I agree with this; especially where boys are concerned. I have always taking the light road to grammar. I hear people fuss about LLATL not being enough, but it really is. No child that young needs a lot of grammar. And if they didn't get any at all till about 4th grade that would be fine too. Most are just not really ready for those concepts. Also, Bluegoats comment about AO readings being too advanced for the age level they are generally assigned for...I agree. There are those who do well, but many who do not. My dd did Y1 when she was 7, but was not ready for Y2 when she was 8. Now at 10 yo she almost done with Y3 first term. We are moving thru it quickly (at about 2 weeks worth of assignments in 1 week ) because of her age and ability. But before she was not ready for the level of difficulty. Now we are drinking in each page of loveliness. If you look at Laurke's Pinterest you will see that she list a wide age level for each year of AO. If you take a peak you will see she list AO Y1 for ages 6-9. You child may just be like many others. Take a break from AO. You can always go back later if you wish. :thumbup:

I just took a peek at the blog and I want to clarify : She adds a LOT to FIAR (which is fine) including the food. =) For instance I got out the cookbook and looked up the recipes for A Pair of Red Clogs. They are Steamed Rice and Seasoned Fish ...not things like Japanese flag looking pizza (which is cute). The worse ingredients in the two recipes give would be soy sauce and white rice. We would skip the sauce and replace it with things like onion and garlic powder and maybe ginger (depending on the recipe. Turning the page I DO see ingredients like cream of soup and spaghetti and brown sugar (from two recipes). For something like this I would either skip it or make my own cream of soup. As with all recipe books when I see something that includes gluten containing ingredients, I make changes because we are GF. Thumbing thru part of the cookbook (I can't go thru it all as I have to go to work) I see a few recipes with process ingredients, but it doesn't dominate the book. I guess it depend on your take too. I don't clump things like sour cream and natural cheeses in with cream of soups because it is basically milk and doesn't have harmful ingredients like the soup does. I hope this has been helpful. Sorry I don't have more time to scan the rest of the book. But like I said in my previous post, I found this one delightful. I bough some Amish books thinking we would have lots of wholesome cooking. MAN WAS I WRONG! So much MSG and tons of sugar. It was so bad that the book was worthless to me. Haha.

I have used the cookbook with great success. I don't know about the processed ingredients....we use mostly raw, fresh and frozen real food. That is what I remember from the recipes I have used. I have not used them all, so "maybe" there are some that have processed ings? but I didn't see them. But I wouldn't say it dominates the book. That being said, you can use FIAR, and have great fun and learning (making those memories), with or without the cook book. =)

We use FIAR for grade 3 and it was wonderful. I most certainly >can< be your core, but it all depends on what you do with it. If you just read from the manual and the picture book, then no, it isn't suitable for 3rd grade. What those of us who have used it for olders do is add related books, vids and projects that are more geared for that age level. Many people use FIAR vol 4 for 4th grade before moving to Beyond FIAR.

I was hoping someone with more experience would have responded by now. I am new to ELTL. My dd and I like it very much. Everything is in one place and excellent literature is used. I like that the grammar is thorough but doesn't have an overwhelming amount of work, I like the way writing is taught. I like that so much of CM is intertwined .

We use the free resources linked above (Ambleside and Ragamuffin). I get them printed up cheaply at our library. They have served us well.

I was going to mention Learning Adventures too. But one thing that may help you is to know that many people don't even have a formal LA for children under 4th grade. My suggestion would be to combine the oldest two and simply focus on things like end punctuation with your youngest for this year.

Yes you can, and many do without compromising the quality of their child's education. While the degree of depth mentioned above I would never attempt with a 4th grader, I do agree that you will need a separate math and grammar for your older child. What you do with FIAR (and it is up to you) will make it suitable for a child of that age. There is a thread on the FIAR forum that includes a list of chapter books that can be used as go-alongs for each row. This would certainly beef it up for your 4th grader. Choosing complimenting videos that add to the science and history can also be done. These would be painless additions. I would also like to add there there is a vol 4 which is more complicated than the first 3. And if you like this approach then there is Beyond FIAR which is similar and can be used by your older child next year.

While we really did enjoy the butterfly garden and the cow eye, our absolute fav...and the one we have gotten the most out of...is our Nature Study bags. In them we put: binoculars homemade flower press with corrugated cardboard, paper, and rubber bands bug viewer or magnifying glass nature journal pencil color pencils small jars for collecting We have used this over and over, and will continue to do so.

Handbook of Nature Study, Love this one. Agreeing with how the others use it. And also you can use Exploring Nature with Children (click preview in upper right hand corner) with it for a great guide to when to cover what topic, and lots more. Drawing with Children, This one totally overwhelmed me. How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare. No idea. I just use a child's version of Shakespeare like Shakespeare for Children or Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare.

I'll try to compare the two as best as I can with the things you are pointing out in your post. Note: I have used all levels of LLATL (some with this child and others with my older children) , but am a newbie to ELTL. My only experience with the latter is level 4 so I am glad you have a responce for the lower levels.

This book, Picturing the Past, looks absolutely wonderful. If you want to see anything of the sample you'll have to keep clicking the "surprise me" button before you get to the back cover in the sample. I did it over and over and keep getting more samples. There are 4 selections from some artist, but most have 5 or 6. 90 all total.

Haha. Thanks you!

I did yahoo and google searches and couldn't find it. I also looked at the barefoot site for a link. Can someone give me the link, purty please?

Unless my child had spelling difficulties that copywork and dictation couldn't handle, I would add nothing.

Grammar starts in Book 3 (I think). I feel it covers it well. In another thread I said there is only one sentence to practice with per lesson (which doesn't bother me at all), but I was mistaken. Sometimes there is 1, but at other times there are 3. FOr a child who needs more practice there is a free download at the website, that includes more sentences. I appreciate the way the grammar is taught. The explanations are not too long or too short. And in Book 4 (not sure about other levels) they have these great assignments where the student plays with words or sentences. For example they are given 4 words and they are to come up with substitutes. This leads to better writing and communicating when they can choose a better word. But they also have the average type of grammar where the parts of speech are taught and the sentences labeled/diagrammed. The Writing Copia assignments are excellent when they are to take the given sentence and change the nouns from plural to singular and vice versa, change the quotations from direct to indirect, remove modifiers, add dialogue, etc. I find these sorts of assignments excellent for leading to good writing skills. Of course there are the written narrations in some lessons (oral in others) (I think written starts in Book 4), and there are descriptive writing assignments. So you have your reading via the book, poetry, and fable; copywork and dictation (along with reading) promotes the spelling skills; grammar; and writing taught with various methods. Added plus in my opinion are the art studies. Note: I realize you are looking at a level for a younger child so some of this may not be in the vol you are interested in. As far as working independently there is not much that I have my dd do without me. Reading, yes. But there are oral grammar exercises, oral narrations, and I am checking over her written work. Plus I pre-read everything. This way I won't be blindly accepting her narrations and not have a clue if she has read the material properly. I agree very much with everything Attached Mama has said about this being a subject that is better approached with more mommy involvement. I have to say that it is difficult when I am working, but it is worth it. I have been using CM methods for some time now and I can see the fruits.

At the beginning of each lesson there is assigned the reading a chapter(s) from the book. It is the very first thing on the page after the lesson number and title so easy to miss at first. No, you don't have to pre-read the entire book first. Yes, one book last for many lessons. For instance, there are 7 (or 8) chapters in The Book of Dragons. There are that many lessons in ELTL for that one book. Now there are close to 50 short chapters in Black Beauty and there are about 40 lessons that go with that book, so for a few lessons the child is assigned 2 chapters.

Here are some considerations. I speak about Book 4, so there may be some differences. The book is huge at an inch and a quarter thick and the size of a sheet of paper long and wide. This may or may not be an issue for your child to handle. He is to read (or be read to) a chapter out of the assigned book. This would depend on his skill level. They are classics and well written so may be hard for some younger children. The English lessons are well spelled out, but seem to be easy to breeze over for some kids. I think because they are not set apart by a color block or something. You child may need to be reminded to read the lesson well. After the poem and folk tale (or fable ) there will be a lesson where the child "plays" with words or sentences. If you are not watching he may skip them without you knowing. Then there is the dictation passage which will need to be called out after he studies it. There is a picture study every 2 weeks. YOu will be needed for that. It sounds like I am putting down on the program, but I'm not. I REALLY like it and feel it is well done. These are just issues you may have if you want your child to work independently. You know your child and what you can expect of him in these areas.

An Island Story (British) This Country of Ours (American) Trial and Triumph (church history)

~~The Book of Dragons is like a chapter book, but each chapter is a story of its own. So it is like a collection of dragon stories. ~~Any of the Lang Fairy Books are chapter books but each chapter is a different fairy tale.

Thank you, All. Three4me, that is what I was thinking. Thanks for confirming it.

Thank you, Ladies! I think if I go with this I may just cut the binding off no matter which size I get. Then proclick portions as needed, so it won't be so heavy and lay flat.

I noticed that this 500 page book comes in full size 8.5x11 OR 6x9. I have been considering this for next year....not sure yet.....but was thinking the smaller one would not be so heavy. My only concern is does it lay open fairly well or would my dd and I be wrestling with it all of the time? If you have the smaller one what is your experience? ETA: Just discovered the smaller size is actually about 200 pages longer than the larger size.

I like the Foster books Silver Moon mentioned. I also like The Country of Ours by H. E. Marshall.

I did it! I down loaded it and printed it. It looks awesome! Not too wordy, and organized very well. I have, and love, HONS so that is an added plus. I love the way ENWC has nature lessons according to season. Okay, so today is Sat. I don't have to work. Today dd and I start. Later I will figure out where to being with co-op. Thank you so much for mentioning this! I have been praying about where to go with our co-op after finishing Elements. The family we share with is moving out of the country later this year on missions. I want this time to be special. :)