NH/Maine southern border (Portsmouth/Kittery). We moved here in the middle of February, from San Diego!! Yup, we're still freezing.:001_smile: Does summer ever come to stay??

The hardback book "Writing With Ease - Strong Fundamentals" gives a great overview of SWB's philosophy of teaching writing. Then, the second half of the book goes year by year and week by week telling you what specific skills to work on. However, Year 1 Week 1 is scripted out, then it just says use your own stuff and practice these same skills for year 1 weeks 2-4. Then, it will script out week 5 and say keep working on this for weeks 6-10, etc. etc. The other years are also done this same way: a scripted week telling you what skills you're teaching then saying practice it for X amount of weeks then the next scripted week. The workbook (we only have the 1st one) actually has the lessons plans for EVERY week of the entire year already scripted out. The second half of the workbook is perforated pages to tear out for dc to do the copywork and narrations. I find it very helpful to have all the weeks scripted out for me. However, my son gets so interested in the little narration passage (2-3 paragraphs at the beginning of the book, we're only in week 8, they get longer later) that he wants to read each book they come from. They are chosen from excellent literature (Rumplestiltskin, Mary Poppins, Pinocchio, Alice in Wonderland, Little House books, etc). I have no problem with him reading any of these books. There's just only so much time in the day, kwim? If I had to choose one I would buy the hardback strong fundamentals book so I had a good overview of what the program is supposed to be. Anyway, that's the difference. HTH!

My understanding is that SWB does NOT like IEW. This is just "hearsay" :tongue_smilie:but someone on the Sonlilght LA boards said she heard SWB speak at convention and say college profs could tell an IEW "dress up" from their students. There are some very good threads all merged together about WWE. Try a forum search and you can read where SWB has responded herself about these things. HTH!!

"Knights and Castles, please Mom!!" So, we read: DK Eyewitness books "Knights" and "Arms and Armor" The Door in the Wall by Marguerite De Angeli How to be A Medieval Knight by Fiona MacDonald (Nat'l Geo) Knights in Shining Armor by Gail Gibbons The Making of a Knight by Patrick O'Brien A Medieval Feast by Aliki Design Your Own Coat of Arms by Rosemary A. Chorzempa Usborne Time Traveler: Knights and Castles We also used the Dover Coloring Books: Life in a Medieval Castle and Village Knights and Armor It was a "summer" mini unit, but the books were fun.:D Especially The Door in the Wall. HTH

Bible: family devotions put together by mom:) Math: finish TT6 and do TT7 Grammar: Easy Grammar 5 & 6 Lit Analysis: ????????? (still TBD any suggestions?) Writing: ???????? (still TBD, any suggestions?) History and Literature: History Odyssey Ancients Level 2 with lots of SL6 readers added in Science: RS4K Chemistry Level 1, then Physics Level 1, then "Colors" from Rainbow publishing (if it ever actually gets published:confused:) Vocabulary: Worldly Wise 3000 Bk. 5 Spelling: SWO E and F Geography: Trail Guide to World Geography Logic: Logic Countdown, Logic Liftoff, Orbiting with Logic

Yes! I still need a writing curriculum, spelling and grammar but this will do lit analysis, right? Thank you!!

:lol: Welcome to the club!

Thanks ladies! When you say reading curriculum I think you mean LA except for grammar and spelling? Am I right? Do you consider this a writing curriculum as well? I've been looking for something for my ds10 who will be in 5th grade next year. I've been combining his reading/history with big sis with SL4 this last year and it's worked fine, but we need something different next year. I want more lit analysis and writing that is associated with what we're reading. I haven't found it yet and wondered if this would work. We're going to switch to History Odyssey level 2 Ancients next year for them both so the reading will be much lighter than SL. Big sis will probably do Lightning Lit 7.

I had these recommended to me before as perhaps a lit analysis for my about to be 5th grader. Do you think that would work? What purpose did you have in mind when you purchased them? Just curious what subject and grade level you were using them for??:bigear:

:iagree::iagree: I'll even spend a little more if that's already done and I don't have to go to Kinko's!! My time is worth A LOT!;)

You could just use the workbook to teach from and have dc write on their own paper. Then, you could resell the whole thing when you're done and get at least part of your money back.:D Is coming up with your own narrations/copywork/dictation really that hard? That's what I'm thinking of for ds next year. Every time we read an excerpt from a new story in WWE 1 workbook he adds another book to the list he wants me to read him!:tongue_smilie: That's great, I'm glad he wants to read more, but there's only so much time in the day, kwim?

Why not sell them seperately then? I, too, find the huge lines too big for my dc. I'd like to just buy the teacher part like they let you buy an extra set of the student pages. I could buy just the teacher part and have my dc use regular paper? Just a thought!:001_smile:

Mr. Popper's Penguins Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle (and its sequels)

Yes, she does, but it's near the middle and Bowditch gets remarried near the end. This was a fantastic book, but I wouldn't call it a "happy" one, or a light summer read. Although, I highly recommend it! How about most Beverly Clearly books? Not terribly academic, but Henry and Ramona are just hilarious. We also laughed our way through "The Great Turkey Walk" and "By the Great Horn Spoon." We enjoyed all of Baum's "Oz" books, I think there are 10 of those.

I learned more English grammar from my high school French teacher (a Norwegian woman who spoke 8 languages) than I ever did from any of my English teachers (even A.P.)! Basically, you cannot learn another language without some knowledge of grammar principles. Do those principles need to be Latin? Well, what are your goals? My goal is kids who can think and speak and write intelligently with a respect for others and a love for God. I want them to be able to function in the global society that they will be living in. Does that require Latin? Not in my opinion. Does it require grammar and knowledge of roots and a foreign language? Yes. FWIW. I plan on doing just what the OP said, teaching my kids roots and learning a foreign language that is still spoken today. I'd love to learn Latin but there's only so many hours in the day......;)

The Little Britches series, especially the first one (Little Britches) has some wonderful discussions between Ralph and his dad that I was able to discuss with my dc (honesty, racisim, work ethic, pride, obedience, etc.). We've read the second and third books in the series as well and they have been powerful. Highly recommended.

I ended up buying Pre-level and Level 1 Chemistry for next year. They cover the same material at the same time, just in different depths! Supposedly, I haven't used it yet, but that's how it's marketed. If it really works that way, and my kids learn from it = a hs mom's DREAM!! I'm excited about it!

I sure appreciate everyone's advice to help me make an informed decision! I think we'll keep looking. Wordsmith Apprentice, IEW, there are pleny of other choices (maybe too many!) Finding a writing program has been the hardest home schooling decision so far!! Am I the only one??:banghead:

:confused::001_huh: What??? Can anyone who has used this confirm that?

Has anyone ever tried this book? http://rainbowresource.com/cartdetail.php?sid=1243134722-2084072&id=021883 It was recommended to me at a HS convention, the lady had used it but didn't have it with her to show me. Any reviews? My ds10 is a VERY reluctant writer. Thanks!

I would! ;) Can we use SWI-B if we've never used SWI-A?

They have a program called Alt7 that is World History in 1 year. http://www.sonlight.com/core-alt-7.html Their Core 100 is American History in 1 year. I have not used these two cores personally, but we loved their core 3 and core 4. It's a Christian company and literature-based history. HTH

Is this the Tiner book you are referring to? Thanks!

History Odyssey, Sonlight, Tapestry of Grace, My Father's World

I would LOVE a review! Thanks!