FYI - The "Important Change Must Read" at the top of the forums links to this old post from 2014.

The "Claw" pencil grips definitely work for my 5yr old son, who could only do a fist backwards grip despite much teaching him the correct way. Once we got the Claw grips - no more issues and he is building up the correct muscles in his hands now to hold the pencil. You can even use them on crayons. We learned about them from an OT website. We got 6 on Amazon for under $5 but I just checked, they are now a bit pricier. I did a post just now on them on our homeschool blog because I couldn't get the pictures to upload on here: http://www.cambridgeshireacademy.com/2018/03/help-for-holding-pencil-correctly-claw.html

To add, I asked this question in the pinned post about Grammar for The Well Trained Mind and Justin replied: We are already doing Writing With Skill and then will do some IEW by the end of high school completing the "writing" portion of the LA credit. We are stoked about this! DD is loving GTWTM so far and does NOT miss R&S. Lots of relief in our house. For anyone that is interested in the writing portion, we are following the alternative schedule SWB put out for WWS: http://downloads.peacehillpress.com/samples/pdf/WWEandWWSexplanation.pdf?utm_source=Catalog&utm_medium=Print&utm_content=Page%2B9&utm_campaign=2014%2BCatalog&page=10

This is great, thank you! We are doing WWS and will be moving on to IEW in later high school years, that in addition to writing across the curriculum, will definitely complete the LA credit.

I did end up buying the books and inside it does say, it is all you need to complete grammar.

Can these 4 books/years count as high school credits? I'm wondering because we are doing R&S and currently in book 6 in 8th grade. DD14 really does not like R&S and we have books 7-10 to go to complete grammar. I would like to switch over to Grammar for the Well-Trained Mind if it truly is a complete grammar course. Am I correct in understanding this?

My dd14 did FLL and then we moved on to R&S English and are currently in book 6. She really does not like R&S but we have books 7-10 to go through high school to complete grammar. I came across SWB's new curriculum, Grammar for the Well-Trained Mind and noticed it says on store page: Does this mean that after you finish Grammar for the Well-Trained Mind, you do not need anymore grammar? If so, I would like to just go ahead and switch over to that now and do it through the end of high school, although she would probably finish by grade 11. Anyone know or anyone else doing this?

I have a free "curriculum" outline on my blog that shows what we did each week for a study of the human body; it is a 6-week study: http://www.cambridgeshireacademy.com/2010/10/1st-grade-science-human-body-outline.html I also did one for 2nd grade Earth Science, which is an 8-week study: http://www.cambridgeshireacademy.com/2012/01/earth-science-topics.html Some links may not be active as I haven't updated it but do plan on doing so in the near future. This could give you some ideas on how to make your own curriculum study on any of the science topics. I hope you or others find it useful!

LOL! I sort of started to realize that after reading some responses. When I used to teach math to her, it took a bit longer but the Saxon teacher is excellent for her. She does problems while she is learning the lesson. I'm not sure if she is just good at math or it was all the early drilling we did that might have been overkill but I've seen how it has helped her now. If it helps anyone - she takes about an hour for Grammar! :laugh:

I had thought of just using it again, glad to hear someone else did so!

From my reading over the years, I always thought you were only to outline from the additional source book that you chose that goes along with what the child read in the encyclopedia. I never saw anything that says to outline from the encyclopedia. The child reads the encyclopedia, then lists facts and dates on a timeline and then chooses a book on a topic they choose from their reading and then write an outline once a week from THAT book - not the encyclopedia. I've used the 3rd edition, so not sure about earlier editions but I'm pretty sure the 3rd edition never tells you to outline from the encyclopedia - I could be wrong but that is how I've always understood it.

If your kids are missing so many problems and taking so long, they may be in a level they aren't ready for. My dd takes 30 minutes or less for math and we have always used Saxon - she is currently in 7/6 and finished the entire lesson (Saxon Teacher explaining the lesson and the problems) in 23 minutes. She likes to time herself in math - it makes her work faster. I would be thinking something was wrong if it took my child an hour to do Saxon math at that age and if they are missing so many problems. On average, she misses 1-2. Just some food for thought! You could try going back a level or if you have already done that level - have them do the supplemental math problems in the back of the book for the previous level. Also, another thing to consider is - do they know their facts? My dd drilled math facts every single day in the first 4 books. If a child can't recall the math facts (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) very fast - than they will take forever to do math problems in the middle grades! If this is the case with your children, have them do the drill cards everyday till they can do them fast and know them - otherwise you will just be a curriculum hopper searching for the "right" math program when all along the child just hasn't mastered the basics and/or isn't on the right level. You can also have them do math games that are online for free - my dd did those almost daily - fun and learning at the same time! Her favorite was http://www.arcademics.com/

If you were to buy one book for Greek Myths for the middle grades, what would it be? I'm looking for a compilation of stories like what we used in the grammar stage with D'Aulaires Greek Myths book.

Got mine! The mail lady may have thought I was crazy as I came flying out the door as she was (trying) to put it in the mailbox but I spared her the work of trying to fit it in there. :hurray:

We have The Church in History by B.K. Kuiper. I'm not sure what grade level it is but we plan on using it this coming year as it looks easy enough to understand at dd age. It is used in a local Seminary, which is how I found out about the book and I think it is used all over in Bible colleges and Christian schools. We have the edition with the angels on the cover - not sure if there a difference in editions but that is the one the Seminary students get.

Grammar and writing should be together in my opinion and we do them together in ONE book - Rod and Staff English. In the WTM, she says if you do R&S English, you do NOT need a separate writing curriculum as it is all in the English book. My dd12 does very good with R&S for both grammar/writing and I love how I don't have to have an extra curriculum for writing.

We follow the WTM method of encyclopedia study and I have several other resources we use (books, videos, kits, etc.) My dd12 just finished up the Biology 101 DVD and she loved it but we just used it as a resource not a full curriculum as it can be used in high school. I also use Considering God's Creation as an extra resource.

We used these too and my dd12 still looks at them and refers to them!

Definitely SOTW! We used it for all of elementary and the activity guide and loved it! I will be using it for my son as well and look forward to going through it again.

We did the WTM rec's and added things in. We read through animals, then did the plant book and a few things outside. For the human body, I wrote a layout of what to read, things to do, videos to watch, etc. for all that we did over 6 weeks: http://www.cambridgeshireacademy.com/2010/10/1st-grade-science-human-body-outline.html

Not sure this would be "fun" but it would help fill in gaps - the "Everything You Need to Know About..." books. I have all 6 of them - English, Math, Science, American History, World History and Geography. They are awesome and full of everything you need to know for grades 4-6!

I wasn't sure where to place this, so forgive me is this is the wrong forum. The WTM recommends a game called, Perspective, that is played with a timeline and cards, so I ordered it used. It arrived today but there were no rules or directions. Could someone scan a copy of the rules to me or at least type them up? Or does anyone know how I could get a copy of the rules/directions?

I definitely recommend Home Art Studio, we own all of them! For science, we did Earth Science and Astronomy in 2nd grade and I put a free guide on my blog about what to read each week, projects to do, videos to watch and even some games. I haven't checked the links in a while but it will give you an idea of how easy it is to do it yourself! http://www.cambridgeshireacademy.com/2012/01/earth-science-topics.html Forgot to add the Astronomy links, I didn't do a guide for it but here is a link list: http://www.cambridgeshireacademy.com/2010/01/astronomy-links-index.html

I think it is very important that children (and adults) understand mythology, as someone before mentioned that to even really grasp some Biblical stories, knowing the myths behind the opposing side is crucial. Also, understanding even parts in the New Testament helps if you know the gods/myths at that time that Paul references and the cities such as Ephesus and the goddess Diana that is mentioned. I think it broadens your understanding of the Bible completely and without it, you don't get the whole picture fully. I also teach my children what evolution is. They need to know the opposing side or their curiosity of the unknown later on may be a problem.

I think math tests are needed and a great way to gauge if your child is understanding the material, I wouldn't skip them. In the future, you could get the homeschool kit that comes with everything and is a lot cheaper than buying everything individually (unless you buy used).