FloridaLisa Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Have we done a Hits and Misses thread for this school year? These threads are always so helpful and inspiring to me as I'm planning for the next school year. I'll start: Hits: Exploration Education: physical science for my 1st and 3rd graders. I love that there are hands-on experiments for nearly every lesson, a logbook to complete throughout the year and projects that also extend the lessons. And I really love that everything you need is in one box! Veritas Press self-paced history: this is my 3rd grader's second year with the self-paced classes and I couldn't be happier. They are engaging and meaty, with plenty of review and tests. Wish this was something that could be purchased once and used with younger children in the same family, but other than that, I'm pleased. Prairie Primer. We're doing this through a co-op. Love reading through the Little House books! Cuisenaire Rods and Education Unboxed videos. These videos really opened up our use of the many boxes of Cuisenaire Rods I'd had but never used to their full extent! Linguistic Development Through Poetry: forgot to add this one in. This was something I hadn't planned on, but received it free from a former homeschooler. Using it with my youngest two and they love it! We've always memorized large chunks of scripture, so memory time is not new, but I'm enjoying folding in poetry as well. Misses: Singapore Math. It's not the curricula, it's me. I've taught Saxon math for so long that it was just too much with everything else on my plate to switch this up. I tried really hard, and I'll probably borrow some of my favorite parts of Singapore, but Saxon will continue to be our spine, along with plenty of extras.Continued favorites: Orbiting with Logic (Dandylion Press) Rod and Staff English Explode the Code and Christian Liberty Press readers Ok ~ I'm all ears! What has worked for you all this year? Lisa ETA links. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Ohhh fun! Hits: The Brain by Ellen McHenry Scientists in the Field living books by various authors Latin Prep TabletClass math--awesome. DuoLingo for Spanish Zaccaro and LOF Misses: MM is something of a miss for my younger. We are using it as our spine. He gets bored easily, so it's definitely child specific--my older was fine with it. Oak Meadow was a miss. We tried for about 2 months and then went back to our regularly-scheduled programming of WTM inspired eclectic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BatmansWife Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Junior Batgirl, 4th grade... Hits: TT4 Beautiful Feet Early American History Primary Noeo Biology 2 Home Art Studio Sequential Spelling Which Way USA ETA: forgot to add in States & Capitals Songs DVD and Geography Songs. JB LOVES these! Misses: Grammar Island Just ok so far: LOF elementary (JB would probably put this in the Hits) Essentials in Writing 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saddlemomma Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 DD in 5th this year: HITS: TOG - We use this for History, Geography, Lit, Church History, Arts/Crafts. DD absolutely loves the history books and her literature. She has also learned quite a bit about geography - more than anything else we've used. Church history has been an eye opener. DD has asked to continue with this curriculum through high school. MP's Latina Christiana MP's English Grammar Recitation workbook - coincides with the grammar in LC MISSES: MP's Classical Comp - DD HATED this program. She doesn't like writing anyway, but this was extreme dislike. We ditched it and I tried TOG's Writing Aids. This worked at first, but DD needs more instruction before doing full reports. Writing is her weak point. I went to a basic outlining tutorial and then narrations using her history readings. She's doing much better now. We will try WWS for next year.OKAY: God's Design for Chemistry - DD is enjoying Chemistry, but many of the labs/experiments were too simplistic or lame. I had to go out to YouTube to find some better experiments. Other than that, the content of the text was pretty good - not extremely religious.OLD FAVORITES: Horizons Math How To Teach Spelling BrainPop Spelling City Kidsspell YouTube Documentaries Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 I feel like I had so many misses this year. I felt like a flop of a planner, teacher, mom. I don't think we are finishing the year with anything we started with. (ETA, that's not true - IEW & SWR are tried and true here.) HITS: Saxon math Abeka grammar Spell to Write and Read (SWR) IEW WWE Story of the World MISSES: Heart of Dakota - I wanted to combine the kids and wasn't able to find a level that we haven't done that that both kids could be in together. I initially bought Preparing and ended up selling it. MFW Adventures - we did most of this, but my ds needed to be challenged more and I wasn't up to "tweaking" it or "beefing it up" Singapore Math Apologia - I don't think *I* like the format of these, focusing on one thing all year. We did Astronomy last year and I bought Swimming Creatures to use this year, but I actually kind of "hid" it because I wasn't up to going through it. :o Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Misses: Singapore Math. It's not the curricula, it's me. I've taught Saxon math for so long that it was just too much with everything else on my plate to switch this up. I tried really hard, and I'll probably borrow some of my favorite parts of Singapore, but Saxon will continue to be our spine, along with plenty of extras. Yes. This. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freesia Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Hits: TOG continues to work well for us--liberally sprinkled with Sonlight Books The middle two returned to Horizon's math this year. I add some MM word problems and stats. My fifth grader being independent in Science this year. Not my ideal--but she likes it much better. She likes reading a textbook and pacing herself. WWS is going well with my 5th grader(except the copia made her cry so we are subbing and using Sentence Composing for E.S.). LTOW is going well with my eight grader, although we are stopping and doing some WWS2 and Mom planned writing for the rest of the year. Rod and Staff English Daily Language Review TT Geometry for oldest. Ordinarily I like teaching math. Geometry made me cry. Reading Eggs for the 4 year old Not pairing my middles, but pairing my 8 yo with my 4 yo. I thought he wanted to be "big" and do things with older sis. Turns out being the "oldest" worked a lot better, particularly bc younger sis LOVES learning. Apples and Pears Spelling: well, hit for me; they dislike it, but are learning to spell Misses: Any structured science for the under 10 crowd. We all do better "unschooling" science. Every year (going on 10), I plan science for my primary students. Every year, I am unschooling by November. Everything else is going fine. We are having one of our best curriculum years yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Hits: Further Up and Further In - done as a literature study, interesting projects, good books, academically challenging for DD CLE Math - it's thorough, lots of review, it works for my child, although I wish it had better conceptual teaching FLL4 - much easier for DD to understand than EG, has more social interaction and better explanations for her CHOW - my child actually wants to read this first thing. Who knew she would enjoy a history book so much? Misses: Easy Grammar - just too little interaction for DD, she wasn't retaining anything. Imitation in Writing - can't stand to do more than one unit every couple of months. Doing this is like pulling teeth from a crocodile. Things I'm Too Ambivalent About to List as Either a Hit or Miss: Wordsmith Apprentice - love the idea, but DD has really bogged down with it. Apples & Pears - I love how much the overall programme helped with spelling, but the C book was getting too fast for DD, so I've put it away to do Phonetic Zoo. We may pick up A&P again later. Daily Grams - still working through these, good review, just not sure how much she's actually retaining WP Equine Science - not a ton of science, but DD loves it Too Soon to Tell (just started this month): Phonetic Zoo Writing Magic MBtP 9-11 poetry lit unit Lial's BCM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angelmama1209 Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 hits: sotw map mysteries greek code cracker lively latin misses: apologia- both science and bible. just didn't get done. lof is a hit for dd and a miss from me. i just think it's really weird and can't wait to get through this last one. fll is a hit for me and only ok for dd. mm is also a hit for me and only ok for dd. she hates it (actually it's fine until she comes to something that makes her think, then it's murder until she gets it and doesn't have to think anymore. then we're fine until we come to the next not easy thing.) but i can do it and it works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Twain Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 New Hits: Duolingo -- for German BJU Science 6 -- I love BFSU, but I hit a wall halfway through volume 2. My 5th and 3rd graders are doing the online BJU science course, and that has revived their interest in science. I love the experiments, which was what we were missing in BFSU volume 2. I realized we have already covered everything through BJU grade 5, which is why we started on grade 6. Maybe they will burn out with BJU over time, but for now we are happy. Wariner's Composition: Models and Exercises (First Course)--great for 3rd grade learning how to write solid paragraphs Maxwell's School Composition (1902)--great for 5th-6th grade narrative and descriptive paragraph writing IEW Fix-It -- Good for extra grammar application, cursive practice, a little vocabulary, and dictionary practice Daily Reading Comprehension (Evan-Moor) -- teaches my kids to learn to read an unfamiliar text very carefully and answer standardized test questions Mind Benders Discovering the World of Geography workbooks -- for 5th-8th Old favorites: Rod & Staff English Rod & Staff Spelling Horizons Math Singapore's Challenging Word Problems Studies Weekly newspapers with quizzes -- Social Studies, Science Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Another Jen Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Grade School- Hits: Galore Park Junior Science, History, English- interesting and easy to implement TT Math 3- typing your answers is great Italic handwriting- pretty for me easy to learn for him MP- memory/recitations- he loves them Misses: New American Cursive- my writing phobic perfectionist son had melt downs daily MP Lit guides- If I could find a level where his comprehension matched the writing skill needed they would have worked R&S Math- again writing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisoncooks Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 HITS: the Just Write series (Write About Me, Write about my world were big hits and we can't wait to start JW 1) BJU math (DD loves it, refuses to consider any other options) Dancing Bears A -- don't know that we'll continue the program b/c we've merged nicely into Recipe for Reading 3 and 4.... but it was wonderful for turning my resistant, non-reader into a struggling, but trying, reader. MISSES: McRuffy Phonics K -- I just didn't need the AIO approach: spelling and writing and games that we never used... I See Sam -- The kiddos like these well enough, but I'm just not a fan. SOMEONE PLEASE BUY THESE DOGGONE BOOKS FROM ME.... I bought the whole blasted series b/c I was desperate with oldest DD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenangelcat Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 We're not doing much actual curriculum this year but we do have one big hit. The Elements from Ellen McHenry is awesome. I'm using it with my grade 3 student and wondering why schools wait until highschool to teach this stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 (edited) . Edited June 17, 2022 by SilverMoon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluedarling Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 HITS: Getting Started with Latin - my 8yo LOVES it! MBTP 8-10 Science and Social studies Bravewriter Partnership Writing Bravewriter Poetry Teatime (I admit...I hate poetry! But my girls are definitely growing in their appreciation!) MISSES: WordBuild Elements - dd13 liked it at first, but it quickly grew old MBTP 11-13 Science and Social Studies - was way too hard for my 13yo (and me!) RightStart C - too time consuming for me/too low level for dd (not the curriculum...just us) OK: Analytical Grammar - dd13 had some difficulty with it towards end, but I still may re-use next year with younger dd (I think its the kid, not curriculum) Beyond the Book Report - seemed too light for dd13, but perfect for younger next year (4th-5th) TOPS Science (Rocks and Minerals) - dd13 hates it, but I like that she does independently. *I* like it, and she is getting through it. Lyrical Earth Science - dd13 doing OK with it, after we adjusted how we used it (parts of it are hard, but workable) Ongoing favorite: Math U See - allowed my older kids to catch up in math, though may leave it for youngest, and left for oldest two Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 DD- 1st - LoE - On level C now, this continues to be a hit - MiF- I think and hope we've finally settled on a math program for her, she loves the color pages DS- 3rd/4th - Writing and Rhetoric, ds and I have both really enjoyed this program -MCT- HUGE hit here -BA and many math supplements, games and living books - McHenry's Elements- We both look forward to doing more of her programs. Easy to use, fun and the level was perfect - TONS of books, read-aloud, audio books and silent reading Misses: RSB and RSE, no longer feeling the RS love here. I'm over it and so are the kids Meh: I LOVE LoE for dd but I'm only so-so on using Essentials it with ds. I don't know if it really works for what I needed or that it necessarily fits ds. We will be finishing it though, we are on L33(out of 40) so there isn't much left. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My3girls Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Hits: 6th grade- Analytical Grammar WWS 1 (for mom not daughter) Vocabulary from Classical Roots OUP The World in Ancient Times series Ck12 Life Science Math Mammoth 2nd grade- SpellWell Explode the Code Zane Bloser Handwriting Math Mammoth(for mom not necessarily daughters. It makes them think too much. Lol) Usborne Encyclopedia of World History Misses: Sequential Spelling BFSU (loved the philosophy but it just wasn't getting done) FLL2 and WWE2 were good this year, but I don't foresee continuing with them. I'll continue to apply the skills learned from WWE in history and science, but we're giving CAP Writing & Rhetoric a try for composition next year. SOTW is neither a hit nor miss, it just gets the job done. We are just starting Beyond the Book Report so no judgment on it yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IHaveNoIdeawhatIAmDoing Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Hits -Reading Lessons Through Literature -Life of Fred -Math Mammoth (even though we've had our rocky moments with it) Misses -The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading -Telling God's Story Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irishmommy Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 New hits this year: DS 5yo - LoE Foundations AO 1 DD 8yo - LoE Essentials AO 1 DS 12yo - Saxon Alg. I Classical Writing - Aesop & Homer for older beginners Prentice Hall Science Explorer AO Misses: Shurley Grammar - good program but I needed an aio Tablet class - total mess Old Favorites: Five in a Row <3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alicia64 Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 My boys are ten and in 5th grade. We've loved for two years now: Teaching Textbooks combined with Xtra Math (also bought cuisinard rods but haven't started yet) Started and LOVE: Writing: Brave Writer Grammar: David Dye grammar curriculum Gave up on: Latin. I just don't have it in me to learn a language like that and teach them, but I'm purchasing Root Rummy and From the Roots UP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristi26 Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 DS14: Hits: Intro to Programming (the free online course from January) Holt Physical Science (this is with our co-op, so that's part of the reason he likes it so much) Misses: History of US Adventures in Grammarland audio/notebooking pages DS11: Hits: Apologia Land Animals Drawing Through History Misses: History of US Adventures in Grammarland audio/notebooking pages DD8: Hits: LOF Elementary Apologia Astronomy Draw. Write. Now. Misses: MUS Beta The American Girls Series (maybe she's just too young still? I hope!) Adventures in Grammarland audio/notebooking pages (Again, hoping she was just too young for it) DS4: Hits: Alpha Phonics (this one surprised me because it's very black and white, but he IS learning to read with it) Misses: None at this point, there isn't enough that we're doing together formally for him to have a miss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PachiSusan Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Our biggest and only miss: Latin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twooakharborhicks Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 2nd Grade- Hits: TT3 RSC SOTW1 using HO and all history really US history using History of Us and American Girl Books Life of Fred The Story of Science Horrible History, Science, Geography, and Math Sassafras Anatomy, can't wait to try zoology Geography units using the 39 clues books Tolerated: AAS/AAR3 WWE2/FLL2 Misses: MBTP-Wanted to love it but just didn't. We tried very hard though. Anything involving worksheets or any sort of writing. It feels like we have tried everything and nothing has stuck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 My biggest MISS was trying to do an all eBook curriculum. I'm going to have to scan the ORIGINAL NtK or carry around ripped out pieces of it. I don't know which. And after I settle back in with NtK, then I'll have to look and see what else I can keep all eBook. I started homeschooling in the 90s before TWTM and before CM took off. I am a "back to basics" gal down to my toenails. I live in hiking boots and black sweats and wear my hair in a braid thrown over one shoulder. I sleep on a piece of foam on the floor because I am too minimalistic to buy a bed. I've always used non-fiction and the KJV Bible as my main literature, but, I tried to put together a neoclassical/CM eBook curriculum, because that's what the best eBooks were. I might as well have bought myself a lace dress and a 4 poster bed. It was too much. I sat down to lesson plan and self-educate the material and just started crying. Yeah, life in general is pretty hellish right now, but…life always feels worse when times are tough and I'm without hiking boots and a good backpack. I'm getting the same way about an old school "back to basics" and KJV based type curricula. Give me my KEEN boots, an Osprey backpack, a good knife, the KJV and Original NtK, and I'll be okay. Expect me to look and act "normal" when life is anything but normal, and I fall to pieces. I need MY tools to face MY world. Why do my favorite educational tools have to be OOP and so heavy though!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsutsie Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Hits: SOTW The Elements (McHenry) CAP Narrative BJU English GSWL A Child's Introduction to Geography - I add a lot to this - not sure which part of it all they like. CW Primer - my daughter does not like it, but I think it's quick and effective - we will continue with it until she is ready fir CAP Fable. Misses: Winterpromise Animal World - after waiting for 3 months for my materials, we found it to much of the same, over and over. CW Aesop - moves to slow for DS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloridaLisa Posted February 18, 2014 Author Share Posted February 18, 2014 So far, I see a couple of things on Hit lists that I'm considering for next year: Further Up and Further In by Cadron Creek publishing and Ellen McHenry's The Elements. But then, I'm really leaning toward a year of Delight Directed science for my youngest two, mostly because my 9-yo has had so much structured science and I'd love for him to just follow his interests. Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustEm Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 DS is only 5 so I'm only focusing on math and phonics formally. Everything else is led by his interests so no curriculum with that. So there were no misses because Saxon Math 1, Phonics Pathways, and Sonlight Grade 1 Reading list have all been major hits! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjlcc Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Hits: Hey Andrew! Greek Scratch programming Language Lessons through Literature My Book House Misses: Daily Grammar Practice Mom's attempt at piecing together an anatomy course Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seeking Squirrels Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 DD is K. Hit: Singapore math Miss: Building thinking skills primary - I didn't like it at all. That book looked more like handwriting practice than critical thinking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canadianjen Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Son K Hits: ixl math - he begs for this one! Math U See Primer Ladybird learn to read series (used this for all my kids to learn to read with great success) Five in a Row Magic School Bus Science kits (so simple but he loves them) Snap Circuits Zometools Daughter 5th Grade but with challenges so works at the grae 2-3 level Hits Sequential Spelling TT 3 Handwriting without tears cursive (she loves cursive writing) ixl math Five in a Row Misses All reading comprehension books Novel study Son Grade 9 Hits Life of Fred Algebra ixl math (although he is not a big fan I love it) Teencoder (programming) The Crucibles - The story of Chemistry. Such a great find and he loves it and I also find it very interesting. Misses History of the Ancient World -- we've started doing it together which has helped. I think I should have skipped to the next book -- Middle ages, as we've done so much Ancient World history I think we're both a bit tired of it. Chemistry Apologia - He finds it dry but is actually doing well in it so we'll keep plugging away Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Hits: * Partnership Writing from Brave Writer * Beast Academy * World War I and the Depression - yes, time periods, but they have been hits in terms of interest * All About Spelling - no one hates it and everyone does it willingly and I see spelling improvement, so I elevate it from middle to hit this year Misses: * MCT... I think it's safe to call it a miss now. We don't hate it. We'll finish out some parts, but it was not for us. Thank goodness I got it used for a song. * the human body - yes, a topic, but for whatever reason, my kids don't really care how the body works Everything else is in the continuing to swim along category. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 For my kids this year...... Hits: Saxon Math (for ds 7th) CLE Math (dd 5th) R&S Math (dd 13 w/autism) - She is doing amazing with R&S after struggling for so many years! MOH 1 - Fleshing this out a lot w/more literature Apologia Zoology 2 & 3 (dd 5th) Apples & Pears Spelling (dd 5th) - She is finally learning to spell good using A&Ps IEW SWI-B (ds7th & dd5th) - Second year using IEW, and kids describe writing as fun & easy :) Sonlight Core F readers/read alouds - ds 7th - loved these and read them all in a couple months Phonetic Zoo - (ds 7th) He needed to work a bit more on spelling. We do this without the cd's, and it has been great for him. Spelling takes 5 minutes a day. A Reason for Handwriting cursive - My 13 and 10 year old love this handwriting the best. Junior Analytical Grammar - (ds12 & dd10) These two have never retained so much grammar before in such a short amount of time. They still describe grammar as stressful and hard, but they both did really well with JAG. Retention is amazing with this program. Misses: Math U See - I used this when my children were younger, and tried again after TT flopped. I don't care for MUS at all. Not enough repetition built in, and I don't care for focusing on one topic per year. Saxon, CLE, and R&S are much better IMO. Sonlight Core F - This was a miss for dd 5th. My ds 7th loved all the books in this core. My dd just doesn't care to read :/, and it was probably a bit over the reading level she was comfortable at. Getting Started with Latin - The kids liked it ok.....it just was a little boring, and we had a full day at the beginning of the year with SL that it just got put off. Going to try again with Lively Latin. The Learning Box Preschool - Just did fit my teaching style...... So So: Apologia General Science - ds 7th really likes this, and wants to continue with Apologia. However, the first several modules were really difficult. He has had to learn a lot of study skills to do well with this course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondchen Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 DD6 is in first grade. Hits: LOE Essentials (spelling only) Pentime LLTL - just started it a couple of weeks ago, but so far loving it!! RightStart B SOTW1 BFSU Misses: WWE1 workbook - the method is great and I'll continue to use the instructor text for guidance on narration, but reading and narrating random excerpts from different pieces of literature every week just wasn't cutting it for us. FLL1 - effective, but too repetitive for DD, who picked up everything very easily Harmony Fine Arts - not really a miss, since it's a good program in general, but I'm a musician and DH is an artist, so we wanted something meatier Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coco_Clark Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Hits: LLTL LOE Foundations REAL science odyssey-life LOF Morning Time (in which we spend an hour first thing reading the best things, aka poetry, bible, fine arts, ect). If I had to pick only one major ht it would eiter be this or LOE. Misses: WRTR Phonics Pathways Teach your child to read in 100... Ambivalent about? Singapore. It gets done and hes learning but nobody is loving it. I found a screaming deal on Miquon so we will try tat over the summer and either jump ship or keep trudging with Singapore and supplement. Part of me thinks its overmuch to expect rainbows and sunshine in every subject, but after finding LOE after so many failed phonics programs I'm feeling hopeful. Maybe math can be fun too? SOTW. It's fine, we enjoy it well enough. I think Middle Ages will be more fun then ancients. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StartingOver Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Hits Getting Started With Latin Getting Started With Spanish Lively Latin Math Mammoth Life of Fred, huge hit! WWE / FLL Elemental Science All About Spelling Misses Singapore Math , I love it, they got tired of all the different books. Mapping the World with Art, it's just not getting done but haven't given up. Verdict isn't in yet Hake Grammar Writing With Skill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelli Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 My First Grader: Hits: LOE Foundations Learning Language Through Literature Level 1 A Mind in the Light Level 1 Science (I rearranged the schedule so that all of the Botany related topics were in the second semester, but it's such a simple, fun program and it's free!) combined with Draw Write Now Book 1. Life of Fred Math in Focus Misses: Lightning Literature Grade 1 Continued and Enjoyed: Explode the Code, Miquon, Lollipop Logic, and Home Art Studio My Fourth Grader: Hits: Life of Fred Horrible Histories BBC videos on Youtube (I heard about these here last week. She has watched at least three episodes every day and rushes in to tell me all about the history she's learned!) Getting Started with Spanish (She likes the short lessons.) CAP's Writing and Rhetoric Igniting Your Writing (Both of our writing programs have been HUGE successes this year. I think that's a first!) Misses: A Mind in the Light History (It just didn't fit her at all, even though I really wanted it to because I love the program.) Continued and Enjoyed: Math in Focus, MCT Language Arts, Heart of Dakota, Logic using Prufrock Press and Critical Thinking, Sassafras Science Not too many misses this year for either kid. It's been pretty awesome over all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fourcatmom Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Hits: MCT - Grammar Island (this has been a huge hit for us) MUS - (finally feeling confident in math) Elemental Science - (thanks to Murrayshire for all her great blog posts which lead me to purchase the program) :D Apologia Jump In - (We use this with my 6th grader and it's very open and go and she is able to work independently) TOG - (Very happy, using Year 2 Middle Ages) Sequential Spelling - (very open and go and they are learning) Most of everything we are using we are enjoying but these have been our favorites. Miss: Trail Guide to Learning - POS (This was a big disappointment for us as we used POE and thought it was a good fit. We ended up using it as a guide combined with History Pockets and some other resources and it's worked out better for us this way) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ondreeuh Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 6th Grader Hits: Holt Course 1 math. It's basically Thinkwell with extra resources (and much cheaper!). We can watch the vdeos and do online practice problems (the same ones Thinkwell uses), or I teach from the examples in the textbook. I use the worksheets from the practice/homework book and the problem solving book and it makes the program very easy to implement. I print out cumulative reviews which we do at the end of each chapter. Probably will continue with Course 2 next year as this is working fine and I am NOT in a rush for him to get to algebra before 9th grade. Math Minutes. I wish I'd found these sooner. I have ds doing the middle-grade ones and it's a great daily review of all the little things - scientific notation, exponents, order of operations, factoring, etc. Will definitely keep going. LOE Essentials. Once I figured out how the workbook and textbook align (duh!) I love this. We haven't gotten very far, so we'll keep on going next year. K12 Intermediate History A (Human Odyssey 1). We started out just reading the textbook but added the online component. DS isn't thrilled with the extra work, but he needed a step up in his work output and this provides it. We'll do B next year. Moving Beyond the Page literature units. I don't assign all of the projects, but I like the grammar and writing woven into the program. I LOVE the history and science tie-ins. DS needs much more systematic LA instruction but this is a good supplement, and we've enjoyed the books a lot. We will switch to something more systematic, but this has been fun for this year. Misses: Step Up to Writing - our advisory teacher encouraged us to switch from The Paragraph Book series to this. She gave us the chapter on writing paragraphs. It's just more of the same old stuff, write a topic sentence, write supporting sentences with examples, and here are a couple prompts to get you started. DS has a more basic, fundamental writing block where he can't even organize information in his head to know where to get started. IEW's SWI-A. OK, it's a little too soon to judge (we're on lesson 5 or 6), but all the emphasis on style is grating on me. We need structure first. I don't care if his words are boring, I just want it to make sense and make his point. Eh Prentice Hall Science Explorer. I have ds use the guided study worksheets with each section and he takes a quiz online at the end of each chapter. It's earth science so I don't care much about labs, but it's just so ... boring. He is uninspired. It's a typical textbook that is vocabulary-heavy, and that's his weakness. The upside is that he can do it independently. We'll do something different for next year. REWARDS Secondary. We finished it up last semester, and his reading is more fluent, so it probably worked fine. He has already dumped all of the phonics work. Maybe it will be easier as we go through our 24th phonics program (only a slight exaggeration) with LOE. Growing with Grammar. It's good because it is easy to implement, but I have the same complaint as many people that the sentences are predictable. If they just ended each lesson with diagramming of various kinds of sentences for the review, that would be awesome. I'm thinking of switching to Exercises in English next year. Kindergartener Hits: Everything! He is the kind of kid who learns easily from most programs. Math in Focus - love this for the great teaching of number sense & conceptual teaching. I feel like my son has a super firm foundation. We're almost done with 1B and I am amazed that we've already learned multi-digit addition/subtraction with regrouping, and he completely understands it. We LOVE the games included in the text! Horizons Math - love this for the colorful, super easy to implement, spiral teaching of clock, time, money, geometry, fractions ... those are things that (IMO) MiF does a disservice by segmenting into individual chapters. By working on them all year we have made steady progress. We've finished K, and I plan to pick & choose problems in level 1 until I feel like we're ready to go to MiF 2. McGraw-Hill LA - free, systematic, gentle, built in review, not too much writing ... it's worked out very well for our needs this year. Evan-Moor Read and Understand books - love these. We work a few grades ahead and I scribe for him, but it's a nice reinforcement of phonics, grammar, and reading comp. Evan-Moor Daily Science 1 - works well as a spine. I have lots of supplemental books (love the Dr. Seuss science books!) but Daily Science gives us a framework. Sonlight Science A - I rearranged the chapters to line up with Daily Science. The worksheets are just enough to call attention to the important vocabulary and facts, and the encyclopedia has prompted us to look up all sorts of things online. Evan-Moor Daily Geography 1 - We do a lesson at a time and plan to continue with that next year. DS loves to do it on his own and show me when he's all done. Evan-Moor Building Spelling Skills 1 - DS likes the activities, and he is retaining what he's learned. It's another one we'll continue. Eh: The only thing I'm lukewarm about is Language Lessons Through Literature 1. I don't care for the stories in this level, and the LA is too easy so it's hard to get inspired to do the copywork. I plan to use LLTL 2 next year though, as the grammar is a big step up and the book list is great! Maybe I just need to do other copywork this year. We did try Adventures in America, but I stopped it after a couple of weeks when it was clear that he would get a lot more out of it later. We are going to try it in the fall for first grade. 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Momling Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 HITS: Apples and Pears Beast Academy SYRWL Maths 3 McHenry Elements and Carbon Chemistry MP Geography (though not interesting) Rules of the game 2 Duolingo Story of science (Doing my own thing for history) MISSES: Art of Argument Too many math supplements Caesars English Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cottonwood Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 DD13, 7th grade: Hits Moving Beyond the Page - Language Arts and Social Studies (11-13) - Love everything about it. Love how much literature she has read this year as a result of using this program. It has her thinking in a way that is natural for her, yet rigorous, deep and analytical. We plan to use the next level for her next year in LA and will only change SS to something else so that I can bring a young sibling in. Typing - Mavis Beacon Horrible Histories on YouTube Khan Academy for supplementing Critical Thinking logic puzzle books Misses Moving Beyond the Page - Science (11-13) - It is just way too rigorous in some units. We are at the end of the year now and things are lightening up some as we head into light, color and next is space. But the earth science was insane and not at all enjoyable. DD was just checking off boxes to get it behind her and I was tweaking out stuff to bring it back down to a 13 yr old's level. MBTP is an excellent program all in all, but the science in this age group is almost.....too good? Too much of a good thing..took us FOREVER and a day to do. Going to try something else next yr. AoPS Pre - A - DD is just not a puzzler/whole to parts/struggle-to-figure-it-out-and-like-it sorta math girl. I wanted her to be able to think about math this way but alas, she cannot and will not LOL I'm hoping this will work with my son next yr tho. Ehhh.. Well, math. :/ We are using Saxon Alg 1/2 and I think it's a fantastic program but I'm not sure it's the program we need to be using. Regardless, we are finishing out the year with it and I am completely undecided what to do with her math-wise once she finishes this book. I need something that spirals this way but with more repetition on the day's lesson too. I"m growing weary of pulling supplemental worksheets every day from various sources to reinforce ea new concept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
llifeon18wheels Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 HITS Sonlight Core E (We are enjoying these stories about American history.) Teaching Textbooks 7 (Left Horizons because I don't like that the explanation is further back in the book than when it's given. I want to avoid tears.) Apologia Zoology Flying Creatures (My daughter loves these in depth studies.) Junior Analytical Grammar (She's 9.5 and has more knowledge about parts of speech than my husband. He actually watched the videos too. Great retention of information and we will use JAG : Mechanics afterwards.) MISSES Horizons 5 (She's done fine but I wanted to avert issues in the future. I'll use the unused workbooks as extra practice if I need to.) Word Build Foundations (I bought this at a convention last ear and was gung-ho about it but it's not very interesting. This is actually the first product that I've purchased and been disappointed in. Just not something that greeted our knowledge in anything.) Wordly Wise 5 (This is our 4th book and I just don't see any greatness to it anymore. It's just busywork and I need to get more going in so I'm trying MCT's Ceasar's English I next.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicianmom Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Hits: Apologia Land Animals MCT Town level, especially Caesar's English and Building Poems IEW Fables, Myths, and Fairy Tales Singapore math, now that I have finally figured out how to teach the thing! All About Spelling for my younger dd Mathematical Reasoning A for ds4 Misses: Ambleside Year 3, sadly. Dd did not enjoy having multiple books going at once, only reading a little at a time, and being required to finish books she didn't like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaConquest Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 Our first year of homeschooling! Lots of learning for both of us. He was technically in PK4 this year. Hits: SOTW1 Sassafras Science -- except the grammatical errors drive me to distraction Brain Pop -- my son watches this every day Progressive Phonics -- the buddy approach really works for us Nora Gaydos readers HWT K -- such a good program EM Beginning Geography -- fun Misses: Miquon -- just not my thing AAS -- great program, but too teacher-intensive with a baby OPGTR -- zzzzzz BFSU -- just wasn't getting done consistently enough, sadly Meh: Math Mammoth -- it's easy to do, but I think my son will prefer Beast Academy Dreambox -- my son likes it, but I don't think I like it enough to renew. Jury is still out: We've switched from AAS to RLTL and LLTL. It looks like a hit so far, but we've just begun. LOF, trying to take a more living books approach to math to add some spice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TarynB Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 6th grade, 12 y.o. boy: Hits (main curricula): WWS1, CPO Earth, K12's Human Odyssey 2 (offline with teacher guide), Hake Grammar, Caesar's English (the "old" version), Mosdos Press lit, Garlic Press book guides, LiveOnlineMath (self-paced video course), Wordly Wise Hits (supplements): Videos from Twig, Crash Course, and Education-Portal for science and history topics, Daily Paragraph Editing, Math Minutes, Perplexors, CNN Student News, BrainPop subscription (limited to 5 related videos per day, via iPad app), SheppardSoftware.com for geography review, Exploring the Night Sky, The Great Courses World History and Early American History lectures by Professor Thompson (high school, not college level), Flashcards app that pulls Quizlet data on iPad for drilling/reviewing vocab words, Killgallon's Sentence Composing for Middle School, Basher science books Misses - MCT grammar, OnlineG3 class for grammar & vocab, Editor in Chief Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denise in IN Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 DD - 3rd & DS - 4th Hits: MFW Exploring Countries & Cultures - we love this. I am tweaking and adding, of course (it's my sickness), but I love the structure ECC gives me. We also love the missionary biographies. Apologia Anatomy with the notebooks - for these two, a great fit! Old favs: Math-U-See Rod & Staff Spelling Growing with Grammar All About Spelling DS - 7th & DS - 9th Hits: Writing with Skill 1 & 2 Analytical Grammar Biology for the Logic Stage & BJU Life Science for 7th BJU Biology for 9th - this is a lot of work but good, especially doing the labs with Grandpa (retired science teacher). total win for me! Coursera Nutrition class First & Second Form Latin with review on Quizlet Tablet Class Geometry MFW ECC for 7th & BJU Cultural Geography for 9th Great Books from thegreatbooks.com - this is stretching us in a major way, but we are doing it with a group of friends and it's good. My 9th grader (!) is reading Chesterton to me. (!) that alone deserves a thousand exclamation points! Major hit for all: I have been reading aloud to everyone after supper while the kids do dish jobs. Everyone is loving it, and I'm thrilled to find a time when we can all ready together! Misses: I guess we haven't had any major ones this year, or I ditched them so long ago I've forgotten! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SorrelZG Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 I'm feeling ambivalent about this whole year, overall. It's been mostly about surviving and I should feel excited that we've done that much at least but I mostly just feel tired. Out of what we got to: Hits: Lively Latin 1 WWE 2 workbook ... not used as written but without it I would have neglected these skills this year. TPR foreign language lessons ... the children are finally learning this language and not hating it. Misses: SCM Gen.-Deut. & AE Lesson Plans ... for the first quarter to third of every year I feel an intense need to have stuff planned out for me - and then I don't. math ... we've had some great supplements this year and it hasn't been bad like it has in the past but overall I'm just feeling "meh" about this subject. Going to take a chance on some new things next year, I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 Most of what we've used has been what we've used for awhile and has continued to work well. Out of the new things we tried: Hits: History Odyssey Ancients- I don't absolutely love it and tweaked it (of course) but it's been a very easy way to have my 5th grader do history more independently and at a higher level while I focus more on doing SOTW with the 2nd grader. It's been sort of a nice crutch for me. I'm someone who likes to plan and pull together resources on my own for history and science but this worked well this year. Ellen McHenry's Cells- We just started this so I'm not completely sure if it will be a hit but looks great so far. Editor in Chief- Great way to work on mechanics. Ds finds it challenging but is more willing to work on the hated spelling, punctuation and grammar in this format. Alcumus- Ds LOVES this. Misses: Two Intellego unit studies that we tried for science- I thought these were a lot of busy work, geared for people in a school setting (almost every activity required a large group of people) and had my kids spending more time than I wanted on the computer. And one of them made my science loving kid hate science for a bit. We ditched it and I gave him a bunch of library books to read instead. That worked. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
froggiemomof3 Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 Hits: All About Spelling lvl 1 Misses: Apologia Flying Creatures Just alright: MFW - 1...it is too easy for DS and he is bored with it, but we need to get through it to make sure he has all the phonics down. Horizon Math 1...we will be switching to Saxon next year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 6th Grade: Everything has been pretty good this year, so I'm just listing the things that have really stood out, one way or the other. Hits: Jousting Armadillos Home-made history based around topics and core questions, rather than just reading through a text Home-made writing, otherwise known as "writing across the curriculum" Coursera's How Things Work Astronomy - yeah, the topic! She also really enjoyed reading The Planets by Dava Sobel and doing Intelligo's Astronomy curriculum Zaccaro's Ten Things Scientists and Mathemeticians Should Know Easy Peasy Spanish 6th grade program Misses: LOF PreA w/ Biology - nothing really wrong with it, but it's dropped out of the rotation and not been missed WWS Warriner's Composition Traits of Writing 2nd Grade Hits: Magic Schoolbus videos & science kits SOTW and ancient history in general, especially Egypt CAP's Writing & Rhetoric - just started, but she much prefers it to WWE Spelling dictation with homemade sentences (rather than LOE) Misses: LOF - again, not horrible, but not inspiring. We just kinda stopped doing it Grammar Island - she finds it boring (!) Writing with Ease - though we're doing it anyway LOE - though we're doing it anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deerforest Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 4th Grade Hits BA but we ran out of it so now we're sad Danica McKellar's math books and Math Bites videos Simply Charlotte Mason Busines Math Mom-made 1800s US history Mom-made evolution study (combined with a Coursera human evolution class currently) Excavating English Tons of read alouds and assigned reading across the subject areas. Misses Sassafras Zoology. Grammatical errors, confusing plotline, weak science. We couldn't finish. FLL4. I tried FLL again because we wanted to try diagramming. It just isn't a fit for us. Math Mammoth. I've tried so many times and it just doesn't work for her. Neutral Logice of English Advanced words. She loved it the first time through it but the second time was too much been-there-done-that. We still absolutely love the program. Megawords 1. we did it pretty easily and it was a nice focus on syllabication but she's just not a fan of spelling Studies Weekly NC history. It gives an overview of NC history which is what we needed but it just isn't as interesting as the more living history approach we take, and we had studied a fair bit of it already. She likes it enough to keep doing it though. Key to Series. They are great at giving those quick explanations and practice. But, she just doesn't need all the practice so we tend to use only a small bit of each book. She likes their look-and-feel more than other workbooks though. MCT Town. We loved the Island series, but she is burnt out of grammar, grammar, grammar. We've shifted our focus to output and writing, writing, writing instead with a bunch of other resources. Will come back to this next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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