Fess up: What have you dropped so far this year?

[Obi-Mom Kenobi]

So we're nearly done with week seven and are taking next week off. Because I believe it's easier to drop than add material during the school year, I always over-build our lessons. Anyone else do this?

 

I've pushed a few things around already (moved to different day, etc.), and I've slowed way down on the rate of new material being covered in Dutch, math, Spelling and grammar. I've also dropped two math workbooks, since Saxon uses so much repetition (it's our first year with Saxon) and one of the reading books I had planned for Dutch. I'm eye-ing a few other things, but hopefully we'll be able to keep everything else.

 

So, what's taking a back seat, or even been kicked off the schedule, at your homeschool? I'm not the only one, am I?

[Annie Laurie]

I always do a lot of tweaking.

 

The Elson reader and workbook I got for dd was dropped long ago. (We started in June). She hated it.

 

MUS is about to go. Good program, just not working for ds7.

 

Following the SL PreK schedule was dropped. Ds4 and I prefer to just read what we feel like reading; as long as he's being read to a lot, we're good.

 

SL science I have not been good about doing as written and want to try something else, though I think we'll keep buying just the dvds.

 

A lot of other things have been great though!

[Sophia]

My oldest son's history co-op.

Now what?

Argh!

[Sweetpeach]

I dropped Singapore Science like a hot potatoe, about three weeks in.

[Melissa B]

I dropped First Start French - again! I need something to supplement it and I haven't been able to find it. So we have dropped it until I can get a better plan together.

 

We have also changed our math plans. We were doing Saxon and Singapore together, but I have begun to find it unnecessary. (Again I feel for my oldest, always the guinea pig.) The math plan for my other children will be:

 

Saxon K, 1, 2, 3, (4 if needed,) then Singapore 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (adding in some of the Key to.... books if needed,) and finally Dolciani for Algebra and up.

[Janice in NJ]

Latin isn't happening with my youngest (6th grade).

 

Anyone have a CROW BAR and a BIG HAMMER that they aren't using!???!!!

 

Peace,

Janice

[Jennifer3141]

We dropped gymnastics. DD didn't like her classmates and DS was scared of his teacher.

 

We added more math a la, Right Start.

 

Jen

[Trivium Academy]

I've done a lot twEAking, lol. Dropped is french formally, composers at lunch (gave it their own time), Drawing with Children in favor of Draw Squad (much better), exercise has been touch and go. Oh, soccer for ds4 has been dropped, homeschooling PreK has been dropped (or delayed as I can use the same stuff with him still) in favor of Montessori preK.

 

Geesh, a bunch of changes!

[angela&4boys]

Great post Obi-Mom Kenobi! (BTW, My boys are Star Wars fanatics.)

 

Just two for us:

 

 

• Shakespeare ~ Boys were tolerating it... maybe we'll try again later.
  
• Multiple History Periods ~ We were studying Ancient Greece & Rome as well as Westward Expansion with Charlotte Mason. Now we're back to the Classical, chronological way and focusing on one time period. I am implementing some delight-directed learning as well as unit studies via hands-on activities and notebooking and loving it!
  
• Science ~ Dumped the literature approach and went back to Apologia.
  

We were missing the joy in our homeschool and this was the fix we needed. :)

Edited October 23, 2008 by angela&4boys

[nukeswife]

I have Song School Latin and we haven't touched it at all. The kids will listen to the songs once in a while but we've not even opened the workbooks. I may just do it over summer.

 

We dropped ARFH since we're not a religious family it just wasn't doing anything for us. I just got my HWT package in the mail and my kids are super excited about it.

 

That's all for now, we'll see how the rest of the year pans out.

[Lisawa]

So far so good... *Ü* We are about to complete week 7.....

 

Oh I take that back!! We dropped Spanish being taught by mom for someone who knows what they are doing! *Ü* Now the girls teach me. They are using Spanish for Mastery 1 in a class with kids who are 12- 17. I still have my Easy Spanish and we were doing pretty good actually... it is really for the accountability since I work mornings 2-3 days a week...but we were progressing...

[Matryoshka]

Embarrassingly, I've actually been going in the other direction. Since discovering this board a few months ago, I've been reading about all the cool stuff out there (and I had thought I was pretty well informed about cool stuff!), and have ended up buying a few more things.

 

For my natural speller, I picked up Spelling Wisdom, and added a second level of Sequential Spelling for her sister (youngest kid is on original level which I had fantasized they could all do together).

 

For math, I added Your Business Math (for all 3) and Challenge Math (for older two), both as supplements.

 

For my youngest, I added Word Roots, yet another supplemental math workbook (at her request!), and I just bought WWE 2, which has yet to arrive. Oh, and also in transit is a whole 'nother Spanish curriculum, as I realized that just including her in the older kids' Spanish lesson was not going to fly. Wow, and here I thought for my youngest I'd be all set with stuff from the older kids... heh.

 

I'm still not sure how I'll be fitting all this in (although I do have a theoretical plan)... I have yet to drop anything. :blink:

[Annie Laurie]

I dropped Singapore Science like a hot potatoe, about three weeks in.

 

Which one were you using? MPAH?

[8filltheheart]

Nothing this yr. I am actually adding to my 9th grader's schedule b/c I don't think she is working hard enough.

[Obi-Mom Kenobi]

To those of you adding things in, I salute you. At this point, I think I'd have a mutiny on my hands if I even suggested it. *eek*

 

For the rest of us... it's nice to hear that I'm not the only over-scheduler or "What was I thinking?" curriculum buyer!

[runamuk]

We dropped the Spellwell books as they were too easy for Elle. She's got a very good memory for words and their spellings, so I pick words from her readings and have her write definitions.

 

We dropped the science program (Real Science 4 Kids) because Elle just didn't like it. We're going to use TWTM science outline and start at the beginning. She's in 3rd grade and some of it might be too easy for her, but I think she will like the reading and the experiments much more than what we're doing now.

 

We were doing Latin over the summer and didn't pick it up again when we started again in the fall.

 

I'm also doing a more indepth program for my son (4) than I thought I would. I picked up a few Kumon workbooks and figured we'd just read and play, but he blew through the workbooks in 6 weeks and was wanting more. I ordered Explode the Code for him and he's been so happy to have something to challenge him.

[Elm in NJ]

Well, we dropped CLE LA 7 for Rod and Staff English 7 but my 3 youngest are still doing CLE LA 4 and 2. We haven't dropped anything else and this is our week 10 (or is it 11?)

[Lori D.]

For the first time in our 9 years of homeschooling, I've dropped/changed -- NOTHING! I'm stunned! :w00t: I guess it only took me this long to figure out how much we *really* could do in a school year -- LOL.

 

However, I will slightly ammend that to say: I do feel we *should* be doing more writing -- and we're not getting through quite as much literature as I thought we would... But otherwise, we're GOOD this year! (Finally!) :tongue_smilie: Lori D.

[elegantlion]

I haven't dropped anything. I have changed books in a few subjects, more than once in one. :glare:

 

Art and Music have taken a backseat for now, but those are not full year programs anyway. They will get done eventually.

[claire up north]

I dropped music. Who was I kidding, anyway??:tongue_smilie:

[Sweetpeach]

Which one were you using? MPAH?

 

Yes, I bought MPAH -- for Yr 3 and 5. I found it busy and not our style.

[Sheila in OK]

Too much! :eek: We were getting bogged down in the SL Core 3 readings, so I bought TruthQuest history to supplement. Then I decided I liked TQ better, so we are dropping SL for that. I also ditched MUS Gamma for my dd since it was causing daily tears. She's currently doing TT5 instead, and so far so good.

 

I also bought the Nine-Note Recorder method to use this year, but haven't touched it yet--I do still plan to get into it . . . eventually. :001_smile:

[Paisley Hedgehog]

nm

[Gamom3]

I am so done right now!

I am thinking of taking next week and going over math, grammar and science with dc.

 

I am not happy with how geography is going.

I don't feel like dc are learning anything!

[newhsmommy]

I have dropped my "everything in a box" and started from scratch twice. Think I am actually on the right track now!

[JaniceO]

So far I've dropped Spelling Workout for my younger 2 boys (still have it for my oldest) in favor of All About Spelling. All 3 boys have trudged through half of Singapore My Pals Are Here Science and we are about to drop that. I'm not sure what we're going to do instead though. I think that's about it.

[Michelle My Bell]

Not a lot, just First Language Lessons (Felt she was doing enough English lessons with her other subjects) and Analytical Grammar (just too much for us.)

 

We are on week 7 also and after our first quarter is over in two weeks, I would like to add some work for my oldest dd and Science.

 

Michelle

[jenadina]

Dropped:

 

Building Thinking Skills and all the "projects" from History Odyssey except the History Pockets, which DS enjoys. I was coming to dread projects because his fine motor skills aren't up to the challenge which means I was doing the projects. We are both happier with just doing the reading and dictionary work.

 

Switched:

 

Drawing with Children ---> Artistic Pursuits, which is oh so much easier to use!

 

Switching:

 

First Language Lessons --->Growing with Grammar + IEW's poetry because the poetry is the reason my son enjoys FLL but the rest is too slow for him.

 

Adding:

 

Minimus. My son saw the preview on Amazon when I was researching for next year and wants to start it now ;)

[Stacy in NJ]

We haven't dropped anything, either. I've did switch out SOTW IV for CHOW for my 4th grader. My 6th grader is still using SOTW IV. My little guy just wasn't enjoying it and we both really love CHOW. I figure he'll be to old for it next year, so why not this year. Next year we go back to the Ancients.

[MIch elle]

We're on the SL6 history schedule but can't get to the read alouds.

 

We can't do everything everyday so we alternate and do less writing, CLE reading, Latin and spelling than planned.

[Michelle T]

Yes, I admit, it was the THIRD TIME I've bought CHOW, used it briefly, and sold it. And I'm determined it was the LAST time!

 

Just too patronizing in style for me. I was almost embarrassed reading it out loud to DS.

 

I also dropped Spectrum Writing, although I might come back to it.

 

At the moment, everything else seems to be going well, knock on wood!

Michelle T

[happyWImom]

I don't know if I should really admit what I've dropped. Maybe the question to me should be: "What have you stuck with?"

 

Okay, we have dropped WP Animals & Their Worlds-Wonderful books, but way too much. So, we kept some of the read alouds and activity type books and are doing those things on our own.

 

Also dropped Sonlight K-again, love the books, but not the scheduling of everything. We are just using some of the books on our own.

 

A Reason for Handwriting-DD isn't the best with formal handwriting, so it just caused problems. We are using Draw Write Now, because she love's to draw and she gets reading as well as handwriting in.

 

Alphabet Island Phonics & WP Adv K LA- AI is great, but time consuming, and WP we were already way beyond. We have stuck with Click N Kids online, Explode the Code, and Lang Lessons For Little Ones (Queen Homeschool).

 

Right Start Math is still a question mark. I know it's supposed to be good, but we're not sure yet. Now, we're using Brainquest Wkbks, Complete Book of Math and just simple math activities.

[Firefly]

French. We haven't done it ONCE! There are plenty of things I feel like we are not getting to as often as I'd like, but this one's just a great big goose-egg. I just haven't been able to squeeze it in. :blushing:

[Tabrett]

I Dropped:

RightStart Math A (going to try again after we finish SP)

Calendar Math

A Bible Study I got off the internet (at least if was free)

Parts of SL KLA (too easy, may do it next year for prek for for my ds)

 

I Added:

Singapore Early Bird 1&2 B

ETC 1,2&3

[Another Lynn]

I'm in the process of dropping Ancient History with my Ker and 1st grader in favor of having them do Modern History with my oldest. (My oldest kept listening in on their read alouds and I began to wonder why if we're supposed to go back to Ancients next year. So, I had to find out the hard way that we need to all be together.

 

That's pretty much it. I am thinking of adding in a few minor things. And I'm letting my oldest have more say in his Literature selections than I had originally planned.

[hsm]

dropping our inventors biography book "I" just can't get into it---kids are neutral about it.

[Vanna]

After 2 kids and two books out of three for Kit 1, I made the switch for ds (6yo) and dd(8yo) to Math U See's Gamma to teach multiplication. I don't like how Shiller teaches multiplication/division. I was disappointed that in Kit II, Book 4 there's no overlap like other Math programs (review at the beginning of the book and starting off with "simple" work). No. Shiller assumes that your child has already mastered multiplication before starting Book 4 and the work is so hard it was not even funny. After my kiddos learn the multiplication facts we may go back to Kit II.

 

Thanks for starting this thread so I could get that off my chest -- whew!

[Julesnpebbles@suddenlink.]

Honestly, I spent days preparing science lapbooks for Animals and we are in week 7 and we haven't done a single one. :sad: I just am not fitting it into our schedule.

 

I have dropped for now my daughter's home ec and my son's lessons in responsibility.

 

I've dropped my oldest son's MCP Word Study. He is doing R&S Grammar and his spelling is incredible so I thought perhaps it was unnecessary.

[Heather in VA]

After 2 kids and two books out of three for Kit 1, I made the switch for ds (6yo) and dd(8yo) to Math U See's Gamma to teach multiplication. I don't like how Shiller teaches multiplication/division. I was disappointed that in Kit II, Book 4 there's no overlap like other Math programs (review at the beginning of the book and starting off with "simple" work). No. Shiller assumes that your child has already mastered multiplication before starting Book 4 and the work is so hard it was not even funny. After my kiddos learn the multiplication facts we may go back to Kit II.

 

Thanks for starting this thread so I could get that off my chest -- whew!

 

That's too bad. I love Kit II. Their fractions book is terrific too. I'm using Kit I with my youngest right now and she's far from multiplication (just starting addition). Sorry that frustrated you.

 

Heather

[Vanna]

That's too bad. I love Kit II. Their fractions book is terrific too. I'm using Kit I with my youngest right now and she's far from multiplication (just starting addition). Sorry that frustrated you.

 

Heather

 

 

Hey Heather,

 

Thanks for your understanding post :001_smile:. I'll have to PM you and get your take on how you got through Book 3's multiplication/division section.

 

Oh, and I love your "government" quote on the bottom of your post.

[Sheila in OK]

Too much! :eek: We were getting bogged down in the SL Core 3 readings, so I bought TruthQuest history to supplement. Then I decided I liked TQ better, so we are dropping SL for that. I also ditched MUS Gamma for my dd since it was causing daily tears. She's currently doing TT5 instead, and so far so good.

 

I also bought the Nine-Note Recorder method to use this year, but haven't touched it yet--I do still plan to get into it . . . eventually. :001_smile:

 

Ugh! Just realized my first line doesn't make sense. We weren't bogged down by the amount of reading, just the content--books were above my 7yo's head and I wanted to combine my two in history. Just in case anyone was wondering. ;)

[sagira]

We finally started piano yesterday -- after six weeks! Oh well, but here in our seventh week, we have piano.

 

What have I dropped?

 

I dropped Theology. The whole subject. Bible is not at all interesting to ds (5). Everything else: literature, science, art, is :glare: He's not learning and would start to hate it if I pushed it, and the Jesus and I is contrived, boring.. even for me. So we dropped the whole subject altogether. I still read the Bible to him at least once a week. He doesn't like it, but at least he gets a little bit in. It works a lot better if we just have discussions about God. Next year we're going to put him in CCD. Maybe he'll like it better from someone else, then discuss at home. We'll see.

 

I moved things around on Fridays. Instead of doing Natural Science first, then Geography, now we're doing Geography first, then read a book in Spanish or Papiamento (that wasn't getting done), and after break we'll do Natural Science and afterwards ds gets to play on the computer with his Spanish computer program (KidSpeak).

 

When we had Theology and Natural Science first I used to dread Fridays, but now I'm looking forward to it every week -- what a difference! :)

 

ObiMom, you speak Dutch? I'm from Aruba, so I do too! I haven't in years, though. But I think I'm still conversant. I can definitely read it like a pro. All those years in VWO not in vain ;)

[buddhabelly]

I dropped music. Who was I kidding, anyway??:tongue_smilie:

 

If it was music appreciation that you dropped, I was wondering if you have seen (or were already using) a wonderful book called "Story of the Orchestra" by Robert Levine. I can't keep my son from reading it and listening to the CD!

 

Now, if you are talking tuba lessons, can't help. Sorry!

 

Julie

[Beth in SW WA]

We dropped R & S Grammar 6 (plenty of grammar in Latin & writing).

Ds 13/8th no longer doing Geography.

 

We added RS Spanish and the kids love it.

 

Our Fall schedule/subjects listed in blog in my siggy.

 

Onward & upward...

[JenniferB]

After our homeschool convention in the Spring I had such a great plan figured out for '08-'09. Which was to go through SOTW 1 in the summer, and pick up with SOTWII in the fall. Well, it was a great plan until we started SOTW I and we were so facinated with the Greeks I had to make a whole new plan to camp out with the Greeks a while longer. With that change came many other changes - here's the low down:

 

Stopped SOTW1 & Started The Story of the Golden Age of Greek Heroes by James Bladwin.

We're holding off on SOTW2 until we are tired of the Greeks, then we'll camp out with the Romans a while, then pick back up with SOTW1, followed by SOTW2 coupled with church history via the History Lives series.

 

Switched FLL3 (too much oral work - not enough written work - the info wasn't sticking) with Rod & Staff English Building with Diligence 4. R&S has oral review, oral drill for new material, and lots of written work to cement in the new material. R&S is hard work, but I can see it working. Her English skills are improving.

 

Switched Math U See to Singapore to Rod & Staff Arithmetic 4 using the FlashMaster for drill practice. I was really impressed with the R&S English, so I decided to switch to their math. Here too, lots of written Math problems, which is difficult, but I can see the large amount of problems working. Her math is improving. Math U See was just not getting the job done for memorizing basic math facts with quick/instant recovery. Singapore was just silly. The problems were few, with silly pictures that practically gave the answers. Also, I bought the home instructor's guide which was soooo confusing to follow. I like to just open up to the page and start teaching, with 1 book for me, and 1 book for my child - this is how R&S is laid out, and I really like it.

 

Some things that are sticking from the Ambleside website The Little House series, Marco Polo, Parables from Nature, Secrets of the Woods, and poetry from Year 2. Some other reads I found from Yesterday's Classics and/or Mainlesson that are sticking are Alexander the Great by Jacob Abbott, Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare, and Granny's Wonderful Chair (using for copywork & dictation).

 

Some things that are barely hanging on, i.e. I try to fit them in, and I'm successful sometimes...Exploring Creation through Botany by Apologia, Atlier Art (DVD series), Spanish songs by Twin Sisters.

 

Spelling Workout is one selection which I don't like, because I don't see good results. I thought I'd finish it out, and start something new in the Spring. I'm looking into Phonetic Zoo to replace it.

 

Well, that's our school so far this year. Switch-i-dee-do-da, switch-i-dee-day!

[Titus.Two.Five]

Ok we are in our 9th week. We have been doing the whole 'school in a box thing' due to my going from HS'ing 2 little boys (ages 7 and 4) to homeschooling all 5 children (ages 13, 12, 10, 7, and 4) with little notice and my own panic mode. :001_huh:

 

Anyway dd13 will stay with ACE Pre-Algebra (she insists) while DS12, DD10, and DS7 switch to Saxon.

 

We have already dropped ACE science for everyone and are getting ready to begin Apologia Swimming Creatures and Astronomy.

 

We have dropped ACE Social Studies in lieu of my own 4 year history/lit cycles, we start that next week. Though my older 3 will continue with the Lit selections from ACE...but no pace work with it.

 

We have dropped Word Building for everyone. DD13 does not need spelling. DS12 and DD10 will use Spelling Workout.

 

ACE english has been dropped. Instead DD13, DS12, and DD10 will be using Rod and Staff English along with dictation. DD13 will do written summaries and outlining/rewriting as well.

 

ACE Phonics is being replaced by Explode the Code and OPGTR for DS7 and DS4.

 

We are keeping Fallacy Detective, though we need to work it in better. We are keeping our private piano lessons. We are keeping Latin and Greek. We are continuing with the KJV Bible, Copywork, Memory work from both scripture and poems and DD10 will continue Abeka cursive.

Edited October 24, 2008 by Titus.Two.Five

[Melmc]

Given this is my first year of homeschooling, my fear was nothing would work so I'm relieved some things have.

 

The one bad thing I did was agree to take part in a homeschool coop enrichment day. It's from 9-12 and it's broken into two class times with a snack break. The classes are fun--Tour of the States, American Girl History and Blood and Guts--but it's just taking way too much time. Luckily it's only for 6 weeks and Tuesday will be our last time. Other families are continuing, but even my kids have said it's too much (given the other stuff we do outside of the home) so we all look forward to getting our Tuesday morning back.

 

I dropped PLL and ILL. I'd been using them since this summer until we started WT and GWG in September and was just going to continue for the non-composition things like picture study, letter writing, poetry, etc, but the kids didn't really like it that much so we put it away and added in the IEW Poetry Memorization a couple of weeks ago and all three love that! A big hit here. I've been using the Child-sized Masterpiece with my youngest and my two olders want to be with us when we do it (and have already memorized the level one pics and artists) so I will probably start doing it will all three of them.

 

I also dropped PL a couple of weeks ago except for the prayer parts and added LL. A very good switch for us and the kids are now into Latin.

 

I thought doing Fix It might be overkill with the grammar so I scratched that from my plans.

 

Science is off to a slow start since Tuesday was supposed to be our science day. Also we keep going on science field trips (weather school, future vet classes), so I need to get us back into RS4K's pre level 1 and level 1 chemistry and doing it on a more regular basis. It's been a little random lately.

 

I recently added Singapore to supplement Saxon for all three.

 

The only thing left to figure out is my oldest's math. She really hates Saxon, but my dh wants us to stick it out until she reaches the halfway point before we decide anything. Were on lesson 60 something already so not too far away so I've been looking into stuff!

[sweetbaby]

Ok we are in our 9th week. We have been doing the whole 'school in a box thing' due to my going from HS'ing 2 little boys (ages 7 and 4) to homeschooling all 5 children (ages 13, 12, 10, 7, and 4) with little notice and my own panic mode. :001_huh:

 

Glad to see you back and your history line up looks great, Dawne.:)

 

We have dropped R&S Math in exchange for MUS (5th graders) and Singapore (4th grader).

[Mama Lynx]

So we're nearly done with week seven and are taking next week off. Because I believe it's easier to drop than add material during the school year, I always over-build our lessons. Anyone else do this?

 

I've pushed a few things around already (moved to different day, etc.), and I've slowed way down on the rate of new material being covered in Dutch, math, Spelling and grammar. I've also dropped two math workbooks, since Saxon uses so much repetition (it's our first year with Saxon) and one of the reading books I had planned for Dutch. I'm eye-ing a few other things, but hopefully we'll be able to keep everything else.

 

So, what's taking a back seat, or even been kicked off the schedule, at your homeschool? I'm not the only one, am I?

 

 

Dutch? Way cool. Why Dutch?

 

This is the FIRST year I have not dropped ANYTHING. That said, I still haven't started science, or Spanish, and I just started doing writing with my 10 year old this week. So we're still "phasing in" :lol:

 

We're not doing well wtih art, but I haven't dropped it. I'm still hanging in there. I just wish I could find the book :tongue_smilie:

[Annie Laurie]

Yes, I bought MPAH -- for Yr 3 and 5. I found it busy and not our style.

 

I was looking at that, so good to know! I don't know if that format would really fit us either, but science gets skipped so much here that sometimes I just want something easy to do. I think it will be Noeo next here.