Thank you for posting this -- I was there! :) I wish they showed more from the section called The Grammar-Writing Connection, as I said above it got ME excited about TEACHING grammar. :)

Honestly, based on what you shared I think it will be BETTER that you waited with your oldest. He isn't "behind" if you consider that Sonlight uses SOTW as texts for ages 11-14. I also remember reading a post that PHP is coming out with an Activity Guide for older kids for SOTW1, and for younger kids for SOTW4. FWIW... I can relate completely. I started SOTW at the beginning of his 1st grade year but dropped it when the baby was born. We started again in 2nd grade, but tried to make it more complicated than it needed to be and got stuck in Egypt! We are starting it again now, sticking to the basics, and letting the younger boys listen in and color along with us (as they want to -- not required!), but plan to take a 3-month break from ALL subjects when this baby is born! :)

This link discusses each Lit Unit, the one for The Family Under The Bridge reviews all of the punctuation rules using a pop-up book (sounds goofy, but it's actually cute and keeps it fun): http://www.movingbeyondthepage.com/purchaseLiteratureUnits.asp I'm glad I could help you figure out what will work for your family. :)

A lot depends on exactly WHICH writing book of MCT's you are planning to use. The Sentence Island book (which was written with gifted 3rd-4th graders in mind) only covers parts of a sentence -- though much more in depth than you would think. It uses wonderful sentences to teach from, all from high-level literature the kids will encounter later in high school. The Paragraph Town book goes deep into how to structure a paragraph, but has an even older child in mind. I haven't seen the WWE program in person, but I have listened to SWB's Writing Without Fear CD (I assume the program is based on her same ideas) and it sounds great! I hope to see it at convention in July. I am a big MCT fan. :) I think his books could be a beneficial addition to any language arts program because they really do make it interesting. After one of his workshops, it even got ME exciting about TEACHING grammar. Each book only takes a few weeks to read through, but there's not a lot of teacher guidance (though it isn't really needed). Not to confuse the issue even more, but I know you've been looking at MBtP, and the Lit Units for those include some writing instruction and practice as well (paragraphs and longer). I think your DS would be beyond what is covered in any of the concepts for ages 6-8. For the first part of this year, we will be going through 4 of the Lit Units from MBtP for ages 7-9. I am including the one that covers punctuation (not covered by MCT), and 3 others based on content. During our language arts time each day, we work through one lesson of the Lit Unit (12-15 lessons per unit), and with the time left we read through a few pages of a MCT book. We haven't done any of the Practice Island book yet, we are waiting until we get pretty far into the grammar book (per his recommendation). And because I'm in a particularly generous mood... I would be willing to let you borrow my MCT student books if you are interested. At his workshop, the student edition was super cheap with the purchase of a teacher edition, so I bought the set (in case I do the program with 2 kids together down the road). I only need the teacher edition with Blue, so you are welcome to borrow the Grammar Island, Sentence Island, and Music of the Hemispheres Student books for the school year.

Sure -- I posted it hoping part of it may help someone out there figure out what will work for them! BTW -- I love your avatar, all my kids have their own assigned color (towels, folders, toothbrushes, sock baskets, crayon sharpeners), I wish I was able to get socks with striped colors like the ones in your picture that would grow with them, so we always knew whose sock was whose! :)

I just typed this all up in reply to another post, but I thought I would start a new thread in case anyone else is sitting where I was a few months ago, freaking out and thinking "There is just NO WAY I will be able to fit in everything I want to do with all the littler ones to factor in". Of course, this won't fit with every family or curriculum, but I'm sharing anyway in case someone finds something helpful to their own situation! I have taken some of the ideas from Managers Of Their Homes and adapted them for our schedule. Blue is turning 7 and starting 3rd grade (and MUST have quiet for some subjects), Green will be 4.5 and starting the basic 3Rs, Yellow wants to be big and "do school" (Kumon, cutting, etc), Red is loud and makes a mess, and Orange will be immobile for most of this school year. We have lessons planned 4 days per week (not necessarily Mon-Thurs), with the 5th day for planning, catching up, and "free exploration" (I refuse to call it unschooling ha ha). Our perfectly scheduled day (which of course is rare!) is broken into 30 minute chunks. Whatever we don't get done in 30 minutes is dropped or moved to the next day (meaning -- if we've only done half the math problems and he's gotten them all right we'll drop the rest, but if we're only half way through a grammar lesson we'll push it to the next day). I have two students in the school room at once, with the third student playing with Red. On paper it looks like this (my spreadsheet is prettier, but you get the idea): 8:30 - Blue does math with me Yellow does Kumon books, puzzles, or manipulatives quietly Green and Red play downstairs 9:00 - Blue does spelling, handwriting, etc on his own Green works on handwriting and math with me Yellow and Red play upstairs 9:30 - Green and Yellow do preschool with me Blue and Red play downstairs (gives Blue a break) 10:00 - Blue does language arts with me Green has computer time Yellow plays with Red downstairs 10:30 - Blue does history in schoolroom Yellow has computer time Green plays with Red upstairs 11:00 - Blue has computer time I play with Red Green & Yellow do whatever 11:30 - Lunch 12:30 - Blue has silent reading Green works with me on reading Yellow plays or naps Red naps 1:00 - Blue and I do science (full hour) Green & Yellow play Red naps 2:00 - daily project (these things are easier while Red is asleep, Green and Yellow can choose to join us or play): Mon-art, Tue-geography lap book, Wed-science experiment, Thu- SOTW project 7:30 - when all younger kids in bed, Blue does 15 minutes of Latin and then reads to me When you add it all up: Blue does three 1-hour blocks of academics daily, four 1-hour blocks of fun activities weekly, and two 30-minute reading sessions daily -- which is right on track for third grade IMHO. Green does two 30-minute blocks of basics and one 30-minute block of fun activities daily, perfect for Pre-K. Yellow gets two 30-minute blocks of hands-on preschool activities daily. Red gets two hours daily of dedicated play time with his big brothers. Orange will be sleeping behind a locked door or in my eye sight in the school room at all times (those who know my boys are secretly laughing at this).

I typed up my schedule for you (3rd, Pre-K, plus 3 littler ones), but then decided to start a new thread here: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35068

I left this decision up to DH and at first he said yes becaue he had been. Then when I showed him phots online of the procedure, and he read both sides of the issue, he said we would NOT circ (and he was a little disappointed that his parents had done that to him). We agreed that it was our son's choice, so if they ever decide they want it done, we will honor their wish. FWIW... Among the people I know with kids born within the last 7 years, it seems to be about 50/50. So the arguement of "looking different in the locker room" won't be the case any longer. Plus, who is focusing on that in locker rooms? :) Side note... When my grandmother saw my oldest in the bath when he was a baby, she had no idea what was wrong with "it". When her 5 boys were born in the 1950s, circumcision was done as standard procedure and she said she wasn't even asked if she wanted it done or not. Then again, these were the days when she didn't even know what gender the baby was until the she woke up the following day and they brought the baby in to her room for a 30 minute visit. :eek: Another side note... A close friend of DH's had to have the procedure RE-done as a young adult because it wasn't done properly the first time, and there wasn't enough skin (or something like that) to allow proper "functioning" for "adult use" of it. Talk about traumatic! Could you imagine your 15 yo son coming to you with THAT problem? :(

It's probably our fault here in Suffolk. :) There is a fire in the Great Dismal Swamp that has been burning for days. The smoke up here was pretty bad yesterday but seemed gone today, perhaps the winds are blowing it your way? http://www.wavy.com/global/story.asp?s=8464365&srvc=developing

:) Me too. :) My suggestions: - to be able to "turn off" all the fuctions I don't want to use, such as attendance or field trip tracking - some way to keep track of materials needed, so I can print out a shopping list or book list for 2 or 3 weeks ahead of time - a way to plan that isn't tied to a certain number of weeks (more like a checklist, that will keep track of when we did something) - a way to save a schedule created, to be used with later children or if we decide to bump a subject for a year (want to know how many times I've planned out the first few chapters of SOTW? LOL!!) - a way to track notes -- maybe like those tags you can put on blogs (example: I read about a cool new experiment I'd like to do when the kids are older, I want to enter a link and description of it that will be searchable later, either by text or subject) I'm not crazy about the one I purchased that only works on Windows machines -- and the Mac is in the school room anyway, I'd love a Mac-based system that is a little more standardized so there isn't such a large learning curve.

We started with SWO but DS complained. Then we switched to SP (a better fit for him, really) but he has requested SWO again. So we are doing both. :)

Country Girl -- I have the Community concept for ages 6-8 that you can borrow if you would like to look through it. :) Just PM me your address and I'll send it your way. I also have four of the Lit Guides for ages 7-9 that we will be incorporating into this school year (not doing any of the concepts, our plate is already full for this year). There is definitely more writing involved in this level than in the 6-8, such as keeping a journal, writing multiple sentences in assignment, how to write a "hamburger paragraph", etc. I really like the program. I do! :) I spent a LOT of time at the booth last year talking to Kim, and honestly if I didn't already have a path in mind for DS's education, and if I didn't have 5 kids, and if I had discovered it early enough to start at the beginning, I would seriously consider using MBTP for our main curriculum. I hesitate to recommend it to people though, because the style of it ISN'T for everyone. It does require a lot of one-on-one time. It does cover things by jumping around (which appeals to me, but is NOT classical ed in any way! ha ha). Kim had a workshop this weekend at convention, and a friend of mine who attended it HATED it, HATED her approach to teaching gifted kids, can't believe she's selling a whole curriculum, etc. Yet later in the day I stopped by her booth and it was filled with several families who loved everything she said in the workshop and were ready to jump in with both feet. I took time to look through the age 8-10 books that are out now.... I have to say I am impressed with what is covered in it. I can see that if someone used the entire program, it DOES cover what some would consider to be a full education (but not those who think that history should be studied every year... or that science needs to be studied systematically!). So I'm not really recommending this program or recommending against it. You just need to look through it and decide if it is something that would work in your family or not.

FWIW... If you purchased it at HEAV this past weekend (like me :) ), he said it wouldn't ship out until the middle of this week or even next, so if you call them on Monday you could probably switch it without paying the additional shipping.

And if I may add a piggyback question -- are the age suggestions on the website fairly accurate? I feel I should start my oldest at the beginning, but the chart says he should start on level 3. Knowing I could use the first 2 levels again with my youngers, should I just have him go through them quickly (possibly combinging lessons or something)? Also -- any suggestions where to find these used? I don't see them very often on WTM sale/swap.

Hi. :) Me again. :) My curiosity got the better of me and I opened the CD, and it contains ONLY the Teacher Express content of ONE book, not all 16. GRRRRR!!! The listing on Amazon was misleading. I've e-mailed the seller I bought it from to request a return, we'll see. Please don't make the same mistake I did! :(

Hmmmm... this arrived today, but it says "Demo" at the top. I don't want to open the package in case I need to send it back, and they are closed until Monday to call and ask. Wouldn't "Demo" mean it isn't the complete package, somehow? FWIW -- I purchsed the Student Text, Guided Reading Workbook, and Interactive CD-Rom all at the same time direct from the publisher. According to my receipt, the text is c2009, the CD is c2007, and the workbook is c2005. All of the page numbers line up that I looked at. Also, the student workbooks and teacher's all-in-one books do not contain copyright dates inside the books (strange!).

The article linked above states this about the school's website: Since when is spiraling a Scientology term?!? I see they are using Saxon for math... is the spiral approach in Saxon from Scientology too? (teasing, of course!) :lol: I like this from the school's website:

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20165775,00.html This article is from December, but I couldn't find any newer info. Does anyone know about this? I did see one article that said he leased an entire high school just for his own kids... but that doesn't make sense!

We will be plunging into the next school year over the summer. We finished up "last year" a few weeks ago, and I am planning a 3-month Winter Break (baby arrives in October, and with the holidays and family visiting I know we realistically won't start up school again until January), so the next grade level for my oldest starts on Monday (we've been ramping up this week).

Thank you to all of the responders in this thread... it is so nice to be able to read several sides of an issue from moms who have btdt, who are willing to respect the differing views of others who have btdt. This issue is really one of the "hard ones" facing parents. This sharing of information and experiences can help others make their own decision with as much confidence as possible. As for me... the former teacher in me can understand why the school is doing that (pressure from parents probably plays a big role), but the mom in me with a child who reacted badly to vaccines can understand why it may not be the best way to handle the situation! Anyway, forgive me for interrupting your conversation. :) I just wanted to say thanks because I appreciate hearing the experiences of others on this issue without feeling like I need to call Jerry Springer. :grouphug::grouphug:

I purchased a used (but the most recent version) set of the All-In-One Teaching Resources at my local homeschool store for very cheap ($30 for the entire Physical Science set, $15 for the Life Science set because it was missing the one for Human Body). You can also purchase the Teacher Express CD through Amazon Marketplace (they are $199 from PH), this contains the entire interactive text, teacher's edition, labs, student workbooks, answer keys, lesson plans, and more for all 16 of the books. I paid $89 for it, but I'm a little nervous because one seller listed it as only 2 discs, and that is a LOT of info to fit on 2 discs. It hasn't arrived yet, but there were 2 others listed for the same price. If this actually contains what I think it does, then I will be selling the books.

Well...... I guess we eat out more often than I realize. This past week, as I was putting lunch on the table, I had the following conversation with Green and Yellow (who are 4 and 3, btw): Y: Mommy, can I get more lemonade? Me: No, I will get it for you in a minute. G: It's like at a restaurant when you have to wait for a waitress to bring you a refill. Y: But the chefs can get food for themselves. G: (thinking this through) Mommy, are you a chef? Me: Well, I cook food but I'm not really a chef. Y: But you don't cook every day. G: And not at dinner, only sometimes at lunch. :glare::glare::glare: (I voted every day in the poll because it is a rare day that we eat both lunch AND dinner at home)

If you are ok with "educational busy work", these books have some fun activities in them: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Gifted-Talented/Flash-Kids-Editors/e/9781411495562/?itm=2

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We are using (a term I use loosely, since this is our first week actually using it) Science Explorer from Prentice Hall. There are a couple of recent topics in the K-8 forum about it. The input level is right on target for my oldest (who tested in the lower end of the profoundly gifted range with his highest scores in reading comprehension), and the output level is easily adaptable. He reads the sections himself with me there to help with any of the super-scientific words he stumbles on such as which syllable to stress in endoplasmic reticulum (though en-DOS-pla-mic RET-i-clum was pretty cute coming from a 6 yo ha ha). We are doing the Guided Reading worksheets together, he will write the first parts (usually filling in blanks or charts) and I will scribe the second part, usually sentences. He does all of the online/CD animations and quizzes on his own. The labs look do-able for younger students so far (I've only looked at a couple of them), especially since we'll be doing them together. The labs I looked at will actually challenge DS, they're not predictable like most of the others we've tried. DS is a sciencey-type kid, so this was an important factor for us. We are doing the 16 individual books so that we can jump around, but they could easily be done in order to follow the WTM rotation. Each book could take one month or six months, depending on how you use it. We do science every day, but plan to take our time getting through it. I anticipate getting through 2 books per semester, so it will probably take us 4 years to get through them all. The physical science books seem "harder", so we are going to work through some of the life and earth sciences before tackling any of the physical science topics. The series is textbook-ish though. Some of the used versions I looked at seemed to be re-arranged to line up with a particular state's science standards (grrrrr!!!), and there are different editions floating around (best I can tell, 2005 was when they switched to the new format that includes the web codes). It does not contain Christian content, which may be an issue for some. The Cells and Heredity book contains information on evolution (which I suppose Christians could use as an opportunity to discuss their own beliefs on the topic), and there are sections that discuss reproduction in humans (though worded carefully, I know this will lead to questions I'm not ready for ha ha). Overall, this is a good fit for us and may be worth looking into.