Annie Laurie Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 I would be combining one of these geography programs with a tweaked WP Animal Worlds for my dd who has asked repeatedly to study animals. Which program would go along best with an animal habitat study? Which would be most suitable for a 3rd and 2nd grader, with a tag along Ker who is advanced? ECC is the least appealing to me. I would skip the creation science resource and am not interested in reading missionary stories all year. GtG I already own and we did it a couple of years ago, but lightly because they were in K. I could add to it and do it more indepth this time. CAtW I would drop the plight of the children resources, except Material World, and I would not use their read alouds and pick my own. All would require tweaking and planning on my part. I'm leaning toward CAtW but would love to hear experiences with any of these programs. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbajgrow Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 I love the new edition of ECC. It has the animal portion with the optional book "The Great Book of ANimals" which is filled with animal facts and tear out readers about animals. The geography is more than enough. I had one of those second guessing myself panic attacks after I ordered it, but was fine after I went through it. IT is VERY thorough when it comes to geography. Obviously, with MFW you can make it as simple or as hard as you want. They have the geography book for more work, but I wouldn't do a ton of that until 3rd and 4th grade level. I'm not going to do it for my 1st grader. It's a little much for him. THere's more than enough with the student pages and reading material. HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie in MN Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 (edited) Which would be most suitable for a 3rd and 2nd grader, with a tag along Ker who is advanced? ECC is the least appealing to me. I would skip the creation science resource and am not interested in reading missionary stories all year. would love to hear experiences with any of these programs. Well, I'd be glad to share my experiences with ECC. Whadaya wanna know? :) I did ECC with a 3rd grader & had a wonderful year. I'm looking forward to doing it again later next year, in 8th. However, K & 2 are on the young side unless you're able to pull back on the academics. Whenever I hear folks get frustrated with ECC, they are doing all the worksheets in the one-and-only worksheet book -- your kids can skip that. The ECC scheme is to visit each continent and "experience" the world in one or two countries in that area. You have a little passport & "visit." Your experience is a summary of many different things, ALL of them OPTIONAL, especially at your kids' ages, but all of them planned out & tweaked through multiple pilot families as well - - playing a geography game as well as a few local games - mapping by hand - looking at the kind of information found in different kinds of atlases - making a flag & using flag stickers - cooking or trying foods - learning a few words in a local language - studying a major biome in the area (rainforest, deserts, forests, etc), with reading, mapping, a little weekly experiment etc (and a solid time frame for experiencing the world through nature walks) - an assortment of books to peruse freely, from picture books to cookbooks - listening to a little folk song often sung by native children - making a craft from the area - often the teacher guide gives additional information on things like local music, architecture, etc. The geography goal for me was for my 3rd grader to really see that the world is large and varies a lot, and that each area is really wonderful. There is no emphasis on wars or political figures or dates of historical events (unless you add that through readers or book basket). It's more like pure cultural immersion, alongside serious study of where countries are located on a blank map. It helped immensely with his history studies the following 4 years. A bigger goal in my family was training of the heart - - God loves His children all over the world - We can pray for our neighbors next door & across the world - Missionaries are regular people like you - Heroes are more than movie stars or basketball players :) - People need to read the Bible in their "heart language" and everyone doesn't get to do this yet - The Bible can be opened up and read, line-by-line, not just quoted in random verses - The Bible is worthy of study and part of "education," from reading to copywork & memory work. Okay, I'll stop now :D Edited June 24, 2009 by Julie in MN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie Laurie Posted June 24, 2009 Author Share Posted June 24, 2009 You make me want to run out and buy ECC, Julie! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie in MN Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 You make me want to run out and buy ECC, Julie! Me, too, when I start thinking on it :) Got to finish 1850MOD first.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 http://www.homeschoolslikeus.com/4CedarsClassicalSchool/blog/ I have done a combination of zoology, geography and culture. You might get some ideas. scroll to the bottom of the page and work up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnowWhite Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 My choice from that list would be GTG. That's because AW is actually VERY full on its own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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