Thanks for explaining that Mrs. Twain. I'll be checking back in to see the answers to mama25angels new questions. :)

Mrs Twain, That is very interesting. I've been drawn to Epi Kardia which is a curriculum that seems to approach history in much the same way that you described. How are you covering American? Are you going into deeper studies with it or doing a yearly overview with it as well? Or is the American included in your World History overview? Thanks!

Thanks I guess I missed that thread. And thanks Des for the link to the plans. Off to find that post by soror...:auto:

Can you link me up? I'd love to see what you are talking about. :)

I know how you feel. I'm a bit divided on the issue as well. This year I had a Ker and PreK. For the most part, I let them decide when they wanted to do school. If it went too long (it rarely did), then I'd step in and make them do school. It was really easy to get them interested in school again. All it took was switching things up a bit.... making something more hands on, printing a neat new worksheet online, adding a fun craft, etc.. I was worried about sending the wrong message about how school works. I didn't want them to get in the habit of thinking they could do school or NOT do school when they chose. At some point school work is not an option, and I think that's something they have to learn to live with. At the same time, I didn't want to push too hard in the early years and have them really dislike school.

Thanks for your review. I'm going to buy it very soon. :)

I'm also making as many of the materials that I can. I made the moveable alphabet from Montessori print shop, just finished laminating and cutting today. The link mentioned above (1+1+1) has a link on her blog to get the book "Montessori at Home" right now at a discount. I hope to buy it soon.

It was #8 for me too.

I'm sorry! I know how frustrating that can be. For what it's worth, that's the same reason we didn't stick with CLE. Both my dd and I felt the explanations were lacking. Then she was lost and I was confused, because it being independent, I wasn't sure what she actually understood and what she didn't. So trying to intervene was a mess. She needed a lot of help with spelling so we are using PR at an accelerated pace now.

Excellent Post! You are absolutely right. The problem with myself lies in self doubt. I'm not new at homeschooling, but often feel like I am because I lack ability in myself. I will choose something then doubt that I will be able to teach it effectively. I'm a strong believer in being a teacher and not just handing a child a workbook. I've seen a trend among homeschoolers in looking for the most independent curriculum, and that is just not my style. The reason I'm drawn to teacher intensive curricula is because they ALLOW me to teach, most of them TEACH ME how to teach. I read a comment by you a while back (can't remember which thread) about how curriculum companies prey on our fears and self doubt, making us feel inferior. They make us think...Unless we buy their curriculum we can't possibly give our children a good education. I think your assessment is right on. I've thought about this subject a lot lately because I've been on a curriculum merry-go-round! It is not the curriculum itself in most cases but how one teaches it. This is evidenced by the various testimonies presented here on this board. One homeschooler can take a less than stellar program and teach it, add to it, and bring it to a higher standard. Others might take an excellent program and fail to teach it causing it to lose its effectiveness. I'm probably not making any sense. I know what I want to say but always have trouble conveying it. :tongue_smilie:Others here could state it more eloquently, I'm sure.

Thanks Kel, I'm glad you found a nice replacement. I'm doing this with a 5 and 6 year old, and I have the 2 year old as well. My (just turned 5 year old) dd struggles with learning her letter names so this program was meant for her. My 6 year old is past it, but still enjoys it so she's participating too. The only reason I haven't given up on the program is because of the 5 and 2 year old. I don't think I could justify the cost with just one kid. While we really enjoy the program, so far I don't think it's anything special that you couldn't do on your own. It depends on how long it takes for Level 1 to come out as to whether we will continue with it or move on to something else. The 6 year old will begin PR 1 in the fall.

Yes, I know it's frustrating. I expected as much because they did the exact same thing with the Pre-Level. They pushed the date back on the Pre-Level several times before it actually came out. We are stretching it out, but I'm also tired of waiting. I think we might just go with something else too. We use Phonics Road, but I was using this as a filler before my kids were ready for PR.

It's what I like too. :) Things that we use that fit nicely into that are Phonics Road, Bob Jones Math, and Trail Guide to Learning. I can't think of anything else at the moment, though I'm sure there's other things we use/have used. I look for Teacher Intensive materials when shopping for curriculum. I've been exploring Montessori for preschool, language arts, and Math and that's pretty teacher intensive too.

Sounds lovely!

Interesting! Thank you for sharing. I'm :bigear: too.

HAHA! My husband typed it yesterday telling someone about what I do....It was so funny!

That is interesting. I never thought of it that way. I'm using it with only one child though and was following the directions in the book. You could do it that way and add the Middle School Supplement readers for your read-aloud if you want. In POS, there are two readers scheduled for the student to read silently and one for them to read-aloud to the teacher (this is for students at the highest level). So it's transitioning the student to do all the reading. We don't really like it that way, both my dd and I enjoy our read-aloud time. I think she should be reading some books but both of us like to have at least one book that I'm reading aloud.

Another thing to consider is whether you want chronological history. TGTL doesn't cover American history in chronological order and it leaves some things out. SL Core D and E ( I think I have the right letters) will cover American history in chronological order. It will also cover quite a bit that TGTL won't. TGTL is set up in unit study fashion, where as SL American covers a more typical study of American History.

You're welcome! :) Actually, there is a read-aloud in POE that is meant for the teacher to read, but it's just like the readers..a few pages a day. In the first unit of POE, your child will read from Meet Christopher Columbus aloud to you. The read aloud for the teacher is the Sower Series "Christopher Columbus" biography. There is a lot more read-aloud books in SL. If you've already found LAs that you like, I wouldn't change or drop it until you are sure that you would want to use TGTL as is and continue with the series.

I know how you feel. I really like Trail Guide to Learning! I really wish I would feel comfortable using it as is with my 12 year old, but I just can't. We are accelerating through the Phonics Road and adding that on top of the Language Arts in TGTL is just way too much. We tried that last year with POE. So I've decided that we are not going to use the LAs portion of TGTL POS. We will skip it entirely except for the Copywork/Dictation and Reading. I am rescheduling everything because it moves much too slow for us as is. I'm debating on whether we will use the Science in Paths of Settlement or use something else for Science. I've used SL Core 1+2. There is a lot more reading scheduled in SL than in POE. In fact I think the pace of the books in POE is very slow! I can't tolerate reading half of a chapter a day, but other people might appreciate the pace. So that's something to consider when comparing the two. I think it would be much easier to add your own LAs to SL than trying to fit it in with POE, unless you are willing to skip the LAs altogether in POE. I know it's not easy to skip things in POE because a lot of the History and Science is tied in with the LAs. I'm not sure if that was very helpful. I just wanted to let you know that you are not alone. :)

Oh I am soooooo jealous!! Your room is just awesome. We don't have space for a school room, but how I wish we did!

HA! We did the same thing. Had CLE Math ripped it apart and filed it. Then changed math programs...lol. At least I didn't rip up all the Light Units since I only filed 9 weeks at a time. This year, I don't plan on ripping up workbooks.

I found this very interesting! I'm always looking for ways to improve my dds narrations. These are things that I have missed and also some we are doing but need to work on. You're right that I haven't quite found these things listed or applied in CM curricula that we have used.

Some aspects worked for us, some didn't. I want to do it in some form this year, but still trying to work out how I can make it better for us.

I've used Trail Guide to Learning POE with my 6th grader and will use parts of Paths of Settlement for her next year (when she's in 7th). I have always thought it was best to go with the recommended target age or higher. It's been my experience, with any program that we've used, when my child was at the oldest recommended age she was able to get a lot more out of the program. With TGTL POE there is so much more to do and get out of the study when your child falls at the highest level. In your situation I think it would be wise to wait until your oldest is in 4th, possibly even when she is in 5th and your youngest in 3rd. That way they would both fall into the range of each program.