I'm not really worried about how he'll do... I think he'll do okay. It's more from a scheduling point of view that I'm wondering what to do. The more I think (thank you for all your responses!), the more I think we'll just take it in order. I think I'm trying to make R&S fit the "mold" of the WTM book suggestion of 40 min. of grammar per day and 30-60 min. a day of writing 3 times a week... I think if we just take R&S as it comes it will be fine. I keep having to remind myself that even if he's not doing a "writing" exercise in R&S every day (writing as opposed to a grammar lesson), he'll be writing daily in either history or science, plus writing book narration pages every so often. I need to see the bigger picture here.... which is weird because I'm normally a big picture person! :D

Thanks Daisy... this is helpful. I really like the idea of the writing lesson being completed that week... I think it's hard to pick up again after a weekend or break...

Thanks for your feedback Colleen! Would you mind linking me to that recent thread? I'm curious what glitches you came across. I didn't think about the fact there would be review linked to the writing lesson. I see the issue there... I should mention my ds is also doing History Odyssey so there is writing involved there (WTM style) as well as we use Elemental Science which has writing associated with it as well... I guess he'll be doing more than I thought! :-)

how do you schedule the writing assignments? I'm looking through Grade 5 and there are 28 **starred** lessons which are the written ones (there are a few in there like talking on the phone, but most are written.) Do you schedule the written work as it comes up in the book or do you create a separate schedule for the composition and grammar? Since the written work can take more than one day I was thinking of scheduling it separate. So... I would schedule a lesson of grammar every day (4 days) and 3 days a week we'd work on composition to fulfill the "writing" program working through the starred exercises. Does this sound good? I would like to try not adding yet another program in if I can just use R&S for writing. I know it doesn't have bells and whistles like other programs, but it seems solid and I know it would get done. I just have this nagging feeling it's "not enough"... I think I need to go back and listen to SWB's writing lecture **yet again!!** ;)

:iagree:What she said!

Well, I would have voted "We started using it and are still using it." We are only in the early books though. I used AAS with my older 2 and absolutely love it... as do they. I just need **something** that is not so teacher intensive. Since my kids are pretty good spellers I chose spelling. SWO gets it done and it gets it done pretty independently. My youngest still needs me a bit, but I'm trying to wean him off my help and have him do it mostly independent. My older two are resistant to being switched to SWO so I may just finish out the AAS series with them... my oldest is in Level 6 and my dd is in Level 5. Makes sense to finish out with my oldest, but I'm contemplating just finishing out 5 with dd, then switching her to SWO.

I agree with everything already written! I also couldn't approach it for a couple years. Finally I broke down last year and dove in... my older two loved it! They are getting a really good grounding in grammar! Next year my 5th grader will use the writing portions in addition to WTM style writing for his writing program. Easy peasy!

This is our schedule: Day 1: Read and narrate first section. Do color sheet while I'm reading. Day 2: Read and narrate second section. Do map. Day 3: Read third section if there is one. Narrate. Otherwise read another related book from the AG. Day 4: Extra reading day Day 5: One project

My kids LOVE SHR! They do remember grammar this way! When I have to remind them I start singing the SHR song and they remember right away! We also really like the science and American history songs!

We use Prima Latina here too. I think it's very appropriate for a 3rd grader. It's mostly just vocab. Very easy to teach. We started with the DVD's, but they took too much time to teach what little is there. I found it easier to teach it myself with the pronunciation CD. I've had no previous Latin experience.

I bought the download because I have 4 kids. If I had only one child I would probably just buy the printed version. We tend to work all the way through the books so skipping pages wouldn't be an issue.

I don't know if a text book is what you are looking for, but I really like R&S English. You don't mention whether you would use Christian material or not and it is decidedly Christian so keep that in mind. My suggestion would be to use Grade 5 and progress from there. I think the recommendation is to start older kids who haven't had grammar at that level. It also has a complete writing program in it so you get 2 in one. It's a solid and strong curriculum. I will be using the 5th grade book with my oldest this year and for the first time trying the writing lessons too (we just did the grammar lessons previously). He worked through Writing with Ease for his elementary years. You might also look at Growing with Grammar. It's like R&S, but secular. You'd have to look at her site or email her to see where to place your dd. I use this with my younger kids and like it. It's worksheet format and very independent. Writing is a whole other ball of wax and it might be good to give more information on what you're looking for in a writing program to get some good responses. Grammar is a little more straight forward and easier to recommend. I might guide you to SWB's writing lectures on mp3 on the Peace Hill web site. They are inexpensive and very informative giving a trajectory for writing. If you haven't done any formal writing I would back up and listen to elementary and then middle grade writing. Well worth the $8 or so! :D

In MN we can deduct homeschool expenses if they are not religiously based curriculum. We can also file to get a per student amount of money each year that normally would go to the PS, much like private schools. Counseling services are also available. We are allowed to have our children participate in school activities, although I'm not sure about HS sports... I would have to check on that. I know hs'ers can participate in post-secondary options. Really, we enjoy a lot of freedom and the government assistance is there for those who choose to accept it. There is some current legislation up that will take away the per student money in return for a few less restrictions on homeschoolers. If you have your bachelors degree in anything all you need to do is submit paper work each year (which will change with new legislation.. only would need to submit once for each child) and use a standardized test each year starting the age of 7. Reporting age is the school year your child is 7 at the beginning of the year. If you don't have a bachelor's there are currently more restrictions.. must maintain grades and submit a report card each quarter and maybe something else, not sure. This would also go away if the new legislation passes. All in all, I think MN is a pretty good state to homeschool in. We have a very politically active Christian homeschooling group that fights hard for our freedoms.

Unfortunately, the dishonest people ruin it for those of us who honestly would get rid of it to sell it. Thus, most ebooks I have bought come with the copyright condition that you do not resell, even if you uninstall it. A book is not easily copied to keep, a computer file is simple to reproduce.

Writing with Skill I believe is the follow up to WWE. From what I've heard it doesn't come out until fall. My ds10 just finished WWE4. Right now we are planning on following the Logic plan outlined on SWB's writing talk. If you don't have the mp3 I would highly suggest that. You can find it here. It's called A Plan for Writing: Focus on the Middle Grades. We use R&S grammar so my current plan is to have him do the writing exercises in R&S in addition to writing in history and science. I'll take a look at Writing with Skill when it comes out, but I'm almost thinking I'd rather not add an additional curriculum. Still not sure on that.

My oldest is just entering the Logic stage, but have you looked at History Odyssey? It follows the WTM guidelines. My 5th grader will be doing Ancients next year.

You can have your child do copywork in cursive any time they are ready. The models are not in cursive though. Have you worked through WWE1? Are you planning on WWE2 workbook? If so, I wouldn't worry about "preparing" for anything. The books build on previous skills you've already taught in the lessons before. We just work right through the books. My oldest just finished WWE4 and it's one of the best things we've done for school! I really didn't do anything other than go onto the next book. Oh... and because I didn't use the copywork for handwriting I did not have my kids do the copywork in cursive. I wanted them to concentrate on copying the sentence correctly instead of having to worry about forming letters correctly AND the structure of the sentence. In fact, I don't even think my kids were learning cursive yet when they went through WWE2.

What about just getting some Janice VanCleave books and working through some of the experiments? They are simple and use common items around your house. I personally subscribe to the WTM theory about science and we use Elemental Science. My suggestion would be Paige's Intro to Science as well, but if you're not looking for a curriculum that wouldn't really fit your needs. I just love it because all the hard work of pulling things together is already done for me. I just have to execute it.

I know not everyone has this viewpoint, but "fun" in the grammar stage = more work/stress for Mom in my experience. Our "fun" consists of science experiments most weeks and a history project once in a while. With schooling 4 grammar stage kids this is about all I could really fit in. Most of the "fun" in our day comes when the kids have from about 2pm on to do whatever they want to do. They are much better at coming up with "fun" than I am in a parent controlled setting. We've been much better at science projects this year than history projects. Next year I'm hoping to get more history projects in. Long term projects (in my experience) rarely get finished. We start, but then lose it after awhile. The things that "get done" in my experience are short simple projects that can be completed in one sitting. Another thing that helps me get projects done is to sit down during the summer and gather the necessary supplies. This year I am going to organize all the science experiments into ziplocks. Then I can just grab a bag for the week and go. I'll do that with chosen history projects as well. Not very encouraging I'm sure, but "real" in my experience. There are many others who seem to do this much better than I! :001_huh: Especially if you are new to hsing... I would suggest trying to get a routine for the basics down before starting to add in a lot of extras. This was my 3rd year and we finally got to science experiments well. Next year, like I said I'll try and focus on getting some history projects in.

My neighbor brought over a book her grandson made in school a few years ago. It's a really nice hardcover published book with his writing and illustrations. This is the site I found that did that particular book... Does anybody have any other places you've published a book at? I thought it would be a fun project for my kids this next year... I just want to get the best deal! ;)

Personally, I would just move at a pace that suits her. Don't worry about what grade she's in... really, it's just a label. You may want to figure out what you're going to call her (5th grader or 6th grader) for outside activities, but as far as her work goes... just let her move at her own pace through her work. That's the beauty of homeschooling. "6th grade" can look different even within a family. Our youngest is a Kindergartener this year, but he turned 5 the day before the official cut-off for PS here. I love that we're homeschooling because he can work do his work at a 1st grade level, yet he's officially a K'er. I'm guessing one of these years we'll hold him back within his community activities if needed for maturity reasons, however I won't adjust his school work to reflect "holding him back" unless it's really needed (ie. he's struggling)

Thank you! Great list!

Thank you! This is exactly what I'm looking for! Wow, there is a huge learning curve to this! I spent a few hours tonight with the program and feel like I got nowhere. I really appreciate your positive feedback on the program... that is exactly the goal I have! I know I'll get there, just right now I feel like I'm plodding through mud and making very little progress. I will give your instructions a try tomorrow... I'm DONE for tonight! :001_smile:

Okay... this is what I'm trying to do... I want to enter in my ds' Latin lessons. I have a routine we will follow: Mondays: Watch DVD, do worksheet 1 Tuesdays: Do worksheet 2 and 3, listen to CD Wednesdays: Do worksheet 4, listen to CD Thursdays: Do worksheet 5, listen to CD Friday: Quiz and oral drill So... I want to set it up so it repeats each of these plans for each chapter in the book... how do I do that? (Pointing me to a page in the manual would be great!) I'm really confused with how to use the "repeat" function.

This varies on the child in our house... both age level and "independence" level. ds10 does most everything independently. I do go over new concepts in any subject he needs me for, especially math and grammar/writing. dd9 is less independent. I go over new lessons with her as well in math and grammar, then she works independently. Everything else I've had to do with her this year. She's been doing lapbooks for science and she can be rather independent on those, but when doing a curriculum she needs me. My work with her this next year will be moving her to more independence. ds7 does almost all of his work independently. I do math with him as well as WWE (writing) and cursive (writing is very difficult for him). Everything else is independent. ds5 does all his work with me, except his independent reading time and copywork.