[what did you tell you husband when he asked, "What do you want for mother's Day?"]

A couple of hanging baskets for my backyard.... If he asks that's what I'll ask for.

[Bare minimum language arts/grammar... please help!]

I would recommend iew's fix it program. It is a pretty quick and painless way to learn grammar -15 min per day. It's a very natural way to learn. They learn by finding errors. You could always order it and send it back if you don't like it since they have such a great return policy. If your daughter has no aspirations of higher Ed, I think this would be more than enough for her!

[ISO Latin curriculum that teaches the Language]

Visual Latin with Lingua Latina.

 

I second this approach! It's what we've used. I could easily see using this for the different ages you have to teach. Here is a link to my review, if you're interested.

http://intoxicatedonlife.com/2012/04/24/easy-to-implement-latin-curriculum-visual-latin-review/

[Looking for literature guides for 3rd grade]

I really liked the books recommended by veritas press for this level for my son who is a good reader. A couple of the guides were good, but I wasn't terribly impressed with most of them

 

I just wrote a review of our experience with third grade lit. http://intoxicatedonlife.com/2012/04/29/3rd-grade-literature-a-review-of-veritas-press-recommendations/

 

I'd be interested in finding out how memoria press lit guides compare.

[I need sling recommendations for my sil who has a bad lower back.]

I have a few and my fleece pouch is my absolute favorite

[question for those who do NOT school year round]

For us it depends on the subject and how close to the end of our school year it is. We will be done may 18th this year and are leaving on vacation the next day. My son finished his math the end of February and we went ahead and started the next level. I don't think I'd start a new science though for sure.

[3rd grade required reading?]

We used many of the books off of the veritas press recommended literature list for 3rd grade. Stuart little, charlottes web, homer price, couple of the narnia books, Peter pan, misty, dragon of lonely island, story of the treasure seekers, and Alice in wonderland. I also had my son read a few of the historical fiction selections as well.

[Has anyone only used Phonetic Zoo for spelling & had good success?]

We have LOVED it! My son is pretty nonsense. He hated all of. The worksheets and everything that went along with other spelling curriculum. He is a bit young and so I was afraid he might not do well with phonetic zoo yet, but we went ahead and tried. It's been a complete success. He likes it. I like it because he doesn't complain about spelling anymore and he can do most of it. Independently. I plan to review the curriculum on my blog in a week or two, but havent gotten around to it yet.

[Preschool iPad apps]

Thanks! I'm defiantly going to check these out :)

[Latin, what is your favorite]

My son is really no nonsense when it comes to book work.... Less is more for him. I think that is really why we have enjoyed visual Latin. The videos are fun and short and I like learning in context through translation, which they emphasize.

[Preschool iPad apps]

Any good recommendations? We just got an iPad and have found a couple of things for my 7 year old, but nothing yet for my 3 year old.

[Mama and Me Journal]

I saw this on pintrest too and really want to start it with my son!

Thanks for the reminder:)

[Latin, what is your favorite]

We used prima Latina last year and have been using visual Latin this year. It has really worked out well for us! Both my son and I have learned a lot. I recently wrote a review of the program on my blog, check it out if you want :)

[Visual Latin]

Hey, wanted to give you all a heads up that visual Latin has a good sale going on just for the next couple of days. If you're interested in my take on the curriculum I recently wrote a review on my blog. http://intoxicatedonlife.com/2012/04/24/easy-to-implement-latin-curriculum-visual-latin-review/

[Great Free Kindle Book on The Holocaust]

Thanks for the heads up, just downloaded it!

[Move from CLE Math to Teaching Textbooks?]

I can't compare it to CLE math, but we had been doing Saxon math up until towards the end of the year last year. I was quite happy with Saxon, but it was too teacher intensive for what was going on in our life. At the time I had a crazy 2 year old and pregnant with twins and homeschooling my two high school age sisters. The pregnancy had just taken it out of me, so about 3/4 of the way through the year I ordered TT4 and tried it out with my son. He likes it, has learned a lot (as evidenced by him explaining the concepts to me), and I don't have to think a whole lot about teaching math. I'm getting ready to order TT5, but I anticipate that we'll go back to saxon at some point.

[Veritas Press Self Paced History]

My 3rd grade son LOVES the history and has retained so much. We did OTAE last year with me teaching, and this year we're doing NTGR online. I had to do some things to cut my load with the birth of my twin babies. I couldn't be happier with the program!

[Any drawbacks to Visual Latin?]

We're really enjoying Visual latin. DS and I are learning together. The pronunciation doesn't bother me. The only thing I wish, it that there were more practice exercises to reinforce what we're learning.

[Are YOU studying Latin in order to teach you children?]

My 3rd grade son and I are learning latin together. It's fun learning with him! I think he likes knowing that we're on the same playing field together with this subject. We used Prima Latina last year and this year we're doing Visual Latin. We're loving visual latin!

[Visual Latin online Q&A session...]

We used Prima Latina last year... well, about 2/3 of it anyways. That was good for an intro for my son and I, but this is more challenging. It gets into the grammar. But, it's a lot of fun and we're both liking it.

[Helping kids be idenpendent learners. What subjects do your kids do on their own?]

I have a 7 year old, but he is pretty much doing 3rd grade curriculum and is a very strong reader so I think that helps a lot with independence.

 

I have a very needy just turned 3 year old and 4 month old twins, so I'm a busy mama with them! When I found out I was having twins I switched up some curriculum for this year in order to make it easier and help my son be more independent.

 

- We switched from Saxon math (which we were very happy with) to Teaching Textbooks 4. He seems to enjoy it and it was a smooth transition. I used the placement test to find out wehre to put him.

 

- Veritas Press self paced history course (he LOVES doing this and begs to do it every day, it's pretty much completely independent). This is our second year of using VP history but our first of using the self paced course. Pricey, but in my opinion, very worth it!

 

- Phonetic Zoo - I introduce the words and had to help him the first week or so. They went through the words a bit too quickly and he needed me to guide him through pausing and restarting the audio and backing up if need be. He is a pro at it now and doing better with spelling than I ever thought he would! I wasn't sure if he was ready for this, but decided to give it a try and if he wasn't we could shelf it and do something else.

 

- He does part of his reading independently and part of his reading each day orally to me. I have him do this while I'm nursing babies, so I can pull double (or sometimes triple) mama duty!

 

HTH!

[What do you do with your 3 year old?]

Some great ideas! I'll have to implement some of them :)

 

I noticed a couple of people mentioned duct tape... was that for my son to play with or to use on him :D

[How old is your current third-grader?]

My son is 7 and doing all 3rd grade work (though reads more advanced books than that), but I tell him grade levels don't matter when you're homeschooled. I have told him he does 3rd grade work, but is 2nd grade age. When people ask him what grade he is in he says 2nd and 3rd grade. We probably won't let him "go away" to college until he is 18, so if he continues at the rate he's going he will be able to get a year or two of community college under his belt before going to a university.

[What do you do with your 3 year old?]

White board and markers and watercolors would be dangerously messy with my guy! lol

 

He isn't really coordinated enough or familiar enough with the computer to navigate a website with a mouse yet.

 

Any other ideas? thoughts?

[Spelling....it's not getting done!]

I am LOVING Phonetic Zoo for my DS in 3rd grade. I was a little worried because spelling is not one of his better subjects, but he loves it! I think he likes it because he can be independent, there isn't a bunch of fluff (worksheets etc), and he likes the competitiveness with himself (seeing how quickly he can get through a lesson - 2 100% scores in a row).

 

If you want to try it, you can order from IEW and if you don't like it or it's not right for you, just send it back and they'll refund all of your money.