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  1. Christina says:

    I realize this is your high school post but I am just catching up on this and your previous one.

    You mentioned that you used IEW in elementary school? Was that in addition to Abeka? How young did you use it? I am looking at starting to homeschool in September (I was homeschooled and also helped with my siblings-we used Abeka) and will have a 2nd and 1st grader. I liked abeka and for ease of transitioning into homeschooling will most likely use that. I hadn’t realized that you could do video school for elementary as well. How easy is it to skip parts of the day is taking too long and teach it yourself with the teacher manuels? You also mentioned how much you liked the Sonlight readers. Again, did you get those in addition to using the abeka program or did you substitute those in?

    Thank you (as always) for your amazingly helpful and encouraging blog posts! Don’t stop writing!!

    1. Thank you Christina–Great questions! Wow, you have some experience in the homeschool world, I think you should be helping ME!! haha. Let’s see; I have only used IEW in later elementary and middle school (and up.) Yes, that was one of the only things I’ve done in addition to Abeka. I just love writing (obviously) and am a huge fan of IEW so I use it and then let them either skip a few writing assignments in Abeka or combine the two (use the IEW format to write a paper for Abeka…) I am pretty sure you can start IEW very young, I just haven’t done it. (the web site has so much to offer and great customer service by phone too.)

      As for Abeka videos in the early years: Because of my busy days, I try to make Levi (1st grade) watch his Abeka videos most days, but some days I do just glance in the teacher manual, and have him do seat work and read his readers with me. Of course then he misses any “teaching” the teacher does (they do not outline that in the manual when you use videos like they do if you do traditional book homeschool with Abeka) but I figure there is so much repetition in the video lectures that it is probably ok to miss a day or two a week of lectures. The seat work reviews everything and that is plenty. The only pain then is you have to fast-forward through the video before going on to the next lesson, but that is minor in the big picture. 🙂

      Sonlight readers– I use in addition to the school reading. It is more like nighttime reading and so on. They don’t get through tons of books but we use them when Abeka assigns book reports and especially or summertime and school breaks. My boys enjoy reading but have so many distractions (too many outdoor activities! :)) so they don’t read as much as many kids do.

      Hope that helps a little and feel free to ask more! Thank you for your kind words. SO happy to help and love to think I offer a bit of encouragement! Aloha!

      1. Christina says:

        Thank you! It is very helpful! I am actually less concerned about homeschooling in high school and more nervous about doing it in elementary (probably a little backwards). 😀

  2. Ellen Flanigan says:

    This was very helpful! We are praying throughhomeschool decisions now and trying to plan for the upper grades. We use IEW but I teach them, instead of the DVDs. Are the videos easy to follow and are they different for each grade? do they become bored with DVDs? I have 4 kids, 5,7,9 &,11. I’m trying to move the older ones to be more independent because the younger need my attention and I don’t want to be teaching ALL day long.

    Thanks,
    Ellen

    1. OH I hear you Ellen! Yes, IEW videos are really fun and interesting. I think Mr. Pudewa is super funny and explains things well. My boys really enjoy the videos. Plus, you only usually watch one and then do a week or two of work, so it’s not like watching heaps of video. I honestly get a little confused with IEW as far as grades and which level to be on. I just try to combine a few of my students together as it seems to work well that way. And I do watch those videos with them so I understand the assignments well, but then the boys do most of their work independently. Much aloha and keep up the great work!

  3. For us, doing high school transcripts has been a breeze. I have 2 college graduates and 1 high school graduate that is finishing up her degree while being Dual Enrolled (taking college classes online that count for her high school classes). I had to research the colleges we planned on sending them to. We also opted for CLEP and DSST testing for college and high school credit and Dual Enrollment. With Dual Enrollment at the local Community no transcript is usually required, no SAT is required. The only requirement is the Accuplacer for English and Math (covers up to Alg 2 & Trig). When my kids got their AA degrees and transferred to 4 year degree universities they didn’t need to provide the transcript from high school as long as they had 30 college credits. However, I still have the transcript I created using a subject based free transcript template.

    1. Thank you so much for sharing! Sounds like you’ve got this stuff down! Wow. 🙂 I had forgotten to mention in my post (but just went back and added now!) that we could do our homeschool curriculum as an “Accredited” program, which would also simplify my record keeping, etc…But I do love what you do. That definitely makes for a smooth process.
      Josiah plans to do the CLEP testing at the end of this year, and though I don’t understand it yet, it sounds like a great option. I love that you use online and community college classes to get your kids started. That is so smart. Josiah wants to start at a four-year University but I absolutely see the wisdom in starting elsewhere and transferring later. Well done!!