SnowWhite
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Posts posted by SnowWhite
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CLE is consumable.
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My second grader and I are doing this right now as a very loose, add-on, fun when we want it type program. :iagree: It works well for young children, *and* you can get as in-depth as you like for your fourth grader. You will likely use more of the factual history and geography books than I am with a 2nd grader.
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Kindergarten-
Hands on Homeschooling K (Content Areas: Science, Social Studies, Bible, Art, etc) This worked great till Christmas. Then ds learned to read and he just needed *more*. So we concentrated on the 3 Rs at that point and dropped Hands on Homeschooling K. I plan to use WinterPromise's I'm Ready to Learn for K4 and Animals and Their Worlds for K5 with the next ds.
Modern Curriculum Press Math K This was "okay", but a bit gentle by today's K standards. I am planning to use BJU Math K5 for the next ds.
Pathway Readers Phonics/Reading: Learning Through Sounds, Before We Read, Helping Yourself, First Steps in Reading I have a lot of experience with this series, because I taught at a 1-2 room Amish school as a young adult. I like the system and find it simple and efficient. I was considering trying WP Basic K Phonics the next time but I have decided not to fix what isn't broken.
First Grade:
WinterPromise Animals And Their Worlds Theme (includes science, art, literature, poetry, crafts, etc) We have truly enjoyed this program. It was a pretty painless introduction to lit based education and the instructor guide is AWESOME. I like that it addresses so many learning styles.
Modern Curriculum Press Math A At this level there seemed not to be enough word problems, mental math, hands on activities, etc. The teacher's manual wasn't very useful. I am switching to BJU Math 2 for next year. We also tried CLE math (discovered incremental or spiral approach causes us tears) and Singapore (pretty good program, but I prefer a more traditional approach).
WinterPromise LA1 I love this program. It uses traditional workbooks for phonics and reading comprehension. The spelling program reflects the phonics concept recently studied. There is a light grammar introduction via worksheets (once per week or so) and little activities. REAL books are used for readers, and there are "creative narration" prompts to correspond with the American Story 1 or Children Around the World theme if you are using one of those (we didn't use these as our Animals and Their Worlds theme uses weekly notebooking prompts instead).
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Just FWIW, CLE does not have a K Math program. They start off with first grade math. CLE K consists of Rod & Staff ABC preschool books.
I have used MCP K and it was OK, fine even, though not very advanced.
I am switching to BJU Math 2 this year (after doing Singapore which is fine but makes me nervous because it's so nontraditional, and CLE which I hate with a passion). I plan to buy BJU K5 for my younger ds and hopefully be a BJU Math only family.
As for teacher intensiveness, I've read the program works great without using *All* of the activities, but I love that the activities are there for me when I want/need them.
In my experience, the most successful curriculum programs we have used in any subject area involved a lot of teacher interaction. Maybe when my ds is older he will want more to study on his own but I doubt it. He has always been a highly interactive child. I would personally not choose math as a subject to spend less time and energy addressing.
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I'd ask the seller if they have buying/selling feedback at another forum or on ebay for you to check. You could even ask them to list it on ebay if they are ebay sellers.
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I'd use BJU history and save the Notgrass for another student a different year. Or you could sneakily read some of the lit aloud and require him to sit in on it
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I started alternating paragraph by paragraph with my ds this year. I plan to have him read some portions alone as a second grader.
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If you really love all 3, I like option 2.
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What does a day look like with each of these? How much teacher prep, time, hands on projects, etc.. is there?
I would like a good balance of reading, worksheets, and hands on. Do you like the Instructor's Guide? Is it mom friendly or time intensive?
I can only answer about WP because I have never done TOG or MFW.
Teacher prep- very minimal. You set up your supplies at the beginning of the year and look at a list of activities/supplies to get materials as far in advance as you like. You can do all your reproducible copying at the beginning of the year if you like.
Time- There is time spent reading history/science material aloud to the children and discussing it. I anticipate spending a couple of hours on history and science starting in the fall (we didn't have both subjects in grade 1). Then we also spend 1-2 hours on Math and LA (depending on how much ds dawdles).
Hands-on: There is a smorgasboard of activities from which to choose. This also depends on the program you choose. Older students have more experiment and research activities while younger children have more coloring and paper type crafts.
I would say WP is a great blend of hands-on, paper/pencil, and literature.
The instructor guide is my favorite part of WP. It is ONE page weekly for your theme. Then there is an Independent Study sheet you can give older students for their own little assignments. VERY easy to implement.
My reasons for choosing WP over MFW or TOG:
The IG seems simpler.
I don't have to use my library.
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I noticed that if you get MFW ECC you will have to use their supplements for 7th graders. So it's pretty much the same thing as buying two programs. (since the QAW program has a combined set which gives you both guide books and both sets of activity books). The disadvantage is that the supplements for MFW aren't scheduled for you. You'll be on your own scheduling them.
If it were me, and if I didn't want to do two levels of QAW, I think I would do WP CATW, though you didn't say you're considering it. All the reviews seem to peg it as plenty mature for a 7th grader (and yet not too much for a 4th grader for sure). Otherwise, I'd consider just doing the 4-6 level of WP QAW and use the suggestions for older students included with the spine, Mystery of History. Have you looked at the MOH website at a sample of MOH? It is really impressive, IMHO.
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Looks good to me. I imagine you will want to skip the spelling in CLE LA2 if you're doing Seq Sp, and if you do HWOT, you can skip the handwriting as well. Otherwise, I think you'd be spending 2 hours per day on LA, but maybe that's just a projection from my LA phobic ds.
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I have used MCP (two levels) and also Singapore (.5 year) and CLE (two units). CLE is very much like Saxon. Chances are if Saxon doesn't work for you, CLE will also be wrong.
I am going to try BJU Math this next year and hope to stay with that company till ds graduates. My reason for switching from MCP is that while it is on the same level as other programs (perhaps behind CLE or Singapore, which are a bit advanced), I felt I needed more in the way of instructional helps. My MCP Level A teacher manual didn't have the same number of activities as the Level K one, and I knew from looking at a friend's levels C and D that the number continues to decrease dramatically.
I have thoroughly looked over the BJU set for second grade, and I am pleased with the larger number of activities and concept-developing hints given.
For us, BJU appears to be a more appropriate choice.
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I was also homeschooled from grade 9 through graduation. Then my Mom continued to homeschool my younger brothers (from the time the youngest was a second grader) through graduation.
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I know everyone's different, but for me it was incredibly painful to hear the phrase "lost the baby". It wasn't something I *did*, it was something that *happened to me*. OTOH, I know other people believe it's important to recognize the pregnancy *was* a baby, not a condition.
I liked hearing, "I'm sorry for your loss" and from those who had experienced it, "I know it is so hard," or "I know it must be hard" from those who hadn't.
Little treats like hand lotion or candy were appreciated. Not so much the ceramic cherub sent by my employer (it gave me the shudders and felt like having a gravestone in my home). Flowers were nice though, and cards.
Leta... yes, it's a real loss and yes you have the right to be angry. (((hugs))) to you and my thoughts and prayers are with you.
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I have the "beginner" chess set and we love it (however we're only on week 4 due to lack of drive to do it).
For an older child, you would want the older set.
I love all of WP's program that I've seen, which includes:
LA1, LA2
Animals and Their Worlds
World Around Me
American Story 1
I'm Ready to Learn
Chess: A Knight's First Moves
I'm happy to answer any specific questions you may have about any of these.
I have the color timeline figures from WP, but I'm saving the timeline book until ds is in grade 4 (so it will be a more mature completed product, since we'll be doing 2 runs through Amer History).
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At this stage, I went to the library to the Easy Reader section and got some PreK level readers. Mercer Mayer's Little Critter, I think, was our first one. It is so much fun and the words are so easy that ds forgot it was supposed to be hard.
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Mr. Knightley. Very appropriate as he's my leading man of fancy at the moment.:lol:
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WinterPromise American Crossing 1 pulls together a lot of great resources.
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From what I understand, you don't need to offer formula after a child turns one year old. Cow's milk (or your family's choice of milk) is fine. At that age a child can get most of their nutrition from other foods (however my sons did continue to nurse for comfort and from habit).
It's also Okay to continue to nurse your older baby while pg, even if you have little/no milk.
Just follow your heart, but please don't do anything out of "guilt"... make sure you're doing whatever you decide because *you* truly want to. Your older baby will be fine, with such a loving mother.
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Like Snickerdoodle, I find the question bizarre. My friends range from ladies older than my mother to young women who are newly married. It has more to do with a meeting of the minds than age. It makes me sad that many of the "younger moms" at church pass *us* over for invitations, perhaps believing I'm an old fuddy duddy.:001_huh:
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I am using Galloping the Globe slowly and loosely as a fun supplement.
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I'm in a suburb of Louisville, KY, so southern IN.
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Special Education Coordinator, before that Dairy Queen Manager, before that teacher at an Amish parochial school.
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I window shop and project about how much will be needed each year. We divide that amount by 12 and set aside that amount each month (ending in March or so since I always buy early).
I also babysit and spend a lot of that income (a pittance) on homeschool luxuries. That is how I will finance our "God Made Music 2" this year.
Homeschool Scheduling Options for Next Year
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
I voted "other". You could describe our school year as "like the public schools but TWEAKED".
I start school in July (June 30 this summer), so that we have a head start. Then we take a day off here and there when absolutely necessary (like we have houseguests), but we don't take such a long Christmas break or a full spring break.
We finish up as soon as possible in the spring. This is our last week, which is a week and a half before the public school here. I am aiming to get out in April next year. (But I aimed that way this year and missed by a couple of weeks). I don't like a really long (more than 6-8 weeks) summer vacation because I long for structure and my kids benefit from structure. I do, however, enjoy the change of pace that comes with a defined summer vacation.