Just thinking outloud again.... 7th grader: Streams from the River (free on-line spelling: ind. work) *or* Megawords 6th grader: A&P for remediation 2nd grader: R&S 2nd I think eventually, I'll want my 2nd grader to move into Megawords based on all the good things I've heard unless R&S works for him. This is part of my consideration. I want to pick materials that I'll be able to re-use if possible. We used Spelling Power for my olders through this year, but I am not satisfied with the way it teaches rules. After finishing Sing,Spell,Read, and Write with my current 1st grader this year, I was impressed by the way phonograms were used to teach spelling. Now I want to be more careful with spelling: teaching the rules and phonograms (or morphemes in A&P) more effectively than SP did.

Brenda, did you use the workbooks for HTTS or just the teacher manuel? I've heard using the workbooks makes HTTS a lot easier.

I am so thankful to all of you for your comments! I hope more respond. I'm relieved to read that R&S is not busywork. I've read that before, but for me to look at the samples, I can't discern the big picture how they teach. It *looks* like busy work judging from the samples. I'm still unsure. I was just thinking about this a few minutes ago, and in desperation, I thought I'd try A&P for remediation with my 6th grader, Rod and Staff or How to Teach Spelling with my 2nd grader (tho I said this was not so teacher friendly, I actually think it's the most spelling bang for the buck), and Megawords with my 7th grader. That way I can "taste" them all!!!!! :tongue_smilie::lol: (I've kept these other programs on my short list of spelling possibilities.) Honestly, we have a full schedule next year. Although spelling is important, it falls towards the bottom of my priority list next to math and science. I really need something effective, open-and -go :auto:, and mostly independent. (However, I certainly won't mind spending time on spelling with the ones who need individual help.) Please, can anyone else offer advice? :bigear:

I've chosen everything for next year (I think:tongue_smilie:) except the spelling part of Language Arts. Will you ladies give me your opinion? For a 2nd grader who used Sing,Spell,Read,and Write in 1st: Rod and Staff 2 or Apples & Pears? (A&P fits because of his young age; not for the need of remedial work.) I own color-coded magnetic letter tiles (not the same as AAS) that I would probably use if we went with R&S just to make it hands on. (Guess we could use them for A&P too.) I just don't know if I like R&S's word study questions..... seems like busy work. Am I wrong? Not sure how my ds will feel after months of doing this. I like that it could wind up being independent work once he gets into a routine. Apples & Pears gets rave reviews. I don't think I've ever read a bad thing about it.... only that it might be too repetitive for some. I'm going to use it with his older brother (6th grade) for remediation. AAS has been a contender, but I've read about the words staying easy for years.... also that it is expensive. I do like the hands-on aspect a lot, but you could use How to Teach Spelling (very similar to AAS) for a lot less money. HTTS is not teacher friendly, however, and I'm not willing to make up my own lesson plans. I want something open and go.:auto: My best two options: Rod & Staff 2 or Apples & Pears. Can you help me decide? (Or suggest a *fun* spelling that you've enjoyed).:bigear:

Thanks, ladies! I've just logged back on to find some wonderful ideas, and I'll take time to look at them. I really appreciate the suggestions! Anyone else?:001_smile:

One child will be in 7th grade; the other, in 6th. Jensen's Format Writing..... does it teach the different types of writing..... descriptive, persuasive, c/c, expository, etc...????

We finished our first year with IEW this year using Themed Writing: Early American History. My kids learned a lot! I really want to use next year to let them practice the skills they learned this year by using a more interest-driven approach within history, science, and generic topics of interest. I know I can re-use ideas from IEW, but I'm also looking for a guide that will help us practice different kinds of writing: descriptive, persuasive, compare-contrast, as well as expository. IEW didn't really teach "kinds" of writing. My goal is to have them ready whenever they are asked to write a certain kind of essay or report. I'm looking for a guide as opposed to a text-book that teaches writing. As an example, if we wanted to write about salt water vs. fresh water creatures, we would look at our guide for compare/contrast reports. It would give us a "How-To" about writing this kind of paragraph/report and step us through the process of writing. Likewise, we could look up whichever kind of writing is most appropriate for what we're trying to communicate. This would be for jr. high grades: approximately 6th-8th. Any suggestions? For anyone also looking for something along this line, I've found Create Press writing book volume 2 does what I'm talking about, but I'm looking for something as a follow-up. Thanks!

Just looking for favorite versions of Great Books for 6th-7th grade (2nd too if there are any).... do you all have recommendations?

Good morning! I received our Biblioplan Ancients in the mail this week! I love it when the new curriculum starts coming in!:001_smile: I want to introduce some of the Great Books while we study Ancients: Gilgamesh, Illiad, Odyssey at least, but I really need suggestions for age-appropriate versions. We will be using LLftLotR with Biblioplan which will explain epics. It will also help with Illiad and Odyssey. Could you all suggest versions of the GB appropriate for 6th-7th grade? I also will have a 2nd grader. If there is anything out there that would be interesting for that age, I'd love to know about that too. Are there any more GB you would touch on for this age beside Gilgamesh, Illiad and Odyssey? I'm just trying to get them familiar with these works. I'm not trying to "study" them. If you have any suggestions/experience with GB at the logic stage, please share! I have vague memories of studying these in high school, so I'm basically going to be re-learning them. Thanks!

This is a great point, Elizabeth. Yes, I did know MCT doesn't have diagramming. It does such a great job with the 4-way analysis that I felt like it would get him to the threshold of diagramming. I could easily incorporate diagramming in the next year if not during the MCT year. He's also done JAG, so we have started diagramming. I just don't want to start AG with him until he matures a bit more. I ordered a light unit from CLE which will help me decide if I want to go that route. If not, I still have the other options. It's sort of tempting to just do EG again with a diagramming book. My son likes EG; it just seems like a LOT of the same things would be a repeat..... Might be good; might become boring. I can't overlook, however, that some repetition isn't bad for some types of learners. I think my head is beginning to spin now after a marathon discussion day!:lol: I sure have appreciated everyone's comments!!!!! The ladies on this board are a wonderful encouragement!

Ok. This is what I thought I was seeing. Dancer67, would you mind explaining a little more about what you don't like? When I emailed the company this morning, a representative answered by saying CLE is written in increments. The increments build and review on each other. His answer indicated that there is a reason behind what appears to be disorganization (or jumping around maybe). They are sending me a sample of a light unit from the 600s. I want to teach diagramming, so maybe that won't be so bad. Thanks for you viewpoint.

Thanks, Jenn! I'm just not hearing anything negative about CLE.

Wow! I just wanted to tell you about our experience with IEW: Early American History. This was our first experience with IEW. I watched the TWSS videos and then taught my children. Most of the assignments were completed in a Mon-Friday week. The pace was FAST! We followed level B, and it was a good fit for my 6th grader and challenging for my 5th grader. We learned A LOT! Next year we will study ancients as well. I won't be using the IEW Ancients curriculum only because we need a chance to practice skills we learned this year without the jet-fast pace of the curriculum. They will also have a bit of say-so about what they want to write about: history, science, and topics of choice/interest. I think having a chance to digest the IEW skills will help us refine those skills. IEW themed history was a great experience. It was not easy for my kids, and they won't tell you that they just loved it, but they will tell you that they learned more from IEW than almost anything else we studied this year.

Ok. Here's the deal: I want a little of all of them. Honestly, I'd probably go with CLE because it is most like Easy Grammar which my ds loves. We did it this year. I want to do something different because I want to teach diagramming. Also, Easy Grammar is soooo repetitive. I don't want a repeat of this year. kwim? CLE is done independently. He may need some help, but since we've done JAG and Easy Grammar so recently, I think he'll understand most of it. As long as the spiral approach is not confusing/frustrating, I'm fine with this. I think it will be the most efficient choice. But..... I like R&S because it is organized in a familiar way. The writing would also reinforce the IEW we've learned. "Kill 2 birds with 1 stone". But, it is known to be boring and it isn't done independently. (It wouldn't be a bad idea for my son and I to work together..... just time consuming which would impact what we have to do in a day and make our daily schedule longer.) Add in MCT to supplement????:001_huh: MCT is the wild card. It looks very interesting, but I have no idea how it really works. I love the samples of the 4-way analysis. This sounds like it would also be time consuming, and it might overlap with LLftLotR. The vocabulary is unlike ANYTHING I've ever seen before, and I don't know if it would work for us. He really might love it. He's science oriented, and is starting to pick up on etymology just a little. Plus, we're doing Rosetta Stone Spanish, and I've seen how they show relationship between English, Latin (?), and Spanish words. Neat. I did email CLE, and I'll get them to send a sample light unit. You all are right when you say it comes down to personal opinion. I just need more data!!:tongue_smilie: Please keep the conversation going.... anyone else?

Melissa, is the spiral approach confusing to a child? Do they understand how grammatical concepts relate to each other? If I can get past this point, I'll feel better about CLE. It just seems too unorganized.... a little about nouns and then a little about conjunctions and then a little about adverbs..... now let's do quotation marks!:lol: I think the hodgepodge appearance might be confusing. Is this a problem?

Elizabeth, my oldest child is working on AG. She completed Season 1 this year and will work on Season 2 next year. My ds did JAG the beginning of this year. He did ok with it, but Season 1 of AG would just be too much. The sentences would be too complex for him. He will be 10-11 as a 6th grader. I love AG! Depending on his 6th grade year, I'd consider letting him do Season 1 as a 7th grader.

I'm trying to compare these. CLE gets great reviews, but it looks a little disjointed to me because of the spiral approach. IOW, somthing like Abeka, Easy Grammar, or Rod and Staff (all mastery) organizes grammar concepts: nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, etc....You get a sense of how grammatical parts are related. CLE organization mixes these things up, and it's hard to see how, for example, nouns and adjectives relate to each other. MCT looks very organized where grammatical concepts clearly have relationships. I LOVE that! (4-way analysis?) It's just that I don't know that we need all the components of MCT. We're used to IEW, and I don't want to change writing and confuse my kids. We'll also do LLftLotR next year, so the poetry/music book might be overkill. Could anyone compare these for me? I would also really appreciate an explanation about how MCT is used. Is it one book at a time or do you do a little of each book along the way? Would it make sense to combine the grammar part of MCT and use it with CLE to show the relationship between the grammatical parts? What do you think?

Starrbuck12, This is very encouraging! I've been unsure if there is enough teaching, and after reading several replies, it sounds like there is. Thanks so much for your reply!:001_smile:

Thanks for your response! What is LAS? Also, is the teacher's edition necessary or would the answer key be all that is needed. I've looked at the TE samples, and I was not convinced it was very helpful. Michelle, thanks also! I have looked at the s/s, but now I want to compare it to R&S. CLE does look more pleasing to the eye. I'm curious to see how skills taught compare. R&S would guide us in reviewing/reinforcing paragragh writing which I like. We use IEW. It would also give me a chance to sit with my child and make sure he really understands the skills. Yet, I can understand why some people say it's boring! That is why CLE has appealed to me from the beginning.

I need advise about language arts for 6th grade. My ds completed Easy Grammar 6 as a 5th grader, and I'm looking for something for next year that teaches diagramming. He finished JAG as a 4th grader, but he is not ready for AG. CLE LA is my first choice, but after looking at the samples, I am concerned there is not a lot of instruction/explanation. Easy Grammar did a good job at this. Teaching/instruction preceded exercises. I know CLE is a spiral curriculum, so it could be that if a previous Light Unit explained a concept, it doesn't repeat it when the same concept spirals around again. We'd just be out of luck. I'm afraid that would cause CLE to become frustrating for my child. I like that it is uncluttered like EG is, can be done independently, and is a workbook. Can anyone help me understand if there is complete teaching/instruction/explanations in CLE? My next choices would be R&S followed by MCT (I know there isn't diagramming; it just looks like something he might enjoy). I know a lot of people love CLE, so it makes me think there just have to be adequate explanations and teaching. Thanks!

I want to get this to use for the next two years with Ancient and Medieval history. Seems to me like the 1st edition would be more helpful since both the questions and answers are printed in the teacher's edition. That's apparently not the case in the new edition. Yet, the 2nd edition will be more streamlined, thinner and a little less expensive. ($10 less is what I've read). Just wondering..... If you were going to purchase LL, would you buy the 1st or 2nd edition? I'm still leaning towards the 1st.

Thanks, ladies! This might end up being a good thing.:001_smile: Anyone else?

If we do WWE, R&S gd. 2 spelling, and Minimus Latin could we drop FLL for 2nd grade? We've made it through 1st grade, and he really does not like it. I think Minimus works with parts of speech. Sometimes less is more, and if we dropped FLL next year, his schedule would be more relaxed. Otherwise, what do you recommend for a very kid-friendly grammar program?

Nakia, I used SL for 2 years (Core 3 and 4). I credit SonLight for helping my kids fall in love with reading! It was the right curriculum for the job for our study of American history. My biggest problem with SL, is that it is ONLY reading..... at least it was for us. We only used it for history. I think we need something more for Ancient history next year. I found Biblioplan a couple of weeks ago, and it looks great. It is organized like MFW, but it is simpler, cheaper (depending on the books you buy to go with it), and adds in Cool History Packets. It schedules a variety of sources so that you can pick the ones that will best fit your family. For example, they schedule in Diana Waring CDs which is one thing I want to use since my kids love to hear stories on CD. BP has readers scheduled for several age groups, so there is something for everyone. The age groups range from K-12. They link history and Bible together like MFW. They don't have crafts like MFW. They schedule SOTW and Mystery of History for spines..... pick the one best for your kids. Take a look at BP. I know there isn't a perfect curriculum, but as I read about BP, it seemed to combine the best of SL reading with a few add-ons: fun history worksheets, the DW CDs, coloring pages for my 2nd grader, etc..... Reading about it on TWTM Forum, BP seems to be a favorite.

What do you think about Figuratively Speaking vs. CLE Reading? I asked this on another thread. I'm interested in opinions about kid-friendliness and teacher-intensiveness. I'd love to do a lit. study with my kids, but as I've scheduled the things I'm doing for next year, I have run out of time! It may be possible to do FS 1st semester informally... we'll be doing Ancients with Biblioplan. Any ideas? Then, maybe 2nd semester I could use CLE. This would be for 6th and 7th grades. I have no experience with either. Anyone on comparing FS with CLE Reading?