We are in northern Prince William County. Yes, the commute is important. Fortunately, he doesn't have to go all the way into the city. Nearby areas like Fairfax Station (south of Fairfax along Ox Rd, but maybe part of the city itself) or Burke or Clifton seem more "country" to me. There are also areas that aren't too far from us in northern PW co. that seem much more rural than Fairfax itself. Just beware the sticker shock...depending on where you're coming from, of course. We came here from NH 3+ yrs ago and could not believe the housing prices here. Of course, the farther out from DC you are, the better!

Thanks for all of the replies - even if they were nearly all the same response. :D And thanks for the recommendation on getting the LeapFrog video from Netflix too. I hadn't thought of trying it out on there first. I just let ds4 play Starfall for a while and he seemed to like that, so maybe more of that is in order too. He hadn't played before. Again, thanks!

I have a 4yo ds who seems to want to learn to read. But he doesn't know many of his letters, and when I've tried to teach him, he's very enthusiastic but doesn't remember the letters. His motor skills are much better than my older ds' were at that age, and this boy can copy any letters that I write for him. But older ds knew his letters by 2.5. I used Phonics Pathways and BOB Books with my older son, and since this ds has better handwriting, I've tried Get Ready for the Code with him. But I've just dropped it because he's not remembering the letters. Maybe I haven't been consistent enough? Or maybe I should just let it go until he's older? He's not that interested in "doing" school - he just likes to sit with us and draw/write whatever he fancies at the moment. Help?

Both Prima Latina and Latina Christiana by Memoria Press have optional DVD instruction.

http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/index.htm - This is the link to Paula's Archives. Try looking under SOTW Resources for the pages that line up SOTW with various other resources such as Hillyer's CHOW or TOG or SL1 or MOH. I have no advice for you. I am in the exact same boat right now and trying to sort it all out. Right now I am leaning toward SL1 w/ VP history cards and SOTW 1. But I don't want to overwhelm my 2nd grader or make it a crazy-hard year for us. Hope you get it figured out soon!

Glad you chimed in, Merry. I stand corrected! :tongue_smilie: Christy

I've used SL for 2 years now (P3/4 and K), so I am not an expert, but I will try to help answer your questions. 1. SL gives you the option of using 1 of 3 different math programs (Horizons, Singapore or Saxon) in the lower grades at the specific level of each child. They also offer several other math programs, like Miquon, Teaching Textbooks, Thinkwell and Key To... as supplements or for older students. LA is done by SL, based on Ruth Beechick's ideas for teaching. It, too, is done at the specific level of each child and each child needs his/her own level of readers too. Neither math nor LA is part of the "Core". You can choose to use the options that SL gives you for either math or LA or you can use something else entirely. 2. Combining kids in one Core (including history/geography and read-alouds, possibly science and Bible added in) is possible, depending on their ages and capabilities. Each core is designed to be used by an age group (like Core 2 for 7-9 year olds) and can be modified slightly to be used by older or younger students as well. All in all, you wouldn't be combining your children for EVERYTHING. Mostly just history and Bible and maybe science. Math and LA are done at individual levels. You might try going onto the Sonlight forums - Choosing Sonlight and asking questions of the very helpful and experienced ladies there. Many highly recommend combining children of various ages while others prefer to use a separate core for each child at his/her own level. HTH!!

Does anyone know if Trail Guide to Geography is consumable? TIA!

MUS is great for parents who aren't as comfortable teaching math because it uses a DVD to teach the lesson (either to the parent so they can go teach the child then, or, as many of us use it, for the parent and child to watch together to learn the new lesson). MUS uses a mastery approach - wanting you to be sure the student knows the material thoroughly before moving on. There is plenty of review involved, however. My 1st grader is using MUS Alpha this year, and I don't think he's a math genius (math can be a struggle for him), but he is getting it. From what I understand, MUS doesn't always follow the standard scope & sequence. So if that's important to you, MUS may not be right for your family. I've also looked at RightStart and recently bought their math games kit as a supplement to MUS. We haven't started using it yet, but I'm hoping it will round out ds' understanding of math. Also, I second the recommendation to check out Cathy Duffy's book. It's an excellent help!

Oh, thank you for these links!! I am in the same boat as the OP and have been trying to decide what we'll do for next year. Thank you!!

I am using SL and have looked at TOG. My kiddos are still lower grammar level, so I am sticking with SL for now. I can definitely see us switching to TOG as they get older, but I just love the simplicity of SL for us right now with the IG. It especially helps since I have littler ones and don't have the time to put into planning and figuring things out at this point. But like I said, I am intrigued by TOG and can see us switching at some point in the future.

We'll be using Core 1 next year, and I'm not sure yet what we'll use for Bible. We read thru LLTG a year or two ago, so I haven't decided if we'll use it again or not - I have a 4yo as well as my rising 2nd grader, and he may benefit from it a good deal. A Child's Story Bible from Catherine Vos is also really good. It seems to be a level above Egermeier's story Bible, IMHO, and a little more in depth. (VP carries it too.) Christy

We have used The Complete Book of Animals this year for 1st grade science, along with a DK Animal Encyclopedia. It is not in depth, which is why we read the encyclopedia too. Each page is a different animal - a section to read and then a few questions to complete. Ds6 has loved it and is constantly begging to do more. I wouldn't say that it's a Christian perspective - it's from Scholastic. But I don't recall any mentions of evolution either. It's pretty factual about habitats, diet, sleep, etc. HTH!

Well, I guess it would be helpful if I actually posted the link, hmmm? Sorry! http://www.timemaps.com/timemap/world82222222222

Thanks, ladies. I just ordered the Math Games kit which includes the junior abacus and the place value cards as well as the games. I think we will add these to MUS - which we do like - in hopes that it will cement these important math concepts in ds' brain and make math a little more fun. Thanks for helping me understand the differences between the 2 programs!

I just discovered this site last night. Ds6 and I thought it was pretty cool! Just thought I'd share...and wonder if anyone else has found any similar sites that show maps over time.

The High-Rise Private Eyes series by Cynthia Rylant are I Can Read level 2 books (I'm not sure exactly what level Little Bear is, so these may be on the easier side), but they do have the mystery element to them. My boys loved them, although that was me reading to them. I should get some of them from the library again as I'm sure ds6 who can read now would enjoy reading them himself.

Anyone?

Ds6 (almost 7) is halfway thru MUS Alpha. He used MUS Primer as well last year. We are finishing up the addition part of Alpha and will be moving to subtraction next. But I'm wondering if I should switch him to something else (RightStart is my choice at the moment) or keep on plugging thru. I wouldn't say that he doesn't know his addition facts to 18. He usually does. He isn't so quick on the draw, but he usually gets them right. With some, he knows them right away; with others, he takes 10 seconds to figure it out. With other questions, it might be longer. It sort of depends on his mood, and math isn't his favorite subject. I've been trying to add more drilling with flashcards and the MUS online drill to help with his facts. But I also started looking at RightStart and I really like the looks of the ALAbacus and the way it's so visual in re-grouping. It seems more intuitive to me than MUS. Of course, I chose MUS because it's highly recommended by different sources (and I had never heard of RS). So I hate to just scrap it altogether. But I was thinking that if we are going to supplement with RS or switch altogether, now would probably be a good time to do it since RS holds off on subtraction until later. But there's the $$ issue too. I hate to spend so much to re-do addition with Level B. And is he going to be behind in math because we're taking the time to re-do a whole year of math? (We would continue thru the summer and maybe make up some time that way.) Could I just get the abacus and supplement MUS with that? Or are there some deeper teaching differences between RS and MUS that it wouldn't really be that helpful without all of RS? Thank! Christy

on the page www.history.com/shows/classroom. If you scroll down a bit, on the left side it says American the Story of Us. It has a link for school principals to register for the DVD (includes homeschoolers). It looks pretty neat. Worth checking into, for sure! HTH! Christy

I just bought the Usborne I-L Encyclopedia of the Ancient World which is recommended by VP for their study of the ancients. This covers Egypt, Greece and Rome. Although we haven't actually used it yet (next year), it looks like it goes into a good bit of depth with each of these civilizations. Christy

My older ds started watching the National Geographic Really Wild Animals videos when he was about 3yo. He loved them...still does at 6yo. They're fun nature videos directed towards young kids with a globe-character called "Spin", voice by Dudley Moore. We found them at the library first but ended up buying all of them for a Christmas gift since he liked them so much.

...for My Side of the Mountain and its sequels, Frightful's Mountain and On the Far Side of the Mountain. I'm not sure of the reading level b/c ds is just 6.5, but he's listened to them all on CD and loved them. They aren't farm-boy books, but very interesting for boys (me too, to be honest!).