I have read and enjoyed Basket of Flowers Jessica's First Prayer Jessica's Mother I just got Teddy's Button and am looking forward to reading it.

We will be using Evan-Moore's How to Teach Art to Children in our co-op. In addition, I am going to try to implement Mona Brooke's Drawing With Children with these lesson plans. Wish me luck!

Welcome to the Forums! Here is a link to a review for WWE: http://www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com/Homeschool_Reviews/2992.php You might get more responses of you asked about a specific curriculum or a specific aspect of these different programs. :) HTH!

:lurk5: I would love to have this, too, if you find it.

There is a program called Spell to Write and Read (SWR) that teaches phonics, spelling and cursive handwriting all at once. I know many homeschoolers who use it and love it. I don't, because we are using Getty-Dubay Italics handwriting and I don't want to teach spelling that way-I just wanted to be up front about that. Anyway, here is the link, in case you might be interested. http://www.bhibooks.net/swr.html This is the only curriculum you would need to teach spelling and writing and reading.

I purchase almost everything from Amazon and Rainbow Resource. Exceptions would include MUS and Rod and Staff materials.

That plan looks very thoughtful to me. I like the way you have clearly specified and prioritized the daily activities, and the time you have dedicated to other topics/activities seems appropriate: a well-balanced schedule. Have a great year!

In the morning, we will be working together on Theology, Memorization tasks, Greek or Latin, and ETC and SWR phonograms. Then we will have a brief break before individual RRR instruction. After lunch we will have some more time together with history. I really wanted to do all of our together time at one, but I found last year that my dc needed a break, and I didn't want to do the RRR work in the afternoons. You can see my schedule on my blog. Click on Scheduling in the topical index on the right and you may have to scroll down a bit.

I know this may sound strange...but have you considered trying a more traditional curriculum like R&S? My ds is loving MUS, but I know it won't work for my daughter-swhe will not connect with the manipulatives. R&S has a very gentle beginning and a very incremental scope and sequence. It is a solid program, it's inexpensive, and you can always add manipulatives if your ds likes that. But I also agree with what pp's have said re: taking a break for a few weeks and coming back to the same concept. I have definitely experienced that with my ds, too. In the end, you do know your ds best. Just be very sensitive to the "clues" he is providing.

Now that's just cruel! They are really beautiful! I am *not* going to buy these...I am *not* going to buy these...I am *not* going to buy these...this year. :D

Tami~ Your planner is gorgeous! And I have been waiting to see you pop up, because I love, love, love your blank 6-week term schedule. I am going to be transitioning to something like that as my dc get a little older. Thanks so much for sharing that. :D

Yes, Jane...Thank you!

Does anyone have a free science notebook page for early elementary kids? Ideally, it would be formatted @ to the suggestion in TWTM with a space to draw pictures. If I have to make my own, I'll share to here, but has anyone done this already?

This is all in a 3-ring binder (in no particular order): * state required paperwork * curriculum plan for the year, term-by-term * weekly schedule * daily schedule * some donna young resources, i.e. calendar, field trip form, extra-curricular activity form * zipper case for pens, highlighters, post-its, pencils, erasers * receipts of curriculum purchases * draft history scope and sequence * nature study notebook forms (Outdoor Hour Challenge) I hope to find a science notebook form, too. HTH! Update: I added a blog entry complete with hyperlinks for many of the forms I use.

We use GDI. In the teacher manual there is a brief section that discusses this issue. Their answer is that in the cases where children did have difficulty reading cursive, it was easily remediated by reading a bit of cursive! I don't think this is a factor that should dissuade you. There was a lot of helpful info in the TM. I have found it to be interesting.

Your plan sounds fabulous! As long as yor dc are enjoying "doing school," I say keep it up. Welcome to the conversation. :D

We also enjoyed Beatrix Potter and A.A. Milne. We read through all of a huge children's literature/fairy tale volume. The Wizard of Oz The Little House series Dr. Doolittle James Herriot's Children's Treasury

We've just started "The Last Battle," the last of the Chronicles of Narnia series. They have all been fabulous!

Our family will be using the BF Early American History for Primary Grades unit study this year. I did not purchase the 3 titles you mentioned. I simply divided up the reading list to fit our term schedule. I do plan on using the timeline and will probably do map activities as well. I will use the guide for a few ideas here and there. I always feel free to tweak curriculum to my liking. A big box/comprehensive program would never work for me...

I don't want to discourage you, but if dd truly needs help with phonics, I think you need to be involved. PP would actually be a good choice because the program is nothing more than the book. If you made a commitment to work with her on a daily basis, I don't think it should take more than 10 min a day. I know it is used even for adults learning English as a second language. If you want to provide an opportunity for her to practice her knowledge, I think the Explode the Code series would be good for that. That will also require a bit of teacher involvement. I'm not sure which book she would start with, though. I hope you find a resource that works for you and your dd.

We use the Painless Learning placemats from RR. We have enjoyed Presidents, the Solar System, Phonics, Composers, U.S Map, World Map, and Artists. :D

Your plans look great! I don't think it's too ambitious. I just finished the year you are starting. One thing I would add is just to keep an open mind regarding your curriculum choices. You may find that something or other won't work in practice the way you had hopes because...your children have different learning styles...you don't enjoy using it...it's just not clicking...whatever. For example, I chose MUS, and it's working great for my son, but I know it will not work for my daughter. I started with OPGTR, but I didn't enjoy using it, so we switched to PP. Wishing you the best for a fabulous year! ;)

What a disappointment! I am sorry that has happened. Honestly, I don't think you should have any bad feelings about withdrawing from the co-op if that extra expense was not part of the deal when you signed up and they say it is mandatory to stay in. They have to understand that. If they don't, it's probably best not to be part of that group, anyway. I am sorry!

I am going to do the Outdoor Hour with the kids during the week. DH is going to do a hands-on science experiment with them on Saturday afternoons. We will use Jancie Van Cleave's Science Around the Year as our resource for that activity.

My dc did enjoy The Letter Factory quite a lot. It was quite painless for me, too. When/if you are ready for some structured learning time with your guy, I highly recommend checking out the phonogram cards that go with SWR. You can purchase those as a separate component; although, you can easily add writing instruction with it and/or spelling. Any kid I have ever observed who has gone through that program can decode like a pro, even with phonograms that have different sounds, such as "ough." We have been using PP and ETC, mostly with my ds, but with dd starting K in a few weeks, I'm going to use those cards with both of them. :-)