Luckily I happened upon the Kingfisher Illustrated History of the World, which is what SWB originally recommended way back when....then it went out of print and became rather pricey. I don't know if you have a Half-price bookstore near you, but I picked up the KIHW for $6 AND the DK History of the World for $10. I think outlining the KIHW would be easier, but I'll have my son read both and decide. I have an 'outline' of how I plan to do history with my grammar and logic-age sons on my blog...look under the 'history' label on the side. I also have pictures of a spread from each book. BTW, I also own the Usborne Internet-linked book and will use it with my younger ds. I'm getting the Nat'l Geographic atlas as well. hth!

You're doing very similar to what is recommended by SWB in her writing program....she says to read the sentence clearly 3 times. Have the child repeat it to you. If they miss something, repeat it again. Continue with that until they can repeat it perfectly. Then have them write. If they forget halfway thru, have them read what they've written so far and that will usually jog their memory. ETA: The teacher is also supposed to make very dramatic pauses at commas and periods. In other words, make sure they know what punctuation is in the dictation, and tell them to be listening for them. We're using WWE 2 for my 3rd and 5th grade boys as they'd not done dictation and narration. By the end of this level, they should be able to write a 12-15 word sentence or two shorter sentences from dictation after two repetitions with no mistakes. Hope that helps!

Thanks! :001_smile:

I love that color! (obviously) I've had similar comments, er, non-comments about my wall color for the schoolroom. But it makes me happy, even though it doesn't go with the rest of my house AT ALL. I'm more a cottage/beachy gal, but I'm also drawn to happy colors. Funny to talk about decorating on a homeschool forum (and blog) as I have a different bog for interior design :D I suppose they'll inevitably overlap....

*snort* It won't take you long....just started it, so there's not a whole lot there yet! Thankfully I've been blogging about other stuff for years, so it doesn't take too long to get one up and running. I should get paid for this, I tell ya.:D

The chair is actually an antique office chair...I picked it up on craigslist. I was drooling over the PB chairs when I found this one. :001_smile: I'm totally glad we converted the living room....we don't have a basement, but I don't know that I'd use it if we did unless it was a daylight or walkout. I NEED sunshine to work. My moods are so affected by weather--'specially in the winter. Our schoolroom faces south with the big picture window, so I'm good to go.

I always just focused on the 3 r's---readin', 'ritin, and 'rithmetic. I also used resources that were as self-teaching as possible. I did R &S English orally with them, MCP Math, and our reading program (which was different with each child.) Also, SHORT lessons....like no more than 20 minutes for your oldest. Lots of short breaks after lessons. I also set up play/learning centers for the kids. And we actually did a lot of school after dinner when Daddy could help corral the toddlers, and the infant was asleep. You don't need all the extras right now....just stick with the 3 r's and maybe do some fun read alouds from historical fiction. Having graduated 3 (of 6), I can tell you that before 5th grade, the content areas just aren't that important academically. peace to you....

A very happy place. And I love me some happy. :) I just finished up our new schoolroom too. It's on the blog... Thanks for sharing!

My schedule is posted here. Through the years, I've tried lots of ways to 'do school', and this plan makes the most sense and works the best for our family. My older son needs lots of hand-holding, and is doing more difficult work, so he gets more of my time. I also do skill subjects individually, and content (history, science) together.

I used the 8th grade level this year as remediation for a freshman boy. He learned a lot, but found some of the explanations 'not enough'...for instance verb tenses. The diagramming is solid. The writing program was straightforward, but bland. The spiral approach drove us both batty, but I will say he retained an awful lot of info. It's no-frills, get 'r done curriculum. Just not very inspiring. Coming from public school, he didn't know any better though. :D That's what he was used to doing. This year we'll use something else, now that I know the basics are covered.

Teach a Child to Read using Children's Books. Excellent for my whole-to-parts learner. All my other kids used a combo of stuff. Abeka, Bob Books, Leap Frog videos, Phonics Pathways, The Reading Lesson.....

She may be a whole to parts learner...if so, phonics will drive her loopy. I taught my whole to parts learner to read using Teach a Child to Read with Children's Books. I am also a whole to parts learner. I learn things from the big picture, then go back and get the details. Teaching phonics was sheer torture for me. :D Anyway, his ability to read just switched on. Like night and day....never looked back. His spelling is atrocious, but we're now going back and learning some of the phonic rules using Megawords (he'll be in 5th grade).

I will be using MM as a stand alone with my rising 3rd grader, and this summer I'm getting ready to use MM Blue series (division) with my rising 5th grader in hopes that we can jump into the 5th grade light blue level by the fall. I won't be supplementing, per se, but Fridays will be 'fun' day where we do all our subjects as games...so we might add in some cuisinaire roddles, LoF, board games, and logic puzzles. Just to change it up once a week, though, not because MM needs supplemented.

Thanks for all the input....I can relate with how my son learns (I am VSL as well), and math was horrendous for me growing up. I'd like to re-learn myself why some of the methods/formulas I used *work*, and I'm even open to learning why numbers are beautiful :D My son is 'whole to parts' in learning-style, and once he gets a picture in his brain, it's there to stay. I'm hoping to monopolize on this ability to help him move forward in math without the tears, fear and frustration. Methinks I should just bite the bullet and get both, use both, and see what happens. He is a LEGO fanatic, so we will definitely be using those! I forgot all about them! It'd be great if someone would write a little instruction book for those of us math-phobs on how to incorporate LEGOS into our math instruction.

Double dip ditto on the SWB tapes. Helped me release the writing curriculum monster that resides in my brain :D FWIW, I have graduated three kids now, and we used a hodge podge of writing curricula. The older two went to college for free, and now both work in editing/writing careers. Some of my youngers have struggled with writing, and SWB's methods so far have helped ease their fears of writing and taken a huge load off my shoulders. I will prolly modify some of the techniques for my VSL son, but I'm convinced copywork, dictation, and narration are the easiest vehicles to getting kids writing. Especially for those who aren't natural writers. Looking back, my natural writers would have succeeded with any old book/curriculum I'd thrown at them (which I did). But I wish I'd paid more attention to SWB's methods when my now-teen girls were little. The youngest two will definitely be using WWE ( and MCT stuff).

I'm not asking in general, but in particular for division concepts. My rising 5th grade boy only knows the formula without the why of long division. I'll be purchasing MM blue series for division, but wanted to have some concrete items to illustrate as well. Which would help him most? I'm leaning toward the rods because I can also use them for fractions...but perhaps the abacus would do this as well? thanks!

I'm making a blogroll :D I thought I remembered a looooong time ago, SWB had a list somewhere. Can't find it.... Little help?

NE Indiana here, go it yesterday. Haven't slept since. :tongue_smilie:

Just wanted to mention that I went thru the Saxon Grammar/Writing course with a freshman to remediate him (we used the 8th grade level), and unless your kiddo REALLY enjoys LA, it's a burn-out ready to happen. The spiral thing is completely over the top, and I felt the instructions were a bit lacking in some areas...such as tenses, some diagramming, and vocabulary. The writing assignments were vanilla, though well-structured. It certainly didn't spark any love for language or writing. It's thorough, I'll say that, but it seems that only those who love LA would enjoy it, but the spiraling would then drive them crazy. :tongue_smilie: FWIW, I'm switching him to MCT this year. He'll be a 10th grader and we're starting (and hopefully moving quickly thru) the Voyage level, then onto the upper levels. Might look at LTOW too....depending on how much handholding he needs with expository writing. After Saxon, there wasn't enough writing for me to make a fair judgement on his abilities.

I'm just following TWTM logic stage history plans. My son is just going into 5th grade and his brother is a rising 3rd grader....we'll use SOTW 2 with both, but the older will also be reading KIHW, doing outlining, and writing narrative summaries from extra library books (those recommended in the WTM). So, his spine is SOTW 2 and KIHW. We'll use atlas/world wall map/globe and mapping from MapQuest and we're keeping a timeline. He'll keep a history notebook as described in WTM. His literature study will be the list of history books from WTM as well. I love how they overlap...keeps things simple on my end. :) (I'm currently going *slowly* thru SWB's newest adult history book A History of the Medieval World so I can know where we're headed!)

Thanks for being so specific. These are the kinds of posts that really help me evaluate a program.... I've already downloaded MM3 for my rising 3rd grader, but I had purchased a copy of MUS Delta for my rising 5th grader who struggles with math. I'd heard MUS was good for learners such as my son (VSL, pencil-phobic, hands-on), but actually had him take the MM placement test using the 4th grade level. He was in tears and panic with it after about 5 minutes, and that was with ME sitting there walking him thru it. I would like to use it with him anyway, but I'm not sure *I* can teach it to him. I posted a week or so ago about how I was reading thru the third grade MM book and didn't understand any of it. I was never taught mental math strategies, so have always dreaded teaching that way....even though I know it's gonna give my kids a leg-up in the long run. *sigh* At any rate, I guess I'll be selling my Delta set and blocks.

Ah, I get what you're saying. You're concerned that others can come into our homes and look at our bookshelves and make snap assumptions that we must agree and condone everything within the pages of those books simply because they are sitting on our shelf...am I understanding? I see what you mean. Unfortunately, and to your point, there are those who do make those assumptions. I've been on the receiving end of some pretty nasty criticism due to some of the reading material I've delved into over the years. I've learned to keep that info private in certain company, and on the bookshelves in my bedroom.;) I hope that the majority here can separate offensive books from those who choose to use them in a curricula. It would make me sad to think there are those who may judge someone using TOG as 'racist' or that they don't give a flip that others are offended. I try to give folks the benefit of the doubt....we're all trying to do the best for our kids. Threads like these shed light on difficult stuff that need to be wrestled with. Yep. I hope that day never comes.

Owning those books is different than reading them. My olders read (and my youngers will read) some 'offensive' books in their education. But at the grammar and early logic stages, books that a family deems unacceptable and chooses not to have sitting on their shelves doesn't seem to me the anything other than a parent's choice about what their kiddos will exposed to. I won't have racist history books just sitting on my shelf, won't use them in our study until I'm sure my kids are into the late logic or rhetoric stage, and will get them from the library. I won't buy them. We all make choices about what things our kids will be exposed to, when that exposure is appropriate (or not at all), and what we would like to surround ourselves with in our homes. Not to get too woo-woo here, but after my hubby inherited a ton of old tomes from his grandpa, we sold several that made me uncomfortable...some I'd read, some I had no desire to read, some I skimmed and just got icky feelings about. I don't believe they should be banned or burned however. Just don't want them in my environment. That doesn't mean I don't currently own several books by authors I dislike and books with opinions I disagree with. Just means some books won't be getting a coveted place on my bookshelves. I only have so much space, and I'd rather fill that space with books that bring out the best in my family. And yes, reading books of opposing viewpoints can make us better people....more aware of our shortcomings, etc. But using a book that continually has nuances about abhorrent ideas to educate my kids over a period of months via their history study isn't the best way to teach kids about those ideas...at any age, IMO. I will agree that 'in the wrong hands' just about any decision or choice we make as individuals about what we do or don't find acceptable can lead down a slippery slope. I just don't think that's a good reason for a parent to decide to keep certain books out of their homes. :) That seems like a stretch to me I suppose. This has been such a good discussion....really helps me solidify some of my thoughts about certain books I've chosen in the past, and what books I'll choose for my kids and myself in the future.

Wowsers...glad I read thru this thread. I have had TSofM on my shelf and tried to read thru it a couple times thinking, "um, yeah. This ain't gonna work." At least I know I wasn't alone in thinking it wasn't worth even trying to read it aloud to my boys, editing all the time. I have the Drama set in my files for when we hit Am. Hist based on Spy Car's (henseforth referred to as "SC") recommendations. Oh yeah. Disclaimer: I haven't used, looked at, or drooled over TOG in the 14 years I've been schooling kids. Up to this point, I had no strong opinions about it other than it wouldn't work for me because I like the simplified WTM recs for both literature/history and lit analysis. After reading this thread, though, I wouldn't use it because of the choices they offer as spines. I think SC's concerns are valid, and I'm thankful he brought them up. If 2 spines of a program are that 'off', how can I trust their selections at all? I do respect that many, many here love this program, though. I'm happy it works for so many families, but I also hope SC's comments will help illuminate possible issues on racism, bigotry and the like that might have flown under the radar previously. Talk is good. peace.

Soo so sad to hear about all these closings! I noticed our libraries here upped the fee for late books ( to .25), but that's about it. They just finished remodeling every branch in the city....it would be a horrid waste of money if they closed any of them. Thankfully we live in an area where there are lots of homeschoolers, and they do a really good job catering to our needs. There have only been maybe 3 times in the last 14 years I couldn't find a book I needed. Course there's only been 2 times I've been turned over to collections for accumulating fees. :001_huh: Lately, I've been doing well avoiding fees, or paying them right away because I don't want to be one who causes the library financial woes....