ok...looking ahead to next year. (8th grade) trying at the moment to decide between ALEKS and TT for math (8th grade) for TT he tested into Algebra...but on ALEKS he had over 300 "lessons" for pre algebra left to do. for Aleks...what I like is the self paced aspect and the ability for them to pick what they want to work on...(while not skipping it either) what I don't like is that it is harder to "schedule", for him to do 2 "lessons" a day took less than 5 min. (2 lessons would have him complete the course in a year) So we said 4...but again, less than 20 min. So how do most of you work that? Is math a time thing or do you schedule by the lesson? (I was thinking 30 min. minimum) For TT, well, I had heard it is not as challenging as some curriculum, and like I said he tested into Algebra...but I do like that the explanations are oral and visual which I think will work well for him. We haven't "tried" this out yet, but will be doing that over the summer. But I also heard that the Algebra doesn't self correct, that I would have to do that. (ugh) So, I have noticed a lot of positive comments about both of these programs but I want specifics...(if you don't mind) what do you and your kids like and dislike about each curriculum. why does it work well? thank you. Now, for Writing. REALLY stuck here. I did order Caught ya, grammar giggles for both boys which we will do first thing, along with then our literature which is also a together subject. It is a proof reading/puntuation sort of exersise. looking at Jump in writing and Saxon...I think for writing I need something very, very structured. Workbook(y) stuff. Because these boys are not getting it with my laid back..."oh, write about whatever" aproach. I am also looking at a root vocabulary program. I like Vocabulary Vine (and the price is good) But what do you all use and exactly what do you like or not like about it. (the kids opinions too!) For History we are doing Simple schooling American history with living books. Definitely Johnny Tremain but what else? I am reading an excellent biography of Benjamin Franklin but it is a bit much for the boys. Any suggestions? What about movies...(appropriate for 10 &13?) (this will be our literature...the books, not the movies. lol) Science. Another problem for us. Jazz (13) will finish the Physics from Simple schooling... Dutch likes the Abeka science books I have...am considering getting a general science book and then just branching off when we find something interesting. (did that one year with Jazz and I think it worked the best) What science books do your kids like? (Dutch likes science, Jazz- not so much) But, they are not really at the same level here so we will be doing science fairly seperate... We covered a semester of physics - some botany and astronomy this past year but none of it gelled. A bit haphazard and unsatisfying trying to keep the boys together on this. Thanks in advance for all of your help...as much as I stress over this, curriculum shopping is one of my favorite things.:lol:
hey we are goign into 8th here too! my ds also is going to be ready for Alg1 so we are choosing MUS as dd loved it and is available for us. Mr D does good job making the lessons interesting enough and showing how to do the problem as well as a little bit of "why do we do that?" kind of things.. For Vocab we have Stech Vaughn Vocab I think its book H? that is 8th grade level. We got these at a library sale for fifty cents so did 6ths and 8th together this year, we did not finish it, but it has reading comp and focus on vocab words, short reads good questions and the answers are in the back of the book! SHHH! but ds does not look them up he struggles with some of the questions he has to answer in the 8th still so thats good! For history/geo we are focusing on Geography with History of areas we visit ( see my thread out there somepalce I am putting it together) So I would recomend maybe doing some State Geography to go with yoru SimpleZine American History stuff! We are using SOS8 math and doing some physics next year with a co op.. maybe, Spanish SOS Secondary For other English we are doing Literature, read and do unit studies on the books sort of.. kind of liek noteboking with each book. Ds is not into writitng papers yet either, I am trying to get through to him the length is important. He tries to get as much in a short amount as he can, usually gets his point across in it but I wan't lenght, so if you find a good workbook thing that works on that let me know! for Grammar we are doing 180 lessons (daily Grams for JR/Sr high)
WEll...for TT, we've only used 5...but I can say that we LOVE it. And it's made math so non-stress in this house. Since it is not an aggressive curricula...I'd start him where he tests in so he wouldn't be bored. My daughter probably would have tested pretty far into the 5th grade book if I'd let her skip stuff...lesson learned. We're starting 6 in the end of June, so I may let her test out of the first few lessons until she starts not doing so well. On the History - check Sonlight for reading lists...Core 3 and 4 are Amercian History and they have some amazing books. We LOVED them, this year (did use Sonlight, but used a lot of their recommended Read Alouds). Hope this helps!!!
All I can help you with is Math, sorry. We are starting all over this year and I am also looking for new stuff. We used Teaching Textbooks for math this year. My 6th grader loved it (well as far as math goes) and my 11th grader took geomotry, and didn't like it at all. He said it was the same thing over and over and over. The younger grades up to 8th (I think) it grades it's self, after that you do the grading. I have a friend whos children liked the younger grades but not once it hit Alg. As far as writing, I have heard great things about Character Quality Language Arts. It combines Voc., spelling, gram, and writing. But when I looked it up at Timberdoodle and read the reviews, they were very mixed. So I don't know. Sorry, I couldn't be more of a help.
TT has a spiral approach to teaching. This works very well for my son. Some children would find it redundant. Jump In Writing does have a schedule for the most part. I still need to stay on top of my child because he would not do everything or he did not understand everything. Nonetheless, it does explain things well. Does my son like it? Not really. He would not like any writing program. He does not like putting things into words. He is a boy of few words. Jump In does not cover vocabulary, spelling, or grammar. I like the program because it broke down into workable parts on how to write a book report, biography, newspaper article, etc.
Sue May, Thanks on the writing...I don't want grammar/spelling and voc. in the writing...that all pretty much goes in there right...you can't write without them so you obviously covering them in the writing. (correcting for anyhow.) I am planning on a editing sort of grammar with the 'caught ya' and the latin/greek roots for vocabulary. (which ds has such a problem with and should help with science too.)
