Homeschool With Tracey

Well, my 12 year old daughter took her first test yesterday with Saxon 8/7 homeschool math curriculum.  I think she did pretty well, all things considered.  She got a C+.  Now, she has never actually done homeschool testing until this year, so she is getting used to that, too.  For instance, she got one of the questions wrong just because she accidentally skipped it!  I told her that that cost her 5% of the grade!  She would have had a B if it weren’t for that.  I think/hope she will be more carefully from now on.

Two of the questions that she got wrong were asking her to either write a number into words, or vise versa (i.e. write out 3,042,070).  She had no idea!  Holy cow!  You know, that’s my fault.  Through the years I never made her do the math problems that asked for things like that.  She said it was ridiculous and that she could do it…so why do it?  I gave in.  Ha, never again.  That is the only math problems that I never made her do.  I really thought she knew how to do that!  One thing I am really learning these days with homeschooling is “don’t skip anything.”  Even if you think it looks/sounds too easy, do it anyway.  I mean, don’t waste your time teaching them something they already know, but don’t just take there word for it every time that they “do” know.  Let them show you.  Anyway…lesson learned (for both of us!)

So far in Saxon 8/7, she has been reviewing previously learned skills like multiplication, division, and fractions.  She is also doing some pre-algebra.  I like how Saxon explains the lessons.  She has the D.I.V.E. CD to go along with the Saxon 8/7, but she doesn’t want to use it.  She tried it a few times, but would rather learn by reading the lesson.  That’s fine with me.  I have four more children younger than her that are homeschooling, so they may use it in the future.

I look forward to her doing better on the next test.

One of the toughest things about our homeschool has got to be dealing with homeschooling with preschoolers.  I love my children dearly, but sometimes you just want to have the preschoolers out of the whole picture for part of the day; that part of the day when you are homeschooling the older children and don’t want to be interrupted over and over again with things like, “Mommy, I need a drink,” or “Mommy, Billy hit me!” or “Mommy, I gotta go potty!”  However, this is just life.  Our homeschool is life!My favorite place to look for new ideas has definitely got to be Paula’s Archives.  This lady’s site has oodles of information for homeschooling with preschoolers.

Happy homeschooling!

Here is my review on week 3 of My Father’s World - Rome to The Reformation home school curriculum, and how it is working for us.  We love homeschooling!

Memory Work - We actually aren’t going to try to memorize any of the memory work in RTR; but I do plan to go over it and use it for copy work and dictation, as suggested in the TM.  We are reading the verses recommended, and my 4^th grade daughter is looking up the chapters and verses.  This has been wonderful practice for her.

English from the Roots Up - learning these Latin roots this year has been great.  I love that we are doing numbers first, and that we are going to tie them in with the Roman numerals.  I need to make those cards with the Latin number on the front!

Handwriting - I’m not having my 7^th grader review handwriting because it isn’t necessary.  My 4^th grade girl is doing A Reason for Handwriting curriculum and is learning cursive this year.  There are many lessons, so she is just going through those.  You know, I’ve never looked at My Father’s World handwriting…I want to be sure and purchase that for my boys.  A Reason for Handwriting is kind of “girly.”  Anyway, she’s doing great learning cursive.

Spelling - I love that MFW starts you slowly in the Spelling Power curriculum.  This week I am reading the Quick Start steps.  I believe it is really important to read these steps each year, because, at least for me, I tend to forget the details.

English - I have my 7^th grader continuing in her All-In-One English Series book.  She continues to do very well in that.  I love how MFW doesn’t push grammar in the early years.  Whew!  That used to drive us nuts with the other curriculum we used.  My 7^th grader is also doing The Indian in the Cupboard study guide from Progeny Press (as recommended by MFW).  I honestly thought that The Indian in the Cupboard would be a silly book, but was I wrong!  My 7^th grade daughter, who has read more books than I can count, said that this was the BEST book she has EVER read and that she wanted the whole series!  Whoa!  That floored me!  I have never heard her say, “This is the best book I have ever read,” about any book!  I love that the guides will help put a biblical perspective into the story.  Wonderful!  My 4^th grade daughter is finishing up Primary Language Lessons.  I really love these books (Primary and Intermediate Language Lessons).  They have all different types of English learning in them.  You can read more about them at MFW under Language Arts.

Math - 7^th grade girl is doing very well in Saxon 8/7; 4^th grade girl doing very well in Singapore 2A, which she will be finished with next week; and my 1^st grade boy is doing wonderful with My Father’s World First grade math.

The Roman Empire - Great book!  We’re learning about Roman homes and gardens, mosaics (will be making a mosaic next week with paper-could have used dried modeling clay, but the girls didn’t care about getting that intricate), and frescoes. 

I love all of the stuff we are learning about Pompeii!  My 4^th grader is used Pompeii, Buried Alive! as a read-aloud this week and she thought it was fascinating!  We got the recommended movies from the library, as well, and are going to watch those.

Augustus Caesar’s World - We love this book!  I had no idea that it would read so much like a story.  I feel like we are reading a great novel, not a history book.  My 4^th grade girl continues to be grossed out by the murders…so my 7^th grade girl is being sure to “bloody” up her coloring pages to gross her out even more.  Cruel girl!

Book Basket - Many wonderful books this week.  I have been fascinated with the whole Pompeii story.  My 7^th grader always reads almost all of the book basket books, but I haven’t asked her what she thought about them yet.  I keep forgetting to have my 4^th grade girl (who doesn’t read very often…sigh…the tom-boy!) rummage through them.  I need to remember that.

The Human Body for Every Kid - is proving to be a fun science book!  The girls are enjoying the experiments, and so am I!  We did the balancing against the wall one on Thursday; and the hot, warm, and cold water bowl one on Friday.

God and the History of Art - This book is going okay for my 7^th grade daughter.  She says she is interested in it, but doesn’t put much effort into the assignments.  Sigh.

Foreign Language - We’re dabbling in sign language this year, but I forgot to do it this week!  Oops!

Other - My 4^th grade girl is learning to type with Jump Start Typing.  She’s only done it one day but loves it!  She keeps asking to do it, but I figure I shouldn’t let her do it all day or else she will get burned out and get sick of it.

Another great week in My Father’s World!

The Story of The World homeschool history curriculum is, in my opinion, absolutely wonderful.  It tells history in a story-book format that is easy to understand for a variety of ages.  Although I have only read Volume 1 of 4, I am very excited that the homeschool curriculum we use, My Father’s World, uses The Story of The World, Volumes 2-4.

I also recommend the Activity Books that go along with The Story of The World, especially if you plan to use these as your sole history homeschool curriculum.  I use them with our My Father’s World curriculum, but it isn’t absolutely necessary.

The following is from The Homeschool Library:

Name of curriculum: The Story of the WorldCommon abbreviation: SOTW

Ages this curriculum is designed to be used with: Written with Grammar ages, 1st - 4th in mind but families do use this with 5th - 8th graders also.

Educational Philosophy: The Classical Method; Unit Study Approach; Eclectic Schooling

Worldview: Secular; Biblical Stories are included

Historical period: There are four volumes for SOTW and one for each time period, ancient — Early Man to ~400AD, middle ages — 400AD to 1600, renaissance —- 1600 - 1850, modern —- 1850 to 2000.

Geographical area: The approach is to cover World History chronological and thus the entire world geography is covered. Families are encouraged to locate the area discussed on maps, and maps are provided in both the SOTW books and the Activity Guide

Website: http://www.peacehillpress.com/

Review:
SOTW is history told in a chronological approach, presented as engaging short stories with the elementary child in mind. Supplemental materials include an Activity Book, tests, and SOTW on CD.

I consider the Activity Book to be an essential part of using SOTW for any family. It contains comprehension questions, sample narrations, book lists, maps, coloring pages, and activities for each and every chapter. The suggested activities range from cooking activities to craft items to make, to games to play, to word-search puzzles, to…… There’s something in there for every-type of learner. The extensive supplementary reading lists for the story read list books from ones that will appeal to the younger ages to ones for the advanced reader.

Our family has enjoyed the audio-books also, however they are not an essential component of SOTW. We have not used the tests. The additional student pages permit one to avoid having to copy the student pages in the Activity Guide and are a convenience to have on hand.

A quote from the website:

Quote:

Strengths:
SOTW is designed to teach children of all ages so it is easy to group your family on the same topic. With everything there, SOTW book and the Activity Guide, a run to the library to pick-up the week’s history book is not necessary. However, the extra book lists and activities found in the Activity Guide permit a family to dive deep into a topic that interests them. Includes all learning styles. Lends itself to be used by co-ops.

This is a pick-it-up and GO program with little preparation needed by Mom if that is the approach you wish to use. Of course, if you wish to do lots of planning then you can do that too.

Can be quite inexpensive to use; ~$15 for SOTW and ~$30 for the Activity Guide for each year.

Weaknesses:
You need to pick and chose among the activities and books to read since there is no way you can do it all.

Secular families might find the Biblical Stories presented as fact annoying. Christian families might find the presentation of early man as a hunter-gatherer and a lack of exclusive focus upon the ancient Biblical stories annoying. As a Christian family we did not find this to be the case.

Comments:
Our family used SOTW years 1-4 when they first came out. My youngest was entering First Grade while my older child was entering Fifth Grade. We, as a family, had been through a 4-year chronological study of history once before starting SOTW. It was easy to use these books with both boys and the Activity Guide helped tremendously in assisting me with making the program more rigorous for my older child. Each SOTW chapter was referenced to several different encyclopedias pages so after our SOTW reading I could send him off to investigate the topic or outline from the encyclopedia for his notebook too.

Having completed SOTW Volumes 1-4 we started the history cycle over again. My youngest continues to listen to the audio-books at night, and often requests to be read to from SOTW books.

While SOTW was written with the Classical Educating Family in mind I know of several families who take a Unit-Study approach and just LOVE SOTW. These families are happily using it with their kids in Grades 1 - 12.

Please, give your feedback about this curriculum too!

We’ve been using Singapore Math in our homeschool since 2001, and I am definitely pleased with the results.  Two of our five children have used it with great results, so I am optimistic that my other three children will do fine with it as well.We’ve used the Singapore Math Primary Levels 1A-5B, after which we are moving on to Saxon 8/7 and above.  This is what is recommended by our My Father’s World curriculum.  I also used the Earlybird levels of Singapore Math with my oldest daughter back in 2001, but we are using My Father’s World First Grade Math from now on due to the fact that it is very hands-on and works wonderfully for us.

The following is from The Homeschool Library:

Name of curriculum: Primary Mathematics US Edition

Common abbreviation: Singapore Math(s), SM, PM

Educational Approach: Strives for understanding, rather than stressing drill or rote learning of algorithms

Grade level: Pre-K to 6 or 7

Worldview: Secular

Website: http://www.singaporemath.com/

Review: There are two main sections: Earlybird and the main Primary Maths series.

Earlybird consists of four books: 1A, 1B, 2A and 2B, roughly covering Pre-K and K.

Primary maths has a textbook and a work book for each level from 1A to 6B, covering grades 1 to 6 or 7. Grade designations are not exact, due to the different education system in Singapore.

A quote from the website:

Why Singapore Math?

Singapore students were in first place in the 1995, 1999 and 2003 TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study)….

Singapore students who took TIMSS in 1995, 1999 and 2003 were using the Primary Mathematics series. The results speak for themselves…

Strengths: This curriculum strives to teach real understanding of maths, using a concrete - pictorial - abstract method. Standard algorithms are also taught, but from a basis of understanding, rather than through rote learning. Mental maths skills are particularly well covered, as is algebraic thinking through diagrams. The word problems are of a sophistication not usually found at this level.

Weaknesses: Some students may find that there is not enough practice. Many parents supplement with a drill program; others use the supplementary Singapore books: Challenging Word Problems, Extra Practice and Intensive Practice.

Comments: This program has been very good for our family, despite my children’s different learning styles. It’s not a good fit for everyone, so it would be great to have some comments from those with different experiences.

Let me first say that you don’t have to supplement My Father’s World.  Their home school curriculum is definitely complete in itself.  However, this year I decided to add the Activity Books 1 & 2 from The Story of The World.  Activity Book 1, chapters 1-25, can go with My Father’s World - Creation To the Greeks; while Chapters 26-42, along with Story of The World, Activity Book 2, can go with Rome To The Reformation.

My Father’s World doesn’t use The Story of The World Book 1 (I’m not talking about the Activity Book), but they do use The Story of The World, Book 2 in their Rome To the Reformation package.  They also do not use the Activity Books from Story of The World (until later years…they use Activity Book 4 in their 1850 To Modern Times package) .  They feel that it isn’t necessary.  I suppose it really isn’t, we could definitely get along without them.  However, I like them, especially for my younger children. 

For instance, my 4th grader isn’t very good at the mapping that My Father’s World recommends.  It is a little over her head.  The maps in The Story of The World Activity Book are much easier (color Italy blue…things like that) for her.  There are some great coloring pages, too, that my 7^th grade daughter likes as well.

There are also additional activities, if you would like more choices in that area.  I haven’t used any of those yet.  I need to check those out more.

Now, the tricky part is that you need to match up the weeks in the Activity Book 1 with the weeks you are doing in Creation To The Greeks and Rome To The Reformation.  As I get further into this, I plan to type up a list of corresponding pages from SOTW (Story of The World) Activity Book 1 for the weeks in Creation to The Greeks and Rome to The Reformation.  I’ll definitely display those here.

Last week went great!  We are really loving Augustus Caesar’s World alot.  The stories are so fun to read!  I got all choked up reading about Julius Caesar’s death!  My 4th grader was kinda grossed out by it.  She said, “Did that really happen?”  I think it scared her a little…just knowing that it was true.  This is my Spider Man loving kid, so she doesn’t get disturbed easily.

I really liked the two experiments on the brain, too, in The Human Body For Every Kid.  I like having my 4th grade daughter do the drawings, as well.  That will count as art this year, as far as I am concerned.  She also likes to do the art in Draw Write Now books.  I get those from the library sometimes.

English from the Roots Up continues to be a very interesting learning experience, for me!  My girls are memorizing these terms quite easily, too.  I’m sure they’ll appreciate the roots later.  I’m always like, “Wow!  I didn’t know that that came from a Greek (or Latin) word!”  They just look at me.  :o)

Streams of Civilization is a tough read, but you don’t have to read much of it.  MFW even suggests summarizing with this book.  I find it interesting, but a bit dry.  It is basically a “textbook” thingy.

The bookbasket suggestions look wonderful.  I can’t wait to watch the DVDs.  I plan to have my 4th grader us Pompeii, Burried Alive! as her read-aloud for a week.

We are actually going to finish up Week 2 on Tuesday, because we took Friday and today (Monday) off for Columbus Day.  So, we haven’t played the Odd or Even game yet.  We’ll do that tomorrow.

I’m very glad that I bought The Story of The World, Part 1 Activity Workbook to go along with this curriculum.  The coloring pages are neat, and my oldest daughter just HAS to be doodling on something while I am reading.  The pictures to color are very graphic, too, so they would appeal to boys as well as girls.  I haven’t wanted to add the colored photos to the history notebooks, however, basically because it would just clutter it up too much.  I like the map work in that book, too.  I love My Father’s World’s map work, but my 4th grader just isn’t as quick to understand it all, and The Story of The World’s maps are easier for her to understand.

Ok, so I’m off to order more library books and get set for tomorrow’s work!

I only used Tapestry of Grace for a couple of months, and the problem I had was that it wasn’t an “open and go” curriculum. There are many teacher’s notes to read each week. There were just too many choices to make, too, at least for me. It is not a “one teacher’s manual” curriculum. You have many resources that you have to organize. It just got too confusing for me.However, Tapestry of Grace has gotten some great reviews and has a wonderful reputation.  I have read that it is especially good for the high school years.You can definitely combine with this curriculum.  Some people LOVE the choices that Tapestry of Grace offers.

The following review is from The Homeschool Library:

Name of curriculum: Tapestry of Grace

Common abbreviation: TOG

Ages this curriculum is designed to be used with: All (specificially designed to teach all ages together).

Educational Philosophy: Classical

Worldview: Protestant

Historical period (if relevant): Year 1 covers creation to Christ, year 2 up to 1800, year 3 the 1800s, year 4 modern history

Geographical area (if relevant): year 3 and 4 are primarily US history based but world history is tied in, it is not specifically a US history course

Website: http://www.tapestryofgrace.com/

Review: TOG is a history based, chronological study. It includes plans for history, geography, government, church history, art history, and literature. Weekly plans are given using a selected book list but you can substitute what you have on hand or can find in your library fairly easily. It is divided into 4 learning levels - upper and lower elementary (say grades 4-6 and 1-3), dialectic (junior high), and rhetoric (high school). You can use the same guide with all 4 levels at once, and use it over and over with the same student - if you start with TOG and stay with it, your student goes through each time period 4 times, each time at greater depth. TOG is discussion based, but provides opportunities for hands on activities and a substantial writing component.

A quote from the website:

Quote:

Strengths: TOG is designed to teach children of all ages so it is easy to group your family on the same topic, topic based so you can substitute materials of your choosing if the recommended book is not in your library, weekly scheduling allows the course to fit your lifestyle, encourages independent learners, deep and rich course, you need to be able to pick and choose among the options because there is no way you can do it all. Very academically rigorous. Includes all learning styles. Lends itself (and encourages) co-ops.

Weaknesses: Can be expensive if you do not have a good library available to you, requires parental prep - this is not an open and go type curriculum, the method can be confusing for the first timer. Time consuming. Can be overload of reading for some, not enough for others.

Comments: We are in year 4, completing our round through TOG and we’ve loved it. We switched to TOG from SL so I didn’t find the method too confusing and prefered the weekly scheduling and ability to choose my own books. I think the writing program is excellent, and appreciated having the fine arts and geography threads woven in. The only thing I wasn’t totally sold on was the literature piece. TOG isn’t and doesn’t purport to be a complete curriculum - you’ll need to add phonics and grammar, math, science and foreign language.

Another curriculum that I considered using is Ambleside Online.  It is a free (many of the books are online, and the schedule is free online.This curriculum uses some wonderful classic literature, is not as burdensome as it looks (so I’m told), and has many free resources for you to use (even a free math resource!)  However, I don’t use it because, for us, it would have been too difficult to combine with my ages of children (but I’ve heard that others have done it just fine!).

If I were on a tighter budget, and even perhaps if I were just starting out (I have been with My Father’s World for 3 years…so I have 3 year’s worth of their curriculum packages already), then I would definitely have given Ambleside Online a try.

The following review is from The HomeSchool Library website:

Curriculum: Ambleside Online

Type: Complete Curriculum

Educational Philosophy: Literature - Charlotte Mason

Worldview: Protestant

Website: http://www.amblesideonline.org/

From their website:
Quote:

Strengths: Free, comprehensive list of books and scheduling. If followed as laid out this would provide a good knowledge of literature, nature, and the arts.

Weaknesses: Challenging schedule, looks like it could be overwhelming.

Comments: I haven’t used this curriculum… but the Charlotte Mason approach has always appealed to me. I’m looking forward to comments from users.

Have you used it? Please share your thoughts and comments here.

Another great curriculum out there is Winter Promise.  Whew!  I almost purchased this one a couple of times.  It looks so fun and exciting!  You can get a free catalog at their website by emailing them.

The big reason that I backed out of using Winter Promise is that it looked like it would just be too much for us to do, activity wise.  I also heard that their stuff is a bit harder to do.  Well, who knows, right?

I tell ya, if I only had 1 or 2 children, I would probably have gone with Winter Promise.  It definately would NOT be boring.

The following review is from The Homeschool Library:

Name of curriculum: Winter Promise

Common abbreviation: WP

Optimal age of students: Pre-K to High School

Type: Complete Curriculum

Educational Philosophy: Literature/Ruth Beechick

Worldview: Protestant

Website: www.winterpromise.com

Review: WP provides programs that are either Science or History based. They included daily readings on the topic of the program, RA’s, daily activities, notebooking, websites, movie/video recommendations and optional LA and readers.

A quote from the website:

Quote:

Strengths: Ease of use, great for hands on children, multiple ways to interact with the material and engage the child, great books, the programs are designed to use with multiple ages and to that end there are recommendations for extra resources, as well as which resources might be dropped and at times full schedules for additional books.

Weaknesses: New company with growing pains. It is expensive to purcahse whole packages.

Comments: I love this program even through we have only used it for a short time. The fact that they have science levels is huge as I have one child who has a science bent. My kids love having so much to do and find it quite an adventure.

History books: Usually there is a main text with supporting texts. At the AW, AS 1 levels I have they are mostly color picture texts.

RA’s: These are fun stories that pertain to the subject, some historical literature will be used but some are just for fun.

Activity books: This is a huge part of WP. Not just doing the activities but reading about the activities is actually scheduled. Often these are scheduled on the Independent Study Sheets for the child to read on their own. There are a variety of types of crafts. Some are paper (color cut and paste), but others are making with craft resources (plates, bags, pipe cleaners, ect..) and some just require a good imagination. The intent was to provide a CHOISE of activities that fit a variety of learning styles so there is something for everyone. If you want to do them all you will need to either do prep work (cutting and gathering) to save on time or you will want to stretch the program out for longer than a year.

Websites: All levels include websites, usually one or two a week. Even my 4yo will come over and take a peek because it is on the computer.

Movies: Several movies are recommended throughout the year. These are not required, just enriching.

Resource lists: WP really wants to make each program usable with a wide variety of ages. To that end they include extra reading schedules (History of the US is included in AS 1 and 2), extra books both fictional and non-fiction, extra activity resources (books and field trip ideas). Sky and Sea also includes whole guides targeted to older and younger children that detail what books to drop and other books that can be substituted.

Bible: Is on the light side at the younger ages, but that was a plus for us because I already had Story Bibles I was reading to them. Now I just do both. I didn’t get the CD’s because I have a memorization program in place already.
Notebooking: I am not doing this piece, but as I understand it the pages vary: some will have additional information, a picture to color, a place to draw a picture or a place to write the child’s narration.
Timeline: WP uses a notebook type timeline on heavy card stock. The intention is to use it with the notebooking all in one binder. To that end the timeline pages are 3 hole punched. They also have summaries at the top of the pages of the general period of history as well as a number line in the middle. Two type of timeline figures are carried. One is the WP figures which are in full color with a sticky back for sticker type use. The second is the History Through the Ages CD. You then print off pages to color and paste into your timeline.
Mapping: At the AS 1 level most of the mapping is done with 3-D maps, which my children love. My guess is that they use the Mystery of History mapping at the upper levels (Quest for the Ancients and Quest for the Middle Ages), but I haven’t used them yet.

IG: I wanted to make one more comment on the resources WP adds. The IG’s will have narration cards that ask questions for the child to answer. At the lower levels they are big picture questions instead of details. There is a timeline of events as well as a weekly topic list so that adding books is fairly painless. They include timeline cards (event on one side and explanation on the other) and instructions for playing games with them. The activity list has all the projects listed, how difficult they are and what resources are needed. The movie list has all the movies recommended, so you don’t have to go searching through the IG to find them. WP is trying to make the program as easy and user friendly as possible.

WP also offers Math, two chess levels, and smaller science programs without RA’s and readers. Their LA uses vertical phonics and traditional workbooks with handwriting included, but as I haven’t used their LA someone else will have to detail it.