Hi! We school year round. We do 4 days a week and a co-op on Fridays (CC) 24 weeks of the year. The other weeks that we don't do CC we do 5 days of school. We take 1-2 weeks at Thanksgiving for house organizing, a week at Christmas, a week in spring, and 2 weeks in the Summer for vacation, roughly. Sometimes we have to take more than that for moves or babies, etc. but that is our goal. stm4him

We use Saxon K for Math (little to no writing but they love doing calendar like the big kids and playing with the manipulatives), Building Thinking Skills Beginning, AAR Pre-Level 1, and we have also used Rod & Staff's preschool and kindergarten books for fine motor skills. Memoria Press is coming out with a preschool program sometime in the new future and I plan to use that probably instead of R&S. I will keep the other programs, though. stm4him

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Is this the kind of cat that is supposed to not cause allergic reactions? I'd LOVE to have a kitten by my husband is very allergic..... stm4him

I considering using 3 programs a year for Latin but not all at the same time. We are flying through LNST so I know we can fit in at least 2 programs. It would look like this (starting in 1st grade): LNST1 SSL LNST2 SSL2 PL LNST3 LFCA LCI LNST4 LFCB LCII LNST5 LFCC First Form Second Form LNST 6 Third Form Fourth Form Latin Alive 1 Latin in Challenge program (Henle) and Latin Alive 2 and 3 in the summers Now, these may not be in the correct order of difficulty since I don't have them in hand to do a direct comparison, but I can gauge that better when I get there. I know there would be a lot of overlap, but I see that as a positive thing. Is this complete overkill? I'm definitely doing LNST b/c it is what CC uses, but I can't decide b/w Memoria Press and Classical Academic Press so I thought I might try both! We've done LNST 1 and we are halfway through LNST2. I own SSL and PL. I was going to go to PL next, but I think we might do SSL first. Has anyone tried more than one program each year? stm4him

And if so, do you use the same type of program (Classical Academic Press or Memoria Press or Greek n'Stuff) or do you have different programs? For example, maybe Greek for Children and Latina Christiana. I'm wondering if that would be too confusing..... stm4him

I agree with many of these ladies in that I've just accepted that it is a full time job. I have 6 children ages 9 (almost 10) down to 6 months. We start at 8:30 and get done at 5:30 (including music practice). I read to the older ones at night for about half an hour. I read about 20 minutes to the younger ones towards the end of our school day and again at night before bed I read them a Bible story. We also do no chores until 5:30 except making and cleaning up simple meals and they are supposed to make their beds. At 5:30 we do basic chores (laundry, quick straighten, wipe down table and counters, etc.) I wait until after CC breaks to do organizing chores. I take the week of Thanksgiving off and the week after it to do all those organizing things I didn't get to and prepare for holidays, etc. Then we will school right up until the week of Christmas and hit it hard again after Christmas until Easter. We do a deep cleaning of our house once a week on Tuesday mornings and do lessons in the afternoon. Other than that we scrape by and sometimes I feel like my house is such a mess but if I can see that we are getting our schoolwork done and my relationships are solid and we are working on the house as we can then I am happy with that and my husband is good about that too. I go to Bible study twice a month on Monday evenings and other than that my life completely revolves around homeschooling and my relationships. Other moms who work full time jobs also probably have little time for themselves, but if they are really committed to their job they will accept that. But I love homeschooling and I can't see doing anything else with my days so it is just a full time job. On the other hand.....if you look at the way many CC moms homeschool it is not a full time job. Leigh Bortins does an hour of math time, an hour and a half of language arts (I think this includes Latin), and a half hour of drawing maps and memorizing a timeline. They do the rest of their memorizing in the car with a cd and flashcards and they do their history and Science and anything else through audio books or reading as the kids choose. She reads aloud to them each night and they do Bible time in the morning for about half an hour. That's her day, leaving most of the afternoon free and 3 1/2 hours in the morning including Bible, Lang. Arts, Math, and Memory Work. One could choose to do this but you would have to let go of being involved in enrichment subjects like History and Science. Stm4him

We are using Saxon K, 1, and 2 at my house. It takes about 20 minutes to quickly run through the Saxon 1 lesson, and only about 5-10 minutes for Saxon K. Saxon 2 sometimes takes 20-40 minutes. I can usually get all three done in an hour. They do the worksheets (1 and 2) independently and a lot of the meeting strip stuff too. I don't make them retell me things or answer questions that I know they've mastered. That is a waste of time. Once they know the routine and get into a grove it doesn't take that long. I use ruled paper for them to write out their counting. It doesn't have to take that long as I used to think. It is very thorough and I've come back to it after trying several other things. stm4him

We are doing the meeting. Actually its not a matter of them not being able to do the facts that are introduced in Saxon as of right now. We are around lesson 35 with both of them and they are still in review. It's more that I want them just as a general practice to continually be working on math facts so that they know them forward and backward by the time they get to 5/4. Also, I think sometimes it helps them to retain something when it is presented in a different way. It would be nice on days we don't do Saxon to just be able to pull out a workbook and know that they are getting practice. I know there are other ways to do it (computer, flashcards, math shark, flashmaster, etc.) but workbooks seem to be the easiest to pull out and see tangible results. With Saxon I can't just give it to them b/c I have to teach the lesson first, etc. With this it can be an anytime, anyplace kind of reinforcement. I'm looking for posts of anyone else using these two programs. So far I haven't found any.... stm4him

I think why it appears that way to me is that we are behind. My 9 year old is doing Saxon 2 (my struggling learner), and my 7 year old is doing Saxon 1 (started him late b/c of maturity and fine motor issues). I am starting my 4 year old on Saxon K already and so I think when he does Saxon 1 next year I will feel that he is getting plenty of drill. But when they are older it doesn't seem like enough with those lower levels. i think that is also why I am considering R&S....maybe it will allow them to move farther faster with their Math facts. Maybe I don't need it. But there is something about R & S math that is alluring to me....... stm4him

I'm beginning to think I want to supplement with something like R&S Math for more drill. I know they have the time test and a few problems on their worksheets (we're using K, 1, and 2) but I feel like we need more for two reasons. 1. The times that I've had my daughter do workbooks that have pages and pages of facts she did the best in math and enjoyed it more b/c it became easier for her with a ton of practice. We're not doing that now but I don't want to stop Saxon. 2. On our off days or weeks I feel they should still do a little drill every day to keep it fresh. Any supplement with more facts w/ success? STM4Him

We start at 8:30 no matter what (means sometimes I am in my bathrobe until I can run and change at some point and eat while teaching, etc.) 7:00ish Morning routines (breakfast, dress, table chores) 8:30 Math/Pre-logic (thinking skills) 9:30 Grammar and Writing and snack break 10:30 Latin (hopefully also Greek eventually) and Spelling 11:30 Memory work 12:30 Lunch and break 1:30 Reading/Phonics/Literature and naps for littles 2:30 Science, History, or Bible together or independent study 4:30 Preschool and music practice (violin and piano) and exercise for kids 5:30 Chores and exercise for Mom (kids do chores too) 6:30 Dinner and family time/baths/free time 8:00 Family devotional and bedtime routines for littles 9:00 Read aloud 9:30 Kids go to bed, Mom wraps up the day as needed and heads to bed to read or have computer time We do this Monday, Wednesday (stopping at 3:30 for church activities until 8:30), Thursday, and Saturday. Fridays we do CC and then visit with friends, run errands, etc. Tuesdays we clean house and go to music and art lessons. We don't do sports right now :-( On Wednesday afternoons at church they have choir and then a boys group and girls group activity so they do crafts there and my son gets to play sports games. Next year we will be moving to NC and going to a church that has AWANA so they will do sports games there. That counts as PE...lol. They do golf with my dad and sister sometimes. STM4HIM DD9 but struggling learner on 2nd grade level- Saxon 2, BTS 1, NAC 2, LNST 2, AAS 2, MP Lit 2, McGuffey First Reader, CC Foundations, Phonics Museum 1 DS7 but held back a year for fine motor issues and maturity- Saxon 1, BTS Hands on, MP Copybook 2, LNST 2, AAS 2, Phonics Museum K, McGuffey First Reader, CC foundations DS4- Saxon K, BTS Beginning, AAR PL1, CC Foundations DD3- AAR PL1 DD2- copying everyone else DD 1/2- absorbing :-)

Jim, Also I forgot to ask if you are planning to use WWS and CW with your children alongside Essentials' IEW assignments. If I'm going to do FLL and WWE I want to see it all the way through, but I don't want it to get too much. I'm thinking maybe we would do WWE/WWS on the weeks we don't do Essentials and put off ALL until 7th grade to keep grammar on the table after Essentials. What do you think? Another thought I had was to do additional IEW theme-based books on the off weeks instead, like American History Vol. 2, FAbles/Myths/Legends, and another one they have (Fun, Fantastic, or something like that). Thanks! Stm4him

Jim, Thank you for your response. It was very helpful. May I ask why you also use IEW Fix-it in addition to FLL and Essentials? Just curious.... Stm4him

Hi. I am looking for help in trying to decide whether to add in FLL and WWE to our current plan. We are doing Classical Conversations Foundations, so the kids are already memorizing grammar (though they don't usually know what the grammar means). Next year my oldest will start her first year of Essentials. We are already doing copywork using Memoria Press's copybooks and handwriting books. We do dictation with All About Spelling. And we do narrations a few times a week either in our reading/literature time or during our writing time where they dictate to me and then copy what I wrote down from what they told me. So part of me was thinking that adding in FFL and WWE was not necessary b/c we are already using those methods. But then I thought that these programs add in a more systematic way and would fill in some "gaps" that might exist (e.g. letter writing) and would definitely prepare them more strongly for Essentials. If I did do FLL and WWE (or ALL and WWS) alongside Essentials I would do it on the weeks we weren't doing Essentials since Essentials is only 24 weeks and I don't want to give up what we are already doing. My question is whether it would be possible to fit that all in one year. My other question pertains to whether it would even be feasible to do all of this with multiple children. Currently we have one hour planned each day for writing and grammar. That would mean I would have to fit in 2 FLL lessons and 2 WWE lessons per day with 2 students. They would also have additional copywork or handwriting to do during this hour b/c I want them to copy things like Scripture and poetry as MP books do. When Essentials starts I'll probably need most of the hour just to do that week's assignments so I wouldn't do FLL or WWE on those weeks. That would mean doing more than one lesson in FLL and WWE per day on the off weeks I'm guessing. I have 6 children ages 9 to 6 months. Eventually I'm thinking there is no way to do this. Does anyone combine FLL, WWE, and Essentials? If so, how? Is it overkill or do you consider them to go well together? thanks! stm4him

trying this again

Hey, ladies. I am waiting for my revised version to come in the mail. Does it still recommend Spelling Workout and Explode the Code in it? Did it add other choices? Thanks! Shaina