Does anyone actually "do" WTM?

[PeachyDoodle]

Please bear with me; I am completely new to all this...

 

Hubby and I are 90% sure we will homeschool our daughter (just turned 8, going into 3rd grade in PS) starting this fall. I am very drawn to the concept of classical education laid out in WTM. I love that it is academically rigorous, emphasizes reading (I was an English/history major), and provides a good amount of structure, but with some flexibility (anything remotely resembling unschooling is definitely not our style). However, I am a little insecure about my ability to handle the day-to-day planning that will be involved. I have friends who purchase programs (is that even the right term?) like Sonlight and Tapestry of Grace, which provide lesson plans for the year. Those don't really appeal to me -- I like the idea of a customized approach -- but maybe it would be better to start out with a plan in place? I've never attempted anything like this, and even though I'm fairly organized, I'm terrified of biting off more than I can chew. But I don't want to compromise what I value either.

 

Does anyone actually "do" WTM -- i.e., use the curriculum Wise and Bauer suggest, and/or the schedules they suggest? How do you decide what to have your child do on any given day? I know that we will probably have to try some things to find what works best for our family, but I need a starting point!

[justamouse]

Please be aware that SWB herself said that the publishers wanted them to put those schedules in there. If you really want to get an idea of how it all plays out, a great investment for you would be to listen to her lectures on her site.

 

Homeschooling the Real Child is a great start. :D If I could Do it OVer Again and The Joy Of Classical in the Real World are also good for you.

[Mom2TheTeam]

I think many people use it as a jumping off point and tweak as needed.

 

I lean heavily on WTM for skill subjects (LA, math), but not as much for content (science, history). However, we will do chronological history.

 

I actually do use a packaged curriculum, My Father's World, but I tweak that heavily toward WTM using a lot of her recommendations for LA's. My Father's World give recommendations for LA, but you have to add your own anyway. I do add more than they suggest though.

 

As far as the schedules, just last night I went through and wrote down how much time she suggests daily for each of the subjects. I'm going to use that as a starting point for how much time to schedule in each subject daily/weekly, especially the skill subjects. I'm sure I'll tweak it based on my children's strong and weak subjects. I don't follow exact schedules....I have 6 kids all 7 and under. We have a unique schedule. We all have to find a daily schedule that works with our real life. ;)

 

If you like her writing style and the books published by Peace Hill Press, then her recommendations for LA would work pretty well. But, if you don't, get a copy of her first edition because it doesn't have any of her curriculum books recommended. You will get a lot more curriculum ideas that way.

[Random]

I relied heavily on it in the beginning. Not so much the scheduling, but many of the recommendations. Once I got started and got a feel for things I branched out and found what worked best for us.

 

 

This is my family, as well.

 

I bought everything recommended in WTM and began in earnest when my oldest was...4. :tongue_smilie:

 

It is working out fine to learn and grow along with him and to figure out what works for us and what doesn't.

 

Enjoy your journey!

 

PS-if you like flexibility along with structure, you might enjoy TOG. It's what we use. You can download a three week sample here.

[skeeterbug]

I just wanted to say that I happily used SL for my first year. I lasted all of ten weeks before I realised that a box curriculum is a no-go for me. I didn't want someone else's schedule, and I wanted more customisation. But I'm so glad I went that route! It gave me the confidence to know I can do it. And it wasn't really a waste of money other than the IG- we still read all the books. So if you need a box curriculum to get your feet wet, don't be afraid to try it! It might work perfectly for you. I still drool over them...

[*Lulu*]

I actually follow it fairly closely. (Although, I do a 5 year history cycle instead of a 4 year.) But......

 

I was doing school that way before I found TWTM. :p

 

When I first read our library's copy I was in our third or fourth year of homeschooling and I was thrilled to see that someone else advocated schooling in a manner most similar to what we were doing. I was also so excited to see the middle and highschool years fleshed out by someone who had some experience with homeschooling those ages in this way.

 

The recommendations and process explanations, (especial in the 1st edition), are fabulous recources. And I totally agree with Justamouse that when you listen to Susan's lectures you get a very real sense of how doable this plan is.

 

I have a variety of LDs and SNs represented in my little crew and I find the plan laid out in TWTM to be fairly easy to tweak to meet their particular needs.

[PeachyDoodle]

Thank you all, I am feeling a little better now. :)

 

I will definitely check out the lectures. They sound like they would be very helpful. And I'll see if I can possibly get my hands on the first edition of WTM for more curriculum ideas.

 

I like TOG, and the idea of a preplanned schedule is appealing. It also seems to line up nicely with the broader themes of WTM. But, I think I would like more control over the literature selections (dd reads/writes well above grade level). Also, cost is a factor, and while many of the suggested texts in WTM are available in our (small) public library, not so many of the TOG selections are.

 

Since we are starting in the middle, I am thinking of doing a two-year survey of history/literature and starting with the four-year cycle in 5th grade.

 

BLA5, just curious: Could you give me an idea of how many hours per day you spend on schoolwork at the mid/upper-grammar level? Do you the structured reading/narration every day, as well as an hour of "free" reading?

[swellmomma]

I use mostly SWB recommendations, and follow the trivium (though my kids do not hit the stages at the grades she lists), but I do not follow the schedules, I do not do science the way she outlined etc. Basically I use WTM to get my head on straight about what my big picture is. I use it to forecast what I would like my children to learn/do over the years. I use it to find suggestions for curricula. But I do it all to my own plans, set to my kids pace etc.

[*Lulu*]

 

BLA5, just curious: Could you give me an idea of how many hours per day you spend on schoolwork at the mid/upper-grammar level? Do you the structured reading/narration every day, as well as an hour of "free" reading?

 

We are working about 4 structured hours a day.

 

30-45 minutes on content subjects (history, science, artist/composer studies), art and music*

30 minutes of reading from a book from the list of "mom picks"

30-45 minutes of English/Writing

30 minutes of Latin

60 minutes of Math

30 minutes of Logic activities and Typing

30 minutes of exercises directly related to his OT and PT

 

I would say he spends close to another hour a day working on educational projects of his own choosing. He also reads an hour or so before bed each evening whatever material he wants.

 

As far as narrations go, we are working considerably behind TWTM recommendations for his age due to LDs. We do, however, do dictation and narration daily at a level that is in line with his abilities.

 

*We do these in a rotation. This past year Monday was Science, Wednesday was Art, Thursday was History, and Friday was an artist or composer study.

 

 

ETA- as we decrease the amount of time devoted to OT and PT I anticipate increasing the amount of time spent writing.

[theYoungerMrsWarde]

We did (mostly) for 1st grade. I blogged about it, especially our SOTW projects and using FLL. We will be continuing with the same schedule for our next year.

[WTMCassandra]

We have done things mostly the WTM way since the first edition came out. We are now into high school, and it's still working. We don't follow the schedules exactly, and if memory serves, they aren't in the newest edition (would have to double-check that).

[Mrs Mungo]

We have done things mostly the WTM way since the first edition came out. We are now into high school, and it's still working. We don't follow the schedules exactly, and if memory serves, they aren't in the newest edition (would have to double-check that).

 

 

Same here. We have deviated with subjects that I am less comfortable in or that my kids need help in. We use TT for math and Holt Science in high school. Otherwise, we heavily follow WTM recs.

[Melissa in Australia]

We try to follow it very closely. Ways we differ from WTM;

 

# We have dropped Latin (oh I tried so hard)

 

# My children are not readers so they only get through the reading lists. (I cannot believe that me the bookworm has such reluctant readers)

 

# Somehow we get through the science books way faster than a year, and as I just start the next book straight after finishing the previous, this results in the children being a few years ahead in science.

 

# My children are way behind in writing ability (Dyslexia)

 

 

 

Overall we are extremely satisfied with WTM recommendations. It has worked really well, As my oldest is at University doing Aerospace Engineering, and my next oldest is doing a Diploma in Conservation and Land Management at TAFE (I think this is something like community collage but am not exactly sure)

[boscopup]

Make sure you read SWB's article on the schedules in the WTM book:

 

http://www.welltrain....com/schedules/

 

I found WTM *very* helpful to follow fairly closely our first couple years while I got our homeschool legs under us. :) We did SOTW, FLL, WWE. I was using Math Mammoth at the time (not mentioned in her book, as it's newer), and we did random library book science instead of the WTM method, but otherwise... we were pretty close to WTM. I found it easy to plan, as everything was basically open and go. FLL and WWE have individual lessons, and they say how often they need to be done (FLL is about 3x/week, and WWE is 4x/week unless you combine a writing and non-writing day, making it 3x/week). We did SOTW one section per day, 3x/week. That gets you done with a book in a school year. On the last section of a chapter, we'd do the mapwork. Early on, we did some projects, but I quickly dropped those (though I *did* do the chicken mummy :D ).

 

For our 3rd and 4th school years, we're using Sonlight for our history, but that's only because my oldest read all 4 volumes of SOTW multiple times while we were still doing SOTW2 (2nd grade), and I figured we could take a couple years to do US history. Sonlight Cores D and E are just US history. When we're done with those, we'll go back to Ancients when my oldest is 5th grade. I currently plan to use TOG to help me with discussion, but TOG can certainly be used in a WTM-style way.

 

And that's the thing... WTM isn't a particular set of curricula... It's an overall philosophy of schooling. You can use that philosophy with all kinds of different curricula. The curriculum suggestions in WTM are just examples of what you could use. They are not an exhaustive list! Those suggestions help you get started in your research. You could google this forum to learn about some curricula suggestions in WTM and then find something even better not mentioned in WTM. An example google search for grammar might be: "fll vs r&s site:welltrainedmind.com" (without the quotes in google), and you'd get a bunch of threads comparing those two programs, but you'd also probably get people mentioning other grammar programs that you can then look at also. Maybe you really like R&S but want a workbook format, and then you see people mention CLE LA and that's a perfect fit for your child. CLE LA isn't mentioned in WTM, but a google search on programs listed in WTM found it for you.

 

So that's how I found everything I used that first year. I started by researching what WTM recommended, then found other programs to compare also. Sometimes I'd go with a WTM suggestion, and sometimes I'd find something that would be a better fit and was not mentioned in it.

 

Remember that curriculum is a TOOL. You are the teacher. You use the curriculum to help you teach. Don't let the curriculum use you. :)

[....]

Before middle school, we don't follow the WTM. We are very interest-led and I let them pick whatever they want to do. We also do lots of unit studies based on what I think they might enjoy. I also let them pick their own reading, etc. The only thing I really require is math and learning how to write. Everything else is a bonus.

 

When they start middle school (or the logic stage), :sneaky2: we start following the WTM more closely. In fact, I think we probably go a little above and beyond. You can't beat the history, literature and writing. The way SWB maps out those subjects is awesome. We have also enjoyed Story of the World 1, 2 and 3 and I can't tell you how much *I've* learned. We're getting ready to start SOTW 4. I can still be pretty relaxed in my expectations, though. For example, my daughter is trying to teach herself Koine Greek. I didn't list that in her curricula used (although I probably should) and I don't schedule it or tell her that she needs to get that done. She just kinda manages it on her own. She also spends hours a day researching botany to the point where I can't understand what she's saying (Lol). And I'm sure that counts as science... My son is also trying to teach himself Spanish.

 

For high school, I wanted to use the WTM or at least put together a Great Books study - whatever it was...that was my goal: a Great Books curriculum. I started looking at college admissions requirements in Texas and what they want to see on a transcript... Now, I'm worried that colleges won't be used to seeing applicants using a GB program in high school, because it is so dramatically different from what the public schools are doing here. I have a couple of years to research this before I make a decision.

[....]

How do you decide what to have your child do on any given day?

 

 

We school year-round and we usually start the new school year around June 1st (this year we're starting the new year in Sep, because my older kids basically did two school years in one year in 2012-2013 - it's a long story). Anyway, before the new school year, I map out everything that I want them to do - all the subjects we'll cover, what curriculum to use for each subject and all the books we're going to read together and independently. Then, I map it out on a 10 month calendar (I use 10 months, because I want to account for time off, etc). That shows me what I want to get done each month. Then, every Sunday, I put together a weekly schedule for each kid - including what we need to do each day to stay on track.

 

So, map out school year...break it down by each month...every weekend schedule the upcoming week. Also, if they don't finish something, I leave it on the kitchen island over the weekend and we just work on it when we have free time.

[PeachyDoodle]

 

So, map out school year...break it down by each month...every weekend schedule the upcoming week. Also, if they don't finish something, I leave it on the kitchen island over the weekend and we just work on it when we have free time.

 

 

That helps a lot. I'm not sure how long it will take her to accomplish different tasks, so I'm sure our schedule will be in flux for awhile. But having an overall schedule and goals for the year will make it easier to stay on track. I am trying to strike a balance between being over- and under-scheduled.

 

I can't believe all the responses and advice -- you are a very supportive community! Thank you all!

[....]

That helps a lot. I'm not sure how long it will take her to accomplish different tasks, so I'm sure our schedule will be in flux for awhile. But having an overall schedule and goals for the year will make it easier to stay on track. I am trying to strike a balance between being over- and under-scheduled.

 

 

Yeah, that is really hard. I had a hard time with that last year (which is why my older kids buzzed thru 2 yrs of work in one yr). And... I already did that with my 8 yro this year. I came out with this big booklist for 2013-2014, we started reading them in April/May and she's been enjoying the books so much that we've already read a big chunk of them. :glare: Oops.

 

If you want to know about time commitment, I probably spend about 1 1/2 - 2 hours on average per day with my 8 yro doing "schoolwork". You can accomplish alot when it's just you and one student. For us, I've found that skills are huge at that age: learning how to write solid sentences, spelling, working on reading, working on handwriting, math facts, etc.

[PeachyDoodle]

That's also helpful, thanks! I think she will be able to work independently on a lot of things (as I said, she is advanced in reading/writing -- part of the reason we are homeschooling -- although average or even slightly behind in math). But I just don't know for sure. I do also have a 2yo boy who will require (read: demand!) a lot of attention during school time. I am hoping we can do the bulk of our "together" work during naps and while he is at preschool two mornings per week. When I made out my initial schedule based on the time frames in WTM (I know she says nobody uses them, but I had to start somewhere!), I was starting to wonder if I would do anything for the next 16 years but sit at the kitchen table with the kids... :huh: Not that I'm not willing to make the commitment for something this important, but it was a tad overwhelming. I'm terrified of starting and then burning out.

[*Lulu*]

I think the key starting out is to pick the top 3 skills/subjects and start there. Once you feel like you are getting the hang of it, and have a better grasp on what things work for you, start adding in other things.

[PeachyDoodle]

I think the key starting out is to pick the top 3 skills/subjects and start there. Once you feel like you are getting the hang of it, and have a better grasp on what things work for you, start adding in other things.

 

Exactly what I was thinking. I love the idea of learning Latin, but we are so not ready to go there yet! But I know my problem (and dd's too) will be to try to do too much. Baby steps...

[FO4UR]

I think most people around here follow TWTM philosophy. The actual materials and schedules are merely suggested ways to implement that philosophy.

 

It sounds like you have a good frame of mind, using it as a starting point. I'd suggest making a detailed plan for one month, and evaluate after that month what needs tweaking. Make another month's plan, and repeat as often as necessary. You will find your groove this way. Just beware the temptation to buy buy buy snazzy new curricula each time you evaluate.

 

I have found SWB's writing progression to be wonderful, but none of my dc fit her time frame exactly. Two behind and one ahead. No biggie. We follow the progression, not the timeframe. (one way I tweak w/o buying new curric)

[Lori D.]

How do you decide what to have your child do on any given day? I know that we will probably have to try some things to find what works best for our family, but I need a starting point!

 

 

I'll just add some tips for "getting started with homeschooling" whether you stick closely to WTM or do something else:

 

 

- Transition

Allow the first month to be a conscious transition time into homeschooling to just getting the feel of learning at home rather than in at a school. Whatever materials or methods you use for, your children AND yourself need time to *explore* and see what *schooling at home* will be like for YOUR family.

 

 

- Go Slow

Ramp up your school year slowly -- in fact, I recommend a slow easing into EVERY new school year.

 

* The first week, plan on just incorporating a few subjects -- say, reading, handwriting, phonics, math, and a little history read aloud.

* Then in week 2 or 3, add in spelling and science.

* Then about week 4, add in grammar and narrations

* Depending on how things are going at this point, consider possibly saving geography, music/art, and light critical thinking/logic activities until the second semester -- even the second year.

* Be careful not to overload yourselves and burn out your first year -- save vocabulary, logic, Latin, a foreign language, etc., for a future year.

 

 

- Weekly Scheduling

As far as scheduling what to do on any given day -- a lot of times, the materials you choose to use will have a teaching schedule included. If not, then for young elementary ages, you don't need to spend long periods of time on school -- and not every subject has to happen every day. Especially for elementary-aged children, it helped me to think of the different subjects as needing different amounts of regular exposure each week, which allowed me flexibility of plugging in different types of elements into the schedule:

 

* Daily subjects (4-5x/week) = reading, writing, handwriting/copywork, spelling, phonics, math, skill practice (musical instrument, sport, etc.)

* "Alternate-able" subjects (2-3x/week) = grammar, history, geography, science, critical thinking/logic

* "Occasional" subjects (1-2x/week) = narration/dictation, vocabulary, appreciation (art, music), hand crafts, home ec skills

 

 

- Daily Scheduling

It's not so much about spending a *certain amount* of time on something, but rather spending the time needed by the specific student to grasp the lesson (whether one day that is 10 minutes or another day 40 minutes). Keep an eye out for burn out -- once the student hits a certain point, no amount of more time is going to make the concept go into their head; set the material aside and be done with it for the day. Schedule how long to work on something depending on how that specific student works best -- if they focus for long periods of time and don't like to change away from it, schedule longer stretches (20-40 min. for elementary ages) for subjects. If they burn out quick, try breaking the subject into several short "bites" (10-15 minutes for elementary ages) and schedule throughout the day.

 

 

- Alternate subjects

With young elementary students, it's also esp. important to alternate subjects that require any sort of writing (worksheets, handwriting practice, etc.), with subjects that don't (reading, history project, science experiment, etc.) to give their hands a break. Also, esp. if you have active children, start your morning with some physical activity -- a brisk family walk around the neighborhood -- and then to help clear the mind after heavy concentration subjects, insert quick bursts of activity (jump roping, trampoline jumping, bouncing up and down the hall on a big bouncy ball, dancing to an energetic song, scootering to the corner and back).

 

 

- Support

Consider joining a homeschool group or meeting with a small group of local homeschoolers once a week or twice a month. That may provide helpful homeschool mentoring for you, and friends / social time for your children. (We really tried to keep friendships going with our DSs school friends, but they were all locked into the school schedule and activities, and just were never available, so we had to make some new friends.)

 

 

- Get Out Regularly

If meeting with other homeschoolers is not an option or of interest to you at this time, then schedule a once a week outing for yourselves -- go on a nature walk; take a field trip to a local museum or site of interest; see how tortillas are made or tour a fire station; etc. This is SO helpful to all of you for making the transition -- first, so you don't feel always all cooped up together and start hating homeschooling, but also seeing how learning goes on all the time, whereever you are -- life is always a learning opportunity!

 

 

Welcome to homeschooling! Wishing you the very BEST in your wonderful family adventures! Warmest regards, Lori D.

[KrissiK]

Yes, I would say I do. I think that the neo-classical model of education is like a broad freeway, and each "car" is in their own lane, going their own speed, but still going in the same direction. There are areas we don't do "by the book" but I'd say yes, overall, we follow the plan in TWTM.

[Anne in CA]

I followed the WTM first edition religiously for several years. However, I was unable to learn Latin myself, so all our Latin efforts foundered when the kids needed more than basic materials. We needed more interesting math than Saxon at some point so we deviated then too... you get the picture. I do think that even though my kids no longer follow WTM perfectly, and have not for four years at least, they are still doing very well, and I do think that the rigorous study was very good for their early years.

[Colleen in NS]

We do! And we have for ten years now. I am very glad we had this customizable (and frugal!) plan.

 

Do you the structured reading/narration every day, as well as an hour of "free" reading?

 

If you are interested in SWB's Writing With Ease program (and since you seem to like to do some things yourself - I do, too), consider using the WWE Instructor Guide as opposed to the WWE workbooks. The IG tells *you* how to teach all four levels of WWE (don't worry; it holds your hand, and it's more explicit than the instructions in WTM), and you don't need the workbooks. All you need is your library card and the (thin but meaty) IG. And if you use this, you won't have to think about how many times to schedule narration per week - the IG will tell you. All you have to do is schedule a reading time each day (for reading through history/science/literature). Then when you do the IG writing lesson for that day, just pick out a book that your child has read (or that you've read to her), and use that for the lesson (whether the lesson be narration, copywork, or dictation). This will combine the writing lesson plus the history/science/literature "lesson." The ultimate benefit is that the child eventually learns that learning is often done via writing about the reading.

 

We have done things mostly the WTM way since the first edition came out. We are now into high school, and it's still working. We don't follow the schedules exactly, and if memory serves, they aren't in the newest edition (would have to double-check that).

 

Ditto.

[warneral]

We use it as a jumping off point. I do like her language arts suggestions. For using her books, you really don't need to follow a schedule. Her assignments for WWE are 4 days per week for 36? Weeks. Sometimes I would double up on lessons if our week was short or busy. For FLL just determine the number of lessons and divide it by the number if weeks you plan to school (we follow the public school schedule somewhat so that they can be free for friends when they are home). For FLL, I knew that we need to do about 3 lessons per week. Some weeks we would flex depending on our life.

 

I use Mystery of History for my kiddos. It is a 4 year history cycle. I like having this spine to help me to know what to cover when (chronologically). It is something consistent we can follow. We can add movies, literature, nf books and projects as we have time, interest and motivation. We spend some time lapbook ing, notebooking (and this year outlining) about history, but not every day.

 

I tried sonlight and TOG but I really didn't like being told to read a smattering of pages from 5 different books (sonlight) or the somewhat disjointed nature with more options of books and projects that I could ever do (TOG).

 

I don't really follow WTM science and last year we worked on Spanish instead of Latin, but this year I plan to return to Latin :)

 

Best wishes! It is scary. I started doing this when my kids were 7&9.

[PeachyDoodle]

Welcome to homeschooling! Wishing you the very BEST in your wonderful family adventures! Warmest regards, Lori D.

 

Thank you! Those are some excellent things to keep in mind. We are fortunate to have a very good co-op in our area. I take the kids to the Y with me three mornings a week, and I will continue to do that (I am borderline diabetic, so my exercise time is crucial). DD swims with me, so the break/physical activity will be good for her too.

 

If you are interested in SWB's Writing With Ease program (and since you seem to like to do some things yourself - I do, too), consider using the WWE Instructor Guide as opposed to the WWE workbooks. The IG tells *you* how to teach all four levels of WWE (don't worry; it holds your hand, and it's more explicit than the instructions in WTM), and you don't need the workbooks. All you need is your library card and the (thin but meaty) IG. And if you use this, you won't have to think about how many times to schedule narration per week - the IG will tell you.

 

Yes, you caught me... I'm definitely a Little Red Hen type ("I'll do it myself")! :) I hadn't planned on WWE because someone gave us a set of R&S grammar books, which should cover us in terms of composition practice. But it might be worth the investment for the IG. Sounds like it will help me pull everything together. Thanks for the tip!

[MotherOfBoys]

WTM seemed overwhelming at first because it was a lot of different (unboxed) curriculum but then I saw how the pieces fit together. History and science is combine with writing and reading, and grammar if your that good. 2 subjects doing 4!

 

I love WWE teacher manual because even I, who is grammar illiterate, can do copywork, narration, dictation myself. When using WWE with the SoTW and science it stream lines the subjects my son has to do.

 

It also made the idea of hsing through high school less scary. I figure if I stick to the plan I can't mess them up too bad for college.

 

[Colleen in NS]

Yes, you caught me... I'm definitely a Little Red Hen type ("I'll do it myself")! :) I hadn't planned on WWE because someone gave us a set of R&S grammar books, which should cover us in terms of composition practice. But it might be worth the investment for the IG. Sounds like it will help me pull everything together. Thanks for the tip!

 

I wasn't trying to "catch" you, lol! I'm a DIYer, too. I was thinking of my own DIY experience of when I used the WTM narration and copywork/dictation instructions for four years with my first child. It went pretty well (I thought). But when the WWE IG was published, I had a look at it and realized that that thing would have made those four years SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much easier and better. It taught things that I didn't know I should be teaching, and it made the WTM instructions for teaching all come together in my mind. I also had been using the R&S grammar composition lessons during those years. But, after seeing WWE IG, I realized that the R&S composition lessons were too advanced for my son's abilities, and they didn't have nearly enough explicit instruction. The WWE IG was, to me, worth FAR more than the $23 or so I paid for it at the time. Four years' worth of excellent teaching-writing instruction, that I could fold our content-area studies into. That book streamlined so many things for us, and made learning writing efficient and thorough.

 

See if you can find a copy somewhere and have a look - compare it to what you see for comp. in R&S, and brainstorm about how you could fold content-reading into the lessons. My first child was in Grade 5 when the WWE IG was published, and even after having done four years of narration/etc. with him, I still took him through parts of the WWE IG to teach him skills we had missed. It was a relief.

[warneral]

Rod and staff is great (though I would add some WWE copywork, dictation, narration practice. You don't have to do as much as a WWE workbook includes. I like to mix it up with other writing. For R&S English, just take the # of lessons, divide by your weeks and try to do that number of lessons per week. We used R&S English 4 last year. We didn't do much of the writing but did all of the grammar lessons (which is the bulk of the lessons). Every once in a while I,would look at what lesson we were at and what week we were at and multiply and adjust. Typically doing 3 per week but keeping it flexible. We used WWE writing and occasionally took a break doing IEW SWI B exercises. Next year we plan to finish the IEW lessons and WWE and throw in some Bravewriter. As you get into it more, you can mix it up. IME it is best to stick to one thing as you get your feet wet. The last thing you want to do is overwhelm your child and even yourself. Get a feel for how much fine motor writing she can do in a day. My ds at 9 could do far less than my dd at 8. Each kid has a different limit :). Have fun! Always remember to have fun. Don't let fear and insecurity lead you to try everything under the sun at once :). Btdt

[PeachyDoodle]

WTM seemed overwhelming at first because it was a lot of different (unboxed) curriculum but then I saw how the pieces fit together... It also made the idea of hsing through high school less scary. I figure if I stick to the plan I can't mess them up too bad for college.

 

 

I think that's where I am now. I get the big picture -- which is really important. And I like the potential it has long-term. It was when I started trying to go from big picture to actual, day in and day out implementation that I got overwhelmed. But you all are being a great help with that.

 

 

I wasn't trying to "catch" you, lol! I'm a DIYer, too. I was thinking of my own DIY experience of when I used the WTM narration and copywork/dictation instructions for four years with my first child. It went pretty well (I thought). But when the WWE IG was published, I had a look at it and realized that that thing would have made those four years SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much easier and better. It taught things that I didn't know I should be teaching, and it made the WTM instructions for teaching all come together in my mind. I also had been using the R&S grammar composition lessons during those years. But, after seeing WWE IG, I realized that the R&S composition lessons were too advanced for my son's abilities, and they didn't have nearly enough explicit instruction. The WWE IG was, to me, worth FAR more than the $23 or so I paid for it at the time. Four years' worth of excellent teaching-writing instruction, that I could fold our content-area studies into. That book streamlined so many things for us, and made learning writing efficient and thorough.

 

 

Haha! I know, I was just teasing. I was surprised someone I've never met could nail me so well. I think you and I could be great friends. :) I could absolutely see myself looking back in 3 or 4 years and saying the same things you're saying. I know enough about writing that I think I could teach dd to write (she already shows some natural ability anyway). The question is: how much heartache will we have to go through to get there? R&S is good (I love the formal grammar, which I never got), and I think she would enjoy some of the more creative assignments (poetry, etc.) -- and we may do some of those anyway, for fun. But there is little to tell me how to assess her work. I'm afraid I will have a tendency to expect more of her than she is capable of, because the truth is, I really don't know what a third-grader's writing should look like. She and I already clash sometimes because, like most kids, she has a bit of a lazy streak, and I don't always know if she's not completing a task properly because it's beyond her ability, because I haven't taught her well, or because she just doesn't feel like doing it. I'm grateful to be the beneficiary of your experience.

 

As you get into it more, you can mix it up. IME it is best to stick to one thing as you get your feet wet. The last thing you want to do is overwhelm your child and even yourself. Get a feel for how much fine motor writing she can do in a day. My ds at 9 could do far less than my dd at 8. Each kid has a different limit :). Have fun! Always remember to have fun. Don't let fear and insecurity lead you to try everything under the sun at once :). Btdt

 

 

I need to print this out and read it about 25 times a day... :)

[MommaOfalotta]

I went with about 95% of their suggested curriculum for the upcoming school year. That being said this will only be my second year of homeschooling, and our first year buying curriculum for each subject (dd will be going into 1st.) I research our curriculum choices for months and months before ordering. In some cases I love what they suggest, in others I add to it. Once the curriculum gets here I look at the number of lessons, the number of weeks/days we "plan" to school, and I make goals etc, accordingly.

 

If I learned anything in our first year of schooling, its that you cannot plan for everything and even the most thoughtout plan will get tossed out the window at some point. I learned to schedule in pencil. I learned to not be so hard on yourself, and even if you don't have half the year you planned, they will still blow you away with what they learn. Basically Ive learned to relax, not be a slave to the curriculum, and be more of a go with the flow kind of person.

 

That being said, I may or may not have over done it with this years curriculum. :)

[Colleen in NS]

...R&S is good (I love the formal grammar, which I never got), and I think she would enjoy some of the more creative assignments (poetry, etc.) -- and we may do some of those anyway, for fun. But there is little to tell me how to assess her work. I'm afraid I will have a tendency to expect more of her than she is capable of, because the truth is, I really don't know what a third-grader's writing should look like.

 

I love R&S grammar lessons. We've used them all along (this was after we had used First Language Lessons 1 and 2, and 3 and 4 hadn't been published yet). And, I know what you mean about the creative comp. assignments in R&S. (although, should I mention here that Peace Hill Press also publishes a program called The Creative Writer, for middle grade kids? I love it!! :D I think it's much more fun and explicit than R&S. Truly, I'm not trying to spend your money for you, though, lol! :D)

 

Anyway, WWE *will* show you how to assess her work. I had the same problem as you described above, and WWE was so helpful to me - I actually (much to my son's relief) had to lower my expectations thanks to WWE, because WWE taught each little layer bit by bit. But because of that, he got really solid in his abilities.

[KrissiK]

How do you decide what to have your child do on any given day?

Most curriculum is divided into lessons - math, grammar, spelling, Latin etc. so, I just do a lesson a day. There's generally enough lessons for the average length school year. As far as that goes, planning is very easy.

[2_girls_mommy]

I see how many lessons a subject has for the year and divide that up by 10 months. For math that means my kids need to do about 15 lessons a month. That equals about 3 or 4 a week. On the weeks we are home and don't have co-op, we do 5 lessons a week. That helps make up for the weeks that we have co-op and a field trip and/or holiday weeks where they only get 2 or 3 done a week. We do the same for English (R&S here), handwriting sheets, latin lessons, etc. For subjects that don't have lessons like SOTW or WTM style logic stage history we aim to get a certain amount done a month, like 3 or 4 chapters of SOTW a month, and so many 2 pg. spreads from KHE for my logic stager. For science, I use the WTM schedule and some years the exact recommendations, and it has worked perfectly. I map out which month we will cover each subject w/in the subject (Aug-Sept: Astronomy. Oct: No science at home, because we will be doing Robotics team and competition, Nov: continue Astronomy, Dec: start Science Fair topic, Jan: Science Fair project, Feb- May Earth Science and continue and Astronomy that we need to...) etc. If I have a general plan and a set of books I will be using, I can break those down as to how much we can cover each month. I do the same thing for art at home. I just kind of plan the year like that. Then I do have a weekly schedule that works around our outside classes and activities as well. So my dds know on Mon. they need to do one sec. of Spelling, 1 math lesson, 1 critical thinking page, I handwriting sheet (for my ydd,) and 1 English lesson. Both need to do 1 pg. of Latin. Then that is it on that day because they have out of the house classes in the afternoon and evening. On Tues. they have the same subject, but they do the first part of history for the week. Wed. they have the same morning schedule, but then they have Science in the afternoon, and so on. They do their lit. reading in bed at night, and they have co-op one day a week. Each have some of their classes covered there, w/hmwk throughout the week (and some are extra curric. covered completely there.)