Thanks for your reply. I will use the 1916 one with my children!

I am looking for the ebook online Dictation Day by Day by Kate Van Wagenen that HOD uses (1923). The few on google books seem to be published prior to 1923. Are there disadvantages to using an earlier version? If you use this, which version do you use?

We use HOD and tweak it as needed. I appreciate HOD so much as I feel it takes care of all the planning for me. All the book choices and scheduling assignments are done. Then I can easily determine what is doable each week. We only do the projects if it's something that catches my children's interests and like another mom said we save it for the end of the school day. We don't use the science or the art portions as we do these in a co-op that meets twice a month (we use apologia and artistic pursuits) . We also use a different Grammar (PLL for 2-3rd and JAG for 4-5th). My daughter who is doing creation to Christ does the Bible Quiet Time but completes it before breakfast so it's not really part of her school day. My other little ones do their Bible time with Daddy while I am making breakfast and we loosely follow to guides' suggestions for each child's Bible. I do appreciate all the copy work scheduled in as I think it's good writing practice, even if they are not enjoying it:). I know HOD has recommended doing a good portion of grammar lessons orally so it won't be too much writing, but I could see where if students were doing a lot of written work for grammar than adding in a lot of other copywork could get overwhelming. With 5 children, HOD has been such a huge blessing to our family in so many ways. Definitely tweak it as needed and don't feel guilty. It is so full and rich , even if you don't follow it exactly as written. It provides such a rigorous framework for our family to use as best suits us. We are currently finishing up Creation to Christ, Bigger, and Little hearts. With the lower guides I do lots of tweaking, but have followed the guides more closely in preparing and creation to Christ. I love that my oldest can open the guide and pretty much take ownership over her school day.

My DS is 6 and is reading at 1st grade level I would say. He is picking up reading quickly - flying through Sing Spell Read and Write Readers. I already purchased LOE Essentials for my DS 8, and don't want to purchase anything unnecessary. My DS 6 can print all is letters but his fine motor skills are way behind his reading so he hasn't don't much writing at all. I want him to learn cursive as soon as possible. Should I order him Foundations for the writing/spelling alone (doesn't need the reading), or can he use the rhythm of handwriting workbook and just use the material from Essentials that would be appropriate for his grade level? Thanks!

Exactly what I was looking for. Thank you all so much!

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I am looking into Logic of English Essentials and was trying to find where it has been compared to All About Spelling. I used AAS Level 1-3 with my oldest DD and that is not what I want this time. Does anyone know a thread where these 2 programs have been compared/contrasted or could share on their differences? I want an open and go program that teaches cursive alongside spelling, and not so drawn out over years like AAS. This would be for my 8 year old DS. Thanks!

Thank you Starr and Lori D. for your suggestions, especially about not bogging her down with written responses. And thank you very much Lori D. for taking the time to write out this schedule. It is so helpful!!!

My DD10 is going to complete Progeny Press' Study Guide for The Bridge. In the introduction they recommend the student reads the entire book before starting the guide and that the guide will take 8-10 weeks, but I am not sure how I should schedule the assignments. Should I just assign a certain amount of time per day for her to work on it? This is our first time using a literature guide. If you have used these study guides could you please share how you scheduled them for your children to complete. Thanks! CS

No problem! That is totally something I would do, too :).

Thank you so much! I found them! I am a member of the Elementary Apologia Science Yahoo Group (is that the one you meant?). I didn't even think to look there- it's been quite a while since I visited the group. Thanks again!

I wanted to use the free notebooking pages for Zoology 3 this year. In all the years before, we have used these for our science notebooks. There was link on Apologia's site next to each book where you could download free notebooking pages instead of purchasing the notebooking journal they sell. Does anyone know if the free pages are still available? Thanks! CS

bumping

I am going to be using Core D next year with my 8 and 10 year olds. I need something for weekly dictation for my 10 year old DD. I am not planning on using Sonlight's LA program, but since it's included in the Core package, I am considering using their suggested dictation assignments for her weekly studied dictation to improve her spelling. The other program I am considering for dictation is Spelling Wisdom. Does anyone have experience with either of these programs? Blessings! CS

I am looking at it next year for my children and I would love to hear reviews as well. I saw that IEW has put together a writing guide to correspond with BF's Geography books which really sparked my interest for my 4th grader next year.

I was wondering that same thing. I would like to use it next year for my 4th grader but can't find it.

Thanks! We have used Calculadders but after reading these posts I am going to go back to just the HIG mental math pages for a while.

Do you all copy the mental math sheets for them to work on independently?

Thank you!

My 3rd grader uses Daily Grams to supplement PLL. It's short, sweet, and effective.

Thank you, Becky. So about how long each time and how many times a week are you spending on science?

For those of you who use Apologia science, I was wondering how you schedule your reading and notebooking. We are using Zoology 2 this year. We spend 2 weeks on a lesson, and then do the experiments. I prefer to do a little reading each day rather than in a couple huge chunks, so I was thinking of alternating a day of reading with a day of notebooking. Up until now we have been doing the reading the first week, and notebooking the next, but sometimes retention is poor when we wait to notebook the following week. What works for you? Do you do all the reading first, and then the notebooking? Or break it up with reading one day, notebooking the next? Or something else? Thanks and Blessings!

My DD9 uses R&S spelling. She did AAS 1-3 and then i switched her over. I am finishing up AAS level 1 with my DS7. I will probably switch him to R&S when he finished AAS level 3 as well. I also looked at Megawords but I know my DD9 would enjoy R&S more, and also, it gets done and it's working! We also use dictation for spelling for DD9. I love AAS for beginners and then R&S for 3rd and up along with studied dictation. Blessings!

I have a question for the original poster... Would you please clarify is the 2nd book you are using the "First Eclectic Reader", since it's the 2nd book in the series? Wanting to start my 9 year old in the copy work and dictation and it looked like that would be pretty challenging for her, even though she is a very advanced reader. Thanks! CS

These is the exact plan I want to use with my 7 and 9 yr. olds (well, both have late fall birthdays so turning 8 and 10 in the fall). I am going to do early american (probably combining primary and intermediate guides somehow to fit my kids levels) as our main program and geography once a week. I talked to BF and they said that it is common to use both guides at the same time.