Here's the next question...this engineer bent seems like a very expensive mode of education...My son would LOVE the Fischertechnik kits, but they are pricey! What are some ways I can encourage this without breaking the homeschool budget? Where is a good starting point? Beth

I DEFINATELY want to keep it fun. I'll have to look at some random circuits and try out my friends snap circuit set. I want to give him a well rounded education--he is young and maybe something else will be a hit next year, but this is a kid who as a toddler was trying to take apart stuff with a screwdriver. I don't even know what all of the below even is - I guess I'll learn along with him... It's like talking a whole different language to me! Keep them coming...this is a great start. Beth

I have a 2nd grader who wants to take electronic stuff apart, is building all sorts of contraptions, and is gifted in math (event though he could take it or leave it - at the rate he's going, Calculus will be in his future at 9th grade). Another friend of ours has noticed this too, enough to the point where they would like to sponsor him for Lego robotics teams when he's old enough. He actually cried when I told him he was too young for advanced electronic learning kits (he has no experience with even basic sets). Have you ever had a kid seem to have a life direction at a young age? Also, how do I teach him about this stuff? Kits? What do I do with this kid? Beth

Here's a site for a free lapbook and even an example for a Japan lapbook: http://www.homeschoolshare.com/country_lapbook.php Beth

I had the same problem. Ds was reading 2-3 levels beyond his grade, but his spelling was HORRIBLE! We switched to All about spelling. It's very easy to do (15 min or less a day) and has dictation built in it of words they should already know (great review!). Ds has improved GREATLY. I am not changing a thing. It works for us. Beth

I have year 1 and 2 and have ordered 3. I don't like digital copies. The reason it has taken me so long to decide on TOG was because the 3 week sample was in digital format and I couldn't figure out what pages I needed to print out ( I didn't want to print out 60+ pages for a week to see if I liked it). Seeing it in print made it sooooo much more appealing since I could just see in my hands what I needed. So when I get around to year 4, I will print out the whole thing. Beth

This is just a regular "Joe" giving a plug for the Old Schoolhouse Magazine. Go here http://www.theoldschoolhousestore.com/ to get a year's subscription for $7.95. It's only until November 30th. Before you do, make sure it's a print version and not an e-version. I didn't check out that part of it. I'm pretty sure it's a print version. Give yourself a nice cheap gift for Christmas! Beth

Is Lively Latin a lot of history? I really don't want the history part - would that just axe out 1/2 of the program? Beth

This program sounds like fun from people's descriptions, but the first 2 sample chapters you can download look HORRIBLY TOUGH! All that grammar and declensions (I don't even know what this means much less how to spell it!) with new words put in really looks tough and hard to teach....a lot of words on the page full of stuff that I have no idea what it is. Also, I downloaded the sample DVD they have from the site and it was some kids chanting and the teacher trying to teach something with a not too clear nor exciting explaination. Am I missing something here? Beth

I asked this directly from the Answers in Genesis people (just so you know it's not second hand information). They say Spring of 09'. Beth

I'm not a fan of digital. It took actually having a copy in my hand before we decided to go with TOG (next year mind you). So, as a result, I am pre-purchasing years 2 and 3. Then, I'll have only 1 year that I need to be annoyed with. I can handle that. I plan on using TOG for 3 kids for all 12 years, so in my opinion it's an investment in the future. Beth

We are on our second year of MFW (we are currently using ECC). It nice that it's open and go for the most part, but I am finding it to be very light. Without the book lists in the back, the ECC geography study (in my opinion at least) can be done with a few books. My ds wanted to do an additional country and it was VERY easy to make it up on my own with the books used in other countries. We are substituting science with an earth science because my son wanted more experiments and I wanted a more logical sequence. I have added extra notebooking pages and an extra writing program. So, now I feel like I have a complete program and I'm using this program with a young 3rd grader. So, we will not be continuing. I found Adventures to be good, but once again, it was saved by the book lists in back. Without the extra books, it's not much. Now, just so you know - I feel like our homeschool is supposed to go in a more rigorously classical direction so my opinion is a little different from a true Charlotte Mason fan. If you really like the very gentle approach, you will find that MFW is a good curriculum. For us, it's not a fit. Beth

Don't know who she is yet, but she's alive. We're on the "waiting children" list so she'll have some medical problem when she arrives. We should know this winter who she is and then just wait for travel permission. We can't wait to meet her! Beth

I'm realizing that I need a lot of hand holding for Latin. Languages in the past have been very difficult to me and I'm not so sure how to teach them. I would like a DVD teacher to be a master teacher for me and my kids so we can both learn Latin together. This would be for 3rd grade. Beth

Does a young 4th grader really need to know sentence diagramming? All I remember is being in 7th grade trying to diagram sentences and being totally confused. It probably didn't help that I didn't know parts of speech. I'm more of a less is more kind of person. To be honest, sentence diagramming freaks me out. There's so much "I" don't know as a teacher. Language arts is NOT my strength. Beth

This is concerning grammar and to delay or not to delay...First off- I'm not a language arts person (I barely know parts of speech - BIG gap in my education). Math is my speciality. I'm of the mindset that grammar and all that can wait until the child is reading well and learning to write. Well, I'm at that point. We're heading into 4th grade stuff. I've got spelling (AAS) and writing (WWE) figured out because they make a lot of sense to me personally. The whole other part of the language arts (alphabetizing, parts of speech, when to add an apostrophy, ect...) I really don't know how to teach. He's learned a lot about sentence structure through dictation, but I really am not all that great in the "everything else" category. Up until this point, we've done Primary Language Lessons (I skip the dictation sentences). I'm confused as to where to go from here. I'm not too thrilled with Intermediate Language Lessons as it is a lot more writing and I think WWE is the way to go for us. Learn grammar through Latin instruction? So, what do I do? Continue to delay grammar? Start something like Easy Grammar? Help me figure this out. Thanks! Beth

A-Z mysteries are good. There are 26 + of them. Magic Tree house books. Beth

Currently, we are doing PLL, AAS, and I am going to start WWE because I can integrate writing into the rest of what ds is learning (and it's a writing program that makes sense to me). I am finding that I am duplicating language art goals. For example, WWE has dictation and copywork, AAS has dictation, and PLL has dictation and copywork (along with other things). I would like to keep WWE and AAS, but PLL I'm not too sure about. I've been skipping the dictation already and the oral summaries would seem to be overkill when I start WWE. I would like something that ds can do independently. I'm open to workbooks since we really don't use them a whole lot anyhow (something like easy grammar?). Any suggestions on how to streamline this? Beth

We just finished that part in the book. I think it's just a review problem. I take some of the excercises out of the Sonlight Teachers Manual that accompanies Singapore Math. I've also just copied down problems he's already done and had him do them again after a later lesson (he doesn't remember them). I totally skipped the whole section on gallons, pints, ect. I'm not sure if I will teach it or not. "I" don't remember all the conversions. If he has those yards/feet/inches ect on review problems, I just write the conversions on the top of the page. It REALLY makes me wish the United States had converted to metric all those years ago. Metric is sooooo much easier and makes sooooo much more sense. All that to say, I do think Singapore did those concepts really fast, but I don't think changing the whole math program is worth it. Beth

We were into year 2 of Horizons math when I noticed that ds was becoming just like his mom - knew how to plug stuff into a formula but beyond that - math was confusing. I noticed it when I told him to add 12+10 in his head. He couldn't do it and could of if he had written it down. We also used to skip half the problems in the math book. So, we switched. Granted, we only had 1 1/2 years of Horizons math under our belt which is a little different, but we switched to Singapore math. He wound up having to go back a "grade" , but zipped through it quickly. Ds is really understanding how math works, not just how to plug numbers into formulas. He's finally gotten used to word problems which don't freak him out. It does go quickly and sometimes we just park ourselves on a certain concept for a while if he doesn't get it, but the lessons are SHORT. We do all the problems. There is a teacher's manual made by sonlight that is very easy to use. So, we loved Horizons in the color and the spiral, but are finding Singapore to be much more effective and ds is really mastering the material and doesn't need spiral as much because of that. Yes- just another thing to consider. It's a big decision to make. The grass sometimes looks greener on the other side. Beth

Follow the link for the yahoo group listed on the page. You will then have to join the yahoo group. The instructions for the free lapbook are listed in the files section. I'm including the information above in case I'm not supposed to tell it here and it gets deleted. Here are the instructions listed in the file: 1. Go to liveandlearnpress.com 2. Click Login on the navigation bar 3. Type YahooGroup in the username box and yahoo in the password box 4. Click MYBOOKS on the navigation bar 5. Click the download box on the lapbook you want and save it to your desktop 6. Click LOGOUT I hope this helps! Beth

How about a free lapbook? It's geared to a little older than 2nd grade, but easily adaptable. It included suggestions for books. It's a very easy and pain free way to learn about the 1st Thanksgiving and it's FREE. Go here: www.liveandlearnpress.com/freebies.phpWe did this last year and it was a hit. Beth

I don't use them either. I just use the ones that are rule breakers because ds so likes to put them in jail. Beth

I have used this book in the past (http://books.google.com/books?id=aHVRlKpi99MC&dq=teaching+art+to+children&pg=PP1&ots=O5tps390yk&source=in&sig=vT-3OTzpBLqY1IyBhS_HTzXs5OA&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=11&ct=result#PPT9,M1). Near the end of the book, it has suggestions on learning about different artists along with book ideas. They do have a section on color theory. It's very easy and painless. Please note, it is written for a classroom situation, but is easy enough to adapt. Beth

We did Adventures last year with a 1st grader. We liked it well enough, but without the book basket (we read A LOT of books from the library), it's really not that much to the program. I did find the first half of the Adventures year a lot better than the second half. The hands on was more interesting. The second half was mostly an overview of the states with the most hands on being coloring pages. We did have a good year. We are in ECC this year and I have had to beef it up even with the book basket books (and with a 2nd grader at that). It's a very light program. It does the job well in that ds is really knowing his geography, but I would not call it a rigorous program. I think for those early years, it's a good program since they are still trying to cement phonics and all that. If you want hands on with sonlight, I don't think it would be that hard to add. If you don't like going to the library, Adventures may not be the program for you. Beth