Looking back over your current school year and ahead to the next...

[rafiki]

.

[Annie Laurie]

What curriculum helped each of your children progress the most this year?

 

WWE and RightStart math definitely for my ds9. He had some auditory processing issues, and the dictation and narration were frustrating for him at first, but we perservered and the leap in his comprehension and listening skills is amazing. And RS is just the perfect math curriculum for this same child, he went from being math phobic to loving math and having a lot of confidence in his math abilities.

 

I'm not sure for my other kids- ds5 is young and hasn't done much formally, though Blend Phonics from Don Potter and Elizabeth B's phonics lessons were a painless way to review phonics for him, since he was a mostly self taught reader.

 

Dd7 just gets everything easily so I guess I can't put my finger on a specific curriculum that has made a big difference for her yet. Though she is enjoying what we're using.

 

What areas are you still finding it difficult to figure out what will help them improve on and what materials or methods have you tried?

 

Dd has sloppy handwriting and reverses letters and numbers, not sure what to do about that or if it indicates anything. I've tried HWT and she hates it.

 

She is bored with math- finished Miquon, finds RS frustrating since it holds her hand too much, tried Aleks and grew tired of it quickly, strongly dislikes Singapore (except for CWPs), MUS would move too slow. So we've had a hard time figuring out what to use for her for math. I want her to have the basics down solid, don't want to skip things, but she also needs to move faster or she gets bored. She picked CLE math after looking at samples, but I'm not sure I like it.

 

I guess that's about it, we've been pretty happy with most of what we're using.

[Mom-ninja.]

ABeCeDarian helped reading.

[rafiki]

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[rafiki]

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[hsmom]

Well for us our down fall was me not choosing a curricula that had enough phonics in it. LLATL was our biggest downfall, not enough phonics to introduce the concepts right for him.

 

Also handwriting is a slow one for us. He is left handed so no matter what he uses the binding gets in his way, but he hates loose pages.:001_huh: So, I have been making my own and having them spiral bound at the top.;) Trying to meet him in the middle.

 

We have an in between one this year. Horizons math really helped us, he is wonderful at math now. Yet it was also a downfall for us, since all of a sudden the new information just kept coming faster and faster to the point he was overwhelmed.

 

Our best help this year was switching to McRuffy LA K. He is excelling awesome with this program, even to the point he is trying to read other materials besides what he is using. He is also recognizing more of the words he knows through out other texts.:hurray::hurray::hurray:

 

We are looking to continue with McRuffy in LA, Math, and Science. After trial and error this year I have found he is a workbook type kid, yet not busy work workbooks, he likes manips just not too many, he learns in a variety of ways auditory, visual, and kinesthetic (sp) learner. I was trying only auditory or visual, but until I combined them all did I finally see results.

[mama2cntrykids]

For my 1st grader: MFW phonics. We had a rough patch in the middle of it, but I made up some games to play for review and he was off and running! With math for him, I had to ditch CLE and just do a go with the flow math, which he is excelling at.

 

For my 3rd grader: I'm not too sure. Singapore math is going quite well and he's doing great with it. His writing just naturally took off. I can see a progression from he beginning of the year until now (we only have 6 weeks left). I think just the fact that he is writing at least twice per week and correcting it with my feedback has been a benefit to him.

 

Now, I'm looking forward to next year! Well, I'm looking forward to taking a couple of months OFF *then* next year, lololol.

 

I'm sorry, my answers probably didn't help too much. I guess with quite a bit of what we were don't in the beginning of the year changed (for the better) and it's just really hard for me to say what was of the most benefit.

 

Blessings!

[mama2cntrykids]

With MUS you move at your dc's pace. This is one reason my middler in particular likes it so much. He watches the dvd lesson, does a practice page, if he scores a 95% or better, he moves on to the review page, again if 95% or better, he takes the test for that lesson. The workbook does have 3 practice and 3 review pages IF the dc needs them. Both my older two finished two MUS levels this year, my youngest however needed the review and slower pace and completed it cover to cover.

 

Disclaimer, it's not for everyone, just wanted to show there are different ways to use it.

 

Wow Michelle. I will have to keep what you do with MUS in mind for next year. That's a good idea!

[Annie Laurie]

With MUS you move at your dc's pace. This is one reason my middler in particular likes it so much. He watches the dvd lesson, does a practice page, if he scores a 95% or better, he moves on to the review page, again if 95% or better, he takes the test for that lesson. The workbook does have 3 practice and 3 review pages IF the dc needs them. Both my older two finished two MUS levels this year, my youngest however needed the review and slower pace and completed it cover to cover.

 

Disclaimer, it's not for everyone, just wanted to show there are different ways to use it.

 

That's very true. I'm familiar with it because my eldest son, who is 15, had used MUS Epsilon- Algebra. But he needs all the review. I considered using it for my dd but I think she would go through so many levels a year that it would get expensive. On the other hand, the self-teaching aspect of being able to watch the dvds might appeal to her. That's why she likes CLE, she can do it independently so far. She doesn't like me to teach her math.

[TracyP]

Switching to CLE Math has done wonders for my first grader.:001_smile: *I* can't seem to let go of my SM dream (sigh).

[JudoMom]

What curriculum helped each of your children progress the most this year?

 

Latin Prep has worked brilliantly this year for my oldest.

 

The TV Teacher has been wonderful for penmanship for my younger 3.

 

IW Aesop has been worked well, and I love WWE for my younger guys.

 

Biblioplan and Real Science 4 Kids have worked well, also.

 

What areas are you still finding it difficult to figure out what will help them improve on and what materials or methods have you tried?

 

We're focusing on writing this upcoming year. I'll be using Writing Strands with my older boys, along with the plan outlined in SWB's writing lectures.

 

I'm still trying to figure out Latin for my ds9. He's doing Lively Latin right now, but it's just not my style. I've also not been impressed with CLE LA for him.

 

We're switching to Easy Grammar this upcoming year so I can focus more on writing.

 

 

 

Fix-It from IEW has gone over well here for editing practice.

[Closeacademy]

What curriculum helped each of your children progress the most this year?

 

The rabbit lapbook from Hands of a Child really helped my oldest to learn how to work independently. Spell to Write and Read is also building up her confidence in spelling.

 

The TV show Tutenstein (Discovery Kids) spurred an interest in Ancient Egypt which has given my younger child a reason to learn to read and write because these skills are needed if you want to be an egyptologist.

 

What areas are you still finding it difficult to figure out what will help them improve on and what materials or methods have you tried?

 

Composition has been hard for my oldest. We are doing copywork and Oak Meadow is helping my oldest but the progymnasmata (on our own and with CW) just didn't do it for us. Neither did writing prompts or journaling. She just doesn't have the confidence to sit and write on her own. She is afraid that she will spell words wrong and so just can't do it.

 

I am working with her by having her dictate what she wants to write and then having her copy it. She has started to write complete sentences for lapbooks by copying what she wants to write from the information guides.

 

It is a step in the right direction and we will eventually get to where we want to go but it may take a while.

 

Science is one area that I have had a horrible time finding curriculum we like and that works well for us. I think Oak Meadow might be it but I am going to give it at least the summer before I say--Yes! Oak Meadow meets all of our needs for science.

 

:001_smile:

Edited March 5, 2010 by Closeacademy

[patchfire]

Well, we switched to MCT, which made a big difference for dd's LA skills.

 

For ds, while *I* am still using OPGTR, switching to a combo of our spelling board (from AAS), the magnet board that Peace Hill Press sells to go with OPGTR, and, oddly, McGuffey's Primer made a big difference in his attitude as well as his progress.

[SilverMoon]

What curriculum helped each of your children progress the most this year?

Classical Writing for my oldest, hands down. It found the amazing writer that was hiding inside him. :001_smile: Rod and Staff math has been a perfect fit for him too. He'd disagree, but he would admit he understands the math better.

FLL and R&S grammar for my second. Her math has flown ahead this year, but she uses a variety of math stuff.

For the little guy... probably VP history. This is his first formal school year and he's having a blast.

The precocious 4yo hasn't relied on curriculum, though Phonics Pathways strengthened her reading. Pretty sure she learns by osmosis.

 

What areas are you still finding it difficult to figure out what will help them improve on and what materials or methods have you tried?

Well, I've mostly come to terms with those difficulties. :tongue_smilie: My oldest simply isn't a mathy kid. There's no way he'll finish his book by the end of the school year, but that's ok. That speed is where he needs to be.

[dragons in the flower bed]

What curriculum helped each of your children progress the most this year?

 

 

WWE helped my kids the most this year.

 

In what areas are you still finding it difficult to figure out what will help them improve, and what materials or methods have you tried?

 

It's a perpetual struggle to apply any relevant mathematics instruction to my second to youngest child's crazy little brain. The child takes math like a cement wall takes a rubber ball. He leaps or lags at his very own rate.

[johnandtinagilbert]

Phonics Road has changed my entire house's perspective about spelling.

 

TOG continues to challenge us, but benefit us highly as we learn so much from it!

 

Noeo science has given us the conclusion of our elementary years. It has brought the balance we needed, so now I can use Apologia, kits and Noeo and be content with all of Elementary sciences!

 

WriteShop and The Latin Road have come alive for my dd in 6th grade.

 

Finally, Life of Fred has turned my math hater into a new student. His entire demeanor has changed b/c he no longer dreads math. The most amazing turn around in a student I have ever witnessed!

[Karen in CO]

What curriculum helped each of your children progress the most this year?

dd9 - Rosetta Stone French was really just the perfect fit for my dd like nothing else has been before. She gets up early and eagerly does French for an hour or more. MCT Grammar has been perfect for getting her to understand how to use grammar in context instead of just being something boring to be suffered through. And my perfect combination of long sought after math bliss is Saxon + LoF - she works in one until it is intolerably boring then switches to the other until it is impossibly hard then back again. She is making progress in math again has increased her confidence dramatically.

 

dd5 - Miquon is the best thing I have ever done in math. Dd5 gets little bits of fun math mixed with little bits of exciting math discoveries and thinks that she is brilliant in math. I couldn't ask for more.

 

What areas are you still finding it difficult to figure out what will help them improve on and what materials or methods have you tried?

 

DD9 - writing, writing and wirting. I am pretty certain that her writing is improving and will continue to improve. I just don't feel like I am doing a good job of directing it. This year we tried SL, WWE3, and a couple of other things including writing accross the curriculum. I'm going to keep with MCT Grammar then do the Sentence Island along with our copywork and dictation the rest of this year before I reevaluate.

 

DD5 - Has visual development problems (reversals, flips, and midline jumps). I have quit having her try to read from books and increased her phonics. Her confidence has increased, but nothing is going to help until her visual problems are either outgrown or corrected. I'm waiting until summer travel is completed; then we are going to a developmental opthamologist.

[johnandtinagilbert]

What areas are you still finding it difficult to figure out what will help them improve on and what materials or methods have you tried?

My problem is here, is solved, yet taking time to complete. Gaps. We had many gaps over the years and I am trying to fill them in while moving forward. We're doing it, it's just exhausting.

[lisamarie]

DS1st-is a sponge. I'm not sure if there is any wrong curriculum for him. He is breezing through SM 1a &1b, he's breezing through The Reading Lesson and ETC online. I guess both work well for him and he has gone from a struggling c-v-c reader (when I pulled him out of PS in Oct) to an independent reader of easy reader books. For math he still hasn't hit anything that he can't do with very little instruction from me but I'm adamant that he not end up with any gaps, so he's plugging away through 1a & 1b at double speed.

 

DD4- MFW-K seems to have been a good fit for her. She was reluctant to sound out any words or blends on her own until after Christmas, but something finally clicked and she's doing really well now. (Only 3 weeks left until she's done) R&S Counting with Numbers was also a huge hit for intro to math. Before having her very own workbook, she couldn't even add 1+1. Now she is doing addition up to 20 and just finished the book today (only took a month) and is really sad about it. I'll be introducing R&S 1st grade math next week.

 

 

Struggle areas:

DS--nothing. Again, he's a sponge. I could probably sit him down at the library and walk away for the next 12 years and he'd come back to me ready for college.

 

DD--Handwriting. Though it has improved greatly, it is still pretty bad. I'm thinking I'll need to try HWT. I know most of it is that she's still young and the mechanics aren't all there yet, so I'm waiting to see how she does come fall before resorting to a separate handwriting program.

 

Read alouds--my DS could sit for hours listening to me read him books, but my DD not so much. If there aren't pictures, she wiggles or walks away. Again, a maturity issue I'm sure.

[Chris in VA]

Rod and Staff Grammar has taught dd a lot this year--she's only doing year 3 since she had no grammar in public school grade 3. Saxon 6/5 has taught her all about fractions this year--she's doing really well and I love the way things are explained. She feels smart, too!

 

Not so big on SOTW 3, for some reason. Still figuring this out--we need more activities and I haven't been doing them--have the AG, and just need to use it more. She's beginning to not like history, and that makes me sad. Our read alouds have been lame this year, too.

[Mommyfaithe]

What curriculum helped each of your children progress the most this year?

 

For my grammar school kids CLE Reading, Math and LA ...hands down THE BEST for these subjects in all my homeschooling years of trial and error (15 years!) These subjects were covered thoroughly and systematically without any planning what-so-ever from me. We used CLE Learn to Read, Reading 2 and Reading 6, LA 1,2, & 6 and Math levels 100 (Only the first 1/2 w/ my 5 y/o) Level 200 and level 500 . I am thrilled with these books and I will continue to use them.

 

 

 

 

 

What areas are you still finding it difficult to figure out what will help them improve on and what materials or methods have you tried?

 

I am finding it terribly difficult to work in Latin. I didn't even begin with my 6th grader yet...sigh...

 

Science was a total bust thus year. I need more experiments...

 

I need more hands on stuff. More crafty fun stuff. Whereas i find CLE to be my best and favorite choice for Reading, Math and LA, I find it is taking up a very big chunk of our day. My kids just do not want to be t the table all day. I really want to find some meaty but fun hands on History, Science, Art etc for my kids for next year. (Any suggestions greatly welocomed!)

 

Gotta run!

 

Faithe

[FairProspects]

What curriculum helped each of your children progress the most this year?

 

We have had a great year so far. HWOT has taken ds from zero pencil grip to writing complete sentences and leaving me notes. I'm very impressed with OPGTR also - ds is very much a "just the facts" kind of guy and it fits the bill perfectly.

 

Our read-alouds like Winnie-the-Pooh and the D'Aulaire biographies have been some of my favorite memories, along with the Usbourne Children's Encyclopedia and various science experiments/hands-on history projects (writing the Constitution with a quill pen and blueberry ink was a highlight for ds). Art has been fun for us too - playing with shaving cream and fingerpainting while messy, really are a blast.

 

What areas are you still finding it difficult to figure out what will help them improve on and what materials or methods have you tried?

 

Reading fluency is still a big issue, and one that I think will just take some time and maturity, along with vision therapy. I'm really very happy with everything else.

[Marie in Oh]

WWE has done wonders in the writing department. I still don't understand what takes place when they do those exercises, but golly gee, my 6th grader's writing has sure improved this year. I am sold.

 

Teaching Textbooks has been a hit too. Independent math for 3 of my 4 in school makes me happy to see TT 3 coming out in April.

 

Megawords for spelling is also a home run. It is working wonders.

 

MFW Explorers - 1850 has simplified the Science/ History/ Bible/ Literature side of our homeschool. It is perfect for us. Rich enough and very doable.

[FO4UR]

Happy Phonics helped get us out of a rut when SWR left us dreading 9am every school day. ETC has been surprisingly "spot on" for ds7 also.

[Aurelia]

What curriculum helped each of your children progress the most this year?

 

Dancing Bears combined with Jolly Phonics (for the movements for each sound, since Ariel is V/S) for reading, Story of the World with the activity guide for history - the kiddo loves to do projects and act anything out.

 

 

What areas are you still finding it difficult to figure out what will help them improve on and what materials or methods have you tried?

 

Spelling and grammar. We tried AAS (too time consuming) and Apples & Pears and decided she just wasn't ready for a formal curriculum. We started using dictation of single words and it has helped a great deal. FLL1 was a poor fit for a visual-spatial learner, so we are going to try Jolly Grammar in a couple of months. It has lots of movement and color, so I think this will meet our needs.

[EKS]

MCT! MCT has been amazing! For both of them, and they're five grades apart.

 

Science is always an issue. This year my younger son used K12 and MPH. Next year I plan to try Science Explorer. This year my older son used Conceptual Chemistry and now I realize that we should have gone with a more traditional (and challenging) high school program.

[robsiew]

What curriculum helped each of your children progress the most this year?

 

I would say WWE. My children struggled with writing last year. I finally actually gave up on most writing because I was at a loss for what to do. Once I found WWE (and eventually WTM, I know weird order...) I was immediately in love! My children have NEVER complained about writing this year. My 9 y/o who would pout and fuss over a 2 sentence writing assignment last year... wrote a 10 sentence history narration last week ALL ON HIS OWN! (I only require 2-3 sentences from him) My dd has also done extremely well with WWE.

 

What areas are you still finding it difficult to figure out what will help them improve on and what materials or methods have you tried?

Really, everything else is going quite well. We're in a good groove this year!

[laughing lioness]

We have really loved Writing With Ease. Life of Fred seems to be working out very well and the Memoria Press study guides for h.s. have been terrific.

Science has been good with Apologia- I'm teaching the labs once a week and that has added more zip.

Still slogging through Latin though. We have MP's Latin but I need workbooks again and I signed my 15 yo for LCCA but we can't get the tests to work and so can't get the next lesson- frustrating!

[elise1mds]

What curriculum helped each of your children progress the most this year?

 

HWT! My son has gone from completely illegible handwriting to something akin to normal for his age. He still reverses some characters (letters and numbers), but I am reasonably convinced that he has dyslexia of some severity or other. He still reverses words when he reads sometimes, too, and he reads (and comprehends) at a very high level compared to age.

 

What areas are you still finding it difficult to figure out what will help them improve on and what materials or methods have you tried?

 

Art. But now that his handwriting skills are better, we are working on that. I have plans for next year, so we will see what happens.

[sassenach]

This year?

Dd12- IEW has helped tremendously with her writing. I'm also glad that I stuck with MUS for pre-algebra, instead of jumping ship.

 

Ds7- switching to cursive has massively improved his hand writing. I'm still happy with SM. WWE has been good for him.

 

Dd5- surprisingly, SM has been a great fit for a kid that I didn't think was very mathy.

 

Next year- dd12 will be in PS, so no more thinking through curriculum for her.

Ds7 & dd5- I need to figure out what core history program to use with them. We've been using MFW 1st and I'm happy with it. I need to decide if I'm sticking with MFW or going over to SL, which I happily used with my oldest for 4 years.

[mom31257]

HELPED IMPROVE:

 

7th Grade DD: Jump In Writing and attending a writing class have helped her in this area. She writes quite a bit on her own, but was really struggling when given specific assignments.

 

1st Grade DS: CLE Math and LA. We switched to these after Christmas and his math fact memorization has just taken off tremendously, as well as retaining other information. He was in a mastery approach and needed spiral. The LA has been great to get him thinking about spelling words having rules to follow instead of just a list.

 

AREAS TO IMPROVE ON:

DD: My biggest dilemma right now is deciding what writing/language arts will be the next step and take her from 8th grade through high school. I really do not have a feel for what curriculum to use.

 

She also struggles with oral discussion. She is an avid reader and can answer reading comprehension questions in reading programs, but honestly, answers as short as possible. I am going to use SL Core 100 next year for history and literature, so she should be getting plenty of practice, but I feel inadequate to teach her how to improve in this area.

 

DS: Things are going well with ds. I'm happy with where he is. I am concerned about CLE not having their 2nd edition of LA out before next year. I hope that we will like the 1st edition as well.

[MyLittleWonders]

Helped them to improve:

 

WWE has been wonderful for both boys - especially when it comes to narration and summarizing. I can see it starting to rub off on other curriculum areas too. They both have a tendency to not pay very close attention to detail (they are much like their mother - can give the big picture, but loses a lot in the details :blush: ), and so having the comprehension questions before summarizing helps them attend to the detail without getting bogged down by the detail. HWOT has also been a huge piece of their writing development. Ds#1 has wonderful cursive, and when he's willing to do so, wonderful printing as well (he doesn't like to print because it takes too long). Ds#2 went from huge sloppy capital letters this last summer to really nice, grade-appropriately sized writing. :) And finally, Miquon math for both boys has really opened up math to them. Ds#1 seems to be math-minded and has always caught on to conceptions fairly easily, but Singapore Math was visually overwhelming to him in 1st grade/beginning of 2nd grade, so he balked at math. Miquon helped him move past his anxiety about the page itself to feeling very confident in his ability to do the math.

 

What hasn't worked as well:

SOTW/history in general: they boys love stories, but I think the chapters were a bit too long, and only doing history 1x a week, I was trying to read too much at once. So, we switched to CHOWT, and will sprinkle SOTW in there off and on; hopefully that will be a better fit. Classical Writing: Primers were not doing as much as WWE for ds#1 in terms of increasing his confidence or ability with writing or narration. I love the program, but my reluctant writers need more structure and overall, shorter lessons every day, which WWE gives them.

 

Both of the older two are still forging ahead with reading/phonics. Hooked on Phonics has been very, very good at getting them to be able to read, but on it's own, it was not/is not enough to get them reading fluently. So, we just added in Phonics Pathways in hopes of shoring up reading. Ds#1 is not quite at "grade level" though he is making some big jumps, especially considering we have only been doing formal reading/phonics for 1 year. Ds#2 is technically at grade level, and went from a non-reader this last summer to being half-way through the 1st grade HOP level. But, neither of them are natural readers and both struggle with it, so hopefully P.P. will give them the needed practice to really improve. I also need to treat reading practice (which we do in the afternoon) as our "core" to ensure it gets done every day.

[mama25angels]

My improvements are mainly with my older crowd, my younger one is doing ok although I do think he needs some help with phonics, we're using OPGTR right now and i'm going to go with WRTR next year to help with spelling and get that phonics down pat.

 

Helped improve for the older ones:

IEW

Wordsmith

Teaching Textbooks

ALEKS

Singapore (hit with my 13yo.)

Key to...( online service)

 

 

Needing improvemnt: 16yo. will always struggle in math so my plan is to just work with him where he is and let him take his time. The physical act of writing is hard for my middle ds, but I plan to have him write anyway and type some as well.

[3Rivers]

This helps me sort through my own thoughts, too!

 

 

 

Math -U-See for DS(8): He has zoomed through it and I love that I can let him move as fast/slow as he needs. The only thing that hasn't been great is the word problem aspect and equivalents. I don't know how to help him know what to do based on the information, but he can work the problems fine. Also, I know how to do equivalents algebraically, but have no idea how to help him to do it at the Gamma level. (I need to contact Mr. Steve, who is so helpful...)

MUS is also working wonderfully with my K'er. We stalled for a while (purposefully) until he could write all his numbers, so now we are back on track, trucking down decimal street and it's going really well.

 

DD (12) is doing amazing with TEaching Textbooks. I moved her down a level to try and build a better foundation b/c MUS was not working with her. Now we are sailing through. Whew!

 

Writing With Ease: I am wishing I had purchased the workbooks. I haven't liked picking through the text for each child...never quite knowing which aspect to work on with them...still trying to wrap my head around the importance of narration and dictation but if we switch to Sonlight Lang Arts I probably won't keep this because these skills are built into their LA.

 

Writing Strands: LOVE it. I love how it breaks down writing into bite-sized pieces. I know how to write, but have struggled to know how to TEACH it.

 

Tapestry of Grace: This is still a sore spot for me. Still trying to figure out if I haven't utilized it properly...if it just isn't my style....or what. Not sure if I want to try another unit or switch back to Sonlight. :confused:

 

Winter Promise PHonics: Hated it. Total waste of money, which makes me verrrrrry frustrated because of their "no re-sell" policy. UGH. I have a hardly used program sitting here. I have had to tweak the daylights out of it just to get anything from it and have barely sniffed at the IG. It assumes your Kindergartener can already write...even has the smaller lines, they say, so that the child is basically forced to use the fine motor skills to write...which was NOT working for my boy...also discovered I don't like vertical phonics...ended up borrowing Phonics Pathways from the library and making my own flash cards and have discovered that in teaching reading to young children, less is more. Anyone want to buy a lovely complete phonics program...like new? :tongue_smilie:

 

Winter Promise Science: Not impressed. I love the layout, but content-wise it is weak for my science-loving DD. Also, the text in the "God's Design" is beautiful written, but it assumes a knowledge of things like atoms and molecules for a text said to be for younger elementary so I think a lot of good info was lost on my DS for things like that. I also haven't been all that impressed with the experiments that were either lame or repeated.

 

Hmmm what else?

Bob Jones Lang Arts: for workbooks, these are fabulous.

 

Spellwell: Nope. I haven't been able to use this as designed. I think they build the whole text on the assumption that your child will miss more words in the pre-test because then if they miss only a couple, then they have nothing to do in the pages that follow unless they just review the same words they have already spelled correctly :confused: so it just becomes busy work.

 

Handwriting Without Tears: :D Still love it for all of them.

 

Spanish: La Clase Divertida. :D The kids have really learned a lot and it keeps them participating. Excellent program. Don't listen too closely to Sr. Gamache if you are a native speaker. Every now and then it shows that he is not....but he is an excellent teacher and the program is very well structured for younger kids.

 

Bible: My favorite resource this year is the Jesus Storybook: Every Story Whispers His Name (I think that is right) .Excellent book. The author is truly gifted in bringing deep truths to a child's (and mom's!) level. I enjoyed it myself and have read it to all my children, even the 12 year old.

[Wildiris]

What curriculum helped each of your children progress the most this year?

Gr.1 Adventures in Phonics

Gr.7 Outlining History (K12 History Odyssey)

Chalk Dust Algebra 1

 

What areas are you still finding it difficult to figure out what will help them improve on and what materials or methods have you tried?

Gr. 1 SOTW I am going to add the tests to see if this helps us move forward. This is difficult for a child that still doesn't write much.

 

Gr.7 A solid, with experiments and materials package, secular science program.

[Tree House Academy]

Switching to R&S English with my 5th grader has made the most difference in our year. Allowing my younger to drop CLE math and pick up R&S math has really helped him start memorizing the facts.

[ondreeuh]

My 8th grader:

 

Hits:

-History of US is a huge hit. She loves it and is learning & retaining so much. Two thumbs up!

-Prentice Hall Science Explorer - she is doing some of the Life Science books and is fascinated. She keeps telling me about things she's learned and is able to apply it to her real life. She thinks she may be interested in a career in the medical field now.

-IEW's The Elegant Essay is filling a need right now, as we need to keep working on essay skills.

-CLE LA 800 is something we just started but she loves it. Excellent grammar instruction, excellent spelling & vocabulary words, and she feels like she's learning a ton. I wish I'd started this at the beginning of the year and am thinking of making her continue through the summer ;)

-Chalk Dust Algebra. I bought the book, solutions guide & DVDs on Amazon for under $100, I think, and she is thriving. She checks her work with the solutions guide as she works so she doesn't get stuck or frustrated, and I feel she is getting an excellent math education.

-Getty-Dubay Italic handwriting booklet. She now has beautiful handwriting when she chooses to use it.

 

Misses:

-Sonlight Core 100 IG is kinda a bust. She dislikes the notes for HUS, and the "history reading" has been hit or miss, with a few books so boring that she really didn't want to finish them. The "LA" is very weak. I wish I hadn't relied on it for our LA for the first half of the year :(

-Vocabulary from Classical Roots - we gave up on this. DD was learning the roots but bombing the quizzes and we got tired of trying to figure it out.

 

OK:

-Easy Grammar Plus. She liked it, but I thought the format was a pain and the TM was more of an answer key than a guide. I prefer the worktext/spiral nature of CLE much more.

-Critical Thinking - we got stuck on chapter two and set it aside. We might try again.

 

For my 3rd grader:

 

Hits:

-CLE Math! Couldn't be easier to implement and he is doing very well with the pacing (never gets boring) and review (keeps him confident in his skills).

-Sonlight Core 2 History - I thought CHOW would be over his head but he loves it, loves the other history books, and we are even reading most of the Read-Alouds.

-Getty Dubay italics. When he tries, his handwriting is very nice.

 

Misses:

-Sonlight LA. It's hardly anything! Nowhere near enough content or review for my kid.

-RSO Earth & Space. I was disappointed that this didn't go over as well as Life Science did last year. I guess it's just harder to do an experiment-based earth science curric. The experiments were largely obvious, the "background" was extremely minimal, so there wasn't much left to use. I switched to library books and videos and that's going much better.

-Language Smarts - it's pretty and colorful, and probably fine as fun summer review (that's what we'll use it for now) but not very valuable for instruction.

-CLE Science (not sunrise). Too easy, not sure how much to do in a day.

 

OK:

CLE LA. I like the actual instruction, but I really could do without the religious indoctrination. Can't grammar just be neutral? Sigh.

-Sequential Spelling - too soon to tell, but so far he is doing well. He is definitely a kid who needs spiral and that's exactly what this is.

-Horizons Math. I felt that ds was getting really good at answering problems on paper, but was not making connections to life. Much prefer CLE.

 

So for next year, my then-4th grader will be doing

-CLE Math and LA

-Sequential Spelling

-Italics copywork

-My own American History program

-Singapore MPH 3/4 Science

and maybe a writing program like Writing Tales or CW Aesop. Not sure yet.

 

DD 8th grade will be in PS for high school but I am buying the solutions guide for her geometry textbook ;)

[HSDCY]

MCT is the favorite here. I am so thankful that I found a curriculum that works so well for us. These are the only school related books ds actively asks to do.

 

IEW has helped ds improve his writing greatly.

 

 

 

Our science textbook from Harcourt is, shall I say, "uninspiring"? We've tried many different science programs from online video labs to textbook to books geared toward homeschoolers in the past 5 years. None of them worked well. But we are going to do CPO next year which looks very interesting. We shall see what happens.

[Rhonda in TX]

Best program for DS: IEW, hands down. The transformation in his writing has been incredible.

 

Still need help with (for DS): Science - it's my nemesis. We've tried Apologia General Science and A Beka this year. We're going to use BJU with DVDs next year. Maybe that will help.

 

DD: I don't really know the answers to these. She's a quiet student that does her work, is a natural writer, and makes decent grades. I concentrate so much on DS that I'm afraid she doesn't get the attention she needs. She did tell me this weekend that she wants to continue with Latin on her own (we quit at Christmas), so I guess Getting Started with Latin was a good fit.

[Mommee & Baba]

What curriculum helped each of your children progress the most this year?

 

My top two would be..

 

HoP - This has brought my oldest dd's confidence level HIGH! She now loves reading and doesn't whine when it's time for reading. She gets excited that she wants to push threw to earn a star on her chart and a new book to read outloud to the family!

 

MoH - Shockingly my 5 & 7 yr old's have grasped this alot. They love doing the timeline and activities for each lesson. It's been really fun to see them "remember" each lesson we learned that week when asked even 4 days after we learned about it. So it's refreshing to know that a Grade K4 and First Grader can grasp this MoH vol. 1 :D

 

 

What areas are you still finding it difficult to figure out what will help them improve on and what materials or methods have you tried?

 

Penmanship - We were using freebie tracing sheets, journaling and such things...but I never really focused on how she was writing and how she was using the line provided in the wrong manner. Thankfully though we're going to begin HWT shortly! I hope this will help improve their penmanship.

 

Spelling - I'm just at a loss as how or when to even begin a spelling program with my children. I thought maybe first grade was too young so I've planned to begin Sequential Spelling with my oldest next year when she's in grade 2.

 

Grammar - I've just found the Scott Pearson online grammar and handwriting resource and will begin this program on Monday. I haven't up until now realized that this was something that I had to get seperate for the way I set up our curriculum.

 

As you can see ENGLISH is our biggest weakness right now. I'm still flushing through programs and I think I've finally got a good footing on what we're going to be using.

 

Penmanship and Grammar will begin ASAP! Spelling will start next year.

[branycbur]

What curriculum helped each of your children progress the most this year?

 

We really struggled with R&S in 3rd grade so I tried Analytical Grammar this year and my daughter just loved it. It was very detailed and I feel like she has a much firmer grasp on grammar now than she did a year ago.

We are also big fans of SOTW and will continue with that.

 

What areas are you still finding it difficult to figure out what will help them improve on and what materials or methods have you tried?

 

We still struggle with Math. Currently using Saxon, which I find works best with her, but I am considering adding Life of Fred to the mix. We are also slowly learning Latin with Latina Christiana and I am thinking about another language program. Also might add another language (but which one?! hmm...).

[Scuff]

What curriculum helped each of your children progress the most this year?

 

R&S is still a favorite. Moved DD back to R&S for math and she's doing well with it.

 

 

 

What areas are you still finding it difficult to figure out what will help them improve on and what materials or methods have you tried?

 

Math facts for DS. We've tried a few games, saying them outload (so much that the 5yo knows her X7's, but DS stil doesn't) writing them each day, ect. He still struggles with 6s, 7s, and 8s. Improving, just slowly.

 

DD7 struggles with time management. She's a smart little cookie, but likes depth, not speed. She's always going off on tangents. I'm trying to help her stay on task without squelching her exploration. Haven't yet figured out that balance yet.

Edited March 7, 2010 by Scuff

[mom2boys030507]

What worked this year -

ds1 - Rod and Staff Grammar 2 - He is understanding how to write complete sentences. Reading real books and talking about them. Unit studies.

 

ds2 - HOP - he went from a none reader in the fall to having completed all of HOP and is now reading level 3 books. He is very excited to be able to read books. Miquon.

 

Things we are going to do different next year.

 

We will be adding History Odyssey Ancients level 1, Science Odyssey Life Level 1, ds1 will be using Spelling Wisdom. We will not use DITHOR instead we will do oral and some written narrations on books we read.

 

Over all as the year had progressed we have found our grove for doing school of course that could change at any time with having an almost 3 year old in the house.

[TechWife]

What curriculum helped each of your children progress the most this year?

 

History Odyssey, Early Modern, Level 2 without a doubt! My son understands so much more about determining what information is important and has vastly improved his note taking and summarizing skills to the point that he regularly takes notes in other situations and uses them to help him remember things.

 

What areas are you still finding it difficult to figure out what will help them improve on and what materials or methods have you tried?

Prealgebra - Rocket Boy has a sticking point with manipulating negative numbers. We started out in Chalk Dust and are now using Keys to Algebra w/an eye toward returning to Chalk Dust Prealgebra when he has finished a few of their books. Chalk Dust is a fabulous program. I am having difficulty figuring out how to determine if he is ready to move on to Algebra 1. Placement tests for curriculum that are out there aren't actually that informative to me when it comes to the line between pre-algebra and algebra.

[mominbc]

Hits - DD(12)

HOD -CTC has been amazing-she has worked efficiently and independantly. Copywork and narration were easily implemented and she loved all the drawing.

MCT - love this program for grammar and poetry

Lightning Lit 7

Moving with Math- helped my daughter really understand math.

Pictures in cursive-beautiful

 

Hits - DS(5)

Memoria Press Kindergarten- AMAZING

 

Misses - DS(5)

McRuffey K Phonics and Math- not enough review and jumped skills to quickly. Too many parts, not really open and go for us.

HOD- LHFHG - Great program but didn't have time to do it all and DS wasn't interested in the history books- more of science kid.