We do Latin and Mandarin, and of course since they are so vastly different, there is no confusion at all. However, I want to add French in the not so distant future. I would love to see them know both Latin and French and make the connection. WEHOMESCHOOL, how do you schedule all the languages? Do you give each of them the same amount of attention or one is more important than the other? I would love ideas of how to do three foreign languages simultaneously. Thanks, J

I have decided to stick with SM. I already own SM 1 to 4, and don't want to spend more money. It does work for my ds. I have to remember that there is no PERFECT program out there. You have to make it work for you. SM is good and does the job well enough, and I am the one that doesn't need TM (the teaching in the SM textbook is enough for me) and math is intuitive to me and I can figure out multiple step problems without hand holding. J

I have enjoyed reading all the posts in this thread. Thank you very much. I am debating either getting the whole MM package or just some topics such as multiplication. J

Thanks! We will start Middle Ages in two months. J

I love this link! Thanks a lot. It will help my ds with remembering the noun, verb, adverb and such. J

I am thinking of getting MM2 for ds who is almost done with SM 1B, and MM3 for ds who is almost done with SM3A. Is this a good fit? And where do I get the print one for the cheapest price?

I still can not give up French even after dh bought SSL which dc and we all like and enjoy and actually use the words we learn, like stylus, discipuli, magistra, salve, vale, tibi gratias ago. Today a teenage age almost bumped into us and said, "Excuse me." Ds5 said, "She should have said, ignosce mihi". Dc also start to thank me by saying tibi gratias ago. So I am thinking we can just get D'Art de Dire and let them listen and pick up the French phrases without efforts, too. They don't have to do any writing. Dh and I have decided that we will speak Chinese only on evenings and weekends and I will teach Chinese regularly (I already do for my ds 7). Do you think we are crazy trying to do all three foreign languages? By the way, dh knows Latin and I know French. Chinese remains our main focus, but I do want dc to have exposure to French. Ester Marie said that Latin is better learned when they are middle school age. So I lean towards more French for the first three years now. J

I am thinking about switching ds from SM to MM. Ds 7.5 is doing ok with SM, but he is very slow. Ds 5.5 is doing SM 1. Although they are both ok with it, they are not fond of it. I don't like any TM, so I haven't used TM for SM. So MM is appealing to me because I don't have to think which book to use, Wk, IP, or CWP and when to do which. I would like to streamline our math. Because of the rave on this forum, I think I want to give MM a try. I hope it will work for us. Have you done this and when did you make the switch? Ds is 3/4 done with SM 3A standard edition. Ds 5.5 is almost done with SM 1B. J

What Ester Maria said is really so true. I really wanted to start French, but dh went ahead and bought Song School Latin and Minimus. So we are doing SSL. The kids are soaking it all up and singing the songs all day long. We haven't done any written worksheets yet. I still want to start French so that they can learn the accent more accurately. they are learning Chinese from me now, which is a huge task already!

Thanks for the links. I found them to be very helpful since I am also looking for a spelling program for my ds5.7. I will start one when he turns 6. J

We are going to a Greek Festival held at an Orthodox Greek church next weekend. There will be Greek dance, music, and of course gyro, lamb, chicken, Greek pastries. My ds saw the poster while we drove home one day and were excited and wanted to go. We were at a used bookstore and ds7 went to the section about ancient Greece and Rome. He picked up several huge books and read a little. He was super excited when he saw the word Spartacus in the middle of a page with tiny words. We watched part of Spartacus to give dc some idea of gladiator school and slaves. We haven't even really started Ancient Romans yet, but we watched some Battles BC, pretty violent stuff. But the kids remember a lot of it, especially Julius Caesar's battle with the Gauls when he built multiple layers of walls and Hannibal and his elephants. I wonder if you let your kids watch history documentaries on DVDs to enrich your study. My boys are not scared of the violence at all. On the other hand, I wonder if it might be not good for them?

30 sheets a semester? I saw 175 pages for Year 3. Can you tell me where you get the 30 sheets per semester from? I am really confused. Thanks, J

I like your schedule a lot. I think it looks really good and complete. How do you do SM and MEP in 40 minutes? Does he do MEP online? I added MEP 2 for a while, but think it is really takes too long and I don't want us to do math so much that it squeezes other things out. I still like to add another math, like Math Mammoth, maybe to supplement 3A's division and then fraction later.

A friend of mine uses LFC. But I also like that students can do LL more independently. I think I like the DVD of LFC. It will make teaching it easier. Thanks for your input.

Our Latin sequence: Song School Latin and Minimus Getting Started with Latin I hope we can finish the three in less than two years. Then I would like to do Latin for Children or Lively Latin. I know that Heather/Siloam uses LL. I you have chosen one over the other, can you let me know what helped you make the choice? If you have used both, what is the difference of them and what are the pros and cons for each? Thanks, J

Last year we used R&S spelling 2 and managed to finish it. But every time I gave ds a test, he would get many wrong and would be in tears. finally I broke down and bought Sequential Spelling. Now he doesn't cry anymore and it takes 15 minutes to finish each list. However, he is still not a very good speller. We did 140 lessons of the first book now. i am giving it more time to see the results. At least he doesn't cry as much. My experience is just like yours. I have R&S 3, but i am not using it. Sometimes I just want to use it to test ds to see if he is better now. So you are not alone.

Ashley, It's great to "see" you here. Ds7 loves scouting. This den is mostly hsed kids and half the 90 minutes weekly meeting is in the gym doing PE, which is wonderful for us homeschooled boys. The other half of the time they do the activity in the book. They have some outdoor activities but not as much as the other one I checked. At the end they have 10 minutes devotional. So it is good. Both boys are very good readers. I overdid LA with older ds, so now I am slowing down some. Some Chinese immersion schools only offer one hour of English instruction a day to begin with. My ds are still young, and since their English reading ability is well built, I will focus this coming year more on Chinese before their other subjects get heavier. After this year, I will be a little slower for Chinese and put everything else back on track. Thanks for your encouragement! J

:bigear:

I am going to use SSL for both ds. I will have one do the workbook first and then the other do it. I am not going to buy another workbook, especially the younger one is not 6 yet and I want to make it simple. We did all ETC books orally too without writing in the book for the first ds. The second was able to write in the book because I have no intention of selling the books when we are done.

I have been planning for the new school year. Can you please let me know how it looks and what I have missed? Together: SOTW 1 (3/4 done) and Sonlight Core 1 (6 weeks left): We are done with the read-alouds and readers for both boys in Core 1 Then go to SOTW 2 with Sonlight Core 2 x3 Apologia Astronomy with notebooking journal for older ds x2 Bible daily Art: Dh teaches once a week Getting started with Latin: Dh is teaching all of us at dinner table. Song school Latin: songs throughout the week and ds7.8 will do the worksheet pages once a week Minimus Latin: Just whatever dh wants to do and however often he wants to do it. Ds7.8 Singapore Math 3a (0ver half way done), 3b stand. edi. with IP x4 HWT Cursive x2 or x3 Sequential Spelling 1 (40 lessons left), then Seq. Spe. 2 x3 Rod and Staff English 3 (25 lessons left to go) x2 I want to slow this down so he doesn't start R&S 4 too soon. WWE 1 (6 weeks left), then WWE 2 x3 Ma Liping Chinese Grade 2 x4 He will also attend the Chinese class on Sat. Readers: I will use reader list on Oak Meadow, Veritas press and other list for him because I ran out of SL readers. Ds5.7 Singapore Math 1B and IP, and then onto 2A, 2B x4 HWT Printing x3 FFL 1/2 x3 ETC 7 and 8 (or just skip 8) x4 WWE 1: will start after he turns 6 and after we drop ETC x3 Ma Liping Chinese Grade 1 x4 (and Sat. Chinese class) Readers: Sonlight Level 2 Intermediate Readers Piano private lessons: I hope to hire a private teacher to come to the house to teach once a week and the ds will practice on other week days for 20 minutes a day. Both will have cub scouting. They also go to a homeschool co-op twice a month and ds 7.8 has the classes in PE, art, and science: Apologia Human Body Chinese is the hardest of all. I am not sure if I should start ds5.7 now. Dh wants him to start, though. It is very time consuming and we have to do it four times a week. Does this look complete and doable? Is this too much or too little? Thank you! J

My ds read the Hobbit by himself when he was 6. Now he is 7, he read The Fellowship of the Ring and then dh read aloud to both boys (7 and 5) the Two Towers. They loved it. They also watched the movies. I always thought it was too early for them. So I feel better that other people are reading these to their young children.

I did US edi. 1, and 2. I bought Stand Edi 3. I am using Stand. Edi. 3A, 3B now. But I have the US Edi. for 4 except the workbooks. Just like the previous mom said, I think I can teach without having to line them up closely. On the other hand it is nice to have it lined up. I probably will go back to US edi workbooks. Thanks for helping me think. J

I bought HIG 4A, 4B, Textbooks 4A, 4B and IP 4A, 4B a few months ago. I wonder if I could use Stand. Edi. workbooks with these. What do you think? Otherwise I will have to buy all standard edition textbooks? I have never used HIG for SM primary 1, 2, or 3. I don't really plan to use it now at 4 unless it is very necessary. J

:iagree:Moi, ausi. :willy_nilly::banghead::leaving:

How do you guys manage that? I am a native speaker teaching my boys. Sometimes they are confused. :lol::lol: