Might I suggest Biblioplan for history? It is wonderful b/c it lists books on different grades: K-2, 3+, 5+. But, it keeps them all together in the same rotation. It schedules the If you... books for the K-4, plus SOTW 4 and The Story of US for 5+. I think it might save you a lot of work, and it sounds just like what you are looking for!

Well, I'll be a lone dissenter and say that I don't feel A is totally needed. I used it with my older two boys, and I'm pretty much skipping it with my third. I just don't like A as well as the other levels. I'm planning on just starting B next fall with my son in 1st grade. We are using Kumon books so that ds is very familiar with counting, how to write numbers, what they look like, etc. Just my 2 cents!

Have you tried the no shampoo method for curly hair? If you google "curly girl" it will explain it on Wikipedia. My dd uses only conditioner, no shampoo and her hair looks great! I use only natural conditioners such as Burt's Bees.

I have my bachelor of science in nursing. I worked in my field before having kids and I keep up my license in case I need to go back sometime. I do not consider it a waste at all! My world became so much bigger because of college. I hope that all of my children attend college.

Thanks, Amy. That is just what I needed to know. I will do better with reviewing our vocab, but I'll keep moving. Do you use the FF DVD's? I *hate* the LCI DVD's, but I heard the FF DVD's are only 15-20 minutes long. Is it true? Are they any better than the LCI ones?

We are nearing the end of LCI. But, we have been sporadic and ds doesn't know the vocab well. He can recite all the declensions and conjugations, and can do the translating (but he needs to look up the vocab). Do I need to spend several weeks on vocab before moving on, or is it all right to move on to FF without memorizing the vocab completely?

Here is a link to sample pages of Simply Spelling. http://www.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=1490908

We are nearing the end of LCI, and plan to go on to First Form. It has taken us almost two years to complete, which wouldn't be a problem except it has been very sporadic. DS can do all of the chanting and can do the translating stuff, but he looks up vocabulary. His memory of vocabulary is terrible. How well does he need to know the vocabulary before going on? Do I need to stop and spend several weeks on vocab? Or, if he can chant everything (all the declensions and conjugations) are we OK to continue on?

Ooh, I want to know this too! We are on lesson 21 of LCI and then will be moving to FF. I use the DVD's, but really dislike them. I wasn't going to use them, but if they are only 15-20 minutes... well, I think I would!

Thanks Heather (Siloam). :) Your replies are always helpful to me. I think, too, that you really can't go wrong either way with using the model or entire story. My ds really *freaks* out at the thought of outlining those longer stories. :) But, my next ds may be totally different. Thanks everyone for their input, thoughts and links! I feel much more confident now!

I found this on the Classical Writing boards. This was posted by Lene Mahler Jaqua. . Sooo, I think for now I will continue to only do the model unless ds wants to do more. And, I will continue with the key word outline. Thank you for the link to the blog post, that was helpful to see what it looks like.

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You know, ds doesn't need the outline at all. My thinking in doing it every time is to help him learn to organize and condense his thoughts. Hmm.......

We use SWR rather lightly. ;) My oldest is a great speller, so I pretest him on the list, go over words he's missed, quiz on them during the week and test on Friday. My 2nd grader isn't as good of a speller, but I introduce 5 new words 4 days a week (20 words a week) and I dictate 3 sentence with the spelling words for a quiz every day. I do review the phonograms and rules daily, but not all every day. I have them broken into groups so that we go through the entire list in a week.

I was looking on the CW board and found that they say just the model for analysis. But, that seems so short. On the other hand, it is very overwhelming for my son to do an outline for such a huge story. I'm just not sure which way would be better. Forget the outline and rewrite the entire story or keep our normal schedule of outline, etc. and use the shorter story?

Hello, We've been working through Aesop and this has only come up with my ds a few times, but I know he will ask me about it on Monday b/c the model is much shorter than the story this week. When he rewrites the story does he use the entire story or just the model? Thanks!

Thank you for your help. We don't have any language our family has connected to except Pennsylvania Dutch spoken by my parents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Why oh why, didn't my parents pass it down to me? :) Anyway, that is only a spoken language, but it would be close to German. Hmmm..........

In my day everyone said Spanish was the best to learn. I agree that Spanish is helpful because so many people in our country speak it. However, I'd love to be able to pronounce French words correctly in books. :) What about Chinese or Japanese? Or, do we start Greek and keep a modern language until grades 7-12? What is the popular second language these days and why?

I'm a mean mom too, LOL. We have no screen time at all during the week, only on Saturday - Sunday. Then we try to limit it to a family movie Friday night, 30 minutes of Wii and 30 minutes of TV or computer. It is hard at times to go against the flow, but I really feel it is the right choice for our family.

We are reading Little Britches out loud right now and really enjoying it! I do change the words every now and then. Another book we read about the same time period and in the Dakota territory that was *wonderful* was Old Sam Dakota Trotter. http://www.amazon.com/Old-Sam-Trotter-History-Bethlehem/dp/1932350284/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262814842&sr=8-1

I love our Tivo! You can go in and browse "holiday, kids" and pull up all the Christmas movies that will be on, etc. My kids have shows that I approve of available to them when *they* want to watch, not when the show is broadcast. We fast forward through all commericals, football games are much quicker, LOL!

Dee in FL - Thank you so much for the prayers! I have had depression on and off my adult life, but this is the first year it is affecting school. I'm taking an antidepressant (again) and talking to a counselor.

I've been using SWR, and while I love it, I just can't do it any more this year (dealing with depression and I need to simplify). I've never even looked at workbook stuff what is out there?

Singapore's CWP were too difficult for my 4th grader and he was doing the 3rd grade book! We switched to Kumon's 4th Grade Word Problems and really like them! I buy Kumon books from Amazon because they are part of the buy 3 get 1 free deal.

My boys know that their presents are in my bedroom closet and they stay out. I'm amazed too! When I was little my mom would hide our gifts and my brother and I would look all over for them. Maybe it is because we are so open about where they are that they don't need to peek??