Please share your strategies for dealing with kids who piddle! Ds does not seem to know the meaning of the word hurry -- in any aspect of life. We're starting to dabble in hsing with the intention of hsing full time next year, but it takes him forever to do anything. Literally it can take him 2 hours to color a page in a coloring book (which is something he enjoys and is obviously not to difficult). How can I encourage him to hurry without being sloppy and without becoming a task master? I know he would LOVE to do some simple science experiments, lapbooking, and other fun activities, but there's no time because it takes him forever to do the simplest tasks. Ideas?

I'm trying to figure out the record keeping system that will work for me and have been looking at HST+. Does it allow you to save internet links within the program (e.g., I reference various links when planning lessons)? I really need something that allows for this but haven't seen it on the HST+ website--though it's entirely possible that I just missed it. If it doesn't allow that, what would you recommend for me? Maybe doing my own in Evernote or something?

Wow, you are very busy!:) Glad to know there is someone near me who is here on the board! My kids are 4 and 1, but we have the oldest on a (flexible) accelerated learning schedule so he's doing academic work higher than what's typical for his age. I'm seriously considering joining Classical Conversations either in Anderson or Sharonville next year. If you're involved with CC, let me know. I may see you there!

I'm able to get the version 1 SOTW text and Activity Guide used, but I'm having trouble finding the audio. I would like to use them together. If I buy the revised audio CDs, would that work? (I plan to read a chapter with ds one day and have him listen to the audio of the chapter while doing a crafty project on a different day.) It won't matter if it's not exactly the same, but if the chapter organization has changed a lot then I might re-think this plan. BTW, this would be for Ancients 1.

I appreciate all the suggestions here. We're still "feeling our way" in so many ways! We've been using HWT to supplement ds's handwriting practice in ps kindergarten, and he likes HWT pretty well. I've learned to give it to him in small chunks, so he just does one page per day. He's also discovered a love of crafts so we do lots of coloring, cutting/pasting, etc. And I've bought some beading kits for kids and other things to try to get the fine motor skills up to speed. I think I'll try to start introducing him to some basic concepts of grammar just as we are talking about his lessons or reading aloud together. The AAS program or using the letter stamps might be a good thing to use until his handwriting becomes better. I would hate for him to decide that he doesn't like grammar and spelling just because he is frustrated with the writing aspect. He's been a self-guided learner until about a month ago, and he has huge discrepancies--extremely proficient in some areas and completely unskilled in others. I'm trying to even it out a little so curriculum selection won't be such a huge challenge.

Is this possible? My ds struggles with handwriting. We're working on it--both in PS and at home, but I don't see him being able to write well (i.e., not get easily frustrated and not need constant supervision to ensure he's not forming poor habits) for a long long time--maybe a year even. His reading is WAY above level, and it feels like such a huge discrepancy. Is there a spelling or grammar curriculum that requires virtually no writing? Would it make sense to start teaching spelling with letter tiles or something or is the motion of forming the letters/words an important part of learning to spell? What about teaching parts of speech, compete sentences, etc?

You might want to try getting her interested in some non-fiction. Ds hit a wall at about the 4th grade reading level (he hates books without pics or with small font). We found that the library is full of non-fiction books with lots of pictures about all kinds of topics--geography, human body, animals, etc. He LOVES them! Almost every time, he will choose a non-fiction book over a fiction one. It's absolutely amazing how much info he has learned in the past year!

You might also want to look into some of the Classical Conversations materials. I think they might have a CD with songs of memory work. Songs can make memorizing fun and really help it stick in long-term memory too. I also trying using some hand motions when ds is memorizing lists. He helps his level of enthusiasm for it as well as making the memorization easier for him. We did a You Tube search a couple of weeks ago and found lots of little songs. Yesterday he sang a song of skip counting by 4's up to 48. He heard the song one time 2 weeks ago when I was watching a You Tube video of it (ds was hanging over my shoulder because he loved watching the kids doing their songs:lol:). I was shocked he remembered it so well!

Ds is very challenged in his fine motor skills, and he is enjoying HWT. I've found that just doing a tiny bit every single day is the best approach for him. When/if he gets bored with it or just needs more practice, I plan to use this free resource: http://www.donnayoung.org/penmanship/index.htm. She has lessons, animations of forming the letters, and documents of the ruled paper that you can print off.

I'm starting to use MUS Alpha and FLL too. In the cross-referencing I did(e.g., comparing level of MUS content to Saxon, looking at guidelines from Core Knowledge series, etc), it seems to be solidly first grade material. I'm not familiar with ETC so can't comment on that one. HTH!

Thank you both! Both of your posts are so helpful. NOW I understand why I've heard of people loving these cards. I'm seriously considering getting some--would be great for memory work.

I'm about to take my first steps into hsing and am looking for new ideas and inspiration (though this board has been INCREDIBLE! Thanks, Everyone!). Hopefully I'm not violating any board rules by asking this, but would you please share your favorite homeschooling blog(s)? Thanks! ETA: I'm more interested in seeing what other parents are doing rather than blog from companies.

With my first preg, I tested early and had the FAINTEST line for positive. I called the company who manufactured the test, and they said that it didn't matter how faint the line was as long as it appeared within the time frame listed on the box. (The rare false positive from an evaporation line occurs after the time frame has passed.) I'd say you must be preg!! Congrats!:)

So I'm STILL trying to figure out our first grade history plan. :confused: So many choices!! I've been reading raves about the Veritas Press History Cards. Are these just a "tickler" system? I've checked several websites that sell them (including the VP website) and this is the best pic I can find of them: http://www.veritaspress.com/prodinfo.asp?number=000100. Is there more info on the back side of the card? If you use these with your history curriculum, how do you use them?

Thank you all for your input! I think I'll stick with the BP and SOTW plus some age-appropriate living books on the subject. :001_smile:

I'm trying to figure out our 1st grade history plan. We plan to use either SOTW or Biblioplan or both (haven't decided this yet either!:001_huh:). I need either Kingfisher or Usborne reagardless of whether we do SOTW or BP, right? Do you mind giving your preference between Kingfisher or Usborne and why you prefer it?

Oh boy! So many things for me to look at! I'll definitely look at each and every suggestion this week as I have time. It is such a challenge to find things at the "right" level for him, but you have all been so helpful! He still loves books with a lot of diagrams and pictures, so I can see how a higher level book with small font and no graphics would be a turn-off. Math is another challenge. He started memorizing multiplication tables this weekend but I would not consider math a strong subject for him at all. I plan to get him started on a math curriculum soon. I think he might really take off with it if we do a little bit every day or every other day. My goal is to try to even out his skill level across subjects a little better while catering to his love for science. Hopefully I can get his math up to speed, work on spelling, and find some interesting history books so he will be ready to start homeschooling full time next year. Pongo, are you in Boston? I would LOVE to get ds in a school for the gifted! The one closest to us is $11K/year and would mean 2 hrs of driving every day to get back and forth. It's just not workable for our family. If we could get involved in some type of distance program, that would be nice. Right now he's in public school kindergarten and I'm planning to start "afterschooling" him (haven't gotten started yet!) to get ready for homeschooling full time next year. Kindergarten has been a good experience for him, but I just don't see public school working for him when there isn't so much play time.

I guess I'm not sure exactly what I'm looking for, which is probably part of the problem. Ds is 4 but he's profoundly gifted. He's been reading encyclopedias since age 3, and because he absolutely loves science and has a seemingly limitless attention span, his knowledge base is pretty amazing. (Reading through our state's dept of education guidelines, he already knows through grade 6 in science except electricity/magnetism and eco-systems. In most areas--biology, earth science, physics, etc,--he's beyond 6th grade level.) I want something that might help me identify some gaps in his learning since we've basically done encyclopedias and living books instead of a curriculum. And I would like him to learn more--particularly in the areas of chemistry, physics, electricity/magnetism, and simple machines. We may do the reading together or he may do it himself (his reading level is 4th grade level, but he's read so much science at higher levels that he can easily read higher level science texts). Experiments would be nice, but I think I can find some supplements for more hands-on work pretty easily. (Though suggestions for hands-on stuff are definitely welcome also!) As far as religion, we are a Christian family who believes in creation but not young earth. Honestly, the degree of religion in the text isn't as big a concern for me since I've already had to explain inconsistencies in the scientific material ds is has been reading. I'm just really looking for something very in-depth for the learning so he can glean some new info.

I been reading old threads about science curriculums and am so confused about what would be a good fit for us. Ds has completely exhausted the living books and scientific encyclopedias at our public library, and I think it's time to get a very challenging science curriculum for him. He absolutely CRAVES learning about science. What do you consider the most rigorous, in-depth science program?

My son has been begging me to teach him mulitiplication for about 9 months now, but I think he needs better mastery of addition and subtraction first. Basically, he just needs enough repetition to memorize the addition/subtraction facts. Is there any way to make this fun for him? We do some with flashcards, but it would be nice to have another fun way to get lots of repetition in. Any ideas?

I've seen a couple of these on Amazon.com. What one do you recommend?

Just curious if anyone from the Cincinnati area is here. (I did a search and found some from other parts of Ohio but no one from Cincy.) I'm in Milford and BRAND NEW to classical education and homeschooling. Excited about getting started!