hey Steph.. I'm going in order. We did the intro to latin and picked out names on monday...today we did lesson 1 pages 1-4. Tomorrow we'll do the vocab review, make flashcards and listen to the audio file. Thursday, we'll review the flashcards and listen to the audio file again (5 minutes) and then we'll do Ex 1.1. Friday - I'll read the History of Romulus and have them do narrations for their History booklets. and so on and so on. Just going in order. I think she said it should only take 15-20min/day.

not speaking from experience, just my personal research. My children are 10 and 8 and we just started Lively Latin (this week). It looks like an easy curriculum to implement and is very easy to understand. I'm new to Latin myself, so I'm excited to learn along side them. I looked around and settled on this one because, I didn't want to have to buy multiple books and videos AND I didn't want something that was overly serious. Lively Latin looks like it will be fun. I bought the CD b/c someone here found it for 29% off and I figured I could always resell if it doesn't work out...but the online version is, comparatively speaking, reasonably priced.

Use plain old paper... We have the booklet and it's ok, but he rarely looks back at his previous day's work, so it doesn't really matter. I suggest save your money and just use plain old paper.

I give the test at the end of the week...and they better have read those words sometime in the prior 4 days. Simple..that's how I've implemented it. :001_huh:

Even though my daughter (age 11) completed ABeka's 4th grade language arts curriculum, I had her join my son (age 9) in completing FLL3. This year I plan to work them both through FLL4. The reason I did this is because I love the way FLL3 teaches the parts of speech along with diagramming. I have a BA in English and was finally "getting" it. I can't wait for FLL4 to come out to begin with them. I have questioned the wisdom of working them both at the same level, but my logic is that the same grammar concepts are taught over and over again in the elementary years...I figure teach it understandably from the start and it'll make everything else so much easier.

I used this for a while... http://children.calvarychapel.com/site/curriculum.htm I like it because you can go in order and it doesn't take any planning. Just read the indicated scripture, have child color the picture and answer the questions. Click on "new testament" for the NT stories.

I'm planning to go through all the "Exploring Creation.." series through their elementary years. I think the format is very much classical in that it gives the child an opportunity to narrate the portion just read to them. It's very hands-on...very much like SOTW is set up. We also use the lapbooking cd's that correlate with the books...you can find them at http://www.liveandlearnpress.com/viewItems.php?category=18. I am not a science-minded person and could never do it the way WTM suggests. But, I really like this series...and so do the kids.

I just received my Lively Latin CD and am reviewing everything. I'll be learning along with my children. So I'm wondering what's the difference between classical and ecclesaistical latin... which one should I teach? or am I supposed to teach both ...ahhh?

My dd and a friend spend about an hour with my mom per week to learn sewing (not by hand, by machine). Something my mom never pushed me to learn, but I wished she had...now, she gets the privilege of passing it on to her grandchildren (somehow by-passing me). I'm even thinking I need to talk my mom into a full-on home economics course ...call it, uh, "All things Maternal with Memaw"

I was just coming in to ask the same question and thought I better search it first, just in case. I'm thinking set the timer is a good approach for us. I was surprised to see the length of lesson 1...I was thinking I could do a lesson a day, but I see that's definetly not the way to do it.

My 4th grader (dd) takes about that long. Our estimated break-down... math - 45-50 min (saxon 6/5) lang arts - reading, writing, copywork, grammar, literature - 60 min science - 40 min geog/history - 40 min spanish - 20 min some days more..some less..but, I think 4 hours is about average. I also think it depends on the child. That's the beauty of home schooling. Why bother schooling for 4 hours, if your child shut down after the 3rd hour? And why stop schooling if he/she is still soaking it all in...for that matter, I guess we could say we are learning from the time we wake up til we close our eyes. We don't have to keep track of "hours", but, if I did...I'd be counting the time spent on chores, as well as the time spent in free-play. :)

http://www.factmonster.com/math/flashcards.html http://www.funbrain.com/math/index.html http://www.ctkmathgamesforkids.com/ hope one of these might help you...

I love that idea...too funny. When mine were younger, I was always looking for ideas like that. The challenge is finding something that will last. This sounds like a time-consumer for sure.:)

along with the readers recommended at the end of 100EL. I don't do the handwriting portion of EZ lessons, so I focus on copy work and ETC. We get alot of level appropriate "I can read" books also.

If you have a local Craig's List, it's free to advertise there. The last time we had a community garage sale, we had almost no people...but, I was told afterwards that people regularly check Craig's List for the upcoming yard sales. Another idea is to list your bigger items on Craig's List. oh and have the kids make a batch of brownies and lemonade (this was almost our sole source of income last time)...the kids had fun w/it...thank God that one lady didn't see my son stirring the lemonade with his bare hand!:tongue_smilie:

I have 3 kids and homeschooling all of them. My last one is beginning K this year, so I'm starting all over again. I'll be using all my tried and true texts that have worked in that past. OPGTR wasn't around when I started so I'm going w/what I know...Teach Your Child to Read in 100 EZ lessons and the Explode the Code workbook series. As far as math goes, I've always used Saxon and have never begun w/K, always Saxon 1 and my kids have done great with it. Today was our first day back after a long break...first official Kindergarten year w/my youngest and it was so nice. Your friends' advice to "relax" is truly the best advice you could get. Your children are young...you can't mess them up because you love them better than any teacher ever could. You have a challenge w/the 2 siblings hanging out w/you...so my advice is go with the flow..your K'er will pick up on things even when you're not really trying to teach. Enjoy them!

I remember the days when the teacher would mark it wrong if I didn't show my work. So I think I've been trained to HAVE to work it out on paper rather than "conceptualizing" the problem. Funny, though...my son is a natural at math and he is all the time coming up with correct answers in his head and when he goes to explain it to me..I sit there dumbfounded. I'm like the mother in the article that said "I'm a numbskull" lol... However, it's liberating to know that I should let my son do his math the way he wants and not require to see his work all the time. He really is better than me...but I'm not about to admit it. Thanks for sharing that article!

I just ordered my Book IT packet for this year. If you go to their web site, under the Teacher's tab, you can print pizza slices for them to keep track of the book titles. Of course, the incentive for a free pizza always works well too! Here's the link. Click the "Enrollment" tab to order your free packet. http://www.bookitprogram.com/

we've been moving thru this text. it seems fine..I like the idea and the process of building onto smaller words to create the bigger words. He gets it and rarely misses any words. However, I wonder when it will all come together in his journaling and free writing. My son is a very phonetic speller, so when he's writing a sentence or something it just flows out the way it sounds. On top of that, he has some minor speech issues, so not only is he spelling things wrong, he's spelling them the way he says them...it's actually kind of interesting. Overall, SS text has been good for us...I'm sticking with it. I think just practice, practice, practice and someday it'll all come together. I'm hoping anyway. :)

I like the look of Passport 2 Purity. It seems like it does a lot of the planning ideas for me. Have you used this material? If so, what were some of the things you liked and disliked?

I want to have some alone "girl" time w/my soon to be 11 year old dd. I have yet to give her much of "the" talk and would like to take a special time to get away. Thinking of... a little pampering, a lot of God and make some sweet memories together ... all w/in a very limited budget. wondering if any of you can give me some ideas...any good books we could read together...any fun games we could play together. I'm looking forward to planning this and hearing your input. Thanks!

but love fll3!

I just bought this and it looks really cool. It uses mnemonics both visual and audio (rhyming). For example, the first word in my (elem) book is: Abduct - to kidnap or carry off by force Sounds like - Duck Then it shows a cartoon picture of a robber "abducting ducks" .. very cute. I think my kids will enjoy this. It gives a test page after 10 words...I'm thinking of having them read 2 words a day and give the test on Fridays. here it is at rock solid... http://shop.rocksolidinc.com/shared/StoreFront/default.asp?CS=rocksolid&StoreType=BtoC&Count1=314754664&Count2=231895089&CategoryID=51&Target=products.asp

I fell in love w/FLL 3 when my 2nd grader began it last year. As soon as my dd 4th grader finished up her ABeka, I had her join us in the FLL 3 lessons. I didn't feel like it was repeating info, rather giving her a better explanation and understanding of grammar concepts. I have a BA in English and I was learning things! She did complete WT2 simultaneous w/FLL 3 and it worked out great. This year I'm looking forward to doing FLL 4 w/both 3rd and 5th grader. I'll supplement the 5th grader again w/writing (IEW, maybe) and considering WWE for my 3rd grader.

I'm kind of thinking I might do something similar to what you're planning. I don't have the book to browse yet, but am planning on getting it for my 3rd grader. Last year I used FLL3 w/both my 2nd and 4th grader b/c I was so happy with it's style of teaching. It seemed to teach things in a way that my 4th grader didn't get w/ABeka. Looking ahead to FLL4, I'm thinking of just keeping them working together. Like you, I plan to supplement my 5th grader with writing like IEW. She's not behind, but I'm undecided until I can get my hands on WWE. I'm not much help answering your question...I'm just looking for suggestions, as well.