Well I've done a whopping 2 lessons so far of it. You can find it at Linney's Latin Class. I love his lectures, like a good instructor, he makes everything clear. His pronunciation is good too. He seems to know what he is talking about AND how to explain it. The text is open source on Google, or $15 on Amazon. It is a one year college level (I assume) course designed to get the student reading Caeser at the end of the course. Linney has recorded up to lesson 31 and is working on 32 of 73. With the text opensource, you can try it out for free. HTH Amy

I'm moving to Life of Fred (really, extremely, totally tentative since my oldest is in 2nd). This is a good guide to Ray's - I'm doing some of the 1st grade hands-on suggestions with DS5: Eclectic Manual of Methods. Arithmetic starts on 103. If you google I know someone has a nice, typed PDF of just the Arithmetic section. Amy

LOL - We planned number 2 and didn't count on it working so fast - my oldest are 18 months apart. Anyway, I'm working on reading with my oldest 2 (DS7 had a hard time blending and DS5 is more wordy) using Blend Phonics from Don Potter's website (link is to the PDF). If you want to just read the teacher's information at the beginning it might help. Basically teach from the white/chalk board and then choose one student to answer at a time. And you are my hero too!

We are doing MEP daily (again - stopped for a while due to the reasons you stated). I have DS do about3/4 of the MEP sheet, and the usable activities from the TM, but not everything. So we are doing 1 lesson a week in FLA. I know I could go faster, but FLA covers fractions and long division in the first book, which seems to be third grade level, so I chose to stretch it out. This is what we are / will do: 1st: 1-29 (place value, addition & subtraction) 2nd: 30-54 (multiplication & division, place value) 3rd: 55-77ish (fractions, adv. add/sub/mult/div; the last few lessons are on measuring and a bit dated, so we won't spend much time on them, if at all) Weekly I try to cover: - Concept with manipulatives. - Mental/Oral problems (usually out of order and over 2 days since DS figured out the pattern and started just saying the next number) - Written work if there is any, or extra drill if not. I do this on the last day of the week, and consider MEP optional (day 5 for MEP is a worksheet only) HTH!

Tom Brown Jr. has one - it covers nature observation and tracking. Its not just a guide book, but also a instruction manual. He recommends supplies for a tracking kit and tips for following difficult trails. Whichever guide you get, make sure it will be easy to use in the field.

I would go a little further. I'm working (slowly) on Greek and USING the knowledge helps. In the beginning I tried to memorize the information, but it didn't stick. I started out re-reading the descriptions of the cases every word I had to translate and looking up the ending, but using it cements the knowledge into my head. Now I generally know the cases, and recognize several endings. I also typed myself some charts. Since you have it already I would press on - unless the kids are frustrated?

I'm using both MEP and First Lessons in Arithmetic (similar to Ray's - free from either donpotter.net or google books). First Lessons has real life story problems and is easier for me to teach from. I think they complement each other nicely. We do 1 lesson a week in FLA.

Finding Your Wings - Peterson field guides. Its a course on bird-watching. I'm going to use some of Tom Brown Jr.'s books too. He has handbooks for nature observation and tracking, as well as survival and an autobiography called The Tracker. He learned nature skills from his friend's grandfather, Stalking Wolf (an Apache I think, one of the last raised in the "old ways"). I finally bought the Handbook of Nature Study. It actually gets read now that I don't have to wait for the file to load / scroll. Probably not an issue if the file is in smaller pieces though.

Michel Thomas is all audio, but a good rundown on grammar / constructing sentences, its not to expensive but doesn't use native speakers. FSI (US Government) has public domain courses in several languages, including German, with LOTS of audio - German Basic (there are two others, I believe the Programmed are more workbook like where as the Basic are more audio - at least that's true for Spanish). I'm using the Spanish one and liking it. HTH

If you find a link I'd love to see it! (My search didn't work.)

:bigear: I'm just moving this direction myself - resorted our schedule into LLC guidelines just yesterday (except Phonics instead of Latin)!!! My plan is to learn first using Getting Started with Latin. Then move on to Lingua Latina because things make more sense to me in context. For my oldest we will start with Lively Latin in 3rd (the grammar explanations are supposed to be good & it looks fun). I have an old copy of Wheelcock's too. I know some of the Latin programs have a dvd with instruction. Some people on the High School / Self Ed forum use internet classes for Latin.

That's similar to what I did. I felt so good NOT being pregnant we started back up quickly. I took about the last 6 weeks of pregnancy off though (did I mention I dislike pregnancy :D) so we need to keep moving.

Salsa Spanish - you can still download it (or I did a month or so ago). I'm using it with my sons and they LOVE it. My almost-6 year old AND my 3 year old learn. Yesterday the three year old was counting to 3 in Spanish. He does the activites with us too. (The activities are from some schools in Wyoming I think.) I think the video format is key, and the expressive, simple lessons. I just can't see them learning this from a book or even a CD. Search the forums, I found a backdoor link to download the videos.

I'd love to know too. I worked through Saxon's trig and then had statistics in college but I remember almost nothing. I'd like to do LOF, but its not in the budget. I think I read that MEP years 7 and 8 are similar to the earlier years - people who completed 1-6 were skipping to year 9 I think?! If someone tries it post how it went! Maybe I'll look at Year 7 myself.

Well I'm not a WTM guru, but at least this is a bump for you. I just explain any words I think they may not know as we read them. For me in first I want them to learn to read, listen, narrate, add & subtract - anything else they pick up is gravy.

When they can form the letters properly (nice and legible, not necessarily perfect) without a model - aka from normal typed or spoken words. Then they will still need to work on writing neatly (and hopefully continue to improve) but they can do that in normal copywork (probably in a Book of Mottoes as on Simply Charlotte Mason), writing, dictation. I'm expecting that to be about 1 year of work (2 quarters basic italics and 2 quarters cursive italics). So not to much formal work, but a lot of writing neatly (and re-writing if I can't read it). I expect to start typing in 3rd, at least for my oldest who dislikes writing.

If you want to read Homer try A Reading Course in Homeric Greek - I'm using it currently and it is designed so you can read Homer at the end. I'm on lesson 15 of the first book and its making sense (slowly). I've heard Atheneze for Attic Greek is good. If you go to textkit there is an older version of the Begginers Guide to homeric Greek by Clyde Pharr. Or a newer one on amazon. Sorry for the typos baby in my lap. HTH! Glad I'm not the only one learning Greek.

Close. I'm using First Lesson's in Arithmetic (from Don Potter's website) with MEP. I just started FLA so DS1 and I are going faster through the adding/subtraction part (trying to, the wording in the subtraction word problems throws him). In a week or so we will be done with that, so here is the new plan (we school Tues-Sat): Tues - FLA - Concepts with manupulatives; MEP - full lesson Wed - FLA - Word Problems with drawings or manipulatives; MEP - full lesson Thurs - same as Wed. Fri - FLA - build tables (usually at the end of a lesson: 1-1=0; 2-1=1; etc.) or oral drill; MEP - full lesson Sat - FLA - written work or a drill sheet; MEP worksheet only I will skip problems if he is getting tired and obviously not everything on MEP is needed for a homeschool. I was going to do 3 MEP 2 FLA, but I want to stretch FLA out and do more manipulatives / drawings. He likes this anyway and I want him to know the concept. We will be doing 1 lesson in FLA and 1 week in MEP every week. My coming 1st grader I plan to alternate FLA & MEP as well, starting with FLA then adding MEP a few weeks later (I think FLA is easier to teach from). HTH!

I wanted the kids on the same period in history so ... I am just using things from both SCM and AO. I have the kids in the same time period (SCM) and use a lot of the public domain books from AO. I also don't require narrations on the Literature readings as SCM suggests. And I'm doing the WTM history cycle. My 5 (almost 6) yo sits in with my 7 yo. So this year (400 - 1600) we are using Famous Men of the Middle Ages with 50 Famous Stories Retold and some other history / biographies. We also have Trial and Triumph. My plan is to do a 4 yr history, choosing books from AO and SCM. I went easier this year, with the baby coming and it only being our 2nd year (and the 1st was really disorganized). I wanted to cover the basics first, and work on reading and narrations. Next year I want to add in more AO, especially audiobooks for my oldest. I try to do nature walks, I am choosing composers based on the classical CDs I have at the moment but I plan to combine lists from both sources. I'm a planner though, I have to tweak. :D

I'd like to know too. I'm using MEP with First Lessons in Arithmetic from Don Potter's site and I wanted to know if there is an age to start LOF?

I solved the issue with a Brother B&W Laser Printer - its a 5250DN that we got at Staples a few years ago. I love it. When you get the off-brand toner on Amazon with the WalMart paper its cheap. It does double-sided printing, so that's half the paper and I can often print 2 per side (4 per sheet). Black and white isn't a downside - I print everything but color-coded sheets in B&W and it looks nice. I use my inkjet maybe once a month (or less). Now I just need some type of binding machine so I can print longer books. Currently I use the 3-pronged folders, and they are limited! I like the resources available online, but I still prefer reading from a book I can hold.

I'm glad I read it, I enjoyed it, but I don't think its a book I'll read again, unless its with the kids when they are older.

You might check the booklists for Ambleside Online - they list a lot of public domain books you could use for narration & copywork. Your ideas of doing things orally sounds good. Best of luck!

My current favorite is Michel Thomas (just force yourself through the introduction part). I don't think its to expensive (or maybe the library?). Its a great way to learn to USE the language, fast. Free FSI Language courses All Japanese All The Time: creating an immersion environment using what you have (there is a lot of content to read). Free (its a blog) How To Learn Any Language is a good site with an active forum What language are you thinking off?

I couldn't convince my 5yo DS to hold the pencil properly (after all, what does Mom know? :lol:). Then I noticed a picture showing the correct grip in the front of his Kumon workbook. He looked at it and changed his grip to match. (He also remembers where the image is, I've seen him refer to it since then.) HTH