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amyable
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I love a little peak into your homeschools.
What are your favorite things so far this year? What's really working for you? Any surprises - things that you thought would be so-so and are great?
Any bombs?  Things that were supposed to be great and are so-so for your family? Yawners? 
Plans to switch? Things you'll be picking up soon/after the new year?
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Amy
mom of 5, ages 6-16, and happy wife of 
The Highly Sensitive Homeschooler
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Connections
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What is really working for us is a little done faithfully each day instead of the starts and stops of the past.
Daily:
-Faith read alouds
-Math- GAMES and logic puzzles (we threw out the workbooks again- even for the 3rd grader)
-Independent reading and narration daily (they dictate to me and I write it for them. They will write their own narrations when they are older)
-Literature read aloud
That's it for the daily minimums. Then we add in more as the day (and new baby) allow.
What else is really working is that we are not tied to a clock. We get a late start- that is just what works for us. I used to stress over the time we start and try to get going earlier. Then I realized we work much better with our own family rhythm. That includes late nights and sleeping in. We try and accomplish our daily minimums during and after breakfast. Then we use the rest of the day for more learning- by living a learning lifestyle.
I think I finally learned (I hope I actually learned it) that curriculum does not work for our family. Living books, living math, discussions and a learning lifestyle work best here.
Now I have to decide if I sell the curriculum I have around or hold onto it so as not to repeat the same mistakes!
______________
Tracey
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folklaur
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Working - Teaching Textbooks! i would write poetry and sing songs about TT (if i could write poetry or hold a tune.) i love it, and so does ds. i happily await their release of TT3 for dd!!!
Working - ClickNRead for dd7. Yes, it is twaddley. Yes, it is computer based. Yes, it is hokey. But - OH HAPPY DAY - she is "getting it!" she may actually read yet!!! and she *likes* doing it!
Not Working - Oak Meadow. i don't want to talk about it. it makes me too sad.
Working - SOTW. i don't want to talk about this either. *i* don't like SOTW. i avoided SOTW at every turn. but - oh, an activity guide, with maps and ideas? that lines up readings from Kingfisher and Usborne? And i can get it on CD to listen to? and the kids LIKE IT and can DO IT TOGETHER? bah. it got me.
Working - BrainPop & BrainPop jr. wow. DS especially loves BrainPop. glad we spent the $ on it. leads to many, many rabbit trails!
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amyable
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Winners so far:
Teaching Textbooks. Various kids have been in TT4 through TT7. Perfect for my dyslexic and not so mathy ones. My 6yo even loves to listen in and is learning.
Prima Latina DVDs - I got used to the accent . We're starting LC1 next week.
Learning a new hymn every few weeks. I just print out a few copies and we sing once through every day or so. The girls really enjoy it and are thrilled when that hymn is sung in church.
Didn't work:
Oak Meadow 1 and 4 (6 is OK but not deep enough for my tastes) and Waldorf in general  . (for us, could most definitely work for others!)
All About Spelling for my dyslexic with memory issues. It's rule based, and she had as much trouble remembering the rules as she did remembering the spelling of words. She also thought the tiles were babyish no matter what I told her about adults using it. My 1st grader likes it, because it's "fun" 
New to us:
We'll be starting Latina Christiana 1 and Classical Writing "Aesop" on Monday
I started reading (or letting girls read) 1 chapter of Old Testament and one of New each morning, and they are enjoying that.
We are starting to memorize Catechism questions. They are NOT enjoying that but we shall persevere.
More as I think of it! 
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Amy
mom of 5, ages 6-16, and happy wife of
The Highly Sensitive Homeschooler
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amyable
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Laura, you and I were posting at the same time! ITA about TT *and* OM! I'm sorry it makes you sad. PM if you need to!
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Amy
mom of 5, ages 6-16, and happy wife of
The Highly Sensitive Homeschooler
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ALmom
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Well this is not a full blown thing - just a short synopsis of the biggest surprises:
Working far better than expected or totally side swiped me as it is not something I would have done.
1) Enhanced Evaluation Services for writing resistant 9th grader - doing some Kolbe theology, and literature reading and paper topics. This is working quite well.
2)MCP phonics for 4th grader (now do not throw tomatoes as I honestly hate, hate, hate MCP - but we were getting ready to do some spelling WRR way and I needed to make sure he knew how to syllabicate, etc.) Since this was on the shelf left over from hating it and not using it previously with someone else and we had no budget for curriculum, I pulled it off the shelf. Now, the big excitement is that I took some paper clips and just clipped a few pages we wanted to do. We introduced the concept using MCP and doing a few sample exercises - then we cut the rules out of the book, glued them to an index card and he has those to look at whenever and uses them sort of like flash cards or prompters as needed. I'm doing some of the same things with a few problem areas in our family (y dropping), adding vowel suffixes, etc. We have the rules neatly displayed and available for any of us to use. We just do this for short spurts here and there when we are covering something and I need a quick, systematic way to present something.
3) Poetry memorization and recitation using recommendations of MODG 4th grade plans. Everyone is jumping in on this one - and we do substitute a poem or two from time to time. These plans were instrumental in getting me to really only do about 3 seconds.
4) Latina Christiani I - we started with Prima with fear and trembling because I have never, ever been able to successfully do anything with Latin. The 4th and 7th grader are doing this together - 7th grader correcting the rest of us in pronunciation most of the time and usually keeping us on our toes. The big difference - I broke down and bought the DVDs. Boy, I cannot believe how much better the recent edition is than my old one from early 1990 with the cassete tape. When one of the moms told me that there were so many mistakes in that edition (probably the very first one that came out), I knew we would not succeed unless we invested in a more recent edition. I'm amazed. We jumped from Prima and are through Lesson 3 in Latina I. This is more than we have ever done before - and everyone is liking it.
5) Declaration Statesmanship - going really well with the two highschoolers doing this together. I'm mostly out of the loop unless they are making up their own words to the Declaration of Independence (having in their version something about the pursuit of a diploma ).
6) Seton grammar compiles all that was in Voyages in English in a much more user friendly workbook with very good explanations and support. Both the 9th and 7th are benefitting from this - though only the 9th is enrolled.
One of the best things I did was review MODG lesson plans and get a feel for how much time and what was expected at different ages. Things like - only spend 20 minutes doing copy work, 3 minutes for poetry. They keep everything in very small, doable chunks, a little at a time. I have been able to apply a lot to my non-reading 7 year old who has just started to sound out words. He is showing a lot of readiness mentally/emotionally for confession so we want to prepare him without a lot of heavy reading and writing - since he isn't there yet. He is very auditory so we have done a lot of simple repeating like poetry memorization and such. Having some couch time together is really going well. I just need to add in more picture books to read aloud in the daytime. (We always read at night and this is their pick - but with my boys, I'm finally figuring out that they always pick non-fiction so I need to have a reading time where I do the picking and can read Aesop and ... picture books and fun literature. They all did like Mr. Popper's Penguins.
Our big disappointments were:
co-op science class. It isn't totally not working - but dd is not gaining from the time she spends in class and I could have done without the drive and the classroom antics. We are keeping at it simply because as dd said - when the year is up, no matter where they got at least she'll get the credit  . At this point I'll accept this as said dd plans to study the subject on her own after she graduates anyways and she is learning from the work she does at home for the class.
Kolbe recommended writing workbooks - the worst failures. I thought they would be short and sweet in describing different kinds of writing and then have a reasonably good example to look at. We liked the editors markings in the back and made a revision checklist in reading the chapters. However, the examples are just not good examples but very dull and poorly written paragraphs - not exactly what I want my visual dc copying - which is what they do. We ditched this pretty quickly. Now I'm saving up for Circe institute's writing program.
Seton reading - there are some good things and it has helped a bit over last year (made it easy for me to hold him accountable for reading something besides science)but it just isn't enough living literature and doesn't inspire like we want. What the child needs is somehow to be held accountable for reading and writing about really good literature - more than just 4 book reports and the rest being dull readers. (Maybe EES is in order for this one, soon). We'll finish out some things while I save up for the Circe institute program (if dh agrees) and use some of the recommendations of reading scientists who wrote elegantly and some things like Fr. Brown, Swallow of the Amazon and such. I may be back for reading recommendations. I also have Kolbe lists and may pick and choose from some of that literature. I do have the Hillside materials and will pull out and look at some more of that again. I'm having a hard time inspiring him towards good literature.
Foerster's Algebra II - too wordy for my kinesthetic child. We are back with Saxon because as Jennifer mentioned, I'm comfortable with it and find it easy to explain the concepts from whatever and we've already learned how to tweak this program. I have one child who likes wordiness and hates Saxon - he may use this book, but my dd is better with Saxon and hey it is easier for me to keep up with.
Singapore isn't bad so it isn't an abysmal failure or anything but it isn't quite what we need at the moment for 2 children who were using it and doing well with it - one has finished it basically and the other just hit a wall. I'm thinking we use Singapore and then stop and supplement with more practice. So 4th grader is doing Developmental Math to solidify some things before moving back to Singapore and my 7th grader is doing Saxon placement tests (since he is just about done with Singapore and the last part of 6B just didn't bring in anything new - he'd already done most of that messing around with some fun stuff someone gave us on geometry ideas linked to science and real life). I'm going with Saxon for him because I want him to practice copying some problems and showing all his work - some of that step by step stuff. He likes to do everything in his head and Singapore isn't stretching him to develop the systematic skills he needs. He is now superb at mental math.
Janet
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lapazfarm
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What's working:
marine biology--that's a piece of cake here. Just walk out the door and into our "lab."
Shakespeare DVD's from Netflix--a big hit.
Alphaphonics (for dd)--slowly but surely making progress.
Montessori math--same as above.
Art--and lots of it, for all of us.
Following our interests wherever they may lead.
What's not working:
Any time I forget myself and get a little too schooly. Fails *every* time.
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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Sarah M
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Connections wrote:
| I think I finally learned (I hope I actually learned it) that curriculum does not work for our family. Living books, living math, discussions and a learning lifestyle work best here. |
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Ditto.
What's Working:
~Approaching the 3 R's Ruth Beechick-style.
~Making a First Holy Communion Notebook.
~Delight-directed everything else.
~Memorizing a poem or so each month.
What Didn't Work:
~Waldorf math (the stories got in the way of the math, unfortunately).
~A schedule that was too schooly (this mama needs some freedom!).
~Following anyone else's lesson plans.
~Formal circle time-- it feels too contrived, so I'm integrating our songs/poetry more naturally throughout the day.
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Kristie 4
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I agree with Theresa about the schooly thing!!
Working...
-Singapore Math- my ds7 and ds9 LOVE these books (I was very tired of Math U See after the first two kids, and my ds9 is so mathey he found the singular focus of Math U See a bit dull (not knocking mus at all though- it worked beautifully for the other two, we just needed a change)
-Jacob's Algebra- working this over two years. The older two both love the way he writes and explains things.
-poetry memory
-Science- Marine Bio for my dd, Geology (with library books for ds9), Apologia (don't comment!) for my ds who loves Biology now. We have always done mostly Nature Study but the kids all enjoy their science this year so much.
-Greek Alphabet book for my ds-The kids loves math, science, and now greek!
-Diagramming Book for dd12. We have only done this for a few weeks here and there, but on day 1 when my daughter had done the first lesson she cried out, "Why didn't you give this to me before? I LOVE this" Basically we outgrew it in a few weeks as she went on by day 4 to diagram The Lady of Shallot!
Bombs
-me being too uptight about my oldest being 'highschool age'
-any spelling program I try to use- just can't get into it for the most part!
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Kristie in Canada
Mom to 3 boys and one spunky princess!!
A Walk in the Woods
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Mary K
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working:
storytime (using Serendipity world tour)
game time
on-line games
Serendipity Gnomes and numbers math
Literature for a young lady
youtube and other video sources
field trips
art supplies
freedom to explore own interests
doesn't work;
being told what to read, do, draw,etc.
skipping our field trips
staying up late to get school stuff ready for the next day
God bless,
Mary-NY
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Angel
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What has worked:
*Life of Fred math* (for the most part) for my 13 yo ds. He still gets frustrated with it sometimes, but he likes it better than Saxon. And some of those problems really make you think!
*One Year Adventure Novel* -- both my 13 yo and 10 yo get this out every afternoon and work on it for an hour or two, no prompting from me. It took me a long time to decide to spend the money, but now I'm glad I did. My 13 yo ds in particular has such a hard time with the planning and starting aspects of writing that this curriculum is just what he needed to get going on the novel he's wanted to write for a while now.
*Our Island Story* -- the kids all love this
*Our Mother Tongue: A Guide to English Grammar* -- Nancy Wilson's grammar book. The only grammar book my 13 yo has not complained about doing. Excellent, with many interesting historical sidebars that led my ds into studying Old English, and it doesn't talk down. Two thumbs up.
*Old English* -- Certainly not something I would have chosen for a 13 yo, but he's doing well and more importantly, enjoying himself. Adding quite a bit to our discussions of English history, too.
*A mixture of clear structure and choice* - for my 13 yo. He needs to have freedom to follow his interests, but once he has an interest, he needs structure in order to make his study fruitful -- and preferably a structure inherent to the material, and not one I try to impose from above. And on the other hand, he does need me to impose some structure, because otherwise he would never venture into certain academic areas (like grammar) which have unexpectedly spawned some fruitful areas of study (Old English, for example).
*Literature for a Young Lady/Sunflower Basket* - My 10 yo dd enjoyed following this curriculum, with the tweaks I made for her, very much. She's very motivated, so it was a good match.
*keeping the art materials out and available at all times* -- as much as this is sometimes a pain with the 2 yo, it really has resulted in more projects, more art being done by the two 4 yos and my 6 yo.
*******************************
What Hasn't Worked...
*That lovely all-inclusive chart I made for my 13 yo at the beginning of the school year* -- it dictated too much, and it was hard for him to figure out how to get from a to b
*Trying to have my dd plan out exactly what she was going to do in a day* - Nope, free spirit. A weekly list of stuff she could choose from worked better.
*All About Spelling* -- It depends too much on me, I think, and anything that depends completely on my involvement is doomed to fail... I have not even been able to *start* with it yet, and it's already December.
*Book reports* -- My ds chose to write a book report on Out of the Silent Planet at the beginning of the year, and we had to put it through so many revisions that I think it ruined the book for both of us.  We haven't done a book report since.
**Either the Sunflower Basket botany or Apologia Botany** -- for my dd. I can't say it's been a failure, as it has worked sort of sometimes, but neither of these options has really gotten her going into botany too deeply. She *wanted* to study botany, however, so I'm unsure of whether to make tweaks, or... go on to a different area of study in the new year. (She's mentioned astronomy, and that's what my ds has decided he wants to do next, too.)
**My not well-specified "course" in evolutionary biology** -- for my 13 yo ds. I made it far too vague for a kid who needs structure, and I should have listened more closely to the discussions in which "general science so I can learn about all kinds of different things" was mentioned. My fault.
Overall, the year is going fairly well, I think. I would like to get going a little earlier in the morning, and I am going to need to step up reading instruction for my 6 yo who is doing all right, but may need a slightly different approach than the one I have been using (MCP Phonics A, a reader, and me writing out words and silly sentences for him).... he is having a very hard time remebering even the simplest sight words (like "the") and I think he may just be on track to be a late reader. But I can't say that reading instruction is not working for him, because he is making progress.... just slowly, on his own timetable, which is -- for me -- actually more of a success...
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Angela
Mom to 9, 7 boys and 2 girls
Three Plus Two
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Paula in MN
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Teaching Textbooks, which is a huge hit and works, so I'll keep spending the money. Our Advent Basket plans have been going smoothly, course it's only been a week. Literature for a Young Lady is also shaping up nicely.
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 Paula
A Catholic Harvest
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Sarah M
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I forgot to add Explode the Code and Handwriting Without Tears-- both big hits for my 8 and 6 yo girls.
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JuliaT
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I don't even know where to begin. This year has not turned out at all as to how I had planned or even had hoped. My cancer messed up everything and everyone. Even though the cancer is gone, I am having a hard time in getting my act together. I do not want to do school right now. I don't have the energy nor the desire to do it.
I will start with the negative and end up with the postive.
Not Working: 1)routine. We always had a fairly easy routine/rhythm to our day. We just did the next thing. Even this, though, is suffocating to me now and I cannot handle any sort of routine.
2) all of my plans for history and science. I had unit studies made up for these subjects for the year but I cannot bring myself to do them. They just seem way too stifling for me.
Working: 1)no routine at all. Every day is different. One day we might do math in the morning and reading later on in the day. Or we might not get to it at all. I never know how my day is going to go. This used to drive me crazy but now it seems freeing to me. The only thing is is that we aren't getting things done.
2)read alouds. We have done tons of these. I have decided that this is going to be our history--just reading historical fiction. We read 4 or 5 different books a day. This brings me comfort and right now everything revolves around comfort.
3)playing cards and games. I have to say that this is my best memory of the last four months. While I was recuperating from surgery, the kids would all sit on my bed and we would play cards for hours on end. That was comforting, too.
I have to say that our school year this year is scaring me because we are not getting anything done. I keep telling myself that this will only be for a short while but what if it isn't? What if I don't ever get the desire or the energy back to teach my kids? That is my burning question for the month.
Blessings,
Julia
mom of 3 (10,8,6)
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Kristie 4
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I haven't even started All About Spelling either!! Way too much depends on me to get it going as well...
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Kristie in Canada
Mom to 3 boys and one spunky princess!!
A Walk in the Woods
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sunny
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Working:
CHC - first grade used more or less as a guide (ds especially loved the bible timeline and related research)
Also added lots of extra reading (fiction and non-fiction) and art.
MUS - (wasted time on Primer) and now whizzing through Alpha but need to add more games to keep the joy!
New American Cursive - We went through some rough weeks but it is coming together now.
Not Working:
No music. CHC doenst include music and we didnt commit to any outside music activities so we really miss it being "offically" included in our curriculum!
No routine. It would be so helpful!
No exercise. I yearn for alone time and find myself grumpy without it!
Julia, I can’t help but think about how you HAVE been getting a LOT done. You are healing after surgery. That is major! And your children are learning through your struggle and your strength. Your family is in my prayers.
JuliaT wrote:
I have to say that our school year this year is scaring me because we are not getting anything done.
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Martha
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Not working and already ditched - learn to write to novel way.
More like the long drawn out might never actually write anything coherent much less novel way
lial bcm - awesome!
Write with the best - thanks!
Greek in 30 minutes a day - they love it!
How to be a superstar student - great
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Martha
mama to 7 boys & 4 girls
Yes, they're all ours!
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EmilyC
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Martha wrote:
Not working and already ditched - learn to write to novel way.
More like the long drawn out might never actually write anything coherent much less novel way |
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We have pretty much dropped this too! Dd was getting extremely frustrated that she wasn't actually writing anything. I found this workbook online for free, and it looks much better, so we're going to give it a try when we start back to school next month.
Ok, my list:
Works:
Story of the World
Math U See
CHC Language of God series (my kids LOVE these workbooks!)
Lapbooks
Trusting that just reading great books is enough sometimes.
Not Working:
Learn to Write the Novel Way (see above)
History Odyssey--as written, it was turning history into drudgery. We're tweaking it beyond recognition almost, but I think I can make it work.
Considering God's Creation--we found it boring, and the fact that it's so Young Earth was killing me. I've already ditched it.
__________________
Emily,
Wife to Rob since 8/98
Mom to 4:
Sarah (13) Robbie & Riley (10) Regina (nearly 3)
My secular lit-based curriculum:
Build Your Library curriculum
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sunnyviewmom
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What's working for DS8 (who started the year as a reluctant "beginning" reader):
Dropping all workbooks (used in previous years)
Dropping LSLF (which he learned from but it was like "pulling teeth"; he was bored, used in previous years)
Using colorful and fun I Can Read Level 2 (Frog and Toad is from this series) for his "readers" This is a big success! Thank you God!
Being influenced by Ruth Beechick (thanks Sarah) and letting DS enjoy Level 2 books without feeling that I should be pushing him on to more difficult books
Happily reading the picture books he wants me to read to him even if they may be semi twaddle (cute Franklin the Turtle, Pooh books based on the cartoons rather than the original, etc... nothing really bad) I sneak in some really good ones if I can.
Letting him play quietly (if he wants to) while I read a chapter book aloud
Not comparing him to his older brother who "loves" and basically devours books
Hands of a Child Lapbooking is working pretty well.
Mixed reviews: ETC online. I promised no workbooks and then was thrilled to find my favorite phonics workbook online, but DS gets frustrated because they base their rewards not only on correctness but time. I don't like this either.
I am thrilled with DS increase in enjoyment of books (both reading and being read to). Yea! We are able to enjoy books together!
For what it's worth: I wanted to continue to work with DS on reading/phonics over the summer but didn't because he was so burnt out (to me we weren't even doing that much but he was definitely burnt out). Guess what: his reading actually improved over the summer anyway!
Thanks to those on this forum who had given me suggestions last summer!
DS 14: What's working (highlights)
Writng Strands: I don't think a lot on this forum use it but so far it is working wonderfully for us. DS likes anything that is "funny"
Teaching Company World History DVDs with Linwood Thompson
GABT: taking class through our parish ("loves" it)
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teachingmyown
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Disclaimer: I love my children, I love the family culture of homeschooling, I am strongly opposed to one size fits all institutional education, but... I hate homeschooling!
That said, what is working is:
Teaching Textbooks! (If only I could get my dd to do the Algebra TT, I would be ecstatic!)
Miquon Math, although my poor follow-through makes it hard to stay on top of.
CLAA- I think. Dd13 is doing it and moving quickly and seems to enjoy it. And she is no longer crying over Warriner's Grammar! 
SOTW CD's- ds 12 is listening to them and seems to be picking up more than he ever has from a text.
Typing Instructor and Mavis Beacon- my kids would, honestly, do this all day.
We have just started with Jennifer's (mackfam)Angel Food and Catechism plans, so far so good IF I get to it.
Not working:
Anything that needs me. Really, I have lots of resources that may actually be great, but I can't do it regularly, like Lively Latin and Writing with Ease, even Sonlight. Each year, I deceive myself into thinking that this will be the year that I pull it together. But even without a baby or a pregnancy, I still can't get above the chaos of seven people either all needing me or fighting over toys or sneaking away.
Plans for the new year:
Continue with CLAA for dd, but not enroll others yet.
Make a more committed attempt at workboxes. I was so hopeful but got sidetracked.
Buy more individual workbooks, and look for audio/video resources that the kids can continue with while I am prying the 2 yr old's teeth from the 3 yr old's back!
__________________
In Christ,
Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
Remembering Today
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: What's working/what's not so far?
