Last year I did not use workpages for math, instead we had fun making our own math notebook. We did money rubbings, stamps and stickers, and drawing. I took pictures of work done on the white board and pictures of dd playing with manipulatives. She played with tape measures, rulers, geo-blocks, a balance, legos, unifix cubes, geo-board, little animal figures, different size bottles, playing cards, and much more. I used Katheryn Stout's Maximum Math book for the list of skills needed for 1st/2nd grade math as well as this site http://mathlearnnc.sharpschool.com/cms/One.aspx?portalId=4507283&pageId=5048438 to make sure we were covering the skills needed to be covered. By the end of the year we had a great notebook to show all we covered and math became more then tears.

My oldest used core 100. He felt the History of US books were interesting without being textbooky, said he learned a lot from them. The books were great picks, yes they were easy, but I knew we would be covering more higher level books for american literature in 12th grade. I also wanted him to concentrate on his writing (core 100 actually had good writing assignments) and with the easier reads it worked. He also did core 200, not as good as core 100 like pp said, but I think it was the history spines not the readers. We did use the readers from the other cores but did not use SL as our curriculum for the last two years of hs with this ds.

I am using Apologia Astronomy with dd and we are not enjoying it (love the other Apologia books). Mostly I think is due to the subject matter. I have done a few things to help make it tolerable, but it still is not a hit here. I am going to drop Apologia and just read library books for each topic left to cover. We are keeping a night journal (every night we look at the sky , record date, cloudy or clear, and something we see) this has made a small difference in dd's enthusiasm for the subject. Things I tried: Letting dd read it herself Cover smaller chunks over the week instead of the 2 days suggested Add in more experiments Night journal

:lurk5:

It is with ACE, but I cannot find a link to the Biology. I will keep trying.

I am rereading them and will have a movie marathon night right before I go see the last movie. During the summer I listened to them on audio book which was fun and had me hearing things I missed while reading.

Math, science, English, History all got used (my opinion they make up half the curriculum and if used properly gives a very enriched curriculum, sadly I find these are not used as intended and the BJU curriculum just becomes an expensive text/workbook curriculum you can get anywhere else). Reading I found the teachers guides were only used part of the time: for skill days and to give me an idea of questions.

We were a fail at timelines until I removed the timeline book and premade figures from our day. We use twine hung on the wall and just clip a index card with a drawing or blurb for the event/person we want to add. Since it is all ways in view and it is fun seeing the line fill up it actually gets done. At the end of the year we pull down the cards and glue them to pages and add them to the subjects notebook they created during the year. I keep a stack of index cards handy along with clips so it is an instant thing. I sort of disagree with SWB about timelines for grammar stage children. Yes, the idea of thousands of years ago might be hard to get a true feeling for but knowing one event happens before another or seeing on the timeline that this person lived before that person is an idea children can grasp. It puts what the child is learning in some sort of order that they can visually see.

Is it just length they are looking for or quality too?

If all you are looking for is the credit and exposure then I would go with PACES to accomplish this. We have used PACES several times when looking for a credit in a subject that was needed but not something the child wanted or was going to really need in the field they were pursuing. It gave them enough exposure to the material for tests and for a general knowledge bank but not so in depth that had them coming at me with pitch forks. We used the classes exactly as intended (writing papers, drawing maps, research or what ever was assigned besides the workbooks) and ended each class feeling like we actually covered the subject not fudged it. Best of all the subject got completed with minimal pain and complaints. (EXCEPTION: One of my sons used the Algebra Paces and I do not recommend these.)

Wordsmith Apprentice http://www.commonsensepress.com/wordsmith/wsapp.htm I used it with a writing phobic boy and he actually enjoyed it. He used it for 4th grade but I have been looking at my copy for dd next year (she will be 8/9 then) and plan on taking it slow. The newspaper theme is great and actually makes the writing assignments have a purpose instead of being just a writing assignment.

I think it is a doable plan except don't have him read every book out loud. Have him read to you and then ask him a question or two, but also have him read silently then ask a few questions to see if he is getting it. He needs practice in both skills. Also have him read different types of writing: fiction, non-fiction, poems, magazine article.Make sure your question time is not an inquisition also but more of a conversation and vary your questions, ask some with definite answers and ask him "what do you think" type questions. If it is a chapter book have him recap yesterdays reading before you start.

Depending on the quality of items in the kit, I either put them in the craft room for dd to use when she wants or I keep them with our science supplies. I first pull out any hardware (droppers, tubes, beakers, etc.) these are always needed for future science projects. Next I pull out things like marbles, washers, tin foil, anything usable gets put in our supply drawers. Last are the mixes and chemicals, if there is enough for more experiments I store it and a copy of the directions needed together. These always make great rainy day activities.

Another one who thinks they are worth the money. We bought a cheaper version and the hair was a mess once dd took it out of it's original braid, I mean immediately after the braid came out. Never was able to get the tangles out, we even trimmed the hair and still tangles. A mess. The AG doll has had her hair in every possible style so far and still smooth and glossy like the day we got her and she is 2 yrs old now.

My grandmother is a former school teacher, she actually taught in a one room school house. She is 100% behind homeschooling and has never given me anything but support. Until this past year (we moved) I would sit with her each year and show her all the years curriculum and get input from her on the different items. When she came over she always made it a part of the visit to go into our school room, sit and have the kids show her what they have been doing.

Notebooking is one of those individual things that no two will be carried out the same way. You can use pre-made notebooking pages, your own, or a combo. We use a combo and make it more of a scrapbook type notebook. A typical notebook for Science might contain: *drawings of subject studied and a blurb underneath *picture of a book assigned for a subject and a narration written under it *pictures of events or projects with blurbs under them *an ongoing fact page about a subject we are studying (example would be when we studied Venus. Dd read about Venus then wrote a sentence or two each day she read. There was a title added Venus Facts and pictures drawn if she felt it was needed) *graphs and charts *science lab page *we are learning astronomy so a night time observation journal page is being kept. It has the date, clear or overcast, and something we observed. You can make a notebook for each subject. Overall a notebook is going to have every thing your child did for the subject in written and picture form.

I have been wanting a vacuum sealer, might be time to buy one. Great suggestions everyone, thanks.

No problem with bathroom breaks while homeschooling...once ds called me from the bathroom, he was working on school while using the restroom and needed help, he actually expected me to hold class right outside the bathroom door. I told him to just wait till he comes out but he complained, he only brought the one subject in with him so what was he suppose to do now with his time while in there.

Thanks. I think he is barracks. Guess I should send a pan too along with the mixes.

It takes about 3-4 weeks for a package to reach my Army son in S.Korea so sending holiday home baked goodies is not an option. I would like to send some goodies though and thought some mixes where you just add water or milk would be good. I am pretty sure he has access to a stove/oven at the housing (Mrs. Mungo?), maybe a microwave. Any ideas?

These are great lists... but can someone explain WHY reading these particular authors/titles should be read?

I remember at the beginning of every year my mom would tell us if we had to use the bathroom and the teacher said no we could walk out and go anyway, not to worry about the consequences.

Saw on our local news a few weeks ago that the High Schools are setting up STEM classrooms. Even showed pictures. Looked just like a classroom with big round tables instead of desks, They never did explain WHAT exactly will be different in these classrooms though.

:bigear: Very interesting. I am curious, will there be improvement in the teaching of STEM subjects, or just a greater focus? If it is just a greater focus then I believe we are spinning our wheels.

One think to think about is for some children it is actually painful to write a whole lot due to them not having the fine motor muscles developed enough. cutting play dough writing large with chalk or white board write tiny lacing hanging baby doll cloths with clothes pins These activities plus more will help strengthen her hand muscles.