Elemental Science Physics is something I've really enjoyed. The "Gear and Gadgets" book had my brother (a physics professor) excited when he saw it!

We use the Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of World History, and it is referenced in the SOTW2 Teacher's Guide as well.

I am an Essentials tutor. I have a young fourth grader in class who is doing really well, plus 5th and 6th graders. It can be what you make of it at home. Class time is pretty intense and focused, but you could break up the grammar and writing at home so that it's not all in one chunk.

This is my plan for next year as well -- MFW Adv and CC for my to-be 3rd grader.

I have a young son w/DS. These are some of the resources we are using. Videos for parents/teachers from Blueberry Shoes http://blueberryshoes.com/ Love and Learning videos and CDs for kids http://www.loveandlearning.com/home.shtml A great site with tons of resources: Riverbend Down syndrome Association http://www.riverbendds.org/index.htm?page=home.html Good luck. These folks need advocates like YOU in their lives.

I follow a plan based on what Paige (Elemental Science) wrote about in her blog: http://elementalscience.blogspot.com/search/label/spelling If you have StartWrite, I can send you the file I made for weekly work. This plan works well for us -- we pretest, copy, alphabetize, do the workbook pages, and test. Then we keep a log of trouble words. Hope this helps!

Thank you! I will look for the "jeggings" and see how they fit.

Up until this year, my 7 yo daughter has not been interested in wearing jeans (and before homeschooling, she was in private school with a uniform and couldn't wear them most days). She mostly wears yoga pants and leggings. Well, now she would like some jeans, but she doesn't want any with the zipper and button/snap. Part of me feels like, deal with it kid, this is how jeans are. But since she is rarely picky about clothes, I thought I'd at least see if there were any type of jeans that had more of a sweatpant or legging-style elastic all the way around. (not just part elastic -- I have found those!). Any ideas on where I might find all-elastic waist jeans? Thanks!

I have two children in our first year of CC. I am also a tutor for the Essentials class (the optional writing/grammar class for 4th through 6th graders). I have been VERY pleased with the program and the curriculum. As a PP said, it is amazing what kids are capable of learning. To hear my girls singing the songs about history in the car, for example, tells me that things are getting in their brain and (hopefully) staying there. I also enjoy the social aspect of being with other parents and kids. While I can't answer every question, I'll try to answer some: -- Yes, you will need to purchase curriculum in addition to paying for the program. The good news is that your 2nd and 4th grader will use the same CC materials for Foundations. -- At home, you will need to do math and language arts. You may want to do history, too (we use SOTW 2 and also the Usborne Encyclopedia). Science is your call. In CC there is a science experiment every week. We don't do additional experiments at home, but we do reading related to what they are doing in CC (this fall it is astronomy). -- Yes, there is an expense with CC. You're paying for the tutor, the building space, etc. I chose to be a tutor to help offset the cost, and that has been the way our family handles it. -- Challenge is a complete program, and the kids are there all day without parents. Foundations and Essentials (elementary programs) have parents with them in the class. If you have two kids, most parents rotate between classes, maybe every other week be with one child's class. To me, CC is like the best of both worlds. Kids have "school" one day a week, and the rest of the week we study at home. For me, I like the friendships and accountability that come with the program. CC is not for everyone, but for us, it works. Good luck with your decision!

Here it is: http://seasonsoflearning.blogspot.com/2010/06/veritas-press-history-and-bible-cards.html You order them from keepfiling.com I think you'll need two binders and 160 sleeves do to the whole CC timeline. Several of us in my CC community did a group order, which saved us some money and also helped us divide up the plastic sleeves (which come in a pack of 50).

I am new to CC this year, but I hope I can answer some of your questions. -- Time consuming? CC meets just once a week. The Foundations classes are for 4 year olds through 6th graders and meet from 9ish until noon. I agree with your SIL that the outside time is what you make of it. We review the new material for about 15-20 minutes each of the other weekdays at home, plus listen to the CD in the car on occasion. My DD7's tutor plays a lot of games, and DD wants to do well, and so she is motivated to learn a lot. My DD4 just goes along with it all, but she picks up more than I think. -- Nursery? Each CC group is different. Some have nurseries which require parents to rotate in and out as helpers, while others have volunteers or paid helpers. -- All day? Not for all kids. There is an optional course for 4th-6th graders, called Essentials, which meets in the afternoon (usually 1-3) and focuses on grammar and writing. Challenge (which is middle and high school) meets all day. But for many kids, the day ends at noon for classes, though many CC groups have lunch and social/PE time from 12-1. -- IEW -- Yes, the Essentials class does have IEW as part of it. The text used is the history-based writing lessons (either Ancient, Medieval, or American, depending on the CC Cycle year) and follows the IEW Teaching Writing with Structure and Style syllabus (which is nine different writing styles). If you do CC with Essentials, you are right that it would be overkill to do another language arts program. For math, however, you would still want to have a program to do outside of CC. (Disclosure: I am a tutor for Essentials.) Hope this helps! I am glad I found CC and it works well for my family. Like any program, it is not for everyone, but I think it might be worth a visit, at least, for you!

I am thinking of doing MFW Adv next year with CC also, when my oldest will be in 3rd grade. Then we would probably skip ECC since we do so much geography in CC. But I would love to hear from others about this, too!

Answers in Genesis has a multi-age earth and space science curriculum called God's Design for Heaven and Earth. There are three books in the series. We're doing Our Universe right now and I really like it. Each chapter is designed for differing ability levels -- young elementary reads the first page of a chapter, and upper elementary/middle schoolers have age-appropriate reading and extension activities in the rest of the chapter. In fact, I am looking forward to doing this series again when my kids are older, as I think the hands-on stuff is better suited to upper elementary kids. http://www.answersingenesis.org/PublicStore/product/Gods-Design-for-Heaven-and-Earth-Complete-Set,6505,194.aspx

I have a son w/DS who will soon turn 2, and I have been researching the topic of homeschool and DS, also. I was also born in Taiwan and lived in Hong Kong as a young child, due to my father's work. I am forever grateful for the opportunity to live elsewhere, and my mom still wishes she had the household help she had while we lived overseas. Good luck to you as you explore the options! In addition to the resources listed above, here are a few others: http://www.downhomelearning.net/ http://www.specialreads.com/ http://www.loveandlearning.com/home.shtml http://dsfoc.org/lpmaterials/lp_online_overview.htm http://hannigans.blogspot.com/

I bought the main schedule for second grade but end up using it as a reference while I make my own weekly plan. I found that I was tweaking so much I wasn't able to use everything. Plus, we do Classical Conversations on Mondays, and so my schedule needs to be modified to a four-day week. But, it inspired me to make a weekly template that works well for me. I'd be happy to share it (Word format) if anyone wants it -- it would be easy to tweak for yourself. Just PM me your email.

Hi, folks. We've just finished The Sword in the Tree in concurrence with SOTW2 Chapters 16-17. Very sweet tale of perseverance and courage, plus it reinforces the facts from SOTW2. We read aloud with our DD7, who is a young second grader (she would read some and DH and I read the rest). An older or more proficient reader could do it on his/her own. My 4 yo listened along and enjoyed it, too. Includes a chapter with King Arthur and the Round Table. Recommended!

Love these ideas. I need them! We are doing a combination of gating and high chair, plus taking advantage of nap time for intensive things like science projects. I gated off our large family room and have child-proofed it as best I can. Then I often assign a big girl to be in there with him, either playing with him or reading to him, or we do reading/spelling/phonics time on the couch. Then he gets to watch one video (signing time or Love and Learning, which is alphabet and sounds). Good luck, everyone!

Thanks to both of you for your replies. I agree that the fun factor is big, and so I do want to get the magnet letters eventually, but I didn't want to wait to start the book if I could survive without them. Boscopup -- great news about your son! That is so encouraging to me. My DD4 had some hearing and speech issues, too, and so I am hoping that the rhymes and things in OPGTR will help. Then, when my youngest, who has Down syndrome, starts to read, I am hoping that we can again use OPGTR with him as well. Best of luck to you!

Besides index cards and a pen, are there any other essential items to use while teaching OPTGR? I just bought the book and haven't had a chance to get the magnetic letters & board yet. Is it worth buying them? Do I need to wait for them, or can one teach the first few lessons with letter on index cards (or maybe I can find the leapfrog letters somewhere!). This would be for a bright four-year-old who knows her letters but not the sounds. We've been doing The Reading Lesson on CD, but I want something more scripted for those days when she asks for "school time" like her big sister. Sorry if this has been answered before -- I tried searching but a ton of unrelated posts appeared.

We are doing SOTW 2 for History and God's Design for Heaven and Earth for Science (Our Universe in the fall and Our Planet Earth in the spring). I have a schedule of chapters, etc., if you would like to see it, though honestly I have slowed down the pace of history to include more projects, etc. PM me if you would like it. I also follow Paige's SOTW 2 schedule somewhat, too.

This should be a really fun unit! Definitely make a castle, as you had planned (the SOTW2 AG has an edible one with marshmallows -- fun!). Maybe conclude with a medieval feast? As the PP noted, I don't know your overall schedule, but certainly a couple weeks of unit study would be good, just keeping up with basics like math and LA. You could even apply things to the unit study -- e.g., for your 5th grader, you are a princess trapped in a tower. You have a chance to write a letter to describe your conditions and seek escape. Maybe make your own coat of arms? Also, if you are Christian, this might be a good chance to do a day on the armor of God from Ephesians and compare to the armor the knights would wear. Have fun!

The woman who directs my homeschool group does a stay-at-home family marketing business of some kind. I know nothing about it, but here is the web site if you want to explore further: http://www.luvmyfam.com/ Good luck to you!

Spelling Plus by Susan Anthony is designed for 1st - 6th graders, with lists of the most commonly used words in English. You pretest until you find out which words your child still needs to learn. It's about $20. Read more here: http://www.susancanthony.com/books/sp.html

I posted a similar question in August, and several folks recommended the Rod and Staff preschool books. http://www.rodandstaffbooks.com/list/Rod_and_Staff_Preschool/ We are using books C and D with my four-year-old now. It is simple for her to do but still feels like "school" like her big sister. Skills include number tracing, cutting and pasting, matching items, coloring, and shapes. The books are quite inexpensive. I also bought McRuffy Color Math K, which we do two or three times a week. Again, very simple, coloring, numbers, counting, shapes. I didn't buy the manipulative kit, though, since I figured our Saxon manipulatives would work (and that has been true so far at least). Finally, we do 100 EZ lessons book for reading, and I use the handwriting sheets from Donna Young's site which go with this book. http://www.donnayoung.org/penmanship/manuscript-lessons.htm Good luck!

I have a DD who just turned 7 and one who is 4, and we do a modified version of SOTW2 (plus we do Classical Conversations, which has lots of history and memory work in it). As others have said, there are wonderful things to find in SOTW2 to do and also to supplement, while not doing everything and every chapter. I look for things that are appealing as well as those things connect with what we're studying in CC or which we believe as a family. Hence, there are some things we skip and some things we focus on more in-depth. So I jumped from chapter 4 to 14, for example, based on those above criteria (CC and family beliefs). I may go back and do a study of Asia/Africa later in the year, but for now, we are doing knights, castles, etc. I got the Usborne Time Traveler book, plus some others like Sword in the Stone and Minstrel in the Tower, and we are enjoying our time here for now. My kids are looking forward to our making castles next week (Chapter 16) -- the marshmallows are already in the pantry! I also have the CDs and play them in the car sometimes, or we listen to the reading while we color a page or look at the map (and my 4 year old may just scribble on the map, etc.). I think you will be able to find something that works well for you while not dropping SOTW2 entirely! Good luck.