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

[LanaTron]

But I am not liking the Phonics of Drawing. The first project of drawing the teddy bear in charcoal was too hard for my kids...only my eldest did okay, and it was just okay for him. Some of the other projects have been workable, but again nothing spectacular for us. IMO, this curriculum is for high school level students, or for moms with quite a bit of art background.

 

We are not working on this right now, but will return to it in a few more weeks. I don't even think we'll finish all the projects, but just do one or two more selected projects that are not too difficult.

 

I should've just done what I really wanted to and shelled the $$ for Atelier. Next year...

[SBP]

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

 

What Janice said, only mine are 5th graders. We actually LIKE Lively Latin, but we're only hitting it sporadically these days... and it turns out "sporadically" is NOT the way to learn Latin. *sigh*

 

Can I borrow that crow bar and hammer when you're through with it, Janice? And if anyone has an extra hour in her day she's willing to give me, that would be a big help, too!

 

SBP

[Quiver0f10]

We dropped R&S spelling because they were just filling in the answers to get it done. We are thinking of going back to SWR.

 

We also dropepd Abeka math in grade 3 and went to MUS. It's working really well for my 9 yo ds.

[LlamaMama]

We dropped the formal, weekly scheduled Science, Geography and Spanish time. I still teach those subjects, but sporadically and not as often as I would like. We live in a city and it's hard for me to not be tempted by all the great field trip opportunities there are for young ones. Could I be transforming into an unschooler?

 

I'm also adding Little Hands to Heaven for my second child (and first too) next week. It will probably take us a year and a half to complete the program. I wasn't planning on doing anything official with her, but having my second child retrace over tattered copies of her sister's old Kumon books was not enough. She kept asking, "What do I do next?"

[Tonia]

Oh boy! The only things I kept were OPG and RS math! Decided to hold off on my plans for geography and music until next year. Dropped ETC because dd just doesn't need it anymore. Added MFW K (for science and Bible activities).

[Obi-Mom Kenobi]

this thread really filled up. Wow!

 

And I find that encouraging, because it's nice to see that lots of people struggle with finding just the right mix for their kids, lives and families. I always express our homeschooling as an adventure or a journey, going here and going there but with the destinatin always in mind. It's nice to hear that lots of others have to take a few detours along the way as well. This forum is like the teacher's lounge for scattered homeschoolers.

[WTMindy]

We actually haven't dropped anything and we are also finishing up week 7. So far, so good.

[Obi-Mom Kenobi]

Since a couple of you asked about why we learn Dutch...

 

My husband's family is Dutch by ancestry, but the emigrating parents refused to speak with their children after they learned English, to integrate them into American society (and to talk secretly around the kids), so none of the last 2 generations can speak any Dutch at all. This has always struck me as terribly sad. What an opportunity wasted.

 

After Dad Windu and I were married a year and a half, I moved to the Netherlands for 6 months (without DW) for an internship in graduate school. It went well and I ended up working for that same Dutch firm, as a US-based consultant, for another two years - until just after Padawan Learner was born.

 

I couldn't speak a word of Dutch at the time, which really bothered me because I made some wonderful friends there and I couldn't speak their language or the other two languages they all spoke so well (German & French). Here I was, uni-language, girl living and working in a foreign land, making everyone else work so hard to communicate with me. It felt, and it was to be true, frightfully selfish. OK, I remembered a wee bit of Spanish from my high school days, but not even much of that.

 

When I came back, I started to learn some Dutch and I've kept at it (off and on) since then. When PL came home to learn, I added him in to the Dutch lessons and we were off. His accent is far better than mine, because he started young with a native speaker, but I can think in the language better from more years of practice. I still can't speak or write it too well yet (upper elementary level, I'd guess), but I'm a grammar queen and my reading is decent so the base is laid should I ever go back for any length of time.

[Omma]

I was wanting to drop or zoom through WP AS 2, but instead I added TOG Year 4 when a friend at church loaned me the use of her entire Year 4 curriculum... WOW!! I am adding in more geography than I was going to, because of TOG's scheduling it out.

 

My dc really enjoyed Song School Latin, but it got dropped after only one or two lessons because I cannot see how to fit it in now. I am unsure about FLL for my 1st grader. I added in Easy Grammar for 2nd graders and she is loving this 'pink book' that TOG recommended. My dd has secretly been listening in to the R & S Grammar lessons I've been giving my 8 ds, and that's how she is able to do Easy Grammar now! :D

 

I am still doing Cursive with both dc... it's just going slower than I had originally intended. The same with Spelling Power... I do it, but not every day. And SL science is quite sporadic... we will do it for a few days and then not do it for a couple of weeks. Oh well...

 

Brenda

[A.J. at J.A.]

PE, Latin (Prima Latina) & Art (Drawing with Children) have all fallen by the way because of lack of time. Although we all enjoyed them all!

[momto2Cs]

We've dropped history right now in favor of focusing on our social studies units (world cultures). We also dropped formal science plans and are focusing on ou Oak Meadow nature studies.

 

I've tweaked a lot of other things - we're moving toward more Oak Meadow, less other.

[Wendy in ME]

A separate geography program, switched from RS A and D to Singapore, and dropped our separate writing program for Intermediate Language Lessons to go along with all the writing they are doing in their other subjects (narrations, notebook pages, copywork, and dictation). We are also not going to do the Shakespear, Plutarch, and poetry portions of Ambleside this year. Can you tell we are trying to stream line things with out compromising the quality. I thought this would be the year that I could cut down my hours at work but it's not. On to Plan B.

[Mommyfaithe]

DS: Grade 9...we kept basically everything as is...except added some Rosetta Stone to his roster. We didn't drop anything...but we sure are not on schedule in Omnibus secondary or Spanish or Essay Class. SIGH! I think we are quite behind in Biology too, but not really sure as I have been a really bad Mom and did not check up on that. I am determined to fix that problem though.

 

DD Grade 5...Dropped'ish BJU math 5 for Life of Fred Fractions. I am using BJU for extra drill and practice.

 

Dropped Building Spelling skills and went back to Sequential Spelling...works best for her.

 

Kept: CLE Reading, A Beka Grammar, Apologia Zoo 2, and SOTW 3. Kept A beka Art

 

Added: History Pockets

Dropped Latin (again...sigh...There are only so mnay hours in a day...sigh)

 

 

Ds's grade 1 & Pre-K.

 

Basically dropped it all and just purchased MFW 1. My littlest guy will still use all the work-booky things I got him because he is that kind of kid. I'll probably have them both do their Phonics Museum pages because I like them...but...my 6 year old is just not mature enough to sit in with sisters history and science. he is distrating and bored out of his wits. I don't feel like punishing either of them so I bought him MFW so we can open it up and go...whether it is me teaching him or dd (age 19) or ds (14) or dd (10.) Any way we can get his school in this year would be great. he is a good reader, so I am not worried about that, I just would like to see him get in the habit of a daily table time without it being excruciatingly painful for any of us.

 

 

I added our classical music appreciation, lots of stories etc. onto my ipod that I use in the car or kitchen. It saves my life!

 

So, that is that...

 

~~Faithe

[charlotteb]

I planned for us to use "The Hobbitt" and "The Lord of the Rings" Triology this year for read-alouds. We are two months into school and just now finishing "The Hobbitt'. The chapters are so long that we often skip them because we don't have time for them. School is already taking more time than ever before. So I have decided that we will not read LOTR. I'm not sure what we'll do for reading though, but definately something with shorter chapters.

[Greta Lea]

Tell Me More Spanish, Saxon 5/4, IEW and Explorer's Bible study for 11yo ds (LOVE it for 14yo, but not a good fit for 11yo)

[yoda]

We're about week 13, and have slacked off again on French, though not dropped, but we haven't made much progress, and we've dropped Singapore Math, which I don't know if it counts, we didn't drop math, just have gone back to Saxon.

 

About the Dutch: we also do Dutch, my kids are bilingual and I would love to exchange/pass on material to anyone also interested? Maybe this would be a great place to find dutch readers! I've always wondered what to do with our literature / early readers/ grammar books etc., once my ds is through with it, I should post here! Duh!

[Guest sarathan]

We're doing MFW K this year and just this week I dropped the math portion of it and went back to Singapore. He was bored to tears with it and frankly, I was too. I've actually thought about dropping the entire program, but he's tolerating the reading portion of it okay and he's learning A LOT!! He loves the science part of it. So I think we'll stick it out with the rest of MFW K. :)

[gsesce]

DS11 - we switched from TT Algebra 1 to Jacob's Elementary Algebra. We found the TT to be confusing and not a terribly logical progression. Actual tears over doing lessons. I know we are distinctly in the minority there, but Jacob's is working out much, much better for us. He also switched from Wordsmith Apprentice to Apologia's Jump In. We won't actually start that until next week.

 

DS8 - dropped Mindbenders entirely. I'm ashamed to tell you I couldn't figure out most of the puzzles myself, and I have a master's degree. I figure he's getting enough problem solving ability by using Singapore Math. I also switched from Writing Strands 2 (we couldn't get past that pencil assignment!) to Bob Jones English.

[jejily]

Never started: Art, French, and Typing. Maybe there's still hope... later this year... I have a great art book (Lamb's Book of Art or something like that), but haven't found the French program I want to use. I'm never off the computer enough to let DS practice typing. :blush:

 

Not dropped but having a hard time working it in: EftRU. I've really got to get back on it.

 

Everything else seems to be working out... so far.

[fsunolefan]

We are at week 15 and I have changed spelling programs for both kids. The only drop occured recently. We finally dropped handwriting as its own subject. Both are doing very well with their handwriting so I just make sure what they write is nice and I don't make them practice its own specific subject. I am really surprised by this:001_huh:. Maybe I should fill up this unexpected time slot?????

[BizyPenguin]

Winter Promise was a bust. I finally gave up trying to make it work. So glad I only invested in the IG and not the whole program.

[MommyX8]

Dropped- Growing with Grammar

Returned to- FLL

 

Dropped- MUS

Returned to: TT (waiting for 4 as well)

Added- Horizons (I think, while we wait)

 

Dropped- MFW EX-1850

Returned to-SOTW 3

SOTW was our best history year ever, and I thought that I needed to simplify. I get so hung up on history. :confused:

 

Dropped- All About Spelling

Returned to: Phonetic Zoo

 

Dropped- Wordly Wise before we even started

Dropped- Daily Grams

[Jackie in AR]

We've just finished week 9 and haven't dropped anything yet.

[Hopewell]

We dropped:

AO's Natural History selection for this term added Pagoo even though my daughter is 6th grade. The other Hollings books were so great we had to do it!

 

Vocabulary from Classical Roots &/Or Wordly Wise--too schoolish and a struggle to get her to do them. We're doing more CM style vocabulary

 

Dropped: Mara Daughter of the Nile [may try it again] My daughter couldn't get the first chapter straight to save her life. Not worth tears--especially since we are reading a lot of other titles in history that she understands so well.

 

Most of the so-called "hands on" history ideas. Too babyish, don't add enough--whatever. We'll do the ones we like. I have teacher's manuals for Winter Promise and Truthquest ancients for middle schoolers. Plenty of ideas.

 

Added: PE!! Aerobics and yoga My daughter added Sign Language on her own

Added Miquon for fractions

 

What we are loving: Doing a book of the Centuries and "Drawing With Children"--our best time of the week!

[Tree House Academy]

Haha...We changed the entire curriculum 40 days in! I sold both of the Calvert programs and switched to my own thing. We went from Calvert 4th with Calvert Math to what is in my siggy...and from Calvert K with Calvert K math adding in ETC occasionally to what is in my siggy. Big changes for us...but this is our 1st year, so I guess it is to be expected.

[hmschtrio5]

We are nine weeks into the year and dropping Spanish co-op for my older boys - going to wait until next year to do at cc. Dropping co-op botany class for my daughter who is enjoying it a lot but feels the class is moving too fast and she wants to spend more time digging into the chapters.

[Aurelia]

We're on week 17.

 

Math - Dropped Spectrum K (actually finished it in 3 weeks), added T4L K. Dropped T4L K, added R&S grade 1. Dropped R&S, added RS A

 

Reading - Dropped McRuffy K, added ETC. Dropped ETC, added ABeCeDarian level A. We are actually nearly finished with level A, so we will be moving on to level B in December.

 

Handwriting - Dropped Handwriting Help for Kids. I thought it was going to be like HWT, and it was, sort of, but DD really didn't like it. Finished HWT K already. Now we're just using the handwriting in ABCD.

 

Barely hanging on - Progressive Recorder for Beginners. We've done all of 1 lesson in the 10 weeks we've had it.

 

Thinking about adding - Artistic Pursuits when we switch to MBTP and IEW poetry

 

I bought MBTP to alternate with FIAR - originally I had only planned to get through 1 volume of FIAR this year because that's what I was told to expect. We will have finished it by Thanksgiving. :blink:

 

Last year we did Calvert and just stuck it out. This year was my first year to put anything together. There has been a big learning curve (as you can tell)!

[Rainbows]

We're on week 17.

 

Math - Dropped Spectrum K (actually finished it in 3 weeks), added T4L K. Dropped T4L K, added R&S grade 1. Dropped R&S, added RS A

 

Reading - Dropped McRuffy K, added ETC. Dropped ETC, added ABeCeDarian level A. We are actually nearly finished with level A, so we will be moving on to level B in December.

 

Handwriting - Dropped Handwriting Help for Kids. I thought it was going to be like HWT, and it was, sort of, but DD really didn't like it. Finished HWT K already. Now we're just using the handwriting in ABCD.

 

Barely hanging on - Progressive Recorder for Beginners. We've done all of 1 lesson in the 10 weeks we've had it.

 

Thinking about adding - Artistic Pursuits when we switch to MBTP and IEW poetry

 

I bought MBTP to alternate with FIAR - originally I had only planned to get through 1 volume of FIAR this year because that's what I was told to expect. We will have finished it by Thanksgiving. :blink:

 

Last year we did Calvert and just stuck it out. This year was my first year to put anything together. There has been a big learning curve (as you can tell)!

 

Im curious...what didnt you like about McRuffy and ETC? Those are the 2 Im looking at for DS

[Aurelia]

Im curious...what didnt you like about McRuffy and ETC? Those are the 2 Im looking at for DS

 

It's kind of hard to articulate, mostly it was just that the more I reviewed them, the more I realized they weren't for us.

 

ETC is just a workbook and DD doesn't like workbooks that much. We made it about 2/3 of the way through book 1. DD's weakness was primarily in segmenting and ETC did not teach her how to do that. She had a very difficult time doing the spelling sections, and it just wasn't worth the time and frustration on both our parts to keep going.

 

I never used McRuffy. I got the whole kit thinking it sounded great, but I didn't like all the little cards and pieces, and the workbook was too much coloring. Neither DD nor I liked the readers that came with it, they just seemed really contrived, as did the games.

 

JMHO

[carolyndsg]

I've dropped Writing with Ease, though I refer to it occassionally for ideas or the conecpts. I may use it more in 2nd grade. We do enough writing with our handwriting book, FLL and narration with history. I skip FLL lessons that seem redundant.

 

I've let go of Keyboard Capers, though my ds6 likes the beginning recorder lessons we squeeze in about every other week. I may try again next year when my dd4 is five. I'm a musician so it's a priority, but it must be fun!

 

Artistic Pursuits has become a supplement to history lessons, or a resource when my children as to do art. My dd4 loves coloring, drawing and painting, so we try to get in at least one project a week.

 

They love using the drawing pencils, oil pastels and watercolor crayons recommended in this book. I may not do even half the lessons, but now my kids ask to use the special art supples for fun. I'm grateful to this program for showing how easy and rewarding it is to let kids use higher quality (not necessarily more expensive) art supplies.

 

 

Carolyn

[TxMama]

We switched gears a bit for our 6 yo due to a hurricane turning our world upside down.

 

Time away from a local history co-op forced me to realize that it really wasn't working for us so we dropped it. Instead we just go to parkdays so he can play with friends.

 

AO readings weren't helping him progress with narrations so we tweaked them. I wasn't doing a good job with follow through with copywork/narrations due to preoccupation with Post-Ike stuff so I added FLL/WWE which has been great resource for him.

 

 

Actually, I wrote a whole blog post on our changes and the reasons here. We started with one book list and have ended with another. The hurricane actually forced me to take a good hard look at what was a good use of our time and make all the necessary in one quick swoop instead of spending months and months tweaking our curriculum to make it work for him.

 

Change can be good!

[coffeefreak]

We dropped Konos within the first month and decided Ambleside would be a better fit. It is, and we're happy. The funny thing is, last week, i had to drop Primary Language lessons because I was doing that AND Ambleside AND Abeka language 3. Plus, since I was doing FIAR with my youngest, I was including my oldest on some of the language lessons. Talk about OVERKILL!!! :banghead: Otherwise, we haven't dropped anything else.

 

It's funny to see what works for some that doesn't work for others. We love "Exploring Creation through Botany," and Spelling Power. but we don't functions well with R & S English.

[dragons in the flower bed]

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?

 

OOOoooh... So that's why I write crazy packed-full schedules every summer and only do half of it. It's all part of a master plan.

 

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?

 

We've dropped the WTM writing suggestions/idea of buying WWE for the 8yo. I have every composition program ever published on these shelves, and I'm on a mission to use them! No, seriously, I decided to go to a format that let me set a daily time limit for composition lessons. Instead of trying to get a certain task done, like reading a poem aloud with feeling or copying a narration, and stretching writing period to last as long as necessary to get it done, we work on a writing goal for 30 minutes each day, putting it away when the timer goes off no matter where we are in the lesson, and picking up the next day where we left off. Neither CW nor WWE are conducive to this style of teaching, so I'm winging it using ideas from there and some of the other composition books on my shelves.

 

Oh, and we dropped HoNS the first week in favor of Oak Meadow Earth Science.

[jkwynn]

Also our first year of homeschool - and we just finished week 13. DS is in first grade.

 

We tweaked the schedule, mainly.

 

I didn't technically 'drop' art and music, but gave myself permission to put it on hold while we found our groove with the other stuff.

 

I started out with a recorder plan for music, and dropped that pretty fast. As in, we bought the book but not the recorder, lol.

 

Now I'm just finding Classics for Kids (I think that's the name - I pick up the first cd at the library tomorrow - Beethoven lives upstairs or something like that?) and we're adding music in this week.

 

Once we get that going - I'm going to add in Artistic Pursuits.

 

I also decided it's ok to not do the projects in SOTW. We're reading, narrating (finally), coloring, and doing the map work. No tests, no projects. We'll save those for the 2nd cycle. Now what am I supposed to do with this huge hunk of clay?? lol

 

I tweaked handwriting a little - we do a couple days using history/literature excerpts, and a couple days doing journal type work. I started out printing everything from the ZB website. Then, I bought one of those journals with the elementary lines at the bottom and the space for drawing at the top. He's very creative with his drawing! (Hey! Art!) We're saving tons of ink now. :D

 

We sped up SWO, doing 2 chapters a week instead of one. I'm waiting for the challenging part. Not sure we'll continue with this next year, I thought there'd be more rules or something, I guess. The words are way too easy for him. It's like busy work at this point.

 

I added a workbook on map skills, and bible stories. We're almost finished with the map skills - and I plan to go browse the school store to see if I can find something else that he'd enjoy to replace it. I won't be crushed if we just finish it and have more time for the rest of our stuff, though.

 

I like that the map book is coming to an end about the same time we'll be adding music/art - which is also coinciding nicely with our science studies switching from human body to animals. We decided if we did animals in the winter it would be cool enough to go to the Miami zoo and not burn up in the heat. :) And Key West has a cool touch tank!

 

All in all, it hasn't been nearly as chaotic as I expected it to be, curriculum-wise. But the baby is MORE chaotic than I expected, so it evens out, lol. What we don't finish in the morning and at naptime, we do on the weekend when dad's home.

 

If nothing else, I'm getting this flexibility thing down pat!:lol:

[Denainms]

We just dropped MFW Adventures..after week 15, we got so bored!! :glare: and I was not using any of the main subjects they recommend or some of the history books, so...

 

I really really wanted us to be a unit study homeschool family, but my kids prefer workbooks and textbooks :confused: We have started Apologia Astronomy and since ds is a math and science person he really likes it, so at least we have one subject that is not workbooks!

[forwardbyfaith]

We ditched MUS. It worked well when dc were younger, but there was just not enough review as they got older. We switched to Horizons and I like it much better.

[RhondaM.]

WP Sea and Sky and TT Alg I

[Melanie]

We dropped spelling. Again. And I don't think we'll ever go back to it!

 

I'm free! I'm free!

[Blue Hen]

I dropped "put that in writing" and picked up IEW.

 

In math I've just tweaked the program which is what I always do in that subject. DS wasn't quite catching onto negative numbers so we stopped the Key to Algebra program, opened up another math book and worked through their problems, and their approach. When it still wasn't happening we turned to my homemade math sheets. We did this again and again this fall with different topics.

 

So, that's it. Not too much --

Carole

[Hazelt"nut"]

I dropped Language Lesson for Little Ones..my ds4 was ready for more and the font and the handwriting practice with only the bottom line...what??? I should have listened to the review a fellow homeschooler gave on this. Right now I use the art pieces for picture study and dd7 dictates a creative story based on the piece. Mostly though it was wasted money as I have other books with great pieces of art in them. SWO I had intended to be a review of phonics for my dd7...the words are really easy so she uses this as independent work and practice on her handwriting. Everything else we still use at least to some degree. My science and history are pretty much pieced together by me to begin with so I think I'm less likely to drop something I make custom to what we want and need.

 

Sheryl

[Jenny in Florida]

However, I have decided that, given everything else he has going on, my son is not going to finish the entire GP Latin Prep book this year. Well, I could push it and he would finish, but he wouldn't retain anything.

 

So, we've decided to plan on finishing only the first half of the book and the first of the two workbooks.

 

And, since we're already behind and stuggling to catch up, I'm not pushing the Latin right now. He's done some already, and I remembered a couple of days ago that the art class he's taking is only one semester long. So, I think my plan at the moment is to pick up Latin again after the holidays.

[coffeefreak]

We dropped spelling. Again. And I don't think we'll ever go back to it!

 

I'm free! I'm free!

 

I'm so jealous! Don't you feel spelling is just a waste of time?

[whitestavern]

I dropped Spelling Workout for my DS6, although it works well for my DD8. I dropped WWE for my DD, although that works well for my DS! Surprisingly, everything else seems to be working very well--knock on wood :)

[JenniferB]

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.

 

More switch-i-dee-do-da's...I did end up dropping Spelling Workout too. I've switched to SWR - I choose this because of the heavy phonics and spelling rules, and I think it will help my dd to spell better. It is teacher intensive, but I feel it will be worth my time.

[Blessedfamily]

I don't even know if I've already answered this thread but I'm dropping CHOW. I don't like the writing style.

[YJ in AL]

History- switched from TOG to Truthquest

 

Dropped First Start French

 

Added Apologia General Science

 

Switched from R&S Grammar to Hake Grammar

 

At least, that is what we have done so far.....

 

Yvonne