Ruthie in MS
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Posts posted by Ruthie in MS
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Thanks ladies. I have heard about these CDs for years and never tried them out. I will go and checkout their website. I usually don't bother with audiobooks at my library system because oftentimes they are so scratched up the CD player won't recognize it!
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I'm a little late for the party for the planning thread but I think that is because I seriously didn't want to acknowledge that my eldest offspring is going to be in 6th grade!! Junior High! Oh well, here we go.
We are year-round homeschoolers, so we aren't just starting new material/books in August/September. We begin new books when we finish the current ones. So you will see some things: "finish Book A and begin Book B". Just so you know.
Bible:
Finish Foundations 1 and Begin Foundations 2MFW CtGLA:
Finish LLEC Vol 2 then begin Language Lessons for the Secondary Child Vol 1 and G.U.M. Drops 1-2 days a week (mostly for review)OREasy-Peasy Language Arts 4/5 (short review in LA 4 and then on to LA 5)Reading: 1000 Good Books List
Spelling: Natural Speller
Copywork: Selections from reading and unit studies-- pages will me made on the Notebooking Publisher web app on NotebookingPages.comMath: finish CLE 400 and begin CLE 500
Living Math: Once a week with various resources
Unit Studies together with little sis! Kind of thinking of doing this study about the National Parks, but I haven't made up my mind yet. But then again, I'm thinking about doing this:History: Ancient Times by Guest HollowScience: Life Science with NaturExplorer Units and lots of nature walks or maybe this Science Unit Study. Or heck, maybe one of the Easy-Peasy Homeschool science Courses. I DON'T KNOW!History/Geography and Science: MFW: Creation to Greeks
Music: Piano lessons (2nd year)
Art:
Discovering Great Artists and ArtPac 4 (but not together) or Easy Peasy Art (Year 1) Ancientsoffered in MFW CtGETA: I changed my mind!!
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I love threads like this and discussing little-known curriculum.
Our current little-known or little-loved gems are:
Natural Speller by Kathryn Stout (or really anything by her)
Foundations 1: Creation to Christ Bible Study
Igniting Your Writing- Volume 1- I'm using this to tutor my teenage brother in creative writing
Making the Most of the Preschool Years by Valerie Bendt- not really "curriculum" but this is the BEST preschool acitivity book I've ever seen! It's simple and my dd3 loves the activties.
Language Lessons for the Elementary Child 2 by Queen Homeschool- Queen Homeschool gets hated on A LOT no matter what board you visit and I ordinarily don't like their products but my language arts phobic dd10 who couldn't come up with a two sentence summary for a picture book is now writing POETRY! Its gentle and non-demanding for a child who shys away from writing.
That's it for this year. Who knows what we will be using next year. Maybe this should be a yearly thread.
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Last year we made the same transition. With my dd9 we were only 55 lessons into A Beka 3rd grade and we had to switch-- it was driving both of us NUTS! :cursing: I just thought, 'Sure. We can just start somewhere in the middle of CLE 300 and be fine'. NOPE! CLE covers geometry and fractions starting in 1st grade and A Beka doesn't even address it until the end of 3rd grade. So...... I made her take the placement tests and realized that for the most part 3rd grade was just right for her but she needed instruction for fractions and geometry. So I bought Math Mammoth workbooks: Introduction to Fractions and Early Geometry in order to address the issue. There were other concepts that needed to be addressed so I bought the 2nd grade teachers manual (which was fine because I was also switching my younger DD to CLE Math as well) and taught the concepts from there. It took us a month before being able to begin CLE Math 301. After all the work, I think it has been worth it. My "I hate math" child now loves her CLE Math. It has become her favorite subject. The sooner you switch the better.
I know that doesn't specifically address your issue but sometimes it helps to know what others have done.
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I'm jealous of all of you with ProClicks! I've wanted one of those for several years. :coolgleamA:
ME TOO!!
I watched Ebay very closely and was able to pick mine up for a whopping $13!
HUH? Now I really am jealous.
This dry erase map:
We use it everyday. It's great. We also use our globe a lot.
I didn't know such a thing existed. I learned something new and now in need of a new map! :drool:
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Wow! That looks awesome! It even looks better than the boring PAID world geography curriculum that we used last year!
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Real, living books
Audio books
puzzles
pattern blocks
personal-size dry erase board and markers
StarFall.com membership for kids ages 5-7
children's museum membership (mostly used as a reward)
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I'm not completely finished planning yet but I'll post it anyway.
(10 y/o) 4th/5th grade
CLE Math 400
CLE Language Arts 400 and Living Math
Piano Lessons
Daily Geography Drills from Trail Guide to World History
Reading List from 1000 Good Books List
(8 y/o) 2nd/3rd grade
CLE Math 200 and Living Math Co-op
CLE Language Arts 200 or LLATL Yellow (I haven't decided yet)
Reading List from 1000 Good Books List
Both DC:
Portraits of an American Girlhood with some FIAR Volumes 3 and 4 mixed in (not 100% sure how I'm doing that yet)
Foundations 2 Bible Study or Bible Road Trip- Year 1 (not sure yet)
Cooking and Science (mostly for fun)
Art Lessons with Usborne Art Treasury and Discovering Great Artists
ETA: Links to curricula that is not well known.
Note: My younger dd is a git-r-done kind of kid and I'm not pushing any extras on her this year. My older dd loves anything that can keep her busy and has asked for most of her extras.
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Here are some free ones
We really like the Homeschool Share units. Some of the book choices are not my favorite though. But for a free literature unit study program.... you can't beat it.
Also if you have an American Girl fan there is Portraits of an American Girlhood plus there is a blogger who has included lots of fun extras for this fun study.
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I'm not interested in anything that teaches evolution as fact
I'm with you on that one!
I have quite a list myself. I will go ahead and say I dislike any curriculum that is strictly classical. I know, weird, right? I'm on a classical homeschooling forum and I dislike the classical method.
AAS- I did look at it but why is it so expensive to teach SPELLING??
HOD- Um, no
TOG- because it's classical
Singapore- WAY out of my comfort zone
Life of Fred- Just too strange
Rod and Staff- I love that it's Christian but I'm bored to death just looking at the samples
BJU- too much like A Beka
Alpha Omega- tried it while being a homeschooled student and I felt it was a punishment for something I didn't even do!!
ACE- Just no
MCT- I'm not even 100% sure what this is but it just LOOKS complicated
Spelling Power- Why should SPELLING be this complicated?
IEW-- or anything that makes writing a chore
Sonlight- I have seriously looked at this twice but I can't justify the cost or the lose of sanity because you are in the middle of several different books at once.
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It looks like both my dd's just want a git-r-done education, I may have to add in some sneaky extras. :rolleyes:
ArtPac (art workbook. Yes, this is an extra in our house)
Cooking with Science
Super Science Concoctions
Mad Libs
You've Been Sentenced-- board game
Rory's Story Cubes
Real World Math Game
Roll and Multiply game
Nouns, Verbs and More Card game
On the Banks of Plum Creek-- audio book
Mr. Popper's Penguins-- audio book
Stuart Little-- audio book
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I've seen thread after thread of what everyone is doing for whatever grade plus all their extra-curricular activities but what I want to know is..... what kind of fun stuff does everyone plan to buy as fun, little extras? Documentary DVDs, math games, language arts games, online subscriptions....... whatever! What has sneaked into your homeschool budget for the upcoming year?
Also, when do you plan on using these fun things?
Supplements?
Rainy day fun?
Burn out preventing fun?
I think the EXTRAS can be the most fun part of homeschooling and that is usually where the memories are made.
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Thanks! What kind of cursive, if I may ask further, and can you save your copy work as files on your personal computer?
It looks to me like the New American Cursive style but I'm not 100% sure. They also have a dashed line feature which is REALLY nice for beginning writers (cursive and manuscript). Yes, you can save the file as a PDF or a JPG. She has great videos on her site to get you started on using all the features including how to make copywork pages, saving your files and more.
By the way, her videos are on using the Notebooking Publisher.
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I have 5 kids, so I look at it as cost per kid for 12 years. (plus ink and paper) I bought it when it was $75, so I considered it to be $15 per child for their entire school career.
Yes, that is really the goal isn't it? How much per child and per year?
I love using NotebookingPages.com for notebooking pages for FIAR (in past 2 years) and History/geography and science. But I also use the weeb-app for making our own copywork pages. When my toddler is old enough I will be making handwriting practice pages. Also, now my oldest has reached an age where she can type out her own notebooking pages.
I bought my subscription for $75 (2 years ago)
PLUS $40.00 for Lifetime Membership for web-app (1-1/2 year ago)
That would make $115.00 Total
So when I break down the costs for "Lifetime": that is $38.33 for each child.
Oldest dd: $3.83 per year (10 years)
Middle DD: $3.19 per year (12 years)
Youngest dd: $2.94 per year (13 years)
If I ever have any more children it will be even less! So really, it has been a good investment for our homeschool. We love the notebooking method and I know I will use it year after year so it was money well spent. Also, since I have a Lifetime Membership, I won't have to worry about renewing my subscription and having to account for that in my homeschool budget.
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I am a lifetime member and I mostly use the website for the Notebooking Publisher web-app. Which is all the time!! I don't usually go through the pre-made notebooking pages, but that may be just me. The early bird sale price makes it well worth it, IMO. However, if you don't already use notebooking in your homeschool, I wouldn't sink that kind of money when you're just getting started. It's easier to find free pages or a generic notebooking pages kit (like on Currclick on NotebookingPages.com) and use them to see if this is a method your family likes. ONLY then would I suggest spending money on a lifetime membership.
So if you're already a notebooking family and can spend the $50-$75 (sale price) and are confident you will use it a lot through the year.... go for it!
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Thank you ladies for taking the time for commenting on my question. This forum is so awesome. Just a couple of other notes.
LLTL- It's a really new one on the market and I'm looking at it closely. It's supposed to be really similar to LLATL (which I've loved until the Orange book)
C2GE- Can you believe I don't think I've heard of this one? I'm a regular on this forum and I'm not familiar it at all.
So.... in case you're intersted. Here is my top pick of languge arts changes for DD9 (going on 10!!)
Choice #1
CLE Language Arts -- and possibly their reading as well
Choice #2
Intermediate Language Lessons with Workbook
Spelling Workout
Ignite your Writing-- it's not really creative writing but more of a writing and brain exercise to make you a better writer.
Choice #3
LLTL- Not sure which level. I may move it closer to the top after I research it further.
That is how it stands at the moment. They are in order of what I think may be the most sucessful, but with more careful research, it may change. Thank you again for your opinions. It has given me more to think about.
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Sounds like CLE - Christian Light Education. Meets all your criteria.
This is actually my first choice since we use their math program!! My ONLY complaint is that I predict it being harder to customize than a more vintage curriculum but on the other hand a more vintage curricula would be more time consuming for me. Apparently, I'm hard to please. :glare: BUT this one is a top contender. Thanks for your opinion.
In my research, it sounds like orange is the least liked book. This the THE book where people jump ship. It seems like some people try other things, come back to a later book, and wish they hadn't left.
I own yellow, green and Gold-American. I'm still evaluating the series.
Hmmmm, that's interesting! I can totally see that. I also have the PURPLE teacher book and student book. I may flip through it and see if it's worth continuing later. Something to think about.
Don't worry, using a traditional textbook for some subjects won't kick you out of the eclectic club. :D
Are you SURE?!?! The eclectic club police won't come get me?? Haha. I'm not sure what my distain is for traditional methods are but you're right, one or two shouldn't hurt us, right?
I think CLE meets all of those requirements!!
ETA: The light units (workbooks) are so inexpensive that you could probably order one or two and try them out.
Another vote for CLE! Yes, I know! They are totally afforable compared to other curricula out there.
Rod & Staff is all of those things if you don't mind Christian content.
I haven't thought about this one as an option. I've always thought of it as Saxon is for math this is the counterpart for english/language arts. People either love it or hate it and it's rigorous. I've begun to look into it but other people make me nervous about it. Maybe I just need someone to explain the workings of Rod and Staff (hint, hint). I'm a Christian, so the Christian content is actually welcomed.
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Haha. I may be behind in joining this conversation but the only thing I'm 100% sure about is MATH! :lol:
I may update and post more finalized plans later.
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Somehow my dd9 who has always been my willing and eager learner really dislikes LLATL. We are in the Orange book and it really is boring. It is torture to get through the book studies. We have really enjoyed the Red and Yellow books so I find it hard to take that Orange is so different. So I have finally made the decision to find a different language arts program. I'm open for things that aren't an all-in-one Language arts program. I really need help in finding a good fit for us.
Here is what I think would be ideal:
* More practice and repetition (LLATL has almost none)
* Somewhat gentle in the creative writing. She is more of a technical writer and freaks out when she has to come up with anything on her own.
* More of a Spiral approach
* Easy-to-use
* Something she can mostly use on her own (not teacher-intensive)
* Does a good job of explaining concepts to student
* Doesn't come with a massive price tag. I'm willing to spend what it's worth but not blow my homeschooling budget on one subject.
From the sound of it, it seems like I'm describing a traditional approach :crying: . We are an eclectic kind-of-family and I've tried my best to stay away from traditional but I'll use whatever it takes.
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I'm with the OP. I want to try everything or at least have it available in my home so I can scan through it whenever I want. :rofl:
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I have some experience with the FIAR Notebooking pages. I purchased them during their special introductory price. IMO, I don't think they're worth the full asking price but it was a great value when it was $14-$15 (can't remember). I haven't used them much since we kind of abandoned FIAR soon after buying the notebooking pages set.
Thankfully the pages are more generic and you can use it with any book. There are lots of good pages like comparison studies, art concepts, maps, science, timelines, literature devices, etc. And most pages have several different templates for the same conmcept/theme. Sure, you could possibly make the same kind of pages but these are really professional looking and convenient since they are all in one file. I plan to use them more in the future. I am not going to use them with FIAR but maybe with Portraits of an American Girlhood. That is another thing I really like about these pages is that they are easily adaptable for other curricula.
So my personal review for the FIAR Notebooking Builder is 4 out of 5 stars (and the only reason they didn't get 5 was because of the price).
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I aso advise going for LLATL Red book. It's a great balance for his skill level. If you feel he would LIKE to read more than listed then you can use the "1000 Good Books List". The scope and sequence is definitely more gentle than more rigid curricula designed for that age but my children have loved it. I had a HUGE mistake in pushing my middle child and it resulted in her hating learning. I now know to work at her pace. Afterall, it's her getting the education, not me.
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I love this thread. It's truly entertainment for me.
I don't have anything that I truly HATE. Most are things that just weren't a good fit for us.
Horizons K Program c1994- In my defense, this was borrowed and my first year of homeschooling. It was truly awful to teach but yet by bright 5 y/o at the time learned to read with it!!
Apologia Science (Astronomy)- I just couldn't keep interested in this. Too much reading and not enough doing for us.
Spelling Power- I watched the DVD and that's about as far as I got. Way too complicated to teach SPELLING!!
FIAR Volumes 1-3- I really do like the concept and I could go FIAR obsessive at times but it's too much to plan and do. I got burned out really quick on this one. We had fun and it served it's purpose but it's time to shelf FIAR.....for now.
Phonics Pathways- dd hated this and begged to go back to A Beka!! I thought it was fine but she thought it was "babyish". Oh well, I'll try again when my youngest is ready to learn to read.
Bible Study Guide for All Ages- Honestly, why does teaching Bible have to be this complicated?
A Beka- K, 1st and 2nd grade- Must have been a moment of weakness when the representative was talking to me and telling me that I NEED this to homeschool. STUPID! STUPID! :cursing:
I'm sure there might be more but right now, this is it.
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Last year I used LLATL Yellow with my eldest (see my signature) and it was a great experience. This year we are using LLATL Orange. Now I have a problem. DD can't seem to remember much of anything from last year. Even when it reviews (I use that in a loose term with this curriculum) she can't remember much from earlier in the book. I'm a little stumped. I love the method and using literature to enhance lessons but there seems to be little retention. I also love how it introduces the new concepts in a gentle way and using real literature. My question is: Is it time to put LLATL aside and try some other curriculum or should I supplement it with something that reviews language skills like a daily review workbook?
I'm open to suggestions but here are some things to bear in mind:
My DD does NOT do well with creative writing. She is very apprehensive about coming up with anything on her own.
DD also gets lost in lots of english jargon (verbs, adjectives, pronouns, compound sentences, etc)
Math Lessons for a Living Education.....Surprise!
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
OP, thanks for posting this. The Math Book 1 has been posted. I have wanted to try these books for so long but couldn't bring myself to sink the $40 into the consumable workbooks and not like it and then not be able to sell it because it is not a well known math program.
Thanks again! The art book is pretty terrific as well.