I have noticed that I need more samples of cursive handwriting. While I was thinking about this, I thought of all of you. I also thought it would be selfish to limit the return to just myself. I was unable to find real-life examples. I could find style examples, but nothing with any content or difference in writing style to help her adjust and become accustomed to letter identification. Reading just my cursive and her own is not good enough. So, would you please be so kind as to write a letter or any other type of writing in cursive to my daughter. It can be about anything, and it can be part of an assignment and written by your child! No names. I will post the letters and selections on my blog for everyone to download in a zip file as well as PDF (open and print). This way, we can all take advantage of teaching our children to read other cursive writing examples! In legal terms, you can download them and do whatever you want with them. This will be a public use and distribution (thus no names or anything that would identify you should be in the letters or writings). Contact me if interested in helping me. I would love to have a good chunk of examples. I do believe this will benefit us all well. If you want to help me but not be distributed openly in the public domain, just let me know. I will be greatful just to have your writing selection!

I began schooling the fourth with the second child. I started with phonics. LOL At this point, you could look at some resources on the blogs that quite a few of us have used. I list my resources and often add tidbits here and there, but I am not near as good at putting up my reviews as others are. Get a Rainbow Resource Center catalog. I cannot and will not live without mine. :) Yes, deschool and test for the first 2-3 weeks. Ask your fifth grader what they liked and did not like about their schooling experience. Resist the urge to purchase large quantities. Your student is not going to be as receptive as some of the veteran students. Keep the school day to about 5 hours in the beginning and resist the urge to give "homework". Homeschooling is an option. It is not meant to be identical to the public school. Typically, I place attendance for five days, but we do things every single day that apply to our academics. I think you should hit the local library and grab some books too! You have to find your methodolody and define it, e.g. classical, charlotte mason, etc. Decide if you want Christian or secular foundations. Come to the forum and click the search button anytime you have a subject that you feel needs other opinions or chatter. If you don't find it in a search ... well just ask us.

I am looking at the biographies on Scholastic now. PDF downloads for a dollar. She needs a cheap tablet to play with anyway, and I thought these books would be great to carry along with us while we travel, visit, and run off to play on the mountain. :) (OK, not really a mountain, but gosh when you hike it ... it feels like a mountain!)

Poems for subject matter - like nouns, holidays, days of the week, etc. I found a book on Scholastic with these types of poems for a dollar, the Big Book of Classroom Poems. Beyond this, Mother Goose.

Ack, I still found more. 3-D interactive maps Big Book of Classroom Poems File Folder Centers / Holiday Word Walls / and ... Geesh, I spent 6 dollars, and I can't remember the titles, LOL. I list those three or four because they were neat. I am printing out maps to add to the upcoming week's work. Also, I am printing poems for copywork. :) The poems are cutesy and applicable to our study for the littlest. File folder stuff is for next year ... except for the File Folder Phonics Charts (that was one I forgot). :)

I like both. We have the Dictionary and Usbornes too. :) Not much help, but if you have to choose, Kingfisher says my oldest daughter of 13 who loves science. :)

I love them too. They are a steal at 10 cents. I really do love the speedy lapbooks and the speed studies. I figured that I should share. BTW, if anyone has questions, they have previews for most all of the items. :) I just bought more ... continents, frogs, coins, states of matter, White House ... and they are just as great as the rest. My littlest loves them because she cut them out and past them with very little help. You know how that goes. She is 7 going on 30. "I can do it by myself." LOL

I have always been open myself. I begin by teaching the body parts early on. I like to not use funny names, and I never have. No matter which book you think you might read, do read it first! I accidentally grabbed one that explained sex far too early and included oral. Umm ... NO. :lol: Yet, as I read all of the concerns ... my dd started at 11, and at 13 is a triple D, 145 lbs, and 5'6. Did you catch that she is 13? We focus on balancing diet. I think that much can be said about the changes in diet and our focus as parents to make our children healthy. I am a robust 5'8 and 200 lbs, and this has been our concern with all of the girls. Perhaps the early changes could equate to being a much healthier individual, and thus the body responds and matures quicker as a result? Something to consider? I do remember by second grade for both of the older girls that I had to purchase undershirts. It was not but a grade or so later that I was looking for training wear or modified styles. Their weight and height, all three of them, have always been above the norm but within proportional ranges. Evolution of the human?

http://www.currclick.com/browse.php?manufacturers_id=318 I like the speedy lapbooks. Assemble and read. Not much more needed. If you want to put your hands on a topic for the youngers, that is the way to go. I have Clouds. as well as the set for the human body, and love it.

Younger ... Math Mats Word Wall Folders Read & Write books (all kinds of topics) Art Projects with Paper Instant Science Dioramas Write & Read books (not the same as the above) Success with Addition & Subtraction (color by number and various activities) I love the Instant Map Skills too ... we are working on Neighborhoods and Communities. Older ... Vocabulary Packets, Greek and Latin Roots Analogies Idioms Revision mini lessons For current events, I bought Teaching with Newspapers last time. I love the activities. I could adapt for my youngest as well. It has been fun. I added lessons from Hewitts lesson plans for newspapers. They had some excellent websites like http://usethenews.com and newspapers from around the world http://www.refdesk.com/paper.html That's what I can think of that is in use or has been this year. :)

I am a file type. Time to plan: I have a small wicker trunk that is full of file folders, cheap manilla folders. Did I spell that right? This is the start of organization and keeping things neat. I print and collect during the year for the next year. Each file folder is marked by the subject and then by the content. I love post-it notes. I will add a note for what I have added in terms of worksheets, tests, quizes, projects, reminders, needs, etc. That is the start of my planning. For each unit study approach that we take, I open Word. There is an outline of the standards, content areas, and objectives for that subject. For science and history, I will even go as far as to list the topics of each lesson in a numbered list to ensure that I cover each and every item that I feel is important. (In case you haven't figured this out, that would be a list of 180 days!) Time to assign: I have two milk crates. I did have three! There are 36 folders that are numbered, and each 9 weeks is a different color. I have 36 weeks that are divided by 4. Why divide? I journal at the end of the color. (While I layout the general subject matter, I do not plan on a sheet and paper each day. I plan a week.) I list everything that was contained in the folder. Field trips, photos, library book receipts, etc. All go into the folders at the week that they "were". If it is open and go or workbook format, I get out the post-it notes. I apply the note to the inside of each folder. I add all sheets and project instructions. I add the lists of books and supplies. We will go one to two weeks out to purchase or reserve items. If it is not open and go, and it is unit study based, then I make a list of all assignments and reading material. I keep a large selection of both religious and secular texts for science and history. I do this on notebook paper or I cut the assignment sheets that I created in Word. Yes, I get out the scissors and add my slices of paper. I tape them to the inside of the folder for the littlest, but just toss in for the oldest. Anything that can be printed or taken apart is. I divide up the sheets and insert into the folder. Time to record: Each nine weeks (sometimes a bit later if I am busy or just plain lazy), I journal their accomplishments by week. I keep this in the HST software. I use it to make lesson plans as well, but less often lately. Sometimes, I just use Word. I keep attendance in HST as well as all resources, the classes for the school year, etc. The only real part that I don't use is the actual lesson assignment portion. It inhibits our freedom - OK, fine, I think it is just too complicated to reschedule. :) I like to adjust things and yell "unschool" when it is needed. This is also the time that we purge and take photographs of projects. We recycle and disassemble. I select work to include in the portfolio, which is divided by subject tabs. The portfolio also has all of the outlines for any unit-study approach, table of contents of any books for reference and spine, including workbooks, as well as the entire resource list, attendance sheet, course outline, etc. I love HST for the reports. I print the journal at this point too. All goes into the portfolio. This is a requirement for our state. Also, I take it a bit further so that I can take in binders if I ever need to prove that my eighth grader really earned a highschool credit and that my first grader can really read, write, and do arithmetic. I assign grades twice a year. I keep an Excel sheet that completes the calculations for me. I print this to show them what their grades are. I print report cards at the end of the first semester. I record grades and insert into the pocket of their portfolio. At the end of the year, I print the Excel sheet and turn it into the umbrella. Nine weeks of fun and chaos are now purged from the milk crate. I think this is important. The child can see their progress and feel the end is near. I do take summers off - June - midAugust. Note: End of the day, all items are returned to the folder. All books to the shelf. (OK, everything is not always put up completely. LOL) It's time to play. They are required to put in their time - i.e. seventh grade is 6 hours and first grade is four hours. Now that really sounded like a lot of work, but I start the next year's work as soon as we get mid-way through the current year. I have plenty of time! It also would seem that purging and journaling would be terrible, but it is very quick. I am training the now seventh grader to journal. She will take over this task for herself. She is to log hours and tasks in her notebook for each subject, getting ready to log hours for credits. :) I babble ... I am done. Off to work.

We are the discover and invent sort here. For us the world is meant to be explored and experienced. There was a dead snake in a water bottle for the purpose of watching decomposition, DR. WHO inspired the repurpose of an old car seat and tike ride toy into a time machine, and any thing that breaks is cause for taking it apart (my girls have tool boxes well stocked). I collect scraps of word for bird houses and the like too. I think that it is the environment that spawns them to be full of wonder for the world. I am one of those that is pretty much always into something. I ask them each week to tell me if they have a need for a project or discovery. For example, the microscope is essential here. Bread mold, cheese mold, green meat ... yes bologna turns green ... are cause for "fun". How many kids ask to leave the bad lunch meat in the fridge? Mine do, and they watch it faithfully as it turn colors. They spent weeks watching mold eat two slices of cheese and consume a slice of bread. Both are creative writers and adore fiction. Lots of reading. There is a mix of imagination and science at our house. We color and draw lots, play with paperdolls, build all manner of models from forts to race cars, and practically live with modeling clay and playdough. :) Our day always ends in "play" even if it is just to go outside. We spent an afternoon in the pouring rain running around looking for puddles to splash and stomp about in. Actually, Saturday, they contrived to build a hosrse and buggie. We don't have anything for a buggie, and I certainly don't own a horse. This came from the readres from the littlest. Anyway, it was a dog leash, dog, and bicycle. It was ... interesting. The dog loved it, and the shouts and giggles proved they did too. My girls outside doing this ... 23 yrs, 13 yrs, and 7 yrs. BTW I joined in too! Perhaps "Mom" is a component that is needed? BTW, they smash their "stuff". It all gets a picture or drawing. We even play find the installation(constellation oops!), and draw it in the book. ETA: I should add that none of it is planned ever. Fun is not predictable.

I googled. Interesting ...

Thanks. I needed to hear that. I need to find something with similar subject matter that is geared for a lower-leveled audience then. I do think I will get it for me though. It just looks awesome. I am one of those old-earth Christians. :)

I taught my girls to write without a book, but ... In the first grade, I did get penmanship books. Mostly, I am lazy about creating copywork for the elementary, and the resources are vast for this level. I keep the girls copying all the way through high school for any number of reasons, and legibile writing is only one.

http://www.logicinaction.org/ I just wanted to share this. It is quite a good read. Certainly not well-suited for a young student of logic. I am downloading the text now. It will school me on logic. BTW, saw that it was used a few places as a highschool course textbook too.

I should edit to mention one of the spines ...a suppose that does classify as a resource. :) LOL So, I went grabbed the Lifepacs for Geology and Space. Nice little workbook format. I am very pleased with the topical coverage, but now we need to elevate this material to AP/College-prep status. :-/ OK, shoot me some ideas oh great hive ones.

Book List Non-fiction Changing Bodies, Changing Lives, A Book for Teens on Sex and Relationships by Ruth Bell It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health (The Family Library) by Robie H. Harris Fiction Bleeding Violet (bipolar disorder) Impulse (mental hospital) by Ellen Hopkins Scars (cutting) by Cheryl Rainfield I never Promised You a Rose Garden (schizophrenia) by Joanne Greenberg Bad Girls Club (parent w/schizophrenia) by Judy Gregerson I don’t want to be crazy (panic attacks) by Samantha Schutz Compulsion (OCD) by Heidi Ayarbe 13 Reasons Why (suicide) by Jay Asher Find more books from the lists here by topic choice … http://hip.midhudson.org/nonfiction/

OK ... I have a sketch of some of it now. I analyzed core areas of focus based on the national health standards. I did take a non-religious approach, yet I am leaving room to approach beliefs and values from both a family and religious perspective. I have outlined resources, fiction and nonfiction, as well as selected projects. It will more than robust enough to qualify for 60 class hours and take 18 weeks to complete. I will post some of it here and later on my blog the details and outline in a printable format, but so that you can see how the course will form and the target of study ... Blog post Open and print First week example (later today) All will be tweaked over the next few days, but there are there as I promised. :)

I was thinking of using it as a spine for a high-school science class - earth & space.

Enchanted Learning There are six of them.

I am doing this now. :) I am constructing the objectives and topic outline. I should be done in a few days. Track me down on Friday. I should have it outlined. I have pinned a bunch of resources, and I will have reading and assignment pages over the next week or so. Because it is a semester course, I am scheduling 60 hours. I am looking at the typical standards required of the course of 4 years in which certain topics can be appropriately covered as part of biology too. Some things I plan to delay as part of coursework, but that does not alleviate the requirement for a half semester of health. On a similar topic is the one year of physical education. We are doign quarter credits, to include classes and sports.

I think that it is a good start. Emotional well-being and conflict weighted with psychological perspective ... I would read this especially if it was anedotal too. It would be of even more benefit if it was contrasted with the public school child.

Interesting ... Things my girls don't understand or emotionally have a difficult time with .... other children's cruelty and bullying. They just don't get it. They can't understand why a child would snub or be mean just to do so.

I would use Rod & Staff or Abeka and Writing Strands with IEW, Writer's Inc/Source, and/or Write with the Best - still. We have tried others and seen quite a few. It gets the job done and well. They are my favorites and going on their third use in our home. I use them all at one point or another, LOL.