This looks really thorough. I hope I can do more like you. J

I think it might be on Paula's Archive. You can look and find the link there. Just a possibility. Try this link. I found SOTW 2 Free workbook there. But SOTW 1 doesn't seem to work. http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/fancy.htm#workbook J

I bought ancient history pockets, but I hate the idea and never used it. Then I bought Daily Geography Grade 2 and I don't like that I paid money to have the transparencies that are meant for a classroom. I did it once so far with my soon to be 1st and 3rd graders ORALLY. I don't want it to be busy work, so I just want the skills to be taught without having them fill in all the blanks. We did 3 weeks' lessons in less than 1/2 hour. We will do it this way again until it is done and then sell it in order to buy the next level. I don't hate it, but don't like it much either, just to fill a need. J

We do one chapter or half a chapter a week, depending on how much info there is. My boys love this book and older ds does the notebooking journal I bought for $16.99. Younger ds loves it too and does narration with me as his scribe. Ds7.9 has been able to write large amount using this journal and he enjoys it very much. Ds 5.8 is retaining lots of the info in the book. I can't believe how well they learn. I meant it mainly for ds7.9, so it is a nice surprise that ds5.8 enjoys all the narration, experiments, and mini books. We will finish this in 20 weeks and then will do Flying creature of the 5th day, which older ds already did last school year at co-op, but we didn't do it at home. Ds7.9 is also studying the Human Anatomy one in our homeschool co-op, so I read some info about that to them as read aloud and bonus science. I'd say if your child is ready like mine, you can go for it at a younger age. If she/he is not, then do something s/he is interested in and can understand easily. We did Sonlight science K and 1 before we started astronomy. Again, both dc enjoyed and understood the information. The benefit of starting it later is that the child can do it more independently. But for me, I love to learn along with them and I love to have them study the same science. When they are older, I may have them study different things in a more independent manner.

This looks a little hard to implement. I do plan to use IEW when my dc are a little older, like 10 or so. J

Thanks, Cat. I will creat a chart and combine it with my peg system and see how it works. The boys are excited to start their pegs because of the privilege jar which has several of their favorite things to choose from. J

Can you please help me find the link to SOTW 2 copywork? I thought it was in Paula's archives, but I didn't see it there. Thank you! J

I grew up in China and students took turns cleaning the classroom, straightening chairs, wiping the blackboard and even waxing the wood floor (which was our class's first job before we started school when I was 11). We also had to buy and bring our own textbooks, notebooks, pencils and erasers to school and back to home every day. There was no wasted papers or pencils. We also pulled weeds in the school yard. Parental involvement was non-existent when I was in school. My mom never went to my school except when we couldn't afford to pay the $2 textbooks and other paper fee per semester and she she had to petition for exemption of this fee. We were extremely poor and often went hungry. There was no breakfast or lunch at school. We had to buy our own lunches at nearby restaurant. I almost never ate breakfast (because of no food at home) before I turned 16 and went to college. The Lord blessed my brain and enabled me to learn despite my hunger. However, things are different now, or different in each family. Teachers are still highly respected and parents are expected to help their children to succeed. School started 7:30 with 30 minutes' student individual reading aloud/reciting aloud the ancient Chinese poems or English texts/new words. Then at 8:00 the first class period started and 45 minutes and after that we had 10 minutes break when we could jump rope and play games and be physically active. The second period of class was also 45 minutes long followed by a 20 minutes break to do morning eye exercise and whole body stretching exercise and then a little break for kids to play with friends. Then two more 45 minutes classes before lunch break and nap, which is 2.5 hours long. Most children walked back home for lunch because parents also had 2.5 hr break from work. There were two more 45 minute class periods in the afternoon before school was over. Math was learned with focus on mental/oral math and speed. The teacher would give us a problem like 365/23 or 2587x37 or a word problem and we would spit out the answer right away. We were encouraged to solve problems in various different ways. We had homework every day. I love the way math was taught to me. My kids are using Singapore math and I have trained them to do oral math well. For example, my ds5.5 can do 8x8 or 7x5 in his head (by doing 8x2 first and then get to 32 and then get 32+32) and give me the answer in seconds. He hasn't memorized the facts yet but he does 8+6 or the likes very fast. Hope this helps.

We've been using Singapore since early bird math and I was tempted to switch to MM when rave reviews of it show up so much lately. However, we didn't change and stick to Singapore and now my kids are progressing really well. Ds 7.9 is almost done with 3A and is really getting him times table down (with additional flash card drill daily when we get to the multiplication part of the book) and ds5.5 does math mostly mentally/orally and is ready to move on to 2A. I am done with being tempted. You do need to add some drills to get the math facts down. Otherwise, you are fine and don't need another math program.

This looks simple and easy to implement. You guys have given me great ideas. I will think about the options and choose one that fits our needs. I do like the paid and unpaid chore options. Thank you all very much!

This looks great. I would like to have a look at the book and get some ideas. Thanks for sharing. I will ask if anyone in my co-op has the book.

Thank you for your insight. I have been doing almost everything myself. I need to delegate and train dc to do them too. It is so much easier for me just to do everything rather than delegating. But as you said, it is as much work for the parents as it is for the kids, but it is worth it. They need to learn to take care of their own living space and be responsible in general. I like the chart idea. I usually hang our lesson schedule on the white board and we follow it quite well.

I am trying to find a good chore system. I have some of the Family Tool PEG system, but not complete since I bought it used. It is hard for me to set it up. I have seen Managers of Their Chores on the internet, but don't know anything about it. What do you use for chore management? Do you tie it with allowance? I haven't started allowance for my dc (8 and 5.5) yet. I really need some good advice. Thank you!

This looks great. I will keep this in mind when we are ready to do vocabulary. But can this be used as spelling? I am also looking for a spelling program. Ds is burned out with R&S Spelling and Sequential spelling. J

It looks a little similar to R&S Spelling with saying the sound and looking for the sound and writing the words that have the same sound. Looks very systematic. Thanks for sharing. It definitely inexpensive. J

Heather, Thanks so much for your detailed answer. I looked at Apples and Pears once or twice but couldn't really understand it. I always read good reviews about AAS, but have never considered it because there are so many manipulatives to use and I just want spelling to be simple. So I don't know. I might have to purchase AAS. At this point, we are taking a break from spelling until I find the right fit. I really pray that we will find the right one and don't have to change anymore. Thank you all for responding. J:banghead: (Younger ds asked me to put this in for some fun).

I started with Sonlight Core 1 and after 20 weeks added SOTW 1 and we went quickly through it as review as well as for new lessons and mainly for the narration questions and coloring pages and occasional projects. So ours is done in 4 months instead of 9 months. So it is still pretty new, the book and the AG. For per your advice, I am not selling them. I will keep them to maybe do another round or as a supplement later. My two dc are almost 8 and almost 6 and I don't have younger ones that will use it. J

I don't feel like continuing SS or R&S. So I am thinking about Megawords. I like the dictation about SS, and I see Megawords have this component. Do you think this will be a good fit? J

thanks, DB. That is what I am inclined to do. I don't use a student book, I just use the two line writing paper sold by Handwriting Without Tears. I still have him do his writing related subjects in the three ring loose pages, which works well for anything that requires writing. Then I need R&S 4 now since he's done with 3. Now I regret buying two levels at a time. I have Sequential Spelling 2 sitting on the shelf. Any other ideas from other users of SS or R&S? J

We are just done with SOTW1 and I wonder what I should do with the book and AG. Do you keep yours for review purpose or for a second round when the kids are near middle school age? Do you plan to use them again? I don't know if we will do this again because this is geared for younger students rather than middle school age kids. What have you done? J

Ds7.9 again is in tears too often for spelling time. We used to do R&S 2 and he cried every time we did it when he couldn't spell the word right after a week's study. We finished R&S 2 and d then did Sequential Spelling 1 until Day 140. We took a break to go back to R&S 3 because we have the book, and he got 99% of words right each time I dictated the words to him. I didn't let him do any of the worksheet in the book and only used the spelling list of each week for him to dictate and it seems he did it with ease. Now when we went back to Sequential Spelling, he cried badly and said he didn't like Sequential Spelling. It is hard to gauge if his spelling has improved with this program. But R&S does seem to be easier for him this time round, so maybe he has improved due to Sequential Spelling? I like the dictating way of doing spelling because it seems to save time. What should I do now? Spelling is one thing I am not sure of. Can you share your experience and the program you use after trying R&S and Sequential? I wonder if I should go on to R&S 4 since it is easy for him or go on with Sequential Spelling or find another way. Thanks for listening.

Laura, It is a wonderful list. I will have to read to my half Chinese kids those books. J

This is a wonderful thread. Thanks for starting it. We are doing Astronomy now but we want to follow up with earth science. J

We just started Apologia Astronomy with notebooking journal. I debated if I should get the journal and now I am glad I did. Dc love making the minibooks and ds7 who usually hates writing gladly does his writing on the journal. It is time consuming, but it does reinforce the new vocab/concepts (with the word puzzle/matching) as well as writing out the projects. So I don't think it is busy work. If it is too much, I can cut some off. J

Thanks for sharing this. I use SOTW, so I definitely will benefit from this site. Thanks a lot! J