We loved GSWL because lessons were short and to the point and then there was direct application. We had success moving to Big Book of Lively Latin After that. Also Latin Prep. Both have you apply the grammar lesson right away, are in color and have some pictures - which breaks up the pages and carries things along, and are succinct. I think BBoLL is better for the 4th-8th rage and Latin Prep for the 6th-9th range. My only student who stuck with Latin did GSWL, BBoLL 1 (a little Cambridge supplement), part of BBoLL 2, and is starting Lukeion 1 in the fall (Wheelock’s). Another great thing about BBoLL is that you only have to purchase once and whole family can use, simultaneously or in succession. I did not teach it either - it was fairly self-teaching and there are videos online if you want more teaching. I would consider your child’s learning style in making a selection. Things don’t have to be entertaining or “fun” but your efforts will go farther if it works well with the way the child learns.

I used ETC as supplementary phonics after the kids were up and reading (about age 6). For that I did not need teacher books. As a side not ETC online was horrible - loved the books but hated that!

We have done an ecclectic mix of things alongside 1st grade Singapore. We added in Education Unboxed and c-rod games (and Miquon orange book), games and lessons from RightStart, Lollipop Logic (it’s fun but not usually math puzzles), DreamBox, Moebius Noodles, and we even got a 100 count bag of polyhedral dice and used it to make groups/zest’s, graphs, patterns, and as counters.

Oh yes and I just read the other replies - reservations are a must! You don’t need hike permits unless you’re going backcountry (eg Zion Narrows, Fiery Furnace, the Subway) but accommodations are usually booked up in advance. Especially if you are camping! It’s frustrating in a way - I miss the days of being able to just go on an unplanned road trip and find a campsite, but state parks, national parks, national forest campsites are almost all on reservation system now and booked out in advanced. The good thing about that is that you’ll have a guaranteed spot even if you’re coming from three days away ?

Yes. I think it would be a lot of car time compared to actual hiking and exploring time. What time of year? North Rim road from southern Utah is closed at least half the year because of snow/maintenance. Check the park’s website. Arches is in Eastern Utah, with a drive from there to Bryce taking half a day. There are lots of hikes in Arches, and a good place to spend time exploring. Bryce has the main canyon (gorgeous) but Little else. There are however a lot of places you could stop in between Arches and Bryce if you wanted. Zions is a couple hours from Bryce (quicker if you go down Hwy 89 and enter on the Orderville side). Zion is experiencing severe overcrowding, especially in the last 3 years. Although it’s a big park with many many hikes and vistas its traffic flow is confined, and there are long lines of cars just to get in, especially on weekends and holidays (but honestly it’s almost all the time now). I tell you that not to discourage you from going but so you can plan it into your travel time. North Rim has an amazing view, but like Bryce Canyon that’s mostly it. If you’re ok with all the car time go for it! But if you are wanting to get out and do things you will be able to do the most in Arches (less crowded and lots of trails). I live a very short distance from Zion but avoid it because of the crowds. It gorgeous!!! I have great memories of going there over the last 20 years, fun hikes, lots of good things, but I don’t enjoy it because of the crowds now. Arches -> Bryce 4 hr+, Bryce -> Zion 1.5 hr (not including waiting to enter or waiting to pass through the tunnel), Zion -> North Rim 2.5 hr + altogether is a day of driving. I would suggest a 5th day of you can afford to. You might consider these places which are awesome SW redrock locations that aren’t quite as crowded (at least not yet): Goblin Valley State Park, Grand Staircase Escalante NM (and with it Kodachrome Basin State Park, Petrified Forest State Park, and Dixie National Forest along Highway 12), Capitol Reef NP. Escalante in particular has a much more free range feel, with many slot canyon hikes and narrows. And it’s very close to Bryce. I think you will have a great time any way you do it! It’s amazing country

Yes, heat. Burned a hole through my down comforter from a small desk lamp ? Lucky I caught it before it went up in flames!

Yes, “do the next thing” is a great way to work around life! Even if you have detailed steps, of what you put on your schedule/checklist is “work on ___” and you refer back to the steps in your breakdown of “do the next thing” you won’t get bogged down as much as if had the detailed step on the checklist. Eg if your thing to get done is planning SOTW history for Fall you might create a step-wise process that includes: ask WTM board for favorite lit suggestions, preview book suggestions, select and order books, create timeline figures for first term, purchase school supplies (binder, color pencils, glue, timeline notebook). But on your daily to-do list you only put down “work on history for Fall” and get done what you can from the list. If you work on it you check it off that day and move on. If you instead had “ask the WTM board for favorite lit suggestions” on your checklist it would be there a while unfinished and that can be mentally defeating.

Big Book of Lively Latin

We practiced with role playing mostly, right as we read it. Sometimes we applied them over lunch/dinner (if it was a table manner) that same day. It was just a natural outflow, nothing really structured.

They will have levels 3-5 up. They say 2 will be up when the book series is finished. By subscription https://beastacademy.com/faq/online/ba-online-cost

Adulting 101

I make big general plans for the year, but I only make detailed plans for a week at a time. I hate feeling “behind” because then I feel I will never catch up so why even try... Having the big plans (eg a text I want to cover, or some skills I want to teach) keeps me oriented and moving forward. The detailed weekly plans keep me accountable but able to adjust for life.

I’m curious about your plan for 9th. Is it all theee books? For science or history or both? Are you adding anything to it? Just wondering. I have Newton at the Center and have wondered if doing all three books in a year might be a good science-based world history at high school level...

We were fortunate to find Minimus at our library. It got my child (then 7) a little interested. Not being a Latin teacher I didn’t feel I could flesh it out enough to be a full curriculum. I could see using it in a similar way to how I use Cambridge - a reader/contextual source in addition to our actual Latin curriculum. I have not used LfC. We had great success with GSWL, and then BBoLL.

What about blogging?

Echoing that you might want to look into the intensive programs designed for dyslexics (even if she’s not dyslexic). The skill of reading is more important than if spelling, and you will give her the best help by focusing your time on this. Not that you have to eliminate spelling, but that your focus be on reading.

I know of some elements already put together (like artist study or music study) but not an entire Morning Time. However, this is something very similar which may meet your needs? https://mentoringourown.com/just-what-is-the-power-of-an-hour/

DS started BBoLL 1 half way through 5th grade after doing “Gettibg Started with Latin” He finished part way 6th, and took the NLE Intro and got top marks in 6th. He did part of BBoLL 2 in the rest of 6th and first part of 7th, but we stopped in favor of doing Barbarian Diagrammarian with Lukeion (in preparation for Lukeion Latin 1 in 8th). He really likes BBoLL - there were a variety of activities which were not long /overwhelming to approach, he loved the histories and military strategies, the pages were in color and included images, and he could do it 90% independently. Also, there was immediate application of the learning (similar to GSWL) in translation and other activities. This was key for us. The grammar first approach like Memoria Press uses doesn’t work for him - he does have an incredible long term memory but needs context and application (not straight up memorization). The same was true for learning math facts - he actually had to use them in problems, Flashcards/songs/drills were counterproductive. He did three sides of a page (or a complete history if it was a history lesson) along with Quizlet review of vocabulary each day. I also added some reading in Cambridge Latin in 6th grade in preparation for the NLE. I put everything on his checklist and he could do things himself. There are pronunciation files and video lessons on the website that you have access to with your purchase but DS thought they were a bit slow and got what he needed from the lesson pages. The BB1 takes about a year and a half, unless you do it really intensely. There’s a thread here somewhere in which a boardie put her schedule breakdown of BB1 that many people have found helpful. In answer to your question, yes there are Word Power activities for English derivatives in each chapter (often more than one).

Yes you can. You can’t put hardwood BELOW GRADE on a basement foundation, but you can on ongrade slab. We are in the thick of building right now, and doing research on flooring. Some good advice I’ll pass on: - consider your climate (eg if you are somewhere generally cool or cold carpet is a very attractive option, if you live where there are big temp and humidity variations hardwood might cup, if you live where there’s lots of inside-outside traffic a solid durable surface like tile will do well, etc) - consider usage of a space (eg is it a hardworking room like a laundry/mud/kitchen or a room of retreat like a bedroom or family room, or a high traffic area like living room and hallways, do you have dogs inside that might scratch wood or soil carpet, do you have elderly or those with bad joints who need to avoid very hard surfaces like tile and bamboo, etc) and match the function of your flooring to it - consider maintenance and replacement (eg vinyl is soft and can take a drop but not a drag that might tear, solid oiled wood can be sanded and spot finished where polyurethane finish has to have the whole floor done at once yet oiled wood needs regular reoiling, carpet needs vacuuming even when it “looks clean” and if there’s need for replacement you will need to do the entire room if not the entire house, etc) and decide what YOU want to eat with. Good luck!

Have you looked at LVP? They have done pretty convincing wood looks. There are also wood-look tile planks.

To me her problem solving score is indicative of the success that Singapore is. Her computational score is average, it’s just a lot lower than her problem solving. I would suggest a few things: - patience (she’s doing well, it just takes a longer time) - reduce the number of problems - have two shorter sessions spread out during the day in which to complete her problems - have a work environment *she* is comfortable in (I have one who loved sitting on the next to last stair from the top, another likes low lighting, another has to have noise/headphones) - let her use her multiplication chart for everything except mental math (my children became fluent with their facts later, in part because they looked them up over and over and memorized them that way) - practice developing computational speed and accuracy apart from the curriculum. Play games involving math computation, use graph paper to help her keep her work aligned (reducing some errors), have correct someone else’s work do errors She is understanding the math - that’s key! - and she may just have a slower processing speed (not much you or any curriculum can do about that), or having some brain fog associated with growing. I wouldn’t jump ship.

Kicking sugar and eating low-carb are two different things in my mind. Not incompatible, but if sugar is your real enemy work on that and refined carbs leaving yourself with good sweets like sautéed onions, carrots, beets, sweet potatoes, etc. Pay more attention to a food’s wholeness, it’s content of other good things (fiber, protein, healthy fats, naturally occurring vitamins, etc), and your associations with it (eg popcorn at the movie goes with soda so I don’t eat movie popcorn so I don’t drink the soda) than to carb counts. You will get more good out of a baby carrot or a strawberry than a low-carb processed bar. Good luck! ETA I highly advise against recreating your favorite sweets with sugar substitutes (except on very special occasions). You’ve got to change your mindset about what you eat and putting similar -looking and -tasting things in front of you won’t do that

1) Clean your house out of all sugar containing products (watch out it’s in your lunch meat, your spice mixes, your salad desssing, everything!) and all processed foods and refined grains. Give it to a friend or a food bank or a pig farm (no joke) 2) Make ahead snacks and lunches for the next 5 days so they are ready when you’re really hungry. Have a simple meal planned for breakfast and dinner every day. 3) Eat lots of healthy proteins and fats, allowing yourself some fruit for dessert. Low sugar snacks: hummus and veggies (read labels!), peanut (or almond) butter on apples and bananas with sprinkled unsweetened coconut and hemp seeds, jerky (read labels!! We like Wild Zora and Nick’s Sticks brands), hard boiled egg, some Lara bars, roasted cashews, crackers from Simple Mills with a little deli meat, Better Way brand (read labels some flavors have sugar) chips with guacamole (or creamy garlic dip by Majestic Garlic)

Magic Lens is solid, to the point, and no tedious work. Include the 4 Practice series to work on applying the grammar analysis. I learned more about verbs than I ever knew doing Magic Lens (and I have an English - writing minor!).

We did the labs selectively as we were co-oping biology (I was teacher and used RSO Bio2 for scope and sequence and spine for younger half of the group, while older half used Life on Earth or CK12 text). We used many of the RSO labs and microscope labs for the entire group. Our class met for 2 hours one time a week where we did a quick review of what they learned in the reading and then the lab(s). Some days we were very pressed to finish in 2 hours! But some labs were quicker. We generally did not do FSS, though sometimes we did. My suggestion is leave have bio be at the end of the school day. I don’t know how many days a week you’re planning, but if you do the 5 day plan I imagine you’ll only have day 2 that goes longer than an hour. The reading in the lessons is short, SWYK is short, and the FSS can be short if you’ve got resources ready. Activities vary in length, there’s not a MS lab every week, and they and the regular labs are pretty fun. HTH good luck!