We did not use one but it would have helped. For the most part dd was able to figure out what needed to go in the blank. Most of the verses we needed were in the back of the Study book so it was not a big problem. We are about to start our next book and I did not buy the recommended Bible, we will just use the versions I have here. As for how we are doing the books. Since dd is 8 I don't follow the schedule the book has. Instead I break it into bite size chunks, It took us about 11 weeks to get through the Genesis 1-2 book, For the first half of the book I helped her but then she understood how to do it she does it on her own. We did not do memory verses with the Genesis book but will be doing them with the next book. Prior to working in the book I went through and marked the daily amount she needed to do adding a start and stop mark on the pages. It takes her about 15-20 mns to do a days lesson.

I started a SMASH book. I am having fun with it. It is recording all we do or celebrate this year. I put everything in it, wrapping paper scraps, movie tickets, feather from a walk, paper menu from a date night, I even put a power bar wrapper in it since it is my favorite snack. And of course I journal about it all, add kid quotes, book quotes, everything I want to remember. My plan is to start another one with inspirational ideas for crafts I want to make and all the adjustments, color, material I want to use.

Have 2 more inches to knit on my shrug. Can not wait to have this thing finished. Also started looking at hat pattern. Time to get those started so my family will have warm heads when winter comes. Ds will be the hard one to knit for. He is extremely picky. He felt all my yarn stash (over 30 different yarns) and they were either too itchy, scratchy, not soft, too fuzzy, or something. Dh is picky about color, this is a man who will pick anything brown so he does not have to think about it, but ask him about a hat and he has many opinions about color. DD is too easy, she wants many hats in all sorts of colors, trying to pick just one is the problem.

We are the 'interesting" neighbors on our block. After we were here a few weeks we started meeting the neighbors and when they found out we were from Louisiana we would get the Ahh, or the Ohh type of response as in "so that explains it." We are pretty odd compare to the quite neighbors. We practice fencing in the yard and have a science table with decomposing animals on it, plus dd and I do most of her school outside. During snow, dd has been known to go out and play in it at 6am tp play on the snow hills we make her. Around here the neighbors stay inside and watch us live happy lives through their windows (I have seen them).

My dd is doing 4th grade work and her reading schedule looks like this: Assigned reading: at least 10 pages a day Reading lesson: use BJU Reading, we do together and takes about 30 mins Writing: BJU Reading has enrichment activities after the lessons that include writing ideas related to literary content. We also read a poetry book and try writing the different types of poetry. Free Reading: I don't have any rules here because she reads so much on her own. She reads chapter books ranging from Diary of Wimpy Kids to Harry Potter book 4(currently reading this) but also likes picture books. Read alouds:I read to her from the SL core D books 20-30 mins, her dad reads at night about 15-20 mins, and audio books for car rides Vocabulary is in the BJU reading but we sporadically do Wordly Wise.

Minstrel in the Tower Castle Diary

His own tools Shop Vac Erector sets Box of used appliances to take apart

I think Wordsmith Apprentice will be enough if used as written. The grammar I found was a great review and covered in an interesting way. We will use it next year with my dd (grade 4, 9-10yr old) along with a spelling curriculum and I know it will be enough for my writing loving dd.

This year we are using http://www.amazon.com/Childs-Introduction-Poetry-Mountains-Battles/dp/1579122825/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1376308503&sr=1-1&keywords=child%27s+introduction+to+poetry After reading about a type of poetry I have dd work on creating her own. So far this has been a great success.

This year our spelling notebook is used the following way: Each lesson/list dd writes her spelling words in script Spelling rule is written on a special page dedicated to rules Spelling words are then used correctly in a sentence Spelling test A page is dedicated to commonly misspelled words she makes.

I wrestled with what to use for chemistry for my ds for a long time. He DID NOT want to do this subject. He hated biology and doing another year of science he was not going to like was real upsetting to both him and me. After an extensive search I found ACE Paces Chemistry. This is not a rigorous Chemistry class and does not contain labs, however it does cover most of the topics a High School Chemistry text covers. It will give the student a general overview of Chemistry, enough for general college admission tests and other tests (like ASVAB). My son approached the first Pace booklet with a bias against the book and chemistry....very negative attitude to start the class with. After the first days readings and work he mumbled something about it being okay for that day. After the first week he gave a positive comment about it not being to bad. Last week he finished the first booklet with a score of 91. During these few weeks he did not complain once, all work was done on time, and I even got a few "it's not so bad" out of him. The first booklet covered the history of Chemistry, what chemistry is, scientific numbers, and temperature conversions. I felt the daily work for the math portions was not too light, giving a generous amount of problems to master the skill. I am so thankful to have found this curriculum. Even though it is not rigorous, he is learning about chemistry and more importantly enjoying it and retaining it. With the biology last year we used BJU then Apologia...he has not retained much from either, and in my opinion this means a wasted year. This year he is only scheduled to do 6 of the 12 Paces with plans to fill in the rest of the year with work on the Micro Chem kit and reading books about chemistry and biographies on chemists. Chemistry labs are suppose to be offered once a month at the homeschool assist program this year and he will do these also. I am posting this for those looking for a chemistry option that will give basic knowledge on the subject for a child not interested in chemistry. This course will not work for a child interested in a more in depth chemistry course or will be seeking a degree in science.

My dd never clicked with WWE. We are using BJU but for 4th grade she will use Wordsmith Apprentice. It has grammar review but is a writing curriculum.

My one regret was being to rigid schedule wise. With dd we take lots of breaks allowing her to explore interests more. It also allows her to be interested in studying things on her own. The boys were bogged down with schedules so their off time was relaxing after a hard day of school.

Dd had lice last year and I got the best advice from here. Use conditioner and tea tree oil. The conditioner helps the lice comb glide through and helps keep the lice from moving around. Lather it on real thick, then comb it out small sections at a time. Wash the comb in a tub of water so you can see if any lice come out. We had to do this daily for a week before we did not see any more live lice. Then every other day for a week just to catch any eggs that might have been missed and hatched, then every 3 days for a week then once more a week later. Sounds like a lot but after the 2nd time combing you get a rhythm and it moves fast. The conditioner was the best idea since it was cheap and no harsh chemicals (which do not kill all the lice I found out). I was horrified when she got lice and I got it too), but with the conditioner it was no biggie. We did wash all the bed sheets daily and I had sheets over all the furniture plus gave dd her own chair to use.

My dd had no interest in World History. I think it was just too abstract for her. I was fine dropping world history until the 5th grade year. Instead we did short studies on different topics with a historical and/or geographical subject to it for 1st and 2nd. We first constructed a timeline so anything we studied went on the timeline. This can be as simple as a clothes line and placing the items on the line in the order they need to go. We used index cards cut in quarters and added title and date, dd sometimes drew a picture or cut one out. Each time we added a item she had to find the place where it went between. Archeology Genealogy Pirates Native American Indians Vikings Geography (we did cultures and countries over many months but not continually) Map making History of transportation Wild West American Symbols and iconic people State Study Art History Clothes Holidays Social Study topics We read lots of books with a historical setting. If she was interested in the history then we studied it too. Some times we spent a few days on a topic others a few weeks and with the geography it went over a year since we did not study it straight through. I do think it is important they learn about major countries (where they are in relation to the child and something about the country and the people) and important American (or country they live in) people and icons since these things will be seen/mentioned/celebrated and knowing something about them helps understand their own setting. With elementary age (K-4th) you don't need to study history as a whole. Some curriculum companies don't teach history all year. It is taught half a year and the other half is science.

This is my recommendation also. We have used it in the past and found it to be very helpful. It has a list of everything needed for each grade (usually listed in groups of 2-3 grades) which you pick the order you want to teach. It also has a section on how to teach these skills in a very easy to understand, no nonsense way.

Too funny. Bet you had more then poetry questions to answer. My boys use to try and catch the lizards when they were mating so they can pull them apart. In their defense, the mating dance of lizards does not look enjoyable to the female at all and they felt it was more humane to remove the male and free the female.

I am very big on nature study and will use both the big and small for study. The most interesting studies have been with things that just drop in our yard or our path. This summer has been the season of dead animals at our house. 4 dead adult birds, 2 dead baby birds, and a baby squirrel. With one of the adult birds we decided to watch it decompose. It was gross but interesting watching the different stages and insect invasion at different stages. The bird actually stayed looking like a bird, feathers intact, and slowly the bones were revealed. Nature then provided another specimen for our outdoor science table, a baby squirrel. The squirrel was most likely a new born and dropped from the nest (part of the skull was exposed but no bite marks so we think it was dropped on purpose), it had no fur and eyes not open yet. However the decomposition of a mammal is not the same as a bird. It took 3 days from going from a formed carcass to a pile of goo with a head. :ack2: and last night it rained...who knows where the goo has gone, dreading going out there. I am now thinking not EVERYTHING nature gives us needs to be studied quite so closely.

This and also look at the length of chapters. My dd used this as a deciding factor on whether a book was hard or not.

We are using ACE Paces for Chemistry. We just finished the first Pace and my son has actually enjoyed it (he has been dreading doing chemistry). This course does not have labs but my ds hates labs anyway so he likes this. According to him the writing was easy to understand without it being "babyish" and "actually interesting". The first Pace introduced the subject, gave some history, and taught temperature conversions and significant numbers. Comparing it to Apologia, the Paces cover pretty much the same things. I feel confident he is getting a good chemistry course with the Paces and since he is enjoying it he is more apt to learn it. The paces cost very little (I think it was about $40 for all 12 Paces and answer keys) and he works alone.I just grade his quizzes and booklet test, the rest he checks himself (he is trust worthy).

We have only used TT for the upper levels, Algebra 2 and now Geometry. My son HATED math and now he says it is one of his best subjects. He also says he finally gets it (Algebra that is). I have found even if a curriculum might be on the light side (not saying TT is for us but for some it might be), sometimes the lack of complication makes the concepts easier to grasp. For me it is the concept I want my son to learn, not how to solve massive equations with lots of twists and tricks (these types are not on your average test anyway).

We dropped all math curriculum and just played math and wrote math journal pages. I only did this 3 x a week but we did do daily math fact practice. On the days we worked in our journal it could take 5 mins to over an hour depending on what we did and how much dd was having fun. To make sure I covered the necessary topics I used Maximim Math (a book that lists topics needing to be covered for grade groups) and this web site http://mathlearnnc.sharpschool.com/cms/One.aspx?portalId=4507283&pageId=4993281.

Neat seeing this old thread. Our year using a math journal was one of the best we had and I have been thinking of doing another. I know dd would love it. I will say that it was more work for me though. I had to find fun and interesting ways to learn and journal each concept without them feeling too mathy. Coming up with ideas to write about math was hard but the web site, http://mathlearnnc.sharpschool.com/cms/One.aspx?portalId=4507283&pageId=4993281, had weekly writing prompts that helped. I feel the year we dropped the math curriculum and did just math journaling and playing math was pivotal in my dd's learning math. It removed the pressure of math workpages/ curriculum and gave her a more relaxed way to learn math allowing her confidence to build in this area. She still does not like math but she does not approach the subject anymore with an I can't do it attitude which was causing a block for her.