My daughter just turned 13 in June and she is adhd and dyslexic. We have tried so many different things to get her to work independently, but she doesn’t like videos and she wants me to be with her the whole time !! She literally will climb in my lap like she’s still little and that’s how she wants to do her work!! It would be fine , but I have 5 other children, one a toddler !! It’s so hard trying to balance everyone and I think the more I can do “ family style “ the better for us !!!
Absolutely! Family style has so many benefits! ❤️ (that cute that she still wants to sit on your lap! 😜 my daughter gets in those moods where she doesn’t want me to even touch her, but then from across the room she’ll wink at me with a silly grin! We are just so lucky that we get to be the main influence in their lives! It’s going to reap even more into a beautiful bond like no other someday!
I MEANT to say….we will be doing public speaking for the 2024-2025 school year. Not this year! But I wanted to get my hands on it early just in case!! What IEW product are you intrigued by? Which one do you want to try?!?!
Fun video! Full of good content and the end showing real life interruptions and concerns! Glad there wasn't another tornado for all of you. We all enjoy Fix-It Grammar, especially the new edition. So simple to use! I've appreciated the phonetic zoo, but need to help my two oldest kids be more consistent. We didn't finish SSS last year, so I'm wondering if we should try to finish or just start with a thematic book, like you're using. 🤔 Thank you for setting up a give-away! I really enjoy IEW, even though I probably bite off more than I can chew. 😳😂
Thank you! Yes I’m glad the weather wasn’t worse! It keeps us on our toes, though! 😜 So finishing the SSS or going to themed unit. That’s a tough call. Finishing would mean starting your school year with more complex papers. If you started the theme unit, you’d start over with key word outlines. And so the school year would start easier again. You could do the themed until you get to the unit where you left off so the video could teach it. You could also do that and also cut out SOME of the themed units papers. For example, when we did classical conversations, the themed units usually had 30 weeks of lessons, but CC , teaching writing, we really only had 22 weeks. So at the beginning of the year, we decided which lessons we would skip to fit it in. We made sure to get a lesson or two from each unit. But if you did that, you could have the video teach the unit, but instead of doing a second paper in that unit from the SSS, you could switch over to the themed? (Assuming you want to finish these in the same year). Did the SSS go over 9 units? Because all things fun and fascinating only goes over 7, so it doesn’t even get as far anyway. Some thoughts for you! 😜
I got stuck driving in the storm from last Friday! It hit so fast and was so crazy. I was literally doing a maze of downed trees and power lines to get to my house. We were also without power for 4 days! Thank God we were able to find a purchase a generator! That was as close as I’d like to ever be, I was hysterically crying when I finally made it home! Our whole town was out of power in IL.
Oh wow! Yeah that storm was pretty crazy! We had lots of friends without power for days too! Our town never lost any! I definitely wouldn’t have wanted to be in the car!!!!
Yay!! We are also using fix it grammar, and spelling from IEW!! Might do some structure and style going to see how it goes. Thank you for mentioning how your daughter with ADHD does better with parent lead instruction. My 10year old daughter hated watching the videos last year. I am highly suspicious that she has ADHD. It was a good reminder to switch things up to fit your child's learning.
Absolutely!! Do what you gotta do! 😀 I’m glad that you can relate! It’s so relieving to know that we’re not the only ones experiencing some of these things. 😉
I’m really glad I seen that your doing this because I was wanting to use that exact one with my two younger daughters this year and I just felt unsure about it because of the grade level. I’ve had many years of essentials and I felt like it would be fine, but this has eased my mind and I’m going to go ahead and do it. It just looked fun after years of history writing.
We are using Phonetic Zoo this year too! My son has super struggled with spelling despite being brilliant in every other subject. Once I learned that he’s a very auditory learner, phonetic zoo sounded like a perfect fit so hopefully we’ll have good results with that. Otherwise, I will definitely be checking out that Public Speaking course and want to have the Word Write Now on hand as it looks like a fabulous resource!
Yeah! A word write now could be a flexible resource where you could even create assignments from. I was thinking like for a high schooler, “wrote a paper on courage and use a fable or fairy tale as your inspiration!” (I’m never at a loss for ideas! Only at a loss for time and energy! 😂) So for your auditory learner, have you heard Andrew Pudewa’s talk called, “spelling and the brain?” I think it’s linked from my IEW landing page here. iew.com/OurHomeschoolPlan It’s so good!
Our family loves IEW products! This year we are using Fix It Grammar, SSS Levels C and B, All things fun and Fascinating, Primary Arts of Learning, AND Phonetic Zoo! We have 6 children: 9th, 7th, 6th, 4th, 2nd, and Kinder. I would love to try the Public Speaking course also!
YOU ARE A GEM! You are helping this homeschool mama out so much by explaining all these curriculums! Thank you!! Quick question: have you reviewed the Public Speaking curriculum after using it? Would love to hear your thoughts on this.
I love your videos! Your wisdom, honesty and editing style are like a breath of fresh air and you always make me smile/giggle! We just started IEW last year with my fifth and eighth graders. We love it! I’ve got my eye on the 1B and 2B bundles that include Fix It! Grammar, as well as A Word Write Now and the Cursive Knowledge curriculum. Thank you for sharing your heart, your love for your family, learning ,and most importantly your love of Christ! 🙌🏻 Keep up the good work sweet sister! ❤
Thank you for the glimpse in the public speaking course! I plan to do that either 24'25 or 25'26 school year. This year my 5th and 7th graders are doing SS, FIG and Phonetic Zoo. The first 2 we have done before. First time using their spelling. I picked it up 2nd hand at a resale so going to give it a whirl. Hope you are having a great summer!! We start back tomorrow but we've been out since April.
Yes this year is flying!! I don't know where the last 8ish weeks have gone. We are starting off the 1st 6 weeks fun with some minecraft funschooling books, national parks GatherRound unit, TBTB safety unit and boring math...cant not do math since there are 170 lessons. We are looking forward to a fun, ease into school this year.
This fall we will use IEW for the 1st time. We will use Bible Heroes for my 2nd grader, All things fun and fascinating for my 3rd grader, and Fix it Grammar. I am planning to use SSS 1A, for the next year for 4th grader. Thank you so much for your IEW reviews, I watched them all and it really helped me to make the decision to use this Curriculum. God bless.
We are planning on doing Fix It Grammar, Bible Heroes and a couple levels of Structure and Style. Your videos give a lot of helpful tips, Thank you for doing these.
I really loved your comment on your ADHD daughter really wanting to spend all of her time with you rather then working independently 😆. Because I relate SO much! I have that same situation with my oldest daughter who is 11. She really seems to need me there for Every. Little. Thing. Getting her to do work independently is almost nonexistent.(except for reading or art. Something that she is very interested in lol) So I've said to her before, "So you like having me sit by you through every part? Wouldn't you like to just get in and get it done so you can have free time??" She"wants" to but just can't for the life of her seem to. I feel like I have to BE her focus for her. I wish I knew what to do to help her (and me) with that
Yep!! For my daughter, she is definitely growing out of some of this! So patience…..one day, they will fly. 😉 I’ve let my daughter go up to her room to work. But often, something that should’ve taken 30 minutes might keep her up there for hours bc she’s just so distracted. I’ve learned to keep things from her until the work is done. Making lists that need to be checked….. for me….the real issues is that I have to manage my OWN time. And so I don’t want to check her work after dinner. If I let her do things in her own time, that’s when it would happen. I feel like this is the real balance we’re trying to strike. But DEFINITELY….if I sit there and watch her do it, it gets done! It’s like my eyes on her MAKE HER focus. 😂
@@OurHOMEschoolPlan Hahah exactly my experience. If I let her work on her own a 15-30 minute assignment can take hours. If I'm sitting by her I'm still reminding her quite often to keep on task. Her focus and distraction are really bad. But I've got 4 other children so I can't just sit by her all day. Like you, managing my own time is something I'm really working on as well 🤪. I'm super happy to hear that it gets better as they get older!! I don't have my daughter (or my other kids. All 5 are ADHD😬 Its genetic and both myself and my husband are. So it's been a bit of a recipe for disaster 😅) on medication because I am worried about side effects. But I have been considering lately because it's so bad
@@OurHOMEschoolPlan It does to a point. But when you all have those same issues, they can really feed on eachother. We are doing a lot of trial and error to figure out what works for us. That's why I like it when you and other RUclipsrs talk about what you have tried. I'm always looking for new ideas!😅
You are always so helpful with IEW info! We have been doing Fix It Grammar for a couple years now and love it. I would like to try either Structure and Style or one of the themed ones like you chose for my 6th and 8th graders. Thanks for sharing and always being so honest and helpful!
We did Structure and Style last year, and I will be ordering All Things Fun and Fascinating for this upcoming year to use with 2 of my kids also! SO many things look good, and if I had the money and time would definitely get the phonic zoo, teaching the classics, the poetry book, and the public speaking.
Definitely wanting to use the Structure and Style for my 4th, 6th and 9th graders, and also looking at using Teaching the Classics this year. Love watching your videos! Thanks for your encouragement from across the web!😊
I do not miss living in Texas with tornado sirens. Haha. Honestly we need all the things from IEW. We love IEW but after moving and movers loosing many boxes including lots of curriculum 😢 we have had to replace very slowly. We unfortunately need all our stuff again. The only thing they managed not to loose was a teacher manual 🤦🏽♀️ I want to try phonetic zoo with my youngest. We have used fix it grammar and themed writing and love it. The public speaking has me intrigued. I’m so glad I found you on here a while back. I could listen to you talk all day. U have such a fun personality.
@@OurHOMEschoolPlan ugh who knows. We are a military family so it was a military move and they put our stuff into storage before we closed on our new home so it prob got lost along the way in that process. They lost so much of our stuff.
Today is the last day of IEW free-shipping. I'm ordering several items (Theme-Based Writing, The Elegant Essay, and Fix-It Grammar), but debating on getting the Introduction to Public Speaking program today or to wait until next semester. Speaking, communicating well in public is a great skill to have.
Have been eyeing SS Level A, Phonetic Zoo and Public Speaking for future school years! Thank you for this opportunity and all of your valuable input!!! I am new to your channel and becoming a go to!
I'd love to try Teaching the Classics in a year when I have a middle schooler and a young elementary child. Also girl, you need to be more weather aware! You can't just rely on hearing a tornado siren to warn you about your weather. You leaned that last year! Get yourself a weather radio that will go off when your county is included in weather warnings. I think we all need them just as much or more than smoke detecotors here in the midwest. And yes, the first thing I do is run outside to see. Then we head to our safe spot. ;)
Lol! I’ve been known to stand outside to watch the green, swirling clouds! I think I’m only curious if it’s light out. If it’s dark at night, I go to the basement! If I can’t see, it scares me!! We actually had a weather radio and it was constantly going off! 😂 my phone is set to notify me when something major happens but I was using it to record the video and no notification popped up! I knew there was a chance, but here in the Midwest….at least where I live, nothing ever happens. Last fall there wasn’t even a warning!! But the day of this video, the siren went off when the storm was still a good 30 miles away. So I think based on last fall, they’re going to be SUPER conservative now and we’ll probably hear it a lot more often! 😉 When I was a kid….living in the country, I wouldn’t have even know. How did we even survive?!?! 😜
I am using most of what you talked about and I really enjoyed hearing about some more IEW products I haven't used. I love IEW too!! My 8th grader will be using Fix It Grammar since she only does Latin vocab with CC. She did Fix It this past year and it was a perfect add-in with CC since it literally takes less than 10 mins a day (probably 5!). I also started her on Phonetic Zoo this summer. She started reluctantly and there was daily moaning and groaning about the audio but she's doing well with it. We tried Sequential Spelling but that was too teacher intensive for me with two kids trying to use it! I, personally, LOVE Phonetic Zoo. I am using All About Spelling with my younger daughter (dyslexia) who is really struggling with spelling. I hope we can do AAS through level 3 and then she can start Phonetic Zoo too. I am doing All Things Fun & Fascinating with both girls! I appreciated what you said about the video lessons - those are not for my kids either. But this themed lesson book is working so well and I like how the topics change per unit. The word book, classics book & public speaking book look SO GOOD too! I feel like those books give kids what they would get from Challenge! Definitely keeping these in mind for the future incase CC doesn't work for any of my kids. So good to know these resources are out there.
@@OurHOMEschoolPlan it is! I think the main difference is LOE is a full LA curriculum whereas AAS is just spelling instruction. Did I tell you I tried LOE essentials? It was okay but, again, I just wanted to focus on spelling with her and really target those skills. AAS is going well!
@@faithfullyinfertile I don’t know if you told me you tried essentials or not. What did you think of it??? Did they change it? It just seemed so my MORE and more dry when we tried it. I feel like it’s more advanced than for an 8 year old!
@@OurHOMEschoolPlan my daughter LOVED foundations because it is so engaging and fun and yes, essentials is very dry and to the point and it was okay, but I could tell she wasn’t enjoying it as I hoped she would. Not that everything she does for school has to be fun…… Ultimately I decided to stop Essentials because I mainly was doing it for spelling but the way it is designed I wasn’t hitting spelling daily and I NEEDED to hit spelling daily with her. I loved Essentials and still think it’s an incredibly solid La curriculum for the right student. I can’t imagine using it with an 8 yr old either as it is intended since foundations finishes about 2nd grade and then 3rd grade starts Essentials. There are hands on activities and games in essentials but they are “extra” and not embedded into the curriculum like in Foundations.
How nice! I love your ideas with iew! I’ve been eyeing SSS 1A for my youngest or Fun and Fascinating, as well as Teaching the Classics. So many options! Also, so glad you’re okay with the sirens. Real life! I’ll have a 10th and 5th grader this year
The sirens! We get them so often it’s hard to tell sometimes, “is that the fire siren? The next counties siren?” We actually live right by the NEXT county and we can hear their siren just as well as our own! 😂 I’m happy to share my ideas! I’m never out of them! 😂
We love fix it grammar! We finished town mouse country mouse last year and we are doing the next level this year. It's the only IEW we have done. I've looked at others but we do WTM writing, so I never really got into it much more.
@@OurHOMEschoolPlan Well Trained Mind. We do writing with skill with my older boys and writing with ease with my younger one. They are not writers and it's a struggle so we're taking it slow and easy.
Spelling is tricky! We’ve tried a lot of spelling programs through the year. It’s interesting how some people are just naturals at spelling and others are not. Yea, public’s speaking is MADE to be in a co-op setting!!! 😉
We just started using IEW Style and Structure with my 4th grader. I would love the Phonetic Zoo with all the levels for her and my younger kids to work through!
I have always been interested in IEW, but have been nervous the take the plunge....I’m really wanting to try out there writing program for my older 3 students! Thank you for the giveaway!😊
My son is like your daughter. If I sit next to her, he does awesome. He loses focus when he does anything on his own. He even does video games better when he's on call with a friend.
We used Structure and Style level A, Fix- it Grammer, and Phonetic Zoo, for spelling this last year and really loved it! I also bought the Teaching the Classics, and the Thematic Thesaurus as well as All Things Fun and Fascinating, Bible Heroes, and People and Places Around Us. Went all out lol 😅. We used the writing, spelling, and Fix-it but still used the Good and the Beautiful LA just skipping the parts I felt to because of the IEW we were using. 😊
@@OurHOMEschoolPlan I bought the Teaching the Classics. I've only done the first lesson so far. It is interesting, but I will say that the guy doing the videos is no where near as entertaining as Andrew Pudewa! I don't know if he gets better as the videos go a long, but I had to really focus on the content and not his delivery, if that makes sense. I was wishing there was a way to speed it up lol . But I am also ADHD so that might be part of it 😅
I can't wait to do IEW. My plan is to use fix-it grammar, structure and style, poetry recitation book, teaching the classics, and phonetic zoo.. so basically all of LA. 😂
I ordered IEW Style and Structor 1A and Fix it Grammar Level 1 Saturday. 🙂 I do have my eye on Fix it Level 2 & 3 as I suspect my older kiddos might fly through level 1.
I just placed my first order with IEW, largely thanks to your videos! I'm so excited to start with my oldest. We are doing SS1b and fix it grammar- robin hood
I’ve been interested in their Timeline of the Classics for awhile! I think it would be a great resource for finding literature to liven up our history! Thanks for the peak inside Teaching the Classics; that one looks good too. 🤩
We also have “All Things Fun And Fascinating” for my 6th grader and “Bible Heroes” for my 3rd grader. The literary analysis course looks really interesting!
I am doing the Bible Heroes level this year. Would b interested in the All Things Fun n Fascinating for next year.😊 Thank you for your informative videos.
Love your videos so much! Glad you didn’t get swept away by a tornado…yet! 😅I’m not entering the giveaway as I am done teaching homeschool. Just wanted to pop in and say hi!
We love IEW! This year we will be using Fix It Grammar, SSS, and Phonetic Zoo for the second year for my oldest. My youngest will start next year! I’m so excited to check out public speaking when my oldest gets a little older.
We are looking at a spelling curriculum but we are yet to find one that works!!! Teaching the classics sounds awesome!!! My biological parents where pastors and my kids have heard them speak often!!! I think public speaking is an awesome course!!!
@@OurHOMEschoolPlan nessy and my kids learnt to break down words!!! We tried TGTB but the spelling isn’t that good. I try to help my kids learn the rules but they aren’t sticking!!! AAS didn’t help. I’ve not given up on it tho!!!
For the All things Fun and Fascinating how long would a lesson take? I appreciate the comparison on the two styles of IEW. Oh I would looove an indepth video on Teaching the classics, does it come with answer keys?
Teaching the classics comes with answers to the examples they give (I believe) All things fun and fascinating so far is going really fast! I’m doing it more than once a week! But that’s also typical of the first two units anyway which is all weve done
We're doing the first level of Structure and Style this year as an intro to IEW for my 5th and 9th graders. I agree with you, no sense stressing my older daughter out, and thus myself, when she's just learning a new program! Though All Things Fun and Fascinating has me intrigued.
It’s a lot of easier to add on than to take away!! 😉 I flipped through All things fun & fascinating last night. It’s definitely very simple. I was also surprised, its over 35 weeks. Usually IEW is only 30 weeks. Is this your first year with IEW then?
I'm definitely going to try Fix it grammar for my 6th and 5th graders and I'm looking at phonetic zoo as well. Thank you for taking the time creating your homeschool curriculum.
Me too!! How is it going to work?!?! 🤔 I looked at it even more closely today and it says it can be taught in a two day seminar! It has 8 DVDs. And they are not all an hour. So it may be a very short course to do with my kids. We’ll see how they handle the lecture. Or I may watch the lecture and then teach them what I learned. We’ll see. 😊
I am waddling the fence to purchase the Phonetic Zoo program. My middle schooler struggles with spelling and I've tried everything. I like the auditory approach to spelling that I've never thought about.
You should listen to Andrew Pudewa’s talk on “spelling and the brain!” It makes so much sense! It might be linked from my page on IEW here: iew.com/OurHomeschoolPlan If not, you can probably find it on YT.
This will be our first year homeschooling and I'm petrified!😂 We are looking into Structure and Style and Fix It Grammar for our 5th grade daughter. 🤞🏼Thank you for providing me with hours of inspiration this summer!❤️
I understand!! Don’t be petrified! You’re year might be “clunky” bc you don’t know what you don’t know. But next year, you’ll have so much more confidence. I promise! Fix it and structure & style are excellent choices! Especially for a newbie homeschooler!!
Something I've learned over 10 years of homeschooling... don't try to copy anyone else, especially public school. Homeschooling is best when you customize it to your teaching style, kids' learning style, your schedule, and the individual academic levels of your kids. If God gave you the calling to educate at home, He will equip you. I'd encourage you to try to enjoy the flexibility and make it your own. 10 years in and I'm still learning things. Each year is different. God bless you on your school year. You got this!
We just started using fix it grammar and structure and style for my high schooler last year, and we absolutely love them!! Now I've got my eye on the public speaking course! I only wish I had used them earlier in our homeschool
We used IEW SS1A and Fix It last year and decided to try out EIW this year because they didn't love the length of Mr. Pudewa's videos. I don't love EIW very much, if at all. We may try the Theme Based Writing next year along with Fix It to see if that works better.
Oh yeah!! For level 1, if the videos are still a half hour at a time, that’s long. We’ve been doing the All Things Fun book and I don’t teach very long. We just dig in and do it!! And the pace has been just fine so far for my younger one.
The IEW product i have my eye on is the Public Speaking program. It's such an important skill that will be used in adulthood and i like teaching things that are useful.
We are starting homeschooling this year, grades 6 and 8! I'm leaning towards S&S and fix-it. My only concern with S&S is the length of the videos (my kids don't generally love video instruction) but people keep saying even their video-hating kids love it. 🤔 We'll try the free trial eventually, but they need a break now- they just finished public school last week. But if they don't love it I might do the teaching course and just teach them myself, because I think the program itself sounds great!
@@monicalee82 in classical conversations, it’s meant to be done in conjunction with the weekly lessons. So for example, unit 1, you may watch the unit 1 dvd the week before you teach that lesson. And maybe the day before you teach it, you write your lesson plan (or decide how you’re going to teach it). That part doesn’t take as much prep but it’s always good to go over the lesson before the students. Then when it’s almost time for u it 2, watch the unit 2 dvd. So you can do them simultaneously! And we also said your students may benefit from watching them with you. (I’m talking about the TEACHING style & structure DVDs) If you’re leaving towards the STUDENT style & structure course, then you can just watch the video lessons with them. You’ll learn a ton. And you’ll be better equipped to help them as they write their papers. 😉
My third grader is using Town and Country Mouse right now. It helps her to not speak like a drunk to be honest. She was a slower talker as a toddler and then she became more talkative. She really did sound like she had marbles in her mouth while she slurred like Nancy Pelosi. I am so grateful for Fix It Grammar. She is so much clearer now. I have heard that I should hold off on Structure and Style until she is older. We are using Building Writers from Handwriting Without Tears for now. I am not sure what we are going to do after all of that though. I am always changing. I am already looking for another math program again. So we will see what our years bring. LOL!😂
You’re funny!! 😂 I agree about waiting on the writing if you’re not sure. There is PLENTY of time to teach writing. I’m teaching my 4th grader bc she’s writing stories on her own now and bc I’m teaching her WITH my 8th grader. But if those two things were not in place, I might’ve held off another year. 😉
@@OurHOMEschoolPlanI feel like I have to spoon feed her lessons still so maybe the Building Writers is worth it. I am looking into the next Fix It Grammar in the series. It really has polished my writing skills even though it isn’t structure and style.
I accidentally wrote in my video we were using it for the 23-24 school year bc I’m a year behind! 😜 I meant NEXT school year 24-25! But I’m definitely going to be looking at it all year trying to formulate my strategy if I don’t suggest it for co-op!
Congratulations Rachel Keith & Holli Brooke on winning the gift cards! I’ll email you with the details!
My daughter just turned 13 in June and she is adhd and dyslexic. We have tried so many different things to get her to work independently, but she doesn’t like videos and she wants me to be with her the whole time !! She literally will climb in my lap like she’s still little and that’s how she wants to do her work!! It would be fine , but I have 5 other children, one a toddler !! It’s so hard trying to balance everyone and I think the more I can do “ family style “ the better for us !!!
Absolutely! Family style has so many benefits! ❤️ (that cute that she still wants to sit on your lap! 😜 my daughter gets in those moods where she doesn’t want me to even touch her, but then from across the room she’ll wink at me with a silly grin! We are just so lucky that we get to be the main influence in their lives! It’s going to reap even more into a beautiful bond like no other someday!
I MEANT to say….we will be doing public speaking for the 2024-2025 school year. Not this year! But I wanted to get my hands on it early just in case!!
What IEW product are you intrigued by? Which one do you want to try?!?!
I like the public speaking course. I think we might do that when my boys get into 11th or 12th grade
@@JuliaCantley great idea!!
We started school today :)
A soft start but none the less we are back in the swing and I'm feeling hopeful about this year.
Both Teaching the classics and public speaking. I have phonetic zoo and have used fix it grammar which we may go back too!
I’m definitely checking into phonetic zoo. Could you do a “Do a lesson with me” sort of video with phonetic zoo? That would be super nice
Maybe! 😊
I have seen many YT videos on IEW for a while but haven't taken the leap! All Things Fun and Fascination seems to be a good starting point.Thanks
You should take the plunge! 😜
Fun video! Full of good content and the end showing real life interruptions and concerns! Glad there wasn't another tornado for all of you. We all enjoy Fix-It Grammar, especially the new edition. So simple to use! I've appreciated the phonetic zoo, but need to help my two oldest kids be more consistent. We didn't finish SSS last year, so I'm wondering if we should try to finish or just start with a thematic book, like you're using. 🤔 Thank you for setting up a give-away! I really enjoy IEW, even though I probably bite off more than I can chew. 😳😂
Thank you! Yes I’m glad the weather wasn’t worse! It keeps us on our toes, though! 😜
So finishing the SSS or going to themed unit. That’s a tough call. Finishing would mean starting your school year with more complex papers. If you started the theme unit, you’d start over with key word outlines. And so the school year would start easier again.
You could do the themed until you get to the unit where you left off so the video could teach it.
You could also do that and also cut out SOME of the themed units papers. For example, when we did classical conversations, the themed units usually had 30 weeks of lessons, but CC , teaching writing, we really only had 22 weeks. So at the beginning of the year, we decided which lessons we would skip to fit it in. We made sure to get a lesson or two from each unit. But if you did that, you could have the video teach the unit, but instead of doing a second paper in that unit from the SSS, you could switch over to the themed? (Assuming you want to finish these in the same year). Did the SSS go over 9 units? Because all things fun and fascinating only goes over 7, so it doesn’t even get as far anyway.
Some thoughts for you! 😜
We are starting structure and style this year but I’m definitely also interested in the public speaking course! 😊
The DVDs in Teaching the Classics made me chuckle…I always feel like he’s talking to propped up stuffed animals. 😂 You’ll see when you watch.
Haha! I can’t wait to see what you mean! 😂
😂😂😂😂 this one was hilarious, sounds like me and my kids when the sirens go off, we should go to the basement but I wanna see. 😊
Lol!!! Yes!!! If it drops out of the sky, it would be a site to see……as long is it’s far, far away that is!!
I got stuck driving in the storm from last Friday! It hit so fast and was so crazy. I was literally doing a maze of downed trees and power lines to get to my house. We were also without power for 4 days! Thank God we were able to find a purchase a generator! That was as close as I’d like to ever be, I was hysterically crying when I finally made it home! Our whole town was out of power in IL.
Oh wow! Yeah that storm was pretty crazy! We had lots of friends without power for days too! Our town never lost any! I definitely wouldn’t have wanted to be in the car!!!!
Yay!! We are also using fix it grammar, and spelling from IEW!! Might do some structure and style going to see how it goes.
Thank you for mentioning how your daughter with ADHD does better with parent lead instruction. My 10year old daughter hated watching the videos last year. I am highly suspicious that she has ADHD. It was a good reminder to switch things up to fit your child's learning.
Absolutely!! Do what you gotta do! 😀
I’m glad that you can relate! It’s so relieving to know that we’re not the only ones experiencing some of these things. 😉
I’m really glad I seen that your doing this because I was wanting to use that exact one with my two younger daughters this year and I just felt unsure about it because of the grade level. I’ve had many years of essentials and I felt like it would be fine, but this has eased my mind and I’m going to go ahead and do it. It just looked fun after years of history writing.
I agree!! This one looked more fun! I also thought the fairy tales and fables one looked fun! Maybe that’s for next year!
Here’s to a year of FUN! 😜
We are using Phonetic Zoo this year too! My son has super struggled with spelling despite being brilliant in every other subject. Once I learned that he’s a very auditory learner, phonetic zoo sounded like a perfect fit so hopefully we’ll have good results with that. Otherwise, I will definitely be checking out that Public Speaking course and want to have the Word Write Now on hand as it looks like a fabulous resource!
Yeah! A word write now could be a flexible resource where you could even create assignments from. I was thinking like for a high schooler, “wrote a paper on courage and use a fable or fairy tale as your inspiration!” (I’m never at a loss for ideas! Only at a loss for time and energy! 😂)
So for your auditory learner, have you heard Andrew Pudewa’s talk called, “spelling and the brain?” I think it’s linked from my IEW landing page here. iew.com/OurHomeschoolPlan
It’s so good!
Our family loves IEW products! This year we are using Fix It Grammar, SSS Levels C and B, All things fun and Fascinating, Primary Arts of Learning, AND Phonetic Zoo! We have 6 children: 9th, 7th, 6th, 4th, 2nd, and Kinder. I would love to try the Public Speaking course also!
Wow. You’ve got your hands full!!!
Loveee IEW! I’ve got my eye on Intro to Public Speaking. Thank you for your videos!
You’re welcome! And thank you!
YOU ARE A GEM! You are helping this homeschool mama out so much by explaining all these curriculums! Thank you!! Quick question: have you reviewed the Public Speaking curriculum after using it? Would love to hear your thoughts on this.
I love iew. Have used it in the past with my older kiddos and am considering starting again with the youngest!
Enjoyed your video
Thank you!
So good to see you back again!! Hope you have been enjoying your summer
Yes! Thank you so much!! It’s flying by!
There are a number of things from iew that I’ve been eyeing. But I think advanced spelling is intriguing me the most 😊
I love your videos! Your wisdom, honesty and editing style are like a breath of fresh air and you always make me smile/giggle!
We just started IEW last year with my fifth and eighth graders. We love it! I’ve got my eye on the 1B and 2B bundles that include Fix It! Grammar, as well as A Word Write Now and the Cursive Knowledge curriculum.
Thank you for sharing your heart, your love for your family, learning ,and most importantly your love of Christ! 🙌🏻
Keep up the good work sweet sister! ❤
Thank you so much!!! Your comment has made my day! I love it when I can make you giggle! And thank you for your words of encouragement! 😘
Haven’t used IEW yet, but when my kids are a little older we will try Fix It Grammar and Structure and Style. Thanks for your videos!
You’re welcome!
Thank you for the glimpse in the public speaking course! I plan to do that either 24'25 or 25'26 school year.
This year my 5th and 7th graders are doing SS, FIG and Phonetic Zoo. The first 2 we have done before. First time using their spelling. I picked it up 2nd hand at a resale so going to give it a whirl.
Hope you are having a great summer!!
We start back tomorrow but we've been out since April.
Oh wow!! I can’t even imagine going back. I feel like my summer is flying by way too fast and I have barely done any planning yet!! 😳
Yes this year is flying!! I don't know where the last 8ish weeks have gone.
We are starting off the 1st 6 weeks fun with some minecraft funschooling books, national parks GatherRound unit, TBTB safety unit and boring math...cant not do math since there are 170 lessons. We are looking forward to a fun, ease into school this year.
Great video! Thank you for your helpful insight on all things IEW.
We are very interested in the Introduction to Public Speaking!
You’re welcome!!
Yah for public speaking!
This fall we will use IEW for the 1st time. We will use Bible Heroes for my 2nd grader, All things fun and fascinating for my 3rd grader, and Fix it Grammar. I am planning to use SSS 1A, for the next year for 4th grader.
Thank you so much for your IEW reviews, I watched them all and it really helped me to make the decision to use this Curriculum.
God bless.
Thank you so much!! I’m glad you found them helpful!
😂😂 “Who else hears a tornado warning and goes outside to look?” I’m from Texas so I can relate. 🤭
😂😂😂oh my goodness!!! Would I do the same if I lived in Texas?!?! Your tornadoes tend to be A LOT more intense than ours!
We are planning on doing Fix It Grammar, Bible Heroes and a couple levels of Structure and Style. Your videos give a lot of helpful tips, Thank you for doing these.
I really loved your comment on your ADHD daughter really wanting to spend all of her time with you rather then working independently 😆. Because I relate SO much! I have that same situation with my oldest daughter who is 11. She really seems to need me there for Every. Little. Thing. Getting her to do work independently is almost nonexistent.(except for reading or art. Something that she is very interested in lol) So I've said to her before, "So you like having me sit by you through every part? Wouldn't you like to just get in and get it done so you can have free time??" She"wants" to but just can't for the life of her seem to. I feel like I have to BE her focus for her. I wish I knew what to do to help her (and me) with that
Yep!!
For my daughter, she is definitely growing out of some of this! So patience…..one day, they will fly. 😉
I’ve let my daughter go up to her room to work. But often, something that should’ve taken 30 minutes might keep her up there for hours bc she’s just so distracted. I’ve learned to keep things from her until the work is done. Making lists that need to be checked…..
for me….the real issues is that I have to manage my OWN time. And so I don’t want to check her work after dinner. If I let her do things in her own time, that’s when it would happen. I feel like this is the real balance we’re trying to strike. But DEFINITELY….if I sit there and watch her do it, it gets done! It’s like my eyes on her MAKE HER focus. 😂
@@OurHOMEschoolPlan Hahah exactly my experience. If I let her work on her own a 15-30 minute assignment can take hours. If I'm sitting by her I'm still reminding her quite often to keep on task. Her focus and distraction are really bad. But I've got 4 other children so I can't just sit by her all day. Like you, managing my own time is something I'm really working on as well 🤪. I'm super happy to hear that it gets better as they get older!! I don't have my daughter (or my other kids. All 5 are ADHD😬 Its genetic and both myself and my husband are. So it's been a bit of a recipe for disaster 😅) on medication because I am worried about side effects. But I have been considering lately because it's so bad
@@Brigsgirl22 oh my goodness!!! We’ll at least you all understand each other! That helps!
@@OurHOMEschoolPlan It does to a point. But when you all have those same issues, they can really feed on eachother. We are doing a lot of trial and error to figure out what works for us. That's why I like it when you and other RUclipsrs talk about what you have tried. I'm always looking for new ideas!😅
The Fix It Grammar looks awesome!
I'm playing in jumping in with Structure and Style 1A and Fix It Grammar for my older two!
I’ve had my eye on all things fun and fascinating! I lived Bible hero’s too, and Fix It Grammar
We have only used the Fix It! Grammar and are thinking about trying Structure and Style. Thank you for your information and content!
You’re welcome!! If you aren’t sure about the structure and style, you should definitely try to free lessons!
Teaching the classics and public speaking courses are the two I’m eyeing on. Love IEW!!!❤
Yah!!
I can’t wait to see what they’re both like!!
So happy you are doing one-room style this year 🥳 Praying you all have a great last two years for Drew’s homeschool years. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Awe! Thank you so much, friend!!! 😘❤️
You are always so helpful with IEW info! We have been doing Fix It Grammar for a couple years now and love it. I would like to try either Structure and Style or one of the themed ones like you chose for my 6th and 8th graders. Thanks for sharing and always being so honest and helpful!
I’m so glad you find my videos helpful!! Thank you so much!
We did Structure and Style last year, and I will be ordering All Things Fun and Fascinating for this upcoming year to use with 2 of my kids also! SO many things look good, and if I had the money and time would definitely get the phonic zoo, teaching the classics, the poetry book, and the public speaking.
And we also have been loving Fix-it-grammar as well :)
Lol!!! You want it all!! ❤️❤️❤️
I have my eye on Fix It Grammar. This video as always was so helpful ❤ Thank you 😊
You're so welcome!
Honestly I'd love to try any of their programs! They seem to be exactly what I need for my 4 kiddos!
It’s such a great company!
I have been eyeing the Phonetic Zoo program. I am glad to hear that you have enjoyed using it.
It’s nice for someone else to give the spelling test!! It’s like utilizing an audio book! 😜
My son started Fix it Grammar and Structure and Style last year. I have my eye on Phonetic Zoo for next year!
Definitely got my eye out for fix it grammar and public speaking 😊
We are starting Fix It Grammar for my 7th grader for the first time! Excited about it this year!
Yah!!! You’re gonna love the simplicity!
Definitely wanting to use the Structure and Style for my 4th, 6th and 9th graders, and also looking at using Teaching the Classics this year. Love watching your videos! Thanks for your encouragement from across the web!😊
Awe! You’re welcome!! 🥰 thank you for watching!!
I do not miss living in Texas with tornado sirens. Haha.
Honestly we need all the things from IEW. We love IEW but after moving and movers loosing many boxes including lots of curriculum 😢 we have had to replace very slowly. We unfortunately need all our stuff again. The only thing they managed not to loose was a teacher manual 🤦🏽♀️
I want to try phonetic zoo with my youngest. We have used fix it grammar and themed writing and love it. The public speaking has me intrigued.
I’m so glad I found you on here a while back. I could listen to you talk all day. U have such a fun personality.
Awe!! You are so sweet!!!
That’s such a bummer about curriculum lost!! How does that happen?!?!
@@OurHOMEschoolPlan ugh who knows. We are a military family so it was a military move and they put our stuff into storage before we closed on our new home so it prob got lost along the way in that process. They lost so much of our stuff.
@@dawnhankins6139 oh man!!! That’s terrible!
Today is the last day of IEW free-shipping. I'm ordering several items (Theme-Based Writing, The Elegant Essay, and Fix-It Grammar), but debating on getting the Introduction to Public Speaking program today or to wait until next semester. Speaking, communicating well in public is a great skill to have.
Yea it is!!
Ive been looking at using all things fun and fascinating, as well as fix it for my kiddos.
Have been eyeing SS Level A, Phonetic Zoo and Public Speaking for future school years! Thank you for this opportunity and all of your valuable input!!! I am new to your channel and becoming a go to!
Thank you so much!! 😜
I'd love to try Teaching the Classics in a year when I have a middle schooler and a young elementary child. Also girl, you need to be more weather aware! You can't just rely on hearing a tornado siren to warn you about your weather. You leaned that last year! Get yourself a weather radio that will go off when your county is included in weather warnings. I think we all need them just as much or more than smoke detecotors here in the midwest. And yes, the first thing I do is run outside to see. Then we head to our safe spot. ;)
Lol! I’ve been known to stand outside to watch the green, swirling clouds! I think I’m only curious if it’s light out. If it’s dark at night, I go to the basement! If I can’t see, it scares me!!
We actually had a weather radio and it was constantly going off! 😂 my phone is set to notify me when something major happens but I was using it to record the video and no notification popped up! I knew there was a chance, but here in the Midwest….at least where I live, nothing ever happens. Last fall there wasn’t even a warning!! But the day of this video, the siren went off when the storm was still a good 30 miles away. So I think based on last fall, they’re going to be SUPER conservative now and we’ll probably hear it a lot more often! 😉
When I was a kid….living in the country, I wouldn’t have even know. How did we even survive?!?! 😜
@@OurHOMEschoolPlan By watching the cows? LOL I swear those animals have a sixth sense for the weather.
@@meganpease552 so true!!! The animals know where to hide! I love the scene in “Twister” at the end when the horses come out running!
Love this!! SSS B year 2, phonetic zoo and maybe that public speaking!
I am using most of what you talked about and I really enjoyed hearing about some more IEW products I haven't used. I love IEW too!!
My 8th grader will be using Fix It Grammar since she only does Latin vocab with CC. She did Fix It this past year and it was a perfect add-in with CC since it literally takes less than 10 mins a day (probably 5!). I also started her on Phonetic Zoo this summer. She started reluctantly and there was daily moaning and groaning about the audio but she's doing well with it. We tried Sequential Spelling but that was too teacher intensive for me with two kids trying to use it! I, personally, LOVE Phonetic Zoo. I am using All About Spelling with my younger daughter (dyslexia) who is really struggling with spelling. I hope we can do AAS through level 3 and then she can start Phonetic Zoo too.
I am doing All Things Fun & Fascinating with both girls! I appreciated what you said about the video lessons - those are not for my kids either. But this themed lesson book is working so well and I like how the topics change per unit.
The word book, classics book & public speaking book look SO GOOD too! I feel like those books give kids what they would get from Challenge! Definitely keeping these in mind for the future incase CC doesn't work for any of my kids. So good to know these resources are out there.
Yah! 👏 👏 👏
I’ve never done AAS, but isn’t it similar in approach to Logic of English?
@@OurHOMEschoolPlan it is! I think the main difference is LOE is a full LA curriculum whereas AAS is just spelling instruction. Did I tell you I tried LOE essentials? It was okay but, again, I just wanted to focus on spelling with her and really target those skills. AAS is going well!
@@faithfullyinfertile I don’t know if you told me you tried essentials or not. What did you think of it??? Did they change it?
It just seemed so my MORE and more dry when we tried it. I feel like it’s more advanced than for an 8 year old!
@@OurHOMEschoolPlan my daughter LOVED foundations because it is so engaging and fun and yes, essentials is very dry and to the point and it was okay, but I could tell she wasn’t enjoying it as I hoped she would. Not that everything she does for school has to be fun……
Ultimately I decided to stop Essentials because I mainly was doing it for spelling but the way it is designed I wasn’t hitting spelling daily and I NEEDED to hit spelling daily with her. I loved Essentials and still think it’s an incredibly solid La curriculum for the right student. I can’t imagine using it with an 8 yr old either as it is intended since foundations finishes about 2nd grade and then 3rd grade starts Essentials. There are hands on activities and games in essentials but they are “extra” and not embedded into the curriculum like in Foundations.
I'm really interested in All Things Fun and Fascinating! I'm definitely leaning toward the theme based route as well. Thank you for the info!
You're so welcome!
We are looking at structure and style. The public speaking looks good as well!
How nice! I love your ideas with iew! I’ve been eyeing SSS 1A for my youngest or Fun and Fascinating, as well as Teaching the Classics. So many options! Also, so glad you’re okay with the sirens. Real life! I’ll have a 10th and 5th grader this year
The sirens! We get them so often it’s hard to tell sometimes, “is that the fire siren? The next counties siren?” We actually live right by the NEXT county and we can hear their siren just as well as our own! 😂
I’m happy to share my ideas! I’m never out of them! 😂
I am looking forward to trying Fix it Grammar and SSS 1A with my daughter next year.
We love fix it grammar! We finished town mouse country mouse last year and we are doing the next level this year. It's the only IEW we have done. I've looked at others but we do WTM writing, so I never really got into it much more.
What is WTM?
Fix it is so simple and effective!!
@@OurHOMEschoolPlan Well Trained Mind. We do writing with skill with my older boys and writing with ease with my younger one. They are not writers and it's a struggle so we're taking it slow and easy.
I am curious about phonetic zoo. I am at a loss for what to do for spelling…. You totally sold me on public speaking, especially in a coop!!!
Spelling is tricky! We’ve tried a lot of spelling programs through the year. It’s interesting how some people are just naturals at spelling and others are not.
Yea, public’s speaking is MADE to be in a co-op setting!!! 😉
We just started using IEW Style and Structure with my 4th grader. I would love the Phonetic Zoo with all the levels for her and my younger kids to work through!
Yeah! Try it! Having somebody else give the spelling test is SOOOO helpful!
I have always been interested in IEW, but have been nervous the take the plunge....I’m really wanting to try out there writing program for my older 3 students! Thank you for the giveaway!😊
You’re welcome! Don’t be nervous! One of the premises behind the program is “easy + 1”. So it really start out easy. And you just build from there!
My son is like your daughter. If I sit next to her, he does awesome. He loses focus when he does anything on his own. He even does video games better when he's on call with a friend.
Sometimes that’s just how it is! I work better when I’m listening to a podcast!!! 😜
The Public Speaking looks great!!
I have my eye on the premier structure and style a1 bundle for my 4th and 5th graders!
We are trying out Structure and Style this year. We used fix it grammar this year and loved it.
We used Structure and Style level A, Fix- it Grammer, and Phonetic Zoo, for spelling this last year and really loved it! I also bought the Teaching the Classics, and the Thematic Thesaurus as well as All Things Fun and Fascinating, Bible Heroes, and People and Places Around Us. Went all out lol 😅. We used the writing, spelling, and Fix-it but still used the Good and the Beautiful LA just skipping the parts I felt to because of the IEW we were using. 😊
So you bought teaching the classics for this year or you’ve done it?!?! That’s what I’m most curious about….to see how it goes!
@@OurHOMEschoolPlan I bought the Teaching the Classics. I've only done the first lesson so far. It is interesting, but I will say that the guy doing the videos is no where near as entertaining as Andrew Pudewa! I don't know if he gets better as the videos go a long, but I had to really focus on the content and not his delivery, if that makes sense. I was wishing there was a way to speed it up lol . But I am also ADHD so that might be part of it 😅
@@Brigsgirl22 we’ll see how it goes. I don’t want my kids to be bored. Did you watch with your kids?
I have my eye on Teaching the Classics and Fix it Grammar, but now I'm also interested in Phonetic Zoo!
😂choices! Choices!!
I can't wait to do IEW. My plan is to use fix-it grammar, structure and style, poetry recitation book, teaching the classics, and phonetic zoo.. so basically all of LA. 😂
That’s a way to take Advantage of all of it!
I ordered IEW Style and Structor 1A and Fix it Grammar Level 1 Saturday. 🙂
I do have my eye on Fix it Level 2 & 3 as I suspect my older kiddos might fly through level 1.
👏👏👏👏yah!!
I have been using fix it grammar and two of their theme track products with my middle school kids. They really have enjoyed this way of learning.
That is awesome!
Love, love, love IEW and Phonetic Zoo. I literally trust all their products.
❤️IEW knows what they’re doing!!!
I just placed my first order with IEW, largely thanks to your videos! I'm so excited to start with my oldest. We are doing SS1b and fix it grammar- robin hood
Yah!!! I hope you love it!
I’ve been interested in their Timeline of the Classics for awhile! I think it would be a great resource for finding literature to liven up our history! Thanks for the peak inside Teaching the Classics; that one looks good too. 🤩
I totally agree! You’re welcome!
We also have “All Things Fun And Fascinating” for my 6th grader and “Bible Heroes” for my 3rd grader. The literary analysis course looks really interesting!
The Bible heroes one is on my list for future as well! Great choices!
I wanted to try the poetry one and the Bible themed writing for the littles. LOVE that they are doing the giveaway! 🤩
Yea!!! I looked at the poetry one too! There’s so many great products!
I am doing the Bible Heroes level this year. Would b interested in the All Things Fun n Fascinating for next year.😊 Thank you for your informative videos.
You’re welcome!!! ;)
This is our first year trying IEW. I'm excited, its going well so far!
Yah!! 👏👏👏I’m so glad!
Love your videos so much! Glad you didn’t get swept away by a tornado…yet! 😅I’m not entering the giveaway as I am done teaching homeschool. Just wanted to pop in and say hi!
Hi!
Me too!! I can handle wind as long as I don’t lose trees!! 😉
We LOVE IEW!!! We’re using Structure & Style level C next year, along with Fix It Grammar 😊
We love IEW! This year we will be using Fix It Grammar, SSS, and Phonetic Zoo for the second year for my oldest. My youngest will start next year! I’m so excited to check out public speaking when my oldest gets a little older.
Yah!!! 👏 👏 👏
We are looking at a spelling curriculum but we are yet to find one that works!!! Teaching the classics sounds awesome!!! My biological parents where pastors and my kids have heard them speak often!!! I think public speaking is an awesome course!!!
Absolutely! You’ll be public speaking at some point even if just giving testimony at church!
So which spelling programs have you tried??
@@OurHOMEschoolPlan nessy and my kids learnt to break down words!!! We tried TGTB but the spelling isn’t that good. I try to help my kids learn the rules but they aren’t sticking!!! AAS didn’t help. I’ve not given up on it tho!!!
@@RockSimmer-gal4God I’ve also had good luck with a reason for spelling!
I’m definitely going to be picking up Phonetic Zoo and Fix It grammar for this upcoming school year.
Would love the structure and style and public speaking!
I’ve heard great things about IEW. I’ve ADHD 4th grade reluctant writer so we do have hope it will help! We will start with 1A Structure and Style
For the All things Fun and Fascinating how long would a lesson take? I appreciate the comparison on the two styles of IEW. Oh I would looove an indepth video on Teaching the classics, does it come with answer keys?
Teaching the classics comes with answers to the examples they give (I believe)
All things fun and fascinating so far is going really fast! I’m doing it more than once a week! But that’s also typical of the first two units anyway which is all weve done
We're doing the first level of Structure and Style this year as an intro to IEW for my 5th and 9th graders. I agree with you, no sense stressing my older daughter out, and thus myself, when she's just learning a new program! Though All Things Fun and Fascinating has me intrigued.
It’s a lot of easier to add on than to take away!! 😉
I flipped through All things fun & fascinating last night. It’s definitely very simple. I was also surprised, its over 35 weeks. Usually IEW is only 30 weeks.
Is this your first year with IEW then?
I'm definitely going to try Fix it grammar for my 6th and 5th graders and I'm looking at phonetic zoo as well.
Thank you for taking the time creating your homeschool curriculum.
You're so welcome! I know many who love phonetic zoo!
I saw Teaching the Classics and was very interested in how that curriculum works. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
Me too!! How is it going to work?!?! 🤔
I looked at it even more closely today and it says it can be taught in a two day seminar! It has 8 DVDs. And they are not all an hour. So it may be a very short course to do with my kids. We’ll see how they handle the lecture. Or I may watch the lecture and then teach them what I learned. We’ll see. 😊
I am waddling the fence to purchase the Phonetic Zoo program. My middle schooler struggles with spelling and I've tried everything. I like the auditory approach to spelling that I've never thought about.
You should listen to Andrew Pudewa’s talk on “spelling and the brain!” It makes so much sense!
It might be linked from my page on IEW here:
iew.com/OurHomeschoolPlan
If not, you can probably find it on YT.
I'm really looking at fix it grammar for this year, but I love the idea of the themed writing too!
I am super interested in the Public Speaking course! I think it would be great skills for my kids to learn!
👏 👏 👏
This will be our first year homeschooling and I'm petrified!😂 We are looking into Structure and Style and Fix It Grammar for our 5th grade daughter. 🤞🏼Thank you for providing me with hours of inspiration this summer!❤️
I understand!! Don’t be petrified! You’re year might be “clunky” bc you don’t know what you don’t know. But next year, you’ll have so much more confidence. I promise! Fix it and structure & style are excellent choices! Especially for a newbie homeschooler!!
Something I've learned over 10 years of homeschooling...
don't try to copy anyone else, especially public school.
Homeschooling is best when you customize it to your teaching style, kids' learning style, your schedule, and the individual academic levels of your kids. If God gave you the calling to educate at home, He will equip you. I'd encourage you to try to enjoy the flexibility and make it your own. 10 years in and I'm still learning things. Each year is different. God bless you on your school year. You got this!
We just started using fix it grammar and structure and style for my high schooler last year, and we absolutely love them!! Now I've got my eye on the public speaking course! I only wish I had used them earlier in our homeschool
There’s always gonna be “I wish I would’ve….” I feel you!! Glad you found it when you did! 😀
We used IEW SS1A and Fix It last year and decided to try out EIW this year because they didn't love the length of Mr. Pudewa's videos. I don't love EIW very much, if at all. We may try the Theme Based Writing next year along with Fix It to see if that works better.
Oh yeah!! For level 1, if the videos are still a half hour at a time, that’s long.
We’ve been doing the All Things Fun book and I don’t teach very long. We just dig in and do it!! And the pace has been just fine so far for my younger one.
I have my eye on the Teaching the Classics set and Public Speaking.
I ordered our first IEW SSS 9th grade with Fix It just yesterday. I'm really interested in the public speaking program, too.
👏 👏 👏 yah!! I hope you love it!!
The IEW product i have my eye on is the Public Speaking program. It's such an important skill that will be used in adulthood and i like teaching things that are useful.
Yea it is!!
Interested in these products. SAS looks really good.
We are starting homeschooling this year, grades 6 and 8! I'm leaning towards S&S and fix-it. My only concern with S&S is the length of the videos (my kids don't generally love video instruction) but people keep saying even their video-hating kids love it. 🤔
We'll try the free trial eventually, but they need a break now- they just finished public school last week. But if they don't love it I might do the teaching course and just teach them myself, because I think the program itself sounds great!
If you learned this yourself to teach, you’d be amazed at how much you will benefit from it personally!
@@OurHOMEschoolPlan did you do the teaching course first? If so, was it beneficial even with the video lessons?
@@monicalee82 in classical conversations, it’s meant to be done in conjunction with the weekly lessons. So for example, unit 1, you may watch the unit 1 dvd the week before you teach that lesson. And maybe the day before you teach it, you write your lesson plan (or decide how you’re going to teach it). That part doesn’t take as much prep but it’s always good to go over the lesson before the students. Then when it’s almost time for u it 2, watch the unit 2 dvd. So you can do them simultaneously! And we also said your students may benefit from watching them with you. (I’m talking about the TEACHING style & structure DVDs)
If you’re leaving towards the STUDENT style & structure course, then you can just watch the video lessons with them. You’ll learn a ton. And you’ll be better equipped to help them as they write their papers. 😉
@@OurHOMEschoolPlan thank you for the explanation, it was very helpful! 😊
@@monicalee82 you’re welcome!! 😀
Hi! I’m interested in structure and style 1A and phonetic zoo. Very excited to be trying IEW this year!
We are doing phonetic zoo this year. Would love to check out their writing program.
I am looking at Structure and Style 1B. We used Structure and Style 1A and really liked it.
Yah!!
My third grader is using Town and Country Mouse right now. It helps her to not speak like a drunk to be honest. She was a slower talker as a toddler and then she became more talkative. She really did sound like she had marbles in her mouth while she slurred like Nancy Pelosi. I am so grateful for Fix It Grammar. She is so much clearer now. I have heard that I should hold off on Structure and Style until she is older. We are using Building Writers from Handwriting Without Tears for now. I am not sure what we are going to do after all of that though. I am always changing. I am already looking for another math program again. So we will see what our years bring. LOL!😂
You’re funny!! 😂
I agree about waiting on the writing if you’re not sure. There is PLENTY of time to teach writing. I’m teaching my 4th grader bc she’s writing stories on her own now and bc I’m teaching her WITH my 8th grader. But if those two things were not in place, I might’ve held off another year. 😉
@@OurHOMEschoolPlanI feel like I have to spoon feed her lessons still so maybe the Building Writers is worth it. I am looking into the next Fix It Grammar in the series. It really has polished my writing skills even though it isn’t structure and style.
We love IEW! I am interested in learning more about the public speaking curriculum.
I accidentally wrote in my video we were using it for the 23-24 school year bc I’m a year behind! 😜 I meant NEXT school year 24-25! But I’m definitely going to be looking at it all year trying to formulate my strategy if I don’t suggest it for co-op!