I would have relaxed and had more fun during the early years. I would have spent a lot more time doing nature study and being outside. I wish I had understood Charlotte Mason's philosophy better before I began and I wish I could have applied it better in the beginning. I think I would have enjoyed homeschooling more if I had.

My son is now 10 and he has always struggled with handwriting. He has made great strides with hwt. I started with the first book for printing and that did really help, but he really, really improved when he got to cursive. He still is not so great printing, after all these years, but when he writes in cursive, it is like a different child's handwriting. I think that some kids just do better with cursive. If he is fine with that, I would say let him go with it.

If you are looking for a good book to read, go to the website of Family Life Today. They have a lot of resources for this age. They have also have some great articles. Their website it www.familylife.com

Institute for Excellence in Writing and Susan Wise Bauer

You could also check out the Elson Reader's available from Rainbow Resource. I also highly recommend Shiller Math. It seems very cm to me. For grammar, the Queen's books are very nice. I do have to put in a plug for fll too. The lessons are short, pleasant, and include copywork, dictation, poem memorization, etc.

I would suggest maybe checking out Truthquest to go along with sotw 4. It can give you more american history, but still let them finish out the history timeline.

Well, here is my schedule: 8:30 - bible read aloud with all the children. Scripture memory using the system from Simply cm website. Sing this term's hymn from ao. 9:00 - older children do chores while mom gets 4 yo dressed and does "school" with him (mostly montessori type stuff, discovery toys games, puzzles, 100 ex lessons) 9:30 - Mom does math, reading and grammar with 10 yo ds. We use Shiller Math, clp nature readers and fll3. 11 yo dd works independently on math (singapore and miquon), grammar (queen's), writing (writing strands or written narration), spelling (phonetic zoo), 7 yo dd practices piano and does handwriting (hwt) or copywork, and etc. 10:30 - Mom does read aloud from ao year one with 10 ds and 7 dd. They take turns narrating after each paragraph and at the end of each chapter. (poetry is included here). 11 yo dd continues to work on her schoolwork, she independently does the reading from ao year 6 (this includes poetry too!). She has to do two written narrations per week on something of her choice from ao. 11:00 - Mom does reading (elson readers), grammar (fll1), math (shiller) with dd 7. dd10 does handwriting (hwt) or copywork, etc, and math facts practice on the computer. 12:00 - lunch 12:30 - Mom does read aloud from nature study book (burgess bird book right now, fabres insects next) 1:00 - quiet time in our rooms (mostly done so mom can take a nap!) 2:00 - depdending on the day of the week, mon & tues - history with all kids using sotw 1., wed - homeschool chorus, thurs - science (apologia astronomy) 3:00 - free time 4:30 - take dd 11 to ballet. 5:00 - make dinner while other kids play 6:00 dinner (dad picks up dd on way home from work) 7:00 - more chores for everyone 7:30 bedtime bible reading 8:00 bed We only school mon- thurs. on Friday, I participate in a cm co-op. We do art and picture study, science experiments for astronomy, nature study. For music, we just listen to classical music a lot, have the classical kids cds and love them, also have used the Wheeler books. Sometimes, we have a special afternoon tea on Fridays, and do music study then. Kids love it, I am often too tired out by the end of the week! Hope this gives you an idea of how one person does it.

I really think that in order to implement cm methods well, you need to understand her philosophy. And really the best way to do that is to read her original series. Since you have young children, you could start with volume one for some specific suggestions. But volume 6 is also very important. Volume six is the last one she wrote, and it really is a summary of her life of learning about children's education. The last volume was written, I think, more than thirty years after the first volume. Her philosophy and methods did mature and change over that time period, so reading volume six can help you see where she ended up. I have read all the other books you mentioned, except for Pocketful of Pinecones, and I think the one I enjoyed the most was The Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola. Reading that book was like sitting down with a good friend for an encouraging chat. The Levinson books offer more practical insights, although they seemed kind of short to me and still left me with questions.

I have a couple friend who have used mfw for several years and they both really liked the K and first grade. They especially liked the bible reader that came with first grade.

I am using the Primer for my 1st grader. I have and use the teacher guide as well. I really like the classic stories. The teacher guide provides a great language lessons introduction. My daughter likes the stories.

I added in Truthquest for my year with sotw 4. It really gave a nice dose of American History in a really fun way.

My 11yo is using this and she likes it a lot. I do not know if I will continue to use it, as I noticed that the older lessons for writing focus mostly on poetry and creative writing. I would like some more practical writing instruction.

I agree with everyone else, I think you have too much planned for a 5 1/2 year old. I would focus on reading, writing and arithmetic. And reading lots of great books to him. I just did the apologia astronomy with my 4th and 6th grader. My 7 yo 1st grader sat in at times. I think it is a bit much for a 5 1/2 year old. You might want to save that for later. For an age that young, library books about living things (animals, plants, etc.), seasons, holidays are usually pretty interesting. SOTW may also be a bit much for him. You may want to hold off for a year. I don't think he would get much out of the map work. The coloring pages are great, but he would get more out of it if you waited a little bit. Don't burn out the little one on school. Let learning be a wonderful time of discovery and exporation while they are young.

Here are a few websites for you to check out! :) http://www.charlottemason.com/ http://www.homeschoolfavourites.com....education.html http://home.att.net/~bandcparker/ http://higherupandfurtherin.blogspot.com/ http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/HarmonyArtMom/ http://www.livingbookscurriculum.com/ http://homeschoolblogger.com/underthesky http://www.yesterdaysclassics.com/ http://www.childlightusa.org/ http://www.winterpromise.com/index.html http://oldfashionededucation.com/ http://www.shoelacebooks.ecrater.com/

I just have to put in that, even though I don't use it, I have heard really great things about mep. One of my friends was using it and her reviewer thought it looked awsome.

Since you just finished sotw 3, you could do the third book of truthquest for elementary students. That would be perfect. Truthquest is more charlotte mason style.

I missed a similar amount of time about 3 three ago. It is tempting to try to catch up quickly, but I would advise taking it slow. If you need some breaks along the way, take them. But don't take the whole summer off. Definitely make an effort with the vitals, like math and grammar. YOu could just do them in the morning over the summer and take the afternoons off to enjoy the weather. You can always catch up with spelling and writing. YOu could just do a family bible reading and discussion time and forget the workbooks. Don't worry about sotw, you can always just take longer to do it. Life happens and we need to be flexible. Instead of stressing ourselves out, I ended taking an extra year and a half for sotw. We did it in 5 1/2 half years instead of 4. My 6th grader is still trying to catch up in math, but this past year she has made remarkable progress and is almost there. My youngers are ok.

If you go through all the explode the code books, will they cover all the spelling rules?

We have really enjoyed etc here. Along with it, I have used Bob Books and Pathway Readers. I have used PP and 100 ez lessons with it. It is a fine intro to spelling and you could continue with a more formal spelling program after reading is going well.

I currently live in Frederick County in Maryland and used to live in Montgomery County. My umbrella group does not charge a fee. Most umbrella groups are offered through churches. Reviews are fairly simple. I have always been reviewed by my umbrella group, but I have not heard any negative comments from people who have been reviewed by the county. There are some great support groups and co-ops here. The cost of living is very high anywhere in this area. You should be able to find a rental pretty easily, however, because of the housing downturn. Feel free to email me if you are moving to Frederick County.

Ambleside includes picture study, music appreciation and poetry.

I have used all three and we really enjoyed them. I think that would be a great idea to add it in. Since you have already done chemistry, biology would be perfect to do next.

They are different in that with fll 3, the student follows along in his workbook as you read him the scripted lesson. As you go along, there are exercised to do that mostly involve, underlining, circling, diagraming, with really a minimum of writing. Like fll 1/2, there are optional extra practice items at the end, as well as dictation sentences.

Children will remember what appeals to them and awakens their interest. The cyclops may just not have been that interesting to her. For a young child, it is ok if sometimes they don't want to narrate. Instead of asking her questions, you could just ask her if she remembered anything from the story or what the chapter was about. Then you will see what she was listening to. Give it some time and with consistency she will understand what is required of her and she will become more comfortable with it. I would continue with sotw because sometimes even though they don't seem to be listening or can't remember, they will surprise you later when they say "Mom, that story reminds me of the cyclops." You are building up a wealth of info in her whether you realize it or not. Also, if she does not like to narrate from sotw, try another book that is more interesting to her. Also, for that young, you could just give her a sentence or two and ask her what they are about.

We have a book called "Leah's Pony" that I refuse to read anymore because it makes me cry every time no matter how hard I try not to! My kids can always tell when I am about to cry. My 10y will roll his and say "Mommmmmm...."