Can anyone tell me what the difference is between the two editions? I am intending to use 1A with my almost-6 yr old. I had assumed I would use the US edition, but then someone mentioned that it was outdated? I've searched the boards and haven't had much success in finding whether this is accurate.

I just saw this list of 10 back-to-school traditions: http://simplehomeschool.net/10-back-to-school-traditions-back-to-school-week/ And this is the "Who Am I?" page that we are using for a time-capsule: http://lifeasmom.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Who-Am-I-beginning.pdf

This sounds so completely miserable! It would make me sick to have throw away all that hard work. We've had a vomiting virus here over the weekend and I thought giving it a week to run its course was very generous -- 4 months would about do me in. I hope you have a much better year this year and everyone in your family remains healthy!

I am loving the file box and I am quickly realizing that the reason we were "behind" my plans last year had little to do with my child and a lot to do with me. It was a lot of work for me to make copies and put everything in the files (I only have the first 10-16 weeks done, and haven't even started on science yet due to a science curriculum crisis over the weekend). Last year I pushed assignments off because I wasn't prepared for them. It feels good to not be in that spot this year! Thankfully I only labeled my files by week number, not by date. We probably aren't going to get any schooling in this week because we have a virus running through the family -- but next week we'll just pick up and carry on.

Oops, I forgot to add that the workbooks are scripted. That has been helpful for me because my 1st grader (last year) did not "get" the narration exercises very easily. I found it helpful to have the questions in there to ask him, I think that when I am on my own with these sorts of things I tend to either have unrealistic expectations that are too high for him, or I dumb things down too much. It was good for me to see what the author expected from the situation, and by the end of the book he was doing very well with it.

The text basically explains the program in general terms, whereas the workbook lays everything out. If you use the text, you have to pull your own reading selections for the narration, dictation and copywork exercises. With the workbook, this is all done for you (using very good selections from classic pieces of literature). One of the things we've enjoyed the most is finding that some of these selections are from books that we have not yet read, but now are very eager to read as the selections have roused our interest! Our reading list is really growing!:001_smile: In my opinion, you could do the program with either book or with both books. Buying the workbooks is going to cost more (because there is one for each level), whereas the one text explains all the levels. I am the type who wants really good literature selections, but find it tough to get around to selecting them myself twice a week - so we end up putting lessons off for days on end. This is why I prefer the workbooks. If you don't have that problem, the workbooks may not be worth the cost for you. Does that make sense?

This morning it was really a toss up for me, but as the day has progressed, it has become clear that we are not in shape to attend lessons this week. Two more boys are sick this afternoon, and the 7y.o. has been asleep all day (when not in bathroom), so swim lessons are officially off for us this week. I called the pool this afternoon and requested to have us transferred to the October session. It is probably less than ideal, but as someone else said, the boys are young enough that it isn't a huge deal. I would like to take them swimming more often, but it is hard to do with the baby. I think we may try to have one of us take them to open swim on Friday nights this school year. I guess maybe we should just commit to this and teach them ourselves. I swam US club swimming for years. Funny that this never occurred to me -- I homeschool but never considered myself "qualified" to teach my own kids how to swim!!!

I am using WWE (level 2 now for my 2nd grader) and we love it. I have both the text and the workbooks - personally, if I were to do it over again I'd get just the workbooks and skip the text (or maybe just check that out from the library, you really don't need it). We don't write in the workbooks though, I have younger children who will work from them too, so he does all the copywork on his own paper. I am very impressed with the program and I think it is much better suited for the younger ages than IEW.

I have 3 of my boys starting swim lessons tomorrow, the lessons run Mon-Thur for two weeks. Friday night I came down with a stomach virus/fever, and last night it hit my 7 yr old. He is clearly down for the day today, and if he feels at all like I do, he won't be doing much tomorrow either. So, here are my options: 1. Keep them all in lessons but have the 7y.o. sit it out on Monday and start on the 2nd day (and pray that the other boys don't come down with the virus and that is doesn't get spread to anyone else). 2. Switch them to a week night session that is one night a week starting in October. 3. Drop it altogether, pay a $15 admin fee (but get the rest of my $162 back). Here is the thing that is making this tough for me. My kids are terrible swimmers. The younger two are in a class together and they are the only two registered right now. So basically I am getting private lessons at a fraction of the cost. The older one is in a class of only 3 kids. The October evening sessions will probably have 6 kids (which is the max) in the class as it looks like 3 kids are already registered in each class. Also, I was thinking going every day for two weeks would help us to actually make progress. We've done once a week lessons in the past and no one has ever moved up a level. They are wimps when it comes to submerging their head. Maybe I should try to find private lessons during the day this fall, but I have no idea how to even go about that? The private lessons offered by this particular pool are out of my budget ($135 per child, whereas lessons are $54 per child). Anyone else had wimpy swimmers? What worked to push them past their fears? I feel swimming is a very important skill to have - they don't have to ever join a swim team or anything, but they need basic skills.

My oldest did Alpha in K, and we just took our time. He "got" it very quickly though, so what I thought would carry us into 1st grade we actually ended up finishing in the early spring. We then started Beta, but after a few weeks of that a friend told me of Usborn's Sticker Math. My son loved that book, so I just let him do that until the fall of 1st grade, when we picked up Beta again. He finished Beta and Gamma in 1st. I am not good at math, so it is a little frustrating to me to move at his speed, but he is doing great with it and loves math. With my second boy, I did buy the Primer. I am pretty sure it will take us from now through Christmas, the early lessons are extremely simple. In retrospect, I probably wouldn't have bought Primer and just started him on Alpha after Christmas. However, I am sure he will love having his own book and using the blocks just like his older brother.

Thank you for posting this! I am needing to decide between Nancy Larson and Science in a Nutshell, and I really ought to decide today so I can get something on order. This review is very helpful, I've had trouble finding much out there in terms of reviews for this program.

This is for a 2nd grader who LOVES science... and hopefully the 5 yr old can participate too. I am not good at pulling stuff together, so either of these would be worth the cost for me, I think. He reads nonfiction science all the time and knows a lot about a variety of science topics already. Is one of these going to be more appropriate for him than the other? Is one more rigorous for the student? Any advice would be appreciated. I just really don't want to have to pull my own materials together at this point, most likely we would just not get any formal science in (yet again) if I do that.

On the flip side, I've now bought a few books twice -- because I bought it once, decided it wasn't going to work for whatever reason, sold it, then a year or two later realized that it would now be perfect!

I was planning on doing RSO Earth and Space, but when I sat down to pull together the first ten weeks of materials and look through the curriculum, I feel like my son is going to be majorly disappointed in the experiments and could already answer all of the questions correctly without even doing the experiments. (As in, he will know how each experiment should turn out before he even does it... and he won't consider that to be "real" science.) He loves science, and reads tons of nonfiction science from the library every week (by choice). He knows far more science than I do at this point. So, what do I do? I hate wasting time, so I really can't see us following through with the RSO plan. But I was feeling so good about actually attempting science this year! Should I just follow SWB's plans in the WTM? Keep it simple, find some experiments in Mudpies to Magnets? Has someone laid out the plans for this already so I don't have spend my last precious days before school starts trying to pull this all together? Or is there some other program I should try? (I didn't spend anything on RSO, I was going to use the first 10 lesson plans from their try before you buy option.) Or do I just skip formal science all together, yet again, and tell myself he is more than getting enough from all his library reading? I think he would be a little disappointed by that option, but it wouldn't exactly break my heart.

We're just about to start with RSO Earth Science & Space. You can get the first 10 lessons for free at the Pandia Press website, and I am pretty sure those are all Earth Science lessons. I found this very helpful in making my decision. Personally, I hate science experiments because I have enough messes to clean up already, but my boys love them and I think this curriculum makes them manageable for me. Everything is clearly laid out and I know exactly what supplies I will need and when.

We are using WWE (level 2, for 2nd grader) and I am very happy with it. I am also doing FLL, but I am skipping most of the narration and dictation lesson in there since I feel WWE really covers this very well. (I also skip her poetry in there, we memorize poems of our choosing instead... so I probably skip more of FLL than what I actually use, but I think the parts we cover are worthwhile.) I use the WWE workbooks, but I do not have him tear out the pages to write directly on them as I have younger children who will also use the book. Instead he does the copywork on his own paper. The reason I buy the workbooks is that the narration and dictation and copywork is all there spelled out for you -- with the text you have to find your own selections. This wouldn't be that tough, but I find it hard to make the time to find passages in advance, so the workbook makes the program easier for me and thus more likely that we will follow through and complete it. I do not have any experience with R&S.

I use a 3-ring binder with page protectors. I label a page protector with the date, then stick all the coupon sections from that Sunday's paper in that pocket. I used to clip them and file by item, but it was taking me too long when I'd get "The List" to gather all those coupons. Plus there were items I'd never clip, thinking I would never buy that product... but sometimes those items end up being less than $0.25 or even free, so I now buy them to donate to the food shelf.

I was thinking of "Hail, Holy Queen", I think it explains the role of the Blessed Mother very clearly and beautifully. "The Lamb's Supper" would be a good one too (personally I had trouble getting into that one, but that was probably due to sleep deprivation at the time). He also has one called "Reasons to Believe: How to Understand, Explain and Defend the Catholic Faith" - I have not read this one yet, but it would be worth looking at for a Confirmation student I think. If you child doesn't already go to Confession regularly, perhaps his book on that sacrament would be helpful too. In thinking about this more this afternoon, I think I'd actually (if I were doing this with my child) use Trese in place of Kreeft. I think Leo Trese's "The Faith Explained" is similar but maybe more thorough than Kreeft's book. It is an excellent book, especially if you are going to be reading it together and discussing it. Just something else to consider. In my opinion it is more "readable" than Kreeft in the sense that Kreeft goes through each point in a rather dry fashion, whereas Trese's chapters seem to be filled with a little more explanation.

I have read the Peter Kreeft book, and I think the content would be fine for a 13 yr old. I don't know if it will all be understandable to her though, it probably depends on her reading/comprehension level. I HIGHLY recommend Ronald Knox's book "The Creed in Slow Motion". I bought this off Amazon last spring and I love it. It recently has been back in print. This book was actually a series of lectures Fr Knox gave to a group of girls from a boarding school who were being sheltered from the Blitz. He is amazingly clear and very amusing as he dissects the Creed piece by piece. I wish I had been given this kind of clarity as a teen! I would also recommend maybe some Scott Hahn books for that age. For some reason I just keep thinking the Kreeft book will be tough for that age... but I don't have a child that age yet, so I could be underestimating.

When my oldest son was 5 he loved reading all of the Thorton Burgess books (The Adventures of Buster Bear, etc.). Dover publishes these and we bought all of them, he has read them over and over. I think you can get them on Amazon with the 4 for the price of 3 deal that they frequently run. My 2nd boy loves to listen to these (he is 5 now) but he isn't quite at this reading level yet. With my oldest, we would take turns reading paragraphs aloud to each other. The chapters are very short.

kbed0849- We did 1st last year with our oldest boy (the other boys were 4, 2 and infant) and it was challenging some days to do much of anything. I figured even if we just sat on the couch and read books it was "enough" for that day. It is hard when the baby is fussy or the toddler is into everything or you aren't getting enough sleep at night. I made math, reading and writing our priorities, and if we got to the others stuff it was great - but if we didn't, I didn't let myself feel guilty about it. My boys listened to SOTW vol. 1 on CD (mostly in the car) and we did very few of the activities, but we did get most of the maps done and the coloring pages. Most of our reading came from the suggested books in the activity guide, so even though we didn't spend a lot of time on history, my 1st grader already knows far more history than I knew by the time I got to high school! I didn't do art, it just wasn't realistic for me last year. I am planning to use Child-Sized Masterpieces this year, it seems easy/light enough that we'll enjoy it without it being burdensome. And we didn't even attempt to do any formal Latin in 1st grade. We'll probably start in 3rd. (I have a CD with basic prayers being said in Latin, and he has learned a few prayers just from listening to that with the little guide book it came with. He finds it fascinating.) I wonder if it will always feel like there is so much to get done when starting on a new year? I am feeling that way about 2nd grade now! =)

One thing that has majorly helped my wiggly boys is to sit on an exercise ball rather than on a chair when we're doing paper/pencil work (we work at a smaller table, so the height works out perfectly). The first couple days they roll right over a few times, but it really improves their posture and they have to keep their feet on the floor to balance. It really helped my oldest son's handwriting a lot. I was just about to go to amazon to order a new ball for this school year - last spring boy #2 decided to see if scissors could go through the ball (they can).

We have both but we always ended up using Usborne last year when we did SOTW 1. I don't think you can go wrong with either one though.

In the US your son would probably be Kindergarten. I am using HWT for two of my boys and we've enjoyed it a lot. The one with lowercase letters is "Letters and Numbers for Me".

I'd love to hear some schedule ideas too - I'm only doing 2nd and K (not much work) this year, but I need to figure out schedules that will allow me to not ignore the younger boys too.