To me it looked misspelled and for the American way of spelling it IS misspelled. Apparently the British spell it with the double L's My son copied his sentence from the book but I had him change it! I want him to learn the correct way that I have seen it spelled here in the U.S. I understand the book is written by the Mennonites? Could that be where the discrepancy is coming from? :lurk5: So what way would you have you child spell it? The way the book says or the way you know it to be? Loretta

Thanks everyone! I will check into those suggestions.. the Spelling Power and Natural Speller. I like the idea of pretesting and creating the list from missed words. That would be ideal for us, I believe. This week I googled common misspelled words and found a list from Donna Young It has a ton of words on the list that she has compiled from various sources. I just chose about 5 words from that list and added them to some of the TOG words for this week. It worked out well especially since the TOG list wasn't that difficult this week (which is unusual) Heading off to check out your suggestions! Thanks again, Loretta :lurk5:

I have been using TOG (Tapestry of Grace) spelling/vocab lists for weekly spelling tests. The words are hard, sometimes Very hard. He averages about 10 to 13 words a week and also is responsible for knowing the meanings. The words are associated with our history/geography teachings so that part is nice because it reinforces his learning. Also .. during our studies if there is a word he can't spell which I feel is a good one for him to know, I add it. Sometimes I remove words as well. He is a natural speller! I would like to find spelling lists for him that are more commonly used instead of words tied to our lessons. (well not instead of, in addition to lol) They also need to be difficult words. It is not as easy as it sounds. I have checked on the internet for sample third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade, etc. lists The lists do not seem appropriate for him so I don't know where to turn. I know I could choose lists from a particular spelling program at a higher grade level but what grade level? I was wondering if anyone here could help me with this. I do plan on continuing to pick and choose among the TOG words. I also add science vocab words occasionally from Apologia. I am looking for general words. I don't really want a complicated Program, just some good, solid, lists! I Would get as part of a program if I have to, if the lists were just right Thanks again.. is there a test he could take online? (for spelling placement) It would be great if I could just take out the list each week and not have to prepare as much. thanks, Loretta mom to DS 7 Ben:lurk5:

That just puts a huge smile on my face :001_smile: It's amazing what they retain .. GO River Civilizations LOL!!

It looks like enough, like you have all your subjects covered. I wish we could finish by 1 .. seriously. I just made a post that our day is lasting till 1 thirty, uggh! I notice my 7 y/o DS wanting constant entertainment. I think it is an age thing. Of course now that we are in school it isn't as bad. On break, it was awful as I cannot be his full time activities director. Sigh.. The only thing I can think of is to provide him with a variety of things (which I am sure you already do) Sorry not much help except to say that my son also gets VERY bored when nothing to do! I hear what you are saying. I mean there is always Something to do .. but when he has not found something to engage himself in. Loretta (Ben DS 7)

My DS is 7, Second Grade We do the Tapestry of Grace Lapbooks. After our lesson, he does the section of lapbook for it. I schedule it on the daily plan. For instance.. learn about Hinduism religion. Do lapbook India Religion Also .. we do the notebook for Apologia Science. After we read and discuss the passage he fills out notebook section for it. It is just like a lapbook. Today we wrote in it and also glued stuff in it. We glued illustrations of flight principles in it which perfectly went along with our reading. Cool. But how do I determine or judge IF these lapbooks are aiding in retention or are just busy work? My day seems too long and that is just doing one lesson on each subject. Obviously we are doing too much (but maybe not) 8 to 2 thirty with breaks, lunch. Today we went to Stater Brothers as a half hour break to get a salad. We do R&S English one lesson. He also did a TOG writing assignment. Without the writing assignment from Tapestry of Grace, English would have been 6 minutes. One lesson Singapore math + flashcards The TOG lesson + reading + lapbook The Apologia lesson + lapbook I don't see what I could cut out? Obviously the lapbooks.. but I don't want to cut them if they are helping what do you think? :lurk5:

I don't know if the lapbooks we do are busywork. We do the lapbooks for history (tapestry of grace) After we learn about the subject I have him do the appropriate portion of the lapbook. We also are doing the apologia notebook (same thing as a lapbook) After we read and discuss the text, he fills out the section of the lapbook. This is time consuming. I was just thinking this same thing today. I *think* it is reinforcing his learning, but how can I judge that? I know my day is too long and that is just doing one lesson per subject not accelerating the lessons uggh. :001_huh:

Keyboard, that is what we do for our DS 7 He takes piano lessons and of course takes them on the instructor's piano, at her house. At home he practicies on the keyboard. My husband wanted it this way and he is the musician in the family, not me. He does great this way. His teacher thinks so, too.

I don't know but I was Instantly drawn to the title of your post! I will have to check into this .. We joined cubscouts to do camping, outdoor stuff LOL

TOG Tapestry Of Grace Okay well I didn't avoid it but it took me forever to decide and I had my reservations. I LOVE it and so does my DS 7:grouphug:

The second sentence should be separated into two sentences. Instead of Whenever she went to her grain bin, the mice scattered and she peered in the bin and saw the supply of grain was less than it was before, because the mice had eaten some. It could be Whenever she went to her grain bin the mice scattered. She peered in the bin and saw the supply was less than it was before because the mice had eaten some. I would point out not to run sentences together going on and on. He has a tendency to just keep putting commas in between his separate thoughts. Did he think of the idea of the mice stealing rice from the bin by himself? Because I really liked that idea and found it clever. I have to disagree with the storyline being too simple. The storyline would be just fine (mice stealing the rice, starving widow, cat hero) It just needs to be beefed up, expounded on! I also agree that the widow character needs to be felt more. What is she thinking? What is she feeling? What does she look like? Does she frown or cry when she sees the disappearing grain? Once the reader gets to *know* her they will be happy she is no longer hungry LOL. :lol:

Why does it say not to do the end of lesson review? Isn't the end of lesson Review made to be reviewed at the end of the lesson LOL. I agree .. it does seem like a lot to to digest (the reading) There are lots of science terms and concepts introduced in the reading! I am VERY excited to see that the level of information in the text is so in depth and challenging. Wow! I am leaning toward spreading out the reading. Shorter passages so we can have time to go over the definitions and really understand the science terms. For retention purposes if we read a smaller amount per day and then discuss it .. I think my DS will retain more. I don't really want to "do" science everyday though. Well .. the way you are doing it you are still "ahead" of schedule because you are completing one lesson in a week and a half, instead of two weeks. But it is more manageable because a little bit every day is easier than too much on 2 or 3 days. :D Thanks for your input. Obviously I am going to have to play around with this a little bit and see what works for us. I am liking the idea of spreading it out over more smaller lesson periods. Loretta

I just got my Flying Creatures Book. I read the schedule section, with suggestions for doing science 2 or 3 days per week, one lesson spread over 2 weeks. The first week for reading and doing the Journal. The second week for doing the experiment and recording the experiment. However I was wondering what you all are doing exactly? How many days per week do you *do* science? How exactly do you implement your apologia lessons. My ds is 7 years old. Just wondering what different ways you all are using this? thanks, loretta :D

I am a bit confused despite looking at the stuff online multiple times. I need to know what to buy .. what constitutes the "course" for second grade? I see the set (it has 3 books to it) called Preparing to Build. That consists of 6 units. That doesn't seem like a full years worth? Is it? What is the "years course" ..? thanks :lurk5:

SaDonna .. May I ask why you are using both MCT & R & S? Does one provide something the other doesn't. Would you say R&S is rigorous and thorough enough to use alone? Just wondering why you are using both. I really only want One LOL. ;)

Wow thanks, guys! I will have to take another look at Rod & Staff. Cadam .. does Rod & Staff begin at fourth grade, why are you using something else until fourth grade? Is it because First Language Lessons is better for the youngers? thanks, Loretta :auto:

LOL :) Exactly! It does seem *wrong* that he should get it wrong. Except like on a scantron sheet or a computer you must choose the correct answer in the end. I like your suggestion! Just have him fix it and move on. So I should just go ahead and give him credit as correct for it? Because you know that is what I want to do.. LOL :lurk5:

What would be second and third runner-ups as far as rigor for LA? We use TOG and do have the Writing Aids with it. We are considering MCT. But I want to know what would be some other rigorous curriculums to consider. I Have read 100 Top Picks by Duffy .. I have the book. I am trying to narrow down my selection to just a few. LA comes naturally to my DS so I want a Strong program (for his 1st grade national testing he placed 6 grade level in all LA areas and post high school level in *word decoding*) I want the right fit but I don't want to torture him either LOL Any ideas? Thanks, Loretta

I don't plan on keeping Grades, for math class. My DS is only in second grade. However I do plan on keeping a simple record of his Singapore math Tests. I grade them 9/10 if he misses one problem out of 10. (or whatever points have been assigned per question by Singapore) This is more of a "How do you feel or respond to careless mistakes?" question more than an actual grading question. For instance there is a math question that has multiple steps, and he writes down everything correctly, including the answer. So the answer is 20, and he writes 20 on the line (where it is supposed to go) Then he is supposed to circle A, B, C, or D. With D matching 20 but he circles A. I mean, he did it all right and then circles the wrong corresponding letter. :001_huh: It's not often but I wonder how to handle the *careless* mistakes. Because it IS a test, I have to mark the whole thing wrong. Because mom isn't always going to be there to make exceptions LOL. So what do you do and how do you handle it? I explained to him that there is a difference between not understanding how to do a problem and making a *careless* mistake where you are Rushing OR not paying careful enough attention to details So should I be doing this.. OR should I say Nothing and Just Ignore it since he clearly knows the answer. :chillpill: I don't want to pick at him to death and put pressure on him, but in math, each step is important including circling the correct *final* answer. :chillpill: He is 7 Loretta

MM never made it to my short list mainly because I hadn't even heard that much about it. I chose Singapore math. It was my first choice and I stuck to it. Other ones I considered were Math U See and Right Start. I have the entire Right Start Manipulative kit that I use with it (I was blessed to get this from my daughter who used it when she was homeschooling my grandson) I do use the Standards Edition of Singapore (along with the Right Start manipulatives) because we are in CA, the standards edition are aligned with CA standards. Not that it matters, but I chose it anyways. We love it! My DS seems to love it as well. I have the Home Instructor guide which tells how to use the manipulatives. I haven't used this much, but I have used it. I broke it out especially to underscore multiplication. 3 groups of 4 is the same as 4 groups of three etc. The instructor guide will tell you "have the child make so many equal groups out of the 40 linking cubes", for example. Mostly though, he does the worksheets then the tests. I will assign all the worksheet pages in a unit (some per day) and then give the the tests (some per day) easy! My DS is in second grade. Meanwhile we do daily flashcards for addition up through 12's. He knows them all and now we are moving to subtraction flash cards. Boring I know! LOL He likes it and gets to go to "treasure box" for flashcard work :) :lol:

1. Does Apologia Flying Creatures have a Book List of recommended reading (for living books) Or is there a list out there that has been created by homeschoolers? I know I am going with Flying Creatures and *thought* I read somewhere that inside the book has recommended books as supplements? Do I have that correct. does anyone have the list and care to share one or two of the titles with me? thanks ..:lurk5: I will also just check out library books but have been curious about this for some time. I plan to start Science in about 3 weeks. 2. For Apologia Flying Creatures.. is there a pre-packaged Lab Kit? It doesn't look like it. I checked that website that has the science kits (sorry I fogot the name of it) and I didn't see any. Do the lab kits that you can buy start at the higher levels only? I don't want to collect my own materials LOL even if they are readily available household items. ha ha.. just wondering if there is such a thing? I also saw a Link somewhere for Lapbook to go with Flying Creatures? That was Cool. Is that put out by Apologia or is someone else creating those. I would like to be clued in on Any stuff that *goes along with* or is Great to Supplement alongside Flying Creatures. I figured you guys would know all about it .. thanks in advance Loretta (DS 7):bigear: I am all ears .. lol

Well at this point .. TOG! We have already started it and it has been really great so far (7 weeks of it under our belt) MCT haven't got it yet, but plan to. I hope it will be exciting for us!

:D We did the first 7 weeks of unit one without it which was easy because it was adding pages to the Grammar & Composition (G&C) notebook with headings for each part of speech. One part of speech per week starting with Nouns. We did a ton of worksheets printed off the internet for each part of speech and did make word cards on index cards. This last assignment was to write down the Steps to Writing Process so I guess I got my book just in time. My DD 7 just did that. He wrote the steps and also a brief description of what is involved with each step. We also discussed the steps so it is all good! The book is chock full of all kinds or resources. It doesn't give assignments (the assignments are in the Tog assignments) but tells how to write a certain type of style! I didn't have my WA book so when week 7 assignment was to study Parts of a Sentence. I winged it! Went online and figured out Predicate and Subject and all that stuff! He did worksheets and we have been labeling parts of speech on our own! Diagramming sp? sentences w the parts of speech. That came naturally and my DS picked up on it like a duck to water. That pleases me ;) It doesn't say to label parts of speech in a sentence but that is what I like about homeschooling in general. Things just naturally flow from your lessons and they end up being exposed to so much more than they would have! Having said all that I am HAPPY as a PIG in DIRT to have my WA in hand now and have things more clearly outlined for me! I personally think it is a must! But it really isn't, yk? It isn't absolutely mandatory but when there is an assignment for say Comparison writing. Then you would have to research comparison writing on your own on the internet or from another book (unless you know it all by heart) and it is so much easier having it all right there! It would be an asset to ANY curriculum imo :lol: My guess is that people who don't like it are looking for a more student led writing book. Because WA does describe a lot of parent involvement in proofing the writing, correcting, etc. (This is just an idea.. there are plenty of other reasons the parent might not like it) ;) But no matter what you use you have to give input on their writing! :001_huh: Loretta

Yes Sailmom that is exactly what I was reading (the CA Code) when I started worrying about how to meet it! foundation for understanding history, resources, development and government of California and the U.S. I researched more and found they have free, entire modules online with books, activites, and teaching plan that would *meet* these. Well of course it is Wayyyyyyyyyyyyy too much! I already have a full "social studies" curriculum to keep us busy so that is why I asked this figuring there have to be some experienced CA Vets out there. It does say for grades 1-6! Even though there are the famous California Missions that are done in public school around fourth grade. I do want to include some california stuff along the way. In cubscouts there is a badge that includes naming bordering states/oceans that surround CA and a few here and there things. I suppose the 4 week Tog State study he can do a State project (state flower, state bird .. etc. LOL) Thank you all SO much! I am just learning and (planning) my year. Plus being a newbie to hs'ing as well. Just by traveling and field trips they learn. During geography lessons they learn. Heck we came back from camping. At the campsite there was an Cahuilla native american site with the mortar and pestle granite rocks where they ground their acorns. I don't know if it is CA history but it IS in California so it IS!! LOL I have seen it before but it was fascinating. I am also leaning towards Little house on the prairie books at some point (I enjoyed reading these) I do plan on studying missions a bit and visiting one. Mostly I think I will add bits here and there! :lurk5: Again. thanks BUNCHES I LOVE hearing from other homeschoolers esp ones that have done it in my state. It is comforting LOL. I am finding I am needing a little bit more handholding than I thought I would! It is hard to get out of that mindset of what I "have" to do! My husband actually got me all stirred up on this stuff! :glare: Loretta

I am wondering specifically about how to meet CA state standard for studying the history of the state of California. I realize as a private school I can choose my own curriculum but was wondering if any study of the states in incorporated into TOG. My understanding is that TOG is a complete study of World history. California has lesson guides that will meet the requirements .. it is a full year of Social Studies! I don't want another full year of social studies lol but wondering how other Californians addressed this. When/how did you study California. The standard is for grades 1-6 to study all these social studies areas including history of CA, all about CA etc. thanks for any help Loretta:001_smile: