One possibility to keep everyone together: Listen to SOTW as a family. Let the younger 2 or 3 color the pages in the activity guide while they listen, and choose books from the AG to read to the 1st grader and 4yo. Have the 3rd grader read through the Kingfisher Encyclopedia, or the Usborne Illustrated (to avoid needing both). Also choose some challenging books from the SOTW AG for him. You could add the SOTW Tests, but do them as a fun family quiz type activity. Low stress, and since everyone heard the story they will all get to participate. It will encourage them to listen so they can get more questions right! Have the 7th & 9th grader do Sonlight Core 6, doing all of the reading on their own and discussing it as a group. Have them read through the Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of History. You could spread this over 2 years if you want to stay on a 4 year cycle (Core 6 uses SOTW 1 & 2). The 3rd grader could listen in on the Read-Alouds (which you could have your 9th grader read to the younger siblings). Add in some of the Literature recommendations from WTM for the 9th grader. Have the 7th grader go to the websites linked from the UILEH site, taking notes on what he discovers and printing out pictures of interest for the family timeline. Have the 9th grader do additional research on each topic, following his interests. Have him present his research to the family from time to time. Keep a family timeline, with each child making a contribution based on his/her weekly reading and additional research. You could move each child up or down based on his needs, but this is the way I plan to keep my boys all together in history.

I only have 1 old enough to be in CW now, and I will probably continue MCT with him. G (my 2nd oldest) is doing 1st grade this year, so I am looking on down the road. When W (the youngest) starts writing in 2nd grade, I will be teaching 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, and high school. I think that will be one in each level of CW, right? Oh my. But thinking out loud... I could probably keep Green and Yellow together through CW (they are 14 mos apart), and Blue will be mostly on his own (or online) by that point, and the younger ones will be going through WWE... so it *MAY* be possible? Right? Maybe? LOL. I know it does no good to plan things this many years down the road, but I don't want to get started with CW only to have it drive us crazy in a few years. Is there a message board for CW? Are there people doing this with 4 or more kids successfully?

:lurk5:

This will be our 5th year. Wow, that doesn't seem right. We did K in 05-06 though... so yes, we are starting our 5th year. (!!!!) We did Pre-k the year before, but it was so haphazard I can't really count it! LOL! I've been reading the boards since early 2003. :)

:lurk5: ... and is it do-able with multiple kids?

I have attended a conference there for the last 2 years, and there is a table set up with all of the materials out. They weren't for me. There wasn't anything wrong with them, but they were geared for school use. I asked the gal at the table how they could be adapted for homeschool use, and she had no idea (but went on to tell me she met someone once who was homeschooled, and he turned out ok, tee hee). I think there are others on the boards who actually use them, but I'd recommend trying to see them in person.

Let's see... 1.5 times 5... :ack2: Did I mention that writing is my LEAST favorite thing to teach? :svengo: If we win the lottery, the first thing I will do is hire a private tutor to teach my kids to write (well... ok... maybe the second thing after I hire a chef). Thank you both for your replies. I guess my concerns were valid. :001_unsure: Any suggestions?

For those who use CW with multiple children, how much time is involved? It looks like a great program and I keep coming back to it, but it seems too teacher-intensive to work on a large scale. I have been using MCT with my oldest and it is going well, but I don't think it will be a good fit for G, and I think that doing multiple levels at the same time will be tricky! So... I am trying to form a long term plan for writing/grammar. G will be starting WWE & AAS this year, but I'm not sure what to do after that. I would like to use something that is good for different learning styles so I can use the same program with the younger boys. Is there something else that is more large-family-friendly? I thought about Writing Tales and GWG, but I have the same concerns about scaling. Thanks!

:lurk5:

:lurk5:

I know you didn't ask for an opinion about this... but I have one so I'm going to share it anyway. :D I wouldn't bother laminating the cards. There are over 200 cards PER LEVEL -- way too many to laminate! The cards are not handled by the kids, so they stay in pretty good shape. I did place the large sheets (ie word banks) in page protectors, since they are used by the kids.

For the STUDENT Express, there is one 2-CD set for each of the 16 books. For TEACHER Express, there is a single 4-CD set (1 for installation, 1 for each of the 3 groups of books). There is a 2-CD set Trial Teacher Express that only contains some things from ONE text, not the rest. It's a bit confusing, I bought the wrong one from Amazon Marketplace (luckily, the seller was gracious enough to return my money, even though it had been opened).

Heather, that is so sweet! Oh, this will really make you ladies feel old... my MOM was nine years old. :tongue_smilie: She got pregnant 7 years later with me.

They are written for 6th-8th, but you can adapt them to use for a much wider range (a sciency 3rd grader, and probably for high school level for a non-science major). I agree about the TE -- way too busy (and I used to be a teacher!). I do have the Teacher Express CD (if you buy used on Amazon, be sure you are getting the full 4-CD version, not the useless 2-CD trial) that contains a linked version of the TE, along with a test bank, printable worksheets with answers, lab info, and a daily lesson planner (though geared for the classroom, it can be tweaked for homeschool use). If you are comfortable with life science, you could get by with just the textbooks (using narrations and vocab list from book) and LabZone planner CD.

If he is a fluent reader and you are doing AAS, you don't need ETC... unless he really likes it... or unless he needs the extra handwriting practice... or unless you need a "time filler" for him to do on his own while you work with an older student.

:lol: I saw the thread title and was going to say "If you are wanting to buy a set, you should check your local library -- very cheap!" Then I saw it was you... and you already know this! :lol: I am glad I have my set. YMMV.

I like WW so much I am having B do it AND the MCT. :D

I adapted a teacher planner I bought at Lakeshore Learning, but you could easily re-create it in excel. If you print the two different pages front/back you could have it bound at Office Max for $2 I think. On the left page, create boxes 5 across and 5 down, with optional light lines within each box. In the first box of each row, type the day of the week on the top line, and use the lines beneath it to write in any materials you will need to gather for that day (ie for art or science experiments). Write each child's name above the other 4 columns. This page is used for their individual work, books to read, etc. On the right page, create boxes that will work for things you do together. I used 5 large boxes that were the width of the paper with light lines within each box so I had lots of room to write, with checkboxes at the beginning of each line. I used one large box for history, science, art/music, family time, and list of "to do for next week". These were things we tended to work on gradually throughout the week, so they weren't tied to a certain day. I also thought about having one spreadsheet just for reading schedules. I could create the reading schedules ahead of time (from Sonlight IG info), then when we get to that week I could print 2 copies, using one for my reference and cutting one into strips for each child to use as their bookmark with their weekly reading listed on it. And there is always Homeschool Tracker.... if only I coudl figure out how to wade through the 90% of it I WON'T use to get to the 10% that will actually help me. :(

I am taking B to see it tonight. He was too young for the book releases, and hadn't read book 5 yet when the last movie came out, so this is his first HP event. I haven't told him yet though! :party:

:grouphug: Well, my advice is to move 30 minutes west where everyone homeschools. :) One neighbor told me at lunch the other day she wanted to find out more about homeschooling because she felt like the "odd" one in the neighborhood who actually sent her kids to school (there are at least six homeschooling families in my neighborhood). Did you know there are SEVERAL houses for sale in my neighborhood? *wink,wink*

I know it is different for each family, but was it at a certain age? height? maturity? Is a self-propelled mower the best for younger kids?

:bigear: :grouphug: Thanks for letting me "listen" -- I know this is coming soon in our house.

It would be a lot of work to combine cores 1 & 6 because they cover different time periods (core 1 is only ancients, core 6 is ancients AND middle ages). It would also be very expensive! I vote for doing core 6 (history & readers) for the 11 year old, with the 7 yo doing the SOTW activity guide for maps, questions, and reading list. You can use the core 6 read alouds for both kids. Then next year you can do core 7 with the 12/13 yo, SOTW 3/4 with the 8/9 yo. If your 7yo is not a strong reader, you can use the CDs for the SOTW reading and let her color in the activity guide while she listens. For the two segments of time that core 6 does not have any SOTW readings, your 7yo could work on a History Pocket or any books about the current era (something like DK Eyewitness). If your 11 yo is planning to return to school in 2 years, I personally would not recommend the Sonlight Language Arts. I would follow a program that is similar to what she will be doing in school, so she doesn't have a hard transition later.

:lurk5:

I use the Wordly Wise series while also doing MCT's roots-based vocab. WW books are not time intensive (30 mins per week for DS, 5 for me) and the later grades are great. K & 1 are fluff, 2 & 3 (previously ABC) set the stage, and 4-12 have great exercises. I'm not familiar with VIE, but I think WW is easy enough to add to any program.