Hits & Misses 2018-2019

[RootAnn]

1 hour ago, HomeAgain said:

FWIW, the lessons in TC went much easier and more exciting when I typed out portions from an Usborne Illustrated Norse Myths book.  Same exact lesson, but a different worksheet to go with.  We went back and forth, using stories from both the book and the program, alternating. 

Part 1, you mean? The Bushy/Cheddar material itself won't be a problem as they are familiar characters in our family. (My dd#2 wrote two fan fiction books involving Bushy & Cheddar. In fact, Bush's older brother, Chuck, is invoked whenever someone is acting in an unfriendly manner to another family member.) They will HATE the copywork itself. We've done some with WWE2, and it is ugly no matter the subject matter.

[HomeAgain]

Just now, RootAnn said:

Part 1, you mean? The Bushy/Cheddar material itself won't be a problem as they are familiar characters in our family. (My dd#2 wrote two fan fiction books involving Bushy & Cheddar. In fact, Bush's older brother, Chuck, is invoked whenever someone is acting in an unfriendly manner to another family member.) They will HATE the copywork itself. We've done some with WWE2, and it is ugly no matter the subject matter.

Bushy & Cheddar went okay.  He was very familiar with similar stories.  Julie & her horse?  Nope.  No interest. 
I wish there was a magic cure for the copywork!  Ds doesn't mind, but I do have it sandwiched in so that the grammar portion is more fun and exciting. 

[teachermom2834]

12 minutes ago, DiannaKennedy said:

Awwww, that's AWESOME! Who was her instructor? 

 

The fabulous Dr. Dray! Thankfully she was consoled by the fact she has him for two classes next year 🙂

[teachermom2834]

Just now, DiannaKennedy said:

Excellent! I don't know if my daughter will ever end up in one of his classes or not. We have a local HLS Cottage School where she takes Latin, Lit, Classical Studies and Composition, then we use the MPOA for math and science. We PUFFY HEART love Kristen Peterson for science classes. 

Dd is taking Middle School Science 1 with her next year. We are looking forward to it!

[Smiles]

What? I did not know Story of the World 3 and 4 is being revised? When will this happen?

[Meadowlark]

This is a fun thread. We switched gears a bit this year so here are my thoughts for grades K, 1, 2

Hits:
AAR (now used for 5/6 kiddos!)
CLE math for 2nd/3rd
MP recitation
MP Prima Latina

So So:
BJU Science 2 DL-I didn't have to teach it, but not sure they learned a whole lot really.
MP's Traditional Spelling 1 and 2-wasn't super impressed but then again, it's spelling so not sure what would impress me
CLE math grade 1-don't like nearly as well as upper grades
 

Misses:
Rod and Staff Math (grades 1,2,3)-waaaay too easy and boring for my kiddos after public school
 

Edited June 19, 2019 by Meadowlark

[Meadowlark]

On 6/12/2019 at 11:41 PM, Paradox5 said:

I love this yearly thread. It is always so interesting. We started back in August, finished up then started up again in March.

Hits:

SOTW 1 and 2: (August-December) DD did this at one chapter a day then we made notebooks from each book. She read, narrated, drew a picture, mapped, and colored the review card. We stopped for 2 reasons: 1) I have heard 3 and 4 become war, war, and more war 2) I want to see what the revised versions are going to be like. I am hoping for graphics/maps that match Vols. 1 and 2.

Memoria Press Greek Myths, Science, States and Capitals, and Lit guides: I was actually surprised by this one because in the past, anything by MP was met with extreme protesting. Now the kids have asked that we never switch!

John Tiner Science series: (started August) Son 4 loves these and has finished 3 so far (Medicine, Biology, Planet Earth). The first one he used the MP guide but that was sucking the life out of him so now he does the end of chapter bits. He wants to finsh the remaining 4 books by the end of 2019.

CAP W&R Fable: (August, then March) After a rocky start, a break, then a restart, this is going amazingly well with my 3. It is not too young or too hard. 

BJU Math 4 and 7: I had said never again but it just works as long as I am teaching it. Son 3 originally gave me fits about copying problems back in August but come March, he had no issues. Just goes to prove what a couple months maturity can do. Son 4 and DD asked for BJU after a few math mishaps (in misses). I'm good with that.  

Misses:

CLE/Saxon Math: Why is it spiral math seems fine at first until about 15-20 lessons in and then KABOOM! Even having the little subscript lesson numbers did not help my lost children to find their way.

SWO: What a waste of time! DD sped through 2 books in 2 months and learned nothing!

BJU DLO 7: Yeah, I knew it was biased but oh. my. gosh.! No, no, no! So biased and so. much. work.! 

Writing Skills: No answer key, no further instructions in the book. It was mostly grammar and not enough writing. This did not help my boys to improve but did get Son 3 to write an actual 5 sentence paragraph. 

Hake Writing and Grammar: The writing is not enough instruction or practice unless you are doing loads of cross-curriculum writing (see WTM 4th ed. for a more in-depth review). The grammar gets confusing. No more spiral grammar! It has the same faults as Saxon Math for us.

WWE 3: DD did finish this but struggled mightily by the end. On the plus side, she can now take dictation like a champ whereas her brothers can't.

FLL 3: While DD finished this, it was SO tedious to get there. Now she can spout off definitions but cannot apply them at all. Still, I am glad she did it. But we will not be moving on to GftWTM.

History Odyssey L2: It is soo boring.

R&S Spelling 4: While this is excellent, the old cursive font and too many religious words rendered it dead after a few weeks. I was having DD keep a Rules notebook, like I had done with Son 1. It just took forever.

MP English Grammar Recitation with Core Skills LA wkbk: This one was easy to get done each day and I'm fine with the kids using it as a review after FLL but as a long-term solution or first/only intro? Not by a long shot. I now see why MP says it is intended to be used alongside their Latin program only. It really is not enough application at all. We ditched and the kids voted for BJU English.

 

Did you use the Tiner books for his only science curriculum? I was wondering if these books could stand on their own for science. What grade level was this?

[wehave8]

On 6/13/2019 at 12:41 AM, Paradox5 said:

I love this yearly thread. It is always so interesting. We started back in August, finished up then started up again in March.

Hits:

SOTW 1 and 2: (August-December) DD did this at one chapter a day then we made notebooks from each book. She read, narrated, drew a picture, mapped, and colored the review card. We stopped for 2 reasons: 1) I have heard 3 and 4 become war, war, and more war 2) I want to see what the revised versions are going to be like. I am hoping for graphics/maps that match Vols. 1 and 2.

Memoria Press Greek Myths, Science, States and Capitals, and Lit guides: I was actually surprised by this one because in the past, anything by MP was met with extreme protesting. Now the kids have asked that we never switch!

John Tiner Science series: (started August) Son 4 loves these and has finished 3 so far (Medicine, Biology, Planet Earth). The first one he used the MP guide but that was sucking the life out of him so now he does the end of chapter bits. He wants to finsh the remaining 4 books by the end of 2019.

CAP W&R Fable: (August, then March) After a rocky start, a break, then a restart, this is going amazingly well with my 3. It is not too young or too hard. 

BJU Math 4 and 7: I had said never again but it just works as long as I am teaching it. Son 3 originally gave me fits about copying problems back in August but come March, he had no issues. Just goes to prove what a couple months maturity can do. Son 4 and DD asked for BJU after a few math mishaps (in misses). I'm good with that.  

Misses:

CLE/Saxon Math: Why is it spiral math seems fine at first until about 15-20 lessons in and then KABOOM! Even having the little subscript lesson numbers did not help my lost children to find their way.

SWO: What a waste of time! DD sped through 2 books in 2 months and learned nothing!

BJU DLO 7: Yeah, I knew it was biased but oh. my. gosh.! No, no, no! So biased and so. much. work.! 

Writing Skills: No answer key, no further instructions in the book. It was mostly grammar and not enough writing. This did not help my boys to improve but did get Son 3 to write an actual 5 sentence paragraph. 

Hake Writing and Grammar: The writing is not enough instruction or practice unless you are doing loads of cross-curriculum writing (see WTM 4th ed. for a more in-depth review). The grammar gets confusing. No more spiral grammar! It has the same faults as Saxon Math for us.

WWE 3: DD did finish this but struggled mightily by the end. On the plus side, she can now take dictation like a champ whereas her brothers can't.

FLL 3: While DD finished this, it was SO tedious to get there. Now she can spout off definitions but cannot apply them at all. Still, I am glad she did it. But we will not be moving on to GftWTM.

History Odyssey L2: It is soo boring.

R&S Spelling 4: While this is excellent, the old cursive font and too many religious words rendered it dead after a few weeks. I was having DD keep a Rules notebook, like I had done with Son 1. It just took forever.

MP English Grammar Recitation with Core Skills LA wkbk: This one was easy to get done each day and I'm fine with the kids using it as a review after FLL but as a long-term solution or first/only intro? Not by a long shot. I now see why MP says it is intended to be used alongside their Latin program only. It really is not enough application at all. We ditched and the kids voted for BJU English.

I have Hake Grammar on its way.  😞  I knew it was spiral.  What was I thinking??!!  Same as CLE LA.  So, what isn't?  They do not like R&S. Easy Grammar?  Back to the drawing board.

 

ETA: I just decided to sell my W&R Fable.  I bought EIW.  UGH!  Can you tell me more about your journey with W&R? 

 

Pam

Edited June 19, 2019 by wehave8

[Holly]

I used pretty much full MP classical core kits, with a few subs.  Here are our hits/misses:

Hits:

• Literature & poetry for the lower levels
• Dorothy Mills books--we vastly prefer these to straight-up Plutarch.  I feel like she includes the most exciting parts of Plutarch and adds a bunch of background information. 
• Greek Myths
• Latin (Latina Christiana & First Form)--Although some of my kids aren't huge fans, they are learning a ton! 
• Book of Astronomy--so easy to teach and my kids can locate several stars and constellations in the sky!  It's not the flashiest program, but I like it.
• Read Alouds & American Supplemental Readers--MP always picks such great books! 
• Jr Kindergarten--This was a miss at first, but DS has matured a bit and we are fairly consistent at getting to it (even if we do often have lessons at night or on weekends).  More than I can say for any other preschool program I've used!  There is a lot of writing, but I just have him write a few letters or numbers at a time.  
• All About Reading (pre-reading level)--my DS has also been using this.  It's so cute and fun!  I'm so tempted to use the next level, but I already purchased MP K for next year.  DS loves Ziggy, so maybe I can add him into next year's phonics lessons. 

Misses:

• Classic Composition-While I like this, I just feel like my older kids need a faster pace (you are supposed to start with book 1 for all ages), so we will be re-attempting IEW Intensive Writing DVD programs next year.  So, I guess it's not a complete miss, but I don't see it working out for us in the long run. 
• English Grammar Recitation--lots of copywork and memory work, which my kids haven't really enjoyed.  They like the exercise portion of the workbook just fine.  We much prefer SWB's grammar programs (FLL & GftWTM). 
• Upper level literature guides--My oldest two are not digging these.  We are pretty much reading the materials and pulling a few questions from the guides for discussion.  So not a total miss, but we really aren't using them as intended. 

Mixed:

• One of my kids went back to Christian Light Math, two are thriving with R&S math, and the third is doing well with Prentice Hall Algebra.  One isn't a fan of R&S, but she didn't care for CLE either.  I try to cut back on some of the writing for her, which is her main complaint.
• Geography has been so-so.  We have adapted Geography III quite a bit and are really behind in the States & Capitals book (we school all summer). 
• SWO--it's spelling, it's a workbook, it's just okay. 
• Artistic Pursuits--This one's on me.  I don't have time or energy to get to it.  My kids now have free access to the manuals and supply kits, so at least two of them are getting some art. 

Edited June 22, 2019 by Holly

[Amy M]

On 5/27/2019 at 7:32 AM, vaquitita said:

Hits:

English From the Roots Up with notebook. My son liked this, probably cause he got to draw pictures. Lol

 

Did you make your own notebook? I didn't know there was a notebook! What's it like?

[Amy M]

On 6/14/2019 at 10:34 PM, fourisenough said:

Hits:

Geo-Blob drawing

What's this? Would it be a problem to share a link...?

[fourisenough]

2 hours ago, Amy Meyers said:

What's this? Would it be a problem to share a link...?

https://www.amazon.com/Core-Teaching-Foundations-Classical-Education/dp/023010035X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=the+core+leigh+bortins&qid=1561587529&s=gateway&sprefix=leigh+birtins&sr=8-1

I have no idea where my reply went, but I’ll try again. Apologies if it shows up as a duplicate. 

The concept comes from Leigh Bortins’ book The Core (linked above). The goal is to develop a strong mental map of the world. We use a YouTube video to get started. I’ll paste link here:

 

It has been a favorite learning activity for my girls and was a good springboard into doing much more detailed, complicated geographical drawings from memory for my artsy DD14. 

[pitterpatter]

DD is going into 7th grade and more and more I want to lean toward Memoria Press. The only thing we've used so far is New American Cursive, but I have Tiner's Chemistry and First Form Latin in next year's line up. I'm also considering dumping what I have planned for reading and history and using MP literature guides and their Guerber program for US history. I'm also buying classical comp (used) to have on hand for after we finish what we're currently doing. Which lit guides did your children not like?

On 6/22/2019 at 1:57 PM, Holly said:

I used pretty much full MP classical core kits, with a few subs.  Here are our hits/misses:

Misses:

• Classic Composition-While I like this, I just feel like my older kids need a faster pace (you are supposed to start with book 1 for all ages), so we will be re-attempting IEW Intensive Writing DVD programs next year.  So, I guess it's not a complete miss, but I don't see it working out for us in the long run. 
• English Grammar Recitation--lots of copywork and memory work, which my kids haven't really enjoyed.  They like the exercise portion of the workbook just fine.  We much prefer SWB's grammar programs (FLL & GftWTM). 
• Upper level literature guides--My oldest two are not digging these.  We are pretty much reading the materials and pulling a few questions from the guides for discussion.  So not a total miss, but we really aren't using them as intended.

 

[pitterpatter]

This is Memoria Press Academy's description for Middle School Science II. It sounds like they don't use much more than the Tiner books, probably their guides in some capacity, and a few labs.

"An introduction to science for middle school students that continues to lay the foundation for more advanced science studies. Students are skillfully and confidently led by a master science teacher and become knowledgeable about the people, places, and concepts central to biology, chemistry, and physics. Students will also learn elementary research skills that will prepare them for more advanced study. Three texts are used: Tiner's biology, chemistry, and physics. Students will need to devote 30-40 minutes per day for this class. The assessment will primarily be based on participation, quizzes and tests, as well as a variety of low-cost projects and experiments (virtual or hands-on)."

Grade Level: 7-8

Required Materials: Exploring the World of Biology, Exploring the World of Chemistry, and Exploring the World of Physics.

https://www.memoriapressacademy.com/catalog?pagename=ms-science2

On 6/19/2019 at 1:51 PM, Meadowlark said:

 

Did you use the Tiner books for his only science curriculum? I was wondering if these books could stand on their own for science. What grade level was this?

 

[Holly]

11 hours ago, pitterpatter said:

DD is going into 7th grade and more and more I want to lean toward Memoria Press. The only thing we've used so far is New American Cursive, but I have Tiner's Chemistry and First Form Latin in next year's line up. I'm also considering dumping what I have planned for reading and history and using MP literature guides and their Guerber program for US history. I'm also buying classical comp (used) to have on hand for after we finish what we're currently doing. Which lit guides did your children not like?

 

 

They liked Treasure Island okay, but not any of the others.  I think because they require more thinking on their part.  😢 I'm trying different ways of covering literature, and it works best just to read & discuss.   Treasure Island asked more comprehension type questions, which they are comfortable answering, but the others have asked for central themes or dissecting descriptive passages, and my kids are really struggling with these.  I see it as something we need to work on, but they are unable to go through the guides "as-is".

[Amy M]

On 6/27/2019 at 12:33 AM, fourisenough said:

https://www.amazon.com/Core-Teaching-Foundations-Classical-Education/dp/023010035X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=the+core+leigh+bortins&qid=1561587529&s=gateway&sprefix=leigh+birtins&sr=8-1

I have no idea where my reply went, but I’ll try again. Apologies if it shows up as a duplicate. 

The concept comes from Leigh Bortins’ book The Core (linked above). The goal is to develop a strong mental map of the world. We use a YouTube video to get started. I’ll paste link here:

 

 

Ah, yes, sorry, I knew about that. I thought you had a curriculum for it. 🙂

[arliemaria]

On 5/17/2019 at 11:47 PM, Jackie said:

Hits: Destination Imagination, AOPS book + Alcumus, Great Courses Plus

Misses: AOPS online classes

Everything else fell somewhere in the middle

Do you have a homeschool DI group? I would love for my kids to join this.

[Jackie]

12 hours ago, arliemaria said:

Do you have a homeschool DI group? I would love for my kids to join this.

 

The group I had in San Diego was a mix of homeschool, public school, and private school kids. I’m going to be starting a new team now that we’re in NoVA, and I’m hoping to make it a homeschool team because that would make scheduling meetings so much easier for me!