Suzannah
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Posts posted by Suzannah
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Lots of good suggestions here. A few more from my DS:
Hank the Cowdog (Believe me, this is actually good, challenging reading, but oh so entertaining.)
Rascal
Ribsy
Henry and Beezus
Mouse and the Motorcycle
and perhaps
The Hobbit
A Wrinkle in Time
The Door in the Wall
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I've used the CDs for years 1-3, our second time through. I have friends who just give the CDs to their kids to listen to and don't necessarily tie it to the actual history lesson. If we're busy, we sometimes listen to the CD in the car, discussing it as well, but saving related mapwork or supplementary reading for later. More often we listen during lunch and do the mapwork, narration, etc. after the kids are done eating. I actually do a lot of breakfast/lunchtime read-alouds, Bible lesson, and music-listening. If I have to read it myself I try to eat before or after the kiddos. They are a captive audience and generally pay attention pretty well.
The CDs are just the text with no extra information, but they are well-read. There's music between chapters so if you happen to be in the next room when it gets to the end you'll probably notice. One version is read by Jim Weiss. I know a lot of folks really like him. For some reason DS doesn't care for his voice or reading style so he actually prefers the other reader...a woman...don't know her name.
I am a much more visual learner than my DH. He has always listened to audio books and once we were married I began listening to them too. I've found over the years that my retention of auditory material has greatly improved. I guess it just takes practice. My kids have grown up with audio books (and mom-reading aloud) and even the DS who is generally very visual has really good retention either way. YMMV
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I've waffled for the last couple of years about whether to do any of Queen's copywork. My kids do Italic printing/cursive and I really wanted to use copywork that would provide the proper model for them to follow, rather than printed text.
That said, I fell in love with Pictures in Cursive and am not at all disappointed by it's quality. The cursive writing model is not the same that my kids use, but I reason that it gives them practice reading the style that most people write with. And the pictures are beautiful.
Since our art history study is sporadic at best, I think of this as our picture study. We don't own the Primer (didn't see the point of that since my kids already have handwriting books to show them how to form the letters) but we do have the next three and I intend to buy the remainder as we need them. DD will have gone through two books by the end of the year (possibly starting on the third) but DS claims to forget it half the time and is still in the first book. They are supposed to do one line a day but DD sometimes works ahead to get to a picture she likes and DS (sigh) well, he is busy with other schoolwork and I haven't enforced it more than 2-3 times a week.
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We began Omnibus 2 in 6th grade because it fit so nicely with the recommended readings in WTM. It is actually an 8th grade text and I tried to keep that in mind when choosing readings and assignments. Where WTM recommended a particular edition of a book I used that edition, which meant that occasionally the reading assignments didn't match up perfectly. But other than that, both DS and I really enjoyed the approach. Since we were very involved in Classical Writing I didn't usually have him do the Omni writing assignments (maybe one or two) but did have him read some of them to get an idea of the point being made.
What did it look like in our house? Again, keeping in mind this was for a 6th grader, here's what we did:
I chose which books we would do at the beginning of the year and (when we didn't just do the next one in the book) tried to schedule them so that we alternated between "heavy" and "lighter" reading. We did most of the primary and secondary readings. For one or two of the works we did not read, DS read the introduction in the text anyway in order to have a familiarity with the work.
First DS would read the introduction in the text, and either that evening or the next morning would discuss the questions orally with either me or DH. Then he'd do the reading assignment and that evening or the next day discuss the questions orally with me or DH. When there was a Biblical analysis section, I incorporated the scripture references into his assigned Bible reading which he did earlier in the day. That way it was already in his mind when he did the reading and would often come up more naturally as we discussed the reading. Of the many projects, activities and debates we only did a few. But I sometimes had DS read over them if there was good information, not just directions for an assignment. I was a little inconsistent with this, but I tried to have DS write a summary as he finished each book. Some of these didn't get done until later in the year or not at all because of holidays, etc. But he definitely remembers the readings he did and will still make comparisons to, say, Sir Gawain or Song or Roland or Canterbury Tales when discussing other books...or Monty Python for that matter.
That was so successful that we continued with Omnibus 3 this year in much the same way although the text covers the reformation to modern times and the readings don't match up with WTM quite as well as the previous year. For next year they barely match at all. I have no problem with departing from Susan Wise Bauer's reading lists, I do it often enough. But I don't particularly care for some of the selections and can't imagine why others are left out.
Now, having looked over Omnibus 4 and compared it to Omnibus 1, I think we'll go back to Omni 1 for 9th grade, ancients. Omni 4 looks like a college text...which is great and all, but there are so many good works in Omni 1 that we'd miss out on. I truly LOVE the volumes we've used so far and can't wait to delve into Omni 1. But frankly, Omni 4 looks dull.
HTH
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Copywork/dictation is great! We've used all three of Julie Shield's history copybooks in italic (hoping she'll do a modern history too) as well as Italic Science and Pictures in Cursive.
Italic Science
http://www.italicbuilders.com/index.php?option=com_rokquickcart&view=rokquickcart&Itemid=54
Pictures in Cursive
http://www.queenhomeschool.com/productpages/Cursive/cursiveframeset.html
History Copywork
http://stores.lulu.com/julieshields
In 5th grade we dropped handwriting on the condition that DS would maintain the lovely italic handwriting he had developed. By the end of that year I realized he was slipping into bad habits but hated to go back to a handwriting book. I came across something about history copywork from Julie in GA here on the boards (Julie Shields) and downloaded something to finish out the year. It was such a hit with DS (he loves history) and with me (his handwriting improved and he reinforced his history lessons) and it was such a small thing to add to our day that we not only continued it, but added to it with Italic Science and picture study copywork. I suppose we should be doing more dictation at this point (not that I don't dictate enough to him during the course of a school day) but this is totally independent and takes a very short time resulting in visible improvement. Great bang for your buck so-to-speak.
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Not to disagree with other posters, but I would not get on audio books the dc will soon be able to read for himself. I would shoot over his head and go for things that stretch him, chapter books, works with mature language and sentence structure. For instance, I started reading aloud the Lang Fairy Tale books (the ones with colors in the titles) to my dd when she was two, and it SHOWS in her sentence structure and writing. When they listen to excellent writing, they learn vocabulary which they then recognize more quickly when learning to read. In fact, I was just thinking recently that I ought to get her more books on tape. WTM has lists of suggested books for audio in their K5 section too.
You are not disagreeing with me, although as I look back at my post it may appear that way. I only meant to say that if your kids aren't used to listening to longer, more advanced works at age 3, perhaps you would want to start with Winnie the Pooh and save The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe for later. But my kids have listened to so many wonderful unabridged stories beginning around 2 or 3 for older DS and since birth for the others. Yes, even A Christmas Carol when they're little. The only one we sort of held off on was the unabridged Hobbit because it scared DS when he was younger (don't remember what age) but I made him read it a few years ago and he loved it and went on to the trilogy. We almost never do abridged books intentionally. (Although we did receive a large set of CDs at Christmas containing fairy tales, the Arabian Nights, King Arthur, Robin Hood and others. They were a gift and are enjoyable so I certainly didn't get rid of them. But by age 5 DS had listened to (either as a read aloud or on CD/tape) all of the Chronicles of Narnia, Charlotte's Web, Trumpet of the Swan, Cricket in Times Square, all of the Mouse and the Motorcycle books, My Side of the Mountain, Treasure Island, Winnie the Pooh, Just So Stories, The Jungle Book, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Secret Garden...and of course as many Hank the Cowdogs as we could get our hands on.
Good luck! Once you start perusing the audio selections at your library, the offerings from audible.com (they have some freebies) and librivox recordings, you'll find a treasure trove of great books. And like I said earlier, if you think perhaps they won't sit through a book you've chose, try it during lunch or bathtime. They can't go anywhere and they'll have time to get pulled into the story.
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Ok, Jim Weiss is a good storyteller, but for some reason my son doesn't care for him. But here are my suggestions:
Hank the Cowdog--any and everything. DS started listening to them when he was 3-4 and still loves them at 12. The rest of us love it too. They are read by and songs performed by the author.
Winnie the Pooh--DS hadn't listened to it for a while and we got it out again for a long car trip when he was about 9 and DD was 5. We all thoroughly enjoyed it. Hilarious.
All of the Mouse and the Motorcycle and Ramona/Ribsy/Henry and Beezus books by Beverly Cleary. DS enjoyed these for years. I can't remember who reads the Mouse books but Stockard Channing reads the Ramona books.
For slightly older kids (not inappropriate for 3-5 year olds, but perhaps more enjoyable for olders)
For years and years we've listened to Jim Dale's reading of A Christmas Carol sometime around Christmas. Sometimes in the car, sometimes around the fireplace.
The Chronicles of Narnia series read by Patrick Stewart, Lynn Redgrave, Jeremy Northam, Michael York, Kenneth Branagh, Alex Jennings, Derek Jacobi. Some people like the Focus on the Family dramatized versions. It never appealed to me because I had such vivid and specific memories of reading the unabridged books as a child and the dramatization was distracting. I went ahead and got it from the library for DS without commenting on it and he said he didn't like it either.
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There's not really anything I wish I'd done earlier but then I've followed TWTM pretty closely. I will say that First Language Lessons (FLL) makes grammar very, very easily doable. It's like 5-10 minutes tops. But if you didn't start it until 2nd I doubt you'd notice much of a difference. Somewhere along the way though you'll find yourself trying to cram grammar into an older child when if it had been begun earlier it could have been done rather painlessly in small amounts. But I don't know when that age is. Definitely not 6.
I think reading, writing and math are the most important in the early years. History and science are gravy, but like real gravy, they make it all more interesting. Story of the World and the Elementary Apologia books are very easy to work-in once or twice a week. When my oldest was younger I would read things to him while he was eating lunch or playing with Legos or in the sandbox or in the bathtub. He also listened to audio books at bedtime and in the car. This works especially well for stories you know they'll love if they give it a chance or if it's something you know they won't like but you need to get it in anyway.
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It's being odd with me too...giving me errors when I click on different things. Site maintenance? Heavy usage?:001_huh:
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We plan to continue Latin at least a year or two into high school in order to get it on the transcript (DS has put all these years into it--surely he'd like to get credit for it.) Depending on his interest he'll either continue with Latin through high school, or more likely, end his Latin studies and begin a modern language. We've laid a little bit of groundwork with French and Spanish as opportunities arose but basically he'll be starting from scratch.
I don't know about other states, but here in Virginia there are two diplomas offered in the public schools: standard and advanced. I don't think the state cares much which way homeschoolers go, but I think it's sort of an interesting concept. The advanced diploma requires 3 years of a single foreign language or two years each of two languages. I would think that if a state offers this distinction then colleges probably look favorably on it.
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It just dawned on me as I typed this that they don't really have a "getting ready in the morning" routine. I may just have to hound them more or something.;)
Sorry, I hadn't seen this when I wrote my earlier response. Yes, a morning routine will help. Ours may seem a little chaotic to some...for instance, we don't start school until 9am. That may seem a little late, but DH doesnt' get home from work until after 7pm each night so the kids go to bed a little later. Plus, we have a couple of nights out during the week (scouts, Bible class) so it's just better all around to start a bit later. I have built up our routines (school, chores and basic hygeine) over the years. You might find that saying "Ok, from now on everyone has to do dress, make their beds, brush their teeth, do their chores, etc before school, then clear the table put away books and do afternoon chores after lunch." is too much for them to handle all at once if you haven't been doing it all along. Just add one thing once a week and you'd be surprised how easily the transition will take effect.
Blessings!
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You've had a lot of good responses but I'll chime in here too because it took me a while to find something that worked for us and it might help someone else. While my kids generally eat together, I try to eat either before or after them so that while they are eating, I can read their Bible lesson (Notgrass "Draw to Learn..." at breakfast) or History (Story of the World at lunch) or Science (Apologia Elementary series at lunch) or anything else I want to squeeze-in to our day (Fandex cards on Presidents, Indian Tribes or Composers...an interesting newspaper article...a read-aloud we're working through, etc). Any activities such as drawing pictures, mapwork or narrations are just done once they are finished and have their hands and space free. We also do fairly easy to clean-up meals during the day: cereal, hard-boiled eggs, muffins, etc. for breakfast--sandwiches, quesadillas, pizza, chicken nuggets, etc. for lunch. If for some reason I am delayed by a phone call or something, both of the older kids have what I call "notebooks" which they can do independently and are done every day. These are folders I make at the beginning of the year, each containing copywork, memory work, math practice and picture study. So if I tell them to work on their notebooks until I'm ready to begin the Bible lesson that at least gets them into the right frame of mind for doing school without me standing over them.
As you can see, I have a 2yo. He likes to be included but I don't really expect "real" schoolwork from him. He is expected to sit with us for breakfast and during the Bible lesson (although I don't worry about it if he gets down to play with his train or something) and I try to interest him in some sort of school-appropriate activity (meaning non-disruptive to the older kids and semi-educational for him) such as puzzles, Lincoln Logs, counting frogs. These can be done at the table if he wants to but usually he gets down on the floor. We have a fairly small table. There's a large desk in the office but it's usually covered with school books and mail. DS(12) has a large desk in his room but until recently it's been covered with Legos so he's not really in the habit of using it for school. But often he will take his books to another part of the house to work if it's too crowded or noisy with the rest of us.
All of the kids' school books and notebooks are in fabric bins on a shelf in our dining/living room area so that everyone know where to look for their school things and (in theory) everyone knows where things should be put back when we're done.
HTH :)
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I like this one:
I can stick it on the fridge or wear it around my neck. It can count up or count down and the beep is loud enough to hear if I have to leave the room.
Good luck!
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I too am striving for a more efficient home school. I'm closer this year than I was last, but we could still improve. DS is in 7th grade and is more independent so I'm able to print out his assignment sheet for the week and he is mostly reliable about keeping up with it. We have some assignments that are once a week (Logic), twice a week (spelling, history), daily (math), etc. We also tried IEW's Thematic Writing US History Vol. 1 this year and it has been great! I'm currently trying to decide whether to go on to the second volume for 8th (it's recommended for high school) or return to CW which I really do like, and oddly enough, DS seemed more comfortable with...we just didn't get much writing done across the curriculum.
I made the gamble last year to drop a formal grammar program since we were doing grammar all over the place with grammar, spelling, Latin, writing and copywork (yes, my 7th grader still does copywork...I've seen enormous benefits.) Rather than drop it completely, we added Daily Grams to his "notebooks" (see below) and mid-year started working on another book I picked up called Improve your Punctuation. We'll be testing in a few weeks so I'll let you know whether that risk was worth it.
We also started a couple of years ago doing what we call "notebooks" though I think others might call them "workbooks". These are a set of homemade folders I made over the summer containing memory work, science copywork (Italic Science), history copywork (from Julie Shields--Julie in GA here on the boards), picture study (Pictures in Cursive from Queen's), Daily Grams and math practice. At the beginning of the school day DS knows to "do his notebooks" and will spend approximately 5 minutes on each of these. By the end of the year he has memorized many scriptures, poems, rulers, math formulae and scientific principles in addition to improving his penmanship and reviewing grammar.
This may actually seem like a lot of work as you read it here. But it has had an amazing impact for such a small daily investment I would highly recommend it for all ages.
So, take that for what it's worth. Good luck!
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I remember searching several years ago and finding some services that would do large print textbooks but the only ones I'm seeing now when I Google it seem to all be in the $300+ range. Whew! I could just scan and enlarge it myself for that price. But I was kinda hoping there was some way that wouldn't require quite so much of my time.
DD is in 2nd grade and so far the regular print in most things she needs to read is acceptable. If it isn't I just read it to her. But she'll be finishing up Saxon 3 by the Fall and I'm afraid 54 might be a little harder for her to read.
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I'm also trying to sort things out for 8th grade history. My newest edition of WTM is loaned-out right now & I can't remember whether the 8th grade recommendations for history were the same as in previous editions. While I LOVE reading primary sources, I just can't bring myself to spend the money on Jackdaws when they've gotten such mediocre reviews by people here on the forum who've used them.
We've used SOTW as a read-aloud together and Veritas Press' Omnibus 2 and 3 for 6th and 7th history/literature since the reading lists matched up so nicely with the WTM recommended readings. We also added Critical Thinking in US History and IEW's US History Themed Writing this year for 7th. It has worked well for us, but I can't decide how to handle next year. I'm not thrilled with the modern reading suggestions in Omnibus. I've considered continuing doing Tapestry of Grace (TOG) Year 3 units 3-4 and Year 4 units 1-2. It irks me to have to spend that much money on a program, even if it's my beloved history. Maybe especially if it's history.
I truly love the simplicity of SOTW. I like the flow. It irritates me to have to jump around in it as Biblioplan and TOG require.
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We used it when DS was in 5th and DD was in K. I told DD when it was time for science and invited her to join us but that was hit or miss. We thoroughly enjoyed it...much more than I had expected. We actually just did it for a semester though. We would only do the experiments/activities when we had time or if they really grabbed our interest.
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We have a few favorites. I had actually not appreciated copywork until DS was in 4th or 5th grade and slipped into the habit of writing sloppily (even though he would write neatly when the mood stuck him.) At that time Julie in GA from the boards here had just completed one of her history copybooks and I was thrilled that they were available in Italic (which our family uses) in addition to Z-B print and cursive. After a year or so of using this history copywork, we added "Italic Science" and Queen's "Pictures in Cursive" (not Italic but the pictures are beautiful). We may do some more of Queen's copywork in the future.
Classically Minded--Julie Shields
http://stores.lulu.com/julieshields?rath=&
Italic Builders
http://www.italicbuilders.com/index.php?option=com_rokquickcart&view=rokquickcart&Itemid=54
Queen Homeschool
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One more question. In the end, do you feel that either program makes a better writer?
You know, that's a good question. I think if you're willing to give CW time, it probably produces a better writer in the end. I think if time is an issue, either because you started late or your students need a great deal of hand-holding, IEW would be a better way to produce a good writer. From my own experience, I honestly think having DS listen to classic literature audiobooks, read good literature (once he was reading) and doing narrations with FIAR (PK & P) and WTM went a long way toward building a good foundation. This is why I think we should have done CW Older Beginners or just skipped Aesop. It really wasn't until Homer that he seemed to be challenged.
HTH
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A few years ago a friend recommended IEW. We were using Writing Strands (bleh) and I was open to suggestions so I watched a video at her house about key word outlining. Like others, the overall price of the program kept me from pursuing IEW any further, but as I have done with so many things, I took what I had learned and for the next year (4th grade I believe) my plan was to have DS notetaking and writing across the curriculum. Well, that didn't really happen. But by the end of 4th I had heard of CW on here and went ahead and bought Aesop B (recommended for a student who had some writing instruction.) I really should have gotten Older Beginners. DS had been doing narrations since he was 5 with FIAR and SOTW so we spend a lot of time going over and over stuff he already knew how to do. I probably could have even skipped lessons but I didn't think of that until after the fact. We finally got through Homer in 6th grade. However I never was happy with my inability to enforce writing across the curriculum. While we were doing Aesop and Homer, the history and science writing became less and less frequent. This caused by my own personal flaws I know, but the best solution seemed to me to spend this year, 7th grade, on CW Poetry and IEW US History. I am very pleased with both.
Now, when people say IEW is easier to teach, they are right. When others say it teaches form writing, they are also right. I love the checklists in IEW. It makes grading a writing assignment more objective. I tailor it to my own needs some. For instance, we hadn't covered the vocabulary words when we did lesson one, so I didn't think it was fair to award or subtract points based on particular vocabulary words. I did give points based for good vocabulary, though, because DS surprised me with some longer, more descriptive words than I expected from him. Since I had already watched the video on KWO and had used it with DS for a couple of years, and since I already knew the part about "dress-ups" from talking with friends and reading on the forum, this was a painless transition. The Theme-based lessons are much less expensive than the whole basic program. The examples in the basic program turned me off as much as the price. Pudwa talks about reading good writing in order to learn good writing. But the examples the kids write from (at least the ones I saw) are dull, textbook descriptions of animals and such. However, in the IEW History-themed lessons, whether or not the samples are well-written, the topics are known to us through history study and supplementary reading so DS has a rich background to draw on when writing a descriptive paragraph.
The first time I opened CW Aesop I was overwhelmed. But the way I made it make sense to myself was to just "walk-through" a typical day. I turned to each "day" section and read through what was assigned. This wasn't a time-consuming thing to do and is the way I approach just about any new curriculum. ("If we use this, what would a typical day/week look like?") I also use the student workbooks. Although the authors say they aren't required, I think it is a wonderful time-saver. I mean, not just that it saves you some time. It saves a LOT of time. I really like the examples in CW. Some are more interesting than others, but DS has never complained about what he needed to write.
Anyway, my plan is to return to CW Diogenes next year. We'll be even more behind in the suggested sequence but hopefully by then DS will have a little more maturity and we'll both have a better idea of how to enforce writing assignments in other subjects.
HTH
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I'm a list-maker. I experience a great deal of satisfaction checking items off a list. So I make somewhat detailed lesson plans for a my own purposes. But when my son was in 1st grade, I realized that he seemed to think I was just giving him more work ever time he finished something just to keep him working all day. He couldn't see the end in sight. So I started making assignment lists for him that were very general (Math, Reading, Lunch, Grammar, History) just so he had an idea of what to expect.
I don't really plan math, we just do the next lesson. But I do look through and make a note to myself of approximately where we should be at mid-year, Spring Break, etc. to keep us on track.
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SOTW supplementary reading is chosen as we get to it. I try to look them over a week or two ahead of time so I can request any items I particularly want. But unless it's a significant work (Beowulf for instance) whatever we do is fine. Some weeks we read a bunch, sometimes nuthin'.
When I planned on paper I only made specific plans about 6-8 weeks in advance. With Homeschool Tracker I try to get the year planned out over the summer. It's not a big deal to push things back.
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I learned it "sometimes Y & W" at one school, then just "sometime Y" at another school. At some point I wondered if it had something to do with Welsh and other Celtic languages. Seems like they always have some strange consonants and pronunciations.
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What this means from a practical standpoint is that there is no teacher's guide that indicates what the expected answers will be. While I can usually figure out what the answers should be sometimes I can't (and my degree is in biochemistry so I have a strong science background). I think this lack of a teacher's guide is a major problem with the kits and is unfortunate because they are really good in many ways.
I have to agree with you. That part was a bit frustrating. But our overall experience was a good one. We looked-up topics and definitions in our Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia and really had fun with the experiments.
I'm not sure whether we'll use them in the logic stage. I actually thought 4th grade was just about perfect for us.
Please help. My child can't spell or write!
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
Just a bit of comfort for you. DS(12) was terrible at spelling and not great at reading (even thought we followed WTM to a "T" from pre-school on) until the end of 2nd grade. One morning I walked past an open doorway and had to back up and do a double-take. Was that my son...reading a book? ON HIS OWN? Since it was at the end of the year the improvement wasn't reflected on his Stanford Test scores, but by the end of 3rd grade his spelling score had shot up to one of his highest instead the absolute lowest. The only thing that changed significantly in that time is that he was reading more. We used (and still use) Spelling Workout. He's a visual learner and since he had a firm foundation in phonics and systematic spelling instruction, I think he just needed time to put it all together.
You should try to eliminate any underlying issues if you can, and do choose a spelling program you like, but it might just be a maturity thing.