KLA
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Posts posted by KLA
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Veritas Press has a bunch of live online classes and their self-paced history classes (which I HIGHLY recommend!).
KLA
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We like them all (boy and girl) and the age recommendations are correct however, my children are 11 and 12 and pull them off the shelf for reading over and over again. We just used them as free reading, never coordinated them with history but you sure could.
KLA
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I really like Saxon as well. My daughter doesn't love it but does well with it. She sometimes asks for something "more colorful" and exciting looking, but since she is doing very well with Saxon, that just didn't seem like a good reason to switch. Also, now that we are into the upper level, I don't want to switch and create gaps, so we will plug along.
You could try the Saxon placement test and then see which teaching method suits her better to make your final decision.
KLA
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There is also a book that has all the sentences written out for you. I don't have it and it's not a big deal to write them out (I actually use them for my daughter's dictation). It might be something you would like to have done for you.
We went from FLL4 to Shurley 6 on the advice of others. I have heard you can skip either 5 or 6 if your children are strong at grammar. You might do level 4 and then if you want to continue, go to level 6 for 5th grade. You just don't want to miss level 7 because it's really good (so I have been told).
KLA
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Maybe post this on the logic or high school boards...I'd love to read responses too!
KLA
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Another vote for Shurley. We really like Shurley and do just a few of the writing exercises since we also do IEW. And you can add a diagramming book for 5 more minutes a day. I don't find Shurley teacher intensive at all. It takes me about 15 minutes of instruction per day, the rest my daughter does on her own (5th grade). We came ti Shurley after all 4 levels of FLL and Shurley has been a great next step (thanks to OhElizabeth for guiding me to Shurley).
And for what it's worth, we used GWG for one year when I needed something they could do on their own for a year and there was very little retention at all.
KLA
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My oldest son (now 10) has an August birthday. Even though he probably could have done 1st when he was 6, we opted to wait and let him have another year. It was the best decision I have ever made. He is flourishing in school, loves to learn, and I think it's because he is just a little "ahead of the game" rather than trying to catch up.
Once I got over my personal hang-ups of worrying about what others might think, it was a great decision.
:iagree:
And my son is now 12 in the 6th grade, and I still think it was the very best decision. Plus, I get to enjoy him for an extra year and he goes off to college or whatever that much more mature.
My daughter is a September birthday and older for her grade too. We love it for her too. Both could have handled the academics and the social aspects fine if we had started earlier but I'm so glad we didn't. It has also been great as they approach middle school age and youth group - they are entering a bit more mature and ready to handle things better.
KLA
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I'm not a saver at all. I don't like clutter, nor do I have the space for it (and I only have 3 children). So here's what we do...
Only the History (SOTW) pages are saved in the notebook for longer than the present academic year. Pretty much anything else like a daily fact sheet or Math problems, math tests, grammar work is graded, corrected and recycled. I only save a select few papers for the portfolio. I save anything in a bound workbook (like a spelling workout or latin for children) form for the current year only. During the summer clean out it all gets tossed/recycled.
Each child has a file folder for very special things or the very few cute papers I want to save.
Art and science projects or history hands-on get photographed and saved in the computer after enjoying it on display for a bit.
If you are legally okay to toss it out and you want to, it's okay not to save it!
Blessings!
KLA
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We have actually never (gasp) done a bible curriculum. My husband very graciously encouraged me to let our family bible time and their Sunday School and catechism classes at church be their bible. We faithfully attend every week unless someone is sick so it's a regular part of our week, but nothing I have to fit in during the day. That has always been a nice "one-less-thing-to-do" for me.
Now if I didn't have those options available to me, I'd do exactly what you are doing! Sounds wonderful. I did add in scripture for copywork as well.
Blessings!
KLA
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We went on to Shurley Grammar and have been really impressed with it. Everything from FLL is flowing out and being applied!
KLA
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I'm not exactly sure what you should do but I will add that I think the tests in Saxon are much easier than the problems in the mixed practice sets, so I would watch out for that.
Blessings,
KLA
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The best advice I ever got at the beginning of my journey was to read ABOUT homeschooling in general to nail down your philosophy and get a feel for what you and your family are like. Once you have basically figured out who you are as a homeschooling family, then your curriculum options are narrowed down by 75%. It helped me so much.
KLA
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We have used one math program all along (Saxon) and have never supplemented, except for games along the way. I just couldn't work more math in. If you have a good math curriculum that suits your child, you certainly don't HAVE to supplement. I always thought I would just supplement in areas that needed extra help.
Many people have done it well so maybe they can help if you decide you want to do two programs.
All the best!
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We really enjoyed FLL3 and 4. I did FLL 1/2 and 3 then, while in the middle of an adoption, I switched to Growing with Grammar 4 so my daughter could do something on her own and I was really disappointed. So we went back and did FLL4 at her request. She was already working 1 year ahead so she is still at grade level in grammar, but she retained very little from GWG.
We are just finishing FLL4 and she really has learned it. Plus she has memorized some wonderful poems that I wouldn't have kept up with otherwise.
I have looked at Rod & Staff every year but vowed to stick with the "if it ain't broke..." motto. Otherwise, I'm sure you can't go wrong. So many love R&S.
KLA
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We used the workbooks for FLL3 and 4 and love them. Wouldn't have done it without them.
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We love much of what has been mentioned but for the older tween and up crowd - our family loved "Belle Prater's Boy". has some drama in it but what a story...
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Children's Books (lyman, sc) - they have a store or you can order online and always the cheapest prices and they are a homeschool family!
http://www.homeschooldiscountproducts.com/servlet/StoreFront
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I'd like to hear some responses too.
:lurk5:
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The best advice I got at the beginning was to read ABOUT homeschooling and discover the philosophy/method/approach that fits you and your family the best. From there, allow your curriculum choices to be driven by your philosophy. That narrows down your choices significantly and makes the decision so much easier! You can of course, branch out when needed but it helps so much to have a path.
All the best!
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I think you do, but we do everything in Saxon.
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Pros: Independent, quick, simple
Cons: no retention. we went back to FLL 4 after one year with GWG and my dd has learned so much more. feel like we wasted a year of grammar with some light review. might be fine for an inbetween year or summer review.
we did 3 and 4, fyi
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I love to remember the advice of a wise mom given to me, "Just because they CAN doesn't mean they SHOULD."
Just because they can do math 3 grade levels ahead or read harder books or...., doesn't mean they should. I'm all for challenging to keep the mind strong, but it's okay to wait a year or whatever to start something.
Have a FUN year!
KLA
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I was not pleased with the retention after a year of GWG. It was quick and easy and my kids loved it, but didn't really learn anything. We are switching to Shurley English 6 (this was recommended by OhElizabeth here on the boards) after FLL4. And I plan to do Shurley 7 because I hear such amazing things about that level.
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We are heading to Shurley English and IEW for 5th grade.
KLA
Help with finding something fun ....
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
Discovery Education website has some Spanish. My kids loved it when they were little.