Here is one from Homeschool Share http://www.homeschoolshare.com/dinosaurs.php I did a unit from www.learningpage.com You can access it by becoming a Free member. My boys loved coloring a mural - cutting out and labeling many different dinosaurs. I also printed off Math sheets with Dinosaurs - you know math is more fun with fun pictures:) There are also grammar and science for grades PreK thru 3. I just picked the ones that worked for my boys. My oldest read Dinosaurs of Eden written from a Christian Perspctive and it really help him understand that we really don't know what happened to Dinosaurs but God created them. That was that. We did not focus on the numbers surrounding the periods - we just talked about the periods and how the world changed. This is no different the periods in modern history for us at this age. Things change and that is the way it is. Have fun putting your unit together.

For your sanity and hers - I would ease into the seat work. Not to say you can't do more than one thing a day just make sure you break it up through out the day. Also look at how things are scheduled, would it work for her to be going back and forth. Meaning sit and do math, go to the couch to read History, back to the table to do Handwriting, do an art project or have free play time, then come back to do your reading and FLL. In all honesty, you have to try things and see how they work for your family.

I use the HOD Emergent Reader List. I love the fact that it slowly gets harder. I also pick out the Sonlight Readers for my kids to read. Both of my boys read lots of books.

Go with level 3. We did 3 Units out of Level 2 last year and my son is more than ready for level 3. It really starts over again at a slightly faster pace.

We have used books 7 and 8. These worked great for a change of pace for my son, as his copy work. It also really encouraged him to start drawing pictures. Up to the point of starting these a year ago not much was recognizable in his drawings, now I am able to name most things. My son is a lefty and would rather write stories than draw them. That is fine but these books helped him learn some basics of how other people draw pictures. Now I need to start a more formal art program with him but that is another topic. -Karen

My first thought is yes, you may want to expect more from your son. Let SOTW be pleasure reading and then add in "research" projects to work on the "school" skills. -Pick a topic -Find book or books at the library -create an outline -write a historical fiction acount of the event -Create a timeline of events -write a short paper on a person These are just the ideas that come to mind for me. My oldest is 7. With him I allow him to help chose topics that we want to go deeper with. Then we creat more unit study type activies to continue our learning. At times we just read a short book or just the chapter and leave the topic at that. Your son is older he can take topics to a deeper level but that doesn't mean he needs to for each and every topic. I would also think that reading SOTW as pleasure and studing Ancient Egypt in depth would work too. There is no reason any of us can not be learning two things at once.

My son loves to write stories. Not quite as much as it sounds your dd does but he does love to write. From time to time I will suggest he write a story as a gift. At these times I will have him write a rough draft and then we edit it. The rest we just read and enjoy. By doing the editing about once every other month for the last couple of years, doing his level of grammar and spelling his writing has come a long way. He is now 7 and just wrote a book for his uncle for his wedding. This will be a treasured book by his soon to be Aunt for years to come. I look at it and realize that he would have been able to write a story 2 years ago but didn't have the knowledge of sentence stucture, however now he does because we have start to slowly introduce grammar. He was ready for it and it helps. If I tried to do that when he was 5 it would have frustrated him. I guess I am rambling on to say. Enjoy her writing and look for fun ways to help introduce the topics that you would like to see improved in her writing. It will happen over time and enjoy all the stories now.

My boys liked My Father's Dragon. I have found that reading this aloud to them inspired them to try reading more books on their own and then they were hooked.

a balnace disc on the chair really helps with wiggles at the table

I started R&S 2 last year because my oldest was ready for more writing yet straight copy work was a fight. Once we started R&S, he was more willing to write and it filled the gap nicely for us. After reading this thread, I am no longer sure if we will finish the book or just jump right into R&S 3 as he is ready for another jump and we typically say we start a new year in July although we school year round. Saying we start in July helps the boys with what grade they are in for things like church. Thanks for asking the question.

We have all of our toys in rubber maid totes. During the winter I rotate the totes every 10-14 days, I try to pay attention to how much they are actually playing vs asking for other things to do and fighting. During the summer is more like eveur 3-4 weeks because we are outside so much. So currently we have out Thomas trains, which replaced Little People and will be replaced with match box cars and so on. I think we have about 6 different sets of toys and we mix and match some too. I have found that the fewer toys out at a time seems to work better even though I have to rotate more often. As for keeping your 4yr old busy at the table. I have found math manipulatives to be great table toys for the littles and great insentives for my older ones to finish the work they have. My boys love to just sit and play with the toys. I have a 4x4 CD book shelf. This is where I keep bags or diaper wipe boxes filled with the small table toys. I also have lots of puzzles that are up so that I am not continually sorting pieces. Each day when I pull out the older boys table work I pull out something for my little. Some days he plays at the table some days he plays in the play room. It is his choice but it is a clear rule that for about 45 min he has to entertain himself (we have worked up to this amount of time as he has grown) - he is allowed to ask for something different to do but no one is going to play with him unless they get done early. HTH Karen

I am not suprised by this sterotype, however I do think many kids have problems meeting deadlines. My oldest loves to work independantly. He loves having an assignment list for the day. We do dialy quiet time in our house for two hours everyday. I have started assigning his reading during that time. He has to finish his chapter or two before quiet time is over or he needs to stay in his room until the reading is done. I think that has only happened once. I know he is really young but he knows that mommy and daddy have to get things done by certain times so I see it as only naturaly that he would start to learn that same skill.

When my boys have told me they were ready to read, well they were not quite there. We went through the Get Ready for the Code books, if her fine motor skills are not read for the writing have her do those portions orally. I know for my boys those books really helped them to hear sounds at the beginning and end of words, which I didn't realize they were not hearing until we went through the books. You might also want to see well she hears letter sounds, by saying the sound and she has to find the magnetic letter or spell simple words with magnetic letters and have her tell you the sounds and start with simple blending. This might help her in the process without letting her see the actual books until you know she is truely ready and will hopefully not get frustrated.

For ds1, he has improved the most in willing to work hard. He is now willing to try things that seem hard at first and willing to keep trying. For ds2, it is reading. He started the year as a non-reader and is now reading at a solid 2nd- grade level. For ds3, well he is just turning 3 but he impresses me with the things he has learned from his brothers. Including, his letters, how to count to 10 and his ability to match size and colors.

I would start with a unit on Knights and move forward. If interest falls or you are finding it is not working you have the resources to start ancients. If your son is anything like my boys, he will love the ancients too but knights have such cool stuff we had to study those first:)

I am using Ancients Level 1. I am finding that there are many weeks with lots scheduled and some weeks with not much. We are just taking our time and digging in when we are having fun and skimming when there is not as much interest. Overall, I am finding that I am using HO more as suggestion to get me started but certainly not as written.

I wasn't excited about starting the Ancients either, nor am I a huge fan of SOTW. We did start though and my son is loving it. I am finding that I am not using SOTW much but I am using lots of other books. We are skipping around but that is okay as we are going more by culture then in time order. My son doesn't care he just thinks it is all cool and loves that he can find the counties on a map. I always try to remeber that at this age it is about the story and having fun not memorizing the dates or understanding the why's that will come in future years. Right now it is about loving to learn and for us that is happening.

I have been finding that balance. I use set cirriculum for math and grammar. The rest I have guides like HO Ancients, but we don't necessarily go in order or cover everything in the guide. We also have lots of time for our own interests. I have the guides more so that I have a structure when I need it. At this point, this is a good balance for me and the boys. They can explore and learn and I can direct and excite. Our copywork and writing come from what the current topics of discussion are. We also seem to trade off every other month between history and science, just the way it seems to work.

You may find that the student books from DITHOR are enough for what you are looking for. If you can get your hands on one to look at more closely.

I answered 5-5.5 but in reality both of my boys started at 4. They wanted to start learning so we started with the Explode the code primers. This was great for both of them. It gave them a great foundation of hearing sounds in words and learning how to write thier letters. By 4.5 they were ready to start HOP and by 5 they were almost done with HOP. For both of my boys once they wanted to learn to read there was no stopping them. As far as history I don't require anything until 1st grade. As this is the point my boys are showing me they are ready for more than reading and math and self directed science study. In many ways I follow their lead yet I have a clear set of goals I want reached before moving to requiring more work.

As far as the all of the great books out there, some my boys read over and over - others get read just once and unfortuately we miss some but they may get picked up later. I have lots of books in different places throughout the house and I have many checked out from the library all the time. I find that if I have good books around then good books are read - if I allow them to pick twaddle then that is what is read. Slowly my boys even at their young ages are learning to pick out good books because they are more enjoyable. -Karen

I have used it four or five times. For us it does a great job of introducing different story elements and provides a jumping off point for discussions. My biggest issue is that DITHOR wants you to read the books to slowly and that drives my son up the wall. I want him to enjoy reading not be frustrated that he has to stop. I have modified it to fit the number of chapters in a book or done 3 books each for 5 days or what ever is appropriate. My son is on the very young side to be using DITHOR so while I like it we only use it a few times each year and the rest of the year, he just reads and we discuss.

sounds like a very successful year :party: -Karen

My boys just start some independent or semi-independent work when they are done. I am at the table too so I just give directions and get them started. This actually helps me so that I can work with one and get him started before I need to help give directions to the other.

I am a realatively new homeschooler. So far I have re-used all of HOP Deluxe. Both of my boys loved learning to read but different parts of the program motivated them. For my oldest it was the sticker chart, for my second it was being able to read a story everyday. They both also used/are using the Emergent reader set from HOD with discussion questions. For both boys they have gone through ETC primers and level 1 - these are consumable but I will be getting set number 3 in a year for my youngest. He is already starting to ask to do school but I am refusing anything more than coloring sheets until he is 4. I don't know what else I will be re-using other than books because I have not found anything that I really like. I tend to write my own stuff as I go. Neither of my boys like SOTW but they like the Usborne Encyclopedia so that is what we use - with lots and lots of books. I have HOD Little Hearts and Beyond Little Hearts - used Little Hearts for my oldest but felt to boxed in - got Beyond Little Hearts because I felt I had to have the direction, it didn't work and we gave up. Since I have gained confidence that I can challenge and cover what needs to be done by reading TWM and boards like this.