A narration is the retelling of a story in the child's own words. It starts out orally and then changes to written later. Dictation is when mommy will say the passage from the book and the child writes it down. The child is to study a paragraph or page ahead of time, paying attention to detail, quite a bit of learning is taking place at this time...so that when it is written down, the spelling and grammar are correct. HTH

:thumbup:

I read up on CM on ambleside online. The way I understand it, we need to work on reading (phonics, sight words,including the little bit of phonetic spelling in ETC to solidify the reading lesson), handwriting (forming the letters correctly) and oral narration. I do not add in anything else until later, the first to add would be copywork, when would I add this? And nothing else no written narration, spelling lists, grammar instruction, dictation.......until third grade is this right? Then creative writing actually come later.... 5th maybe? TIA:) Carmen

wow, how thoroughly helpful you are!

Wow I like it. Maybe I could buy a 1st grade TM from Bob Jones and leave it at that. Bonus if I can get it cheap like you did. I wonder, do they cover everything like Horizons? Well, I guess I will find out...thanks!

I was asking my questions from the samples. I do not plan to use the program early, though I can see why it looked that way. :tongue_smilie:

This helped me: http://www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/mom/nipplehealing.html

I have the same problem with Horizons but we love the workbooks. Do you think that this book you mentioned would take care of the teaching problem and we could still use the workbooks? I am also looking into BJU... right after I bought Horizons everyone was singing BJUs praises. Carmen

Could you explain how the review is in the TM? In Kindergarten in PS she learned addition at the beginning of the year, and subtraction at the end. I presented her with addition in Horizons and she said minus and subtracted. She forgot it was a plus sign. So I know she needs review or she gets so focused on the one skill she forgets everything else. The unit study idea makes more since to me of course. In Horizons, the TM does not explain HOW to teach bar graphs, for example... will BJU have a script? OH, and just curious if I do order their math... does BJU have a class similar to Abeka's... Health, Safety, and Manners? THANKS again!

Thank you for your offer. With Horizons each lesson is 1 page front and back, 2-3 ideas per side. In K, we will learn a shape, then review the 4th day of the week, then write missing numbers, and on the back we practice writing our numbers and connect some dots. It jumps all over the place but always has mostly review and one or two new concepts, or it may build on a concept. I hope I am explaining. I think someone called it spiral when it does that. I heard BJU is really good so I was hoping it would do the same thing. We really like the feeling of jumping all over the place. OH! I found a similar post, I bet I will get my answer there.

Jessica, when you said I wouldn't...you thought I was starting Simply Spelling now? :ack2: NO...I meant I will start it when appropriate and stop worrying about spelling.:chillpill: It's hard to communicate effectively with posts.:blush5:

I can obtain the New World Translation on CD. I have the New Testament on cassette. I think you just want the Bible and nothing else? But just in case..... I also have a great book called "Learn from the Great Teacher". It is the best Bible program for children I have ever seen. I have it on CD. Topics include "How to know whom to obey" "Why Jesus was a great teacher" "Obedience protects you" "Do you remember to say thank you?" There are 48 lessons all with scriptures included. okay...I just crossposted and reread and answered totally wrong. Good thing Sophia was here!

:cheers2: I am bumping this and I just like this smiley. LOL

Or that you wouldn't do any copywork from it? She is 6 in July and has been reading since she was 3. The more she reads the more she resists sounding out anything... even words she clearly does not know. You are supposed to finish OPG in 1st grade aren't you? We did MFW K when she was 4 and it had spelling!! I am really getting confused. Is there somewhere I can read up on CM ideas for LA?:bigear:

YES, Chris, and it took me a while to understand this, but I do. I rushed her through a lot of phonics rules when she was 3 and 4 so a lot of it is just clicking, she liked learning them and hated practicing. I just worry that she can't sound out words and is relying only on sight... in other words we need to finish OPG since we only got to ing, which is less than halfway through. :o)

I am thinking of switching because I hate the Horizons TM. I noticed someone else with this problem, and I am disappointed to find out that it continues to be of no help at all. "Teach bar graphs" okay... so helpful. I like the way it is laid out though, if that makes since. DD really likes it, because it doesn't get boring. Thanks for any suggestions.

okay Jessicas blog has me rethinking this whole idea.... I am seriously considering slowing down and going with Simply Spelling. I will still have her do copywork at least once because she hates the traditional reading of OPG but I won't try to get her to retai nspelling yet. So much of homeschool is trust it seems KWIM?

So they study the passage, then you dictate.... every day? Or just on the last one? And has anyone noticed that OPGTR has phonics rules for a lot of words but Simply Spelling has more "sight words" and "rule breakers" than I would expect? I don't want to confuse her, but I may be over-thinking this. Trying to decide on spelling and grammar is a bear.... history was a cinch. I guess we all have our thing. And Jessica, if you are here.. your Trivium Academy blog is so helpful! Carmen

http://www.tanglewoodeducation.com/ Especially the readers DD loves them and hated Sonlight.... http://www.tanglewoodeducation.com/bksrd.htm but I plan to use the history as well and have not yet looked thoroughly into the science.

It is the history of Israel. It is written by a secular historian and those that believe Israel to be God's chosen nation actually have problems with a couple of things in the book. Just to throw out another possibility in case neither work. A pessimistic one aren't I? You could also just do a study on world culture instead of starting the history cycle. We are doing this first.

Can't wait to see more. Still a ways off for me, but I really need to decide what we are planning for grammar. DD5yr DS1yr

I currently use Cuisenaire rods once a week to supplement Horizons. In the future, I plan to supplement some critical thinking books from Sonlight.

Thanks to all for your suggestions. I will continue with spelling lists out of OPG and make sure I reiterate the rule each day. I am looking into the other programs you listed. Simply Spelling has me intrigued.

DD5 was just pulled out of Public School. I try to have outside recess and P.E. class everyday. So far we dance around to songs for P.E. I really don't have any ideas. I would prefer a video as I need exercise and have no imagination. Thanks for any help.

DD5 is reading somewhere between 2-3 grade level. We started homeschooling at 3 and just pulled her out of K in PS. I have Ordinary Parent's Guide to teaching reading and I want to make sure we go through it because I am afraid that she is not sounding out some more difficult words, but just knows them by sight. Going through the book in the typical way would be torture so I have been making lists of words and sentences which she then reads and copies, and I tell her the "rule" they follow. I have no idea how long to stay on the same rule, how many words to use, etc. because I have not seen a spelling curriculum. I don't want to buy a spelling curriculum because I think this will work, and I want to make sure we finish the book. I just need some guidance from someone more experienced in this area. How do I make this work and what do I do after we finish OPGTR? I personally know too many homeschooled people with bad spelling skills. Thank you!