Hi There! I am really hoping this amazing crew can give me some advice regarding character training. I have two sons, 11 and 6. When I can, I try to find curriculum they can both benefit from. This is not easy with five years between! We recently moved into a subdivision with oodles of boys their age. I thought this might be nice considering the oldest is craving someone to play with other than his little brother. Also, being homeschooled, I thought it might be just enough social interaction to keep everyone happy. I WAS WRONG! There are a couple of lovely boys, but the others are far too mature for my liking. I know I can not keep them in a bubble, but this is overload! My question is in regards to character training, especially for the 11 y/o who has been influenced the most. I really like the We Choose Virtues homeschool program. I know my 6 y/o would do well with it. I also think the message is applicable, regardless of the childish cartoons. (Which I do think are cute and appealing.) Would this work for my 11 y/o? I need something quick and easy that will reach both of them. Thank you in advance for taking the time to share your thoughts with me!!!

Thanks so much for taking the time to respond! I can not tell you how much I appreciate your input. I plan to research all of these suggestions. God Bless!

Thank you for your suggestions! I appreciate your input. To answer your questions OneStepAtATime, he does well reading out loud. He rarely misses during reading comprehension lessons. Reading is his favorite part of his curriculum by far. It is sometimes a struggle to keep his books available, he goes through them so fast. I looked at Apples and Pears and I think this might be the way to go this year. I like the idea of catching up if possible, rather than continuing to spin our wheels with AAS. My only concern is that it is writing intensive. I have planned to work on Treasured Conversations for writing and grammar as well as put him into a creative writing class that is being offered by a writing teacher. In your opinions, would these three be too much for a fairly new writer? Thank you for your time!

I am new to this forum and posted this in the wrong spot yesterday! Help with writing and spelling! We held off on any sort of a writing program for my son because it was such a struggle for him. I didn't want to push it because it was already so painful. The act of writing more than a couple sentences, as well as the frustration on his part to even begin, were too much. Last year we did try a beginner's class in IEW. He did ok with this, although it was rocky at first. After speaking to a different writing teacher, who detests IEW, I am uncertain regarding the direction we should follow. She emphasizes the importance of creative writing and helping your student find their own voice. I love the sound of this, but worry he may be lost in her class without much of a writing background, aside from last year. Any suggestions regarding this? I was looking at Writing With Ease, but feel we almost need to start near the beginning of the program! Part two: He also has great difficulty in spelling. We dropped his program, and went with All About Spelling last year. I hated starting all over, but hoped it would help. It has, but not as much as I thought it would. Now we are far behind where he should be at this age, and he is still struggling! Any suggestions regarding a curriculum for a struggling speller? Thank you for your time! For the first questions regarding writing above, I have decided on Treasured Conversations and an outside creative writing class. Does this sound like too much writing?! At this stage, I think he needs the structure TC would provide, but may blossom creatively under someone outside of Mom. I am still hoping someone might give me some helpful ideas regarding spelling however. I am not sure what we are doing wrong with AAS. Everyone I talk to and read about, raves about this program! We just finished book 3 and while he does well at the time, he will still misspell pretty simple words that he should be able to recall by now. It was this way with his last curriculum. He could memorize a list of words for the weekly quiz and then forget the next week or so. I get so stressed looking at spelling lists for this age and here we are at level 3 of AAS! I will say, his spelling has improved slightly with AAS. However, an example of my frustration is a recent Father's Day project we did for my husband that had simple words misspelled in it. It also slows him down in writing because he is constantly asking, "how do I spell ... ?" or "is this right?" He is a voracious reader, so I am confident in his abilities. I am just uncertain where we are going wrong, or if we are the only people on the planet AAS doesn't work for! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Quote MultiQuote Edit

We held off on any sort of a writing program for my son because it was such a struggle for him. I didn't want to push it because it was already so painful. The act of writing more than a couple sentences, as well as the frustration on his part to even begin, were too much. Last year we did try a beginner's class in IEW. He did ok with this, although it was rocky at first. After speaking to a different writing teacher, who detests IEW, I am uncertain regarding the direction we should follow. She emphasizes the importance of creative writing and helping your student find their own voice. I love the sound of this, but worry he may be lost in her class without much of a writing background, aside from last year. Any suggestions regarding this? I was looking at Writing With Ease, but feel we almost need to start near the beginning of the program! Part two: He also has great difficulty in spelling. We dropped his program, and went with All About Spelling last year. I hated starting all over, but hoped it would help. It has, but not as much as I thought it would. Now we are far behind where he should be at this age, and he is still struggling! Any suggestions regarding a curriculum for a struggling speller? Thank you for your time!

Hi All! I am hoping someone might tell me if there is a curriculum out there that uses the majority of The Well-Trained Mind materials? I feel I need a full curriculum - open and go style. This is my first year teaching and I want to be sure I am doing it right! Thanks SO much!