Just popping back in to say that I purchased the 2011-12 set. From what's out so far I agree that they are vastly improved and looked really, really good! So for those who want to pick and choose, I would choose the newer ones for the new format. Looks like it's enough detail to get into the meat of things but not so much that it would be overwhelming! Can't wait to start them!

Please come back and report on it after you've used it for a bit!!!! :001_smile:

Thanks! :001_smile: And thanks for mentioning HSBC. Didn't know about it before!!! Might have to get another copy of WJ too for HALF PRICE (!) since mine has been gone for ages!!!

Tammy, I've never purchased the Arrow because it says the books are read-alouds and I like at least some of ours to be linked to the period of history that we're studying. I just took a closer look at the books on Amazon and most of them have the reading level listed as 8-12 year olds! Now I'm wondering if this would be perfect for my then 9.5 yo to use as readers alongside the Arrow???? How do you use it?

Hum, will try to answer since no one else has! It's been a while since I've used it, though. Haven't been homeschooling the last couple of years but will start again soon with my youngest, so back on the boards. :001_smile: When we started I had my then around 10 and 12 year-olds freewrite a couple of times a week (explained in the book). Then when we had a collection of their thoughts on paper I would have them choose one to work on towards a finished piece of writing. Julie gives a lot of advice in the book on how to do this but basically it's focusing on one skill at a time and not overwhelming the kid with everything all at once and moving on from skill to skill. We tried to end up with at least one piece of work that they had worked on polishing per month. They also wrote reports, etc, for their other subjects but this was just for writing. With my then 7yo I would have him narrate something short to me and I would write things down for him. Basically we'd do the same process on a more elementary scale, but mostly focusing on him learning to express his thoughts in a comfortable way at that age. We also did a weekly tea time where we'd read poetry, Shakespeare, do art appreciation that they would talk about, etc. This would often include them sharing their finished works with each other. I have to say that my oldest who is now 18 and has just started college (in a different country from me, sniff!) sent me something that she wrote yesterday to look over for her. It was a subject that she is passionate about (our work in India) and I must say I was a proud mom to see what she expressed on the page! I think some of that credit at least has to go to Bravewriter!

In the past we've started with poetry but have also done Shakespeare Stories, sketching, writing exercises (descriptive, etc), art appreciation, music appreciation, caught up on read alouds, etc. I've basically used it as a time for all the good 'extras' that I want to do but that we haven't always gotten to otherwise! It's very often been the best time of the week!

Uh, oh! Had the print version before I moved overseas. Think you all just cost me $15 for the other version! (actually, thank you!!!!!)

Serl's books do contain writing exercises. The general opinion I get from this board is that for the ages involved, that PLL and ILL do the job as a stand alone. I haven't used them yet, however! We'll start ILL soon and in the back of my mind I plan to add in WWE if I don't think it's enough (I AM a LA girl! :001_smile:), but I'm hoping that it will be fine on it's own.

Your OP mentions that you don't think there's enough dictation. How about something like Spelling Wisdom added in? http://simplycharlottemason.com/books/spelling-wisdom/ This is what we'll use along with ILL soon. I plan to start with these 2 and add in WWE if I'm not totally satisfied.

Here's the next book I want to read. Have seen a number of people recommend it here : http://www.amazon.com/When-Children-Love-Learn-Application/dp/1581342594/ref=wl_it_dp_o_npd?ie=UTF8&coliid=I1Q3P9D51Y7T5Z&colid=3EID5XRRI36CQ

No kidding! I've alredy googled several things already on this thread. :001_smile: Think I'm pretty settled on this: ILL Spelling Wisdom Grammarland (at some point) SOTW 1 with lots of books and read-alouds Strayer Upton Practical Arith. 1 (2nd 1/2) Apologia Zoo 2 Memoria Press intro.to Classical Studies (includes Bible and Scripture memory) GSWL quickly then Lively Latin SL 4-5 readers Friday 'tea times' with Bravewriter type freewriting, lots of reading aloud including Marvels of Science, poetry, Book of Virtues, etc.

I haven't started using it yet but have SOTW 1 on Kindle. Think it will be fine! I hope they put all of them on Kindle soon!

TT Alg 1 for 4th! Wow, what a math whiz you must have!!!

I got SOTW on Kindle so it will be more portable since we'll be back and forth a bit. Hum, VERY nice offer on the others but I'm wondering if you really want me to take them back and forth to India. Things get REALLY dirty here! :001_smile:

Again, great advice, thanks!!! Really appreciate it! I've thought LL looked really good and your ds #2 is probably quite similar to mine! We'll be at 'our place' in and out (out over the weekends) after the New Year for a few weeks. Doubt if we could catch up this trip since our main focus during the week is settling dd #1 in for Uni, but we'll be back in 6 months!!! :001_smile:

Thanks so much, Deb!!! Really appreciate the review! I'm planning on SOTW 1 with a few other books and read-alouds and would really like to do Memoria Press' Intro. to Classical Studies as well (D. Greek Myths, Fam. Men of Rome and Bible in the same guide.). I think together these won't be overwhelming. Do you think LL would add that much more history to be overkill, too, or possibly just compliment????? Guess we could skip portions of that if we wanted to.

I've looked quite a bit in the past and have only been able to find ILL, too. Don't know why!

Here's what I'm planning so it's as of yet untried, but I'm pretty sure my 4th grader will approve too! -Interm. Lang. Less. -WWE -Spelling Wisdom -Strayer-Upton Practical Arith. 1 (2nd half) -SOTW and related books and read-alouds -Apologia Elem. Zoo 2 -Memoria Press Intro. to Classical Studies for classical studies and Bible -Getting Started With Latin done quickly and then probably First Form Latin -Grammar-Land for a couple of weeks with online worksheets if later think he hasn't had enough grammar from Latin. -SL readers 4-5. -Friday 'tea times' with poetry, Book of Virtues, Tales from Shakespeare, and Marvels of Science. Various 'How to Draw' books.

Hey, this looks pretty good!!! I wonder if we could work hard and get through this pretty quickly as an intro. to First Form? Do you all think that would be a good plan? LFC does look good, too, and I've seen a lot of chatter about Lively Latin. Does anyone know how Lively Latin compares to First Form (just because I've done a good share of Henle in the past so it's what I know.)?

Wow, that is a GREAT price!!! And we'll be in NZ at one point where we could have it sent........hum. I just wish it was Bengali!!! :001_smile: I would have to stay away while he was doing it or it would totally mess up my Bengali since they have similarities. I will have to think about this for a bit!!!!

What is GSWL????

Could be good! Glad to hear First From is better. I had a love/hate relationship with Henle.

I've never really looked at LFC but will now. Thanks for all of the info!!!!

I will really have to think about this because it could be good but wouldn't be easy. The problem is that there are NO beginner materials not written for adults. And those aren't great. There are books but they assume the child already speaks the language. I'm probably 1/4 to 1/3 of the way to fluent (know grammar and good basic daily vocab.) so I COULD teach him. My main insecurity is that while I can read it, I really don't spell well in the script (it's not always logical) so I know it would be a lot of work for me to come up with something for him. I was wrong. Just checked and since the school is in a different part of India they don't teach Bengali. Bengali would help in learning Hindi (structure and some vocab. but not alphabet) but it still wouldn't be what he might study later. But would prepare him. But so would Latin. So know I will have to choose!!! Thanks for making me think!!!!!

I used Henle with my dds's. We used Latina Christiana first which did include a lot of derivatives but we found it fairly boring. They liked Henle much better. Anyway have an opinion about what might be good for the above goals??????