Nancy Ann
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Posts posted by Nancy Ann
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School routine for my 5th grader this fall.
Wake up begin chores and than start on his independent school work. Sometime during this time he will take a break for breakfast. Here is his independent work:
Science - Apologia
Elecitve – Rosetta Stone, Draw Squad
PE Journal - basic exercises
Workbooks – critical thinking, handwriting
Reading - 30 minutes
Grammar - Easy Grammar
Once independent work is done it is usually around lunch time so we stop for lunch and than we start on the subjects that we do together in the afternoon.
Bible - bible reading or memorization
Math - Saxon
LA – writing, spelling, read aloud
History
Games
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Thanks so much Michele for all your input and blog info!!
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Yep, Sonlight has been wonderful and it's really with a heavy heart that I am trying something else. I think TQ will work out great for you! Good Luck and thanks for your input!!:001_smile:
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I am switching this year from Sonlight to Truthquest. I considered Beautiful Feet but realized that after reading SO many books each year with Sonlight, we were not going to be happy with the smaller number of books BF used. We obviously could have added on, but TQ just seemed to fit the bill for us.
We did TQ and it's really great. For us it didn't work out because it was too many to choose from and was overwhelming. I also couldn't always get the the library and we also went through the manual too slow. I guess I got a little too impatient!!:001_smile: But, I think it's a terrific approach to history and I know works very well for many families. I have a homeschool friend that has used it for about 3 years now and it's worked well. The only trouble she has had is when life got a bit hectic she just didn't have time to get to the library and get some books, so they went without reading history for some time. This is why I like Sonlight or Beautiful Feet, I like having it planned out for me and on my shelf.
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Which is funny, because wasn't it in CO that they weren't allowed at the HS convention because of the secular content of their books?? Poor company can't win :(
Yep,
I do just want to say that these three books that are in Core D and E are not my cup of tea, but they are also not Sonlight's cup of tea either. Their curriculum in general is not this providential. So, for people concerned that the rest of the curriculum will have this same slant...no need to worry. Sonlight is great and their books are great!!! Just too many for us!! I think I also like that Beautiful Feet will have us just read one book at a time and not flip through many. I think it will work better if we have one history book we are focusing on and not be reading a page or so from a couple different kinds.
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Thanks for the link to your blog, I enjoy looking at blogs and what other curriculum people are using.
I am looking into the Fun and Fascinating as well from IEW, we are going to work through. I also thought about those history studies from Geography Matters, we really like maps and so I was curious how much mapping comes with it.
I am also curious about Muggins Math, it looks really fun! I will be back to visit your blog!!:)
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Thanks so much!!! I really appreciate it. I am a bit skeptical of jumping off the Sonlight wagon and piecing my own stuff together.
I think I will add in those notebooking journals for Apologia. They are suppose to have extra projects and fun activities. I know the books themselves have experiments.
What I have seen and researched about the BF guides is that the student keeps a notebook. They recommend a composition type notebook but some people with blogs use some creative notebooking and lapbooking, so once I get the guides and look through them I will figure that out. I am excited about the BF, I think we may enjoy it more than Sonlight because it seems the guides have more meat to them than the Sonlight guides, we will see once I am able to take a look at them.
I was thinking about adding in music but than I have decided to maybe alternate each year. One year do art and then next emphasize music. Or maybe we will do half a year of art and half a year of music. In the past it seems really hard to incorporate these and it's easier on my brain to just focus on one at a time.
Vocabulary is an issue, I didn't really think of that. Sonlight has vocab in their guides. I hate to add another workbook though I do like the looks of Vocabulary from Classical Roots.
Thanks a bunch everyone!:001_smile:
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I am a bit leery of that book as well. Sonlight introduced a couple providential books with their Core D and Core E this year and I read them and was not happy. They were pretty extreme in my opinion. They were books by Peter Marshall.
However, all the other book suggestions for the other literature packs look fantastic!
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I am thinking of switching from Sonlight to Beautiful Feet. I am wondering what you thought of Beautiful Feet if you have used it. Many of the literature packs say you can do it just 3 days a week. However, when I look at samples some of the lessons seem like they would take longer than just one day.
I am just wondering about how much time this curriculum will take on a daily and weekly basis.
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I am just feeling really overwhelmed. I came up with this plan a few days ago and than thought I would sit on it for a few days. I really want to get things ordered in the next week or so.
We have been doing Sonlight but have decided it is just too many books to read for my NON loving book son! :) So, I am back to the drawing board for this year. Normally, I have just ordered the next Sonlight Core. We used Sonlight LA and Sonlight science. I just feel this year we need to do something different. We may come back to it for high school.
Language Arts
IEW
Easy Grammar
AAS
Literature
I have a list of various books I want him to read and ones I will read to him. It won't be as many as in Sonlight, but I want to keep him reading daily and for us to always have some sort of Read Aloud book going.
Math
Saxon 6/5
Science
Exploring Creation – Astronomy and Land Animals
History/Geography
Beautiful Feet – Westward Expansion and California History
Bible
Bible reading
Memorization
Psalm Copywork
Electives
Workbooks from Critical Thinking Company
Daily Exercise Journal
Draw Squad
Rosetta Stone - Spanish
If Beautiful Feet works out we may continue with that because it has less books than Sonlight and it will give us more flexibility in choosing readers and read alouds on our own.
I would really like to add 2 Progeny Press literature guides but am wondering if it will be too much and also redundant with Beautiful Feet guides.
Any suggestions or advice or just simple assurance :Dis welcome, thanks a bunch.
By the way, I am just homeschooling my son who will be in 5th grade next year. My daughter is just 3 and so nothing formal with her yet.
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I noticed the newer BF California History guide has half the lessons. The old one has 122 and the new one has 66. Is there a lot missing?
Does the new BF California History guide still use Our Golden California as a textbook spine? I am not wanting to spend a whole year on California history and so I am wondering if the new version will still be okay.
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My son is a 4th grader and we do Sonlight science. We spend 30-40 minutes a day, 4 days a week. I am assuming that starting in 6th or 7th grade we will be spending a full hour or more doing science.
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Artistic Pursuits
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I come across this question a lot so I wrote a detailed explanation with lots of links on my blog. http://allthingspraiseworthy.blogspot.com/2011/08/how-to-use-five-in-row.html
For k -2nd I add phonics, math, penmanship, extra reading books like Readers and Read Alouds.
by 3rd grade I add in spelling. If you want grammar you can add Easy Grammar or English for the Thoughtful Child. I try to be careful how much Language Arts I use.
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I wrote a detailed review of The Writers Jungle on my blog. http://allthingspraiseworthy.blogspot.com/2011/08/writers-jungle-review.html
I think it's too much to copy and paste so I will just give a link.
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Great for older kids, I think they are better than flash cards. I think the DVD is an extra that would be a waste. They are very simple and fun.
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I know I can do a placement test for Saxon when we have completed Right Start E. I am just curious what level for Saxon did your kids test at when completing Right Start E.
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I found one thread and everyone said WP science was really bad and I couldn't really figure out why.
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We do Five in a Row as well, it's wonderful for this age because it covers such a variety of topics and the books are fantastic.
I add phonics,math and penmanship.
Personally, I would not add FLL until you are done with phonics.
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My plan is to do Sonlight Science, we are doing Sonlight Science D this year and we are liking it.
However, I was looking at the Winter Promise science specifically Rock around the Earth, Jiggle Jostle and Jolt, and Human Body and Forensics (the highschool version)
I will probably be using Sonlight with the Apologia stuff for highschool but for until that time these looked really good. They seemed a bit more hands on and fun than the Sonlight science.
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I want to incite a love of language! They already love to read, and one of them loves to write. My husband is a great writer and I have always felt like my writing is boring! I want them to be able to write compelling, articulate thoughts on paper. I want it to be fun but without sacrificing content and learning. Basically a rigorous but enjoyable program. Is that out there!?
I have kept a list of all the LA products/curriculums that look appealing for one reason or another, and I have at least 30 on my list and don't know what to choose. BW and MCT look great, and then on the complete opposite side I wonder about FLL/WWE and Phonics Road!
I have no idea how to figure out their "placements" in writing, so I also get stuck with trying to figure out how to jump in in the middle of a curriculum and not repeating what they might already know, but not jumping too far ahead and creating gaps.
Well, that was a lot of rambling, (see, told you I am not a good writer!) but if you have any thoughts or guidance I would love it!
One thing she mentions several times is that good writing skills like spelling and grammar are not going to teach a child to write! Especially the way you are talking about and is exactly what she is talking about in The Writers Jungle. This was huge for me because for years I have been working on grammar and spelling and all this other stuff thinking it would help my kids to write. I took The Well Trained Mind approach to writing.
But it's not what I want, I think much like you and like the author of Bravewriter. The way to teach a child to write like this is to let them write about things they know about and things they enjoy. To just practice writing. She also believes in having them write reports and essays. However, her belief and techniques encourage using a personal style to even a book report!
I don't know if there is a curriculum that will instill this, which is why I like The Writers Jungle so much. It's more of an attitude and an approach to writing. This attitude and approach will help to decide on curriculum out there and this book will probably make your list of 30 shrink down quite a bit and make it easier for you to decide because it will inform you in what direction to take.
After reading this you may even just apply what she does and go it on your own. It is all there in the Writer's Jungle if that's what a teacher wants to do.
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I think The Writers Jungle is overpriced and glad that it's cheaper on the other site. I think it's fabulous to read. It has really helped me be in the right mode for teaching my children to write. It has really helped choose carefully my language arts curriculum and it has helped me feel confident in teaching writing to my kids. I think her main point was to give confidence and pointers and not give a step by step.
I think TWJ will help you decide what curriculum you want to get and will also help you work with the writing assignments from many different programs. For instance many of the creative writing assignments that curricula give you could be tweaked and done as Free Writes. She talks about Free Writes in the book and also talks about how to adjust writing assignments.
I definitely think it's worth purchasing and worth reading and keeping on hand for years to come and review once in awhile.
I am starting out just doing the Free Writes and will take one of the Free Writes my son does and go through the revision and editing process. I think she gives lots of good information about" What to DO with what your child writes!" The revision and editing process has always stumped me and I feel much more confident after reading The Writers Jungle.
It doesn't give specifics but it's so helpful and an essential piece of material for a homeschooling mom's library in my opinion! You can also listen to her talk that she gave at a homeschool conference. It's on her website. This will give you a good idea of her overall philosophy of writing.
Spelling Wisdom is really great for a dictation approach to spelling. The method that Spelling Wisdom recommends is very similar to what she suggests.
Basically doing a Free Write once a week, having a monthly writing project and doing dictation and copywork on alternate days is her language arts program. You can throw in a few other projects and suggestions that she gives, but that's the basics to get you started. Much of the information she gives you is used while your doing your writing, different ideas and skills and approaches. So it can be applied to other writing programs as well.
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Thanks guys,
We are doing Stairway to Reading to go back and deal with any decoding and learning problems for reading. If that doesn't work than I will have to get some sort of professional or different help with his reading. I want to go through the Stairway to Reading first before I start using labels.
I am thinking of sending back our Sonlight curriculum. I am still under the Love to Learn guarantee. It makes me sad because I really like it. I like that everything is planned out with quality books and lessons all the way through high school. Sonlight LA is also really great when we add The Writers Jungle philosophy to it. Those creative writing assignments do not seem nearly as difficult when you do them as Free Writes!!
Anyway, My son really likes non fiction, he likes science and he likes math. So it doesn't seem to work that we use Sonlight when the majority of that is reading, literature. There is some non fiction, but I think in general it is too expensive and too constricting for our needs right now. I need to have more flexibility in the books we choose.
I think I will go with Truth Quest for history they have some great lapbooking and notebooking elements now and we do enjoy adding that. With TQ I will have a variety of choices for history books.
I also saw a great book list http://www.classical-homeschooling.org/celoop/1000.html Between this and Honey for a Child's Heart we should have plenty of book selections for reading material.
For language arts we are doing BraveWriter and I may look into LLATL. I really like Sonlight LA and it seems LLATL is similar.
We will also do some occasional Five in a Row or Beyond FIAR units. Those are really great!!
I just didn't want to have to have to depend on the library and pulling together my own lessons!! But, I think this will work out better for my son. I just need to pull up my boot straps and get it done!
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My son is just starting 4th grade and is 9. He likes non fiction books that we read for history and science like Usborne. I have a very hard time getting him to enjoy the fiction chapter books I read to him. Once in awhile we may discover a story that is engaging to him but mostly he does not enjoy it and struggles with following along. I have tried various kinds of books and various levels of books. So, I am wondering if this is just a maturity thing for him? I think he is more of a visual learner, he does play video games and watches tv but we do limit those. I wonder if his skills with listening are just very weak. He likes the non fiction books but many of those are Usborne and very visual. We are reading from Children's History of the World and he seems to tolerate it and find parts of it interesting.
He does not enjoy reading on his own either. He is reading on level but is still struggling with fluency. I think I need to go back and deal with his decoding skills. We have only done sporadic phonics and I can tell when he is reading that he is just doing it from memorization and not trying to decode or sound out the words he is struggling with. If the word doesn't come to him fast he just says something. We are going to do Stairway to Reading to work with his decoding skills.
I have been reading to him tons and tons since he was 4 years old. I don't get it? People always say if you read plenty to your children they will form a love of reading!! Well, it didn't happen here!!
Non-Artsy Mom Asks for Help
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
I recommend getting a tablet of water color paper for your water colors it makes a difference with the result. Michaels has some tablets and they don't cost much.
I also like to have oil pastels and colored charcoal which you can find at Michaels for not much cost as well.
crayons
glue stick
bottle glue
construction paper
white cardstock
box of doo dads ( that is not the official name but usually Michaels will have a barrel of craft stuff like sticks, poms, buttons etc.... for putting stuff together)
I just stick all our stuff in a box and bring it out once in awhile for the kids to dig in and do things. Nothing really official or following a curriculum.
Michaels also has fun simple craft kits that kids can do on their own.
I also like to have small bottles of different colors of acrylic paints that you can find at Michaels. I don't always bring this out as it can be messy, but acrylic paint is good basic paint.