I tried asking this at the Sonlight forums, but I'm not getting any answers. I'm trying to plan next year's schedule and I need to know how long it will take each day to do Core 5 on a 4-day schedule. I'll only be doing the history, readers, and read-alouds. How much of my time will be required and how much time will ds be working independently? Thanks.

Thanks, everyone. You guys are the best.

My concern would be some of the material in SOTW 4. It covers some heavy topics that might be too much for an 8yo to handle. You may want to preview it before letting him read it. Other than that, I see no reason why you should hold him back from reading them on his own, without doing any in depth study of ancients, while he's learning about mythology, as long as you're sure he can make a distinction between the nature of mythology and the nature of historical fact, which I wouldn't anticipate being a problem with an 8yo.

I'm all for using what you've got and avoiding spending money whenever possible, but I've used LC and LL and, IMO, if you can possibly afford it, I'd recommend you switch. I used PL, LCI, and started LCII with my oldest and used PL and started LCI with #2. At that point I just couldn't handle any more LC. I had to flee for my own sanity. IMO LC is very repetitive, not in what material is covered, but in how it is covered. They just keep doing the exact same type of exercises every lesson. And there aren't enough exercises. There's not enough practice for them to master the materials. LL has a wide variety of exercises and LOTS of practice. I think LL is far better than LC. Just my $.02.

I met a lady whose 8 or 9yo dd is in school and having a terrible time with spelling because she has dyslexia. I know I've seen mention of a spelling program for dyslexics here, but I didn't file the info in my brain at the time. I'm sure one of you wonderful ladies can remember it, though. Thanks.

:iagree: I was a little disappointed in it. I waited and waited for it to be completed, thinking that it would round out a study of Ancients when combined with The Story of the Greeks and The Story of the Romans. It really only covered Bible history. Great book if that's what you're looking for, but it wasn't what I was looking for.

You didn't mention how old your dc are. I haven't read either of the books you're looking at, but from my reading of other books by Marshall and Guerber, I think Marshall is better for younger kids, and Guerber are a bit more wordy, better for logic stage, IMHO.

Congratulations, Joanne. I can't believe it's been a year! Wishing you many more happy years. Megan

She e-mailed me right away and I got the books! Thanks so much. Megan

Thanks so much!

Honestly, I think it can be a great bonding experience, but it can also put stress on a marriage because it can be so all consuming for mom. I think that if you and your dh have a good relationship and good communication, then there's nothing to worry about. Just keep those communication lines open and make sure that dh doesn't let you burn yourself out. You have to make sure that you get some time on your own, away from the kids, even if it's just grocery shopping (although, preferably it would be Starbucks with your girlfriends, or date night with dh, or browsing B&N).

I'm so sorry you're going through this. I will be praying for you and your son.

I'm planning on buying Core 5 to use next year and I've been browsing around on their forums. I registered for a trial this morning so I could ask some questions, but it was a limited trial thing. I found some of the Core 5 books that I need on their sale forum, but I can't post a response or access the profile for the poster to try to contact her. Could someone let avsummergirl know that I want to purchase 9 of books and ask her to e-mail me at chocomom634@googlemail.com? Thanks so much.

:iagree:

Oh, no! I hope you offered him a glass of lemonade. On the bright side, now you have one RR catalog for you, and one to loan out. :001_smile:

That is crazy! What could have happened between these two boys that would cause the court to issue a restraining order? And who could be so stupid as to hold the little league responsible when their teams play against each other? Shouldn't it be the parents' responsibility to keep the boys apart? What is this world coming to?

I hope you find out soon. I know how nerve wracking it can be to wait.

I have to say that it sounds pretty gross to me too. Cheese, chilis, salsa - yes. Macaroni, with cheese or without, yuk.

My dss got them when they were either 7 and 9yo or 8 and 10yo. I can't remember exactly. They've been very responsible with them so far and we haven't had any injuries. I've found them very useful, as well, when we're out. I've often used the screwdrivers, scissors, pliers. I even thought about getting one for myself, but never have.

Thanks for your feedback, ladies. I don't have a blog, so no pictures. Sorry.

I rarely think to rep and I rarely think to check my own rep. Now I feel bad that I may have offended some people who were helpful to me. I'd better go and give out some rep!

This would be used to reinforce declension endings. I've found with my dc that they can memorize a ae ae am a ae arum is as is, but when they see a word like puelam, they can't remember that the ending means that it it is singular accusative. So I wanted to get them to remember the endings in pairs... nom. a ae, gen. ae arum, etc, and flashcards just seemed way too boring. So here's my idea. I made a table on card stock with 7 columns. The far left column lists the names of the cases, the next 2 columns are for 1st declension singular and plural, the next 2 for 2nd declension masculine singular and plural, and the last 2 for 2nd declension neuter singular and plural. Then there are little cards with all the ending pairs 'a ae', 'ae arum', etc. So the kid starts off by having all the cards face up in front of him and putting them in the right places. They will tend to run through the chant and put the cards into the right places in order. The next step is to shuffle the cards and turn one over at a time, putting it in the right place. Then there will be another set of cards with '1st decl. nom.' or '1st decl. gen.' and so on. The after they've mastered putting the first set of cards in the right spot on the board, they will have to match up the first set of cards with the corresponding card from the second set. So they would match the 'a ae' card with the '1st decl. nom.' card. So far it's working pretty well with my dc. Does this sound like something that I could produce and market? If I were to produce it, I would obviously make the board accomodate all the declensions and the parent could use only as much of the board as their dc has covered. I was also thinking that I would like to use plastic tiles (like Scrabble tiles) instead of cards. Anyway, what do you all think? Good idea? Or probably not marketable?

That was very cool! Thanks for posting it.

How exciting! Congratulations! It looks absolutely beautiful. And, though it's not 'home' for you, it's a lot closer to home than where you are now. Hope the move goes smoothly as well as the transition for the kids.

I haven't done Botany yet, but I've gotten through Astonomy and Zoo 2 in half a school year, and we're going at the same pace through Zoo 1. We do science 4-5 days/week for about 20 minutes per day, longer if we have an activity to do.