I am using MFW adventures and love it but I do add quite a bit to it. If you would only use the history I would look into something else cheaper. I never used EH but it looks great. The money you save can go into ordering books from their list to enhance it.

About 30 min to 45 mins. All my children did this in 3 part segments. 10-15 mins in the morn, noon and evening.

I really think it depends on you and the children. With the ages of your children it is very doable. I did 3 cores for a couple of years and never felt overwhelmed. I even had one year with 4 cores (old cores p4/5, 4, 7, 200 ). Each child had a read aloud time and a discussion time. For me SL was a small part of the day so doing multiple cores was not an issue, it was juggling doing multi-levels of math, English, writing, and other grade level work that added to the day.

My oldest taught himself Algebra II and all the other High School math levels using BJU. He did not use the Distance Learning, just the textbook. My youngest son is following the same path.

We have ours hanging from a hanging clothes stand ($20 from Target). When not in use I roll it into the laundry area. Another thing we do is save all paper that has no writing on it. Usually junk mail, copies I made that are not needed anymore, and the unused paper from old notebooks (spiral removed or torn out and edges cut off). I use the scrap paper to write dd's narrations or memory verses on so she can copy. Do math examples, spelling words, or other things. Perfect use for paper that would otherwise be thrown away and no unsightly white board hanging around.

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: I completely understand what you are feeling. I have posted before about our trials with my middle son so I won't go into it here, but I do know the hurt you have in making a decision like this. :grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

None of my children "got it" when using the SL curriculum written as is. They did get some from the review we would do with the timeline but other then that the it was a bunch of good books to read instead of doing school. I made a point to say 'written as is' because I think if you add in more hands on (projects, notebooking, crafts, research) you could use the SL books and wind up with a curriculum that a child can grasp the connections and have it stick.

Mystery of History. Had this for years and decided to finally use it. My ds said it is the first History curriculum that has not put him to sleep. When I mentioned what period of history he was studying next year he said he didn't care just so long as he uses the MOH curriculum. BJU Math. Have used BJU math since we started homeschooling 19 yrs ago. Someone is always using it, next year it will be both my children. Dd actually started 3rd grade math and ds will begin Geometry and Algebra II. Apologia Science. Swore I would never use this again but it is a perfect fit for my ds. Elemental Science and RSO. The combination creates a perfect science curriculum.

:lurk5: Dd reads before school too. If school is about to begin I give her a notice to finish the chapter then report to her desk. Dd reads. This is her thing. If I tell her to go play she goes to her room and reads. She takes books outside and reads if I send her out to play. I am getting to the worry stage because she reads so much she is not as active as she use to be. I have literaly told her no books unless you play outside for X amount of time.

Makes great crystals and Yes! it whitens clothes. It is scary as a can be to take this blue dye looking liquid and pour it into the washer with a antique french bonnet that yellowed with age...but it came out so white it looked like it glowed.

We did a neat unit on Rainbows (really on light) using a Magic School Bus kit. It was very interesting. I made it last 6 weeks but could be done in a 2-3 weeks.

Thank you, this will be very helpful.

We let the kids watch DC because of all the kids channels we felt it was the lesser of evils. Over the years I noticed their humor towards overweight co stars to be mean and disturbing. They made innuendos to the overweight child implying they are not bright, ugly, bottom of the ladder, unadjusted, and so on. Now I noticed the trend toward portraying homeschoolers as weird. There have been several comments made in a joking way about homeschoolers, then they had actors playing the part of homeschoolers doing something silly and explaining it by saying they were homeschooled, and last night they made a whole spoof on Good Luck Charlie about a homeschool girl and her prom, portraying the whole family as being weird. They are pretty much saying homeschooled children are weird and cannot handle social situations and if you are overweight you are the butt end of a joke. I have wanted to contact DC in the past and complain about the overweight issue and now I want to contact the producers about the homeschool thing but trying to find a way to contact them is not easy...anyone know how? Most of my searches turn up with contacting them if I want to audition. Maybe others should complain too.

We do History, Science, and Math. Typically a narration page will consist of a narration and a picture of some sort(either hand drawn, copied, or a picture). Other types of pages that go into the notebook are maps, graphs, lists, science experiment pages, drawings, pictures of projects with an explanation, poems, book summaries, and anything else we do for the class. I am not sure what you mean by "cover" the notebooks. The notebooks or kept in a binder until the end of year and then I have them spiral bound. In the past I have used a 3 prong folder. The actual cover of the final notebook will have a title, year and the signature of the child, it will also have picture(s) of the subject. For our nature journal is varies depending on our nature walk goal. Some nature walks we will look for specific thinks (like wild flowers, seeds, animal prints, etc) on these walks we draw the different samples we find. Next to the picture we label it and the page gets a title and date and where we were. Sometimes it gets more like weather, who went hiking, or if something happened we want to journal. If the hike just was a general hike we will end the hike with drawing something we saw and a description. Over the years we have made ongoing subject pages :example would be our ongoing mushroom page. Every time we see a new mushroom we draw it on the 2 page spread. We have also kept a running journal page for a tree, a scene at the park, and our compost pile. Other things we put in our nature journal is weather, poems, pressed leaves/flowers, rubbings, pictures of fossils and rocks.

I agree that students need to know how to vary sentences and organize thought plus other things, but is a curriculum needed for this? Couldn't you just take what they write and teach the corrections and improvements?

For me the combining of RSO and ES make the perfect science. Just doing one or the other will leave out an important element. Choosing one would be hard. ES is fast and extremely east to get done. Read a pg or two and your child narrates what was learned. Add in an experiment for the week and you are done. Rso has an into page for the lesson and 1, 2, or more experiments to get the concepts across. There is a suggested reading list that would give you the more in depth info needed. I found both use normal house hold supplies. I have the Earth Science for both these and they both look great. I do not know what the chemistry curriculum for these look like.

Elemental Science and Real Science Odyssey. I feel like I have been plugging this alot lately but after 19 yrs of teaching science oriented children this is the best conbo I have found. I think it is best because it is super easy to get done and the experiments are exceptional for RSO, not the normal lame elementary experiments. Not sure everything is available from Amazon though.

I think my ds was in 5th when we did it but I would think it would be no problem for a 4th grader. Might be a few dry or challenging parts like the pp said, but just a very few. We enjoyed it but looking at what Jenn added to it would make it a super fun year (wish we had Jenn's schedule when my ds did it). If you are concerned about Around the World book, get an Audio version.

Elemental Science It is fast and extremely simple. One experiment a week that is also fast and extremely simple using house hold items but has great impact. A typical day takes 10 minutes, maybe 15 if you do discussion or experiment. I would also look at SL science. Even though I do not like the jumping around and the experiment that does not go with the weeks readings, it still has great books and fun experiments. It is easy to use and depending on the age of your dc, can be done by without you. You did not mention if it can be Christian or not but if this does not matter to you then another option would be Apologia Elementary Science. These books are easy to read but very informative and have an experiment each chapter.

We use ES as the spine usually following their schedule but take the 5 day schedule and arrange it to fit into a week. At the beginning of the week I see what will be studied in ES and go through the RSO book to find the appropriate lessons/labs needed and do these on the days we do not do ES. There have been cases where the RSO lessons/labs are too many for the week with ES so we extend the combination to two weeks. The ES human body and plant study worked perfectly with RSO. I have not used the Animal study yet so do not know how that works together. I have the Earth Science for both ES and RSO and they will work great together also. Typical week: Sunday: get books from library that go with weeks lessons (for book basket) and look over what RSO lessons go with the ES Monday: Read ES lesson and narrate, sometime during the day dd will spend time with science book basket Tuesday: If there was a RSO lab that went with yesterdays reading we do it or we do ES lesson, narrate , book basket Wednesday: ES lesson and narrate and do the ES weekly lab, book basket Thursday: If any more lessons for ES are needed we do them or we do the RSO work, book basket Friday: Have dd read the info page from RSO, do RSO work, take quiz, and finish any book basket books she wants to finish.

I had MOH on my shelf for years and just never used it. This past fall I was unpacking all our books and realized I had so many history books fiction and non but we never get to them so I figured why not do MOH and use these books as extras. Also figured my ds would not care he never enjoyed history. He loves it now. He even works ahead, asks for his MOH schedule first thing Monday morning, and is constantly telling us neat info he picked up while researching. He does not even mind all the writing he is doing....lots of paragraphs and 1-3 page reports. He recently learned PREZI (?) and presented some of his research that way. Hope it will be like this for your boys...it has me excited seeing his love of history blooming.

Science: Elemental Science.

I am realistic. I do not expect her to be changed in a few weeks. I do expect to see signs of it working though, even if it is a small sign. I put a call into a trainer the vet several people have recommended and am waiting for a call back. She has had some basic training. Last year my ds put her in a class and she did great...but she was not near her territory.

We used a shock collar for a while because she was an excessive barker. It did not really work. She would growl instead of bark. As for trying one now, I just don't think it will work on the aggression. It is an instant reaction and the potential for injury is great, by the time we hit the remote she would have already snapped at the person.

This was established early on. She is made to go to her room when someone comes to the door. She knows this. And then we get her and introduce her to the visitor, if they are in the house. She just does not get the .."this person is okay" info. She knows who the leaders are, we established this right off. Even the vet asked about this and agrees we established ourselves as the top of the pecking order. So this is not where the problem lies....it would be good if it did, then we would have something to work with.