We used Core K and modified Core 1. We used SL LA for the first half of Core K and I didn't find it beneficial because it didn't fit my educational goals. A SL core is a reading list with a schedule and comprehension questions (for the read-alouds & readers, I'm not sure why they don't include questions for history). Have you looked at the core samples and read the 21 reasons not to buy Sonlight? Those two things really helped my decision whether to use SL or not. Hope that helps!

I just switched over to using Wordpress for my blog. I will admit it's been hard to figure it all out as it's a bit different from Blogger, but it's worth it because you can do so much more.

Yes, we are working on the kits for each program. Our goal is to have them all available by this August, but I can't promise that.

Umm, nothing... However he does like to do sneaky school through projects that he "assigns".

Yup, I'm here. Exploring Science will be a discovery/observation based program, focusing on using demonstrations & projects to introduce science. Right now I'm thinking that there will be a coloring book to go along with it for the student, but I'm not sure if it'll be more than that. That's about all the info I can give for now ;). As for Intro, the experiments come from More Mudpies & Magnets. For the most part they are easy to do, some of the materials can be difficult to find, but we've created kits to help out with that. If you've got more questions, let me know :).

There are two main "versions" available-US edition and Standards (aligned to CA state standards), which is why you may be seeing two different covers. You can see more information about this here. Basically you need the textbook and workbook to complete the work. The home instructors guide will help you to teach the concepts introduced in the textbook. There is also a Teacher's Guide, but this is geared toward school use and is generally much more expensive. There are also several supplements, Extra Practice (exactly what the title says), Intensive Practice (this takes the concepts taught in the text to a whole new level) and several others that escape my mind right now. Hope that helps :)!

I usually buy mine from Exodus Books, they have sets that are discounted, shipping is reasonable and their service is fantastic.

We were very math/la heavy in the beginning, but we are starting to transition to spending more time in other subjects such as history and science. I would say we spend 60% of our time on math/la and 40% on our other subjects.

Just giving you more confirmation, we don't use a formal reading program. Dd reads above level and has great comprehension, at least from what I hear her tell her dad :).

:lol: This exact conversation happened in my house not too long ago! Maybe we both need to stop looking at TOG, said by the person whose watching this thread with interest even though we've got a few years before we hit logic stage.

This is why I love the way science is laid out in the WTM, it introduces science in a relevant way to the early elementary child, causes them to think and dig a bit deeper in the middle years and then prepares them for the rigors of college level science in high school. To me, WTM style science is plenty meaty at the appropriate levels. PS-Elemental Science is coming out with our first logic stage program, Biology for the Logic Stage, this March :). Best of luck in determining what fits best for your family!

The great thing is that I do get to do it again :)! I'm going to be much better about continuing phonics instruction after he learns to read. I'll also be better about not curriculum hopping. I'm going to stick with what I've chose for the entire year before I switch :D.

Welcome!

My guess would be because the memory work suggested isn't really studied until they hit the logic stage, so it will be more meaningful to memorize it then. That said, we still work on memorizing science poems I wrote to go along with what we are studying in the grammar stage.

http://www.jimmiescollage.com Love, love, love this blog

We were in the process of revamping the website, here's the link to the bio info page, which is now up. Here the link to the bio samples page which contains a one week preview sample of Biology for the Logic Stage. A more extensive sample will be coming in the next month or so. Sorry about the difficulty, it's been harder than I thought to get the website exactly the way I wanted it :). If you have any more questions, let me know. ETA: The logic links are not active yet as the programs are still in development, hopefully though the above will give you an idea of where we are going :)

:iagree:We started with Prima Latina this year and I'm glad that we waited.

:iagree: As my ds is beginning to move, I would totally agree with this :lol:!

:lol: I love this! My dd, however, loves art and is not thriving with the unschooler approach. I just received Feed My Sheep (level above I Can Do all Things-mentioned by a PP) and it looks easy and simple to do. I'm hoping that it means that art will actually get done, regularly, like every week...

If you want an easy workbook program with little to no experiments and aligns to state standards, I'd say you have a winner! They are colorful and decent intro into science. My experience was that it looked great, but when we started using it, not so much, but my goals for science were very different than what they program caters towards. Just to throw another option out there, have you looked at the Harcourt textbooks? You can pick one up for relatively cheap and they are written for the state standards. There's a bit more in them than you will find in Singapore's Earlybird program. Hope you find what fits :).

Ha! Thanks, it's a labor of love!

The textbook, give you the overall pictures plus about 6 weeks of each level. If you don't want to plan it all for yourself you need to get the workbooks for each. The level depends on where you students are at. There are evaluations in the textbook to help you determine which level to place them at. As for FLL, you can do it alongside of WWE, but you could use English for the Thoughtful Child, it was recommended in the WTM before FLL existed. Hope that helps!

It the same info, just in a new package. Elemental Science schedule the new internet-linked one which you can see here.

We bogged down in the nouns section too! Dd would cry & moan every time I pulled the book out. We put the book away for the rest of 1st grade, then picked it up again in 2nd, but did it at an accelerated pace, skipping some of the lessons that were repetitive. Dd still didn't want to do it, but I made her. So for 3rd I agreed to look for something else, well the something else was no better, so we went back to FLL. Dd loves FLL3, asks to do multiple lessons a day :001_huh:. You may want to give FLL3 a shot before you switch, I'm really glad that I did and now we plan on continuing the series. Hope that helps!

:iagree: This is why I asked because our experience has been that FLL 1&2 elicited tears and complaints, but dd loves FLL3 and always asks to do more :001_huh:. I'm glad that we stuck with the series.