2012-2013 Choices...

[Runningmom80]

I'm going to post, but with a big "subject to change at any given second" warning. :001_huh::confused::glare::lol:

 

DS 5 (6 in november) first grade in the fall

 

Math: SM 3A &B, beast academy 3B, and hopefully C & D. (we may drop sm if BA works out as a spine)

 

Language arts: MCT island, and reading from a list I've compiled from ambleside & great books academy, as well as some "modern" classics from an awesome list Rivka posted on the general board.

 

Science: mostly nature studies, but we also have cmites within driving distance, so we will follow rabbit trails from those classes.

 

History: SOTW 1 & activity book

 

Latin: minimus, and possibly something else?

 

French: skoldo....but looking for something else as well.

 

Art: my goal for first grade is to get him to color in the lines.

 

Handwriting: :banghead:

 

Music: drum lessons and Suzuki double bass

 

PE: city soccer league and swimming at the YMCA

 

 

 

I think that's everything.......

Edited May 12, 2012 by Runningmom80

[serendipitous journey]

This is such a treat to read over ... and I am entranced with so many plans; I think Mandy's poems and art are delightful!

 

Ours is jittering a bit, but here's the current plan for Button's second grade; he'll be just turned 7:

 

Math: keep learning. We're currently in a whirl of curricula, MUS (Delta & Epsilon), Singapore (4A), and MEP (3b, I think). I've just ordered Kitchen Table Math 2 b/c Button's been conceptually stuck on long division (the procedure of it) for a few months now, and it's holding us back a bit; when that's under his belt, the whole world of before-algebra fun opens up.

 

Reading: Free and Treadwell readers, 3rd or 4th grade.

 

Spelling: finish the Modern Speller, then either use Phonics Pathways for lists or Wheeler's Elementary Speller. I think Button would much much prefer the Elementary Speller, but I like systematic things ...

 

Handwriting: Zaner-Bloser, on grade level.

 

Writing/Composition: continue with WWE2, or start WWE3, using our history readings; continue/finish Primary Language Lessons.

 

Grammar: KISS.

 

Poetry: aside from reading, drawn from AO Year2, we'll be doing a poetry writing seminar a la "Wishes, Lies, and Dreams".

 

Science: Nancy Larson just bombed here. :tongue_smilie: I have two Apologia texts and experiment kits but we are not YE and I am tired of re-writing the texts (if you are YE it is fine, but if you are not there is rather a lot of assumptions and statements that one will disagree with) ... so either will keep with Apologia or jump to GEMS. Am leaning to GEMS, esp. b/c the PEACHES (preschool & up) kits can be made interesting to Button while also fun for Bot-bot to tag along.

 

History: From Ambleside readings, Eggleston for American, SOTW2.

 

Literature: From AO Year 2, plus general children's classics and modern, picture-book fairy tales with a focus on non-European versions.

 

Language: finish GSWL, then on to Lively Latin probably; maybe keep with L'Art de Lire and move to Dire?; am so tempted to try Better Chinese but not sure I can keep up with it, even if we did drop French. Somewhere in there we'd like to at least learn the Greek alphabet.

 

Music: recorder; AO or HUFI.

 

Art: AO artist study; drawing a la Emberley; and I hope a general art intro.

 

Typing: probably Mavis Beacon.

 

phys ed: continue hip-hop; add akido or gymnastics; start the Royal Canadian Air Force 5X at age level.

[FairProspects]

Science: Nancy Larson just bombed here. :tongue_smilie: I have two Apologia texts and experiment kits but we are not YE and I am tired of re-writing the texts (if you are YE it is fine, but if you are not there is rather a lot of assumptions and statements that one will disagree with) ... so either will keep with Apologia or jump to GEMS. Am leaning to GEMS, esp. b/c the PEACHES (preschool & up) kits can be made interesting to Button while also fun for Bot-bot to tag along.

 

 

It depends on your kid, and how much they like or are gifted in science, but if you end up going with GEMS, I would pick a level higher up. They are very, very simple at the lower levels and almost caused us to give up on GEMS altogether. The higher level ones are much better (I was just planning out some of ours today and it uses binary code and algebra), but depending on how much of an experimenter/tinkerer your child is, they may have already intuited many or all of the lower level unit objectives.

[MissKNG]

 

Small girl will begin K4:

 

BJU Bible

Singapore Essentials ?

I don't know what else yet. I need to wait and see where she's at.

 

Small girl update for K4!!

 

She will enjoy Sonlight P4/5 with Singapore Math!

[poetic license]

Handwriting: :banghead:

 

 

you too, huh? I've got a son the same age so I feel your pain. He tried some cursive recently and his handwriting was much better so I'm toying with the idea of trying that out along with the HWT print font.

[Parker Martin]

DS5 Kindergarten

 

Math, MM, Kitchen Table, and BA

Sonlight Core A

Sonlight Science A

Additional books from Ambleside and elsewhere

Nature Study

StartWrite

Artistic Pursuits

Religious studies pulled together from a variety of things

CM style picture and music studies

Piano

Gymnastics

 

Possibly Chinese school. He's obsessed with languages and wants to do French, but I don't have a native speaker to teach him.

[musicianmom]

As of today, these are our choices.

 

dd, 2nd grade:

 

SOTW1 with activity guide

BFSU

Apologia Botany

Singapore 3 with Beast Academy

R&S4 Grammar with MCT Island

The Easy French

Latina Christiana

Cheerful Cursive

Ambleside Online reading selections

Atelier Art

 

dd, almost-K

 

HOD Little Hands to Heaven

The Reading Lesson

Singapore Earlybird B

A Reason for Handwriting

Atelier Art

 

ds3

 

HOD LHTH with sister

[crazyforlatin]

It depends on your kid, and how much they like or are gifted in science, but if you end up going with GEMS, I would pick a level higher up. They are very, very simple at the lower levels and almost caused us to give up on GEMS altogether. The higher level ones are much better (I was just planning out some of ours today and it uses binary code and algebra), but depending on how much of an experimenter/tinkerer your child is, they may have already intuited many or all of the lower level unit objectives.

 

 

Thanks for this advice because I made a mistake with Singapore Science; we went with the lower level, and now I'm stuck with books that would seem just right for a first grader but not for DD.

 

What do you consider the lower levels of GEMS? P-4?

[FairProspects]

Thanks for this advice because I made a mistake with Singapore Science; we went with the lower level, and now I'm stuck with books that would seem just right for a first grader but not for DD.

 

What do you consider the lower levels of GEMS? P-4?

 

The PK-2 ones. The 3+ are much more interesting. The exception is the guides labeled 1-6, like the Festival ones. I haven't done those personally, but have heard they are better on the upper end of the range, so I'm sure they would be good too.

[Beth in SW WA]

 

Possibly Chinese school. He's obsessed with languages and wants to do French, but I don't have a native speaker to teach him.

 

Is your Chinese school daily? If not, try BetterChinese for daily practice. My dds started a Saturday Mandarin class with other adopted girls from China -- but they still need to practice daily with BetterChinese. I'm not expecting fluency but they sure enjoy it and have a natural aptitude for the language. BetterChinese will give you a generous trial of the program and they are wonderful at answering questions via email.

[slackermom]

I am still working on summer plans! We are doing a series of intensive history&language units (Irish, French, Latin, Chinese) over the summer, so we may both need a break in September.:tongue_smilie:

 

DD is on a waitlist to transfer to a different school this fall, so I will have a better idea of our 2012-2013 afterschooling plans when we know where she will be. The new school would include Chinese language study during and after school. We have decided on a few things, regardless of where she will be:

 

-DD will continue violin and dance lessons. She is advancing to the next level of dance, which will require a bit more of her time.

-DD will continue Math Circle, BA (as it is released), and add something like Math Olympiad Contest Problems.

-DD will be a catechumen in the upcoming year, so activities related to that will take up a significant amount of time.

-DD will study the history of technology in the upcoming year.

[Beth in SW WA]

The new school would include Chinese language study during and after school.

 

How wonderful!

[Spy Car]

Son 7/8 (July birthday)

 

Language Arts: MCT Town

 

Math: Primary Mathematics 4A/B with IPs/CWP. Beast Academy (as released). And many supplements (MEP, PGCM, and selected AoPS Prealgebra included).

 

Latin: Informally continue with Minimus and Lingua Latina.

 

Spelling: I have no idea, but I'm starting to think we need something more systematic than the public school approach.

 

Piano/Basketball/Chess/Cooking

 

And books...books...books!

 

Bill

[Nicholas_mom]

Hi Mandy,

 

Can you tell me more about>>>>>> Composition- Spectrum Writing (although now I am looking at Rockets, Radar, and Robotics :glare:)

 

Just the title Rockets, radar, and Robotics for Composition might make my son want to write more :lol:

[Parker Martin]

Is your Chinese school daily? If not, try BetterChinese for daily practice. My dds started a Saturday Mandarin class with other adopted girls from China -- but they still need to practice daily with BetterChinese. I'm not expecting fluency but they sure enjoy it and have a natural aptitude for the language. BetterChinese will give you a generous trial of the program and they are wonderful at answering questions via email.

 

Great info. I had no idea about which Chinese curriculum to use. Do I want the set called "My First Chinese Words Set (36 Books + Audio CD)?"

[slackermom]

How wonderful!

 

I've got my fingers crossed. :001_smile:

[Beth in SW WA]

Great info. I had no idea about which Chinese curriculum to use. Do I want the set called "My First Chinese Words Set (36 Books + Audio CD)?"

This may help:

 

Dear Beth,

 

Thank you for your interest in Better Chinese. From looking at your children’s age, the best series to start with will be “My First Chinese Readers”. I have opened an online trial account for you to view the first volume of this series. Below is you login information. You can login through our website http://www.betterchinese.com:'>http://www.betterchinese.com:

 

In this trial account, you will be able to see the animated version of the lesson stories. It also include other activities such as exercise, other stories, voice recording and many more. For this series, it also have textbooks, workbooks, and many more support materials.

 

Please let me know if you have any other questions. You can purchase all the materials on our website http://www.betterchinese.com. Have a nice day!

Best Regards,

-Denise Chen

 

BETTER CHINESE TEAM

640 Waverley St.

Palo Alto, CA 94301

T. +1-650-384-0902

F. +1-702-442-7968

denise.chen@betterchinese.com

http://www.betterchinese.com

[crazyforlatin]

The PK-2 ones. The 3+ are much more interesting. The exception is the guides labeled 1-6, like the Festival ones. I haven't done those personally, but have heard they are better on the upper end of the range, so I'm sure they would be good too.

 

Thank you, FairProspects, really appreciate the warning and advice!

 

I know a couple of people asked about French courses, and I've found a combination of BtB French, Skoldo, Chardenal (vintage), and other vintage materials useful, even without a French tutor. I had DD listen to BtB CD every morning (Skoldo in the afternoons) for several weeks, and I think her accent is quite good. We learn pronunciation rules from Chardenal. I also have a couple of French dictionary apps on my iPad, so that she can type in a word and hear it pronounced by native speakers.

 

A word about Better Chinese: I've used various programs in the past 3 years, and what I like about BC is that the child doesn't need to be writing difficult characters at the outset before reading. The child just needs to recognize a bunch of characters, some of them albeit difficult, and then be able to read a couple of challenging paragraphs.

 

Also, it has nice large type, whereas some of the other books I've used are tiny.

[Karenciavo]

Ds9

Math: LOF Pre-A Economics, AoPS pre-algebra, LOF Algebra I

History & Literature: TOG Year 3 dialectic

Science: Ellen McHenry Cell Biology and Intro to Neurology, co-op classes

Grammar: CLE, not sure which level yet, will check at GHC

Writing: WWS?

Latin: finish Latin Book 1, start Latin Book 2

Logic: The Thinking Toolbox followed by the Fallacy Detective

Art: co-op classes

Greek: We may start this in January, after we finish LB1. We'll use EG I think. I'll check out Greek for Children A at GHC

[Mandy in TN]

Hi Mandy,

 

Can you tell me more about>>>>>> Composition- Spectrum Writing (although now I am looking at Rockets, Radar, and Robotics :glare:)

 

Just the title Rockets, radar, and Robotics for Composition might make my son want to write more :lol:

This is a new title from IEW. :)

HTH-

Mandy

[aly9712]

DD (turned 8 last month) will be continuing at Montessori School.

I expect that she'll finish EPGY Language 6th grade & Math mostly through 5th by the end of summer. Most likely we'll explore:

 

Beast Academy, SM Challenging Word Problems &

Hands on Equations App.

 

For reading comprehension, we use a program called www.achieve3000.com & MCT literature.

 

lots of science and historical non-fiction books.

 

Weekly local young writers club.

Gymnastics

 

DD (age 4 in April) will also be continuing at Montessori.

Our goal is to build reading and math interest while exploring various outside activities to see what she ejoys (music, gymnastics, karate, etc.)

She currently uses www.ixl.com & www.raz-kids.com to practice skills.

[Nan in Mass]

Mine aren't accelerated, just brightish and... odd...

Here is what youngest is doing for 12th grade:

 

French this summer in Switzerland, living with a family and taking Université de Lausanne's summer French course

During the year:

Histoire/Géographie 3e

Some great books (just reading them)

At community college:

Calc 1+2

Physics 1+2

Intro Bio 1

Java

Composition 1

 

And then gymnastics and his endless strategy games and probably some piano.

 

And college applications. Gulp.

 

Nan

[Mélie]

I'm going to post this here in an effort to stop myself from changing my mind again.

 

2012-2013

 

Max (5)

WWE 1

FLL 1

Spelling Workout A

HWOT 2

Logic Safari 2 & 3

Pre-history/Ancient History (SOTW & others)

Beast Academy 3A+

Math Mammoth Blue Series

+ fun math

 

Dom (4)

WWE 1

FLL 1

Spelling Workout A

HWOT 1

Lollipop Logic 2 & 3

Pre-history/Ancient History (SOTW & others)

Singapore Essential B, then MM 1A

 

This looks kind of ridiculous, but we won't start it all at once. We're starting the language arts and math in two weeks and will leave history until August or September.

[nova147]

I'm going to post this here in an effort to stop myself from changing my mind again.

 

Good luck with that. :D

[Beth in SW WA]

Bumping to see if anyone else wants to chime in. :bigear:

 

I made a few changes since I started this thread. Dd9 loves the Kinetic Books Alg 1 sample and wants to use it for alg for the year along w/ Rachna (via Cybershala) and Ben (Crewton Ramone). The rest of my changes aren't too exciting. More science & tech than I originally planned. Less history.

 

Dd9's Landry classes start in a couple weeks so I'm pre-reading and gearing up mentally for a full load by mid-month.

 

Anyone else is full school mode yet? :)

[quark]

Beth! You are back! I've missed you. :grouphug:

 

I'm afraid plans change too often in our home for me to continue making them. :tongue_smilie: But I love reading about others'.

[Embassy]

Good luck with that. :D

 

:lol: Mine have changed a lot since I posted here.

[crazyforlatin]

Good to see you back, Beth!

 

I must have subscribed to this thread without posting any plans. :tongue_smilie:

[boscopup]

Surprisingly, I've only changed a little bit since I posted. :lol: We are in full school mode. This is our 6th week of school, and DS1 will start history (Sonlight) again next week, since we already did the first 4 weeks at the end of last school year. I'm trying to keep DS1 and DS2's cores on the same week, so I don't get confused. :tongue_smilie: He's doing everything else though, and Sonlight isn't that hard to add in - he loves reading about history! :D

 

I've changed writing, dropping WWE3 completely. We're just doing SWI-A right now. Afterwards, I'll use TWSS to write across curriculum for a while (until he's ready for WWS in 5th grade or so).

 

For science, DS1 finished Apologia Astronomy on his own, so I'm just doing a read-a-bunch-of-books method for science, letting him do experiements that he comes across if we have supplies for them. He's now big enough to do more on his own, which is nice!

 

We're also doing MCT Vocab and Poetry (Island level).

 

We've dropped Apples & Pears. I need spelling to be fairly independent, or I don't do it. It's just a subject that bores me to death, and my son needs consistency. We're being consistent with R&S Spelling, so we'll stick with that long term. It is working well for him now.

 

Math is the same (just started SM 5A today, with those dreaded NUMBER WORDS... Oh how he hates those lessons :lol:). We're using LoF Fractions with it, and will continue to Decimals when we get done with Fractions. He enjoys Fred.

 

DS2's lineup hasn't changed, and he's doing well with what we've started. Though I did make arrangements to purchase a used LoF Apples locally (for $5, I'll try it!!!), so we'll see if he's ready for that. He may need to wait a year. I dunno. He's doing 1st grade math, but his listening comprehension is not quite there yet when it comes to longer books.

 

DS3 is now doing MEP Reception, which I hadn't planned on doing. He really wants to do SM EM K, but I haven't purchased him a set of books yet. He currently colors in the used books from DS2. I'll get him his own next year when he's 4. In the meantime, I let him play with C-rods and such, and MEP R is pretty gentle. He LOVES the little bear game (and I'm sure that Winnie the Pooh is not licensed use :lol:).

 

We're having a good year so far! I'm figuring out a schedule that works for us so we get everything done. I feel fairly relaxed. I'm reading aloud to the middle child more. The kids are clearly learning new things. It's all good. :D

[besroma]

:lurk5:

[FairProspects]

Mostly changes with the younger, who is a shockingly fast processor.

 

I'm struggling to figure out what to do with him since he hasn't made the jump to reading fluency yet, but is super bored with the content of The Fat Cat Sat, etc. I'm moving him into more of a 1st grade program, with AAS 1, copywork, FLL 1 and I may start him on WWE 1 too (he's ready for the comprehension, not sure about the copywork). I'm giving him the Singapore 1B placement test this week, and other than beginning multiplication which we will cover in Miquon, I think we'll be moving on to 2A. Every time I make math harder, he still finishes in 10 min., so I'm not sure what to make of that.

 

I'm also not sure what to do with him language-wise while I wait for reading fluency to click. :confused: Lots of read-alouds? It seems crazy that a kid who can do literary analysis with me about characters and extrapolates concepts from one book to another can't read himself, but there it is. I think I just have really backwards kids. :lol:

[KAR120C]

Could have sworn I did... maybe on another thread.

 

One major change - DS announced that he's going to learn Calculus this year. I had Precalculus on the list, but I think he can do it. We'll aim for AB so he has something "normal" to do next year (when I'm 99% sure he'll be in school....), but goodness knows it's not entirely up to me at this point! I have materials for him to go through multivariable if he were really dead set on it.

 

And with that change came a change in Physics - we'll aim for the C exams (mechanics and electricity/magnetism) instead of B, although B would be fine if we just don't make it through all the C material.

 

We're actually going to back off Spanish a bit... he's in year 3 with OK State and instead of pushing through to 4 we're going to add in more readings and run through Pimsleur to speed up his conversation a bit.

[Mandy in TN]

Ds 9yo

 

Language Arts

Grammar- Harvey’s Elementary Grammar with Mott’s Workbooks

Spelling- Webster’s 1824 Speller from Don Potter’s site

Composition- Spectrum Writing (although now I am looking at Rockets, Radar, and Robotics :glare:)

Figurative Language- Figuratively Speaking

Literature- various, mostly tied to geography studies

 

Math

Drill- Kumon

Exploration- AOPS Intro to Counting and Probability

Textbook- Teaching Textbooks Algebra 2

 

Science

some standards based study and memory work

Sciencesaurus Grade 4-5

Science Daybook 5

Memoria Press Science Grade 4 Insects

 

Social Studies

World Geography- various

 

Spanish

Learnables

 

Religious Studies and Mythology

(wks 1-9) Selections from The Children’s Bible in 365 Stories by Mary Batchelor

(wks 10-12) Selections from d’Aulaires’ Book of Norse Myths

(wks 13-17) Selections from d’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths

(wks 18-20) Selections from Tales from Africa

(wks 21-27) Clouds of Glory: Legends and Stories about Bible Times

(wks 28-36) Ramayana: Divine Loophole

(wks 28-36) Selections from The Little Book of Hindu Deities

 

Poet/ Composer/ Artist Studies

(1st quarter) Jane Yolen's Color Me a Rhyme: Nature Poems for Young People/ Ambleside's 2014-2015 TERM 1: Children's Classics/ Blue Rider artists

(2nd quarter) Valerie Worth's All the Small Poems/ Handel/ Rembrandt

(3rd quarter) Wayne Visser's I Am An African (I am not sure about this poet, but, if he won't work for us, I will use Rumi.)/ Brahms/ Henri Rousseau

(4th quarter) Issa- Cool Melons- Turn to Frogs! and Basho- Grass Sandals/ Stravinsky/ Chagall

 

We will be continuing with drama, art lessons, and violin. We are considering the National Mythology Exam, Lego Robotics, Math Olympiad, Youth Orchestra, and 4-H Shooting Sports.

 

Next year I will only have the the little man at home and I am finding it difficult to plan. It is just difficult to imagine the time stretched before us with just the two of us together every day!:001_huh:

 

Mandy

 

Bumping to see if anyone else wants to chime in. :bigear:

 

I made a few changes since I started this thread. Dd9 loves the Kinetic Books Alg 1 sample and wants to use it for alg for the year along w/ Rachna (via Cybershala) and Ben (Crewton Ramone). The rest of my changes aren't too exciting. More science & tech than I originally planned. Less history.

 

Dd9's Landry classes start in a couple weeks so I'm pre-reading and gearing up mentally for a full load by mid-month.

 

Anyone else is full school mode yet? :)

 

We started wk4 today. We have been ramping up. This will be our first week with everything up and running, so we will see how it goes.

 

We will not be doing Spanish. We are doing some Latin exposure and some Farsi vocabulary. We will not be continuing with drama and art lessons, but we will be adding mandolin. We are still considering the National Mythology Exam, Math Olympiad, and 4-H Shooting Sports.

 

Mandy

[Mandy in TN]

Bumping to see if anyone else wants to chime in. :bigear:

 

I made a few changes since I started this thread. Dd9 loves the Kinetic Books Alg 1 sample and wants to use it for alg for the year along w/ Rachna (via Cybershala) and Ben (Crewton Ramone). The rest of my changes aren't too exciting. More science & tech than I originally planned. Less history.

 

Dd9's Landry classes start in a couple weeks so I'm pre-reading and gearing up mentally for a full load by mid-month.

 

Anyone else is full school mode yet? :)

Wanted to add that it is nice to have you back! :001_smile:

Mandy

[Mélie]

We started on the 9th. I've made some minor changes, and some plans for the rest of the year. :)

 

Math

Max - working quickly through MM Blue Series, and slowly through BA. TT for when he wants more math and I don't. :D

Dom - SM Essential B, then MM 1

LA

Both - WWE, FLL

Max - SWO, Spectrum Writing, Evan-Moor Daily Paragraph Editing

Dom - just ordered AAS, I'll switch Max over too if I love it.

History

Starting in September with pre-history (okay, mostly dinosaurs ;)) and we'll go on to SOTW 1.

Science

We're studying animals for the summer. We'll start Nancy Larson Science 1 in October, I think.

Everything else

HWOT

Logic Safari / Lollipop Logic

Evan-Moor Daily Geography

Jolly phonique (starting this formally after Christmas if we don't pick it up before then)

 

Art, swimming & gymnastics classes, plus T-ball. :)