Hits and Misses

[abrightmom]

We have only just started ..... So early impressions and thoughts.

Hits: MFW ECC is fine so far, CLE LA 300, Hake grammar - the format does fit what I was wanting. We will see about retention. IDK that I'll stay with Hake because I prefer Rod and Staff or will move to AG in middle school. I do think Hake will give DS a comprehensive grammar foundation upon which to build.

Misses: Nothing yet but this may change. We haven't used everything.

Uncertain: BJU Math. I still hate the teachers manual and desperately miss ease of use with CLE and MM. The decision to move to BJU Math was made carefully so I am going to hang in there and see if I adjust. I knew going in that the TM would be a problem for me. The math instruction is excellent despite my distaste for the TM and there are so many wonderful extras that I can give my kids a robust math experience within one program. It is stressful for me and I loved not feeling stressed about teaching math. I miss how they could just get started with MM and CLE ..... Not so just yet with BJU.

[SeaConquest]

Misses:

We are only in our second week, but I have already dropped formal French and Spanish. Despite the fact that my oldest (6) has had three years of immersion preschool in both languages, and has a father/extended family who are native speakers of French, my son is just not developmentally ready for formal language study. One of the great things about homeschooling is that I've learned that if something isn't working, it will be painfully obvious right away. We are still doing Latin (vocab) and Hebrew (decoding/writing) very slowly, but I'm putting Spanish and French on the back burner for now. My son still watches TV in both languages, but formal language/grammar study was like pulling teeth.

 

Hits:

 

Beast Academy

Story of the World

History of US

MCT Island

New American Cursive

Mindbenders

Balance Benders

Prodigy Math Game

Junior Great Books

Mosdos

Shalom Uvrachah

K'tav B'kalut

 

Gets The Job Done:

 

WWE

R&S Spelling

Singapore

 

[madteaparty]

Zometool lessons

 

 

Are you using the booklet that came with the kit? I have a decent size kit but found it all so overwhelming. When I let DS loose on them, he made...his name. Lol

[....]

I'm listing this by kid.

 

13 year-old:

Hits - Holt Biology, Komm Mit 1 (German textbook), History of the Ancient World, English from the Roots Up flashcards, Fire Bringer by Clement-Davies (oh my, she read all 600 pages in like 2 sittings - with the cat sitting next to her)

Misses - Literary Lessons from Lord of the Rings (she made it halfway thru the 1st book and it was becoming a fight - she hated it - we dropped it)

 

12 year-old:

Hits - Holt Biology, Komm Mit 1, Notgrass America the Beautiful

Misses - none

 

10 year-old:

Hits - following TWTM science/history, Beast Academy, Times Tales (!! huge hit !!)

Misses - MCT LA (she liked one of the books and thought another was "weird")

 

7 year-old:

Hits - Miquon, TWTM science/history

Misses - none

 

Edited to add:  I should probably say that we started the first week of August (I think)...so about we've done about 7 weeks now of new school year.

[strange_girl]

5 weeks in here.

 

Hits:

CLE Math, LA, and Bible. For some reason both my kids always reach for these first. I think they like the level of independence.

 

Memoria Press Literature. Surprised and happy about this one. 3rd grader is enjoying Mr. Popper's Penguins, and 1st grader absolutely adores Storytime Treasures.

 

Memoria Press Introduction to Composition. Very surprised and impressed with this. It's a little book, with not a lot of specific writing instruction, but it fits DD to a T and her writing is progressing tremendously, even in 5 weeks. And she doesn't hate it, which is a plus!

 

Misses:

Theory Time. I just don't know enough about piano to teach it, even with help.

 

HOD Bigger Hearts. I really love HOD...but we've failed with two of their programs. We're still going to use the history portion this year, but next year I'm going back to Mystery of History.

 

Just meh:

Prima Latina. 3rd grader is doing the second half of this program this year after starting it last year. We're using the DVDs, which are great, but she is just over it. She really wanted to just move on to Latina Christiana, but I held her back because I didn't want to hit First Form Latin until 5th grade.

[flyingaway]

Hits:

Rod and Staff English. We really aren't their target audience, but it gets the job done, so we've stuck with it year after year.

 

Writing With Skill 1. we got a rocky start with this, but I see now that my student just wasn't ready when I first got it out last year. I'm glad I came back to it.

 

Memrize for language study. Free app that has been surprisingly popular here.

 

Misses: I'm not sure yet. The jury is still out on TabletClass Algebra 1. Hope we're not wasting our time.

 

Also undecided about From Yao to Mao, which is a Great Courses class. A talking head. Actually a talking half a head since I have yet to figure out how to get it to fit to screen properly. It's being tolerated at the moment, but I'm not sure much learning is going on.

[mmasc]

We have only just started ..... So early impressions and thoughts.

 

Hits: MFW ECC is fine so far, CLE LA 300, Hake grammar - the format does fit what I was wanting. We will see about retention. IDK that I'll stay with Hake because I prefer Rod and Staff or will move to AG in middle school. I do think Hake will give DS a comprehensive grammar foundation upon which to build.

 

Misses: Nothing yet but this may change. We haven't used everything.

 

Uncertain: BJU Math. I still hate the teachers manual and desperately miss ease of use with CLE and MM. The decision to move to BJU Math was made carefully so I am going to hang in there and see if I adjust. I knew going in that the TM would be a problem for me. The math instruction is excellent despite my distaste for the TM and there are so many wonderful extras that I can give my kids a robust math experience within one program. It is stressful for me and I loved not feeling stressed about teaching math. I miss how they could just get started with MM and CLE ..... Not so just yet with BJU.

I was just thinking of resurrecting our old BJU Math thread for some updates! :) I'm right there with you, exactly. I'm really trudging through that TM, and it just seems to take me forever to teach a lesson. DS's eyes start to glaze over. It's just not as teacher friendly and I do feel I'm fumbling through, even though I know the math. But like you, I made this switch after careful consideration, so we'll continue to hang in there for now. :)

Good luck!

[Farrar]

Are you using the booklet that came with the kit? I have a decent size kit but found it all so overwhelming. When I let DS loose on them, he made...his name. Lol

 

Different kits come with different things... We had the kit for awhile and I kept being disappointed by it. All ours came with was a small booklet with a few ideas. We had a similar experience. This year I wanted to do some more hands on geometry and I was looking at materials and realized, good grief, I already had the "good" ones. So I got this:

http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/sku/025795

 

There's also this:

http://www.amazon.com/Zome-Geometry-Hands--Learning-Models/dp/1559533854/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1442407860&sr=8-1&keywords=zome+geometry

I think that one is slightly shorter and comes with some of the advanced kits. But I decided not to get it and to do the first one because this one is all geometry focused and says it's only upper grades focused. I liked the idea of having a variety of lessons and topics.

 

I'm discovering that I like them better than I realized, if that makes sense. I might buy us a bundle of the green struts since we don't have any of those. I think they're a bit like the C-rods - a great tool. However, they're a tool (like the c-rods) that need to have structured introductions followed by open discovery in order to get a lot out of them. I never struggled to make the c-rods work... I feel like I intuitively understand them and what they can do. But that's maybe in large part because I really understand elementary arithmetic (I know, big accomplishment for a grown woman, right!). But I think I don't always "get" geometry so I am beginning to understand why I'm having trouble seeing all the different patterns that are emerging from these and how to name them and play on them. But we're trying...

[Mrs Twain]

Hits

 

Memrize for language study. Free app that has been surprisingly popular here.

 

 

Could you tell me which app you use?

[FO4UR]

Hits:

 

A Picturesque Tale of Progress

 

Haliburton's Complete Book of Marvels  (Someone has already started future travel plans.)

 

Essentials in Spelling for my dyslexics

 

Treadwell 3 for my *thisclose* to fluency boy.

 

Khan Academy, Prodigy games, Singapore math

 

 

 

 

Misses:

 

Singapore Math for dd10  

 

 

Just Found:

 

Gattegno Math

[Guest]

.

 

Memoria Press Introduction to Composition. Very surprised and impressed with this. It's a little book, with not a lot of specific writing instruction, but it fits DD to a T and her writing is progressing tremendously, even in 5 weeks. And she doesn't hate it, which is a plus!

 

 

 

I assume you're using this with your 3rd grader? I am really glad to see someone who loves it; there are not nearly enough reviews of Intro to Comp from them out in the internets!

[strange_girl]

I assume you're using this with your 3rd grader? I am really glad to see someone who loves it; there are not nearly enough reviews of Intro to Comp from them out in the internets!

Yes, the 3rd grader. I think she likes that the instruction is very short and to the point. After she finished the week's lesson, I use any leftover days to make up my own exercises to practice what was taught. For instance, this week we learned about writing paragraphs that make sense (all the facts in order), so I made up a few paragraphs, mixed them up, and had her sort them out again to make a coherent paragraph. Wouldn't you know, she loved it? :D

[MinivanMom]

Hits:

AOPS Pre Algebra

Latin Alive

K12 Human Odyssey

 

No misses yet this year.

[madteaparty]

Different kits come with different things... We had the kit for awhile and I kept being disappointed by it. All ours came with was a small booklet with a few ideas. We had a similar experience. This year I wanted to do some more hands on geometry and I was looking at materials and realized, good grief, I already had the "good" ones. So I got this:

http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/sku/025795

 

There's also this:

http://www.amazon.com/Zome-Geometry-Hands--Learning-Models/dp/1559533854/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1442407860&sr=8-1&keywords=zome+geometry

I think that one is slightly shorter and comes with some of the advanced kits. But I decided not to get it and to do the first one because this one is all geometry focused and says it's only upper grades focused. I liked the idea of having a variety of lessons and topics.

 

I'm discovering that I like them better than I realized, if that makes sense. I might buy us a bundle of the green struts since we don't have any of those. I think they're a bit like the C-rods - a great tool. However, they're a tool (like the c-rods) that need to have structured introductions followed by open discovery in order to get a lot out of them. I never struggled to make the c-rods work... I feel like I intuitively understand them and what they can do. But that's maybe in large part because I really understand elementary arithmetic (I know, big accomplishment for a grown woman, right!). But I think I don't always "get" geometry so I am beginning to understand why I'm having trouble seeing all the different patterns that are emerging from these and how to name them and play on them. But we're trying...

Thanks so much...my experience with the set is similar (have had it a while, looks like it should be great. For someone other than me). But good grief i think I have that first book you linked and still cannot make sense of it. I'm going to have to spend some time alone with it otherwise my DS will just use it to write more words...

[Tiramisu]

Hits

 

CLE Reading--She really likes this, so much more than I ever expected.

Dictation Day By Day

HWOT Cursive

 

Everything else if fine and getting done on schedule. 

 

The best hit this year is in scheduling and choosing materials she can use independently. She's probably not getting enough work since she finishes so quickly, but she's getting all her work done everyday without fighting. We had such a bad spring and I was so worried about what this school year would bring. It's such a relief.

[waa510]

Well, we haven't been doing this year's curriculum plans for very long but so far: 

 

Hits:

 

All our stand-bys we've used since the beginning: WWE, AAS, MM, SOTW, HWOT cursive

K12 Human Odyssey is actually going over really well this year

Combining my kids on the same topics in history and science, but at different levels. They're enjoying doing projects, lapbooks, and mapwork together more than I'd thought they would

SCM Geography is going well

Still love Holt Science

I created a huge youtube video list to go along with their science and history scope a la' McHenry's channel and the kids are getting a lot out of it. Thankfully, as it took for.ever!

Dh is working on Raspberry Pi computer stuff with older dd and she's really enjoying it! 

Evan-Moor Geo for little dd is going well...this kid loves workbooks!

 

Misses:

 

I'm not sure older DD is getting much use out of Wordly Wise anymore as the words aren't challenging her enough and the format is getting tired after 5 previous books of the same ol', same ol'. I'm considering mixing it up with RFP's Vocab program as she's loved the Mud books from MCT and seems to jive with his approach

 

LfC A just isn't getting done, but it may become a hit once we can prioritize doing it. I'm not really into it but my kids are enjoying it when we do it (little dd loves to join in) so I'm not ditching it just yet. 

 

Still failing in doing (well, honestly, it's picking!) an Art program. Doing random Pinterest projects surrounding different artists isn't going well, IMO. I've tried creating a more coherent plan with Art on my own and I just get overwhelmed. I have no excuse even being over here! Art supplies are everywhere and cheap.  :o

 

[waa510]

Could you tell me which app you use?

 

Not her but I think she was talking about the app Memrise, which uses mnemonics to help with memorization of foreign language vocab words or grammatical phrases. It's fantastic!

 

For instance, I've been using the JLPT 5 vocab program on there and the word for plate will show up in Japanese which is pronounced like o-sara. Well, underneath this word will be a picture of Sarah Michelle Gellar (from Buffy) on a plate to help me remember it!! Users can create their own mnemonics for words and you can choose which one resonated with you to help you remember and it'll come up with your word when reviewing. It also has you spell out the word (in my case, in kana or kanji) when it says it to you. It's a really quick and easy vocab builder. Love it a lot. :)

 

Back to your regularly scheduled programming... :thumbup1:

[pitterpatter]

Hits: CLE Reading, Wordly Wise 3000

Misses: Beast Academy, W&R Fable

[Chrysalis Academy]

My 8th grader's hits:

Bravewriter Kidswrite Intermediate class - this has been a big hit! It was a good choice for a first online class. It has her doing all the kinds of thinking exercises that I never would have thought to do. She's a great writer and I've felt pretty confident teaching writing, but this class has definitely added value.

Crocodiles & Coconuts - soon moving on to Chuckles the Rocket Dog.  She continues to love the Arbor School math books

Twelve Essential Scientific Concepts - GC.  She likes this better than Joy of Science (which we are still doing anyway  ;) )

How To Become a Superstar Student - GC.  She loved this and was sad when she finished it. I see her applying things she learned.

 

My 4th grader's hits:

Taking a BW lifestyle approach to writing.  We are loosely following Partnership Writing. It's been fantastic for her.  She composes things orally while I scribe, then she takes her own composition as dictation. This has been a great interim step for her rather than expecting her to do all her own writing from scratch, or having her only do dictation from books. She is really developing her voice this way. She loves the Personal Timeline project which is the first PW project we've tackled.

Simplifying - focusing on just the basics/must dos and getting rid of all the fluffy extras. So far she's enjoying the free time that provides and she's really focusing and bringing a positive attitude to school.

Independent things she can do online - Dreambox, PetraLingua for German, Typingtutor.com

[Peaceful Isle]

Hits for my ds:

 

Math u see 

FLL

SOTW 1

 

 

 

Misses for my dds:

 

Bju prealgebra - wish I had stuck with MUS for her :(

 

 

 

Not Sure;

 

BJU DL - not sure yet what I think about it. I really miss being with my girls during the day and interacting with them. My oldest is already missing her old faithful curriculum like MUS, EIW, and SOTW/with extras. We will see where this year takes us. 

[amsunshine]

Hits so far:

 

Saxon Algebra 2 and Advanced Maths (who knew, after years of Singapore, that dds would actually like these?)

K12 Lit and Comp 8

Spanish class at charter school (lots of fun conversational Spanish with high schoolers...so far so good)

QSL Physical Science kit

 

Misses:

None yet

 

[Tiramisu]

Hits

 

CLE Reading--She really likes this, so much more than I ever expected.

Dictation Day By Day

HWOT Cursive

 

Everything else if fine and getting done on schedule. 

 

The best hit this year is in scheduling and choosing materials she can use independently. She's probably not getting enough work since she finishes so quickly, but she's getting all her work done everyday without fighting. We had such a bad spring and I was so worried about what this school year would bring. It's such a relief.

 

I forgot about Memoria Press Recitation. Dd really likes this, except for the ones about Greek gods, who she says are not real so why learn about them. That's the girl who could read fairy tales all day long everyday.  :rolleyes:

 

I might just skip those, rather that die on that hill.

[IfIOnly]

Okay, I'm loving Hake grammar. . My kids also are preferring it to what we've used in the past except there's less diagramming. Ha! I never thought I'd hear that. The vocabulary words are a hit. It's incredibly thorough and incremental. Major score!

[IfIOnly]

Forgot, EGR is going smoothly as well. Kids actually like memoring together at the beginning of school time. I see the benefits of memorizing grammar facts carrying over into their other work already. Painless and not much time for the pay out, if you ask me.I'd planned to use EGR last year but never ordered the book, but I wish I had now.

[vaquitita]

We are 8 weeks in.

 

Hits, not that my kids love these, but they're getting the job done with minimal whining. Nothing more seems possible for my kids. Lol.

 

SOTW

RSO

HWOT

Climbing t good English

Singapore

Beast academy (for oldest)

Miquon (for 5yo)

AAR

 

Not sure

AAS

Conventional arithmetic with spunky the donkey (DD is currently rejecting this, but after a break i plan t try it again with tweaks)

[3sapphires]

We are only about 3 weeks in as we got a late start, and the some of the curriculum just arrived last week. So far:

 

Hits

Khan academy for a heavy review of basic math up through pre-Algebra. Her previous classroom moved very fast (she was accelerated in math - big mistake) and left some holes.

The Big History Project.

Science - doing many experiments in preparation for an eventual YouTube channel. Lab reports required.

My home brewed booklist, with both of us reading and discussing (essays will also be required)

Wordly wise online through HSBC

 

Misses

Teaching textbooks - too slow. I can tell that finding just the right pace of math will be hard for this child. We are trying AOPS next, as I think that the fact that she will actually understand the "why's" is what she is used to, BUT at home we can go at our own pace.

 

Too early to tell

Analytical Grammar - she is tolerating this program, but getting a lot wrong in the exercises. She is really lacking in a grammar background, though. So we have slowed the program down to see if it works for her that way.

 

No opinion, really

The Trail Guide to US History. I have her do the map work and then pick one of the topics for a weekly short essay. I think it's enough to know generalities about what a state is known for (fisheries, the Industrial Revolution), so we are using it that way.

 

So, I have not homeschooled my 8th grader since 4th grade, and jumped in with both feel in mid-September. I have more hits than misses, so I think we are doing well...

[Above The Rowan]

So far, for us:

Hits:

MCT - my language-phobic son LOVES it and thanks to Building Language he is now begging to study Latin "for real".

Beginning Reading and Reasoning

Elemental Science (Bio for my 2nd grader and Chem for my 4th grader).

 

Misses:

Anything requiring my 4th grader to write. We are trying W&R Fable with me scribing but he's not liking it. I finally printed BW's Partnership Writing so maybe we will really give BW a go this year once I figure it all out.

 

Not a miss but We miss our Morning Time. So I'm working on rolling that back into our day since it was when we hit all the Big Things that never seemed to get scheduled.

[Vida Winter]

One surprise hit has been Prodigy, the online math game. I took a chance and bought a subscription (the basic game is free but having a subscription unlocks many items to "buy" with earned points).

Another hit has been Hake Grammar 6 - one lesson per day, no tests. The tests are probably somewhere in the house but since we can't find them we're not using them.

[IfIOnly]

One surprise hit has been Prodigy, the online math game. I took a chance and bought a subscription (the basic game is free but having a subscription unlocks many items to "buy" with earned points).

Another hit has been Hake Grammar 6 - one lesson per day, no tests. The tests are probably somewhere in the house but since we can't find them we're not using them.

 

Ha! We never do the review or tests for any curriculum. My kids skip those. We don't generally move on (especially with math) until a topic is thoroughly understood though, so I know everyday where they're at with things. Tests would just busy work here. For spelling I just quiz them orally on their words at the end of their weekly lesson. Ones that are missed are just tacked on to the following weeks's quizzes until they're mastered. 

[KBadd]

Hits for 1st grade:

 

Singapore combined with a bit of Miquon and a Kumon Counting Money Workbook. Although we could be way behind in Singapore. I need to schedule it out.

FLL

Finished OPGTTR - loved it

Spelling Workout, I think... He does it independently and enjoys it. Not sure how effective it will be at teaching him spelling yet.

 

Both kids:

SOTW w/ activity guide

Guest Hollow Jr Anatomy, with Dover Human Body coloring book

Read alouds that interest them - Little Pilgrim's Progress, James Herriot, etc

Them reading to me Science and History books they enjoy

La Clase Divertida

MP K Recitation

 

Hits for Kindergarten:

Singapore Early Bird Math

Zaner-bloser Handwriting

OPGTTR

 

Misses:

Well, I'm pregnant! So we're taking an unexpected break for the most part until I get past the 1st trimester. (That's okay, right???) We try to do a couple school things every day, but we're not near full speed. I'm really appreciating our open-and-go curriculum and the ones that my kids don't complain about :)

 

I'm not sure about MP K Enrichment. I like the books, I think I just have to be better at scheduling and doing the activities. I'm just not sure about it yet.

 

Morning time - hit and miss. They like when I use a white board and "teach" random topics - place value, money, addition memorization facts, telling time. They like poetry. I want to read Children's Book of Virtues more often. We just started it. Bible memorization and devotions are not as pleasant for any of us as I'd like. LLO2G has been hard for us to get through. Maybe we should do more Millers books and pick another book of the Bible to read together?

 

Art - not doing a lot. Need something easy to implement for a non-artsy mom with young kids who love it.

[ChocolateMomster]

I'm nervous of the CM police, but I'm chucking some of the AO books out for this year, and since we love, love, love SOTW 1 I'll add extra books to that instead.

 

Math Mammoth was a miss, and we'll replace it with CLE. My eldest is not a logic boy, but more a 'tell me what to do and I'll do it' type.

 

Other than that we're happy with our choices.

[Guest]

I'm nervous of the CM police, but I'm chucking some of the AO books out for this year, and since we love, love, love SOTW 1 I'll add extra books to that instead.

 

Math Mammoth was a miss, and we'll replace it with CLE. My eldest is not a logic boy, but more a 'tell me what to do and I'll do it' type.

 

Other than that we're happy with our choices.

 

There are no cm police. There are only AO henchmen ;-)

[Insertcreativenamehere]

CLE Reading (4th and 5th grade) has been a hit here. Same with IEW SWI-A for my 5th grade reluctant writer. We are still happy using CLE math & language arts. 

 

CLE Learning to Read is so-so, so far ... my kindergartner isn't crazy about all of the writing. 

 

MFW Rome to Reformation is getting heavily tweaked; I'm just not good with having everything (Bible; history, science, etc.) tied together because we inevitably get off-track with subject and ahead with another. We'll still use many of the same resources but on our own schedule. (Well, except for the Augustus Caesar book ...) 

[freesia]

Particular Hits:

Saxon 78 for dd12. Who knew I'd ever like Saxon?

SOTW 1 for the third time

Our TOG history group with IEW Ancient Writing class added in

Science group for dd6--2 young friends come and we do science exploration project

4 online classes for ds--I'm seeing much improvement in work ethic and our relationship (He loves the Edhesive APcomputer Science Mooc, and AIM Chemistry the best. I love Homeschool Spanish Academy and Lampstand Lit b/c someone else is teaching and keeping him engaged)

We left the co-op I started this year and that has been a major hit for me b/c it lowered my stress level immeasurably. I found I just could not handle dealing with any issues of people outside of my age 6-14 spread at home.

 

 

Misses:

We've been at this a while and I guess I pretty much know what will work. I only took a chance on online classes and Saxon this year and they are our biggest hits.

 

ETA: Wait, Rod and Staff English was a miss for my fifth grader--I could have/should have predicted this b/c he has some writing and spacial issues. I tried it b/c it was on the shelf. I switched him immediately back to Climbing to Good English and all is well.

[Mrs. Tharp]

We are almost two months in. 

 

Hits:

 

R&S English

Calvert Spelling (for oldest)

R&S Spelling (youngest)

NAC 1

Memoria Press Lit. 

WTM chemistry, Adventures With Atoms and Molecules

Child's Study of Famous Americans/MP States & Capitals

R&S Math (oldest)

CLE Math (youngest)

MP Greek Myths

 

Misses:

 

SOTW, again. I don't get it, but this never seems to stick.

WWE, again. Same thing. 

R&S Math for youngest. I think he needs something more advanced and with more variety than R&S, hence the change to CLE.

Beast Academy for youngest. He loved this, but fizzled out on it. I'm not quite sure why. 

HO, Ancients. This looks great, but still a little too advanced for my oldest, who still firmly in Grammar Stage in spite of his age. 

IEW, All Things Fun and Fascinating. Looks good, but I haven't had the mental energy to implement it. Maybe this summer. 

 

 

[Hobbes]

Hits:

 

Growing With Grammar 2

MM2 - still adjusting to it, but so far so good.

Calculadder

Explode the Code (always!)

HWT

Journaling

A memory work compilation I put together

SOTW - a perennial favorite here

WTM-style science with the First Animal Encyclopedia

Art projects with the Usborne Art Treasury

 

Sort of:

Teach Your Child to Read In 100 Easy Lessons - I dislike using this every time, but it is effective, my 1st grader likes it, and I think the issue really is that I have limited patience for the slllllooooowwwnesss of learning phonics. I'm trying knitting during lessons now...!

[deerforest]

Still too early for us since I have changed most everything.

 

But, I can say with certainty that DD has loved the historical fiction books so far (Door in the Wall, Edge on the Sword, and Catherine Called Birdy). We have so many more this year for the Middle Ages so I'm glad we've been successful so far.

 

The other huge hit is philosophy. I am scrambling to find even more resources because she is really loving it.

 

Nearly a month later now, and I have a few additional things to report. In addition to these specific items, she is generally happy with our other curricula choices.

 

Mixed

Cover Story. Enjoys the videos, but the work for about the first 10 lessons is too repetitive from work she's done before. So, we're switching things slightly and reducing the work she has to do in the workbook so she can get more into the parts that are new.

 

TabletClass. She doesn't love it, but I like it because it lets me be able to easily see where she needs help. So, my teaching time is spent on concepts and specifics that she doesn't understand rather than everything.

 

Misses

Analytical Grammar. Too repetitive and slow. Dropping and switching back to occasional sentence diagramming and more comprehension mechanics review instead.

 

Loves

Philosophy for Kids. She absolutely loves this book and the discussions that we have.

 

Poetry by Blackbird and Company. Seeing the output she produces with this curriculum has been eye opening! It's amazing what she does when she enjoys it!

[Kiara.I]

Learn to draw the whole world $15 PDF download (or first you can try a free ebook download sample) from here:

http://memorize-maps.blogspot.com/

If you ever gave up teaching your kids map drawing after utter frustration with continent blobs, you may be interested in this, too.

 

 

This looks really interesting.

I'm a little put off by how they keep referring to the "States of Canada" though.  :huh:

[aprilleigh]

Hits:

Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading

Modern Curriculum Press Plaid Phonics

Writing with Ease

Handwriting Without Tears

First Language Lessons

All About Spelling

Primary Mathematics (Singapore)

Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding

Artistic Pursuits

 

Mixed:

Story of the World

Telling God's Story

Building Thinking Skills

 

Misses:

Spelling Workout

[Mrs Twain]

This looks really interesting.

I'm a little put off by how they keep referring to the "States of Canada" though. :huh:

My son and I are just finishing up learning how to draw the USA (48 states). I am so impressed with myself. LOL.

[Tiramisu]

Okay, I'm loving Hake grammar. . My kids also are preferring it to what we've used in the past except there's less diagramming. Ha! I never thought I'd hear that. The vocabulary words are a hit. It's incredibly thorough and incremental. Major score!

 

I'm curious about how MC is going with your dc. I almost used it but decided against it at the last minute because of the small font. That dd was in the middle of vision therapy and I anticipated issues.

[JadeOrchidSong]

My 8th grader's hits:

Bravewriter Kidswrite Intermediate class - this has been a big hit! It was a good choice for a first online class. It has her doing all the kinds of thinking exercises that I never would have thought to do. She's a great writer and I've felt pretty confident teaching writing, but this class has definitely added value.

Crocodiles & Coconuts - soon moving on to Chuckles the Rocket Dog. She continues to love the Arbor School math books

Twelve Essential Scientific Concepts - GC. She likes this better than Joy of Science (which we are still doing anyway ;) )

How To Become a Superstar Student - GC. She loved this and was sad when she finished it. I see her applying things she learned.

 

My 4th grader's hits:

Taking a BW lifestyle approach to writing. We are loosely following Partnership Writing. It's been fantastic for her. She composes things orally while I scribe, then she takes her own composition as dictation. This has been a great interim step for her rather than expecting her to do all her own writing from scratch, or having her only do dictation from books. She is really developing her voice this way. She loves the Personal Timeline project which is the first PW project we've tackled.

Simplifying - focusing on just the basics/must dos and getting rid of all the fluffy extras. So far she's enjoying the free time that provides and she's really focusing and bringing a positive attitude to school.

Independent things she can do online - Dreambox, PetraLingua for German, Typingtutor.com

How do you use GC? Do you watch the video and then discuss? Do you use the booklet and the DVD? Thanks!

[Momling]

It's my last year of homeschooling as my daughter will go to the local high school next year!

 

Hits:

•Jacobs Geometry - I had trouble seeing where the instruction was and my daughter didn't seem to understand proofs but after a few chapters it all makes sense.

•K12 American Odyssey - Supplementing with Crash course US history, American experience, Reading like a historian, DBQs... All are great

• Lots of novel studies

•Saxon Algebra 1 - it's not inspiring and I'm not a fan of how some topics are taught, but as a review to keep algebra fresh during a geometry year, this is just what she needed.

 

Misses:

•First start French - daughter complains about lack of instruction. Plus it's dry. We've added in duo lingo and a weekly local class through parks and rec, but FS French was disappointing.

•Windows to the world - Too religious, author's tone is condescending. "Reading literature like a professor" was far, far better.

 

Meh

•Syrwl Science 2 it's getting the job done, but doesn't inspire. Supplementing with crash course videos and other documentaries.

[Chrysalis Academy]

How do you use GC? Do you watch the video and then discuss? Do you use the booklet and the DVD? Thanks!

 

At this point, we watch the video together and she takes notes on it. We discuss too.  She is reading correlated books but I'm not specifically using the booklet at this point. I did during planning. We are using streaming versions of the courses we are currently watching, although I have DVDs of others.

[Dmmetler]

This year:

 

Hits:Galore Park British History

IntoScience (Australian online science supplement

Online vocabulary and Geography classes at Athena's Academy

Biology (as always) with mentor

SD Accelerate

 

OK-Latin Prep (DD has done several years of Cambridge Latin, and is trying to solidify Grammar while continuing to read CLC.. She thinks it's a lot of busywork-but at the same time, he grammar is really clicking now, so it's serving it's purpose)

 

somewhat a miss-Literart Lessons from Lord of the Rings. DD finds the workbook dry. She does like the units between the sections, though

 

Not really started yet-AOPS Geometry. DD has been doing SAT stuff on Khan Academy because she took the test this past weekend. So we just started AOPS today.

[Cake and Pi]

Hits:

• DS#1 is LOVING BA. I just ordered the 4th grade books because he's flying through 3C and 3D.  I'm expecting that once he hits some stuff that isn't partial-review he'll slow down to a normal pace.
• DS#3 is doing great in RS1-A
• SOTW has been awesome.  The activities in the AG are serious fun, and the kids all love the audio book and ask to listen to it in the vehicle over and over and over and over...
• OPGTR has been working with DS#3, at least so far.  We only do these lessons while he's up moving around (I write stuff for him to see on the white board), and I got some textured letter cards for feeling and some magnetic foam letters for making words, etc.  Looks like teaching this kid is going to require some intense creativity on my part.
• DS#1, #2, and #3 are enjoying FLL1.  The lessons take all of 5 minutes, and they enjoy reciting the poems.  I like that I'm teaching them grammar without it feeling like a chore for any of us.  I probably wouldn't bother with official grammar lessons at all until middle school if not for this program.

Misses:

• While TYCTR in 100EZ Lessons worked well for my older two, DS#3 could not even begin to sit down for a lesson.  So we ditched that.
• RS2-C was a great big flop for DS#2.  There was too much review and then too much jumping around with the topics.  He wants to focus on one thing at a time and gets frustrated when we move on before he's mastered something.  I did 1st edition RS all the way through E with DS#1 and invested in 2nd edition thinking it would be an improvement over what we already had, but I'm really not liking how the lessons build.  The sequence in first edition seems to work better for my boys.  So I'm in the process of switching DS#2 from RS2-C back to RS1-C.  It will require some backtracking and he's not happy about going from middle of RS2-C to near-beginning of RS1-C.

 

Still on the fence:

• SS Latin and WWE we just started in the last couple of weeks, so I don't think we're far enough in to really make any judgements yet. 
• I like how BFSU builds and the concepts and whatnot, but it requires so much planning on my part!  That's hard with 4 kids to manage and tend, other lessons to teach, hours of weekly therapy appointments, etc.  And the flow-chart was barely mediocre.  I had to make a more accurate one.

[MamaHappy]

Hits:

 

All ACE for my 10 yo ds.

 

Abeka History

Spectrum Science

Core Skills Wriitng

R&S English

Abeka Literature

 

Just meh:

R&S English (grade 7)

Abeka 7th grade math

[Tiramisu]

Dd9 is not loving Evan Moor Geography so I decided to put it away and pull out the Trail Guide to World Geography. She loves having to find things on a map, so I think this is going to be a good change. She loves the world capital flashcards so we'll keep going with them.

[Ivey]

New hits this year: 

 

AoPS Prealgebra for both Ds13 and Ds11, which has surprised me because they are such different learners. I bought it for Ds11, but Ds13 asked to try it out and loved it.  

 

Moving Beyond the Page literature units for Ds13. We've never tried MBtP before (largely due to the cost), but he's loved the literature units he's used so far (The Pearl and The Hobbit). We've mostly just discussed literature up until this point, so I think he likes being independent and actually producing something.

 

Daily creative writing time. At the beginning of October, I announced that every day from 11:00 until lunch time (around noon) would be creative writing. My high schoolers lasted about three days before they decided that they have no interest in writing and would rather just get their work done, but my three younger boys are loving it. I got a handful of writing books (The Creative Writer, Writing Magic, Spilling Ink, Writing Tools, etc.) and printed out the NaNoWriMo workbooks, but let them decide whether to use them or not, and what to write. Ds6 has mostly been writing comic books, Ds11 is writing a fantasy novel, and Ds13 alternates between using the writing books and working on a couple short stories he's started. It does eat up a big chunk of our morning, but so far it seems to be worth it! 

 

Conceptual Physics. We loved Conceptual Chemistry, so there's no surprise here. 

 

Dual-enrollment at the community college for Ds16. 

 

Hiring a writing tutor for Ds18. 

 

Misses: 

Legends and Leagues. Ds6 liked the picture book, but the workbook was a flop and we never finished it.

 

CPO Earth Science. It's still the best middle school science text I've seen, but none of us have any interest in Earth science, and we just couldn't get into it.   

 

Nancy Larson Science. An expensive mistake. 

 

Old favorites that are still getting the job done: Singapore, Math-U-See, Key to series, SOTW, Handwriting Without Tears, Getty-Dubay Italic, Sequential Spelling, Writing With Skill, Writing Skills, Excellence in Literature, Breaking the Barrier

[Haiku]

Hits:

 

CNN Student News--always my kids' favorite part of the day

Foerster's Algebra--dd loves the punny names used in the word problems and the fact that the book is very plain looking (classics edition); paired with Math Without Borders videos, she's getting an excellent algebra course

Teaching Textbooks 7--my son who is dyslexic and has processing problems is successful with TT

Latin Book One and Latin Book Two--these books are gems. They make learning Latin less intimidating and are interesting.

Reading Olympians--purchased from the Teachers Pay Teachers website. This teacher-created resource is not super polished, but my son has learned to recognize, use, and spell almost 100 prefixes, suffixes, and roots. We'll be moving into the next program, Reading Warriors, soon. This works very well for a kid who would not be able to handle Latin.

Lightning Literature--dd has enjoyed most of the books and writing assignments

Writing in English (a vintage book from Google Books)--dd really enjoys the flexibility, and the writing instruction is top notch

Stanford History Education Group's American history resources--a primary document study that really brings history to life

Grammar for Middle School--after rejecting every grammar program I tried after FLL, dd is happy with this one because she gets to create, not just mark other people's sentences. I was skeptical, but I'm convinced now.

Stop Faking It! science books--from NSTA Press. DD thinks the instruction is both entertaining and thorough.

MegaWords--an excellent follow-up to Apples and Pears for my dyslexic son. For the first time ever, ds is actually transferring what he learns to his own writing.

Writing Skills from EPS--thorough and step-by-step writing instruction for my son

 

 

Misses:

 

The Argument Builder--dd really liked Art of Argument, but she finds AB boring and too religious. We're going to finish it up anyone to finish dd's logic credit