This past year my son did Saxon 6/5. I have him read the lesson on his own and immediately do the lesson practice and check his answers. After lunch, he does the odds or evens of the mixed review and checks his work. If he gets ALL the problems right, he's done for the day - this helps motivate him to double check his work and avoid careless errors. If he misses even one, he does the rest of the mixed review problems. Since he knows his facts pretty well, I have him do the math facts once a week and mental math once a week also.

:lurk5:

Thank you for all the great suggestions! :001_smile:

I've got to buy 4 pairs of tennis shoes (really just athletic shoes), and I don't want to spend a fortune. I usually buy at Target, but maybe I'm missing out on some good beginning of the year shoe sales somewhere?

My family loves this: Cube raw chicken and marinate pieces in Ranch dressing for about 30 minutes. In skillet, melt butter and add chicken to cook. Put cooked chicken, colby jack cheese, cooked bacon, tomatoes and a little more Ranch dressing (not the same dressing you marinated raw chicken in, of course) in tortilla and wrap it up. Put wrap in skillet with cooking spray (or butter) and cook on medium heat until cheese melts. YUM!! :001_smile: This is great in the summer with fresh corn on the cob and bowl of mixed fruit!

Chicken Cordon Bleu - I use the recipe on Allrecipes.com - (chicken cordon bleu II)- it has a solid 5 stars and over 1000 reviews! I've been making it for years. It's a lot of work, but oh so worth it!! I add rice, broccoli and rolls for a complete meal. YUM!!!

I found the kids vocab book the cheapest on buy.com. Someone said the kids vocab was best started around 5th grade. Diana Hopkins (lovetolearn.net) wrote about it on her blog a few weeks ago.

I had some leftover chicken from a casserole the other night, so I cut it up and added some Ranch dressing and stuck it in the fridge. Today, I melted some cheese in a tortilla and added the warmed up chicken and fresh tomatoes. It made a very tasty lunch!

I think that's why Analytical Grammar is so appealing - 3 years of grammar in 6-8 and you're done!! Each year is only about 10 - 16 weeks of intense grammar, and you can focus on writing the rest of the year.

I read on this board somewhere that a mom created a treasure hunt to look for their school supplies each year (hidden in the house somewhere). I thought that was a good idea - maybe even including a pack of gum as a special treat! I don't know how my ds (5) would have made it through reading last year without that piece of sugarless gum to perk him up each day! - I needed it to keep from drifting off while he was learning to read myself...:D

I've been reading about this book (Vocabulary Cartoons for Kids), and it looks like a fun, effective program. Here's the problem, I already have Wordly Wise 5, and Word Roots from Critical Thinking Press lined up for my 5th grader next year. Vocabulary is one of my personal weak spots, so maybe I'm overcompensating?! How do I work in all three programs??

There is a game called Snapshots Across America that looks really good - I copied the description from the Love to Learn website below... I've never found anything more effective or fun for really teaching U.S. geography in a meaningful way! Our children choose and play this game on their own above all other games. The beauty of Snapshots is that all ages can play together, and your knowledge of geography grows by leaps and bounds each time you play. The object of the game is to take seven USA vacations. You can drive, fly, take a train, or a cruise ship—depending on what cards you are dealt. Watch out though, as bad weather or airport closings may block your plans. Players travel from state to state, learning as they go. When they reach their vacation destination, all players learn more about national landmarks and tourist spots from a "snapshot" picture postcard that includes interesting facts. Game includes USA map, gameboard, plenty of picture "postcards," weather and travel cards, 6 plastic cars, and illustrated instructions. For ages 6 and up

Mine loved Homer Price - also Trumpet of the Swan and the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books

:iagree:

My friend's doctor prescribed a medicine for her that helped her produce more milk. I think it's something cancer patients use, but they discovered it helps nursing women produce milk?! Anyway, it really helped her. If you're interested, send me a message and I can find out the name of the med.

I'm wondering why you didn't put a piece of magnetic tape on the back of the cards instead of a paper clip. I would think the tape would stick better than the paper clip covered by contact paper.

Bump

I feel guilty about not covering poetry yet (I'll have a 1st, 3rd and a 5th grader this year). It's hard to find the time to do a whole unit on poetry, so I'm thinking about doing a poem a week. I would like for them to keep a notebook full of the poems we read/study each week. I thought for each poem, I would point out some different elements of poetry (similes, metaphors, personification, etc.). I would also like to create/find a generic poetry sheet that can be filled out for each poem (something that asks about the rhyme scheme, stanzas, type of poem, figures of speech used, etc), and I'm wondering if any of you know of something on a website, etc. that I could use for this purpose. I also thought that one of our writing assignments each week could be a poem similar to the one that we read. Anyone else want to brainstorm a poetry unit using a poem a week with me? :001_smile:

I'm wondering when the child transitions from copying someone else's ideas to writing about his own ideas. Is there a unit that teaches the student how to write a paragraph on his own?

Wow!!! Thank you for such a great list!! :001_smile:

I love to look through the reading lists on Amazon (listmania). I usually type in something like "great books for boys". I've always been able to find good books this way!

I've been wondering how to do all this... copywork (daily for handwriting practice?) dictation (once/twice a week? chosen from his reading?) narration - (for history? literature? should it be daily? only after a chapter/lesson?) I would love to hear how you do it!!

Thanks for all the great websites!

There is a book on Amazon called The Little Man in the Map - it has clues to help you remember all the states. It got great reviews!

I make bread using my food processor. I read a book titled The Best Bread Ever: Great Homemade Bread Using Your Food Processor by Charles Van Over. His pizza dough recipe alone is worth the price of the book!! My kids used to hate homemade pizza, but with his recipe, they like it better than ordering out!! I love to make bread in the food processor because there is no mess! I can whip up the dough in less than 5 minutes, and it is delicious!