I had one kid in Denison Pre-Algebra and one kid in Denison Geometry this year. The BEST year of math we've ever had!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Praise the Lord!!!!!!!!!!!
Denison is hands down the best homeschool curriculum that exists! I have homeschooled for many years and used just about everything and Denison is a life changer for sure!!! Glad you found it!!
I’ve said this on some of your other videos, but my son is just like yours, and your comment about learning to teach a child who is different than your others rings true for me as well! I related to your comments on writing, because we only made it half way through IEW this year because it was so much…for him and for me! Every day, long lessons, taking the creativity out of it, we just couldn’t do any more. Next year we are trying Essentials in Writing, which looks gentler and much shorter lessons, but still teaches writing in a formulaic way, if that makes sense. Thanks for your great review on your year!
I usually do not comment but I was impressed to. My son is like yours I have had to switch up things for him and am excited to say that Beowulf curriculum is awesome for an overwhelmed child. Their language arts along with grammar is awesome. My son came to me and gave me a hug and said thank you for this curriculum. Also for my our writing curriculum we have found Writing Rhetoric to be so much fun took my two older son and grandson to wanting to do it first. Writing Rhetoric allows for so much creativity. We started with the first book for our jr. high and high schooler. I never learned how to write like this and who knows I might have enjoyed writing as a kid. Do not let the grade levels fool you. Thank you for sharing ❤
It's so refreshing to hear someone share how different girls and boys are. I have 3 boys and man, do I feel YOUR pain right now. I definitely shed so many tears this past year and am STILL trying to find that perfect fit on a few different subjects. ❤️ You'll find what works for you and just know you're not alone. 🙏
I appreciate this so much because I have a girl first and I am glad to know to possibly expect something very different from what I have been doing with my daughter the last five years when my son gets to school age.😊
I taught that same state history book two different years at our homeschool co-op. We live in Missouri, so we did the MO version, but I felt it was pretty good!
We have had the same struggles with CLE and my 7 year old son. It’s a solid program, but it’s torture for my squirmy son and me too honestly because I have to sit beside him through all of the lesson, including the independent section and just constantly prompting him to continue. And we’re using CLE for math, language arts, and reading 😵💫 I’m definitely trying something different next year. Looking forward to seeing what you pick for your upcoming 3rd grade son next year!
Me too! I am so grateful. Seriously, for 3 or 4 years our math experience was horrible. My daughter didn't want to learn from me, hated Teaching Textbooks, couldn't deal with how slow Math U See moved. We were doing OK with some workbooks, but it was overall a mess. Dennison pre-algebra has completely changed her tune and I am so proud of her. She did her last lesson today, and will be studying for her final test next week!
Wr used Biblioplan Ancients this year as well. My 9th graders did use the high school Consider the Years and said it was the best history they’ve ever used. It was very similar to what we learned every week (3rd-6th), just a little bit deeper. We also used God’s Design Life (3rd-6th) and loved it. They learned so much! CLE language arts (1st, 2nd, 5th) was great too!
Apologia has wonderful audio recordings that go with each textbook!!! They are amazing and lifesavers! If you do use them again get the audio recordings!!!!
This was great! When we did Who is God? we approached it as a dinner time reading activity as a family. Instead of trying to do it as part of our school day, we just made it a family discussion activity and didn't stress about finishing a lesson. We just picked up where we left off the next day. That was a really cool way to do it.
We've tried many writing programs for my creative writer. Your list sounds like mine! Then we found The Creative Writer from Well-Trained Mind, and we stayed with it. We're on the second book and are still going strong (is it OK to cheer or does that jinx it?). The exercises are engaging and relate to real writing. We've been very happy with it.
Yes, Denison was a game changer for us, too! We are trying the MB Astronomy for my rising 9th grader (he loves stargazing!) next year. Your top is so cute on you! 💛
My son did CLE for math and Language arts all through elementary (and junior high and has done some for high school ) and one "trick" I found that helped us when he was younger was I alway let him pick a problem to skip. The only rule was he couldn't skip the same type of problem every day. He loved being able to skip a problem he thought would take to long or just made his brain hurt. I also would cross off problems, if there were 3 of the same type of problems, I would cross one or two off provided he could do the first one correctly.
Thank you for sharing. I’m thinking Language Arts for Living Education by Masterbooks might be a good fit for your son. It’s a gentle approach and lessons are shorter. Some people say it’s not “enough”, but I personally think it is. I also do a lot of reading books on different topics and stories with my son so I think that’s also a natural way of learning language arts.
I apologize if you be answered these questions previously 🥴 At what grade did you make the switch from CLE Language Arts? And is there a reason you didn’t keep going with CLE Math? We’re about to start it for 7th grade. Thank you! I appreciate your time 🙏🏻
I think one child went to 7th grade with CLE and the other was around 6th grade. It was mostly bc they wanted a change and I saw something at a convention I really liked, so we switched to Fix It Grammar. I had always heard that CLE was great up through middle school but a lot of people switched before high school, so honestly I just had that in my head and never intended on continuing. I don't think that's a great reason, but that's what was in my brain. lol.
We've had the same exact problem with CTC Math. We've used it for a couple of years and now that my middle schoolers are getting into higher math, I'm not much help to them. I plan on switching to Denison for Algebra.
It really is too bad! The program has such great potential, but if it doesn't work, it doesn't work! I hope Denison is a better fit for you. We're loving it!
We have used Apologia for a LONG time. The elementary sciences were always great for us. However, the middle school years have been a bit much. I am a certified biology teacher in our state. Apologia goes so, so deep into concepts. My oldest did physical science this year and honestly learned things that were more college level, not college prep, actual college level. This has led me to decide to move away from Apologia for her high school years. I am actually shocked to be typing this. I thought we'd stick with Apologia the whole way through.
I'm doing Progeny Press with my 10th grader for The Screwtape Letters! I love the set up! And YES - do NOT assign every thing - LOL! WAY too much! We always do the comprehension questions, I ask him to pick one dig deeper, I cover any literary analysis term questions, and I do ask him at the very end to pick one project to wrap it up. It works nicely. The vocab frustrates my kiddo for some reason, and he is really good at vocab, so we've been skipping that lately.
I felt the same way as you about Write Shop! I expected it to be more independent and student directed than it was. I found it very hard to use, even when I prepared. Also, as a natural writer myself with a linguistically gifted daughter, it just moved too slow. We used Writeshop 1 in 7th grade for a few months and then ditched it. I ended up piecing things together and teaching her without a set curriculum. But this year in 9th, as the papers got more complex, she got impatient with me and needed a better breakdown of some of the steps. I have decided to use Essentials in Writing next year as our base. I will let her combine steps or skip things as needed. I like that its totally student directed and works a lot lik the Dennison stuff (which was amazing for my daughter this year, too.) Also, my daughter was/is a lot like your son in terms of amount of work. She had dysgraphia and also adhd, which play a part for sure!
EIW is one that I've been curious about! Thank you for mentioning that. And I'm so glad I'm not alone with Writeshop. Its one of those curriculums that you don't hear much about so I kinda felt like I was on an island doing this by myself....all wrong too. lol 😂
IEW didn’t work for us either. We stopped before finishing as well. Having 3 kids using it and reading the same thing from each of them was too much. I wanted to read their writing and see their individuality.
We use Teaching Textbooks for math. It'd alot like what you described you are using, but Teaching Textbooks gives you the solution if you get the problem incorrect.
Having used both, I have to say, they are VERY different. Dennison teaches the lesson while the student works the problems with him in their guided notes, on paper. Then they work the problem set in the book, following his exact steps. Then they check and correct their work. He focuses most of the lesson on ONE concept, in a doable chunk, and all the problems relate to that concept. It is more focused, and uses proper math teaching methods and memory devices. He is an extremely well-trained teacher and knows how to explain things so that kids understand and remember. Also, he teaches them study skills, the importance of daily practice, and more. Also, my daughter can speed the videos up, which really helps her ADHD. Teaching Textbooks didn't work for us for a lot of reasons, but with Dennison my daughter doesn't get frustrated and is excelling.
Thank you for the reviews 🙂 I found that the apologia Who is God? is awesome information, but the lessons are very long and the information is deep, so I only read a couple pages each day and talk about it. I'd rather take longer and have my kids absorb the information rather than go too quickly just to stay on the prescribed schedule. Hope that makes sense. It's so difficult to find family subjects that can work for a second grader and sixth grader at the same time! Thank you for the reviews. And yes, this homeschool Mama is ready for a bit of a break!! 😅
We hated CTC math. It's horrible. We spent $150 and wasted it and it set us back because I had to go back with Teaching Textbooks. All my boys are behind so we have to do math in the summer so that my 8th grader can get to 9th ok, and my 9th grader can finish his algebra. I also hated it didn't give you a REAL solution example AND not giving you a second chance if you accidentally input something in wrong.
same! those were my exact same frustrations. I hope they'll fix them, bc it has potential to be a really good program. I hope you find something thats a better fit and you can catch up pretty easily! ♥
Same issue with writing for us. It comes naturally to me but not so much for my math-minded son. I explain what he should have done or how he could improve his writing and he just doesn’t get it. I dislike IEW because of the formulaic way of teaching, but here we are. I think his kind of brain needs to be told exactly what to do. He’s going to do the Advanced U.S. History course, as this will be the bulk of his American Lit. credit. 😩
CLE LA is so advanced I don't think it matters if you take more than a year to complete a level with your son. I've looked at A LOT of LA programs, and it's hands-down my favorite the way they review concepts, especially for elementary students. Denison saved our year, too! That man deserves to be a millionaire!!! I also love how much people are raving about Biblioplan bc I'm planning to do Ancients next year.
I had one kid in Denison Pre-Algebra and one kid in Denison Geometry this year. The BEST year of math we've ever had!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Praise the Lord!!!!!!!!!!!
Amazing!!!! woohoo!
Denison is hands down the best homeschool curriculum that exists! I have homeschooled for many years and used just about everything and Denison is a life changer for sure!!! Glad you found it!!
I wholeheartedly agree! It just works. Love it so much ❤
I totally agree! 🙌
I’ve said this on some of your other videos, but my son is just like yours, and your comment about learning to teach a child who is different than your others rings true for me as well! I related to your comments on writing, because we only made it half way through IEW this year because it was so much…for him and for me! Every day, long lessons, taking the creativity out of it, we just couldn’t do any more. Next year we are trying Essentials in Writing, which looks gentler and much shorter lessons, but still teaches writing in a formulaic way, if that makes sense.
Thanks for your great review on your year!
Thank you for sharing this! I've been considering EIW, so I'm curious about it too!
I usually do not comment but I was impressed to. My son is like yours I have had to switch up things for him and am excited to say that Beowulf curriculum is awesome for an overwhelmed child. Their language arts along with grammar is awesome. My son came to me and gave me a hug and said thank you for this curriculum. Also for my our writing curriculum we have found Writing Rhetoric to be so much fun took my two older son and grandson to wanting to do it first. Writing Rhetoric allows for so much creativity. We started with the first book for our jr. high and high schooler. I never learned how to write like this and who knows I might have enjoyed writing as a kid. Do not let the grade levels fool you. Thank you for sharing ❤
I think you’d love Gather ‘round curriculum! It’s done family style then you buy the age appropriate workbooks to be on each child’s level.
It's so refreshing to hear someone share how different girls and boys are. I have 3 boys and man, do I feel YOUR pain right now. I definitely shed so many tears this past year and am STILL trying to find that perfect fit on a few different subjects. ❤️ You'll find what works for you and just know you're not alone. 🙏
I appreciate this so much because I have a girl first and I am glad to know to possibly expect something very different from what I have been doing with my daughter the last five years when my son gets to school age.😊
Thank you! It really does help to know we're not alone in this....and we WILL get through this and figure it all out! ♥
Denison is the best!!! I’m so glad you gave it a try!
It's so good!
Oh my goodness! We love Denison math too. Best math curriculum choice I ever made.
yes!!!!! 🙌
I taught that same state history book two different years at our homeschool co-op. We live in Missouri, so we did the MO version, but I felt it was pretty good!
Really loved hearing your end of year review!
Thank you!
We are just finishing the 4th book in the Who is God? series. We loved it. We did skip many of the stories.
Math with confidence is amazing and has changed math for us for the elementary years! Then we switch to Denison. Math is finally figured out for us!
CLE reading was great for us. I enjoyed it more than the kids did. Looking forward to Denison math in the fall.
Us too!
We have had the same struggles with CLE and my 7 year old son. It’s a solid program, but it’s torture for my squirmy son and me too honestly because I have to sit beside him through all of the lesson, including the independent section and just constantly prompting him to continue. And we’re using CLE for math, language arts, and reading 😵💫 I’m definitely trying something different next year. Looking forward to seeing what you pick for your upcoming 3rd grade son next year!
Oh man...I'm right there with you friend!!! 😂
Denison has been a game changer for my two 8th graders! ❤️
Me too! I am so grateful. Seriously, for 3 or 4 years our math experience was horrible. My daughter didn't want to learn from me, hated Teaching Textbooks, couldn't deal with how slow Math U See moved. We were doing OK with some workbooks, but it was overall a mess. Dennison pre-algebra has completely changed her tune and I am so proud of her. She did her last lesson today, and will be studying for her final test next week!
That's awesome for both of you! I'm so grateful we found this too!!! total game changer! 🙌
Wr used Biblioplan Ancients this year as well. My 9th graders did use the high school Consider the Years and said it was the best history they’ve ever used. It was very similar to what we learned every week (3rd-6th), just a little bit deeper.
We also used God’s Design Life (3rd-6th) and loved it. They learned so much!
CLE language arts (1st, 2nd, 5th) was great too!
That's so good to hear our child liked consider the years! I just borrowed a copy from a friend to look at!
Apologia has wonderful audio recordings that go with each textbook!!! They are amazing and lifesavers! If you do use them again get the audio recordings!!!!
This was great! When we did Who is God? we approached it as a dinner time reading activity as a family. Instead of trying to do it as part of our school day, we just made it a family discussion activity and didn't stress about finishing a lesson. We just picked up where we left off the next day. That was a really cool way to do it.
That's a great idea! Thank you for sharing!
We've tried many writing programs for my creative writer. Your list sounds like mine! Then we found The Creative Writer from Well-Trained Mind, and we stayed with it. We're on the second book and are still going strong (is it OK to cheer or does that jinx it?). The exercises are engaging and relate to real writing. We've been very happy with it.
Thank you for this! I will check it out!
yes....cheer away!!!! 🙌
Yes, Denison was a game changer for us, too!
We are trying the MB Astronomy for my rising 9th grader (he loves stargazing!) next year.
Your top is so cute on you! 💛
Thank you! ♥
My son did CLE for math and Language arts all through elementary (and junior high and has done some for high school ) and one "trick" I found that helped us when he was younger was I alway let him pick a problem to skip. The only rule was he couldn't skip the same type of problem every day. He loved being able to skip a problem he thought would take to long or just made his brain hurt. I also would cross off problems, if there were 3 of the same type of problems, I would cross one or two off provided he could do the first one correctly.
I am trying to decide on history for Highschool next yr. I need to check out biblioplan.
Your son 😂😂😂
Yes, its a good solid curriculum!
I know...he's a hoot 🙃
Thank you for sharing. I’m thinking Language Arts for Living Education by Masterbooks might be a good fit for your son. It’s a gentle approach and lessons are shorter. Some people say it’s not “enough”, but I personally think it is. I also do a lot of reading books on different topics and stories with my son so I think that’s also a natural way of learning language arts.
Thank you so much for the suggestion!
Have you tried simply Charlotte masons language, using language well
I haven't. Thank you for the suggestion.
What about writing strands
I think we used that years ago. I'd have to look at it again.
I apologize if you be answered these questions previously 🥴 At what grade did you make the switch from CLE Language Arts? And is there a reason you didn’t keep going with CLE Math? We’re about to start it for 7th grade. Thank you! I appreciate your time 🙏🏻
I think one child went to 7th grade with CLE and the other was around 6th grade. It was mostly bc they wanted a change and I saw something at a convention I really liked, so we switched to Fix It Grammar. I had always heard that CLE was great up through middle school but a lot of people switched before high school, so honestly I just had that in my head and never intended on continuing. I don't think that's a great reason, but that's what was in my brain. lol.
@@ourthriftyhomeschool Got it! Thank you for the reply! ☺️
We are trying Writer's Workshop from Layers of Learning next year, plus Jady Alvarez's writing folder. She is on UA-cam and Teachers Pay Teachers.
Thank you. I'll have to check these out.
Thank you for the review on CTC math. I am not a math minded person at all.
You're welcome. 😀
Love Denison!!!
yes!!!!! 🙌
We've had the same exact problem with CTC Math. We've used it for a couple of years and now that my middle schoolers are getting into higher math, I'm not much help to them. I plan on switching to Denison for Algebra.
It really is too bad! The program has such great potential, but if it doesn't work, it doesn't work! I hope Denison is a better fit for you. We're loving it!
We have used Apologia for a LONG time. The elementary sciences were always great for us. However, the middle school years have been a bit much. I am a certified biology teacher in our state. Apologia goes so, so deep into concepts. My oldest did physical science this year and honestly learned things that were more college level, not college prep, actual college level. This has led me to decide to move away from Apologia for her high school years. I am actually shocked to be typing this. I thought we'd stick with Apologia the whole way through.
Wow. that makes me feel better. I know so many that love Apologia, and I do think its a great curriculum...just too much for us.
I'm doing Progeny Press with my 10th grader for The Screwtape Letters! I love the set up! And YES - do NOT assign every thing - LOL! WAY too much! We always do the comprehension questions, I ask him to pick one dig deeper, I cover any literary analysis term questions, and I do ask him at the very end to pick one project to wrap it up. It works nicely. The vocab frustrates my kiddo for some reason, and he is really good at vocab, so we've been skipping that lately.
Yes, I was really impressed with this program.
Tgtb 3 grade language arts was amazing. I highly recommend checking it out for your son.
Thank you! I'm seriously considering it!
For your son, look at Math with Confidence. I love this curriculum! It has been great for my son! Same age.
Thank you!
I felt the same way as you about Write Shop! I expected it to be more independent and student directed than it was. I found it very hard to use, even when I prepared. Also, as a natural writer myself with a linguistically gifted daughter, it just moved too slow. We used Writeshop 1 in 7th grade for a few months and then ditched it. I ended up piecing things together and teaching her without a set curriculum. But this year in 9th, as the papers got more complex, she got impatient with me and needed a better breakdown of some of the steps. I have decided to use Essentials in Writing next year as our base. I will let her combine steps or skip things as needed. I like that its totally student directed and works a lot lik the Dennison stuff (which was amazing for my daughter this year, too.) Also, my daughter was/is a lot like your son in terms of amount of work. She had dysgraphia and also adhd, which play a part for sure!
EIW is one that I've been curious about! Thank you for mentioning that. And I'm so glad I'm not alone with Writeshop. Its one of those curriculums that you don't hear much about so I kinda felt like I was on an island doing this by myself....all wrong too. lol 😂
IEW didn’t work for us either. We stopped before finishing as well. Having 3 kids using it and reading the same thing from each of them was too much. I wanted to read their writing and see their individuality.
Yes! this exactly!
Before I forget…what editing program do you use to make your videos? I always love your special effects! 😊❤
Thank you! I use InShot. Its super user friendly!
@@ourthriftyhomeschool Thank you for sharing. ❤️
We use Teaching Textbooks for math. It'd alot like what you described you are using, but Teaching Textbooks gives you the solution if you get the problem incorrect.
Having used both, I have to say, they are VERY different. Dennison teaches the lesson while the student works the problems with him in their guided notes, on paper. Then they work the problem set in the book, following his exact steps. Then they check and correct their work. He focuses most of the lesson on ONE concept, in a doable chunk, and all the problems relate to that concept. It is more focused, and uses proper math teaching methods and memory devices. He is an extremely well-trained teacher and knows how to explain things so that kids understand and remember. Also, he teaches them study skills, the importance of daily practice, and more. Also, my daughter can speed the videos up, which really helps her ADHD. Teaching Textbooks didn't work for us for a lot of reasons, but with Dennison my daughter doesn't get frustrated and is excelling.
Thank you for the reviews 🙂 I found that the apologia Who is God? is awesome information, but the lessons are very long and the information is deep, so I only read a couple pages each day and talk about it. I'd rather take longer and have my kids absorb the information rather than go too quickly just to stay on the prescribed schedule. Hope that makes sense. It's so difficult to find family subjects that can work for a second grader and sixth grader at the same time! Thank you for the reviews. And yes, this homeschool Mama is ready for a bit of a break!! 😅
Thank you for sharing that. Yes, sometimes we need to tweak the curriculum to make it work for our family...slowing it down is a good way to do that!
We hated CTC math. It's horrible. We spent $150 and wasted it and it set us back because I had to go back with Teaching Textbooks. All my boys are behind so we have to do math in the summer so that my 8th grader can get to 9th ok, and my 9th grader can finish his algebra. I also hated it didn't give you a REAL solution example AND not giving you a second chance if you accidentally input something in wrong.
same! those were my exact same frustrations. I hope they'll fix them, bc it has potential to be a really good program.
I hope you find something thats a better fit and you can catch up pretty easily! ♥
What do you do for science
She mentioned that in the beginning at the co-op :)
Yes, we did Science at our co-op this year, so everyone did something different.
Same issue with writing for us. It comes naturally to me but not so much for my math-minded son. I explain what he should have done or how he could improve his writing and he just doesn’t get it. I dislike IEW because of the formulaic way of teaching, but here we are. I think his kind of brain needs to be told exactly what to do. He’s going to do the Advanced U.S. History course, as this will be the bulk of his American Lit. credit. 😩
I see what you mean....its hard to find a good balance sometimes!
Maybe ACE for your son?
I thought this too.
I'm with you on the Apologia train... just can't do it.... for science or for Bible.... my kids just never jived with it or retained much. We tried!
I'm glad I'm not alone!
Quick correction …Notgrass is called Our Star Spangled Story not our Our Star Spangled Banner.
Thank you! 🙃that's what I meant lol
End of the year was a good UA-cam video
Thank you.
CLE LA is so advanced I don't think it matters if you take more than a year to complete a level with your son.
I've looked at A LOT of LA programs, and it's hands-down my favorite the way they review concepts, especially for elementary students.
Denison saved our year, too! That man deserves to be a millionaire!!!
I also love how much people are raving about Biblioplan bc I'm planning to do Ancients next year.
Yes to all of this!!! 🙌