I hear ya! Once we get to early Greece in our history encyclopedia I'm thinking we'll take 3 or so weeks reading through Famous Men of Greece, mapping it out, etc; same for Rome. I think it's smart and necessary.

DS 10 (5th grade) Week 8, Day 3: room description Ghost story (first try): The room was large the windows were long and high with an arch at the top and curtains. The floor boards were squeaky. The sun was setting and the red adn gold light did not reach the corners of the room. I realized I needed to talk him through this assignment rather than letting him do it all on his own. We talked about what would make the room scary/gloomy. I asked leading questions about the state of the furniture and windows and after some frustration, here's what he came up with: The big room was dark and gloomy, and had not been cleaned in years. There was no light coming into the corners of the room. Faintly the light from the sunset is coming in through the broken windows whose ripped curtains are billowing from the wind. I decided that I'd leave off editing as he was feeling rather frustrated and I also waited another day to assign the other description exercise. Romantic setting: The room was grand with a high ceiling like a church. The windows were high with an arch at the top and long, drapey, shiny curtains looking like a wedding gown. The red and gold light from the setting sun illuminated the room. This time we began by talking about how this room could add to the feeling of romance, and he seemed to like the idea of comparing the room to a church and describing the curtains like a wedding dress. I feel like this assignment was too advanced for him, though he's been coming along just fine so far. I'm looking to give him a couple of building-block assignments before going on to the next assignment (describing the castle). My thought is to give him scenarios from books we've read and ask him to describe the place setting. For example, providing him with a bare bones description of the the kennel Lassie lived in before she escaped to return to her boy and having him re-write it to describe it from Lassie's point of view. Something like "The kennel was a rectangular patch of ground, about 15' X 5'. It was surrounded by a 6' chainlink fence." (Note, I can't quite recall how it was described in the book; this is my best recollection!) This would be a shorter assignment, but he could do two or three before going on to describe the castle. Any feedback would be helpful.

Black Ships of Troy and I think there's one called The Wanderings of Odysseus. Also, your library may have a section on Greek myths, if so I'd pull some of the picture books on the various stories -- like Hermes, Icarus, King Midas, Heracles, and Theseus. I read DS a picture book on Hermes when he was 7 and it was hilarious -- we still bring it up sometimes. There are so many wonderful retellings, you really can't go wrong. For Gilgamesh and Beowulf I'd check my library for picture book retellings -- or look on Amazon, there are loads. I didn't do Song of Roland with DS when he was in the grammar stage, but he'll get it next year when he does medieval history again. I don't think that one's terribly important for little guys so I never looked to see if there are any accessible retellings. Good luck!

I chose to teach DS Latin (and learn alongside him). We started our third year on Monday (we used Memoria Press' Prima Latina then Latina Christiana and are now using First Form Latin). For us, it's been terrific. Sure the kid goes from Latin being his favorite subject to being the one he wants to avoid from time to time, but overall I know he's enjoying it because the program is easy to follow and he's progressing at an appropriate rate. I also know he's beginning to take real pride in learning a difficult subject like Latin. (Even though one of his PS teachers -- I part-time homeschool him -- once asked the class if anyone knew a second language, my kid raised his hand and said that he was learning Latin. The teacher responded by dismissing his comment and opining that it didn't count because it was a "dead language.") You may think I've drank the Kool-Aid but I very much agree with the list of benefits often spouted by pro-Latinates. It really is an immortal langauge that's unlike any other -- its structure is logical which honestly in my book is as good a reason as any to learn it, as such it requires discipline which in turn develops a sense of responsibility and pride. It requires and thus expects a lot, and in turn the student delivers. It takes the student out of his small modern existence and illuminates a wider world of culture, tradition, and eventually scholarship. I'm super psyched about eventually reading the Cat in the Hat with him in Latin ... and perhaps eventually the Big Boys. I speak Spanish moderately well and use some phrases and words with him on a regular basis, but I chose not to teach him Spanish yet because I'm convinced that by the time he's in, say, eighth or ninth grade with 5 or 6 years of Latin under his belt he will be able to master Spanish by college. I also read an article recently that I thought made a good point about modern languages. I agree that in order to become fluent in a spoken language one must speak it for long periods of time every day. I can't give that to him -- I really don't have the desire to do so at this point, neither do I see the upside since we and our circle of relatives and close friends are native English speakers. He can hear Spanish at church but that's for an hour a week, tops. There's no real outlet for him to converse regularly in Spanish and if there was, I still wouldn't see the point as he's only 10. I'm certainly not going to direct him to TV or movies as a language aid -- as a college student or an adult, sure, but not as a 10-year-old. I really hope I'm not coming across as close minded -- I am deeply impressed with folks who are teaching their kids modern languages -- including Spanish, which will be the first modern language DS learns. I just sometimes feel as though the classical curriculum can become overtaxing to parent and child alike. To my way of thinking, Latin (and Greek) go lock-step with the subjects of spelling, grammar, and logic in a way that no other language (or secondary subject) does. In my experience, this shortens our time on those other subjects. Hey, on a side note, what neighborhood do you live in where the PS teaches Latin? We're outside the city in Wheaton and there's no Latin for miles around!

We are using Memoria Press's literature guide for The Trojan War and so far it's working well for my 5th grade boy who is not a great fan of reading. This is our first guide of this sort and I'm finding it a gentle yet meaningful first foray into intentional reading.

He's got friends at school and loves recess and gym. He plays sports through the park district. I don't really think that the school experience -- particularly in elementary school is all that compelling a reason to keep him there. I'm kinda having a fit over the grades he received first quarter and in particular the way that his teacher grades. I'm not thrilled with anything he's learning there and know that he's getting a better education with me at home. It's my husband I have to convince. I'm just wondering if anyone else has had conversations with people about the advantages of the school experience.

I part-time homeschool my ds because my dh wants him to have some regular school experience. My question for the hive, what benefits would you say there are in sharing the cultural experience of attending school (in our case elementary school)? I can see it more in high school (homecoming, games, yearbook, prom, etc.), but not really in the lower grades. Just curious.

I'm am confused as to why anyone wouldn't like the name Persephone. It's so lyrical, it always makes me think of pink chiffon.

I can appreciate the feedback based on my signature. His day really isn't crazy full. He goes to PS from 9:15 to 12:30 where he gets gym, recess, and music as well as math, some language arts, social studies, spelling, and some science. The language arts isn't anything like a classical curriculum; as fifth graders they are underlining subjects and double underlining action verbs. I'm not real thrilled with the math he's doing so I supplement just a bit. The science is a bit hit or miss, but we don't really have any time. We don't cover all of these topics each day, but I am finding that we aren't able to get too much in -- maybe 3 subjects per day, but I can't take anything out. I wouldn't know what to take out. It'd be great to full-time homeschool him, but DH wants him to have the experience of going to school. I don't mind that really, and I know he enjoys school, but he has told me he'd rather do full-time one or the other.

Anyone buy this and get a lot of good use out of it? Also, anyone know of any logic games that can be played on the Xbox?

So do you just prolong the lesson until all is finished that's on your schedule?

Does anyone grade their kids' work and if so how and why and what benefit has it brought you. I'm wondering if I graded my ds' homeschool work if he would be more careful about following all of the directions or writing more clearly, etc. Also, does anyone assign "homework"? Several times I feel as though ds dawdles through his work and by the time we're done with our day we might have a complete subject we haven't been able to get to. I haven't yet assigned after-homeschool work for him, but am thinking I'm being too lenient.

I think he's done a fine job. I don't know that WWS requires your son to fine tune at this point. I would continue going through the book with him at the pace that's proper to him. At some point I imagine the book will have us helping our kids improve their style. At this point I think the point is to simply write from the outline according to the rules laid out. I recently found out about another book called Sentence Composing. If you think it's necessary you can buy the one for middle school. Again, I was impressed with what he wrote.

DS is on Mycenae this week and I'm not sure that we'll have enough time in the regular school year to finish all of ancient history. If not, that really won't be a problem, though, as we have done school for the past few summers and I don't see any reason to stop doing that. We use Kingfisher and so far I've found the supplemental sources to be pretty thin in our library (lots of books are checked out that coincide with what we're doing; I'm sure there are several other families and a nearby classical school that use those books as well). I'm loving the timeline and for map skills I have him drawing the areas using Mapping the World with Art which is so fun and cool. (That's his art, BTW.) I have found that history is taking up a lot of our time -- more than I anticipated, so I'm actually trying to hone in on the skills and information I feel are the most important for him to acquire this year and trying not to fret over whether he's chosing the "best" facts or whether his narration is all that it should be in terms of content or whether he outlines something every week. We're using WWS and I'm confident he's getting those skills through that. I do love history the most, though, and so have to make sure I leave enough time for him to focus on other subjects, including Religion and poetry.

Okay, my kid goes to school part-time in the morning. Part of his homework tonight is to memorize the "state of being verbs." We've been through all of FLLs and so he knows that they are "am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been." Apparently this is wrong. The list is much larger and "being" and "been" are not state of being verbs after all but part of verb phrases "are being" and "would have been." Also, turns out verbs like "smell, touch, feel" are also state of being verbs. Now, please note that most of what I just wrote was me being sarcastic. I know that there are only 8 state of being verbs (others are helping and linking verbs and others are simply action verbs), right??????? I'm not sure how to address this because I don't particularly want him memorizing a list of verbs that purport to be state of being verbs (oh, and did I mention the hand-out also explains that these state of being verbs are also sometimes known as linking verbs, aurgh!), but I also don't want him to get a bad grade. Can anyone tell me if there are in fact more than 8 state of being verbs (and if not, what about "become") and I'd love to know what the hive would do about this situation.

We're using Bauer's unfinished ALL (the fifteen weeks she has done are free, but Beta form). I'm planning on just using this for the year since our year is so full -- instead of 5 days a week on grammar we'll be doing 3. He's got Latin, so I feel fine about only doing half a program.

We've officially completed fourth grade grammar (FLL 4) and can begin fifth grade grammar next week. We are also two chapters away from completing SOTW 4 so we can begin Logic Stage Ancient History study next week as well. We've worked so hard to get him "caught up" since beginning this journey halfway through his second grade year; this last summer he was a real trooper. It's all worth it!! :)

I afterschooled my son for a year beginning in his second semester of second grade. At that age I didn't feel bad about the amount of time we took (for us it probably averaged an hour every day). I used it as an excuse to spend more one-on-one time with him. I also think it really helped him learn to focus more while in PS. FYI, I've been part-time homeschooling him since second semester of third grade (he's now going into fifth). It's working out really well. I agree that there are great benefits to attending PS, particularly when your PS is good. I'm not saying you should do this, but you might want to think about it or at least look into it to see if your state allows for this. (It's usually done in the context of HS -- for example, homeschooled kids taking a science course or band at the local HS.) Good luck. Don't second guess yourself and trust that you will find the right programs -- after all, you know your son best and you can always try a few out until you stumble across the best one.

Just saw this on Pinterest and I am planning on using these to keep us moving along throughout the day (as needed). Check out these timers you can download. http://www.online-stopwatch.com/classroom-timers/

We're planning on two days a week for 1 1/2 hour for each.

I can't help, but I can tell you that I met my husband because he was playing A&A with my neighbor!!!

Check this out. I'm thinking about doing this. http://www.newmanagement.com/music/alarmclock.html

We've used ALL through fourth grade and I'm not sure what to do about grammar for next year. I have the first 15 weeks of ALL for fifth grade in the draft form (which looks great and familiar), but obviously I need to do something for the remainder of the year, so even though I was thinking about just doing ALL for the first few months, I'm changing my mind. Has anyone used the first 15 weeks of ALL 5 and then successfully transitioned into another program? If so, what program? Based on some research I did, I am leaning toward Hake Grammar for fifth grade. Has anyone gone from ALL 4 to Hake Grammar 5? If so, can you tell me about your experience? Thanks.

I've been looking for a Spanish program for my going-into-5th grade DS to begin this September, but I'm just not finding one I think is right for him. I know I'm not the only one on this forum who wishes Memoria Press had a Spanish program similar to their Latin program. I read a recent article in MP's catalog about modern languages and I'm almost convinced to hold off on Spanish and start Greek next year instead (along with continuing Latin). Having majored in Spanish as an undergrad, I just don't believe that one can become fluent in a modern language without in-home immersion, which isn't the case in my house. I am convinced, however, that his study of Latin will only continue to lay a significant foundation for Spanish, so I'm not concerned that he won't be able to read and write Spanish well by the time he goes off to college. God willing he'll be able to speak it passingly by then as well. For me, the goal for Latin is to gain a better appreciation for the correct use of grammar, to increase his vocabulary, and to help lay a solid foundation for logical thought. The goal of Spanish, however, isn't to become fluent -- I just don't think it can be done in our household without greater resources, including travel; and greater commitment, including reading literature, listening to Spanish radio, and watching Spanish TV and movies. Rather, I would say, the goal is to inculcate an appreciation for a language spoken by so many in our country and, honestly, a general ability to speak pretty stilted and formally. I know that it's easier to learn a foreign language when we're young, but I am starting to think there's an advantage to learning Greek over Spanish (vocabulary being the main advantage as I currently see it) and no real loss to waiting a few years to start Spanish. What thinks the hive?

The Harp and the Laurel Wreath -- takes you through all three levels of the Trivium.