I've been listening to you for several years with the Generations Homeschool Summits. I just found your CLE videos as we transition to them. I listen to homeschool moms discuss curriculum 24/7 I swear.... and you are by far the most helpful and practical giving different methods of what we as Moms listening on this side can do. I also love throwing in all the extras as possibilities and talking through how your various kids love them. I'm a huge fan. Thank you thank you !!!
They are pretty different. Math-U-See is a mastery approach (although some review is built-in). The lessons are shorter and some of the levels and lessons include manipulatives. We use Math-U-See for my dyslexic/dyscalculia kid and it works much better. Overall CLE is our default, though, for the reasons I mentioned. I'm actually working on a more detailed review soon with info on how we use CLE at each level. So watch for that if you're interested!
Your walk-through of the family guide helped me so much! I recently bought Ancients, but we haven't started it yet. Looking through the literature / read-alouds / resources section was overwhelming me. I opened my guide and followed along as you went through yours, and it makes a lot more sense now. I really appreciate you taking the time to do that. Thank you!
This was fantastic! Do people usually get US and world history from one of the 4 plans? Maybe plan 3 for US history for high school credit? How long does it usually take for y’all to get through history per day? Thanks for sharing!!
Hi, great review!! I have a question regarding the audiobook. Is the audiobook the narration of Remember the Days book? Is the voice pleasant to hear? I’m a working homeschool mom and sometimes we struggle to do history because I’m exhausted. We really like Biblioplan, but after reading for Language Arts, explaining math, reading for science or Spanish (depending the day) I feel I have nothing left in me. I think if I have the option to have an audio book for the main book would help me to be more consistent with History. Thanks!
I hear ya! Audiobooks are great for that purpose. Yes, they’re a reading of Remember the Days. I think the voice was fine - I would check out the sample audios here to make sure it works for your family! >> www.biblioplan.net/rememberthedays/
You mentioned resources and approaches for addressing topics of false religions and other theological sticking points. Have you shared those anywhere? I'd love to see them.
Very great flip through and explanation! Trying to decide whether to use biblio plan or mfw next year with my 3rd,5th & 7th grader … I think especially after this I’m leaning to biblio plan … we did ECC this year abd it’s good but there’s a lot I cut out lol so not really worth $500 a year!
I know you also did a review on BiblioPlan. We are using it this year and considering Tapestry of Grace for the next year as my child is turning 6th grade. What would you say if you would compare these two? Thank you,
I would say that BiblioPlan is easier to use, especially for multiple kiddos. Their family guide (which gives you all the options for the week at a glance) is gold. And their coloring pages, audiobook of the Remember the Days book, map work books, and notebooking journals are so helpful. That said, I haven't decided if I'll go ahead and use Tapestry of Grace this coming year for Ancients since we already have it, or buy BiblioPlan for that level. Their literature selections are similar. TOG has put out some new and updated content recently and I haven't checked it out to compare, so that's worth considering as well.
I've used BP lightly with my younger kiddos. After printing out the TOG sample, I really really like the scripted information and teacher notes in TOG. Alot of times with other programs I found myself searching to figure out what the main concepts really were.
I've been looking for something to do with all my children, well at least 2 of them. One is in 2nd this year and the other in 8th. Next year he will obviously be in high school and so I'm just wondering if I'm going to have to read to my younger ones out of the Remember The Days and my oldest will have to read on his own? I was trying to have a family style curriculum, but thinking it won't work on the reading material. Can you tell me what you do with your older. It seemed in your video that you read the Remember The Days to all your kids and you did not read the high school one even though you had a high schooler, but planned to do it later on like in 11th or 12th grade?
We still do the read-aloud of Remember the Days Together. For a while I was having my high schooler also read his chapter on his own, take notes, and then narrate it to me. Doing both really helped with his understanding and retention. (I noticed that BP is coming out with audiobook versions of the high school text, so I may have him do that next year instead of reading the high school chapter, since he's such an auditory learner.) Right now, I've pulled in another main reading assignment for him temporarily (it's a biography series about American faith) so I actually only have him read certain pieces of the BP high school text each week. As we are reading RTD together, I'll note what the family guide has planned for the high school text and assign one or two pieces based on what I want him to learn more about. For example, last week after our RTD read aloud I had him read the Companion section on the reconstruction period after the Civil War and the section on Charles Spurgeon. It's all very flexible. I hope that helps! :)
@@TaunaM Thank you so much for taking the time to tell me more. I really appreciate it. I'm excited to try this curriculum. Thank you for the wonderful video, it helps so much to see things before making the plunge. We have tired several history's and I'm just having a hard time trying to find one that fits our family since I have a huge age gap. Too hard having everyone do their own thing, especially when I want to be involved and spend time as a family learning. This one looks like it just might be perfect for us.
While the Elderberry juice is still warm, pour some of it back into the honey jar and shake it around to thin and release ALL of the honey from the container! Pour back into mixture. No waste!
We have been debating between Biblioplan and Tapestry of Grace. We went with Tapestry for this year for kindergarten, but I feel like I'm not the biggest fan of the lower grammar literature selection. It sounds like you have littles... Did you feel like the reading was good for your youngest family members?
I'm sorry I missed this! I like the literature selections for the younger kids in BP, as well as the family read aloud selections. They've been a memorable and fun part of our history studies!
I used the instant pot to slow cook the elderberries and went out for a few hours… when I came home, the whole house smelled really badly… and also the pot and the rubber ring inside the lid… The smell was so bad, I threw the whole thing away as I felt sick from the smell. Then I Soaked the pot and rubber ring and the lid overnight with detergent… but it still smells afterwards. So I no longer use my instant pot for cooking elderberries afterwards.
I love the look of the calendar book. I attempted to order them through our charter homeschool and it was denied. I didn’t see any religious content in your flip through. Is there?
I love how you explain how you do it for your family. I love having a spine and options, but I hate being too chained to a curriculum. Do you have a favorite language arts that you work in for your kids? Do we buy the living books and text books with these guides or do you buy them separately. Thanks for this video!❤
I buy the spine texts and the accompanying audiobook. I sometimes buy the literature (we like building a home library of excellent literature and history books) but I also get a lot from the library and haven’t had trouble finding books. It’s handy! The language arts question is a big one. Lol! I don’t really have a favorite. I really should write a blog post about that. We rely on oral narrating (summarizing back in your own words), then around 3rd grade have them start using drawing/written narrations / notebooking to relate what they’ve read. If they need a lot of spelling help (not all my kids do) I use All About Spelling or for older kids IEW Phonetic Zoo or Logic of English. Around 5th - 7th, depending on the kid, we introduce some formal grammar and writing resources, and they’re different depending on the kid. Right now my two girls are enjoying Writing and Rhetoric a lot. My oldest got a lot out of the middle school writing curriculum Jump In by Sharon Watson. For grammar my oldest started Easy Grammar Plus in 7th/8th and it was a good fit. The two girls coming up behind him are trying a different style with CM options: Simply Grammar and The Mother Tongue (a vintage grammar resource adapted for modern students). That hot mess of an LA reply probably wasn’t helpful but that’s what we do! Most of their language arts skills are built up by narrating and notebooking about the Bible and history readings we do, so we get more done in a shorter amount of time each day. It works well!
I saw another homeschooler on youtube say that you are to read 21 pages per day. That sounds like a lot of reading. Is she correct? I hope to homeschool a 5th and 7th grader and trying to decide what is best for them.
I’ve never even looked at page numbers. I think it depends on how you’re using it. We read the spine aloud (or use the audio) and it’s more like 20-30 minutes for 3 days. As a reference, the Remember the Days spine has 11 pages for chapter 34, scheduled across the whole week. Then the fourth day we do an activity or video. My older kids also do their own literature readings sometimes and do map work, timeline, and some notebooking. In all, it is about an hour average for 4 days a week. Some weeks are more if we want to dig in, do more audiobooks / read alouds, or do extra activities, some weeks are less. Considering it covers history literature and geography, I think that’s pretty good!
I JUST READ YOUR ANSWERS TO MY QUESTIONS in someone else’s post :). Thank you! You need not reply again. I listen to you on Generations’ webinars and I appreciate the wisdom and encouragement! K
Thanks for posting! ‘Quick questions: Does the US version instructor have an accent that is not Australian ;)? (I just started looking into it, so any tips are helpful.) I am looking into CTC mostly so that my 7-year-old - who loves math - can also use the app. Can you tell why you changed from TT to CTC, besides the good deal and usefulness for several children of most ages? My son still resists math and takes a long time to finish (while whining)… yet having him on a recommended APP has been better for us all.
thanks for sharing this detailed walk through of biblioplan. This curriculum looks very well laid out with all the pieces. You mentioned in the beginning of the video that you had some suggestions for resources to help with the christian world view for new Christians. I would be interested in those resources. Thank you.
I would recommend Sound Words for Kids, Lessons in Theology. Adding in Mystery or History with BP’s suggested schedule can help as well because it has great Christian worldview conversations woven in. We sometimes pull them in when I feel like a lesson needs more of that. The books Deadliest Monster (about various worldviews), Mama Bear Apologetics, and Cooley’s Help Your Kids Learn & Love the Bible are great reads for parents as well. I’m sure there are more but those come to mind! :)
Love this in-depth look into this curriculum since I'm going to attempt homeschooling officially this coming school year with my littles. Looking through the website alone makes it feel a little overwhelming but your explanations help make this doable for us.
I have an ADHD 8 yr old with a lot of math anxiety. We have tried a ton of curriculum on her including CLE (LU 101). Would you recommend this for a child like her? Would you make any changes to the lesson for an ADHD child?
It can be helpful because of the repetition with the spiral approach. Also, some kids do better with it because it's not flashy and colorful. I would split a lesson into two sessions if needed and cross of ones that they have already mastered and just need a little review (there are lots of problems in each one and I often do this). My dyslexic kiddo also was helped by using a ruler to go down the page line by line when needed. CLE math has worked really well for all my kids but my dyslexic kiddo (9 yo) is showing signs of dyscalculia as well and so we are going to try the math and math facts programs from Math U See. Still, I don't regret starting him on CLE math - it's a great program and frugal enough to try and see if it works. Hope that helps! :)
Hi! I’m wondering how much time you spend each day on this-are the readings from Remember the Days book long? Also, does their timeline match up with MOH as well? Thanks so much!
Sorry I missed this. Catching up! :) If you use BP’s reading schedule for MOH then yes, it would line up. However, it most closely matches the BP spines. We spend about an hour 4 days a week. The readings are from the RTD book and the family read alouds, and we hook in a short video on occasion. My older kids spend a bit more time on their own doing the map work, timeline, etc. but I’d say it’s about an hour total, 4-5 days a week, covering history literature and geography. :)
I have an upper elementary/lower middle school student. How thorough is the discussion guide? Do they have good questions for the lesson of history taught that week? (I am not sure if my question would make sense....just started learning about BibloPlan.)
Sorry for the delay. Just catching up! :) Their discussion guide covers all levels. If you’re starting with year 1, they’ve updated it to indicate which portions of each week’s discussion applies to which level. Super helpful. The other levels have not had that update yet so sometimes it can be a little confusing because high school level content from their upper level spine text is covered but isn’t necessarily obvious. We got the hang of it eventually. The “cool histories” are available for each level and may be a good option for a discussion guide / group review as well. But they’re designed to be short answer questions for kids to fill in to review each chapter. The high school one has essay prompts, I believe.
Hi. I am thinking of using Biblioplan next year. I will have kids ages 3-12. (obviously the three year old won't be doing school). I was wondering if they include fairy tales? I believe fairy tales are important for young children.
So glad I found this review! This was a blessing to me! I just found year one at a local homeschool bookstore to look through in person and I was so excited to see how they have so many amazing resources listed and scheduled in their teacher guide! I was trying to do the very same thing they've already done on my own over the last few weeks so I could do history with all my kids together. What an amazing resource! I'm ordering the year one from them now since the one I found earlier was several years old :)
My 7.5 year old completed 1st and 2nd grade with Easy Peasy workbooks last year. I felt like it was lacking and have tried switching to Singapore Primary and haven't loved it. Its overwhelming both of us. From the research I've done, the concepts in 1st grade of CLE are too easy in the beginning and too much for her near the end. Would you say it'd be okay to maybe start her halfway through grade 1?
I know this is 6 months after you posted the question, but I wanted to share what I did since I ran into the same delima you described. First, I went online to CLE, and assessed what level each my students best fit in (I had to step them down, to grades 1 and 3). Then, since I felt the beginning light units in their levels may be "too easy" for them, this is what I did. I copied the test from each light unit (starting with the first one, so, 101 and 301, respectively) and I gave my kids the test before starting the workbook. I used 2 criteria to figure out if they would stay in that light unit, or if they would skip ahead: 1- If they passed the test (for me, I wanted to see an 85-90% to pass them), **and** 2- if they didn't miss an ENTIRE concept... then I would consider that passed and proficient, and move on to the next light unit test. (I set aside the workbook they passed to either give away or sell.) So, for example, if a student got all the problems right (and passed the test), BUT they missed all or most of at least 1 concept (division, for example), then I would have them start in that workbook so they could learn that concept. To put it more plainly, my older student who tested into level 3 understood everything *except* division, fractions, and decimals. So, even though she technically passed the test, the problems she did miss were all the division ones. So that's how I knew that was the right workbook for her to start in for her level. (Note: I made copies of the test so that I could more easily sell the light units I wanted to sell. You could just remove the test and use it and not stress about that like I did, though.) :) I hope that helps!
If I do the older version with my 3rd grader, could I donit again in a few years and explore further? My public school student did a few of these things in middle school. It would be too much for him now but the younger one is too simple.
