Capt. Uhura... I noticed in another post that you had also looked through the Student & Teacher guides specifically to do with K12s Human Odyssey. Would you say that you are preferring the History Odyssey Level 2 work over the student pages of K12, or are you integrating them both about equally?

I'm still trying to decide whether to use K12 Human Odyssey with HO Ancients Level 2, or possibly continue on with our first trip through SOTW and possibly bring in either K12 Human Odyssey or the older Kingfisher Illustrated History of the World that SWB recommends for dd to begin outlining. We've enjoyed SOTW and I've read a bit of MOH alongside of it this year.. but they have only been doing short narrations. I like the assignments in HO Level 2 and how everything is written out, so I'm having a hard time deciding. ;-)

My dd will be in 5th next year, and I am considering using History Odyssey Level 2 - Middle Ages for her, but after reviewing The Story of Mankind I don't think she is going to like it as much having come from SOTW 1 this past year. (We pulled her from PS last year and decided then to start her at the beginning in the history cycle). Has anyone created a schedule showing how k12s Human Odyssey text could be integrated instead of The Story of Mankind?

Can I ask with regards to the Everyday Editing book by Jeff Anderson, do I need one per student? Do they write in them? Also, I don't have Sentence Composing yet, but will be ordering it for next school year. Is there a general amount of sentences that people work on several times a week? What has worked for everyone as far as scheduling? Thanks so much - SaDonna

I loved your review.. I too wondered about the ages of your children using them. Also, do they include hands on experiments and labs, or are those things you add in separately. Are there sections where they suggest experiments? I would love for my kids to eventually read more about the History of Science, but wanted to make sure that I had hands on experiments as well and wondered if it worked in conjunction with History of Science, or would have to be a separate thing during the year. Also, how often do you do this Science each week? Thanks so much.

I happened upon your post as I was searching this very idea. Next year I have a 2nd/3rd grader (older second grader basically who reads very well and loves any kind of experiment), and a 5th grader. The 5th grader also is a good reader, but hasn't been required to complete Logic stage reasoning skills in either History or Science. I am leaning towards Elemental Science's new Biology for the Logic Stage that is coming out in March. There is also a supplement coming out in May called History of Biology. It would allow my voracious 5th grade reader to soak up additional knowledge about all the discoveries and scientists in the world of Biology. I am 'wondering' how my younger student will do with it, but am hopeful that he can tag along and learn from the weekly experiment and some of the reading assignments. He has yet to outline chapters (neither have), but he does a good job of summarizing sections of his current science & history, so I may continue with that theme. I'm not quite sure yet either, which is why I would love to hear if any others have experience in this. Do you work with the older one and as the post above says, "make adjustments" for the younger one? Is it possible to run two Biology curriculums (one Grammar stage and one Logic stage) together?

Mine was 'Rhinestone Cowboy' on 8 - Track... listening to it in the truck with my mom and dad as we would drive down the road (WITHOUT seat belts mind you). I can still hear that darn song in my head.

Ironically, my ds(8) just did that section in 2A today... and he also was lost. This from a kid who completed the entire Level 1 A & B since September. It was an odd concept for him to grasp as well today, but we muddled through it. I am glad to see we weren't the only ones and that it's alright for it to be a hard concept.

I ran across the link below, which explains the program philosophy for Liping Ma's 'Knowing Mathematics' Grades 4 - 6. Has anyone ever used this? http://www.eduplace.com/intervention/knowingmath/philosophy/index.html I read that it would normally be used for kids who are below grade level, but wondered if there would be any benefit to the method of instruction, and whether it differed or expanded on what we were learning in MM

Kalanamak - I have been working through the 2nd chapter regarding mutli-digit multip. in our club, I ran across this post and wondered what other books of her you read afterwards. Did you use the Knowing Mathematics volumes? Does Liping Ma have actual workbooks for teaching the very methods she talks of in her book? Thanks.

I like McHenry's The Brain (http://www.ellenjmchenry.com) mixed with Guest Hollow's free Human Body Curriculum for older elementary kids (http://www.guesthollow.com). She lays it all out on her blog and offers a week by week lesson plan and a list of resources needed. There is also the new Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology by Jeannie Fulbright. I haven't used any of these yet, but am also planning on having them do a semester in the Human Body.

I was considering using the PowerSpeak Spanish next year with my 7 & 9 year old. They have a free week's course you can sign up for to see how the kids like it. They also offer other languages for elementary on up into high school levels.

We have been using MM along with MEP and the worksheet generated pages. For 4th grade I lay out each week so that dd9 is completing 2 pages of MM (in the order the Blue Series goes in), along with either one page of MEP or one math generated page per day M-F. I also will throw in mutip. mosaics and fun math on occasion in exchange for the math generated page. If I see that she are working solely on a Time chapter, I will make sure that she stays well versed in her math facts by bringing the other facts in using the worksheet generator. Three days a week we also do a page in SM IP Level 4 workbook. I basically do the same thing for ds7 who has just started MM2A, except he moves rather quickly so I have him complete 4 pages per day (2 MM pages in the order given, plus a worksheet generated page and an MEP Level 2A page). I also do the cumulative reviews at the end of each chapter before the chapter test.

I would love to know more about this as well!

Great job with the sentences and it is nice to see examples of the lessons. We are excited to start this after MCT Island is complete.

I agree on the writing skills area. My almost 8 year old (basically 2nd grader) didn't do well with the AMOUNT of writing required in R&S 3. I backed him up to level 2 and that is working great as he can do most of it on his own that way, and it doesn't seem to overwhelm him. (He is the age of most 2nd graders) My 4th grader is doing R&S 3 because we had pulled her from PS last year and she had received no formal grammar education. I have been incorporating daily lessons in R&S which last between 15-20 minutes with MCT Island for them both.

Hi there.. my son (now 2 and WILD!!!) started climbing out of his crib at 12 months old. The crib tent was an absolute GIFT to me. It allowed me to sleep peacefully knowing he was staying in one spot all night. Previous to this he would wonder the house at 4am flicking on lights, etc... OH yeah! He was a climber too! Not good. It lasted about a year and by the time it was taken down he was ready to move to his own bed. I would highly recommend it. As for the homeschooling thing, I also had my older ones in PS up until last year. They came out at the end of kindergarten and 3rd grade. The eldest was being bullied, and there were WAY WAY to many behavioral disruptions to count that kept her from learning much at all except how to get into trouble. I live in a small town and people had to wonder at what I was thinking when I pulled them out. I personally wanted to customize their curriculum using state funding in WA State as an ALE student and so far it has worked nicely. They get to learn at their own pace (my youngest is already up a grade in his math) and I don't have to undo their days now as I used to when they would get off the school bus. I know EXACTLY what you mean about seeing all the christmas programs, etc. in the paper. In my paper, those are their friends... so it is a bit hard. It's not that I think they are 'missing' a ton of learning or anything, but I know there are occasions where they miss their friends. To solve this I have tried to make sure they play all the local sports and they get time there to visit and play with them. I also try to make play dates occasionally. The biggest thing I think that has helped in our community though is to form a homeschool co-op with other mom's. We now do Spanish class once a week together. We had sledding and christmas and halloween parties together. We try to do something at least once a month. This summer we are hoping to do a community play as well. Good luck with homeschooling and for me this forum has been an absolute blessing!

Have you checked into PowerSpeak French. It's an online curriculum that starts at the elementary grade and goes into middle and high school.

We are using Apologia Astronomy & Botony this year. It has been good for them, and they seem to be learning a lot. We have the lab kit also to go along with it, so that makes it easy. Next year I am thinking of using Guest Hollow's Human Body with my then 2nd & 5th graders, and also tie in McHenry's 'The Brain' curriculum when we get to that section of Human Body. I also like Guest Hollow's Chemistry she put together for the following year. Also this year I have really enjoyed working through Janet VanCleaves's 'Engineering for Every Kid'. There is quite a bit of physics study in it, and it has to do with all the facets of engineering like aerospace, aeronautical, and others. *** I forgot that we are also working through a TOPS electricity study and then a magnetism study after that... I think those have been perfect, hands on experiments for them.

Thank you very much for those. There are several of us in our local homeschool CO-OP that are using MOH 1 and these will be a great help. ;-)

Daisy... those are fantastic resources you have created for MOH 2 and the notebooking pages are wonderful. Did you create notebooking pages for MOH 1 by chance? We happen to be starting that in January and I would love to use them.

I think it is quite thorough. We add it in after each two pages of MM Light Blue levels 1B and 4A. I try to keep it at the same level or a little lower than what we are learning in MM. They are a nice complement to each other, and it keeps the kids interested.

Thanks ChandlerMom, I appreciate your advice. Since we are new to homeschooling, I wasn't certain how or what I could cut out without it making a significant difference. Someone told me on a different post that math facts and word problems really should be treated as two separate things. I liked that idea, as I could clearly see that she was understanding the actual math facts quite well. I will try recreating word problems and also see if we can lighten her load a bit. I told someone the other day I spent a lot of years complaining about what the PS teachers weren't doing, and now I find myself complaining about myself. lol. I'm always questioning, even though MAP testing has shown they are doing fantastic. I can clearly see how far they both have come in a very short period of time. When you have a 7 year old boy doing 4 part sentence analysis (ala MCT Island) and understanding it all... or watch them both learning how to write a great paragraph (ala MC 4+) and now the MM, not to mention Latin, Spanish, Geography, Science, etc. etc. it is quite incredible really how much their minds are able to expand at the same time that they are enjoying it.

I've been using it for 1st & 4th grade (Light Blue Series) since August. It is working fantastically for my youngest as he started right at the beginning. He moves through the material fairly quickly and is on the last chapter of 1B this coming week. My oldest, who is doing 4A right now, is struggling a bit more with it. Both kids came out of PS and up until this point she had only been doing Saxon. I think she has missed a few tips, tricks, and hints along the way and I have noticed that in certain chapters I have to back her up to the level 3 in that subject to cover it there first. I love how much it challenges the kids, and I do feel like it does a decent job of explaining each section. My one issue has been that with regards to the 4A word problems, they can get a little tricky. She hasn't come from a curriculum that would ask 2-3 part word problems like that, so its going to take some time. I tend to have her complete 3 pages of it per day, and one of those pages is either a worksheet generated math facts (like 3 digit x 2 digit multiplication), or it is a page of MEP level 4. Right before Christmas break my husband and I had a discussion about the number of word problems being asked of her. It's fine when there are a few mixed with math facts, but on certain days she will have a page of nothing BUT word problems, and because there isn't much space between problems it can upwards of 10 on each page. I would say that at the 4 level of Light Blue she does pack A LOT of stuff on each page, so the student has to be proficient at copying the problems onto another page to be given enough room to complete them. It tends to bring on a meltdown when she sees all those problems, and I think it would be great if ANY kid gets to the point that they can complete them all without being walked through each one. (Maybe it's just the kind of mood she is in, because some days are better than others). Having said all of that, I have looked at TT and I know how Saxon works. I still think MM, IF she can eventually catch onto all of it, is most definitely a keeper. It has done a great job of teaching the facts to her at a fairly rapid pace. When I took her out of PS last May she was only doing 2 x 9 and 9 x 8 type problems and in a short period of time she is already up to 3 digit by 2 digit problems. So, it's not the teaching of the basic facts that I have a problem with, it's trying to teach her how to break down the 2 and 3 part word problems, and complete them in a timely fashion without her having a melt down. ;-)

I usually eat some type of protein, vegetable and rice at many meals (we are celiacs and can't digest wheat). The husband and kids will eat more of the carbohydrates, while I tend to fill up on the protein and veggies. Plus, my quantity is smaller than theirs. I generally eat A LOT at breakfast (2 egg omelet, gluten free toast with almond butter, frozen blueberries)... then as the day wears on I eat less and less. *Eat breakfast like a King, Lunch like a Queen, dinner like a pauper... so to speak. I end everyday with a small container of Fage Plain Fat Free Yogurt (It has about 15 grams of protein in it)... I top it with TBSp of honey, slivered almonds and frozen blueberries. It's thick like icecream without the guilt! Plus, it sustains me throughout the night. I would say that one key I have noticed to weight loss and success with it is to get into routine with your diet. Eat a lot of the same types of foods. Think of food as fuel for your body, then when things like holidays come food becomes less of an issue. When you are eating for health, you are eating to promote that and be mindful of everything that goes into your mouth. After a bit, it just becomes a habit. Replace the feelings that food gave you with some other activitiy.. like working out, reading, knitting or crocheting, meeting at Starbucks with friends for tea or a skinny latte. It just becomes a lifestyle. **** Sorry.. I know you didn't ask ALL THAT.. I just enjoy health and fitness and am always eager to share. ;-)