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nena3927

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Everything posted by nena3927

  1. I am looking to purchase either SWI A or All Things Fun and Fascinating from IEW for my 4th and 5th grader. Has anyone ever used All Things Fun and Fascinating without ever watching TWSS? I do plan to purchase this in the future (possibly at our convention in March) but cannot afford it right now. Last year I attended an IEW session at our convention and was walked through the key word outline, but that is all the experience I have with it. I am worried I might need more help teaching which is why I am considering SWI A. After looking at samples though, it seems that the video lessons are quite lengthy and I am afraid my dc will zone out. Which do you recommend? I like the thought of having the teaching done for me, but at the same time using the theme book looks less complicated. I just am not sure I could do it justice without having watched TWSS. Any thoughts or advice is appreciated. Thank you!
  2. Do you have the child keep a spelling notebook? Or give them loose leaf paper or a dry erase board to write the dictation? I'm wondering if I should give them a blank page everyday, otherwise they will just look at the passage from the previous day on their paper to spell any words that may not know how to spell yet. I'm probably overthinking this! Just checking to see what you do! Thanks!
  3. Ok, so with Dictation Day by Day, the underlined (new) words are written out for the child to see as they are completing the dictation exercise? Thanks!
  4. Thanks! Was it too parent intensive? He doesn't do too well with subjects where I have to do the majority of the teaching. He prefers short instructions, then wants to do it on his own.
  5. My goals for grammar are that my children proficiently understand the parts of speech and mechanics. The most important part to me, however, is that they are able to communicate effectively. I do not care if they can diagram sentences and do not want to focus on advanced grammar concepts unless it will be beneficial to their writing. I've thought about Daily Grams ?
  6. We are 3 weeks in to our school year, and I'm already having some concerns. I decided to try Essentials in Writing this year with my 4th and 5th graders. So far there is not enough repetition in the grammar department. I was afraid of that before ordering but really wanted to try it bc it was not teacher intensive and got really good reviews. When we did the assessment at the end of the first chapter, my 5th grader missed so much! It takes TONS of repetition for things to stick with him. So now I don't know what to do. I really do like EIW so far. I'm thinking of maybe trying to supplement the grammar but I'm not sure what with. Suggestions? My other plan was to drop it and order Jr. Analytical Grammar and IEW instead (I had really debated between those two and EIW for our school year), or maybe switch to Abeka. We used Abeka in 3rd and it was ok, although lacking in writing instruction in my opinion. Or should I just keep it, see how it goes, and reevaluate next year? What would you do??? I'm already driving myself crazy and we've just started. Thanks!!!
  7. My 5th grade ds struggles with spelling, and rules do not seem to carry over into his writing. We have used Rod and Staff spelling for the past 3 yrs. He took the CAT through CLP last week and tested right on grade level on everything except spelling. He scored a 4.5 grade level. Now, I'm not one to be hung up on test scores, but I knew R&S was not working for him and the test proved that. He made a 100 on almost every spelling test, but later would ask me how to spell the same words in his writing. I did order Spelling You See for him to look at, but he was intimidated by having to find all the "chunks". They use some different groupings than we are used to coming from Abeka phonics, so I think that confused him. I sent it back. Any suggestions from parent's with struggling spellers that rules don't seem to help? I thought about Sequential Spelling, Dictation Day by Day, or actually making him try Spelling You See this time? I'm afraid the daily spelling tests in Sequential Spelling would have him in tears bc he hates getting anything wrong. I don't know how many grade levels are covered in DIctation Day by Day, and I'm not really sure how to use it. I love the fact that it's free though! I've researched and researched curriculum. Help!
  8. This is something I did not consider, so thank you for mentioning it. I may have to refocus somewhat on my plan. It would save me time to teach both children together, but I also don't want to discourage my son when compared with how quickly his younger sister picks up concepts. Not to mention the fact that her writing flows easily while he really struggles to compose sentences ?
  9. I'm having a tough time figuring out what to do for my older two kiddos for Language this year (we start a new school year in July). I've decided my 5th grader will try SYS for spelling in July and my 4th grader will be continuing with Rod and Staff since this works well for her and is cheap. They will both do CLE Reading. Here's my choices for writing : IEW, Essentials in Writing, Evan Moore Daily 6 Trait Writing. Grammar choices: Easy Grammar, Jr. Analytical Grammar, Editor in Chief, ACE English My 4th grade daughter would do well with any program. She picks up concepts easily and will happily do her work independently. My 5th grade son however, struggles with new concepts, has difficulty writing, needs LOTS of repetition, and also would rather work independently. We had major issues this year using Rod and Staff English with him. He hated the oral reviews, found the explanations too long, and would drift off when I would try to explain the lesson. He needs short and sweet. I'm leaning toward Essentials in Writing but wonder if there really is enough grammar in the program for it to carry over in their work? Which would you choose and why? If you have other recommendations, I'm open to those as well. Keep in mind I will also have a 2nd grader and 2yr old so my time is limited, and I'm not interested in anything extremely teacher intensive for this year. Thank you!
  10. We only use ACE Science and Social Studies. I've tried a couple of their other subjects briefly, but I'm not one to like every subject from a single publisher. They are fine, but I really do like to mix and match across curriculums. However, if it were up to my children they would happily use all ACE. The social studies does focus quite a bit on missionaries as well as other history/geography topics. We are devoutly Christian and appreciate the worldview presented within the PACES. They have been updated several times since the 90's and depending on what grade or subject you are buying, many are in the 4th edition. We have never seen anything concerning racial segregation in the PACES we have used. A PACE is meant to to be completed within 2 or 3 weeks. I usually lean more toward 3 weeks, so I just divide the number of pages by 15 to see how many pages they need to average per day. So far though with the grade levels I've used, it has been 3-4 pages daily. If you google "Pace Success" you will find a link to a website that offers tremendous help for anyone interested in using PACES. I've spent alot of time on there reading articles and have been very encouraged. Also on Youtube, if you look for Andrea Mills she has some great tips on using ACE and offers a great review as well. Please let me know if you have any more questions :)
  11. We do!!! We've used ACE Science for grades 3 & 4 so far and I will be ordering 5th in a couple weeks. My children absolutely love ACE Science. I tried a couple other big name science curriculums that everyone raved about bc I had read quite a few negative reviews of ACE. You know what? My children learned and retained more from their ACE Science than they did from me reading aloud until I lost my voice and trying to do all kinds of hands on projects! My husband even commented on how surprised he was that they knew the things they did and every time he asked them where they learned that tidbit of information, they replied, "From my PACE". Like all curriculum. it definitely will not fit all learning styles but I hope your dd enjoys it as much as my older two children have :)
  12. He has always struggled with retention. We finished Rod and Staff English 3 a few weeks ago and even with all the daily oral review that it contains, it still wasn't enough for some concepts to stick ?
  13. I guess there are more issues that I should have mentioned that are causing me to ponder switching curriculum. I do not take this lightly and have been concerned for quite a while now that my ds might need a different approach. This particular child forgets concepts that MUS previously taught that aren't reviewed often and I have to teach them again. He doesn't want to do a whole page of long division. He's very math minded and does alot of mental math where I would have to have a pencil and paper. However, he struggles with retention and new concepts. Alot of time he will shut down before he's even tried when it's a new lesson and say he doesn't understand or it's too hard. A day or two later he's fine. His situation is really stressing me bc I haven't known what to do for almost year and we just keep trying to plow ahead to avoid switching. I will look into Khan Academy. I've heard it mentioned several times but have never checked it out. Maybe it will help while we try to decided what to do.
  14. How did you manage to catch up? I'm debating on switching my oldest from MUS (middle of Delta) to CLE. Due to the odd scope and sequence of MUS, he would place 2 levels behind and would have to start in level 3. We've been using MUS for 3 years and have loved it until recently. He did have some major problems in Gamma and we had to slow way down on multi digit multiplication with regrouping. We stayed on one lesson over a month but it finally clicked and then we moved on. In Delta, he's having major issues with long division and Mr. Demme's way of teaching is confusing to him. I've been teaching him the traditional way I learned and he's still having issues but is understanding better than before. Of course he has to master this before moving on, and I feel like with this approach we keep falling farther and farther behind. I am discouraged though at the thought of having to back up two levels with CLE. I also feel like it isn't fair to him to have him try to play catch up when he has worked so diligently. How did you handle this with your dc? Thank you for your help :)
  15. I am in this exact same boat with my children as well. We've used MUS for 3 years and I have children in Delta, Gamma, and Alpha. My son in Delta is struggling with long division. It took me watching the video twice before even I understood Mr. Demme's way and I've always excelled in math. Of course I was taught the traditional way, so I have had to learn his methods alongside my children. The problem I've had with my son, is that he got bogged down in muti digit multiplication in Gamma and we had to stay on that topic an extra month before being able to move on. Now here we are with the same issue in Delta and having to stop. There is no way to move on ahead bc of how incremental MUS is and we just keep falling further behind. I also have had to teach long division and multiplication the traditional way I learned bc Mr. Demme's way confused my children and they much preferred learning the traditional way. I feel like with a program like CLE it is ok if they do not get something the first time around and you can keep moving bc it will come up OVER and OVER again. It may be as they mature they are able to finally comprehend the skill later on and in their time without having to stall and sit on the same concept for a month. I have been debating switching all the kids over to CLE for awhile but have been hesitant bc my older two will probably have to start 2 grade levels behind due to the difference in scope and sequence. I am also worried about the sheer number of pages CLE requires. So I guess I just wanted you to know that we are having the same issues and your not alone in feeling the way you do!
  16. Thank you so much everyone! I was on the verge of thinking we might need to switch publishers! It relieves my mind to know that this particular lesson is hard for others to understand too. Thank you, thank you! We will just move on ahead then as my son definitely understands the process and hopefully all will be well :) Paradox, we must have been typing at the time. I just saw your response! I hope we can stay with MUS but as we move forward, only time will tell :)
  17. We have used MUS the past 3 years after a fail with Singapore. We like it ok and I know we have to tailor curriculum to fit our needs. I am wondering how important it is for my son to do problems in Lesson 17 exactly as Mr.Demme instructs. He does not understand the upside down multiplication with place value notation the way it is taught in the DVD. He does understand place value notation just not as it is used in this particular lesson. I honestly can't see the point either. Would you just move on? I don't want to miss a critical step here but I'm tired of the tears when even I can't see the point behind it. Sometimes I really wonder if this is the right program for us because the blocks do not help my kids understanding and more times than not actually confuse them! I wish I would have started with a more traditional program like CLE. I know though that switching is not a good thing esp with math unless there are serious issues, so we just keep plugging along.
  18. Which program would you recommend for a 7 yr old that is somewhat struggling with spelling? I pause to say "struggling" bc I know one factor is his age and that a lot of boys just mature into skills later which is completely fine. I have used Rod and Staff Spelling with his older two siblings but I do not think this particular child is going to fare well with your typical "spelling list" type program. His skill level is not where either one of his siblings was at the beginning of second grade. We use Abeka for phonics and I would say he is at grade level for reading, but he has a hard time putting any words down on paper. Even when I ask him to spell the "special sounds" we have learned through phonics, he gets the letters jumbled up and backwards a lot of the time. So which program do you think would be better for a child like this...All About Spelling or Spelling You see? I can't decide! I see benefits to both programs. My worry with AAS is that he will not apply the rules we will learn. We have been OVER and OVER a few spelling rules in our Abeka this year, and he can say those rules to me, but when it comes to putting them to use in actual words, he can not do it without prompting most of the time. So I'm afraid the same will happen with AAS. I could be wrong, but it just makes me hesitate. I've noticed when my older children are writing, they will stop and say, "No, that doesn't look right", and erase and try again instead of applying any rules they learned in Abeka or R&S. That makes me lean more to SYS bc of the visual emphasis on spelling. Anyways thank you for listening if you've made it this far! Any suggestions are appreciated!
  19. We have just read various books this year for reading but I'm looking to perhaps add a more formal curriculum this fall. Between CLE and BJU, which one would you choose for reading (4th grade and up) and why? Thanks!
  20. I just got in the new Phonics/Language 2 workbook from Abeka this weekend. It has a phonics lesson on the front side and a grammar lesson on the back. I honestly would wait until 3rd grade to start Abeka's Language program. It starts from the beginning talking about sentences and phrases and builds from there. I think that would be your best option unless you did order the older version of Language 2 as I mentioned earlier. Otherwise you are going to have to weed through Abeka's phonics portion which has some differences compared to AAR. HTH!
  21. I have used Abeka phonics/language for 3 of my children, and I wouldn't start the language book until 2nd or 3rd. The 1st grade language workbook really is just a continuation of their phonics curriculum and you wouldn't need that with AAR/AAS. Starting in 2nd, it begins to teach more gentle grammar and lays off phonics. I recently ordered my upcoming second grader the revised phonics/language workbook but the older version was still available on their website. I would definitely order the older version of Language 2 since you will not need the phonics portion :)
  22. Thank you. I had this same experience with my little guy's older brother and sister. His sister was reading at age 4 fluently while his older brother was 8 before he took off. Sometimes I panic too early I think bc of his older brother's struggles. I just need to relax. He read a word problem all by himself today in his math and was so proud! Abeka definitely is working, I just need to give myself the freedom to slow down and not worry about what we are "supposed" to be doing on whatever day. That is so hard for the perfectionist in me!
  23. Thank you. We actually had a good day Friday and he did great during his reading time. He even told me not to order anything new bc he didn't want me to spend anymore money lol. I'm thinking of ordering just the AAR tiles to supplement Abeka and work on syllabication. That might be only whats needed at this time. We will see. Thank you for commenting and helping me think this through :)
  24. Yes, he is doing the Letters and Sounds and Language workbooks along side the phonics teaching. I dropped Abeka spelling at the beginning of the year bc I found out really quickly that he was not ready for spelling at this age. He does fine circling the special sounds but is not as good dividing into syllables. I'll have to say that from what I've seen, syllable work is where AAR shines. It seems to be much more thorough in that aspect, or maybe it's the visual aspect of the tiles that make dividing into syllables seem easier. Some days, he does fine and I think, "Yes, he's finely starting to read with fluency!" Then the next day he struggles and can't remember what letters make what sound. He does better circling the sounds than he does recognizing them in his readers. I'm so torn. I just feel like we have invested so much into the Abeka program, time and money, that we should just keep moving forward and see how it goes. Then on the other hand, if he needs a slower program, I would rather back track than continue to struggle through and have him despise reading. He actually cried the other day and said, "I hate reading!" Of course that broke my heart :( Ugh.
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