I feel like I knew how to do this for so long, and now here comes another one throw into the mix! Whew! Right now it's actually prep that's my problem--I was planning to do a gentle letter of the week program with him, but that requires lots of time at the library to find the appropriate books, etc. He's such a chatty little fellow, too.

Thanks, RootAnn. Our D'Aulaire's, purchased new, is in tatters. :)

Now I really feel behind! :)

All the Robert McClosky books, especially the Sal ones. Jan Brett Patricia Polacco Martin Waddell

I have a bright 4 yo boy who is eager to do school like his big sisters, but I am having SUCH a hard time finding a time for it! It's so bad that I've even thought longingly of a b & m preschool class for him. (That is really unlike me, especially for a preschooler, so it's bad.). Can anyone share with me your schedule if you're also schooling older kids?

So is this doable for kids who just read it for fun?

What I mean is R&S is much less teacher-led, so it has been good to go back over old ground as we adapt to the new style.

My 5th grader just started using R & S this year after FLL levels 1-4. While R & S 5 does start out as review, I'm finding it beneficial for my daughter to do the work with a slightly different approach.

The Laura Ingalls Wilder books are great in audio

Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes

I still haven't exactly figured out our history schedule, bit I do have our last missing book on its way via the big brown truck, so that's a step in the right direction. We've had a busy two days with a funeral yesterday afternoon and co-op (+ piano lessons) today, but we've also managed pretty solid days with our lessons. I hope the rest of the week is as productive.

I'm sure this has already been said (& based on the current state of my house, I'm not sure I should be offering advice), but one of my girls (with, um, help from the 4 year old) cleans up the school room before lunch. The other girl is the lunchtime helper. That means that the school room is clean at least once a day. After several years of this (2-3?), they're pretty good at it.

Mine taunts me, too. :)

I agree!

Thanks for the nitty-gritty details, JubilantNest!

Calandalsmom, We're already big, big reader-alouders (like my new word?), and my girls read a lot, too. It's almost painful for them to break their reading up so much. I'm still trying to figure out how to make that crazy (in my opinion) schedule work for us.

I'll join in! This week is a crazy week, with dh being home today due to the holiday. We're still schoolin', though--I need to take advantage of his help, especially in wrangling the little boys! I have a funeral to attend today, too. My goal this week is to figure out a way to manage our Sonlight schedule. I'm NOT loving it. All those books--broken up over days and days--just not our MO. I also want to figure out a way for my girls to have more output in regards to what they read. I'm off to figure that out now!

We're on our sixth year of RS here and LOVE it. As my girls have gotten older and more advanced, I've made more of an effort to play the games. (It helps that we have lots to choose from now, too.). I've supplemented with various things--MM, LoF, BA. I'm not sure they consider those fun, though (with the possible exception of BA, but it was challenging for my girl). When they were younger, I added in math picture books once a week or so. Of everything mentioned, in my opinion RS is the most "fun."

I haven't read all the responses (and I'm really sort of scared because of that picture up there :huh: ), but we are RightStart Math users and LOVE the games.

Thanks so much to all of you who recommended GSWL! I purchased it for my Kindle (on a whim, if truth be told) after reading this thread on Friday. My girls (grades 5 and 3) and I did the first five lessons. Everyone learned and enjoyed it! :). This is the third Latin "piece" I've purchased, and I think this one is basic enough (and no frills enough) for even me to get. :)

Y'all are making me question my hastily made decision to go with Sonlight. ;)

What a great thread! I love reading episodic books aloud, mostly because then I don't have to try too hard to remember what happened last. :tongue_smilie:

We went through a bout of extreme negativity this summer with one of our girls and found the Nurtured Heart Approach helpful: http://difficultchild.com/nurtured-heart-approach/

Well, look what happens when I take a long break from the boards! Congrats, 8! I'm off to take a gander at your "baby."

Thanks so much for your help, ByGrace3.