We just bought this book at the SEARCH convention here in PA this weekend. I hadn't realized that Jay Wile left Apologia, so I was concerned that either he or they went off the deep end...so I read a lot online to try to figure out what caused the split. Neither really went off the deep end....from what I gather Jay Wile is a young-earth creationist, however one of the reasons he split with Apologia completely was because they were presenting things that were technically debatable as fact. So while he is a young-earth creationist, he does not dispute that it is up for debate so doesn't categorically consider old-earth creationists to be wrong. I am not speaking for him and I may be way off, but that was my understanding. I am a young-earth creationist...but I appreciate his wanting to stay unbiased and consider all the evidence to form a conclusion. (And being a science book...that's kind of the whole point, which kind of brings it full circle.) Given that, I would doubt he would present it as young-earth being fact. I have only flipped through the book, but as a previous poster said the categories are just broken down into the days things were created without defining the length of a "day." I think you'll be fine!

Thanks, everyone! I have smelled the Kool-Aid but have not consumed any yet. lol I live near Valley Forge but we are travelling for the bulk of the time they are having their conference here later this month....but I am thinking if I only pop in to peruse their sale table they would not mind?! I do so much better when I can see stuff in person. Thanks again!

Hi -- We have happily and successfully used FLL & WWE (two years)/IEW (started last year). We saw MCT at his first conference in Valley Forge, but our oldest is just now at the right age to consider this curriculum. I have a lot of questions, but saw several threads about the same concerns so I will study those later, so for now I am only wondering: Can the MCT poetics (specifically Music Hemispheres & maybe Building Poems) stand alone? Regardless what we do with grammar/writing/language arts in general, we would like to introduce this sort of poetry instruction. If the MCT poetry stuff can be used independently of the other MCT things, that would be super! Thanks for any help with this!

My oldest is just started 3rd grade. I have known about IEW these last few years but it seemed *so* overwhelming....all I saw were binders and DVDs and it just made my head explode. We used WWE for 1st & 2nd grades and intended to use it for 3rd grade, but we have actually switched to IEW. Aaaggghhh!! That is a scream of both delight and trepidation. We switched because while I loved WWE, my son did not. He would remember all the bits & pieces of the stories, but when I'd ask him to "tell me what happened in 2 or 3 sentences" his jaw would drop and he would drool and just stare at me. He knew the whole story but couldn't crystallize it into a summary. I needed something to teach my son how to write the summary from the facts he knew. I learned more about IEW at the SEARCH conference in PA this June...I straight up asked the rep to explain what the heck all the binders & DVDs were for, I had an overwhelming sense of "this is what he needs" even though I didn't quite get it, so we made the switch. I am still intimidated by it -- but I agree with others -- get the basics. I bit the bullet and just got the Teacher Course / Student Course A pack (I still don't know the abbreviations...even those are confusing to me). I watched the teacher DVD on units 1 & 2. Last week my son wrote a paragraph on sea snakes. It is the most glorious paragraph he has ever written. I am literally just taking this one slow step at a time. On the whole - yeah, IEW itself is still totally overwhelming. I have no idea what those extra books are, what their spelling deal is, none of that. My knowledge is "units 1 & 2" and "sea snakes" -- but so far, so good. I just wrote a novel to just say that despite the overwhelming nature of it all, so far it is meeting our need quite well so far.

Honest to Pete...I searched late last night and didn't see this thread which is now on page 2 of the boards! http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=402245 That basically talks about this. Sorry -- I promise I search before posting a similar question. Going over to read that thread now because it may have an answer for me. :)

Do you use a specific reading and/or vocabulary curriculum for your young (mine's going into 2nd grade) children? We used Horizons Phonics/Reading for K & 1st (loved K - 1st not so much) but we are dropping it now that he's in 2nd grade. I did not use the 'readers' for 1st grade but just got library books, etc. We're catching up with AAS 1 and will do AAS2 around the start of 2nd grade, and I feel like that will fill in the phonics he might need. But then I'm uneasy about having no concrete plan for reading/vocabulary. He reads all the time - he loves it. He reads books from the library on the subjects we're studying (we're catching up with SOTW over the summer) and I ask him to tell me about them. I guess I need to bust out the WTM to refresh my memory as to SWB's recommendations...perhaps this is sufficient if we broaden the narration side of things..but I am just curious if you use a specific curriculum for reading/vocabulary? Thanks for your help. :)

This is an old thread but I just wanted to say THANK YOU! I am doing SOTW 1 + AG with my soon-to-be 2nd grader (so either we are getting a very late start for 1st grade or a super early 2nd grade start :D) and want to tie in Bible reading to it. I was debating getting the Family Guide only for right now...but there is so much "stuff" (not bad, just overwhelming for a newbie) that I wasn't sure that would be OK. But after reading this thread I think we'll be fine with just that, and being that it will last for all future cycles of history I am going to order it now! Helpful board! Helpful people! Thank you! :)

I think I am the only one who used Horizons! lol :D

We used Horizons Phonics & Reading for K and just finished it up for 1st grade. Overall I liked the K program. It was our first ever homeschooling year and our goal for K was to teach our son to read, and this curriculum definitely helped us meet that goal. It seems like it was more handwriting than SWB would recommend...and if I remember correctly sometimes I would just have my son read to me or tell me the answers vs. write them down. But he liked the curriculum, I liked it b/c he liked it and it worked, and by the end of K he was reading like a champ. We continued on with it for 1st grade and we skipped several lessons because they involved writing, and we were doing WWE and FLL. Plus I agree with the concept that kids need to know the mechanics of writing (what it looks like, how it's constructed, etc.), otherwise the writing is kind of just (pardon my French) crap. So we skipped those lessons - and it was several. Since ds was reading so well it got to the point where I could tell him to just go do his phonics and then I'd check it - I didn't really have to teach anything b/c he could read it on his own. It became more of an exercise in discipline & obedience, really. But it reinforced and built on what he learned in K. Oh - and I think we had the readers for K b/c he thought it was cool he could read them, but for 1st we skipped them b/c I think they're dumb (just being honest!) and he could read well enough to get 'real' books from the library, not read these made-up stories that use phonics on purpose. Now after 2 years of it...I'm not sure if we should keep going? Also, we used their spelling for 1st grade and I hated it. DS didn't seem to care either way - but there's really little rhyme or reason to it. It's the list Monday/test Friday kind of thing with one worksheet a day (or so) in between. One of those worksheets is writing sentences, stories, etc. so again we skipped those. I know you didn't ask about the spelling but thought I'd throw it in there. Part of why I'm not sure if we should continue with 2nd grade is b/c we're switching to All About Spelling and it seems like the phonograms kind of will do what we need for phonics. But I really have no idea. Frankly I'll probably order it and see what happens. We were going to use it b/c it ended with 2nd grade...but now I see they have it for 3rd. I really don't know how long is "normal" for phonics anyway. :-/ So anyway -- bottom line - Horizons K - it was great. Horizons 1 - it was good. My son definitely can read (difficult words, too) by sounding them out, and he loves to read which is the key. He has never hated doing phonics lessons and reads all the time. Hope that helps some. I know I'm a sample size of 1...others may have other thoughts. I'm interested in what others think, too. :)

I love Saxon math and so does my 1st grader. Every time we have math we have a 'meeting' where we review all sorts of stuff and on a little strip of paper (the "meeting strip") he writes out the date, completes a number pattern (I write 3 numbers, he writes 3 that continue the pattern), and I give him a coin cup where he has to count & record how much change he's given. We also practice the clock and do some counting -- but I don't do that every time. The meeting strip is every time, though. It's working really well for us!

I just randomly saw a post by Capt_Uhura in a different thread and thought, "hey! She's the one who headed up the conference last summer!" Nosy me, I clicked to see her recent posts and found this front & center. YES!!! Yes, yes, yes -- if you have it we will come. :D

I just wanted to post to say thanks -- I had this exact question except my son is in 1st now. We use a spelling program (Horizons) but I can't stand it. I loved their phonics for K so thought we'd stick with Horizons for 1st grade. Phonics is decent but the spelling is *blech!* I am going to check out AAS. Thanks, OP & everyone! :)

Doorposts has a book called 'Plants Grown Up' that is specifically for Christian character-building for boys. It has activities for each topic (things like you mention - courage, etc.) broken down into appropriateness for young, middle, & older kids. http://www.doorposts.com/details.aspx?id=17

My oldest is in first grade so I'm still relatively new at homeschooling, so this may or may not change once he hits 3rd grade and we have to do the whole portfolio/evaluation thing (I'm in PA). Plus I'm only teaching him so far, so I don't know how that will change when his little brother "goes to school!" What I do is print out blank calendar pages online and then just use a one or two-letter abbreviation for each subject...so each day I write down what we did. I pencil in a plan (usually only about a week at a time...so Friday as my son is having school I flip through and see what we should get accomplished for the next week). Then as we actually do the lessons I penciled in, I write over them with a permanent pen* and erase the pencil marking underneath. I also pen in field trips, lessons (piano or swimming), homeschool group stuff, Cub Scouts, etc. This is so generic an approach...but it works well for us. I know what we did & when. I haven't thought about what I will do when my little guy is in school until now -- I think I'll still print the calendar (maybe 2 weeks on a page vs. the whole month so I have more space?) and use different colored pens for both boys, but still the pencil/pen thing. This is so basic...I can't imagine it's helpful to anyone?!?! haha Oh, and the * by the "permanent pen" -- I am a pen nerd and I bought this pen literally 13 years ago. I only know because it was at a scrapbooking thing back when I first ever heard of scrapbooking. The Creative Memories lady said the pen would last a lifetime. Somehow I still have this pen, and it still works, 13 years later. So now I'm on a "mission" to 1) not lose it, and 2) see how long it really will last. It's one of those Micron permanent pens.

I, personally, am in love with Saxon math. I think if you are going to *know* math the constant review the spiral style it affords is critical. When I was a teaching assistant in grad school there were kids who could *do* math, and those that *knew* math. I think Saxon leads to knowing, deep down, the beauty of math. After choosing Saxon as our math I saw the cover of the Algebra books and realized that's exactly what I had through school. So maybe I have an innate love for it because it was really the foundation for my degrees & career (before being promoted to mom :)). My oldest is only in 1st and I've heard people complain that the K - 3 stuff is slow, etc. and it may be but I'll tell you what - math is my son's favorite subject. When I say, "it's time for math" he practically jumps in glee. All I know is I love it, my son loves it, he knows his math like nobody's business, and everyone is happy. To me that makes a winner. :)