Dolphin Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 We have just completed our 1st year of homeschool. I mean one calendar year, I am surprised how much we did not get done. I want to do things differently next year. I feel that we have learnt a lot, and the biggest thing is to simplify. Our biggest success this year was AAS, we made it all the way through level one and a good start on level 2. I am planning on getting through at least level 3 this year. This is a must keep, so spelling is done. We struggled with Math, but we have finally found a good plan for that. We are doing Teaching Textbooks, with Singapore Math's extra practice workbook My son loved Latina Christiana, but started to struggle at week 5. We pushed through to week 10, but then I figured that he just was not ready. We stopped and occasionally have reviewed the first 5 weeks, so he is really comfortable in the basics. I am going to get a new workbook and we are going to try again on that one. I really like FLL and WWE, but it really did not seem to work well, and we barely got into them. Soooo, here is the first place where I am looking for a change. MCT. People are raving about it. Would that replace FLL, WWE, Vocab, and Lit? How much time does it take to do. I love the concept of SOTW, but I found that I spent a lot of time trying to add other things in, and then I just got really behind. I am thinking of adding Sonlight Core E as my main history program, and getting the Story of the World 4 as a book to read along with it. Has anyone had experience with this. Again, time scale would be appreciated. So, I have some questions about Sonlight and MCT. Would they work well with our curriculum. etc.... Also, does this look like biting off a big chunk, or a reasonable amount for a 4th grader. Have I forgotten anything? Does anything over lap where I just don't realize. Language Arts: AAS MCT full set GD Italic History Sonlight Core E SOTW 4 Math TT 3 and 4 Singapore Math extra practice 2 Foreign Language Latina Christiana 1 Science I am still trying to figure out. Has anyone used the Max Axiom book? We are doing Physics. Art, Music and all that will be added once I figure out how to get all the rest done. Thanks in advance for looking and for any advice. Nicole Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almondbutterandjelly Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 I have not used MCT. Since you didn't do well with FLL and WWE, you may just want to ease into grammar with something like The Sentence Family. It's very enjoyable and you'll definitely be able to finish it. That would be your grammar portion of LA. For composition, you would need something else. I recommend All Things Fun and Fascinating by Lori Verstegen (IEW). Vocabulary would be taken care of by Latin, so I wouldn't worry about it for 4th grade. For literature, I really like BJU literature or Mosdos literature. Both excellent programs. Don't plan on completing the whole books, though. Pick and choose. Your plans for history seem like you are doubling up. My suggestion would be to pick either Sonlight or SOTW and go with it. Actually, that's not entirely true. If you had problems finishing everything you wanted, Sonlight and SOTW are pretty time-consuming. There are great options for US History that are less time-consuming. Christian Liberty Press has A Child's Story of America which is wonderful. I also like their American Pioneers and Patriots. For a secular program, you could use A Complete Book of US History by McGraw Hill. BJU Press has wonderful US History texts you could read through together and enjoy. BJU Heritage Studies 1 covers native americans and Jamestown and Plymouth. Heritage Studies 2 covers colonial life and leading up to the American Revolution. H.S. 3 does 1776-1876, I believe. Then H.S. 4 covers 1769-1903. All very colorful, interesting options. Max Axiom is wonderful for science. I would pair it up with a corresponding Science Wiz kit. Makes a really fun science year. That's what we did for 4th grade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 If you do SOTW 4 with the AG, and have your child complete the outlining, you'd get a lot of writing in. Add in a grammar program, tie a lot of the lit to history (there are lists you can coordinate to each chapter, or nearly each chapter, of SOTW), and you will be good to go. Latin and reading good books will cover vocab for 4th, as another poster said. SOTW 4--Each chapter is neatly divided into 2 sections, so you can do history 2 or 3 times a week, for about an hour each. Easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphin Posted July 2, 2011 Author Share Posted July 2, 2011 Do I need to round out the SOTW 4 with extras, or is just reading, and the activity book enough? All I really do from the activity book is the discussion/narration part, the coloring pages and the map work. So many people seem to do so much more with history and add in things. Could I have it as a stand alone program? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Entropymama Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 Do I need to round out the SOTW 4 with extras, or is just reading, and the activity book enough? All I really do from the activity book is the discussion/narration part, the coloring pages and the map work. So many people seem to do so much more with history and add in things. Could I have it as a stand alone program? I think if you do the activities in the activity book it would be plenty. We usually do the games, art projects, etc. and I find it's more than enough. It also gives literature selections, so that would cover some lit. Personally, I think it would be too much to do SOTW and a Sonlight Core; they're both stand alone programs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 We have just completed our 1st year of homeschool. I mean one calendar year, I am surprised how much we did not get done. I want to do things differently next year. I feel that we have learnt a lot, and the biggest thing is to simplify. Sounds like everyone's first year. ;)We have just completed our 1st year of homeschool. I mean one calendar year, I am surprised how much we did not get done. I want to do things differently next year. I feel that we have learnt a lot, and the biggest thing is to simplify. Our biggest success this year was AAS, we made it all the way through level one and a good start on level 2. I am planning on getting through at least level 3 this year. This is a must keep, so spelling is done. We struggled with Math, but we have finally found a good plan for that. We are doing Teaching Textbooks, with Singapore Math's extra practice workbook My son loved Latina Christiana, but started to struggle at week 5. We pushed through to week 10, but then I figured that he just was not ready. We stopped and occasionally have reviewed the first 5 weeks, so he is really comfortable in the basics. I am going to get a new workbook and we are going to try again on that one. I really like FLL and WWE, but it really did not seem to work well, and we barely got into them. Soooo, here is the first place where I am looking for a change. MCT. People are raving about it. Would that replace FLL, WWE, Vocab, and Lit? How much time does it take to do. I love the concept of SOTW, but I found that I spent a lot of time trying to add other things in, and then I just got really behind. I am thinking of adding Sonlight Core E as my main history program, and getting the Story of the World 4 as a book to read along with it. Has anyone had experience with this. Again, time scale would be appreciated. So, I have some questions about Sonlight and MCT. Would they work well with our curriculum. etc.... Also, does this look like biting off a big chunk, or a reasonable amount for a 4th grader. Have I forgotten anything? Does anything over lap where I just don't realize. Language Arts: AAS MCT full set GD Italic History Sonlight Core E SOTW 4 Math TT 3 and 4 Singapore Math extra practice 2 Foreign Language Latina Christiana 1 Science I am still trying to figure out. Has anyone used the Max Axiom book? We are doing Physics. Art, Music and all that will be added once I figure out how to get all the rest done. Thanks in advance for looking and for any advice. Nicole Personally, I feel that Sonlight would be too much. I don't consider it simple at all. Other than that it looks like a good plan! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 Do I need to round out the SOTW 4 with extras, or is just reading, and the activity book enough? All I really do from the activity book is the discussion/narration part, the coloring pages and the map work. So many people seem to do so much more with history and add in things. Could I have it as a stand alone program? YES! Don't worry about adding the suggested reading or doing projects. It is just not necessary. SOTW with what you are doing is plenty for history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2_girls_mommy Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 Do I need to round out the SOTW 4 with extras, or is just reading, and the activity book enough? All I really do from the activity book is the discussion/narration part, the coloring pages and the map work. So many people seem to do so much more with history and add in things. Could I have it as a stand alone program? For the most part this is what we do, with the exception of reading extra books from the library. I just reserve all of the books from home on my computer. Then I pick them up and drop them in a big box we keep for the purpose. When it is time for dds silent reading, they dig through there. AT bedtime we have always read to the kids, so dh and I pick from there. We do not get through all of the extra books, but we do read quite a bit of them, especially the beautiful picture books. dd8 reads the longer chapter books on her own reading time. She just finished one on the discovery of the Rosetta Stone. She told me that it was much more interesting than she thought it was going to be :) As for history time, I read the section aloud while they color the picture. I ask the questions aloud, we discuss, then I help them with a narration. My 3rd, going into 4th grade, dd is responsible for writing on her own. I help the 6yr old. That's it for the most part. When they were younger and didn't have so many other things going on we did more projects. Now we do more memory work and poetry and such instead of all of the art projects. As for Latin, maybe you should go back to Prima Latina. We did that last yr for 3rd grade. It was nice and gentle. Good luck with your year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphin Posted July 2, 2011 Author Share Posted July 2, 2011 Okay, so it looks like drop the Sonlight part, and just stick with SOTW. MCT, I am thinking of just doing the whole program. I do well with structure and a schedule (which Angela at SatoriSmiles so kindly put up, thank you again) and maybe add in the lit component there. What about the Max Axiom books over at Timberdoodle, has anyone used those? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphin Posted July 2, 2011 Author Share Posted July 2, 2011 Oh, and I have the Prima Latina DVD's. Someone posted and another person PM'ed me about that. I am thinking maybe as part of summer school I will have him watch Prima Latina and make flash cards for the vocabulary, then start in on Latina Christiana 1 in the fall. I want to make use of what I have as I just looked at the MCT price. Do you think that would get him a little more prepared? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphin Posted July 4, 2011 Author Share Posted July 4, 2011 bump Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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