I chose CW because it includes writing instruction as well as analysis. It goes beyond teaching students how to use different techniques to make their writing more interesting and really gets students to think about why a certain technique or word choice makes for strong writing. They go even further than that and get students to play around with that sentence and substitute different words, or change the grammar, and then think and discuss what impact their change had on the meaning the author was trying to convey. I really appreciate that because I find that with other programs, the focus can be on making sure a certain number of adjectives or sentence openers are used and so the child is relying on a check-list to make sure their writing is "good". Whereas, with CW, the child is getting really good at practicing those techniques while also listening to how each change impacts the writing as a whole. I find it really fun to play around with words and I think it's giving my dd a lot of flexibility in her writing - as well as the ability to evaluate how a choice of words or word order can emphasize or de-emphasize a point. Sarah

I've been trying to use SWR for a couple of years now. I'm not sure what's wrong with me - I have no problem using TOG and CW but for some reason I've never been able to wrap my head around how to practically implement SWR. I have boys in grades K and 2. AAS looks much easier to implement than SWR. I'm not sure why, but it does. I like the fact that it teaches phonograms and spelling rules as well. I plan on starting it in about a week with my boys. Does anyone have any pointers? Is there anything you wish you knew before you started? And how is it working for you? Are your kids retaining? Is it fairly straightforward to implement? Thanks, Sarah

Advance preparation helps my kids the most. On Sunday, when everyone is feeling happy, I'll talk about the plans for the week, I'll ask for everyone to pay attention to attitudes, and we'll discuss the perks that we'll enjoy. If I wait until they have bad attitudes then it's generally too late to turn things around. Sarah

We loved the Bronze Bow as well and PP literature guides are my favourite : ). Sarah

I can't imagine how much turmoil this is causing in the lives of those 400 children, but I do agree that if the allegations are true that *something* needs to be done. I'm less clear as to why all of the children had to be removed. If the concern was with the treatment of teen girls then why not remove girls in a certain age bracket? Why remove the toddlers and the babies and the younger kids? On a side note, why is polygamy illegal? I don't get that. Sarah

This all makes perfect sense to me. I know how hard it is to lose weight; even when exercising regularly. Last year I did one full month of core cardio bootcamp where I was doing an hour of varied, strenuous exercise every day. I was pretty good about watching what I ate - but I was a lot hungier. I didn't lose one pound that whole month. Then I go and watch The Biggest Loser and there was a woman who lost 99 pounds in 15 weeks - how does that happen??? Sarah

I would love to write something similar to FIAR and Come Sit By Me but using British books. I would also like to write a Canadian history curriculum that integrates quality history resources and great literature from a Christian perspective for a range of grade levels. There are such fantastic programs out there for American history and basically nothing for Canadian history. Sarah

"Writing is a a form of communication that can be eloquent, embellished and embedded with symbolism and allusion, but in the end the writer needs to address its audience and communicate. There are times when the five paragraph essay and the one word sentence convey the meaning the writer intends. I think the hardest part of writing for the young writer is getting at what it is they want to say and getting it down on paper." Exactly. I think this is really important as well and it's something that isn't explicitly taught in most writing programs that I've looked at. CW specifically addresses this. They teach students how to analyze a piece of writing and figure out what the author was emphasizing. Then they work with their own words and they try things one way and another way, changing the word choices, changing the grammar, changing this, changing that - and discussing how that changes the author's emphasis. In this way we're learning how to get our meaning across in many different ways and they're becoming flexible with their writing. I think one of my favourite parts of CW is playing with language - finding different ways of saying things and discussing why one works and why one doesn't or why one completely changes the original emphasis. Sarah

The Parker and Baldridge book (Elementary Mathematics for Teachers) is fabulous. They teach you how to teach and use the Singapore books as examples for you to work through. I've learned so much from that book and really appreciate the explicit instruction to the teacher. Sarah

If you have a younger child, or you aren't in a rush, I highly recommend using Russian Math 6. A lot of the concepts are review of 6A/6B, but they're presented in a different way. RM6 challenges the student to articulate and explain what they know about math. It's stretched our thinking in a new way. It also presents a number of new concepts (like negative numbers) to the student. I found it a very worthwhile way to do math after finishing 6B and it acted as somewhat of a transition for moving into NEM. Dd struggled with NEM before RM6 but now she's flying through it. http://www.perpendicularpress.com arah

Reya, I think you have failed to look deeply at the classical model. Or perhaps you just haven't seen Classical Writing's implementation of that model. You said that classical writing was arficial and stifling. That students would be shaped towards writing in an antiquated style. Not so. What sold me on CW was their goal of developing copia: “To develop proper style, a writer needs copia. Copia is variation, abundance, and eloquence of expression. Its chief use is the enrichment of language. A classical write seeks a copious supply of thoughts and words. Developing copia can be likened to a muscle toning exercise; you exercise specific muscles to build up their tone. The more flexibility we have with words the easier it is for us to write and say precisely what we wish to say. Just as possession of a large vocabulary enables us to write with ease, so copia generally allows us to be graceful and expressive writers. . . . In teaching writing classically we aim, then, first of all to develop “raw†flexibility (copia) with words and sentences. Copia, abundance of words, phrases, figures, and sentence patterns, allows us to choose liberally from a variety of ways of expressing ourselves. Combine copia with taste and a good judgement of style, and a superior write will emerge, unhampered by narrow conventions and rules, ready to compose for any audience, occasion, and purpose.†- Classical Writing Homer, pg. 11 The whole "ready to compose for any audience, occasion, and purpose" is what I want from a writing program. I want my kids to be good writers. I want them to have the flexibility - the copia - to reach different audiences. Going through Aristotle's ten categories to find synonyms blew me away. I'm pretty good at coming up with synonyms myself, but to actually go through and think about something from ten different angles, writing every description that comes to mind, well, let's just say that we never end up with antiquated descriptions nor do we feel hampered or stifled in any way. If anything CW has blown the lid off of our writing. Sarah

I would be a little bit concerned about drilling math facts before thinking strategies are coming naturally. When kids really understand math thinking strategies they will use those strategies naturally with bigger numbers and harder concepts. When facts are drilled before the child understands thinking strategies the instant recall of facts makes it unneccessary to use thinking strategies so those strategies do not get the opportunity to develop to the point where students use them without thinking about it. Working with thinking strategies first gives students the tools they'll need to really manipulate numbers mentally. Building an understanding of how numbers work together should come before the instant recall of "the answer". Once thinking skills come naturally I work with my kids to develop an instant recall of basic facts. So far, I haven't been comfortable with their level of math thinking strategies until the end of second grade. My ds just finished 2B and we're going to spend the next couple of months really working on thinking strategies, then I'll introduce drill and work on that over the summer. I just don't see the point in drilling instant recall until kids are using thinking strategies naturally. I posted about this a while ago on my blog: http://fanningflame.wordpress.com/2007/09/06/thinking-strategies-vs-rote-memorization/ Sarah

Hi Rose, We used Rainbow Science in our co-op last year. The kids did year 1. This year they're using RS a little, but are also doing a bunch of other stuff. I wish they had just stuck with RS. I really like the text and the fact that you can buy all of the materials for the experiments. I'm not sure if you're registered or enrolled, but RS covers the majority of outcomes in grades 7 and 8 as well as a portion of grade 9. Sarah

My kids have loved doing SOTW. We did Ancients last year with ds in grade 1, other ds in preschool and my older dd (her second rotation through). It was fantastic. Little ds listened in to our reading and played, grade 1 ds did a little more. The best part were the hands-on activities and the fact that so much of what they learned leaked into their play. This was last year and they still talk about Alexander the Great, the fall of Rome and the Egyptians. They got Roman Playmobil for Christmas so now it's all about Caesar and conquering other nations and the barbarians invading. I don't think they would have been quite as inspired by learning about "our community". Besides, a lot of that local stuff comes from just living in a community. We have a map of our country on the wall and they know that there are provinces other than ours, that mom grew up in Alberta, that Grandpa lives in Ontario. They have met the Mayor, they complain about potholes and we talk about which level of gov't is responsible for the roads and how they get the money to pay for repairs. I've never felt the need to use a formal curriculum (or set aside a whole year!) to concentrate on early elementary level "social studies". We pull our own history into the history cycles. Next year we're doing Early Modern Times and a big component of that will be Canadian history. The year after will be Modern Times and that's when we'll look at our country and how it functions today.

We switched over when my eldest was halfway through grade 2. SOTW is a very enjoyable way to begin history. The Activity Guide has maps, narration questions, book lists, and many hands-on activities to make history come alive. I also used the recommendations in TWTM to figure out my curriculum choices in other subjects. We didn't do everything, but we were really blessed by TWTM and by the wisdom on these boards. Sarah

We start with violin. Both boys practice (45 min to 1 hour each) and then we meet downstairs for memory (Bible, poetry, etc.) and devotions. During violin practice dd (12) does Latin, spelling and French. Sarah

I'm hijacking here to ask how you take care of a water softener - do I just keep putting salt into it? Is there any sort of maintenance to do? Thanks, Sarah

I'm putting my book list together for Early Modern Times and need some help finding Canadian historical fiction titles for my logic stage dd as well as for my early grammar stage boys. I'm looking for novels and for picture books. Any specific suggestions or links to book lists would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Sarah

I love homeschool conventions, but they can be a little overwhelming as well. Here are my tips: 1. Don't overbook yourself. Make sure you leave enough time to sit and have lunch, think, and shop. 2. Bring a list. Do your research before the convention and figure out which resources you want to spend time looking at. 3. Bring cash or else be very strict with yourself about how much you will spend. It's easy to get enticed by beautiful resources. Keeping a budget will help you keep your priorities straight. 4. Don't plan anything for the evening. If the convention is in your home town then get the kids to bed early and spend the evening digesting what happened in the day. If you're out of town then go directly to your hotel and have a quiet evening. 5. Make a list of questions you'd like to ask the speakers while they're speaking. This will likely be one of the few chances you'll have to discuss things with them. Often speakers will have a booth in the exhibit hall where they're able to answer questions after their sessions. 6. Order CDs of any workshops that you thought looked good but you couldn't attend. 7. Remember to take what will bless you and leave the rest behind. No one person will have all the answers and there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all philosophy or curriculum. I think that's it : ) Our convention is coming up in two more weeks and I'm really looking forward to it. Sarah

Teaching the Classics equips you to be able to teach literary analysis at any level. I use what Adam has taught me with my kindergartener and with my li class (grades 6 and 7). I'll continue to use his approach through high school. His DVD series shows you how to teach so that you can confidently lead a lit analysis discussion with any age level using any kind of book (short story, picture book, novel, etc.). I'm able to teach informally now as we're reading bedtime stories - I'll take the time to ask a few questions about theme or character or whatever. I'm also able to take what Adam taught me and turn it into a well prepared lit analysis lesson for co-op. I am really looking forward to taking our literary analysis to a new level using Adam's Worldview DVDs. I wrote a little bit about Adam Andrews on my blog: http://fanningflame.wordpress.com/2007/09/03/camping-with-adam-andrews/ Sarah

Well, for fun we used Prunella and the Purple Peanut by Margaret Atwood. I used Ferdinand with AA's study guide. I think my favourite one was The Nightingale by Hans Christian Anderson. We had an amazing discussion over that book. It was a great illustration of how the author uses setting to reveal character. I'm having a hard time remembering any of the other titles because they were brought in by the kids and we discussed them without prior preparation. Sarah

I think the biggest difference is what each program requires (and expects!) of the student. This is most clearly illustrated in the word problems. I went through both programs a couple of years ago and pulled out similar word problems at various levels and Paula was kind enough to put the chart on her site: http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/singaporeword.htm Sarah

I'd take the Adam Andrews approach and go with a favourite picture book. Children's lit has the same literary elements that a novel does, but they're simpler (and shorter) so it's easier to teach the basics. I've taught lit analysis for the last two years in our co-op and I always do our first few weeks using children's books. I get each of the students to bring in their favourite book from childhood and then I use those books to teach the elements of a story. Pick your favourite picture book and go! Sarah

The first few that come to mind are: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (classic Canadian lit) A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (Russian lit) The Painted House by John Grisham (a surprise for me, I usually read Grisham for fluff - this definitely wasn't fluff) The Stand by Stephen King (my favourite King novel) The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards (I just recently read this - it was amazing. About a secret and how it shaped and split a family.) Sarah

We're going on a car trip and are looking for some good audio books to download. I subscribe to Audible so that's mainly where I'm looking, though I could buy from i-Tunes as well. If anyone has any recommendations for a 12 year old girl who loves to read I would appreciate it. I listened to A Thousand Splendid Suns during our last road trip and would love a new fiction title to listen to. Sarah