Homeschool World Forum

[cafemama]

We are just beginning our homeschool adventure and I'm wondering if anyone can provide feedback on the Wordly Wise curriculum. I recently looked over it, but very quickly. It looked like a good fit for our family and I'm wondering if there is anyone with experience using it who might be able to give me a heads-up as to whether or not it is really what I am thinking it might be. I am looking to avoid unnecessarily expensive curriculum and/or curriculum that would just sit on a shelf and not be a good fit for our children.

Here's the background: We have five children ages 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10, all of whom were adopted from Colombia. The youngest two came home to us at 4 months old and are little whipper-snappers. They are bilingual and developmentally/academically at least 2 years ahead. The oldest three just came home two months ago, only speak Spanish, attended only one year of school in the past and are very behind, and two of them have some special needs (still being diagnosed). The little ones participate in our phonics and reading activities and keep up amazingly well. As I was looking at the kindergarten Wordly Wise book and flash cards I thought it might be a good vocabulary building tool in place of any English as a Second Language type curriculum since the new kids really don't get that much exposure to English (only at church twice a week and at the YMCA) since our family is bilingual and we are mostly only speaking Spanish right now. I thought that the little ones would benefit from listening in and the older ones would gain some vocabulary even if we just started with kindergarten - which would be appropriate for even the 10 year old.

I would appreciate any thoughts on either the Wordly Wise curriculum or the topic of ESL and homeschooling!

Thanks!
Meg

[buffalogal]

I have not used Wordly Wise for ESL, but both of my children used it in public school before we started homeschooling and they both loved it. The activites are interesting and the vocabulary is challenging (there is also attention given to multiple meanings and different ways of using the same word in different contexts). The reading selections taught them a lot of good information about a variety of subjects as well. Both of my kids are strong readers and found these workbooks much more interesting than the usual spelling/vocabulary workbooks--in fact, it's the only part of school my son looked forward to and it was always the first homework that he wanted to do.

[hscoach]

I want to recommend a blog for you. It is written by Cindy LaJoy. You might want to connect with her to ask questions and share ideas. She contacted me and asked about ESL resources. Below I will give you the same links that I sent to her.

http://lajoyfamily.blogspot.com/

I think the two of you have quite a bit in common.

Here are the links:

http://a4esl.org/

http://englishlearner.com/

http://teacher-mom.blogspot.com/

http://kindersay.com/

http://genkienglish.net/

http://www.esltower.com/

We love Wordly Wise and have used it for many years! I highly recommend it.
_________________
Laura L. Barth
http://www.freehomeschooladvice.com

[homeschooling911]

I love Wordly Wise but prefer the original edition (which you can find here: http://eps.schoolspecialty.com/products/details.cfm?series=428M).

Educator's Publishing Service (now called School Specialty Intervention) has many wonderful programs. I love their "Vocabulary from Classical Roots" and highly recommend it.
_________________
http://homeschooling911.com/blog/
Your Comprehensive Home School Resource