He does NOT like the puzzles, at all. I think he does like discovery, at least to some extent. He wants to know the why not just the how, but sometimes he does “check out” sometimes during a proof type explanation. It looked like AOPS really liked the proofs. He just started Alcumus and likes it.

We are a little over 1/2 way through BA 5. It really seems like a love/hate relationship with him and BA. So AOPS pre-algebra was not really on my short list. Today he tells me he really likes math, especially math that makes him think. He loves Challenge Math. I bought both Lial’s and Dolciani for an easy year of pre-Algebra or just supplemental topic coverage. I wanted them both so he could choose which he liked best. Would they be too easy after BA? P.S. I have zero plans for Algebra or for the remaining math sequence. I love homeschooling and would happily continue through high school, but I don’t know if we will or not.

I just obtained Maxwell’s School Composition. I love the looks of it. So it asks for a passage to be outlined to see the organization (I love this). But would one call this the topos? Looking at someone else’s writing to see exactly what they wrote and how it was effective in this situation? Then the student should write the model from memory using their outline. Why? I want to skip this. Seems just like a narration. Then of course, follow the outlined model to imitate your own paragraph, love this also! Some word play/use exercises-maybe this could be called copia? I am currently using Classical Composition Narrative and that whole retell the story from memory, but keeping the plot the same seems similar to the idea from SC’s- retell it from memory exercise. Still not sure I see the point of that but my child is fine with it. He retells that story 4 times. CC also does variations, aka changing sentences, word use, synonyms so maybe really copia? Am I misunderstanding the concept of copia and seeing it everywhere? I do understand the point just not the terminology. WWS 1 though... I keep going back and forth on this. It is in the mail though because, you know, that whole learning the topoi thing (whatever it really is) seems like a great approach and I love the majority of the selected topics and my student is familiar with most of them. Definitely copia there because I have seen people refer to it. Copia definition- an abundant and ready supply of language. So....word play. The ability to manipulate words at the sentence level and rephrase in another way using synonyms and sentence variety? Anyway without having done WWS1 and not having it in hand yet, it really seems on the surface that the ancient School Composition is incredibly similar just less hand holding for the teacher and a little less step by step? I am thinking of doing a few more lessons in CC (currently he does CC 3 days a week) then either taking a break for SC or just mingling in some imitation (this week I want him to imitate The Apple is Ridiculous from Essay Voyage-hopefully he has fun with this and next week a descriptive paragraph in which the reader should guess what he described imitation Swift in Gulliver’s Travels Lilliput). I really just want to add more to his writing tool belt, as well as my own for the across the curriculum writing expectations.

It seems BA aims at least some content towards competition math. I had never heard of this method of finding GCF. He is clear on the prime factorization being a way to find GCF instead of just straight up factoring the numbers. He is unclear on the reason why this works. In my mind it works because all the factors are within the prime factorization. We don’t think in the same way so he does not follow my reasoning and word choice. Just glancing at the algorithm, it just looks like a shortcut that he will ultimately forget in about 48 hours. Anyway, skipping this Euclidean algorithm is not going to cause the cataclysmic failure of my budding mathematician, right?

They have streamed videos and DVD’s. He doesn’t make jokes but is easy to follow. He goes through the lesson step by step, helping to see how to fill out the outline (I don’t really focus on that, I believe the outline is really there to help the student ensure that all the main points are in the rewrite), gives examples of the descriptions, he does narrations just to demonstrate what the student is going for. Most of that is also in the teachers manual, but when he says what is expected, it is clear. Some is a little different because I believe they updated the books and not the videos or maybe it was the other way around. I find the DVD’s very helpful especially if you haven’t been through it before. MP has a forum as well where they are very helpful with any questions you have. I have never used IEW, however I did seriously look into it. Many people use it and they glaze over the checklist for their kids. They modify it a bit and if their kid Is getting hung up or are over focused on the “must use an ly adverb and underline it “ part (or whatever they are hung up on) then they let that bit go unchecked. I see the point of the check list but the rigidness can make the writing awkward in some cases. I knew from reviewing it that the check list would not always be encouraged for my student. Sometimes but not always. The variations in MP CC also encourage word variations and sentence variations, and all the complex names (recongition, reversal, geographia, dendrographia....) all that is really pulling the key parts/ideas/content of the story out and using vivid descriptions of a tree or a place. I really see both IEW and CC as teaching through imitation just going about it in different ways. The outlining is different and the word variations differs, but they both teach through imitation first. I don’t feel you can just use MP CC as the only writing you do and not be doing at least some of the writing exercises in history, science, literature...MP’s other curriculum involves writing across the board from complete informative sentences as answers to the composition level. MP CC, from my understanding, is teaching how to think. I am using it because I like where I see it going, but I am not even sure if I will be homeschooling after this school year. We are using Narrative currently, but the next book Chreia and Maxim is one I would really like to see him working on. Since you are doing fable accelerated, you could truck on with fable and re-evaluate when fable is finished. There is so much great writing curriculum available now, and IEW is one of the leaders. At least you have it narrowed down to just the two 😉

Do you have the DVD’s?

I added in fun LA Friday's as well. I use R&S 6 for formal grammar Monday and Wednesday as heavy grammar days and Friday is MCT essay voyage/poetry (just a slow read through together) as well as one sentence per week from practice Town (he WANTS and has ASKED for more practice with gerund/participial phrases), Figurative Language (which he enjoys because we both have been laughing and having fun with the first couple of chapters so far), and a little Kilgallon to finish it up. Composition then is hopefully woven across the curriculum through all the sentence composing exercises, content paragraphs, a couple projects, and regular compositions. He does a formal writing 3 days a week also but I was not seeing that translate to everyday writing. He was always so resistant to writing anything especially at the beginning of last year. I have only been winging it like this for 3-4 weeks. He hasn’t been complaining too much. I can easily see how this could be ramped up as he advances.

I am using the kernel sentences writing suggestions using because, but snd so. We do the turning paragraphs into SPO but I don’t use the form from the back, we just make a regular outline. We play with appositives, start sentences with subordinating conjunctions. Writing the same sentence with 4 different types. Sentence combining activities. Mainly focusing on sentences for now. I have not read it all yet, but I am trying to read a bit at a time and implement what I have loved with the daily writing into a notebook, mostly history and science. So those subjects have a few sentences about subject matter written each time they are studied.

Ah, I remember reading that post when it was posted and taking screen shots of everything you posted because it was so clear and informative. It made me realize that writing across curriculum is really the way I wanted to proceed with writing. Then I finally bought Lively Art of Writing, The Writing Revolution and a used copy of WTM, and I forgot all about that post. Thanks for the reminder. I got more from that post reading it the second time around.

His working memory seems (to me) to be fine. I am the one who could use some little notes in ticket to ride to keep my goals straight 😉 Clear expectations and solid examples help tremendously. Leaving anything too open ensures he does a bare minimum and at a low intensity. He is distracted easily so I will definitely look into the metronome work you are referring to. He has a huge interest in science and history so he reads Max Axiom science comics and historical books such as the Thrifty Guides and Horrible Histories from our home library and he chooses some easy, below level, fast reads that are comical stories from the library. But I have been keeping him busy with Who Was/What Was for history and there is a lot of supplemental reading using the Guest Hollow science that is currently on hold while doing Ellen Mchenry Elements.

Yes!! You know precisely what I am trying to do here. He is encouraged to use an outline as part of the writing process. I do intend to add at least one history outline per week (and County that as writing across curriculum) and maybe one history summary or one researched, focused topic with notes taken and a short oral presentation using those notes during the weeks when there is no essay. I required little output last year. He is definitely typing and he writes so much more since I allow it to be typed. I increased subject reading loads and writing load starting this school year. He doesn’t like writing and I know it is a complex skill that just requires more opportunities to practice. He may never like it but it will get easier. I already hear so much less complaining and his attitude is so much better already. You are completely correct though. His interest needs to be there. Right now I am assigning specific topics because he is no help when I ask for his input, but the goal is for him to choose at least some topics of interest, especially for larger projects and essays.

I love these ideas too! Thank you! I love the last suggestion that involves creativity 🙂 The first one sounds a little advanced for my 10 year old. He is also doing Classical Composition but is only on the Narrative stage. I know if I get to continue with homeschool next school year, he will be in Chreia and Maxim and encomium is one aspect of that. I also could just explain it as write about all the great things and ideas and positive changes that came from an event or person. I also need at least 2 bigger projects this year. He needs to dive into projects that take more than an hour to complete. I home schooled last year as well and most of that year was figuring out what works for us and where he was academically. Trying to make this year more academically rigorous but with creativity and really having all the pieces fit together the way I always envisioned homeschooling could.

I love these ideas. Thank you! Mixed creativity with facts learned 🙂

I have been trying to have my child do more writing across the curriculum using subject content after reading WTM suggestions and currently The Writing Revolution. I would like to aim for a complete (5ish paragraph) essay every 2-3 weeks, taking one week to complete start to finish, and I try to ask for 3-4 paragraphs (summaries or single topic paragraphs) minimum each week. I have so few ideas for essays and paragraphs or even kernel sentences that I even bought civil war writing prompts from TPT. Sometimes I can come up with something using R&S English 6’s writing exercises using core content. My 10 year old (5th grade) student is currently going through Ellen Mchenry’s The Elements. For science he is mostly completing kernel sentences in a science notebook and the occasional lab report after an experiment. I am lacking ideas for science writing as well. How do you come up with these ingenious writing suggestions for your kids that really encourage them to take what they are learning in core subjects and use that new information in essays and summaries? Having it all tie together through writing is ideal. Here is what I have: History-biographies buy stuff from TPT 🙂 Science: Maybe an essay about his favorite/most useful/most interesting element? Possibly an essay about the periodic table.... what the numbers signify, how it is arranged, interesting facts? Paragraphs explaining different chemical bonds? Geography: Pick a country and tell about its customs, culture, people, interesting facts.

I am looking for a timeline for history and maybe science. I would like things laid out for me such as years spaced and color coded figures or cards that either are pre-packaged or that I can print. I can put it on a wall if that is better visually, but I am not against a notebook format. I am not creative and need it to be easy so my child can do it himself and I don’t have to do a lot of prep, but I want it to look nice and be easy to follow. I can wing it to add science discoveries and people but I cannot wing the whole thing. Suggestions for which ones are your favorites?

Here were a couple of our goals for fourth grade: Writing- continue to work on solid informative sentences, working on cohesive paragraphs with topic sentence and relevant details math- faster math facts recall through all four basic operations as well as overall progress and comprehension with whatever curriculum you choose for science and history, I just wanted him to learn Also I had general neatness in all work, complete conversion to cursive handwriting as well as general better organizational skills as goals for the year. Beginning typing, starting to learn MS Word and power point presentations and a little more independence were encouraged.

I have one student who is 10.5 now.

I read through those interesting articles. I was using the advice of the second one, trying to ignore misspelled words outside of spelling and just make a note to review that. Especially since he does really well during spelling time and dictation. I have chosen dictation from The Hobbit, AAS and from WWE 4. He does well with all of the selections. (I now have Dictation Day by Day in my Arsenal as well.) Then I read separately about how when I see him starting to misspell a word, I should correct it then and there so he doesn’t get practice writing it incorrectly. And I noticed the types of mistakes he makes are simple words like come without an ‘e’ and just not doubling when he should. Little things that seem like they should be automatic by age 10.

Yep, this describes my son perfectly. Thank you for the detailed description of the way you taught your child. I am definitely going to put some of that into action. My son’s public school didn’t care about spelling in third grade writing, they just wanted him to write. They did spelling separately. I still have trouble getting him to remember to always capitalize the first letter of the sentence and always use punctuation. It is as if all these things are completely separate in his brain. He can only do one thing well at any given time.

I don’t know if he is still a poor speller. Maybe? When I started homeschooling starting with 4th grade I noticed too many misspelled words and felt he needed a lot of work in that area. He did well on spelling tests, in 3rd grade public school and at home 4th grade, but he didn’t apply it to every day writing. He has shown some improvement. Spells the words just fine as we do spelling. He does dictation from AAS perfectly. He can answer the review cards from AAS. He does daily editing practice from a workbook and generally spots the spelling mistakes. I still see quite a few simple mistakes in his first drafts. Maybe careless about spelling mistakes when his brain is trying to come up with original sentences? My plans for this next twelve months include far more writing across curriculum. I was hoping that would just organically have him easily spelling most things correctly the first time, leaving only difficult or unknown words misspelled.

I started my poor speller with Spell Well in 4th grade. He was doing great on the end of week test, but spelling those same words incorrectly in daily use. So not retaining much. So I changed to AAS for second half of the year and of course focused heavily on the rules but did the program levels 2-5 at an accelerated pace. He does know the rules for those levels but has to be reminded that we had a rule about for example, doubling, then he can correct himself. I did not do the heavy review indicated in AAS, only the ones he had trouble implementing in his writing. Maybe I can use misspellings found in his writing for some sort of spelling notebook...I have been scouring for specific ideas for this spelling notebook but not finding much online. Maybe one section for rules from AAS with a page devoted to each rule learned and any misspelled words found in writing can be listed on whichever rule page it follows? maybe a section that has him come up with interesting words that he wants to be able to spell and he can define it and use it in a sentence or vocabulary words if he can’t come up with something on his own? a third section devoted to dictation? Can I call that spelling and it be effective? Other suggestions?

We just finished the entire SOTW audio set. My kid loved listening to the story in the car. He has a huge interest in history in general and would love to start another audio based series. We both enjoyed the easy narrative format of SOTW. Any suggestions for another fun round of world history?

What about an online 8 week or full semester course on essay basics?

My kid is always picking interesting educational videos from curiosity stream. My husband is doing an in depth study of WW2.