After all these years and so many "OOPS!" my last love will also be our last attempt! The Phonics Road!

I can't wait to get there!

I'm in the same boat w/ dd. She'll start PR4 if we ever get around to it or we'll take it next year and complete it. She'll be in 6th next year. I wish she were writing more, too, but I really love the progression in PR. It makes sense to me and I love pulling it from lit. We'll get there...patience has it's perfect work, right?! And, amen...the Little League has no worries! Funny, too, how I have chilled out and am so focused on fundamentals. It's amazing what a difference solid foundations make (duh!)!

Thanks for your review :)

usually free shipping, if I remember correctly. That's kind of a standard "Convention special" aw. Thanks :)

Honestly, the writing is so neatly laid out and perfectly incremental, it's worth staying the course, imo, since you're building from level to level. Carmen, the word study IS the spelling. For each base word they learn, they add in about 12-15 spelling words, too. THere is a TON of spelling in levels 3&4 -- and not just the here's a list, practice with activities kind, but instead the learn the symantics of this word and watch for patterns. It's effective and then takes the spelling knowledge a step further to reinforce word meaning/origin/application of pre/suffixes. It's good stuff.

I go round and round about this, Sue. I do think we're holding off one more semester for CC, just so we can have a heavy courseload, sports, other extras b/c I want him Ready before he gets there. I do know there are classes there for him I won't teach at home anyways and I don't like that much of FLVS is so heavily project based. We just finished HOPE there and it was so UNNECESSARILY project based that the boys ended up Not liking the class. Math, on the other hand...why not! I just keep wondering, what do I want him to do at home, then have to also do at college. Which classes are worth repeating and which are not. I can never decide, but I find myself trying and wanting to wipe out the redundancy. I, too, am glad to be able to think through so many things here. It's been a long-term blessing for sure!

I'd do a daily math lesson and work 30 min the other. That's it. Then it's not like they're really laboring, but still moving forward on the areas you need. I look at math like this: it's forever moving forward, so if we get ahead or behind we're just moving. Some years, that has us finish with math by March, others, not until "next" October. It balances out b/c it's really easy to add in a little extra math here or there....."Today, do 1/2 of the next lesson and on Friday, do the same thing." You just filled in an extra math lesson b/c the ones they were working on were unusually short. It always works out. Finally, I think the mental state of your household, i.e. do they need a full break for about a month, matters more. The math will catch up, just play some games :)

So, if your child has an option to take the same class via CC, do you, would you, do the FLVS AP class instead?

ding! ding! you did win!! I love when that happens. I bought the book I'm going to use for art for 50 cents at the library!

Daily meetings are essential for my boys to stay on track. Otherwise, they get some things done and others not. I thought they'd suddenly be totally independent b/c they were in high school (I was), but alas, that has not been the case. So, my advice, keep you mind in there too and let them know you're watching!

awwww congrats on your sweet surprise! I'm dong the same for science and history read alouds :) I was amazed at how much freedom of schedule relaxed me and allowed me to enjoy grammar school again. No joke on so many of the things you listed...and I read your siggy...I'm a little tired, too. Best wishes for a fantastic year to come!

You know what else I realized, I'm not uber planning this year. I'm grabbing the materials I use daily and simply using them. We get the work done, so why do all the writing and typing out. I am printing and copying like crazy, ahead of time, but that's it. No color coded schedules that I'm gonna change 6 times throughout the year. We're writing things down and looping them out. That's it. SIMPLE planning!

Other than the HST, I could have written this post...and I am actually on the last day of the 2 week break! I'm back to business, refreshed and ready to wrap up with vigor, the rest of our stuff. We're taking off 6 weeks this summer, but the Elders have only 4 b/c they have some catch up to do! I rearranged and spring cleaned my house and I feel SOOOO much better! Still looking forward to the real vacation and dred, but must do, more behavioral training, but at least I'm not so exhausted after our break. ENJOY yours the organization and cleanliness feels wonderful!

Enrolling my middle schoolers in "electives" using FL Virtual School. DD wants to take Spanish and since I don't have time to teach it, there ya' go! Other dd is taking a Critical Thinking/Study Skills class so I can pay less attention to that dept. I'll probably use them for math, too for the high schoolers. I'm cutting down on my teaching responsibilities. Making grammar school science 2 days a week and pretty much independent. In other words, retention is not my goal in science this year. That way, I can actually teach, not cram, drawing and music. Moving up my son to TOG UG so he'll be more independent, even if only a little. Enrolling ds in CC in the spring. I've taken on a babysitting job ---- and actually getting paid this time! A small miracle for me! Hiring a house cleaner in the fall for 2x/month do do the floors and bathrooms and probably paying dd to do my laundry. Forming a TOG co-op so I'll stay motivated to keep the hands-on activities moving forward. I may also decide to buy more convenience foods instead of cooking from scratch. OR, and more likely, I'll do cooking marathons and really utilize my deep freezer!

I can't seem to get to anything online. What am I missing? I want to read through the Scope and Sequence of several years....help!

First of all...awwww....I can hear Jerry Maguire..."You complete me" yet I see visions of flowy skirts, poetry, calculators and pocket protectors...sounds VERY dreamy! :001_wub: You are so right about so many hours in the day. I've learned this the hard way. It's funny, but since I decided to still do history and science with the Little League, but FOCUS on math and language arts, I am so much happier as a teacher and I feel like the 2nd lot has found many benefits that the first didn't get; not that the 1st lot isn't doing well now, but life is just easier the second time around. Lessons learned and all that....keep the LA and math focus is my point, you'll find that later, it will be the most important part of your journey. By the time Logic stage comes around, as you see from this thread, time needs to be spent otherwise, and you won't regret the time and effort you spent in grammar stage.

The K-6 description sounds like it would work for me; now, I just have to determine if I like the resources. Not that I really need another science at all b/c I have plans and resources in my beautiful school house....I'm just lazy and don't feel like planning elementary school science for the bazillionth time...okay, so only for the 5th, 6th, and 7th dc, but it sure does feel like a bazillion right now (can you tell I'm over this school year and CANNOT wait for Convention in 2 weeks so I can go on vacation). 4ever, thanks for the heads up. I don't mind the discussion of secular science to a particular degree, particularly when the discussion is in comparison, contrast or in concert of both, I just don't prefer straight up pushing OE + Evolution in young years (K-6or7) to the exclusion of Intelligent Design. I *do* use many secular materials and we continually learn, "Some people believe xyz, but we believe abc instead." I'd rather go with I.D. and introduction to secular and Darwinism worlds. At the same time, I also hate the arbitrary toss of bible verses many programs use -- drives me batty, in fact. "Let's throw in a bible verse that mentions the rocks crying out, since we're studying geology." :001_rolleyes: Thanks, Carmen for looking at....DVDs....what's on those? Now, my interest is peaked...science we can enjoy, that I don't have to teach much of...well, that's the best kind of science for me! Can SL be done in 2 days a week for a K tagalong, 3rd &4th graders? Which year would you choose....4th grader as the focus?

I agree. I think having seen the bigger picture did make some things "make more sense" as I do them with the younger crowd. HappyGrace, I sure will! I wish I could actually sit and have tea with her :D Someone should warn her...a stalker is coming soon! :tongue_smilie:

Have you looked at Write Shop? My friend has completed all the Beta tests and they love it. Gentle approach, but still structured and conclusive, with great, tangible, useable output is probably my best at a glance estimation.

TOG lit. shines in Rhetoric, but otherwise...meh. It'll do for vocab. and general understanding, but not as intense as Progeny Press. I like to read through the PP guides when I can. They do a great job.

If memory serves me, Fall 2012 is the plan. It's great incentive to buy the DE. From reading so much TOG info., I gather this has been an issue in year 1 far more often than the others. I haven't completed year 1, so I can't confirm specifics beyond what I've learned from other users. We started full on Dialectic in Year 2. Personally, I found b/c year 2 is SO packed, there is so much to learn, that we didn't have a problem. And if something was cumbersome, the volume of available resources (listed in TOG and on the internet) was so abundant, finding answers was never an issue for us. We enjoyed it very much and learned so many wonderful things. It has probably been my favorite period, at least a close tie to Ancients :). I just checked with the dc and they couldn't name a time frame that gave them trouble.

I'm assuming it uses living books. Does it do so in middle school, too? Links? References? Opinions?

Evolution, age of earth, reliance on carbon dating, general tone. It's funny b/c I really don't like Apologia Gen Sci b/c I find the slant irritating. I'm just so hard to please when it comes to science! I'll be I end up going totally living book for science!