I think you are talking about Saxon math? If so, the changes are small. I only own the K and 3rd meeting books. In the K book the calendar covers two pages and there are maybe half dozen other pages. In 3rd each month of the calendar is on one page. It also has the birthday calendar and counting strips used throughout the year. That said, I only glance at the two meeting books from time to time. I make my own meeting book for each child (we have a comb-binder) but before that I just used staples. I find free calendar pages and weather graphing pages online that I like and make each child a new book for each term. They decorate them and make covers. It makes it more fun and personal and I can add anything I think is necessary for each child.

Yes, at least up through the third level (Voyage) each of the books can be used independently. You will see the occasional reference to the other books but the books do not rely on each other. The only reason you would want to do all books on the same level is for simplicity. The words studied in vocabulary will show up again in the writing book, etc. I would have to double check, but you may not need to be on the same level in poetry. I do not remember any reference to the other three books. But the writing book will have sentences to label that go back to what was learned in grammar and things like that. IF I were doing the whole series I would keep my grammar, vocabulary and writing at the same level. But each book easily stands alone.

I was 28 and dh was 24 when we were married. We started dating when I was 22 and dh was 18.

4 children and 1 bathroom. I would like another bathroom or at least a half bath. I wouldn't want more than 2 bathrooms to clean though.

I would read through a few chapters of each online. I prefer the books by MacGregor. I like the language and flow of the sentences. I read her books aloud and find the language more to my liking. I find the Guerber books a bit cut and dry. I would imagine the content is similar in both books.

How it looks: years 1-3 (Island, Town, Voyage) I have several of the upper books, but I haven't used them yet. Grammar books: Used only first term (9-12 weeks) They only have a few assignments and a few suggestions for grammar games and such. After finishing the book the rest of the year is spent in labeling sentences. We do one per day from the practice series and occasionally pull one from our literature reading as well. We usually do grammar three days a week or so (but we do it over 12 weeks.) Vocabulary books: The first book is an introduction and very light. Each chapter does have a simile writing assignment (we just did them orally.) The next two books are quite a bit more difficult. You can use the vocab books in many ways as he describes in his intro. There are vocabulary tests for each lesson. We do vocab all year - two weeks per lesson (maybe three days per week.) The questions inside can be read by the student and thought about, discussed with the parent or used as writing assignments. It is completely up to you. I usually assign one writing assignment and discuss all of the questions with the student. Poetry books: I don't remember any assignments in the first book - other than discussion. By the second book though the student is writing poems on a regular basis. It is up to the teacher how many poems are written. I usually assign one poem every two weeks. This is the most difficult book to teach without some background in poetry and such. It does take time learning all of the terms well enough to know if the student is using them properly in writing his/her own poems. We usually do poetry two or three days a week all year. Writing books: These have the most assignments. We use the writing book 3-5 days a week beginning second term (after finishing the grammar book.) The first writing book has five to ten writing assignments to choose from for each chapter. The assignments in the first book are more creative writing. But they deal specifically with subject/verb agreement in sentences, use of adjectives and adverbs in a sentence, etc. The second book has twenty assignments and there isn't a choice of assignments like in the first book. This book doesn't have the creative writing aspect of the first book. (The first book will say things like - write a story where one character can only use one word subjects and one character can only use one word predicates, etc.) The second book is focused on improving the paragraph and all of the assignments are geared to that. I think two of the twenty assignments were essays. The third writing book has assignments at the end of each chapter to choose from. There are usually six or seven. About half are related to geography and require map work or research. There are usually a couple that are "what do you think" type questions that could have any length response. He provides many examples from famous writers and these questions will often ask the student specific questions about a writer or questions about what was learned in the chapter. And one or two that are more paragraph focused, such as write three paragraphs one this way, one that way, etc. At the back, the essay book has a short section on how he teachs the book and how he grades the essays. With the possible exception of the poetry books, I think the books are easy to teach without an extensive language arts background. I do think the practice books are very helpful to those (like me) who are not completely confident in the correct labeling of sentences. I only purchase the teacher's version of the practice book and write one sentence each day on our white board. All of the books build nicely upon each other and we have been very happy with the results of this curriculum. I am eagerly anticipating the next writing book - due out soon!

We have six people in 1160 square feet. I love it. I would make two changes if I could. 1 - Our house was built as a weekend home so it has no closets!! None in the bedrooms, none in the hall, one closet in the entire house (and of course the kids knocked the door off of it.) 2 - We only have one bathroom. Another half-bath would be nice.

I find it very frustrating that Royal Fireworks Press does not have any sample pages of the actual assignments from any of the books! The first level (Grammar Island) is an introduction, very basic and completely reviewed again in the second level. I wouldn't use it for any child over 4th grade. All four books can be easily skipped. There is a big jump from level one to level two. I would only begin with the third level (Grammar Voyage) if the child has a solid background in grammar and labeling or diagramming sentences. The program will assume the student has been doing this for one or two years now and can easily label all parts of speech, the major parts of a sentence, several major phrases, clauses, and sentence types. All of these things are reviewed again in the third level with additional information added, but I think the third level would be a lot of information to process for a student that had never done any labeling or diagramming. If I were using the whole program, I would base my final decision on where the student is in writing. The books really go together so if you are doing the whole program it is best to use all the books of the same level. Level two covers paragraph writing and beginning essay writing. Level three assumes the student can write a solid paragraph and is writing decent one page essays and continues to work through ways of improving the essay throughout the book. Essay Voyage has multiple assignments to choose from for each chapter and does have a few paragraph writing options in the first couple chapters. But to get the most out of the book a student should be writing solid paragraphs and capable of writing one page essays on a regular basis. As a side note: Essay voyage has a geography focus. There is quite a bit of geography in the text and a majority of the assignments have a geography focus and include map work or research on different countries of the world.

Coins needed: 650 pennies, 10 nickels, 20 dimes, 20 quarters

My dd8 schools six days per week. Here are the approximate times and days. We are quite flexible, but this is the goal I have on paper. Her schedule will be the same at age 9. Daily: Math (5 hrs. week) Language Arts (2.5 hrs. week) Latin (3 hrs. week) Literature (5 hrs. week) Writing (1.5 hrs. week) Recitation (1 hr. week) 3 times per week: Spanish (1.5 hrs. week) French (1.5 hrs. week) 2 times per week: History (3 hrs. week) Science (2 hrs. week) Reading (1 hr week) 1 time per week: Geography (1 hr week) Art (1 hr week)

I forgot to add: Suppose the Wolf Were an Octopus has questions similar to what MCT would suggest for books students read alone and discuss afterward. One thing to note about SWWO is that there are no answers to the questions or summaries of the books so you will have to read each book as well if you assign it for independent reading.

Michael Clay Thompson covers literature, literary analysis and critical thinking in his book - Classics in the Classroom. Basically, he feels that reading and discussing classics (in all subjects, not just literature class) is the best way to cover literature. He is a proponent of using Bloom's taxonomy to determine questions. He discusses each level and provides some example questions in his book. He also suggests taking a training course from Junior Great Books or Paideia to properly use Socratic discussion with the child(ren.) He does not believe in worksheets or written book reports. For literature he suggests (a general suggestion) reading one book aloud for ongoing discussion every six weeks and having the student read two books alone to be discussed after reading during the same time period. He does suggest written essays and an occasional research report at the high school level. I have found the book to be very helpful and well worth the price. I generally read through it at least once a year. At the end of the book is a list of 1300 classics listed alphabetically by author with coding as to who deemed each book a "classic." For example - On AP exam, in Great Books of the Western World, in Harvard Classics, a Newbery Medal winner, etc. He used 22 different sources to make the list. It is one of my favorite lists!

We are doing Florida history this year as well. I am using A Land Remembered as our spine. There is the original version, a two-volume student version and a teacher's guide. I already own the original version. I think I will just use it and read it aloud and maybe buy the teacher's guide. I have a great deal of fiction set in Florida on the girls' suggested reading lists for this year. (They have to choose books from their lists to read on their own time as part of their school program.) You can look inside both versions of the book on Amazon.

I just set the workbooks on the bookshelf and tear one page each day as needed.

I read aloud quite a few children's books I don't care for, if someone wants to hear them - Mary Poppins and Heidi come quickly to mind. I don't really like Winnie the Pooh either although I do like Milne's poetry. I really don't care for Hemingway or D.H. Lawrence. I'm not sure if a terrible college class has tainted them for life or if I would have disliked both authors regardless. Either way, I will suggest but not require that these authors be read.

Yes. Here is the newsletter announcing the new classes (that I should have included in the first post.) http://www.greatbooksacademy.org/08newsletter.pdf

Great Books Academy is now offering online classes including Latin and Greek. For the Greek program they will be using Athenaze. I'm thinking about taking it myself and then using Athenaze the following year with my dd who will then be almost 12 yo. They are using the Oxford text for the Latin program - two levels. And they are also offering Russian and Poetry.

I really like their teacher's manuals. Each chapter begins with a quick intro of what the student will be learning. Usually an optional in-class fun exercise and suggestions for areas that are building on other concepts or may need additional detail. Then a list of three books at different levels that work well with the chapter for supplemental reading. Every Investigation is in the book with teacher notes on how to set it up and what should be happening and answers to any questions addressed to the children. There are teacher tips and extension activities throughout. And there are answers to all questions. If it is a question where "answers may vary" there is still a sample answer. I have found the teacher's manual to be very useful and the layout easy to read and navigate.

I'm afraid I can't help much. I only have the student text, teacher's manual and investigations book for each level. I don't have any of the CDs or lab equipment. We do whatever labs we can do with what we already have. Their equipment does look great, but it is so expensive. Doing only what we can do from home, there is more in the student and teacher's book than we could ever do in a single year. But we are still in Earth Science. I haven't read through the Physical Science book yet. I'm sure it is not as easy to pull things together as it is for Earth and Life science. Sorry I couldn't be more help!

Adler's Great Ideas Program I don't think they are currently in print. E-bay usually has the best price. I just checked and the only set on right now is nearly $50.00 with shipping. Amazon has used sets for around $30.00. I bought a set for about $15.00 with shipping - so I would just keep an eye out for a few weeks. You have to check the standard used book outlets. "great ideas program" as your keyword will usually bring up the right books. It is a ten book set.

Great Books Discussions is the same as Great Books Academy. They sell just the study guides at http://www.greatbooksacademy.org I believe they have an annual sale in the summer that should be coming up - 20% all materials. Mortimer Adler also put out a set of guides: The Great Ideas Program. It is basically a set of guides with discussion and questions on the great books.

I am finding blogger.com a bit limiting, BUT I have very little knowledge of HTML and everything else that goes on behind the scenes. I need the hand-holding but would like to be able to do more than I seem able to with blogger. Anyone else use a free blog site that works well and is easy to use? Or suggestions of a good site for fast and easy learning on how to do more with your blog?

Sorry to bring back my same question again. I'm still unsure and really do not want to go the route of some books one way and some books the other. Have you found interest and retention better when you read a book intensely over three to six weeks discussing as you go along and maybe writing about it in the end OR reading a book over an entire year (CM style) giving the book more time to sink in and extending discussion time. This would obviously require reading more books at once. Is anyone aware of any current research or thought on the matter. SWB seems to support the one book at a time over three weeks or so. Can anyone recommend any good articles or books on the subject?

The link was shared here about a month or two ago? It had many coloring pages including a set of mosaics. Thanks!

my grandfathers - Henry (Hank) and Peter; the only great-grandfather I know - also Peter dh's grandfathers - John (Jack) and Ovid