Our current situation is that all three kids are in a private, religious school. I HS’d my eldest for K, 1st, and part of 2nd grade. I put her in school a year ago because I wasn’t able to balance homeschooling, two toddlers, and graduate school. My two youngers started at the same school this past fall in their Montessori Pre-K program. I have no interest in ever having my kids attend public school. If I ever feel that they need to come home, or if they ask to come home, I will do so immediately and go back to homeschooling full-time. When my 3rd grader started last year, she had no trouble sliding into a classroom setting. She was on par or ahead of what the other 2nd graders were doing on most subjects. The only thing she was behind in was language arts, and that was because I took a much gentler approach. My daughter’s current teacher likes that my daughter looks at things differently from the other kids in her class, and her teacher attributes that to homeschooling. She learned things the other kids haven’t (conversely, she does have some gaps compared to them). I take a hands-on approach to all three of my kids. One of main reasons I felt comfortable sending my kids to this school is because none of the teachers I talked to were threatened by me continuing to teach them at home. All of the teachers encouraged it. They ask me what I am doing with them at home, and what curricula/websites I use. The school’s way of teaching is similar to my way of teaching, and that probably helps. At conferences, I’ll tell them what I’m doing at home. They will also tell me where my kids (mostly my 3rd grader) are the weakest, and I try to make that the focus. Admittedly, I have been sporadic with what we do at home because of graduate school, but all of the kids love doing “mommy schoolâ€. With my eldest, I fill in the gaps. We do science and history at home because the school takes a very informal approach in the younger grades. I also need to start working on math again because she has backslid severely in what she can do. The math program is the only complaint I have about the school. In some ways, having my kids at school frees us up to do the “fun†school. It has immensely improved my schooling relationship with my 3rd grader. I don’t feel the pressure to make sure she’s getting everything done. Once I am done with graduate school, it will be easier for me to be more consistent with teaching my kids at home. It also will make it much easier if any of them need/want to come home.

I thought the Earth Science program was poorly written. I ended up scrapping it and creating my own program. I was so turned off that I didn't want to look at her chemistry program. It might be a much stronger program, but was too frustrated to bother looking at it. I liked how RSO breaks everything down, what it covers and in what order. It felt like it has more content without being overwhelming.

For preschool/K or for the whole family? For us, preschool/K: Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Hoot Owl Hoot Fruttirelli Hoppin' Poppies Chicken Cha Cha Cha Hisss! Splish Splash Spot It! Jr

I have the intro pages printed out, and will print the first few lessons today. I wanted to know what peoples' favorites were - favorite lessons or activities from RSO Chemistry. Did you supplement with any picture books or videos? Which ones did your kids enjoy? DD is in love with all things chemistry, and I want to make it as awesome as possible for her.

I am starting to plan out chemistry, and wanted to know what books/videos/activities/experiments you liked with RSO Chemistry. We're switching from Elemental Science, so I'm not familiar with how RSO does things. Thank you. :)

I wouldn't use LCD for kids that young. Song School Spanish would be better. It's more little kid friendly, the songs are catchy, my DD had good retention, and it's organized in a way that makes sense (as in it starts with basic words and conversations). DD got about halfway through LCD in K before we switched. Her retention was decent, but the lessons were disjointed, and she could say a bunch of words, but not really have a conversation. The workbook is also geared towards older elementary.

I tried La Clase Divertida with my oldest when she was in kindergarten. We ended up stopping about halfway through and switched to Song School Spanish. LCD - DD had decent retention with it, but the lessons felt somewhat disjointed (so she new a lot of random bits, but not anything really cohesive). The workbook was also geared towards older kids. SSS - Very simple, catchy songs, starts with basic words/conversations. We still sing some of the songs. The worksheets are simple. I'm going to start it with DD #2 this summer.

Here's a link to a list of my girls' favorite board books: https://plantplantelectro.wordpress.com/2012/08/23/the-girls-favorite-board-books/ My son's favorites: Dear Zoo Duck & Goose (pretty much all of them) I've weeded most of our board books, and I don't remember all of the others he liked. Some of them are repeats of the girls' favorites. He was more interested in lift-the-flap books.

This list is essentially a repeat of all three of my kids' favorite board books. :)

Thank you for your suggestions! I found some sites with directions for making fossil eggs (either frozen water or a mixture with coffee in it). I was trying to think of some fun supplementary activities (or books) to go with it. :)

I want to do a dinosaur unit study with my daughter and need suggestions for activities/crafts/experiments that were successful. I should be okay for books/videos, but if you have any must read/watch suggestions, I'll take 'em! Thank you!

DD4 just started going to a full-day Montessori program, but at home we are going to do: RS A CTC Mathematical Reasoning Beginning 1 BambinoLUK Knowledge Quest Pre-K workbook She desperately wants to do "mommy school" and these are fun and not overly taxing. We haven't started RS A yet - probably in the next sev wks or so. She also has an interest in reading (and has for over a year), but I'm leery of starting it because has speech problems. Maybe in January.

I could go either way with it. At the beginning of the year, we were good with using the extras, but at is progressed, we didn't. I liked that it had booklists, but some of the books were hard, if not impossible, to find in my local library (or on amazon). I don't know if I'll buy the student pages for my younger two when I do it with them. If you have a hard time finding your own resources, I would look at blogs of others who have done SOTW1. I found a lot of ideas that way. I also found activity ideas in multiple activity books appropriate to the given historical time.

I know there's a thread about this in the K-8 board, but other than Calvin and Hobbs, what's listed looks like it might be too young. Do you have any suggestions for books or comics for an older teen/young adult to supplement learning French? The only one I can think of is Asterix and Obelix. The books don't have to be originally in French, just translated into it. Thank you!

Thank you! I don't know how I missed that thread. I will take a look at it.