Thanks guys! So what's the difference between narrations and dictations SWB style vs CM style? Sounds like SWB starts written narrations sooner....anything else?

I've read the WTM and have been using it and several things from peacehillpress.com. But when I read threads on here about CM it looks like they are very similar to classical education. Can someone tell me what the big differences are? Or are they pretty much the same?

Sylvan does a very thorough test for $100. You pick two subjects to be tested. The results are SOOO specific. I know exactly where gaps and trouble areas are with my kiddos so I can fill the gaps. Just don't get sucked into spending the millions they want you to on tutoring. :)

Good to know. I haven't bought CW yet but I need to do some type of creative writing. Did you try something else that you liked better? Anyone else have experience with CW?

How long is WWS supposed to take? One year? Two? Also, does anyone have that creative writing book on peacehillpress? Is it meant to be used as a full writing program or a supplement? Is it too much to use the two together, or would they be repeating the same concepts? I'm just trying to figure out how to throw some creative writing into WWS. I am NOT a creative writer but my kiddos are expressing some interest. We haven't started WWS yet either so maybe I could just do the creative writing book if its comprehensive enough. What do you guys think?

Awesome!! You guys are so great! K...I'm chilling. And I'm feeling way better that I'm not the only one with frustrations like these. Living in a neighborhood can be tricky. For the millionth time I find myself wishing we lived on some Podunk farm somewhere in the middle of nowhere. :). No...I really do love where I live and I have some great neighbors but man it can be tricky. Part of the reason I am so frustrated about this one is I am seeing character flaws in myself. I'm trying to pull away from the comparing and judging our success off of others and this one family is making it tricky. Her kids really are pretty dang sharp, and she doesn't mind sharing about all their grand and great accomplishments. I'm still new to homeschooling so I have some insecurities about if I'm doing a good enough job. She is even newer to homeschooling than I am. So, one of the reasons it's frustrating me is I'm trying to adjust to homeschooling, trying to chill about teaching all the same things my kid's peers are learning and really just trying to focus on enjoying being with my kids more and helping them to see how exciting and fun learning can be. But with them always talking about it and comparing, it's hard not to freak out and feel like I should be doing more. One Saxon lesson a day is plenty though! Shes got her kids doing 2 and sometimes 3 depending on how long it takes them. And my kids are ahead anyway. They aren't WAY ahead but having them WAY ahead isn't my goal. My kids are young. The oldest is 11. Anyway, I think this is a good learning experience for my kiddos AND myself. :) That being said, it's my oldest that is bothered by this the most. She is worried about where she is at academically because she has no one else to compare herself to. But we've chatted a lot about how it doesn't matter where she is at in comparison to others as long as she and I are both feeling like she is moving forward. Thankfully my kiddos are quick learners and they've always excelled at school, homeschooling is giving us some unexpected opportunities to work on character. It's awesome. Learning to have self confidence without the need to actually see others doing worse than you is a trait that comes more naturally to some than others. It might be the age she is at that makes it tricky as well.

So, I am totally considering switching my math curriculum for my 5 kids for one reason and one reason alone. My neighbor is using the same program. This wouldn't normally be a problem but her kids are constantly comparing where they are at with my kids and always wanting to be better, faster, further. It's so annoying!! In fact, her oldest daughter told my oldest that the reason she (the daughter) chose to homeschool was so that our family wouldn't be smarter than theirs. What?!?!? It bugged me so bad I actually told the mom that her daughter said that cause I figured I'd want to know if my kid was saying stuff like that. She didnt seem bothered in the least and just said that, ya....that really mattered a lot to her daughter. Hmmmmm. Well, to each his own, but one of the things I love about homeschooling is the fact that I can teach the child at their own level without any pressure. I noticed with my oldest in particular that she had been in PS for long enough that she was learning to love being best in the class instead of loving the fact that she was learning. I really want my kiddos to learn to THINK! Not just learn what is needed to get a good report card. I don't want her kids always asking what lessons we are on or what book etc. and I don't really want to hear where they are either. Now I know competition is not always a bad thing and sometimes it can do a lot of good for someone, but I'm really trying to take the comparing out of my life and just focus on what's best for my kids. I don't want my kids basing their successes by the failures of others. I also don't want them to feel subpar when they certainly aren't. That being said, we are using Saxon math and its been going great. So is it totally lame to jump to something new? If it were you....would you switch? I mean, math is math. All curriculums aren't equal but I could probably find something we liked, right? Ugh....do I just need to take a chill pill and stay with what's working?

I had my two oldest (5th and 6th) do the Sylvan learning Center assessments. Apparently we need help in vocab and reading comprehension. Both were well above grade level for accuracy and fluency. I follow WTM pretty closely. I figured they were getting reading comprehension in the WWE books and they do pretty good at those but my younger daughter does a little better than my older at it. I was planning on starting both of them in WWS this year. We have our classic lit books and reading lists that they follow. We discuss and do read alouds and story of the world narrations etc. I don't have anything specific for vocab. We have been doing SWO for spelling but the kids don't love that. I've thought of switching to phonics zoo. But vocab....I've got nothing. What do you guys do? I've noticed that with my oldest she doesn't seem to figure out what hard words mean by looking at the rest of the sentence. I think she just kind of skips over them and hurries on so she can keep the story going. Is this a logic problem? Would more mind bender type stuff help? She LOVES to read and does a ton of it all through the night if I don't stop her. So, do I not even need to worry about it if that's the case? Is it a maturity thing that will catch up with her naturally? Any suggestions or help would be appreciated. :) Vocab and reading comp....what do you do?

We did rod and staff.

I think I'm going to have my 5th and 6th grader type some of their work this year. Does anyone have suggestions for a good, FUN program? They are girls if that makes a difference to your recommendation. I'd like to not spend an arm and a leg but I am willing to pay some for a good program. Suggestions anyone?

I don't get why the girls are involved in the planning at all. If he asks her, then he gets to plan and decide what happens. She should be thrilled she got asked! Is that normal nowadays? Do the girls help plan it too? Weird. I liked that he planned and I was just happy with whatever it was. Prom was a big deal for me. I loved it and looked forward to it for a long time. It's like that for a lot of girls. But it's not about the money. I admit I get irritated with the guys that don't go to prom citing that money is the reason. It seems like there are so many girls that would be so completely thrilled to be asked and simply get to go....but hearing about girls like this makes me understand a little better I guess.

Wow mama sheep! Just wow! Well done. :)

We do believe we have the fullness of the gospel and authority from God to perform baptisms and give the gift of the Holy Ghost etc. We also believe everyone can have these same things. That's why we have such a huge missionary force. :) We want to give these wonderful blessings to all of God's children because we feel the joy it brings and we want to share the good news! We think everyone should have the opportunity to hear about the gospel so that they can then choose to accept it or not. I guess what I'm trying to say is, it's not meant to come across as arrogance. Often times its excitement about having these blessing that is misinterpreted as "holier than thou" I think.

Well, I really wish we lived on a farm so my kids could really learn how to work. Of course, you can learn to work and not live on a farm, but it just seems like such a great way to teach them to work. Kids these days are so pampered. Most kids aren't expected to do much real work. I really hope my girls can find a hard working man to marry one day who isn't a lazy, video game playing couch potatoe. I think in general, parents don't expect enough so kids don't learn how to work...

I've had the same questions. My first grader just finished Saxon 1. TT3 looks like a good fit for her. For now my plan is to stick with TT until she is ready for Saxon 5/4 and then switch back to Saxon. I'm curious at what point in TT she would be ready to go back to Saxon 5/4. I not much help with MM. We don't have any experience with it. But I'm all ears. :)

Oh thank you thank you!! This gives me lots to think about. I like the zero tolerance Idea for the simple mistakes. So, when you hand back the corrected paper do you tell them what they did wrong? (Simplify, don't forget the decimal, etc) or do you make them figure it out? I think I'm going to make them figure it out and just mark it wrong so it sinks in better. Just curious but do you guys ever do pre-tests and let them skip lessons? My test booklet doesn't have A and B tests. KarenNC where do you get the B test?

As far as getting the math facts down, I started out doing the drill worksheets that come with Saxon but then I switched to having them do xtramath.com everyday. Should I have them do the Saxon drills AND xtramath? The reason I'm not doing both now is because math takes us longer to do than any other subject and I didn't want to make it even longer. But I could probably add it back now. We are getting better and faster. Part of the problem was the HUGE adjustment that it is to go from PS to homeschool.

They weren't doing Saxon in school. My 5th grader is in the 6/5 book and my 4th grader is in the 5/4 book. I guess you're right about not being able to MAKE them be more careful...LOL, maybe I can entice them...bribery? ;) Thanks for your thoughts on how to grade. I'd love to hear other thoughts as well. I think that 80% number was what i was looking for. Is there a number you can call to ask questions about saxon math like there are for other programs? Were did you get that number (80%) and who is Art Reed? Edited because I posted my response before reading all previous posts. :)

I've been correcting my kids math assignments everday but not giving them a percentage. I just mark the wrong ones then we go over the wrong ones together. When we do the tests I do grade them and give them a percentage. Recently, I started actually giving them a grade (percentage) for their assignemts. My question is, at what percentage should I feel like they have mastered the lesson? They are getting lower percentages than they'd like. We've only been homeschooling for a few months but at PS they were both close to the top of the class in math. DD1's last few days of scores are 88%, 76%, 85%, 86%. DD2's scores were 79%, 88%, 80%, 78%. They feel like they are terrible at math now and that is used to be their best subject. Even when they do the tests if they miss just 2 or three it puts them below 90% which they hate. It seems pretty rare that they get 90%+. Is this normal? Are they in books that are too hard? We took the placement tests and they both tested into their correct book for their grade level. I've been adding the warm up box questions, lesson practice questions and mixed practice questions together to figure the percentage for each lesson. A lot of the questions they miss are simple little mistakes from not being careful. I'm not worried about them not knowing the concepts but they really do need to be more careful. Sometimes they won't give exactly the right answer that the question is asking for but I look over their work and I can see that they understand how to do it mathematically. Does that make sense? How do I get them to be more careful? At what point do I back them up? What percentage do you other Saxon math users consider good enough? What percentage should we be aiming for? Is there a better way for me to grade them? Thanks in advance!

Can I just have them write their own narrations? It seems like it would be easier to skip the step of having them tell it to me, I write it down, then they remember it and write it down. Judging from how they do in their history narrations, I'm thinking they might even turn out better that way. Sometimes I think they will purposefully make the narration short so they don't have as much to remember for the dictation part. Does that make sense? But when they know they aren't dictating it after telling it to me, their narrations are better. Maybe I should try that out....

So, we've only been homeschooling for about 3 months now and I'm starting to think I need to rethink how I'm doing WWE. I have a 5th grader and a 4th grader. I bought WWE 4 thinking it would be at my 4th graders level and it would be good for my 5th grader but probably a bit easy. The girls are only 16 months apart. Well......it was WAY too hard. Can kids really remember dictations that are that long? I bought book 3 and we have been doing that. But I was kinda panicking that we were "behind"....yes, I need to chill. I still have that nerve wracking tension and worry that I'll make them fall behind, which is ludicrous considering how much time I noticed was wasted in their classrooms. But still....it's kinda scary making that leap to homeschool. Anyway, because I was nervous we were "behind" I've been doubling up and doing a dictation and narration everyday to get through the book quicker. But after reading some posts on here I'm wondering if the whole point is to do them seperatly. I don't know. They both do really well with the narrations. They have the occasional day that doesn't go so well but I think they are getting it. Dictation is a bit harder but I'm impressed at how well they are doing. They need the occasional prompt and some help with spelling (well, mostly my 4th grader needs the help with spelling) but they do pretty well. Should I keep doing it like this, meaning should I keep doubling up? Or do I need to chill and do it as written day to day? I think I was having pressure because we started half way through the school year and I have this whole book I'd love to finish by the end of the school year. But, I guess my school year can end whenever I want if I'm the teacher!:). Right? The other question is how do you know if your child is ready for WWS? I'm looking ahead to next year. It's kind of convenient keeping them both together because I just dictate to both at the same time. Honestly, WWE 4 scares me a bit. I think my kids will feel like failures every time we do those long dictations. So after I finish WWE 3 should I move them both to WWS or is that a no no to skip book 4? Is it too early to start WWS? Thoughts?

I'll add my prayers as well. These things are so hard. It's hard but never lose hope and keep praying. My little brother has a myriad of health concerns and has from his birth. But he lives a very normal life. His condition is extremely rare. No one who has it has ever come even close to living as long as he has lived. The Doctors aren't even sure how its possible. He is written up in all kinds of medical journals etc. Miracles do happen. He currently needs 3 organs transplanted. 2 years ago after a very serious health scare, he and his girlfriend decided to get married. They just announced that they are expecting a baby girl. He knows he doesn't have much time but he keeps things comfortable for those around him. In fact, a few months ago they threw an "I'm still alive" party because the doctors said no way he would still be alive in two years and that was the two year mark. Hes always cracking jokes and keeping things light....the humor works for him for sure. He got his bachelors in December and is now interestingly enough, working towards being a seminary teacher. (They teach Mormon religion classes to high schoolers). I guess what I want to say is that anything is possible and you just never know. My 3 year old, on her own, just recently changed her prayers from saying, "please bless him to be healthy and strong" to "please bless him to be healed." But no matter what happens, The Lord has a hand in it and he will love you through this every step of the way. Sometimes we don't get what we want, but I know without a doubt that we are never given any trials that are too big for us to handle. He knows you and he knows your son. He loves you so much. You can do this. You are not alone. Take comfort in the fact that the will of The Lord will be done and he will not leave you or your family alone in any of this. Families are forever! Hugs, hugs and more hugs being sent to you!

We are using PL and my kids love it. We do it as a family and keep it simple and fun. They love the practical Latin it teaches. It's fun for them to throw in a Latin word, like saying "please stand" in Latin before we do the pledge or "let's pray" in Latin before we pray. We a going slow with it but its been fun. My 5th grader loves it. I haven't tried anything else though so I have nothing to compare it to. I do it with my 5th, 4th and 1st grader.

On the topic of the original question asked (how does this affect homeschooler) here is my train of thought. I feel like this affects everyone, even people who don't have kids in school, because it goes against the constitution. The constitution assigns education to the states, not to the federal government. Also, the federal General Educational Provisons Act (GEPA) states: “No provision of any applicable program shall be construed to authorize any department, agency, officer, or employee of the United States to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum, program of instruction, administration, or personnel of any educational institution, school, or school system, or over the selection of library resources, textbooks, or other printed or published instructional materials by any educational institution or school system…“ Regardless of whether CC is good or bad, it's alarming to me that it was even possible to get it to the point it's at today. Doesn't it seem like they broke a lot of rules in moving this forward? So in answer to the original question, to me it affects homeschoolers the same as other citizens who don't have kids in public school. If it doesn't bug you because you don't mind nationalized education, or because you don't feel like that's what CC is than it may not affect you at all for now. But even many citizens without kids in PS are frustrated because it seems to us that it's unconstitutional, or that it's not the way this country was intended to be run etc. etc.

I agree that it's nonsensical, but it's happening, and many schools state that the reason is the new CCS. It shouldn't happen....but it is. All districts don't see this the same way apparently. It seems like it can be interpreted a few ways. So yes, the districts that do this are nonsensical, but not the people who point out that it is happening. There's a difference.