If it's working fine, I'd stay :) I have moved TO CLE as it's not as time intensive for ME. Since there is the balancing act of 3 kids to teach and 3 toddlers to care for, teaching some independence is great! I still do WWE though. We love that, FLL not so much, one is already using CLE and she is retaining grammar well, so I am not worried about it.

Nope, it is in WTM if you are starting late, you can cover 2 years in one the first round, then more in depth later when it comes round again.

We have 4, we get the comments too. My mom was 1 of seventeen, my grandma one of 12, grandpa was an only(and he fathered 17..lol) my dad was one of 8, and not sure about my fraternal grandparents, i know they each had at least 2 siblings.

I was told the Sunrise Editions are the best ones.

It's good to know what needs to be taught. I had that moment last year where I had realized that dd7 knew, well, just about nothing academic. I spoke to dh, and we both agreed, we needed to start from the beginning. Rather than be disappointed and discouraged, we just started where she was at. She didn't know any different, we told her siblings to not comment at all. When we heard "I already KNOW that", we simply did a quick review. She has progressed amazingly well! Because we taught the building blocks, then the rest came alot easier. So it's is a great plan! She is completing MM2, she is about 6mo behind for LA, but considering she was way behind, nearly done grade one and less that K levels, I'm very pleased. We'll just keep progressing where she is, never worrying about where she should be. CLE, I am starting 2 in LA. One will be 7th grade, but we'll do the 600's. And the little one is started now and doing the 200's, she'll not be done this year, but early next year. The older one, we have to do remedial until fall so she can do the diagramming, which from what I can tell, starts briefly in 200's and progresses from there. But if you're doing FLL, you should be fine to ease them into it. If you aren't doing diagramming, then you'd need to introduce it sometime. I can't speak for math however. I did a placement with dd11, and she bombed, but looking back at it, we did it prematurely. She'll place better in a couple months as she completes her last math chapters. We've never used it before, so I'm simply going by placement. And really, I don't think there is any better way to do it.

I have that problem too! However for dd11, we did start her new curricula. Why? Because the only thing left not yet complete is math and bible. Since here school goes until June, we needed something to do! My biggest problem is I have a cart full at Christian Books waiting to be ordered for dd14. She isn't done her stuff yet, so there is no rush to order it... but I want to SO bad!

I want to start by saying THANK YOU, NAN!!! You will have saved my youngest a ton of grief, as we continue on this path. I have been more slack with her skills with copywriting, but have started picking it up. I knew it was important in the bigger picture, I just didn't see where yet. Since we're only grade 2 with her, we're ok. Now I can get a glimpse of why this is important. My older 2 only started homeschooling this year(well dd11 for a few months last year, and it was hard, this year better). DD14 is entering grade 9 next year. We're taking the year 'off' from regular path for both of these girls. We'll continue in math, and interests - dd14 wants to do highschool chemistry next year, so she needs her Algrebra 1 to do so. This is academic will satisfy to gov't, but it is her interests. The rest of the year is skills. She aspires to be a writer. Be it novelist, journalist, columnist, I don't know, but it is a passion. She suffers in the area of writing. So this year is about writing skills. Outlining, note taking, grammar and spelling. It doesn't follow our provincial guidelines, and that's ok. In the long run this will be the skills she needs for a life time. With dd11, she is doing similar. She has huge science interests. We have already started her grade 7 sciences. We are using this year to develop her writing skills as well. I feel she'll end up in veterinary school and will need all those note taking skills and essay writing. We'll use her interests for outlining. She is loving her Apologia Science, so she is doing some outlining a few times a week from there. It will take time. But it makes her pause and absorb what she's reading, and see what it is really about. We'll continue this. She loves world history. Outlining is making her take note of the dates. This is not an unusual occurance! We have 4 that play ice sports, and dd is 14 and when her daddy goes, she loves for him to tie her skates, as do 1/2 the girls on her team. When I go, however, they do their own, and if they want help, they need to ask a team mate parent on their own(askign for help skill :) ) We have this issue too. Being a fellow Canadian I understand the weather issues. We use the kennels. If the dogs are too distracting, and they are worse than the toddlers some days, then they are put in their kennels for the duration(crates). This isn't cruel, several trainers have encouraged this as we have a neurotic one, and the kennel time is the only time she relaxes. LOL. Kids. Ds is the only one that does any sewing at all, or ironing. He was in air cadets and we were told as parents to let them do it. Show them the first time; they do it themselves after that. DS is in school and they have a dress program for Thursdays, dress shirt, dress pants, tie and vest. He cares for it all. Now to make that something to teach the girls too! I listened to a speaker from a local college, and he said, they love homeschoolers. He loved how well they did in college for being self motivated. He did however state that there are some weak areas, and he encouraged that parents have their kids do tests. (even if it isn't for marks, they don't need to know that). Not only do the tests, but have them as TIMED tests. Homeschoolers are known for getting off the path, on a tangent. Which is fine, but in college, everything is timed. So incorporate that as a skill, timed testing. The kids will thank you for it later. The other thing that was weak was sciences. He said do more science. I want to add a little something, I'm new here, just a year(officially a year this week!). So I don't have tremendous experience. This weekend I was at a local conference. The speaker was talking about homeschooling without losing your temper(or mind). This was a mom of 8 children. She said the one thing she did do, with children 4-8, was practice life skills. They practiced putting shoes in their spot. Putting coats on their hooks(hangers). Over and over. Nothing worse than going to leave and some one has a missing shoe, now everyone is late. They practiced tying shoes, how much toothpaste to use, how to wash hands. These seem silly and not good use of time. But she said, it took a little time now. She found out why the boys had no soap most of the time, 4 squirts each. Or why there was water on the doorknob and door, some one washed great but never dried their hands. Or that her one little girl took a perfect amount of soap on one hand then rinsed it off, never washing her hands properly :lol:. But if one doesn't take the time to teach the skill, the outcome is not likely to be what you want. The time spent with her kids teaching them what is expected for hand washing, when they come in the house, when they are leaving, after a meal, prior to a meal, helped ALL of them in the long run. No misunderstandings. This will carry over to everything in life. There are many things I assume that the kids know how to do. That assumption has caused lots of frustrations. So we start over. Teach the basics. My older girls have really had no grammar teaching. I'm starting from the beginning, some will go FAST, other areas not so fast. So, it is what it is. It's not their fault, our schools don't teach it, or at least to any depth. Same thing with their chores. I make very detailed lists for them. If I want them to clean a bathroom, I break it down to the littlest job. Or it doesn't get done. Thanks again, Nan, for showing what all the pieces of the puzzles make when pulled together.

If I remember correctly it was immediately. I have everything from PeaceHill Press as PDF, except I just purchased SOTW2 as a book. I love pdf. Printing can take time, but it hasn't been that bad. If pressed for time, just print what you need the night before, so you aren't committing a huge amount of time. I have loved pdf ;) I don't put mine in binders, I use a comb binder to make workbooks, with the exception of SOTW workbook pages, since we are creating a notebook for that. WWE is bound, FLL student pages are bound. I do them in smaller batches, matching the instructor guide to have the same content. When mine is done, theirs is done. It really takes care of all the floating papers, and I have enough paper clutter without having all their papers loose too :lol:

I found my comb binder at Staples for $60. I love it. I can reuse when I'm done too. I have my MM bound by chapter, WWE I had my instructor pages in a binder already, but next year it'll be in comb binding. I chose to recreate all the worksheets for WWE using WriteStart, so she has consistency in line spacing. I also created her AAS sheets, just numbered for spelling tests. I can't say enough about using a binder! It worked so much better for us than all the loose papers. Even my older ones I started binding for them and they like it way better. Here's how i did mine: http://nmjmek.blogspot.com/2011/01/getting-with-program.html

What is the SCM?

I ended up going through my filing box and creating workbooks :lol: I use mostly ebooks this year, so I batched them in logical manner, math by chapter, science by 'units' and used the comb binder and put them together. I do file, but I file more my lesson plans then anything else, but yet, even those are being bound :tongue_smilie: Looking at how nice CLE is as units, it made sense to create units for other things. Things are now set up for about the same length of time. I have 3 weeks in a lightunit, so I take out what is estimated as 3 weeks, that might mean 1 chapter of math, 6 lessons in science, 9 lessons in history. That will be in her workboxes. I'll have a lesson plan for those 3 weeks ready to go, science experiment supplies in ziplocks ready to go. The next work books are always ready to go, so if we move faster, np. I learned a lot from filing last year, but since i have paper issues :lol: I'm a piler not a filer. Creating the workbooks for both the student pages and the instructor guides made a world of difference for us. So we modified. I didn't take apart any books last year as I did ebooks, but I'm putting them together. Plus if I drop 5 work books of 40 pages each, it's way easier to sort that a pile of 200 pages.(btdt)

We did Positive Action for Christ this year. We enjoyed it. We're exploring Telling Gods Story .You can see the instructor guide at the link in it's entirety. It's meant as a grade 1. But I'm really liking what I've read. If that doesn't work out, We'll be continuing with Positive Action. We'll do it different though, I have been reading to dd based on the scope and sequence, she's enjoyed all the reading we've done. I'm not sure we'll get the workbook or just do our own things.

Not filing this time around. Didn't work out. I have moved to a planner and binding things. Less paper to shuffle around over all. I have a method..lol. Just not sure what it is.

I just got the grade 2 books and light units for the reading program yesterday. I have to say, I'm VERY pleased with them. There are 2 for that level, and approx 50 stories per book, some of these are poems, stories range from 3 to 10 pages with pictures, there are nice white spaces in the margins, and good spacing between the lines, appropriate for the age group. They are nice hard cover books. The light units are as the other ones, 10 booklets. DD was so excited when she saw them, she sat down and read the first story :lol:. It'll be a nice fit for her. I know you asked about 3, but this should be indicative of 3 as well.

We have used MM from 1A to 2B(Soon to be completed) and dd11 used it from 4A to completing 5b. We love it. It works for our girls, it doesn't take alot of time, we do 1-2 pages a day for the younger, usually 2 for the older. They come from a school background so this was a nice change, it is easy, all in one transition. Nice to have instructions on the page we're working on, not in another book.

I've modeled my own and had them printed on 11x17 cardstock to be kept in a ledger binder. I'd love a wall, but we spend December 2009 knocking down walls, so there minimal walls available. With the ledger it is easy to see nearly 3 feet at a time. Down side, I did them double sided, so can lay them all out. I did a second for my older daughter on 11x17 paper again, but just on paper. She writes the info and it is also kept in the ledger, she is able to take hers out and line up if desired. I chose cardstock for the younger as we will be pasting and coloring, so it is longer lasting. And for the price difference, it was minimal and a much more solid product. Here is pictures of the cardstock one we're using: Here it is with an 8x11 sheet of paper. And to show size, with a standard piece of printer paper: I love this one, room for her to draw, paste, write. I was inspired by a ready made book, but thought it was too small for a timeline. We'll finish it up for the Ancients, tweak what ever needs to change to make it easier to use, and keep going. I think it'll be awesome when she has the timeline complete.

I imagine if it was bragging about, it would be fine a little embarrassing, but it belittling him, making him out to be an idiot. We just walk out of the room when it starts, and often leave these gatherings early when this starts. He's grown he can speak for himself and thus far has chosen not to. But when they start on the kids, and BIL and MIL will do so, then I intervene. I'm passed off as the docile, mindless housewife, you know the little wife, barefoot, pregnant, helpless and brainless in their eyes, but I can reduce BIL to a quivering mass of shock and guilt, with just a few comments when it comes to my defending my kids(I stopped pulling punches when he had my then 7 year old in tears making fun of him). He's very cautious around me now. MIL on the other hand.... kid gloves. She just loves having an audience, I know this but forgetting about the 'targets' feelings and having the children upset due to this, isn't cool. She won't do it to BIL, because he'll throw a tantrum and act very hurt. When it's just us, the kids and MIL and FIL, you couldn't ask for better IL's. But there is moments where she just doesn't think. Thankfully, ds16 is now able to handle BIL on his own. He took notes on how to shut that cycle down. So it's just the younger girls now, dd13 is getting pretty snappy with her come backs to uncle as well, so he's backed off with her most of the time. Not that she's rude, but she knows too what to say, she's listened over time, what grandma says that gets uncle to clam up, so she'll comment, "remember that time when Nana/Daddy/Momma said you were ______." Conversation over. And with grandma, the older ones just shrug and go "she's getting old", not that 62 is all that old IM but somehow she is.

We are using the Ancients HO Level 2 for dd11. She is progressing nicely with it. It is plenty independent which is very much to her liking. My suggestions is this, there is a "try before you buy" on the site. pull the first 30 days for the programs and compare to what you are doing with SOTW. For the level 2, I didn't have to buy the 2nd book as it was available as a free ebook if you do a search for it. I find it is a little simpler to use than SOTW activity guide, because she can do so independently, and its more directed, where for Logic stage History as per WTM, is less so. Or my interpretation of it is, anyway. She still loves SOTW, she listens to the CD's reads the book, just to get the work done, HO seems to be the right fit.

We're planning on using CLE 3 next year, we're going through CLE LA2 right now. We still use WWE for writing, AAS, while we do the spelling for CLE we also do AAS. We do need to produce writing samples for the school board, so we use what they require and work it in somehow withing the scope of current lessons. Reading we are using the CLE reading, I haven't received it yet. I am nearly done OPGTR with her, and will hold on to it for review purposed over the next couple years, but I have no further plans for phonics after that. If we find we're stumbling, then we'll review OPGTR.

I've been having issues for a week or so, as you stated, database error.

EEwww... That nest is nasty..lol. The moth seems ok, but with no size comparison. I detest caterpillars, due to the fact that one year they were so bad, you'd walk and they fall from the trees and onto you. Looks like a cool project, even at 15 ;) but this mama would have the heebie jeebies..lol

Interesting. I think Saskatchewan the cut of is must have turned 4 by Feb 1st to start K the following sept.

Learned something new. I didn't know there were research guides too :) DD7 is just starting to read chapter books, she has read a couple and enjoyed them. We have no objection to the magic in them, it doesn't counter any beliefs as it is, to us,purely fictional.

This is why we don't mix friends and family. EDTA: we actually don't have any parties with friends anymore, too busy with the kids, so maybe the "don't mix friends and family" isn't accurate. One the BIL and SIL are all about money and insulting everyone else around them to build themselves up. Then later complaining about how all our friends are unfriendly toward them :001_huh:. They even told our friends that " We have no idea how they'll possibly put all 'those' kids through college. Our kids are going to University we have savings." MIL and FIL do as you mom, and really, some of it is insulting content, embellished to get more reaction from everyone. They are fantastic people, we camp with them all summer, but there are times they are like little kids when the phone rings. Into everything and need to be the center of attention. We have to deal with it at large family gatherings. But really, dh is 42 yo, do they have no new material other than prior to 18?

This is neat. So by the other dates, my dd7 would be a 1st grader there :) My older 3 would all be as they are now, 6, 8, and 11 grade.