jillian Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 What subjects/topics do you insist on covering during the grammar stage? Do you stick strictly to TWTM subjects? Do you have anything extra you add in? Toss out? For example is learning the artistic mediums such as teaching your kids to draw/paint/etc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa in the UP of MI Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 My plan is going to be a little different for each child. I'm definitely loosening up and learning to do more things on my own now that I'm teaching my second and third children. In general, these are the important things for us: Language arts: learning to read (through word building/AAS and reading games) spelling (AAS) copywork, narration, and dictation from stories that we read aloud grammar (basic parts of speech, sentences, and capitalization rules in first and second grade and a more formal program probably starting around 3rd grade) Math: Just continue to progress as they are able. It has worked well for my oldest to work from two programs. I may or may not continue to use two programs with my younger kids. They will each be taught their own combination of programs as I see fit. Science: I don't really have any specific plans for this subject. Some informal and some formal study as I see fit. History: Start a 6 year cycle in third grade. In first grade read fairy tales and American history biographies. In second grade read Saint stories and other tales from around the world (talking a little about geography as we read stories from particular places). Latin: They are all exposed to Latin informally already. Other than my oldest, I plan to start them on a more formal program around 3rd grade. Spanish: Again, they are all exposed informally already. Formal study will begin around second grade if their English skills have progressed well enough. Faith Formation: They learn Bible stories, saint stories, and other basic traditions of our faith. Second graders will prepare for the sacraments. Music and Art: Would like to become more formal in the study of these subjects, especially music. It's just one more thing to fit in and we are quite busy already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephg Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 Lisa - Would you mind listing what you are planning to use for your 6 year history cycle? For some reason you have me intrigued by the 6 year cycle. Thanks. Stephanie ds8 Micah and ds3 Agi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa in the UP of MI Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 (edited) Lisa - Would you mind listing what you are planning to use for your 6 year history cycle? For some reason you have me intrigued by the 6 year cycle. I'm using some ideas from The Latin-Centered Curriculum, bumped up a grade. Third grade: Bible stories through Moses Ancient Egypt Fourth Grade: Rest of the Old Testament Ancient Greece Fifth Grade: New Testament Ancient Rome Sixth Grade: Medieval History Seventh Grade: Early Modern Eighth Grade: Late Modern I plan to use the Golden Children's Bible for Bible stories. I'm still looking into ideas for history. I think I'll use The Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt by Elizabeth Payne and Tales of Ancient Egypt by Rodger Lancelyn Green for third grade. For fourth grade, possibly: The Story of the Greeks and The Children's Plutarch: Tales of the Greeks. In fifth I'm considering The Story of the Romans and The Children's Plutarch: Tales of the Romans as spines. I haven't really started planning the other years yet. I won't be using a program, though I may end up using a Catholic textbook for grades 6-8 if I can't find anything else suitable. We'll mostly just be reading, possibly doing some projects. Edited February 1, 2012 by Lisa in the UP of MI Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 For grammar stage we do the following subjects: History (4 year cycle) Language arts: reading (as needed), handwriting, grammar, composition, spelling Math: Mostly Singapore with some MEP and logic books thrown in Piano Science Latin (starting in 4th) Art: my kids are very interested in creating art. It is mostly what they do on their own. I do provide lots of different mediums and let them explore. I use proper vocabulary to give them the words to describe what they are doing. I have a friend who is an art teacher and she is always happy to give them an impromptu lesson. Honestly, with all of that I don't have much time to do much else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 What subjects/topics do you insist on covering during the grammar stage? Do you stick strictly to TWTM subjects? Do you have anything extra you add in? Toss out? For example is learning the artistic mediums such as teaching your kids to draw/paint/etc? I tend to roughly follow WTM, but not to the letter. For example, I'm really not focusing on art at all this year. We're more of a musical family than an artistic family (ie, a bunch of engineers that can't draw anything but stick figures :lol:). This morning, my son drew a picture of an old woman and Thor (notebooking for history), and the old woman was a stick figure with squiggly outlines. I thought that was quite creative! :D Ok, so what I teach in the grammar stage: Bible Math Grammar (though I'm ok with waiting until 2nd or 3rd grade... I wouldn't want to wait longer than that, but for child #3 I will probably not start until 2nd... child #2 may need to start early because he uses poor grammar in speech - just today, he said "I are..." and he's 5 :tongue_smilie:... if I were to start over with child #1, I'd just start KISS Grammar in 2nd grade and not worry about grammar before that age) Composition (copywork, dictation, narration... goal being that they be able to write their own narration by the end of 4th grade and be ready to start WWS in 5th) Spelling Reading/Literature (phonics is either taught here or in spelling - oldest taught himself to read, so he got phonics via spelling and I didn't teach reading... instead, I have him read good literature) - note that I do not do literary analysis at this point, nor do I do book reports. Reading comprehension comes from oral narrations. History (world history and/or American history)... oldest did SOTW1 and 2, and he'll do American History the next 2 years because he already read through SOTW3 and 4 on his own and is working on them a second time now. Middle child will start with American History because of where oldest is. Youngest may very well get a regular 4 year world history cycle. We'll see. Science - not picky about how this is done. It can be interest led, random library books, etc. Anything we do will be more than what my son was getting in private school in this subject. ;) I'm not really following the 4 year cycle in WTM on this one. We're just kind of going our own way, doing whatever we feel like at the time. That's for grades 1-4 (ages 6-9). For K (age 5), I will just plan to do the 3R's, and anything else the child can tag along with if he wants to. Today we did science - astronomy, and my 5 year old tagged along since he was interested, but I didn't have him do history - he's not ready to understand SOTW. My focus for him is learning to read. Once he's reading well, we can add in other subjects in a more formal manner. He's not K yet, as that will be next year, so right now he only does school when he wants to, and it's literally about 5-15 minutes of school. I'm thinking by time he starts K, he'll have most of his addition facts memorized. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephg Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 Lisa - I'll have to look into the Latin-Centered Curriculum! Thanks, Stephanie ds8 Micah ds3 Agi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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