I plan to use Castle by David Macaulay and Castle Diary. I am not sure what else - I am in the early planning stages. Yes, the legos are expensive but my boys are young and this was a splurge for us.

I would love to see pictures. I am also thinking that Legos are going to become a bigger part of school. My 5 year olds room has become a Lego zone and I know he is getting more for Christmas - soon he is not going to have room for his clothes:lol:

You can do this! Yes, you can. For me, my main goal is to get my kids reading and enjoying reading. Once this happens all of the other things can happen. We start phonics, math and handwriting in K. That is it. Yes, there are art projects. Sometimes we do science. But our day is phonics, math and handwriting. Once my boys are reading on about a second grade level I start having them read more science and history books and we go from there.

We are going to be starting the Middle Ages soon. I decided to purchase the Kingdoms Lego set to have my boys set up a scene from the Middle Ages. My plan is to have them build the different sections as we read about them. Then we will set up the "country side" with all the different parts. Has any one else done this? Did you take pictures and blog about it? I would love to hear about your experiences! Thanks for sharing.

Do you feel there are enough hands on projects scheduled or will it be easy to add in my own from a book like Days of Knights and Damsels? I am really looking at this as a good spine for our Middle Ages study next year.

I am not the OP, I am interested in how you like the Medieval Guide. Do you feel like it would be a good place for a first and third grader to land for a year, and I have a tag along pre-k? We ditched using SOTW early in the year it just didn't work for us. So we have been doing units on each of the Ancient Cultures for history this year. I am in the middle of planning my next year of history to start in Jan. I will spend about a month doing a unit on Ancient Rome then get starte with the middle ages. I am finding that units work well for me and my boys but this is a curriculum that has me very curious too.

My son does about 30 min of "school reading" in the morning and then does about 60 min of reading during quiet time. During quiet time, I assign about 20-30 min of reading and the rest is free choice. He also reads by choice other times of the day and most of the time while in the car.

I start assigning reading to my boys as soon as they are able to read indepentantly. Yes, they still read to me outloud. The amount and frequency of independant reading is determined by thier reading level. For example, we just started studing weather. Each boy was given a general book about weather. My oldest was to write 5 questions about weather he wanted to learn about my younger was to ask me 5 questions. This is how I decided that we would learn more about clouds first. Next, we will look at tornados.

Math has been very frustrating in my house for my 7 year old. He was flying through Singapore and understanding the concepts great. Then he did a review page and it hit - yes he understands what to do but has no speed. He is still using manipulatives in his mind to come up with the right answers. We finished up 2B, because we were at the measurement units. Now, we have been reviewing addition for the last 6 weeks. He is not getting any faster. Things we have tried: flashcards, maze math worksheets, just worksheets of problems, copying the math facts. I did a more work on the 6, 7, 8, and 9's because he seems to be a little faster with the smaller numbers. I am not sure where to go. I know that I am already going to have to go back through the Singapore 2 books with him to get the multiplication and division but I can not even think about that until he gets his addition and subtraction facts down. He is very frustrated. He tells me that math is easy, yet admits it takes him to long to get the right answer. I am considering getting the Kumon workbooks for 2nd Grade Addition and Subtraction. I have considered getting Math Mammoth. I have also thought about computer games but don't know which would be the best. He does like competition with himself. I am tired of the math tears. The rest of our day goes really well - until it is math time. Something needs to change and I am open to suggestions and willing to take the time get these facts learned because I know that he will need them for the rest of his life.

Both of my boys moved from HOP to the emergent reader list at Heart of Dakota. The could read level 2 books from the library and now just about anything. I also have never used the tapes that are in mine.

I have used it with two of my boys and they are both great readers now. I did make sure to point out what had been sight words that could be sounded out with rules when we got to the rules. They loved having the leveled readers to read. I will be using it with my youngest starting in a year or so if he is ready.

Last winter, we did the Arctic Square. It was a ton of fun. We went through the book and did as many experiments as we could. It is amazing how many of the experiments that we were able to complete. My boys and I also did a lot of reading about animals at both poles. For a final project, they each made a small square. My oldest did a north pole square and my middle did the south pole. We made snow out of ivory soap and then used toob animals to show the wildlife. The boys loved this project and ask when we are going to get to do another small square.

Thanks for this idea. I will be trying it in the morning. My son 7 takes forever to do his math. I know he needs the review but spends so much time staring off in space that it takes 4 to 5 times as long as is really needed. We are currently doing review to get his facts down better before moving to the next level.

We put all the lentil back into liter bottles. If my guys tried to move the job box with loose lentils they would be all over our house :) We also have 3 job boxes out at a time.

I love it because it is hands on and I can adapt it for all of my boys, ages 7,5, and 3. The have 2 sets on for K-3 and one 3-6 - I went ahead and got both so my oldest will be busy for years to come. As far as keeping all the lentils off the floor, our rule is they stay in the box or you are done. I am very strict with rules like this. One reminder at most and then if the rule is broken again they are done for the day. One or two times of putting their box away before their brothers is all that it has taken. Each boy is given a box used for carrying plants home from the nursery in the spring and that is where all the lentils are to stay. Some do get on the floor - they are kids after all - but I don't think I ever sweep up more that 1/4 cup. My boys do work fairly independently, although I stay in the kitchen with them. I do things like washing the dishes or baking, where I can be available to supervise but still get other things done too. I typically read through the assigned card with each boy so they know what to do. With my 3 year old I create an age apporpriate activity. Last time, he created roads and worked with match box construction vehicles. I am still working on adding this in on a regular basis but it will happen more now that we are heading into winter. My boys seem to thrive on anything that uses their creative juices. So, we usually do the assigned activity card for the day then have a period of free play :) it will be interesting to see how they respond when we are getting out the cards bi- weekly to weekly. As far as making your own. I guess you could but I was able to get all 6 years of cards for around $70. I have still had to collect a far amount of things and spend a lot of time organizing it. But I really think it will all be worth it in the end.

I am in the final stages of setting mine up. It is an insane amount of work but the joy and learning that is happening is making it worth the effort. I have each Letter Section in a Labeled box containing the supplies and all the activity cards. All of the boxes are in wire basket drawers that are in the boys reach. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S19876454 We have two of these units, one is for Lentil Science and Manipulatives and the other is for each of the boys daily school books. This has lead to my boys learning independance and responsiblities with their school supplies and books. My plan is on days that are Lentil Science days I will give each of the boys their job card for the day in thier stack of books. Then when everything else is done they will go and get the supplies to complete their job card for the day. They will also be responsible for putting their supplies way when they are done.

My guess is the narrator makes the difference for your boy. I know it does make a difference for my guys. Some books they have enjoyed- Tale of Despereaux Peter Pan Mister Poppers Penguins Romona and Quimby

We are currently in R&S 2, but will be moving into 3 soon. At this point, we do a lot orally but I still assign some writing everyday. My son does think this is boring but it needs to be learned and at this point it is working and actually quite painlessly. I think there are times that I assign more writing then might be nessecary, however I want him to learn how to write for longer periods of time so writing it is.

http://raisingthreeknights.blogspot.com/2010/10/wordless-wednesday.html Playing along this week :)

I use many different book lists for our literature study. We also do many different things with the books my son reads. Some books, we just talk about - really reading it for pleasure. Written narrations on each chapter or so - at the end a written retelling of the story. We find where the story took place, we talk about literary terms - main character, setting, foreshadowing, climax - age, level appropriate. Sometimes the books are a stepping stone for art projects. I will say most of the time, my son reads and we just talk about the books. Reading is to expand his world.

How am I approaching using SOTW as a spine for unit studies? Basically I am looking to hit the highlights of the book. We started with Ancient Egyptians - we read lots of real books about life in Ancient Egypt. We created a mural like the paintings on the inside of pyraymids, ate food from the time period. We spent some time looking at Ancient India. Next was Ancient Israelites and Ancient Babylonia. My goal is to tell the story of the each culture while getting my boys excited about history. Currently we are studing Ancient China. I plan to revisit Ancient Israel in Dec to take a closer look at Jewish Festivals. Then we will wrap up Ancients by studing Ancient Rome. This will take us right into Medival Times. We do not keep a time line at this point I plan to either start that in a few years or when we restart the 4 year cycle. My boys are still figuring out time during a week. They are young and they will get all these things again. Again, my main goal at this point to grow a love of learning and introduce them to the story of history.

I am doing my best to do a 4 year cycle. I however am not in love with SOTW neither are my boys. At this point, I am using it as a reference. I am basically going through the book and making unit studies. So we don't cover everything in exact order but this year we are studing ancient cultures. I try to help them make the connections that many of the different things we have studied are happening at the same or simaliar time. My oldest has really enjoyed this type of unit study approach to history and is retaining way more than I ever thought he would. I intend to do this same approach next year:)

Go for it. Start and take it a pace that works for you. Remember you can go slower to start with and slowly pick up the pace because you are starting earlier. So you can do both science and history just more relaxed. Also remember to really enjoy the activities, the memories will be priceless.

What gives in our house is outside activites! Seriously, as my boys get older I am finding it harder and harder to get everything in for my oldest. So, I have looked at what we are doing outside of the house that is taking away from school time. School is most important and our days are getting longer and we are schooling at different times but we are fitting in what we need to. I am finding that I need to reevaluate every few months to make sure that we are still meeting our goals.

I don't have a literature background, in fact I am not even a big reader. I have found that not having a literature curriculum has really freed me. My boys love to read. I do require them to read certian books that go with our current science or history studies or just good fiction. I try to get them to read from the various genres throughout the year. I talk with them about the books they read. I ask about the setting, main character, climax ect. But it is all done to introduce them to the vocabulary, to get them to think more about what they are reading. For us reading to read has made reading more fun and meaningful. We will be able to anylize it as they get older.