@Luvmyboys - I’ll private message you thoughts about Shurley English 
@Proverbs31 @Luvmyboys @Norsk
I was just responding to someone about a different curriculum - I realized that as much as I rave about Voyages, I never include cons. That’s unfair of me to paint a great picture, but not tell it’s faults (in my opinion). Always important to remember that NOTHING is going to be perfect… and some things work for some people while they would be horrible for others.
Perhaps you’ve read my rambling praise for Voyages, but here are (in my opinion) where it has issues…
CONS
*it is not spiraling - it’s more mastery - adjectives one month, nouns another month, etc - it does speak of previously taught terms from time to time, but the focus changes every month. You may feel the need/desire to supplement with fun review games during down times or summer or whenever…
*this is not a con for me, but may be for some people - it’s not a scripted lesson plan - it suggests what/when to teach each page, and offers games/activities to do for each lesson, but it’s really up to you what components you use from the teacher book (I decided on my own lesson format for each day… something like this 1-daily edit, 2-daily prompt, 3-teacher activity/lesson 4-worksheet/writing assignment - you do have the freedom to pick and choose, but if you like scripted programs, this isn’t it.
*no fun music like other programs (thinking of buying a grammar cd to occasionally listen to in the car… my kids love that stuff)
*The teacher manual has a LOT in it (good!) but it’s not an easy format… overall schedule in front of book… teacher resources at beginning of each unit… then (the real mystery!) the daily lesson/activities are in the BACK of the book, not with the unit pages in the middle - so I have sticky tabs in the back and middle to mark where we left off - lots of back and fourth.
So there - Voyages isn’t perfect - it’s totally awesome (for us!), but I don’t want to give the wrong idea/impression! Happy Curriculum Hunting, ladies!
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@luvmyboys I haven’t used either Shurley English or Voyages. However just by looking I will say that Shurley English is the kind of thing I would normally be drawn to. I personally don’t like to see too much colour for Math and Language because I am visual and unless those pictures help to solidify a concept they are a distraction. They are definitely a distraction for most of my children so far. So as far as simplicity Shurley would be the kind of thing I would be looking for. However with Voyages I like the way that it seems to be more student led (more independent) than Shurley. I can’t remember if I saw a grade 2 for Voyages? I feel like with Voyages my children could pick up the books and do the work without much involvement from me which is what I would be looking for at this stage. For a 2nd grader though I would think that being involved in Language is still very important to help solidify what they are learning as well as making sure your child understands concepts etc… (I don’t know that I helped at all with my opinion because I haven’t tried either program- this is just my what I think from having a quick glance. I hope I did help in some way though).
ETA : Oh dear my brain seems to have left me today! Of course there is a 2nd grade level of Voyages! sigh
Anywho after looking at it (Properly might I add) I actually love it. It is so simple in comparison to what we were doing at grade 2 which is a good thing. It seems light yet informative and fun!
I think if I had seen Grade 2 Shurley vs Grade 2 Voyages I might have changed my mind about all the colour etc… lol I hope I haven’t confused you now! 
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I have used Essentials in Writing, levels 7-10–it’s been a great help to my kids!
Levels 1-6 include grammar, but I haven’t used those levels.
EIW really helped my reluctant/struggling writer learn to organize thoughts and write–very thankful for that! Here’s a review I did awhile back (I should update since we’ve used more levels! The sound issue I mentioned then has not been an issue since, so they must have fixed that.)
HTH some as you look at options! Merry 
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@Merry Hello:) I will ask you the same question, what is your opinion on Shurley English vs Voyages in English grade 2? Im considering them both for next year. It’s nice to see what others have to have say, sometimes they have something to think about that I never considered:)
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Sorry, I haven’t used either of them, so I can’t really compare. One thing I’ve learned over the years though is to not only consider how my kids learn, but how I teach and what kind of support I want or need. So, make sure as you look at samples and read pros & cons to consider whether it sounds like a match for your teaching style and needs.
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Luvmyboys- I would be happy to give you my feedback. I purchased the books directly from Loyola Press.
For the first grade, the first chapter starts out making sentences. As you go through the chapter it will give you writing prompts (for example, write a telling sentence about a bike). By the end of the chapter, it has you writing a personal narrative. At the beginning of each chapter it goes over grammar and by the end it has a writing workshop section. I would say for the grades (1-2) it has writing in with the grammar (have not seen 2nd grade book). The grade 4 book is separated into 2 distinct sections. The first half is grammar and the second half is writing. They give you a guide for how each grammar section and writing chapter work together. For example, sentences (grammar) to pages in Personal Narratives (writing). They have a five-day-a-week- plan throughout the program. I be homeschooling 3 kids next year (k,1,4), so the lesson plan will be very helpful for me. I hope this helped a little.
Triton17- I have not had a chance to look at the books in complete detail. I have briefly looked them over and love how thorough they are. You have given very good detail about Voyages and it is as you described. I am very happy with the 4th grade version. It has so much detail. In comparing the 1st and 4th grade, the 4th grade is divided into 2 distinct sections. The 1st half of the book is grammar and the 2nd half of the book is writing. Voyages does a good job giving you a guide for how each grammar section and writing chapter work together. The 4th grade has a practice book and it gives a lot of good grammar practice. I am very content with this program. Thank you so much for recommending Voyages. It is a good one.
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@Norsk - great! I’m glad you like it so far! Thanks for comparing the two grades for me
I’m getting ready to start hunting for some new curriculums - I’m so glad there are so many kind parents on here willing to share and help each other - I’ll be posting my own questions soon! Thanks a ton!
Ok, conference news. It was interesting this year. First of all I always find the speakers very encouraging and helpful, especially at this time of year when you are finishing out old curriculum and may be feeling a little down etc… they always give you the boost you need to keep going. This year we had Dr. Jay Wile. He gave a lot of statistics which showed the differences between public, private and home school. It was definitely encouraging and inspiring.
More than half of the people that attended this year were new to homeschooling which was amazing. But I was disappointed with how many vendors we ended up with- none of the fun ones were there this year (games etc….) I didn’t need many books this year as I went with Sonlight so I had enough books really and I just needed writing. I ended up going with EIW as it covers grammar and writing and someone else is teaching which is what I need at this time. It was between EIW and IEW as I said above and I figured, go for the cheaper one that covers more topics and if it doesn’t work I could go for IEW next year. I hope we have a great year with EIW. Holding the items in your hands really makes a difference when making a decision.
I saw some interesting, inexpensive French programs, I’m still thinking it over but watermelon works looks like something we could do. Other than that it was really a year to listen to speakers and be encouraged. I’m glad I went I hope you find a conference to attend at least once so you can experience it yourself. Oh, and meeting other homeschoolers just like you is awesome too!
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@Proverbs31 - Well, too bad the conference didn’t have some of the fun, exciting stuff to peruse, but inspiration is worth more than words, and it’s FREE! Perfect timing too - regardless of if you do full year school or have summer break, I think many people get in a rut in the spring (I sure do!!) - so a pick-me-up couldn’t come at a more perfect time. I’m glad you found that and the speakers to be good.
I’m so happy you were able to come to a decision about EIW vs IEW - choosing curriculums is never easy. It seems like you thought it out very well and made a good choice! Now you can keep us all posted on how it goes!
BTW - can you let me know about the French programs you found - you mentioned Watermelon Works - I’ve never heard of that - can you expand on that (and any others with potential)?
Glad you had a good time - thanks for the report!
@triton17 You definitely do find yourself in a rut in the spring. Happens every year, perhaps because of the long, cold winter, or the constant go, go, go. Whatever it is, it’s the best time of year for a conference as it helps keep us going.
I’m so excited about EIW, my children are ready to start right away, but we have a busy week this week, I think we may have to wait until next week to start.
The French programs we found were Watermelon works www.watermelon-works.com
a very light program. It has lots of little cards and is more like a game than an intense curriculum which I would prefer to start out in comparison to workbooks etc… when you have so many other subjects. The lady said 12 mins a day should do it (which sounded pretty feasible) I liked it a lot. She was charging $54 Canadian including taxes which I thought was pretty amazing but I didn’t pick it up between my little one crying for milk, lunch time and just trying to pick what we actually needed I didn’t have time to go back and check it out again and I kind of regret it but her website prices seem to be about the same so I have some more time to think.
The other program was called L’art de Lire- www.nallenart.com
This one is more workbooky, but she had a reasonable price too. Right now for a limited time she has a special for $120 Canadian to get the downloads for level 1-6. The workbooks show a little mouse I believe who tells a story in French that you can figure out and it has CD’s (MP3’s for the downloads) and you can learn the grammar then write your own story using the phrases you learnt. I liked it but wasn’t sure if I should teach French grammar along with English grammar? I wasn’t sure if it would be confusing as we are still trying to get the English grammar down pat, but I may be wrong. Once again I have a little time to think about it in the meantime. My children definitely need French. Being in Canada it’s a wonderful trait to be bilingual.
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@Proverbs31 oooo thank you so much for the language suggestions! We are really REALLY hoping to be able to give our children the gift of a second language. Unfortunately my husband and I don’t speak anything beyond English, and we don’t have the money to put our children in language classes (ideal!) I used to work in a variety of schools with numerous children that spoke second (and even third) languages - what a great gift!! We tried Hooked on Spanish this year (got the entire 3 year/ 3 unit program for $10.) It’s really no good in my opinion. On top of that my husband and I both took French, so while we’re not fluent, that’s what we’re accustomed to. Pardon the cliché/bad joke… but listening to the Spanish sounds so… foreign! Haha! We are thinking of switching to French. We were aiming at Spanish because we’re in the south and there’s a lot of it here (and in the rest of the country), but I figure if they learn one now, if needed they could pick up another later. Learning no foreign language isn’t an option in my opinion Anyway - thanks a ton for the ideas - I’ll look into them!
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Same here, I only speak one language. My hubby does speak a second language but he doesn’t use it often and I didn’t learn it so that’s not helpful to us lol (He speaks Luganda). I also took French in school but I didn’t pursue it and I wasn’t interested because I always loved Spanish. So here I am in an English/French speaking country, in love with Spanish! But it makes more sense to teach French. I would love my children to know several languages eventually. I guess it really isn’t a problem to teach English grammar alongside French grammar then?
I hope you find something useful to you and your family. I am personally leaning more towards Watermelon but don’t want to miss the deal on the other side with nallenart. lol Once again decisions, decisions!!!
The decisions are unending, aren’t they!?! So you are in love with Spanish, but living among French, and I’m in love with French living among Spanish
As to your question about French grammar vs English grammar. Many parents (with good reason) get held up about this. I have 2 examples of it going well. 1. I worked at a private school where in each of my classes there were 1-3 students who spoke another language. Many of the students were reluctant to learn a new language (much to the parents dismay, because in each case at least one parent spoke the second language at home!) So all of them hired (not an option for me) a private tutor who came to our school to work with the children - this was second grade. The kids were learning regular English grammar, phonics etc, right alongside their foreign language.
Example 2 - before we moved South, we lived in MA and there were two public schools that offered immersion foreign language - meaning the teacher only speaks the foreign language to the children for ALL subjects - once a day the kids would go to an English class (quite the opposite of what we are used to - doing an all English class and leaving for foreign language). The success of these programs and the students’ fluency after just a few years in these programs was astounding. Their brains were young enough to be able to make the connections and differentiate between the English grammar/phonics/writing and the foreign language. There IS usually a period of time where they are confusing the two and it looks grim… but then suddenly… IT WORKS! I have a friend whose son wanted to go into an immersion program, and she chose NOT to let him because of her apprehension with grammar/writing/phonics. I kept telling her they wouldn’t offer these programs if it didn’t work. She just couldn’t latch onto the idea, but from someone who has seen it first hand, if a second language is important to you, try to trust that it does work - it takes time, but it works (if you can find the right program)!
Sorry for the long response - just trying to shed some light! Now if only I could find the “right” program!
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Thank you for this! I needed to hear that others have been successful. I may just go with the workbooky one then. Fortunately I know someone who speaks fluent French who doesn’t mind teaching the children for free. (YAY!!) So the workbooks will no longer be my responsibility (phew!) With everything else I had on my plate I didn’t want to add another workbook, so this solution is perfect.
Once again I hope you find something that will work for you, perhaps someone who is willing to help like I found over here.
I am in my 3rd year of using IEW and I love it! My first year was a little bit of a struggle only because I didn’t know anything about the curriculum, except that it was very good. This year we used writing through US history and my boys not only learned how to write exemplary essays, but learned a lot of history as well! Also, my boys just finished their state testing and usually they dread the writing portion of the test. This year they all said it was the best part and they owe it all to their IEW lessons. It’s a phenomenal program and I highly recommend it. Next year we are also going to be using their grammar curriculum called ‘Fix it’. I would suggest taking a look at their website!
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Thank you @knwalck I decided to go with EIW as I had mentioned before, but if the worst comes to the worst I can either go with IEW later on or next year. How long did it take to do the program each week/day? And when did you notice positive results in their writing?
I personally LOVE to write but dread teaching it because I found it came more naturally to me than it does to my children so far. (I think I have been blessed with one of my youngers who can narrate quite well and I hope this translates into writing! sigh). I have looked at the website but I really like to see curriculum up close and personal when possible. I was thinking about buying ‘Fix It’ and FORGOT to buy it at the conference double sigh
In the meantime EIW is covering both grammar and writing. We have done a couple lessons so far, they were short and to the point, I will finish out the program for now to see what happens but IEW may be in out near future.
Your welcome I noticed changes after a few lessons. I love how IEW teaches writing and it encourages using new words every lesson. Grammar & vocabulary is taught in the lessons as well. We did a lesson per week, which gave my boys about 15 minutes per day roughly… For example, Monday they would read the passage, and start (maybe finish) their key word outline, the next couple days they would complete their rough draft and the final day a typed out final draft it all depended on the content and length of the essay. I’m going off of this years schedule, since we took the class through co-op. We completed one lesson per week. I have never heard of EIW, but hope it works for you! The beauty of homeschool is being able to change and custom fit your lessons with your kids
1 lesson per week sounds like my kind of thing lol I’m glad the option is out there if EIW doesn’t work. EIW stands for Essentials in Writing (I hadn’t heard of it either until I saw the initials and thought people mean IEW) It is also a DVD format but works on grammar and writing. The first half is grammar and the second half works on writing. The grammar so far seems a little simple in comparison to what we were doing in the past but the writing looks like it will help. I have to wait until we get there to find out. So far I like it though, the lessons are short and simple, and while my older children are working on that I can work with my youngest on her Language using First Language lesson or other language work. I couldn’t do this last year as the older children needed me the whole time. This is a welcome change (so far) Homeschool really does give you the freedom to make it work for your child where they are at. I love it!
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