Try Homeschool in the Woods for ancient history! My kids LOVED studying Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and Ancient Rome. They still have the portfolios of projects they did from 6-7 years ago :)
I am definitely learning and beginning to understand what you are saying about skipping to what they are interested in, especially with history and science. I have really seen this work well this past year with my 10 year old son!😊
I feel we had a real scattered year as far as Group Studies went. But, I would say our mini Civil War unit (I put together myself) went pretty good and our Nature study with the Wild Kratts show was a BIG hit. My 6 year old improved a lot with his handwriting using just copy work and I would call that a hit. Also, we found a phonics program that is working called "Elementary Phonics" from Underthehome website. So 2 wins there. My 8 year old's reading really took off and that was also a win! We switched to "Elementary Phonics" for her, too and I was happy with how it helped. My 10 year old's math was a huge win she lived "Math Lessons for a Living Education" from Masters book. We had used MLLE before and then switched things up and we shouldn't have...so it was a win yo go back to MLLE.
Good morning, love your videos! We just finished our exams yesterday, I had a 3rd and 6th grader. Hits: Singapore math for my 3rd grader and CLE math for my 6th grader. History with books like Our island story, the voice that challenged a nation: marian anderson, Theodore Roosevelt by Foster, builders of our country. Geography with books like marvels of the orient and tree in the trail. Misses: natural history 😢 the eyes and no eyes series were ok but i will need to find something new for this coming year. Art: Didn't get to it, need suggestions for this subject too 😂
It is so interesting how various things end up being hits for one family and misses for another. My children LOVED Ancient Egypt this past year, but most of them were not at all interested in Ancient Greece. LOL We read the book you held up about the Pharaohs and it was probably the favorite read aloud for many of them.
Not saying I’m happy studying Ancient Egypt didn’t work out for you, but I’m glad to hear I wasn’t the only one this happened to! We had the same problem with that Landmark book about the pharaohs of ancient Egypt. My daughter enjoyed reading about Major Bouchard and Napoleon.. but we didn’t get much past deciphering the hyeroglyphs on the Rosetta Stone, then the interest was lost in my 4th grader. This book was recommended for 4-6th grade, but like you mentioned I thought it was for much older for sure. Luckily we had several other Ancient Egypt books that were more engaging and meant for younger kids. Even my Kindergartener liked them. What is it about spring time that we just finally drop the things that aren’t working?? Glad to hear you found something your kids did love though!
I started homeschooling my son 2 years ago. When he was in school they used Saxon and it was a horrible fit for him. He’s dyslexic and needs mastery with review. We’ve been doing Denison pre-algebra and it’s been amazing for him. I love it! We’re going to try Guest Hollow geography this year. I love all the living books that they include.
Planner?! How did I miss that? Gotta check that out.😊 Mine also loves MWC, I tried to switch him but he was not happy. He told me today, “Now this is fun math”. 😂 lesson learned.
I love your videos! Do you have a flip-through or review of Imitation in Writing? If not, I would absolutely be interested in that if you get the time. There’s not much on RUclips about it but it has definitely spiked my interest. Just scrolled through your videos so sorry if I overlooked it.
Mummies & cats got my boys interested in ancient Egypt. Books like: You Wouldn't Want to be an Egyptian Mummy! Disgusting Things You'd Rather Not Know or a DK Eyewitness book. Tons of fun books about ancient Egyptian cats. 😅
I really enjoyed seeing your hits and misses! The fun schooling journals did not work well for my children either. My son lasted about half the year with them a couple years ago. My two oldest daughters were excited and did them for a while, but in the end they were definitely ready to move on to something else.
@@JoyfulNoiseLiving I understand about the journals. I use them off and on when we need a break. Since they aren’t leveled I can pull them out here and there over the years. One of my children prefers a time limit, the other prefers a set number of pages- around 4-5 (much less than they recommend). I also try to be creative with the pages. The math page I deemed a STEAM project page. They could use any of our educational kits to work on (those things in the basement that are easily forgotten!). I also used the movie pages as a reward page. Everytime he got to a movie time page he could watch one of his shows (after watching a documentary/tutorial). It was nice to have it spaced out for me and he had something to look forward to. Since the pages repeat I could easily come up with a simple chart to list various activities to choose from. It’s ok if they don’t fill it all out.
Beautiful feet are amazing guides but we have always taken 1 1/2 to 2 years. Also, some cm’ers go with more than one History term. Sounds great what you did
I totally agree with you about Saxon Math. We did it for 6th and 7th grade, and found it to be too spiral. We are switching to Dennison Pre Algebra for 8th grade.
I was also not consistent with the not consumed reading journal. 😬 whoops haha. I’ll try again next year. I was looking into the Imitation in writing but I worry it might be too advanced for my 3rd grader. I feel like he needs more instruction on just writing good sentences first so I was thinking of using Evan Moor write a super sentence and 6 trait writing. I really want to switch into Phonetic Zoo for my upcoming 3rd grader but I think he needs one more level of All About Spelling (3) for it to be a more seamless transition. I’m going to try to audio record myself reading some of it out loud to make it more like Phonetic Zoo. I did that at the end of the year and he did it SO much quicker than if I was sitting there reading it…of course 😂. A miss for us this year was Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind level 2. Level 1 the previous year went fine but I just never stayed consistent with it and we are switching to Grammar Galaxy next year. When your oldest was 3rd grade, did you do formal science/history? I heard you say your 3rd grader now was doing history but I wasn’t sure if that’s just because he has older siblings doing it too. I feel like we have so much next year yet not enough. 😩 I don’t have a formal science or history but was thinking of doing unit studies instead that should include those topics….IF I can keep myself consistent on that. 😅
When my oldest was 3rd grade we did not focus on history or science. We focused on Language Arts and Math, and then did mostly read aloud for history and nature walk for science. So, my youngest mostly sits in on our history read aloud, and sometimes does a narration illustration after we read. He also watched some documentary and RUclips videos with us, but I didn't make him do more than that :)
@@JoyfulNoiseLivingthat makes me feel so much better! 😅 Do you have a video on good read alouds for history for that age? We’ve done all the little house books. History was never my thing so I’m not sure how to include a little here and there without just following a curriculum.
The reading journal from Not Consumed looked so cool but was also a miss for my 4th grade son. I shelved it for when my daughter gets older, I think she will love it. For my son, I’m using Wendy’s @PlanPrepPray reading list sheets, it just the title, author, and then a star rating that he actually likes to do. Plus an oral narration. And the same thing happened, he started reading more 😅
We made a similar decision for math for my 7th grade girl. She was using a very spiral math and was losing confidence, so we switched mid-year to Denison pre-algebra. She now says she loves it and is doing very well. She also loves being more independent. 😊
Thank you for your transparency. It’s one of the reasons I come to your channel! Also have you tried Precious People by Peaceful Press for ancient history? I know your kiddos are older, but my 5th grader has liked Kind Kingdom. I just beefed it up some with more narrations, but we’ve liked their stuff!
We never did Precious People, but I bet it's awesome! I just did the Playful Pioneers and Kind Kingdom. I think I did Sonlight and AGF and made my own books list during the year we would have done PP. :) A Peaceful Press is so good!
Hello there! IEW was a good challenge, but always a hit for my oldest two! My oldest son just graduated Grace as a HS Senior, and I credit his success with their dual enrollment program to the IEW investment in our homeschool years! Question? I have always been interested in the IEW Fit It Grammar, but it is a little pricy, esp with the teacher materials. Do you only buy the student supplies, or both student and teacher supplies? Do you think it is worth the investment esp for the lower levels? I have been on the fence to try Denison math, thanks for the recommendation. Many thanks! Prayers for you and your family to keep enjoying your summer break!🎉
Thanks so much, Charity!! I have gotten the teacher book for Fix It grammar, I really don't use it much except when I'm not sure about something, then I check it. You probably could get by just using the student book, but only if you are confident in your own grammar skills :)
Hi❤ love your content all the time:) I have an unrelated question.. when you plan your days or your weeks, do you add your kids chores on your to do list??
I don’t write out every chore on their list! I have a separate list for those, I have a dry erase board I write our routine for the day on, and on there I write “Morning Jobs” which is their chores, or “Friday Blessings” which is their friday clean the house chores
Oh my gosh!! You are right! I had forgotten about it 😂 I dropped it early on because I noticed it was going to be a repeat of the level she just did with Saxon. I may have mentioned it in a quarterly update video in the Fall… but it had slipped my mind 😅
Try Homeschool in the Woods for ancient history! My kids LOVED studying Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and Ancient Rome. They still have the portfolios of projects they did from 6-7 years ago :)
Thank you for sharing!
I am definitely learning and beginning to understand what you are saying about skipping to what they are interested in, especially with history and science. I have really seen this work well this past year with my 10 year old son!😊
👏 👏 👏
I feel we had a real scattered year as far as Group Studies went. But, I would say our mini Civil War unit (I put together myself) went pretty good and our Nature study with the Wild Kratts show was a BIG hit.
My 6 year old improved a lot with his handwriting using just copy work and I would call that a hit. Also, we found a phonics program that is working called "Elementary Phonics" from Underthehome website. So 2 wins there.
My 8 year old's reading really took off and that was also a win! We switched to "Elementary Phonics" for her, too and I was happy with how it helped.
My 10 year old's math was a huge win she lived "Math Lessons for a Living Education" from Masters book. We had used MLLE before and then switched things up and we shouldn't have...so it was a win yo go back to MLLE.
Have you heard of "Without Doors" curriculum? I am excited to try it!!!!
Good morning, love your videos! We just finished our exams yesterday, I had a 3rd and 6th grader. Hits: Singapore math for my 3rd grader and CLE math for my 6th grader. History with books like Our island story, the voice that challenged a nation: marian anderson, Theodore Roosevelt by Foster, builders of our country. Geography with books like marvels of the orient and tree in the trail. Misses: natural history 😢 the eyes and no eyes series were ok but i will need to find something new for this coming year. Art: Didn't get to it, need suggestions for this subject too 😂
Oh, bummer natural history and art didn't work out! We are probably going to go with the A Gentle Feast art class this coming year :)
Beautiful way of learning.. Very Nice
It is so interesting how various things end up being hits for one family and misses for another. My children LOVED Ancient Egypt this past year, but most of them were not at all interested in Ancient Greece. LOL We read the book you held up about the Pharaohs and it was probably the favorite read aloud for many of them.
Good to hear. That one is on the list for our ancient Egypt this fall and I was like oh no. 🥴 Hopefully we will enjoy it too!
Oh, that's so interesting! 😆 Glad they liked it!
Not saying I’m happy studying Ancient Egypt didn’t work out for you, but I’m glad to hear I wasn’t the only one this happened to! We had the same problem with that Landmark book about the pharaohs of ancient Egypt. My daughter enjoyed reading about Major Bouchard and Napoleon.. but we didn’t get much past deciphering the hyeroglyphs on the Rosetta Stone, then the interest was lost in my 4th grader. This book was recommended for 4-6th grade, but like you mentioned I thought it was for much older for sure. Luckily we had several other Ancient Egypt books that were more engaging and meant for younger kids. Even my Kindergartener liked them. What is it about spring time that we just finally drop the things that aren’t working?? Glad to hear you found something your kids did love though!
Thanks for sharing! They enjoyed the Rosetta Stone part too and lost interest after that as well, lol.
I started homeschooling my son 2 years ago. When he was in school they used Saxon and it was a horrible fit for him. He’s dyslexic and needs mastery with review. We’ve been doing Denison pre-algebra and it’s been amazing for him. I love it! We’re going to try Guest Hollow geography this year. I love all the living books that they include.
Planner?! How did I miss that? Gotta check that out.😊
Mine also loves MWC, I tried to switch him but he was not happy. He told me today, “Now this is fun math”. 😂 lesson learned.
Yay!!
RA the Mighty Cat Detective is a great intro to the Ancient Egypt period for young kiddos. We read it a couple of years ago and it was a hit.
I love your videos! Do you have a flip-through or review of Imitation in Writing? If not, I would absolutely be interested in that if you get the time. There’s not much on RUclips about it but it has definitely spiked my interest. Just scrolled through your videos so sorry if I overlooked it.
Completely agree that I would like to know more about Imitation in Writing.
Mummies & cats got my boys interested in ancient Egypt. Books like: You Wouldn't Want to be an Egyptian Mummy! Disgusting Things You'd Rather Not Know or a DK Eyewitness book. Tons of fun books about ancient Egyptian cats. 😅
Those are good suggestions! My boys seemed to be grossed out by mummies! I didn't expect that at all!
I really enjoyed seeing your hits and misses! The fun schooling journals did not work well for my children either. My son lasted about half the year with them a couple years ago. My two oldest daughters were excited and did them for a while, but in the end they were definitely ready to move on to something else.
Thanks for sharing!! I wanted them to work so badly 😬
@@JoyfulNoiseLiving I understand about the journals. I use them off and on when we need a break. Since they aren’t leveled I can pull them out here and there over the years. One of my children prefers a time limit, the other prefers a set number of pages- around 4-5 (much less than they recommend). I also try to be creative with the pages. The math page I deemed a STEAM project page. They could use any of our educational kits to work on (those things in the basement that are easily forgotten!). I also used the movie pages as a reward page. Everytime he got to a movie time page he could watch one of his shows (after watching a documentary/tutorial). It was nice to have it spaced out for me and he had something to look forward to. Since the pages repeat I could easily come up with a simple chart to list various activities to choose from. It’s ok if they don’t fill it all out.
@@Rainne3this is a great way to use them!!! Thanks for the tips!! 😊 I may do this in the winter when we get bored with our regular curriculum!
This was so helpful, encouraging, and fun! ❤
Aw, thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!
Beautiful feet are amazing guides but we have always taken 1 1/2 to 2 years. Also, some cm’ers go with more than one History term. Sounds great what you did
Yeah, I think spreading it out is a good idea. :)
I totally agree with you about Saxon Math. We did it for 6th and 7th grade, and found it to be too spiral. We are switching to Dennison Pre Algebra for 8th grade.
I was also not consistent with the not consumed reading journal. 😬 whoops haha. I’ll try again next year. I was looking into the Imitation in writing but I worry it might be too advanced for my 3rd grader. I feel like he needs more instruction on just writing good sentences first so I was thinking of using Evan Moor write a super sentence and 6 trait writing. I really want to switch into Phonetic Zoo for my upcoming 3rd grader but I think he needs one more level of All About Spelling (3) for it to be a more seamless transition. I’m going to try to audio record myself reading some of it out loud to make it more like Phonetic Zoo. I did that at the end of the year and he did it SO much quicker than if I was sitting there reading it…of course 😂. A miss for us this year was Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind level 2. Level 1 the previous year went fine but I just never stayed consistent with it and we are switching to Grammar Galaxy next year.
When your oldest was 3rd grade, did you do formal science/history? I heard you say your 3rd grader now was doing history but I wasn’t sure if that’s just because he has older siblings doing it too. I feel like we have so much next year yet not enough. 😩 I don’t have a formal science or history but was thinking of doing unit studies instead that should include those topics….IF I can keep myself consistent on that. 😅
When my oldest was 3rd grade we did not focus on history or science. We focused on Language Arts and Math, and then did mostly read aloud for history and nature walk for science. So, my youngest mostly sits in on our history read aloud, and sometimes does a narration illustration after we read. He also watched some documentary and RUclips videos with us, but I didn't make him do more than that :)
@@JoyfulNoiseLivingthat makes me feel so much better! 😅 Do you have a video on good read alouds for history for that age? We’ve done all the little house books. History was never my thing so I’m not sure how to include a little here and there without just following a curriculum.
The reading journal from Not Consumed looked so cool but was also a miss for my 4th grade son. I shelved it for when my daughter gets older, I think she will love it. For my son, I’m using Wendy’s @PlanPrepPray reading list sheets, it just the title, author, and then a star rating that he actually likes to do. Plus an oral narration. And the same thing happened, he started reading more 😅
We made a similar decision for math for my 7th grade girl. She was using a very spiral math and was losing confidence, so we switched mid-year to Denison pre-algebra. She now says she loves it and is doing very well. She also loves being more independent. 😊
That's great! I'm so thankful we found it :)
Denison is fantastic!
Yay! Good to hear!
Thank you for your transparency. It’s one of the reasons I come to your channel! Also have you tried Precious People by Peaceful Press for ancient history? I know your kiddos are older, but my 5th grader has liked Kind Kingdom. I just beefed it up some with more narrations, but we’ve liked their stuff!
We never did Precious People, but I bet it's awesome! I just did the Playful Pioneers and Kind Kingdom. I think I did Sonlight and AGF and made my own books list during the year we would have done PP. :) A Peaceful Press is so good!
Thanks for sharing!!
Hello there!
IEW was a good challenge, but always a hit for my oldest two! My oldest son just graduated Grace as a HS Senior, and I credit his success with their dual enrollment program to the IEW investment in our homeschool years!
Question? I have always been interested in the IEW Fit It Grammar, but it is a little pricy, esp with the teacher materials. Do you only buy the student supplies, or both student and teacher supplies? Do you think it is worth the investment esp for the lower levels?
I have been on the fence to try Denison math, thanks for the recommendation.
Many thanks!
Prayers for you and your family to keep enjoying your summer break!🎉
Thanks so much, Charity!! I have gotten the teacher book for Fix It grammar, I really don't use it much except when I'm not sure about something, then I check it. You probably could get by just using the student book, but only if you are confident in your own grammar skills :)
Do you have a link for the world view book? :)
😊
Hi❤ love your content all the time:) I have an unrelated question.. when you plan your days or your weeks, do you add your kids chores on your to do list??
I don’t write out every chore on their list! I have a separate list for those, I have a dry erase board I write our routine for the day on, and on there I write “Morning Jobs” which is their chores, or “Friday Blessings” which is their friday clean the house chores
@JoyfulNoiseLiving thank you:)
Where did you get it and what was the name of the fairy tale writing?
Didnt you try out BJU lress math?
Oh my gosh!! You are right! I had forgotten about it 😂 I dropped it early on because I noticed it was going to be a repeat of the level she just did with Saxon. I may have mentioned it in a quarterly update video in the Fall… but it had slipped my mind 😅
When you say my child read 23 books. Do you count audiobooks?
Yes! We count audiobooks, at least for now! :)
@@JoyfulNoiseLiving That takes so much pressure off of me lol 💕
How do I look at the planner
I did a flip-through video that you can watch here: ruclips.net/video/fSLTmCIY4jE/видео.html