Another minimalist challenge...

[vaquitita]

If the bill eliminating vaccine waivers for public school kids passes, we may be leaving our charter school. Which changes things big time. Right now we have a huge budget of charter school funds. If we go independent, then we will be on a VERY low budget. Piano and swim lessons are definitely out. I need to figure out how to cover the basics cheaply while not making it too much work for me. Open and go is my friend. I don't know exactly what our school budget would be, but I'm going to say $100 a year. Eta: I'm going to change that to $100-200 per year, I think we can manage $200. We do have a good library system, so that helps.

 

Some how the other minimalist challenges don't seem that helpful now that a real one stares me in the face. Space is not an issue here. I do prefer real books over ebooks, but am willing to utilize ebooks too. I do own the original yesterday's classic collection if that helps. Our iPads belong to the school. I do think I would invest in a ereader or small tablet. That would be separate from the budget.

 

Currently I use (and all of this belongs to the school)

AAR

AAS

Treadwell and pathways readers

Bob books

Singapore standards

Beast academy

Miquon

A ton of math manipulatives

HWOT

And a whole bunch of books that also belong to the school: CHOW, SOTW, OIS, RSO, Usborne history and science encyclopedias, opal wheeler books, landmark bios, poetry books, etc.

 

Eta: Things I DO have:

Brother laser printer

Yesterday's classic bundle

McGuffey revised readers

ABCs and all their tricks

Ruth beechicks the three R's

Franklin Primary Arithmetic

Edited December 12, 2015 by vaquitita

[carina]

I recently discovered thriftbooks.com, I'd look for hard copies of books you really want there.

 

Sent from my KFJWI using Tapatalk

[Hunter]

Yup, other minimalist threads don't always cover every scenario.

 

I'm really not feeling well today. I'm giving this some thought, but probably won't respond much today.

[mmpmelmack]

we are looking at a huge pay cut, so i have been contemplating the same thing.  i think i would invest in all of the math mammoth 1-6, spelling power, and a copy iew's twss.  then use the library for everything else.  oh and kiss grammer.  you could write from history, science, and lit from the library.  if you are interested in latin, i am loving latin book one, it cost all of 3 dollars on amazon.  i think it will last me 3 years at least! i see you need phonics still, i would pick up a used OPGTR or phonics pathways.

[vaquitita]

 

For now, I'm only thinking K-8, I can't plan high school right now.

 

I used the three R's when teaching my oldest to read, but floundered after awhile with the prep and planning. I did not have he mcguffey readers back then, I'm thinking I could use those to plan my lessons for me. Plan on spending a week or more on each lesson, and make up a sort of master lesson plan to be app,iced to each lesson to save myself from having to be constantly making decisions about what to do next. I would need to include writing instruction and copywork in this. If that doesn't pan out, then OPGTR would probably be my next choice.

 

I'm thinking LLATL would be a good option, starting in 3rd grade. A used TM costs $5-10 and the pdf of the student book is $15. Buy it once, reuse it for the younger kids. The books I will buy used or get from the library.

 

Math... We used a MM topical unit on time once, it was not a good fit for us. Maybe strayer upton? It's not fun or colorful, but the lessons are usually short, leaving more time for playing games. I have Franklin primary which I could use before it. Or miquon looks fun and hands on, and fairly cheap. C rods are our most used math manipulative, so I'd get some of those. I do figure the first year I would need to spend more on that kind of stuff. So maybe my budget is $200 for the first year and $100 after that.

 

So far that's $25 a year for LLATL, and $15 every other year for SU. Miquon would be $18 per year if I only have 1 kid in it at a time (my youngest three kids are all three years apart, so it's possible) Im not sure how much I should set aside for used books. I think that covers all the skill subjects?

 

Eta: looks like miquon is available as a pdf for $6.50 per workbooks, $13 per year. Perhaps this would be the way to go, if I decide to use miquon. Otoh $5 per year is not a big price difference and I'd still have to print them out.

Edited December 12, 2015 by vaquitita

[desertflower]

1.  MEP math is free online. 

2.  easypeasy is free  http://allinonehomeschool.com/  I've never used it before, just saw it mentioned in another thread. 

3.  abebooks.com is another site to buy used books.  It looks like they do have Phonics Pathways for about 6.50 + free shipping.  http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&tn=phonics+pathways

4.  Re:  Spelling    There's a free site somewhere.  Perhaps someone can chime in.

5.  Re:  manuscript   Free on http://www.dltk-teach.com/   

6.  Peace Hill Press sometimes have a scratch and dent sale for about 60% off.  I would just call and ask if they are running one now. 

 

Homeschool sales are around May - July in my area.  I can get some cheap stuff there. 

 

I hope this helps.  Good luck. 

 

[vaquitita]

Content subjects... I guess this is where I need to really utilize the library. I could get SOTW books for $10 each. Or maybe CHOW would be a better option at $15. Or I could use Synge books, those are part of the YC bundle. And then fill in with YC and library books. To best utilize the library, I may need to let go of slow readings/having multiple books going at once. We'd read slowly through our spine yes, but when we go to read something else we'd need t just keep reading it till t was done.

 

With that YC bundle, I probably could get all my history from that. And some science too. I wonder if I want to keep studying history chronologically? Letting go of that would reduce the number of books I need. I could just make a list by reading level of the YC books and have the kids read through them. If they started that in 4th to 6th grade, I could give them their own timeline book, so hopefully they could make some connections between things even though they would not be studying history chronologically. Of course that would require an ereader for every child, as they got old enough. Which could probably happen, buying one every 3 years or so. I would set aside some of the books for me to read to the younger crowd.

 

Science will probably need to be lots of nature study (add drawing journals to the budget!), the natural history books from YC, and whatever they get from the library. Until high school.

[birchbark]

In your situation I would probably do Easy Peasy with library trips. If you want to avoid the screen time, then I would do Robinson-style, spending your $100 on math.

[Desert Strawberry]

Easy peasy is overtly  Christian, and it appears to be creationist to me (not Christian, so I'm not sure). I was disappointed to learn that. No one seems to mention it. I don't know if that matters to you, but has up if you prefer secular.

 

Progressive Phonics is free online. It's the best phonics/ learning to read program we've used so far. There have been many.

 

Mep is free plus printing.

Spectrum workbooks are around $10.

Khan academy now has whole grade leveled courses.

Xtramath is free.

 

We use library resources for science, lit, and reading. 

 

I like SOTW, just the text, no activity book. I search the library and use Google and Wikipedia for further information.

 

Pinterest for art lessons. 

 

Kindle books are a great resource. You don't have to have a Kindle, and many are free. 

 

My budget runs$100-$200 a year. You can do this.

[stm4him]

I would suggest Strayer-Upton and/or Ray's.  And I would suggest Harvey's Grammars and Primary and Intermediate Language Lessons for language arts after you have taught them cursive and how to read (I didn't look at the ages).  If you want something a little bit similar to AAS but less expensive, you could go with Spell to Write and Read, which is a one time purchase.  I found the instructions in the New England Primer edited by Wanda Sanseri to be enough for me.  If you want to keep the phonograms the same as AAS I would just buy one set of the AAS phonogram cards to use for everyone.  For spelling you could use the McGuffey or Webster's Speller if you don't want to use Spell to Write and Read.  I highly recommend The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady for nature study inspiration.  It is cheap and a beautiful classic.  We draw from it all the time in my house.  

 

Also, you may want to consider just doing music theory instead of lessons.  I am planning to buy Alfred's Essentials of Music Theory.  The workbook (lasting 3 years) is $10 each and there is a teacher's manual with the answers. 

 

You may want to consider buying something for foreign language or holding off for the future.  

 

I would use the library and YC for your science and history for sure and spend the money on non-consumable or long lasting skills-based texts and workbooks.  That's why vintage texts work well for the 3R's in a family with a small budget.  I only plan to supplement with music theory and languages workbooks.  

 

I do still love Saxon Math and Hake Grammar, but they are more expensive than vintage texts in the long run.

[Mrs. A]

My situation is somewhat similar to yours. We have a hard copy of Ray's Arithmetic (Primary thru Higher) that I bought for $20 and we use it with c-rods. We have a set of McGuffey readers and Harvey's Grammar (don't remember how much I paid for those, but again, not much). I spent the money for a copy of SWR one year. 

 

Ray's and SWR are used daily here. Harvey's and McGuffey less frequently, but still quite often. We use the library a lot and I've also been collecting books at library book sales, thrift stores and the like. We've built up quite the library so far. I look for books like the ones from the AO years.

 

I bought a couple dry erase lap boards from Rainbow Resource a few years ago and those have been invaluable for the amount of paper and ink they've saved us. 

 

Instead of printed math worksheets I write out the problems they need to work on in a composition notebook each day. It hardly takes any time and it's all in one place so I don't have lots of loose paper. Copywork goes in another comp notebook.

 

Honestly I spend the bulk of our ($100-200) budget each year on consumable things like art supplies. 

[Arcadia]

Check out what your library system have.

 

For example for my local libraries

Bob books - children reference (so always available)
SOTW - children

WWE, WWS - children

Usborne history and science encyclopedias - children and a copy in children reference

 

Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, Precalc, Calculus - Teen reference and some in children as well

Life Science, Earth Science, Physical Science - Teen reference

Campbell Biology - teen reference

Literature guide - public middle school textbooks in teen reference, the rest in adult

 

For K-5 math they have the Houghton Miffin textbooks. Some have the middle school Saxon math books.

 

[Mrs. A]

A good poetry anthology or two might be worth investing in and if you're thinking of foreign language eventually DuoLingo is free. Ds has been using it for Spanish and I'm pretty impressed so far. 

[vaquitita]

Is there an easy way to print my YC books? If I could convert them to word docs maybe, then print booklet style, and have them bound at office max? I have a brother laser printer, it prints duplex. IM thinking it would be handy to have a print book for somethings. Like the poetry books.

[Hunter]

If I needed to stay under $100, and the shift was sudden, PERSONALLY, I'd skip the LLATL, especially the student manuals. I wouldn't even want to juggle the library books for the literature. With a yearly budget of $200.00 I'd probably go with LLATL, but not $100.00.

 

And with a yearly budget, I'd be limiting my ink and paper. I would copy math problems and even phonics into composition books, as Mrs. A suggested.

 

I just found another phonics at Don Potter. How did I miss Through the Phonics Barrier? I'm evaluating this as a checklist for Beechick style phonics/spelling.

http://www.donpotter.net/education_pages/through_the_phonics_barrier.html

 

I too would use Ray's or Strayer-Upton. When I'm dead broke and stressed about being dead broke, I like my math in hardcopy. I just do.

 

Yes, I have had to drop slow readings. It's not worth the stress when things get tight. Chronological is possible but not necessary, when life gets real.

 

I find I need SOMETHING in my hands, if I'm using a lot of eBooks and library books. Something to hold onto. A printed out spread sheet like AO, but NOT with slow readings. Or a large piece of art paper folded up and handwritten, like the Waldorf planner.

[Hunter]

Milestone Academy offers a family style history rotation using the Synge eBooks you own.

http://www.milestonesacademy.com/Site/Family_History_Rotation_%28Elementary_Years%29.html

[vaquitita]

If I needed to stay under $100, and the shift was sudden, PERSONALLY, I'd skip the LLATL, especially the student manuals. I wouldn't even want to juggle the library books for the literature. With a yearly budget of $200.00 I'd probably go with LLATL, but not $100.00.

 

And with a yearly budget, I'd be limiting my ink and paper. I would copy math problems and even phonics into composition books, as Mrs. A suggested.

 

I think *I* may need LLATL. I have done a poor job with writing. Even though we've been 'doing copywork' all along its been very sporadic. It's always the thing that gets forgotten or dropped. I think I really need something telling me do this today, and that tomorrow, or it's just going to not get done. I could see skipping the student books and just working in a notebook.

 

I'm not sure exactly what my budget would be. It could be as little as $100 or as much as $200. And there are things I buy right now that I'm not sure if they will need to be part of the school budget or not. Like ink and paper, notebooks, art supplies.

[stm4him]

I like what Mrs. A said.  We also use cheap composition books to keep everything in.  In fact, I am strongly considering not buying the next Greek and Latin workbooks and instead writing in their composition books, but it does make things less independent.  Or I may buy ONE copy of each level of workbook as we continue to go along and just make them use transparencies and vis-a-vis markers (they wipe off less easily so they will hold the ink well until I get around to checking them.)  

 

I would recommend Primary and Intermediate Language Lessons as well because they are inexpensive and cover grades 2-7.  You can use the easier level of Harvey's alongside ILL or before or after it if you want and after ILL use the harder Harvey's Grammar.  They include things like copywork and picture study and poetry and such.  They are very CM style, whereas I see Harvey's as being more classical with diagramming.  Both are essential in my mind, but that is just me.

 

May I ask which state you are in?  We had a religious exemption removal scare recently in NC but it looks like it isn't going to happen and I am extremely relieved for now.  

 

If I were you, I would just pick up some cheap binders and use that for binding unless you can find somewhere to bind them for less than the cost of the binders.  I am not sure about printing costs.  You can actually buy a bunch of file folders and a hole punch and one binder and then rotate the books out of it as you go along.  

 

You could also look at printing out books from AO, OFE, Robinson Curriculum, and Dollar Homeschool and putting them in binders or something, but I would personally prefer hardback little vintage texts.....

[vaquitita]

Milestone Academy offers a family style history rotation using the Synge eBooks you own.

http://www.milestonesacademy.com/Site/Family_History_Rotation_%28Elementary_Years%29.html

That is an option. Overall I find milestones to have the kids reading too many books, the school day would be too long for us. But if I want to keep a family style history rotation, I could use that. I'm feeling kind of lost on whether to stick with chronological family history or not. It is working for us right now. But shifting to more RC style as the kids get older has been attractive to me for awhile.

[vaquitita]

Serls PLL and ILL would be a good option instead of LLATL. Idk, LLATL goes all the way through high school, which is nice. And it is more modern, so I don't have to worry about updating on the fly.

[stm4him]

The other thing I forgot to say is that we learned a timeline through song and that way we didn't necessarily need a wall timeline.  A book timeline is nice, but not absolutely necessary and I'm sure some can be found in the library.  But we have one in our head at all times (sans dates except the major markings of centuries and general timeline ranges for different eras).  We can at the very least find what came before and after other things and get a general feel for where in history something happened so I don't feel the need to go chronologically with history.  You can download the timeline song from classicalconversationsbooks.com for $8 I think.  It is TOTALLY worth it.  

[Hunter]

Vaquitita, after listening to you, I'd invest in the TM's for LLATL.

[stm4him]

Harvey's would take them the rest of the way through high school I think.  Also, if you found that it wasn't sufficient I bet there are many resources in the library for essay writing.  It would be easier to evaluate that when you finished the other books and saw where they were at that point.....

[Hunter]

And for science I would buy Science Scope

http://www.amazon.com/Science-Scope-Kathryn-Stout/dp/189197503X

[Hunter]

That is an option. Overall I find milestones to have the kids reading too many books, the school day would be too long for us. But if I want to keep a family style history rotation, I could use that. I'm feeling kind of lost on whether to stick with chronological family history or not. It is working for us right now. But shifting to more RC style as the kids get older has been attractive to me for awhile.

 

Where you are having to change so much, I wouldn't change what you don't have to. I'd plan chronological for the next year, at least.

 

I trying to really listen to what you are saying, and give individualized advice.

[Hunter]

Do you own Strayer-Upton?

[Hunter]

If you decide that you want to use LLATL, I'd sign up for e-mails from Thriftbook.com and betterworldbooks.com and try and use a sale to get the main literature books for the level of LLATL you think you want to use with your oldest next year. Using the library for LLATL has been stressful for me.

[Hunter]

Student's friend is concise enough to print, and then you can scribble notes all over it for books to look for at the library.

http://www.studentsfriend.com/sf/downsf.html

 

Student's friend is fully modern, but some conservatives will find some of it too liberal to read directly to children. 

 

This curriculum would work well with the Waldorf planner. Each topic is numbered and you could easily write the numbers in the monthly grids, and then some type of basic summary title for them.

[vaquitita]

Do you own Strayer-Upton?

No. Do have a copy of book one, but it belongs to the charter.

[vaquitita]

Where you are having to change so much, I wouldn't change what you don't have to. I'd plan chronological for the next year, at least.

 

I trying to really listen to what you are saying, and give individualized advice.

You are probably right, not to change too much at once. I don't think the law, if it passes, will go into effect next school year. Seems more likely to be the following year. I'm not sure if next school year I should start moving in this direction, to make the followng year easier, or just keep on as we are because it may never happen.

 

Thank you for taking the time.

[vaquitita]

. I'm not sure if next school year I should start moving in this direction, to make the followng year easier, or just keep on as we are because it may never happen..

I did order a dirt cheap copy of the Orange book I found because it's so hard to tell till you really see it for yourself. If I like it even halfway, I may go with it just to help smooth the probable transition.

 

There are two other areas where big changes would happen... Phonics and math. I'm wondering if I want to pick atleast one of these areas and start moving in the direction of where we will be if we go independent.

Edited December 12, 2015 by vaquitita

[Hunter]

If you can try things out at the charter's expense for a year, definitely do that! And it would give you time to gradually replace things they own with your own copies, if you like them, and when they go on sale.

 

I would have the charter buy you both all of Ray's and all of Strayer-Upton, so you can get a good look at them and see which you gravitate towards more on a daily basis.

 

I would use this year to self-educate and try out books at their expense.

 

Ask them for a copy of WRTR 6th for the handwriting. You can take notes or photocopy the handwriting.

 

Buy a copy of FIRST edition TWTM. I especially like the grade 7 and 8 science instructions for using Eyewitness books as a spine, and the grade 1 instructions for using a vintage grammar. You could just take notes on this book and give it back to the charter if they want it.

 

Bargain shop for an old used set of World Book and/or The New Book of Knowledge encyclopedias. These are a nice backup when you can't get to the library.

 

Get library cards from your capital city and any other systems that offer free cards. EBooks are great when you cannot get to the library.

 

Try out some technology at the charter's expense. Especially something easy on the eyes for your Yesterday's Classics package.

 

With a year to testdrive at someone else's expense, you can definitely do this!!!

 

[vaquitita]

If my budget was $200 I could stick with singapore math if I switched to the US edition...

[73349]

If there is a resource you need but can't find affordably used, etc., you can try asking the Book Samaritan for help.

[vaquitita]

If you can try things out at the charter's expense for a year, definitely do that! And it would give you time to gradually replace things they own with your own copies, if you like them, and when they go on sale.

Thank you for all the great ideas and feedback, this is feeling so much more doable than it first did.

Edited December 12, 2015 by vaquitita

[vaquitita]

I am currently rereading the three R's. Its making this feel so doable. I wonder if buying the next book, the 4-8 book, would be helpful? Or redundant, if I'm going to use LLATL?

[vaquitita]

 

The copy of LLATL Orange I bought is the newer version. I went with the new version so that I had the option of buying the worksheet pdf. But if I'm going to skip the worksheets and just have them do their work in a notebook, maybe I should use the older version instead? One thing that struck me in a review I read is that the newer edition spells out how to extend the lessons. Which sounds very helpful.

Edited December 12, 2015 by vaquitita

[vaquitita]

May I ask which state you are in? We had a religious exemption removal scare recently in NC but it looks like it isn't going to happen and I am extremely relieved for now.

....

California

[Mrs. A]

Have you looked at 8filltheheart's Treasured Conversations? It's about $30 for the teacher's manual and student book combined (bought as a pdf and then you can have the TM printed and bound if you like and only print student pages as needed). But I'm wondering if it might be more economical than LLATL  because it really helps the teacher to learn HOW to teach writing and there are no levels to buy - just a one time purchase. 

[Hunter]

First, thank you for all the great ideas and feedback, this is feeling so much more doable than it first did.

 

This might not be a bad idea, but I admit I am much more drawn to SU than Rays. Rays is an awkward size, the juggling of books, and while both are vintage, SU is much more modern and understandable. I haven't even heard of some of the stuff in rays. SU is dated, but atleast I understand what it's talking about.

 

I have a photocopy of the handwriting directions from WRTR 4th edition, would that work just as well?

 

The charter will not buy used books, but i have gotten this through ILL before. I have been eyeing used copies of this, I think it might be a good investment for the middle school and high school years.

 

I didn't think of encyclopedias... Real encyclopedias. I was thinking to look for a couple usborne encyclopedias used. But over the long run, as the kids get older, a set of encyclopedias might be a good investment.

 

I will check on the capital city's library. I have July marked on my calendar because the county library will be offering free cards then. 😄

 

Unfortunately, the only tablets/readers the charter offers are iPads. While I like them, they are out of our price range. I'm leaning towards a nook ereader (my YC collection is in ePub). I have a first gen nook and like it. My dh has a refurb Galaxy tab 4 which would also be an option.

 

If you like S-U, look no further! That works.

 

WRTR 4th edition handwriting is FINE. I just figured it would be easier for the charter to buy 6th. You are all set.

 

A set of real encyclopedias is a fantastic resource when you are REALLY doing this on $100.00 a year. We had a few broken sets, and they overlapped well enough for our needs. We used them as our primary textbooks for content subjects. The boys carried them around and READ them. When they asked me questions, I'd say, "Go look it up."

 

The charter won't buy eReaders, but will buy tablets? That is nuts! If you contact YC and show proof of purchase they will send a link to download the Kindle versions. If I'm spending more than an hour a day reading from a device, I prefer spending as much of that time on an eReader instead of a tablet. I have a Paperwhite. The prices came down since the Voyager came out. It really does help to have the novel type books on an eReader to give your eyes a rest.

[Hunter]

I am currently rereading the three R's. Its making this feel so doable. I wonder if buying the next book, the 4-8 book, would be helpful? Or redundant, if I'm going to use LLATL?

 

I do not like the 4-8 book much. Get if from the library, before even spending $1.00 plus shipping.

 

The Three R's is awesome. The next book is a let down.

[Hunter]

If I'm going to head in this direction next year, I'm thinking I won't get AAR 3/4. I need to decide what to do with dd after she finishes AAR 2. Use MCGuffeys to continue phonics instruction? I need to figure out my weekly plan for that. And/Or use LLATL red with her next year? I read somewhere that the old comb bound version of red is like the yellow and up versions, so maybe that would be a good option? One thing I have liked about AAR, is he rules help me be a better teacher. I haven't made dd memorize them, but I do explain them, especially when she asks why something is a certain way. And in general I've just found that me knowing the rules and whys behind things helps me teach her. Would WRTR help me self teach the rest of these? I can find used copies of 4th edition cheap. Or maybe LLATL red old edition would cover enough?

 

The copy of LLATL Orange I bought is the newer version. I went with the new version so that I had the option of buying the worksheet pdf. But if I'm going to skip the worksheets and just have them do their work in a notebook, maybe I should use the older version instead? One thing that struck me in a review I read is that the newer edition spells out how to extend the lessons. Which sounds very helpful.

 

Have you read Hoenshel's Language Lessons pages 11-26? They will help you teach McGuffey's.

 

WRTR 4th will teach you what you need to do what you are doing with AAR.

 

The old spiralbound series is a bit choppy. The author becomes a bit less Beechick as writing the series and complicates things. I'm not at all sure than the series improved, but it's smoother and more consistent. Yes, the old red is more like yellow and easier to use than the new red. The old and new series offer different types of tips. The old series has an extensive intro; the new series has more in the actual lessons.

[FO4UR]

You have a laser printer?

 

PM me with your email addy and I will send you some documents.  One of them is a simple 2 page spread.  On one side is:

 

Copywork

 

____lines____

 

 

Dictation

 

___lines___

 

 

I have them copy one day and dictate the next.  On the other side is...

 

Today I read about...

 

___lines___

 

 

I used this merely to remind MYSELF to do copywork, dictation, and write down some narrations regularly.  This makes it easier to use whatever other resources are at your disposal, for example, whatever used books you can pick up for $1 here or $.50 there.  Speaking of....check library sales, yard sales, and used book stores for books to read.  

 

 

MEP math is awesome and free, but if you like Miquon I think purchasing the wb's from rainbowresource is cheaper.  I *heart* Miquon, so any kids that are still in that skill range would get Miquon, and then I would switch to MEP.  I like Strayer-Upton, but MEP will mesh better with your love of Miquon and C Rods.  

 

 

Aren't Treadwell Readers part of the Yesterday's Classics package?  idk?  I really like the Treadwell Readers. 

 

 

I wouldn't print off any books just yet, except math/grammar.  Search used!  I might print off the Treadwells...pm me.

 

 

 

 

 

[vaquitita]

Have you read Hoenshel's Language Lessons pages 11-26? They will help you teach McGuffey's.

 

WRTR 4th will teach you what you need to do what you are doing with AAR.

 

The old spiralbound series is a bit choppy. The author becomes a bit less Beechick as writing the series and complicates things. I'm not at all sure than the series improved, but it's smoother and more consistent. Yes, the old red is more like yellow and easier to use than the new red. The old and new series offer different types of tips. The old series has an extensive intro; the new series has more in the actual lessons.

Is hoenshels different from the eclectic manual of methods? I will look for it. I'm not sure if LLATL red and reading lessons with mcguffey would be overkill. I need to figure that part out.

[vaquitita]

MEP math is awesome and free, but if you like Miquon I think purchasing the wb's from rainbowresource is cheaper. I *heart* Miquon, so any kids that are still in that skill range would get Miquon, and then I would switch to MEP. I like Strayer-Upton, but MEP will mesh better with your love of Miquon and C Rods.

What year of MEP do you switch to after Miquon? I have actually used MEP before. I liked it, but found it so teacher and time intensive, that we switched. Year 2 was taking an hour a day. It was too much.

[Hunter]

Is hoenshels different from the eclectic manual of methods? I will look for it. I'm not sure if LLATL red and reading lessons with mcguffey would be overkill. I need to figure that part out.

 

Hoeneshel pages 11-26 is only 16 pages to print. Print them. Read them. Trust me. It's Beechick, but better.

[FO4UR]

What year of MEP do you switch to after Miquon? I have actually used MEP before. I liked it, but found it so teacher and time intensive, that we switched. Year 2 was taking an hour a day. It was too much.

 

 

I have always used too many math currics in those early years.  I can't give a definite answer.  It might even vary by kid.

 

 

Guessing...Y3.

[vaquitita]

Hoeneshel pages 11-26 is only 16 pages to print. Print them. Read them. Trust me. It's Beechick, but better.

I read them. I find them a bit confusing. Maybe just cause so much time is spent showing and talking about a hat and a cat and how a word represents the item. I need to read again the part after that.

 

I got out my various readers and looked them over. While McGuffey is not my favorite, it does seem the best set up for reading lessons. With the phonograms and new words listed at the beginning of each lesson and the short lesson length. As compared to Treadwell or pathways.

 

As I was retreading the three R's, I notice she suggests kids keeping a spelling notebook similar to the WRTR. Lol.

 

My initial thoughts for McGuffey are...

 

Day 1: teach new phonograms and words. They copy the new words and then come up with sentences using the new words, orally or written.

Day 2: dictate the new words. Read aloud lesson. Copy first half of lesson.

Day 3: read lesson, copy second half of lesson.

Day 4: read lesson, dictate a couple sentences from lesson.

 

How does this sound?

 

My only problem now is deciding when and where to switch my kids into mcguffey from AAR. I have one kid in the middle of level 2 (7yo) and another in the middle of level 1 (4yo).

[Hunter]

I think I would copy before creating new sentences, if you are using a reader. Hoenshel suggests creating new sentences, but I think once the reader was started the new sentences were to provide more practice, not introduce the words. I'll have to reread that.

 

If I remember correctly, Beechick's method of teaching reading requires coming up with your own word list. Hoenshel provides the word list. What I did was print the 16 pages and I drew a box around each word. Then I could still underline important tips without confusing the tips with the word list.

 

If you use McGuffey's Primer, the primer overlaps with Beechick/Hoenshel's reading instructions. Hoenshel was based on students going directly into any 1st reader. Beechick was assuming you might not have readers at all.

 

I could teach most students to read just using those 16 pages of Hoenshel. Print them and take notes before giving up on them. He's saying mostly what Beechick did, but actually gives you a pretty good wordlist.

 

Yes, Hoenshel does go on a bit too long talking about hats. :lol:

 

Hoenshel was more helpful to me than Beechick, because a word list was supplied and the instructions were meant to be used before and alongside a reader. I also found the language and math instructions helpful. Heonshel nicely plugged up some remaining holes in my understanding of what to do with McGuffey's Primer and Ray's Primary.

 

We find most helpful, what answers our current questions. Hoenshel might not be answering YOUR questions, right NOW. That's okay.

 

As for placement, I'd place low. If you are taking a break over the summer, you need review anyway. If you are switching to a slightly different handwriting, you need review as well. I'd just have the children read the stories and copy/dictate the wordlist, but not the stories, for review.

 

For McGuffey, I find I need to be VERY clear, if I am using the series as reading OR spelling. If I am expecting a student to be able to take the wordlist by dictation, I usually need to let them move ahead in reading with something else. Or if I am using the series as reading and vocabulary, I need to be coming up behind to clean up the spelling.

[stutterfish]

nm