Oak meadow in the middle grades...

[LoveBaby]

Do you like it?

Is it thorough?

Do you supplement?

Is it teacher intensive?

Do you use the complete curriculum or just certain portions?

 

I'm considering this for my 4th and 6th graders next year. I think I might have them both do the 5th grade History/English next year. Then 6th, 7th the following years. They are only 20mos. apart

[Closeacademy]

Do you like it?

 

Love it. It has made life and homeschool so much easier. It has helped my oldest be more independent and I am very happy with it. So happy we did OM5 and am now doing OM6.

 

Is it thorough?

 

It aligns to standards. It has good text (seems very unbiased), good discussion questions and plenty of writing. The spelling and grammar is lacking but I use Spell to Write and Read for spelling and the Scott-Foresman online grammar/composition workbooks for grammar.

 

 

Do you supplement?

 

We use Rod and Staff math instead of OM. If I had the math books, we would probably do both.

 

We are using lapbooks to explore topics deeper and I have assigned reading. We do the outside grammar & spelling.

 

Is it teacher intensive?

 

Grades 5 and up are written to the student so it is as teacher intensive as you want it to be. You can turn it over to your child, guide your child through it or work together.

 

Do you use the complete curriculum or just certain portions?

 

We use the complete curriculum although my oldest didn't like all the books in OM5, so I had her read other things. In OM6, I am having her read the books.

 

 

:001_smile:

[NanceXToo]

We used Oak Meadow last year for fourth grade, we're using it this year for fifth grade, and we'll be using it next year for sixth grade (and Kindergarten for my youngest). We love Oak Meadow over here.

 

I DO think it is "thorough," yes- but with that said, it's NOT textbookish and it's NOT big on worksheets or busywork...it's not going to take hours and hours a day to complete. Yet, it allows for really good discussion, provides titles for supplemental reading, offers choices of really interesting writing assignments, provides hands on activities, and I really do feel that we get lots out of it, without it being dull and dreary and overly time-consuming!

 

I don't supplement- much. This year for 5th I added on a cursive workbook, and very recently the "Sentence Composing for Elementary School" worktext because I thought it sounded really good and I wanted to check it out.

 

We do Teaching Textbooks for math only because my version of Oak Meadow is an older edition, which I bought used, and in the old version, from 5th grade on, they didn't have their own built in math curriculum and suggested Saxon. I knew I didn't want to use Saxon, did some research, and decided Teaching Textbooks would be a good fit for us.

 

But other than that, no I don't go and supplement with second programs for Language Arts or Math or whatever....

 

How teacher intensive it is depends on you and your kids and your preference. For fourth grade, I stayed with my daughter for most things. A lot of it we just ENJOYED doing together, and a lot of it like last year's math and writing assignments, she needed more hand-holding with or just liked company.

 

This year for fifth she's starting to get more independent with a lot of those things, so there will be some things she does on her own, but other things we still do together.

 

I use the complete curriculum (except for math as described above because of the older version I have).

 

If you want to check out my blog (see sig), you can see what our typical days are like using OM for 5th grade. But you can also see the sidebar to the left of my blog for a 4th Grade sample schedule which showed how I broke down a weekly lesson into daily ones, and I included some pictures of some of the things we did, and I provided a link to our first day of 4th grade so you could check it out and click "next" as many times as you want to see what our days were like then, too.

[LoveBaby]

Thank you so much mama's!!

 

I'm really having a hard time keeping everyone together and think this would be the way to go for my older kiddo's to do more independently. Nance, I am encouraged that it's not too textbooky, since I don't really want to go typical textbooks at all.

[Guest]

We are using the online version of OM6 this year. Mine adore it. The online covers spelling and grammar much better than the printed as the 4 core subjects are split out. English and History still align together so one would need both.

[LoveBaby]

If you want to check out my blog (see sig), you can see what our typical days are like using OM for 5th grade. But you can also see the sidebar to the left of my blog for a 4th Grade sample schedule which showed how I broke down a weekly lesson into daily ones, and I included some pictures of some of the things we did, and I provided a link to our first day of 4th grade so you could check it out and click "next" as many times as you want to see what our days were like then, too.

 

I love your blog! It is really helpful to see how a typical day will look!

 

Does the History/English give a list of supplies needed each week or for the year for different projects and activities? Are there additional suggestions for history/literature readings beyond what is listed on the website?

 

Are you happy with the science portion? Up until now, except for using CKE Physics, we haven't used much formal science at all. I haven't been concerned because we do nature study (well, the kids do nature study!) and she can rattle off more facts about various natural science, but I think it's getting to be time for more formal science now, too.

 

Can you tell me more about OM Math, Closeacademy? My oldest has struggled with math from the beginning, although her confidence is building and that has helped a lot. We have used MUS for the last couple of years and more recently ALEKS and TenMarks because they were review products for the TOS Crew. The sample OM Math lessons look written out really well. More conversational than what she is used to, but I think she would really benefit from it!

 

Thanks again for all of your help!

[NanceXToo]

Somewhere in each lesson in the English/US History syllabus it lets you know what you're doing that week that will require supplies. Like in lesson 1, on the last page of the lesson, it has an "extra credit" project listed, which is to "make your own compass" and then it says "you will need..." and tells you what you'll need.

 

Toward the end of Lesson 2, it gives instructions for a "Making A Sailboat" activity and tells you there what you will need...

 

It's usually at the end of the social studies lessons that it tells you what project you might be doing and what you will need.

 

So I would just look ahead a week or so and make note of what you'd need in the coming week or two. Or flip through a bunch of lessons at once taking notes on what you might need and get it in advance if that's easier for you.

 

The end of each social studies lesson is also where they provide titles for "Extra Reading." I've gotten into the habit of looking ahead a week or so for that, too, and then ordering titles online at my library or through ILL.

 

Actually, in the beginning of the syllabus there's an "Outline for Social Studies Curriculum" and it lists what each lesson is about and provides titles right there for optional/supplemental reading for each lesson. Almost every lesson provides suggestions for extra/optional reading, and many give quite a few choices.

 

We do really like the science curriculum. My daughter loves it. This year, it's mostly reading a short lesson in the syllabus (and occasionally the teachers' guide will list a few optional/supplemental reading titles) and then some sort of activity which often involves a bit of writing, discussion, and/or doing some drawings, and sometimes involves some fun hands-on activities.

 

We've read about things that decompose and don't and then buried items in the backyard to later dig up and examine for changes. We started and maintained (for a little while) a simple worm bin (we had a choice of that or a compost pile). We've made a big, multi-media forest mural. We've made our own bird feeder, drawn food web and food chain and animal pictures, chose an area to do a "biome observation project," etc. There are other similar projects coming up, too; we're only halfway through the curriculum.

 

Again, like the other stuff, it's not very textbookish, the lessons are short, there are no worksheets or tests or anything like that- but what they DO give, they also give you "activities" that lead to interesting discussion, interesting writing assignments, fun projects and so on.

 

I honestly think my daughter learns more this way than she would if she were doing something more textbookish- that if it seemed dull or monotonous or overly technical, she'd put it out of her head as soon as we were finished with it, and not retain a lot of it, you know what I mean?

[EKS]

I would say that how much you like Oak Meadow depends on what type of homeschooler you are. If you like everything laid out and in one spot for you, OM is not the way to go. (My experience is with OM5 history/English and OM7 earth science.) In order to get the most out of the lessons, it is necessary to do lots of outside reading, which must be gathered. The syllabus is *not* a complete source of instruction.

 

That said, OM has wonderful assignments. They require thought and creativity from the student.