ECC Wk 2 complete!
We have completed wk 2. Today we did the Jn 3:16 poster, at last and made it a Jn 3:16-17 poster as this week we memorized v.17. I am liking this material more every day. We have had our hitches but nothing that hasn't been overcome.

I haven't read Kindgom Tales to the kids at all.
Now on to studying USA next wk.
booklovermom25 wrote:It's nice to know that even though we're starting mid year, we're not alone.
RuthAnn
(finished 1st week of ECC)
Postby momsflowergarden » Fri Jan 21, 2011 9:18 pm
ECC Wk 3 complete!
I know I have said it before but I am going to repeat it. I am loving this curr. more every day. We basically do school Tue. through Friday as both my husband and oldest son do not work on Monday and it is, umm, difficult to get anything done when one or the other is coming in to 'visit'.

The thing is this is the first curr. that we have tried that this has been possible.
We had a couple of rough days but worked through it and yesterday and today went much better.
For those who waged in when I post last week and said I wasn't going to use Kingdom Tales, I want to THANK YOU big time. We are loving it. In fact I talked to my middle son who has 7 adopted and foster children and they home school. They do not use MFW but I could see them using Kingdom Tales as a devotional type book. Last night I did start having them draw what I was reading about. It seemed to help my ds with not being quit so impatient.
We did the book mark and the kids today made a coup stick. They had a lot of fun doing the coup stick especially.
I have to admit I am having a difficult time wrapping my brain around the PLL/ILL being enough but we are going to keep going with it for awhile. The bottom line is we are getting through the material, the kids are learning and for the most part we are all enjoying it.
Cyndi (AZ) wrote:I love reading all this! It's like a little flashback to a few months ago. You are doing SO WELL!! I'm thrilled that ECC is working out for your family. I understand the PLL thing, too. I've started to supplement then stopped to breathe so many times through PLL!

It really *is* enough. My dd can write such amazing sentences, and I've seen proof from so many others' children that have used it as well.
Cool stuff!!
annaz wrote:We finished week 4! The coup stick looked fun, but dd wanted to do the sand in week 3!
We finished KT up to the Restoration and last night dd wanted to take the book and re-read the stories! It's an excellent book! We had a busy week out, but luckily we had already read a bunch of US books. To stay on track we just did math review and used KT for narration and the questions for Reading. DD loved alphabetizing the states. The cards I still had from ADV!
I'm with you on ILL. I love the simplicity though. We're coming from using BJU4. I agree it seems light. It is however a lot less boring, covering other neat stuff, so I'm going to give it a chance and see where it takes us. It's early enough in grade that I doubt we'll be behind.
The World Geography book is a bit daunting, but I just do as MFW suggests and don't stress too much on it. DD doing pretty good on knowing the US map too. I used a link for placing the states from the MFW Archives and she thought it was really fun.
I love this program too so far. The box checker in me loves it, but I also feel like we can really pull out what interests DD. I took the Illustrated World Atlas and the Classroom Atlas and have dd tell me one cool thing she learned.
Having the archives and the info at the front of the TM is so helpful. It really makes ECC cater to us.
So momsflowergarden, you're really staying on track!
I have to admit I was not planning on having my ds use the World Geography book and my dd is fifth but doing so much learning on her own. She almost has the 50 states memorized. She dug out our old Leapsters and there was a book for that with the US map and the states. She has been working with it pretty diligently on her own. I know she would do it and do it well but I simple felt to not push that part.
I do appreciate your words of encouragement.
annaz wrote:As long as they're learning something new, it's just fine. What I love about this curriculum is that you can use anything that relates! Leapsters! Puzzles! Games! And I don't fall off track! And boy do I have stuff! In the World Geography Book I saw that we could use it in math when we were doing coordinate and bar graphs! I love that we really can pick and choose and box-check! It's such a nice change from the stringent program I came from.
Postby momsflowergarden » Sun Feb 13, 2011 7:36 pm
ECC Wk 6 completed
Last wk was another really busy wk but we did get all the reading done and the work sheet and notebook things completed. We didn't do anything for a craft as, well, there were way to many interruptions taking place. I am hopeful that this week will not be so full as I am exhausted and it is Sunday. (Our week end was weird and wild also.)
I have to admit the temptation to take a week off has really been tempting. We school yr around so I have done a wk off that isn't scheduled but so far I have been able to fight off that urge.
I will say that the love for ECC has not diminished even with the wildness at our house. Every day I am amazed at the things we are learning. I guess the only thing that I haven't been able to accomplish at all has been the Geog. Game. I did give it a try on Friday afternoon but my ds went into super control mode and I have learned from experience that the best thing for everyone is to simply pack the game up and try it again another time. I am thinking of possibly playing it with each child individually. That works sometimes.
My dd is doing so much learning on her own. She almost has the 50 states memorized. She dug out our old Leapstirs and there was a book for that with the US map and the states. She has been working with it pretty diligently on her own. I just decided that I would let her do her own exploration and not do any more 'required' for her.
I hope all of the rest of you that are doing the mid year start fresh thing had a good week last week and have an even greater week this week.
annaz wrote:I would have started this thread for you momsflowergarden, but we didn't complete Week 7.

We went to an arboretum one day and it was wonderful, but tiring. With co-op the next day, two busy weekends (one to include the Pinewood Derby) and colds, we just took Friday off. So I can so understand your urge to take off a week. Plus it's supposed to be 80 and it's been pretty cold for AZ. Some days I'd just like to take a break without guilt. Sometimes I think it's a wonder dd is where she's at.
I got a game thought that looks fantastic... by Out of the Box called 10 Days in the America's. I wish that we didn't have co-op so we could just have our own "game day". We only have a family of 3 so it's hard to find games that work with 2-3 players. We will try that this week.
So we've completed 2 days into Canada on week 7. I love the Hero Tales book. Short, sweet and to the point. Effective. With that said, it looks like I'll have to pick and choose, because sometimes I just poop out. Ah...the pitfalls of being an old parent.
Yes, being an older parent does affect everything. I am in my 60's and struggle with some health issues that drains my energy also. Normally I take a couple of hrs in the middle of the day and rest but this last week is just never happened. I have to get up early to get my oldest son up. He is in a power chair and works full time so my first 2 hrs is spent doing that. I then am up late as I also put him to bed so it is rare for me to be in bed before 11 or just a bit before. If I get that rest in I do fine but oh boy if I continuously miss it.........this momma gets very tired.
I also love Hero Tales. We have been enjoying Cameron Townsend but I am a chapter behind with it. We do school 4 days a week so it is difficult to get it all in at times and my ds gets a bit starry eyed with long reading so I have been breaking it up. I read 1/2 a chapter when we do Bible, 1/2 a chapter as we start our science and history/geog reading and then another 1/2 chapter when we are finished with the sc/hist. We will get the other 1/2 chapter in just before bed time.
Hoping next weeks goes well for you.
Postby momsflowergarden » Fri Mar 04, 2011 11:33 pm
ECC week 7 finished
This week we were able to get back into a routine and finish except for one ch. in Cam. Town. I will try to get it done this week end. I really haven't even been on this board for the last couple of weeks so those that are doing ECC please check in and let me know what is happening!
annaz wrote:Hi Momsflowergarden!
We just finished week 10 and we're part way into 11. We had a wonderful week just doing school!
Matthew is giving us really good discussions. We love it. A favorite is Window on the World and of course Hero Tales which we didn't read this week, but they are DD's favorites!
DD can place all the South American countries on the geo game, although it is a little easier than North America was south of Mexico. We are having a problem with the Illustrated Atlas book as it has a environmental tone to it. But I've already read through it for a heads up for me. DD caught some of it on her own.

Other than that, it's an enjoyable book.
We are looking forward to a Nate Saint week!

I so agree that Matthew is the base for some good discussions. We are enjoying both Hero Tales and Cam. Townsend. The chapters in Cam. Towns. do get a bit long some days but they are engaging though so some times about the time I think it is time to quit something happens and we are all wanting to find out what happened. I have several of the ones written for younger children (16 of them) and we have read through those many times so it is fun to hear a bit more of what took place in their lives.