I don't know if any of you have children who love the Ticket to Ride games, if you do, this might be of interest. http://www.daysofwonder.com/tickettoride/en/contest/

We have not started Latin yet, and I am considering Latin Alive! for my DD11, who will be in 7th Grade next year. Is this appropriate for an older beginner? I will need her to work fairly independently, will this be possible? Is there something better? I would appreciate any input in this area, as I have never studied Latin myself.

PBW is also being discussed in this thread - http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=250887

I have PMed you.

Thank you, again. I think I get the idea. My DD11 is in the middle of WWE3 with the workbook. I am just finding that she has a hard time keeping a full passage in her head, so I might try to use the passages in WWE3 as French dictation. She does all of the reading and writes the narrations herself, without any questions or guidance from me, so that is not the problem, we just need to work on her memory. Will this work? I will check your blog next week to see how French dictation works at your house.

I am going to attempt this with my DD11. My question is, how long should the passages be? I know that usually in a CM-style, studied dictation, the passages are usually longer than in a SWB-style 'cold' dictation. Would French dictation be more along the lines of studied dictation? Can you give me an idea of what I should be looking for in length?

PBW - http://patternbasedwriting.com/ would have him writing a good, basic, timed, 5 paragraph essay, FAST. PM me if you have any questions.

My DD11 is using PBW - http://patternbasedwriting.com/. We are only on Pattern 5, but I am seeing huge improvements in her paragraphs. PBW is the first program that I have tried that makes logical sense to ME! I have tried IEW, Writing Strands and The Paragraph Book series by EPS, but they didn't click with me. PM me if you have any more questions.

Thank you for articulating MY thoughts so well! I have been pondering this for a while. My DD11 is on the verge of the logic stage. She is ready for some thinking questions, but not a full logic stage curriculum - I am thinking specifically lit and history. I am struggling to find appropriate work for her. She is starting to outline history and has been doing at least one history summary per week. I am lacking is good guidance for stage, not age, appropriate 'why' questions to ask. I believe that a beginning logic student would be frustrated by questions asked of a logic student that is approaching rhetoric. The problem is, I am a product of a lousy public school, and have no idea how to formulate these questions myself.

Thank you! I will look into this! Has anyone else used this? :bigear:

Bump

I am reading through The Writer's Jungle, and Julie talks about French dictation. Does anyone use it? I like the idea of it, and may attempt it next year. Are there any English resources out there for it?

Thank you, SilverMoon! I was planning on the outlining, and it is good to know that all of those resources will work. I had forgotten about the 'list of facts'. I have the Illustrated KF, so I will add that in. I don't think my DD will be ready for the Omni II lit, but I have other resources I can pull from for lit.

If I count Abeka K4, I have been homeschooling for 8 years. I am still learning so much every day, especially since coming to the WTM boards. Thank you for your wisdom and support!

Thank you for the link! It does help to see how they divide the two levels up. As for TOG, we have loved this year, but I am feeling like I need to try something different. After seeing the dialectic and rhetoric levels of TOG, which by the way, are amazing, I am feeling like my children are probably not going to be going in that direction. All my children seem to be more math/science inclined, and I don't think we will be spending the time that will be required to do TOG justice at those levels. The other reason is that we are Canadian, and years 3 and 4 will probably have to be 'tweaked to death' to have some Canadian content. I really don't feel that I can shell out the money for TOG in those years that I will have to do so much to what is already there. Let me know if you have any more questions. It is late here and I am probably not making much sense.

This is exactly the information I was looking for. Thank you! I am looking for something that can be adapted for my older child without too much trouble. Sounds like I need to seriously look at this. Do you add in outlining ala WTM? If so, which spine do you use? I would love to know what else I need to do to add to MARR to make it more challenging.

:lurk5:

I have looked at the samples for this, and from what I see, the questions asked are mainly comprehension questions. Is this true? Are there 'thinking' questions as well? I am wanting something that I can adapt for use with my 4th Graders, 5th Grader and 7th Grader next year(the 1st Grader will tag along as well). Or do I need to get Omnibus II for use with my 7th Grader. I honestly think it would be over her head, but I am not sure that the VP 4th Grade program would be enough. Any thoughts?

:bigear: I think I might be moving in this direction, although I will be writing for my children. Maybe after it gets used and tweaked, I will think about making it available to others.

:iagree:This is exactly what we do, except my DC are allowed from 4pm to dinner. They are only allowed to watch movies after dinner, if I am away for the evening and Daddy is home with them, and Sunday evening is family movie night.

I already had next year planned, but now I am second guess myself. I am looking for feedback on Illuminations by Bright Ideas Press. Any thoughts?

:iagree:I read it, and decided not to do it as a read aloud for my family.

We love the I Can Read It! books from Sonlight. http://www.sonlight.com/1R16.html

I am currently using Saxon Phonics K and Saxon Phonics 2 and I love both programs. I have used many other programs in the past. I do make my DC code the words on the worksheets. I find that it makes a difference, especially for things like the digraphs/diphthongs ou and ow. It also helps when they get to the different syllabication rules that are coming up. It is a visual reminder. That being said, I would not make it a deal breaker. If your DD is refusing to code, I would probably stop for awhile, until you can show her the value of it when she gets to some bigger words that she cannot read. I also have been known to 'bribe' my children.;) A worksheet that is properly coded might get an extra treat - make it a game, especially if it is easy for her. It really only takes a few minutes.

Thank you, Trish. I agree that I would need more information to go on. The samples look good, but I would really like more comments from people that have actually used the program.