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What curriculum are you loving and hating this year?


mommyoffive
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Hits - 3 kids:

- Math Mammoth (has worked for all of my kids)

- Derek Owens Algebra 2

- OM History - 6th grade - 1st time using this, DD is enjoying it

- Galore Park Jr. History

- PAH AP Psychology

- Aim Academy Creative Writing class with Lilianna Serbicki - great choice for my oldest

 

Mixed:

- Essay tracks online (literature part online, sometimes use the prompts provided for writing, sometimes don't) - 6th grader enjoys this (middle school group), but she has never taken any other classes online.  High school version did not work for my older child - too easy - dropped

 

 

Didn't work for us:

- High School US History has not had a good start.  Bought books, etc.. and planned to kind of follow Funda funda - never started.  Started Pandia Press US History along with some funda funda ideas - not working.  Ditching it all and going to start with OM US History this week (older version) with movies and documentaries and see if we can salvage history for the year. 

 

Everything else is going ok.

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Hits:

Memoria Press Enrichment Guide (2nd grade). I'm using this with my daughter, and we both absolutely love it. I was so hesitant to purchase it, but now I wish that I had used all three years of it. 

Miquon. But I knew that going into it. I'm just thrilled that I get to use it one more time. :-)

 

No misses this year!

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ds- 6th

 

Hits:

R&S grammar: Started this in fifth. It is quick and painless. Plus, it sticks.

Phonetic zoo: Quick and easy.

MP Latin: We started this midyear last year. I wish we had started sooner as it just works for him.

MP Greek Alphabet: Easy but fun for ds.

MP Geography

 

Meh:

TT pre-a. It gets the job done, gives me a break from teaching math and he is learning. But, he complains it takes too long (30 minutes) and the instuctor's voice drives him nuts. Its our first year using it and we probably won't use TT next year.

WWS: I love it, he doesn't. He doesn't like writing...he resists the physical act. I can see so much progress since he started and we will continue to the next book. I would put it on the hits list if he enjoyed it more.

LL LotR: He loves the books, hates the analysis.

Biblioplan: Ds likes it which says a lot because he doesn't like history much. I'm not a big fan of the companion. It's disjointed and hard to look at. It could be much better with a little editing.

 

Fail: McHenry's Elements. I bought both this and the next book. He disliked the elements so much that we skipped the other book. Science has been the bane of our homeschool experience.

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Love:

Saxon math (87 and 54)

IEW

WWE

SOTW

Elemental science biology for Grammar stage

 

Like:

Saxon Grammar 6.

 

Dislike:

Holt Earth Science (6th grade)

Any middle school suggestions are welcome (or much needed) please!

Edited by Maryam
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I'm loving...

Mystery Science

homegrown geography study where we focus on a different country every few months

Singapore Math

 

There isn't really anything I'm hating, but I'm having a kind of paradigm shift towards more multisensory history and geography and am trying to figure out what good things to let go of to make room for more of that.

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2 months in and we are basically starting all over again.  That's OK! I always expected it to be a little deschool-y, a little scattered at first. 

 

 

8 years old, dyslexic and dreamy

 

Hit:
Mystery Science

It feels a little scattered to me but she really enjoys it, and I think scattered is fine for this age.
 

Maybe:

Math Mammoth:   It's a good program but she gets intimidated by the volume of questions on each topic. I use this with the lesson plans you can purchase through Homeschool Planet and I highly recommend the lesson plans. They include links to videos explaining the concepts (the lady with the stuffed mammoth on her shoulder), plus links to games.

So a typical day might have 3 checkboxes: Watch Video - Do 1 or 2 worksheets - play game.

But it's a lot of worksheets,  she won't even do them on her own anymore -- asks me to scribe her answers.  No reason to teach something she dreads. 
Switching it up and going to Miquon, and I'm sure we'll supplement with MM.

 

Build Your Library:

Prehistory Unit Study was pretty neat, though we skipped the timeline and recommended projects. Really good book list.

Grade 1, I ended up not being into, because while I love the Charlotte Mason approach, my child absolutely did not.  She has a hard time with memorizing and copywork.  Whoops.

So we just use the BYL recommended order for SOTW & Usborne World History, throwing in some SOTW activities, some BYL activites, some History Pockets.

Will likely try History Odyssey next year which seems to be the history portion of BYL, a little more laid out for parents.

 

For language arts we're doing Barton because: dyslexic.

She desperately misses learning grammar and story structure from her school days so I just bought Miquon Opal which looks lovely.

 

Art Tango: she loves

Artistic Pursuits: I love it, she's not so sure, but we haven't really done much with it yet.

 

Complete misses:

BFSU: 3 times I have sat down with a notebook and a cup of coffee wanting to do lesson plans, 3 times I walked away thinking 'wow, this looks great, nope'.

 

 

 

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LOVING:

 

Sonlight. Dd14 and ds12 are doing Core G, and Dd's 6 and 4 are doing P4/5. Also Dd16 is about 3/4 through Core 200. I am loving SL. Love the way it all ties together and the literature that goes along with the history etc. We are also doing the SL LA and finding it really good - even my ds12 who is not a natural writer is coming out with some good stuff. I'm impressed.

 

Loving Layers of Learning as a supplement to SL topics. We get extra snippets of info and cool activities etc from them.

 

Also liking Mathsonline for all the kids paired with Easy Learn Maths or Excel math workbooks (depending on the person).

 

Ds 12 has learned tons from SL science E and enjoyed it.

 

 

 

DISLIKE:

 

I don't think we are doing anything I dislike that much. I guess we've fine tuned things enough over the years to the point where I am happy with what we are using.

 

Well.... Maybe not loving the art DVD series we are using but...we'll finish then and then move on to something else.

Edited by LindaOz
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We just found a dislike this year.  DS went through D'nealian print and was starting on the cursive, but disliked the method.  He picked out a book on Rainbow Resource with me a few weeks ago that fit his main want better: only work on letters.

 

We ended up with New American Cursive and he is in love.  It is absolutely perfect for him: trace a letter, make 2 on your own.  Pages vary so it's not all repetitive letter work each day.  And Mr. Meerkat makes him laugh.  I have to stop him when time is up now.

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  • 4 weeks later...

We didn't change much from last year, just moved on to the next level.  I like all those things, but of the things we added/changed...

 

Love, love, love, love, love Real Science Odyssey Biology 2.  I never fully love science.  That has changed this year.

 

I'm surprised how much I am liking Rod & Staff English 5.

 

Not loving Typing Pal.

 

What do you love about Real Science?  I was going to get that and now I kind of wish I had. 

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We are finishing up our 6th week of our school year.

 

Picture Smart Bible: Seriously LOVE this. Even 10 y.o. DS, who hates to color LVES this!!!

Elemental Science - Biology for the Logic stage: LOVE - so easy to adjust for each kid's level

Wordsmith Apprentice: DS LOVES this

Beast Academy: Love

AAR: I really did not want to use this, but DD and I both seriously LOVE it.

Winston Grammar: love

 

Biblioplan: I was sure we were all going to love this. I like it ok, but all 3 kids hate it. :sigh:

 

Oh I looked at Elemental Science years back.  I like the looks of this now.  What else do you love about it?

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On a whim, I purchased MCT's Lincoln's Ten Sentences and it was such a rich way to start our year. I'm really looking forward to using Free at Last in the spring.

 

Using MIF for the first time- DD loves it.

 

Cells by Ellen McHenry is a big hit. I love her stuff.

 

Beautiful Feet Modern and World is going really well. The pacing is sometimes uneven, but I like the book selections so far, and the writing assignments have been great.

 

Center for Lit class has also been great.

 

That's all of our new stuff. Carrying over from last year: MCT LA- finishing off last year's level, we like it. All About Spelling, effective, but she dislikes it. Effective wins.

Center for Lit  what age?  class online or using materials? what do you love? writing as well?

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Center for Lit what age? class online or using materials? what do you love? writing as well?

She's 12/7th grade taking the jr high online classes. Discussion only. I've heard wonderful things about their writing, but the samples were nearly identical to a class she took last year and didn't feel the need to repeat the same topics.

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So the site has little information about the class. The kids read the book before the discussion. Do they provide study guides to fill out as they read? Notes to take during the discussion? Writing prompts for parents to assign?

 

Where did your daughter do the writing assignments from? Class? Curriculum?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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So the site has little information about the class. The kids read the book before the discussion. Do they provide study guides to fill out as they read? Notes to take during the discussion? Writing prompts for parents to assign?

 

Where did your daughter do the writing assignments from? Class? Curriculum?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

There's a full 2-hour sample on this page http://www.centerforlit.com/jd167 . It's audio only, so you do lose some of the experience of the class. The full classes have a video element as well.

 

I would recommend getting onto their mailing list. Every summer they do a free sample class, but they fill up fast. My dd did the sample class a few years ago and we learned that it wasn't a great fit at the time- too long, she wasn't ready for the depth. However, she did learn a lot just from that one class and it stuck with her. When we were deciding on classes for her 7th-grade year, she felt like she was ready for the Center for Lit classes. 

 

No study guides, notes or writing prompts. They read, they discuss. The teachers fill out the lit analysis forms during the class and you can download them later if you want.

 

Adam Andrews has many conference sessions online. I would recommend listening to a few to get an idea of what the program is all about. He's also extremely responsive to emails. Usually answers within a few hours. You can also call their offices. Adam was happy to discuss the program with me over the phone. It's a great company.

 

My daughter's writing class was a local co-op class.

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  • 5 weeks later...

We gave up on Fix-It last year, but I decided to revamp it, and do it in a totally different way which DD is enjoying quite a bit, and I'm seeing tremendous progress in her writing mechanics already.

 

 

What did you do to modify fix-it? Very interested in your ideas!

Edited by bplacy
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Hits:

ELTL. This is going pretty well. I love the ease of an all in one, three days a week schedule. We're not crazy about some of the poems, but I'm not chucking it over that. My oldest son complains about how long the lessons are, but he always complains about writing type subjects. Sometimes I wish I'd put him in level 4 to stretch his writing, but this was his first time studying formal grammar so level 3 is a good fit there.

 

RLTL. This is working good for my oldest.

 

MUS. This is working well for everyone. I'm debating over what to do for the last bit of the year, after they finish their current book, either doing enrichment type stuff (beast academy or Singapore) or keep going on to the next level and then spend a year going deeper after they finish zeta. I may need to start a new thread for that one. :D

 

HWOT kindy book. I thought this was great for teaching letter formation.

 

Spelling you see. This is turning out to be a good fit too. I had just my kindergartner using it for writing practice, I ended up bumping him up a level because he needed more challenge (as in he was actually asking for it). But now my daughter is using it too and it really seems to be helping her. She's a perfectionist and refuses to write because she can't spell everything, on top of that she needs a lot of repetition for things to sink in. The multiple days studying the same passage, as well as repeatedly marking the same passage, is helping the words sink in. I finally sat down and watched the videos to go with it, and following their suggestions is working. She is feeling more confident and therefore willing to try the writing (instead of shutting down).

 

AAR. I have a love/hate relationship with this program. Lol. It works great for my daughter with the explicit, incremental teaching. But only when she's working at an easy-for-her level. Or maybe it's just that she needs breaks from it to read read read and build up her stamina. But we keep going thru a cycle of it working great, then it not working at all, then a break from it, and then we pick it back up and start the cycle over again. :Shrug

 

Block scheduling. Focusing on science for the first half of the year and history for the second half. This was an experiment this year and I plan to do it again next year.

 

Misses:

 

RLTL. Yup, this is in both categories. It caused serious meltdowns and regression in my daughter. I've shelved it and brought AAR and spelling you see back out. I may try RLTL with her again next year, or whenever I think she's ready for more analytical thinking.

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  • 1 year later...

We haven't changed too much but I will add what we continue to love and what has been a bust...

 

LOVE

 

We continue to love Abeka language arts

 

BJU math with videos...HUGE love here for DD

 

Everyone continues to love Singspore for supplemental math

 

DS continues to love Rightstart

 

Next DS still loving MUS

 

Cannot say enough wonderful things about SCM proverbs cursive. Finally a program for a beginning student that makes sense.

 

We continue to love Draw the USA as much as we did Draw Africa

 

Everyone still loves SYS and this is one curriculum you will have to pry out of my cold dead hands before I ever switch. I cannot believe how well my children write and spell and I owe it to SYS!

 

VP Ancient History Self Study online has been the highlight of the year and we have Greece and Rome lined up.

 

ELTL/WWE/VP guide/MP guide as oral discussion combo has been wonderful. We love everything about it.

 

RS4K Physics. These are always a hit at my house and always get done. Love them!

 

Meet the Masters still loving it

 

Memoria Press Music Enrichment is just really cool. We like it and it is so easy to implement. I am learning that I have historically liked all things Memoria Press. One day I may just take the box curriculum plunge.

 

Vos Children's bible and Buck Denver videos has been the most fun with bible study we have ever had. I cannot believe it took me so long to discover these gems!

 

Meh...list/LUKE WARM

 

VP Favorites Guides. We started out liking these but all 3 kids now despise them. They do them but I feel it is not the best use of their time so I have been slowly leaving them out more and more. They like the guides associated with one chapter book but these guides that include a multitude of different books make them crazy. They read the book quickly and then are stuck for days working through pages.

 

Rod and Staff English 2...this works, I will give it that but oh my stars I just cannot read another corny sentence and neither can DD and we are Christians. Not sure how people tolerate it year in and year out. Since it works amazingly well though, we keep on keeping on.

 

FLL 1...this makes me sad because my DD loved it but my twin boys get an eye twitch every time I ask them to give me the definition of a noun haha! They aren't feeling it.

 

HATE

 

TG&TB...cannot stand this curriculum. I have never loathed a curriculum as much as this one. Glad it was free so I don't feel bad trashing it.

 

Legends and Leagues was a total miss here. We deserted it. No one liked it at all and they really disliked the story.

 

Adventures in America...we liked it for a few weeks and then what ended up happening was I continued reading the assigned books (which are all great) and never went back to the curriculum. It is boring, craft heavy and exactly what I didn't like about the elemental science programs in the grammar stage. I learned my lesson after buying this, biology and chemistry. It is official, I don't like these curriculums.

 

Piano Wizard has been a flop. It is not a great program at all. We scrapped it for actual lessons at our umbrella school.

 

Song School Latin 1 all the kids really hate it. They think it is too corny. We scrapped it and are moving on to Memoria Press.

 

Saxon 2 gets my 2nd most hated curriculum after TGTB this year. Uhhhggg...what a slog and it moves so slow. I put my first grader in 2 thinking that would help but it is still so easy even half way through. We jumped ship. He didn't mind it and he liked some of the activities but I found every excuse to delay it each day. I even gave it to DH to do when I couldn't bare it a second longer and he jumped ship 10 lessons in. Nope. Not for us.

 

 

I may have forgotten a few things but thus is roughly our year so far.

Edited by nixpix5
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We are having our best year of homeschool yet (knock on wood!!!)

 

The thing that I have discovered is the key for us - curriculum that is planned out or is a do-the-next-thing. I have ADHD and planning my own things just doesn't happen.

 

Things that are working really well:

 

DS - 6th grade

Apologia General Science w/ Notebooking Journal

WWS1

Easy Grammar 6

Foerster's Algebra 1

 

DD - 4th grade

Writers in Residence 1

Math Mammoth 4

RSO Chemistry

 

DD - 2nd grade

RSO Chemistry w/ older sister

Math Mammoth 2

Growing w/ Grammar 2

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I have a son in 3rd grade

 

Loving

 

Easy Grammar

All About Reading

MUS

Wordly Wise

Story of the World

Evan Moor Daily Geography

 

So so

 

Daily Grams-This is ok, but thinking of just doing Easy Grammar for next year

WriteShop-Great program, but my son doesn't love writing; thinking of doing back to Daily Trait Writing

Spellwell-Ok, but my son and I liked Spelling Workout better

 

 

 

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Everyone still loves SYS and this is one curriculum you will have to pry out of my cold dead hands before I ever switch. I cannot believe how well my children write and spell and I owe it to SYS!

 

 

:lol: Glad you found such a winner.

 

I'm retired from homeschooling now, but I still look at shiny, new things. Are you using all the levels? How long have you used it? 

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Loving

-My tweaked version of AAR with American Language Readers instead or the AAR readers

 

-Abeka arithmetic

 

-Abeka manuscript (for preK) and cursive (for 1st)

 

-SCM picture study

 

-AAS (its reinforcing phonics and teaching my ds to spell)

 

-Primary language lessons....we're going slowly. Ds loves his "kitty book"

 

-Powerglide Spanish for children. Leftover from when my brother was in elementary... My kids are enjoying it and its great exposure.

 

So so (I don't really hate anything)

 

-Abeka 1st science (we started the year with Science in the beginning by Wile but my 1st grader barely got it and my 4.5 year old didn't like it. We will try again next year??)

 

-Ancient history ( we're finishing out with Usborne world history, Vos Bible story book, and Chow, but I don't like the disjointed feel. I know I don't like SOtW. So we may do SCM middle ages next year???

 

-abeka art projects 1 for both kids

Edited by Rjha
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"Everyone still loves SYS and this is one curriculum you will have to pry out of my cold dead hands before I ever switch. I cannot believe how well my children write and spell and I owe it to SYS!"

 

What is that one? 

 

 

I am interested b/c I think it's Spelling You See, by the Math U See folks, but w/ "you" spelled correctly. 

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So it truly is an addition, huh? Because I can totally see myself doing this even after the kids are done......  :lol:

 

 

You know, I certainly thought I was and would continue to be addicted to curriculum, but I'm not as bad as I used to be/thought I would be. I have let go of things (books) I thought I wouldn't, and I truly don't miss homeschooling! 

 

But I do like to see some new things, and this is spurred on by friends of ours who are considering homeschooling. Their oldest is 4 yo. 

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For 1st grade

 

Loving

We are using Abeka for language arts and all I can say is abeka gets me! I jusr adore how predictable and easy and thorough it is! I wish ds had used it for K. We cut out some of the curriculum but I think overall it really isn't too much.

 

Hating

 

Singapore Math

I hate the HIG. I hate the way it feels like we blaze through topics. Although ds is doing well I still think he could use more repetition so it really sinks in. Will be using something else for 2nd. Likely bju as I am attracted to a more traditional school feel for curriculum.

 

These are the only 2 things we are doing consistently. We are doing a mish mash of history, science and geography here and there. Nothing very formal, a lot of books from the library and some evan moor books. My ds really enjoys this. No foreign language or formal art or anything. Just keeping it simple and I don't think I will regret it a bit!

Edited by Elizabeth86
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Haven't read this thread, so this may have been mentioned by others, but Essentials in Writing (EIW) curriculum has been a lifesaver this year. It's been amazing, and I only wish I had found it sooner. The lectures are on video, and the workbook makes things easier too. And, the BEST PART is, grades 7-12 have a grading service. The feedback has been great and worth the money. My kids jive with EIW's approach to writing. Their writing has improved so much this year.  I can't express how wonderful it's been to outsource writing, especially for the middle school and high school kids.  :wub:  :wub:  :cheers2:

Edited by IfIOnly
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:lol: Glad you found such a winner.

 

I'm retired from homeschooling now, but I still look at shiny, new things. Are you using all the levels? How long have you used it?

We have used A through currently D so far. Essentially it is just copywork in theory but using the colored pencils to mark up words along with working on the same passage for the week makes the difference. They love the 4th day creative writing and by the time we get to Friday's dictation it is solid without much more study. My son with ASD says he sometimes remembers how to spell by seeing the word in his head with the colored blocks.

 

The other benefit has been their writing tolerance has increased, handwriting has improved and hand fatigue isn't complained about anymore.

 

It isn't for everyone since there is an adjustment and complaining for a few weeks to tolerate but if you can endure and hold on its awesome :-)

 

ETA: another benefit is they learn things like quotation marks, commas, ending punctuation and so forth as well. My 6 year olds use apostrophes in their sentences as well as put speech in quotes. It is so cool :-P

Edited by nixpix5
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I'm using level A with my kids and so far we like it. Perhaps not quite with the enthusiasm nixpix5, :) but it's been a good fit and no one complains. It's a "get 'er done" sort of program, which is always my preferred type! I do however feel it should be called Spelling You Hear, rather than See, as it's more auditory than a visual at this level at least, but I get they had to continue with the theme. And perhaps there is more copywork in the later levels?

 

To pair with early readers though, I did find that it instantly helped cement some early reading phonetics with both of my kids. It allowed something to obviously click so I would definitely recommend it to anyone with K or 1st grade early readers. It has worked extremely well along with Progressive Phonics.

We almost abandoned A, it was not our fave. I am glad we endured because B is great, especially the second book. Edited by nixpix5
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Winners for DS9 and DD8:

CLE math + process skills

MP Literature

NAC 2 - my lefty DS has beautiful cursive handwriting.

FLL 3

WWE 3

EM Daily Science Ă¢Â¤Ă¯Â¸

EM Daily Geography

Hit of the year: Art pacs! Both kids love them.

 

Not working/has to go:

AAS - I really can't do this anymore. They are ok with it, but I hate it.

SOTW 3 - ugh. Everyone dreads it. I need an Evan Moor book for history. Ă°Å¸ËœÆ’

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Loving-
CLE math- as always

Rod and Staff English- for my 9 year old. He loves doing this together
SOTW as a spine- never any complaints
STACKS of books
DIVE Biology- my son declared that this is very difficult but that he loves it and is really learning the material

 

Not feeling the love-
Everything Good and the Beautiful- just not good for us.
 

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This year we are loving...

Beast Academy for my oldest, CLE math for another kid, and RS for my third kid.

Brave writer, this is a big hit

Spelling You See. Really loving this for my 1st grader, my 6th grader is tolerating it.

TOPS science

Write On! My kids find these writing projects fun.

AAR pre reading and Math Seeds for my youngest

 

Working, not sure we're loving them...

Evan Moore daily science. It gets done, some units seen really great, others feel like busywork.

BF California history. They don't hate it, but I was hoping for better than that with this one.

R&S spelling, not sure this is actually doing anything for my struggling speller. I have AAS and intend to start doing this a few times a week in addition. Tho of course that was before my dad ended up in the hospital... So R&S is definitely continuing till I have more time again.

 

Hated...

Math Mammoth for my oldest, it was just a slog.

 

Eta: For once I'm not changing things mid year, so things are going pretty good :D

Edited by vaquitita
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Winners for DS9 and DD8:

CLE math + process skills

MP Literature

NAC 2 - my lefty DS has beautiful cursive handwriting.

FLL 3

WWE 3

EM Daily Science Ă¢Â¤Ă¯Â¸

EM Daily Geography

Hit of the year: Art pacs! Both kids love them.

 

Not working/has to go:

AAS - I really can't do this anymore. They are ok with it, but I hate it.

SOTW 3 - ugh. Everyone dreads it. I need an Evan Moor book for history. Ă°Å¸ËœÆ’

What are art pacs? Link please? Thanks!

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Nothing has been a runaway hit this year, but stuff that is working:

 

Spelling You See (still! yay!)

Oak Meadow Environmental Science

Paragraphs for High School (Killgallon)  (but now we've finished it and I'm not sure what we are currently using is working)

Iguana Art Academy

 

Like pulling teeth:

Horizons Pre-Algebra

Moving Beyond the Page history (even though she likes the projects, getting her started is a pain)

getting DD to write anything

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HITS this year:

 

Spelling You See

-- I'm with nixpix on this, I am LOVING this program and my bad speller is showing so much improvement!

 

Right Start math

-- Funny because when I originally posted in 2016 it was on our misses list.  DS#3 likes the later levels much more than the early ones, and he adores the drawing lessons.

 

Beast Academy

 

IEW

-- I big-puffy-heart Pudewa telling my kid what to do for writing so I don't have to in the student writing intensive

 

MCT Island level for DS#3

 

Picciotto Algebra and Algebra Lab Gear

-- These were great finds!

 

Build Your Library 5

 

Jacobs Mathematics a Human Endeavor

 

 

JUST MEH this year:

 

Fix It

-- Neither boy really likes this, but it gets the job done and is quick and easy.  It's certainly better than Evan-Moor Daily Paragraph Editing, which was their other option.

 

MCT Town level for DS#1

-- He likes the grammar, but isn't thrilled about the vocab book.  I'm holding off on using the paragraph and poetry books until next year.

 

 

MISSES this year:

 

AoPS Prealgebra

-- It just isn't fun like BA was.  We're going to keep at it here and there between the other math texts DS#1 is using and liking more.

 

BookShark history and lit

-- These turned out just not to be secular *enough* for my tastes

 

 

TO BE DETERMINED

 

We just started RSO Bio 2.  So far we really like it, but we're only a couple of weeks in.  It's hard to say it's really a hit quite yet.

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MISSES this year:

 

AoPS Prealgebra

-- It just isn't fun like BA was.  We're going to keep at it here and there between the other math texts DS#1 is using and liking more.

 

 

 

Lace, Can I ask what you're using instead? Just the Picciotta book? Or another as well? And what do you find the differences between the two to be? I was planning on using AoPS soon, but apparently need to do some more research.

Thanks!

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Hits and misses for 2018:

 

Hits:

Morning basket :)

Middlebury Interactive Spanish (after a few years Dd is finally putting some effort in and I can see some good progress)

Math Mammoth for Ds and ydd

Biblioplan

Bravewriter

Art of Argument

FLL 2

AAR

AAS

Megawords

IEW Fix It

 

Misses:

Tabletclass prealgebra (dd is taking a break and trying some other options)

 

Meh:

God's Design for (weather and water, planet earth,universe) it's doing its job...just uninspiringly

Analytical Grammar it is working, but it is a bit of drudgery...

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For DD5- just started Horizon Math K workbook 1. She likes it but says it's too easy and it is. She knows about 85% of the stuff in the book. She says she likes easy so she will finish this. Workbook #2 will be delivered tomorrow. I hope it will be more challenging. It's colorful and the lessons are short. Which is a plus for her age. Taking the placement test put her in this, so we will see.

 

Phonics- Reading Made Easy with Blend Phonics and Phonics Pathways. I like both.

 

She has a wipe and clean book for practicing her numbers plus her math book practices that as well. It works when she is interested.

 

Her letters she practice's those on the white board. It works.

Edited by Mommyof1
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I can't say my kids love any of these. We are in the "school is stupid" preteen phase.  There are some they tolerate less than others, which will be reflected here:

 

Love:

 

Grammar for the Well-Trained Mind  (This is what we needed. I had bought Analytical Grammar and there was NO way that was going to work for us. They needed a different sort of program. This is just right for us.)

Latin for Children Teacher's course.  Not curriculum, but something for me.  I am SO glad I bought this used. It has helped me tremendously. I have no background in Latin. 

 

Like and working:

 

All about Spelling (although I'm ready to retire--oldest is in book 7 and youngest in book 6)

SICC-B  (significantly more difficult for us than SICC-A, interestingly)

Math in Focus (5A/5B and Course 1)

Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization (but only doing twice a week, so super slow progress this year)

Prufrock Press Logic Books

Maps, Charts & Graphs (although the printing is very poor quality. I wish they would fix that.)

Human Odyssey Vol 2 and OUP books (I am still liking this series in year 2)

Artistic Pursuits

Hoffman Academy piano

WTM reading selections for Medieval/Early Modern (less Sir Gawain--we crashed and burned on it and I am waiting for a different translation from the library)

 

Like, with reservations

CPO Earth Science  (and virtually every science curriculum ever . . .)   It's okay. It's too light on some topics, and since I am teaching the labs I am struggling with filling in the gaps. I had hoped this would be more open and go but it is not. 

 

Oldest Complains about:

 

Latin for Children B--I have an older version of the DVD. I would not have thought it would make a big difference, but it does. The video quality is poor. There are a lot of mistakes, and it doesn't line up well with the workbook. They mention the daughter being sick for about four weeks.  It's weird.  We are making it work because I am too cheap to buy a newer DVD.  

 

The Fallacy Detective.  Occasionally they throw in an answer such as "huh?" and this throws my rule-follower, compliant son into fits.  Really, they could have addressed this in the instructions for each exercise. I think ultimately this is a book that will work best if you do it together and not assign it.  We have about 15 chapters left so that is probably what we will do. 

 

 

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This was my last year:

 

Hits:

Mystery Science ("Mom, please, please, please can we do science today!?!?!?")

Hoffman Academy

CLE (for my math-challenged child)

Miquon

Evan Moor Beginning Geography

AAS

OPGTR (It's an unexciting but incredibly effective power horse at our house.)

 

Getting the Job Done:

WWE

FLL

HWT

 

Miss:

I Speak Latin. (I should have been true to myself and realized that the teaching style of this doesn't mesh with how I like to do things. Very good, just not for me)

Latin in general- We're putting it off for a bit.

History in general- I'm doing great at sort of unschooling this but I'd like to be more regular/formal. That's on me and not any particular program. We watch Liberty's Kids and listen to SOTW in the car. That counts, right?)

 

Jury's Still Out:

Beast Academy (dd is young for the program and we are taking it really slowly as a supplement. I plan to do it as her primary math as soon as she finishes Miquon, probably in about 9mos)

 

Its interesting seeing where we are now. A lot has changed, but most has stayed the same.

 

Hits:

Beast Academy. DD7 does it as her spine and DD5 is doing 2a on the side. Both love it (usually)

Hoffman Academy piano for all girls. We love Mr. Hoffman so much.

OPGTR. Almost done with dd5 on my third time through!

AAS 

Getting Started with Latin for dd9. Suprisingly for this dd, she loves it.

Miquon

Redbird Math, although we're going to stop it for a while once dd7's subscription is up.

Prodigy

Well-Ordered Language CD

SOTW Audiobook

TypingClub

FLL 3&4

W&R Fable

Kiwi Crates

 

Meh:

WWE 1&2. Gets the job done with little complaining

 

Misses:

CLE. Still love it but dd is having some extreme attention issues combined with some math learning issues and this was turning into a HUGE battle daily, with tears and yelling. Not worth it. We're deschooling math for a bit right now by doing Prodigy only. We're looking into medicating for attention and might try it again then. For now I'm going to try switching her to Teaching Textbooks for a while.

 

FLL 1&2. I just got to the point where I felt like I could do the content of this better informally and by the girls listening to the Well-Ordered Language CD on a regular basis, so that's what we're doing. DD7 just "graduated" this method and started right into FLL3 and is doing great. 

 

Mystery Science. I love it, I just never do it. That's totally my own fault, but just is the way it is. The girls still beg me to do it on regular occasions.

 

 

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HITS:

Singapore 2A/2B with IP - DS loves the intensive practice & itĂ¢â‚¬â„¢s easy to accelerate.

DIY Continents & Cultures - This has been so much fun! Well worth the effort I put into planning.

Logic of English Foundations - Book C was brutal, but Book D has been a lot more fun!

 

MEH:

RightStart C - Loved A & B, but C is too much repetition. WeĂ¢â‚¬â„¢re using a handful of lessons.

Evan Moor Reading Comprehension - Perfect at the beginning of the year, now too easy. Got it for free.

 

MISSES:

None! Yay!

Edited by Expat_Mama_Shelli
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We're not using a whole lot of curriculum this year, but so far we've only one major dislike: Mr. Q Life Science.  It's falling flat here.  I scrapped the lessons and am following roughly the same outline but with our own plan of attack.

 

The rest:

Grammarland

Spell Correctly

MEP

Artistic Pursuits

 

are firmly in the like/look-forward-to-doing camp, though we slowed MEP down some to tackle some pesky multiplication problems.

 

That was last year.

 

Hits this year:

-ELTL with Grammarland character cutouts/Montessori color coding.  He understands diagramming almost completely because of this.

-Dictation Day By Day

-Right Start level D, paired with Life of Fred and using MUS blocks.  We finally found out sweet spot with it during multi-digit multiplication.  I teach it the way Gamma taught and he's finally able to visualize the steps instead of trying to go rote when the problems get big.

-BFSU.  It's more work on my part but science is one of his favorite parts of the day.

-Artistic Pursuits

-GSWL

-SOTW v. 2

-One Third Stories

 

Misses

nothing *yet*, but looking at ELTL it may be best for us to take a break after this year due to writing requirements and small hands.  We'll see how the end of year looks, though.

 

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Always fun to see what people say here!

 

Loving: CLE math

RSO chemistry

SOTW

Apples and Pears Spelling

Barry Stebbing Drawing Lessons

 

Middle Ground: FFL

WWE

 

Not loving:

Rod and Staff spelling (before switching to Apples and Pears)

ETC

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