I've pulled from many sources for my youngers. We do have TruthQuest, however I've found the books difficult to find. We end up substituting most of them. We have mostly read library books, but once you get to Boston Tea Party I would highly suggest watching Liberty's Kids! My kids are loving it! I choose books for the week based on who they meet in the show. My kids are learning a lot and they are VERY engaged! :001_smile:

You're AWESOME! Thanks so much!:D

Wow! This is great! Thanks! I see you have the books scheduled out for the first 9 weeks... do you have a schedule for the rest of the year? Maybe I'm just missing where it is? Thanks so much for sharing this with us! It looks great and I appreciate the time you've put into this!:D

I notice in 5th grade there are just lists of topics for literature. For instance, Confucius is listed, but no actual book title for appropriate middle grade reading. I'm going to go about making a list of actual titles, but wondered if anyone has already done this? If you have and are willing to share I'd love it as a place to start! I've been pretty laid back in grammar stage, but I'd like a more detailed list for logic stage. Thanks for any help you can give!:001_smile:

Great ideas! To add to this, you may want to come at it from the angle of what is NOT 1/2. For instance, if you use M&M's, tell her you are going to divide them in 1/2. Then, divide them into two very distinctly unequal groups. Give her the smaller group and keep the larger for yourself. Ask her if you've done a good job at dividing them in 1/2? Then let her correct your work. Sometimes using an "unfair" analogy sinks it in a little better! :D

One of the kids looked out the window as we were eating lunch...:001_smile: http://momsbookworms.blogspot.com/ I think we had the better lunch though!

I'm not quite sure the benefit in this. Each curriculum usually has it's own scope and sequence. If you have a solid curriculum your child will learn the necessary concepts at one point or another, but not necessarily when other curriculum places it. I would think this would be very frustrating to a child if there were concepts he/she did not know because of order of skills taught. I think, in general, if you stick with one curriculum your child will be fine. It's when people start hopping around that you run into trouble. Since you seem happy with what you're using I wouldn't worry at all about what is going on in other curriculum... just settle into what you are doing and be confident! :D We did switch math curriculum once, but I had some very solid reasons for doing so. My children did take the placement tests and I found it extremely stressful trying to figure out how to fill holes. In my situation, if we did this all the time with other curriculum it would do nothing good for my math teaching. We are nicely settled into our new curriculum and things are going great. I trust the curriculum I've chosen and my ability to teach it. I don't really see the need for other placement tests.

Well, I was a combiner and this year moved to a "non-combiner". Here's my story... I teach K-4th grade and honestly I found I wasn't meeting the needs of my oldest and youngest by keeping them altogether. My youngest was missing out on fun age appropriate activities and my oldest wasn't being challenged at all. I tried coming up with adjustments on both ends, but that ended up taking too much time. I really decided I need to be able to be able to "open and go" with the different levels. So... this year I separated everyone out, except I do combine the younger two boys. So, basically I'm teaching 3 different levels. History: My older son (4th grade) is pretty much independent. He uses SOTW3. He listens to the CD, does a short summary, fills out a timeline and does his mapping mostly on his own. I review using the questions in the AG to make sure he's understood everything. We're finding my dd8 needs me to read the book to her. She just doesn't pick up things well from the CD... so my routine with her will be to read the chapter in SOTW3 to her and we do the map work together. I also use the review questions with her. This is going to add some time in... My little guys I hit upon Liberty's Kids. Actually, all of the kids watch it, but this is history for the younger set plus books I pull that correspond to who we've learned about in the show. For science: My ds10 does this independently. We use Elemental Science. He's doing Chemistry this year. He does 2 lessons a week. I review with him to again make sure he's "getting it". DD8 loves lapbooks. She's doing those based on interests since Chem didn't really do it for her this year. She somewhat independent, but right now we're test driving some curriculum so I'm doing it with her. Once we're done with that she'll be more independent. My younger set we just check out library books in areas they are interested in and add in some simple experiments. Next year they will both do ES Biology. We do all our science experiments on Friday and everyone participates. When I hit upon a good history project we may try and fit that in too, but I've not been good about that lately... we've favored science projects. Most of my kids I end up spending about an hour of one on one time with. The olders sometimes a bit more. It is a bit more time to separate them out, but over-all I'm happy with what we're doing. I'm able to meet the needs of my youngest and my oldest without a lot of "redoing" things on my part. It's working now... :D

My dd8 hates diagramming and constantly asks me why she has to do it! The reason I've been giving her is that she will be a better writer if she knows how to form a sentence. I think one of the best ways of learning how to form a sentence is to practice taking good sentences a part and learning what each part is and how it functions related to the sentence as a whole. Once you understand that, you can put words together to create better and better sentences. It's kind of like learning how a car works. If you had to repair an engine right now could you? I would have to answer no. But, what if I took the time to take apart an engine, learn exactly what each part does, how it functions together with the other parts and then tried to repair it. I could probably even build a different engine based on my knowledge on that engine. I might even get to the point of knowing it so well that I invent a new engine that is better than the first.... Anyway... I believe knowing grammar is an important step to understanding how to write. It's very difficult to write a piece if you have no idea how the building blocks fit together to make a good sentence. Diagramming is just a tool to learn those different pieces. We use Rod and Staff. I agree with the PP... find out from your child how much he knows and go from there. I think there's enough review in R&S that even if he doesn't have much grammar you could start in Grade 5... you might just have to do more review than a child that has been studying grammar. He'll probably pick up the basics fast though. I would think if he has some knowledge of the basic parts of speech... noun, verb, adverb, adjective he'll do okay. :D

We use SOTW with the Activity Guide. Usually I go on book recommendations from that. If I need more I search book lists online. Google the time period you're in and booklists and you'll find some. I think Ambleside Online has book lists too. I'm not clear what you were saying about the Sonlight book list? I will sometimes grab from that or Tapestry of Grace has a booklist too. What I usually do is find one (if it's non-fiction) and just look around that area for any more our library has. There is also a reference book that our library has that lists children's books in all sorts of categories and age levels. I'd have to check to see the title on that. Your librarian may know of it.

We're up! We had a science mishap this week! :ohmy:

I think many people start the series at Grade 5 with a 5th grader. I don't think you'll have any trouble. My 4th grader jumped into the series at grade level and he's been doing just fine. Everything is reviewed and there is lots of review within the level.

This was exactly my experience. In 4th grade I switched my ds to R&S because of the exact same reasons you mention. We've really enjoyed R&S. It can be done independently... my ds10 reads the student text on his own and I assign assignments from the written portion. We only do the oral portion if he's having trouble with a concept. There is more variety to the exercises. They can't just fill in a word without thinking. We're going to stick with R&S now. I still use GWG for 1st and 2nd grade and possibly beyond for my ds who has fine motor issues and for whom a workbook format is probably better.

Loving the aquarium also!! I have a rule "no nature in the house" because our house would look like a bird's nest if I allowed each of the 4 kids to bring in what they want! An aquarium is perfect!!! Putting that on my list for garage sale finds!! Thanks! :D

:iagree::iagree::iagree::iagree: Not only will it give you a view of K, but it will set a trajectory for you for your child's entire education. Honestly, this is the one resource I go back to time and time again! Invaluable if the classical model fits you!

There are "boxed curriculum" people and there are "break out of the box" people. Curriculum like Abeka works for some people. For some, it's the only way they feel comfortable homeschooling and so they project that on others and think that's the only way **anyone** can feel most comfortable homeschooling. I would wilt with a box curriculum, no matter how good. I'm a bit of a rebel and want to decide for myself what my children learn. I don't want anyone telling me what my children will learn when. I think you just have to decide (but it seems you have since you bought your curriculum already! :D) what kind of person you are. Once you decide that stand firm in your convictions and homeschool your children the way you've been wired to do so! In the end, it's not the curriculum that's the most important. It is the journey with your children and the development of their God-given ability to learn that matters. Your children won't turn back years from now and thank Abeka... they will thank you! ;)

I think if your child's fine motor skills are in the "normal" range it's perfectly fine to not use a curriculum as long as you know how to form the letter correctly. If your child struggles at all with fine motor I believe it necessary to use a curriculum. HWT was necessary for my ds7 who still struggles with fine motor. Had it not been for their unique approach I know handwriting would be more of an issue than it is.

So since you have SOTW1 already, what about doing a year of ancients for 3rd grade and then doing a year of American history for 4th. You could then start the cycle again in 5th grade (this would bring you back to ancients right away though...) OR You could set aside SOTW1, use it along with something else for 5th grade and do 2 years of American history now (in 3rd and 4th) with state history in there. My first ds didn't get all the way through the sequence either, but I am starting to see it's not that big of deal. He'll hit it again 2 more times! My goal is just to get everyone on track at 5th grade.

Stacey, This is the general way our dictation goes in WWE4... I read the entire selection 2-3 times. After the first time through I explain anything that might need explaining vocab/comprehension wise. Lately, the dictations have been so long and difficult I then dictate sentence by sentence. I read a sentence, he repeats it until he remembers it, then he writes it. If I think he can do 2 together I will have him do that. Sometimes in the really hard ones we have to go comma to comma. In my mind that's okay. I break it down like this so he doesn't get completely frustrated and break down on me! If I run across a dictation that doesn't have such hard vocab and he can more easily "see" in his head I make him do more at a time. Honestly, if he can't do an entire paragraph by the end of WWE4 I don't mind. For me, it's the process and not the end goal. These "paragraphs" end up sometimes being and entire page of writing for my ds so I think even what he's doing now is worth everything we've put into it. For the poster who does AAS dictation... that will be great practice! My ds is in Level 6 and the AAS dictations are "healthy" sentences. They are NO problem for him though because he's used to paragraphs in WWE! :D I think as long as you see WWE as a process and not necessarily a goal you'll be fine. I'm guessing we won't do dictation twice a week as we have been next year in 5th, but I will maybe every other week throw a dictation in. I think it's a skill that would be wise to keep up to some extent. Although, I'm guessing as the kids write more and more they will have practice with holding those thoughts in their heads on their own! Hope this helps some...:D Oh... and by the way... something funny my dd8 said last week. In WWE3 she was studying poetry for her lesson that week. She hates poetry and had a really bad attitude about dictation. After she was done she was thinking of all the made up words Dr. Suess uses and said, "Well, at least I don't have to do dictation on Dr. Suess! He would be hard!" I thought that was pretty funny! :D

I've come to this conclusion for lower elementary history: good picture books (I mostly use the AG to find books) SOTW reading (we do some mapping, but no timeline at this age) a few memorable projects with the AG Keep it simple! There's much time in the future to complicate things if I really want to! :lol:

I think dictation is one of the hardest things my kids have to do during the week. My oldest flies through everything else in school, but dictation is the one thing he has to really work at! That's one of the reasons I continue it! I don't let my kids study it before hand. I do read it as many times as they need, even breaking it down into sections if need be. My ds10 is in WWE4 and he's dictating paragraphs! Another think I like to do is come up with little "tricks" to help them remember. For instance, if there is more than one particular word in the sentence I tell them to notice there are two "that's" in the sentence. I also explain exactly what the paragraph (in our case) means so they can begin to create that "movie" in their head of visualizing the sentences to remember them. If there are a couple words that are key they are missing when repeating we focus on how to remember those words in particular. It takes us a bit of time now in WWE4 to get through dictation, but I have seen so many benefits I won't give it up. When I brought my ds home after 1st grade he cried and sat with a blank paper any time he had to write. I gave him fun writing prompts and even would help him come up with a beginning, but he could never do it. I was so frustrated because THIS is what I thought writing was. We sometimes have tears (my dd) over dictation, but I see it also as a time to build character. She HATES to not do things right the first time. Dictation is one area that challenges her. We talk through it and she has a great sense of accomplishment when she does DO it! Both my ds and dd (older) do beautiful writing in science and history. They never wonder what what to write. They remember their reading well and are able to write about it with little (dd) to no (ds) help. I'm a firm believer in "the process" and will continue it with my younger ds's. I see their brains being trained and it's rewarding to them as well as me as their teacher! :D

I don't have much advice for you... other than I think what you've got planned looks good. I would work through whatever phonics is working for you now and then look at a good spelling program in 1st grade. We've used AAS and love it! I also use SWO and that's great too for more independent work. Your spelling program will help solidify the phonics rules. I would put off formal handwriting until you feel he's more ready. No rush and for boys it's sometimes harder. We use Handwriting Without Tears and that has worked really well. When he's ready you may want to start with the preschool level. K would work fine too, but if you start with preschool it gives you the opportunity of another book if he needs more practice. Also, I used this with my younger two boys and it worked well. Research has shown that cutting with scissors helps fine motor skills greatly! Enjoy your journey! :001_smile:

We love WWE too for many of the same reasons! I think what you copy off depends on how you personally use things. I had to print my TE. I don't work well off the screen, but that may be just fine for you, especially since you have 2 books at once. I've just bought one at a time. Another idea, if you want to print your TE, would be to have your kids do their work in a composition notebook. There is really not anything special about the student pages, other than they have cute pictures and the lable at the top. You could have one section for dictation and the other for narrations. Just an idea if you are someone who likes the TE in print. Another idea if you want it all in print is to just print 6 weeks or so at a time of your kids' pages and TE. This would space out your printing so that you don't have to do it all at once. Enjoy WWE! It has truly been a blessing to us here! Okay, my kids would not say dictation is a "blessing", but I would! I'm kinda weird that way! :lol:

Thanks guys! I didn't think I was that picky... I will work on getting this resolved.

Well, I have the 2nd cursive book (and my kids have been through the printing) so I've been using the order of letters and how they are formed from the 2nd cursive book. I would use it, but the lines are just too small right now for him.