Donna T.
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Posts posted by Donna T.
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We are planning to use MFW AHL for 9th grade. My son is headed into 8th grade this year. We started our homeschooling journey with MFW, had several great years with it, and then moved into another direction. One of the main reasons that we didn't stick with MFW through late grammar and early logic years is because I didn't like their LA recommendations. We tried Writing Strands and I truly could NOT do it. It just didn't mesh with my brain at all.
He will be going back to MFW for 8th grade. He'll be using 1850 to Modern Times. Naturally, one of my concerns is having him ready for the writing in MFW AHL for 9th grade. MFW recommends Writing Strands 4 but I can't do it.
He will be continuing with Rod & Staff English, using Spelling Power, and I have intended to use Writing With Skill with him. I don't think WWS will take a full year. I think alot of it will be easy for him, so he will most likely do more than one day's work in a typical day. I also have, and intend to use, Write With the Best with him. We probably won't do all of the units of WWTB but most of them.
Is there anything I need to be sure to cover in 8th grade that will help him out with 9th grade? I haven't seen MFW AHL in person and I don't know if I'll be able to do so until we buy it. Will the writing instruction in AHL help him with style, or is it mostly working on structure? Will it cover both of those aspects of writing?
So far, he is writing strong paragraphs but hasn't written any essays or research papers. He can do a two level outline easily (we'll definately work on outlining this upcoming year), he can write narrations of 5 to 12 sentences, can write summaries of several sentences, can write fables, short stories, personal letters. He has worked on descriptive writing and note-taking this year and has done well with that.
Thanks for reading & thanks for any help. I know Writing Strands would cover alot of helpful things but it just doesn't fit his style (or mine).
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Hmmm... I truly do not know. Please tell me this isn't something else that I need to look into!!
I think my kids are average but each has an area or two in which they particularly excel. And, they have areas in which they have struggled... though I'm thinking that may have more to do with their teacher than with them. I always feel like we are behind other homeschooling families because we aren't as far along in some areas. I tend to use resources with them when they are a little older than the children of others that I know or read about here on the board. But, I think that may be because we study a whole lot of different things so that broadness slows us down sometimes. There is only so much we can do in a day. But, it's usually me who tires out and they do study on their own. They love to read and that helps. It has allowed them to develop their own interests without waiting for Mom to get it going on.
I think they are average but super amazing and I'm happy with where they are and who they are.
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I know when I asked about this last spring, Tina Gilbert, who's a rep for LREG, strongly recommended that I not start LREG until after we finished R&S6. She was of the opinion that LREG wouldn't work well without a strong foundation in English grammar.
I believe she's posted quite often on LREG, possibly mostly on the Logic sub-forum. It might be helpful to do a search there.
We're finishing R&S5 this year and then moving on to 6. I'm itching to start LREG, but I'm putting it off another year.
This is exactly what I thought would be best for us to do. I think that's what I'll probably end up doing. He is using Getting Started With Latin now and really likes it. The lessons are short and using it with R&S has not been burdensome. That means he wouldn't start until 9th grade, but I guess that's not the end of the world. :001_huh:
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We use Shurley Grammar 6 along with Latin Road 1. We will have completed half of LR and half of Shurley 6 by the end of 6th grade. I think it has been going well, so we plan on finishing up the 2nd half in seventh grade. According to the WTM book, LR isnt enough and even before I read that, I also thought it needed just a little something else, but couldnt put my finger on what exactly.
Yes, I know the WTM says it isn't really enough on its own. And, I've read that it moves very quickly so the student can get lost if he doesn't have a strong background in English grammar already.
Do you teach LR everyday? How long do you spend on a daily lesson? I believe I read one daily lesson should take about 45 minutes. Does that sound about right to you?
Thank you!
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Neither Science 4 nor 7 teach outlining but both would be very easy to outline from. They do include outlines of the chapters already printed in the Teacher's Manuals. Those are helpful. But, they don't actually teach outlining.
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Have any of you used The Latin Road to English Grammar? I am considering this for my 8th grader. Hopefully it will work for us and he will continue using it through 10th grade. The author claims that The Latin Road includes all of the English grammar that a student needs. Have you found that to be the case? If not, have you found an English grammar curriculum that works well alongside The Latin Road?
We are using Rod & Staff but I have considered dropping it and finding something that is more streamlined... possibly Analytical Grammar. But, I'm not sure because he really likes R&S and it works very well for him. However, here it is at the end of 7th grade and he has only worked through R&S 5. We stretched book 5 out quite a bit in order to give him more time to work on his writing. He will be using Writing With Skill next year and of course Susan recommends that we skip the writing in R&S and just do the grammar.
Just not sure what to do... I'm not convinced that The Latin Road will be all he needs for grammar, but it sure is tempting to drop R&S for awhile.
Would The Latin Road and R&S's grammar be a good match?
Would appreciate ANY feedback. Actually, anything you can share about The Latin Road would be appreciated.
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I am actually just now starting a class for 2 to 5 year olds. I am going to use the Bible lessons and related play activities from Little Hearts. I looked at Little Hands, but I just don't think it would work as well for what I have in mind. I have taught Little Hearts at home before, so I'm familiar with it already. I've never used Little Hands.
I have used MFW's Adventures for Sunday School and for other programs for children from pre-schooled aged through elementary. The names of Jesus study is wonderful. It is my absolutely favorite curriculum to use for young children. I have found that the object lessons for the names of Jesus make the lessons concrete enough for young children and even the two or three year olds will listen and learn.
I enjoy using that alongside coloring pages from Calvary Chapel's free online curriculum. We make a Jesus poster with the names of Christ and build a timeline from Creation through the major Bible stories. I use the pages from Calvary Chapel for the timeline "pieces". The children color the pages and then I take turns picking a child's page to make it the one to add to the timeline.
That is all probably a little much for two year olds. I think Little Hearts will work well for the class I'm just now starting. If I were working with only 4 or 5 year olds, I'd definately go with the Adventures materials.
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Does anyone know if the Earth & Space DVDs will be compatible with the new Earth Science text for 8th graders?
We used Life Science 7 this year. My son has loved it. I'd like to keep him in BJU but I'm concerned that it will be too hard to teach it at home through high school. I think if we stick with it that I will need to plan on getting the DVDs each year.
I am either going to stick with BJU or try Apologia. I would prefer BJU, just not sure how practical it will be for us.
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I chose the History set because my son is a 7th grader. He has read all of the books to himself and listened in on his younger brother's Storytime. If your child is older (in the extensions range), I'd recommend the History set. Otherwise, I'd go with another one of the sets.
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I would continue with the MUS/LOF combo. Actually, that's exactly what I'm doing!! I love MUS but my children have needed short breaks from it from time to time. That usually happens at the end of a book when the problems really ramp up in complexity. I have tried different things to give them a new angle at different times... Singapore, RightStart math games, Teaching Textbooks. Then, I finally found Life of Fred!! It is a wonderful complement to MUS! I am really loving this comb., as are my children. My son in Zeta is using LOF Fractions. I started my youngest son, who is finishing up Gamma in a couple of weeks, at the beginning of LOF with Apples. I have Butterflies waiting for him. He'll go through it very quickly... probably a couple of weeks, but I'm glad he's getting to use all of Fred. BOTH of them, with very different learning styles, love Fred and are choosing to do their work during their free time!
If you just can't stand to do MUS anymore, then you could try LOF all on its own while you look around for something else. I really think LOF is a stand on its own program and doesn't have to be a supplement.
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We'll be using SOTW 4 next year for 8th and 5th grades. We will be reading our Sonlight books from Cores 2, 4, 7, and some of 100 along with it.
I know this isn't what you are looking for, but thought I'd share:
http://homescool-ed.blogspot.com/2007/04/sonlight-books-arranged-by-well-trained.html
Very helpful!!
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I used the combined year (D/E) with my boys for 3rd and 6th grades. My oldest son is the more sensitive one. All of us really loved it and I'm glad I did the combined year. I didn't finish the last couple of months. I'd have to look back to see just when we stopped, but I know we didn't finish all of it. The combined core is very full and it is alot of reading. We love to read and we like Sonlight very much, but it was alot and when we got to the more serious tone towards the end, I just dropped it.
All in all, it worked well for us. I knew I wanted my youngest to do Bigger Hearts anyways, so it didn't bother me to skip some of the content at the end with him. He has used Bigger Hearts with the extensions this year for 4th grade. He likes Bigger Hearts but he LOVED Core D/E and has literally begged me to do SL with him again. My oldest, a huge bookworm, did great with it and we all learned a ton.
I think you could go either way and have it work out. We ended up adding all of the books from Core D that were omitted from D/E into it because they didn't want to miss any of it. It really just depends on how much time you want to spend on it. And even though there are some serious books, there are also plenty of fun ones. It's kind of ironic that the books that I was most concerned about were the ones that my youngest loved the most! Those were Walk the World's Rim and Johnny Tremain. But, he loved them all.
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I think I've talked myself into sticking with R&S. We do like it very much. Now I'm wondering if we could skip 6 or maybe I should not worry so much about it and just keep plowing. Hmmm... what to do, what to do??
I found an article (http://www.welltrainedmind.com/older-child/) written by Susan in which she said that an older child starting with the classical approach could begin grammar at grade level because the programs she recommends begin each year with a review of the material that was previously taught.
So, it seems to me that would mean he could skip 6 and go into 7. Except, I'm wondering if she wrote this before she included R&S in her book. I seem to recall that R&S was not recommended in her first book. Now, where is that book??
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Thank you for your response!!
45 Minutes?! I guess that's not what I wanted to hear!! I probably should re-adjust my expectations. I guess that's why we're STILL only on R&S 5. :glare:
Well, the Spelling Power lessons will be short, so maybe he can manage 45 minutes on grammar. I expect he'll be working on writing atleast an hour a day plus the Latin and Greek.
I love the idea of the review books. I believe that would work very well.
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I am considering AG for my 8th grader. He is finishing up R&S 5 this year. He has used R&S 2, half of 3, all of 4 and is almost done with 5. I really like R&S but it bugs me that he would be going into 8th grade and using R&S 6.
I don't know if it would be best to just stick with R&S or to find something that will take him through grammar at a more streamlined, quicker pace.
If I go with AG, should we cover all of it in one year? I would really like to take the first few months of 8th grade and not do grammar at all. He will be focusing more on writing (already have Writing With Skill for him) and will be getting more formal with Latin and moving up a level in his Greek. I am also going to pick back up with formal spelling lessons. He has been using studied dictation and that's worked great for him but I'm going to have him do Logic of English with my 5th grader at the beginning of the year. I plan to put him back in Spelling Power after that. We used SP in the past and it's a good fit for him.
All that to say that I'd love to drop the R&S, especially considering that if we stick with it, he would be doing R&S for YEARS!! :tongue_smilie:
Would it be a mistake to take a few months off from grammar, pick up AG in January and go from there? Would that be too late to get started on it? I know some people use it for HS but I don't want to stretch it out toooooo much. If we finished it in 9th grade, would that be too late?
How long do the lessons take (in a day)?
Any thoughts? Thanks for any help. Just not sure about leaving the security of R&S. It does work very well for him.
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Interesting question and one I've been thinking about myself lately.
I guess I've taken different approaches with different children. My oldest was more motivated than my younger son. I think it's partly due to a difference of personality, partly a birth order difference. Regardless, I find myself being much firmer with my younger. He will be in 5th next year and yes, I am beginning to let him know that I expect him to up his effort in some areas. I really didn't have to do that with my oldest. It was more gradual with him. There just wasn't the need to be more explicit about it. I know my youngest is capable of much more than he is doing and I'm beginning to make my expectations for him clearer. He is definately getting the message that 5th grade is a step up. :D
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I haven't seen Science Fusion.
We are using BJU 7th and couldn't be happier with it. My son loves Biology and had alot of knowledge about this field of study before coming into the course. I really didn't think he would learn much but he has learned some things and even more importantly, he has enjoyed the investigations. That's a good thing for him because he prefers "book learning" to actually doing things. It has challenged him in the areas of planning his work and seeing a project through to completion. There's alot of variety and he hasn't done everything but he has completed most of the activity manual and he is very pleased with the information provided in the text.
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We used CHOW with SL and then re-used it with Preparing with no break in-between. When we got to the Middle Ages in Core 2 (Core C) I added in SOTW 2. I also added in SOTW 3 but I think we ended up skipping some chapters because we were getting bogged down. It worked out great and we enjoyed going through CHOW again with Preparing. I went down alot of rabbit trails while using it with SL but tried to stay focused with Preparing. It was nice to cover it at a quicker pace and the way that HOD coordinates the other books with it is very, very good. I'm glad we added in SOTW. We are now listening to SOTW 3 on audio and my oldest son, though he remembers most of it, is enjoying it and has a whole different perspective now. We haven't had a problem with "freshness" but I can understand how some may. It's really easiest to just use SL as it is written and then repeat CHOW later on with Preparing if you want to.
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Did you change what's in the quote or is the quote the old one?
Also, how often do you do English from the Roots up?
The quote is my original plan. Some things will stay the same but they will both be covering the Modern Times and Shakespeare. I'm also changing some of our LA to TWTM recs.
We use EFTRU a few days a week. We haven't been making our own cards. I found they didn't really help with retention all that much and the kids didn't enjoy doing them. So, we just use the pre-made cards. They love those.
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8th -
Heart of Dakota's Resurrection to Reformation
additional free reading - 2nd half of Sonlight Core G
possibly BJU Science 8 (Earth Science) - may replace Science in Resurrection to Reformation - not sure yet
Rod & Staff English 6
IEW's Medieval History-Based Writing Lessons
Hey Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek 4
English from the Roots Up Vol. 2
Memoria Press's study guide for Famous Men of the Middle Ages
Memoria Press's study guide for Shakespeare's As You Like It
Shakespeare for the Ears, Shakespeare for Dummies
finish up The Thinking Toolbox if he doesn't finish it this summer then start
Memoria Press's Traditional Logic 1
continue Red Herrings series
MathUSee Pre-Algebra
Patty Paper Geometry
Violin
5th -
Heart of Dakota's Preparing Hearts for His Glory
BJU Science 5 - to supplement science in Preparing Hearts
Rod & Staff English 4
Spelling Power
Hey Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek 2
English from the Roots Up - finish up Vol. 1
Mind Benders, Red Herrings
MathUSee Delta/Epsilon
Piano
Both - Geography Co-op
My plan has totally changed! I should have known better than posting so early... it usually takes me until early summer to firm everything up.
Too bad... this looked like a pretty good way to go. :D
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Thanks so much for the responses!
I pulled out my FLL 3 TM (used it a few years back with another child) and it does look way too simple. I'll go with FLL 4 and WWE 3.
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I really appreciate your responses. I've been pondering this for so many days now. I have spent a couple of hours today making a timeline of our state's (Alabama) history, filling it with people and events, and searching out places to visit. I think I will develop a little state unit study to do along with SOTW. We have a rich history here and it's not all bad. I guess :001_unsure:. My husband has actually agreed to get involved and plan some trips. I think we will do alot of cooking and definately alot of mapping. We aren't crafty and we won't miss the coloring pages. I think some short trips while focusing on people from Alabama will add some fun to the topic.
I think I'm beginning to see that this could be a great thing. I think it will encourage some conversations that we probably need to have. Both of the kiddos have questions about racism and have actually just become aware that it is real. I guess they are kind of sheltered. I think we will go to Selma and face the civil rights issue head on.
I guess it doesn't have to be all about Hitler!!:tongue_smilie:
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We plan to cover the Modern Times next year with a 5th grader. We will be using SOTW 4. I'm a little nervous about it. I have a 7th grader who has never really studied this time-period because... I just don't like it... :glare: and I think war is hell and it makes me angry :angry:. We have barely touched on this period with him and now he is FULL of questions that, to be honest, I can not answer. My now 4th grader is fascinated with this time-period. We plan to cover it with him next year and add some state history to it, something else we haven't focused on at all.
I know SOTW 4 is used with grammar stage kids, but I'm still wondering if it won't be too much for 5th grade. My son will be 10 in May. He is not AT ALL sensitive but he really has no clue how depraved men can be. I asked my oldest what he thought and he said that the ancients & men in all time-periods have dealt with the same issues. He pointed out that there was plenty of violence in all the other time periods. My now 4th grader loves history and has quite a strong interest in military history :patriot:.
Can you share your experiences with SOTW 4? We will be using the Activity Guide, adding in alot of Sonlight Core 4 (American history during this time) and some state history.
Compare HOD RtR to Biblioplan 2 to SL Core G
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted · Edited by Donna T.
CTC has been perfect for us for 7th grade. I know alot of moms use it earlier than that but I don't think I would want to. My son has loved all of it and really loves the extension books. I have decided that I don't want my younger son to do CTC until 7th grade... maybe 6th, but I won't feel any pressure to get there until 7th grade. The books are rich and require a depth of reading that I think is just right for 7th grade.
Did she enjoy the other portions of the guide? How did she like the poetry, the science, the Bible memorization and quite time?
Did she do Preparing Hearts before using CTC?
I think if I were looking for something lighter and more engaging I'd just go with Story of the World 2 with the Activity Guide and add in some readers and read-alouds from Sonlight. When we used SOTW 2 I used it alongside the portions of Core 2 that matched up with it. It was great. My son remembers so much of it, he doesn't really even want to do RtR next year. He feels like he got a very indepth study of that time period with SOTW 2 and Core 2. He loves HOD but doesn't feel like he needs to study that time-period again right now.