And are you using the workbook or the instructor text? There is quite a difference between the two in terms of expectations.

Last year I used many of these ideas for my K'er: http://www.homeschoolmath.net/teaching/kindergarten.php I thought it was a pretty good list and there are links to free worksheets, too.

Have you looked at Progressive Phonics? It's free, at least! It is very interesting and visually appealing. The only criterion it doesn't meet is that there isn't a writing component (however, I haven't explored the website fully and I think I remember that there are some worksheets there, so you'd have to check in case I'm lying). I pair it with ETC for my 6yo.

Yes, I think it's fine. You could even add a few narrations in science. And I don't think you need to have the child write out the grammar exercises either, but that's my opinion. This is very similar to what I had my 4th grader do last year.

My boys read and re-read: - Winnie the Pooh and House at Pooh Corner - By the Great Horn Spoon - old Hardy Boys books (we have a set from 1929 or so) - Boxcar Children series

My son reads a ton of books and on Fridays I have him write a beginning literary essay. First we discuss the book, then I give him two or three questions to answer from the list in WTM (they are also in the lit analysis lecture from PHP). He answers those in the essay.

I would say not necessary at all. I can't ever remember even looking at mine.

Yup. I realized that Getting Started with Latin has WAY more lessons in it than I originally thought, plus we want to do French and Canadian geography this year. So Latin's getting dropped in favour of the other two. My oldest is always interested in learning Latin so maybe he'll pick it back up in a year or two.

For goals and steps to get there, I would recommend SWB's Plan for Teaching Writing audio lectures, available at Peace Hill Press. There are actually 3 of them, but I'm counting them as one resource. :D

Zero. We swim at home, do piano lessons at home and do church at home. When we go out, it's for family activities or visiting, but no outside weekly commitments.

Well... I'm waiting until high school to actually implement this, so I don't have any experience to share. I wonder if you could require a certain number of words per week (5 or so to start?), then they could be looking for them while they are reading and then check their notebook at the end of the week to see what they put in it. I dunno... I'm just rambling. :)

I'm not using a formal vocab program and I don't ever plan to. As far as how that's working out... I guess I can't really say yet because my oldest is only 12. But my kids don't have noticeably small vocabularies either. :) I think learning words in context is the best way to learn. Once they get to high school, I might have them keep a word log of sorts. When they come across words they don't know when they're reading, they can look them up and write in the definition.

I'm going to be giving my two oldest boys planners starting this fall. My biggest reason is kind of lame: with four students and lots of subjects to get through, I just don't have room in my own planner to write everything anymore! So, along with encouraging some independence and keeping track of their own stuff, I can write all their assignments in their own planner, and that frees up mine for my younger two and our group subjects. :)

I use R&S English 2 3x a week and it works out fine. I end up skipping some of the lessons because some of them are very repetitive.

He could probably already do some of MEP 7 and all the lessons are online as interactive lessons. You could pick and choose topics and it might be a fun break for him to do some online. Just for reference, my oldest completed MM 5, went straight to MEP 7, and some of it (maybe even half) was review.

Thanks for this thread! I've always wondered this. I was taught not to use the Oxford comma (in Canada) but most of my kids' curriculum teaches the opposite.

No, it's not the end of the world. The dictation sentences in the workbook are longer (sometimes way longer) than what the Instructor Text recommends (if you are using the workbook).

Hits: MEP secondary math Getting Started with Latin God's Design for the Physical World Misses: R&S English 6 How Great Thou Art Those are the ones that stand out. Everything else was good/okay/got the job done.

I did somewhat... but not strictly. The books are set up to read the lesson and then do the activity/experiment. I did use the lessons for narration sometimes but not every one. You could easily do it that way.

Yeah, it is a little bit that way! Let me know if I can help.

I did not add any extras. I felt the books were enough. More than enough for the little ones. As far as logic stage goes, when I used it last I didn't have any logic stage kids but there is a section in each lesson for older kids with extra suggestions for them.

It means in high school, topics are not separated each year (ie. pre-algebra, algebra 1, geometry, etc.). Each year teaches all of these areas.

I like it and my kids read them for fun. Rather than calling them dry, I would call them more "just the facts." Each lesson is short and to the point. The Heaven and Earth set was my favourite so I don't think you can go wrong, although $80 for shipping sucks! Where are you buying from? The Book Depository has them and shipping is free anywhere in the world: http://www.bookdepository.com/Our-Planet-Earth-Debbie-Lawrence/9781600921544

Pretty independent, yes. Moreso than MM! He hardly ever needs my help. We're using the interactive lessons so I don't print anything (except for when there is a lesson not online, which happens fairly frequently in 8, but not in 7). Oh yeah, I also print the tests and have him write them. The secondary levels of MEP aren't used much on this board (as far as I know) because it's integrated, so there isn't a whole pile of info here, but the MEP Yahoo group is great if you want to check that out.

I skipped MM6 with my oldest and went straight to MEP 7. It worked great. It repeated quite a few topics that were in MM5 and he has already moved onto MEP 8 at the end of 6th grade. So that is what I am planning to do with my next son, who will be doing MM5 this coming fall. I'm going to relax the pace and not care if it takes more than a year to get through, and then go to MEP 7 after that. So, just an idea: you could take it easy (or easier) with MM5 and then just go straight to pre-algebra.