Oh, Dearest Mother, Sweetest Virgin of Altagracia, our Patroness. You are our Advocate and to you we recommend our needs. You are our Teacher and like disciples we come to learn from the example of your holy life. You are our Mother, and like children, we come to offer you all of the love of our hearts. Receive, dearest Mother, our offerings and listen attentively to our supplications. Amen.



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SeaStar
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Posted: May 18 2009 at 5:19pm | IP Logged Quote SeaStar

I am really intrigued by All About Spelling. I went to the website, but I couldn't get a feel for what age is a good age to start using this program.
My ds will be 6 going on 7 next fall and in first grade. Would this be too early to start him with this program?

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time4tea
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Posted: May 18 2009 at 5:29pm | IP Logged Quote time4tea

Sea Star,

My dd will be 6 going on 7 and will be in 1st, too. I bought All About Spelling to use with her (probably more toward the middle of the year, I want to get her reading more solidly first).

You may also want to check out the Bee Hive Reader. I also got one of those for dd.

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amyable
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Posted: May 18 2009 at 7:26pm | IP Logged Quote amyable

mom2mpr wrote:
]
CAT Chat CD's-both kids 6 and 11 years loved them and they learned a lot.


I forgot about these - our church was selling a different one each month and we picked up 4 of them, they all love them. I find myself singing the songs...

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mom3aut1not
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Posted: May 18 2009 at 7:29pm | IP Logged Quote mom3aut1not

Sea Star,

Your child is a great age for level 1. (Some people are using with younger children!) I recommend you get on the Chatterbee Forum and look around. I'd also recommend that you download the Phonogram Chart (for free!) to start with.

In Christ,

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LisaD
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Posted: May 18 2009 at 7:31pm | IP Logged Quote LisaD

Hits:

CHC Spelling
CHC Language of God
Primary and Intermediate Language Lessons
Teaching Textbooks 5
Faith & Life
Map Skills
Science 2 U classes at our homeschool resource center

Okay, but not thrilled with:

St. Joseph Baltimore Catechism FHC Prep (ds just liked F&L so much better)
Living history and geography books from Mater Amabilis and MODG lists. (I liked them fine, but the kids were not very enthusiastic.)

Brought on misery:

Aleks 3 math
The Evangelization of the New World
This Country of Ours

In summary, next year we will be using a lot more from CHC. The kids really liked everything we used from them (with the exception of the science books). We will continue with Teaching Textbooks 6 & 4 for the older kids.


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time4tea
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Posted: May 18 2009 at 7:56pm | IP Logged Quote time4tea

Lisa,

Can you share how you integrated CHC's Language of God with Primary and Intermediate Language Lessons? I have wanted to do this, but am not exactly sure how to make it work so that it isn't overwhelming.



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BrendaPeter
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Posted: May 18 2009 at 8:40pm | IP Logged Quote BrendaPeter

Another All About Spelling fan! And also Great Leaps for my dyslexic (we think) son.

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LisaD
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Posted: May 18 2009 at 11:07pm | IP Logged Quote LisaD

time4tea wrote:
Lisa,

Can you share how you integrated CHC's Language of God with Primary and Intermediate Language Lessons? I have wanted to do this, but am not exactly sure how to make it work so that it isn't overwhelming.



Well, I didn't exactly integrate it this year. We finished LOG in January, and then started using PLL and ILL 3-4 days per week. Sometimes I split up the lessons, especially for my ds, since the physical act of writing is difficult for him. Dictation needs to be done in small bits.

I think that next year I will use LOG 2-3 days a week and PLL and ILL 1-2 days a week. Fortunately, language is a strong area for my oldest dd, and both of my oldest two usually enjoy it. I like the way LOG really teaches grammar, and I like the way PLL and ILL teach observation, conversation and writing.

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saigemom
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Posted: May 23 2009 at 12:34pm | IP Logged Quote saigemom

WORKBOXES This totally changed things for the better here.

Noble Knights Math

Saxon DIVE-perfect fit for my math gifted ds

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Mimip
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Posted: May 25 2009 at 7:57am | IP Logged Quote Mimip

Serendipity, we are making our way down the Colonial Trail and look forward to the adventures ahead

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LLMom
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Posted: May 25 2009 at 11:21am | IP Logged Quote LLMom

All about spelling and Bravewriter were the biggest hits here.

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Karen T
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Posted: June 11 2009 at 8:25am | IP Logged Quote Karen T

Positives:
Teaching Textbooks for oldest ds (we've now used Alg I and II, and geometry, and loved them all)
SL Core 300 for oldest (20th cent world history)
Apologia Biology
Handwriting without Tears for ds9
Getty-Dubay italic for dd7 - I've used this for years and love it but it just didn't work for ds.
Barton Reading and Spelling system for dyslexic ds9
Rightstart Math for ds9 and dd7
History Pockets Ancient civilizations
Voyages in English grammar for youngers
CHC's FHC prep

Neutral:
SL Core 1 - it was OK, but this was our first try with SL and what i wanted was the whole living history book experience, but all the history at this stage is read out of a spine (Hillyer's history of the World) which I could have done myself, much cheaper. I added in the history pockets to make it a little more exciting but it was not the highlight of our day.

Negatives:
SL Language Arts for youngers - too random, jumping around

I wanted to make a comment about All About Spelling and dyslexia, since several people have raved about it. I have not used it myself, but I am on a list for reading difficulties and AAS is considered one of the best programs for spelling; however, if you have a dyslexic who is not reading well, you need something more. Two highly recommended Orton-Gillingham products for teaching reading & spelling to dyslexics are Barton and Wilson. My ds9 tested at below kindergarten reading level last spring. We've been using Barton now for about 7 mos and he's now reading at about a late 1st grade level if not a little higher. I don't want to hijack this thread to discuss dyslexic too much but since it was brought up I just thought I'd throw that in. Feel free to email me if anyone has questions.

Karen T in Md
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TracyQ
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Posted: June 11 2009 at 10:23am | IP Logged Quote TracyQ

Our hits:

TRISMS~ (oldest 11th grader has used this throughout high school, and he knows history and literature better than ANY of our kids. It's an EXCELLENT program, and particularly for him! He finishes his last year with Trisms next year and graduates!!!

LIFE of FRED MATH~ Our daughter still doesn't LOVE math, but she now doesn't hate it either. That's HUGE for us! We also added in some Key To series books for practice, and she found those easier, and less cumbersome, and was able to do both together.

Our misses:

ALWAYS are that I plan WAY too much, and frustrate myself AND the kids! :-\ Ugh. You'd think after 14 years, I'd learn! :-\





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Janet
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Posted: June 11 2009 at 10:54am | IP Logged Quote Janet

LisaD wrote:
Hits:

CHC Spelling
CHC Language of God


These were both wonderful, combined with CHC's Little Stories for Little Folks, for my 7 yo (who went from very reluctant reader to devouring chapter books by the end of the year). They are also proving very helpful for our newest daughter (older international adoptee) for reading and for language acquisition - having the Little Stories based around events of real family life made it so much easier for her to comprehend, and helped with building functional vocabulary.

The other change is that has really helped is that I'm trying to get better about "hands-on" activities. I'm such a book learner that I don't always recognize that there are kids (like some of mine!) who really like projects and learn better if they have something tactile. This summer my teen daughters and I will be reading Pride and Prejudice (I even found an ESL version for our newest dd) and we'll be making Regency dresses and cooking goodies for a Regency tea. This is making it appealing for my most reluctant reader (another older adoptee, no longer really ESL, but she still finds reading tough).

I really appreciate reading everyone's reviews - great help as I try to start planning next year.

Janet
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Rachel May
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Posted: June 11 2009 at 3:33pm | IP Logged Quote Rachel May

Hits:

Latin for Childen-4th grade boys LOVED this and all the other kids enjoyed the dvd and the chant. My quick comparison made me think it might be more rigorous than Prima Latina. The boys were parsing and translating sentences by the end of the year. It was a good kind of challenge for them.

Reading aloud our history and science readers

Fine but won't do again:
Noeo physics level II--concepts too hard for 4th grade, too much writing for 4th grade boys, time consuming. We enjoyed reading the readers together and discussing them, but the authors are mistaken in saying that you can teach biology, chemistry and physics in any order, imo. I *think* bio at 4th, chem at 5th and physics at 6th would have worked better.

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teachingmyown
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Posted: June 11 2009 at 8:36pm | IP Logged Quote teachingmyown

TracyQ wrote:
Our hits:

TRISMS~ (oldest 11th grader has used this throughout high school, and he knows history and literature better than ANY of our kids. It's an EXCELLENT program, and particularly for him! He finishes his last year with Trisms next year and graduates!!!


Tracy, has your son done Age of Revolutions? I had some concerns about some of the "literature" selections and wondered if you had encountered anything objectionable if he had done it.

Overall, the program looks very appealing.

Thanks!

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