That's it!! Thanks melmichigan!!! Guess the classical in the title, not Charlotte Mason is what threw me. Thanks again!!

Nope that's not it, but thank you ikslo. :)

I am searching for a Charlotte Mason type of Language Arts curriculum that was published on Lulu, I think. It was seasonally themed and called Autumn, Winter, Spring. I remember in the samples the Autumn one had an Emily Dickinson poem for the copy work. Does this ring a bell to anyone? Thanks in advance!!

"Lov-aaaaahs" :lol: Bwahahahahaha!!!

Ugh...I HATE that!! My SIL (also has 4 kids) has a great (and oh, so terrible response that I'm almost embarrassed to post)....."Yeah, we think it's do*gy style." or "Yeah, aren't you doing it right?" I don't know if she's seriously ever said it to anyone, but I wouldn't put it past her. :lol: On using "love" from a previous poster. I call my dh and kids "love" or "my love" frequently and I really think it is from too much British telly and books. Like when they come to ask me a question, I might say, "What's up my love?" I don't think that is creepy at all. "Making love in the green grass" from Brown-Eyed Girl doesn't mean s*x? Huh. That's what I always thought. OP...after hearing "lover" from her a few times I would absolutely have to adopt the "lov-ah" pronunciation from the SNL skit and make up something totally obscene about me and my "lov-ah". Well, that is what I'd like to think I'd do, but I'd probably burst out laughing before I ever got it out of my mouth.

Incredibly cool!! WTG strider's hubs. (Hope he isn't charging commission on all of us stealing this idea for a future b-day.....) ;)

:iagree: Best math purchase ever!! We love it!!! I'm so glad others are saying some of the problems are difficult for even them, because based on other threads of BA I was getting the vibe it was "so easy".....thought maybe I was the only one. Maybe everyone was just talking about those easier problems and not the double (sometimes single :tongue_smilie:) starred. We've done Miquon and CWP 2 & 3 and Beast Academy just challenges you to think in a totally different way. DS8 has never loved math, but it is easily the first thing he would pick up to do now ..... unless he's reading a Dr. Who book. ;) LOL

The author, Bernard Nebel, cautions against using BFSU as a smorgasboard...taking out what you want here or there. We use it, but I don't know if I completely buy that line of thinking. Kids seem to be a little more together than that and able to make the connections (then again, I don't exactly do chronological history either :tongue_smilie:). For example, if my kids are interested in something that has 2 or 3 prerequisite lessons that are recommended first, I might quickly try to explain those concepts before going into the idea we wanted to explore. I think it would be detrimental to do that all the time, but occasonally, I think it is okay. Actually, now that I think of it, I'm pretty sure Nebel also recommends taking advantage of current interests and exciting things in the science world....even if it means skipping. Not sure if that would work in your case, since you already have your science spine.

We sorta stumbled into the Civil War earlier this year by way of the Five In a Row title, "Follow the Drinking Gourd". We read D'Aulaire's "Abraham Lincoln", a book called "Lincoln Shot: A President's Life Remembered" (mostly just read sections not the entirety, it is in the format of an old newspaper). My then 2nd grader read a good chapter book on the Gettysburg address called "Three Minute Speech: Lincoln's Remarks at Gettysburg". He did copy work on the address and even memorized it! Another good Gettysburg battle and address was this one. Patricia Polacco's books on the Civil War are great. "Just in Time Abraham Lincoln" about the battle at Antietam. "Pink and Say" Henry's Freedom Box is beautiful. The illustrator, Kadir Nelson, is a favorite of mine. "Brown Paper School Kids: US Kids History: Book of the Civil War" is awesome. All my kids liked this book too and it has historical context after each chapter along with craft/project ideas to do if you want --- "The Last Safe House: A Story of the Underground Railroad". Harriet Tubman books were loved, like this one. These 2 Nest videos on Abraham Lincoln and Harriet Tubman were good. I'm sure we read others and I'll list them when I think of them, but hopefully this will help a little.

Extremely interesting article (and the myriad of comments). Thanks for sharing!

Thank you for sharing!! One of the topics I wanted to cover this year. :)

I had to LOL at this, because a couple of years ago when I had a 5 and 7 year old I tried to read "The Witches" and they were TERRIFIED!!! LOL I would beg them to come back and listen, but they would run screaming from the room. :lol: I'm terrible..... Some of our favorites over the past few years (preK up to 2nd graders able to listen in and enjoy) Five Children and It (might be our all time favorite) The Railway Children Charlotte's Web The Tale of Despereaux Winnie-the-Pooh Ginger Pye Matilda (a Roald Dahl that did go over well) The Indian in the Cupboard Paddington books Little House in the Big Woods and Little House on the Prairie Readers for your 2nd grader (going off ones my 2nd grader enjoyed last year) The Magic Treehouse Series Magic Schoolbus Chapter books Henry Huggins and Ribsy books Charlotte's Web How to Train Your Dragon Series (more advanced, but definitely his favorite this year)

Awesome!! Love this plot spoiler! We are still on 3A, took it slow and played with it some this summer and will hit it again this fall. I like to read along with him. ;) Some of it is easy enough for DS1 who is 8 (who is a perfectionist), but some of those starred ones are a little challenging for me even!!! LOL

What do the letters look like? I'd probably say if they look good, let him have a go at cursive. Admittedly, I never paid attention to how my lefty (DS1) was forming his letters, but by some miracle he is an extremely legible left-hander (as opposed to his father). I let him at it with cursive last year and, oops again, didn't pay attention to how he was forming the letters. He was sometimes circling that "o" 3 times before moving on. :lol: I helped him once I realized the darned curriculum I had bought didn't have directional arrows, but his letters are once again, very legible and even beautiful, so I don't really care about how they are formed as long as he isn't taking forever to write the words out. DS2 has some issues still with letter directionality (b and d confused, backward letters out-of-the-blue), so I'm much more inclined to catch him working from the bottom up and correct him. He's right-handed. Oh, btw, we do daily copywork.

When DS1 was in first grade and beyond phonics, I had him read twice a day in smaller bits (maybe 5-7 minutes from each). In the a.m. it was from a Children's Bible and in the p.m. from whatever book he had decided on. Last year we started with the Bible again (regular adult version with larger print), but kinda fell off of it.....planning on trying it again this year a couple times a week. Basically, he will be reading for our morning Bible time. He reads devotions to us occasionally in the summer during bedtime reading. I should also mention that I love to hear him read and he likes to share books he's interested in (this year it was the How to Train Your Dragon series), so it doesn't seem much of a chore for either of us. It ends up being a little quiet time with mom which is important in a house with as many kids as ours! Sometimes we can talk over other important issues that he doesn't always like to share in front of everyone, so it is another one of those kill 2 birds with one stone kinda thing (I don't advocate killing of any birds....gonna have to come up with another analogy there)! DD2 also loves this private reading time with mom....although he is nowhere near ready to read on his own. ;)