What have you already changed this year????

[HollyDay]

We started last week but on a light schedule - 3 subjects a day. This week we hit "full load".

 

I tossed BJU Life Science 7. It is just too much for us!!! I am replacing it with Apologia.

 

Anyone else already make a change??

[rafiki]

.

[HollyDay]

You like Spanish for Children??

 

I really did not like LFC A so I never considered Spanish for Children. Is it the same type thing? Really, really fast chants and quick dvd lessons??

 

I'm looking for a spanish dvd or cdrom program, I would love to hear feedback.

[nukeswife]

I've not pitched anything but I am going to add in Spelling Power for my older son. He's in 4th and his spelling isn't horrible but it's not great either. We have All About Spelling which seems to be a great program but he's not really into the letter tiles and stuff, so we may still use it for a supplement to SP if he needs other activities for a change of pace. I will keep AAS for my dd but will use it more for phonics reinforcement.

[Ali in OR]

Keep posting on your experiences with Spanish For Children, Michele. I'm a few months behind you! We just started today, also with a 3rd grader (and K tag-along). I told my girls, "we'll listen to the CD (on iTunes now) most everyday to learn the memory page and hear a beautiful accent." We listened to lesson 1 and I said, "Well, maybe we won't listen to that every day!" She even said hablaré twice (didn't say hablé). I took 4 years of high school Spanish, so I feel fine teaching from the book (Latin is another story). So we too will need to feel our way through and decide how to make this work for us. I am happy to have the book--don't want to sound completely dissatisfied on day 1! I've tried winging it with Spanish the last two years and that just means Spanish doesn't get done. Hopefully something will get done this year, even if it is just half of the book and other CDs, library books, word books, etc.

 

As to the original question--haven't dropped anything on day 1! Really liked Writing Tales--looking forward to that.

[rafiki]

.

[Kim in SouthGa]

I am definitely paring down TOG, and will probably combine my UG and LG. My UG dd is very artistic and not much for history, so I will probably read the history selections from LG and SOTW out loud, and have each do their own literature.

 

I am removing all child-sized chairs from my toddlers reach, and locking all cabinets and appliances.:glare:

[JFSinIL]

Got Singapore Science for grade 7 - looked at it and returned it. Will use some of the Prentice Hall Science Explorer books instead.

[AudreyTN]

We started the new year last week. (We only took 3weeks off.) But I've changed Language Arts already. Dd was doing LLATL Yellow and Ds was "trying" (I say trying because I hadn't yet figured it out for him) CLE Sunrise LA 200.

 

She loves LLATL, but I don't feel she was retaining anything (we just finished week 8). Ds hates CLE LA.

 

So this week we're doing PLL together. I'm going to try to keep them together as long as possible. I'm going at my 3rd graders pace, and if I need to slow down with my 2nd grader then I will.

 

In addition to that, I'm choosing a story or poem to be read each week. And finding a sentence or two for copywork from that. They each have a different one based on reading/handwriting level.

 

I hope all of that made sense. :001_smile:

[...................]

I just do not understand why this is in Cathy Duffy's Top Picks.

 

Yes, the TM is easy to follow. Yes, it is not very expensive. But really, 65.00 isn't cheap either, and you rarely find the TM used.

 

That's about all I can say for it. There is almost no review. The lessons do not introduce concept and expand them well. The pages are very plain, maybe even ugly I would say, and my son was hating math more and more, after it was his favorite subject last year.

 

Now we are using Abeka Arithmetic and plan to stick with it. It's everything MCP is not- has plenty of review, lots of beautiful color, variety in every lesson, etc. etc. and it's also easy to teach and inexpensive.

[Emmy]

I am in week 4 and yes I'm already making changes LOL. I think I'm going to have to finally accept the fact that I don't like teaching Singapore math - for some reason I really *want* to like Singapore but I just don't. Last year we used MUS and Singapore and this year I wanted to go deep with Singapore using the IP and CWP and teachers guides to help me teach it. But, my oldest doesn't seem to do as well with it as he did MUS and it just takes more time to teach (with 3 kids using it) than MUS.....so back to MUS we go. My poor DH is probably ready to tear his hair out on that one!

 

I'm waffling a bit on Spelling Workout as my son doesn't seem to remember how to spell words a couple weeks after we finish a chapter but I'm not sure I'm ready to give up on it yet. I keep doing searches and reading about different spelling programs here on the board though.

[Laura W.]

We started yesterday and immediately realized we would have to tweak our schedule.

 

My dc use Time4Learning for math and most of their LA, but the internet was soooo bogged down it was ridiculous. We had issues last year, but yesterday was just terrible. There's a huge demand by businesses here from about 9:30 to 2, so our dc will NOT be scheduled during any of that time any more. Two dc will switch and get their online work done before breakfast, the other three will wait until 2:30 and do theirs.

 

Blessings,

 

Laura

[Closeacademy]

We are on list E of SWR and I am thinking of either slowing it down to 1 list over the course of 2 weeks or changing to Spelling Power. I picked up a beat up old copy of SP and have really taken the time to look at it and I think she might like it better. All the phonograms seem to be so stressful for her. But we will see.

 

I am also looking at using the old math textbooks that the school district threw out to do periodic "testing" and review of concepts that we have learned and to fill in any gaps. But I am just thinking about this.

 

Otherwise just focusing on the 3 r's and using lapbooks to go in deep on other subjects is really working well for us.:001_smile:

[Denainms]

we are six weeks in and I have already dropped CLE Math 2 and gone back to Rod and Staff and the kids are doing great, CLE Spiral method just did not work for either of them.

 

We also dropped CLE LA (we are doing PLL). We kept CLE Reading.

[Mosaicmind]

Well, I have to switch dd/12 and possible ds/10 out of R&S English. It has proven to be too hard for dd and ds is starting to have troubles.

[Johanna]

I was all set to do R&S 4 Eng this year, but just when I was about to start it. I just couldnt bring myself to do it (after having such a successful year with GWG3 last year.) R&S just made me go ....ugh!:tongue_smilie: when I opened the book (dont know why?).

So, last minute I ordered GWG 4. I am so relieved. Its so easy to teach. Afterall, why fix whats not broken!

Oh, and I decided to add HOP to dd5's phonics along with MFWK (since we dont really do the phonics, just use it for science, and bible and fun!)

 

LAst but not least, I am on a trial basis with CLEmath 400 for dd. I am hoping she doesnt complain too much about all the work, because I LOVE how thorough it is. If that doesnt work then I am going to do TT5. But, I REALLY want it to work!

 

Also, I was set on finding my own quotes for ds2nd and his WWE book. But, I just thought to get the workbook and make life easier. So, I sold the text and bought the workbook. I didnt think that i needed both.

[dragons in the flower bed]

My 8yo is doing well in writing, following the WTM second grade recommendations down to the minute. I was going to buy WWE as soon as it is shipping, and had considered this an interim measure. But now I'm considering not switching to WWE, 'cause why change something that's working so well?

[Wendy in ME]

Before even starting I scrapped most of the plans I made and books that I already purchased and headed over to Ambleside Online. I have been lurking on their site for the past year and a half and it just keeps calling me. I should have just followed my instincts and made the change earlier so that I wouldn't have wasted money again this year but it just seemed confusing to me until I found the wonderful 12 term schedules all made out for me to follow. I think I am in love and we can't wait to start next week.

[LoveBaby]

Well, we school year round, but we are changing some things up. We are switching to textbooks for most of our studies. We are switching to R&S for math, reading, spelling and phonics. We will be using MFW Adventure sfor our history program. I am *so* excited to begin using R&S Math...it makes so much more sense to me, that I know I'll be able to teach it to my kids!

[Guest]

 

I am removing all child-sized chairs from my toddlers reach, and locking all cabinets and appliances.:glare:

 

Us, too :)

 

We're on our second week of PreK and tweaking every day! :D

 

What I may shelve for next year is our R&S Readiness books. I really, really liked them, but looking through all of them, I think that there's a lot less cutting and pasting and a lot more writing than I originally thought. I think we may use them next year instead of A Reason for Handwriting K.

[Malenki]

We did a two week "trial" of Sonlight Core 1 a few weeks ago. I was feeling hesitant about it once I had it in my hands but since they have such a great return policy I gave it a trial. We really didn't care for it at all. Not enough of the types of books Tiger likes and the pacing was way off for us (too slow). So we returned it and started back with what we were doing last year (Truthquest).

 

It's going much better!

 

Other than that, everything else is going very well. We had switched to Saxon math this year from R&S but we started that about a month ago so I could see if we would survive it or not. It's actually a fabulous fit for him! The 4 year old is listening in and picking it up very quickly; it may not work so well for him because he thinks so very differently. But we'll cross that bridge in a few years!

[Wendi]

For music, I would recommend the Classical Kids CDs (there are teacher's guides available, too). We really enjoyed these!

 

Wendi

[Novafan]

We haven't started yet, but once we do:

 

1) we are adding foreign language this year (German)

2) we are adding an art curriculum this year (Artistic Pursuits)

3) I am MUCH MUCH MUCH more organized that I was last semester (we only started HS'ing in January)

[hsmom4]

Two days into it....

 

I thought we would do review of math before Pre Algebra with the Key's To series, but son is way too advanced...so I switched to Thinkwell Pre Algebra.

 

Other than that, we need to add more reading. They are finishing school before noon in sixth grade!

[Lovedtodeath]

I have dropped SL Science 1. I just cannot stand it. DD just cannot stand it. At least we agree. She loves books about science too. Strange that she just cannot get into the books SL uses.

 

I have decided that continuing with Geography will be too much when we start Shoot and Sprout, Buzz and Bite, so we are going to do Artistic Pursuits instead of Geography in the spring/ summer as we work on our Science program.

[riada]

We are two weeks in and I am making changes already. I have Vocabulary Vine that was supposed to be a great roots program. I am ditching it and looking for something different.

 

On a good note we decided we do like learning Spanish from a cheap Complete Book of Spanish mixed with some youtube videos. In two weeks they have mastered the alphabet, colors, numbers, shapes, and some basic objects. I'm glad I didn't spend the money on Rosetta like I was considering.

 

So in two more weeks I wonder what we will change, lol.:glare:

[Lovedtodeath]

Care to share your Youtube secrets? I would love to learn Spanish with it.

[riada]

Wow that sounds amazing to think I would have a secret but in reality there aren't any, lol. When we started I typed in "spanish alphabet" in the youtube search bar and started browsing some videos. We found some that fit our family in the form of songs. The kids watched them and learned pretty quickly. Then they found some Boca Beth Spanish videos that taught the numbers, colors, animals, and shapes. From there we went to the Mommy Teach Me Spanish videos where they focus on a certain subject like food and they teach all the phrases and sentences pertaining to food and eating. It has been an inexpensive way of teaching our children. I am sure as they advance in their skills we will need a more organized plan but for the basics it is working well.

[Melissa in CA]

I am excited to say that so far everything is perfect! My son has not complained even once about school and actually told his dad last night that he likes it! :hurray:

 

He is thoroughly enjoying the independence of Tapestry of Grace...which I knew would be a hit with him. And TOG's mapping is FUN...unlike SL's mapping which seemed ALL OVER THE PLACE. :tongue_smilie:

 

He is enjoying his Latin so far as well and listens to his chants while doing his TOG mapping and copywork.

 

Sonlight's Science 5 has proven to give him a run for his money. He thought it would be easy-smeasy but answering the Activity page questions actually takes some understanding of the material read. In other words....the questions aren't so easy that he can answer them without having to look back in the books. ;) Mom is quite content with that. ;)

 

So basically, I am a happy camper right now. I don't know if things will smoothly continue as is, but I will bask in my wise curriculum choices for the moment. :D

[wheezie]

I stopped using WP's schedule and made my own. (using theirs for the most part, but combining all the books to be read on the same day). I can't stand reading one page out of a book 4 days of the week :rolleyes: so I combine them all.

 

I also scrapped all of my big plans for Trail Guide to US geography. I had thought to do a big, in depth study of each state but right now we're just going to focus on capitals and locations. ;) We'll do a big study on our state later in the school year.

[runningirl71]

We are two days into schooling. I haven't scrapped any curriculum, but am tweaking the schedule a little bit. We are doing a state history study, and instead of doing it slowly over 5 or 6 weeks, we decided to make it a special focus and will work on it daily for 2 weeks or so. After that we'll add in other subjects that are being left out for now.

 

I LOVE everything we got so far! We are doing:

 

*Fraction/Decimal review with the Key To series then will start back up with Singapore

 

*Classical Writing Aesop B

 

*Lively Latin

 

*State Study

 

I've done major tweaking of what we study and when as I've felt in past years I'm doing too much. During the summer I had a lot of time to think through how I wanted our schedule to look. Reading PlaidDad's book helped ALOT and I feel doing 4 subjects a day is good for us. :) We're doing great so far {but it is only the 2nd day!}:)

[Rhonda in WA]

math. We are keeping math-u-see and getting rid of Singapore. We got an Abeka math book given to us and dd loves the color. So we do our normal MUS and now she is adding in a page of Abeka and loving it. We will see how it goes.

[hsmamainva]

Everything is working out great for my boys!! I haven't dropped anything on their lists.

 

My oldest (12th) dropped Fraser's The Story of Britain (British History). She said it was completely boring. She's taking Psychology and Sociology at the community college (after taking US History there last year), so she's not going to study anything history-related at home.

 

For my 1st grader, I dropped Alpha Phonics and Explode the Code for Pathway's 1st Grade Readers -- boy, does she love it!!! (She went to public school for Kindergarten and they taught her sight reading, so she can already read many of the words in the First Steps book. She has special needs and trying to teach her how to read phonetically had her in tears ... she's thrilled with Pathway!)

 

So far, so good!!!

[Lovedtodeath]

math. We are keeping math-u-see and getting rid of Singapore. We got an Abeka math book given to us and dd loves the color. So we do our normal MUS and now she is adding in a page of Abeka and loving it. We will see how it goes.

 

We are doing MUS and supplementing with Horizons!:thumbup1:

[Haiku]

I went to a loop schedule and dropped the science book I'd bought. We're doing science the way WTM recommends it except we are using DK First Animal Encyclopedia and ARKive.com instead of the Kingfisher book WTM uses.

 

Tara

[Pongo]

Week 1, our schedule made us frantic, week 2 we did a combo of the loop/independent schedule and we had an awesome week. I won't change any curricula choices:001_smile:

[prairiegirl]

We haven't even started school yet (Aug. 25) and I have already changed things. We are going to try a loop schedule and see how that works for us. This means that I need to scrap the schedule that I had and re-do it. This also means that I need to be super organized (not one of my positive traits.) I have 10 days to pull this off.

[JeannineW]

We officially started this week. We will start grammar next week but I have already switched from FLL to GWG. We are several weeks into spelling with SWO and I've switched how we do it this week.

[coffeefreak]

We are two weeks in and I think I'm going to use Ambleside Online's Reading schedule for instead of trying to come up with my own. I'm already going crazy trying to do that with two students:willy_nilly:. I was salivating :drool5:over Sonlight and Winter's Promise's teacher's guides when lo and behold I remembered Ambleside! So, I think that's where I'm headed with my oldest. I won't change anything else - yet (the year is still young :D).

[Lovedtodeath]

Well, it is official. I moved WWE off of my teaching shelf and I feel a sense of relief. We will stick to FLL alone. I also ordered the workbooks for How to Teach Spelling instead of trying to do it off of the teacher's manual alone. My shoulders are much lighter.

 

I also added Beautiful Feet's Character guide and we are doing that instead of our culture study every third week. I really wanted some character guidance and with no SL this year, it was a perfect substitute.

[HollyDay]

I started this thread and I have made yet another change :001_smile: I did stop BJU 7 science and moved to Apologia Swimming Creatures. Well, now I am doing Apologia General with the Swimming Creatures. Dd love the combo!

[hsmamainva]

I've made many changes since my first post! (And this is only week 2!)

 

For my oldest son, I dropped Apologia Biology and BJU Geography. (He has special needs and even with serious modification, he just could not handle 9th grade textbooks!).

 

I dropped SOTW Volume 4 for my 8 year old (we loved the first 3 volumes, but as soon as he saw that the coloring pages weren't there, he just wants to do Sonlight Core 4 w/o adding SOTW to it). I also dropped Apologia Zoology I (the flying creatures text)

 

I decided to find something that both of my boys could do together, so I ordered the Trail Guide to US Geography and Sonlight Science 5 (because it deals with the human body for boys -- and, with my oldest son just starting into puberty, and having special needs, he could use a little more reassurance / reiteration of what's going to be happening to him and I think he'd understand it more if he could read about it rather than just hearing it from us -- we've already had 'the talk', but my husband and I could both tell that some of it wasn't quite registering!)

 

What else? Oh! My oldest son was not getting the Life of Fred books. He really needed something with more repetition, and I found a complete set of Christian Light Education 7th grade math worktexts and he's using those - and loving it! I'm impressed by how deep they go at this grade! I couldn't believe all of the geometry!

 

So....here's what my children are using:

 

17yo 12th grader - English (British Literature class at the community college) - Math (Lial's College Algebra and Trigonometry, supplemented with all the Life of Fred books - she's enjoying them!) - History (Psychology and Sociology classes at the community college) - Science (Apologia Marine Biology) - Art (Visual Manna's Master Drawing) - PE (Tae Kwon Do classes)

 

14yo "9th grader" (he's working on a 7th grade level, due to his special needs) - English (Natural Speller, Smarr's Introduction to Literature, Rod & Staff English 7) - Math (Christian Light Education 7) - History (Trail Guide to US Geography) - Science (Sonlight Science 5) - Art (Cathy Johnson's Sketching and Drawing) - PE (Baseball / Basketball - Little League Challengers / Special Olympics)

 

8yo 4th grader - English (Rod & Staff English 4, Natural Speller, Handwriting Without Tears Cursive Success) - Math (Teaching Textbooks Math 5) - History (Trail Guide to US Geography and Sonlight Core 4) - Science (Sonlight Science 5) - Art (How Great Thou Art's I Can Do All Things) - PE (Tae Kwon Do classes)

 

6yo 1st grader - English (Pathway Readers 1 w/ workbooks, Handwriting Without Tears My Printing Book) - Math (Abeka Math 1) - History (BJU Heritage Studies 1) - Science (BJU Science 1) - Art (Abeka Art Projects 1) - PE (Baseball - Little League Challengers / Gymnastics for Special Needs Children)

[Angela in TN]

I just dropped Biblioplan and instead went out and bought the activity guide that goes with SOTW vol.1. My 9 yo ds was wanted to read Story of the World everyday and it's not that way using biblioplan so we'll read straight through and do all the neat activites. Also I had grand plans for K as far as sitting in with big brother and while he does do that sometimes we are working on handwriting, simple math and doing Five in a Row (which he loves!). I also started doing some very simple lapbooks with him on the books we read. I feel much better!

[Greta Lea]

I was going to use Explorer's Bible study with both of my boys, who are almost 11yo (in 2 wks) and 14 1/2yo. I hesitated about purchasing this for my younger son, because his older brother just simply read the bible daily until this year. That "method" of bible study has worked GREAT for him, but I went ahead and purchased Explorers for my younger son also.

 

Well, my older son LOVES it. It's his first "formal" bible study and I think I waited until the PERFECT time to begin this with him. The first week of school my younger son just kept BEGGING for us to "just read the bible like we always do". Finally, that's what I started doing again and he loves his bible time again. I won't try a formal bible study with him again until he's about 14yo also.

 

I've also added a few things to enhance what we were already doing. My older son was simply reading through A History of Us for history, but I order SL Core 100 last week. I just felt he needed more to go with just the reading. Also, for literature this year, I was gonna piece together what he'd do, but now instead he's gonna do the literature study using the SL Core 100.

 

Also, I'm having my younger son, who has dyslexia, read through the SL 2 Intermediate Readers this year. I decided to order just the schedule and study guide for these readers to kinda "flesh out" his reading time just a bit.

 

Greta:)

[SnowWhite]

We ditched the schedule for I'm Ready to Learn preschool (I thought we would). We just do "the next thing" whenever.

 

Our history started out on a two-morning intensive schedule with a "guest student". His mom requested a one day session instead and there was just now way to work a whole week of American Story 1 from WinterPromise into one day. So we are switching our "guest day" curriculum to Galloping the Globe and will be doing AS1 daily. Woo hoo!

[Mosaicmind]

changed something else:

 

DS/14 is back in public school, that's the big change. I am dropping R&S English 2 for ds/8 and using FLL 1/2 instead. He has ADHD and the R&S was just too much for him to stay focused. FLL 1/2 is a much better fit.

[Lovedtodeath]

changed something else:

 

DS/14 is back in public school, that's the big change. I am dropping R&S English 2 for ds/8 and using FLL 1/2 instead. He has ADHD and the R&S was just too much for him to stay focused. FLL 1/2 is a much better fit.

 

I noticed the "testing my every nerve comment" :lol: I threaten DD with PS almost daily.

 

That is good to know about FLL!:)

[chai]

We start our full schedule next week. I've already ditched Latin and Spanish for the first few months so that we can focus on French. (We're traveling to Belgium in November.) After that I'll start up Latina Christiana again. I'm uncertain whether we will continue with Spanish because my local class was canceled. If dd wishes to continue French, she can do that instead of Spanish.

 

We've started our middle ages history. I have KFE planned, but I'm thinking about ditching that (and outlining) too. Instead, we'll just have discussions. I think that I want history to be fun and keep the writing for our language arts hour.

[Frontier Mom]

I changed the TOG-Dialectic dc's (two of them) to a Thursday to Wednesday schedule for History Readings. Makes perfect sense to me now after struggling the first two weeks.

 

I changed HST+ many times by moving things, set myself up as a student b/c of the great advice here, and finally have a workable schedule.

 

I changed our meals from elaborate to "don't complain it's filling and fast."

[FlockOfSillies]

We're making lots of changes this year in how we do things (logistical stuff), and the additional workload it would require to have her finish Book 1 this year would have killed her. I'm optimistic we can finish 2/3 of the book, or at least 1/2 of it this year. It really does cover a lot of information and vocab, and she's only nine. If we take the time to really get all this stuff under her belt, high school Spanish will be cake.