I have a rising 2nd grader and a rising 3rd grader. I was actually looking at the NL review on your blog and saw that you were using Core Knowledge. I have never heard of it before. I did check out your link briefly. I would love to see the finished work.

I NEED to decide on Science! I'm STUCK! Nothing appeals to me at this point. I have absolutely everything I need except Science. I actually just got back from IKEA, and am rearranging my whole schoolroom. I want to start very soon, but the Science decision is going to drive me batty! I would love a Science that comes with everything (I'm shying away from NL at this point due to the price). I would love it in ebook form (we tried RSO and the kids didn't like all the filling in of graphs, etc so it was set aside). Anyway, I'm just looking for any and all reviews. I would love to know what worked/didn't work for you and your children and why/why not. Science Needs to get done this year!!! I was looking at Noeo pretty seriously because I thought it came with everything. It seems you still need some household items which means I might as well leave my options open if I'll end up having to "collect" things anyhow.

I totally forgot about the R&S Preschool books! I think I am gonna order those too!

The kids had a blast. We went and bought some bird feeders to put in our yard. The birds were everywhere right away. The kids had their field guides out trying to identify the birds. It was so exciting. Here are some of the photos I was able to snap. It was hard to get photos of all of them because I had to be so quick. Hopefully I linked the images right. This is some kind of Sparrow I believe. The one to the right is definitely a Morning Dove. This photo I can not believe I actually got. I was so surprised to have hummingbirds at our hummingbird feeder.

If she is 10, I would think it is completely possible. She will probably speed through Beta and then you can start Gamma and take all the time you need. I am getting ready to start my almost 9 year old over with Beta in the Fall. We are on a long break right now. She just did Alpha over again prior to our break and it made a WORLD of difference. I love MUS! It has made such a huge difference for my non-mathy DD.

I would love links to what you are using, suggestions to fun activities, etc. I am thinking of piecing some of the Timberdoodle stuff together from their full curriculum. I was thinking of definitely getting Language Lessons for Little ones and What Your Preschooler Needs To Know. The Purpllinker looks awesome! I have already ordered Smencils. I will probably also had in some of the books from the Sonlight Preschool curriculum. I was going to send him the More @ Four Program at the public school because he had no interest at all in learning. He knew none of his letters, sounds, numbers, etc. I took him to get his eyes checked and he had a near-sighted astigmatism in both eyes and is far-sighted. Now, all of a sudden he is showing a huge interest since getting his glasses last week. I am so excited! We have a local homeschool book fair in our area once a year. Taking him with me was huge motivation I think. He stocked up on coloring books and has been doing so much coloring. After thinking he had absolutely no motivation to learn anything, then seeing how particular he was when coloring and how he doesn't even color out of the lines amazed me. I am now so excited to start Preschool at home which I have never done with any of my other children, but I think he really needs it and he is now asking to "do school" everyday.

Can you tell me if it was too easy? Did you have to add a lot to beef it up? I am debating going with Science 2, but I have been told to start with Science 1 not to miss anything. My children are also obsessed with Physics and Birds so Science 2 might be a better fit, although we could just do it next year after we have completed Science 1. What would you do? I was all set to go with Noeo until I pulled up some not so great reviews here on WTM. :confused: Also, will NL fit into a 4 day work week?

Also, check YouTube. After seeing this post last night, I was on YouTube catching up!

Yay! Thanks for posting this reminder!

I am looking or any and all ideas for bird study ideas. My children are obsessed with birds all of a sudden. I either want to include it with Science in the Fall or do a separate bird study. I would love links and or ideas.

Can you explain how you do binders? I filed last year and it was wonderful, but it was so much work in the beginning that I am not sure I want to do that again. We also ended up ditching certain things during the year and switching to something else so it was a waste of time on a couple subjects for me.

What level would you go with if you wanted to combine and 7 and almost 9 year old? We did Artistic Pursuits last year, but only used it once every 2 weeks and didn't always get to it. We are a little over half way through the first book. I am going to continue with AP this year, but want to add in Meet the Masters. I want to purchase it before the HSBC sale is over in a week or so. I am stumped between Level 1 and 2 since I want to combine my two children. What really is the difference between them? I am assuming that if I plan on using all Tracks A, B, & C over the next couple years then I should go with the bundle that includes these for Level 2? But then I am wondering if this is going to go beyond for my 7 year old. :confused:

You have described my DD who is 8 yrs. old. I bought Apples & Pears to use after trying Spelling Workout, AAS, And Rod & Staff. Neither of those helped her to retain anything. We will start Apples & Pears in the Fall so I can't comment on it as of yet, but it looks wonderful! My DD just today in the car couldn't spell "shell" and her brother who is 19 months younger had to spell it fir her and explain to her how it has 2 "L's". It really makes her feel bad, but it happens all the time. I'm not sure if she is just lazy or she really doesn't know. I have to help her to sound out everything. I'm pretty worried so your not the only one.

:lurk5:

I have posted before about my 4.5 yr old DS. He has had no interest in learning anything at all. He doesn't know his letters, their sounds, can't identify numbers. He has had speech issues and was in speech therapy from the age of 2-4. He was released from speech therapy although I dont think he should have been. Over the last month he has finally shown interest in wanting to learn. I'm so excited! He has been playing with letters in the tub and wanting to know what letter it is. I'm not sure he really gets what it means when I tell him the sound and how each letter makes a certain sound. He still can't repeat the letters and their sounds. The only letter he recognizes every time he sees it is "O" and also the numbers "3" and "1". He is actually wanting to be read too, but doesn't sit for the whole book. His attention span is horrible. We will get to the last 3 pages and he says, "ok! I'm all done!" so we close the book. I just dnt want to push, but he really needs letter practice. He goes to have an eye exam this coming Thursday. He went to the eye doc on Friday because he had an eye infection and the eye doc was extremely concerned as well. If you have any ideas for me, I would greatly appreciate it! Whether it be a 2-3 day a week Pre-K curriculum, a website, a great book, a great game, puzzle, etc. He has had a lot of fun playing with the Starfall app on the iPad, but he isn't retaining anything. He has just recently learned to count to 10 by using the iPad. Love love the iPad! I would love any links to suggested books on Amazon. Maybe a great ABC book?

I have used McRuffy LA for the past two years. Before you just sell it and find something else, I would look ahead in the book. I am not sure what grades you are using for your DC, but McRuffy tends to move very quickly. Just because it is easy for them now doesn't mean that it won't get more challenging. There is a lot more to learn by doing the worksheets and using the TM, games, etc. then just being able to read the readers that are included.

I was the one who started this thread last year. Looks like this post is from January 12th of this year. I wish I would have had something like this last year. I will be using this in the Fall. It looks wonderful!

This is exactly what I want to do. I'm glad you had a positive return with it. It makes me look even more forward to my idea.

I need books for him to read. He is right at his target reading level.

I'm looking for a reading list for my rising 2nd grader. I want to make an assigned reading list for this coming year week to week. I need to be organized so I'm not fumbling for books at his level when he finishes the prior book. Any and all book suggestions would be greatly appreciated! He is not a child that will just pick up a book and read so I need to have a "schedule" for him to look at each week.

I am using it this year too. I am going to start with 2 for my rising 2nd and 3rd grader.

I'm confused! How do you know where to start?

Ah! They look perfect to use alongside MUS. I'm just not sure what level to start with. The samples look amazing!

I have used McRuffy LA for my DS (7) for K and 1st. He has become a pretty efficient reader and I'm not sure he really needs to continue with McRuffy 2nd (even though we have it on the shelf already). He also takes hours to finish one page of McRuffy which is so frustrating! He looked over GWG and WWW tonight and did a couple lessons in each. I was amazed at how quickly he finished the lessons. I will probably also add in FLL2. My problem is spelling. I'm stuck on what to use. I want something that is phonics based for a natural speller. Also something that can get done quickly and is not a ton of "busy work" that will take my distractible boy 2 hours to complete.

The fact that family spoke to your DD in that matter is ridiculous. I let my children make their own decisions when it comes to what they want to do after high school. They know this at a very young age. My DS who is 7 yo already talks about going to college on a weekly basis. He is very excited at a young age. My DD who is 18 is choosing to go to Cosmetology school instead of college and is in the process of trying to get a job at Clinique. I am extremely proud of her! I am sure you are proud of your DD too. I have family just like you do who thinks education is a priority after high school. I have a sister who is very materialistic as well as her husband and they have to have the best of absolutely everything including very expensive home, very expensive vacations, and lots of other expensive things. This is what makes them happy. They are raising their children the same way. When my DD told my sister she wasn't going to college, it was like the end of the world in their eyes and they wanted to step in and go to the college to try to "help her" get in when she was having trouble passing the placement tests. Mind you, they live 700 miles away. I think a lot of us have family like this. I, myself, never went to college. I never even thought about it. I found a job at a very young age, had a baby and got married, even bought a home all at the age of 18. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it. By the time I was 23, I was a paralegal at a fairly decent firm making a very good salary with health insurance and a ton of other benefits. It can definitely be done! I wish your daughter the best and congratulations on her new job! :001_smile: