I'm the opposite of LindaOz. I can speak on Tapestry of Grace, but not Sonlight. :001_smile: TOG's writing assignments are history based, varied, and leveled. Level 1 assumes a 1st grader who's barely writing. Level 12 assumes a very strong writer who's ready for a large thesis paper that covers most of the year. You're encouraged to use the level that best matches your child's writing experience and the family goals. Kids are gradually taught how to write sentences, use organizers, write paragraphs, and write longer papers. The first quarter of every year, and almost every level, is spent reviewing the basics of writing. Even my high school kids do a quick review of paragraphs and organizers before diving into writing essays and research papers. Many of the large assignments such as newspapers, poetry, and debate are used for several levels. I believe levels 2, 4, and 7 have the kids making newspapers. The newspaper assignment is timed so all three levels are working on newspapers at the same time. It also varies in each year plan so the assignments matches up to the best quarter for the assignment. The level 7 year plan reviews everything a kid needs to know to be ready for high school writing. Level 8 is a transition year but can be skipped. (You can move directly from level 7 to level 9.) High school kids write a lot of essays, some literature analysis papers, longer reports, Level 10 includes poetry, Levels 10-12 include debate, and I know levels 8-11 include teaching kids to write timed essays for tests. TOG's writing is meaty. You'll also want to either have a writing guide you love, or pick up Writing Aids. Writing Aids also includes all assigned graphic organizers, instructions for kids, and rubrics for grading. HTH! :001_smile:

lol, I loved it in 5th grade and up. The rabbits were wonderful. Then I took an intense literary analysis class in high school.... pulled out Watership Down, and the story was ruined. :lol:

Congratulations! :hurray:

I'm trying to think what we were doing when my oldest 3 were 9. 8, 7, and my fourth child was 4. 1. I sat everyone down to do independent work together first thing in the morning. A friend complained about sitting down so long while homeschooling. It wasn't my experience. I walked around, and around, and around the table helping with a problem here, handing out a new worksheet, and keeping everyone on track. 2. Each child had 30 minutes of tutoring time with me. We ran a Mangers of Your Home type schedule. The kids rotated who played with who, while I sat down to tutor a child. 3. History, Science, and Art were done last, either in the late morning or early afternoon, together. 4. We had a 1-2 hour quiet time every day, usually from 1-3, for children to read quietly.

I'm pretty sure it's just the core and add'l history. Literature is discussed at the dialectic level, but it only has a worksheet to complete. Art, worldview/church history, etc. could be spread out more evenly. You can usually tell from the writing assignment if art or church history needs to be read earlier in the week. :001_smile: Yes, Monday and Tuesday are heavy reading days. Read, read, read, answer accountability/thinking questions (dialectic & rhetoric levels). On Wednesday, again at the dialectic level, you'd complete the history discussion. On Thursday and Friday you'd work on the writing assignment. Hence the phrase: Read, think, write. Since upper grammar doesn't have questions or discussion questions, you read on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday and Thursday you write. Friday can be saved for fun history projects.

Yes, but I don't have much to add. If doing both IEW and the writing in R&S English is too much, you can either drop IEW OR skip the writing assignments in R&S. You don't have to do both. Otherwise your plans look great!

Could you sidestep the issue by calling science: science and technology. Then label the class Computer Science + lab? The biggest issue is if he needs 4 sciences for the schools he's interested in attending next year. If they only require 3, then I wouldn't worry about it. The schools in my state require 3 science credits. Your son's schedule is ambitious enough he doesn't look like he's slacking his senior year. :001_smile:

TOG breaks the stages differently than TWTM. So 5th grade is upper grammar. 3rd is the line between lower and upper grammar, 6th between upper grammar and dialectic, and 9th between dialectic and rhetoric. The writing levels are also just that, levels. You can move kids up or down as needed based upon the type of writing you want them to do. I haven't found too many issues finding the necessary information to write about at the lower levels. I've also changed topics as needed to make them more interesting for my kids. Yes, ideally in TOG you read the books Monday-Tuesday, discuss on Wednesday, and write Thursday-Friday. However, just because it's the ideal, doesn't mean you have to do it that way. A couple of options 1. Read Monday - Thursday, discuss on Friday. Do the writing assignments the next week while the reading moves on. This means you'll read week 2 Monday-Thursday, discuss week 2 on Friday, and complete the writing assignment for week 2 while you're reading week 3. 2. We read Monday - Thursday and discuss on Friday. However I run the writing assignment concurrently. I do ask the kids to read the textbook first to get an overview, then read the core readings, and finally the in-depth reading. They take notes as they read. Thursday should have most of the assignment read and outlined, so they write the rough draft. Friday we edit. Monday/next week we complete the final draft. HTH!

Ramblings from the Hive or Hive Buzzings I like: Plato not Playdough and: Don't Panic... Grab Your Towel :lol:

I'm planning on doing exactly that with my dialectic child. He'll either outline from Streams of Civilization or Kingfisher. (I'm favoring Kingfisher, but I have to plan the pages.) We'll skip the accountability and thinking questions, and I'll have him write from his outline. He will complete the history reading assignments as planned. TOG's geography and TWTM seem to coordinate fairly well. I adore the literature worksheets at the dialectic level, so we'll do those. Each week we'll discuss history and literature together. A couple years ago, one rhetoric son loved answering the questions while to other couldn't stand it. Instead he read the reading assignments before writing a paper on the topic of his choice. Both boys were happy and able to participate well in the weekly discussions.

:iagree: We love Pentime! Pentime 8 also includes a touch of calligraphy. :001_smile:

Not a problem! I love the structure IEW teaches, but the style seems forced sometimes. I've found it beneficial to point out where my kids are naturally adding adjectives, adverbs, etc. and why we'd want to use a 'strong' dress-up, but that's not critical IMHO. :001_cool:

:iagree: Discussions were better when I'd read the book, but were just fine even when I hadn't. The teacher's notes are a true boon when life gets crazy. :001_smile:

I stay lightly involved in the local homeschool community through park day and occasional nature hikes. It fits the schedule, allows all of us to have local homeschool friends, and keeps me in the homeschool loop. Otherwise, I don't worry about it. :-)

The workbook issue decided it for me. I prefer textbooks I can pass from child to child rather than workbooks I have to purchase again and again. We use R&S.

:iagree:

P-tel (platinum tel)

Having done both, everyone together and separating kids, it's easier to have everyone on the same general topic. I found it was all the 'extras'. Being able to check out movies and documentaries, projects, field trips, strewing books from the library all over the house, and discussions at dinner. The kids often chatter in the car about something funny they learned or make silly historical jokes. My 2 cents: keep them together. :001_smile:

This planner at Little Learning Lovies has a similar week plan to The Well-Planned Day. You can have it printed and shipped to you. Add any other pages you need or want, and have it bound or stick it in a 3-ring binder.

I did several year ago and need to reread it. It's worth reading and musing over many times. :001_smile:

Kindergarten! I'm going to have a kindergartener again! Saxon Phonics 1 Phonics Pathways Saxon Math 1 Tapestry of Grace year 2 - little bit of history, lots of art & activities & good books Elemental Science preschool or nature study or both

I love Phonics Pathways! :001_tt1: It takes a while (@2years) for us to complete it, we started at 4 and finished when they were 6, but they were awesome readers by the end.

I adore Elemental Science's classic series. It's based upon TWTM suggestions, has worksheets and well-planned experiments (easy and they work), science kits if you want them, and is relatively independent at the logic stage. We switched over a few years ago and never looked back. My only complaint is that Elemental Science wasn't around when I needed it with my oldest kids!

Give yourself permission to make the wrong decision and make a back-up plan! If it really doesn't work out, could you tie it into nature studies? Sell it and purchase #2? I think we've all curriculum jumped from time to time. From jumping I've learned what doesn't work for me. I can thumb through a curriculum at a fair or homeschool store and tell instantly it's not for me. But you get there through trial and error. ;) My suggestion is to think about what your dream science curriculum would be... then to consider the type of curriculum that gets done in your house. Sleep on it. Tomorrow run through the science curricula, pick your top two favorites, then choose between those! :D

We sit and discuss history at meal times. Other times the kids eat, clean, color, and play with play dough while I read aloud. We also add memorization and poetry. You can put your papers in page protectors so they don't get damaged at the table. ;)