I appreciate your honesty of sharing you work FT from home and you need curriculum that is majority independent-based to fit your family's needs/lifestyle. I work PT from home, and i need a mix of independent and lessons working together with my four kids. They enjoy doing both independent lessons and one-on-one lessons, so it also fits our lifestyle with my PT WFH job. 😁 Your brainstorming video was very helpful! 💜
I am using MBtP 10-12 next year for my 6th grader too! Your videos were a huge help in deciding to go that route, so thank you! I was considering adding IEW SS to add structure and “dress-ups” to his writing but was worried about it being too time consuming… when I came across Write by Number. The nice thing about this one is you can use their scaffolding to work on the writing assignments that come with MBtP, rather than adding in additional writing. Plus it’s not consumable so you can use it with multiple children and multiple ages. It might be what you’re looking for too!
Doing Spanish and ASL together is actually very beneficial because when you’re learning the word, Kat in Spanish, you could put the American sign language cat right next to it that both girls can get the language they want while also working together.
I’m not a content creator but I’m totally thinking of next year so I appreciate this! My oldest will be a third grader so it’s nice to see what may lie ahead for us.
I have been looking at the state standards for my state against MBTP. It totally fits the bill for all subjects on grade level!!! Such a FANTASTIC way to incorporate all different ways of learning and also be able to tailor it if you choose. I REALLY think my son will enjoy this sooo much! All that to say! I got this curriculum from you Ashlee! Thanks for all your content! Your family is a LOT like mine and i realte to you so much! I too work full time from home and am homeschooling. Going to figure out how to make this work, becuase my son will really enjoy it! ❤
Ive been "talking" next year out as well. Usually by now I have everything planned and bought. Havent done that at all this year. Apologia...we totally loved the junior series. This year my 5th and 7th grader are doing General Science...game changer. None of us are loving it, the noteboon is a lot! Our coop is starting to plan classes for next year and there will be science classes so I think Im going to pay to put them in those and take science totally off my plate. Still throwing everything else around in my brain. Have a good week!
Growing with Grammar has been a favorite. My elementary age kids can do it independently. We are trying out BJU for my 6th grader this year. I do like their grammar too.
I have a kindergartener and a 1 yo. So I'm trying to have a very open and go curriculum and I chose TGATB for math too. I think I may supplement with some Evan Moore or Kumon workbooks. Hopefully it works out well.
I’m glad you were honest about IEW. I became obsessed in researching it last year and almost bought, but when I’m honest with myself, I just don’t see my son engaging. Long videos, strict guidelines, teacher-intensive. Maybe when he’s older. So many people have no issues with IEW, and it’s refreshing to hear actual cons - there’s no curriculum out there that is perfect!
We use EIW and love it. Super simple and short. I have my oldest do 2-3 pages for each lesson a day (he’s in grade 3) and my 1st grader does one page a day so it will take a while, but it’s good additional practice. I’m going to check out some of your ideas. Thanks!!! Love these videos.
We used Beuwulf Grammar this year too. I’m looking at BJU press next year because it alternates between writing and grammar. Still not sure yet though 😉
Fit it grammar is great especially if they have a foundation already. It’s really enforced what my son has learned. We are IEW fans. I know several that have used IEW all the way through and it’s helped me want to continue all the way. I will assign papers for my son that are more creative writing but not necessarily the prompt IEW provides for that week
This is when we begin to switch over to new curriculum. Being that we school year round I end up buying many books. Science has always been a unit study. I ran a co-op for nature for my daughter’s first 3 years of science. Then switched to unit study as spines were slower paced. History has been Masterbooks-Americas Story which we love because with not using the TM we rabbit trail many events that again turn into unit studies. We’ve started MBTP LA and so far it’s been going well. Math I outsource at a Christian school because my child placed advanced which she will continue next year too. This video was great!
Appreciate all your videos and love that you are so honest. This helps me out. Glad you found a good math program. We use math mammoth and seems to be going good. So many options out there. Language arts is so hard. I like fix it grammar for grammar but I am not sure on the writing either. Right now we do 180 days or writing prompts for writing.
Thanks for talking it out with us!! Will have a rising 4th grader & 2nd grader next year. Haven’t the faintest clue what we’ll be doing but I’m heavily leaning MBtP for most of it.
Great video! I have a 4th grade daughter and I had my doubts about IEW S&S. But I can see the benefit. Even though my daughter is a good writer but IEW has made her writing lot more structured and professional if you will. What we do is fast forward the first 10 mins or so where Andre is reading other essays. We also increase the playback speed of his videos to 1.5x and it works great.
IEW...I know EXACTLY what you mean. I feel the same way. Pretty much exactly the same. My oldest has some language based learning difficulties and he is finally producing papers with IEW, but I do worry about how he will be able to translate those skills learned to freewriting/answering essay questions etc in the future. For my other two (who do not have those same Lang. struggles) I see them taking in the IEW methods and applying them to other assignments. The videos though, oh they are sooooo long. I have just accepted that the lessons are likely just going to take us 1.5 to 2 weeks to complete because it is too much to do it all in a week with a child who struggles in the subject.
I used Saxon and loved it as well. What wish I went back and redid was Saxon Algebra 1. It was very hard and terminology has changed since it was published. We treated Saxon Algebra 1 as prealgebra and my son is taking Algebra again in his 9th grade homeschool year. Not sure if that's everyone's experience, but that was mine. Looking forward to this upcoming school year too.
I think IEW Fix It! Grammar would work for you after using Beowulf Grammar. It’s short and sweet if you start at the beginning. You would want to make sure you look at some of the terminology. It’s not much different from other grammar curriculum, but one thing that has stood out to me is the “subject-verb-pairs”, which is another way for them to distinguish predicates from other verbs. Just fyi. One thing to keep in mind is that Fix It! Grammar is designed to go hand in hand with the IEW writing courses. Children are required to put IEW grammar in action in their writing (who/which clauses etc.), so separating the two almost doesn’t make much sense. That being said, I did run into the problem you described, with Fix It! not spending enough time practicing each concept separately before mixing it in with other practice, and I used Beowulf to remediate some of that. Overall, I find Fix It! Grammar works great, if reinforced with the writing, and possibly Beowulf Grammar as a supplement.
We used MBTP for my son's main curriculum through elementary and really loved it (for the most part). My other two didn't like it quite as much (too much extra stuff...they just want to get to the point and move on). We used every level from 4to5 to 10-12 and have so many great memories. We now use units here and there from 11to13 and 12to14 as interest in topics arises. My son's favorite part was always the science units (in 11to13 they started to look really repetitive, hence why switched to try other things for middle school). My favorite levels were 8-10 and 10-12, such good books and topics in those levels! I am thinking of doing 10-12 for my youngest next year now that she is getting to to that age level. Are you using 10-12 for 6th? When we started using it 10 years ago hardly anyone talked about it on youtube! I love seeing it becoming for well known and widely used!!!
I’m commenting as I’m listening I’m sorry I can’t save it all for the end 😂 I was looking into life science from apologia because it covers a lot of different things to explore more and then I’m hoping it will help my son as he transitions into those hs years with science
Ever considered Writing with Sharon Watson? My kids love the Jump In book and are getting a lot out of it. She has a great style, imo, and my kids enjoy it. Best part is it works for both my reluctant writer AND my student who writes for fun. Winning! Lol
Hi. New this coming school year 2024-2025 to homeschooling. I too will have a 6th grader so all your thoughts & comments are right in line w mine. He has used Abeka at the private school he is at now. We are ready for a change, it’s just too much like you mentioned. I work from home. Love your thought process as to which you may go with. Interested to check out other videos as to how to begin & how to plan what he will do…I’m nervous & anxious about this whole process. Any and all suggestions welcome.
I have Excell, can you show up your spreadsheets on those for your kids, so we can get some ideas on how to organize per child, per grade, per subject?
Just a heads up I did MBTP 6th grade level before and although it is written to the student, it is nowhere near independent and it is extremely rigorous especially getting past the first concept. We loved it but soooo many hands-on things my son needed help with and it got very hard, very quickly. MBTP is definitely advanced. For science and history that is. The LA is pretty grade level except some tough topics in Roll of Thunder.
I have a 13 year old, soon to be 10, soon to be 7, soon to be 5, a 2 year old, and a 1 month old. I do every subject except math and language arts together. For those subjects together the older children are given independent assignments to expand on the lesson.
Is the science video out yet? I didn’t see it. We use Elemental Science and have for several years. It’s a classical style. I’ve used the Science Chunks which are unit based as well as the elementary and currently the middle school level. What I like about it is it works for all 3 kids. I just expect more from my oldest than I do my youngest on the weekly report and unit tests. (7th, 6th and 3rd grades). It’s got a nice schedule for either 2 days a week or 4-5 days. There is an experiment once a week which the kids always enjoy, and it’s easy around the house kind of things, except we have ordered some dissection kits. Idk, just works for us. Side note: we are big Beowulf fans as well. 👍🏼😁 It’s not boring and to me, that’s everything. My 3rd grader is going through it now.
When I started homeschooling my daughter in 2022 she was in 2nd grade and we did the full MBTP. This year, for her 3rd grade year, we’ve done a lot of MBTP but replaced the math with Math With Confidence, which I love for my daughter, and switched out a few of the literature units and science units with Ruby Reads posters and a couple of TGTB science units… But next year I’m doing mostly MBTP for LA, S and SS. It’s great, and complete and I don’t have to work on finding so many different pieces. Definitely trying to rest in the fact that I found a good curriculum and stick with it 🙂
I'm still really new to homeschooling and I've been trying to figure out which LA programs to use for my rising 6th grader and 2nd grader. I pulled them from public school in November of 2023, and we've been using Miacademy until I realized they weren't retaining anything. Do you think Beowulf Grammar would be a good idea to use for the both of them? My oldest has a decent grasp on grammar, but I don't know how well of a grasp due to him learning in public school. If you don't think it would be a good fit for both of them, do you have any recommendations for both 2nd grade and 6th grade?
It all depends on your 6th grader, if they would be ok with the cartoon drawings and stuff it would work well. There are probably some cut and paste stuff you would want to skip. I made two dedicated videos recently one that shows a lesson and the other explains all my thoughts and ages I recommend ❤️
It seems like we are in basically the same situation. Next year my kids will be 6th, 4th, and K. My current plan is for my oldest to use MBtP independently next year 🤞 I'm hesitant to continue with IEW for all of the reasons you mentioned, but at the same time I feel silly for changing what is working.
What would you recommend as the BEST social studies curriculum to purchase? I am struggling to find something that covers my state standards for my 1st grader.
We are finishing Beowulf Grammar this school year too. I'm going to try a curriculum called Learning Language Arts through Literature. Not sure how it will be, but that's what I am looking at right now.
We are using yellow and purple currently. Both my students are happy with LLATL as am I. I am actually highly considering purging all the LA curricula I have accumulated over the years (except All About Reading and Spelling Levels 1 & 2 since I have younger children as well). The only thing we add is the Sonlight book list for additional independent reading.
idk what anyone has commented but about your IEW complication, would the themed books be any better now that your kids know the rules and pattern to follow in writing? maybe with a theme might seem more interesting like for 6th grade in this state they would be studying world cultures/world history and I believe they have one on ancient civilizations or something. can't check as I just stopped my cooking to type this thought and hope it is helpful. I told my child we will try IEW for the first time next year but will stop it to do TGTB because I like that it forces creativity a bit and has poetry and art. If not then we will just do the creative writing notebook with IEW. sorry if it isn't helpful and good luck
Girl, try Growing with Grammar! I feel like I'm constantly recommending this company to people but only because its SO good. We keep trying other things because I cant help myself but I Always end up going back to it. It goes to level 8- after that I really don't think continuous grammar practice is necessary anyway. Its super affordable. Its scheduled out to only be taught 3 times a week and the lessons are really quick. We love it here.
Definitely! We started using the whole set (Growing with Grammar, Winning with Writing and Soaring with Spelling) when my daughter was in first grade! We switched to them after trying a few other Language Arts curriculum that didn't work for us and once we started using JacKris Publishing my then first grader gained so much confidence! She started asking to do her work independently. With that said, my daughter was a pretty strong reader in first grade (testing at a third grade reading level) however, I don't see why you couldn't do the reading during lessons and have your child do the work! @@sandramontanez7767
Would you suggest Apologia Astronomy or TGTB Science Unit for age 6/7 and 8/9 coming year ? We are on Level K La TGTB and Level 2 as of right now. Help??
I haven’t done Apolgias astronomy course but if it’s anything like the earth science I would wait until atleast 3rd grade and up, there are lots of terms and concepts being taught. TGAB might be better for the younger ages
I have also been eyeing the Zaner Bloser GUM. It looks like they recently updated it! The hardest thing for me when looking at curriculum online is deciding if I NEED the teacher's guide or not.
I'm also looking for more independent curriculum thus year too as we are expecting a new baby over the summer. I think we are leaning toward Science Shepherd for science. Also a video curriculum, but way cheaper than BJU, and my kids can work together in different leveked workbooks. Maybe BJU distance learning for english and Veritas Press Self Paced online courses for History.
You should look into easy grammar. That’s one I’m looking into. Science shepherd I heard a lot about. We use generations science but sadly only goes to 7.
We had been using Song School Spanish for my middle daughter and we used Mr.D’s American Sign Language- I have videos about both on my channel just have to search for them 💕
IEW is too much to do every year. I plan to do it every other year. I used to teach LA at a public school, and even public schools don’t do concentrated, intensive writing instruction EVERY year. In NC, they do it 4th, 7th, and 9th grade. I think it’s fine to go easy or do creative writing some years. My son watched one EIW video and begged not to do it-so maybe watch a sample with your child before committing 😅 Also, one of my daughters used TGTB math for the early years with no problems. But it was just not clicking with the second daughter. There wasn’t enough practice and explanation. We are using Saxon for the younger years, which (I agree with you) is kind of awful, but it works. The only thing that is getting me through is Mrs. Lawson who has free video lessons on UA-cam for Saxon math 1&2. I’m not sure if she has kindergarten since we struggled through TGTB for that level. But she’s amazing if you end up having to switch like I did.
Evan moor has skill sharpeners science. I believe it goes til 6th grade. They also have daily science. Each has experiments or activities in them. We use that and Miacademy for science right now.
We use bju and let me tell you it is amazing bju English is kinda short maybe 15-20 mins and once they get higher up they grade it also you can buy the logos science kits which are amazing and it might be 180 lessons but you don't have to do them all and you can move things around and we do the distance learning for all subjects but if I want to teach a lesson it right in there to do so
I haven’t noticed any religious content. I think it’s meant to be more neutral especially in the grammar. I know a lot of secular families that use it.
So we were doing good and beautiful math 3( we haven't loved it as much as we did math 2). We quit it for now and are doing mia academy for everything except phonics, reading and grammar. My child has dyslexia so we use pride reading. He is doing science, us geography taking music reading, and math. I like it takes accountability for attendance and I don't have to try to figure out how to teach science I can kinda sit in if it's difficult and help explain. So far we like it. They have a 1.99 first month trial we started
MBTP looks good but they seem to focus a lot on race topics. I’m hesitant to trust them. I look forward to seeing your review of this upper grade level.
@@gatheredandgrounded Thanks for the clarification. That is something I personally like to discuss as I trust no curriculum companies right now with it.
Separating them for everything is gonna be rough, why do that for science and history? Those aren’t really skill based so shouldn’t matter too much :) plus it’s more fun to work together!
I admire you.....but I have a question, when you do teach science, do you have a view you teach your kids on creationism or evolutionism? That is where I am concerned for my children.
I teach them all viewpoints which is why you will see us using both religious and secular curriculums. We discuss both sides and have great discussions about their thoughts.
I appreciate your honesty of sharing you work FT from home and you need curriculum that is majority independent-based to fit your family's needs/lifestyle. I work PT from home, and i need a mix of independent and lessons working together with my four kids. They enjoy doing both independent lessons and one-on-one lessons, so it also fits our lifestyle with my PT WFH job. 😁 Your brainstorming video was very helpful! 💜
I just wanted to say, I love this type of video. It’s nice to hear another mom kind of talk through the process of picking curricula. :)
Thank you 💕
Yes!! I loved this video.
Loved hearing your brainstorming process! We all have to think through our own different situations and considerations in making the choices...
I am using MBtP 10-12 next year for my 6th grader too! Your videos were a huge help in deciding to go that route, so thank you!
I was considering adding IEW SS to add structure and “dress-ups” to his writing but was worried about it being too time consuming… when I came across Write by Number. The nice thing about this one is you can use their scaffolding to work on the writing assignments that come with MBtP, rather than adding in additional writing. Plus it’s not consumable so you can use it with multiple children and multiple ages. It might be what you’re looking for too!
Doing Spanish and ASL together is actually very beneficial because when you’re learning the word, Kat in Spanish, you could put the American sign language cat right next to it that both girls can get the language they want while also working together.
We are really loving jackris growing with grammar. Science is the hardest subject for us so I can’t wait for your science curriculum video
I’m not a content creator but I’m totally thinking of next year so I appreciate this! My oldest will be a third grader so it’s nice to see what may lie ahead for us.
I start planning in Jan/feb bc when March rolls around a lot of curriculum companies start having spring sales. Also helps to have ours taxes. 🙃
I have been looking at the state standards for my state against MBTP. It totally fits the bill for all subjects on grade level!!! Such a FANTASTIC way to incorporate all different ways of learning and also be able to tailor it if you choose. I REALLY think my son will enjoy this sooo much! All that to say! I got this curriculum from you Ashlee! Thanks for all your content! Your family is a LOT like mine and i realte to you so much! I too work full time from home and am homeschooling. Going to figure out how to make this work, becuase my son will really enjoy it! ❤
Thank you so much for sharing! Glad to help ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Ive been "talking" next year out as well. Usually by now I have everything planned and bought. Havent done that at all this year.
Apologia...we totally loved the junior series. This year my 5th and 7th grader are doing General Science...game changer. None of us are loving it, the noteboon is a lot! Our coop is starting to plan classes for next year and there will be science classes so I think Im going to pay to put them in those and take science totally off my plate. Still throwing everything else around in my brain. Have a good week!
Growing with Grammar has been a favorite. My elementary age kids can do it independently. We are trying out BJU for my 6th grader this year. I do like their grammar too.
I have a kindergartener and a 1 yo. So I'm trying to have a very open and go curriculum and I chose TGATB for math too. I think I may supplement with some Evan Moore or Kumon workbooks. Hopefully it works out well.
I’m glad you were honest about IEW. I became obsessed in researching it last year and almost bought, but when I’m honest with myself, I just don’t see my son engaging. Long videos, strict guidelines, teacher-intensive. Maybe when he’s older. So many people have no issues with IEW, and it’s refreshing to hear actual cons - there’s no curriculum out there that is perfect!
We use EIW and love it. Super simple and short. I have my oldest do 2-3 pages for each lesson a day (he’s in grade 3) and my 1st grader does one page a day so it will take a while, but it’s good additional practice.
I’m going to check out some of your ideas. Thanks!!! Love these videos.
We used Beuwulf Grammar this year too. I’m looking at BJU press next year because it alternates between writing and grammar. Still not sure yet though 😉
Fit it grammar is great especially if they have a foundation already. It’s really enforced what my son has learned. We are IEW fans. I know several that have used IEW all the way through and it’s helped me want to continue all the way. I will assign papers for my son that are more creative writing but not necessarily the prompt IEW provides for that week
This is when we begin to switch over to new curriculum. Being that we school year round I end up buying many books.
Science has always been a unit study. I ran a co-op for nature for my daughter’s first 3 years of science. Then switched to unit study as spines were slower paced.
History has been Masterbooks-Americas Story which we love because with not using the TM we rabbit trail many events that again turn into unit studies. We’ve started MBTP LA and so far it’s been going well. Math I outsource at a Christian school because my child placed advanced which she will continue next year too.
This video was great!
Appreciate all your videos and love that you are so honest. This helps me out. Glad you found a good math program. We use math mammoth and seems to be going good. So many options out there. Language arts is so hard. I like fix it grammar for grammar but I am not sure on the writing either. Right now we do 180 days or writing prompts for writing.
I’m a full time mom too so I am same boat thank you for sharing
Same!!
Thanks for talking it out with us!! Will have a rising 4th grader & 2nd grader next year. Haven’t the faintest clue what we’ll be doing but I’m heavily leaning MBtP for most of it.
I have a second grader this year. I have most of the curriculum for third grade. Just have to plan it out.
Great video! I have a 4th grade daughter and I had my doubts about IEW S&S. But I can see the benefit. Even though my daughter is a good writer but IEW has made her writing lot more structured and professional if you will. What we do is fast forward the first 10 mins or so where Andre is reading other essays. We also increase the playback speed of his videos to 1.5x and it works great.
Thanks for sharing!!
my favorite part of MBTP was social studies. I felt like it goes well in dept about the topics. It was more than enough.
IEW...I know EXACTLY what you mean. I feel the same way. Pretty much exactly the same. My oldest has some language based learning difficulties and he is finally producing papers with IEW, but I do worry about how he will be able to translate those skills learned to freewriting/answering essay questions etc in the future. For my other two (who do not have those same Lang. struggles) I see them taking in the IEW methods and applying them to other assignments. The videos though, oh they are sooooo long. I have just accepted that the lessons are likely just going to take us 1.5 to 2 weeks to complete because it is too much to do it all in a week with a child who struggles in the subject.
I’m in the exact situation with IEW!!! Yes yes yes!
I used Saxon and loved it as well. What wish I went back and redid was Saxon Algebra 1. It was very hard and terminology has changed since it was published. We treated Saxon Algebra 1 as prealgebra and my son is taking Algebra again in his 9th grade homeschool year. Not sure if that's everyone's experience, but that was mine. Looking forward to this upcoming school year too.
Thank you for sharing!
I have been looking at DIVE/shormann math, as I believe that follows the same Saxon methodology but is updated for the highschool courses ❤️
Science shepherd has been great for me as a working mom. It doesn’t get talked about much
That is one I’ll be talking about in an upcoming video ❤️
I think IEW Fix It! Grammar would work for you after using Beowulf Grammar. It’s short and sweet if you start at the beginning.
You would want to make sure you look at some of the terminology. It’s not much different from other grammar curriculum, but one thing that has stood out to me is the “subject-verb-pairs”, which is another way for them to distinguish predicates from other verbs. Just fyi.
One thing to keep in mind is that Fix It! Grammar is designed to go hand in hand with the IEW writing courses. Children are required to put IEW grammar in action in their writing (who/which clauses etc.), so separating the two almost doesn’t make much sense.
That being said, I did run into the problem you described, with Fix It! not spending enough time practicing each concept separately before mixing it in with other practice, and I used Beowulf to remediate some of that. Overall, I find Fix It! Grammar works great, if reinforced with the writing, and possibly Beowulf Grammar as a supplement.
We used MBTP for my son's main curriculum through elementary and really loved it (for the most part). My other two didn't like it quite as much (too much extra stuff...they just want to get to the point and move on). We used every level from 4to5 to 10-12 and have so many great memories. We now use units here and there from 11to13 and 12to14 as interest in topics arises. My son's favorite part was always the science units (in 11to13 they started to look really repetitive, hence why switched to try other things for middle school). My favorite levels were 8-10 and 10-12, such good books and topics in those levels! I am thinking of doing 10-12 for my youngest next year now that she is getting to to that age level. Are you using 10-12 for 6th? When we started using it 10 years ago hardly anyone talked about it on youtube! I love seeing it becoming for well known and widely used!!!
Yes 10-12 is what I have for the 6th grade year ❤️
I wish more people shared about MBTP on UA-cam but I’m trying to get it out there as much as I can ❤️
I’m commenting as I’m listening I’m sorry I can’t save it all for the end 😂
I was looking into life science from apologia because it covers a lot of different things to explore more and then I’m hoping it will help my son as he transitions into those hs years with science
Ever considered Writing with Sharon Watson? My kids love the Jump In book and are getting a lot out of it. She has a great style, imo, and my kids enjoy it. Best part is it works for both my reluctant writer AND my student who writes for fun. Winning! Lol
Never heard of it! I will check it out ❤️
Hi. New this coming school year 2024-2025 to homeschooling. I too will have a 6th grader so all your thoughts & comments are right in line w mine. He has used Abeka at the private school he is at now. We are ready for a change, it’s just too much like you mentioned. I work from home. Love your thought process as to which you may go with. Interested to check out other videos as to how to begin & how to plan what he will do…I’m nervous & anxious about this whole process. Any and all suggestions welcome.
Congrats and your new journey! ❤️
I have Excell, can you show up your spreadsheets on those for your kids, so we can get some ideas on how to organize per child, per grade, per subject?
Video coming out next week ❤️
Just a heads up I did MBTP 6th grade level before and although it is written to the student, it is nowhere near independent and it is extremely rigorous especially getting past the first concept. We loved it but soooo many hands-on things my son needed help with and it got very hard, very quickly. MBTP is definitely advanced. For science and history that is. The LA is pretty grade level except some tough topics in Roll of Thunder.
Thanks so much for sharing! We are working through the last concept in the 5th grade level right now as a trial run 😉
I have a 13 year old, soon to be 10, soon to be 7, soon to be 5, a 2 year old, and a 1 month old. I do every subject except math and language arts together. For those subjects together the older children are given independent assignments to expand on the lesson.
Is the science video out yet? I didn’t see it. We use Elemental Science and have for several years. It’s a classical style. I’ve used the Science Chunks which are unit based as well as the elementary and currently the middle school level. What I like about it is it works for all 3 kids. I just expect more from my oldest than I do my youngest on the weekly report and unit tests. (7th, 6th and 3rd grades). It’s got a nice schedule for either 2 days a week or 4-5 days. There is an experiment once a week which the kids always enjoy, and it’s easy around the house kind of things, except we have ordered some dissection kits. Idk, just works for us. Side note: we are big Beowulf fans as well. 👍🏼😁 It’s not boring and to me, that’s everything. My 3rd grader is going through it now.
Science video is not out yet in a few weeks it will be ❤️
When I started homeschooling my daughter in 2022 she was in 2nd grade and we did the full MBTP. This year, for her 3rd grade year, we’ve done a lot of MBTP but replaced the math with Math With Confidence, which I love for my daughter, and switched out a few of the literature units and science units with Ruby Reads posters and a couple of TGTB science units… But next year I’m doing mostly MBTP for LA, S and SS. It’s great, and complete and I don’t have to work on finding so many different pieces. Definitely trying to rest in the fact that I found a good curriculum and stick with it 🙂
And I love watching your videos! Thanks for covering MBTP. It’s so hard to find good content about their curriculum! ❤
Thank you 💕
The video lessons in EIW are more like 3-5 minutes. Short and sweet!
I'm still really new to homeschooling and I've been trying to figure out which LA programs to use for my rising 6th grader and 2nd grader. I pulled them from public school in November of 2023, and we've been using Miacademy until I realized they weren't retaining anything. Do you think Beowulf Grammar would be a good idea to use for the both of them? My oldest has a decent grasp on grammar, but I don't know how well of a grasp due to him learning in public school. If you don't think it would be a good fit for both of them, do you have any recommendations for both 2nd grade and 6th grade?
It all depends on your 6th grader, if they would be ok with the cartoon drawings and stuff it would work well. There are probably some cut and paste stuff you would want to skip. I made two dedicated videos recently one that shows a lesson and the other explains all my thoughts and ages I recommend ❤️
How do you research about the different curriculums? There are so many to choose from.
UA-cam videos, buying used to just get my hands on it ❤️
It seems like we are in basically the same situation. Next year my kids will be 6th, 4th, and K. My current plan is for my oldest to use MBtP independently next year 🤞 I'm hesitant to continue with IEW for all of the reasons you mentioned, but at the same time I feel silly for changing what is working.
Literally in the same boat 🤪
What would you recommend as the BEST social studies curriculum to purchase? I am struggling to find something that covers my state standards for my 1st grader.
Best is super subjective - if you are wanting something to line up with state standard I would check out something on teacher pay teachers ❤️
Bju was another one that I’ve been looking into but yes cost is intense
We are finishing Beowulf Grammar this school year too. I'm going to try a curriculum called Learning Language Arts through Literature. Not sure how it will be, but that's what I am looking at right now.
I’ll check it out! Thanks for sharing 💕
We are using yellow and purple currently. Both my students are happy with LLATL as am I. I am actually highly considering purging all the LA curricula I have accumulated over the years (except All About Reading and Spelling Levels 1 & 2 since I have younger children as well). The only thing we add is the Sonlight book list for additional independent reading.
idk what anyone has commented but about your IEW complication, would the themed books be any better now that your kids know the rules and pattern to follow in writing? maybe with a theme might seem more interesting like for 6th grade in this state they would be studying world cultures/world history and I believe they have one on ancient civilizations or something. can't check as I just stopped my cooking to type this thought and hope it is helpful. I told my child we will try IEW for the first time next year but will stop it to do TGTB because I like that it forces creativity a bit and has poetry and art. If not then we will just do the creative writing notebook with IEW. sorry if it isn't helpful and good luck
Thank you 😊
We have enjoyed Master books Let’s talk science 3 this year, and plan to do 4 next year.
Will you be doing a video review on essentials in writing?
If I end up buying it - yes of course ❤️
We are going to do Science shepherd this year and for high school next year most likely BJU (it’s definitely pricey 😅)
What writing system do you prefer for Ameslan?
im surprised you don't use BJU press online option
It’s just so pricey….definitely something I’ve gone back and forth with SO many times.maybe in the future
Hello! Have you done any Abeka schooling?
We tried their K4…..very solid but I didn’t have time for all the teacher prep required
Girl, try Growing with Grammar! I feel like I'm constantly recommending this company to people but only because its SO good. We keep trying other things because I cant help myself but I Always end up going back to it. It goes to level 8- after that I really don't think continuous grammar practice is necessary anyway. Its super affordable. Its scheduled out to only be taught 3 times a week and the lessons are really quick. We love it here.
Thanks for recommending I’ll check it out ❤️
Would you use this with a first grader? Or is it more for when they are reading?
Definitely! We started using the whole set (Growing with Grammar, Winning with Writing and Soaring with Spelling) when my daughter was in first grade! We switched to them after trying a few other Language Arts curriculum that didn't work for us and once we started using JacKris Publishing my then first grader gained so much confidence! She started asking to do her work independently. With that said, my daughter was a pretty strong reader in first grade (testing at a third grade reading level) however, I don't see why you couldn't do the reading during lessons and have your child do the work! @@sandramontanez7767
Would you suggest Apologia Astronomy or TGTB Science Unit for age 6/7 and 8/9 coming year ? We are on Level K La TGTB and Level 2 as of right now. Help??
I haven’t done Apolgias astronomy course but if it’s anything like the earth science I would wait until atleast 3rd grade and up, there are lots of terms and concepts being taught. TGAB might be better for the younger ages
Thank you
I have also been eyeing the Zaner Bloser GUM. It looks like they recently updated it! The hardest thing for me when looking at curriculum online is deciding if I NEED the teacher's guide or not.
Yes it is now updated I was looking at the new version…..I agree about the teachers guide and the sample pictures are never enough
We are trying IEW themes with a Outschool class. I just have to buy the student book and the teacher is IEW trained and will teach and grade.
That’s a great option!
I'm also looking for more independent curriculum thus year too as we are expecting a new baby over the summer.
I think we are leaning toward Science Shepherd for science. Also a video curriculum, but way cheaper than BJU, and my kids can work together in different leveked workbooks.
Maybe BJU distance learning for english and Veritas Press Self Paced online courses for History.
Congratulations for your family!!! ❤️
You should look into easy grammar. That’s one I’m looking into. Science shepherd I heard a lot about. We use generations science but sadly only goes to 7.
We use easy grammar and love it.Just not sure what I plan to do for higher grades. I didn’t know they had daily grams starting at 3rd grade.
What do you use for foreign language I missed it
We had been using Song School Spanish for my middle daughter and we used Mr.D’s American Sign Language- I have videos about both on my channel just have to search for them 💕
IEW is too much to do every year. I plan to do it every other year. I used to teach LA at a public school, and even public schools don’t do concentrated, intensive writing instruction EVERY year. In NC, they do it 4th, 7th, and 9th grade. I think it’s fine to go easy or do creative writing some years.
My son watched one EIW video and begged not to do it-so maybe watch a sample with your child before committing 😅
Also, one of my daughters used TGTB math for the early years with no problems. But it was just not clicking with the second daughter. There wasn’t enough practice and explanation. We are using Saxon for the younger years, which (I agree with you) is kind of awful, but it works. The only thing that is getting me through is Mrs. Lawson who has free video lessons on UA-cam for Saxon math 1&2. I’m not sure if she has kindergarten since we struggled through TGTB for that level. But she’s amazing if you end up having to switch like I did.
Thanks so much for your feedback!!!!
Evan moor has skill sharpeners science. I believe it goes til 6th grade. They also have daily science. Each has experiments or activities in them. We use that and Miacademy for science right now.
We use bju and let me tell you it is amazing bju English is kinda short maybe 15-20 mins and once they get higher up they grade it also you can buy the logos science kits which are amazing and it might be 180 lessons but you don't have to do them all and you can move things around and we do the distance learning for all subjects but if I want to teach a lesson it right in there to do so
Thanks for your feedback! ❤️
What about switching languages so the one learning asl learns Spanish and vice versa. Then they can practice 2 languages
That’s a great option ❤️
Have you considered nightzookeeper?
We do use that as a supplemental resource ❤️
How would Beowulf Grammar be for a secular family?
I haven’t noticed any religious content. I think it’s meant to be more neutral especially in the grammar. I know a lot of secular families that use it.
Why did you not like Good and Beautiful Math 3&4?
I have a whole video explaining that ❤️
I have 4 school aged kids and start this early because I need to buy used in order to afford it. 😆
We started Mia academy we love it
That’s the curriculum I chose for my daughter! We’re starting homeschool for the first time in a couple weeks! So exciting. 6th grader.
@@ObiWanSatoshi it's been helpful I do sit to supervise new math or something occasionally but it helps
@@MomaLady do you supplement mi academy with other programs? Or are you guys only doing miacademy?
So we were doing good and beautiful math 3( we haven't loved it as much as we did math 2). We quit it for now and are doing mia academy for everything except phonics, reading and grammar. My child has dyslexia so we use pride reading. He is doing science, us geography taking music reading, and math. I like it takes accountability for attendance and I don't have to try to figure out how to teach science I can kinda sit in if it's difficult and help explain. So far we like it. They have a 1.99 first month trial we started
You can also adjust the levels for them if they need more advanced work or cancel classes or add, move the days scheduled
MBTP looks good but they seem to focus a lot on race topics. I’m hesitant to trust them. I look forward to seeing your review of this upper grade level.
They cover race issues and discrimination heavy even in the younger ages and I’ve found nothing wrong with it so far. It’s very discussion driven
@@gatheredandgrounded Thanks for the clarification. That is something I personally like to discuss as I trust no curriculum companies right now with it.
@@ravenbird3014 understandable
Separating them for everything is gonna be rough, why do that for science and history? Those aren’t really skill based so shouldn’t matter too much :) plus it’s more fun to work together!
Because of the curriculum I’m choosing for my 6th grader is all encompassing 😊
I admire you.....but I have a question, when you do teach science, do you have a view you teach your kids on creationism or evolutionism? That is where I am concerned for my children.
I teach them all viewpoints which is why you will see us using both religious and secular curriculums. We discuss both sides and have great discussions about their thoughts.