We watch Salsa during lunch, too. I also have the Quizlet app on my phone. My kiddos can quickly review the vocab they've learned.

OLD THREAD but bumping for new information. How did everyone wind up liking Well Ordered Language? Was it thorough and engaging? Was it grade appropriate or too easy\too hard? Will anyone be continuing with the next level? ETA: Good for both auditory and visual learners?

IMO, buying all the readers is overkill. We have a couple from the beginning (a,b,c) and a couple from the end (g,h), but we prefer to read real books. We use the Handbook, the L&S work text, the Spelling and Poetry work text, and the Phonics Charts. We use Shurley and Writing With Ease to cover grammar and writing.

My son wanted to learn cursive the summer between his K and 1 year, so I bought Pentime. He learned quickly. Now, in first grade, he does his WWE copywork in cursive. I re-write the copywork in cursive for a model. He practices reading it first then copying. He prints on all his worksheets, notebooks, etc. I will require more work to be completed in cursive next school year (says the mom who NEVER writes in cursive 😂)

What is down voting?

I would hire a chef who does the grocery shopping.

I find it humorous that I said "most of these things I'm pretty set on" because I've changed so much 🤣 I am now leaning towards R&S Phonics and Spelling 2. I changed my mind from Shurley 2, to R&S English 3, to Cottage Press Primer 2. Just last night, my oldest told me he likes Shurley and wants to use it again. We are nixing BB Science in the Ancient World. Oldest wants to study Earth Science, Ecology, Botany. We are completely nixing Latin for next year, and we are outsourcing Spanish.

So, we have upstairs and downstairs art supplies 😳 Upstairs, we have several sets of small plastic drawers. Each drawer holds a different supply...So, one drawer for pencils, one for pens, one for glue, one for scissors, etc. Downstairs, we use an over the door shoe holder. Each pocket holds a different supply...So, one for markers, one for glue, etc.

Abeka begins teaching long vowels about half way through Kindergarten. Long vowels are reviewed in first grade, but first grade moves on quickly to new information. For my child, the review in first would not have been enough for him to learn long vowels.

For example, you could Abeka for phonics and spelling and FLL/WWE for grammar and writing. We are currently using Abeka phonics and spelling, Shurley 1, WWE 1. If you go with the full Abeka Language kit, I wouldn't try to add in any additional writing or grammar.

I agree. It depends on the child and if you are planning on using any other materials for language arts.

Oh yes, I noticed all those singles lines. I have a ream of the dotted line paper from Rainbow that we use for almost all our writing assignments.

We haven't had any major flops. A Child's Geography by Voskamp was a flop because my boys just do not enjoy listening to all that flowery language. Just the facts, please ma'am. We are also morning time drop outs. It just doesn't work for us. It sounds fabulous, but it isn't an enjoyable way for my children to learn.

I love looking at scope and sequence charts. I wish all curricula had them. I'm a big picture planner. I like to know where we are heading.

Thanks for helping me, Okbud!

Okbud, that sounds a lot like my boys. Another question, how long did the lessons take?

Following.

Writing With Ease

It's me again 😜 My guess as to the number of pages in the handwriting book is because Abeka is really written for schools. We used K5 handwriting but reduced it to every other page because the amount of writing was just ridiculous for my child. It became a serious battle. Pentime has a transition book. The first half is manuscript and the second half is cursive. It is what we used, but I have seen other transition books, too. Maybe A Reason for Handwriting.

I didn't use all three books (L&S, Spelling, and Language) because it seemed like Abeka overkill. We also use WWE, and many of the skills in the Abeka Language book were already being covered in WWE or the Abeka phonics and spelling books. So, for us, the Abeka Language book would have been busy work.

Did I answer everything on the other thread? Haha?

Okbud, do you think CLE LA is rigorous? Did your son transition ok into CLE? I feel like our LA this year is rigorous, and I just don't want my kiddos to burn out in elementary school. BUT, I also do not want to reach 5th grade and think "oops."

I say go for it if he is telling you it helps. I have little kids, though, so I'm no expert on the big kids. I don't think Miquon is babyish. There aren't any pictures of cute little bunnies, and the books are all labeled by colors not grade levels.

So, I thought I had my oldest son's language arts all planned out for next year. Rod and Staff English and Spelling, WWE 2, VP Literature and then....I fell down a rabbit hole. I was reading another thread on Writing & Rhetoric vs Cottage Press. I had never heard of Cottage Press. I checked it out, and it looks absolutely wonderful. Please tell me why I need it...or don't need it. If you did use the primers, did you add anything in?