I need some map work for SOTW 3 and 4. I know I could (and maybe should) just buy the Activity Books, but the only thing I want is the map work, so it doesn't really seem worth it. I've looked at Map Trek and I like how it looks but there's way more there than I'd want to use. Any other suggestions?

For 3rd grade, I have them do Parts A and C on Tuesday, Part B and a spelling test on Thursday. For 4th, they do Part A on Tuesday, Part B on Wednesday, Part C and test on Thursday. I don't think any of it takes my kids more than half an hour.

This is exactly how I have always used it, too.

My son finished the Advanced books about a third of the way through first grade. After that, I had him read to me from Pathway Readers (I started him in the first grade books only because I didn't want him to miss those stories but they were a bit too easy for him) and he was doing ETC 3 at the time. All that to say, I'm not sure I would consider the Advanced books to be the equivalent of finishing second grade phonics. First grade, for sure, but I am no phonics expert. I had my son continue on with Pathway and ETC after we were done. Not sure if that is helpful but that was our experience.

Agreeing that he doesn't need to rewrite one and two level outlines. We just started rewriting when we got to three levels, because then there is enough to make each main point into a paragraph.

I almost feel like I shouldn't reply because I have no experience; just plans for 9th grade for this fall. Nevertheless, this is what I have for him: Math - finish TT Algebra 1 and begin MUS Geometry Literature - conglomeration of a book list, some literature from Notgrass history and R&S Reading to cover short stories, etc. Writing - Writing to the Point by Kerrigan, narrations and essays across curriculum and learn research paper, will also include some spelling work at his request Science - Apologia Biology History - Ancients using Notgrass Exploring World History and some other things, part of this will count toward World Geography Bible - parts of Notgrass and R&S PE - hockey and whatever else he does

Do any of you know if you have elevated levels of CRP (C-reactive protein) showing up in any of your blood work? I've had blood work done for rheumatoid factor, etc. twice this year and both times my CRP has been slightly elevated. I do have some pain in my hands and feet, but no other rheumatoid tests are positive. Today I was diagnosed with PCOS and upon searching the internet, it seems that PCOS can cause elevated CRP. Is this common? Just wondering what others' experiences are.

You could try this version instead: https://www.amazon.com/Robinson-Crusoe-Classics-Young-Readers/dp/0875527353/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1466619203&sr=8-2&keywords=robinson+crusoe+lindskoog My kids love this one and even though it's abridged, I don't find the language to be obviously dumbed down or anything. For 6th grade, I think it's perfect.

History is one subject I keep light on purpose so that it's more fun and interesting. I usually read our spine aloud and then my 6th grader writes a summary or makes an outline probably twice a week. We also did our timeline as a group and about once a month I would assign a longer summary/report that they had to sort of research (read things from a couple books, take notes, write a few paragraphs). That's all I require until high school.

My oldest was 11 when youngest was born and the age gap between the last two is 5 years. The two best things about it have already been mentioned but I will say them again: 1) You have tons of help! Everyone wants to hold and entertain the baby and you have lots of people to start a load of laundry, run get a diaper or even cook a simple meal if you need it. And 2) The relationships the olders have with the littlest are so precious. In our family, DD treats each of her big brothers in a different way and it's so interesting to see how they interact. DS14 is like substitute mommy if I'm not around for whatever reason, DS12 is her friend, DS10 is the one she always goes to for help and DS8 is more like a brother - the ones she giggles and fights with. It's fun. Don't worry about it. :)

I did, but I also don't use WWS. But, from what I read here on these boards, people are using WWS more and more with older kids, even into high school. So I'm not sure too many people will recommend doing it early, but everyone is different. I think most people usually do a year or two of something else in between. Hopefully someone with experience will post. Just bumping for you. :)

On Fridays, I just ask them what they read this week and write it down in my planner. That's it.

How did you structure your dc's writing work? I based my requirements on SWB's middle grades writing lecture, so we did two summaries/written narrations, two outlines and one lit. essay per week. Was it difficult coming up with writing assignments or topics? Did you find a resource that helped? I didn't find it difficult at all. We just used our history lesson or science lesson or the book the kid was currently reading. In a jam, I used Pathway or Nature readers. What kinds of assignments or topics did you give? I don't think this really applies because we were just narrating and outlining. So it was mostly just telling back or summarizing what they'd read. For the lit. essays, I used the questions from WTM (also in the audio lecture) and sometimes thought up my own. The only really open-ended topics we did were occasionally for history, when I asked them to research something of interest and they would write a report about it. So it would be something like "Tell me about the Spanish Armada" or "Who was Winston Churchill?" I didn't so much this year, but I have other years (and would like to again) rotated the type of assignment between narration, description and explanation, so they are writing a variety of different styles. Did you have a hard time holding yourself accountable and getting it done? What were obstacles to getting it done and how did you overcome them? No, because my kids knew what they were expected to do and it was done independently for the most part. If they had to write a summary one day, they would decide what to write from. If it was a history day, they could write from history. If they didn't want to do that, they could choose something else. At the end of the year, what was positive (and what was negative) about not using a program? Positives: writing is integrated into other subjects so it sort of eliminated it as a separate subject. There was no lack of things to write about because they were always writing about content from other subjects. No one dreads writing or has writer's block or any of those types of things. On the negative side, they aren't learning to write essays or research papers in 6th grade, they aren't doing any creative writing at all. To me, those things aren't negatives but to others they might be. Anything else you want to share about your experience? I've done writing this way in the middle grades with two kids now and I like how it's gone so I have another one starting it this fall. It's a slow and steady method and I won't really be able to say with confidence that it's the bees knees until I graduate a kid who can write essays and research papers decently, but we're getting there, so I plan on continuing.

I did what SWB suggests in her audio lectures about writing (A Plan for Teaching Writing: Middle Grades). I taught my kids how to do one-level outlines and did those twice a week, and had them continue writing narrations/summaries twice a week. And then we did the beginning literary essays on Fridays.

You're looking at the Life series, right? There really is no logical order. You might want to think about doing the Plant book at a time of year where you have plants outside accessible for experiments and activities. I did that one over the summer once. Two lessons per week gets through two books very nicely in a year. That's what we just finished doing this year.

I find the World of Animals book is the most like this in terms of experiments. The other books are much better. I have the whole series and have used them a lot. We've gone through all four sets, lesson by lesson, and we've also used them as fun reading or independently as interest-led. I used Science in the Beginning for one year but we went back to God's Design after that.

It's perfectly fine. Doing CTGE would be overkill because it has a lot of phonics in it, so don't feel guilty about that. MEP would be the same thing. No need to double up. Science doesn't need to be covered in first grade. Your plan is not weak at all.

I think you could go through MEP Year 7 and 8 pretty quickly and then move on to AOPS if you want. They are pretty short courses and easy to get through quickly. My oldest son did 7, 8 and 9A, then I put him in algebra.

Up until this past year, we just did narrations, outlines, re-writing outlines, etc. as per WTM. This year with my 8th grader, I tried a number of different programs because he was terribly sick of outlining and I thought he could move on to essays. First, I tried The Lively Art of Writing. I LOVE this book but he hated it and it just didn't click with him. Then we tried Jump In, which also didn't work at all, but I'm not really sure why. It's like it stifled his writing instead of expanding his skills. I wish I could better describe why it didn't work, but I can't. Then we tried and stuck with School Composition by Maxwell. I gave up on the idea of him learning how to write essays because my efforts thus far had been a complete failure. Perhaps he just wasn't ready. Instead, I used this to get him writing some original compositions. It worked very well. He actually did write a couple essays as assignments (the structure was there but the voice was silly and not academic at all, but still, it's a start). We are going to try essays again this fall. I personally feel like the reason we as homeschoolers go through so many programs with middle school kids is because, especially when it comes to writing, one size doesn't fit all, and we all need to find something that clicks with our kid. Having finally found something that worked with my oldest doesn't really give me much confidence in using the same thing with my next one because he'll probably be totally different.

I believe the two large lines are only to show that your left hand needs to play the first chord, then move up a bunch to play the next chord, then go back down. At least, that's how I read it, but I'm no expert.

Has anyone made this switch? I'm a long-time MM user and it has recently come to my attention that my kids would benefit from a lot more review (among other reasons). So I want to try TT with them next year. I'm having them do the placement tests but I am wondering where other people's kids have placed when switching. Do your kids generally place at grade level or a grade ahead?

I have four in school plus a 3yo. My general plan is to get everyone their own English and math, and do science and history together (to a point). By about 5th grade, they can do most things independently with me just checking their work. For extra subjects, like cursive, geography and logic, I use inexpensive workbooks, so they are also independent. I use only one curriculum per subject and don't do many extras. My 5th and up kids have their own planners with all their assignments written in so they can begin school without me if needed. We do group subjects first (science as a group until about 6th grade, history as a group until 9th), then I work with the youngest kids first while the olders work independently. When the youngers are done, I can work with the olders. I use Math Mammoth for elementary and I'm still trying to find the right fit for English. Next year we're trying LLATL but I've used R&S and Climbing to Good English in the past. R&S for spelling, WWE for writing. I use God's Design for science and SOTW and R&S for history. Extra workbook subjects are things like Logic Countdown and Canada Map Books (we're Cdn). I do tend to avoid programs that are teacher intensive or require a lot of prep. WWE is my exception to that rule because it's so effective and doesn't take a lot of time.

I just did a "wrap-up" grammar with my 8th grade son using All in One English. I really liked it for this purpose because it starts with a beginning assessment test to see what they know and what they don't. Then we just worked on the stuff he didn't know. However, the whole book isn't super in-depth. I think MFW schedules it in for 6th grade, and that's sort of the level it seemed to me, so if you've gone through CLE 6, it might be redundant. You would have to look at TOC and sample pages. But for my purpose, it's been a great fit. Another option that I've looked into for a one-year run-through of grammar would be Easy Grammar Plus. I think it includes everything. ETA: My grammar philosophy has definitely changed over the years, but that's mostly because my boys HATE grammar and don't seem to get it easily. So I've become more relaxed about it. In fact, we're going to use LLATL next year.

We are using WWE 2. My 8yo son's narrations are as short as possible. If he can get the whole passage summed up in two sentences, he will. Maybe that means he'll be great at summarizing eventually. I can always hope. He needs constant reminders to not begin the narration with "They...." or "He..." and instead tell me who "they" are. Also, reminders not to begin every sentence with "and" or put too many "ands" in each sentence. So sentence structure is pretty basic as of now. Here is what he narrated to me this morning: "Pa, Laura and Mary found bones in the Indian camp. They found ashes where the fire had been and holes in the ground where the tent poles had been put in." Here's one from a couple weeks ago with edits: "Noah and Ida tied a piece of string to the sleeve of his Dad's jacket and then when he tried to put it on, he couldn't get his arm in the sleeve and that would be funny. Noah and Ida thought that would be funny." One more: "The blackbirds were eating all the corn and the oats. Pa was trying to shoot them and he had shot a lot but there were so many that it didn't look like any were disappearing. They started eating them." He isn't as good at narration as his three older brothers were, but I thought I would post these as an example of a very average 2nd grade student. :)

I wanted to be a farmer's wife with two kids. I am one now, but there are a few extra kids. :D