[Waiting on IEW SSS Year 2?]

Anyone else waiting on IEW to release Year 2 of Structure & Style for Students? I need Level B...it keeps getting delayed. So what are you planning to do in the meantime? I'm debating about either using Wordsmith since it's already on my shelf, or having my students do more writing from their history and literature.

Lana

[Anyone use Professor Carol for music classes? Thoughts?]

I'll be the dissenting opinion. I had such high hopes for Discovering Music. It looked like exactly what I wanted for a high school humanities class at co-op- art history, Western architecture, music appreciation, a little bit of European history - it looked fantastic from the samples! But when we started watching the videos, it was *incredibly* boring. Professor Carol's convention talks and the podcasts I've heard her on are fantastic. She's obviously extremely knowledgeable and passionate about her subject. I'm not sure why it doesn't translate into her curriculum.

I think it would easily count for a half credit and could count for a full humanities credit if you used more of the assignments in the curriculum. I don't think I'd give a history credit though. It's not an open and go curriculum, there is some teacher prep time.  I thought the videos would be more visual of art and architecture, as well as listening to the music, but it's mostly Professor Carol on camera lecturing. It would be nice if the required listening pieces were included on a CD or downloadable MP3, but you have to source those yourself (although she does have recommended sources like NAXOS).

Overall, I think it could be an excellent course for a high school student who is interested in a Western Civ/Humanities type course. But it would probably take more planning and prep than I wanted to devote to an enrichment co-op class. I may revisit it for my own high schoolers to see if I can tweak it to suit my purposes.

[8th grade planning thread 2021-2022]

I think this is the latest I've ever been in deciding what to use for next year! Even though we could just reuse what my older daughter did in 8th grade, I decided to branch out and try some new stuff next year.

Grammar - Analytical Grammar, Season 3

Spelling - Rod & Staff, Grade 8

Vocabulary - Vocabulary from Classical Roots, Level C

Writing - IEW SSS 2-B

Math - CLE 8

Science - Apologia Physical Science

History - Sonlight Core 100

Extras: Homeschool choir and private piano/voice lessons. 
 

[book ideas for my mom and mother in law]

You can't go wrong with anything by Regina Jennings. She is a homeschool mom friend of mine and has written around 16 or so books. Hers are historical Christian fiction, but not overly heavy on the cheesy Christian stuff like a lot of authors are. I've read several and they are all very good quality writing, clean and lighthearted, but always with an element of light romance and mystery.

Lana

[Does this sound like too much?]

8 hours ago, EmilyGF said:

My daughter and I are both strong in the same areas (conceptual reasoning, making connections, big picture thinking) and weak in the same areas (organization, details, time management), so it was really hard for me at first. I'm sure a lot of this is easy or simple for people who naturally tend towards organization and details. Training myself was the hardest part.

Parts of our current system:

1. Weekly work grid that fits on a single piece of paper. I make a new one every weekend that is updated to fit any plans we have for the week so that there is no editing on the fly. I include all things I expect of her (oh, I don't include chores and they never get done - maybe I should change that!), from flute practice to math to current events related to her geography class. She also has a few weekend things included on the list. Key point: No surprises. No extra work if she finishes early.

2. We meet every morning to set up her work for the day. It takes about 10-15 minutes every morning and we try to do this by 8 am. I ask her what she remembers from the last time she covered the material, then we look at each of the day's lessons and talk about the expectations. During this time she makes sure she has all the books and materials on her desk. Key point: I know she can succeed in the morning and there are no surprises during the day.

3. This was a game changer. Make a daily time schedule. I did this at first, but now she does it. We found a static time schedule didn't work for us because our schedule changed too much, but she estimates how long a subject will take and then writes a schedule that takes that into account. I think she used to either dawdle because she felt like she had all sorts of time OR because she felt like she had so much work that it wouldn't help. This helped her learn to pace herself. Key point: She knows if she is getting behind and is motivated not to dawdle.

4. Afternoon meeting where I check the work. She needs accountability. I don't do this as consistently as I should and sometimes I do this the following day in the morning. But when we first started this, she needed this daily.

5. No having fun on weekends until the entire grid is finished for the week. Yes, I am a meanie. This was really really hard to enforce the first two weeks of the system because she had all sorts of work that she'd left undone. One Saturday she started working at 8 am and didn't finish until 10 pm. It was painful. But after two weeks, something clicked, and now she finishes all her work on a daily basis and within a reasonable time, or makes it up within a day. Key point: She needed to know that there were consequences for not finishing work.

These are great ideas! Thank you for sharing them. I write out a planner for her each week, but it's not big enough to write detailed assignments so I may need to rethink that. A couple of times she's done the wrong thing because she wasn't sure and didn't bother to ask.

We have been trying a "bell schedule" the last week or two but I have not been consistent with following it. Next week I'm not going to allow her to work in her room so that I can redirect her focus when necessary. I think we might also try setting a stopwatch to see exactly how long it *does* take her to finish. She would like the challenge of beating the timer.

A morning and afternoon meeting is something we both need. She needs the outline for the day, and I need to check up on her progress throughout the day. Implementing this one for sure!

[Does this sound like too much?]

1 hour ago, 8FillTheHeart said:

It looks like a doable 9th grade load to me.  What novels will she be reading?  WttW doesn't include novels, so I am confused by the comment, "I estimate that it takes about an hour, possibly longer once she starts reading full-length novels that are assigned. But some of the reading can also be done over the weekends."

WttW incorporates short stories and poems.  The reading is minimal.  The focus is on literary elements and analysis of those shorter works.  I'm using it with my 9th grader, but we are still doing a complete literature study (completely unrelated to WttW.  We are reading LOTR.)   How are you assigning WttW?  It really only takes us about 20 mins per day. (I gave her 3 days to read and annotate The Most Dangerous Game on her own.  It is the longest work in the study IIRC.)  We sit and discuss the short story/poem and work together on the analytical skills.   Once she starts writing essays, the essays will replace all of her other English assignments during that time. (IOW, when she is writing her essay, she won't be doing grammar/Jensen's Punctuation and lit reading.  The essay will be her focus for that week.  Based on your list, I would stop SSS during the time she is writing an essay.) 

In order to classify everything you have listed as a full English credit using WttW, I would have to incorporate a lot more short stories and poetry.  (I would not give 1.5 English credits based on what you have listed bc it doesn't look comprehensive enough to me for a full yrs credit.  But I don't separate comp and lit for my kids.  I expect them to do both and count it as a single credit regardless of time.)

(I was curious as to where the novel information might be coming from.  I looked and IEW does offer a syllabus for combining WttW with Teaching the Classics and it says it helps to be familiar with TWSS. https://iew.com/shop/products/syllabus-introduction-literary-analysis Is that what you are doing?  I'm completely unfamiliar with Teaching the Classics.  But that is obviously a full English credit.)

If you are not combining the 2, an alternative might be to not give 2 credits for geography but see if there is a way to use some of the reading to create a literature study.  (I'm unfamiliar with GH, so I don't really know what she is reading, but a world lit course could easily be part of a geography study.) That might be a way to cover lit and not have to change what you are already doing.  

 

Yes, we're using the combined TTC/WTTW syllabus. It includes reading To Kill a Mockingbird, Jane Eyre, and Hamlet. There are homework assignments, an allusions project, a couple of mini-essays, and 2-3 full length essays included in the syllabus, and it's definitely a full credit's worth of work. You're probably right, though, that most days will not require a full hour to complete. 

[Does this sound like too much?]

1 hour ago, EmilyGF said:

My kiddo who dawdles has actually thrived on more work plus skills to deal with the dawdling. What I found was that I had certain habits that permitted and encouraged her dawdling. Once I dealt with my own bad habits, I was able to help her deal with hers and in the last six months, her ability to get work done has increased amazingly. She is probably your daughter's age (nearly 14).

I wouldn't say my daughter rushes. She just has learned to focus, turn off distractions, time her work, etc. She actually does better with more work because it helps her focus.

Emily

Yes, my dd is 14, almost 15. I have had to change my habit of sleeping in, because I could see how my actions were affecting how long our school day was. 

Would you mind sharing some of the habits you changed? What skills did you help your daughter work on? I think this is an area we (probably mostly me) need to work on. 

[Does this sound like too much?]

9 hours ago, WendyAndMilo said:

My DS would love that workload 🙂  Why are you trying to keep the hours down?  Why are you thinking about reducing geography when she actually likes it??

We started out trying to do too many of the choices in the geography. The videos and books are great but she could spend half a day just on that one subject. And she was neglecting her other subjects in favor of geography. So I am assigning less, but she can always pick up the unassigned books/ videos in her spare time and read them for fun. 

[Does this sound like too much?]

11 hours ago, Lori D. said:

That comes out to more like 6.0 hours per day. Which is reasonable, because you are doing 6.0 credits worth of work:

2.50 hr/week = 0.5 credit = Bible (Devotional) 
7.75 hr/week = 1.5 credit* = English
     4.00 hr/week = Literature/Writing (WttW)
     3.00 hr/week = Writing (IEW)
     0.75 hr/week = Vocabulary (Classical Roots)
5.00 hr/week = 1.0 credit = Math: Alg. 1 (CLE)
4.50 hr/week = 1.0 credit = Science: Biology (Apologia)
7.5-10.00 hr/week = 2.0 credits** = Social Studies: Geography (Guest Hollow) 
27.25 to 29.25 hr/week = total -- that's almost 30 hours a week (6 hours day x 5 days a week)

* = amount of time spent here is closer to 1.5 credit -- you have a lot of writing overlap here in perhaps drop the IEW to just 1-2x/week, or drop IEW entirely in the weeks where you are doing writing with WttW

** = amount of time here makes this worth 2.0 credits. Since this is what she is loving, and because you don't have any Electives for pursuing interests, I'd let her keep going at 2 hours/day and count this as 2 credits -- maybe first semester could be World Geography I = 1 credit, and second semester could be World Geography II = 1 credit

If DD is not burning out or stressed about the longer days (6 hours/day) -- go with it, as that's a very normal 9th grade workload and amount of time to be working. Is there a reason you're trying to keep to 5.5 hours/day??

That is so helpful to see it spelled out like that! I had not considered giving two credits for the geography. I also forgot to add that she has a half credit study skills class. It should be pretty low-key - we started with the Great Courses How to Be a Superstar Student videos and will move into reading some books like 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens. Next semester she will have a half credit computer technology class. 

I think y'all are right about doubling up on the writing. She needs the deliberate instruction of IEW but we'll need to set those assignments aside when she has a WttW essay to write. She is doing IEW with her younger sister and I was trying to keep them together. 

I was trying to keep it to 5-6ish hours because of our outside commitments. We're at choir for an hour and a half each week and piano lessons for an hour. It's hard to fit in even 4 hours of work on those days due to travel time. And she is feeling a little stressed by the load. Some of that may be the high school expectations, but I think some of her stress is brought on by her lack of time management skills. 

[Does this sound like too much?]

11 hours ago, perkybunch said:

I would not double up on IEW writing and Windows to the World.  I know that Windows to the World can be easily covered in a semester, and it does have writing in it.  So I would do that one semester and do the IEW the other semester (I am not familiar with IEW).

 She needs the explicit instruction of IEW. We've just started the WTTW, so haven't gotten into any writing assignments yet. But my plan is to stagger the assignments so that if she's writing for one class, she's not writing in the other. The IEW is fairly easy for her, she just needs the practice. 

[Does this sound like too much?]

I think I may be putting too much on my 9th grader's plate, but she also tends to dawdle on assignments and get distracted by everything else but what she's supposed to be doing. She's also a very methodical, slow worker and I can't make her rush no matter what I do! 😄  I need an outside perspective to help me see if it's too much and what I can do to reduce her load.

Bible - devotional book, no more than 5 pages of easy reading per day, and some days there are only 2-3 questions to answer. I estimate this should take about 30 minutes at the most.

Math - CLE Algebra 1 textbook. I assign all of the problems that are new material, and odd numbers on all the review work. Generally there are about 25-30 problems all together. My time estimate is 1 hour, 5 days/week.

Writing - IEW SSS Year 1, Level B - we do this 3-4 times/week. Generally takes about 45 minutes to an hour. I think on non-video days, this should be more like 30 minutes' worth of work.

Vocab - Vocabulary from Classical Roots, one lesson assigned once per week. Maybe 45 minutes of work?

Literature - Windows to the World, about 4 times/week. I estimate that it takes about an hour, possibly longer once she starts reading full-length novels that are assigned. But some of the reading can also be done over the weekends.

Science - Apologia Biology, taken as an outside class 1x/week. The class period is 90 minutes long, and she will probably have 3-4 hours of homework each week outside of class.

Geography - Guest Hollow Geography, 5x/week. This is where we're really getting bogged down, I think. There is a LOT of reading, and I keep cutting more out. But she's probably spending 2+hours a day on it, not just because there's a lot to read but also because she's enjoying the material. I'd like to see this cut down to about 90 minutes at the most each day.

According to my estimates, she should be spending around 5.5 hours on school. But she's easily working longer than that. We've just started back to choir and will be resuming piano lessons in September, so that cuts out even more time out of our day.

Am I expecting too much? What could I (or should I) cut? Or, if the workload is appropriate, how can I motivate her to work more quickly and more focused?

[I'm seriously considering instituting a rule]

That's not mean at all, that is natural consequences.

I'm mean. If my kids did that, not only would they be washing their own dishes, they would be hand-washing ALL the dishes for a day or two. 

[I need a parent eye view here.]

I have no patience for people like that. With absolutely no communication from that parent for the past five months, *and* wanting me to make special accommodations for them, I would be HIGHLY inclined to drop that student completely. The parent obviously knew you weren't doing in-person lessons, since she didn't show up on your doorstep at the regularly scheduled time in the spring. So she's aware of the steps you took to adjust and accommodate for three months. There's no reason she couldn't have contacted you before now, even if there was a personal/family crisis she could have sent a quick text to let you know.

[Online musical theater class]

Central Oklahoma Homeschool Choirs is offering an online Broadway voice class. It's open to any student, not just those in Oklahoma. Here's the link to that class and the other online electives we're offering this year. COHC Online Electives

[Anyone have underwear that you love and would recommend?]

They are NOT cheap, but I loooove Hanky Panky Signature Lace French Bikini. 

They come up higher on my tummy (but not like granny panties)  and don't fall down under my mom pooch. Don't ride up in the back either! The lace is very soft and they are the most comfortable *sexy* panty I've ever worn. 

Amazon carries them, but I found the cheapest price at my local Dillards. 

[Car rental with no CC?]

If you are not picking up the car at an airport location, you should be okay with just a debit card at most rental companies. Airport rentals require you to either pay with a credit card or provide an itinerary (airline tickets or cruise). Hotel reservations don't count (ask me how I found that out. 😡😂)

Lana 

[SUNDAY: What are you making for dinner?]

We had cheesy potatoes with smoked sausage and peas. It was so yummy! 

[Anyone try Teaching the Classics?]

Semi-related: Are the free videos available right now the same as the DVD seminar? I had planned to buy TTC for next year, but I don't want to spend extra money if I don't need to! I've watched the first 3 of the videos that are available for free right now, and they are great!

Lana

[Memoria Press free self-paced Traditional Logic & Latina Christina]

Are the textbooks required to do this class? I can't determine if I still need to purchase the books or if everything is included in the self-paced class.

[7th Grade Planning 2020-2021]

Planning for my oldest dd's 9th grade year has been tough, I almost forgot to think about younger dd's 7th grade year! Tentatively, I'm planning:

Grammar: Analytical Grammar, Season 2
Spelling: Rod & Staff, Grade 7
Vocab: Vocabulary from Classical Roots, A & B
Writing: Wordsmith (depending on what I choose for dd14)  Decided to go with IEW SSS-1B with her older sister
Lit: Various good books, both modern and classic and some to go with history

Math: CLE 7

Science: Apologia General Science, possibly in a co-op setting

History: Hakim's History of US, first 5 books (to Civil War) No history this year, going to focus on World Geography
 
Geography: Drawing the USA, possibly adding in some state review with Memoria Press Build Your Library Level 7, World Geography

Bible: Most Important Thing You'll Ever Study Not sure on this, we'll start with a couple of personal Bible study books.

Extras: Piano/voice lessons, homeschool choir, maybe co-op, maybe art lessons Just can't fit art lessons into the schedule this year and we've decided co-op is no longer a good use of our time.

[7th Grade Planning 2020-2021]

On 1/22/2020 at 5:12 PM, Momto6inIN said:

DD is not a particularly mature 6th grader at this point, so we'll see how this shakes out with her next year. Some of the stuff her siblings did might be too much for her just yet. We'll see. But this is what I am hoping for.

Math - MM 7 Monday thru Thursday - on Fridays do various Mind Benders puzzles, Balancing Equations workbook, Algebra Antics workbook, and CTC Understanding Geometry - also try to get her to get some friends to do the reelmathchallenge video as a group project

Language - finish AAS7, Marie's Words, Analytical Grammar season 2, IEW SICC B (spread out over 7th and 8th), read from a list for an hour every day - also introduce some gentle note taking and formal outlining

Science - Apologia General Science - I might need to really sit with her and hand hold her through this - she can understand it just fine, but the focus and executive function required to do it independently is just not there yet

History - History of Us concise edition 1 and 2 with the Hewitt syllabus and lots of discussion to make sure she actually is reading it and not just zipping through - see focus comment above 😉

Geography - Charlotte Mason Visits To series

Computer - play with NXT Legos and Scratch

Ag - DH wants her to read an Agriscience textbook because we live in a heavy ag area and although we are not involved in ag directly ourselves, it comprises so much of the local economy he wants her to be literate in ag topics

Art - Artistic Pursuits middle school book 1 on her own

Music - teach her younger sister recorder and continue piano lessons and singing lessons at church

She'll begin speech and pre-debate classes at our speech and debate club, participate in drama, make lunch for us daily, and do a once a week PE class. She also wants to play around with some Rosetta Stone Spanish.

Where did you find the Hewitt syllabus for The History of US? Is the company active again?

[Windows to the World after Figuratively Speaking - overkill?]

21 hours ago, Lori D. said:

Unit 5 of WttW is very specific step-by-step instruction in writing the literary analysis essay. But yes, WttW does not cover other types of essay writing, nor does it cover basic introduction to multi-paragraph writing. 

The Power in Your Hands (Sharon Watson -- 1 year, covers a variety of types of writing; for gr. 9-12; or, if a weak writer, could use her gr. 6-9 Jump In
The Lively Art of Writing + free go-along work pages created by WTMers = google doc links: workbook and teacher guide
The Elegant Essay -- 1 semester (by Leisha Myers, who also created WttW)

Or, outsource essay writing to an online course provider:
- Lantern English: 4 course series, each class is $60 and runs for 8 weeks: Essay Basics; Essay Practice; Growing the Essay; Growing the Essay Practice
- Brave Writer:
* essay prep series, each class is $239 and runs for 4 weeks: Essay Prep: Dynamic Thinking; Reading the Essay; Research & Citations
* essay writing: each class is $299 and runs for 6 weeks: Exploratory and Persuasive Essay Writing; Rhetorical Critique and Analysis
 

We have used part of Jump In. It was okay, but neither of us were crazy about it. I have heard good things about The Power in Your Hands. I actually recommended it to our co-op for the high school composition class and it was well received. I'll have to take another look at that one.

I already have both LAoW and EE on my list of potentials! BraveWriter is probably not in my budget, but I'll take a look at Lantern for sure. The class titles sound very much like what I am looking for.

Thank you @Lori D.! You are a true treasure on the WTM boards. I always look for your responses to posts because I know they will be very thoughtful replies with a true fountain of knowledge and experience.

[Windows to the World after Figuratively Speaking - overkill?]

OK, I have more questions. I've been reading more about WTTW, and the general consensus is that there isn't a lot of explicit writing instruction, and that a student who isn't already familiar with a 5-paragraph essay may have trouble. Do you agree, and if so, what would you recommend for more direct writing instruction?  My dd14 is a reluctant writer. She does well with grammar/mechanics and sentence structure, but struggles with putting ideas to paper. We have used IEW SWI-B this year, and it has been great for her. She (and I) would both do better with direct-to-the-student instruction where I am in a support role rather than the main instructor.

[Windows to the World after Figuratively Speaking - overkill?]

Thank you all for the great insight! I am about 95% sure we will go with this for next year now!

[Windows to the World after Figuratively Speaking - overkill?]

My dd has been working through the Figuratively Speaking book and reading a lot of the literature. I am considering Windows to the World next year for 9th grade, but it uses a lot of the same short stories and novels that she has read this year. Would it be overkill to use WTTW next year? We have not done any literary analysis this year, just read and discussed the stories. My thought was that the analysis might be easier since the literature would already be familiar.

Thanks!
Lana