Bible Study Guide student pages for my 2nd grader (right now I see no need for the TM, the student pages are self contained) And... We were using Explorer's for my 8th grader, but he didn't like it, so we have switched to Christian Liberty Press's bible curriculum and he is much happier. :) Blessings, Dee

agree that it is very, very light, but for our purposes, that is exactly what we want since I'm of the belief that 1-3rd grade should be about grounding them in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and the Word of God. With that being said, if I wanted meatier, I would definitely go with BJU, but since I don't, I will use Abeka until the 3rd grade for a light dusting of early american history and then from then we transition into SOTW in the fourth. I love, love, love Ellie's idea of getting the BJU for the eldest and having the children do the same worksheets, with help for the younger ones, and the same mapwork assignments. They will all get something out of it. The younger ones could even write down narrations of one thing they learned in the reading and skip the worksheets and the older ones could do the worksheets. Brilliant Ellie! I wish I had thought of that a few years ago. Blessings, Dee in Sunny FL!

I just started WS 3 with an 8th grader. Yes, the lessons are easy, but he is going through them really fast and sometimes does a few days in one. Our plan is to be in WS 4 by the middle of the year. It does build the foundation for the other books. I got a brand new copy for 5 plus shipping at Amazon. Blessings!!! Dee

christian Liberty's K math. It's about 6-7 dollars and very thorough. You can see it at cbd.com I think it's called Liberty math...

Keep the things that you like and ditch the rest!!! Definitely ditch it and don't look back. Life of Fred, Key to series, School of Tomorrow 5th and 6th grade paces are awesome and the explanations are great. He could test into them at the schooloftomorrow.com website and then you could order a few paces to see how he does. For language, there's easy grammar with Wordsmith apprentice for writing...there are so many stress free English programs for that age bracket. And just read your own literature selections as you have time and do some narrating on some chapters, not all. He's had a rough time, you want him to heal a bit before taking on too much. Blessings to you and all of yours, Dee ps Due to moving and deep mourning at the loss of my best friend from cancer, my daughter's 7th grade year barely had any work, but you know what, it didn't matter. In the 8th grade she was where she needed to be and it hadn't hurt her in one bit. You have permission to take it easy this year.

I do believe they have samples on line somewhere...

NIRV kid's study bible. My son loves it and uhum, I, um, sometimes refer to it myself. ;) Blessings, Dee

reread the exact passage where the answer lies, per WWE suggestions, but if I see that my son gets two or three questions wrong, I ask him if I should read the passage one more time to see how much more he will remember the second time and that has worked for us. I never want to make him seem or think that he's failing, so I will find a way to build up his confidence so that he continues to be as enthusiastic as the previous lesson. I don't know if I'd do well to remember all of those questions, so just re-read the sections with the answers and keep plugging along...it does get better as the habit of listening is established. I'm learning right along with my son and I'm amazed in just a few weeks that even my retention is getting better. HTH, Dee in Sunny FL!

He just turned 8 on Oct. the 5th. While being very bright, there was no reason he was anywhere near being ready for third grade work. I made this decision when he was 5 and no where being ready for formal work that he would start kindergarten at age 6, first at age 7, and now 2nd at age 8. He is totally ready now for the reading, writing, and arithmetic that we are doing. I don't regret holding him back one bit. Had he been in the public school they would have left him back for not being ready as well. I think we forget that many years ago before kindergarten, the average child started school between 7 and 8. Dee ps I started school in 1974 at age 4 and a half because I would be 5 by December. It was some type of experiment(different cut off dates) and they allowed it. Needless to say I was way behind and totally unprepared for school and didn't catch up until the 4-5th grade. I graduated highschool at 17 and was too young. All my friends were older, more mature, and much better prepared...I always felt I was with the wrong group. I didn't go to college until I turned 19 anyway. By then I felt ready. Just sharing my experience.

it takes us a literal 5 minutes to do the copywork page and if we do the narration page on the same day, another 5-10 minutes. It really is no stress, so much so that we've started doing two days in one since my son is a second grader. :) HTH, Dee in Sunny FL! ps for what it's worth, I think this is one of the best beginning writing programs I have seen for this age level. They really don't need anymore than this.

Well, the paces are in full color and have been revised up to the 6th grade. The 7th and 8th grades are black and white and from many many posts that I have read, a little difficult to understand. They have had to make a whole video to explain one of the 7th grade paces because of its difficulty. Besides that, there is nothing that I don't like about Ace! I definitely love all Ace subjects with English, Science, and Math(especially from 4-6th) being my favorite! With all that being said, there are a few who have stuck out the 7-8th grade math paces and do well with them, I'm just speaking about the majority that I've read that don't like them, and switch to something else for 7-8th. There has been talk about revisions for these two grades, so maybe by the time your child is up there, they will be revised. :) HTH, Dee in Sunny FL!

I would not recommend Ace math past the 6th grade since it hasn't been revised yet. However, the science,social studies, and english are very good at the 8th grade level. I'd like to throw another option at you. Have you seen PACS. It's at Pacworks.com The author use to write for Ace paces. I find something about this curriculum very appealing to a boy...maybe because it was originally written for children who had problems functioning at public schools, yet it is not dumbed down in any way. Check it out. We have used several subjects already and have been very pleased with its content. HTH, Dee in Sunny FL!

This is soooo good to know as I just ordered Writing Strands at Amazon. I remember 10 years ago it being all the rage and then it just wasn't. Are you using the Evaluating Writing with this? Dee you could email me as to not hijack this thread... rebel4jesus25@hotmail.com

WWE 1 with our second grader, but I am beefing up the dictations and narrations to align more with the second grade book because he is definitely ready, and for our grammar/english portion, we use Ace paces 2nd grade. This takes a few minutes each day, 10 for the WW1 and another 10-15 for our paces. :) I am very happy with my little guy's progress thus far! :001_smile:

I went to Rainbow Resource and saw that Write Shop has a little copywork and dictation book for 5 dollars that has 16 selections and I believe it spans grades 6-10. They have a copy sample of a selection from the Velveteen Rabbit. This looks like you could use it for 3/4th grade selections. It is called, copywork and dictation exercises for Write Shop 1. HTH, Dee in sunny FL!

all who responded. All the advice is sooooo good. Lynn, thank you for your post. It sort of set me at ease a bit. I think I'm going to do it like you (Lynn) advised-simply because he's enjoyng giving me so much detail. Maybe I will even take down the longer narration and then after ask him what was one thing he remembered to see if he can give me the most important detail. And then slowly as we progress through the book, I will begin to ask for a more specifically detailed one or two sentences and ease out of the longer narrations. I just want all of you to know that I really appreciate all the responses and each and every one spoke something that I needed to hear or learn! I have a 13 year old boy who is such a reluctant writer and now I'm blessed with one that wants to write and narrate. I just really want to make sure that I'm doing this right. Blessings!!! Dee

I didn't want to hijack the other WWE question posted, so I thought I'd try a new one. I read something on that post that stumped me a bit. My son cannot tell me just one thing about our literature passage. He goes on and on and literally retells the whole passage. I thought this was the point of the curriculum, but I realize now after reading how a few of you are doing this that I may be doing this incorrectly. Today we did Week 2 Day 4 and this was his narration... Pinocchio was alone. He was hungry. He hoped to find anything to eat. He was as hungry as a bear. He wished he could find a fish or a dog bone that would taste good. He finally saw a pot. When he ran to the pot, he was disaponted because the pot was a painting. Finally, across the room he found something that looked like an egg. When he ran to it, it was an egg. I actually wrote down the whole narration. He is not happy with just giving me one or two sentences. Should I be taking down the narration but only writing one or two things that he rememberes, or do I continue writing down everything he remembers. He is almost 8 and in the second grade. We went with level 1 because it was a gift and also because he had little to no narration,dictation, and copywork prior to this. Thank you for any suggestions, Dee

I have that one on my list of ones to look over as well. I may be able to get this and start this on the side of Wordsmith...or maybe just do this altogether until next year... Blessings!! Dee

I actually have Jump IN on my wishlist at CBD. After much thinking and some praying, we have decided to press through the Wordsmith and reevaluate next year. I am putting forth more effort into helping him and directing him, and we are also going to take breaks and work on more free-flowing creative writing. There is so much out there in the way of writing, but I have to find something that will fit me just as much as it will fit him. He will never be a great writer as in creatively writing stories and books with great punctuation and wonderful fluidity, but I would like him to learn to express himself clearly and properly. Blessings!!! Dee in sunny FL! (whose a.c. just broke down and we are hot!!)

the advice and the responses. Oh Elizabeth, I understand what you are saying. I'm going to go join the yahoo group in the morning and get more information on the IEW lessons and download the free guide. One of the posters mentioned being able to do the themed lessons on their own because they stand alone. Maybe with the free information on the site I can pull it off until next year. I'm going to be rereading all the responses again in the morning when I am fully awake, I'm groggy now. blessings and so much appreciation for the responses!!! Dee

really needs to go back to the basics. I am thinking Writing Tales. I love WWE and am using level 1 with my 2nd grader. I have read a few people are using it with their older children, but I think this might be too degrading for my son to use what his second grade brother is using. I'm thinking Writing Tales level 2. Is anyone using this with an older child. My son is in the 8th grade, but writes very little and is mildly dyslexic. He is a great reader but we are just struggling to get through Wordsmith and he's getting frustrated. I need lots of hand holding and can't afford IEW until next year. I would love any advice. Blessings, Dee

I really like the way you are doing it. I may immitate that schedule. :) I tried it with my second grader and he's definitely not ready yet, so I'm saving it for the 3/4 grade when I think he'll get more out of it. Also, I find that the medieval one which comes right after will be better suited for a 4rth grader with a little bit more understanding of the material, but that's just me. blessings, Dee

will only require attendance records and nothing more. The present umbrella school that we are using has become and official school and is demanding more of us than we can give right now. I am so stressed I feel like I have my children in public school. I know that a while back someone posted asking questions and there were several of you that posted cheap umbrella schools in FL that only required attendance records and they register you with the state. Thank you so much, Blessings! Dee ps I also wanted to post that I am in no way bashing my umbrella program. It has just changed and we desire the freedom that we started with when we first set out to homeschool our children. It is no longer meeting our needs.

What's working for my 2nd grader: Rod and Staff math 2, I cannot believe the speed in which he is learning his math facts. This is also not torture for him as I have read for others and the whole lesson takes him about 15 minutes to complete...I'm not kidding! This is perfect for us because I just want him to learn his math facts up to 20 and will worry about everything else next year in the 3rd grade. Rod and Staff spelling 2, I think my son is a natural speller, but even so, Rod and Staff is simple, and to the point and the lessons are really forcing him to have to look at patterns in words. This is his favorite subject so far. Bible Study Guide, I thought of changing this to something more beefy, but my son wouldn't hear of it and told me he loved his bible lessons, so this is a keeper! And he is learning and remembering with the built in memory work. School of Tom. English Paces-this is so thorough and gentle, not to mention it is a handwriting course as well. Two stones. :) My son completes 1-2 pages a day, that's it, no rush, and he's learning. These 4 are the great keepers! What we haven't accomplished...well, we tried to do the unit study provided by one of the homeschool moms for science and my son hated it. I don't exactly know why, but he says it's boring and it was killing the love of science for him. So, I'm not so sure what to do next. Also we have not gotten to history. While I have a few things, we just haven't been able to get to them. We are working on learning about China by just reading library books and working on Voice of the Martyrs free already planned China unit. I love it! It's everything I was trying to do already done for me. If anyone is interested you can download the books here http://www.kidsofcourage.com/downloads Blessings!! Dee

We used Liberty Press Math and my son really enjoyed it. Blessings! Dee