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What curriculum are you loving and hating this year?


mommyoffive
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This year I like a continuation of last year's. We are starting each day with a mix of therapies and morning basket time with Thinking Tree journals as our guide for the morning basket work and readings. Starting together with hands on and together time is something I am going to stick with.  I loop through things that we might never get to otherwise, supplements to the rest of our work. Things I think look good that I am not using for full curriculum type of things and books I want to read through, but don't have another place in our day. 

 

We started A Workbook for Arguments just barely this semester. So far so good.  I also really like Mr. D's math for my high schooler. Really really a lot. MP for latin whenever possible is always the best path for us. NLEs and studying for them with friends, also good.  Doing SOTW type projects in co-op to supplement logic and rhetoric history has been nice. They take their projects to a new level. We just pick some that are age appropriate and skip the really elementary ones.

 

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Hits:

 

AOPS.... DD finished Algebra book and just started Geometry book

Teaching Textbooks...... DS finished Algebra 2. Started Geometry.

Elementary Greek 1

Word within the Word 2

Progeny Press guide to Julius Caesar

EIW 7 and 10.... 10 with scoring service!

EIL 7

Czech Step by Step 1

Growing with Grammar 7

 

Misses:

 

Notgrass World history, high school..... Nothing wrong with the program, but DS wants more. So we have tweaked it, and changed it, and added to it, and now we basically use the Textbooks as a spine.

 

MapTrek..... high school geography. We are continuing to use it, but it’s just ok. I think as we head into more modern times he will like it better, since the names/locations will be more distinct.

 

 

Like but not love:

 

From Adam to Us, Notgrass..... DD likes it. The pictures are beautiful and we have enjoyed all the middle school texts. I think I’m just ready for her to switch to my plans for next year 😊

 

DIVE Biology..... it’s fine... the kids have learned a lot. I just expected that we could actually do more of the labs since I purchased the lab kit.

 

First Start French. DD likes it. We just never have time for it!

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We're trying out The Good and the Beautiful. I love their LA for my beginning readers, 4th grade, and 6th grade, but dropped it for my 8th grader and moving on to IEW and analytical grammar this week to shore up those skills before high school. I tried the good and the beautiful history, but I just don't have time to do history with the kids, so I opted for independent history.. Notgrass.

 

I still love CLE math, but I switched my oldest three to TT because 5 kids in CLE is too much of my time to check work. :(. My kids love TT because it is so easy compared to CLE.

 

Our first year with Notgrass history and my middle schoolers love it, as do I. I'll be using it for high school next year.

 

As always, we love the elementary apologia science with notebook journals. My 8th grader is doing physical science and it's great. We'll stay with apologia for high school as well.

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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!

 

Lately, DS#1 has been alternating between the Picciotta algebra book (available FREE on Picciotta's website: https://www.mathedpage.org/attc/index.html) using the Algebra Lab Gear blocks and Jacobs Mathematics a Human Endeavor.  He's done the first 3 chapters in both books. 

 

He took foreeeeeeeeveeeeer to do the first 3 chapters of AoPS pre-A earlier this school year, and there was so much complaining.  I don't think there's anything wrong with AoPS.  The pre-A book is a seriously solid.  It's just very dry, wordy, and well, textbooky, and DS#1 is an active 9yo boy.  The layout and presentation of concepts in BA went over way better than AoPS. 

 

I do think AoPS will eventually be the best program for him, he's just not mature enough to happily plow through it yet.  For now he needs more pictures, some color, and explanations written in more of a conversational tone.  He likes AoPS more when I make worksheets for him from the exercises and change word problems so that they fit in the BA universe; however, I don't have the time or energy to do that for him every day.

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Hits:

Beast Academy

Abeka math for my third grader before he transitions into Beast Academy

MCT Town level, especially Caesar's English

CAP Writing Chreia

Maps, Charts and Graphs

CAP Reasoning and Reading...great topic sentence skills and other great skills.

 

Good:  AAS, waiting on the next level since we were told to race through from the beginning.  Jury's out on whether it will shore up my third grader's skills.

Fallacy Detective...now I need to convince my sixth grader that ordinary household conversations are not debates, and we don't always need to be so overly concerned with red herrings and straw man arguments.

 

Misses:

Good and Beautiful Science...not meaty enough for my oldest in sixth...very crafty oriented rather than doing good science experiments.

Good and Beautiful Language arts for my third grader...using it just for some reading exercises now.  It's ok, but not great.  We do like some of the geography mixed in, and some of the assignments are creative, but the grammar is not as thorough as it could be and has a few errors or weird examples that frustrate me.  Just ordered Abeka grammar 3 for him.  If I'm using something else for grammar and spelling, than the all in one isn't really working for me.  But it's free for using a few things.

 

At least these weren't too expensive of misses.

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Hits: Daily Word Ladders (I used it as a bridge as I was switching spelling programs but needed time to do some research)

 

Misses: Heroes and Heroines of American History-I want to love it. It's a lot like SOTW with a reading, and activities. But it seems like I'm having to "interpret" it so my kids understand what's happening (seems more written to sound good rather than be understood by kids), and it jumps around A LOT since it focuses on the different people and events, and chronological order is the second tier. 

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Hits- Math Mammoth for my 4th grader- this has been an awesome switch for us. I love that the books have lists of online games for each math topic. If my son is having trouble with a topic, it's super easy to           find a game to reinforce the topic. https://www.mathmammoth.com

 

Field Trip Journal from Coastal Explorers Press. We do so many fun trips, that this has been an awesome way to record them

https://www.amazon.com/Field-Trip-Journal-Navigator-Level/dp/1548750956/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1516835828&sr=8-5&keywords=field+trip+journal

 

Misses- The Good and Beautiful Language Arts, it felt choppy and my kiddo hated it. 

Edited by mamakelly
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Love:

AAR1, we'll be moving to level 2 and AAS in a couple of weeks!

Sassafras Twins, dd and I have decided to reread zoology after summer before going on with their anatomy

Looking forward to trying Brave Writers free Charlotte's Web free sample next week

 

Hate:

BJU Math, we're switching to MM soon

A Child's History of the World, dd can't stand it so we'll be switching to SotW

 

Somewhere in the Middle

Handwriting without Tears, don't love or hate it. It just is.

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I have 4 kids so the lists include different things they may be using together or separately .

 

Loves-

Moving beyond the page

Bookshark Science

BJU dlo Math

SOTW

GFTWTM

Oak meadow high school drawing course

 

Didn’t work-

Teaching textbooks

Bookshark history or language arts

Singapore Math

BJU history or science

 

We have some meh things as well that we are just plugging away at.

The kids are loving their extra curricular activities as well.

Edited by Peacefulisle
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Loving this year so far:

 

All our content books - D'Aulaire's Greek Myths, The Children of Odin, Home Geography Lessons, James Herriot's Treasury for Children, The Thornton Burgess Animal Book, A Little History of the World, Fifty Famous Stories Retold, Of Swords and Sorcerers, Our Island Saints, A First Book About Geology, Stories from the History of Rome, William Shakespeare Landmark Biography

 

Morning Time reads - The King of Ireland's Son, Beatrix Potter, Bulfinche's Mythology, Mr. Revere and I, My Book House

 

Shakespeare, using Leon Garfield and Bruce Coville retellings

 

Poem memorization, using The Harp and Laurel Wreath

 

Ray's for Today

 

Cottage Press

 

First Start Reading

 

Apples and Pears

 

I SPEAK LATIN!

 

Creating Art (Memoria Press)

 

Picture Study from Cottage Press

 

Poetry Tea Time

 

Nature Study - Anna Comstock's book and the journal from Jenny Phillips

 

music lessons with Mom

 

 

Doing a good job but not loved:

 

Singapore Math and Math Mammoth

 

Prima Latina

 

online Gaelic resources

 

 

Really not liked by my eldest and I may just drop it:

 

The Story of Inventions

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Hits 4th grade:

FLL 4

Math Mammoth 5 (best decision to switch for Saxon)!

Memoria Press Literature

All About Spelling

SOTW

Mystery Science in a coop as a supplement (LOVES this)

 

Ok, gets the job done:

Elemental Science Earth & Space Science

Trail Guide Geography

 

Missed: Saxon 6/5. Switched to MM5 and much happier!

 

Hits 8th grade:

Rainbow Science (years 1 & 2): fabulous!!!

Derek Owens Algebra 1 (switch from Saxon)

Grammar for the WTM (great switch from Hake Grammar)

Bravewriter online classes (Writing the Short Story)

 

Ok, gets the job done:

Trail Geography

Lightning Literature

Spelling Workout

 

Misses: none really, but from last year we gladly switched from Saxon Math and Grammar, and Holt Science (terrible fit for dd)

Edited by Maryam
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