Another one who loves them. We will be planning a whole year of American History around these (and the American Girl Dolls) next year. I agree to what the pps said. Easy, engaging, and fun.

ES uses Jan Van Cleave's books and does not use all the experiments from them. I know the Astronomy book has 2 experiments per planet plus a slew of other great, easy to do experiments not listed in the ES schedule. These can be done with out having to get extra books. Money and ease wise this is the way to go. Have you looked at TOPS science books? I am being mean throwing another science at you, but if you want to do science in the summer these are easy and fun. A book can take as little as a month.

Not in my sense of "workbook heavy". I find it to be very light both ways.

We do it 3 days a week for about 10-15 mins. For reading, we are using the SL grade 4-5 readers and the Mensa List. I will only say this about SL LA, we tried it(over and over) and it failed profusely again and again.

I am on the other end of this. Ditch the curriculums and enjoy the extras. After many, many years using curriculum and never getting to all the fun things I have on my shelf I have decided to use these instead. We are talking more, discussing more, and opening up more doors then all the years doing just curriculum. We made a lap book for the first time and played with a china kit I have had on my shelf since 1998. Dd is loving school and actually talking about what we did/learned.

I would not leave my dc in a classroom with ALL male teachers or even in a classroom with one female teacher at the infant-pre-school age ever. Both are unacceptable, period. As for the email letter you got. It could feel off because you know this lady has been gossiping behind your back and only wrote the letter because she was reprimanded for how she was running the nurseries. The words are without true feeling. If she was truly sorry she would have contacted you in person. I am sorry you have to deal with this. We have left churches because the children's ministry was not being conducted properly.

Looks like you will need a 3rd grade book for sure. As for the other books, if you do one a year you will need to add in more. Have you looked at the samples online? Compare them with what you have? I would call them and ask, tell them what you have and see what they say. Before you buy anything else I would use one first and see if you like it (the 2nd grade will need readers from LLATL). Sometimes having a set of curricula you got cheap and at first looks like a "WOW I am covered" turns out to be a "ugh! No Way am I using these" type of thing.

The 4-6 range is for when to use it. Either for 4th, or 5th, or 6th...not for 3 yrs of use.

Not sure about the ones you have. The 'more stuff' is for the younger grades, they have readers from LLATL. I have used LLATL with older students, HS or 7th grade so I am not sure about the younger grades. I found it to be very light for 7th grade but got the job done. HS levels were great.

We are using RSO and ES (along with Apologia) Earth/Space Science but only doing the Space part. I will have to admit I am not liking ES and RSO as much this year as last year (we used both but the Life Science and it was terrific). With that said I would not use either one as a stand alone curriculum . RSO is great for experiments but it relies on library books too much for the info. ES is great for the info but only one experiment a week for a science loving child is not enough. Both are extremely easy to use...15 mins tops for most days. ES you read for 3 days and narrate then do an experiment and on the 5th day you work on an ongoing project. RSO has a info page then a few experiments to go along with it. The experiments are great and even give you ideas to extend the experiment for those serious science students. I have heard the chemistry for RSO and ES is very good, but I have not tried it yet.

We are doing it with a second grader and it is a breeze. I will point out that even though it starts with nouns, it does not spend much time with drilling what a noun is or a pronoun is like FLL2 did. Personally I think it is enough but they make a comment in the teachers book about taking time to drill it if your child needs more time spent on these.

This is why it makes me so d*mn freaking mad to see little ones at the pool and the parents chatting with friends. They think just because they are near their babies it will make a difference. I saved a little one from drowning a few months agao because a parent was busy chatting in the hot tub while her baby was standing on a bench in the pool on the other side of the hot tub wall. The mom never even knew the baby fell off the bench into deep water. :cursing: yes accidents happen, like the OP, even if you are right there, it happens in a split second. It is because the OP was diligent in watching her babies the out come was good. Thank God.

This is a perfect way to do nature study. Some of our best nature studies happen like this. I think getting the Apologia books is a great Idea.

:iagree: it will continue though, sadly. Why would it stop? And then to have a president apologize for something that made these thugs mad...it just tells them they are right in their deadly tantrum. One should not appologize to those who act uncivilized it falls on deaf ears or fuels the fire.

A few years ago I was called for jury duty. I contacted the courts and was told to write a letter explaining why I did not feel I could do jury duty. I was excused.

Thanks. We are doing the 3DS XL this Christmas too, not too bad a price when you trade in the 3DS. So it will take the place of the Wii...right? We wait till after Christmas also once more games we want come out for it.

After raising 3 boys (still working on #3) I can honestly say teen boys have removable brains that they choose to leave somewhere else for most of the day.

Can someone explain this new system to me?

Just letting go and let the child guide him self...no, not the average 3rd grader. Slowly over the years training a child to take control of his studies and then in the HS years let go, it could work if the child is mature enough or motivated enough. If he sees the big picture then it could work. Letting them work on independent studies with scheduled talks along the way so you can discuss what is being done, where it is going, and offer some advise or help put them back on a track...I can see it working.

Wait...we are going to actually pick apart the actions of a woman who is severely burned and trying to save the life of her children. Because in this situation you would be rational to act perfectly.:confused:

Sometimes rigorous creates a hatred in a subject a child once loved. Sometimes rigorous has the child just learning for the test and not really digesting and retaining the material. A rigorous HS curriculum doesnt mean the child will do better in college. Sometimes rigorous just means harder, not better. I am just saying.

First it depends on the child. not any 3 yr old can learn to read, just the ones who want it (learning disabilities are different). If you have an eager child (mine was about 3 when she told me she wanted to read and meant it) then there are many tried and true programs out there. For all my children we used Abeka until they learned or about to learn the long vowel sounds then we switched to BJU K or 1st because the books they read from are more interesting.

I think one of the oddest books we tried reading was Wizard of Oz. Dd, at age 5 stopped me after the Tim Man part and said it was just to weird for her brain, I agreed.

:grouphug: Tough love is the hardest thing to do. My middle son was my challenge child. We had to do this numerous times, even ban him from all friends he knew at a certain point in his life. Even banished him to the yard to live in a tent for a while. He spit venom and fire, hated us with every cell of his body. Swore he would never have anything to do with us once he was 18. This same son now converses with me on FB, calls to just chat, and is the first to end our conversations with 'love you'.

All mine learned around 5 with similar instructions. But even with the instructions, until they felt the actual pull and give of the swing the rhythm was erratic. Eventually it clicks.