Thank you!!! I know lots of homeschool abbreviations, but there are still a few that have me stymied! :tongue_smilie: I'll check it out!

Would someone be kind enough to tell me what MCT is? :001_smile:

Thanks for mentioning these authors! I just ordered LOF Apples today, and I'll check the other authors' books out of our library!:001_smile:

I'm about to start this program (the primary version) with my daughter next week and I'm curious too! :bigear:

I wish I could remember where I heard it so I could give credit where credit is due! Oh, I hope it helps him. I think it somehow takes the pressure off them to remember, and somehow assigns it to just this silly hand of theirs that keeps wandering off! :)

Oh! I feel your pain! Ouch!:grouphug:

Maybe a little humor would help? I read somewhere of the idea of naming the left hand, let's say "Mikey". So you tell your son that "Mikey" has a job to do: to keep the paper still. Then if "Mikey" is not doing his job, you can talk directly to "Mikey". As in, "Mikey, where did you go? Can you help my son out here?" This probably sounds pretty corny, but it helped my son out. It's probably just a habit to keep his left hand down in his lap, so it might take a little while for him to get used to his left hand actually having a job to do. HTH!:001_smile:

We also really like Cheerful Cursive. My 7 year old daughter is about 1/2 way through and has really been enjoying it. It didn't work as well for my son a couple of years ago, and we switched to HWT cursive for him. His cursive still isn't flowing all that smoothly, come to think of it!

Heart of Dakota's Beyond would be great, although depending on your child's skill levels it might be better for 2nd grade. You can look at the placement charts on Heart of Dakota's website to see. Another option is Early American History (Primary) from Beautiful Feet Books. This is a literature-based program with lots of nice, meaty picture books. Heart of Dakota is an all-inclusive program, whereas the Beautiful Feet is just History (with some Bible too). HTH! Edited to add: Oops! I just saw that you already know about BF! Sorry!

I wanted to mention that when I called to order a revised guide to replace my current Early American Guide today, they gave me a discounted rate! So if you are re-purchasing any of their revised guides, they will only be $10.00! (The guide I ordered retails for $17.95.) To get the discount, you'll have to order by phone... Just thought you might like to know! :)

I just ordered the new guide along with one of the two new books that they've added into the program: The Horseless Carriage. (I already own the Benjamin West biography.) Thanks again for posting this. The samples online of the new guide look like it will be much easier to use... :001_smile:

Thanks for posting this! I'm about to start Early American with my 7 year old, and I might just buy the new guide and the one new book they are using with it now. :001_smile:

Thanks for your response, Lynn! I had forgotten that Pilgrim Stories is a main book in BF Early American. I looked at the guide and saw that it's used in a little less than 1/3 of the lessons and I think we'll be okay with that. I had forgotten about the BF Horse Unit Study. That may be an option for the future if I want to take another little HOD break... I like the idea of using Bigger's assignment patterns to make sure I'm staying on track with assignments for her... Thanks!:001_smile: Anyone else have an opinion on my plan?

Hi! We have been using HOD since August of 2010, and we really love it. Because my son was behind in some areas, I started out by combining my oldest two in Beyond when they were 9 and 6. The past August we started Bigger with my now 10 year old adding in Extensions and my now 7 year old doing it just as written. This was fine for a time, but then I started realizing how quickly my 7 year old daughter will get to Preparing if she stayed at full speed in Bigger. Because we like to delay introduction to certain aspects of early history (greek gods, etc.), I'd like her to not get to Preparing until she is 9. (I'm not interested in discussing whether or not delaying exposure to these topics is a good idea! :001_smile:) A couple of months ago I changed to doing Bigger with her at half-speed and doing it a little faster than full-speed with my 10 year old son since he is improving by leaps and bounds now! (He will be starting Preparing pretty soon.) My daughter is just finishing Unit 14 of Bigger. It's going fine, but I feel like we're losing continuity by not going full-speed. I'm thinking that it makes sense to do something to extend the time that it will take to get to Preparing and here's what I'm thinking: What if I take a break from Bigger and instead do Beautiful Feet's Early American Primary Curriculum with her? (I already own this.) Once we finish that, then we could return to Bigger (at full-speed!) and finish it out before we move to Preparing. It might seem strange to stop right in the middle of Bigger, but I think that the BF curriculum is easier than Preparing. It might be quite a jump for her if we finished Bigger, then did BF, then went to Preparing. (She will also be listening in on LHFHG when I start it with my K'er in the fall.) So does this seem like a reasonable plan? :bigear: Any alternate suggestions for me? Thanks so much! :001_smile:

You definitely can just pick up DITHOR whenever you want. Some people just do a few units per school year. DITHOR does have questions based on genre, but they are generally more literary analysis or character based as opposed to comprehension based. There are pages they fill out about facts/characters/setting, etc. of the book, though. So you are sure they are really "getting" what they are reading. It's definitely NOT like "read these pages, then answer, with answer keys". Pathway Readers are like that, though! :) HTH!:001_smile:

In the Preparing Teacher's Guide the following is listed on 3 out of each 4 day unit in the Language Arts Box: "Help students complete one lesson from the following reading program: Drawn into the Heart of Reading" That is the only way it's used in the Preparing guide. It's very easy to just do a different reading program instead, if you would prefer. I would say it's not difficult to teach from. It takes a little time with the DITHOR teacher's guide when you first get it to figure out how it works, but then it's pretty much open and go. I tend to alter the lesson plans as need to fit my child or the amount of time we have that particular day. It is by no means and integral part of HOD, though! :001_smile:

We're using DITHOR right now, and the program covers reading and literary analysis. It is not a grammar or composition program. (You may have already known that ... and if so, sorry for restating the obvious.) It's no problem to use HOD without DITHOR. We use HOD, but alternate between DITHOR and Pathway Readers/Workbooks. HTH! :001_smile:

I had decided in January to to do a schedule like this: August through May: 4 days per week June through July: 3 days per week (with a few weeks here and there for breaks) I really like the 4 day per week schedule, but since I've found out I'm expecting baby #5, I've not been able to let myself take off one day per week. I guess I'm not sure how long it will take to get back into the swing of things after the baby's born. But I don't think it's ever taken more than a month, so I'm thinking I should probably be willing to go back to my above listed plan!:001_smile:

I highly recommend AAS. At first glance it seems like it's not simple with the white board and tiles, but it is really so easy and clear to teach. I absolutely LOVE it!

Oooh! I really like this idea. My 5 year old will love it too! :001_smile: Thanks!

I wish I found these earlier: 1. Heart of Dakota 2. MUS 3. AAS 4. R&S English

Hi, Melissa! I'm using HOD, but I'm not familiar with the other programs you mentioned. I know that the HOD author says that it's okay to use your own programs for those areas, so I wouldn't think it would be a problem. I do know that the older levels of HOD have lots of writing intertwined with the History and Science lessons. Hope that helps!:001_smile:

Hmmm... you're right that the beginning of AAR starts with CVC words, but it does get more advanced with words like: bullfrog, song, glasses, check, wing, etc. by the end. I'm not sure when AAR 2 is scheduled to be out... I'm really enjoying AAR with my 5 year old, but she's really at the beginning stages and it's perfect for her. Maybe AAS would be better for you?

I've used AAS with my oldest for a couple of years, but still went ahead and got AAR for my 5 year old. You could use AAS to teach reading, but AAR is so much better for that purpose. I do love AAS for spelling, by the way. It's worked wonders for my son! :)

Hi! What's WWW? Thanks!