I'm focused on writing right now for my kids. I'm just re-reading WTM and have been looking over PR and CW Aesop to make sure we are in check, so this is a timely discussion for me! I'm just taking notes and scribbles trying to make sure we nail this. In PR, the writing doesn't seem as straightforward as I would like. There are no narrations to speak of, and I struggle to understand how you can have WTM/CW writing without narrations? One more thing is summary skills, these are very important (to my knowledge) in regards to WTM and CW. I don't see much of these ahead in PR. I've been going through the S&S this week and watching the online samples, but really struggle with finding these two very important things. I love PR and am not at a tipping point, but I just want to make sure we get this right and I don't have to reteach. If I have to overemphasis and tweak some things along the way, I will. My plans are to use WTM or CW Homer when we finish PR. I'm hoping some veterans can come rescue my thoughts! :bigear:

Hi Katrina, Someone already suggested Mishmash's website (great isn't it?), but I also found this one when I was looking at MFW, its a good photo journal of ECC. I'll be praying for you. :grouphug:

:bigear: This has been really helpful. My oldest is 8yo 3rd grade next year, so very close in age for OP oldest. Thanks for asking a great Q!

Thanks Tina. I think we can officially put TOG Grammar years into the "History Programs that Rock" basket! :D

I'm so glad I went with DE too! I'm not afraid to write on my stuff either! :D

Bible: Grace & Truth Memory Books, we might do BSGFAA or VP Bible cards, or we might just read through the Bible, not really sure yet. :001_smile: English: Phonics Road Math: Rightstart, plus 1 CWP problem and 1 MM page per day History/Geography: We are just getting started with TOG Science/ Nature Study: WTM Science, AO readings (nature) plus AO goodies: poetry, one over breakfast daily and term artist/composers

We did VP this year Gen-Joshua + OTAE. I agree there is a lot of overlap, but it is just for this year. Year one history has 19 Bible cards in its sequence, but next year it goes down to 9 (stops after Jesus), then they are totally separate after that. I've wondered so much, that I typed up the lists and compared how much they would get from each thread. Also VP history is going to include church history, I don't know if SOTW will do as much as VP. You'll see people like St Francis of Assisi and St. Thomas Aquinas, Ulrich Zwingli, and also info on councils like Chalcedon and Trent. Just giving you some info that might be helpful. If it was great if not, ignore. :001_smile: We are actually switching, I really wanted something that had a great book list (even though VP has great books, I want that to be the foundation of our studies) for all my kids K+. I did enjoy things, just wasn't a good fit for *us.*

Well, I know I had pretty much decided on history, but after all the comments and talking to my husband, I decided to go ahead and buy a unit of TOG, to settle this once an for all with myself. I bought Y1U1 because I really wanted to see how she handled creation because we had covered that with VP and I could easily compare. I am coming away from spending the week reading through all the information from the Loom and Intro notes. I have come away feeling relieved that it is going to work out for us. I really wish I had tried this sooner. I know its not perfect, but it is really going to be worth it. It is so rich! Now I understand all the comments about it being a top down approach, etc. But, I think it is spot on for LG and UG too. It really gives you so much flexability with all the levels and really allows you to customize your child's education. What I like most, is that the books are planned for you. I don't know my books, and their are some real gems out there, trying to pull together history based on curriculum book lists has been very stressful for me. I was really afraid that TOG would become an expensive book list for me, but now I know its not and I am extremely relieved about that. I feel like I could spill out tons of reasons why TOG is going to work for us, even with little ones. I think it boiled down to *me* needing to wrestle and grow with a body of knowledge, and TOG is going to give *me* that and make me a better teacher too. Want to say thanks to all who chimed in and help me decide and take the plunge for my children sake. Love the forum!

Our main is RS. My 2nd grader also does CWP 1, a few per day. We've used MM on and off, but are starting back up, trying to get all of my kiddos to do half-1.5 pages per day. I only teach 2 RS lessons a day, so on those days one child doesn't have a lesson they can do 2 pages. I figure, they will finish in a timely fashion and we can just do 1 CWP per day. So: RS lesson MM page 1 CWP per day

Lucida Sans set to italic is the closest on your computer. I read somewhere that they used a form of Lucida for their font. --quoted from another WTM thread :001_smile: It won't match the cursive italics, but works great for print.

Thank you so much! These are the types of resources I was looking for. I really like the sewing book. Thanks again. I'm still :bigear:.

Thanks for all your encouragement. I'll wade through with those things in mind. TOG may be an option for the future, financially its tight right now, but we should be better within a year or so (God willing and the creek don't rise). The VP cards are beautiful, and have good concise information on them, they will be a great resource for you. CM is a great woman, her ideas are unfathomable and so simple, yet so deep. I really hope I can simplify and streamline between the two. I'm not doing it totally for financial reasons, I'll try to keep history with VP and AO mainly literature. Thanks again! We will see how it goes! :001_smile:

Of course you can chime in with math, grammar and others, but I am looking for some really good early elementary vintage books to print for my kids. There are so many, I thought you may have one or two really great ones bookmarked. I'll have a preschooler, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grader next year. I've really tried to find some neat preschool books, but they are harder to find. Most are primers, and I'd like something we could just simply read together and look at the sweet pictures.

Well after all my soul searching and prayer, comments and wisdom from you, I've decided to go with Veritas Press/Ambleside Online. We will continue to use our VP stuff (that we have been using this year), just a little lighter and start to slowly incorporate AO selections, especially in the literature department. When I took stock of the books my kids really enjoy, they have always been those from AO. TOG would not give us the freedom to explore that list in any depth, because we would be reading so many books. Another factor was money. I decided I would rather spend that money on books and splurge a little on science this year, maybe we can get a fun kit. I still think TOG rocks! It just won't be a good fit for us right now. VP and TOG cover a lot of the same history (vp leaves out far east, early americas, but that can be worked in using SOTW, which we are already using too). We will continue to follow the history cards using some spines like Kingfisher Book of the Ancient World and SOTW and include some of the great books from their catalog. I'm chuncking the scholars plans, they were not for us! I did learn a lot from using them though. :D So we will use some fun stuff from VP: cards, big map from back of teacher manual, books, and add literature by way of AO. Well, thanks all. :001_smile:

I'm just glad to know you got to Level E before you had a problem! :lol::lol:

Mine are the same ages, except I have a 6yo Kinder, and are at the same skill levels. I do teach individually: 8yo is at the beginning of PR2, we could actually accelerate a little now 7yo is in the middle of PR1, just right for him 6yo is learning her phonograms. She doesn't pick up the sounds as fast as her brothers, I would like to finish about 6-8 weeks of PR1 with her before the end of the year. (June for us) I know Tina on here puts a few of her kiddos together, maybe she can chime in. I just really like being able to slow down and speed up when we need to. Once you get the hang of PR, you'll be able to move the next child through faster, in other words, your teaching time will go down. I have seen this in my home and have been happy with the results. I was really focused on the "time" factor (for example, how much time for each subject vs. just PR) when I was considering to "go back" with PR (I also used AAS, WWE, and FLL for a while). It really isn't as big a deal as I made it out to be, because PR really is very efficient, you'll see that more and more as you move through the levels. :001_smile:

Agreed. I want to read, read, read, like your daughter said. I think that's why TOG seems so tempting to me. It would definitely gives us more consistency and flow. (I do realize TOG is not the only thing that could give us that. :001_smile:)

Congratulations! :party:

I am really surprised at the responses. Lots of No's! TOG looks really rich even in the lower levels. What gives? Kinda wish I would have made it a poll.

No. :001_smile:

This sound like you've found a good groove and the kids are enjoying! How fun! Thanks for sharing!

Your kids are little ones! What a great deal! So what do you do in a week for TOG?

Thanks so much for all your advise today. I do love AO so much. Your explanation of how you use it opened my eyes today to a simple possibility and it has been very enlightening. Thanks so much!

You know, I think I need to move WEM up on my book list. I think I'm behind 300+ people on PBS who are in line for it, so it could be a while that way. I've also cruised over WTM Rhetoric, but I need to look more closely at it. You've made some good points, and I do think their is more than one way to skin a cat. I guess I just need to find which way that is. :tongue_smilie: Thanks so much for your encouragement!

Title says it all. :001_smile: