I don't know anything about Barton, so no help there. I do know that the way that spelling and writing are taught with SWR is supposed to reduce issues in dx and other ld.

This is a great link - I actually used the Tanglewood Planner to help me create my record keeping pages (loved the circling idea) so I created a sheet in Word that is similar to their style, but personalized it with quotes from the Church Fathers at the top, and changed the topics to match what we do - I even have a place to circle which days they practice piano - it has helped me immensely. I love the Tanglewood Planner, it was money well spent years ago!

These are a method, not a program you have buy - so you can select the artist or composer you want, then buy a CD with that composer's music, or some art prints (Ambleside does offer Art prints you can print off, and someone on there sells them already printed if you wanted to order). Here is a link to my post on our Composer study - I usually buy 1-2 CD's (though I try to pick composers I already have music for) and sometimes a book if there is one, but I don't worry too much about the biographies yet. http://sttheophanacademy.blogspot.com/2008/04/composer-study.html

Here is a link to an outline of what is in my planner http://sttheophanacademy.blogspot.com/

You know, we all stress too much sometimes :) I would definitely agree to take it easy in 1st grade (and really in 2nd too). Focus on math and reading, and have fun with the rest of it. It is true that they will pick up so much on their own, and a few fun projects will be what sticks in their heads. I am so glad I took it fun and easy with dd this year (she is child #2, so this time I quit worrying so much - I think by the time #4 has her turn I will be SO MELLOW :) ) TOG appeals to me, and I have ordered a unit before just to hold it and really see if I would like it, and I think that maybe in a few years I might - but right now oldest is 3rd grade, and I just can't see the point of getting that deep. They can make connections at that age, and they will, but I don't need to put that kind of time into history right now. I agree with OhElizabeth that a map, a globe, and a lot of good books are really all you need for those first years. Try the D'Aulaires books, or the Holling books (we love these) and do some fun stuff. (Now if I can just stick to this advice myself , I will be doing good, I admit the siren call of TOG beckons me every May when I get the planning bug!)

Well- it's not cheap - but I still treasure my Bartlett's book of quotations purchased in college!

I posted the link in a separate thread, but here it is again - the link to the site with all those great resources - so you can bookmark the site and explore http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/society/schools/index.html

Another great book I think - if you are hesitant or want guidance in judging fairy tales (ie why what Disney puts out does not really qualify as good fairy tales :) A Landscape with Dragons - a great discussion from a Christian viewpoint about why fairy tales are good, and the importance of discriminating between tales, and some good criteria for judging tales.

LOVE. LOVE, LOVE Mother's Rule of Prayer!!! Can't tell you how much it is helping me right now :)

Here is the start of my reading list: Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain Latin Centered Curriculum - Revised Ed. Seven Habits of Highly Effective People I know there are others I need to read, just can't think of them right now, and at some point I will add a few fun classics in there as well - maybe I will have to make a list on my blog to motivate me - Thanks for asking this question!

Enrichment4you has some cheap unit reasources - I really like the one on making your own butterfly garden. http://www.enrichment4you.com/index.php?cPath=19_46_57

A friend of mine purchased this, and used it sort of for 1st grade. It seems good, but for me not worth it, since I have so many other resources. It just takes each day of creation and focuses on science having to do with that day for a period of time.

Yeah, it took a day or two to get mine - but it will come :)

We follow it fairly closely. Really, to me it is worth it just for the concepts, even if you do not follow the laid out curriculum, the ideas presented are well worth the time to read, and have relieved a lot of stress for me as a far as the whole "getting it all done" problem. I had the original version - sold it a few weeks ago and have already preordered the revised. Anyone who feels overwhelmed with trying to accomplish everything should read the first 3 chapters of this book atleast!

We are loving the Explorers one, and we are going to be doing the colonial and revolution next year. I love them, and so does my son - they are going to be the basis for our American studies this year.

I am not sure that would work, since it is not a book, but rather access to lessons online. Maybe in book form you could sell it when that is released (right now I think it is still only available online), but I am pretty sure that selling print outs of the lessons you downloaded would violate copyrights.

I have the insects/arachnids one - I loved the "idea" of it, but the implementation just was not worth it for me! I tried to copy the books so we could have 2 sets, and that did NOT work well at all - and really, the little books are no where near as engaging as a few simple living books in color. Not to mention, they aren't going to hold up well with a house of boys :) I like some of the projects and ideas, but really decided there was far too much work involved with a small return in terms of learning. Plus it is really set up for a classroom, with lots of PS standards focus, and lots of group "investigations". If you really enjoy the hands on stuff, I would find a good lapbook - I just found that this was not worthwhile for us.

Sorry - should have specified that the samples I gave were for Level 1 :)

I so agree! This was far better for us than the books, and well worth the money, we have listened to them over and over and over and over! :)

HO is sort of like an outline for studies. For example, in HO Middle Ages - there are 43 Lessons, and they are not strictly chrono. like SOTW, but group your studies in themes or cultures. Here is what a lesson looks like: Lesson 3: Charlemagne - lists the pages to read in Usborne Encycl., gives a dictionary word to look up and define gives a list of places to look up and mark on your map read pp in SOTW (it jumps around in SOTW b/c HO is not completely chrono.) Read CHOW Color Charlemagne page in Middle Ages coloring book List of questions about assigned readings for child to answer List of additional activities (selected mostly from the Days of Knights and Damsels book) Additional book list with extra reading, lots of historical fiction So you are supposed to look over the page, select which things you want to do, and check mark those (obviously there is more here than you could do in one week, so you select what you want the child to do kind of like TOG) If you do not like to pick out readings on your own, or want someone else to organize correlated readings in SOTW, Uesborne E, and other readings, it is a simple way to have a basic outline/structure for your history studies.

I preordered from MP - they said it will ship in May - keeping my fingers crossed :)

We are using the Discovery of New Worlds book this year, and I may use the next two for next year. We like them, they are not as broad in scope as SOTW, but we listen to SOTW on CD, and I read Synge as our spine through the year. Ambleside also schedules some of these.

Not too "duh" of a question at all! I suppose you could answer with many reasons - the one that comes to my mind is: I think we all have a God-given drive to yearn for order and beauty. Poetry is a natural expression of the amazing creativity of man - who I believe was created in the image of God. God is the ultimate creator, and since we are made in his image, we also yearn to create. The point is the same as the reason for a beautiful symphony or a magnificent work of art. We all in some way (some more than others) desire to create or express - and for some this comes in the form of the precision, order and beauty of words set to rhyme and meter. And for me, the central point of poetry in school is to learn to appreciate order and beauty in man and creation. Here is my post on how we do poetry in our school.

What age and what poetry have you tried?

I love this idea too - wish it would work for us :) Unfortunately my husband has a non-traditional work schedule - so when he is off, it is usually a Tuesday or Friday - so those have to be my light days! I count on Monday and Wednesday to be my heavy get it done days, and usually we take off the day he is home (Tues or Fri) except for Math and Latin. I also find that we lose steam by Friday anyway, so I like to have that day lighter than the others, I cannot imagine counting on Friday as a heavy school day, I would NEVER pull that off myself! I also love the idea of a walk in the morning - but that has never worked well for me. We seem to find it very hard to come in and get the day going too! Really, for us spending the first of the morning doing chores seems to help - b/c by the time they are through with chores, they are glad to do anything other than chores :) Even school work sounds better than helping mom clean!