There is a series called "Encyclopedia of Presidents". I think they are wonderful. My fourth grader is reading them now. They are full of information surrounding the presidency and the president himself. There are also pictures, timelines and other reference books noted in the back. I found them at our local library. Good luck! Marsha :001_smile:

I am starting my list of purchases for next year. I am wanting a microscope for biology and maybe some prepared slides. I was wondering what your favorite microscopes are and why. And if you use, or have used prepared slides, if you liked them or not, and why. Any feed back would be appreciated. Thanks, Marsha :confused:

The option we are with in SC, we are not allowed sick days. We have to have school 180 days. When one child is too sick for school, we are all out. It makes counting the days very easy for me.

You can also find them at Books-A-Million on-line for a good price. Over $25 is free shipping and they now carry the test book too. Marsha

I believe they have made no changes since 1994. Marsha

I simply use a spreadsheet for each child. We are in SC with just a few rules, including record keeping. I keep it as simple as I can. We only test in a couple of subjects right now. I keep Math tests grades on the inside cover, history tests go in a binder, their English tests come in a booklet so all of those grades are in there. At the end of the year, I determine their grades and send them in. Good luck with everything. And don't forget to enjoy yourselves. Too many of us get caught up in the little things when we start. Try to relax. Marsha

If everyone loves drawing and the book is driving you to the point of insanity...drop the book. Take a drive to a scenic place, the zoo, where ever with your paper, pencils, pens (whatever you choose to draw with) and draw. Drawing does not have to be perfect so long as it is fun. Take a picnic lunch with you. You could also find an older child/student who excels at drawing and ask him/her if they would be willing to give your children art lessons. I pay a homeschool student $10 for a class for both of my children twice a month. They have loved it! Good luck.

We love SWO! We have used it since we started homeschooling and now my oldest dd is on Level F. We also work in SpellingCity.com with each lesson, except the review lessons. I also have my oldest write out the definitions to the words (including the bonus words). Hope that helps. Marsha

We tend to follow the book. If it says oral, then we do it orally. If it says written, then we write it. My girls write everything rather than having writing as a seperate subject. There are times we just skip something here and there. Hope that helps a bit. Marsha

This may be more than you are looking for but there is a series called "The Encyclopedia of Presidents". There is a book for each President. They do have a lot of information, but you could pick out the sections to read in advance. Marsha

I admit it...I love TMs! I have the TM for all of our Spelling Workouts (we are currently on E), but really I don't think you have to have one for A. I like them because they give you sentences for the pre-tests and tests. The less thinking I have to do the better, some days. We actually started A the second semester of K. Then in first grade we did B and C (one each semester). C does start to get a bit difficult but so far both of my girls have done well. Our schedule for A-C is to do the pre-test and first couple of pages on day one. Day two, we do Spellingcity.com then on day three we finish the workbook pages and take a test. When we started D and E we added an additional day to write out definitions. Hope that helps a bit. Marsha

I have to say we have been using Spelling Workout for four years and we all love it. There is virtually nothing additional you have to do, unless you want to. Marsha

I have to agree with Cindyg. We love Spellingcity. Honestly, I've never heard of spellingtime.com (but I will probably check it out now). We use Spelling Workout so I just enter the list from the book. Their second, or third, day of working on a lesson they get to do Spellingcity for spelling. So, they use it once for each lesson. My girls love it. Marsha

I remember starting K. Though, honestly, I was more terrified than excited. Enjoy! It only gets better from here. Marsha

We will soon be starting our fifth year of homeschooling. Wow, that shocks even me! Anyway, I am still using the same curriculum that I chose when we started. So far, everything has worked well for both of my children. I admit I come here often to see what others are doing and asking, but I really do not wish to change what we are doing. The only subject that changes each year is geography. And that is usually my own creation of things. So, you are not alone. Just be thankful it has worked out and you are not still searching...as of now. :001_smile: Marsha

I have to admit I am one of those crazy people who put my first grader into R&S English 2. Actually, I did it twice (for each of my girls). We have not had any problems so far. My oldest is now in third grade doing English 4 and my youngest is in first grade doing English 2. My oldest breezed through, but I have to admit we did Language Lessons 1 (before 2 came out) until I wanted to pull my own hair out. I also tried ABeka Language 1 and could not for the life of me understand why they had children writing stories and NEVER explained what makes a good sentence. I love R&S English. Whatever you decide to do one thing will be guaranteed: they will know English. The workbooks are great too for the added practice, though my daughters dislikes them immensly. Good luck. Marsha

If you look on page 238 of your ds's textbook, you will find (in the third paragraph) a list of some prepositions. It may help if you just go over the list with your ds. You go to any page in his reading book and ask him to find all the prepositions he can. Then come back to the lesson when he is more comfortable. This lesson drove my daughter a little nuts too. Good luck. Marsha

I used the second grade R&S English for both of my girls in first grade. They have enjoyed it. Though I have to admit I'm not sure what I'm going to do when they get through with the 10th grade level in 9th grade, but I have time to figure that one out. Good luck. Marsha

My 3rd grader is currently studying the US Presidents and we are using the Encyclopedia of Presidents series. They are well written and have some great pictures. Good luck. Marsha SC

I would suggest R&S 4 for your son. If I remember correctly, at level 5 the difficulty increases quite a bit. We are just finishing R&S 3 and I could see a step up in difficulty from R&S2. Good luck. Marsha

I don't care what most people say the "terrible twos" are really around three. I wouldn't worry. You seem to be doing well with your daughter, who is in K; and your son listens to you when you ask him to do something. Believe me that is more than I get some days with my 5 and 7 year olds. Don't panic, be calm. I do agree with getting support, maybe other moms or dads in your area who homeschool. I get a lot of support from my husband but when it comes down to it the other men and women who are doing the schooling they "get it". Good luck, Marsha SC

We are going to use the "Kingfisher First Encyclopedia of the Human Body", "Everybody has a body" (experiment book) and I throw in "Animal World" to show how there are similarities and differences between humans and animals (it is a very short book). I plan on doing all of the activities in the First Encyclopedia of the Human Body too. For each section of reading, I ask them to write three sentences about what they read. If needed, they will tell me the sentences and I'll write them down. I am thinking of adding a new book, "Easy to Make and Learn Projects: Human Body". I've seen it online and it looks interesting. I hope that helps a little. Marsha

Mary Pope Osborne did a series of six books based on The Odyssey. I think for 7 and 9 they would work well, maybe not so much for the 11 year-old depending on the reading capability. Marsha

I actually bought the 2nd grade English thinking I would hate it and then I'd look for something else. But honestly, I love it! My daughter doesn't hate it, thats huge! I have to be honest though, it does take us longer than 20 mins to get the work done (more like 30-50 depending on dd's attention level for the day). This is only our second year doing it but so far I plan on continuing. Hope that helps a bit. Marsha

I have used HOP for both of my girls now, but I had a version printed in the early '80s. It is a complete set from starting to read to college level all in one box. Right now my 5yo dd just finished the third book. I don't know what level that would be in the store version. But here is what I've noticed: I see that she struggles with certain sounds (mainly "sh" and "ch") but she wants to learn and tries very hard. She likes to read books that she knows all the words in, so I encourage her to get books where she doesn't know all the words. I think it is simple because she is comfortable with certain words. I suggest taking your kindergartener to the library and find the section with the easy readers. Encourage book choices that will be fun for your child but will maybe push the envelope a bit. Most people I know don't push their children to read past their comfort level but I'm not one of them. I feel a slight push may open their eyes to things they never thought they could do. Most importantly be patient and keep trying. Good luck and I hope somewhere in this you found something useful. Marsha