TC5
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Posts posted by TC5
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I just saw this -- I have an LDS-WTMer friend in Kirkland. If you PM me your email address, I'll send it to her.
Good luck!
Teonei
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It looks like we're going to move from California to NJ within the next month or two. Anybody live there? My husband's new job is in Lyndhurst, NJ (Bergen County), less than 10 miles from Times Square.
Teonei
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My husband is planning to accept a job offer tomorrow in Lyndhurst, NJ (Bergen County). For almost two weeks I've been researching the surrounding areas, but I still don't know what we'll find there. Please help me find a great place to live!
I'm looking for a more suburban than city feel, but I don't want my husband's commute to be more than 45 minutes. Is that possible? We really want a yard, and I'm seeing some in Caldwell and have heard that's a good place. Bloomfield looks less expensive, but is it nice? What other towns are safe, affordable, and with a somewhat small-town feel? That's relative to NYC, I suppose. Our current Central California town has about 80,000 people but is semi-rural with no abutting towns. I've been looking primarily in Essex County and a little in Bergen Co., and we want at least 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. We don't need easy access to Manhattan. Times Square is less than 10 miles from my husband's new office, but I don't see us going there often.
We won't be able to sell our home in Calif. anytime soon, but we should be able to rent it out for most of what we're paying for the mortgage. We'd like to buy a home in NJ but aren't yet sure what it would entail to own 2 homes.
My husband is supposed to start work May 1, and his new company will pay up to $2500 rent for us all in June and July (so I guess we're not supposed to go with him yet but get to stay home and pack and clean. He's going to ask tomorrow if we can all go earlier if we can be ready by mid-May.)
Where are the homeschoolers in this area? What do I need to watch out for? I know property taxes are high.
Any and all help is welcome. I'm really hoping there are lots of you living in this area!! :)
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Out of curiosity, would it be crazy to go from WWE3 to CC-Fable to WWS? My son is doing well with WWS having done no WWE, but he has always been a decent writer. My daughter does okay with WWE, but I see some things in CC-Fable I would like her to have before WWS, I think, that I don't think she will get from another year of WWE.
I think this would work. I am speeding my 11yo through CC Fable and then CC Narrative this year. We'll finish the year with CW Homer Accelerated, so he'll be ready to start 7th grade in Diogenes. He started the year with 12 weeks of WWS.
I agree with the other posters that skipping WWE 4 is fine, assuming your child is doing well with writing summaries and taking dictation. SWB said you could skip WWE 4 and go on to WWS, so adding any amount of CC will only help. WWE 4 is really just more of the same as what's in WWE 3.
My 9yo son who is currently doing WWE 3 will probably do CC Fable and CC Narrative next year. For 5th grade, I think he'll be well-prepared to go into either WWS or CW Homer.
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Thank you, Ruth. I really appreciate your comparison of Herodotus with SWB's rhetoric recommendations. Now we just need to know about Plutarch, Shakespeare, and Demosthenes! And no, I don't expect you to do that review, though you're very good at it. :)
How much of Kane, Weston, and Corbett would you say remain to be covered after a student uses Herodotus? I am awaiting the arrival of those first three but won't be buying Herodotus for a while, as we're just about to start Homer. I'm curious to know what to expect from the last three CW books for this to fully replace the self-study SWB has laid out. Also, if we follow CW as I understand the schedule, we'll have 12th grade free for other writing.
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Thanks for posting these, SaDonna. They are great examples. We are doing Lesson 3 this week, so I may show your first post to my son after he does his writing. I think it helps him, too, to see other ideas.
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We're only 10 weeks into 6th grade, so my plans for next year will adjust according to what we get finished this year. Here's what I'm thinking he'll do for 7th:
Math: MUS Pre-Algebra, LoF Decimals & Percents or Pre-Algebra w/Biology (depending on whether he does D&P this yer)
Grammar: Rod and Staff 7
Writing: Probably Classical Writing Homer for Older Beginners. I plan to skip Aesop because we're about to start Classical Composition Fable and will then do Narrative this year, as well. They cover the same skills as CW Aesop, as I understand it. Alternately, there's a chance we'll do Writing With Skill.
Word Study: Vocabulary from Classical Roots. He'll be finishing Book A and then do Book B
Logic: I don't remember what I decided. Discovery of Deduction, I think. I'll have to go through my notes.
Foreign Language: may still be finishing Lively Latin 2 and then will probably start Henle.
Art: Artistic Pursuits 4-6 Bk 1 (drawing)
History, Science, and Literature: This is our fourth year of homeschooling, and we've been following a 4-year-cycle history and science plan. Next year, though, I plan to step out of that cycle. I have had lots of ideas, but right now I am thinking we will do a child-led unit-study approach. I will let each of my boys choose something they want to learn about, and I will choose some topics, and we will have fun. I'll be sure that we cover some history and some science topics. We'll also read books from any time period -- whatever we couldn't fit in to the past four years. I might encourage my boys to delve more deeply into ancient Greece and Rome, but I haven't decided how we'll cover ancient times the following year, so I don't know yet. Also, we'll study biology in 8th grade, but my boys love animals, so I know we'll be studying about them some next year. I also want to do some real Nature Study, so we'll be easing into our biology/ancients year.
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It took me two nights to read this whole thread, but I am glad I did. I have learned and re-learned so much and see many options for more study. Thank you to all those who have asked and answered questions, especially to Ruth. It was worth your time! You've done us a great service this week.
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Can anyone tell me whether the student book for Writing with Skill is consumable? Do I need a separate copy for each child?
Thanks!
It doesn't have to be consumable. There are quite a few pages that ask the student to underline or circle words or write in the margins. For that, I'm kind of wishing I'd bought the PDF. Then I would have had my son read the lessons on the computer and would have printed those consumable pages. But, when I asked here, I was told there were very few pages with such instructions. I should have looked closely at the sample before buying the hardcopy. In the first 15 weeks of lessons (through page 208), I counted 33 pages the student is expect to write on, plus the appendixes, which should be pulled out and placed in the student's notebook. That's way too many pages to legally photocopy.
I sometimes consider buying the PDF, too, as I intend to use this with all of my children. But so far, I have had my son do these parts orally, or he has written on other paper when possible. Either way, we are keeping the book clean for the four younger brothers. If you need just 2 copies, you might want 2 student books or one book and a PDF to print select pages. I'd go with the latter, as it's maybe a bit cheaper and seems so wasteful to write on so few pages of that wonderful book and ruin it for use by someone else!
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Have you looked at Cursive First? It's available here but is separate from SWR.
You can copy the loose-leaf pages over and over as much as your child(ren) needs. It has been great for my sons who have used it so far.
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Thank you to everyone who gave so much time to answer my questions. I have learned a lot and am excited to apply this knowledge and get started with CC and then CW.
:001_smile:
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We started CC Fable(MP's version) after Christmas and we are just finishing Lesson 4. My DD is finally enjoying writing.
My plan is to go up to Lesson 8 or 9 of Fable, before switching to CC Narrative. We will do 8 or 9 lessons from it before we switch to CW A/H for Older Beginners in the fall. My plan is to go back and do a lesson in CC Fable and CC Narrative every semester for the next few years, while we work on CW. It will be a nice break and a refresher as well.
I, too, have wondered whether or not I should skip CC Narrative and just move on to doing Homer A this spring, but we are really enjoying CC and I think that switching to CW at this point might be counterproductive. We will start CW in the fall. This will also give me enough time to study my CW books so that I am sufficiently prepared to teach it.
Roxy,
I like this scheduling idea. I'm anxious to get started and to see what will work best for us.
Thank you for starting this thread. I am glad you found your writing programs and think I have, too!
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We are now doing week 10 of Homer and my son is finding it difficult to get it done in 4 days. We are now doing 4 days of the analysis and imitation work and 2-3 days of writing.
Good to know. I'll try to be ready to try a variety of schedules.
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At first you have to do 8 weeks of Homer straight, but that is not too difficult because it starts off light. By week 8 it is getting to be a bit much for them and from there on out that is exactly what we do. My 2nd dd did week 9 of Homer last week and will do week 2 of poetry this week.
Heather
That sounds like a good idea, Heather. I haven't looked into the CW poetry books yet, but I plan to soon.
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Fwiw, we didn't see any difference in the way figures of description were taught in Fable and Narrative. The teacher manuals give examples of the figures of description for each lesson, including where they can be used in the lesson narrative. Your student can either follow the example or do something different. Dd used them as creatively as she was able or saw fit. Since the target audience for Fable is 4th and 5th grades students, the figures of description taught in it are less complex than those taught in Narrative. A strong student can use the figures of description to change the focus and tone of each narrative retelling. Another student might just follow the examples as taught by their teacher.
I just PM'd you before I saw this. I was wondering whether you'd skip Narrative to go on to Homer. Without Narrative, will it be difficult for a student to go beyond the very basic use of the figures of description?
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If the student has gone through all of WWE I would say you could move straight to Homer. When my dd used Aesop, I worked mostly with synonym substitution through building vocabulary. I found that was a huge help in getting her to rewrite the narrative in her own words. We didn't do the spelling and used the grammar exercises only when I felt they were beneficial. I find Aesop moves slowly through the grammar concepts and then does a big jump in Homer.
I like CC Fable in that it introduces a few of the Homer skills at a level that is easy for a younger child to comprehend. I like its 18 figures of description, HOWEVER, I do not like the way it has the child apply these 18 figures which is in a formulaic way that often (IMO) detracts from the writing. They also tell you to do certain things a certain way in Fable and then get them doing the same thing a completely opposite way in Narrative, which I find confusing, but otherwise it's a good program. If you were to choose Fable for your younger I'd do CC-Fable and then move into Homer. IMO there is no need to do CC-Narrative and then go to Homer. I know some have done it this way but it seems like overkill to me.
Excellent. This is just what I needed to know. I was thinking Narrative and Homer were at the same level of the progym so wondered why we'd need both. I am happy to hear all 18 figures are in Fable itself. And I'll watch for that formulaic writing.
One more thing... is there a lot of instruction for how to use the figures of description? There doesn't appear to be much in the sample lesson online for Fable. Is there more in other lessons? The figures of description are online with some examples of what they are, but I assume there is more in CC?
Thanks!
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We do Aesop and Homer 4 days a week, but 5 days would be fine. I have to alternate with Poetry because back to back Homer weeks in 4 days tends to get to be a bit much.
So you do 4 days of Homer one week and the next week 4 days of Poetry?
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It sounds like your son is a good writer so you could certainly start with the Older Beginners. Remember that the only thing different with Older Beginners is the student workbook; instead of taking 4 lessons for each skill, it takes 2. You still use the same core as you would for Homer A & B, so you are still able to stretch out the length of time you spend on a skill or decrease it, at will.
This is good to know. So if I wanted to speed things up, I could just do half the lessons. In the interest of not wasting money, I think I'd want the regular IG and student book to reuse with younger siblings who won't need the older beginners route.
After using WWE, does a student still need to go through Aesop? Or could they jump into Homer? How about CC -- can Fable replace Aesop? (or Fable and Narrative)
Thanks.
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I think I am becoming a broken record about CW as well.
Thank you 1Togo and Cleopatra for repeating yourselves. This is taking some time to sink in here, and I appreciate your hand-holding. We are only through 10 weeks of WWS, as we started our new year in November, so I don't feel like it's too late to make some big changes if I hurry.
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Teonei, Sorry I don't have much time at the moment, but I'll try to give you a quick answer. It sounds like CW would be perfect for your older son. CW really works at crafting the student's writing as well as teaching the mechanics. I wouldn't say that WWS teaches skills that CW doesn't ...... it's more like they teach them in a different manner and perhaps with more baby steps than CW (caveat: I've only viewed to Ch. 19 in WWS). What I like about CW (excuse me for sounding like a broken record :D) is that it is flexible ..... you can condense lessons, skip lessons or parts of lessons, draw the lessons out longer, all based on the needs of the student. For me, it is actually easier to use. It also allows the student to be much more creative within a given format, which I'm sure your older son would enjoy.
Thank you so much for your insight, Cleopatra! The details you provided are very helpful for me to decide. I'm going to take a close look at WWS and CW this week.
Would you agree with 1Togo that A/H for Older Beginners would be a good place for my older son to start?
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You won't need to do any planning with CW if you use the workbooks, but you will need to be present - at first, to teach and later, to guide. 45 minutes to 60 minutes of your direct involvment is realistic.
I would love to do this, if I can find a way. Is this 5 days/week?
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Thanks for the response, 1Togo. I was originally thinking of switching from WWS to CW and still am considering that. I am glad to hear you don't see the need to do both. But to make WWS more challenging for my son requires a lot of my time. We've also been skipping things and rearranging lessons to make them correspond with other things we're studying. I understand CW will require a lot of my time, too, but is that for me to tailor-make assignments for his level or just to teach what is already there? I need to do more research, obviously, to see what will be best for my son. Again, thank you for replying.
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I know this is a bit of an old thread, but I'm hoping some are still paying attention to it, as I'm seeing great info here. I came here looking to see whether I should switch my 11yo son from WWS to CW (and if so, which level). Now I'm wanting to do both! I just don't know how we'll fit it in. Does WWS really offer skills not found in CW?
My oldest son did WWE1-4 in his 4th-grade year, and last year he did just WTM-style writing and Writing Strands 3. It's all been too easy (I realize now I should have used a higher level of WS), and he is a strong writer. Now with WWS, though I love the idea and all it teaches, his writing is not as good as it was last year! Too much focus on the mechanics and organization and just getting the assignment done. He is very creative and prefers less structure in every subject, but he does well with science and history narratives. I've started having him read WWS and use those skills to write about whatever we're studying in history or science, and that's helped. In one assignment a few weeks ago, he was supposed to choose events from a list to write about someone (Alexander the Great, I believe) and then form the list into a narrative. Instead, he read about someone we'd been studying in history, he wrote a 2-level outline (I'd taught him only 1-level outlines), and then he wrote about the man from his outline. His writing in that was much better than it had been in previous assignments. If there were a second level of WWS now, that might be my answer because using a program written for 5th grade seems to be holding him back. But as there isn't, I'm looking for something else at a higher level.
From what I've seen online, I think CW would be more challenging, though he could do it. I just don't know about doing both CW and WWS. If WWS is easy, could my son do Homer A and B this year, too, and then Diogenes next year? Or should I use the Older Beginners level?
(I like Heather's idea of integrating WWE/WWS with CW. WWE is VERY gentle. Is CW Aesop? My second son is writing-phobic. He's doing well with WWE 3 and his history and science narrations (which I usually still write). Would CW Aesop be a big shock?)
In reality, I can't fit in much more, but because WWS is so independent and my son wants something more challenging, we could switch to CW Homer and possibly keep WWS, too. I'm not concerned about my ability to teach CW now that I've looked at it a little bit. I'm just struggling with time management in general with a baby who still nurses every 2 hours night and day and won't eat solids (yes I should be asleep right now), as well as the other boys. But I owe it to my oldest to help him with his writing. He's considering writing as a career because he loves it so much, but he's not loving WWS.
Sorry if this is less coherent than it ought to be. Ideas? (Oh, and my plan is to stick with Vocab. from Classical Roots, which takes very little time, no spelling program, and continue with Rod and Staff 6, which doesn't take much time.)
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We use both. We just started LoF this year. My son in Zeta is doing Fractions and Decimals/Percents this year. Son in Gamma will do A-E, I think, of the elementary series. They do LoF independently 2-3 times/week. I don't line up the work. They still do MUS 5 days/week.
My son in Alpha hasn't started LoF because I don't have time to do it with him. He can start in a year or two, when he's ready to do it alone.
Moving to NJ -- need help!
in Parents' Forum Networking Board
Posted · Edited by Teonei
Thanks for the info. I will look into those towns. And we will take advantage of the free rent time to look around. It's good to have a better idea of where to start.
mamato4, I'll teach you how to pump gas! I grew up in Oregon, where you can't pump your own gas, so I was nervous about learning, but it's easy. :)
Jumping in Puddles, are there many homeschoolers in and around Ridgewood?