I also love this type of reflection video. Even though homeschool curriculum picks and hauls are great for ideas, everyone is always so optimistic and excited (as I always am with new curriculum, too). I really enjoy seeing the dirt and how it "really" went in these types of videos. 😂 It's so helpful for decision-making, but it's almost like a form of curriculum gossip, which is kinda fun too lol
Highly recommend Essentials in Writing (EIW) with Mr. Stephens for Writing! Simple, short lessons that have really improved my boys writing skills! We are 4th and 6th grade. I've heard great things about IEW also, and we like their Fix It! Grammar, but we prefer the shorter lessons of EIW! :)
These are the videos that give me permission to adjust as needed and be responsive. They also help me with thinking through actual logistics of what is doable for my own kids.
Super helpful! I’m finishing up Sonlight C (HBL and Science) with my third and first grade boys. We also switched from Language Arts in the middle of the year when I realized that my oldest needed a much more structured, step-by-step approach. Both boys also needed to write more in order to really remember their spelling and grammar lessons. So glad to have the freedom to switch curriculum when it’s not a good fit!
We started IEW a few weeks ago with my 5th and 6th grade sons. I am loving the structure! I am doing the teacher training as well alongside the SSSA1. My 5th grader is really the one needing more structure and I am feeling good about my choice to FINALLY start IEW. My 2nd grade daughter is also following along and looks forward to it! I think that she will work alongside them next year, although I will have my 6th grader probably start with level B as we continue on next year.
I think there is so much fear with us as parents in homeschooling our children when it comes to composition. I think we’re all worried that we might do it wrong. Or that we’ll ruin our kids/not prepare them for life if the persuasive essay for example, isn’t mastered by age 9. My child is still in the learning to read phase even at the end of third grade. She can read independently, but still needs to be taught the rest of the phonemes so she can continue to read fluently. It took doing things “wrong” the last year and 3/4 for me to realize I don’t have to be worried about the upper level formulas of writing for my third grader. I just need to get her to get her thoughts down on paper. There was no joy, or clear sense of direction with the way we were doing things. It was hard for me to stop trying to get her to write at a level that I knew how to write (college), and scale things back to what was age appropriate. It was also hard to let go of what I know her public school peers are doing at this age. Once I realized she needed to know the expectation for her age, and be shown how to achieve that desired result, The Good and the Beautiful level 3 composition filled that need for us so well. I love that with this resource over time the “training wheels” if you will, come off and the child takes over with coming up with all the components required for each type of composition. It’s been a joy to see my daughter thrive with this. We went from using a very disjointed and standards-based resource, to having clear instructions and expectations to guide her. I don’t think rigor is necessary in the elementary years, so I’m glad straightforward and age appropriate resources like TGTB exist.
This year we are switching over from Abeka to BJU English (just the English part) because their chapters jump back and forth from structured writing and grammar, so they'll have weeks where our focus is writing and we need that!! Im excited to give this a try with our 2nd and 3rd grader as part of our core subject next year😊
My 3rd grader (newly 8) will start B in August. She loves to read and write so I am confident she will love the level 2 readers & hopefully the level 3 LA. I love the look of the diamond notes. I am only using the LA for the writing I use a separate grammar curriculum.
I am still using it ... but more as a supplement, something I use when we need to pull a more delightful resource out! Like I used a number of the partnership writing resources this fall, and we also loosely used a Dart in March!
Hi! I am trying to decided on what math to put to out my two 1st graders in. I torn between Saxon, Math-U-See and abeka math 1. Could you offer any advice on this? Do you have a favorite?
I also love this type of reflection video. Even though homeschool curriculum picks and hauls are great for ideas, everyone is always so optimistic and excited (as I always am with new curriculum, too). I really enjoy seeing the dirt and how it "really" went in these types of videos. 😂 It's so helpful for decision-making, but it's almost like a form of curriculum gossip, which is kinda fun too lol
This!! Reflection/hits and misses videos are more helpful than curriculum pick videos imo!
Haha, I like that ... it is a form of curriculum gossip!
Really enjoyed hearing all your reflections, especially in contrast with the original curriculum picks video.
Highly recommend Essentials in Writing (EIW) with Mr. Stephens for Writing! Simple, short lessons that have really improved my boys writing skills! We are 4th and 6th grade. I've heard great things about IEW also, and we like their Fix It! Grammar, but we prefer the shorter lessons of EIW! :)
These are the videos that give me permission to adjust as needed and be responsive. They also help me with thinking through actual logistics of what is doable for my own kids.
YES! I love that and I love that it helped inspire you to think through some of what is realistic for your family :)
I just do not like how HWT forms their letters. Thanks so much for this reflection!
We started IEW during the 2nd half of 4th grade and I'm so glad we did!
Super helpful! I’m finishing up Sonlight C (HBL and Science) with my third and first grade boys. We also switched from Language Arts in the middle of the year when I realized that my oldest needed a much more structured, step-by-step approach. Both boys also needed to write more in order to really remember their spelling and grammar lessons. So glad to have the freedom to switch curriculum when it’s not a good fit!
Agreed!
Thank you for making this video. I'll have a 4th grader, and this reflection really helps.
We started IEW a few weeks ago with my 5th and 6th grade sons. I am loving the structure! I am doing the teacher training as well alongside the SSSA1. My 5th grader is really the one needing more structure and I am feeling good about my choice to FINALLY start IEW. My 2nd grade daughter is also following along and looks forward to it! I think that she will work alongside them next year, although I will have my 6th grader probably start with level B as we continue on next year.
I think there is so much fear with us as parents in homeschooling our children when it comes to composition. I think we’re all worried that we might do it wrong. Or that we’ll ruin our kids/not prepare them for life if the persuasive essay for example, isn’t mastered by age 9. My child is still in the learning to read phase even at the end of third grade. She can read independently, but still needs to be taught the rest of the phonemes so she can continue to read fluently. It took doing things “wrong” the last year and 3/4 for me to realize I don’t have to be worried about the upper level formulas of writing for my third grader. I just need to get her to get her thoughts down on paper. There was no joy, or clear sense of direction with the way we were doing things. It was hard for me to stop trying to get her to write at a level that I knew how to write (college), and scale things back to what was age appropriate. It was also hard to let go of what I know her public school peers are doing at this age. Once I realized she needed to know the expectation for her age, and be shown how to achieve that desired result, The Good and the Beautiful level 3 composition filled that need for us so well. I love that with this resource over time the “training wheels” if you will, come off and the child takes over with coming up with all the components required for each type of composition. It’s been a joy to see my daughter thrive with this. We went from using a very disjointed and standards-based resource, to having clear instructions and expectations to guide her. I don’t think rigor is necessary in the elementary years, so I’m glad straightforward and age appropriate resources like TGTB exist.
This year we are switching over from Abeka to BJU English (just the English part) because their chapters jump back and forth from structured writing and grammar, so they'll have weeks where our focus is writing and we need that!! Im excited to give this a try with our 2nd and 3rd grader as part of our core subject next year😊
I can’t wait to hear how IEW goes. That one is in my mind for future use.
My 3rd grader (newly 8) will start B in August. She loves to read and write so I am confident she will love the level 2 readers & hopefully the level 3 LA. I love the look of the diamond notes.
I am only using the LA for the writing I use a separate grammar curriculum.
You should start with IEW all things fun and fascinating. I'm not strong in writing and I loved it!!! My 3rd grader thrived
Bwhaha I didn't even get to your comment on you starting iew that's funny
Great minds!
We are trying IEW next year as well.
Are you not doing any Brave Writer stuff any more? Must have missed an update with that, but I'd love to know why/why not.
I am still using it ... but more as a supplement, something I use when we need to pull a more delightful resource out! Like I used a number of the partnership writing resources this fall, and we also loosely used a Dart in March!
Hi! I am trying to decided on what math to put to out my two 1st graders in. I torn between Saxon, Math-U-See and abeka math 1. Could you offer any advice on this? Do you have a favorite?
Oh man, that is tough! Saxon and Abeka are both more traditional - Abeka is more advanced and has color. MathUSee is mastery and the other are spiral!