Does anyone know what the difference is between Harvey's Elementary Grammar and Composition and Harvey's Revised English Grammar? Also, I'm still waiting for my CW books, but I take it from previous posts that the CW Aesop includes assignments from Harvey's. Is this correct? If so, how hard is it to adapt to another grammar program? Thanks.

We've never taken a standardized test of any kind -- my state doesn't require it and I'm not really interested in how my son is doing compared to other kids. I'm interested in how he's doing compared to his ability. I prepare my curriculum for the year and work away at it and his speed. Sometimes he flies through assignments and projects, sometimes we have to slow down to make sure he attains mastery of the subject matter. By the end of the year I know he's mastered everything we set out to do. Each year he's evaluated by the same teacher. She's all the professional feedback I ever get. She has found his work to be superior every year. I take her observations with a grain of salt. The first year she evaluated him she asked why he was taking history in elementary school -- it was one of those "roll your eyes up" moments that make you realize it's a good thing you're teaching your own kid and not a "professional" teacher.

My husband is almost completely uninvolved. He works long hours and travels on business a lot. He never asks to see our son's work. All he knows about our homeschooling is that I do it, he pays for it, and he doesn't want to deal with it when he's home. He funds our homeschool and he pays for a full-time housekeeper -- that's pretty much his involvement. I'm not complaining -- having full time help is a huge help. And I have a wonderful co-op where I get all the adult feedback I need regarding homeschooling.

I've been looking at the CW and I really like what I see. My son (10) is starting fifth grade and I've figured out that the right place to start him is on Aesop, workbook B. What grammar course do you suggest? CW recommends an old classic book, but I didn't like it so I'm looking for alternatives that will complement CW. I would appreciate any ideas. Thanks.

We're doing Minimus: Starting Out in Latin this year. It's for 7-10 year-olds. We've played around with it for the past year and my son (10) loves it. This year we'll begin it formally. There's a CD I like for pronunciation (classical). We've been doing Spanish (Rosetta Stone Home School Edition) for a year. He already understands Spanish -- we're using it to help him with vocabulary and pronounciation.

This year we're doing Real Science-4-Kids Biology I. (Mine is a fifth grader also.) This gives kids a great overview from the very small (DNA) to the very large (ecosystems). You can do it in ten weeks if you want, although a lot of people drag it on all year. I went through the same doubts -- what do I cover? I thought also of just starting with the human body, but in the end I decided that it's not really biology. That's physiology, and it wouldn't give ds the background in cells needed to really understand biology. In another couple of years we'll be doing middle school biology and I don't want it to catch him unprepared. You're welcome to check out the curriculum I'm using this coming year. A link is under my signature. You can see how we've parsed it out into 36 weeks with the addition of some other books. Hope this helps.

I've been teaching grammar, reading, writing, spelling, vocabulary and punctuation informally from grades 1-4 just using the books we read. We're in good shape, but for fifth grade the little guy has asked to do something more formal. Would you share your favorite language curriculum for fifth grade? There are so many out there that I end up like a deer in headlights. Thanks!

I'm using Minimus: Starting Out in Latin for ds (10) -- however, for fluency, we use Rosetta Stone. The little guy can open a children's book in Latin and read it. That's more than I can say. I can read some of it, but I can't pronounce a word. I think Rosetta Stone made the difference.

Oh, yes! You can definitely have negative pregnancy tests and be pregnant. I've got proof and it's eating me out of house and home.

Walk! I was 41 weeks with ds and going nuts. I had the same time constraint with my midwife. I went to a giant used car lot where salesmen tote you around in little golf carts. We refused the golf cart and walked until I was bending over with cramps. It took over two hours, but ds was born the next day in my home. During labor, she gave me cohosh. That made me nauseous, but it sped up labor.

Let me remind you how lucky you are that your ds's friends like hanging around. I always have spare kids, especially on weekends. It isn't pretty, but I'd much rather have my son in my house where I can keep an eye on him than out doing God-knows-what. You're lucky. :001_smile:

Google chat/video conference. My husband travels a lot on business, but he rarely misses evening read-aloud. Instead of curling up on the couch with the cat and a good book, we gather around the computers (with a cat) and dad reads to us. Weird, but it works. I'm all for using all the high-tech in the world to keep my family traditional.;)

Look through our co-op's enrichment curriculum. We're doing everything with books from the library (with the exception of biology which is Real Science-4-Kids). You may be able to use it as is, or modify some of the subjects to fit your learner.

Yes. We've used Skype from Hong Kong. As long as he can get online, he can use Skype.

My husband has been traveling two or three weeks a month since before I met him. He's in high tech and his customers are municipalities and first responders -- in other words, his clients are all cities somewhere else. We chat every night. We use Google chat and can set up a video conference easily if we want to. This makes a big difference. Dad gets to say goodnight and even read a book to our son. I've found that what kids are really afraid of is that daddy is GONE. Intellectually he knows daddy will be back Friday. Since we've been video conferencing, daddy's body may not be here, but his face, voice and funny stories are here every night. If our son has a question, doubt, comment, he can share it personally with his dad. It's very empowering for him and he often mentions what he'll talk about with dad tonight. I guess the most important thing is that dad doesn't leave and just disappear. He's always available to talk or chat in the evenings.

Take a look at our co-op's enrichment curriculum. (Link below my signature). We do eight great masters each year using free internet resources and books from the library. It's actually written for a co-op (although it can be used individually). You're welcome to use the curriculum with your co-op.

We're using SOTW III in our co-op this coming year and we also found the lack of American History to be an issue, so we wrote our own American History curriculum using Mike Venezia's books on the presidents and a book called 100 American Stories. You can download the curriculum (see below) and see if the AmHistory section works for you. All the books are available at our public library, so check your first before you buy anything. Hope this helps.

We're using Story of the World with our own curriculum. (We write our own for our co-op.) You're welcome to download our curriculum and see if it works for you or if you can adapt it for your learners. Hope this is helpful.

You can do it. Everything you need to know is covered in the Teacher Manual. We're using Biology I this year in our co-op. You're welcome to download a copy of our curriculum and see if it works for you. Hope this helps.

We're doing SOTW III this year with our co-op. You can do history with just this book if you use a few other resources. Take a look at the enrichment curriculum we're using this year -- we will upload all our worksheets and resources as the year progresses. It may be helpful. You can use the curriculum as it is, or you can use it to see how we set it up. Hope this helps.

Usborne -- hands down. We use their books extensively and they keep their internet links up to date. The books are gorgeous and you can download some of the images from their website to spruce up your notebook pages.

Stay with level I -- if you're on a 36 week schedule, you can do all three and then some. Also, look into Dr. Keller's cog books -- these relate the science with other subjects. We'll do Biology I this year and throw in the cog. That will keep us busy.

How about art appreciation and music appreciation? I like teaching liberal arts from the get-go. Many museums, many beautiful books from the library. You can review the enrichment curriculum we're using (see below). It might have some of the extras you're missing. Hope it helps.

We're using Minimus: Starting Out in Latin. We use the CD and the student book. They're cheap. The teacher manual is expensive and useless (in my opinion). If you want to have some idea how we're using it, download our co-op curriculum (see below). It's broken down into 36 weekly lessons. Hope this helps.

We're teaching American History for the first time this year. We're using the Mike Venezia "Presidents" books and one called 100 American Stories. By the end of the year, we will have read books of all the presidents (to Bush 43 -- Venezia has not yet published the Obama book. Download the curriculum (see my signature file) -- it's free and it includes the entire American History syllabus. And bonus -- all the books are in my public library -- look in yours first before you buy anything. Hope this helps.