I am going straight to the narrative book, but my son completed Classical Writing-Aesop A last year in 3rd grade. I spoke with a rep from CAP, and she seemed to think that was appropriate. I was concerned about rewriting all the same fables we did last year. While I know that is truly not a problem, I know my son would probably prefer different stories (with only a couple ones we've rewritten before). My biggest challenge is that I commited to going through the IEW-A with two other friends whose children are my son's age. I am hoping I can schedule the IEW so that we are able to still sneak in a W&R lesson every once in a while. Since it is only a semester course, I think it can be done - or at least I really hope so!

Classical Conversations drives me crazy...but not for the reason you listed. : )

This mom shows a sample: http://smoothstonesacademy.blogspot.com/2011/02/sotw-wrap-up-and-review.html (scroll to the bottom of the post)

It starts out with the main topics and the child has to fill in the sub-points. We're only 6 chapters in right now though. I know the sections they are required to complete changes as the book progresses. I haven't studied it enough yet to know exactly how. Someone with more experience using it should chime in. I don't know if there are samples on the Internet or the Peace Hill Press site or not, but it may be worth a search.

I am only on Chapter 6 with a reluctant-writer 4th grader. So far the outlining has been going pretty well. I expected more of a backlash. I can't say he enjoys it, but I think he is learning valuable skills. I let him use the book as much as he needs. I was as surprised as you when I opened the AG and saw less supplemental readers, no coloring pages, and outline templates. He gets it done, and we move on.

I tried to combine history last year with my 1st and 3rd graders, and I do think my 1st grader got short-changed. If you are doing SOTW 1, you should be fine, but we were doing SOTW 3, designed for kids 3rd-7th grade. It was way over my 1st graders head. This year I have decided to start my younger guy in SOTW 1 and continue onto SOTW 4 with my oldest. The AG for SOTW 4 says the themes are too mature for anyone younger than 4th, and there are virtually no books geared to younger children. I am going to keep them together for science still, but there is definitely a part of me that wonders if chemistry and physics are too much for 1st/2nd grade too. I just keep thinking about how nice biology/anatomy/botany will be next year when they are both old enough to appreciate the content. :)

WWE 3 was torture for my Iikely dysgraphic son. He flipped out over the dictation passages, so we switched to Classical Writing-Aesop A. I don't know if I recommend WWE for kids with any type of learning challenge, but we are still trying to find our happy place in writing. I am going to spend this year in IEW A in order to give him a better sense of how to outline, etc. I am also hoping some testing with a neuroed specialist will help give us direction as well. I guess I should update my signature before I confuse too many more people.

He is starting 4th grade. We just finished our first week last week and started out doing FLL4. I was only thinking of supplementing the FLL 4 with the R&S4. There are only about 89 lessons in FLL and 120+ in R&S4. I was thinking of using the off day during the week to introduce just the material that is not found in FLL4. I certainly do not want to overwhelm him. I was able to pick up the R&S book for $4 at our used Bookbuster this past weekend, so I didn't spend a lot of money on a 2nd curriculum. I did start Fix-It too, and I think that will help with transitioning into his actual writing.

I realize this thread probably exists somewhere, in some form, on this board. Nonetheless, here is my situation... I have been using FLL since my son was in 1st grade. I really like certain aspects of the program: the poetry, the short lessons, the minimal written work (son is likely dysgraphic), the gentle approach to diagramming, etc. Still, I beginning to feel like it is missing some things. I also feel like what he learns isn't translating into his written work or his test scores. We had to stop WWE at the beginning of last year, so I am wondering if some of the items covered in R&S that aren't covered in FLL are found instead in WWE. I have been trying to compare the table of contents of the two programs, but I am finding that tedious. What are the differences between the two? The similarities? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each? Is it possible to fill in the gaps with R&S and stick primarily with FLL4? I also realize that this will be our final year with FLL, and then we'll have to find something else (of which R&S is one of the program recommended by SWB). I would appreciate your thoughts, opinions, and wisdom! Thanks!

Sequential Spelling is recommended for kids grades 3rd and above. Their rep at convention was adamant about that- anyone younger would be overwhelmed very quickly. Having tried it with younger children and failed, I think that is very good advice. I do love the AVKO resources though!

Did you like Right Start B? Did things seem to click for your children, even if it seemed to take a while to work through? I'll admit it. I like RightStart. Level C is probably my least favorite to teach so far. My oldest son (3rd) just finished RightStart D yesterday (yipppee!), and his brother is halfway through Level C. So we are right in the middle of the geometric drawing lessons. I slug through them because I know it is worth it in the end. My oldest son has visual-motor challenges, so I pretty much had to hand-hold him through those drawing lessons. At the end of that segment, I distinctly remember thinking, "I hated that, but amazingly, he learned so much through the lessons." You don't necessarily realize what is learned by just glancing at them in the book. That said, I am counting down the days until we finish the drawing section. I am planning on going through E with both boys.

I tried doing Easy Classical with my 1st and 3rd graders. There were several books they liked and several that were WAY above their heads. Personally, even I had a hard time with the Eyewitness Matter and Chemistry books. I had to read the kids passages and try to understand the historic chemical apparatuses - what they did, how they worked, etc. I just didn't see the point (half the time I was confused), and they could have cared less. The World of Chemistry is interesting, but it is marketed toward older kids other places. My kids did really like Fizz, Bubble, and Flash, Super Science Concoctions, and Where do Puddles Go? We ditched the Easy Classical schedule about 13 weeks into it though and just did our own thing. I would not recommend for younger aged children. I am seriously going to be looking at Apologia's materials for Physics. I feel like we keep having "misses" when it comes to science, and I don't want that to happen next year.

"Leigh Bortins dedicates her life to helping further the movement of classical home educators and I don't think she, or her company for that matter, deserve to be criticized for being money hungry or overly aggressive or detrimental to the homeschooling community at large." This is what I was afraid of.

"Leigh Bortins dedicates her life to helping further the movement of classical home educators and I don't think she, or her company for that matter, deserve to be criticized for being money hungry or overly aggressive or detrimental to the homeschooling community at large." This is what I was afraid of.

mom2att, I looked you up and we are in the same large city. Thank you for your insight. :) I guess I shouldn't focus on CC alone, but we don't have the other paid-teacher program in our suburban pocket. I know I am not the only one concerned with the issues facing our umbrella program. I think people feel even less connection to the umbrella program out in my county since we are an outlying county to the big city. In fact, we used to have our own umbrella organization, but that died out due to a lack of people willing to lead it soon after I started home schooling. I am choosing to assume that the decision to host another used book sale was an oversight or made out of ignorance. For those who are confused, this book sale isn't a new book sale. It is a place for home schoolers to sell used curriculum. I relate to just about everything Keri J said. I will refrain from sharing my many strong opinions about CC here. There are plenty of posts on this subject on here already. Somebody asked for good and bad exepriences with CC on our local facebook page and NO ONE said anything negative about it. Three directors posted about how much they loved it. I chose to say nothing. I normally just tell people to check out TWTM for differing opinions.

Is there a place to access/purchase Amy Joy's CDs outside of CC connected? Thanks! I've bought a CC Cd before and very little was to song. The CC Connected fee is pretty unreasonable if you are not affiliated with a local community. We'll be doing Physics next year and the songs would be a nice supplement. Thanks!

Thanks for sticking to the question. I am not in a position to directly influence our city's larger umbrella group. I am just wondering if a proliferation of CC communities has affected the support groups and/or co-ops in your community. I know the home schooling movement is changing, but I was wondering if there was a tie-in or if our community was unique.

I can get over that though. I am really concerned about the long-term health of our umbrella support group. Co-ops still seem to thrive out here. The support groups have all died.

I guess what I find irksome right now is that if anyone has a question/problem, the answer to the question gets like three hits from CC Directors telling them that they should come check out CC and that they are holding Q&A sessions almost every other week at a Panera.

The Facebook group is a geographical subset of our larger metro area and is moderated. There are no rules though.

The advertising is very intense on a 350-family facebook page in our area. I know it will die down once the start for the year, but two of the smaller support groups in our area are closing down. One of the women who ran one of the support groups is starting her own CC. The other one said that she felt comfortable shutting her group down because of the other options now available in our community to support home schoolers.

It isn't a co-op that hosts the book sale, it is our local city-wide home school support group, the umbrella of all groups. Our umbrella group is probably one of the few local home school groups that hosts a convention and has a library for members. It is struggling to survive, and another book sale hosted two weeks before so close in location will likely kill the book sale. While I am not on the Board, I have been active for the past few years in volunteering at events and utilizing services.

Just wondering if Classical Conversations is affecting your local home school community? I have 4 different "communities" within 30 minutes of my home. They offer testing services, so our local testing offered by our general home school support group has really been affected. Our local group has to pay proctors and rent the facility. There is talk that they may not continue to offer this service if there is no longer a need for it. Additionally, I just found out that CC is hosting a book sale that will be held 2 weeks before our annual homeschool Bookbuster. Our Bookbuster already just breaks even. I am concerned that their numbers will go down dramatically, because our local group has to take a % of the sales to cover building rental, etc. The CC book sale is not going to charge a % of the sales, and the fee to enter will be $1 less. I have done CC before. We lasted one year and then decided to take a year off. It was during my break away from CC that I decided that my understanding of the grammar stage was more SWB than Leigh Bortins. There is now a lot of pressure to join a CC group on our online home school facebook page. Because you have at least three Directors for all these communities, they are all advertising all the time. The co-ops in our area don't seem to have the same level of aggressive advertising/solicitations to join. Is this happening anywhere else? Am I the only one who has concerns about this? Please keep it respectful. While CC is not a fit for us, the last thing I want is to get a call from one of the four directors in our community asking me to remove this post. I don't think they are on here regularly though. My aim is not to gossip or slander, simply to get an idea if there is a dynamic at play shifting home school groups in other areas too. I once called CC a for profit entity and was practically told that that was a lie from Satan. Sigh.

Bump! I would love to have a list of possible elementary Physics options. I hope more people reply! Thanks for the link to computer science resources.

We've been using the Dianne Craft Brain Integration Therapy for a writing glitch in my 8 y.o. son. since the day after Christmas. We have started a GFCF diet and added probiotics and cod liver oil. We've also started working with our neurofunctional chiropractor for 2 visits a month. He gives us addiitonal exercises for activating the right frontal region of my son's brain that we are supposed to do 9 times a day. Last week we had a major break through. DS-8 now says that writing is much easier, and his handwriting has improved dramatically. There are still other issues that we will be working on, so we'll move to the auditory processing glitch brain training section of the Dianne Craft materials next week. I have made tons of accomodations for my son for the past three years, math curriculum with minimal writing, spelling on a white board, copy work/scribing instead of writing (all with tears). I just wanted to encourage you. We started a lap book last week. Two weeks ago my son would have cried if he had to fill out a worksheet! I really think superimposing his alphabet during the writing 8 exercise has been a huge part of that improvement. We even eliminated his reversal issues. HTH! P.S. I thought I was the only one who had a Brain Training board on Pinterest! :) It is good to know I am not alone!