Thanks everyone. It's been a long day. I had to stop at Target for printer ink and my 4yo (who is the sweetest most compliant little thing most of the time) decides to have a mammoth meldown in the middle of the store as we are checking out. :glare: REALLY??? Sigh. I'm praying tomorrow is a better day. :001_smile:

Yes, the same child I have had MAJOR issues with over the years. The same child who tries my patience every.single.day. The same child who was hospitalized 2 years ago b/c his behavior had become out of control. I just don't GET him! His behavior has become less violent and he is more in control of his actions now. He is def. "growing up". But, he still has major issues. School started for us 2 weeks ago. He has good days (when he will get most of his work done w/ minimal complaining...and some days even JOYFULLY). And then he has days (like today) when he fights me about EVERY.BLESSED.SUBJECT! I just don't get it! It's every other day. A good day followed by a really bad day, rinse and repeat. I don't know what to do with him anymore! I have absolutely NO patience for his tantrums, his whining, his "I can't do this" attitude. He acts like a 2yo. We aren't even up to full speed yet! Dh is away on a trip this week...he has more patience for ds11 than I do. When he is home, ds11 will do most of his work with dh. He has gotten 3 subjects done today (handwriting, math (1/2 of it) and History (which we do together). And he has already melted down. He stomped off, was walking up and down our short hallway saying, "I just don't know what to do anymore!"...almost like he was WAY overwhelmed about something. I sent him to his room to cool off, he refused to go...that's when I got really ticked (so sick of him telling ME what he will and will not do), yelled, threatened and eventually took away friend privileges for the week. Yeah, I know...not my best parenting moment. :glare: But I'm done! I'm just DONE! I don't know if I want suggestions or just needed to vent. I have a LONG night ahead of me, no relief in sight with dh away (I know...big deal...some of you single parent or have military spouses on year long deployments...). My 4yo shoved 2 CDs in my Macbook, breaking the CD drive, I have to go get that fixed, have no $ with which to do that and can't just leave the computer anyway b/c it is our only one. I just need to scream and cry and then I'll be find. Thanks for letting me vent.

I get mine at Target. It's a MEAD product called Primary Journal and it looks like a composition book (not spiral bound). It has lines on bottom (the 2 line kind with dotted line in btwn) and space for drawing at top. :)

This is what I am wondering? My cousin said she heard that when they searched the shooter's house they found more guns/shot guns. My cousin's brother (obviously my cousin as well, but wasn't sure how to write that, lol!) was one of the officer's first on the scene. The victim was a 17yo boy with Downs Syndrome. Another friend of mine knows him as one of her foster children with special needs is good friends with the boy. His name is Daniel. Please pray for him. :(

I haven't used it, but have you checked out Confessions of a Homeschooler's K curriculum? It is a download and I just love all of her stuff. :D Very inexpensive.

in the town where I grew up and where we now attend church. :( http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/27/shooting-perry-hall-high-school_n_1833403.html?utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false I grew up pretty much in this area and we now attend church literally a block away. This is a GOOD neighborhood and a GOOD school. My cousin's daughter attends the school and was in class with the shooter JUST BEFORE THIS HAPPENED! He went to lunch and she had another class. The boy's plan was apparently to have a mass shooting...kills lots of people. I'm just thanking God his plans were thwarted. Too close to home...much too close to home.

Yes, All American History. I think I will def. condense the Explorers into 4 weeks. We already did Leif the Lucky and are now moving into Marco Polo and Prince Henry the Navigator. I will condense the other units and just pick the most important. I like the idea of keeping this as a "guide" but not doing all the reading from the student reader. I'm going to check out my other "spines" and see how the reading compares. Anything will be more "exciting", I think!

what should I do? I have a 6th, 4th and 2nd grader doing AAH and we are only on Week 2. It's "ok". But I just don't love it and I find myself dreading the readings each day. And my kids aren't retaining much. I think they retain more from our supplemental books than the actual lesson. AND, I cannot fathom spending 7 more weeks on Explorers! So...I have GuestHollow's free curriculum but that would take some time in planning, gathering the necessary books, etc. I also have several other "spines" like the Light and the Glory series, some CLP books like Exploring American History. Any suggestions on where to go from here if we decide to ditch AAH? Thanks!

:grouphug: Crystal. I am sorry to hear it isn't getting much better for you. I do hope it picks up...I can't imagine going through the whole year hating the program. My kids really haven't caught the "vision" of Thinking Like a Christian...they just do it cause it's on the agenda, lol. I'm hoping it "clicks" for them soon. I'm looking ahead in Am. Lit...and hoping we don't hit that rough patch as you did. Funny you said MFW wouldn't work for your next in line...I was thinking that about my ds12. He really enjoys HOD and if Carrie comes out with 1 guide each year as planned he will likely use HOD for high school. But, we shall see. Things can change. Praying your year gets better. You could always ditch the Am Lit portion and use Lightning Lit. Just a suggestion.

JFB, I posted a thread about this on the MFW board. There is also another mom doing the same thing. It's not recommended, obviously, but I am tweaking so it will work for us. :)

Lori, this was another reason I decided to combine. I figured the discussions would be much more interesting with 3 or more of us discussing. :D

My dd15 is in 11th grade and has been using MFW's high school curriculum since 9th grade. She really likes it (perhaps not ALL the content but def. the format). In order to simplify my own life and keep all my kids on the same time period in History, I also put my ds14 (9th gr) in MFW US1 (it is an 11th gr program so I was a bit leary). Here are my thoughts so far: I like it. :001_smile: My dd15 has already fallen into a good rhythm as she is comfortable with the format and the guide. Ds14 has also gotten into a good rhythm with his work. My initial fear that the work would be too challenging or over his head was unfounded...so far. He is going well! The BJU History text is a bit "dry" (much more so than Notgrass used in the previous 2 years) and if I had the $ I might get Notgrass Exploring American for him. BUT, the reading is NOT over his head. He and dd15 do the assignments together and I am careful to observe and stop dd15 from answering all the questions (ds14 can be lazy and would be perfectly happy to "copy" her answer. :glare:). THe writing assignments have been doable so far. Ds14 is a much more confident writer than dd15 and tackles the assignments head on. He is a good influence for dd15 who has completed the first few assignments w/out ANY TEARS. (Trust me this is a HUGE deal). I think the only component of the curriculum that is giving my ds any difficulty so far is Thinking Like a Christian (Biblical Worldview). It's TOUGH...they really have to think (so do I!). But it is GOOD...really GOOD. We joined a local co-op and both ds will be taking government with the co-op so I will not be assigning ALL of the Under God/Never Before in History assignments. Ds14 is also taking American Lit using the Lightning Lit guides and this will be a good "fall back" in case the Lit in MFW gets to be too much for him. I am pleased so far...and a bit relieved. I'm hoping this is an indication of how the rest of the year will be. :D

Well, after 2 weeks for my 2 in high school and 1 week for the rest of my crew, I am starting to get into a rhythm, seeing where I might need to "tweak" and grateful that my husband was working from home for much of this week. :D Honestly, that man just ROCKS! Last year, I spent hours designing a very colorful and beautiful Excel spreadsheet schedule for our day. Who was doing what and when, with whom and for how long, etc. It was impressive...on paper...not so much IRL. :glare: So this year...I just sort of let my kids pick their own schedule of subjects...they seem to fall into their own rhythm and I just sat back and observed (well, not really sat back, but YKWIM). Now, I can design my own schedule around that so that I'm not pulled in 7 different directions at a time. :D Some of our curriculum faves this year: Sequential Spelling with my ds9 (struggling reader and speller) and dd7 (advanced reader, natural speller) is the BOMB! I love, love, love it and it is working beautifully for BOTH children. I'm going to add my ds11 next week b/c I think it will really benefit him as well (and perhaps even ds14 who can't spell to save his life :glare:). HOD Rev to Rev is awesome...of course. So glad I bit the bullet and spent the $ to get it for ds12. I am able to use "some" of the program for ds11, though not all of it (but I knew that going in). AAH for ds11, ds9 and dd7 is "okay". I wanted to LOVE it, but I don't. I like it and if I tweak it (use it as more of a guide as to what to teach but use more living books, etc.) I can see us enjoying our year in Early Amer. History. Also using GuestHollow's free curriculum as a supplement and source for alternate activites/books/projects, etc. My ds9's reading ability has improved by leaps and bounds over the summer...I am flabbergasted! All in all, it was a successful start to the new year and I am excited to see what God has in store for us this year!

Thanks everyone! We have some Mercy Watson, Magic Treehouse, Bears on Hemlock Mountain, etc. I'll start her with some of those. And no...we don't do Judy B. Jones around here, either (for the same reasons). :tongue_smilie:

My newly-turned 7yo has been ready for more advanced books for some time now. Any suggestions for books a step above the Frog and Toad/Little Bear type books...she's asking for chapter books. Magic Treehouse? She is an eager reader and will read just about anything. Thanks.

Having to be frugal...we recycled a Blue Bunny ice cream container (it is plastic, not cardboard like most) and put crayons in there. I taped white paper all around it and wrote "Crayons" on it as well as on the top (to cover over the ice cream decal since it wasn't peel off). We also used the sterlite shoe boxes for marker. For colored pencils I bought a plastic sand box pail in the Target $ section...so we could stand them up and see colors better. Not optimal but it works.

:grouphug: and prayers. I had 3 m/c in a row before our 7th child. I was devastated. Went to a specialist to figure out why b/c I didn't want to keep getting pregnant only to lose the baby. He said it was just a "fluke" that I had 3 in a row...nothing to be concerned about. Sure. It's tough...I will be praying this one results in a healthy little baby for you.

The history/Bible side of HOD is very rich...I think it would definitely be worth doing HOD for just those 2 subjects. :001_smile: It is difficult to combine children in HOD (unless they place squarely in the same guide with respect to skill levels). I think a 3rd grader would have a tough time in CtC. Bigger is a good year...we enjoyed it very much. Success with HOD largely depends on correct placement. Ask me how I know. :glare: The skills definitely build on each other from guide to guide. IF you would LIKE to combine your children...you could look at stepping back a guide and using Preparing for both children...extensions for your 5th grader if you think it is too "easy" (which I don't think it would be for most 5th graders). Preparing is a delightful year! However, I did see you would like your 5th grader to have the full history cycle before high school. So...if that is important...then Preparing wouldn't fit into that cycle. If combining in history is important...you could always do CtC with your oldest and have the 3rd grader listen in on the readings, do some of the projects and gleam what he/she can. OR you could use a program like MOH since you already have other subjects scheduled.

I remember reading P & P as a teen and just not getting it. My dd15 just read it this year as part of her 10th grade curriculum. She hated it. Didn't get it. I re-read it so I could better discuss it with her and I LOVED it. :D We even watched the BBC production of it on Netflix and she STILL didn't like it! :confused: I guess Austen's humor is over her head. I was :lol: through so much of it! To answer your question...I think high school aged would be best.

We will be starting EE on Monday. I really like what I have seen glancing over it. It is scheduled in HOD Rev to Rev this year. It seems that the Intermediate level does it 3 days/week while there are advanced option for an older student that would add extra labs for a 5 day week. I like how it is very hands on and the student log book is very convenient. The lessons seem a bit "short", but perhaps I wasn't looking at the entire lesson. If you are using this to supplement other programs, I think spreading it over 2 years is def. doable.

I LOVE those books...have so many that coordinate very well! :)

It is the last subject I need to plan/choose for 2nd, 4th and 6th. I've gone back and forth between interest led or semi-interest led and packaged curriculum. Both appeal to me. I think I've found a middle-ground. :D My 4yo will be using MFW K and each week there is a different topic to study based on the letter of the week (S - Sun, M - Moon, L - Leaf and so on). My plan is to use each of those topics as a springboard and go more in depth for my older kids. How does that sound? For Sun and Moon, we will also study planets, etc. For Leaf, Apple...we can study trees, plants, etc. There are a bunch of units on animals (horse, cow, turtle, goat, zebra, elephant, kangaroo etc.) so we could take those few weeks (most are one right after the other which works out well) and study mammals. There is a week on water, insects, butterflies, frogs, dinosaurs (we could do fossils, etc.), rocks (minerals), nests (birds), octopus (sea creatures), Us (human body, senses, etc.), and so on. So many great topics. PLUS, we are doing a nature study and that would tie in well with so many of those topics. AND, we are considering a co-op where one of the classes would be an environmental science class on location at the teacher's farm (he used to be a high school science teacher and was well-loved for his hands on approach to science). What do you all think? My 6th grader will also be sitting in on some of the experiments with my older boys using Exploration Education Physical Science.

Learning Language Arts Through Literature? I don't remember a Christian theme throughout but there are some Christian references. I thought R&S at first, too.

Anyone? Maybe it's just not popular in these parts. :tongue_smilie:

Pretty please? :D At $40/grade level (I'm looking at this for my 9th grader) and a coupon code for 10% off today, it's a great deal. It is a DVD program, taught TO the student (which leaves me OUT...that is good). I was just curious if anyone has used this (grades 1-7 have been out for a while, 8-12 are new) and your thoughts? My 11th grader is a struggling writer (technical...she can write creatively when the pressure is off, lol) and I was thinking I could do this with her as well. Any reviews welcome! Thanks.