August Homeschool Update II What's WORKING and What's NOT + Sonlight, Abeka, Logic of English, etc
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ก.ย. 2024
- In today's video, I'm chatting through the start of our homeschool year ... what's working and what's a bit of a struggle! I share my thoughts on The Good and the Beautiful, IEW, Sonlight, Abeka, etc! How was your August?
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If I remember correctly our girls are about the exact same age and my daughter is sooooo similar! I have to sit with her during all of her work and encourage and correct immediately! My son at her age was much more cooperative, independent and self motivated. I have become resigned to the fact she is a creative extrovert and keep book work to the bare minimum with her. It has allowed me to discover she loves learning French this year, so we have been doing that for like a hour a day. She easily fills her days with writing her own graphics novels, drawing, reading, crafting, dancing and roller skating so I have to be happy with that I guess lol I don't see academia in her future but I am trying to accept her gifts (she got a big part in a play for her age in her drama co-op this year!!) Trying to Homeschool kids with such different learning styles, interests and gifts is completely exhausting! Everything I have learned about Homeschool through my son doesn't work for her, and it is like I am starting from scratch again. Lord help me, I am so tired lol Currently I am using Math-U-See Gamma, Brave Writer Style Literature and Language Arts and Spelling You See with her and we are the happiest we have been in a while. Only takes about an hour, which is about all my patience allows. I tired assigning her more independent stuff again at the beginning of this year and it was a big failure, as usual, maybe by High School she will be ready for that lol
Thank you for sharing - I'm considering moving just her to Brave Writer for all the reasons you mentioned!
Just edit for things your child should know is my advice. Capitals, periods, spelling, etc.. Don't go overboard or over complicate it. Give tons of compliments and encouragement at this stage. As the program progresses it will give them specific instructions in the checklist like replacing banned words etc. that you have to check for as well. The full scope of the program comes into view after the level is completed so if you stay the course it will become more apparent all the benefits.
Thank you, that is what I needed to hear!
I just finished reading Mrs. Piggle Wiggle to my boys and they LOVED it--they even requested me to re-read several of the chapters, like the Never-Want-To-Go-To-Bedders Cure. Always love your updates!
We still talk about the quarrelers cure and the tiny bite taker cure ... so much fun!!
One way to make Saxon 5/4 less overwelming is to only do the odd or even problems. This is a really common solution that lots of homeschoolers do
Agreed! I couldn't imagine doing all the problems!
We're into our fifth week of homeschool. It's going well so far which is amazing since this is the year that I now have six students. But I did a lot of praying about how to simplify and make everything work and as of right now, it is working for the most part. Like you, I have an area I am needing to brainstorm and haven't yet come up with a solution for. But I really commend you for not expecting your bigger kids to be independent when you know that they would do better with you. It took me a lot longer into homeschooling to learn that lesson. Praying for your family, your health and that you will have wisdom in all areas.
Ahh, thank you for the prayers! I'm glad you are finding a good rhythm!
I also thought tgab level 4 wasn’t helping learn to write but we pushed through and by about lesson 80 I noticed my struggling writer was doing so much better, it just clicked at some point which is rare for this child so it must work okay. Also we switched to iew after finishing 4th tgab and are loving it
That is good to know!
I have two kiddos actively doing schoolwork every day and it’s going pretty well. We school year round and break as needed but for some reason we’re feeling a little rusty lately. Meanwhile my three year old is surprising me by bringing me a reading program book and wanting to go through it with me so I may have three readers on my hands before the year is through.
I love that your 3 year old is eager to read, that is so wonderful!!
I am using HBl K (1st grade), B (3rd) and F (6th and 7th).
I start with my oldest. After the HBL they go on to do their independent work.
Then I meet with my 3rd grader for HBL.
Last I meet with my 1st grader because she will need me to stay with her.
For independent work I use Christian Light Education. It’s thorough, includes grammar, spelling, handwriting, and writing. It’s also written to the student. It’s so well written my 3rd grader can work independently. She usually starts her independent work while I am doing F with my older kids.
We are 5 weeks in and it’s going great!
I love it!! So glad you are off to a wonderful start :)
Our homeschool year has started well and we are really enjoyed Sonlight HBL/Science (it's our first year with it.) I only have 2 kiddos, but they are very dependent so I have to give a lot of time to each of them. I can't imagine having 4 at one time. 😅😅 In my eyes, you are Supermom, and you're doing great! 🐁🐭
Ahh, thank you for the encouragement! It is crazy how every year is so different :)
ACE English and Word building are fantastic for independent work. Have done ACE in the past with a fourth grader and it definitely got the job done quite well. My second grader is loving Abeka, and we've taken it slow, too. We have just over a quarter left to complete the first grade. I'm thrilled with all she's learning from it - it really is thorough! Thanks for your video!
Just wanted to throw out Writing and Rhetoric out there. We searched for a long while and are really happy with it. I did books 1&2 with my 10 old last year. This year we are doing books 3&4. Writing is always the hardest part for me to figure out for my kids until we found Writing and Rhetoric. Hope you have a wonderful school year!😊
Do you have them do any W&R independently? My 10 year old son kind of hates the program, but perhaps I need to change how we do it. I like it and it makes a lot of sense to me but he's not enjoying it. I'd love any tips!
Agreed! We just started Writing & Rhetoric book 1 this year and I love it.
@@juliequates9529 I do this with my son. He doesn’t mind doing it with me but my older daughter does it more independently. This year we stared switching to doing one week of W&R and the next week using Winning with Writing which is very independent work. We are using level(grade 4) for that. Which teaches the student mainly how to write a strong paragraph. I notice that if I try to ask my son questions about things he already enjoys and use that for his writing things go pretty smoothly. Example was this week in Winning with Writing he is doing a creative writing outline and I said what if you were asked to create a Pokémon character. What might that look like. He ended up creating two because he loved it so much! Hope this is helpful!☺️
It is so difficult to balance time. I appreciate the struggle. Thank you for the videos!
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We’re about 7 weeks into 4th with my son. We’re using IEW this year and he absolutely loves it. The corrections that I, as the editor, make are pretty minimal at this stage. I think its more about spelling, minor grammar, and rearranging words if needed. It pairs fantastic with the Fix it Grammar program. Where my son learns the grammar concepts alongside his writing with IEW. So I highly suggest using Fix It Grammar.
I'm starting to feel better about the editing - thanks for your encouragement!
Great job with all that you are juggling! It takes a lot of creativity to meet each student’s needs as best we can. One idea for your daughter to help with writing in this stage is just to have her narrate to you from any of the readings she has done or heard. An oral narration requires a lot of composition skills and is less intimidating than putting pen directly to paper. And it has a side benefit of helping them pay closer attention. Just an idea that popped in my head as I was listening- I’ve had a couple of kids in that same situation. 😊
Great idea!
The brainstorming of homeschool is always tricky, but it is also some of the stuff that sets my brain on fire looking for the right solution.
And then usually it comes as inspiration about what best to do! 😄
Agreed! I have my best ideas when I am able to sit with an issue for a while!
Really love natasha Crains books! Great idea getting husband invloved
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We are in the middle of our 3rd week back and although my 8 year old son isn't keen on his lessons and needs me to sit by him for all of them when they are not laid out he does ask where they are. So overall we are enjoying being back to our lessons and home ed groups and I'm already seeing him make massive progress ❤️ I'm so proud of him and his effort and myself for sticking with it and being consistent as this has been where I have struggled for the last 3 years. I just now need to figure out how to fit in the fun topics like art, science and music because he can only manage a very short window of focused learning time. So I was thinking to maybe front load the week then use a Friday for our fun topics. Xx
I love the idea of bringing in more fun!
Thank you for showing the Sonlight readers. I'd love to do Sonlight but I'm only homeschooling one of my kids so I can't justify the cost. My son is currently reading a Lion to Guard Us as part of state history. I've added Blood on the River and another one by the same author to my library hold list.
Sonlight is expensive. I've purchased the teachers guide used and then I either get books from the library or buy them second hand. My fifth grader is reading Blood on the River right now and just yelled from the other room "this book just got really good!"
Haha, my son said the same thing this morning!!
My daughter did Saxon 5/4 last year. We did math facts online-there’s a website that goes through the facts and we just did them for 5-10 minutes a day. Trying to remember what it was…I think it was xtra math. It was much more fun than the Saxon worksheets.
Good idea!
We were also going to use level 4 TGTB after liking level 3 but because of the reasons you found (spelling, writing, grammar) we switched to IEW products for all those subjects. I was replacing more portions of TGTB than I was using it as written.
That is my fear as well!
I am on my second go at using Abeka 1st grade. I used video lessons with my oldest son for Abeka 1st grade, and something that helped us get through the readers was realizing that the kiddos are not expected to do all that reading alone, it is meant to be broken up where a few kids to take turns reading through the passage in a small group setting. So we take the same kind of approach at home now since I am now doing parent led lessons with my younger son, where I read a few sentences (reading slowly to model a pace that doesn't intimidate my little guy) and then my son reads a few sentences. This makes it so much more doable to get through all those readers. Since you got the twins, maybe reading is something that you could have them switch off on when you go through the passages.
That is a good thought!
I printed and bound TGTB Level 4 writing workshop pages (we use All About Spelling instead) and all of the grammar pages from level 4. I thought it was going to be a simple, and great fit for my fourth grader. It seemed to be fairly independent and going ok. However, once my daughter hit the first review section for the grammar portion, and she got two out of 10 questions correct I knew we couldn’t continue using it. I’m glad we school year round so we could just pivot and find something new that does work for her. Thankfully that’s Daily Grams and Essentials in Writing. I dropped her down to level/grade 3 for both of those and it’s been fantastic!!
I'm glad you were able to find what worked for her! We hit the first review section in a couple of weeks, so we will see how that goes!
We have run into the same things with tGatB level 4 writing. One thing I just tried today that worked better for the "finish the written work" exercise is that I didn't read the prompt beforehand and I challenged him to write it so well that I couldn't guess where he took over the writing. He was much more engaged and loved the chance to "trick" me when he read it back to me and I guessed that the writer had written some of his work.
That is a fun idea!
I am also struggling with G&B level 4 for my daughter - we loved level 3 - she struggles with reading and G&B has always worked well. We are thinking about switching to Sonolight and I was going to have her switch between audiobook and reading herself. We are using IEW the themed version for writing. She really likes it but I also struggle with the editing.
We are curriculum twins! I'm waiting until the first assessment in TGTB 4 to see if I am going to make some changes ... I'm just not sure what to do! Audiobooks are a great idea!!
OMG!!! I actually bought Mrs. Piggle Wiggle for a read aloud for my girls this year. My youngest has Poppy for her literature guide from moving beyond the page. I can't wait for our IEW/Teacher course bundle to come in. It has been on backorder through Christian Books since last month. Should ship the end of the week hopefully. Don't worry spelling for him will come when it's time. All kids get things at different time. Put some popcorn kernels in a pot and they all pop at different times. That is just like our kids. They all will get what ever comes hard for them when it is time. I know how you feel with TG&TB. I switched up LA for this year because that was my youngest next course level this year. I didn't like when my other 2 daughters did that level. I really enjoy TG&TB but I wanted some more practice with written this year. So we went with IEW instead. Now, my middle daughter loves how TG&TB teaches writing. It works for her but, not my other 2. There have been mamas use IEW in the place of the spelling & writing workshop book. Just use IEW with TG&TB main course book and scratch that one out. Maybe that will work. Good luck.
Yeah, I'm tempted to use IEW + the main TGTB book!
I totally understand how you are feeling! Your daughter sounds a lot like my middle daughter. Her goal is to just get school done and she’s smart so I know she grasp some things so she doesn’t get why she needs to still practice it.
My oldest is also 5th grader so she’s always my guinea pig I feel but fortunately she is my most motivated to try her best at school. She is also not a natural speller so I’m working through that as well. Math has been our biggest struggle. I noticed a lot of gaps in her last curriculum so while we are trying to fill those she has been more and more frustrated but she’s getting stronger with things. I kind of wish I went with Saxon math this year but didn’t and while what we’re using isn’t bad I don’t love it either.
I’m also bringing in my youngest (5) who always wants to do school but adjusting to 3 can be challenging but we’re making it and it’ll all work out!
All that to say I appreciated your video!
I'm so glad my videos can be an encouragement!!
Hey there 👋🏻 we also switched up the spelling this year for TGTB - 4th grade has some big changes, I’m talking about it on my channel too! So far, so good!
I will have to go check out your videos :)
Waiting for my first appointment to find out which autoimmune disease i have. Schooling really hard at the moment
Good luck, I will pray the doctors are able to easily diagnosis the issue, autoimmune is such a challenge and very overwhelming at first!!
I can see your frustration with your daughter. Mine is very similar. I would look at adhd for girls. Something I had to look into myself because it is so different from the typical adhd. I hope it works out for the best.
Thanks for sharing, I hadn't ever thought of that!
I have twin girls in K. I hear you!! For your bigger ones, have you looked at Brave Writer? Might be a good middle ground writing program.
I'm reconsidering Brave Writer for my daughter - we tried it as a family and that didn't work as well but she might LOVE it!
We started 3 weeks ago and have just finished week 2 of SL HBL and LA F (6th grader) and J (8th grader). Between adjusting to two heavier workload HBL, a new math for my 8th grader, and family visiting, we had a slower start. But I’m ok with that. I’m loving everything we selected. My 8th grader is a very creative, natural writer and his first two papers were 5 pages for the first, 7 for the second (and that’s typed). He LOVES writing. He has started expressing interest in a university model school for high school. I don’t love it for many reasons, but my husband thinks it might be really good for him. They use IEW, which we have never used, and I’m not sure how he would do with it starting in HS after years of being successful with SL. I’m wondering if I should try to introduce him to IEW now, just in case. I really thought we would SL through HS.
Oh that is such a hard decision - especially if he is a natural, creative writer. It might be smart to expose him to it, but I can understand your hesitancy ... bc SL is working for him!!
You shared my exact thoughts on the good and the beautiful writing level four. It doesn’t seem to be helping my son actually figure out how to write. He isn’t able to take what he’s reading and apply it. I need to try and figure out a way to spruce this up!
Glad I'm not the only one!
What is an infusion? I have celiac disease and am very low in iron and cant seem to get it raised. Is an infusipm vitamins? Can you talk more on that topic?❤
I've talked a bit about it ... but I have an autoimmune condition that requires a set of infusions every 6 months to help with symptoms.
Has your son who is having trouble spelling gone through All About Spelling? My 5th grader is using LOE Essentials B and spelling is not going well. I was considering adding All About Spelling to his work.
I'm using AAS for my daughter who didn't like LOE ... AAS is a wonderful program :)
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I am wary of anything coming out of the Zinn Education Project, and as my kids get older I will be trenching from an anti-Zinn perspective. He was a self admitted activist with an agenda, not a historian. I doubt highly that objective historians were brought on to do the series.
Yes. Absolutely. Trust real historians and use primary source documents.
What mentioned is From ZEP? Can I get more info on this? I am struggling to find TRUE history for our schooling
@@juliequates9529 “The People’s History” books are based off of Howard Zinn’s *People’s History of the United States” that is largely criticized by historians. While I appreciate trying to look at history from many perspectives, the series is more politically motivated than historically accurate. The Native American book mentioned has even been criticized by Native Americans because the author has claimed to be Native, but is not.
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