TarynB
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Posts posted by TarynB
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I wish I could offer something helpful but I have no experience with this. Maybe you should cross-post on the Learning Challenges sub-forum as well? :grouphug:
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Yes, DS writes in the text for his grammar lessons. It keeps the peace. :coolgleamA:
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I've been looking at getting one of the IEW theme-based books without doing the whole IEW she-bang, but I hear that's a big no-no. Deciding whether to chance it.
Yeah, we did SWI-B followed immediately by the theme unit. Having done that, I personally wouldn't recommend doing a theme without first doing a SWI or going through the TWSS (teaches you how to teach it independently). I just don't think you'll get the full value of the program doing a theme unit only. Of course you can always try it and then back up to SWI if you feel like you've missed something.
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bleh.....I just cannot find a good solution to the language arts dilemma!
Taryn, we did BJU- the problem is that the TM is way too expensive and hard to use. As far as Abeka, the only thing I've used from them is Health. Abeka is not really my cup of tea, but I'm getting desperate for LA ideas! It looked complete enough.
This year we're doing Growing with Grammar and Winning with Writing......Growing with Grammar is fine, but WwW is eh, not so much. I've been looking for something that's grammar/writing combined because the simplicity so appeals to me, but that may not be possible.
I DO like R&S.....it's just that, even though we are strong Christians, the Biblical content is SOOOO much. How many sentences in a row can you diagram about prophets? Maybe that's just the feel I get from the samples- if it's not as bad in person, let me know.
If all else fails I can stick with GwG and find something for writing I suppose.....any hints down that road are welcome!
Yeah, I've heard that about the BJU TM's before. I hear you about Abeka and R&S too. I'm sure they work great for some families, but that's just not our thing.
I don't know of any great programs that combine writing and grammar, except MCT. I haven't personally used it, but I think it works best as a teacher-intensive program, not independent. Although I could be wrong about that at the middle school levels so maybe worth your time to look.
We just finished the SWI-B and ancient history theme books from IEW. I love what IEW has done for my DS's confidence and enthusiasm for writing. But it is expensive compared to some other programs, so that may not fit what you need. However, the used market is very strong, so maybe you could consider that. (If you watch ebay for deals you can buy used and save, or buy new and recoup a lot of your cost when you sell it later.)
I just ordered Writing Skills to beef up some of DS's writing organization/outlining skills before we dive into WWS this fall. I learned about it on the boards and it gets good reviews. Not too pricey. There are a few levels if you want to stick with it for the middle school years.
Hope that gives you some ideas, or others will chime in.
ETA: Have you looked at Kilgallon? There are sentence composing and grammar workbooks for middle school. Not sure how complete it is or if it is best used as a supplement. Haven't used it myself. There have been threads here if you want to search for it.
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One more thought, would BJU's English be a possibility for you? It is colorful and said to be very solid, although I've never used it.
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We use Hake for the grammar only - really like it for grammar. The other parts, not so much, but I knew that going in. We usually read the dictation/journal entry, but don't physically write anything . . . so not really used as intended. I think Hake's writing portion leaves a lot to be desired - there are better programs for writing. The grammar is thorough, efficient, no-nonsense (some would say boring but I think most grammar books are), if you write in the book it doesn't take much physical handwriting, which is a real bonus for us, and offers spiral review daily if you want it. It is secular, independent, written to the student. We're sticking with Hake for next year's grammar, which says something.
Hake is definitely not colorful! (That's a plus for us, but sounds like a negative for you.) I'm afraid you might not like Hake, based on what you've included in your post.
Have you used Abeka previously?
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:bigear: Curious to see others' responses. Good question!
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Which branch(es) of science do you want to focus on?
We're using logic stage Elemental Science and like it. My DS enjoys the encyclopedia spines (he likes efficiency, not wordy narratives) and he usually reads extra pages from them for fun. We pick and choose which writing activities to do. It is open and go. I appreciate the discussion guide, the vocab sheets, the clear & simple labs, the tests.
Never used Intellego, but their science offerings appear to be limited at that age. Just personal preference, but the extra internet screen-time, and eye-strain from reading on our laptop, required for Intellego wouldn't be good here. I've heard that sometimes Intellego's links are outdated/inactive but I have no experience with that. Could just be me, but I've always thought of Intellego as supplemental. Does Intellego include any hands-on labs? If not, and you want some, we've had good luck with TOPS kits. I can recommend a few if you like.
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sorry if this is a dumb question, but what does writing across the curriculum mean?
Not at all! To me, it means doing narrations/summaries, outlining, and/or essays/literary analysis using source material from your content subjects such as history, science, and literature. I see that as the goal of the exercises in WWE (and eventually, WWS) . . . to be able to do it on your own using your own source material (your curricula) rather than the WWE workbook sources. Your "writing time" then becomes integrated into your "history time", for example. Hopefully others will chime in with their take as well.
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We used the Complete Book of US History as a spine in elementary. We added a little map work, library books and videos (Liberty's Kids, etc). It gets mentioned quite a bit here.
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Sorry for being unclear above- I actually meant that we have been working on the skills covered in the first section of WWS1 using other source material (mostly selections from what DD has been reading for science and the world geography course we're doing this year). This section in WWS1 covers outlining, chronological narratives of historical events, chronological narratives of scientific discoveries, and description of places. Week 12 is where we will be picking up WWS1 again.
Ah, I see now. Thank you for explaining that. Based on your suggestion, I'm going to think about adding Paragraph Writing Made Easy. I personally would love to use MCT's Paragraph Town, but I don't think my DS would take to it. (As you said, some of us need less open-ended and more structure. DS is like that, LOL.) Thanks again! Great thread!
ETA: Yikes! Paragraph Writing Made Easy is apparently out of print and quite pricey now! Hmmm.
ETA2: I found the ebook version, currently $11.95. Much more reasonable!
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If you want something that is very structured and will teach the basics of paragraph-writing, look into EPS' The Paragraph Book series. Don't let the remedial label scare you off, as IMHO the book deserves a wider audience.
Paragraph Writing Made Easy is what my DD did the semester before starting WWS1 and I think it was a good lead-in. That said, WWS1 got too difficult for my DD about week 12 and I shelved it to do more work on the skills covered in the first part of the book using my own source material. I do plan on picking WWS1 back up once we finish some of the LA books we are doing now (I have a "loop" schedule for LA).
Thank you for mentioning The Paragraph Book series. I added the link for anyone else who might want to check it out. I had not heard of it before, and I do like the looks of it. I see Christianbook has both the student and teacher books listed for sale.
If you don't mind me asking, can you explain what skills you've worked on with your DD using your own material after doing Paragraph Writing Made Easy? I ask because I'm thinking I may need to add some foundational paragraph skills to my DS's plate along with the style techniques he's learned in IEW. We're looking to start WWS this fall.
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Thanks for asking this question, and for the response. I've been wondering about doing this myself.
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So if WWE is optional, would you start WWS in it's place in 4th grade? That seems a little early?
Instead of that, I'd utilize and master the skills learned in WWE by writing across the curriculum, esp. in content subjects like history and literature. Then start WWS when the student is developmentally ready, rather than starting WWS by default.
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Try making the dictations shorter. Even SWB didn't do the long dictations as written in WWE with her kids. She broke it down into shorter phrases and repeated it many, many times. Check out this video of
to see her method in action. -
I'm going to boldly state it: GWG is boring. The sentences are trite, the exercises are simple, the format is unchallenging. What I found with my son is that every exercise had a pattern to it. For example, if you were learning about direct objects, your sample sentence might be, "The boy ate a sandwich." Now every single sentence in the exercises will follow that exact pattern: The something action verb a direct object. All my son had to do was realize that the last word in the sentence would be the direct object every time. After a few weeks I could see he was learning nothing, so we quit.
We had the same issue with GWG's predictable patterns. Hake is working very well for us.
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Have you seen the Collier brothers' series The Drama of American History? I've read that the ones on the Rev. War and Civil War are especially good. I think most/all of them are also available now for Kindle.
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We use it too and I agree with everything you wrote - including the part about the download vs. the online subscription. We had the same problem online and switched to the download version when it went on a good sale. I expect DS will keep using it through all the levels. Thanks for posting such a helpful, detailed review!
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My DS used EM Daily Science grade 6 for a while as a supplement. We were both excited to try it but ultimately it was a disappointment, due to the way/order in which the info was presented. For example, one particular lesson on genetics included worksheet questions about Punnett Squares, but Punnett Squares had not been covered in the student material. So I explained it to DS on the fly and we moved on. Punnett Squares were covered a few pages later in the student material, so the lessons seemed out of order. I was impressed to see such a topic listed, but after reading through it, so much was left out that it was frustrating and the book became more trouble than it was worth. DS is in logic stage and wants to be more independent. Maybe better editing would have helped. We've never used any lower levels, though, so those may be fine. Just something to watch out for.
ETA: To answer your first question, I think EM Daily Science could make a good science spine, but you'd have to be willing to spend the time to add in extra reading or additional resources to go beyond the topics as EM presents them. DS didn't "get" much of the info because the details were so skimpy. Since we already have a main science curriculum that I'm very pleased with, I wasn't willing to invest the effort into building EM up enough to be solid for grade 6 level and to make it open and go for a DS who loves science & wants to be more independent. In other words, I felt like I was having to supplement our supplement (LOL), so we dropped it. The younger levels seem to have good reviews, and it's cheap, so it couldn't hurt to try one one of those and see if you like it.
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Love EKS posts and advises too :)
Ditto! Part of the EKS fan club here too! Whenever I see her posts I make note of her recommendations and add them to my ongoing future resource list.
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I like it and don't like it at the same time. We've been in a community for 2 years but next year we will do a modified version of it at home. We love the community. The people are great. But, I feel like that day out of the house prevents us from accomplishing as much as I would like at home and we aren't getting to the fun projects at home as a result. I also don't like the majority of the science demonstrations and the repetition of the same artists and composers every three years. There are so many artists and composers out there to know about besides the ones CC has chosen. We want to do history chronologically and CC jumps around. Just my two cents worth.
Thank you for posting. I've considered CC, and info like this, which you won't hear at open houses or find on the website, is good to know as well. If we participated, I fear our only benefit would be in the social community, not the education received. I've looked at the curricula they use and most of it wouldn't be a good fit for us, particularly the math (Saxon) and science (Apologia).
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Thank you, Lori, for such an awesome response . . . I'm taking notes too . . . she included everything I would have suggested and much more!
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That's very cool!!!
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Hi All,
I just wanted to alert you to an email offer I received from The "Home Educating Family" Newsletter.
Yesterday's Classics is offering their complete 225 book collection in ebook format for $49.95. Now I know that you can access many, if not most, of these classics for free, however, Yesterday's classics formats them correctly for ebooks (Kindle & epub) and includes a click-able Table of Contents for each book; something the free books don't usually have. Please read the offer before deciding because they also offer free support and the opportunity to purchase both the Kindle and epub formats for the one-time price of $49.95, if you follow their directions.
If you were to purchase these from Amazon @ 1.99/Kindle ebook, you would spend: $447.75. Some of them even cost $2.99/ebook.
Here is the link you can follow to access this opportunity: http://www.yesterday...com/o/feb28.php
As a side note for auditory learners, you can also access most of these books as free audio books at: http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/
(Just in case you were not aware of this site.)
Enjoy!
Thank you for posting this, and thanks for the free audio book site. I had not heard of it before!
Best use of "Writing Class Time" in 5th grade so we can use WWS in 6th
in Logic Stage & Middle Grade Challenges
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I think IEW is a great bridge between WWE and WWS. That's been our path so far. IEW, with the keyword outline method that it teaches, will teach your DC summarizing skills, along with style techniques that they won't get in WWE. IEW folds in nicely with WWE but doesn't overlap. I would suggest continuing both, alternating WWE and IEW for now, then WWS when you feel your DC are ready.