kaymom
-
Posts
205 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Blogs
Classifieds
Store
Posts posted by kaymom
-
-
I love TOG, but I am not sure I would make that investment (both time and financial) if I knew my dc were going to return to public school.
The nice thing is that I can borrow it for free from a friend but I haven't gotten my hands on it yet. I just am not sure if I want to spend hours and hours trying to tweak it if it is way too much to fit into 3 days, because that's all the time we devote to history. I am considering something more laid out that seems doable vs. TOG Year 2. I am just going year to year and am not 100% sure my son is going back, so I don't want to make decisions based on that yet except for content, not sure if that makes sense?
-
I think part of me wants to use TOG Year 2 because I may put my son in PS starting in 6th grade (he'll be in 5th next year) and that way we'd make it up to the American Revolution before he goes back. Part of me thinks it would be more fun to linger in Medieval history because it will be one of the only times he'll get it if he goes back to PS. Decisions Decisions :-) Thanks for all of the great advice. I think TOG Year 2 must be a handful!
-
We used MIF this year for 4th grade and also had to go back and use their 3rd grade to do some catching up because my son had been in PS. We spent about 20-30 minutes on a lesson and then independently he spent another15-20, but many times we were covering more than one lesson in that time frame. When we worked on the more challenging word problems it was longer. We did everything on the white board, so there wasn't much writing. I think even if you didn't do it that way, there wouldn't be that much actual writing--just problem solving. I used the student book and the TE too because I don't want to have to work all of the problems, but if you are confident in your understanding of the material, you could just use the student book. You will also want the A& B workbooks, but don't need all of the other materials. It is most definitely a mastery program with some built in review every few chapters and longer cumulative reviews at the end of each book. You could build in more review if you like fairly easily. I have used 3A, 3B, 4A, 4B and am going to use it next year. I think that it builds a strong math foundation and has many outside the box challenge problems. It is very well laid out and has a nice flow. The only place it lacks is intensive review, but that is why it is considered mastery. We've just added extra ws from Math Mammoth on occasion if we need more review. Overall the concepts build on each other so in that way there is review of all the major computation methods. Hope this helps!
-
We used MIF this year for 4th grade and also had to go back and use their 3rd grade to do some catching up because my son had been in PS. We spent about 20-30 minutes on a lesson and then independently he spent another15-20, but many times we were covering more than one lesson in that time frame. When we worked on the more challenging word problems it was longer. We did everything on the white board, so there wasn't much writing. I think even if you didn't do it that way, there wouldn't be that much actual writing--just problem solving. I used the student book and the TE too because I don't want to have to work all of the problems, but if you are confident in your understanding of the material, you could just use the student book. You will also want the A& B workbooks, but don't need all of the other materials. It is most definitely a mastery program with some built in review every few chapters and longer cumulative reviews at the end of each book. You could build in more review if you like fairly easily. I have used 3A, 3B, 4A, 4B and am going to use it next year. I think that it builds a strong math foundation and has many outside the box challenge problems. It is very well laid out and has a nice flow. The only place it lacks is intensive review, but that is why it is considered mastery. We've just added extra ws from Math Mammoth on occasion if we need more review. Overall the concepts build on each other so in that way there is review of all the major computation methods. Hope this helps!
-
Well, I'm going bonkers here trying to decide Math for next year. Logic says I should just continue with Right Start as I have that for dd already and it did lay a good foundation. However, I keep getting flashbacks of super long lessons in B I had with my son and I want something a little less teacher intensive for dd. I think she could thrive with a more traditional approach then he did. I'd also prefer something that makes slow and steady progress, although still challenging whereas RSB has some pretty big leaps towards the end especially.
Then there is the issue of ds' Math. We were/are doing Beast Academy this year, which he really likes. However, with the publication schedule we won't be able to do a full year next year. Besides the fact that after a while I missed our spiral review with Right Start. I've added back in doing some RSD lessons as well but I'm undecided about it as it seems there is a lot of review. I really prefer just to have one program but I don't want to deprive him of Beast Academy as I really love the problems and the approach and he loves it. I'm considering doing some work with Hands on Equations as well to continue our variable work we did in BA.
It seems easier to me if I pick the same main program for both of them. From reading reviews it seems Horizons is considered a strong program and with the teacher's edition does have a lot of the mental and conceptual work as other programs. I really like that it is spiral as well. I've been intrigued about the Singapore approach so I'm drawn to Math in Focus and I do like the samples that I've seen. I'm not sure if it is spiral or Mastery though, it appears more Mastery from what I've looked at so far.
So, any opinions from those who've used both?
If you've used either one can you tell me:
-How long were the lessons? (I'll be doing 1st and 4th next year).
- Were the lessons really writing intensive- how much writing per average lesson?
-How strong of a mental math foundation did you feel it made?
- Which books do I need?
from reading I think I need the Teachers Edition and Student Workbooks A and B for Horizons but just the Student Books and Workbooks A and B for MiF(however there are tons of other books and it is a bit confusing).
- Spiral Vs. Mastery
How did you feel the progression went? Does it feel disjointed at all is there enough review work with past concepts? Is there review of concepts in hands on or other ways- ie not just drill and kill but games and such as well.
-Did you feel that anything was missing from either program? I prefer to keep dd just using one program if at all possible, although I know I'll be supplementing ds some w/ Beast Academy.
-
If you've completed TOG Year 2, would you mind sharing what you thought about the year; were you able to make it all the way through? We've done Year 1, but I have heard that Year 2 is a hefty year and that some people split it into two years--which I don't really want to do. After seeing their sample week online, it does look like more than we could really cover in a week--even if we just do the main history, geography and literature. Maybe the sample week isn't a good feel for the whole year? Trying to make some decisions about what to do next year.
-
My only advice to chime in with is don't pick another curriculum where you have to be the one planning everything. I love to plan, but I am only homeschooling one child! Buy something preplanned and all there like Sonlight and history will get done :-)
-
I didn't mean that BP was light, but compared to TOG it is lighter, which is exactly what I wanted. We just didn't have the time or the need for the depth of TOG. I think BP is a solid program that meets our needs.
Good to hear. I think it will fit the bill for us too. As much as I'd like to get into Colonial America this year with TOG, I just think it sounds too rushed. What resources would you say that you must have to make the program work well? I'll be using it for a 5th grader.
-
I left TOG this year and we will be using BP medieval this fall with MOH year 2. I think BP is a nice "TOG lite" option.
I've heard BP called lite before. How do you feel it is lite, which part of the program? It looks like it includes great sources for history, literature and geography. I guess we don't use everything (who could) that TOG has listed, so maybe the lite is just right for us? I only use it for history, literature, geography and when it listed Bible for church history. Occasionally we'd do a craft project too. I tried their lap books, but they drove us nuts because they'd sometimes cover obscure information that we hadn't come across. It was worse in the Unit 2 of Year 1 than with Unit 1, but we stopped using them. I have my own craft book for the Medieval Times, so we are good. I know that 80+ pages a week is way too much history for us. I don't mind that for literature, but it's a little much for history!
-
We've used TOG Year 1 this year and it also jumps around in history books, especially if you use SOTW which is listed as an alternate spine most weeks. It makes so much more sense to study one ancient civilization at a time and then see how they overlap on your timeline. If you hunt around a little, you will find many people who find just reading SOTW as is seems jumpy because you are studying chronologically so you are always jumping from one civilization to another during a certain period of time. Another way to think about it is like this, many math books will jump from one topic to another without mastery while others focus on a topic from beginning to end. Which do you like better? For us, retention is better when we study a whole concept and that applies to math and history :-)
-
We use Spellingcity.com and you can always enter your own spelling list as well if you register as a teacher. It is a great website that's free!
-
I am considering leaving TOG this year and am looking into another history based curriculum. We will be studying the Middle Ages, and my son will be in 5th grade. Looking at TOG Year 2, it just seems like it is covering so much and because we do the history readings aloud, 80+ pages a week is just too much. I am curious from those of you who have tried Biblioplan or BF and TOG, I am wondering which one is the most like TOG. I use it for history, bible, geography, and literature.
-
We just finished Latin for Children Primer A in 4th, but it was our first year home. The are the same company that makes SSL. I think you could have your 3rd grader actually do the program while the 1st grader tags along. They have wonderful free online videos and games.
-
OP--even if you move a little slower, I think Medieval times will be fascinating to a boy, regardless. Even my girls had fun with knights and castles and Vikings, the Black Death, Joan of Arc. Endless meaty and interesting topics!
How are you pacing yourself through Year 2? Is every week that much reading just for history? We only have 3 days a week to devote to it, so I have to start considering whether I think Year 2 will work for us.
-
This is what we did this year, but it was our first year HSing.
Worldly Wise C and then 3000 for vocabulary
Sequential Spelling then Calvert online spelling
HWOT Cursive
Analogy puzzles (started with grade 1-3 and have moved up to the 3-6 grade)
Math in Focus 3A, 4A and 4B
WWE 4 and some Writing Strands for more creative style writing
R&S 4 English
Latin for Children Primer A
Elemental Science (we did Logic Stage Astronomy/Earth Science just because that's what my son wanted to do)
TOG Year 1 for history, bible, geography and literature.
We did science 2x a week and history 2x a week.
Hope this helps! Makes me feel good looking at what we've almost finished!
-
-
I used TOG Year 1 with my 4th grader for our first year of homeschooling. I have to say, I have a love you/love you not relationship with TOG. I think it is awesome how they tie biblical history to world history, especially in Year 1 where most of the Bible is taking place. I also loved most of the literature. But many weeks I felt like there was so much to cover, even if you are being choosy about what to do. We did not try to do everything every week and I still felt like I spent a lot of time sorting through the resources to filter for what we needed. I was looking over the sample of Year 2 which is from Week 20 (I haven't gotten it yet) and the sample week has around 80 pages of reading for the UG primary history alone, not to mention the history in-depth or the literature (which we do separately). If I use SOTW, it covers 5 chapters just for the primary history in that one week! Anyone have experience with this year of TOG and is this representative of the workload? If it is, I just don't think we can do it because I think I'd have to divide up the workload over several weeks and that would just get annoying. My son will hate history if all we have time to do is read the texts with little time in our day left to actually do anything fun. I'd hate to make Medieval times boring for a 11 year old boy :-)
-
I am only teaching one right now, but I love Elemental Science. It does have suggestions for using across the grades. It has a 2 day a week schedule or 5 day a week schedule and every week includes a relevant experiment. You could probably use the Logic stage of any program and then see her suggestions for younger books to use with your 3rd grader. Right now I am using the Astronomy/Earth Science for the Logic stage with my 4th grader who loves science and it's not too advanced for him (but he's also an older 4th grader). This is our first year home but I did look at other science programs and nothing seemed this organized.
-
Anyone used this? I posted in the K-8 Board but thought I should ask here too. Just wondering if it is worth the $ or if there are any suggestions for something similar. I viewed the sample online and although I doubt we'd do all of the creative activities (I have a creative/natural writer) it does look very good. I like that it teaches self editing. We are using WWE 4 and he's bored and I feel like we need more creativity!
-
Anyone used this? I posted in the K-8 Board but thought I should ask here too. Just wondering if it is worth the $ or if there are any suggestions for something similar. I viewed the sample online and although I doubt we'd do all of the creative activities (I have a creative/natural writer) it does look very good. I like that it teaches self editing. We are using WWE 4 and he's bored and I feel like we need more creativity!
-
I think it would be ideal for a multi-level family of learners. Yes, the information can seem overwhelming at first until you sort out what you want to use/get out of it. Once you get into a rhythm with it, it really isn't that bad. Just don't try to do everything with everyone, there's way too much material! I think it would be awesome if they would lesson plan it for you so it would be more of an open and go curriculum, but I think it is a very rich program and worth the effort since it covers so many subjects. I also would consider either borrowing it from someone (I did this via homeschool group) or using the free 3 weeks to see if you can make it work. You could also just buy one unit versus buying the whole kit and caboodle.
-
There are several schools of thought on what narration is supposed to be. Often it means having the child retell something either that you've read to them or that they've read themselves. In WWE (at least from level 4), the child retells the key points of the story aloud and then they write their narration down from memory.
Dictation usually means that you read a sentence or two aloud to the child and repeat it a few times and the child commits it to memory and then writes it down word for word.
Hope that helps. I'm sure that there are others who might be able to explain it better :001_smile:.
-
Maybe we'll just look into Wordsmtih Apprentice. It's so much cheaper and I'm just looking to supplement our WWE program with some more creative stuff. Opinions? I just liked the format of Write Shop Junior program but I have a feeling it wouldn't be worth the money for us unless I could find it used.
-
I am currently using Year 1 and we are in Unit 2 for my 10 year old son--using the upper grammar and some dialectic. I really like the meat of the curriculum but it does take some getting used to and there is a learning curve. It is not open and go. There's really more there than most anyone could do in a week, so I think you would have to sort out what you think is important for your child to get out of it. We don't use their writing, but do use the history, church history, literature and geography. I think it could be made fairly independent if you were to help with the lesson plans but of course we are not at the upper levels yet. I think once you get used to the format, it gets fairly easy to manage. The biggest thing with Tapestry that I have found is figuring out what you have to leave out to keep your sanity :001_smile:
Bible Curriculum for 5th Grade?
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
I am looking for something that my son can do independently and that only takes about 15 minutes a day. We are a non-denominational family. Ideas on where to start looking?