I’ve decided I need to outsource writing, and am torn between two online courses for 8th grade, maybe you all can help me decide? I’m looking at Open Tent Academy Middle School Writing IEW, and G3 Essay Essentials. Whichever we choose, it is critical that there is emphasis on editing as a part of the process and substantial teacher feedback. I have heard great things about IEW, and their description does emphasize editing. They list the types of writing I would want/expect covered, and sound like the expectations and process are very clear. I read G3’s philosophy of writing post, though, and it just so perfectly describes my 2e kid’s “late to writing” journey that it made me more inclined toward their class even though the description had been minorly less enticing. I love the use of “mentor texts,” and the describe a lot of teacher feedback. Any advice? Any experiences with either of these courses? Any magical family out there that tried both and could actually compare them?

Thank you! We will be on level 3 soon and this will be very helpful.

Thanks! As you say I do intend to modify for my Ker (largely I'll read to her and take dictation when necessary), I just need it manageable for my reluctant writer so I don't have to do that for both.

Sonrisas Spanish School. And my kids love Salsa too! We just need something more directed now.

I have been searching for literally years for what to do with Spanish, and I think I have narrowed it down to these two programs. I am planning for next year when I will have one in K and one in grade 2. Older DD is just beginning to read and write with purpose rather than simply to learn the skills, and younger dd is just starting so the program can't be reading and writing focused (my priority is conversation anyway). I am looking for something engaging, incorporating songs and games I don't have to invent or collect. I also want to actually learn a decent amount of Spanish. I have been fluent in the past myself, so am fine with brushing up and helping them/providing the somewhat immersion environment Sonrisas calls for. Does anyone have a way to help me decide between the two? Right now the "vibe" I get from Sonrisas is nicer, but it seems Song School may cover a bit more and is much less expensive. I don't mind paying for quality, though. Help?

Wow, ByGrace3, that sounds exactly like what I want! I've been waiting to start English grammar until she's reading more fluently, so I hardly want to approach Spanish that way (though Spanish class is when I learned most of my English grammar... ah, whole language...). I think she's young enough to pick it up naturally still. I would love to see what you come up with! I'll have to look into the videos, Zoo_keeper, thanks for the particular names. I'm hesitant about the computer program as I want to be reviewing myself and would likely set her to her own devices that way ;)

:banghead: Spanish was supposed to be so easy! I minored in it in college, I was just going to speak to our kids in Spanish. But then I was rustier than I had planned by the time we had them. And the older was in English speaking daycare for a while. And she got super resistant. And now we're school-aged (but much more receptive), and needing to start from the beginning and I am suuuuuper rusty. I'm really struggling to find something that my K/1ster would do well with. She can read and write, but it's still largely slow sounding out and painfully remembering what to do for each letter, so I don't think asking her to read or write Spanish would be a good way to go. At any rate, I'm much more concerned about speaking and understanding Spanish, with reading a writing distantly behind. I'm very intrigued by Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish, but can't tell if that would work for me to lead her through or just an older student. Flip Flop Spanish sounded cool, but then seemed to have lots of writing and reviews didn't mention the games and activities the synopsis promised. I'm considering Rosetta Stone, but that sounds more like a good enrichment activity. Same with Muzzy, or just watching Plaza Sesamo. We have many books in Spanish. I want something intentional and progressive as well. I think in my head there is something out there that has a nice sequence of explanation and key phrases/vocabulary supported by songs and games, but I just can't find such a thing. I would *love* not to reinvent the wheel here. Anyone know of one?

This would be wonderful, please send to me too! Thanks so much! molly@phariss.com

Interesting, thanks for giving me that term. (Though I'll admit my brain threw up a big :eek: at the thought I might be doing something "traditional" :tongue_smilie:) I had sort of lost sight of the cycle aspect of it... Hmmm... I will definitely have to mull over which approach we'll end up going with. Thank goodness they're still so young and we have lots of time.

kebg11: I totally hear where you are coming from. Before I started talking to my husband about it and researching what he had to say, I thought all the same things. Now, he is mostly interested in slightly older ages, and wants to do much what you suggest; start with current events and work back, continually asking why. For the stage before that, I do still have some idea of maybe doing a more traditional overview in a forward-working way (but really just an overview, leaving details mostly for when we can connect the important ones to what is happening today). At this beginning point, though, I don't feel like history is in any way an understandable concept for a kindergartner, especially starting waaaaaaaaaay back before anything was in any way like what they know of. I think that starting with, "here's a description of what the world is like that you mostly understand", then moving to "and just a little before that, things were a little different", and so on would make much more sense to someone so very young. So I guess we're not exactly going for reverse history so much as zig-zag history :)

I posted a while ago about our desire to do history in reverse chronological order. I've come up with a plan I like following our family history back as context, but am intending that for next year and have left history pretty much off our plate for this year. We had started a few chapters of SOTW, though, and DD really liked that, and I like the idea of just reading it gradually as a casual general overview this year. Would it work to start with the last chapter of the last book and work backwards? A little "foreshadowing" would be fine, but is it always referencing earlier stories? I appreciate any comment those who have worked with the book have. Thanks! Molly

To my understanding, this is the method used to teach in every Montessori school. I just makes so much sense once someone says it; you're trying to get them to be able to read, why not start with the information about the letter that is relevant to reading it? Similarly, when 98% of written communication is in lower case letters, why would you start with upper? Anyway, I wouldn't expect every child starts to read "early" because of this method, but think of what an additional challenge it would be for the kids who don't take to reading easily to first have to weed through the irrelevant information they learned first.

You can use any phonics program you like otherwise, and have them do all "writing" with a movable alphabet (eg at http://tinyurl.com/42fomg3), or alphabet stamps (I particularly like these clear ones http://tinyurl.com/3n34y4g) We also really enjoy playing little games with these things like making grocery lists (even more fun with an alphabet die to suggest an initial letter for each item), or writing messages I photograph with my phone and text to the recipient (Daddy or homeschool coop friend, usually). Our plan is mostly in my sig (we're easing into it now); my main challenge is to myself to stick really firmly to our schedule and not let myself get sidetracked on my own projects when the girls give me the opportunity. We basically do a "teacher-led" lesson over breakfast that is either CM-style art appreciation (Norman Rockwell for now, next up is Van Gogh), geography (we're covering the US states this year, but spending a long time on WA first), or human anatomy, sometimes followed by a brief experiment/activity for those. Then it's three hours of playtime while I attempt to clean/garden fast enough I can play with them before lunch. Over lunch we have CM-style music appreciation or chemistry (a mix of RS4K and my own walk through the elements), then yoga and naptime for the little one. Once I have her down, big sister and I go into our classroom, I give a short lesson and we have three hours of free work with our Montessori materials. Most late afternoons we have a class of some sort (swim, guitar, creative dance, Irish step dancing), but otherwise it's playtime until dinner and bed. Those big chunks of undirected time are really important to me, but man it's easy to let things slip so there aren't 6 hours left in a day! We also meet with a homeschool coop once a week where we explore a topic in six week periods through six set media. Over the summer we'll be working through Drawing with Children once a week with a friend. Molly

I've had extremely high (up to around 500) cholesterol since I was 12, so I've had a little time to research it and try out different things. In my case obviously medication is going to play a key role, but there is a lot you can do. The first thing I'd say is that different people respond to really different things. For me, exercise does not affect my numbers at all. Of course it's still great for my heart and such, just doesn't help my cholesterol. For me it's all diet, and sugar is a *huge* thing. I was a vegetarian for 10 years and had a big improvement when I went back to eating meat and cut down on carbs. The only time I've been under 200 even on the maximum of the strongest medication available (Lipitor) was when I was following the South Beach diet very strictly (you do two weeks of no sugar/grains/high glycemic load fruits and veggies, then add back in whole grains and continue to avoid the highest glycemic load fruits and veggies for a lifestyle). Oatmeal for breakfast brought my dad's cholesterol down 30 points in about 2 months, and my cardiologist uncle is so passionate about eating flax regularly that he started a flax farm for his patients. Molly

Thanks for all of the suggestions, I would love to see this discussion go even deeper, or even team up with some interested folks to develop this sort of plan as it doesn't seem to exist (other than a very interesting Russian history curriculum I discovered that was developed after the USSR fell and the re-writing of history taught in schools needed to be re-written; I'll look more into that when we are ready for Russia.) yllek: That sounds exactly like what we want to do, and unfortunately I'm not a history major or even buff! I will definitely check these out, although we are not a Christian family. They could still be very helpful if we have to design our own. I already have EE in my Amazon cart and MwC out from the library. Apparently I was on the right track and didn't even know it! Thanks for the lead! I would love this for our current plan focusing on the social history based on our family history. I'm currently planning on choosing a few topics (food, transportation, shelter, what did kids do for fun, etc) and listing/comparing them for each generation's childhood. I had wanted to choose some invention and trace it back, and this would be perfect! This could definitely work for us. We already plan all other studies around science (develop math story problems or real experimental math from current topic, find related fiction literature, choose our FIAR book on the topic, and then use that book to do copywork for handwriting, key reading words to learn, study the geography of the area from the FIAR, etc). Hmm... you've got me thinking too. Maybe we do the family history thing, then state history, then focus on the pioneer movement (we are in the Pac NW) and native tribes, then US history, then start with DH's ideas on the major multi-national organizations to branch into world history starting with NAFTA nations... that should cover us for several years...