School year's winding down for most... hits and misses for this year?

[angela&4boys]

For us...

Hits:

 

CLE Math

CLE Language Arts

Boyhood & Beyond

Trial & Triumph

HOD's Bigger Hearts

Gets the job done:

 

BJU Science (looking for something else for next year)

BJU Spelling (will be using CLE's now)

Intermediate Language Lessons (ILL)

Story of the Middle Ages (from CLP)

IEW Medieval History-Based Lessons - way. too. tedious. (I changed it from 'miss' because it is so good, but I think I was rushing ds.)

Misses:

 

Truthquest - I *love* the Biblical worldview, but it was just way too much info to wade through for me. I need streamlined TG's.

WWE - I love the philosophy, but ds groaned every time it came off the shelf.

Edited April 27, 2010 by angela&4boys
added "Misses"

[Kfamily]

Hits:

 

First Form Latin

L'Art de Lire (French)

Code Cracker (Greek)

Literature and History books

my Story of England notebook I made for my older dd

 

 

Misses:

 

Lingua Angelica (I just can't seem to figure this one out or get it done)

 

 

Barely Tolerated:

Botany Adventures

 

Relatively Happy but not perfect:

CW Homer

 

Prefers R&S Math 8 over Basic Math (ChalkDust cheaper version) but prefers Singapore over both

[patchfire]

Hits

Life of Fred (still!)

MCT LA

Latin Prep

Science in a Nutshell kits - Sound Vibrations, especially; we also used Water Physics and still have Flight: From Gliders to Jets (we're going to do it one weekend day)

Ellen McHenry's The Brain

IEW's poetry memorization program (I always forget the full, official name)

Mind Benders

Logic Countdown, Logic Liftoff, & Orbiting with Logic

Physics books: The New Way Things Work, Paul Fleisher's physics series, Touch This! (Hewitt), Cartoon Guide to Physics.

History books (just a few of many!): Young People's History of the United States, The American Story, 33 Things Every Girl Should Know About Women's History, COFA biographies, Sterling biographies, America Dreaming, The Good Fight, The World Wars (Usborne), Ghosts of the Civil War (Harness), Six Days in October, Children of the Depression, Freedman's photobiographies, A Nation Challenged, 10,000 Days of Thunder, Marrin's books...

McGuffey's Primer

magnet board that you can buy bundled with OPGTR

Handwriting Without Tears

Right Start

 

Get 'Er Done

Lively Latin (close to being a hit, but not quite at the same level as the others)

Thames & Kosmos Physics Workshop

Calculadder drill

Key to Fractions, Key to Decimals, Key to Percents

OPGTR (I still refer to it, but I don't let him see it!)

 

Misses

Junior Analytical Grammar

Vocabulary from Classical Roots

Classical Writing (Homer A & Poetry for Beginners A)

Adventures in Science Color and Light

 

 

The best thing that's happened this year, though, has been getting dd in vision therapy. It's improved her spelling, her handwriting, her focus, her gross motor skills... amazing!

Edited April 21, 2010 by patchfire

[Dinsfamily]

We finished our school year in February. Here are ours for K:

 

Hits:

SL P4/5

Singapore Primary Math & CWP

Miquon

Spell to Write and Read!!

Evan Moor Beginning Geography Series

 

So-So:

Horizons Math-good program to supplement PM, but moves too slow for my ds...trying to figure out how to go faster without losing its strengths.

 

Misses:

None!! Hopefully this trend will continue next year :D.

 

I plan on doing the same things with my next K'er in a year...adjusting it to his pace.

[JaniceO]

Hits:

 

CLE math

Growing With Grammar

REAL Science Odyssey Earth and Space

 

Misses:

 

Sonlight (the idea is great and we love reading the books, but we need written work)

[Melissa B]

HITS (regulars)

 

Singapore math

MCT grammar

First Start French

First Language Lessons

 

HITS (new this year)

 

Teaching Company DVDs

Memoria Press literature guides

Excellence in Literature

Memoria Press Kindergarten

CLAA online classes

 

 

MISSES

 

IEW theme writing (used it last year as a hit, but not something we would use year after year)

Evan Moor K-2 Geography series (busywork)

Logic workbooks (no time, same thing last year)

[HootyTooty]

Hits:

Singapore Math (always a winner here)

Rod & Staff 3 (although we will not be continuing the series)

Logic Liftoff, Perplexors, Primary Logic, Logic Safari

I pieced together our Science this year and ds really liked it and I think he learned a lot.

 

So so:

Trail Guide to the US - Scheduling is what got me in the end, my dc did learn a lot though, we are going to try again using a LP I found.

Sequential Spelling

 

Misses:

History Odyssey- I've been this program for 3 years now and I give up, I finally realized that my son likes his history served chronologically vs society/country based.

Explode the Code 8- we had this hanging around and thought we would just finish off the series. The book I had was filled with so many errors we finally gave up.

[amyrjoy]

ooh, I love this idea of a thread!!!

HITS:

TQ history, only the last 1/3 of the year I just did my own because I got tired of looking through things. LOL. BUT, I did appreciate all the info!

FLL

A simple reading comprehension book for grades 1 and 2

A Reason for Science (LOVED)

Progeny Press study guides (for Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie AND The Courage of Sarah Noble)

 

SO SO

Singapore math

Building Spelling Skills (need some color and some variation of work for DD)

A Reason for Handwriting

 

Misses

Horizons Health (Totally did not like this. Kinda a waste of my money, imo)

[Leanna Tomlinson]

These are for my K-8 crew:

Hits

CLE Math

FLL

AAS

Classically Cursive

Visual Link Spanish

CLE Language Arts 500 & 600

MindBenders

Caesar's English

Lost Tools of Writing

TOG

 

Misses

NOEO science

Fallacy Detective

MCT - Paragraph Town, Grammar Town, Practice Town

MUS - even though I've used it for over a decade, my younger three were not thriving with it.

[Jen S in Va]

Hits for my 1st grade son:

Singapore Math

MEP

Writing with Ease 1

HOD's Beyond

No misses really

 

Hits for senior daughter:

LL British Literature (the volume that includes Jane Austen)

LL Shakespeare Comedies and Sonnets

Write at Home Short Story workshop (Tutor has been great. Lots of learning and stretching in an area dd loves.)

 

Got the job done:

SOS gov't/economics (who knew she'd like economics)

 

Misses:

DIVE Chemistry

Write at Home Research Paper workshop--waste of money. Tutor never told her anything negative about her paper. Wasn't any teaching going on and no real evaluation of her paper from an objective party, which is mainly what I was looking for.

[SophiaH]

Hits:

CLE Math (math facts, check! learning to read directions for detail, check!)

Shurley English (great confidence booster for dd as she can do the Q & A flows by herself)

Minimus (love that dd can read and understand without "translating")

MEP (great challenge for both dd and ds)

AO readings (Trial and Triumph, plus Our Island Story, The Little Duke, and This Country of Ours from librivox.org...we love them all! "His-to-ry! His-to-ry!" They shout everytime we get into the car.)

 

Doing the job:

Lively Latin (not enough review? too much history, and not enough Latin?)

Wheeler's Speller (Slow & Steady progress, but I'm impatient :tongue_smilie:)

CWP (bar diagrams, bar diagrams, bar diagrams...:bored:)

Artistic Pursuits (I'm not consistent enough with this)

SOTW (Too much information, too much jumping around)

 

Misses:

WWE (Ugh. This program is my nemesis. I so love the idea, and so keep trying it, but cannot stand it when we're actually doing it! :glare:)

MFW K (Ugh.)

Rod and Staff English (too much "mastery," AKA boring)

Latina Christiana I (dd loved it, but I feared not enough context or practice for my VSL...the vocab really started to pile up, even though we were taking extra review weeks)

AAS (dd hated the tiles...no carry over beyond spelling lessons...too many rules for dd)

Science. No matter what I try...And I have no plan for next year for science either. If I could do a AO style science...

 

ETA: We had a lot of curricula changes at Christmas because I discovered my dd was a VSL and likely has dyslexia, also.

Edited April 21, 2010 by mommahawk

[elegantlion]

Hits:

 

LfC B (love this series!)

R&S English 6 (a very thorough year of grammar. It would be overkill for us to do every year)

LoF pre-algebra (still finishing up, love Fred)

Living Memory (ds doesn't count memory work as a subject, it's just fun :D)

The Story of the Middle Ages (Harding)(a nice complement to FMoMA)

LCC Lit - King Arthur & Robin Hood (lots of smoting and drubbing, loads of fun)

Megawords (why didn't we start this last year?)

 

 

So-so

 

FMoMA (would have felt fragmented without Harding's book)

Art of Argument (don't mind the layout and teaching, but the examples were dated and not relevant to ds. They are coming out with a new edition this spring, too late for us)

 

 

Misses:

 

CW Homer (too big a leap for ds from Aesop. Still haven't figured out the Core book as much as I would like)

Art History (my own plan sunk quickly)

Music (again my own plan, gone even more quickly)

[SilverMoon]

.

Edited September 10, 2023 by SilverMoon

[Alphabetika]

For the 5th grader:

 

Hits:

Elementary Greek

Ellen McHenry's The Elements

doing history just by reading and listening to literature - no formal program

 

Misses:

RS4K Chemistry

[hsbeth]

1st time hits:

Life of Fred (Geometry for 1 child, frac+decimals for another)

Latin for Children

Handwriting w/o Tears

Apologia Astronomy

 

Old Faithfuls:

FLL

Explode the Code

Singapore Math

Fallacy Detective and Thinking Toolbox

BP Modern

 

Mixed review (got the job done, but didn't love)

SL (cores 2 and 6)

Apologia General

Writing Strands

Daily Grams/Daily Paragraph Editing

 

Misses:

Physical Science for oldest (Prentice Hall text and tutoring from a local teacher) Should have gone with my gut and used DIVE or even better- used Conceptual Physics

 

These were used with students in 2nd, 6th, and 8th

[MIch elle]

Hits:

CLE math

CLE LA

CLE reading

SOTW 3 w/ AG, tests; KFH, Biblioplan Cool History

Literature of our choice (fun books!)

EFRU v1 cards

A Child's History of Art: Sculpture

 

Liked but wished for a more complete middle school program:

Spanish for Children w/ dvd's

The Learnables Spanish 1

 

Just OK:

Maps, Charts, Graphs

Daily Paragraph Editing

 

Did the job but will be replaced next year:

LFBC Physical Science

 

Misses:

VP History Cards - can't remember to use them

IEW Fix-It

 

Never get to but like:

Feed My Sheep w/dvd's

 

Love/hate:

IEW dvd's

 

My BIGGEST hit: being realistic in what we CAN do in a school day! I've spent YEARS trying to do too much. :D

Edited April 21, 2010 by MIch elle

[Melissa in CA]

Hits:

TOG

BJU Life Science w/DVDs

BJU Pre-Algebra

CLE Math

CLE LA

Fallacy Detective (My ds's favorite book of the year)

Boyhood & Beyond (MY favorite book of the year ;))

Positive Action for Christ bible curriculum

World History: The Fertile Crescent to the American Revolution from The Teaching Company (ds loves these!)

 

Get the job done, but not big hits with either of us:

CW Homer

MCT Voyage

Wordly Wise

 

Misses:

CW Older Beginner (too much, too fast)

CLE Reading (ds disliked this greatly)

The Great Latin Adventure (Excellent program! I just dropped the ball on Latin...like I seem to do every year :confused:)

Life of Fred (ds does not learn from talky-talky math)

IEW Middle Ages (just didn't work for us, would work better in a group setting, I think)

[Lovedtodeath]

Our biggest hit is the Star Spangled Workbook. It is challenging, but she likes it! I love it, of course. Who would have thought that a workbook could be such a good thing? Not all workbooks, of course, but this one is great.

Edited April 21, 2010 by Lovedtodeath

[Guest]

I love these threads. Even though we all have different POVs, it's fun to see people who like similar curricula as yourself and what has worked for them that you may not have looked at yet.

 

HITS (K4) -

Abeka K Math

Singapore Earlybird B

Miquon

Spell to Write & Read

The World God Made (science)

 

Really enjoyed and would continue using, except that we like SWR better and for the long run - Abeka Phonics

 

MISSES -

Abeka Social Studies K

[sagira]

Hits:

 

SOTW 1 and AG, plus CDs

Kingfisher Young Discoverers Series

BFSU

Mike Venezia's artists and composer books

Tanglewood reading list

 

Misses:

 

? Everything else is just good. I really like Getty Dubay's Italic Penmanship and Miquon, but ds is not enthused.

[Aurelia]

Hits:

Right Start Math

Story of the World and AG

Zaner-Bloser Manuscript

Writing With Ease

La Clase Divertida

Atelier Art

Dancing Bears reading

 

Eh:

Moving Beyond the Page 5-7

Rod & Staff Grade 1 Arithemetic

Sonlight Science 1

 

Misses:

Connect the Thoughts First Step Starter Prehistory

First Language Lessons

OPGTR

[Momling]

Hits

Minimus

GP Junior History

Handwriting without Tears

ETC

 

Got the job done

Math Mammoth (I like it, kids tolerated)

 

Near Miss

RS4K Chemistry

 

Miss

Spellwell

Painless Jr. Grammar

[Heather in VA]

We had a pretty good year for hits and misses.

 

9th grade:

 

Hits:

Omnibus

Life of Fred Geometry

DIVE Chemistry

Classical Writing Herodotus online

 

Got the job done:

Notgrass Government

Lukeion Latin (learned the subject well - will choose another online source next year)

 

 

5th grade:

Hits:

VP History

Life of Fred Pre-algebra (LOVE this book) and now Algebra

LCC Literature

Breaking the Barrier French

CW Homer/Poetry

 

Gets the job done:

Cambridge Latin

First Form Latin- I think this is very good. DD thinks its boring

 

1st grade:

Hits:

Finished Phonics Museum - she was so sad to see me sell that

Phonics Road 1

CW Primary

VT self-paced history class - she LOVES this

 

Misses -

Right start math - I tried this again. I still can't stand it.

 

 

Misses for both 5th and 1st - once again I had to put stuff together myself for science and I didn't do the greatest job.

 

Heather

[Dmmetler]

Kindergarten (parochial school/afterschooling)

 

Hits-

Singapore Math IP-she LOVES doing these, and they've been a wonderful antidote to the "math is boring" she was picking up from Saxon.

Pattern blocks, C-rods, and base 10 blocks.

Music For Little Mozarts- Great fit for a not physically talented child with small hands who was dying to learn piano NOW.

Kindermusik for the Young Child (She has started writing out her own melodies and songs)

ASK magazine-I think she's learned more Science and History from this (and following rabbit trails connected to it) than she did at school.

Voyages-Bible/Religion

 

 

Gets the job done-

ZB handwriting.

 

Misses-

Sing Spell Read and Write-too much busywork and too little challenge for my DD

Saxon Math-too much repetition and too slow.

Accelerated Reader

 

----

Song School Latin looks like it's going to be a hit-she dove right into it, but since we've only had it about a week, it's too early to tell.

[mycalling]

Big Hits:

Vocabulary Cartoons

Teaching Textbooks

Building Thinking Skills on CDRom

Grid Perplexors and MindBenders

 

Hits Academically (kids don't enjoy, but have made huge leaps with):

Language Mechanics

Reading Detective

 

Gets the Job Done/Getting Replaced:

Writing Tales

[3byzaz]

HITS:

 

CLE Math, LA & Reading - continue success!!!

Meaningful Composition - Still excellent! Turning my boys into writers!

Biblioplan Ancients & Mystery of History & great lit. reading

BJU Life Science for oldest

God's Design Science for other two - LOVE IT!

Life of Fred and Key To books

 

SO SO:

 

Great Latin Adventure - more me, though - just didn't have the time to read through and get all the teacher info. Made it partially through, but gave up!

 

SO FAR, SO GOOD:

 

Videotext Algebra - only finishing Mod A.

 

NO MISSES THIS YEAR!! YEA!!!

[MrsMe]

I've used a lot of mix and match and dropped and continued on with some:

 

HITS

HOD Bigger

Cheerful Cursive

CLE Reading

CLE LA

BJU Math (working very well. Just enough mastery without kicking a dead horse. Good review and mental math.)

R&S Spelling

 

So-So

WP AS1 (dropped. A lot of info without details which seem to be an oxymoron; some books too hard, mostly excellent books though, tired of time consuming crafts, loser notebook pages, excellent map pages, didn't want to go yet another year with Am His.) Lack of real bible integration.

 

MISSES

BJU Heritage Studies 3 (boring, dry, snippety)

BJU Science 3 (dd liked it, but I couldn't make it exciting)

BJU Bible 3 (excellent info, but again I can't get over and past worksheet work.)

 

We'll stick with a nice balance between some worksheet work and some Charlotte Mason. I thought I could add living books to the textbooks and make it more my own, but at this age it was too difficult to do this. History had too many one-liners of coverage, which made it hard to pull out any one interest/topic. I think the BJU Science was good, but I can't get past NOT doing the worksheets to pull it together, and I think worksheets ruined it. :001_huh: Personal dislike on Science, not a program problem.

[dani3boys]

Hits

Saxon 7/6 & Algebra I

TOG

Apologia

God's Design for Science

IEW theme based

ABeka grammar

AAS(I wish we had found this years ago!)

Mind Benders

Traditional Logic

 

Misses

Phonetic Zoo

MFW

Edited April 21, 2010 by dani3boys
added more

[meet me in paris]

Great thread!

 

Our hits:

SL Core 6 done as unit studies (loved that!)

CHOW

Oak Meadow Math

Getty Dubay Italic

History Scribe notebooking pages (LOVE!!)

 

Take it or leave it:

Teaching Textbooks

Growing with Grammar

 

Misses:

First Language Lessons 3 & 4 (long and boring)

SOTW w/tests (dd11 hated hated hated those)

SL Core 1

Imitation in Writing (too hard for my kids - stories were very long)

[silliness7]

Hits:

Saxon 5/4 through Algebra 1/2

Apologia General

IEW Middle Ages

IEW's Poetry Memorization

Mystery of History Vol. II

First Form Latin

Child's Story Bible by Vos

 

Gets it Done:

Analytical Grammar...my oldest does well, my 2nd hates it.

Wordly Wise

Phonics Pathways

 

Misses:

Fallacy Detective...I liked the book but my ds did NOT like reading this together. -trying Art of Argument

Saxon 3

TruthQuest...I love the idea I just don't have time to read that many books.

Beautiful Feet Medieval History...Foster books are great but the assignments were too large.

Edited April 21, 2010 by silliness7

[King Alfred Academy]

Hits:

Math Mammoth Blue series (will be doing Light Blue next year)

Headsprout.com

Liberty's Kids DVDs

NOEO Chemistry I (Especially the Super Science Concoctions book. We LOVED it!)

MCT LA

IEW SWI A

Atelier Art DVDs (My boys LOVE this!)

Artistic Pursuits

Artist/Picture Study

AAS

 

Gets the job done:

Phonetic Zoo (I love it more than my son but he is okay with it)

WWE

FLL (My son likes this more than I do)

 

Misses:

Growing with Grammar (No retention for my son...just busy work)

Latin...not the curriculum's fault. It was all me. :blush:

OPGTR (Not a good fit for my son. He is showing symptoms of dyslexia though.)

[FairProspects]

Hits

OPGTR

Right Start A

HWOT Pre-K & K

I Love America

Truthquest AHFYS 1

Sonlight Science K

Preschool Art

 

Misses

Sonlight LA K

Sonlight Core K

Phonics Pathways

Abeka K4

Sensational Strategies for Teaching Beginning Readers

Noah Plan

BFSU

AAS (too hard for K)

 

I know it sounds crazy, but I love scripted materials so I can use as much or as little of the script as I like. I also really like open-and-go.

[momtolgd]

Well, we still have 10 weeks left because we school into early July...but here's ours:

 

Hits:

CLE Math (finally a math that doesn't bring tears!)

GWG (dd loves it!)

ETC

Singapore MPH

SOTW

Rush Hour, Blokus, and No Stress Chess

Wordsmith Apprentice (not too far into it yet, but going great so far!)

Greek Alphabet Code Cracker

 

Get the job done:

WWE

Writing Tales

Pictures in Cursive

Primarily Logic and Logic Countdown

Spelling Wisdom

 

Misses:

Latin...I just dropped the ball on this one this year...hoping to get it going in the Fall

Little Hands to Heaven (preschool)...just didn't work for ds.

IEW's poetry memorization...we really dropped the ball on this one as well. Trying to decide if we will try it again next year or not.

Edited April 21, 2010 by momtolgd

[TxMama]

Hits:

 

MFW

AAS

MUS

PLL

IEW Poetry Memorizatin

 

Misses:

Latin

LHTH

Edited April 21, 2010 by Wendy B.

[MamaAkins]

Hits:

Mystery of History

Lyrical Life Science

La Clase Divertida

Sequential Spelling

Life of Fred: Beginning Algebra

 

Misses:

BJU Life Science--too dry and intense

Great Science Adventures: Discovering the Human Body & Senses--found that lapbooks & booklets are just not our "thing!"

[momto2Cs]

Hits

ETC

Saxon Math (as always)

G.U.M. by Zaner Bloser

Happy Scribe copywork

And, not a curriculum per se, but Charlotte Mason methods are a BIG hit!

 

On the fence

SOTW (I wish my kids loved this, but I am still looking for a good substitute!)

Mr Q's Science - they love hearing me read the chapters aloud, but aren't thrilled with the workpages

 

Misses

Writing Tales (too repetative, not enough variation for ds)

Phonics Pathways (dd says the way it is written makes her feel "dumb" but she won't/can't elaborate as to why)

[Guest Cindie2dds]

Hits:

 

Miquon Math

Oak Meadow K

Pathway Readers

QLL

 

Misses:

 

Winter Promise (described in detail on my blog)

Apologia Science (Exploring God's Creation series ~ didn't like the way it was written)

Right Start A&B (solid program ~ too scripted)

HOD (Again, too scripted and just didn't like it. I don't like reading other people's instructions to my kids as though they were my own.)

ETC

Singapore Math

 

Sonlight ~ it was a miss for us just because I don't like every book in the Cores and the grid-type guide drives me nuts. Over all I actually really like most of Sonlight's book choices.

 

Not decided yet:

 

TruthQuest ~ I really like the way the guide is set up, and the book list is amazing. I think I need to try it when my kids are just a little bit older.

 

106 Days of Creation ~ Same on this one, too. I really, really like all of her guides that I own and her book lists. I think it will work better for us when both my kids are old enough to do it together.

 

Ambleside Online ~ We love the book lists and Year 0 has been great. I've printed out the schedule for Year 1, and I like the pace and books selected. We'll see.

Edited April 21, 2010 by Cindie2dds

[nitascool]

Hits:

MUS Math (K, 2nd & 4th)

Story of the World II & III (2nd & 4th)

Trial & Triumph 1st 3rd anyway (K, 2nd & 4th)

Exploring Creation with Botany (K, 2nd & 4th)

Botany Notebook/Journal (2nd & 4th)

Sequential Spelling 2 (4th)

Lego Duplo's Physics Kits (K, 2nd & 4th)

Phonics Pathways (K)

Reading Pathways (K)

Minimus

 

Gets the job done:

SOTW IV he just hasn't enjoyed it (4th)

 

Misses:

Writesourse think the levels were too low and to workbookish (2nd &4th)

Basic Physics: A Self-Teaching Guide by Karl F. Kuhn (4th)

Child’s Geography: Explore His Earth with CD we just didn't have the time will try to fit it in next year (4th)

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

Hits

RightStart A

All About Spelling 1 & 2

Handwriting Without Tears K

Song School Latin (We love, love, love this!!!)

 

We like it but...

FLL

OPGTR

WWE (DD enjoys all three of these but they are almost too thorough. Not sure if I'll use them with my other kids. I might just use the ideas of WWE instead of the workbooks.)

BFSU (I like the idea but it is a lot of work for me to implement. Until someone comes out with something similar but more open-and-go we will continue to use it.)

 

Misses

FIAR I'm not really sure what happened. We had fun for a few weeks, but I was tired (pregnant) and was trying to teach it with a 5yo, 3.5yo, and 1.5yo. It didn't really feel natural to us. I'm not sure if I'll try it again but I'm not ready to sell it yet either.

 

 

Can't wait to try out Oak Meadow next year!

[Closeacademy]

Hits:

 

Singapore Math

Rod and Staff Math

Ruth Heller Grammar Picture books (Merry-Go-Round, Kites Fly High, etc.)

Spell to Write and Read (with the worksheets I created and notebooking the phonograms and rules)

Oak Meadow (It has changed our homeschool for the better)

Hands of a Child Lapbooks

 

Misses:

Rod and Staff 2nd grade everything but math

Time Traveler History Early 19th Century (too much, better for upper middle school)

Life of Fred Fractions

Classical Writing Aesops

 

This was for 2nd and 5th.:001_smile:

[kewb]

Hits:

MUS-Gamma and Epsilon

Growing with Grammar grades 4 & 6

History Odyssey-Middle Ages

RS4K Chemistry and Physics

 

Miss:

Latin Prep (I totally dropped the ball on this one and am hoping to get it going again in the fall.)

Writing Strands - they both tolerated it in the beginning and then moved on to hating it. I am exploring options for the fall.

[Paisley Hedgehog]

..

[Lori in MS]

Hits

 

MFW 1850MT

Singapore Math

Analytical Grammar

IEW SWI B

WWE

FLL

 

Get 'er done

 

Apologia General Science

Saxon Math 87

 

 

Misses

 

Progeny Press Lit Guides - I liked this. It just didn't get done.

[lauracolumbus]

HITS

 

For K'er

FLL 1/2

WWE 1

Song School Latin

MUS Beta/Gamma

Picture book reading rather than chapter books. The Undone Fairy Tale was her favorite. The quality of writing in picture books seems so much better.

Not Sure about FIAR

 

MISSES

Singapore-will try again

 

HITS

For 4th/6th Graders

WWE

R&S

Saxon (they'd disagree)

LOF (they love)

LCI and II

Elementary Greek

Think Analogies

Mind Benders

Fallacy Detectives

GrammarLand

Figuratively Speaking

D'Aulaires Greek Myths (MP)

Beethoven Wig cds

Books on CD, esp. Jim Weiss

 

Literature: Mara, Golden Goblet, Bronze Bow have been big hits.

 

So/so

FM Greece

MUS

 

Jury Still Out

FFL

Henle (ds loves it, but I"m having a hard time)

LLATL

Misses

CW Aesop A&B

 

Science in general

Not getting much art/music in other than CC

Christian Studies MP, but we'll keep trying.

They all loved CC, but we're probably not doing it next year.

 

I can't wait to use MCT, Living Memory, Saxon Teacher or Art Reed's dvds w/Saxon. I have one of each (7/6 and 1/2) to see which we prefer. And a return to our LCC roots.

 

Laura

[TXMary2]

Hits:

 

Apologia General Science

Teaching Textbooks 7

Explode the Code

MUS Primer (flew through it!)

Saxon Math 1 (but switching to Abeka in the fall)

Wordly Wise (use every year)

Keys to Good Language

 

Gets the job done and/or was initially helpful:

 

Starfall.com

Spelling Power

 

 

Didn't work and needed much tweaking in order to work:

 

Winter Promise Animals and Their Worlds

Winter Promise Quest for the Middle Ages

 

I still love WP and I'll probably buy again knowing I'd have to tweak....only because that is easier than writing my own from scratch!

 

Dumped: Sonlight K LA

[ReneTL]

Hits:

This was our first year, so SURVIVAL - sometimes that's the milestone!

Also, Rosetta Stone - my girls really like it and they are actually tossing out some sentences

WWE, although everyone cried at first (including me), we all came around; I probably should have started them a level below; hopefully the scars aren't too deep.

SOTW CD's have been a big hit, although I wasn't able to make an actual study of history happen. There's always next year.

 

Misses

Voyages in English - both girls hated it and I didn't like trying to figure out which writing lessons to skip over. We're going with FLL next year.

 

Everything else was just utilitarian:

Spelling Workout

Prima Latina

Singapore Math (I like it and the girls are doing well, they say they don't like math).

[Socalmom]

This was our first year homeschooling. I've been pleased with how it turned out!

 

Hits -

 

LOF Fractions

LOF Decimals & Percents

Aleks

IEW ancients

IEW poetry memorization

Analytical Grammar

History Odyssey Ancients, level II

Lightning Literature 7

 

Okay (may change) -

 

SWO

Vocabulary for Achievement

 

Didn't get to this year, hoping for next :)

 

Meet the Masters

Trail Guide to World Geography

 

Margie

[bluemongoose]

HITS:

 

Math Mammoth Light Blue Series

MEP Reception for the little one...I think I might try MEP Year 1 with the older kiddo now.

Miquon

Singapore 1A for older, Earlybird for younger--(we love this, but due to $$ we are switching over to MM after we use up what I have already purchased)

Portraits of American Girlhood

Galloping the Globe

Apologia Astronomy

Lollipop Logic

BJU Passaporte al Espanol

 

OK-

A Reason for Handwriting (DD likes the coloring part)

Little Annie's art book of Manners and Etiquette-DD likes this (she picked it out) I think it is kinda silly.

Sing, Spell, Read and Write 1st-DD did very well with the program, but is was not fun.

B4FIAR/FIAR- This worked great with DD, but DS needs it modified a bit. He likes to do lapbooks with it and he will not sit through the whole story in one setting. We read the picture books like chapter books; stopping at a good place and continuing the next day. We read on picture book over 4 days or so instead of reading it 5 times in a row. It works and he likes it this way, so it gets the job done!

Happy Phonics

 

MISSES-

Considering Gods Creation

Speedy Spanish Primer

LLATL

[mama2cntrykids]

I need to come back!

[3Rivers]

Hits:

Teaching Textbooks 5

La Clase Divertida

HWT

Writing Strands

MUS for youngers

 

It'll do:

BJU spelling 6

BJU language arts 3 and 6

 

Nope:

TOG

WP Rockin' Around the Earth

WP K phonics

Spellwell

Anything I try to piece together on my own

 

Epiphany: No curriculum is great, no matter how awesome it seems, if it doesn't get used for whatever reason. Duh. (note to self before attending the book fair this year)