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Really just need to know which direction to go…
- This topic has 8 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 6 years ago by
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This is our 11th year homeschooling. When I started I had 3 little girls and it was so easy to love what we used and our time together was so sweet. Now, I have a 4 year old daughter, 8 year old son, 11 year old daughter, 13 year old daughter, and 15 year old daughter.
We used MFW K and 1st with every child and will continue probably with this last one too. Then we used MFW ADV and ECC. I don’t know exactly why, probably a variety of reasons, but we did not like ECC. We switched and did two years of HOD, including Beyond, Bigger, and Preparing. We loved those years, but it seemed impossible to continue with HOD for price and the amount of guides. Then we went back to MFW and did CTG and RTR. They were good. Rich. But, just not our thing. There were book choices we didn’t like, and the TM drove me batty.
So, last year we attempted Notgrass ATB for a change of pace, made it almost 1/2 way through. This year we did Masterbooks America’s Story Vol 1. It was okay, still just missed the mark for me. We are back trying to finish Notgrass ATB, but I feel like it’s just going through one ear and out the other. One of my main concerns with Notgrass is it just seems kind of dry and there are dates in every sentence (exaggerating a bit here). It gets it done quickly, but what does it really matter in the long term if they didn’t love it and don’t remember it?
I really LOVE everything I see with SCM, but the 6 year cycle. I just can’t wrap my brain around where to begin and what to condense to make it shorter. My kids will be 3rd, 6th, and 8th this fall. My 10th grader wants to do her own thing. I’m not sure what we will do with my 8th grader once she hits high school. I so wish I’d known about SCM 11 years ago and could have just started here in the beginning. 🙁
So, my thoughts at this time are this. Keep in mind, my two middle gals have made it to the civil war era.
Plan 1: 3rd does BF Early American History and 6th and 8th do Notgrass Uncle Sam. My concerns are getting to all the reading BF schedules with my son and Uncle Sam also being dry.
Plan 2: 3rd, 6th, and 8th do one of the SCM guides together, maybe the newest one?
Then there’s Grammar. I CANNOT decide on that. We have never stuck with any grammar or writing program. I am worried I have failed my kids on this one.
Math is one place I feel good about. 🙂 I also just about have science figured out for everyone.
Thank you for reading all of that and helping me out in any way you can.
Well, my vote is for living books which will engage your children’s minds with ideas. I have used and liked the SCM history guide and books for modules 5 & 6. Add in a few field trips to make it real and exciting: history museums and festivals.
We have not done much grammar either. My children have enjoyed Mad Libs after some basic teaching on parts of speech. This term, I started Simply Grammar. The back of the book says grade 4 to high school, but I read somewhere else grades 3 – 8. We do this all together about 3 days per week for 20 – 30 minutes. Most of it is oral or I write some on a whiteboard. Each student writes notes in a spiral notebook and often end with them writing a few sentences using what they learned in the lesson and then sharing. It is ending up being more enjoyable for me than I thought it would be and my daughter looks forward to our time together. It was funny one day when I gave her the sentence from the book to find the being verb, “You are my cousin”. They have enjoyed telling stories about the pictures included, too.
We use Notgrass with our older kids, but my vote would be to have them all together with the SCM guides. For language arts, we are trying some Brave Writer products but focus more on oral/written narration for history, science, etc.
Have you seen The Good and the Beautiful?
For SCM history I would combine all three ancients in one year.
For grammar I am introducing it lightly as it comes up in Queens Language Lessons series. Later I will add Winston Grammar and Life of Fred Language Arts books for highschool.
I like the grammar in Character Quality Language Arts books too.
retrofam, do you use all the components in the history guide while still combining 3 into one year? In what ways do you condense it?
I haven’t done Ancients with SCM yet, but my plan was to skip the Bible parts and do geography weekly.
There are many posts about combining on this forum.
I would discourage combining Ancients into 1 yr unless you really don’t want to utilize the Bible. Make that decision though with the awareness that the Bible readings are woven into “world” history so that there becomes an awareness that the Bible truly is the History book of all history books. You see “world” history happening at the same time as the Scriptures. I grew up with some years in a Christian private school. We had world history, Bible history, and world history. They were 3 very separate subjects and I didn’t grasp the full reality of the 3 “streams” overlapping. Mind you we did not keep a book of centuries.
Tamara, the Bible is the reason I would want to do the Ancients guides 🙂 I love the Biblical focus. Last time we did Ancients, we did MFW CTG and though it was okay, it was too much mythology for my taste. Sounds like I may not want to rush anything in the guides. I have the Genesis guide and it is a lot of reading already. My two middle gals could handle it, but my son would be lost.
Another issue I am facing is just being utterly and completely exhausted. Also, as my girls are getting older, it has gotten harder and harder to gather them all together for combined school time. Between their individual interests and my fatigue, we have not done a good job last year or this year with getting together. So while SCM is my absolute first choice, I also need to recognize this and decide if it’s really something I will get done.
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