Thanks, Abbeyej. For some reason I had it in my head that school work should be between 2-4 hours a day so I was kind of flipping out when I wrote out my plans and added it up. It's good to know what I have planned is not too much.

Elizabeth - thanks for the thread. I will go check it out now! Jinnah - As far as reading goes, I have the Robinson curriculum cd which lets you print off older books (they are out of copyright) and Sonlight has award winning, quality books too (fiction, history/science living books, etc.). I plan to throw in some classics that aren't in the Robinson cds.

Hello. I have a tentative plan for my 5th grader but when I added up how much time it will take daily, it seems a bit overkill especially for this age. I anticipate about 6 hours, 4 days a week. We have co-op on the 5th day so no book studies that day. Daily: Classical Conversations review - 30 minutes Reading (sonlight, Robinson, etc.) - 2 hours Math/Logic - 45 minutes Story of the World -45 minutes Vocabulary - 15 minutes Christian Light Language Arts -30 minutes Writing - IEW -30 minutes science - reading through apologia 30 minutes 2x/week social studies - Children's History of the World with sonlight recommended books 30 minutes 2x/week Please let me know what you think. Is it okay or should I trim some of it off and if so, where? I would really appreciate any input.

So do you think what you're doing is very close to what would occur in class? Do you mind elaborating on what books you're using? How do you do debate at home? How indepth do you go into for Latin? Thank you for your reply!

Classical Conversations very much appeals to me, but the class is a 2 hour drive roundtrip so if I could do the Challenge program myself, at home, I would greatly prefer this. They don't sell the curriculum for Challenge but is there something I could implement that would be comparable? My son is incredibly intelligent and I really want him to have the best education possible. I am not sure what to do! I would appreciate any guidance.

Thanks for the reply. I was just reading amazon reviews of both books and it looks like they are both PC and teach evolution. Is there a christian based history encyclopedia that will fit well with SOTW?

Sonlight has this book and I am intrigued. I wish I could see it before buying it but getting others' opinions is just as good. :D I need logic recommendations for a third grader please.

I just ordered SOTW 1 today. I want to gather all of my materials asap as school needs to start soon. It sounds like from WTM that I could use either the Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History or the Kingfisher one. I thought I read on here other options. What do you recommend for an advanced third grader?

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I am planning to try doing classical conversations at home this year with my children. They'll all be in foundations. I called and spoke with someone at the CC bookstore and she said the material was all in their curriculum guide. I think I can do this. But I do not think they sell a curriculum guide for the essentials and Challenge levels. How does one go about doing CC at home then? And if you're doing CC at home, how's that working out for you? I'm excited about trying this.

What does WWE stand for? And is FLL First Language Lessons? Do you know how much work those are on the part of the teacher? I ask because I'm having trouble juggling the three kids so I'm looking for low work on my side to balance all their needs. Thanks for the suggestions! It's such a great feeling to finally see a picture of where I'm going with our schooling after so much agonizing. lol

Hi, I'm new. I am feeling frazzled because I need to put my plan together quite soon as our intent to home school notice is due in less than two weeks. We did Christian Light (think ACE-like) last year. I loved it; DS hated it. He loves to read living books so I'm trying to piece something together for him that will be suitable for both of us. My son will be starting third grade. I plan to do our regular schedule 3-4 days a week. This will consist of: -Math U See (DH vetoed Saxon) -Writing (a la Robinson style meaning he can do dictation, copywork, etc.) -a solid language arts curriculum that would include: grammar, spelling, and penmanship (any suggestions? I was thinking Rod and Staff or Christian Light which would be fine to do for only one subject) -memory work -reading (This is our CM streak. I plan to pull books from Ambleside, Robinson, Sonlight, etc.) Books would cover literature, science, history and more. Then the 5th day I want to do classical conversations at home which would include art, music, a science experiment and memory work (Veritas history timeline, following CC's curriculum here), etc. I am not able to join a CC class at this time so this is the best I can do right now. What do you think? :) What should I add, delete, tweak? I really appreciate recommendations for the language arts curriculum. TIA