From what I can tell it's horizontal, with a sort of word family approach. That's what I'm using right now with my younger 2 school kids, and it is working for them right now. I guess I'm just concerned about long term. I don't want to have to do remedial work with them just because a particular method I chose for them wasn't very good. I think I'm going to have to do that wih my 10yo.:001_unsure: It's funny, I'm in my 8th year of homeschooling, and at times I'm just as unsure of myself as when I just began.

In my googling, I came across vertical vs. horizontal phonics. I understand the difference, but which is "better"? We've been using horizontal since the get go. With vertical, how does a child know which sound to make with the letter when?

We use CLE reading and are enjoying it.:001_smile:

I don't even know where to start, so I'll just jump right in LOL. From what I can tell, there are 2 main "methods" to teach phonics - word families (a la BJU - cat, rat, mat, sat) and the "other way" (not sure what it's called, a la A Beka - ca, ce, ci, co, cu). Right? Which way is "better?" We have always used word families simply because I personally couldn't figure out the other way. To me "ca" should have a long a sound, not a short one. I do realize that they put a consonant on the end eventually, but maybe I just haven't read enough of that sort of instruction to actually "get it?" On the flip side, I can see where word families can cause problems because it kind of forces the child to sort of start at the end of the syllable rather than the beginning. :confused: Someone just posted a link to "Why Johnny Doesn't Like to Read" and I can so totally see my kids (and my dh!) in that.:sad: My kids haven't learned whole word (or whatever it's called), but one ds in particular does a L-O-T of guessing when he reads. I swear, sometimes he is just making up words as he goes along and I have NO clue what he is reading.:confused: He is the one I have to force to read, and I don't think I've ever seen him pick up a book to read for pleasure. He is 10.5. I know next to nothing about "proper" phonics instruction - I taught myself to read using phonics off of Sesame Street, and that's been the extent of my phonics instruction LOL. We've always used the word family approach since it made sense to me, but I'm totally willing to learn the other way, if it's "better." I just want to help my kids.:sad:

Thank you for these links! I have 1 that tolerates reading but definitely does not read voluntarily. I have 1 that has to be forced to read. Both are good spellers. I have 1 that enjoys reading but is a lousy speller. I wonder if this sort of thing is their problem???? And on another note, my dh doesn't like to read, and I know he was not taught with phonics. He has his doctorate and HAS to read for work all the time, but for pleasure? It is RARE. (Like, I can count on 2 hands the number of books he has read for pleasure in our almost 15 years of marriage.) Of course now these links may totally mess up our school plans....LOL!

If I remember right, I think they have to be able to write the numerals 0-9 and be able to count to 20.

Christian Light

It is a mastery approach - definitely NOT an incremental. It is one chapter of one thing, then move onto another chapter with another thing. Each lesson has review activities built into the lesson time in the TE. There aren't always review problems on the worktext pages, but there is some sort of review or skill practice written into the lesson at the beginning of the lesson.

We are using EG, and it is going well. Will we continue next year? I'm still on the fence. On the one hand I am tempted by R&S because it has such a solid reputation, but on the other hand, EG is working so.... We use The First Whole Book of Diagramming to teach diagramming. My oldest son is doing especially well with the EG approach. The prepositional phrase thing really clicks with him.

We cover one lesson over 2 days. On Day 1 we do the drill (my kids love the days when the drill involves "20 Questions" or the drill where you get a picture and have to tell a story) and the review questions (which they also love - think John Travolta - "ooh ooh" on Mr. Kotter). Then I read the text aloud and we do the questions. When I'm on the ball I have them label the map on the wall as I'm reading. If we have time we will sing either the song on the CD or the hymn (if it's one that's in our hymnal) or both. On Day 2 we put the pictures on the timeline, and everyone does their student pages. I have one doing advanced, 2 doing intermediate, and 2 doing beginner. I do the beginner ones with them while the older 3 do them alone. When everyone is done we do the Apply It/Application section somewhat together. Typically it's the same verse so one of the kids reads the verse and then I discuss the 3 different levels of application with them. Hope this helps!

Yes, I was thinking about doing this (in all my spare time...I have a midterm due this week and my hubby is out of town :ack2: ). What would you recommend saying? "I'm not going to attend and here is why, no matter how much I love you?" (Or something similar LOL.) :confused:

Honestly I think this has less to do with youth earth vs. old earth (though that is a part of it) and more to do with any company who doesn't subscribe to the particular beliefs of CHEC, which are increasingly legalistic. Last year the speakers and vendor hall were CHOCK FULL of Vision Forum folks, which is FINE, if you actually want to go to a homeschool conference to hear that stuff. But for people like me....:thumbdown:Last year and this it was Sonlight...who will be next and why?:banghead: I'm torn. I don't want to support CHEC in any form or fashion (not specifically because of Sonlight, but it is the icing on the cake), but Diana Waring, Sally Clarkson, and Little Bear Wheeler are going to be there, and I always love listening to them.:(

It does a great job of incorporating Bible and church history. However, I personally wanted more of a Bible study/application sort of thing, and no, TOG would not have been enough for us. So we did a Bible curriculum in addition to TOG.

This is INCREDIBLY helpful! Thanks so much!!!!!:grouphug:

Another vote for MFW, even though I've never used it. TOG is not open and go. I used it for 2 years and never got out of the fog.:001_huh:

I totally agree with the recommendation for WWE. It specifically addresses students in your son's situation. I currently have all 4 of my older children (almost 12, 10, 8.5, and almost 7) going through level 1. The older 3 are doing one week's worth of work in one day to get them up to speed faster. But I wanted to help them get the foundational stuff solidified with them first.

Do you wait to purchase some/all of your materials for the next school year until after you've attended your local curriculum fair? Not usually. If I'm unsure about something I'll usually decide there as a finality. But usually I buy it there since many vendors offer free shipping if you buy it there.:D Do you call ahead and find out which vendors are attending? No, but I look on the website. Do you ever take classes/courses at your local fair? Yes, depending on what is offered. Do you have some sort of plan before you step inside those doors? LOL! Eh, sometimes. I do take a list of what I need so I don't go crazy and buy everything LOL! Do most vendors and such only accept cash? How much do you plan or allow yourself to spend? Everyone I've ever bought from takes credit cards. I've never taken cash. My budget varies. I only buy there if it's going to be ceaper than if I had ordered online or bought used. Has anyone attended a curriculum fair in the Pacific Northwest... like Spokane, Puyallup, or Seattle Washington... perhaps Boise, Idaho? I used to live in Spokane, but there was never anything there. The year I moved was the first time there was actually going to be what I'd consider a "real" convention. The Puyallup one was the biggie, and it was too far for me to drive. Just out of curiosity, how far/long do you drive to attend a curriculum fair? The most I've ever driven was about 1.5 hours. My attendance has always depended on my dh's work schedule, so I do not just have the luxury of attending "whenever." I have a friend whose nearest one requires a plane trip and a hotel stay, and I am insanely jealous ROFLOL! The one I attend here is about 30-45 minutes away.

Sorry to come back so late.... Thanks for your replies everyone! I think we are about to start using MUS, and I want to use LOF alongside it. Since LOF Fractions and Decimals/Percents isintended to be used a pre-algebra, should I wait until my son is in MUS pre-algebra? I'm pretty sue I'm going to start him in Epsilon. I had thought to have him do LOF Fractions alongside Epsilon and D/P alongside Zeta, but then I didn't know what to do alongside pre-algebra. Suggestions?

For true open and go you need the workbook at a minimum. The TM gives you more details though on the "method." I love them both.

Yes.:sad: I am in the process of switching to something else...I *think* MUS, and this is the primary reason. I currently am writing 5ADays for 3 children, and it won't be long until I add a 4th in there. There are a few other reasons, but this is the main one. They are working on a 5ADay generator, but they don't even have an estimate as to when it will be available. And I honestly can't wait that long.:sad:

BJU is very scripted. It tells you exactly what to say, what manipulatives to use, what to DO with those manipulatives, etc. My only concern would be that BJU uses a traditional textbook approach rather than an incremental spiral one like Saxon. So if he learns well with that, BJU may not work well for him. It teaches on one topic for a while, and the problems for each lesson are practice problems for that particular lesson. There are some review problems now and then, and there is review built into the beginning of each "class time" in the lesson, but the problems for the day go along with that day's lesson, not past lessons. We liked BJU a lot, but I wanted to throw out that caution, just in case!

You might check out the Reading Detective series from www.criticalthinking.com . They have them both in book form and as software. It focuses solely on comprehension. I'm sure they have vocabulary materials as well, but we haven't used them. They seem to work...I think??? I know that at the very beginning my son bombed the lessons, but he has greatly improved. He has only been using them since September though, so I haven't had any tests scores to compare as of yet.

I have 6. 5 of them are in school (6th grade down to PreK). The youngest is 19 months, and I think it will be easier once she starts school!:tongue_smilie: We combine for history and use Diana Waring's History Revealed. My older 3 combine for geography/world cultures, and we use Trail Guide to World Geography plus some fun videos/books from the library. We combine for science for the most part and use Apologia's elementary series. My oldest reads it on his own because I'm trying to prepare him for next year when he'll start in Apologia General Science. We combine for Bible with Bible Study Guide for All Ages. For grammar we are currently using Easy Grammar, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to switch next year to FLL 1/2 and Rod & Staff. We use WWE for writing. For handwriting we use Handwriting Without Tears. For math we are about (like next week) to start a combo of Math on the Level and Math Mammoth. I've found the key to homeschooling with a large family is having a good schedule/routine, and I have found Managers of Their Homes to be helpful with that.

This is exactly what I do too.

This is EXACTLY what I was planning to do!!!!!!! I'm finding that in the upper levels (I have a 6th grader), some of the MOTL teaching isn't as complete as other curriculums I've used, but I think that MM and MOTL together would be a nice combo. I asked my kids today if they like the new math (MOTL), and they all said YES. I told them my plan with MM, and I think it will go well. I plan to administer placement tests on MM in the next few days.:D Thanks for helping me out, everyone!