Thank you! That's exactly what I needed to know. I looked at the sample page on RR but it only shows 5 questions. I just wanted to make sure the tests are more substantial than that and it sounds like they are. I also told DD about the website. She's excited to check it out.

I just bought Wordly Wise 3000 (2nd ed) for my daughter but I'm wondering about the test book. I do give vocabulary tests and I'd love to not have to make up my own. Can someone tell me what the tests in the book are like? What types of questions to they give? How many questions are on each test?

The games at Spelling City are mainly to teach spelling. She has no problem with spelling. What I need are vocabulary exercises. She's looking the words up in the dictionary but what else can we do to reinforce meanings and usage (besides writing sentences)?

I looked at Vocabulary Workshop but can't afford it right now. I'll have to check Caesar's English. However, I really don't want her having to work with two separate word lists. She is using Zaner-Bloser Spelling Connections, 5th grade. Those lists are free so I can always bump her up to the 6th grade lists if need be. But I could really use some suggestions for different activities rather than writing sentences.

My kids are doing The Night Before Christmas. Because it's so long, they are doing it together and are each doing a combination of memorization and read-aloud.

My DD is in 3rd grade and is a "natural speller." She did 3rd grade spelling last year (in 2nd grade) so we started off with 4th this year. That proved too easy (100s on every test) so we changed to 5th grade word lists. I also started using the same word list for both spelling and vocabulary. She is still acing every spelling test with 100s and usually scores about 95 on the vocabulary portion. So, here's my dilemma. I assign a spelling exercise and a vocabulary exercise each day. For example, on Mondays she writes each word 3x (spelling). She also looks up the first third of the words in the dictionary and writes the definition and a sentence with each one (vocabulary). She doesn't mind the work but she can never, NEVER come up with sentences for the words. When she does, they are impossibly simple and do not display an understanding of the meaning of the word. (She tried to put two spelling words into one sentence today: "My pupil is normal." UGh!) Now obviously she's learning what the words mean or she couldn't pass the tests so easily. But we are both coming to hate the sentences portion of the program. This week I changed it to writing a paragraph using 5 of the words but she says that's even harder to do. Are there other exercises I can have her do instead of having to make up sentences or paragraphs? Should I just drop spelling and vocabulary altogether? :confused:

Well, my equation works with plugging in the 58 for x. But I still have no idea how I would have solved it. LOL

Hm. I'm no math wiz but this is as far as I got with it: x = the number of Malaysian stamps x + 250 = the number of local stamps But the next part threw me: x + 174 = the number of local stamps after the give away so the equation would be (I think) x + 174 = .25x but I have no idea how to solve that. Then again, I was an English major so I could be WAAAAYYYY off. :tongue_smilie: Oh wait.. maybe it's .25(x + 174) = x? Hmmm....

This one might be worth a look, too. http://funclase.com/Level_1.html

Are ya'll just having your kids memorize lists of things (such as states and capitals, etc.)? I am new to the memorization thing and have so far just had mine do poems and a shortened version of the three witches' scene from Macbeth. Their next assignment is for Veteran's Day (a poem for DS7 and the Preamble to the Constitution for DD9). I just can't see making them memorize lists of facts. That seems so detached and... irrelevant, for lack of a better word. I will have them do states and such when we study the states. But what do you do, if not lists?

My DD8 does almost all her work independently while my DS7 does about half of his by himself. However, I do literature read-alouds and history with both of them together. Of course, even when they work independently, I am still here to answer questions and explain anything they have trouble with. I also check all their work for them to make immediate corrections. But really, my goal is to teach them to be independent and self-motivated. I want them to learn to self-educate because I think that kind of vested interest in their own growth will serve them well throughout their lives.

We do 4-day weeks with Friday being our make up/ catch up/ field trip day. The kids work for about 4-5 hours each day, give or take. I always "count" Fridays (we have to turn in attendance for 180 school days per year) because, even if they don't do any "real" schoolwork, they have done sports (P.E.), church (discussion, art, etc) and children's choir (music) during the week in addition to all their schoolwork.

Thanks for the link! I found 26 things I can use for my kiddos! What a deal!

My son is not a strong reader, either, but I really do believe there will come a "lightbulb moment" where things will start to click. For our reading, he does ETC every day plus we have a book that he reads. On Monday, he reads it by himself. On Tuesday, he reads it to me. If he does well, he gets a new book for Wednesday. If he still has some trouble with it, he reads it again on Wednesday and again to me on Thursday. I have found that having him read by himself gives him the opportunity to sound out words and figure things out on his own without me sitting there correcting every little sound. And he's made big progress over the last few weeks. Another thing I did to try to instill a love of reading was bedtime reading. I don't read to him but I let him stay up 30 minutes past bedtime if he wants to read. He has to get in bed and actually read (no toys, no just looking at pictures) but he loves getting to stay up "late" and it's really helping both his reading and his attitude toward reading.

Adaptability is part of the beauty of homeschool! You get to do what's best for YOUR family. With two kiddos, we do school just about all day. DD is in gymnastics every morning so she does the majority of her schoolwork from about 2-6 pm. However, that leaves me time to work with DS in the mornings and then he just finishes up whatever he has left after lunch. But they both prefer to have late afternoons/evenings free to play.

My DS7 does 4-5 pages a day (two lessons per week) without any problem. It usually takes him 10-15 minutes. But, he is only working on book 2 right now so it's still fairly easy for him.

Thanks but that's not really what I'm after. My kids don't do well with that kind of "storied" curriculum. They do better with textbooks and workbooks. And truthfully, so do I.

I am ashamed to say that I have never read Around the World in 180 Days but I am hesitant to use it for geography curriculum because it seems to wander too much. I need more structure, I think. I am using the Usborne Encyclopedia of World History for our history spine and I do have the Discovery Kids Atlas of the World and the Knowledge Quest maps CD. I'm wondering if I can't use all three to somehow incorporate history and geography at the same time. I am using the maps with our ancients study this year but I wanted to get a bit more detailed once we get into medieval times. Truthfully, I'm not even sure what geography should cover at this point, particularly if I want to tie it in with history. :confused:

Thanks. I'll go check it out. I already have the Knowledge Quest maps.

I'm pretty new a homeschooling too but here's what we're doing. I do history with both my kids together so the two grades listed are for each kid (DS is in 2nd and DD is in 3rd, currently). We're doing Ancient World History right now (up to 400 AD) and we'll do Medieval next year (400 - 1500 AD). That seemed like a good point in time to insert US History. As always, the "plan" is written in pencil on toilet paper. :tongue_smilie: Grades 2/3- Ancients Grades 3/4- Medieval Grades 4/5- US History Grades 5/6- Early Modern Grades 6/7- Modern Grades 7/8- Ancient/ Medieval Grades 8/9- Early Modern Grades 9/10- Modern Grades 10/11- US History Grades 11/12- Civics and Government Grade 12- Student’s Choice

I am teaching medieval World History next year and I'd like to do World Geography along with it. I don't have a problem devising my own curriculum but I'd love some suggestions for books to use as a spine as well as good books for worksheets, activities, assignments, etc. My kids will be in 3rd and 4th grades and I'd prefer secular. So, what do ya'll love?

For those of you using TT, does your child do only the CDs, only the workbook, or both? So far I've had my son using just the CDs. He's only doing 3rd grade and has so far has been able to do everything in his head, though he can always use scratch paper if he needs to work a problem out sometime. Is there any reason that he should be using the workbook, too, or is it just a matter of preference?

I don't really know what the point of copywork is. LOL.. maybe that's the problem. :tongue_smilie: Originally, I thought it was for handwriting and to get a feel for good sentences (punctuation, word choice, etc.). However, neither of my kids are learning from it. So basically, DD uses it to practice cursive but that's really all. She gets writing lessons with her narratives, journal entries and reports. DS does it because I tell him to. And no, he is not ready for dictation. He is not a stronger reader at all and his spelling is atrocious. I use the narratives to help him write, showing him how to rearrange his long, rambling sentences into concise, coherent thoughts. He does fine with holding the thoughts and concepts in his head. His problem is with getting it from his head to the paper. He doesn't have the spelling and grammatical abilities to clearly express himself. He's easily frustrated and overwhelmed when it comes to writing. At this point, I am happy that he is writing legibly and is sort of learning how to read. Maybe I should drop the rote copywork and do more of the narrative exercises instead? I know he's not ready for any formal writing program.

I use the Zaner Bloser lists and just make up my own assignments. http://www.zaner-bloser.com/spellingconnections/practice-pages.html For spelling on Monday I have them write each word 3x. Tuesday is for alphabetizing, and Wednesday is worksheets. Thursday is test day. DS7 also uses Spelling City (10 minutes each day). DD9 uses these same lists for her vocabulary, too, so in addition to the spelling exercises, she also looks up the definitions in the dictionary and writes sentences with each word.

I started doing copywork this school year for a couple of reasons, none of which seem to apply anymore, and now I'm trying to figure out why I'm still doing it. For DD9, it was to have her practice her cursive and to offer a chance for her to learn some little tidbits along the way (interesting facts, motivational quotation, etc.). She is doing just fine with it and actually seems to like what she's learning. DS7 is a different story. He is not a strong reader so copywork for him is literally copying a sequence of letters. He doesn't really "get" anything from the actual text that he is copying. His handwriting has improved to the point that I don't feel he really needs to work on that so much anymore and he is learning cursive (slowly, one letter at a time) as a separate exercise. We do weekly narratives for history and literature and for these, he dictates them to me, I write them, and he copies them. If I were to just have him do these narratives and perhaps write a journal entry or two, would that be sufficient so that we can drop the rote busywork of copying?