anyone changing things up next semester and want to share plans?

[dsbrack]

I'm making some small tweaks.  My 2nd grader is really taking off in reading so I am going to slowly increase his reading time and add in some of our TOG books for him to read aloud instead of me always reading them.  I'm also going to implement Jessie Wise's recommendations at the beginning of WTM to make weekly (probably bi-weekly) library trips requiring books on different topics to be checked out.  So far, we've mostly stuck with fiction books on his level but I'd like to make a push for more non-fiction during his personal reading time.  We are going to start cursive writing next semester instead of waiting until next year.  He's ready for a change and I think he's come a long way in building his printing skills this past semester.  Everything else is really working for us.  It's been a productive semester. 

[KeriJ]

We're adding in WWS instead of me piecing writing together.

 

Switched my oldest from R&S English to CLE. (youngers are still sticking with R&S)

 

Adding Science Shepherd Introductory Science for the elementary crowd.

 

Other than that, I think we'll stick with what we're doing and get more serious about getting it done. :)

 

[Holly]

We switched our history spine from Famous Men of the Middle Ages to SOTW 2.  We did this shortly before the break and it's been going much better.  I've added in the AG maps & coloring pages and we may do a few of the activities if time allows.  So far they really like it.

 

For science, we'll be switching to CKE Earth & Space.  We'd been using SCM's Burgess bird study, but my older two need more of a challenge.  I may continue it more as a read aloud (with the bird coloring pages), but I feel like we need more science.  Going in, I knew it was a light program, and I was intending to fill in with living books and nature study.  The reality is that I'm terrible about getting to the nature studies.  :blush:  It was also difficult to keep coming up with related science projects/experiments on my own (I've been trying to schedule one a week).  I like the WTM idea of lining up science with history, and CKE seems like it would make a nice spine for science.  My older two will be adding Exploring Planet Earth, The Geology Book, and The Weather Book for some independent reading.  

[Runningmom80]

Well, I decided to change up a lot more than I thought.

 

Math - skipping the text in SM 5 and just doing CWP along with Jousting Aramdillos

LA - adding in Caesar's English I & II (We did Town, but not CE.  We are skipping Voyage.)

DS did a semester of SOTW at AAA.  He elected not to continue on, so I signed him up for MEL Chemistry.  (On semester of history, one semester of science is pretty good around here. :hurray: )

[Heidi]

I'm giving up on cursive first, at least for my ds6, and switching him to hwt. And we are getting serous with beginning reading bc its time. Added in Essential Math B, though I could probably start him in 1st grade math... maybe I'll do that soon.

 

For my oldest I'm switching her to WWS 1 because her current writing program is no longer challenging and I want to prepare her for more formal writing.

Edited January 1, 2016 by Heidi

[ellebro]

I'm making a few changes across the board for my 4th and 6th graders. I saw very little progress with Saxon Writing or Bravewriter, so we are switching to Killgallon Sentence Composing and Warriner's English. Saxon Grammar and GWG resulted in very little retention/comprehension of grammar, so we are switching to DGP's Daily Grammar Practice. Self-chosen literature was not working, so we are switching to Mosdos Literature. They are reluctant readers and hate novels, so I think the short-story format will work better for them.

 

These things are still working and won't change: Teaching Textbooks, Nancy Larson Science, EFTRU flashcards, Story of the World (read aloud and oral review questions.)

[SeaConquest]

We decided to add an earth science/geology class at Athena's -- my DS's first online class -- which starts in a few weeks.

 

Since switching to Beast Academy, my son has little interest in working on Singapore. So, we're dropping it (except for the CWP books), and will instead supplement Beast with problem solving books from math competitions.

 

We're also getting close to finishing MCT Island level, Song School Latin 2, and Shalom Uvrachah for Hebrew. So, I will be adding Killgallon's Story Grammar for Elementary, Minimus, and Shalom Ivrit for Hebrew.

[Guest]

I changed everything for Miss Priss. She detested CLE and K12. 

 

Math: Teaching Textbooks 3

 

Extra Stuff: Five in a Row

 

More Extra Stuff: Home Art Studio, and lots of craft kits/art supplies!

 

I do realize this is very light but after a year of constant battles, we both need a break!

 

I plan to work grammar and writing into FIAR. After teaching the 4 olders, I know enough rules/definitions and how to teach them to last for a while. We did work through FLL 1 and 2 previously so it will be mostly a review for a bit until she is ready for something more after she turns 8.

[vaquitita]

Reviving an old thread...

 

You changed things up for the second semester, how did it turn out?

 

Did you love it and plan to keep going?

Did it crash and burn and now your back to the old?

Or was it just meh and you are on the lookout for something new for next year?

 

 

Our change up turned out to be mostly good. Math: the switch to MUS went well. my daughter is thriving with it, my son is doing ok too. He likes the consistency of work expectations, is remembering his times tables, has finally mastered multi digit by multi digit multiplication (he just wasn't interested enough to care and would change his method midproblem leading to errors), and we have been able to devote one day a week to beast academy. I called this one a win when math actually came up as dinner table conversation! (Prime vs composite numbers) The blocks got pulled back out to explain to daddy and younger sister what they were and my daughter then played around with it too, figuring out which numbers were prime or not. :) So, MUS is a keeper.

 

LA: our LA changes didn't fare as well. With my oldest, I tried LLATL orange. We only lasted a month. Lol. In theory the old school ness of it doesn't bother me, but in practice it was a pain. I had to go dig up encyclopedias and newspapers and other stuff we just don't have. The workbook went ok, but it did feel busy workish. It also took up all my sons writing stamina so we weren't getting to written narrations. I looked around again and found RLTL and ELTL. I began using RLTL 2 and that went really well. He ended up dong all of book 2 and half of book 3. I saw some real improvements in his spelling. Because it was past mid year, I didn't start ELTL. I just bought the level 2 workbook, had my son read the books and gave him the copy work. For the first time we did copy work consistently! We also had room to add in a once a week written narration. And that went pretty well. With my daughter, I tried spelling you see, jack and Jill, and while she did good with the first book, once we started the second book she totally freaked out over the dictation. I had by that point switched my son to RLTL, and I decided to switch her too. I started her in RLTL book 1 and it went well, she finished that book. I also gave her HLTL Elson primer copy work. So LA was a bumpier road, but I am very happy with RLTL and ELTL and plan to continue those next year. In fact, I've already bought the books. I did nearly drive myself crazy picking which level of ELTL to use next year though. Lol.