I believe that at some point (and maybe the still do), Sonlight printed these guides. I've gotten some that are printed by Sonlight and some printed by Avyx. I've noticed no difference, except a small change in the formatting. I think that you should be ok :).

Yeah, the dictation ramps up quite a bit in WWE3. If you wanted to move through WWE2 fast, I would get the WWE text, go through the level 2 weeks that are in the there, and then move onto WWE3. That said, with spelling being an issue I would really encourage you to stick with WWE2 for the year as the dictation can be frustrating when you are having difficulty with spelling (I learned that one the hard way!). This would give your dc time to work on their spelling will still going forward with their writing skills. Plus you can always pick up the pace if things get going well. Hope that helps.

Thought I'd come back to this thread now that I've got my head wrapped around it all :). I agree with Jen that 5 words per day is more than enough to teach. As for the rest, here's a blog post I just wrote about it. (Ellie, please tell me if we are not on the right track!) Oh, here are some online spelling assessments that you can download for free. Just scroll down to the section that says spelling, there are two possibilities there.

Thanks for posting this, I've been on the hunt for a good logic stage curricula. Can't wait to see the samples.

This is our third full year following the WTM and each year I get better about it. The one thing I still struggle with is the memory work. We also don't do a LA notebook the way it's suggested in the book. I was also unsure about Latin, but we tried it out this year and I've been thoroughly surprised by how much dd has enjoyed it. She wouldn't let me drop it now :). I also don't have access to a library because I live oversees, so I plan the whole year in one shot so I can order all the books I'll need. I would echo what others have said, start slow, each year you'll get better at it. These boards are a great place to ask about specific curricula and advice when you get stuck. Best of luck!

I've never used AO, but I have researched it extensively :). I think that in the early years, it doesn't focus on as much structured work (especially for language arts) and leaves more time for exploring interests & nature, which is why it seems like less work. One big difference is that AO runs on a 6 year history rotation, while WTM recommends a 4 year difference. They also emphasize quality over quantity, while IMHO, WTM tries to balance the two. If I was going to switch to AO and I was in your shoes, I would do it now before you get to wrapped up in the history cycles. I would read, read, read their website and the associated yahoo groups to help you get your head around what they do and why. If you have time, I'd read Charlotte Mason's books, at least book 6, to get an even better idea of where AO is coming from. CM and WTM are both classical styles of education, so I don't think you can go wrong with either one. You just need to figure out which one works better for you. Hope that helps, but at the very least, it does bump you up :D.

Thanks for this thread as I've got HOD on my list of possibilities for 5th grade because it uses Story of the Ancient World. A couple of questions for those of you who use CtC... Does CtC schedule any primary sources? Does the program lend itself well to using WTM style writing (ie. narration, outlining, dictation)? Is it worth the money if I'm not using the science or language arts suggestions (we would use the literature, but I'm going to use WWS and ALL-hopefully)? Are there readers scheduled or do you have to use DITHOR? From an authors perspective, I'm sure that Carrie's not trying to come off as militant, as it's hard not to respond in a public forum. For the record though, I do believe that no one curricula fits all people and everyone is entitled to their opinions. I'm very impressed and grateful by how SWB gives us total freedom to comment on any curricula on this board, including her own. Paige-who is trying to not comment or look at an ES thread, so that freedom of expression may abound :).

But your bar diagram is way better :D!

Drawing a picture of before and after always helps me! I'll try to show it here, but with formatting it might be tough :). Before (21 more hairclips than pins)... hairclips [--------] pins [---][21} After (she gives 13 pins away) hairclips [--------] pins[--]{13}{21} We know that hairclips + pins = 48, so if we subtract the the extra hairclips that we know we have (21 & 13), we get 14, half of those will be hairclips and half of them will be pins. So my answer is, Rosa had 7 pins left. Did I get it right?

Completely agree, after 4 years, I finally learned to ignore "the grass is greener over there" syndrome. I've found what works great for my dd and I and I'm sticking with it, at least till 5th grade hits and then I'm at a total loss for what we will do, but we'll cross that bridge when it comes :).

I would do the placement test from the text first as the dictations in Level 4 get pretty long.

I don't know of any links of the top of my head, but a good middle school level lab report should include... -materials-a detailed list of the materials -hypothesis-what they expect the results to be -procedure-this should be detailed enough so that someone could read their report and do the experiment -observations & results-(can put these together or divide them into separate sections) observations are things that the student saw happen during the experiment-such as the water turn blue, results are measurable-such as it took 5 min for all of the water to turn blue -conclusion-this is where the student tells what they learned from the experiment and how they interpret their results, if things did not go as expected, this is the place to share why I'm not familiar with Apologia General Science, but if their labs have questions that your student needed to look up and answer, I would also have them include those answers in the lab report. Hope that at least gives you an idea :).

You can easily make the number discs and strips. I would get the dice; they are used in a lot of the games suggested in the HIG. The manipulative that I would not do Singapore Math without is the base ten blocks, well worth the money, but you could make your own using toothpicks. We just began 4A this week.

Between those you've suggested, I would probably lean towards AO (I haven't used any of the ones you suggested, but have researched them to death :)). Just an FYI, AO has several yahoo groups with helps for implementing the curricula. One has schedules you can use and another has copywork/dictation passages you can use, makes it a lot easier!

4 read-alouds: The Trumpet of the Swan (dd's favorite) Chronicles of Narnia Series (counts as one, right??) Complete Works of Shakespeare (my favorite) Bible 3 curricula: Singapore Math!!! SOTW WRTR 2 reference books: Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia Kingfisher History Encyclopedia 1 home school book: The Well-Trained Mind Oh and I do consider my Kindle and solar battery charger a school supply :D.

I took a look at that program, it's looks really fun! I'm surprised it doesn't get mentioned more often, probably because there's no audio with it, which makes it hard if you don't speak the language.

I'm interested to see how you do this, too! We lived in Peru for a year, so I can speak Spanish fairly well. I found a cool vintage text on Google Books, called Poco a Poco, but if you don't speak Spanish, it might be hard to teach. Hmm, maybe I could make a track for it....Stop....don't need anything else to do!! Seriously, email me if you need some help with pronunciation, español es más fácil! Oh, have you seen Spanish for Children? It looked interesting to me, a bit pricey, maybe it would be an option for you. ETA: I think your plan looks good, forgot to say that :)!

:grouphug: Put the books away and be with your dad, enjoy every moment you have. So sorry you have to go through this.

We use the National Geographic book you linked to and love it! I have dd do a notebook page for each state, which you can see at the ES Yahoo group under Other Homeschooling Helps. We are taking two years to get through them all, but a summer crash course seems like a great idea!

Ok, I'll try to sum it up, but realize that SWB's puts it way better than I do... -Progymnasmata exercises (which CW is based on) are best started after the student has a fair amount of reading & grammar under their belt (ie. 5th or 6th grade) -CW is best suited for experienced homeschoolers who are competent writers -Read the CW's website sections on the progymnasmata, the Method and the Models to get a good feel for the program -don't feel pressure to use CW just because it appears to be the most classical, you will encounter the progymnasmata in the rhetoric stage Really she's says it much better, but this is what stuck out to me. Hope that gives you an idea :).

We have used WW2 and half of CW Aesop A, now we are back to WWE3 I love CW, it looks wonderful and I totally buy into their philosophy. The problem is that it's hard for me to teach, even with the Teacher's Guide & Student Workbook. I'm not sure why I'm doing certain things, so I may cut something out that several weeks later I find out I really needed to do. I think if I put more time into reading the Core book and reading more about progym, I could figure out the big picture and be very successful at teaching it. The problem is that I don't have the time to do that right now. I also love WWE and have chosen to stick with it because SWB has made writing instruction much more accessible to me (I'm a scientist, so language arts is not my strong area). We are not even using the workbook this year and I am still able to keep up with it. Although next year I am getting the workbook as it just makes it so much easier! I would also recommend listening to her writing lectures as they really helped to cement the philosophy in my mind and have a vision of where we were going with the program. Hope that helps! Oh, if you have the new edition of WTM, SWB has written a little bit about how to choose if CW is for you. I think it's in the logic stage section. It really helped me to make my final decision.

I'm kinda crazy, we only take off a week, but then again I've moved in some way or fashion 6 times in the last two years. I always pack the books last and unpack the books first because I can't do school until I'm organized. We unpack the rest as we have time. As for doing school when people are always stopping by, you may have to let them know that you are doing school from x to y. They are welcome to stop by anytime after y, but during school time, you are busy. Good luck settling into a routine in your new home! BTW, love your name!!!

Hey Marie :seeya:. I didn't know you were starting WRTR! I guess I missed that. I know that it can be done and I think that I was trying to make it harder than it is :). I just needed to see how a few others do it so I could get my thoughts in order. Good luck!

Ha! So, now I'm a celebrity. I think it's my flannel night pants that really complete my celebrity status :). Good luck finding a sitter!

Ok, after re-reading the WRTR section on spelling and the posts, here's what I'm thinking (we've already done the rule pages and I've taught all 70 phonograms)... M-Th -phonogram review (she still has trouble with a few of the ones from 54-70) -dictate 8 new words, give sentences for each -review any trouble words -have her write two sentences using the words F -give a test on words (and maybe phonograms for a bit as well)-30 words in all My plan is to go all the way through the Ayers list, not skipping any of the words. This year we will use manuscript, as she's still getting the hang of spelling and the year is almost over. Next year we'll use all cursive. We'll begin with reviewing the phonograms and then writing all the rule pages. Next we'll write a list of words she had trouble with from last year. And then we'll start with the Ayers list where we left off. Does that make sense? Anything I should change? Also, is there somewhere online that I can get the Morrison-McCall Spelling Assessments? Or can I make up something similar? Overseas shipping would kill me on those :).