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anitamarie
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Have you tried something new that you just love? Is something old still working?
Some things working for us are:
1) Electrical tape on the pencils - everyone has color-coded pencils. We use a triangular pencils that do not have color options, so I wrapped each child's pencils in a particular color - just at the top of the pencil. No more fights over whose pencil it is! Fewer lost pencils! I know who left the pencil out! This has left me giddy.
2) Writing with Skill -love this program. It is a challenge for my non-writer, but the student is learning! This student is understanding the components of good writing and how to apply that to the writing they are doing for school. Yay!
3) All About Reading- Kindergartener and I are both loving this!
4) All About Spelling and Phonetic Zoo - Each is for a different student. My non-intuitive speller continues to learn how to spell with AAS, my intuitive speller is flying through Phonetic Zoo and so happy.
5) CCM Co-op - One of the best decisions we made was to switch to this new co-op this year. We are all loving it. Bonus- art and Atrium (all 3 levels) are both part of the co-op!
Do share what's working for you this year. I learn so much from you guys!
Anita
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pumpkinmom
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RightStart Math is a new hit for us this year! It's not perfect, but it's the best program we have used for math. My youngest really likes it!
Sequential Spelling for my oldest is going well. This is the only spelling program he doesn't complain about. The end results are not as good as I was hoping for, but he is learning and not complaining about it.
Overall everything is going well. I've made changes, but this is the first time in 3 years that I'm happy with what we are doing and feel positive about where we are heading.
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Cassie
Homeschooling my little patch of Ds-14 and Ds-10
Tending the Pumpkin Patch
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jawgee
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1. Noeo Science. I love that it has readings that bring the subject alive for my kids, and that the experiments are built in...which gives me no excuse not to do them!
2. Math U See for my 6YO. We both love it. After the video, which we do on Mondays, the rest of the week is very independent.
3. Still love Teaching Textbooks for my oldest. He'll be moving to the Pre-Algebra set soon.
4. CCM Co-op! I encoraged our group to srart it this year and we have about 10 families.
5. Having my oldest son (10YO) keep a blog. He makes an entry at least 3x/week. It's where he does his written narrations, but shhh...don't tell him. He just thinks he's sharing information with his grandparents.
It's been a great year so far. 
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Monica
C (12/2001), N (11/2005), M (5/2008), J (8/2009) and three angels
The Catholic Cup on Facebook
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SeaStar
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MS. Volin's Home Art Studio dvds are working really well for us this year.
Also, Life of Fred as a read aloud- we all love kooky Fred and my dc like doing the problems Fred gives them
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
SQUILT Music Appreciation
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3ringcircus
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Looney Tunes Phonics-- It's very well done. There are short cartoon sketches, but then the meat and potatoes work is calm and encouraging. There are progress reports that are easy to decipher with a glance and word lists I print out and make handwriting sheets for. It's the only thing I can have G do on his own and be assured he's staying on-task. No drill-and-kill but he's still learning and improving. (I got it from the coop through Cathy Duffy's site.)
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Christine
Mom to my circus of boys: G-1/06, D-1/04, S-4/10
Started HS in Fall'12
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Mimip
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1. All about Spelling: My ADD daughter is learning so much and retaining so much! LOVE THIS!
2. Analytical Grammar for my 7th grader. We are in season 2 this year and we still love it and she is also retaining quite a bit.
3. Teaching my 6 year old BOTH sight words and phonics. I have NEVER done reading this way and it is working so well. I have pinned a bunch of sites on sight words on my Pintrest boards and we do a different sight word activity each day. My ds is learning to read so much quicker and loves the fact that he can pick up a book and knows some words already. Learning the phonics as well is great!
4. Audiobooks! I have heavily invested in these types of read alouds this year and it has really paid off. My kids LOVE read alouds and I can only read so much,  Our literature selections in the car are a huge hit!
5. RELAXING! For the first time in 8 years of homeschooling we are not constantly analyzing what we are doing right and wrong. We are just doing! We are confident that this is what is best for our children and that they will learn at their own pace. This school year we had quite a few close friends throw in the towel and send all their kids back to traditional school. I say throw in the towel because there seemed to be a lot of burnout.  So sad but we have had to realize that homeschooling is a very personal decision.
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In Christ,
Mimi
Wife of 16 years to Tom, Mom of DD'00, DD'02, '04(in heaven) DS'05, DS'08 and DS '12
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mom2mpr
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Thanks for the look into the positive. 
The thing that has really helped in our homeschool is having a beautiful (to us), bright, clean schoolroom in our basement. It has made a world of difference.
The only other thing I can think that has worked wonderfully this year is buying the syllabuses for my 9th grader for his math and science. He knows his assignments and I am not telling him :)
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Anne, married to dh 16 years!, ds,(97), Little One (02), and dd (02).
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SallyT
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For us:
The primary kids:
*Combining MCP math with Life of Fred (as a daily read-aloud): working our math minds from two directions, in two lessons a day. This has been excellent, and the kids really like it. We do Fred as a combined lesson, 3rd and 4th grade together, working our way through, we hope, the whole elementary series -- or most of it, anyway -- this year. It's offered us some needed review and stretched us in various ways. Meanwhile, everyone works on basic math skills via MCP, at grade level.
*Our "basket" routine. It used to be "Morning Basket," but recently we shifted to "After Lunch Basket," devoting the morning to independent work. People's seatwork and independent reading gets done more efficiently when we do it first, while we're fresh, and then reading together is a treat. We are particularly enjoying Rien Poortvliet's The Living Forest as a nature read-aloud, as well as David Macauley's City as part of our study of ancient Rome. We're also reading Russian folk tales, which the kids love.
*CHC language-arts materials. I didn't start out the year using them, but we are now doing Language of God and the Catholic Speller program in addition to their handwriting workbooks, which I do really like. A blog post in which I agonize a little over my guilty relationship with workbooks . . .
*Somebody else mentioned audiobooks -- our Audible subscription is my favorite "luxury," and we especially enjoy listening to audiobooks during lunch. Sometimes it's nice for me to get to be the audience for a change! And this resource extends the literature-richness of our days, sometimes well into the afternoon and evening, if the kids are caught up in a story and don't want to stop listening.
*poetry: we've been doing a lot of fun memorization this year, mostly using a book called How to Eat a Poem, which I picked up really cheap from the Dover catalog last summer.
It's been a really good year so far for the two younger kids, and I've been mostly extremely happy with the way things are going.
For the 9th grader:
*spending time with his dad on the college campus. He goes in to work with my husband three days a week to take a biology class (also a real winner), and even when he's just doing his schoolwork in the science resource library, the atmosphere is stimulating. They end every day by going to Mass together, which is a lovely father-son thing to do.
*Deutsche Interaktiv online German class: we're waiting for him to be able to get into a German class at the college, but he's managed to lay a fairly decent foundation working through this free course on his own.
*Didache Understanding the Scriptures. He's reading this in conjunction with a book called The Bible as History, by Werner Keller, and it all dovetails nicely with the ancient history/literature he's doing right now as well. I'm liking the way the whole "humanities" portion of 9th grade has come together.
Again, we're having what feels to me like a really good year all around. A few tweaks and changes here and there, but mostly everything is working the way I had hoped. For which I am beyond grateful!
Sally
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Castle in the Sea
Abandon Hopefully
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setonmom
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PRESCHOOL!!!
Before doing any schoolwork with the bigger kids, I now do preschool with the three year old. Ever since I started doing this , his behavior is so much better, which means my whole day runs better.
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anitamarie
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SallyT wrote:
*Combining MCP math with Life of Fred (as a daily read-aloud): working our math minds from two directions, in two lessons a day. This has been excellent, and the kids really like it. We do Fred as a combined lesson, 3rd and 4th grade together, working our way through, we hope, the whole elementary series -- or most of it, anyway -- this year. It's offered us some needed review and stretched us in various ways. Meanwhile, everyone works on basic math skills via MCP, at grade level.
For the 9th grader:
*Didache Understanding the Scriptures. He's reading this in conjunction with a book called The Bible as History, by Werner Keller, and it all dovetails nicely with the ancient history/literature he's doing right now as well. I'm liking the way the whole "humanities" portion of 9th grade has come together.
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I love the idea of Life of Fred as a read-aloud addition to your regular math program.
You reminded me that my 9th grader is also using Understanding the Scriptures and really enjoying it. And, he too, is loving his Great Books program. He just announced the other day that LOtR was no longer his favorite book-it's now The Illiad. 
Sounds like a lot is going right for lots of families. I love hearing about it.
Anita
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anitamarie
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setonmom wrote:
PRESCHOOL!!!
Before doing any schoolwork with the bigger kids, I now do preschool with the three year old. Ever since I started doing this , his behavior is so much better, which means my whole day runs better. |
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Yes, this! It was like a big old love/attention injection that could get us through the morning. Now that she's in K, I still work with her first.
Anita
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anitamarie
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SeaStar wrote:
Also, Life of Fred as a read aloud- we all love kooky Fred and my dc like doing the problems Fred gives them
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Two votes for Life of Fred as a read-aloud. Interesting. Must mention this to the head of the Math department around here.
Anita
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violingirl
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Overall our schedule is making me happy. I'm schooling 3 longer days with the boys and 2 very short mornings, and DH is schooling with them on the two days I need to work earlier. It's been such a pleasant experience for all of us and in many ways has helped pull us even closer together now that DH is a regular part of our school week.
All the time I spent last spring before the baby was born setting up each unit of our work in history and science has been so worth it. My book list to order from the library is all set up each week, along with what to read when... it's been lovely. :) I always set up the general units for the year, but plan in detail as we get ready to start the unit. Having everything already completely laid out has made it so easy for me while I'm a bit low on sleep.
xtramath.org for drilling math facts. Older DS is always glad to work on math facts now.
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Erin
DS (2005) DS (2007) DD (2012)
Mama In Progress
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Barb.b
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Fluenz for spanish!!! We love it! Changed from Rosetta Stone and it is a good! Love actually have someone in the lessons actually explain things in English!!! (for my 9th grader)
CHC spelling and english workbooks with the plan. I don't use all their lesson plan - mainly for spelling and english, (for my 4rth grader)
Kolbe elementary lit plans for my 4rth grader. Nice to have study questions and such all ready to go when we start a book!
Meeting every Monday morning with my 9th grader to figure out WITH her, her weeks assignment and schedule what we need to meet together for throughout the week.
Edited to add - moving daily algebra 2 with dd to after 10:00 or after lunch. We were doing it earlier but we both realized that there can be such a thing as too early in the morning for algebra!!!
Barb
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CrunchyMom
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anitamarie wrote:
SeaStar wrote:
Also, Life of Fred as a read aloud- we all love kooky Fred and my dc like doing the problems Fred gives them
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Two votes for Life of Fred as a read-aloud. Interesting. Must mention this to the head of the Math department around here.
Anita |
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We started it last year, and it is still working this year. It is not a group read aloud in our home since my 3rd grader started doing it independently last year and continues to do it independently this year. But I do read it aloud and do it orally with my 1st grader occasionally (we also mix things up with Math Mammoth), and everyone here loves Fred!
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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lapazfarm
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Pretty much everything is going well this year.
For dd (11) Joy Hakim's A History of US is going well as a read-aloud, while she reads her supplemental books (mostly historical fiction) independently. She is going through them a lot faster than I had originally thought, so having to scramble for more related reading material for her. A good problem to have! We also have a book called Interactive 3D Maps: American History which I pull from to go along with the Hakim books. MUS for math is a hit, The Holling C Holling Study and Map set from Beautiful Feet is very enjoyable. I use the guide as a list of suggestions more than anything,skip what bores us, and add in my own ideas, especially adding in related science/nature topics.She enjoys doing the mapwork.
For ds (17)my high school senior, things are also going great. he is using Live Mocha for Spanish and Russian, Various books and DVD's for American History, Jacob's Mathmatics a Human Endeavor (which he actually enjoys  ), and Barron's SAT prep (he takes the SAT Dec 1st). Cell and molecular biology is going well. Mostly he reads and colors his pages(from the Biology Coloring Workbook) and then we talk about it. I review with him, help him understand anything he doesn't "get" and relate it to the bigger picture of biology as a whole. Then we do an experiment if we have one.
The only area where things are not going as well as I'd hoped is American Literature. He is too much like his mama and finds most American lit deadly dull, and it takes him forever to get through it, so I intersperse some more palatable stuff in between the things he dislikes.Right now he is reading Between Shades of Gray, which is historical fiction about interment of Lithuanians in Soviet workcamps during WWII. He is enjoying it very much as it is an easy (YA) read and ties into his interests in Russian history.
Art we do together and we are having fun with that as usual.
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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Maryan
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anitamarie wrote:
1) Electrical tape on the pencils - everyone has color-coded pencils. We use a triangular pencils that do not have color options, so I wrapped each child's pencils in a particular color - just at the top of the pencil. No more fights over whose pencil it is! Fewer lost pencils! I know who left the pencil out! This has left me giddy. Love this idea!
2) Writing with Skill -love this program. It is a challenge for my non-writer, but the student is learning! This student is understanding the components of good writing and how to apply that to the writing they are doing for school. Yay! Ditto! this has been a winner! |
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We're loving American History from HITW, but it has been intense! We'll see how long we can keep it up.
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Maryan
Mom to 6 boys & 1 girl: JP('01), B ('03), M('05), L('06), Ph ('08), M ('10), James born 5/1/12
A Lee in the Woudes
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kristacecilia
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Nearly everything is working well for us.
Math Mammoth + Life of Fred: great. 3rd grader is doing LoF independently twice a week and loving it. He's doing a great job working through MM and the 1st grader is easing into MM by doing one page a day.
Spelling Wisdom: LOVE THIS!! We just started it with the 3rd grader and he loves it. He really looks forward to it and loves checking his own work.
Our whole history/geography/poetry combo. We are using all sorts of picture books- the Betsy Maestro 'American Story' series, the D'aulaire biographys, the Holling C. Holling geography/natural history books, plus many others. This is, hands down, the best part of our day. The kids have been so involved in each story. They beg to read ahead and find out what happens next. We have an atlas and a globe that we find everything on. We've been studying Longfellow and his poems have meshed nicely with our history study. The 3rd grade is memorizing one per term; the 1st grader enjoys listening.
Morning Basket! I have been doing a lot of the preK books as read alouds in the Morning basket and they all enjoy it. Especially Kindergarten Stories and Morning Talks. We just read through all the stories about what the cow gives us and they have been loving that. One day I let them make their own butter. They talked about it for a week.
ReadyWriter- What a great program! My 4 year old loves it. She never does much in one sitting, and that's just fine, but she really enjoys having her own "work" and sitting at the table.
Nature walks have been enjoyable but not frequent enough. We got involved in a couple extra curriculars that have been worth our time and money. All around, a good year so far!
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God bless,
Krista
Wife to a great guy, mom to two boys ('04, '06) and three girls ('08, '10, '12!)
I blog at http://kristacecilia.wordpress.com/
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Becky Parker
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I really like most of what we are using for curriculum this year, but none the less we have really been struggling. I just couldn't find the magic bullet I was looking for to makes things run more smoothly.
Then, I talked to my dh about getting all the kids up earlier than usual to pray together as a family just before he leaves for work. (We usually pray well after he has left.) For some reason it made such a huge difference!
So that's what's working really well for us this year - getting up early to pray with Dad before he leaves.
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Becky
Wife to Wes, Mom to 6 wonderful kids on Earth and 4 in Heaven!
Academy Of The Good Shepherd
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JennGM
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I have no failures, except handwriting and just the school year is barely "going" -- lots of fits and starts because of various circumstances.
But in what we are doing, we started Latin this year, and that is a HUGE hit. We're doing Latina Christiana and my son is just eating it up, and the younger one is soaking it all in.
Regrets is not starting sooner. This comes naturally for us, and the excitement is really great -- ds wants to do two lessons at one sitting!
We didn't finish Primary Language Lessons but are doing Intermediate Language Lessons this year, and we're enjoying that, too.
RightStart, still going great.
Those are the only "curricula" we are using, other works are reading we have CM way. All going well--narration is so improved.
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: What's going right so far this year?
