I'm the OP and just wanted to thank everyone for your input. I'm thinking we will start with Apples, but we will have to wait to purchase them until after the holidays. Thanks.

Which book would you start with a 4th grader? Would you start with Apples? Thanks.

My boys love Adventure to Fitness Another mom mentioned it here over the summer. It was made for public schools but I called and they welcome homeschools. It is also free. ;) We've been sick for the past 3 weeks and my dc have been upset that they couldn't do their adventures. They are a good workout, we are drenched in sweat by the end.

We have done Song School Latin in 2nd and just finished GSWL in 3rd. So far it has been easy to learn alongside of ds but as I was printing out LL BB1 worksheets yesterday for next year, I started thinking I should print a 2nd set for myself. I'm not sure I will be able to keep up with my ds unless I do the work also. Do you learn or plan to learn alongside your dc all the way even through high school? Thanks,

My 4th grade plans for ds9: History - SOTW 2 with activity guide narrations, coloring pages and maps. We don't do any of the other activities from the guide. Five in a Row - DS9 likes to join in when I do FIAR with DS4* Art - FIAR art lessons, projects from artprojectsforkids.org, mark kistler drawing lessons Writing/Grammar - Kilgallon Story Grammar, Grammarland with worksheets, KISS Grammar, WWE3, and a few elements from Bravewriter Poetry - MCT Music of the Hemisphere and read lots of poetry Vocabulary -finish Vocabulary from the Roots Up vol. 1, then start MCT Building Languages Reading Comprehension - Jacob’s Ladder level 2, Ready Readers Geography - Complete Book of Maps and Geography and world mapping via The Core cursive - ? Science ‐ BFSU vol. 2 and AHA! Science Math: Beast Academy, MM4 Latin - Lively Latin 1 and probably some sort of computer programming Now that I've typed all this out it looks like a lot. I may need to do some pairing back.

I recently saw this book mentioned somewhere. Kids Guide to Service Projects

Using a mechanical pencil helped my ds with this issue.

I wanted to add that we do written narrations weekly for SOTW. Ds also does lots of oral narrations for various other books that he reads.

I just purchased The Writer's Jungle in January. So I'm only on my 2nd month of implementing it. I also purchased a few of the Arrow downloads for copywork, dictation, literary elements, and a writing project. Mon - Fri: The copywork passages from the Arrow are usually 4 to 5 sentences or longer. My ds hand still gets tired from writing, so I break up the copywork. He does 1 sentence a day. He does some other writing for other subjects (science, HWOT, SOTW) as well. Also, I alternate every other day from copywork to dictation. So Monday he'll copy 1 sentence then Tuesday he'll write 1 sentence from dictation, and then the Wednesday go back to copying the next sentence, etc. Tuesday: Teatime with poetry. I usually just read aloud some poems. I include my 4 year old. So I will read a few poems that my 4 year old will enjoy and then a few that my 8 year will enjoy. My ds8 has been showing interest in writing some of his own poems. So we will start doing that also. Nothing formal though. I don't have any poetry curriculum. We will see what we can come up with on our own for a while. Next year I might need some type of poetry composing help books. Wednesday: ds works on writing. He works on his monthly project or the writing project from the Arrow. Thursday: Vocabulary from Greek/Latin roots. This is not necessarily something recommended in The Writer's Jungle. My ds has always had an interest in how everything got its name. So this is one of my ds favorite things to study. Friday: Freewriting. I set the timer for 15 minutes and he writes. He started at 10 minutes in February and has worked up to 15 minutes. He just writes in a spiral notebook about whatever he chooses. If he doesn't have any ideas, he will pick something from the Unjournaling book. Or he will do a keen observation which is described in The Writer's Jungle. It is basically putting an object in front of him and having him write down a list of descriptions using as many senses as you can. Then he will use that list and the following week he will make that into a paragraph trying to make really strong, interesting sentences. That is all we do for Language Arts for now. He also reads lots and lots of books and for reading comprehension we use Jacob’s Ladder. Ds is a reluctant writer and like I said before we ditched GWG and WWW in January and started the Bravewriter lifestyle and it has been such a relief and blessing for us. He actually enjoys and looks forward to the teatime with poetry and freewrite fridays. Ds will choose one of his freewrites and will make it a monthly project by narrowing down the topic and then expanding on that topic. Which that is all described in TWJ. In the end, he will have a really great paper that he is proud of. I have plans for next year for 4th grade to add the following for grammar; Winston Grammar, which the author of TWJ recommends, Kilgallon Story Grammar and Grammarland with the worksheets. Winston Grammar and Grammarland are very gentle. I plan on still only having 1 day of grammar next year. We will just rotate the different grammar programs. Hope that helps give an idea of the Bravewriter lifestyle.

Oh wow! Thanks!

I would like a Greek and Latin roots vocabulary curriculum next year. Here is what I know of: Vocabulary from Classical Roots English from the Roots Up Vocabulary Vine MCT Caesar's English Dynamic Literacy Are there anymore out there? Thanks.

Thanks for your replies. It kind of confirms what I was thinking. I appreciate it.

Just wanting to know how long it took you to go through this curriculum. Curious if I can stretch it to last over a year, more like a 1 1/2 year. Thanks.

I scribe for ds for other things. It never occurred to me to be his scribe for Latin. Don't know why I didn't think about it. Thanks for your response.

Thanks for your response. I now may end up using Minimus as just a fun read for ds.

I didn't think of writing some of the responses for him. Hmm, I might end up using LL after all. Thanks.

My ds still hates writing anything. I am needing a latin curriculum that can be done orally. We are really enjoying GSWL and will finish it this summer. I would like to start LL1 for fall but I think ds won't enjoy it because he will have to do the worksheets. So I'm going to move LL1 to 5th grade when he hopefully won't have such a phobia of writing. If I purchase both the instructor's guide and the text for Minimus, can it all be done orally?

I was hoping someone might chime in that has used this. I've actually never heard it mentioned on the boards before, have you? I tried doing a search but came up with nothing. I too, am trying to find a Latin curriculum to use after we finish GSWL. I don't want something that we have to step back and start over from the beginning. It sounds like that is what your wanting also. Stephanie ds8 Micah ds4 Agi

:bigear: I am interested also. Stephanie ds8 Micah ds4 Agi

Those of you who have purchased the Brock Microscope, which one do you recommend? There are 4 different scopes that go from 20x up to 400x. Also, do you recommend any of the accessories? Thanks, Stephanie ds8 Micah and ds4 Agi eta: I tried to add a link within my question but had some trouble. http://www.magiscope.com/model70.htm

Lisa - I'll have to look into the Latin-Centered Curriculum! Thanks, Stephanie ds8 Micah ds3 Agi

Lisa - Would you mind listing what you are planning to use for your 6 year history cycle? For some reason you have me intrigued by the 6 year cycle. Thanks. Stephanie ds8 Micah and ds3 Agi

Thanks for this info. I looked it up and it looks great! I think it is exactly what I need for my ds. Stephanie ds8 Micah ds3 Agi

My ds8 son is an advanced reader. He has hyperlexia and can read at high school level. He just devours books. He can read something like a Narnia or Harry Potter book in a day. My dh was wanting me to make sure he is really comprehending what he is reading and making sure he is not skipping words, etc. I have been researching some reading comprehension workbooks and such, like Evan Moor and Reading Detective. Do all reading comp workbooks have the same format where they give you the reading passage and then the questions on the same page? And you are suppose to look back at the passage to answer to questions? This doesn't seem like reading comprehension to me if you are able to go back and find the answers. Am I wrong? What exactly does reading comprehension mean for a 3rd grader? Is there anything out there that doesn't allow you to look back at the passage to find the answers? Or is this not a skill that an elementary aged student should be able to do yet? Thanks. Stephanie ds8 Micah ds3 Agi

What are your back to school traditions? This will be my 4th year to hs and we never have done anything special during the first day of school each year. I was thinking of doing a form that has my ds weigh/height, add his picture, etc. Have you seen a fun form like this? Thanks, Stephanie (MJ 8, Agi 3)