Ours depended on the experiment. Some we did as a demonstration style. Some each kid did their own. Our group was only 7 students. Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk

We use the library, Netflix documentaries, and various outings and activities. For zoology, I got them animal encyclopedias and a zoo pass. We went at least twice a month to the zoo (usually weekly) and they talked to zoo keepers and we kept notes of the things they wanted to check out while we were at the zoo. For botany, we got a few "how to" type gardening books and started our own Square Foot vegetable gardens and an herb garden. We looked up the kinds of things that help plants, what things hurt them, and figured out how to care for them. We then did a little nutrition stuff when things were springing up about nutrients in plants vs. meat, etc. We also have a local science museum, which I am considering for this year's "curriculum".

I ordered Grammarland last week, so I guess I'll go that route.

I have one child who is transitioning from first to second grade. (I use the grade thing loosely because I find it difficult to label grades in homeschooling.) She is 7. I'm needing a grammar program for her. FLL was a complete bust for us. It was boring. We had some personal issues with the curriculum. We ended up skipping a lot of the material because she either knew it or didn't need the correction being offered. Would MCT (Grammar Island) be too advanced for a 7 year old? And if so, what should I use instead? I also have a child transitioning into first grade. He'll be 6 next month. And I need a replacement grammar for him because I am not putting myself through another year of FLL. Any suggestions? Could he use MCT, as well?

I had stumbled across that site a couple years ago and couldn't refind it! Thank for the link!

My DD is a workbook junkie. She loves workbooks. For her, reading wasn't quite clicking with using TOPGTR only. She would stare at the page and get this blank look. I started using Modern Curriculum Press Phonics A Workbook, she started reading immediately. I'm not sure what it is with her, but she needs the visual and read and write connection. My oldest DS, he just picks things up by hearing, so he doesn't need the workbooks. With him, I can just do TOPGTR and he gets it. The same workbook that launched my DD from non-reader to reader frustrates him because his ability to read is far beyond his writing ability. For him, the workbook discourages him because he can't write very well yet. So, we skip them for him. It really just depends on your child. If you're non-workbook phonics program just isn't working, then by all means, give a workbook a chance. I always try the simplest first, if that doesn't work, I slowly complicate things until I find what works.

Although we've been homeschooling for 2 years now, I feel like I'm just beginning, since this next school year will be our first first grade year. :001_huh: I was planning to use SOTW like a good Well-Trained Mind homeschooler, but now I'm rethinking. I want to somehow incorporate the Old Testament into their History, but I don't necessarily want a history that is only about Israel. I want them to have a broad view, but not omit the Biblical account. I'm worried MOH would be just a glorified Bible study, not a complete history. Then I look at TOG and think maybe that route makes more sense. I'lm just getting more and more confused. So, tell me your experience with history. MOH, SOTW, TOG, :001_unsure:

She has pretty good comprehension skills. We're reading Oliver Twist right now and she can tell you the entire story up to this point, which I was pretty impressed with. I wasn't really thinking she was listening very much, but apparently she is. Thank you for the link. I'm going to check it out right now. My 4 year old is using some of the ETC stuff. It really wasn't up my DD's alley. She prefers TOPGTR. My son likes ETC more than TOPGTR. Go figure.

Thanks. Our goal isn't to get ahead or anything. We're just trying to press on. It seems our years don't divide out like public school and they move at their own pace through their work. I just didn't really know where WWE would fit into all of it.

Yes, she can write all her letters. She writes all the time, actually. Little notes. Just words she knows over and over. She does some copy work on her own. (I'll go into her room and she'll be sitting with her notebook and a book, copying the words.)

My daughter is transitioning from her Kindergarten work to First Grade type work. I've noticed she really needs a little more school each day than I have been doing. (As a Kindergartener, they do reading, math, and we just read books.) She has started writing on her own and is reading. I'm wondering if it is time to start Writing With Ease and First Language Lessons. What skills do they need to have before beginning those two?

The Write Start is a really great book with lots of info on getting your kid writing correctly while still helping them love to write. There are lots of writing activities (games) for kids of all ages. I think adding some of these activities into his day will help him. She also has several suggestions on how to correct them when they get into bad habits.

My kids love the Usborne Encyclopedias. They are younger, but it seems like they enjoy having all that information at their fingertips. They are always obsessing over something new they've found in the encyclopedias. We have most of the science ones. I don't 100% love them, because I feel they are a bit juvenile at times. I despise dumbing things down for kids, which Usborne is sometimes guilty of. (Ex. Calling the femur the "leg bone".)

I'm a "keep it simple" person. My main focus for Kindergarten is reading. We read a lot of books out loud and work on phonics. We use Essential Math, and the kids like it and have picked up on basic math concepts very easily. But I try to only do math a few days a week. Reading we do daily. They did Zoology last year for fun. (We read about animals & went to the zoo weekly. At the zoo, the kids asked the zookeepers questions. It wasn't anything planned out.) This year, they're doing botany for fun. Reading about plants. Visiting the botanical gardens. Asking gardeners questions about gardening. Nothing planned. Personally, I don't want to do a foreign language just yet. I want them to get a very good grasp of the English language and have a very large vocabulary before we begin Latin and Greek. I guess that is a personal preference, but I'd like for them to know their parts of speech in English before we delve into a foreign language. Kindergarteners don't have the longest attention spans. I find that mine can do maybe 2 hours of book work a day before they go crazy. (My son can only do about an hour and a half most days.) I don't like to push them at this early age to do more because they are still at the age that school is fun. I don't want to ruin that by over-scheduling them.

We'll be starting year 2 of our 2 year Kindergarten with my soon to be 4 year old and my 5 year old. Well, we don't ever really stop for summer, so I guess we're just continuing. My 5 year old will be moving on to some 1st grade curriculum, but I decided against starting all of her 1st grade stuff until she's reading more fluently.