The lessons will tell you which verses to read in order to do the worksheet. Occasionally it will add a note to the teacher to paraphrase a longer passage. We'll be doing Volume 4 next year, but up to this point, we haven't had any lesson take longer than 20-30 minutes. Lana

I see there is a book of tests and a set of worksheets in addition to the main text and teacher's manual. Are those necessary, or can I get away with just ordering the textbook and teacher's manual? Lana

My state requires the equivalent of 180 days or 1080 hours, but we are not required to keep attendance records. We start school the first Monday in August, and sorta-kinda follow the public school calendar. We don't take all the holidays they do. We only take a week for Christmas break, but we're much more likely to take days off in the spring semester when the weather is warm. This year, I'm trying to finish our core work by the end of April so we can take the early summer to do a science and art "intensive" - i.e. do all the stuff we can't seem to get to during the rest of the year. On average, we do about 220 days of school each year - but that includes co-op, days we didn't do bookwork but had piano or gymnastics, field trips, etc. Lana

So is an hour in class enough time to build? We don't have a way to store incomplete projects at the church building we use, and I can't imagine having to transport that many projects home. So I was thinking that projects would need to be built outside of class and then we'd do the testing in class. Our co-op isn't strictly academic, but parents are pretty good about ensuring homework is completed. I love all the extra ideas that were added! I will definitely check out the Disney imagineering and the other thread that was linked. Lana

We have a room right as you come in from the garage. I guess it could be an office or a craft room, but we use it as our schoolroom. It is connected to the kitchen through the utility room and also has a door to our sunroom. One whole wall is upper cabinets and a built-in desk with lower cabinets. I store all our completed schoolwork, books, office supplies, art/craft stuff, and my scrapbooking supplies in the cabinets. We love doing school in here! It is separate enough from the rest of the house that it's easy to focus on school, yet it's close enough to the kitchen and laundry that I can accomplish chores while the kids are working. The only downside I've found so far is that there's not a lot of wall space due to having doors on 3 walls and the desk/cabinets on the 4th. And it can get a little warm/noisy if I'm doing laundry, but we can shut the door and that helps. My girls like it because they have a quick escape into the backyard through the sunroom when it's time for a break! Lana

Good grief, that's ridiculous! I would totally pursue it. Lana

One of my favorites at that age was As the Waltz was Ending. It's about a young ballerina who is in the Vienna Corps de Ballet as WW2 is beginning. It does have some allusion to another girl being raped by German soldiers but I don't remember anything graphic. ETA: This is a true story - I had forgotten that it was autobiographical! Lana

Has anyone done a STEM class in their co-op? I'm on the planning committee for ours and I'm tentatively thinking of a STEM-type class for middle schoolers. I was thinking of doing hands on projects such as the egg drop, toothpick bridges, and drinking straw Eiffel towers. Would this be something you and your children would be interested in? Obviously there would have to be some outside work required, as we would only have 1 hour once a week. But I was thinking that we could learn about the physics terms etc in class, have them build the projects at home, and then we'd have a few class periods devoted to testing their projects. I'd be interested in hearing other ideas for a STEM class too! Lana

Couple of things that have worked for my 8 year old: - rub a drop of lavender essential oil on the bottom of her feet and cover with socks. - repeat the bedtime routine - cuddle, song, prayer - back rub - reverse psychology - tell the child they don't have to sleep but they do have to lie down in their bed with lights off. For some reason, this puts my daughter to sleep faster than anything else!

My oldest started with lesson 27. My younger one had begun to teach herself to read so we started around lesson 35 or so. Lana

If you plan out your entire history rotation, what does that look like? I'm beginning to realize that I've been overly focused on what I can do with my kids together, but now that my oldest is moving into logic stage, I need to start thinking about what I want middle and high school to look like and when/if to separate little sister into her own work. So far, we've done SOTW 1-3 over the course of 1st through 4th grade. I think we will spend 5th grade on American History, but after that I don't have any idea! So I'm interested to see how many of you stick to the 4 year rotation and how many branch off into something different and what that looks like for ms/hs. Lana

With these parameters, what would you choose for American history? - 2 girls, 3rd and 5th grade - Both girls are very strong readers, but average writers - Christian worldview, but I don't necessarily want a providential view of history - Prefer living books to textbooks - Like having mapwork and timelines to help visualize context of history - Leaning towards one year but could be stretched to 2 years if we add a 50 states study (I don't want to go back to SOTW4 until younger dd is at least 4th grade) - Easy to implement (suggested schedules, supplemental booklists, projects, etc. so I don't have to hunt for extras) - Variety of extra projects, activities, etc. to add to core reading/narrations - Fairly inexpensive, or can be found used - Prefer not to incorporate all of our bible, language arts, etc. with history study Here is what I am considering: - Sonlight D and E - Is 2 years too much American history? Should I choose the D+E combo instead? - Beautiful Feet Early American - Could both girls do the Intermediate level or would I need the primary level as well? - Guest Hollow - Notgrass - concerned this might be too difficult for the younger one What else should I consider? Any recommendations I haven't thought of yet? Thanks, Lana

My daughters did Elemental's Earth Science & Astronomy last year as 1st and 3rd graders. What I liked: - Easy to find supplemental books - Experiment kit available for purchase - Experiments were easy to duplicate and fun - Fairly open-and-go What I didn't like: - The same format each week got a little boring. - Too much written narration, especially for my younger one. - Internet links from Usborne book didn't always work - Not really enough information in the readings - I would have liked a list of extra books that we could pick up at the library for further investigations. I have ES Chemistry on the shelf for us to do this spring/summer, but we may move to NOEO for Physics next year. I haven't looked into Christian Kids Explore. Lana

My dd will be 9 in November, so she will be on the older end of 3rd grade. I really haven't thought much about next year yet, but I imagine we'll follow what her older sister did for the most part. Handwriting: A Reason for Handwriting, Level C Spelling: Rod & Staff 3 Grammar: FLL 3 Writing: Probably WWE 3, also considering W&R Fable and Narrative Math: CLE 3 History: ? Not sure on this one, I don't think I want to do SOTW4 yet and that is where we are in the sequence. We may take a year to do some in-depth American History. Geography: Evan-Moor Daily Geography 3 Science: Either Elemental Science Physics or NOEO Physics - with 5th grade sister Latin: Finishing up Latin for Children A and moving into Level B Bible: BSGFAA, Intermediate Level Extras: Piano/voice lessons, gymnastics, and co-op Lana

I have a chest freezer that's about 15 cubic feet. It fits 1/2 a beef (usually around 250 pounds of meat) plus 20 pounds of sausage, 8 or so quarts of frozen peaches, and there is still some room for other stuff. I'm only 5'2" and reaching in isn't a problem until we get to the very bottom of our meat supply. When we get our beef, I organize it in the freezer so I don't have to dig through everything. The hamburger is all stacked on one side, roasts together, steaks, etc. The freezer came with 4 baskets that I put our more frequently used items in. Lana

Possibly iritis? Although I would think the eye doctor would have caught that. I have had it several times and it comes on quite suddenly and is very painful. I have extreme light sensitivity and the actual eyeball hurts all over. It feels hard to the touch, like there is a lot of pressure in the eye. Lana

I'm in Yukon, OK, which is pretty close to Edmond. I slept through the earthquake, but it's not uncommon to feel a few tremors a month. There are more quakes, of course, but I generally don't feel most of them. They're saying now that the Edmond quake has reactivated a small fault line so there will be more and probably bigger ones. Lana

My 10 and 8 year old girls like Wild Kratts, Ever After High, Famous Five, and classic Looney Toons. Tom and Jerry is also a big hit. Lana

I live about 100 feet from my mom. My parents live 2 houses down from us! There are some boundary issues, but for the most part I love living this close! My kids are developing a deep relationship with their grandparents and I wouldn't change that for the world. Lana

I like the Pilot G-2 pens or the Uniball Signo pens. The Pilots came in a pack of turquoise, pink, purple, and maroon. The Uniballs came in a set of black, dark blue, red green, dark purple, neon pink, orange, and a lighter blue. I'm a lefty and these don't tend to smear for me. Lana

My kids have the regular Kindle fire, not the kids version. There are parental controls. You can set time limits and control how much Internet access they have. You can even set it so that time had to be spent reading before it will allow games. We have been very pleased with our Kindles. Lana

For me? Nicer clothes than I usually buy, a couple new bras, or the perfume I've been wanting for ages but can't afford! Or I might save it until January when Dillards does their big shoe clearance sale. For DH - I'd buy a nice sports coat or some good quality shoes. Lana

Popcorn Fruit Black bean brownies (can't remember if they have eggs or not) Lana

Great suggestions! I haven't heard of most of these. Cinder is at the top of my list right now, I had read up on that one and it sounds right up her alley. I had also thought about Ender's Game, I just couldn't decide if it was too sci-fi-ish. And The Giver - ugh. I liked the first one, but the rest of the series was blech. I'm pretty sure she's read that one though, so I'm crossing it off my list. Thanks y'all! Lana

I'd like to get my niece some books for Christmas, and need some ideas. I'd like them to be fairly clean. I know she likes dystopian books, but she has read a ton of them. I'm open to classics that early teens enjoy too, as long as the language in them is fairly accessible. What would you suggest? Thanks, Lana