This is great to know, Faithe!

Thanks, Faithe! I've not seen A Beka's older grammar programs, so I'll check them out. I like the idea of using "grammar speak" with my children at a young age, without doing a formal program.:001_smile:

Is this MCT? I've heard of this and am intrigued. I'll check it out!

I've looked at this and loved the simplicity, but doesn't this one assume you already know the parts of speech? :001_smile: ETA: I just looked at their website and it looks like Easy Grammar Plus might fit the bill. I emailed them to find out ... Thanks!

:iagree: I really like being on the same page with my husband and not having to make all the homeschooling decisions alone.

I'm wondering what grammar curricula would be good if an older child has not had much or any formal grammar instruction. If I wanted to wait until my child was 12 to introduce grammar, what materials could I use to do a one or two year grammar course that would not assume prior grammar knowledge? Could Rod & Staff English 5 work? I was just looking at online samples and it looks like it covers many of the same topics as R&S English 3. Any other options? Thank you!!!

If it were me, I'd try his suggestion for a week or two and see how it went. If it really didn't work, then I could talk with him about that.

Ladies, thank you so much! This is very helpful! :001_smile:

I'm thinking of using Botany or one of the Zoology books with my 10 year old son. For those who have used it, could a 4th/5th grader do this mostly on his own? Are the activities hard to do? Are there hard to obtain materials? Is the student notebook worth purchasing? Botany might be fun to do over the spring/summer! Thanks! :001_smile:

My 10 year old builds go-carts and mini-forts with scrap wood. He builds model airplanes. He reads lots of chapter books about things like castles and cowboys (well, that's this week). He plays with his siblings. Yesterday, he built a gun that shoots three rubber bands using some scrap wood, clothespins, and some hot glue. He plays around with wires, batteries, LED lights to make cars, etc. He sometimes plays with K'nex, Legos, or FischerTechniks (sp?), but he'd much prefer to make something from scratch. I think he's creative out of necessity, since he doesn't really have access to any screens unless we watch a DVD as a family in the afternoon or evening or if I let him look something up on wikipedia (which is rare). Oh ... he reads our encyclopedias a lot too.

Here we chose Paul and love the name (and the little boy!).

We got one for each of our children a couple of Christmases ago (the $2.00 from Rainbow Resource). I regretted it at first because they all played them all the time for a while. But after a while, the novelty wore off and they only play them occasionally now. (So it's not a problem any more!) My 10 year old was playing his today after reading about cowboys! :001_smile:

Got it! Thank you! My laundry room is very narrow, so we really don't have room for any sort of storage unit there, but maybe we could use that idea in my girls' room closet which is very large.

How do you store the clean clothes in the laundry room? Do you have dressers in there? I think I really need to minimize how many clothes and toys my children have access to. With toys, I could put most in the basement and just bring something special up when they request it... I love hearing everyone's ideas. I feel much the same way as the OP. I know I have a lot going on, but I would like a clutter-free house too!

I just checked and my library has this book too! Thanks for the recommendation!:001_smile:

I just picked this up at the library this morning. It's a book I've known about for years, but have never read. I'm intrigued! :D

Combining can work, especially with the extensions added in for the older child.:001_smile: (I've been using HOD since the fall of 2010.) If they are ready for CTC or higher, then they would be pretty independent. Preparing still requires a decent amount of time with you. You probably already know this, but HOD has a placement chart on their website to help you know which level your children are ready for. This could work too. Are you thinking Bigger? Bigger is great, but it does have lots of writing, so I guess you'd have to evaluate if your 2nd grader would be up to it. LHTH? It may harder to combine them ... not sure there! :001_smile: Hope that helps!

I think it would be perfect for your situation. I'm using it with my 5 year old, and I have an older child who had some struggles in this area and I think it would have been excellent for him at that age. AAS is working wonders for him now...

If you want to use a reading program, but want something less "workbook-y" you could look at Drawn into the Heart of Reading. http://www.heartofdakota.com/drawn-into.php This reading program allows you to choose the books you want to use for each of the genres (like mystery, realistic fiction, non-fiction, humor, historical fiction, folk tale, adventure, etc.). There are book packs you can buy if you don't want to choose. I'm using it now with my 4th and 2nd graders. They enjoy it much more than the Pathways reading program we've used in the past. They love that they are reading real books and not a reader. It takes more of my time, but not a ton. There is written work only about 1/2 to 1/3 of the days, and it's much more thought provoking ... not just answering questions about facts in the story. Hope that helps! :001_smile: BTW, I do think it's fine to not do a reading program at all if that's what you'd prefer!

I used 4th Grade Easy Grammar for a little while this past fall with my son. I think the teacher book is needed. It helps to be able to present the lessons, which I think are mainly in the beginning of the book. It didn't click for him, so we shelved it for R&S which is going fine. Personally, I like the simplicity and ease of use of EG. It just didn't work for my son! HTH!:001_smile:

I'm planning to do LHFHG this coming year with my daughter who will be a 6 year old K'er (late summer birthday). I also have lots on my plate and will have a newborn in September also. I'm going to make it doable by feeling the freedom to skip some of the more involved activities, and even taking a little longer than a day to complete a 2-page spread if I need to. I'm also doing some substituting. We'll be using MUS, and I'm already using AAR with her, and I'm planning on sticking with that. Some people would say that if you cover the 3 R's well, that it would be enough to just read lots and lots of books to her. You don't have to do a formal history and science curriculum yet. (There's a little part of me that's tempted to go this route with my daughter, and I may have to if I can't manage to get LHFHG done. I'll also have a 5th grader and 3rd grader to fit in...) Hope that helps! :001_smile:

I've gotten less that 6 hours of sleep for too many night recently. I do usually try to catch a nap. I know this won't help you for today, but could you try to take a little nap before lunch? I find that if I'm super-tired, I'm tired enough to nap in the morning and it's less likely to keep me from being able to fall asleep at bedtime. I hope you get better sleep soon (and that I do too!). :001_smile:

Does your Roomba work for hard floors, or just carpet?

Is this like the one you're referring to? ... http://www.amazon.com/Eureka-166DX-Lightweight-Stick-Vacuum/dp/B000B7BWGS I'm looking for a small vacuum for my kitchen. I think cordless would be ideal, but if it works well, a corded vac would do. Is the Eureka very loud? Thanks! :001_smile:

I'm finishing Bigger this year with my 4th grader / 10 year old. We're doing the extensions with the follow-up assignments, and it's certainly enough for him. He's really enjoying the year, particularly the great historical fiction books (extensions). I own Preparing and have looked through it extensively, but haven't used it yet. (It looks great!) I wouldn't use it unless your certain that your daughter is really ready for all it requires. In my opinion, it's better to choose a curriculum that's maybe a tad less rigorous than what a child could do and have a peaceful year, rather than stretch a child a little too far and be stressed the whole time.