HappyGrace Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 Why, oh, why does it have to be so complicated? I just don't want to deal with another complicated program. I know the student book and TM helps and spells it out but I just don't know if I can deal with this :banghead: :banghead: I spent a whole summer figuring out SWR, I spent three wks figuring out how to streamline Shurley, don't get me started on RS math-WHY can they not just simplify these programs? It seems like all the really good ones, that really teach in a meaty way that gets them thinking, are all impossibly complicated. I really like things streamlined, and I always have to end up doing it myself with these programs. Homer is a great program-I want the skills it imparts-I just don't feel like sitting down for two months and tearing Homer apart and reconstructing it so it is coherent and streamlined. Isn't there ANYthing else that will get Homer skills in without such a big fuss? Grrr.... :rant: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cajun.classical Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 The good news? That's two years worth of course work there. You don't have to read it all now. You spend 4 weeks on each skill level. That means you have a whole month to understand Skill Level 1 before moving on. It's not that bad really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gini Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 That was exactly my reaction when I received my Homer core. I read it and was overwhelmed to the point of quitting before I even got started. Then it dawned on me as I was looking through the student book that everything was laid out for me (pretty much) and I just had to read the pages in the core that was listed in the student lesson. It just looks scary until you find your way around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amyco Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 Oh my gosh. My thoughts exactly! I just got the Homer core too, and thought, "Hold me." What have I gotten myself into? Maybe I could just go back to the WWE way and choose my own dictation and narration passages...I have no idea how this is going to get done. Especially since I was hoping to start Homer A with my dd 11 last week! But there it sat, intimidating me from the table, all week. I have this feeling that once I actually start *doing* it, it will all fall into place and make sense...but this whole learning another completely new system is really, really hard. I feel better now. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyGrace Posted March 1, 2009 Author Share Posted March 1, 2009 I'm so glad I'm not the only one! Okay, so can I just NOT read the Core until I need it in the student lesson? Maybe work backwards from the TM and student books, only referring to the Core when they say to do so? (I don't have those books yet; wanted to ck out the Core and see if it would hit the goals I'm trying to hit.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alana in Canada Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 Perhaps this might help: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81024 I'm now going through the student workbook (and knashing my teeth I did not purchase the Instructor's guide which would have the diagramming "answers") and then going back through the core as suggested above. But I hear ya. I had to learn SWR, too. It was years ago and my head still hurts. Fortunately, this is not going to be that hard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 I just received my Homer materials a few weeks ago. They have been staring at me ominously from the shelf. Every few days I take it down and read a little. Perhaps we should reward ourselves with t-shirts once Homer is done. "I survived Homer". :lol::lol::lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathyJo Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 I think I actually hyperventilated when I got the Homer core. :) But it's really not bad, and we didn't even use the student books. We just jumped in and each week I'd read the info that I needed for that week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alana in Canada Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 Perhaps we should reward ourselves with t-shirts once Homer is done. "I survived Homer". where do I send my money?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in CA Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 OK ladies you're scaring me! :blink: I was planning to order my Homer Older Beginners as soon as our tax money arrives...either that or an IEW SWI...I haven't made any final, concrete decisions. Now I am wondering if I should just go with IEW. I do not do complicated well. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathyJo Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 OK ladies you're scaring me! :blink: I was planning to order my Homer Older Beginners as soon as our tax money arrives...either that or an IEW SWI...I haven't made any final, concrete decisions. Now I am wondering if I should just go with IEW. I do not do complicated well. :tongue_smilie: It LOOKS scary, that's all. If you try to read and absorb everything in that book in one weekend, it feels complicated. But if you just read and absorb the small amount you need for each week's lessons, you'll find it quite straight forward. And it's an amazing writing program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HiddenJewel Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 Homer is a good program but it is overwhelming at first. I'm one who needs the big picture before I go to the details so I would not have just been able to take the chunks as they came up in the student manual. So if you are a big picture to details type person, give yourself some time to read through the core a couple times. Take notes by skill level and it will become clearer. I even made several charts and lists. The student workbook does have the assignments all laid out. If working from details to the big picture works for you, it would probably be okay to just follow the core as it come sup in the student workbook. We are at week 18 in the Older Beginner workbook and it is definitely a more intense pace than Homer A & B. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alana in Canada Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 I am very much a Big Picture person: but it really isn't all that difficult to get a handle on it. I actually found it fairly easy to understand what to do and teach. Since so many have expressed struggle with understanding it, I thought I would lay out my approach. #1. Read the introduction pp. 10 - 18. #2. Read all the introductions to the various days. #3. Look at the Forty Week Sample Schedule at the back of the book. Make a copy if you can. #4. Now, look up each skill as it is introduced. For example, I read about Day 1, Skill Level 1, lessons 1, 2, 3 and routine. Then I moved to Day 2, Skill level 1, routine. As I looked it up, I wrote on my schedule, in the boxes, what it meant. (eg, SL 1 Routine means "dictation.") I completed the first page of the schedule this way and felt I had a handle on the flow and development of the A&I. hth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 OK ladies you're scaring me! :blink: I was planning to order my Homer Older Beginners as soon as our tax money arrives...either that or an IEW SWI...I haven't made any final, concrete decisions. Now I am wondering if I should just go with IEW. I do not do complicated well. :tongue_smilie: I spent part of the morning with Homer. Granted we haven't started yet, but what I see is not complicated. It's more very detailed. I drive my dh crazy asking for details on everything, I love details. Homer has them. I made some notes today and feel like the fog is lifting. I'm getting excited about using the program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChemMommy Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 We are in week 4 of Homer OB. The first week was nutty and I was confused. THEN, I noticed that the student book and the instructor's guide have very specific details about what skill level you are working on. It will say something like Analysis/Imitation, Day 2, Skill levels 1-3. Bingo! It's the "skill levels" that I have overlooked. I was trying to do all of the skill levels for every day and dying! So, I started just reading the day's skill levels and ignoring the rest. Suddenly, it wasn't so overwhelming. Now, I read over all of the skill levels briefly on the weekend (if we are doing new skills) and then read those skill levels in details while I am working with my kids. Most days, we are truly just working on a skill or two. That's not so overwhelming. Of course, I have no idea where all this is going, but I don't have time to sit down and study the whole program right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siloam Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 Well if it helps I think Homer is much easier than SWR. Though I didn't have problems with RS, that has been open and go for me. In fact I am probably ditching SWR for AAS because AAS is so much easier and make so much more sense. Though I may use both with my oldest because she is a natural speller and the words look so easy in AAS (though I have only looked at level 1, LOL!). But I do think Homer is worth the bother. Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyGrace Posted March 1, 2009 Author Share Posted March 1, 2009 (edited) So I could look through the Core according to Alana's plan, and then do the rest just as needed from the student guide/TM when I get them. It just bugs me because it could have been laid out so much more simply! Let me ask this: how pick it up and go can it be if I just do the student book/TM? Maybe half an hour prep on Sat for the next week? In other words, can I manage if I don't even try to get a big picture by reading the Core, just look over the next week's lesson in the student book/TM, including whatever they refer to in the Core. Would that work, or would I be lost? It is helping to hear how others are managing it! Edited March 1, 2009 by HappyGrace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathyJo Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 Let me ask this: how pick it up and go can it be if I just do the student book/TM? Maybe half an hour prep on Sat for the next week? In other words, can I manage if I don't even try to get a big picture by reading the Core, just look over the next week's lesson in the student book/TM, including whatever they refer to in the Core. Would that work, or would I be lost? We didn't use the student book and TM, but I believe they both refer you to the Core when necessary. So yes, I'd say that's definitely possible. I did read through much of Homer before we started using it, but I didn't understand it until we started using it, if that makes sense. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HiddenJewel Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 So I could look through the Core according to Alana's plan, and then do the rest just as needed from the student guide/TM when I get them. It just bugs me because it could have been laid out so much more simply! I agree with the previous poster that said that it isn't so much confusing as a lot of detail. The organization of it is good. There is just a lot of meat to it. And it becomes much clearer once you start using it. Let me ask this: how pick it up and go can it be if I just do the student book/TM? Maybe half an hour prep on Sat for the next week? In other words, can I manage if I don't even try to get a big picture by reading the Core, just look over the next week's lesson in the student book/TM, including whatever they refer to in the Core. Would that work, or would I be lost? I think you could make that work just fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amyco Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 Okay, I have spent some more time going over the Homer books today. I had finished reading the introduction in the Core, then decided to look at the student book. Honestly, I think there should be a little sticky note on the student book that says, "Read me first!" It makes more sense now. The student book has teacher notes (ohhhkaayy...) and tells you what to read in the Core text. And, there is a Week 0 to prepare all your stuff! See, if I had read that first, I really could have started last week with week 0! There does seem to be a lot of flipping to different sections in each book, but I am sure I will get the hang of it. Plus, it all seems to be explained very well once you end up in the correct section. My only worry is about the grammar...I know it's been discussed before...we are halfway through Rod and Staff 5 and now, Homer wants us to do clauses...we haven't come across that yet. But, it is in the Homer book--somewhere--I just saw it. So to sum up, read the student book first if you have it! It makes more sense that way, imho. The instructor guide seems to be just an answer key. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siloam Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 Okay, I have spent some more time going over the Homer books today. I had finished reading the introduction in the Core, then decided to look at the student book. Honestly, I think there should be a little sticky note on the student book that says, "Read me first!" It makes more sense now. The student book has teacher notes (ohhhkaayy...) and tells you what to read in the Core text. And, there is a Week 0 to prepare all your stuff! See, if I had read that first, I really could have started last week with week 0! There does seem to be a lot of flipping to different sections in each book, but I am sure I will get the hang of it. Plus, it all seems to be explained very well once you end up in the correct section. My only worry is about the grammar...I know it's been discussed before...we are halfway through Rod and Staff 5 and now, Homer wants us to do clauses...we haven't come across that yet. But, it is in the Homer book--somewhere--I just saw it. So to sum up, read the student book first if you have it! It makes more sense that way, imho. The instructor guide seems to be just an answer key. I don't think a lot of programs cover clauses and phrases, nor does it look necessary to me. Remember the grammar starts simple and builds. If your kids can parse a sentences diagram it and rewrite it into all the sentence forms then you are fine for Homer A. I haven't read the material for Homer B yet. :D Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tree House Academy Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 (edited) I thought it was complicated too on first glance...then I read the student book. That was a big "ohhhhh" light bulb moment for me. LOL I thought Singapore was hard too, at first, then I got my groove down and now I LOVE the way I schedule it. Honestly, it is a day by day thing and it is working for us perfectly! Edited March 2, 2009 by Tree House Academy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyGrace Posted March 2, 2009 Author Share Posted March 2, 2009 the online samples-that the student book spells it out more. I guess that was a good hunch based on what you're saying. I will now order the student book before I even LOOK at the Core!!!!! Sounds like if the instructor manual is more or less just answers, I can wait awhile for that (since we're not doing this til the fall)? I feel a tiny bit better now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HiddenJewel Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 the online samples-that the student book spells it out more. I guess that was a good hunch based on what you're saying. I will now order the student book before I even LOOK at the Core!!!!! Sounds like if the instructor manual is more or less just answers, I can wait awhile for that (since we're not doing this til the fall)? I feel a tiny bit better now! You are right. The Core is the explanations. The Student workbook is the theory of the core put into reality (for those of us who can't pull things out of hat on our own). The Instructor Guide is just answers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyGrace Posted March 2, 2009 Author Share Posted March 2, 2009 GREAT! I decided to put the Core away til summer and not even look at it until I get the student book, then work backwards from there, only using the Core where the student book says to do so. I appreciate the encouragement! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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