I don't really have lesson plans for R&S English. I do figure out how many lessons i need to do per week in order to finish by the end of the year. Then I just sit down with my son and do the oral review that's in the teacher book for each lesson. We read the new lesson together (taking turns reading), then do some of the lesson orally. He writes at least part of the lesson on paper each day as well. HTH, Heather

How about Biblioplan? I am a TOG person, myself, but I think for someone just starting out that Biblioplan looks great. It schedules your week for you and gives you options for different levels; it uses SOTW as a spine; there are excellent family read-alouds. Their website has sample weeks to look at. Best, Heather

I am guessing your son is in 1st or 2nd grade, based on your using FLL 1/2. I'm not sure that memorizing does get in the way of real learning (unless you spend all your time memorizing facts and NO time on other work, which is unlikely!). I think when children are young and are memorizing facts, like math facts and grammar definitions, they may not get the application part yet. But as they get older and move through more school, they have those definitions in their minds and when they do reach a point of understanding, the facts are already there. My rising third grader doesn't really get what it means that a noun is a person, place, thing or idea, although he knows the rote definition. My rising sixth grader totally gets it, after memorizing the fact in first grade, then seeing it in action for several more years. I think down the road there's a point of convergence between the memorized fact and its use, and that kids have a head start if the fact is already "in there" when understanding hits. Don't know if that helps you think about it, but there's my .02 :) Best, Heather

Another vote for Vocabulary Vine. We have not used it yet, but it seems very straightforward and workable. Heather

At the lower elementary levels there is definitely time for more literature. I always use summers to read more modern literature or fairy tales or whatever I think we need to read. You could certainly use Sonlight's lists of books as a jumping off point. Other guides to good children's lit are Honey for a Child's Heart, Books Children Love or Books that Build Character. Best, Heather

I don't have anything new or exciting to add - just wanted to reiterate the other poster's idea about Rubbermaid dish tubs. These are great containers for school work and books. Also, they are sturdy and cheap (under $2 for one at Wal Mart). My Wal Mart carries them in dark red (our fave) and white. They can fit a stack of books laying down, or you can stand books and 3 ring binders up so you can see everything. Can you tell I love our tubs? :) Something I've done in the past, that I'm doing again this year for my two (3rd and 6th) is to file their workbook or copied work in 36 file folders each. I tore out Spelling Workout pages, copied thinking skills sheets, geography workbooks, copywork, etc. and divided them up by week for the year (baby coming in September - trying to be super-organized). Each boy has a hanging file container with folders labeled 1-36 into which I've put these papers. They will also have weekly assignment sheets to check off, as I'm trying to encourage independent work, and perhaps even working ahead... To save their work the easiest thing I've found is to cull their best papers as I check them. I try to make sure to get a representative sample of all subjects. I put them in a file folder (one for each student) labeled "______'s best work." Abut once every week or two, I three-hole punch them and put them in chronological order, not separated by subject, into 2" clear binders labeled with their names and current grades on the spine ("________, 3rd grade"). HTH, Heather

We have just finished 5th and are beginning 6th in a couple weeks. We are using Tapestry of Grace and love it. Heather

Rod and Staff English Heather

I second How to Teach Art to Children by Evan Moor. No fancy supplies, very little prep and fun projects that teach elements of art. We like it here :) Heather

We have used both BTS (levels 1 and 2, will use level 3 figural this year) and Mind Benders. Value-wise MindBenders is quite expensive (15 exercises for nearly $10). A series I like better for these types of problems is Logic Safari. These have almost double the number of exercises per book compared to MB. Logic Safari has 3 books - book 1 for 2nd/3rd grades, book 2 for 3rd/4th and book 3 for 5th/6th (I think that's how it's divided). I don't start these until 3rd grade, fwiw. The Logic Safari books are available through Rainbow Resource. Hope this helps! Heather

We will be starting in July, as well, since new baby will arrive in September and I think we need a running start before we take a month-long break :) I have a UG and a D. We will use Map Aids and Evaluations. We'll use all the core and in-depth books, plus some of the supplementary. We did Year 2 Classic last time around, so we have lots of books for this time period. Those who are taking it slow - a great idea. There is so much in Year 2, content-wise and resource-wise, and the amount of time covered is huge. Heather

Could you start with scheduling in chunks instead of down to the minute? And start small. For example, make it your goal for a week to get up at a certain time, then the next week add breakfast at a certain time (this can be loose - you can give yourself a window of 30 minutes for this - breakfast at 8:00 or 8:30). Then the next week make lunch be at a certain time (continuing, of course, with the wake up and breakfast times), but don't schedule your morning. Then nap time, then dinner time, then bed times. When my kids were little we just had these general times that provided boundaries for our morning, afternoon and evening, but we had big chunks in between that were "free" (meaning I could choose what to do). Then when school starts, you can just plug school into your morning, or the baby's naptime, or whatever. The great thing is that kindergarten is not hugely time-consuming. One of the biggest challenges for me when we started K was exactly what you're talking about - having the discipline to stick to a routine and do what needed to be done. Hopefully that all makes sense! Best, Heather

I also recommend Debra Bell's book. Two books that I lend to new homeschool moms are Educating the Wholehearted Child by Sally and Clay Clarkson and I Saw the Angel in the Marble by Chris and Ellyn Davis (of the Elijah Company). These are two of my personal favorites and a good place to start for the beginner as well. Best, Heather

Yes, definitely! It's easy to jump in in any Year Plan. Enjoy! Heather

I read At the Back of the North Wind to my two when they were 6 and 9. My then 6yo (now 8) claims to have loved it and remembers it vividly. This is the only one of MacDonald's books I've read to them. Heather

We will be using Rod and Staff English and CW Homer next year for 6th. Heather

For my non-math oriented one we've used MUS. We tried Abeka as well, but it was much to fast-paced for him. MUS is excellent at explaining concepts and moves at a very do-able pace. I read that you didn't like it, but thought I'd put in my vote for it anyway. Heather

Another thing you might try is letting the lesson be over after 20 minutes or so, whether she has done all you wanted her to or not. You might even try 10-15 minute lessons. Perhaps if she knows it will be over sooner she will be able to focus for that short time. You can even use a timer if that helps her visualize the time, but not if it stresses her out. I have one who has struggled to focus (he's getting better, though!), so I sympathize completely. I think the advice about breaks, movement and oral work is excellent. Heather

Here is what I wrote in answer to a similar post recently: "What I have done for both my sons is supplement MUS with drill sheets (no fun, but necessary) and in first and second grades with Abeka's student books. All we do with Abeka are the non-computational things - time, temperature, graphs, money, etc. I circle the numbers of the problems he needs to do (3-5 per 2-sided worksheet) and he does them. "I've also supplemented with Singapore word problems "This year for my older son (5th grade - Epsilon) we've supplemented with Key to Fractions." Also - we've used QuarterMile Math and Calculadders. Best, Heather

Laura, Did I meet you at the Cedar Springs homeschool meeting last week? Heather

Another Knoxville girl here. Life-long, in fact, other than college. Heather

If you go to tapestryofgrace.com and click at the top on "Tapestry of Grace: the curriculum" you'll see in the middle column a heading that says, "Explore Tapestry." Under that are the two samples, one each from Year 1 and Year 2. Hopefully that will help. I find their website extremely non-intuitive to navigate, unfortunately. Whoever is putting the information in does NOT think like I do! Heather

What I have done for both my sons is supplement MUS with drill sheets (no fun, but necessary) and in first and second grades with Abeka's student books. All we do with Abeka are the non-computational things - time, temperature, graphs, money, etc. I circle the numbers of the problems he needs to do (3-5 per 2-sided worksheet) and he does them. I've also supplemented with Singapore word problems This year for my older son (5th grade - Epsilon) we've supplemented with Key to Fractions. Best, Heather

I second Melissa's suggestion to print out one (or both) of the sample 3 week plans that are available on the Tapestry website. One sample is for Year 1, the other for Year 2. Give yourself some time with these - check books out of the library - maybe even do a dry run. I am completely "hands on" when it comes to making curriculum decisions, so I think trying the samples is a valuable tool. I am on my 4th year of Tapestry and have a 2nd and 5th grader this year. We love it. I love the options and that both children can cover the same material at their own levels. As far as planning, I love to plan, so I'm not a great one to weigh in on that, but I think you could do a good bit of it ahead of time and just read the teacher's notes the weekend before. Best, Heather

What haven't we done? I used to say that my son had a teflon brain when it came to math facts - they just slipped right off the surface... Thankfully, after a couple years, they began to stick. We have done flashcards - homemade from index cards as well as "boughten" ones. Mostly I would administer these, as his attention span back in 2nd and 3rd grade was minimal and if he'd done them himself it would have taken all day. We did QuarterMile Math. This went well for a while, then he became bored with it. It was worth doing, though, and I think he benefited from it. What we've done most is just drill sheets. They are no fun, but that's what has made it stick for him (he learns well what he writes down). I have used Math Fact Cafe to print free sheets - mathfactcafe.com - and these were good. I've also used Calculadders, although they are designed to progress through, rather than be repeated. The sheets I've used most are two pages of 80 problems per operation, so I just copy these over and over and he does one per day, even now in 5th grade. Hope this helps! Heather