Hits & Misses for the new school year ~ care to share???

[Dmmetler]

AOPS is a big hit-even though it leads to tears about once every 2-3 days (and not always on the starred problems-sometimes, it's the simpler ones that seem to frustrate her more). Cambridge Latin online continues to be a hit-she liked CL, but she loves having all the clickable links to the history and culture stuff in one place.

 

Working on a big science study-definite hit with DD. Not so much with mommy, who is stuck being outside with her in high 90s temperatures so she can take her water samples and measure lizards.

 

 

I don't know that we have any real "misses", but Duolingo Spanish is frustrating DD because she's discovering she doesn't know how to spell in Spanish, and in most cases, she makes her only mistakes on the lessons when she needs to type words in Spanish either in translation from English, or from dictation.

 

[warneral]

We are on our third week of BJU science 5.  I'm using TM, activity books and the text.  It is really easy for me to implement, the kids enjoy it (I'm honestly surprised), and science is actually getting done.  I did BFSU but towards the end I dreaded it and really just plowed through it without doing it justice.  Now we do a little every day.  It is a nice mix of activities and textbook study.  I'm also using quizzes and tests (though we haven't done a test yet). 

 

That was the big change I made this year and felt pretty nervous about how it would work.  I think it helped to make a excel schedule to help me keep track of supplies, page numbers, and keeping up with the program.

[froggiemomof3]

Hits:

My Father's World - Learning God's Story

Horizon Math 1

All About Spelling 1

 

Misses:

Apologia Zoology 1 - it is over DS's head and the Junior Notebook is just too much for him right now.  We are just going to use lapbooks and nature study/journal for the rest of this year and find something different for next year.

[Holly]

Hits: 

MOH 1--although they aren't big on making the index cards because it involves writing   :001_rolleyes:  

Roar! guide to Chronicles of Narnia--it's just enough discussion without being painful

Family Time Fitness--My DC beg for this!  I'm not a fan though--I'm already too pregnant to do some of the activities :blush:

drawing lesson--I pick an object for them to draw, we did strawberries this week

Laying Down the Rails for Children--I had the original book, but is a big help to actually implement it

106 Days of Creation--we are just getting started, but everyone says it's their favorite...and we haven't gotten to the "fun stuff" yet!

 

Unsure:

I'm unsure of covering Shakespeare at their ages, but we're sticking with it for now.  We're just using the Lamb book for now.

I'm trying to figure out how to do 3 levels of MUS at once.  I do love the program, but it's chaos right now!   :crying:

 

[Guest]

update: ds thinks that Saxon K lessons are "too short", so I won't contradict everyone who recommends using Saxon 1 in kindy instead.

 

He brought me his neglected reading/phonics book (ball-stick-bird, which is definitely a hit for my family but too old fashioned and expensive for most people who post here) after we finished Friday's math lesson and then I read him another chapter of SOTW and we were good, though.

 

Next week is when I wanted to add in "life skills" aka chores, and then Drawing With Children, followed by either HWT or something else to do with writing.

[Aurelia]

We're still finishing up some of "last year's" material (we school year-round), so we haven't started all our new stuff yet, but so far:

 

Hits:

Wordsmith Apprentice - DD actually seems to enjoy doing this. She likes the theme.

Life of Fred - she likes that it's a story with math, vs. "here's your next CLE lesson" and she's learning new things

Apples & Pears - I'm so happy her spelling is improving. It works!

CLE math - DD doesn't love it, but it's appropriately challenging and gets the job done.

Switching one day a week to "reading day". No other schoolwork, just reading for a set amount of time, as long as it's a book she's never read before.

 

Misses:

I've dropped GSWL and Minimus for the moment, and I'm trying to decide when to add them back in.

Piano. I keep thinking we'll get to it, but we don't. It doesn't help that our piano is out of tune, so we have to use the keyboard. 

 

Don't know yet:

Breezin' Thru Theory - music theory online. The little theory workbooks that go with DD's piano lessons just weren't cutting it. She seems to enjoy doing this, even though it's designed for older kids.

Easy Grammar - It's challenging for DD, since she hasn't seen a number of the terms, but at least she's realized that the preposition list she had to memorize for CC is actually useful. We haven't started Daily Grams yet.

[helena]

We have our first miss of the year, Vocabulary From Classical Roots. She told me she wasn't learning anything from it and that it felt like busy work. We agreed to put that time towards Great Course lectures. GC lectures are awesome!!  :)

[sagira]

We are entering our third week.

 

Hits for ds10:

 

Our schedule - I nailed it this time!! :party:

BFSU

Wordsmith Apprentice

SOTW 4

Poetry For Young People series: Carl Sandburg

Math Mammoth

Vocabulary Cartoons

Natural Speller with weekly Spelling City quiz

Recorded narrations (on tape)

Story of the Orchestra

Evan-Moor Seven Continents: Asia

Reading selections

 

Okay:

Galore Park Spanish

LBC 1 Bible (with sister. I may just follow the Catholic liturgy from our church's weekly bulletin.)

 

Misses:

 

Critical Thinking Press Social Studies 5-12

(Over ds' head. Will shelve it and try again in a year or two or three.)

[sagira]

Hits for dd6:

 

Her schedule - really good, with plenty of breaks

A Garden of Verses

Miquon Math Red Book

BFSU

Math Mammoth 1A

Story of Orchestra with brother

Drawing about what she understands

Little books through BFSU

Italic Handwriting

 

Jury's still out on:

 

The Easy Spanish Jr. K-3

Geography Songs (haven't used it yet)

The American Story

Book selections

[wingedradical]

Wanted to add that the annotation chapters in Windows to the World from IEW have been marvelous for us. My fd is a good reader (technically) and she could define pretty much every literary device but she'd never really carried on a conversation with a story/characters/authors which meant she was only understanding the bare bones of a book or story unless I explained other things . As for literary devices, she could define but not always identify them. The annotation has been wonderful - we have annotated The Most Dangerous Game, two O. Henry stories, the poem in the book and the article by Adler, How to Mark a Book. First, we both read and annotated separately. Then we read the story together and shared our annotations, then repeated this once. I'm amazed at how this has helped her understand how to read books in a bigger way. I have never annotated very much myself and thought I didn't need to. It is true that I can pick up and remember a lot of things without it but I'm amazed at the new things I got out of it, esp. The Most Dangerous Game, which I never really liked before.

 

It has not just been good for literary analysis, it is good for teaching remedial thinking skills.

 

Also, having now finished (a little late) the Lial pre-Calc from last year, I got Life of Fred for review and fun (she is planning to take Calc at CC this spring). I should explain that I myself have not studied trig or had any calc, so  she went through Lial pretty much on her own - she did ask DH, who was a math major,  for help a couple of times).  A couple of chapters were a struggle but she did prevail and pass the tests. But LoF has been quite a hit. It explains things differently and she feels she has a deeper understanding already (and so far, she has only gone through a couple of sections that she had had problems with in Lial). For example, she likes for everything in math (and life) to be predictable and hated that Lial taught her to make what she considered guesses (educated guesses, but they didn't explain it well) to finally arrive at a solution in adverse fxs etc. LoF compared it to verbal ladder games and she suddenly exclaimed, "Oh! It's like a word ladder!" and excitedly completed the LoF problems in that section. She also likes the practical applications and is planning to read all of Fred's story (well, the parts contained in this book) starting tomorrow for a thorough review.

 

 

 

 

[Mommee & Baba]

Hits: SOTW, Life of Fred, & WWE readings only. I will have the girls use a regular notebook and do some writing based on the readings. They prefer this! I also have a writing skills activity book I found at the dollar tree for my 3rd grader and we add this in and she enjoy it.

 

This year has so far been a huge bust!! I made too many changes! If the kids don't love it, I do. Or if they love it, I can't stand it.

 

Misses:

Rod & Staff English. BLEH nothing like FLL! I have a hard time teaching from this! The girls can't stand it either! Since my 5th grader is out of FLL we're going to pull out Easy Grammar for now. I'll fill in the blanks for other "English" skills they won't get with Easy Grammar. Although my 3rd grader can go back to FLL, she doesn't want to. It takes a long time. So we will get Easy Grammar out and use it.

 

Rod & Staff Spelling. Another BLEH! These are NOTHING like the lesson teachings of All about spelling! We are going back to AAS, should've NEVER switched! We switched because it was too teacher intensive. Now we aren't even doing spelling. So we're bring it back out.

 

Elemental Science Chemistry. We loved all the other science this program offers. This year this is a bit over the girls heads! I've tried sticking it out but they are NOT retaining much of anything. So this is the first year we are going to do the Easy Peasy Chemistry as well as Netflix videos for science.

 

Update that was a miss, but we've adjusted it so it's suitable for him: Preschool isn't really going like I had planned! My son loves his educational DVDS. My son enjoys doing about 30 minutes of lessons and needs a break. We focus on writing, reading, & math in that short time each day. I've now got him doing 15 minutes of his reading related activities, 10 minutes of writing, & we end our lessons with math. Someday she enjoys 15-25 minutes of just math & other days he wants a 5 minute review and to be done. He also doesn't like workbooks of any sort! He enjoys all hands on!

[Mango]

Hits: 

First Language Lessons level 1,3, and 4. They're short & sweet and they are having a good time memorizing. We come from R&S English and we're finding the 4th grader to be doing a lot of review still. But because he writes in his workbook it's easier for him to know what he is to do. 

 

Writing with Ease, 1,2, and 4 Kids like being able to write directly in their book. It makes the lesson seem less daunting when the page already has lines on it. :)) I like the readable TM. 

 

Aleks.com  Math isn't a fight to finish a workbook. Its a time subject and that has taken lots of pressure off. 

 

Cons: 

Readers Journey - Although we've got the homeschool edition/package, theres material referenced thats missing/not included in the homeschool package. :(( Kind of hard to do the lesson when the material isn't there and won't be there ever. 

[fractalgal]

We're only into our third week here, but already All About Reading 2 has been a hit for my Kindergartener!  No misses yet. 

[Peaceful Isle]

Hits :-)

 

Teaching textbooks

Math u see

Essentials in writing

Mfw

 

Misses

 

 

ACSI spelling 2, 4 - changed to Steck-Vaughn spelling

Voyages in English 2- too much writing / changed to FLL2

[kwg]

Hits: 

First Language Lessons level 1,3, and 4. They're short & sweet and they are having a good time memorizing. We come from R&S English and we're finding the 4th grader to be doing a lot of review still. But because he writes in his workbook it's easier for him to know what he is to do. 

 

Writing with Ease, 1,2, and 4 Kids like being able to write directly in their book. It makes the lesson seem less daunting when the page already has lines on it. :)) I like the readable TM. 

 

Aleks.com  Math isn't a fight to finish a workbook. Its a time subject and that has taken lots of pressure off. 

 

Cons: 

Readers Journey - Although we've got the homeschool edition/package, theres material referenced thats missing/not included in the homeschool package. :(( Kind of hard to do the lesson when the material isn't there and won't be there ever. 

 

link for Reader's Journey?  I was considering something with that name and wonder if it is the same one.

 

I assume you called the company and asked for the missing material?

[Mango]

link for Reader's Journey?  I was considering something with that name and wonder if it is the same one.

 

I assume you called the company and asked for the missing material?

Yes, called the company. The missing materials are on a  $500 cd. :((

 

http://www.pearsonschool.com/index.cfm?locator=PS1iJy&PMDbSiteId=2781&PMDbSolutionId=6724&PMDbSubSolutionId=&PMDbCategoryId=3289&PMDbSubCategoryId=28138&PMDbSubjectAreaId=&PMDbProgramId=51741

[fairfarmhand]

Oldest DD:

 

Virtual school rocks!

 

 

Seriously, it has minimized our school drama 100%

 

 

Middle DD (grade6)

 

Apologia Science.  She's done a huge spurt in the amount of work that she can do and do well. We are going to get through 2 apologia science books this year.

 

DD grade 3 and Son K,  Prairie primer...Kids are LOVING it!

[kwg]

Yes, called the company. The missing materials are on a  $500 cd. :((

 

http://www.pearsonschool.com/index.cfm?locator=PS1iJy&PMDbSiteId=2781&PMDbSolutionId=6724&PMDbSubSolutionId=&PMDbCategoryId=3289&PMDbSubCategoryId=28138&PMDbSubjectAreaId=&PMDbProgramId=51741

:ohmy:

[Mbelle]

HITS:  Historical Fiction is always popular, Saxon 1/2 for DD,  Memoria Press on line writing and literature classes...this is our first time ever using an on line class, Real Science for Kids..middle school level, Key to .....series, Traditional Logic, Christian Studies IV, Spelling Workout, First Form Latin

 

Soso..Apologia Physical Science.  Just not us.  I think we will do secular science after this year and add in Christian ethics/ideas as they come up.

[cjbeach]

7th,5th, & 2nd

HITS -- Saxon 8/7 (Aspie) & Saxon 7/6 (advanced learner)

            CLE Lang Arts for all 3 (shocked about this one) I needed something "meaty" that could cover certain areas - this fit the bill but                  cannot believe how much we like it. And I **love** it for my 2nd grader w/building phonics/reading skills. How did I not use this in                years past?

           Discovery Streaming.  (love) 

           Reading Wonderopolis and Student News Daily every day. 

           From the Teachers Pay Teachers site I downloaded morning work for all 3 - definitely helps us all get our heads in the game (and            allows my coffee to do its' thing) also enjoying from TpT the Gr 3 Lang ARts Notebooks for beginning grammar skills with 2nd                    grader. (Like it so much I bought Math Interactive Notebooks for older 2 kids) 

 

Misses - Hake 

              Saxon 2 was way, way too slow. We skipped to book 2 in the workbooks and added in Real Math 3 from his former private                         school 

[Nancy Ann]

Elijah 6th grade

 

Hits

Growing with Grammar

 

Writing Strands = EXACTLY WHAT WE NEEDED FOR WRITING!!

 

Hey Andrew Teach Me Some Greek

 

Life of Fred

 

5 A Day math problems - got this idea from Math on the Level, works really well to work on some extra math problems.

 

Trail Guide to the U.S - Making a notebook of all the states.

 

10 Days in the USA game- lots and lots of fun

 

Daily Exercise - keeping an exercise journal, working really well!

 

Schedule - Friday is a light day where we just focus on geography and doing the 4 day Sonlight schedule. We also play games

 

Morning time reading books about Saints and memorizing prayers or bible copywork

 

So-So

All About Spelling - not liking the price, not sure it's worth it, don't use the white board and find the tiles to be cumbersome. Will try and just do lessons on paper and lapsize whiteboard without tiles and just using markers.

 

Sonlight Science E - Apologia Elementary series is SOOO much better. Sonlight science works excellent for K-3rd grade, but than Apologia Elementary is better, more information and more depth.

 

Typing Instructor - doesn't really like it but it works

 

Rosetta Stone - sort of likes it but again it works

 

Misses

Reason For Writing - feels busywork and not enough time

 

Wordly Wise - feels busywork

 

Sonlight LA - I keep trying each year but Sonlight LA just does not work.

 

Sonlight Geography - just not enough and cumbersome to use.  

 

 

Mary Beth Pre School

 

Just bought too much stuff and feeling overwhelmed to the point where I end up not doing anything!! I feel like I have to use all this stuff now! I bought Timberdoodle Pre K curriculum with All About Reading Pre Reading, and Sonlight P3/4. 

I am thinking I need to accept my mistake, go slow and maybe use some of this for K next year, and just have reading time with her each day and play time. She doesn't like workbooks like her brother did. I am just going to wait until she is a little older and we will start Five in a Row. All, I need to do is find a good program to teach her to read. I am so done with All About Reading. It moves slower than I do after gardening for 3 hours!! So Done!! 

[samba]

Hits for dd13:

La Clase Divertida

Apologia Biology (dd's favorite subject enhanced by live outsourced class)

 

Working well in dd's two least favorite subjects:

Holt Geometry with Jann in TX

MFW Ancients

 

Wow, so far high school is much better than middle school with dd.

 

Hits for ds12:

MUS

Nature Portfolio (Shukin)

 

So far, nothing I'd consider a miss with either kid.