What are your hits and misses this year so far?

[Elizabeth86]

Like I said we are only doing math and language arts until I feel better.

 

Hits

 

Abeka language arts! We are loving it. I love how traditional it is. The poetry section is kind of lame, but ds actually asks to read the poem every day.

 

Misses-ish

 

Im not currently loving singapore math. Im not 100% sure why though?? The HIG just doesnt seem to be a great fit for me. Ds is doing fine though. It seems like it always asking us to make up stories for the math problem and neither ds nor I like doing. I know its such a silly thing to not like, but we dont. We. Would rather do math problems. It may grow on us though.

[Elizabeth86]

Hits-

BJU Math 1 and 2

Beast Academy

AOP pre Algebra

Cottage Press Primer and Fable and Song

Bookshark History and Science

 

Fine-Writing Road to Reading

 

Missed-

Righstart-I thought my girls would love it, but they really did not. That was fine with my because I do not love teaching it.

I am thinking of bju for math for grade 2 next year. I may send some questions your way later on.

[Guest]

• Over the summer work for thirty-forty five minutes a day hit: G&B language arts. I'd consider it a miss if I were trying to use it alone for our regular school days.

 

Hits for my 4th grader: CAP Chreia + Fix-It; GSWS; Spelling Wisdom

 

For my second grader, doing everything aloud, no writing: PLL; Ray's; Spelling aloud words from Alpha-Phonics

 

For everyone: Poetry memorization; Christopher Columbus' World; conversational spanish (self-made just slowly adding onto a conversational script)

 

Standbys that continue to work very well: read-aloud time; CLE math; daily audiobook time; forced (lol) reading time

 

Misses: Zaner Bloser GUM; Handwriting Without Tears; Spectrum Science

[kentuckymom]

I'm schooling just one, 7th grade

 

Hits:

 

Notgrass America the Beautiful - DS loves it. I don't like the often irrelevant Bible verse and application shoehorned in at the end of every lesson, but otherwise it is really impressing me. I've added in extra books to make it more lit heavy, but I like having the textbook as our base.

 

Sassafras Science (We did Zoology and Anatomy last year and now we're 2/3 of the way through Botany). Yes, this program is intended for elementary school and I've seen it get a bad rap here, but we're loving it. The story really engages my reluctant learner and the scidat logbook requires him to look deeper and take notes from an encyclopedia, which I consider very age appropriate. Some of the activities are little kiddish, but we just skip those.

 

Visual Latin: The videos are corny, but the content is good and he's learning a lot and working mostly independently.

 

WWS 1: DS doesn't love this, but the step by step instructions are really good for him. He has produced some really good paragraphs already. I tried two other programs last year and they were both disasters in practice despite being good in theory. We've finally found the right fit with WWS.

 

Okay:

 

Mosdos Literature: The textbook is a hit, the workbook is okay, and the teacher guide is useless to me. Next year I think I'll just buy the textbook.

 

Dad as Math teacher: When this happens it's great, but finding a consistent time has been difficult.

 

We haven't had any misses, but I had more than my fair share last year.

[LMD]

 

• Over the summer work for thirty-forty five minutes a day hit: G&B language arts. I'd consider it a miss if I were trying to use it alone for our regular school days.
• Hits for my 4th grader: CAP Chreia + Fix-It; GSWS; Spelling Wisdom
• For my second grader, doing everything aloud, no writing: PLL; Ray's; Spelling aloud words from Alpha-Phonics
• For everyone: Poetry memorization; Christopher Columbus' World; conversational spanish (self-made just slowly adding onto a conversational script)
• Standbys that continue to work very well: read-aloud time; CLE math; daily audiobook time; forced (lol) reading time
• Misses: Zaner Bloser GUM; Handwriting Without Tears; Spectrum Science

My bold. We finished that one this year too and loved it!

[Guest]

My bold. We finished that one this year too and loved it!

 

Did you skip the "Portuguese slaves loved it" part? :001_rolleyes: :001_rolleyes: :001_rolleyes: We did and I told the kids why and my oldest was like, "That's... really weird." I agreed and on we went. For all that we really love this book. We're about a third of the way through now.

 

Did you go on to the next one?

 

It's like perfectly paced and with the exact right number of illustrations, and gives us the exact right openings for further discussion while being just fine for when we don't want to get into it in any more depth than what's written.

[OrganicJen]

I'm in disbelief but Build Your Library 7th grade is a huge hit. My son had become such a reluctant reader that he frequently said he hated reading and was practically refusing to even touch books. I needed to switch to something non computer based this year though and on a whim ordered it. I figured he would hate it since its literature based but he and I are both shocked at how much he loves it, how much he's learning, and how it seems to be showing him that reading can be a fun thing again.

 

We also switched to Math U See for the first time and it seems to be another tremendous hit. I was getting discouraged about my son's education so the fact that we have had such hits this year is really encouraging for both of us. There are no misses to report.

[BearWallowSchool]

xtramath.org! I forgot to include this in my list of hits. We are doing this everyday and I'm amazed at how much it has helped with math facts in just a month. 

[KeriJ]

Did you skip the "Portuguese slaves loved it" part? :001_rolleyes: :001_rolleyes: :001_rolleyes: We did and I told the kids why and my oldest was like, "That's... really weird." I agreed and on we went. For all that we really love this book. We're about a third of the way through now.

 

Did you go on to the next one?

 

It's like perfectly paced and with the exact right number of illustrations, and gives us the exact right openings for further discussion while being just fine for when we don't want to get into it in any more depth than what's written.

We love Genevieve Foster books! Edited September 28, 2017 by KeriJ

[Alte Veste Academy]

I am madly in love with our teacher at 121Spanish.com for taking over Spanish with DS14 and DD13.

[Slache]

 Using botany notebooks as our main workbook.

 

May I ask what these are?

[LMD]

Did you skip the "Portuguese slaves loved it" part? :001_rolleyes: :001_rolleyes: :001_rolleyes: We did and I told the kids why and my oldest was like, "That's... really weird." I agreed and on we went. For all that we really love this book. We're about a third of the way through now.

 

Did you go on to the next one?

 

It's like perfectly paced and with the exact right number of illustrations, and gives us the exact right openings for further discussion while being just fine for when we don't want to get into it in any more depth than what's written.

I did do some creative editing on the fly lol. And we're reading Oxford University Press's age of science and Revolutions now which gives an excruciatingly detailed account, from primary sources, of conditions on a slave ship. My kids are definitely not under any delusions that the slaves were happy about it!

 

I agree with you about why you like it. I haven't found anything else I like as much. I really like how they follow the lives of people all the way through and intertwine them. With characters like Isabella and Ferdinand the kids went from "good guys!" to "Whoa bad guys" to "hmmm, it's complicated?" Which I feel is exactly the point of history!

 

I am ordering the next ones (international shipping is a beast!) I hope to use them but I want to preview it first - especially to see how they deal with slavery/Australian colonies etc. I have the earlier ones for when we cycle back through but I don't know when/with which kids that will be!

[LMD]

May I ask what these are?

Sure!

They are just simple spiral notebooks, I use Studymate brand but I don't know if you can get them outside Australia. When you open up a two page spread, the left page is blank and the right page is lined. My kids do most of their daily work on a two page spread. I'll see if I can post a picture...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/150953243@N06/37351391122/in/album-72157687227149244/#

Edited September 29, 2017 by LMD

[Slache]

Sure!

They are just simple spiral notebooks, I use Studymate brand but I don't know if you can get them outside Australia. When you open up a two page spread, the left page is blank and the right page is lined. My kids do most of their daily work on a two page spread. I'll see if I can post a picture...

Oh, I misunderstood. I thought it was a botony workbook. I love this idea, but don't waste your time on getting pictures. Thanks for the reply!

[LMD]

Oh, I misunderstood. I thought it was a botony workbook. I love this idea, but don't waste your time on getting pictures. Thanks for the reply!

Haha, we cross posted. I edited in a link to one of my 1st grader's pages (super cute!).

To be extra confusing, we are actually studying botany at the moment!

[drjuliadc]

Milk thistle worked wonders for me with nausea of pregnancy. It wears off rather quickly though, in 3 to 4 hours. I took it at breakfast, lunch and dinner. It has worked for everyone else I've told about it too.

[kentuckymom]

I forgot about Megawords and Pictures in Cursive. The jury is still out on the former. Some days I love it, other days I wish we'd stuck with AAS. The latter is a big hit and I feel good that I'm at least getting a little bit of art appreciation on since actual art instruction was a total bust last year.

[vaquitita]

Hits:

brave writer! My oldest reluctant writer actually likes any and all BW projects we've done. My third kiddo, tho young enough I wouldn't make him do it with us every time, loves it too and wants to do everything too. My daughter, the reluctant writer slash perfectionist, is still complaining. But she's actually doing it. I think the fact that it's all done as family projects helps. Everybody else is doing it, so she does it too.

 

Right start math B this is a big hit with my two youngest boys.

 

The study Time preschool books. My 3.5 yo loves these and happily does 'school' while I work with my first grader. He's doing the pages over and over with different colors.

 

Doing school on the front room floor is working waaaaay better for my first grader than working at the table.

 

BF geography and CA history

 

HWOT for my first grader. He says he 'hates' it, but it's working and there are no tears.

 

 

 

Jury is still out:

Apples & Pears spelling. My daughter has been the sample from book A for only a couple weeks. She doesn't love it, but it seems pretty easy to use. I'm going to give it another week and then decide. I have AAS on my shelf to try with her next, but I'm dreading it.

 

Spelling You See G for my oldest. He doesn't like it, but I like what it's teaching him.

 

CLE and MM. I have a kid in each. They seem to be going ok, but not a definite hit yet.

 

EM daily science. I'm not sure whether this is great or just busy work. Lol. Time will tell.

 

 

 

Misses:

Spelling You See for my daughter. There were tears every day.

Apples & Pears spelling. I thought it was pretty painless, but it was causing tears every day.

Next up... Spelling by Sound and Structure 🙄

Edited October 4, 2017 by vaquitita

[rutamattatt]

Homeschooling a sophomore and 7th grader.

 

HITS:  

 

DS15's Geometry tutorial.  We outsourced Algebra last year, and the teacher had some personal things going on so it was a little haphazard and unorganized.  New teacher this year and DS is LOVING geometry.  Mama is LOVING not teaching geometry.  

 

TeachersPayTeachers.  DS13 wanted to study the World Wars this year for history and instead of re-creating the wheel I found TONS of AMAZING resources there.  Also used TPT for German and literature.  

 

Math Mammoth for DS13.  

 

Apologia Writer's in Residence.  DS13 is not a big fan of writing, but we have found Apologia writing to be great for him.  Great break down of skills in manageable sizes with enough practice putting them all together.

 

I ordered personalized planners from a vendor at our homeschool convention, and they have been AMAZING.  I think I've done a better job utilizing them by planning 6 weeks at a time, and the boys like seeing specifically what they need to get done.  There is something (for me and them!) about using a sturdy, personalized, organized planner!

 

MISSES: 

 

German.  I agree with a PP - why is it so difficult to find good German resources?  I studied German in high school and took 4 semesters in college as well, but I want (and still need!) a good German text/spine.  We won't discuss just how many resources I've ordered from Amazon :huh: ... this one is the best so far for review, but now I'm mostly relying on my sister (masters in Germanic Literature and Languages) to guide us.  She has mentioned teaching German online for homeschoolers - anyone be interested?  She was stingy sharing clothes when we were growing up, but she is a fabulous, fun teacher!  

 

Focus On Middle School Astronomy.  It is designed for 5-8 grades, but is not very challenging.  I will be looking to add some other astronomy resource next semester. Any astronomy suggestions (besides Apologia)?

 

ON THE FENCE: 

Oak Meadow US History.  I like pulling in different resources for DS15 to read, but we haven't fallen into a good routine with this.  Love the curriculum.  Just haven't found our groove yet.

 

[mommyoffive]

Hits:

 

AoPS Academy is amazing! It's $$$$, but I'd sell a kidney to continue it.

Athena's Advanced Academy for chemistry and literature.

Language City Academy for French. My son enjoys it, and the teacher is great, but it is moving FAST! Definitely better for older kids.

SOTW, as always.

 

Misses: Me dropping the ball on teaching writing because I'm too busy right now with my own classes. :(

 

 

I had no idea about Aops Academy.  Wow, I wish we lived closed to that.

 

Do you go in person to the Language City Academy or do you do it online? 

[blendergal]

we started with lightning lit at the older levels (grade 7 & 8). liked it so much we started looking into younger levels. we got the 2nd & 3rd grade books, and this year got the 1st & 4th grade levels.

 

2 things:

1. we do not do any of the composition projects for the younger grades. i think they are waaaaaay too much. my current 6th grader is using the 4th grade book (as it just came out - and he needs an interim lit book) and the writing assignments are just right for him.

 

2. i found that using the younger levels older works. my 2nd grader is currently using grade 1 book. going well. my 6th grader using grade 4 book. my 4th grader using grade 3 book, etc.

 

just FYI for what works for me. we have other grammar and writing programs,so i just wanted a literature/reading component and this really fits the bill.

I can see how Lightning Lit could serve as a solid resource for literature alone. But I bought it because it's meant to cover grammar and writing, too. I may need to find another way to teach those skills. I did think about using the 1st grade books for my 2nd grader but we've been reading most of those books to him since he was tiny. I thought he'd think they were too babyish. Live and learn!

[WoolC]

Hits:

 

MEP math: After trying 4 other math curricula for my oldest we finally found our perfect fit. It's conceptual, incremental, hands on, just one worksheet a day and it's free!

 

D'aulaires Greek Mythology with MP study guide

 

Barton: ds doesn't like this at all but it is working so I'll take it

 

Misses:

 

SOTW 3. We're going to stick it out but we enjoyed volume 1 and 2 much more, they seemed to be more narrative and this one feels a little more text bookish to me.

 

Not Sure:

 

Science in the Ancient World: pros- science and demonstrations are getting done...cons- I feel like the text goes right over my kids heads and they aren't really connecting the demonstration to the concept that I'm trying to get across

[SeaConquest]

I had no idea about Aops Academy.  Wow, I wish we lived closed to that.

 

Do you go in person to the Language City Academy or do you do it online? 

 

It is online. 

 

http://www.languagecityacademy.com/

[Slache]

It is online.

 

http://www.languagecityacademy.com/

I can't remember, are you doing the language arts? If so is it MCT?

[SeaConquest]

I can't remember, are you doing the language arts? If so is it MCT?

Language City Academy is for French.

 

At AoPS Academy, we are only doing math because the classes are $$$$$. Yes, the language arts classes are MCT. If we had the money, we would do both.

[Guest]

This was the year I returned to my roots and was supposed to stop caring about what other people thought of me, lol.

 

I still bought too much stuff, but one of the mods told me that SWB looks at these threads when she revises WTM to help her write the recommended curriculum lists, so this is for her, not for Hive members, and I'm just trying to pull my weight here.

 

So what is actually getting used is:

 

Saxon Math

Daily Grams

Mars Hill Latin Primer I

Hey Andrew, Book 3

copywork

Handwriting Without Tears Cursive Success (1990s edition)

Greenleaf History of Rome (secularized and customized)

Music and Art history with Famous Children and Getting To Know The World's Greatest Artist/Composer series

Yoga--trade paperback children's book published in the twentieth century

Piano: Teaching Little Fingers To Play

Drums, vocals, guitar: big brother's dad teaches him in exchange for computer maintenance

Coding/Internet safety and etiquette/Computer Literacy: outsourced to college student in exchange for ESL tutoring

Lots of reading aloud from library books and plenty of rabbit trails through reference books and internet searches

 

I think that's it, but I'll edit if I think of something else. Susan, we're not your target audience but we are living proof that even low income folks can benefit from adapting WTM methods to our current life circumstances. All the books I am using this year are readily available inexpensively on the used book market to the best of my knowledge, or else they would have been sold for grocery money long ago and/or never handed down to me in the first place.

 

I do not believe that education is something that can be bought or sold, but I do support Peace Hill Press as much as I can financially and also mention that they are an affordable alternative to many products I see advertised on the internet that are...um...it's not polite to say "scam" so let me just say "inappropriate for the needs of new homeschoolers" and "significantly less bang for the buck than Peace Hill" instead, shall I?

 

HTH. Peace out, Peace Hill.

Edited October 2, 2017 by Guest

[Mrs. Tharp]

Hits: R&S Math and R&S Grammar-- our two old reliables

        Treasured Conversations

        IEW--I think I may have finally tweaked it to my satisfaction

        Zaccaro Challenge Math

        Spelling Classroom

 

 

 

Other hits (nonacademic): 1 hour hike before school in the morning

                                          CNN 10

                                          Typing Club

                                          Khan Academy Computer Science

 

Misses: SOTW3, which I am having difficulty with. We'll see if this is a blip, or if they really mean it when they say it is boring. 

 

[Zoo Keeper]

Mrs.Tharp, FWIW, I find the second half of SOTW 3 much more enjoyable than the first half.  Call me crazy, but we slogged through it all with my oldest two, and when it was time to go through it with one of my younger ones, I found I just couldn't do it again... so, we jumped to the American Revolution chapters, and started there. :coolgleamA:   About  1 1/2 to 2 weeks on each chapter will easily finish it in one school year, with room for rabbit trails.

 

Livin' on the edge, that's me.  :lol:

 

 

[Seeking Squirrels]

Hits:

 

EIW

Singapore Math

Word Roots

 

 

 

Misses:

 

Studies Weekly

Math mammoth

 

[Zoo Keeper]

Some of the hits...

 

CNN 10 and Stossell in the Classroom

 

 Lial's Algebra (I have been teaching this child Algebra 1 FOREVER  :banghead: ...he is finally doing well with Lials).

 

Scott Foresman literature (the America Reads classic editions ...we're doing Tradtions in Literature and Patterns in Literature this year)

 

A Beka Spanish (boring, but I can teach it without going loco).   My son is so very, very, happy to not be doing Latin, :biggrinjester:  that he is lapping it all up.

 

 Warriner's Grammar and Composition 7 --my most grammar phobic child is doing well with this. Go figure. :001_huh:

 

GSWL  :001_wub: - slow and steady wins the race

 

R&S math (5 & 6) and R&S grammar and spelling (5)-  old standbys that do the job well

 

and another to file under strange and  unusual happenings...A Beka science ( 5th and 6th).  We're just doing select chapters, but they really LIKE it.

 

 

[Bear2300]

I finally bought IEW because I wanted to give it at try and guess what?  I am not all whoo hoo about it.  Now it sits on my shelf while I stick to the tried and true Rod and Staff English writing lessons and writings they do with history and science.

[SamanthaCarter]

We are doing IEW at co-op. I can say for sure that I wouldn't pick it to use myself, but since someone else is teaching it, that's fine. [emoji12]

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[keirin]

Sounds like we are in same boat! Not to mention #3 has stopped napping. Sigh. This hasnt been my hardest pregnancy, so at least that...

 

Sorry to hear that you are also feeling  yucky with your pregnancy... my 2 year old (#3) is still napping in the afternoons, thank God. I used to use this time to do extra school work and now I just sleep.  :mellow:

[Slache]

Hits:

Reading Lessons Through Literature (6yo only for now)

Rapid Japanese & Hiragana

Explorer's Bible Study

 

Get's done:

SOTW

Apologia Astronomy

Artistic Pursuits (lined up with SOTW)

French cursive

 

Misses:

Trying to teach reading to my little  to read with screens

 

Changes:

Took everybody back to Ray's Arithmetic

Using La Pata Pita with my PKer for reading

[RenaInTexas]

New-This-Year Hits

 

MCT Voyage for DS8 & DS10

Glencoe Literature Course 1 --- EXCELLENT for DS10

McGraw Hill My Math 5 --- EXCELLENT after failures/intense dislike of Singapore and Saxon for DS10, Singapore works for DS8

Megawords - DS8 & DS10 - bought mostly for ds8 who wasn't breaking words into syllables to sound out; only 6 weeks in and he is already transferring the skill.

 

 

Old-Favorites

Apologia Exploring Creation Series

Mystery of History

Apologia What We Believe Series