Hi, I joined this board because I need some help. This is my second year of homeschooling and everything is going well. I just need some help in two areas. First, let me list the curriculum I use. Science--Apologia Math--MathUSee History--The Mystery of History English--ABeka The problem area I have is with English. I like the scope of ABeka's curriculum but I hate the set up. It is not user friendly for homeschool mom's. It's not even user friendly for teachers. I am a High School teacher (not in English) and I really don't like this Teacher's Manual. I don't like flipping back and forth and it takes forever to plot out my year. I would like something similar with a better set up for the teacher. I also would like some help with a good writing curriculum or book that isn't too expensive. Oh, and if anyone has used a good Geography curriculum for Middle/High School, I would love to hear about it. Any help is appreciated.
You can actually use MOH for geography, too. There's mapping involved, and it gives a good general knowlege of the world. my daughter also learned all her countries at Shepherd's Software. She could name all of them with probably a 95% accuracy, learning them continent by continent. http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/Geography.htm What do you want from English? We used "Easy Grammar" this year, with both by girls (grades 6 and 8). It's really good for grammar. Easy to do, user friendly, but it's JUST grammar. No lit or writing involved. We also use Total Language Plus for literature.
We used Abeka for lit this year and I did not like it. The selections were pretty good but the questions and the tests were not what I would want. We are now using Novel Units and just doing novels next year for lit. We have used Easy Grammar and that was pretty good. I am still looking for a good writting program. We tried the Institute for Excellence in Writting but it did not work well for sd.
I'm looking for grammar that has the same scope as Abeka. I like the fact that they have diagramming and so on. We used Easy Grammar our first year and it's pretty good but I think Abeka takes it farther? I do want them to be familiar with diagramming. They need something for writing, too. I may do geography along with MOH. I was thinking about that. Thanks. I welcome more responses.
I haven't looked much at ABeka; I'll go look really fast and come back! In the meantime, have you looked at Rod & Staff for grammar? We use MOH and do our geography along with it, but my oldest is a 4th grader. LOL MOH has a yahoogroup (MysteryofHistory1) and lately they've been talking about grammar in there. And I'm no good on writing. Ask Deena! :lol: BRB! EDIT: What grade level ABeka English? EDIT AGAIN: Nevermind, I found your intro thread! :lol:
I don't know much about Rod & Staff. Can anyone who has used it in High School tell me anything about it?
Deena probably can, but she's not on right now. LOL You can see TOCs and samples here. (Also, with MOH, I meant geography, not grammar obviously. )
We're switching from Abeka English to Rod & Staff...but my kids are in elementary. I do know that R & S only goes to 10th grade for grammar. They seem to be at about the same scope and sequence as Abeka if not a bit ahead (at least from our limited experience). If you call them, they'll send you a free sample book for each grade level. They have always been great. You can also see limited samples online from several Anabaptist bookstores but I prefer to get mine directly from the publisher (because they've always been so sweet about things). It is a no-frills type curric but I think its going to work much better for us. We are going to use IEW for writing.
Yes, in looking just now at Abeka S&S and then at the TOCs on the Anabaptist site for R&S, it really looks like they have the same things... except that R&S does NOT include the "vocabulary" and "literature" components. And, actually, I don't see as how one would actually need a separate writing curriculum at these levels (even with ABeka); but, I'm assuming you've used this for 8th grade last year and have decided that you do. But, were you to move to R&S you may want to find some sort of program that incorporates literature, vocabulary, and writing all into one. I believe the current craze for high school literature and writing is "Lightening Literature." Anyway. That's probably all the help I'll be, with young kids. :lol: I'm just a curriculum [information] junkie! Best wishes!
Thanks for the info on R & S. I think I'll get a sample. The reason I ask about writing is because my children need to work on it and I feel like the stuff they've been doing isn't really working for them. I guess we just have to keep plugging away.
I've been searching for a writing program as well, but I think we'll end up holding off and just relying on R&S and some things I have lying around the house for now. (My grandma was a ps teacher for 40+ years. I have LOTS of stuff "lying around the house!" :lol: ) Anyway. Hope you find what you're looking for in a curriculum! (BTW, R&S doesn't list diagramming on the toc, because it's included with every sentence structure and parts of speech lesson.)
I just looked at their website. It looks pretty good. I'd love to hear from a mom of a High School grad who used it. What did they do in 11th and 12th grade? Were those grades devoted to writing and literature?
I think Deena said that Abeka and R&S were the same. I reeived a free copy of Abeka's God's Gift of Language C, and was going to use that with Faythe. But I was looking for a TM to go with it. That's when Deena said R&S was the same, only not as fancy. I did start Faythe in it, and Rachael in Easy Grammar. But it made so much more sense crossing out the prepositional phrases that I decided to switch Faythe and do them both together. I DID like the diagraming, though (looking over my shoulder to see if Deena is around so she won't catch me admitting that!) For writing, I "cheated" and sent Rachael off to a co-op class last year. She AMAZED me with how well she did!!!
Does Bob Jones U have english that far up? I am hoping to keep doing English via BJU for Ds, cause he loves it!
Well, I'm here now, but everyone said what I would say: R&S for a GREAT base in English/Grammar! And Lightning Lit for Lit and writing. Lightning Lit has stuff all the way through highschool, so if you tried it and liked it, there's plenty to draw from there. R&S---what can I say. We were doing Abeka, but I felt the same as you do, there wasn't enough Teacher help! I'm not good in English, and needed more for me so I could help my kids better! R&S has met my hopes and expectations to a T! It's GREAT! Another thing about R&S is that if you don't start your child in them when they're really young, like I wish I would've done if I'd heard of it sooner (and like Rhonda and DaLynn are doing), then often the grade level mentioned on the R&S book is one or more levels ahead of where your child may be at. My kids just see them as levels, not grades, so it doesn't bother them what level they use, as long as they can understand it and move forward. SOOOO, my oldest, who is in 9th grade this year, and hated English the most, is doing the 6th grade R&S book this year. Next year, in 10th, he'll do the 7th grade one, etc. Seeing as how the 6th grade book has stuff in it that I think some teachers in ps have no clue about, I feel fine with him being at the level he's at. He's getting a strong, solid base! My dd is in 6th grade this year and is doing the 4th grade level. She started with the 5th grade, but got overwhelmed, so I moved her to the 4th grade one, and she's going through it just fine! So that's what I tell people--- *You may not want to get grade level if they haven't had R&S before *If they struggle with the level you get, just go back one, it's the same material, just not so deep, and I bet they'll do much better! *The Teacher's Book is mandatory, and so very helpful! It has daily oral quizzes, the answers to all the problems, and the answers to the tests and worksheets. Worksheets and tests are obviously not mandatory. If you have any more questions, I'll be happy to answer them! Although the other ladies beat me to it with their great answers! This is a great forum! I hope you stick around!
YAY, glad you made it to the thread, Deena! I got so caught up in matching the scope and sequence, I'd forgotten that the problem was the teacher manual! The TM is one of the things I love the mostest about the R&S curriculum, at least at the stage where we are now. I love the oral review prompt (something I'd glaze over were it not in the book), and the portions it gives me to check and make sure that he actually understands the concept being presented. Anyway. I'm an R&S fan and always will be. *giggle* And if I have any questions about curriculum, I ask Deena! :lol:
OK, DEENA!!! I think I'm getting R&S for Phillip next year! I need something more structured than what we've used in the past.
Deena, thanks for your response. My kids have been using ABeka all the way through. We took a break last year and used Easy Grammar, but they picked up with ABeka this year with no problem. I think they may be able to use R & S at Grade level with no problem. I'll have to see. Thanks for all your input ladies. I'm still looking around but R & S looks like a great option!
