Sounds like fun for everyone! Oh how I wish I lived somewhere it wasn't below 0 so I could run outside!!

I don't do this particular program, but I do one that's timed for the first 8 weeks. I bought a cheap stop watch at Walmart to time. For Christmas I've asked for a lap watch because in a couple weeks I move to miles instead of time...

Great use of that smiley! You have much more resolve than me! We made a big batch of cut outs and I just need them gone! They weren't "beautiful" enough to pass out... unless you're the type that likes frosting piled high kind of the color of paint all mixed together! :ack2: My **almost** 6 yo ds made one and called it "the spooky train" because he had mixed all the colors together. Hee, hee....

Eat on!!! :thumbup:

We have the letters on the magnet board all the time. We don't alphabetize. My K child would HATE spelling if he was made to do this... didn't do it with the other two either...

I've just started running so very new at all this! I have my first 5K planned for March. I'd like to do a 10K sometime in the summer... then I **think** a half in October, probably with some short races thrown in there... learning to run has been a huge struggle for me, but I'm making progress. This past week I did 3 miles in 40 min. which was a minor miracle! ;-) Now, if I'd quit feasting on Christmas cookies I know I'd have some better runs! Oh, and I'm so proud of my oldest ds... he has started running too and plans to do the 5k with me in March. He ran 3 miles last week as well it took him longer, but he did it! We have some "kids races" in town over the summer and we're going to get our kids in those... they can run as young as 2! Very laid back and fun to introduce the kids to running. I'm looking forward to us doing these as a family! In my family growing up activity was never encouraged so this is new ground for me.

What about starting to study Latin if you have not already? My 9 yo ds is an excellent speller. We're continuing spelling, but added in Latin this year. He is LOVING learning where English words come from.

Haven't updated for awhile... I'm so not good at blogs! (link in sig)

We use these from Homeschool in the Woods... http://www.homeschoolinthewoods.com/HTTA/timeline.htm#Collection I have the paper version this year, but for next year I'm planning on buying the CD... I figure we'll have timeline figures forever then! We are starting MOH book 2 after Christmas and I've decided to let each child do his/her own timeline. They will color them in with colored pencils.... (we have many fights over who gets to put what on our "collective" timeline so that's my remedy! ;-)

We are simple here too... I think it's the best way! We use Mystery of History. I just read the passage for the day and at the end of three lessons we do our timeline and map work (younger kids just point on maps, older kids do their own maps). That's it. No projects. My kids are content to just hear stories. I also provide books from the library which they can read to compliment what we're doing in history.

Well, I'm not experienced, but hopefully have something to input... we also use AAS. What I have to brag on the curriculum about is that it actually teaches the "whys" of spelling. My children aren't just memorizing lists of words... they learn why a word is spelled the way it is and can then generalize to words they haven't necessarily had in a list. I now see both of my older kids actually thinking about how they are spelling a word. They will often find their own mistake after they write a word incorrectly and I ask them to read it back to me. Sometimes I have to remind them of a rule, but most of the time they can fix their own mistakes because they've actually been taught the skill. Some pp have said they like to break down the words into syllables... this curriculum does a lot of that! There is also a lot of review built in.

My dd is doing Beta this year after doing Alpha last year. She was slow on subtraction too. I started having both her and her older brother (who just started Delta) do the online drill on the MUS website. It's basically the same thing as me doing flashcards with them, but it's something they can do independently. This has helped A LOT with their speed and memorization! And because it's on the computer it's "fun". They just do it for about 10 min. per day at the beginning of their math time. You may want to try this for a couple weeks and see if things improve. With my dd she was still slow on subtraction through the first part of Beta, but now she's on lesson 21 and doing really well.

Hee, hee... thanks guys. I thought I was going nuts. I just thought it was crazy because to my knowledge it's not a "highly sought after" book by any means...

I could have written this! My youngest is learning to read. He didn't want to do the book (We use Phonics Pathways) so I just use magnetic letter tiles with him and he loves it! He also reads Bob Books (gotta love Bob). With my K child (who can read independently) we do PP (which he doesn't mind too much, but we only do a very short section a day and cover up everything but what he's supposed to read like the pp) and he reads lots of early reader library books. This has held his attention very well. I stopped using Bob Books with him because he started to be able to handle the beginner readers.

Well, not in color, but we love Math U See. My kids never complain about math and are doing really well. It is a mastery program so the child spends a lot of time on each concept making sure they get it. My 2nd grade dd is on lesson 21 in Beta and has a firm understanding of addition/carrying as well as basic subtraction. In lesson 22 she starts regrouping. It's taught with blocks to help the child "see" what is happening. Usually my kids need the blocks just for a bit, then they understand enough not to use the blocks any more. My dd uses them longer than my ds did. My younger ds (5) never wants to use the blocks at all... he just can do it. There is built in review every week and in the range of 12-15 problems a day with a few always being word problems. I can't say enough about my love of this program. I'm so excited to get to math concepts I had a hard time with to see if I can understand them learning them a way I WISH someone had taught me! :-)

Okay, So someone suggested The Body Book to me and I went out to buy it... people are charging in the hundreds for this book! (I was able to find one at $24 and swiped it right away). Why are people charging this much? It's a bunch of paper, people!!! :confused:

This is a great idea!

Wow, those two books combined into a study look great! Thanks so much!

Why not just keep him going? I would figure out what you want to use and just let him go with it... you could then figure out how much and what review you would need next fall and use supplementary worksheets to catch him up with what he loses....

My ds just moved from Gamma to Delta too and noticed this! However, he was just happy to be doing simple division instead of all that long multiplication that he didn't care! It takes him no time to do his 2 pages now compared to all that multiplication... maybe you could mention that to your dd? As far as the pages... I haven't had any trouble tearing out... my dd is in the last 1/3 of Beta (new style) and they tear out okay. I actually like the tear out because I do take them out of the workbook and we file them in file folders according to the month. I prefer the spiral bound teachers guide though because it lays flatter.

I used EL this year for some things... IMO it wouldn't challenge your kids enough at the ages they are at (depending on their abilities). I think some of it is good for my 9 yo (science and geography), but I don't know that I would use it much beyond age 9/10. JMO though....

Hoping to get some good book/activity ideas... I have 4 grammar stage kids, but my oldest (age 9) is getting a little bored with our science time. After Christmas we are heading into a human body study and I'd like to give him a bit more challenge than what I will do with the younger kids. We are using Noeo Science and the spine for the human body study is Usborne's First Encyclopedia of the Human Body. I'm more than pleased with this for the younger kids. There are also 4 kits that have some experiments to do for each system of the body we study. I'm wondering if anyone has some ideas to challenge my older son. I'm trying to figure out whether I should have him join us, then do something extra or just have him be more independent doing something completely different (still studying the human body though) and then he shows me what he's done... ie. some reading, then some type of project.... Would love to hear your ideas!

Just remember these are two different skills (reading and spelling). We are using AAS and what I LOVE about this curriculum is that it explains to my kids WHY things are spelled the way they are. Instead of memorizing lists of words, my kids are learning skills that actually help them with their spelling in general. I feel like it's one of the few programs that actually teach the **skill** (yes it's a learned skill) of spelling! For instance, my 9 yo had just finished a lesson on doubling the consonant before adding a vowel suffix. In his writing lesson that day he had to write the word stopping (this is not during spelling).... he wrote "stoping", then hesitated, erased the ending, doubled the p and added ing. I know this is because he is starting to internalize the rules, not just memorizing isolated words. He did not actually work with the word "stopping", but he learned the skill of knowing when to double the consonant. I've seen some people say they don't like how "slow" AAS moves, but for us it has really produced some great spellers. It only appears to move slow if you're wanting to tackle a weekly list of 25 words... it does not move slow if you're focusing on actually teaching your child the skills it takes to be a good lifetime speller. I say all that not to sell you AAS, but to just make the point that we need to be teaching our kids spelling as a skill, not just assume because they can read well they should be able to spell. My 67 yo MIL can read anything you put in front of her (and she will!) but she can't spell worth beans!

Love Love Love this!!! Thanks so much for sharing!

Thanks so much everyone! Lots of great stuff to check out! My kids thank you since our Jumpstart trial just ran out! :-)