After 13 years of homeschooling, IEW :lol: and Florida Virtual School. I wish I had discovered both of these sooner.

Crissy, now I'm not sure as I've never actually used this, but have only read the reviews. I was under the impression that it was the perfect mix of both, but I could be wrong...it may end up being more writing than grammar...:confused:

Sounds like Essentials in Writing. It's cheap, dvd based, and a student can totally do it on his/her own.

I love IEW, but I know you don't want to know about that one. With that said, if I had to use another program, I would say that Format Writing is one of those programs that I feel fills a niche. I know some people consider it to be dry, but I don't, and well, it's format writing. This is the type of writing my daughter's college professors have asked for--writing with very specific order. In between that, I would use something like Igniting Your Writing 1 and 2, as this program delves deeper into a student's style. It is on the more creative nature of writing, but very doable with any other writing program--or as a stand alone for a year or two. These are two that I would definitely do if I couldn't afford IEW. :lol: HTH, Dee

We adore IEW over here! We are on our second year with two children. My eldest son used SWI-C and is now using Advanced Communications. My younger son used AFF, and he is now using the Ancient Themed Based Lessons. We love it! I never did TWSS, but doing the SWI-C (which has Mr. Pudewa teaching most of the units to a classroom of students) along with my son was enough for me. I also purchased the tips and tricks dvd and the overview dvd. I practically live on the yahoo group as I read every single message and listen to every single free webinar, and I totally get it! IEW saved our homeschool and my sanity! I now feel so confident teaching my sons. :lol:

Hmm? I'm not impressed with the newest curriculum either. I have remained pretty faithful to a few tried and true programs. I would go either MUS or Rod and Staff pretty much all the way...depending on the child's learning style. I would not do any formal grammar until the fourth grade, and then I would start with Easy Grammar. It would stay there until graduation, since that is pretty much the only grammar that has worked for us in all of our years, and we have tried many. My children have succeeded with many, but only EG has remained memorable for them. I would finish the Explode the Code series before doing any formal spelling, and then I'd probably go with something like Sequential Spelling and copywork for spelling, nothing else. No workbooks for spelling with lots of little assignments. I would only read the Christian Liberty Readers for Science and lots of library books, only starting Apologia (for reading only) in middle school 5-8th grade. History would also be read only until the 7th and 8th grades in preparation for highschool. I haven't found any history program that we have loved, but we are going to give MOH a try, so maybe we'd go with something like that and books of or own choosing. For writing we'd do copywork until about 6-8th grade, where we would begin IEW. IEW, we do love and only discovered it last year! Why did I wait so long! This one produced results asap! I would definitely lighten up on the elementary years in terms of formal assignments, and begin to build up to more formal work in the 6-8th grades. I am pretty happy with how we've done highschool, so that would remain the same. :)

IEW Advanced Communications, Speech Boot Camp, and Ancient History Themed Based Writing. Also, since we got such a great deal, Apologia Zoology 3 with Experiments! I actually think it's strange that I'm excited about this since I'm not a science loving person, but every time I pick the book up, I can't put it down.

The thing about the character "Pudge" is that his father died when he was a baby, and that was the nickname that his father gave him. Later on in the mid to highschool paces, this storyline is continued, and we learn this, and he also begins to go by his real name, though I forget what that was right now, and no longer goes by his beloved nickname, Pudge. (In other words, the children grow up and go through all types of situations, and have to learn how they should react, as opposed to how they would normally react without Christ in their hearts and lives) The name was given to him in love because of his pudgy baby cheeks. :) The stories have never bothered me/us. I noticed that in the new revised paces, they are now starting to portray the black and white students together. I live in the south and have gone to many churches that are either all (or mostly) predominately white, or black. There has been very little variety in between, especially in the Baptist churches, so the fact that they are shown separately in some cartoons doesn't bother us at all--and I am a person of color. :) With all that said, that is a minor issue that some people have mentioned they don't like about paces. Paces are educationally sound and when put side by side by Abeka and BJU, we found very little differences, except that the paces assume that a child/student will be working independently, so it is written directly to the child. If someone is looking at this (especially the lower elementary levels) and does not know about the curriculum in general, then they might assume that it's overly easy or dumbed down, that is not the case at all, as one look at their highschool paces, and you will know that it gets very challenging, especially the English and math. Take the free online diagnostic test to get a taste of the growing difficulty as the grades progress. We have loved paces for at least two subjects every year since we have started, and I have seen and touched a lot of curriculum in 13 years. We still have a special place in our hearts for paces, and always will. :lol: HTH, Dee ps. I just posted an article written by one of the moms on the yahoo group that is using paces. It's very encouraging. http://chosenthatgoodpart.blogspot.com/2012/07/ace-school-of-tomorrow-has-always-been.html

Have you checked this out: http://growingwithgrammar.com/1DID.html It's their newest book called Digging Into Diagramming... HTH, Dee

We have 15 with Spelling Plus, but next year the program we are using has 20-30, depending on whether or not we want to do the super challenge words. For the most part, 20 sounds good for us. It will be the 6th grade.

I'm sorry to see the rest of this thread so late. I've kind of been going through something and was off the boards for a little bit. I'm still thinking about getting a few of these, but realized that the ARC system, though so beautiful to the eye, is going to be too expensive for what I would receive, so now I am going to research the Pro-Click and see if that may be a better alternative for me. I get suckered into how neat and organized these little notebooks look! :lol:

Cheyenne, ignore the naysayers--there will always be enough of them wherever you go and whatever you do. I think you are way ahead of the game in knowing what you want to do. That is half the battle right there. Statistically it has already been proven that many teens enter college only to waste years jumping from major to major not really knowing what they want to do. Many of them waste a lot of money only to drop out because of lack of vision. You have vision, goals, and the faith in a mighty God to see you through! Kudos to you!!!!! Don't ever change! One of my very good friends got a 100 thousand dollar education. She is a cable woman making lots of money. She laughs and says that it took her a fancy education to make her realize that counseling was not something she wanted to do. She did work in a school for awhile, but it was unfulfilling and didn't pay her bills. By the way, she's still owes money on that education. Dee in Sunny FL! :) ps My daughter loves to bake (is thinking of cooking school) has refused to go to college until she is 100 percent sure of what it is that she wants to do.

Okay, I'll play. ;) http://www.chosenthatgoodpart.blogspot.com :lol:

I'm excited on continuing IEW with both of my children. I'm excited about learning right alongside each of them. I'm also excited about the possiblity of notebooking through our science and history. That's about it!

Thank you for mentioning these! I love them and am getting a few for my son for next school year. :lol:

Looks great to me!

Thank you! checking both of these out! :)

I know this came out just recently, but I was wondering how it was going for you? ...if you started this already, how do you and your children like it? Dee

I would give All Things Fun and Fascinating or the Fables one a try. It is scripted and if you run into anything that you don't understand you can ask on the yahoo forums. :) My fifth grader completed the book this year. I thought he didn't love it, but tolerated it, yet when I asked him if he wanted to do something else this year, he said no, that he wanted to continue with IEW. I secretly think it makes him feel like he's doing the same grown up work his older brother is doing. I have been very happy with his progress! HTH, Dee

I know this came out just recently, but I was wondering how it was going for you? ...if you started this already, how do you and your children like it? Dee

Thank you! This helps a lot!

Yes, I already got mine for next year a few weeks ago...maybe you can shoot them an email? It comes through the yahoo group daily emails...

I'm wanting to read about your experience with this? Also, what grade was your child in when you used it?

My son has worked in several writing programs throughout his highschool years. He has completed Ace English 10, Wordsmith, Igniting Your Writing, Writing Strands 4, Student Writing Intensive-C, and is presently working on the essay writing units in Format Writing. He's also had to write several reports and papers for his Computer Programming course from FLVS. He's gotten very good grades on his papers. I think he's pretty much honed the essay--as far as structure/construction, and I think it's safe to say he's found his voice--just needs to improve it. Upon looking at the Continuation Course from IEW, it seems like much the same of what we have already done, with the exception of Writing From Pictures, and the Super Essay, which is essentially a research paper. What would you choose for his senior year? I'm thinking maybe IEW's Advanced Communication Course, and then half a year of Research Paper style projects...is there anything else? What should the criteria be for graduation? Is there a program that will push him past this point? I'm interested in any program that will challenge him to more in the terms of voice and style. I think with IEW, he's pretty much safe on the structure end of it.

I have been using the planners from URthemom.com We love them! They are not fancy, but get the job done. They have folders inside of the planner for extra work, or notes. I get them each year at their spring sale for 12 dollars each. It would cost me more than that to print up and bind my own. They have a highschool one (love it!) and an elementary school one. It gives you 40 weeks to plan for the year with room for grades, books read, and extra activities to be done. There is also room for notes. Dee :) Forgot to mention that the 12 spring sale ones that I get are black and white on the inside. I see no reason for the color. ;)