That seems to be your only choice that will satisfy most.

This might be unusual but this was the first thought that came to me when I knew I was going to serve the Steel Cut oats for breakfast the next day. Wanted to be sure the kids will eat it. I measure out the right amount of water and oats, place it in the pot, and put the whole thing in the fridge. During the winter, I just leave it on the counter since it's cold enough by the window. Next day, I put the pot on the stove, and it takes me only 10 minutes to cook it to the right consistency. But the crockpot idea sounds good. I might try that also! God Bless, Anna

And these you can do without another writing program. I used to wonder myself why SWB said we didn't need another writing program when using R&S. I thought it was light in the writing section. From her writing talk from awhile back that I listened to, she does recommend: 1. Copywork, which is just copying from an actual book a sentence or short passage 2. Dictation, when the student is a bit older. Or the day after they copy the sentence, dictate it to them and see if they can remember how to write it properly (punctuation, capitalization, spelling, etc.) 3. Narration, which is telling you what they learn in a few sentences. You can write it down for them the first time, have them copy it the next day, or dictate it to them. This might sound Charlotte Mason-y, and it is very similar. I do use some Charlotte Mason method in my homeschool so this might sound like a combination of WTM and CM. HTH! Anna

I would say that 75% is written and 25% is oral. The ones I do orally are those lessons that have to do with proper speech (using may or can, lay or lie, etc.) I could probably do more orally but I make them write it out because I have other children to attend to. No problem with retention here for the lessons we do orally. As for diagramming, I can't see how they'll learn diagramming unless they actually do it. At least, I know I can't remember it until I do it myself. The simple diagramming you can get away with without writing, but once the adjectives, adverbs, prepositions are added into the mix, it gets tto confusing remembering which words you've already diagrammed, or which words you're not sure of. HTH! Anna

that homeschooling parents cannot produce well-educated people........ Anna

My brain cells failed me!!!!! I can't believe I forgot about the meet-up today! I did drop by yesterday and got to meet Karenciavo and Janice in NJ. Hope you ladies had a blast! Maybe next year, I'll get to meet more of you ladies. God Bless, Annabelle

I'm fairly new to the boards and haven't posted much but I'll stop by the TOG booth just to meet you all. A friend of mine will also be working the TOG booth this weekend. :-)Annabelle

To add to what Lolly said, it's easy to understand, straightforward, inexpensive, yet does great job of teaching grammar in short lessons. BUT some lessons do require the students to do too much copying of sentences (IMO), so you may want to pick and choose what you want your children to do. Enough to learn but not become a tedious chore. Anna

It has more choices, more interesting things to do. But I think a student who is second grade and under might find it overwhelming. History Pockets would fit better for younger children. Yes, it is tedious to print out the CD for the Time Traveler. But I did find that popping in a disc to print out is easier than having to scan and print out a copy. (Of course, if you have a copier at home, this is not a problem.) Blessings, Anna

My neighbor is a soloist in his Catholic church and I would ask him to pronounce the Latin words for me. He also took Latin when he was younger so he's been a great help. Southern-accent Latin just didn't sound too good. Anna

I've been running on and off the past two years and I told myself that I will start running in races so that I can stay consistent with my running. I'm going to start with my town's 5K this summer and hopefully do more from there. Don't think I'll do any marathons, though! (A fellow homeschool mom ran the NY marathon 2 years ago and I've been inspired by her eversince. She deferred last year's race because she got too busy with her children's activities.) Wonder if I can get my children to run with me? Hmmm... Anna

and the Latina Christiana I and II. I've never looked into other Latin programs but so far, I really like the Memoria Press Latin program because it's so easy to use. It's laid down a good foundation for my dc to be ready to tackle Henle next schoolyear. Blessings, Anna

:-)

There are 2 ways to read it, also. According to it's publication date or chronologically (according to the "time" in the books.) I enjoyed it more reading it according to the publication dates. The Redwall series do the same thing. We read Redwall first, then when we read some of the other books, it goes back in time to stories of characters that came before the characters in Redwall. It looks like you can choose either order to read the books. HTH! Anna

I'm using RS4K physics now and it is below the 8th grade level. It's a good program but not enough for that grade. Some have suggested Rainbow Science before and I'm going to check it out at our convention in May. http://www.beginningspublishing.com/products.html God Bless, Anna

Since your children are already 3rd and 6th, you can skip Prima and go ahead to Latina Christiana I. LCI is simple and straightforward. LCII is a bit more challenging because by then you have so many words to remember and there are more grammar rules to remember. If you can get the DVDs, you can watch and learn along with them. We're finishing up LCII in May. We did take it slow and stretched the two programs into three years. God Bless, Anna

when I went birdwatching with an Audubon group for the first time. I really felt out of place when everybody knew what that bird was, by sight and song. A man told me to start by getting familiar with the birds around my yard. Know as much as you can about your backyard birds. Learn a lot about a smaller sphere of subjects, then you'll find it easy to make that sphere bigger. And he was right! I learned about birds (anatomy, song, habits, etc.) by learning about the house sparrow, cardinals, mourning doves, and a few other regulars in our yard. My children learned along with me and we can talk "birder" talk to each other. ("Did you see that the rump was darker? Was the breast streaked or striped? Did it have a black cap?, etc) We did the same thing with trees, insects, and wildflowers. We live in the suburbs, so learning about wild animals is very limited. We've only been able to observe wild turkeys, and an occasional opossum that forgot it was nocturnal. I bought the Audubon guides to trees, birds, wildflowers, and insects. Those four have been enough to keep us busy with our nature studies. We also try to catch caterpillars to watch it change. One big excitement we had last summer was having our "pet" praying mantis molt while we had him inside the house. (Unfortunately, he met his end when he we let him go and he met a female....and you know how it goes. All he had left were wings!) So this is my inexpensive way to do nature studies. My children and I have become more curious and aware of nature ever since. Use the path you have at home. See if you can identify all the trees, wildflowers, and birds there. Do they look the same all year round? How do they change? Start with a small area first, then you'll be amazed at how easy it is to expand that sphere. I did also get the Handbook of Nature Study by Comstock. It has loads of info, most of which I will never use but it's been invaluable when we've had "pets" and needed to know how to care for them. God Bless, Anna

I'm on my third time around with this and we like it. It's straightforward, easy to use, and doesn't take much time. It is scripted but you don't have to follow the script word for word. Just pre-read it the day before so you know what the lesson is about and you can present it your own way. I pretty much stuck to the script the first two times but I'm finding that I can do it now on my own this time. God Bless, Anna

and I do mainly use Singapore Math. I did add the CWP just because it causes the student to apply what they learn. As for drill (an area where Singapore is weak,) some children need drill, some don't. But we all do need to be able to come up with math facts quickly in real life, so I do have my dc use the Calculadders (but not everyday.) God Bless, Anna

Going to check out the sites now. :-)Anna

I vaguely remember some people posting a couple of free book study guide sites. If anyone can give me the sites, I'd greatly appreciate it:001_smile: God Bless, Anna

and it said that classical Latin pronounces g as in giggle. Only one sound for g. http://www.byzantinecommunications.com/adamhoward/latinpron.html This site has the pronounciation rules for ecclesiastical Latin. http://www.ewtn.com/expert/answers/ecclesiastical_latin.htm Hope this helps! Anna

bought it from AC Moore. THe size is about 16X20. I painted the border to make it look like a frame. Then any new artwork gets taped on there. It can hold about 2 artwork at a time depending on the size of the work. We change it when a newer work comes along. The old work gets stored away if it is something that is really good or has sentimental value. I have 4 dc so the four canvas on the wall in a row looks nice enough. :-)Anna

I'll look into this, Sue. God Bless, Anna

We use one book behind also. I've read another mom suggest that since this is where there is much practice with making the bar diagrams (especially the challenging problems), she only requires a bar diagram drawn but not the calculations. Of course, she's a math whiz and can see right away if her child's diagrams are right or not :001_smile: But I would like to encourage you and your child to persevere. It does get a tad easier but I have to admit that there are some problems I still can't solve with help from the Singapore math forum. God Bless, Anna