I believe the long term plans of the company are to put out two books for each level - so there will be a second chemistry one book, second biology one book, etc. Then each subject will cover one year. So they consider each book to be approximately 18-20 weeks worth of material.

We are in the south (Florida) and ours is year round. The cost is $300 every 13 weeks. We have two options - veggies only or combo (veggies, meat and eggs.) There is no work involved and we have to pick it up ourselves.

We'll have our third go around with first grade next year. Our general schedule looks something like this. Math - 30-45 minutes daily Phonics - 15 minutes daily Language Arts/Literature/Handwriting - 30-60 minutes daily Science - try to get to it two or three times per week - maybe 30 minutes Recorder - try and get to it two or three times per week - maybe 15 minutes Drawing - try and get to it two or three times per week - maybe 30 minutes

I generally accept with thanks anything religious that is given to me - even literature at my door. But I draw two lines, one in having things given to my children and two in using a business to push literature. I called the police when a woman twice distributed religious material secretly throughout my store. She would hand it to customers and tuck it in the fitting rooms and underneath merchandise. Apparently the warning I gave the first time was not enough. But a police escort out the door and threat of a restraining order that wouldn't allow her anywhere in the shopping center worked. :glare:

I get them at Barnes and Noble for about $6.oo each. We don't use the Mead books because they are ugly as well. I can't stand to look at them on the shelf. It sounds so weird, but all of our journals, notebooks and school books have to look organized and visually pleasing or I begin to feel stressed and actually unfocused.

Oak Meadow is good for a hands on learner. 6th-8th covers Life science, earth science and physical science.

We do Latin, Greek and French by 6th grade. But we will not be doing formal logic until somewhere around 9th grade. I do have workbooks on hand such as the Logic Countdown series and the Safari Logic books for the kids to work on in the car.

My dd11 takes an online class and spends about 60 minutes daily. DD9 will begin the same class in the fall. Before 4th grade we spend about 20-30 minutes maybe three days per week. It isn't really a priority in the lower elementary grades. We have used Song School Latin, Lively Latin and Latin: A Fresh Approach for K-3.

I'm in Florida and I have received several that say I have outstanding money to collect from an old property insurance policy. It says they will collect the money for me for a fee of 30%. I know it is true the money is there but I plan to check with the better business bureau before agreeing to have one of the companies claim the money for me. (If I ever get around to it at all. :tongue_smilie:) I have no way to reach the insurance company without a lawyer anyway. The company has been sold at least once. If they could get any of the money back, I'd be impressed. But, I wouldn't pay a dime to try and have it recovered - if they want money upfront I would assume it is a scam.

Busch Gardens is my favorite. I find it has the best selection for multiple ages - a big younger children's area, water rides, rollercoasters, shows, a zoo, etc. It is also the coolest (temperature wise) as there are many shady areas and it feels more like a park with animals and vegetation. Disney is very clean but I always feel hot, crowded and enclosed. And the lines are usually longer at Disney. Universal is good for kids that are in to animation - my kids like it the least of all the parks. I haven't been to Sea World with children, so I can't speak to that one. I enjoyed it as a child, but I planned to be a marine biologist at that time. :tongue_smilie: And on top of that, Busch Gardens is generally cheaper than Disney for both admittance and food/drinks. But, the price for parking at Busch Gardens is very high, at Disney we took a shuttle and didn't have to pay parking.

I think if you want to take a mastery approach, it really needs to be done from lesson to lesson or at most unit to unit. It would be very disheartening to a student to find out an entire book or year must be repeated. We work to mastery on several subjects and that means a B or C on a chapter or unit test won't be accepted. Corrections must be made until the paper is correct and then the chapter must be reviewed until I feel the student has a solid understanding or until a test is at the acceptable level. The student cannot move forward in the book/subject until that time. For us, mastery also means reviewing things already studied on a regular basis so as not to just keep pushing forward and forgetting what was learned before.

My dh works well over 60 hours per week, but he goes in at 4:00 am, so it feels like he is home quite a bit. He gets home around noon two days a week, around 3:00 pm two days a week and around 6:00 pm two days per week. We often go out to the park or swimming on the days he comes home around lunch time. It is really nice that the kids are home so he has time to spend with them during the day and can still get to bed around 7:30 each night.

We pronounce the h, so wail and whale sound different. (We also pronouce William as three syllables. :D) I'm going to guess that my parents spoke that way as it is not something I think about, but just do. It is definitely something I passed on to my children since I taught them all phonics and reading. I suppose if people think they speak oddly they can pass it off as a "homeschool thing." That phrase has given them a great deal of latitude in life. :tongue_smilie:

Our ideal schedule: English - daily Spelling - daily Literature-classic and history readings - daily Bible - daily Writing - daily History - daily Science - 1 or 2x week Art and Art Appreciation - occasionally Music - daily Music Appreciation - occasionally Foreign Language - daily Nature Study - walk daily, but no formal class Narration/Dictation/Copywork - part of English for younger kids

Grammar Vocabulary Spelling Literature We are doing grammar and vocabulary online and using Sequential Spelling and Excellence in Literature.

I tried reading/skimming the written material without listening to the CDs, that hasn't been very successful so I wouldn't recommend it. :D I'm going to try again listening to the CDs and reading the material together over the summer!

I have always had a really hard time going to sleep as well. Starting around 7th grade my parents dictated a couple of morning rules for me that have continued to work fairly well. I have to shower first thing - as soon as I get up. And then I have to spend about five minutes outside standing or walking. Today, I take a cup of coffee outdoors and just stand on the porch. I have found that a shower and fresh air really help. By the time I come back in I have resigned myself to the fact that I am up and might as well get going. :D My kids can stay up as late as 10:30 once they turn nine. But they have to get up between 6:30 and 7:00. We walk every morning around 8:00 as that seems to improve everyone's mood before school (besides being good exercise.)

Hi Cindy, I see now. I saw Galore Park written in front of the MCT language arts and though you were going to do both. In that case, the schedule looks fine. If it is your goal to learn to read in Latin, I would leave in Lively Latin. It is a fun and informative program and MCT has only a little Latin - not enough to make progress in the language.

Hi Cindy, For starters, I always use two math curriculum so I have nothing to say there. The only thing you have to be aware of is the amount of time it takes to use more than one curriculum for multiple subjects. It all comes down to fitting everything in and avoiding burn out. (Personally, I find that I burn out way before the kids do.) For your two language arts programs I was talking about MCT and Galore Park. But, you also have Lively Latin and Winterpromise to supplement. :D I've never seen Winterpromise, but I have used MCT, Galore Park LA and Lively Latin and that seems like a lot of language arts. It really depends on what you are trying to cover with each program? There is certainly some overlap between the four programs. You could do two science programs if you spend four to ten hours per week. I don't, but if you have the time it is fine. If you are only planning to do one at a time there shouldn't be any problem there. Just start with your favorite and if you finish up early do the other! If I were going to trim anywhere it would be in the area of language arts. MCT - (teacher intensive) grammar, vocabulary, poetry, writing GP - (light) grammar, spelling, literature analysis, poetry analysis, writing LL - (light) grammar WP - literature, writing, vocabulary?, poetry? I hope some of that rambling was helpful!

I decided to register my kids in the exact grade they would be in (by age) if they were in school. I decided to do it that way in case anything ever happened to me. I want any transition to be as easy as possible on my husband and children. That is also why I have the children tested every year, even though it isn't required by the state. I keep the test scores in a binder above the computer clearly labeled and even point it out to my husband now and again. I figure with the kids' help he will find it if it is ever needed. :D

You have two full language arts programs and two full science programs (and maybe two full math programs? - I've never seen either one, so I'm guessing here.) You could just choose one of each and be fine. But, I'm really not one to speak about using more than one program per year. :)

The books are meant to be gone through with the student, not the student reading alone. Paragraph town will have page numbers of what to read for each lesson that go with each writing lesson. MCT language arts is set up a bit different. The first 6-8 weeks are for grammar (Grammar Town.) Then the writing and practice books are used the rest of the year (Practice Town and Paragraph Town.) The vocabulary matches up with Practice Town so you may want to use them together. The poetry book fits in nicely beside the grammar book and then the rest of the year can be spent writing poems (there are example "recipes" in the back of the poetry teacher's book.)

The student book is not a workbook. It is more like a textbook. There aren't many workbook type pages. The few that are in there could be photocopied (or done orally.) It is assumed that the writing done in Paragraph Town and the poetry book would be done on separate paper. There is no blank space for student writing. The only book that supplies blank spaces specifically for student writing is the Practice set.

The book is written with the assumption that these skills will be applied to additional writing done in history and science. PT is basically a book about paragraph structure, both the structure of an individual paragraph and the structure of paragraphs within an essay. When my daughter used PT we did additional writing in history and literature. It is a book that works well with WTM where it is assumed the student will be doing a writing curriculum but also writing in literature, history and science class.

The teacher books are the entire student book along with the teacher's manual in the back. The only difference in the student portion of the teacher's edition is a little side note here and there to suggest reinforcing a specific topic. You can use just the teacher's book for the Practice series as well, if you write out the daily sentence for the child. We put the sentence on a white board. I dictate them to my kids so they can work on spelling at the same time. Both HO and MCT can be modified easily, so I don't think you have to worry about too much writing. There is no clashing between the two. MCT assignments can often be applied to other subject matter. Many of the assignments allow the student (parent) to choose the topic on which to write.