I wish I could order ALL Sonlight and just go. Unfortunately that just doesn't work for us. I love most of their literature selections; adore the IG which puts it together for me; and am sold on all the tag lines about how using Sonlight eliminates all your homeschool stress. I, however, do not love/care for their Language Arts materials. The Well Trained Mind material is much better in my opinion. History: Currently my sis and I are working on a plan to use Cores G and H as our main materials, while integrating parts of Cores B and C to cover the needs of our younger students. These materials would be used over the course of 3 years instead of 2. We would use the 5-Day schedule, but only do it 4-Days a week. We would then study U.S. History for 2 years. Still working on that plan. I don't like the main texts in Core D and E. I'm thinking of using the History of US books for my main text, adding in various other books of literature for the younger and older students. I think I could put together a week plan after all my use of the Sonlight IG's--which I love. Science: Just a note, my kids want nothing but Sonlight Science ever again. When over hearing my say that I had to make some decisions about science for the coming year, my 10 year old spoke up and said, "Mom, Sonlight." Best wishes to all of you and your decision making. This is our 18th year of homeschooling. Wish I'd tried Sonlight the first time I found it.

:grouphug:

Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I needed that laugh today.:lol:

All sons all homeschooled: 21--about to finish associates after a two year church mission 18--scholarship to university 16--junior 11--6th grade 9--4th grade 5--kindergarten I'm down to 4 homeschoolers this year and I have to say "WEIRD".

I meant to leave my email address as I begged for a copy. sjs2wartena@aol.com Oh, I hope you will share.

Wow. I am tired just thinking of making up a test for that book.

Yet another mother begging for a copy to be sent to her. That's exactly what we are doing this year. I do have the BFB Ancients guide and all the books sitting on my shelf that the oldest two used. Perhaps I should just use those for my now 11th grader and Core 6 for the youngers along with the SOTW 1 activity guide. AH . . . I love homeschool.

I've not been to the $1 area for over a year now. Last find was a little tiger to send our son who was off to Argentina. We named the tiger Hobbs and sent him to keep him company during all his moving around for two years. I think I'll be visiting Target tomorrow . . . Thanks!!!

There is good and bad in both new and old literature. You have to check it out and decide for yourself what is worthwhile for your children to read. That said, I tend to like the lists in the Well Trained Mind, the Well Educated Mind, Sonlight, and the Charlotte Mason books lists available on line. Have to say, also, that the lists my local library puts together are pretty good. Find out if your library has a lists of age appropriate recommended reading.

I think writing in pudding would be fun. You make a letter, say it's sound, then lick your fingers clean. HWOT have some great suggestions for writing your letters on a small chalkboard and erasing them with a small piece of wet sponge held like a pencil.

Thank you. Thinking about joining. It could be a sort of accountability thing for me, maybe.

I just don't see the need for testing in the homeschool setting till high school age. If you want to have your child tested to find out the level the tests say he is at, well go for it. Testing isn't always a bad thing. I just don't think it's necessary. Best wishes.:)

Are you posting your school weeks as they come this year?

Oh, my, oh my, laughing myself silly. Yes, after 17 years homeschooling under my belt I've heard them all. Funniest yet, for me: 10 years ago a woman in my church group said to me, "My grand children would only be homeschooled over my dead body." Yesterday she send me an email, "Wish I had a grand daughter old enough to marry your oldest son (he's 21)." He's busy looking for a nice girl who wants to homeschool their children. Wonder if my church friend knows that.

We always do both our writing program and our handwriting program at the same time. We just do small amounts of work in each on a daily basis. Just putting a plug in for WWE 1-4. Have had wonderful results here. I even used the program with a struggling middle schooler for two years, with the progress being just what was promised by Susan. Thank you Well Trained Mind. Stacie :001_smile:

Just had to add my 2 cents on a good overall grammar program. If you can only have one program I say get the Analytical Grammar with it's Review and Reinforcement books to cover grades 5 - 12. My third child is now going through Analytical Grammar and we love it. The just graduated senior and the current Junior have mastered the program and love it. How many boys love grammar? I have all boys. For fun they diagram odd sentences we hear in the family. For grades 1-4 you could use The Sentence Family. We've tried ABeka 4th-6th grades, Winston level 1, Rod and Staff 3 through 7, Easy Grammar, and Analytical Grammar. By far I like AG and R&S the best. Our oldest son, who is now 21, used the first three programs I listed and did quite well. I was skeptical of AG when I first heard about it and it was soooooooooo expensive, so I just put him in R&S for his senior high school years. He only worked through R&S 6th and 7th books. They were torture for him and I, but he did them. He hated it, but he knows his grammar very well. Sons 2 & 3 used AG and have done fantastic. I'm not saying it was all smooth sailing. Son #3 often had the deer in the headlights look, so we would slow down the pace and spend longer on a topic. Spending extra time covering a topic always helps this child get it. We mix in R&S writing lessons over the years. For my 3 younger sons I am alternating my years between AG and R&S. AG does not have work for all the years and I feel you must study grammar every year. An excellent resource for grades 1-3 is The Sentence Family. It's a cheap $20 book that you teach from and the kids draw pictures. You even teach beginning diagramming with the program, but it does require teacher time. That said, what elementary age child can understand grammar without teacher interaction? Not mine. I'm rambling. My point is our family loves Analytical Grammar and The Sentence Family better than everything else we've tried for grammar instruction. Rod and Staff is our second favorite.

Good job, Momma. Happy day for you all, and thanks for sharing with us.:grouphug:

I think you are very brave. Helping without thinking about yourself is also extremely kind and unselfish. I want to be more like that. Thanks for sharing your example.

I'm so sorry for your family's loss. It's wonderful that you could all be there for him at the end. May the blessings of Heaven come your way. May peace be with you all. :grouphug:

If you're 11th and 9th graders have had any grammar before, I would strongly suggest getting them through R&S 6 and 7 before graduation. The two books provide a very solid and thorough grounding in grammar and writing for the high school student. If you can manage it, have them expand on the writing assignments by applying them across the curriculum each week. My son did this combination for 10th and 11th grade and his ACT score for English was 34. He had not done any of the younger R&S books. Rod and Staff is quite advanced but worth the effort. Oh, did I mention, he went through the books on his own most of the time because doing it together was a battle for us. We are just too much alike. I noticed that you listed "LDS homeschooling mother". So am I. We're in Utah homeschooling 5 sons. One is away serving a mission in Argentina. Ah, how time just flies by. We just watched our good friend head off to Lubbock, Texas, for his mission. He is so excited to come to your state. Hope all is well for you. Sincerely, Stacie

You speak words of truth. They are only with us a short time. Congrats on sticking it out and trying over and over again. So many just give up. It is tiring, but so worth it.

:iagree: We do allow our high school children to attend band or orchestra and college distance ed classes at the high school. This usually has amounted to 3 classes per semester which is half a day every other day. Not to bad and a nice way to do your first college classes. We feel the boys get a feel for the workload while living at home with support and watching over.

Pam, that is a great idea. I think I will take some time to practice all we've learned across the curriculum for a while. My son looked through the options and chose Wordsmith Craftsman. Thank you,

My son and I have just finished a very successful writing adventure. We spent two years on this adventure. I was wondering if you ladies would be willing to help guide us on to the next step.:bigear: Son is now 15 and will be pursuing many of the regular 10th grade level course work. My son has worked diligently and done very well. He is tired of the R&S format and requested a change. The following is what we've done. 8th grade: level 4 of WWE R&S English 6 writing lessons Outlining 9th grade: R&S English 7 writing lessons Outlining The options I have available for 10th grade are: Writing Strands 5,6,7, or Exposition Wordsmith Wordsmith Craftsman Writing the Essay from Analytical Grammar I had originally thought that we would use WS 5 & 6 followed by Writing the Essay. After going through both levels of WS in detail, writing up the class plan for the year, and considering the amount of work involved I am concerned. We are going to have to work hard and furious for the year to accomplish it all. Besides that, I think he might have covered all the material in the WS 5&6 books already, but I'm not sure. It's a bit hard to flesh out the exact stuff being taught in WS for me. I used parts of the Wordsmith series with my older two sons. Both enjoy writing now. They used it pretty much on their own. The course looks kind of fun to me. After R&S for two years fun looks very appealing to me. So, what do you think? WS or Wordsmith? If WS, which books this year to be followed by Writing the Essay? Would I need Writing the Essay? OR perhaps Wordsmith followed by Writing the Essay followed by Wordsmith Craftsman? One additional question I'd like to ask, how many have used WS7 and Exposition? What has your experience been with them? Can you compare them to the Wordsmith Craftsman book? Oh, I've been visiting the WTM boards for 10 years now, if I remember correctly, and I love it here. I always know there is help available here. Thank you :)

I love it!!! I have 6 sons, so no need to make it for my household. BUT . . . My 4 and 3 year old nieces would go wild over it. Mind if I copy your idea? It's wonderful. Stacie