 

Glad to hear you are loving it! I have a question about the pdf. When you printed it, was there any color? My dd was a little disappointed, after seeing the color in the online sample, that it came black and white. Maybe I will go with the pdf next time.

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Heather, congrats on your coming baby! Hope you have a great year and enjoy Wayfarers Medieval!

Aww thank you! I was all set to get the spiral bound version whenever Lulu had a coupon but now Im thinking pdf?! I have a laser printer, so 250 pages won't totally do me in I guess. That would be easier for making notes in and just print it again later for the next cycle through. I'm only subbing science & art so I was just going to print out little sheets and stick it that spot or use post its. Hmmmm...

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Glad to hear you are loving it! I have a question about the pdf. When you printed it, was there any color? My dd was a little disappointed, after seeing the color in the online sample, that it came black and white. Maybe I will go with the pdf next time.

 

My pdf is color, but my laser printer is not.  I am highlighting what I want my DC to do in their "color" - we color-code kids here ;) - so this works for us.  I am going to have Kinkos print me a color copy of the cover since it's so pretty.  I will probably also have it spiral bound.  (It's cheap and nicer than a binder, but not a must for me.)  Also, I don't print out the entire thing - I leave the Milestones to view on my iPad.   :)

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This is definintely a preschool-high school curriculum. I believe the highschool is as rigorous as is possible at home, and that some normal high school children will need to continue to work on the logic level suggestions, instead. The author's choices are based on boots-on-the-ground experience with her own children that range from gifted to "behind" by TWTM forum standards.

 

No matter what type of children use the curriculum during their high school ages, I believe a mom will find just what she needs somewhere in one of the levels. Not all children will be able to handle the rigor of the rhetoric level. It is fully rhetoric. The high school level is not just adapted middle school called high school.

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This is definintely a preschool-high school curriculum. I believe the highschool is as rigorous as is possible at home, and that some normal high school children will need to continue to work on the logic level suggestions, instead. The author's choices are based on boots-on-the-ground experience with her own children that range from gifted to "behind" by TWTM forum standards.

 

No matter what type of children use the curriculum during their high school ages, I believe a mom will find just what she needs somewhere in one of the levels. Not all children will be able to handle the rigor of the rhetoric level. It is fully rhetoric. The high school level is not just adapted middle school called high school.

I have a Bachelor's degree (as I'm sure many of you do, not bragging at all - just saying) and *I* could benefit going through her recommendations for high school age. :)  And I plan to...when things settle down a bit in my home.  :laugh:

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  • 9 months later...

I have looked over wayfarers, albeit quickly, and am confused. The samples show 5 days of week 1 and then days 1-5. Am I correct in assuming you complete each day's task daily as well as each subject listed on each week 1 page? How long does this usually take you to complete daily?

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  • 2 months later...

The free sample includes a list of all her booklists for each subject and level (Grammar, Dialectic, and Rhetoric), followed by Three weeks of her plans. Each week is separated into five days, history and science are scheduled for alternating days, in the first week you do three days of history and two days of science, the second week you do three days of science and two days of history. Each page lists the subjects down the left side (i.e. Bible, Language Arts, math, history...) and across the top it separates by your students' levels (grammar, dialectice, rhetoric). Each day is two facing pages, the titles and page numbers of primary classes on the first page, the second page lists extra and optional assignments (narration, additional literature, preschool activities).

 

This curricula is WTM with a CM bent. It is literature rich but makes it clear which are considered the regular assignments and which are optional. This has been the best fit for my family out of the many I've tried (Sonlight, ToG, "pure" WTM, AO, etc).  I subbed in my own math programs (we used Singapore and Beast Academy for my younger and Foerster's Algebra for my 8th grader) and added SQUILT for classical music, I wanted more structure - open and go for that, plus added some Ambleside/CM poetry and hymns.

 

Otherwise I use Wayfarer's as designed, which is pretty amazing for me.  I'm pretty sure that I will be using Medieval stage next year for my upcoming fifth grader even though my 8th grader will be in a part time homeschool group that will make his assignments. Wayfarers just really works and is easy, open and go while still being classical.

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