Servin~ That almost made me cry! Beautiful! :iagree:

Well, I have been eating, sleeping, and breathing OM since that last post so I am pretty much set with all my issues, LOL. I am going ahead with OM1 for my younger. I understand the philosophy behind the gentleness and want to go with that flow. At the same time, I do want to go with her natural ability to read as it goes along so will not hold that back at all. She had just begun reading last year after a torturous trip through "100 EZ Lessons". Oh, how I wish I had known about OM last year. I have no specific plans of supplementing at this point but I do want her not to lose the ability she worked so hard to accomplish last year. Maybe let her read a sentence here and there out of the books we are reading. That should suffice. I will also be using OM5 for my older. I did have a question. Funny, Nance, I was coming to "find you" on here today to see if you could answer this for me. I have asked on the yahoo group but it seems to have gone silent in the last couple of weeks. Could you tell me what large science equiptment you needed for 5th? Just looking at the sample week, it looks like we need a microscope, petri dishes, and slides. I have not seen any kind of supply list and am still trying to tally the costs for the upcoming year. I don't need to know all the little things just large items like microscopes. I have been lucky to find extremely good deals on the curriculum, used, from some really great ladies that were willing to let me pay in 2 parts and whatnot. Helps alot. Actually, it is a great price, even new, for a full years curriculum. My problem was just finding it so late and after having already purchased 2 entire other sets of curriculum that I thought I was going to use. I am super excited. Can't wait to start our journey. I expect it to be amazing :)

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll check out those used spots. Aurelia- I will take a look at the 2nd grade material. I just looked through the stuff briefly and knew the language arts was way below where she was but I wasn't sure about the rest. I really only did LA and math with her and let her catch the drops that fell from sisters science and history lessons. And, yeah, I didn't mean that I had already bought all OM material for next year!! I bought all OTHER curriculum for next year! This would be a last minute presto-chango!! So, I have to justify spending a couple hundred MORE dollars b/c I "changed my mind":D kwim?

I'm reviving b/c I just found this. I have seen OM a bunch of times and skimmed it. Today for some reason I saw something I never saw before and I really love the looks of it. I have to run out the door and will obsessively devour everything I can find later, I'm sure, LOL. But for now, I have some real quick questions. I would be doing OM1 and OM5. My youngest is already reading so doing letters seems way beneath her level. What do you do about that? Also, how do you AFFORD it??? Geez, can you just get certain guides and get some stuff at the library or as you go? I'm already looking at switching to Teaching Textbooks for my 5th grader and well, it just all adds up. This would be a last minute change after I've already spent pretty much what I needed to for next year:glare:. Are there some basic basics? And by that I mean still being able to do the complete program, with the exception of math. TIA

When do you have "alone" time with hubby?? LOL. That's what I always ask people who have a blog!!! I guess IF I had to go to bed at a different time as my husband, he would just have to work around it, which normally isn't a problem. He's gonna get his every day regardless of my schedule:tongue_smilie:!!

I would love a bit more info about abt the k-3 supp. I saw on the sample that it had a Bible and a Language Arts exercise. Is that it? Does it include History and science also? I know in the Egypt unit, alot of the History was Bible so that may not have been a good representation. Trying to decide whether to get this for my little or not. Course, right now Mid ages is not even done so it may be a mute point.

Ok, 1st I have to say, rrgh. I don't understand why my posts never get answered. I have posted at least 5 questions about Learning Adventures and no one ever responds. On the other hand, I am so glad to read these responses that you have gotten. Because I was so desperate for info for this curriculum for so long, I will try to tell you all my thoughts on it....it may be a tad long ;) So, I loved loved loved the sound of it and all the reviews and everything but was not feeling good about the pathetic little example they had on the website. I joined the yahoo group and for several weeks tried to get a better understanding of what it was like before diving in and purchasing. For me, there was an additional caveat in that I will be using it secularly....imagine that! It's just that it is THE closest thing to what I have been looking for. Anyway, the ladies on the yahoo group are super great and I read literally years worth of posts and files but honestly still didn't feel like I knew if it was a total fit. I NEEDED a few more sample days. PERIOD. But I wasn't getting any. Period! So, lo and behold, a used version got placed in my lap. I really had wanted to buy new if I chose to go that route strictly to support the cause but this was more or less given to me so what could I do?? I HAD to see it. After getting my hands on it and pouring over it, but not using it yet, here are my thoughts: It is ALOT of information. I have a rising 5th and 1st will be tagging along. Before I got it, I was worried about it being enough. I actually now worry about it being too much. There is way too much info to contain in my childs brain. I guess that's why it is for such a wide age range. I actually considered putting it on the shelf for the next rotation. But, I keep going back to it. I love her writing style. Her commentary alone, I think, could be put all together and sold in a book like SOTW. Every day, history/social studies and science ends with "read library books for the rest of the period". Of course this is optional and besided, you define what the period is. I think of the extra books as a way to make it more literature rich. Plus, we just love being buried in books! I personally think it gets better and more interesting with each unit. I am starting in Middle Ages b/c we did Ancients last year and to me this is where it really takes off. It actually doesn't have as many activities scheduled in as I understood it to but it has a list of optional ones in the front of the unit. OK, that's probably enough. Oh Oh, 2 more things. Major Question: Do I think it covers more than SOTW with activity guide? NO. Not if you used it only for History. But this has everything else but math weaved in. I can't really say what level the language arts is. I feel very comfortable using it with my 5th grader that hasn't had much grammar or writing. If they were older or more advanced, I'd want a seperate Language Arts program. If you do Bible, I would say it is great. I don't but can see what it looks like and it is impressive and totally woven in with the study and times/literature. The science as well. Though, again, I have a child that is science obsessed so we will do other science as well. I would not add to the science for a non sciency kid. We will do notebooking with this and alot of the extra projects at the beginning of the chapter b/c we like hands on stuff. If you're still here, I hope that helps. Oh yeah, and about Vol2. I do believe we will continue. The bad reviews I heard were mostly b/c of the state studies added in but that is something I want to do with my girls anyway.

Oh my gosh. You rock! I had actually kinda moved on and decided NOT to use Singapore science since it didn't have a kit b/c I just knew that meant I wouldn't do the experiments, therefore it would be pointless. Buuutttt, that list looks quite do-able. I so so so wanted ths to work and you've given me hope again. Thanks!

Hmmm, I'll check it out. Thanks.

Bumping

I'm really liking Singapore Science. It's looking good for what I want for my girls. I also like McRuffy but, as of this moment, it ends at 3rd and I need 5th grade science as well as 1st grade. Plus, I want the thoroughness of Singapore. I think what appeals to me about McRuffy is that it comes with a kit of all the supplies you need for the experiments. That's gonna get er done. Is there anywhere to buy the kits for Singapore science levels? Anyoone? Please say yes...... TIA

I believe you test them on the grade they just completed. Therefore, evaluating what they learned that year.

One last try....

Dunno if you've looked at it but Veritas Press has First Favorites that has less writing and more funsies! I started out wanting ST and switched to FF b/c my daughter is more of a fun gal and not so much mechanically matured yet.

bumping

I don't have alot of info to share except that I have purchased vol 1 and 2 recently. I planned on us just listening in the car so the workbooks are just a bonus. I have thumbed through them. They look good. So far, we have vol 2 in the tape deck and it has not come out to make room for vol 1 which arrived later in the mail. My 10 year old begs for me to start the tape before we are out of the driveway ( Justin Bieber grows cold in the CD player;)! The songs are goofy but they are catchy. Some are so funny you can't help to laugh and then even sing along. One about marsupials are mostly in australia but the opossum is in America to the tune of some Elvis song. Sung by an awful impersonator. But, alas, we have begun cranking it up:glare:! Anyway, for some fun, with learning thrown in, YES! For main science curriculum, IDK. I haven't studied the book and student workbook enough to comment on that. HTH

I was reading some archives and saw that quite a few people started using the Little Adventurers in March. I was hoping for an update from those users. I just got AWOA and am contemplating using the supp for my 1st grader. On one hand, the sample on the website looks really fun, but on the other hand, I'm trying to use this secularly (call me crazy, I just think it looks fabulous) and the examples appear to draw mostly from the bible lessons. I plan to omit the bible lessons from AWOA as it is so I don't want to purchase the supplement if 95% of it will not be used. And, for the record, yes, I realise how difficult it will be to do this secularly. But we are starting with Rome, which helps, and I am prereading and just making it work. TIA

Wow, that sounds so lovely. It really does. I'm just sayin, sorry to interrupt.

As an aside, I do have Writing Tales on the way. But, not having seen it in real life I was assuming it would be more for the fun of writing and not so much on the mechanics of sentence structure, paragraphs, essays, etc. My plan was to start WT1 with her immediately and work on it through the summer just to get her excited about writing and then focus on the mechanics with our core curriculum next school year. Is WT going to give me more than I thought? That would be wonderful.

Hmmm, thank you all so much. Never ceases to amaze me how generous everyone is with their time. I do still like the looks of the Table of Contents and the grammar instruction. Yes, it's nothing glamorous but like I said, going Old School here. I will need to look at the writing instruction a couple more times. It looks like a lot of instruction, I just can't tell if I'm understanding what they are conveying. In a hurry right now so will look again later. Thanks again, ladies.

I also wanted to throw out there Teaching Textbooks. We are going to do this next year to reclaim some of our joy. Math with my oldest had become very strained (to say the least) between us. Her in tears, me in....frustration. I had originally not planned on spending that much for 1 subject but at the end of the day, I feel it is so worth it for my child to have someone(thing) else teaching her, that can repeat the explanation 100 times, if neccessary, without ever getting aggrivated and making her feel...........whatever that makes her feel like.......less than good.

Well, the scope and sequence looks like exactly what I want to cover but the actual sample lessons they have on the site are from 6th grade and they are the grammar, not writing. Is that example of the Winter writing what it is like? It simply says "Show the who, what, where, when, why, of ....Winter?" That would never work. I need instructions.

I was going to suggest CLE also as it is so gentle. The only thing is that placement can sometimes be tricky. Doesn't always come out at grade level. Don't be discouraged, this is completely normal. We are playing catch up right now and it's going much better and faster than I thought and looks like we will have covered the material and be on grade level within 6 months. Even though it looked liked 2 years, it really wasn't b/c she knew a solid 65% of that material just not all of it.

Hmmm, my child has no crafting, no, LOL. She spontaneously spent the better portion of one day writing this story/ book she came up with a while back. (This was a 1 time thing. She's never done it since.) It was like 8 pages long and consisted of about 3 sentences and was all 1 paragraph!!

Ooohhh! Love to hear it. I FINALLY decided on McRuffy science for next year for my little and am having to sit on my hands to keep from ordering it and starting NOW!