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lindsrae

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Posts posted by lindsrae

  1. I tried Spalding, then AAS follwed by SWR, until finally landing on LOE. I did like AAS but absolutely love LOE. I teach my oldest two together and my K-er joins us for the phonogram reviews and the games. The games in the game book are actually a lot of fun, so while the it is considered supplementry, I am finding that it really aids in bringing variety to the program. We also added the spelling journal and they get to earn stickers when they complete a section, just to keep it fun.

    I think I does move a bit faster than AAS but it spirals so that there is plenty of opportunity for the child to review the phonograms taught. It is very complete and should get children reading and spelling well. It does not use separate readers but I believe it relies on the idea that after children learn and work with the phonograms, they are able to read. This reminds me of the way Spalding explains it. Yes, the program does include dictation and grammar. We are very classically minded so I agree with SWB philosophy on this. LOE teaches labeling parts of speech and not diagraming. We are lightly covering some of the LOE grammar and sometimes skip it altogether, since we also use FLL & R&S.

     

    About the handwriting portion. LOE encourages learning to form letters in cursive, not any particular style or font. I used cursive first with 2 of my boys and GB italic with my oldest. It is very flexible.

     

    I hate to be a curriculum hopper, but I'm thinking Phonics Road might not be the right fit...what grade does LOE go to? I see you are using it with your 2nd and 5th graders. My first grader is using PR 1, which at this point is spelling, a little composition, and a little reading thrown in.

  2. We are using the Logic of English. We are loving it. It is very open and go and I think you could do whatever penmanship style you want. There is a cursive or a manuscript choice for the workbooks, but I would think you could write in whatever style you want. Same with SWR, they encourage cursive first, but you could do whatever you want- it wouldn't change the program at all to write in a different style.

     

    With both of those, though like others have said, you will have to do some writing. I found that the writing with SWR (which we used before LOE) was pretty minimal, but enough for handwriting instruction for my son. He does not like writing, so I didn't want to do a separate handwriting program for him, because just writing spelling words was plenty to teach him the mechanics of writing. I am moving on to some copy work/dictation now so that he becomes more fluid, but I would rather do that than have him go through an unrelated handwriting program which seemed like busy work.

     

    If you don't mind my asking, what age/grade levels are you using with LOE? We are using PR 1, but we are having a bit of trouble with it and I am wondering if LOE is, well, more logical. :)

  3. How far is she in AAS? Maybe she's just not quite ready for the writing yet... (it's not much fun to write if you don't know how to spell anything). Plus, AAS 3 has longer dictations that build up stamina and fluency, and introduces The Writing Station where students practice making up their own sentences with a list of words they've been given. This is a nice transitional exercise to writing outside of spelling. If she's not that far yet, she may just need more help or to wait awhile.

     

    Can you do any of WWE orally (and maybe have her copy what you scribe for her sometimes)?

     

    Merry :-)

     

    Sounds like her trouble is with the physical, writing part? I'm not sure, but I might try doing copywork for awhile, so that she can focus on writing without having to think/remember *at all* until she can do that more smoothly & easily.

     

    It's great that she can do the narrations, though - feel good about that half!

     

    You also might want to listen to SWB's lecture on writing in the grammar stage. Those lectures are great, and I listen to them often, and especially whenever a problem comes up.

     

    http://www.welltrainedmind.com/store/audio-products/audio-lectures.html

     

    :grouphug: Hang in there.

     

    I would try cutting back with her-shorter lessons maybe? or sit her down and ask her what parts she doesn't like....might be good to take a little break from it for a bit....

     

    I am thankful they use levels instead of grades for WWE. She is on a level. Crying means she is frustrated. How often do you use it? I would go to two to three lessons a week if you are doing it daily. Expect it to take two years instead of one.

     

    :iagree: Had to do the same thing with WWE 1 and remind myself that it's not about finishing tye book, it's about teaching my child!

  4. I am wondering the same thing. Dd can add but she counts the lines she makes and doesn't have anything memorized. Is right start similar to miquon in that it helps them have a conceptual understanding but without counting using manipulatives? I like something that tells me what to do and say and I will have money from the state to use once she is officially old enough. I know she need some work on memorizing the facts too and I don't know the best way to do that.

     

    Part of this is developmental, moving from concrete manipulative to seeing the "abstract" number symbols and understanding a "5" means five beans or whatever. I love Right Start because it gives me the script for what to say and it uses games to help with mastery instead of tons of worksheets or flashcards. I know Miquon is well liked too, but there is a bit of a learning curve...RS is more open and go...but also more expensive. HTH!

  5. Welcome! I agree with the previous posters about The Well-Trained Mind. It can also be alot to grasp, but it gives a good overview of classical homeschooling. You might also check out The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling as a nice general overview.

     

    Welcome!

  6. The great thing about homeschooling is you can be eclectic. You don't have to stick to just one boxed curriculum...you can pick different books/publishers for what works for you. Of course, that can also be a nightmare because there are too many choices!

     

    Is your son advanced in all subjects? Or is he a good reader but is on grade level for math, etc. The more specific information you can share, the better help you can get on the board :) Are there things you have looked at that you like it don't like?

  7. I heard Jim Weiss two years ago at our homeschool convention...Susan W Bauer was there too--swoon! I was in WTM heaven! He is SO entertaining. My girls adore both Greek myth CDs. I am debating about getting Shakespeare...thinking I should wait until we study the Middle Ages, but then shaking myself and thinking that you can never start to early to instill a love of the Bard in your kids.... But I am stretching our budget to the max already!!

  8. I am considering Easy Classical for ancients next year. I like the combination of Biblical history with SOTW for my rising second grader. Does anyone use the geography with the history schedule? I haven't looked at the SOTW AG, but I know it uses mapping activities. Does EC geo offer anything extra that I would want?

  9. I am using Phonics Road, a spin-off of the Spalding method. Reading WRTR helped me understand the "why" of what we were doing in PR, but I think it would be a little hard to implement a program just from the book.

     

    Another Hive member led me to The Logic of English--a homeschool mom takes the Spalding ideas and makes them open-and-go. I started reading the book sample on Amazon, and she has created a curriculum to implement the ideas as well.

     

    HTH!

  10. I need some advice on subjects of history, literature, geography & maybe Bible.

     

    Taking in consideration that some of my favorite programs are Rightstart Math, Phonics Road, (and we also used CW for a semester and loved it too) Nancy Larson Science, I need some advice on finding a history program that are along these lines. I think these are pretty Type-A personality programs, very structured but very "living" too.

     

    My preferences are

     

    *living spines over encyclopedias (mixture is fine)

     

    *more of a classical list vs just good stories (mixture is fine)

     

    *Christian worldview is a must (don't want to have to "add in")

     

    I'm having the hardest time finding a good fit for our family. I have been looking and pursuing some choices over the last few months, but I just don't have a peace about any of them.

     

    My kids are 9yo, 8yo, 7yo, 5yo, and a nearly 3yo, with one due in summer.

     

    So, we must be curriculum twins, separated at birth :) We also use PR and RS, and now I am going to run out and look at Nancy Larson science!

     

    I could have posted this--I am on exactly the same search. I want more than SOTW because I want more Biblical world view. I LOVE the looks of TOG, but I am waiting to dive in until I my kiddos are older. I have eliminated MFW, SL, HOD because at each grade level, everyone is doing something a little different, and I want all of MY plans to work. (I already love my math and LA, so I don't want to be confused by other suggestions!) In the meantime, while I wait for TOG, I THINK I am going to use Easy Classical for next year. You can get plan for everything, or you can buy plans just for history or science. Ancients include Biblical history and is divided between 2 years--Bible history with ancient Egypt and then ancient Greeks and Romans. "Modern" history seemed to get a little crunched on the end of year 4, but I think I might spread that out to two years --if I am still using the program :)

     

    I also like the looks of Truthquest, but I know we would like more activities and such with the program. I can't tell if it has enough activities for my littles crew.

     

    Good luck as you make your decisions...and let me know what you decide!

  11. Asian math refers to a way about thinking about math--understanding numbers and finding multiple ways of solving problems, thinking about math conceptually, instead of just memorizing facts. Right Start, Singapore, Miquon are all popular programs that teach this style of math.

     

    I have not used Miquon, but I have looked over the book. We used Singapore briefly. Both are outstanding programs, but Right Start is a good fit for us because there are very few worksheets for kindergarten and first grade, and everything you need is in the Teacher's Edition. I am NOT mathy, and RS gave me confidence in teaching math. The reason we didn't stick with Singapore was simply a personal preference--with RS, I have one book to look at. With Singapore, there is the HIG (home instructor's guide), the textbook (colorful, and used to illustrated concepts), and the consumable workbook where the student shows his work. (They have other supplements such as a Challenging Word Problems book and a test book as well.) After using on the RS TE, I had a hard time juggling all of those books to teach a lesson. But as I said, this is just a personal preference.

     

    Some people get sticker shock with RS when they see the cost of the book and manipulatives. If you can look at the TE first, you will see you don't need everything up front. You can get away with the TE, student worksheets, and some popsicle sticks at first! See if you can borrow the book or at least look at it first before you make the commitment, and that might help your decision-making process. I talked to a great rep at our local homeschool convention, and I have been sold on RS ever since!

  12. Looking for ways to save some money, but I don't want to be cheap just to find out I should have spent the $ in the first place, YKWIM?

     

    Should I buy the geo drawing set from Right Start, or can I get the pieces (T-square, 30-60 triangle, etc) from Wal-Mart or whatever during back to school sales?

     

    Thanks!

  13. Frog and Toad by the end of first grade has always been my guideline. If you check your local library's website, they should have accelerated reader lists for your local schools. you can see what grade level they put specific books. Little Bear is typically early to mid first grade level.

    That is a huge relief! :) Thank you for posting that...I hate to compare, blah, blah, but it's nice to have SOME kind of measure!

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