Welcome! I don't think hanging around here will help you limit your choices ;P. There are a LOT of curriculum junkies around here :).

We only have the CDs :).

Start with Bible. Seriously, this makes a difference :). Jesus said seek ye first the kingdom of God - if evrything else is a wash, no worries :). I need to remind myself of this time and time again. It can be so easy to get distracted by academics, but for most homeschoolers our goals are really DISCIPLESHIP, academics are a second level priority. We also go year round - 4 days/week, two days on - one off, two days on - one off, Shabbat (day of rest). Repeat. The days off of school are work project days/errands etc. We also take impromptu days off for trips to relatives etc.

Well, I've totally been scoping out TOG for the future as well, but I'm curious to know how Biblioplan compares to TOG in the areas of: critical thinking, biblical worldview development in the D and R stages.

Sounds like you had fun :). Throwing up excepted :). Hope your little guy continues to feel well!

Have fun!! :) We love it here too!

Are you starting with level 1? When we did level 1 I just used a cookie tray to start with. Now I have a 2'x3' white board, we are 1/3 of the way through level 2 and it is working just fine. I think it will be big enough :).

We did half of level one when we were still doing phonics but it started to feel like TOO much phonics at once (both encoding and decoding), so we just did reading phonics for a while. BUT then I realized that her spelling wasn't really coming along....at all, so we started up again, finished level one, then took a break and finished our phonics, and now we've started level two. A bit convoluted, so I'm not sure if that helps! It really depends :). We are loving it now because it is a great phonics review - particularly when it comes to syllabification!

Well, I would say that you are right in the list of things you have detailed about AAS. We have finished level 1 and are around 1/3 of the way through Level 2. It IS teacher intensive, but we just DO it. 15 minutes at a time. It gets done and with great results. I balk a bit too because I don't want ANOTHER teacher intensive subject - but it has to get done. She isn't a natural speller, and AAS is so open-and-go for me, grab book, grab whiteboard, grab daughter and our spelling box - 15 minutes later we are done. We take around 4 days/step when things are flowing well and being understood :). The first day we do review/teaching. The second, third, and fourth days we do the writing words/phrases/sentences down - we break this into thirds so it isn't too much writing at once.

Ha! I am a smilie geek ;). Even in email! :O! Sometimes I think it makes me look cheesy! I do it because I am a naturally gregarious person when I'm socializing - have to get that across somehow. Hey, could you give us a report after you've seen the book? I haven't seen it myself, but if it's good I'd like to get it before it's OOP. :)

Enjoy!

It was the mad OOP rush. I am trying to resist the mad charge to see if I can get anything else at the same time to save on shipping :) I don't want to miss out though :O!

They look dreamy don't they? A great resource for those of us who...ahem...just can't get picture study figured out.

A couple more sources for Donalda Dickie :): http://canadianhomeeducation.com/Itemdesc.asp?ic=9780968102312&eq=&Tp= http://www.homeschoolandmore.ca/catalogue_det.asp?id=2086&categoryid=134

LOL! Hey, at least you weren't thinking, "Wow, now THIS Mom has it all figured out!" ;)

No Worries Marie :). Hugs. Hey...did you see my post count ;). I mean, where else can you go and find moms of small children being so passionate about Greek? I certainly don't understand all the details about the different versions of Greek, and know NOTHING about pronunciation, so I can't really contribute to that branch of the thread though :). Thanks for the encouragement Dawn! I guess I'll sink the idea of a roots program for now, and maybe...actually...take my Bluedorn Greek materials off the shelf and figure out how to use them!!! :) DD keeps asking for Greek - I wanted her to do Latin for a couple of years first, but maybe I'll cave to her (mild) pressure and my own curiosity.

I was looking at MFW K for this year for my newly five-year-old, but ultimately decided not to do it because I prefer skills-based subjects to be separate from each other AND from core type currics to allow my little ones to move at their own pace in skill building in the various areas.

Thanks! Question for you Ester Maria. Do you think that learning the Greek directly with its own alphabet still helps with vocabulary development in English? I've never taught or learned a language with a different alphabet so this will be a first for us.

Thanks for chiming in all! I think we'll just go with one subject until we feel the need to switch, then go from there with the other etc. I also think I'll do composer studies this way - just break, do composer studies, then go with history again :). Erika - I'm not really sure where a good place to break NOEO Chem I would be! We are only on week 3 ourselves :).

Thanks for chiming in all! I think we'll just go with one subject until we feel the need to switch, then go from there with the other etc. I also think I'll do composer studies this way - just break, do composer studies, then go with history again :). Erika - I'm not really sure where a good place to break NOEO Chem I would be! We are only on week 3 ourselves :).

First off, I have to say that we haven't used any formal vocabulary programs. We are teaching Latin (PL this year), and I plan to teach Greek. But that being said - I'm thinking of doing a Greek roots study - BECAUSE - the Greek alphabet isn't anything like the English alphabet. I would like to teach Greek (Koine) at some point, but I'd like them to 'see' Greek roots in the alphabet we use, not in the Greek alphabet. Am I making any sense? LOL! So, has anyone else gone down this road, and do you have program suggestions?

My DD picked up her reading (decoding) skills much faster than her spelling (encoding skills). We did AAS 1 alongside our phonics for a while, finished it, took a break from spelling, finished our phonics and now are back at spelling with AAS 2. In retrospect I think using AAS1 - at least the segmenting/first steps would be very helpful for children who haven't YET learned c-v-c blending because of the hands-on aspect :). I like using it for intensive phonics review with my older DD though. It has helped her spelling immensely.

Are you teaching Latin? Yes What age did your child start, or will they start? DD #1 was very eager to get started, so she started just before she turned 8 - after reading was somewhat well established. What curriculum do you use, or plan to use? Do you like it? We are using Prima Latina, then on to LCI, then on to First Form I. It is a bit dry, we use the DVDs which are nice, it is super-duper easy to teach, she's having great retention, and she always makes sure to tell the relatives who ask about school, "I'm learning LATIN!" She is so proud :). And the relatives are impressed - LOL!

In Mystery of History the author recommends making your own timeline cards, so that is what I'm planning to do for next school year with my children. We have Amy Pak's timeline figures, so I'm just going to print them, paste them on one side of the index card, have DC color them, and write one narration sentence on the back.

I would go for it :). It is a GREAT base for Spanish, around 80% of Spanish is based on Latin! You could start them both in a program like First Form if you like the MP-style grammar-first programs.