HOMESCHOOL CURRICULUM I'LL NEVER USE AGAIN | CURRICULUM THAT DIDN'T WORK FOR US | HOW TO HOMESCHOOL
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- čas přidán 24. 04. 2022
- In today's video I'm sharing some homeschool curriculum that we'll never use again! Over the past 9 years of homeschooling, we've tried lots of curriculum and these are some of the things that just didn't work out for us! I thought it might be helpful to hear my opinion and experience with these curriculum choices. Make sure you check out my ENTIRE homeschooling playlist here: • Playlist
God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. (Ps. 46:5)
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Hi! I’m Becky, a stay-at-home-mom/homeschooling mom/work-at-home mom of two girls. I love making videos about mom-life, homeschooling, Disney World, homeschool curriculum and routines, mom-life and more! While you're here, please subscribe to my channel, it's free!: / aplacetonest
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HOMESCHOOL CURRICULUM I'LL NEVER USE AGAIN | CURRICULUM THAT DIDN'T WORK FOR US | HOW TO HOMESCHOOL
#homeschoolmom #homeschooling #homeschool #homeschoolfamily #homeschoolcurriculum #homeschoolcurriculumreview #curriculumreview #howtohomeschool - Jak na to + styl
This was so interesting to me because almost every single curriculum you didn’t like is on my “favorites” list. I even did a YT video on it. 😅 That just shows how families and people are so different. You really just have to see what works for you. ❤️
Right?! I love IEW and especially Apologia.
I felt the same way! We absolutely love TGTB Science & I thoroughly enjoy teaching Science. I understand what she's saying about the history with TGTB as well except that's what we like. I find History a tough subject to keep my kids interested in at times, so an entire year on one period of time or one subject makes it worse. If you use all 4 years, you hit on everything. We are using Apologia Biology for my 9th grader next year. I hope we like it. I love, love, love Science, so hopefully I'll feel differently than she does.
I agree!
I love the TGTB Science. We are using IEW with better success than any other program. My 3rd grade granddaughter LOVES History with Notgrass My Star Spangled Story.
I do think Apologia is overwhelming with the elementary books. I did like the middle and high school apologia science except Chemistry because I didn’t understand it at all.
Thank you for your honesty! So many of the homeschool you tube personalities are just selling these days. I appreciate that you keep your channel real.
I ordered All About Spelling as our first ever homeschool curriculum and once I opened the book I was completely overwhelmed. I immediately switched to Memoria Press’s spelling program is it is very open and go, not super teacher intensive, and self-explanatory. We love it. I try to focus heavy on using my time to teach them math, reading and language. Everything else I try to keep very hands-off on my end unless they ask for help.
Love this video wish a lot of people did this video cause it’s true we hear how well these curriculum work and why they love them but never know why them don’t work ❤!!! Thanks I appreciate it
This was a great video. Thank you for this helpful perspective on quiet a few curriculums I've had my eye on over the years!
Really appreciated this as I’m looking for next year’s curriculum… Thank you again for your honesty! It really did help. :) - Michelle
Thank you so much for this review! I 100% agree with your perspective on Apologia and was considering Notgrass before now. 😬
As a homeschooler of 9 years, I have tried every single one of the curricula that you mentioned, and I can vouch that you are 100% accurate! I have never seen a more honest and accurate review! My kids despise Notgrass. The books are so inviting and beautiful, but they hate them and learned nothing.I will say Spelling You See really helped one of my kids and I’m fixing to use it again, but we all hated All About Spelling. Apologia gets boring focusing on one subject every day. Great review!!!! So accurate!!!
I really enjoyed this! I tend to get overwhelmed with wordy curriculum as well. I tend to skip through some things because of that. I really love a very simple and to the point layout.
This was very helpful! You hit some points I didn’t think about. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for this video! I no longer feel guilty for letting go of AAS and Spelling You See. They just were not working. I am a huge fan of AAR though 😊
This video is amazing!! You had the exact same thoughts I had on some & answered questions I had about a few others!
Regarding history, I have only a comment from my older daughter who was home schooled years ago. She said, "history is the same every year; the only difference is the print gets smaller". LOL. She now uses Argo Prep with her kids. It's colorful and gives students just the mini facts about people and places in history/social studies. Honestly it's all kids need in her opinion. She adds to the daily lessons with videos she finds on youtube.
The best thing about homeschooling curriculum is there are so many choices and so many ways to use them, and like you said, (paraphrasing here) what might not work for you might work for someone else. It's just sometimes we have to really try a bunch before we find what works. That might not be fun, but just because something works/doesn't work for one doesn't mean that it will be the same for you. Each individual is different. 🙂
There are a lot of homeschool videos out there but I look forward to your videos and opinions. I find that we have a lot of similarities and I was so glad to see this video pop up. Thank you for giving your thoughts on IEW. I completely agree. We appreciate you taking time to give us your truthful opinions on curriculum 📚!
I so much enjoyed your video. You and I think so much alike. While reading over and over again of previews/samples of all of those curriculums in the past, I’d come across about the same thoughts you said. SPELLING-I love Evan-Moor, and my son isn’t a very good speller, but he’s fallen in love with Evan-Moor and he tells me it’s his favorite subject now. Before, I’d never imagine he’d ever tell me that. And surprisingly, his spelling is doing better. HISTORY-I couldn’t find a curriculum I liked. I ended up buying a 2nd grade textbook (thru BJU-3rd edition), which has super short paragraphs in chronological order, and I use it as a timeline to guide me. Then, I add living books throughout each chapter. My best friend thinks so high on IEW, I’ve wondered if I should use that in the future, but with my son’s personality, and style, I don’t think he’ll enjoy it. SCIENCE--I’ve thought how most science curriculums are so boring. When my children enter high school, they will need the understanding with complexity, but for elementary? Nope, instead they need to fall in love with science. So, I actually designed my own science curriculums the past two years, by using the Charlotte Mason method. I’m using lots of living books and doing lots of outdoor exploring. Anyways, thanks so much for sharing!
I am so glad I found your channel. I have been looking up reviews on curriculum for three months. This year will be our first year and my twins are starting first grade. I am so glad you covered the AAS, I don't want to overwhelm them. One of the twins struggled so much last year.
See if you can find any books by Raymond Moore at your library 😊
I really appreciate the way you reviewed these curricula. Some have worked for us and other not, but you clearly explained how and why they did not work for you. By hearing that so clearly laid out, it helped me see what would work for us. That might seem like a backwards perspective but I found it quite helpful. I’ve subscribed to your channel and appreciate your honest and clear reviews!
Thanks for sharing this video. Don’t have kids yet. But looking into future curriculums since I’ve decided I don’t like what is being taught in public school these days
Good thinking! I wish often that I had done the research and prep before my kids were school aged. Oh well. Glad we're here now, but I hope you can get a good head start!
Thank you for letting us know your opinion about these curriculums. I understand what you said about TGTB History skipping some parts and coming back to it in History 2, and so on. Having said, we absolutely LOVE the TGTB History. We love it because it is not boring, you learn history in a more personal way. It’s like you “live” the history. It also has the book list for each of the units and again, is like living the history.
We also love their Science units. Beautiful, fun lessons with great information, and we love the student’s journal. These curriculums are even better to do when you are teaching more than 1 child (which is my case) it’s taught as a family, and everyone, no matter the age learns and gets to do activities according to their age/level.
This video is exactly what I was looking for because of your honesty and because these homeschool curriculum reviews on CZcams have become more of a selling review instead of a true raw opinion of the product, thank you so much for making this video, please continue to make more and what you're going to use for your kids curriculum going forward.
I'm so glad! :)
I'm in the research phase of beginning homeschooling & choosing curriculum that works for my upcoming 4th grader. The pandemic really set her back & I don't feel like public school is serving the purpose the public was under the impression it was supposed to. This video has been really helpful & informative, as a lot of things you described as far as learning styles & how she best receives information, described her perfectly. I had almost decided I was definitely going to go with TGTB, mainly b/c I'm nervous starting out this first year & I felt like an all together boxed kit curriculum would give me a starting place & we could adjust as we go along. I appreciate you sharing your thoughts & what it was exactly that you DIDN'T like about each one!
I’m a new subscriber to your channel because of this honest video! Thank you for this, I feel the same way about some of these curriculums and I’m glad I’m not alone 😂 I went back and watched your 6th grade curriculum end of year review and loved that too! Looking forward to future tips on homeschool!
Hi and welcome! I’m so glad my videos have been helpful! Thanks for being part of my CZcams family! ❤️
Totally agree about the GandB science - and history. We ditched the history because it was too long and boring and I’m looking into video taught sciences to free up my time this next school year. Nice points!
Your review of IEW is why we chose to go with EIW and I am so thankful for that. My daughter is doing extremely well with it. I even signed up for the grading service because I knew that wasn’t a strong suit for me.
what's the difference between the two?
@@MMMM-xc5yc We found IEW too dry and repetitive. EIW allowed for my daughter to express creativity and individuality with her writing.
Great video and interesting perspective. It definitely depends on the learner which curriculum is the better fit. We tried AAS but quickly shelved it. It was too complex, time-consuming and due to dialect there were too many sound/letter rules that didn't work for us. I also swore I wouldn't use a spelling program that was meaningless word activities followed by a test like I saw in schools. Luckily my daughter is a natural speller so I found we didn't need to do a spelling program at all. We have used a bit of IEW and found it did develop some good skills but I wouldn't want to use it all the time. I am thinking of using it again next year (we are using WriteShop this year and it is good) but break it up with freewrites and other writing activities to feed the creative side. I always find curriculum picks and review videos interesting to watch and this video was particularly informative.
Loved this video! Thank you for your honesty.
Regarding the good and the beautiful science, I got together with a friend of mine who also homeschools and we meet once a week and do one lesson together. We take turns teaching the lessons and it also gives all the kids a chance to be together and they love it. It makes it much more doable and fun and not all on one person to do it.
Thats awesome!
This was so very helpful, thank you! I'm considering pulling my 5 kids out of public school and I'm a bit overwhelmed... time to go binge your channel. 😂
I want to as well. I'm thinking of gateway. What isaking you decide?
What is your main reason for consideringhomeschool? If it's personal, I understand, just wondered your reason.
I found this so interesting because I came to the same conclusion with Notgrass, TGTB, IEW, and All About Reading- none of these worked for my family.. We have kept All About Spelling because it worked well for all of my kids.
We’ve been using our star spangled story by Notgrass and have really enjoyed it. We’ve stretched it out over several years. My only thought is how or what we then transition to to study world history.
I clicked on this video because I was curious about what you would say about All About Spelling. It's been a Godsend this year for my son with dysgraphia who is also a rule-follower. Knowing the rules and even the rule-breakers has been awesome for him. That being said, giving up on a curriculum because it's "too much" seems pretty common among homeschoolers. At first glance I thought AAS was going to be overwhelming for us until I realized they recommended 15 minutes a day, get through whatever you can. I started to realize AAS was one of those super comprehensive curricula where no one is going to do ALL the things and parents can pick and choose how much reinforcement their child needs. At least that was my interpretation. A friend of mine advised me to get the AAS app when I started using it, and it was the best advice ever. We never use the physical alphabet tiles and I rarely pull out any of the different rule cards unless I really feel like something needs to be emphasized for my son. I set a 15 minute timer for spelling and we've made huge progress all year. But I can see how it wouldn't be a good fit for parents who don't have the time or interest in customizing or skipping over redundancies.
I agree with you. We love AAS and we don't use the tiles. The app is fantastic!
We do most of what they lay out, especially the tiles. I can't imagine doing anything else. All About Reading was a lifesaver for us, and All About Spelling goes with it so well.
I agree with everything you wrote here. My youngest loves it and my middle child enjoys games to learn spelling.
I have a dyslexic child, all about reading and all about spelling are amazing for her.
You articulated my response to every video I’ve seen explaining why families have walked away from a curriculum. I’ll be buying TGATB and I’ll be prepared to revisit or skip as suits. We tend to be VERY flexible under this roof. Btw for my daughter’s dysgraphia I put characters/numbers on labels so she can complete work without writing by hand. It’s been a game changer. Handed her the new TGATB tile app and discovered she can spell, it is just writing that is the problem.
Awe! I love Notgrass, specifically “Our Star Spangled Story” was so good for elementary ages and read aloud together. It followed an historical individual’s story and very much reminded me of the importance of “living books.” Also love IEW. I wish I would have learned how to do research with Key Word Outlines. Makes it so much easier.
Super helpful Becky! Thank you, I am planning to use AAR this year and I wondered if AAS would be too much!
It was for us. You will love AAR though!
I wouldn't use AAS for my kids who don't struggle with spelling, but it was extremely helpful for my kiddo who does struggle with it. For my other kids they did much better with the Evan Moor spelling that Becky was talking about.
That's why I love TGTB history. I would be sad to spend a whole year in medieval times.
Aww we love iew! We have used the themed books so far and next year we are doing sss video programs. My daughter is already very used to it and enjoys it. I agree with you apologia! Too wordy!
I like hearing your opinion on these curriculum.
I never did TGTB science because it was so involved. I eventually just gave it to my 5th grader and she’s been doing units on her own ever since 👍😁.
Rod and Staff science and history is super simple and to the point...it may be something you would like.
Finishing up our 10th year homeschooling, with 6 kids ages to 16 and you are literally saying everything i did!! We are ending our 2nd year of CC and one used everything you mentioned and wasted sooooo much time!! I had the same compliments you mentioned as well.
I am really looking forward to using gather round this fall for the bulk of our subjects. I live in a heavily homeschool state, quarterly reports, tests etc. I also love lamp and light minimalist homeschool
We used 1 lesson out of notgrass American history and didn't even do the activity 🤣 it was way too boring for us. We used story of the world cds and listened to them over and over. Going to continue doing that for car trips but actually switched to Sonlight for history which I'm really hoping goes well! And thanks for so many great videos you played a large part in my choosing BJU for science, English, reading and I grabbed their handwriting!
All about spelling and reading is just too much this and that so I actually got Spelling you see which I have seen tons of negative reviews but purchased used for a good deal. Hoping it goes well also lol I literally changed EVERYTHING for next year! PRAYING IM NOT KICKING MYSELF COME THE FIRST 6 WEEKS 🤣🤣🤣 Also thanks for the tidbit on the returning of notgrass I have been trying to sell it and no one is interested so I'm going to return it too! 😀 *sorry for the book of a comment* 😆🤪
My son did IEW via Classical Conversations for 3 years. It's design was not creative writing. Nevertheless, through the rubrics and introduction of the dress-ups, I actually saw it transfer to my son's own creative writing. Like, he really did own it. I think that was because he had plenty of unstructured time following the structured IEW time. He produced sentences that varied, included dress ups and just added personality into his writing. I say that just to say that it definitely is possible to use it and still reap the benefits when you creative write. But, no, it does not teach creative writing.
I am extremely grateful that you were so honest about everything. I feel like so many homeschool channels now are all about promoting a product and I never get the real nitty gritty from the mom. Mainly because she's too focused on building up her channel instead of really serving the homeschool community honestly. Thank you for being so candid and open about your personal experiences with these curriculums.
This was encouraging. Apologia science unfortunately never works for our elementary students. I love your channel by the way. I’m subscribed through my personal channel but now subscribing through my own. We also started a channel and right now it’s mainly about homeschooling. And I love getting encouragement from videos like yours. Love that I can actually connect through CZcams now that we have a channel. Lol.
Thank you so much!
I just came to say we love IEW just because it's so organized. You could say it's not aimed at children that are creative writers and find writing easier - although my homeschool friend has a daughter who is a published author already and they follow IEW strictly for the structure it offers.
My son is a very reluctant writer and creative writing is his undoing. For him, IEW is working perfectly. I saw him gain more confidence in writing because he now knows the steps to follow in order to write. Writing for us ended up in tears, now he is capable of writing a couple of paragraphs on his own without staring at the white paper and becoming panicky.
I love the format of it and the step-by-step information.
For more creative writers, that like their freedom and don't care so much about structure, form, and style at this point, Bravewriter or something similar makes more sense.
Writing was my weakest subject in school because it felt so subjective. I would have loved to have someone give me a steuctured step by step guide to write by. Now teaching my kids I've been the most intimidated to teaching writing and am planning to do IEW specifically because it is so structured and my kids have so far been very reluctant writers as well.
@@otterheart3844 I was the same way. Now I’m going on 10 years of homeschooling and have been using IEW this entire time. It’s fool proof. And you can make it soooo simple and basic. Until they get the concept! I don’t know how I made it through college without IEW 😊. I love using it!
We love IEW! My son is very creative, but he needs structure as well.
I like when history skips like that! I am already bored of a whole year on ancients I want a break something new! 😆 I won't use tgatb too though, different reasons
Wow. Definately don't agree on everything. While IEW is rough, i get that they are teaching HOW TO WRITE before creative writing. Apologia. After nine years of homeschooling I am all in for Apologia despite not all of the religious aspects lining up with our beliefs. We can listen to the textbook, listen while reading for older ones, do the preboxes experiments that match the EXACT calendar of our co-op. Love it! Third, All About Spelling! LOVE IT! I learned so much. Their app is amazing, Loved it so much I switched our reading to ALL ABout reading which is even better! I do understand that each family and child has their vibe though. Just putting this out there for people considering using any of these curricula. So many people love MathUSee so I tried that first and it did not go well. We have used Singapore Math (Primary Mathematics) for seven years now and love it! To each his own I guess.
Thanks for sharing. My kids are not good with alot of wordy curriculum and this helped.
We tried Notgrass OSSS and only made it halfway. I found we enjoyed the literature books but even I wasn’t retaining the information from the textbook. We are much happier with Story of the World. We also tried Apologia Young Explorers Series a couple times with me reading to the kids. I couldn’t stand the writing style and they hated it. We switched to the audiobook and now they enjoy it. I have them listen to only 5-10 minutes a day while coloring in the junior notebook. We also could not manage either All About Reading and All about Spelling. We dropped the spelling and are making All About Reading work for a couple. My other 2 switched to 100 easy lessons and were happier.
Thank you for reviewing IEW, that sounds painful and exactly what my son would hate
Wow I agree with most of them! I also had bought the GB birds unit and it was a bit too much to do since my 3rd grader was interested in reading and doing other science and I have other children. I gave the program away to a friend with only one child who actually loves birds and he is enjoying it. Apología I use for older grades than recommended when they are more independent and can do/read more on their own. But for the little grades I do not use. Thank you for this video!!! It made me feel not so alone 😛
Thank you for sharing why it didn’t work for you - I agree with Notgrass-wanted to love it. Each kid and parent is so different 😉 and for us some of those didn’t work but some helped so much -for example IEW work for my son who wished all things were numbers😂 no imagination- but he came up with some very creative papers with IEW
We are so much alike! I'd love to see what you do love to replace tge things you don't love! My son picked Notgrass World Geography for next year 9th grade, and it does look SO loooonnnggg. But he loves to read and loves history, so we will see!
I agree with some of these, some we haven’t used. Regarding TGTB science-they are so beautiful but yes heavily parent taught and I want the experiments to come in a kit right there ready for me & I feel like our experiments always go wrong no matter what curriculum I’m using😅🤦🏻♀️
The good thing about experiments is if I am remembering correctly, they have videos so sometimes you can watch the experiments.
I love Notgrass My Star Spangled Story. And we LOVE TGTB Science so much! Notgrass history is my 4th grader’s favorite subject. She begs for just one more lesson.
I think the Notgrass high school history curriculum is good, but agree with you about the elementary level. We love Apologia though. My son eats Science up so he loves it!
We have tried every curriculum you have listed except for The Good and the Beautiful. I agreen with everything you said. I paid an insane amount of money for Notgrass America the Beautiful and then they revamped the entire curriculum so I couldn't return it. I loved the idea of it but it was so boring.
Aren't these the hardest videos to create? I love that we can tune into fellow homeschool YT channels and gain insight on these topics.
Thank you for sharing this.
I purchased IEW last year and ended up returning it, because I couldn’t even figure out how to use it.
My daughter is currently doing Notgrass (World History-high school), and she wants to go back to Abeka for the next grade level.
Thanks for your insight 🙂
ETA: we tried Apologia science for 7th grade, and we did not like that either!! We have similar opinions from the looks of it haha!
I've had IEW for three years now and I've never figured out how it works. Not user friendly in the slightest.
I liked TGATB science.... until I realized that I'm limited and realistically don't have the time to prep so much for so many subjects.
We're switching to an online science in the near future.
I appreciate that this was informative and brief and honest. Most of these are the super popular curricula that so many people use. So I feel it’s brave and honest to say- they aren’t always great and they definitely aren’t perfect. I appreciate when people go against the norm and tell the truth😉
I appreciate that this wasn’t SO long and wordy too! So many curriculum review videos are 30min+ - I just don’t have time for that! I skip a lot and look at the description box 😅
We found Notgrass to be very text heavy. Switched to Mystery of History and we love it
I relate so much to this 🤣🤣 haven't used some of them but honestly think I won't hearing your thoughts. I think my son is very similar to your youngest in his learning.
I love Saxon Math but my kids hated it. I tried so hard for them to love it but it was killing their love for math.
We really enjoyed Notgrass for middle then loved US History Detective (short 2 page,colorful,about 8 questions on end). We pieced together English and did use Fix it Grammar, then found other Lit books and used Essentials in writing…switching now to TGATB done piecing lol. Now…..your faves??
Im not a fan of apologia , I thought maybe I was the only one haha, I feel like everyone Loves it. We tried it twice for a short time and it just wast for us.
I absolutely hate it.😢
I actually think we will like TGATB history for the exact reason you disliked it - going chronologically through history is painful for us!! History is the one subject I’m always slacking on. I did just buy the Notgrass history curriculum and now I’m wondering if it was the best way to go. Maybe I’m about to discover their return policy for myself lol.
I loved this video. It’s so helpful to know why something didn’t work for a specific homeschool family, because the same reason you disliked something might be the exact reason it’s a good fit for another family. Thanks again!
We dont go chronologically either. My kids start by talking about their own history, then our family history and history of the area we live, now my eldest homeschoolers are 13 and 11 and they do theirs independently, they just research and learn about historical events or people they are interested in
This is why my family likes it too. The other way got so boring and dragged on all year!
I also prefer this method as well!! Building on bite sized knowledge is helpful for us.
New subscriber! I will try to search myself later, but I agree completely with your thoughts on IEW & Apologia science!! Apologia worked great for my oldest daughter too but this past year we tried it with my 8th grade daughter and I feel like we wasted the year. She didn’t like it and didn’t learn. What science would you suggest for her as I look for her 9th grade year?? And what writing program? TIA!!!
I’ve been using Notgrass 50 States curriculum and we love it for learning about the states. However, I prefer living books for history. My kids absorb more of the information and enjoy a good book.
Any recommendations?
thank you for the video. i don't think i would mind the skipping around of history, but the problem is if you don't go back to that same curriculum, you may have gaps and then be in a bit of a sore spot, imho.
One of my absolute favorite curriculums is Spelling Wisdom. My son finally doesn't whine and cry about spelling. His spelling skills have advanced very well and quickly.
If you are interested in a Waldorf homeschool experience, Waldorf Essentials is a a great option.
Notgrass 50 States was so dry I wanted to cry, we pulled through it though. We didn't try the other products, so maybe just the 50 states one wasn't a good fit. We also tried language arts, science, and math from The Good and the Beautiful. Not a good fit as well. We tried other curriculum and finally settled on a good main foundation and able to add in as needed. One of the perks of learning at home is the ability to cater to your kiddos learning style, so using a mixture works best for mine.
We never made it past Mid-Atlantic region. It's painfully boring.
Thank you for this helpful video
Liked and subscribed! Very interesting 👍
I am using IEW and i think it’s a wonderful method but like you said my daughter hates it and she’s very creative too - i also agree for Apologia ( very wordy ). I’m curious to see what you switched to since it sounds like our daughters are similar in taste ..
Spot on
So what do you use for History, Science, and Writing?
Thank you! This is a great review. I felt the same about many of those curricula.
Notgrass.. It checked a lot of boxes such as Christian worldview, appealing, but not engaging nor memorable…. TGATB history - I found that the biblical part of ancient history had errors, so we could not use it. We used a lot of IEW, but I won’t use it again with my up and coming child because my older kids are very wordy in their writing and sometimes they need to be more precise and to the point in writing. JMO TFS your review!
what will you use instead of IEW?
@@peachy_reina I plan on using The Wordsmith series for my youngest son for writing in addition to his regular ELA studies. He will start Wordsmith Apprentice this year - Fall 2022. He’s already excited about newspapers, what’s in them, and writing. My oldest children who used mostly IEW did get into the Wordsmith Craftsman book towards the end of their high school years and I was impressed with the first assignments that got them thinking about how they spend their time, time management, and goal setting.
Please do a video on your favorites
Maybe you can do an assessment to see if your daughter and you as teacher are mostly right-brained or left-brained. It would help avoid to some obvious curriculum choices right off the bat each year and help you plan if you each learn a different way. I feel so bad when I hear things do not work out because homeschooling adds up.
Notgrass 50 states was returned. We tried it once and it wasn’t interesting enough for us and I couldn’t figure out when to do it. TGATB science is just ok. We love Gather Round unit studies for us history and science! IEW looks way too much for my son, we do EIW and he loves it!
Thanks for posting
No problem!
Hello! Do you have any recommendations for 1st grade curriculums? We are doing kindergarten now, but my son will be doing 1st grade in the fall, and there are so many different curriculums out there, I'm not sure how to choose? I'm still trying to learn everything and get the hang of it all as well. Can i also ask, what does your homeschool schedule look like day to day and what do you use to record your hours? I'm sorry, I don't mean to ask so many questions. I'm just trying to do the best I can for my son so that I know what I'm doing is what's best for him 🖤
There are several videos in my homeschooling playlist about what we did in 1st grade: czcams.com/play/PL2ViP1vFsZemGJkdk-DLivrIvoVinPq2p.html As for recording hours, I learned very quickly not to do that. I used to literally make my daughter "clock in and out" and it stressed everybody out. In a homeschool setting, it would be nearly impossible to school for 6-7 hours per day, especially in the younger years. Now that my oldest is in high school, but taking college classes, she works that long but my little one doesn't. We just keep daily attendance and make sure that all subjects are being taught daily, or several times a week.
Thanks for this assessment. I felt the same way about the Notgrass History. I wanted to love it but my kids were so bored with it. They love Story of the World because it tells great stories. What did you decide to use for US History? I also felt the same about All About Spelling. It was so much information especially when using All About Reading. My crew is "liking" IEW for writing. I get what you are saying with the creative aspect. However, this is the first year that we aren't having tears and panic attacks. Also, what do you use for Science? I think my kids would like hands-on stuff but I don't want to spend hours shopping around for items to do labs.
same for Notgrass History...I got it based on so many positive reviews but my daughter hated it and does not want anything from this company :) we used it for world history and now I need to figure out US history....not sure where to look :(
We loved "Story of the World" for a time and it's still tempting to go back to sometimes. We use(d) BJU Press History for U.S. History and we love it, too! We also use BJU Press for science. They do have labs but check Home Science Tools for lab kits. They sell kits with everything you need to complete a level of BJU Science. If you don't want labs at all, look into A.C.E. science. I'm not sure about their upper level science but their lower levels don't have experiments that I'm aware of.
I feel the exact same way about IEW.
I agree with Notgrass history.
Was considering IEW. Thank you for your honest review! May I ask what you use for writing?
We use BJU Press English and it teaches grammar and writing so we don't necessarily need to add anything else. That being said, if you're looking for something a bit less expensive or user-friendly, I'd recommend Evan Moor's "Daily 6 Trait Writing" and Spectrum "Writing."
Check out EIW.
We stopped using a lot of these same curriculums for the same exact reasons.
We are dropping TGAB after we finish up the ones I have. We may not even do them. I loved Human Body, but Marine Bio was ok and Arthropods is just horrible. I also love to have History chronological and have loved doing Story of the World. IEW seems to have bored my daughter so we switched to themed units for next year. What did you switch to?
Unschooling is an amazing option too. No curriculum needed
We didn't like Notgrass at all. It took a long time to get through it each day and it was so dry and boring. My son did not like All About Reading at all. It was too many steps for him and he got bored with it quickly. He does love All About Spelling. So far, he remembers the rules.
Agreed on IEW. Agreed on Apologia. I love Apologia but it is overwhelmingly thick. I am using the Good and Beautiful science as a co-op teacher as I have to be engaged as a teacher. I agree; I would not use it at home.
When you say you quit IEW, was it the themed writing units or the style/structure video lessons?
I was referring to style/structure.
What do you use for Science and Writing?
Thanks for sharing! Can I ask what you use for science now please? TIA. X
I am interested in this also, looking for a more independent science
I have several recommendations for that: BJU Press science of A.C.E. science.
I use Abeka for Math, Language, and spelling. So far this is working.
I hear lots of good things about Abeka but we've never used them.
Haha, your reasons for hating TGAB history is why we like it 😂 same for the science!
I agree with IEW. Too much for us and kids hated it.
All about spelling was the same way for us!
I don't use a set curriculum for any subjects, the only one I loosely use is Harbor and sprout.
History- I start with my kids own history, then our family history, then I let them learn about whatever history topic or person THEY are interested in, eg my 11 year old has learnt all about The Victorian Era, Henry 8th, Amelia Earhart, Ancient Greece, Cleopatra etc and she dives into independently, she's interested in what she's learning about so it sticks better.
I did history at school and the only two things I remember any facts about, were the Romanovs and the Holocaust. Everything else I found boring, just like my kids find some parts of history not as interesting as others. And by deep diving into specific events or people they learn about other things as well, eg Amelia earhart she also learnt about early Aviation, America at the time she was alive, or king Henry, she learnt about life in the middle ages, it all connects in one way or another. But I will add I'm in nz where we are free to not do history at all if we don't want to, and there is no scope and sequence for history we have to study.
I love hearing this. I haven't started home schooling yet, but this is more of the approach that makes sense to me, and sounds way more fun! Glad to hear it's working for you!