A lot of people here have said that it's worse in the beginning while you are starting out and still figuring out which things you like/ dislike. But, yes it is rather expensive even if you do try to be frugal... I get nervous when I start to look ahead at later years because those science currics have steep price tags! I do agree with others: it's completely worth it!

We homeschool in East Asia. Of the programs you mentioned, HOD or SL might fit the bill somewhat better than MFW since they rely more on purchased books than a library. Doing SOTW is another great option, even though it is not all inclusive. I just looked through the Activity Guide and chose books to purchase, after searching these boards for good ideas. As far as shipping goes, our experience has been hit or miss. Sometimes our packages arrive but then we have to pay an extra import tax on top of the already high shipping rate. We much prefer to bring over things ourselves in our luggage, even when it means paying for extra bags. If you have family or friends come to visit, don't be afraid to ask them to carry over an extra suitcase of books for you! Just order from Amazon (or wherever) and have it all delivered to their house before they come. We do that a lot. With your Nook, you'll be able to bring over so much more than you could ever carry in your suitcase! It's such a great option for those classics such as The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, etc. because they are FREE! I would definitely encourage you to build up your home library overseas! Splurge on books, you won't regret it. Get lots of colorful reference books, picture books, etc. in addition to your curriculum. If you end up going back to the US, or wherever you are from, you can ship lots, sell it around to local homeschooling friends or donate it to the school you're working at. We have stocked up on Let's Read and Find Out science books, art books, history books, etc., and I rarely miss having an English library (well, maybe rarely is not the right word :tongue_smilie:, but we do have a wide selection in our home). Hope that helps!

Part of me feels like the right answer is to say "Of course my feelings don't matter at all, since I'm schooling purely for the kids' sake." In reality, I think there are so many fun/ interesting options out there that I don't really want to be stuck using something I don't personally like. To be honest, one of the reasons we homeschool is because I just think its so fun and want to be learning alongside my kids all over again! So, I strive to keep that alive:001_smile:.

First off, congratulations! My kids are much younger, but when we travel I fill a huge tote bag with our workbooks, read alouds, math flashcards and composition books. Each day we just do our workbooks (spelling, ETC), review flashcards, read and do copywork from that reading. For math review, I also just use a spiral notebook and write out a page of facts for each day. It only takes us about 45 min. a day, but I still feel like we're getting something done and staying sharp. Oh, and for the car ride you can check out Audio Memory songs, Classical Kids, SOTW audio, books on tape (we listened to the entire Narnia series last summer on a road trip!). Have fun!

Ooh, those are great ideas! My ds will love that. Thanks!

Sorry to hijack, but how long does it take to work through the book? For a first grader? Is it a year's worth or more? I know that would depend on how you use it, but what would be an estimate?

We go year-round, too. We start in July and go until June, taking breaks for trips (we travel a ton) or visitors. Our schedule is too unpredictable to plan out a certain number of days/ weeks since we are overseas and travel around so much. As long as we reach a minimum of 180, I'm okay, but I prefer to do more than that if we can.

Ooh, I'd have fun buying the more hands-on curriculum that are usually outside my budget! All About Reading, All About Spelling Right Start Math Magic Schoolbus Science Kits Entire Let's Read and Find Out science packages from Rainbow Resource Grow a butterfly, grow a frog kits from homesciencetools.com Handwriting Without Tears- complete with slate board and wooden letter pieces GeoPuzzles All the Classical Kids cd's And probably more, but those are the first things that pop into my mind!

I definitely second the advice to read WTM and look around on these boards. You may particularly want to look at the week reviews and find blogs about kids doing K. Sometimes it helps to visualize what others are doing in order to get ideas of what you like/ dislike. We really like The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading paired with Explode the Code for phonics, and Handwriting Without Tears for (obviously) handwriting. You can always just add math and some read alouds and keep it that simple for K if you want. Or you can do some history and science in a fun, hands- on way in addition to those. You really can't go too wrong in K, so don't worry if you don't find anything you absolutely love yet!

That is amazing! Just in time, too, I was about to start printing and assembling our notebook for next year. I can't believe they have pages for all the chapters, and even different sections. Unfortunately, it's probably too advanced for us just yet with all those lines but we might use it anyways.

We used Heart of Dakota's Little Hands to Heaven for almost a year with ds when he was 3. It was fun and simple (sometimes too simple).

We use Drawing with Children, Artistic Pursuits and Mark Kistler's Draw Squad online. They are all great, but I think DWC is pretty hard to transfer into lesson plans. I love the instruction in the book and it has helped ME become a better drawer, but I only got a few lessons out of it that were suitable for my dc.

Sounds almost exactly like what our K plan was, and we loved it! I think OPGTR combined with ETC workbooks is a great, thorough way to cover phonics. FIAR is tons of fun and its amazing how much kids retain from those simple lessons. Mudpies to Magnets has some good, do-able ideas for experiments, although some seemed to difficult to me to pull off at home. Science Play is another fun hands-on science book. I would recommend using Let's Read and Find Out science books along with the experiments, as they will give you a "living book" component and explain the concepts in an interesting way. Some people consider Saxon K too simple for K and more suited for pre K. We used it in pre K and had no trouble doing Saxon 1 for K. You might want to look it over first to see if it is too basic for your dc's level. You've made great choices! Have fun!

We add in copywork, mostly interesting sentences taken from our read alouds. We also do narration daily, which I guess is considered a "writing" activity, even though dd usually dictates while I write for her.

Like it! Now, we have had teary moments when I was tempted to switch! I even tried throwing in lessons from MEP, Singapore and MM just to see if dd responded any better, and she really didn't. I really think it's a total personality thing. My dd likes to be walked through the process without being expected to make abstract connections. I like that, too! I love the constant review, drills and scripted lessons. I feel very secure with a time-tested program. I have a few good friends with PHD's in math, and they all tell me Saxon is great and thorough. That helps boost my confidence! (Not to say that it is best, or right for everyone. Different programs work well for different learning and teaching styles, obviously!)

Maybe you can, but I couldn't! I tried printing off the worksheets from donna young just a few weeks ago and giving it a go with dd, but it was frustrating for both of us. Although I always write in cursive, it was hard to explain the letter strokes and how exactly to do it. Also, the printables from donna young had such small lines and letters that it was a bit overwhelming. At first I was so proud to tell dh that I was going to teach cursive without spending a cent, but then I eventually gave up and ordered Handwriting Without Tears :tongue_smilie:! It hasn't arrived yet, so I can't tell you how it compares.

These sound interesting! Can you describe "word fishing" and "word hunt"?

I buy everything (no library here :glare:)! I spend at least $100- $150 a year, but also take advantage holidays and birthdays to ask for specific books or amazon gift cards. I'm sure it adds up to be around $300 total. One great thing about having a kindle, though, is that so many books are available for free (and no overseas shipping cost!). I have tons of great titles now that I would never have been able to carry over in my suitcase.

:iagree:This is one of my kids' FAVORITE things we do each day. I'm really amazed at the results, and so are other people who have seen their drawings. It's so quick and painless, the kids just log in and choose a lesson (usually I require them to do the next one). They write the title on a fresh page in their sketchbook, and sometimes we repeat lessons that were trickier. It's also a great thing for them to work on independently while you are teaching someone else!

I agree that you don't need too many manipulatives. I totally over-purchased in that department :glare:! They are just so colorful and FUN looking that I have a hard time resisting. We do have lots of fun with pattern blocks, but other than that and the small clocks, you don't really need anything else. Anything can be used as counters, and legos can easily substitute linking cubes.

I think I'm constantly organizing/ planning :glare:! I just can't turn my brain off while I'm doing housework, cooking dinner, etc. As far as actual time sitting down with my planner, that takes about an hour over the weekend, plus another hour or so of glancing over the week's math lessons and other subjects and printing/ copying. But I'm always rotating through our subjects doing research, reading ahead and searching online, so I guess that factors into total time spent.

Agree with The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading. We used it very successfully with my dd, and now are going through it again with ds. We do use a whiteboard for the earlier lessons, and eventually transition to reading from the book (once there is too much for me to copy each lesson).

I think it totally depends on your dc! We are using Apologia mostly as a read aloud in addition to ES, and we really like it. My 6 yo dd can't enough of reading, though, so it really suits her. I know some of it is going over her head, but she does retain quite a bit, too. Many people say it is too wordy, but I guess we just like wordy around here!

:iagree:This book is really well done!

As far as I can tell, the only noticeable changes are that there are two actual curriculum choices to choose from (if you want science to be more planned out for you). She recommends Real Science 4 Kids, and Great Science Adventures. She still recommends the "older" approach first, though.