lbakos Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 Hello, all. We're starting our formal studies next week and I'm still trying to decide on what to do for a few subjects. Below is my 12-year-old DD's scheduled studies for the year. Feel free to give me any input/feedback/suggestions. TIA. Language Arts Spelling - R&S 7 Grammar - Shurley 6 Writing - ??? Suggestions welcome for a reluctant writer! We went through WWE 1-4 & did the writing in Shurley 5 last year, but she doesn't enjoy writing, except when it's on her own time. I always let her choose what topic to write about (in Shurley) & it was still a struggle to get her to do it. Took her ALL afternoon b/c she procrastinated. The only time it went "okay" was when I let her write her assignment on the dry erase board instead of on paper, but that's not always going to be an option. I'd love to find a writing program that's going to inspire her. I've looked through TWTM suggestions, but nothing really stands out. Literature - Various (classical) stories throughout the year. An hour of reading per day. Latin Latin For Children A (I'm doing this w/ both of my kids ages 12 & 9. We started it last year, but it fell to the wayside. Restarting for the beginning - better late than never right?) Math Teaching Textbooks 6 (switched from MUS this year - new for us) History Veritas Press Self-Paced Explorers to 1815 (1/2 way through) & 1815 to Present New! Science ??? Suggestions welcome! We haven't done any formal science so far. She's excited about it this year. I like the idea of Memoria Press' J.H Tiner Series. I think both of my kids could study it together, which would be helpful. But, I've also looked at Apologia General Science for my dd alone. Not sure which route to take. I'd love suggestions on this. New! Logic The Art of Argument & The Fallacy Detective (We'll probably work through these over 2 years. Our 1st intro to Logic other than a couple "critical thinking" workbooks last year.) New! Geography ??? Suggestions welcome! We've had the geography songs for a few years, so my dd knows her countries by heart, but I'm looking for something formal this year. And, I think that's it! Did I miss anything? I appreciate any input/feedback/suggestions. Thanks! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JadeOrchidSong Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 Apologia general science with student notebook journal! Ds12 did it completely independently last year. We use Maps, Charts, and Graphs Level G sold at CBD. My boys do it independently. They do not write in it at all. They just do it in their head. For Latin, I highly recommend Lively Latin 1. They can do it totally independently. It is very age appropriate and very fun. I tried Latin for Children A and sold it because it is very dry for me. I like to see how words are used in context, not just memorize a bunch of stuff without context. Now we are into Henle Latin 1. You can probably start her at Teaching Textbook 7. TT 6 is probably all review for her. My boys enjoyed Fallacy Detective last year. I read aloud and we discuss the questions at the end. We are doing Art of Argument now. It is a lot similar to FD. Ds prefer to read and think of the questions independently and I let them do it their way. No written work required. For writing, ds10 enjoyed Jump In! ds12 did Lively Art of Writing with the free formatted work work you can find on WTM forums. They both enjoyed their writing last year. Ds12 did a whole year of WWS 1 and half of WWS 2 before we switched to a Lively Art of Writing. Right now ds10 is taking IEW SWI Level B with 6 other children taught by one mom friend of mine and ds 12 is taking a Wrting class at a local homeschool academy, which is IEW style but much more, including grammar and vocabulary each week. ETA: Your younger can do some elementary Apologia science. They are very enjoyable. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mschickie Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 For writing I really like IEW especially for reluctant writers. We have been using it for several years and it has really helped dd's writing. I am not sure what "grade" your 12 year old is. We did the Apologia elementary books up through 6th grade and then this year for 7th we are doing the General Science book. You could easily do one of the elementary books with both of your children. Art of Argument and Fallacy Detective might be a bit redundant. We chose to do Art of Argument this year in place of Fallacy Detective. We also use the Maps, Chart and Graphs as an added geography. For History we use Mystery of History and do a bunch of map/geography work with that. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................... Posted September 30, 2015 Share Posted September 30, 2015 Geography is most successful here simply using seterra.net and praise and maybe a reward for each continent learned 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted September 30, 2015 Share Posted September 30, 2015 My 12 yro reluctant writer is doing well with Writing with Skill 1. After years of trying to inspire him to write, I went with a "let's just do it" writing curriculum. The only other writing program I've had success with is Wordsmith Apprentice. My 10 yro is about halfway through that and really enjoys it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted September 30, 2015 Share Posted September 30, 2015 (edited) . Edited May 23 by SilverMoon 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 I really like the Tiner series too, and those were great for us one year in junior high. If I recall correctly, there aren't experiments, if that matters to you. (It didn't to us because my dd was doing a science fair project also, plus we did it after an experiment-heavy year). For reluctant writers, I really like Essentials in Writing by Matthew Stephens. It breaks concepts down into one thing to do at a time, and models how to do that in a short, 3-5 minute video, and then the student does a related assignment. I liked that the videos model mistakes or changing your mind as you write--my kids needed to see that the writing process is sometimes muddy and requires rewriting. My oldest especially struggled with writing, and Essentials made it doable and approachable for him. HTH some! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lbakos Posted November 10, 2015 Author Share Posted November 10, 2015 I really like the Tiner series too, and those were great for us one year in junior high. If I recall correctly, there aren't experiments, if that matters to you. (It didn't to us because my dd was doing a science fair project also, plus we did it after an experiment-heavy year). For reluctant writers, I really like Essentials in Writing by Matthew Stephens. It breaks concepts down into one thing to do at a time, and models how to do that in a short, 3-5 minute video, and then the student does a related assignment. I liked that the videos model mistakes or changing your mind as you write--my kids needed to see that the writing process is sometimes muddy and requires rewriting. My oldest especially struggled with writing, and Essentials made it doable and approachable for him. HTH some! Thanks for the Essentials in Writing Suggestion. I purchased it and it's working out really well. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lbakos Posted November 10, 2015 Author Share Posted November 10, 2015 Thanks for the replies everyone. As many of you mentioned, two logic books would be too much and you were right. My daughter really enjoys the Fallacy Detective. I've put The Art of Argument away for either later in the year or next year. We've chosen Essentials in Writing (book 7) which is working out really well. I'm still undecided on science (leaning towards apologia general) and geography. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KSinNS Posted November 11, 2015 Share Posted November 11, 2015 If you have an iPad or Mac, there's a free high-school/junior high level biology book- E.O. Wilson's Life on Earth. My 11 year old really likes it so far-it's easy to read, explains things well, and the graphics are beautiful. He narrates each section then does the review questions at the end. We're going to try a couple of the experiments as well (we're getting our rears in gear to do that-probably next week). Fair warning, it is totally, totally secular. But, it's free, so no investment if you don't like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiramisu Posted November 11, 2015 Share Posted November 11, 2015 All of my kids do/did really well with Apologia. For some reason, I did not take the General Science path with my 13 yo. I think I was concerned about the amount of reading with her short attention span. I decided to try to get through a couple of the elementary level books instead and so far it's painless. She had been in ps and lost her love of learning. I'm doing what I can to re-capture that. If you go with Apologia, you might want to check out the at-your-own-pace classes through Virtual Homeschool Group. I'm very interested in the Tiner books as well, and wish I knew about them earlier. Maybe I'll give one of them a try when we finish botany. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.