Thank you all so much for your replies! They were all extremely helpful. I think I'll do a combination of trying to pull a little more out of him on the lessons (he's prone to work very quickly and do the bare minimum) but at the same time letting him move quickly through the book since it seems to be pretty easy for him so far - and I suppose it should be since it's a low level for his age/grade. Good to know that I don't have to be "rigid" as far as the amount of days it says to take on each lesson. I just thought I was missing something b/c I didn't know why it should take 2 or 3 days to do something simple, but maybe it's because, like I said, he's working in a lower level book. Thanks!!!

We're using Rod & Staff English but this year I decided to add a writing program for my oldest (6th grade). We're using Writing Strands and I started him with level 3 since I already had it and he hasn't done a writing program before. He actually likes it so far but of course it's really easy at this point. I'm wondering how you're supposed to stretch some of the assignments out since many of the sections say "Days 5 and 6" or something along those lines. For example, we finished lesson #3 and the last part gives directions for "Days Two through Four" where you're supposed to write a short story. My son wrote a short story - one paragraph, a little more than half a page in length - in one sitting. So what is he supposed to be doing for days 3 and 4? Am I missing something? I own Evaluating Writing but haven't read it yet. I'm not sure if there is anything in there that would help clarify or not. Can anyone who has used WS explain? Thanks!

I'm doing R&S math 6 and 3 with my 2 oldest kids and I'm going to start the grade 1 books soon with my 5 yo. I know during class time for my 3rd grader (and maybe 1st grader - don't have the books yet) I'm supposed to be drilling with the R&S flashcards. I have several sets of regular flashcards but don't own the ones from R&S. Do I need to buy those? Are they really that different? I know they have "triplet" cards and that's different. So I'm not sure if the normal ones I have will work. Thanks!

Thanks! That's definitely an option. I did do R&S 1 with my oldest ds when he was in K and he did well. I hadn't really thought about it with my 5 yo for some reason. Guess I wasn't sure if he was ready for it and I don't remember the details as far as how easy/hard it was (I no longer have it). I suppose we can take our time going through it and likely it will stretch into next year anyway. Something to think about. Thanks again!

Thanks for the input! I'm not sure what the official definition of "copywork" is, but what I do is print a sentence or two right into his writing pad (big lined paper I got from Walmart called "ABC Primary Writing Paper) and have him copy my writing. So it isn't as though he's copying from a book or anything - just to clarify. I want to have another workbook as opposed to continuing just the copywork because he still needs the instruction for forming his letters. He's doing well overall, but still needs help, of course. Thanks!

My 5 yo loved his HWOT book and went through it much more quickly than I expected. I'm not sure he's ready for "My Printing Book", though. So for now he's doing copy work but I'd rather him have a workbook of some type. Has this happened to anyone else? Should we keep doing copy work or get a workbook from another publisher for him? I even thought about looking at Walmart or Target to see if there's something there he could use. I know this isn't a big decision, but I thought I'd ask. Thanks!

We've tried Horizons, Singapore, and R&S as well as using Singapore and R&S together. Two maths was just too much for us so we stuck with Singapore. Singapore was good for my oldest "mathy" son who used it up to 5B but I decided to switch him to R&S 6 for this year. (Not sure what we're doing next year - R&S 7 or maybe start Algebra?) My middle ds is not as mathy but did fine with Siingapore up to 2B. Even though, I decided to just switch everyone to R&S. My middle one will likely need the extra review and drilling. Anyway, I also have a 5 yo in K and that's what my question is about. I had him do Earlybird 1A and 1B but I'm not sure what to do now. Most likely I'll get 2A and 2B (the older version of EB) and then do R&S 1 next year. But I was just wondering - for those of you who do R&S, what do you use for K? I haven't decided if I should keep using EB or try something else. Right now we're just doing addition flashcards until I get it figured out lol!

Thank you both for the info! I guess it's just my TM. Still weird that she tells you to quiz but then doesn't give you any quizzes in the 2nd ed. I just asked to join the LC yahoo group also. Thanks!

(oops...quizzes lol!) We recently began LC II and are working on a weekly schedule for each lesson. In the TM it says to quiz each lesson which I planned on doing just like we did with LC I. However...I can't find any quizzes in the TM! Does she mean to just quiz orally? I compared my TMs for LC I and LC II and LC I does have reproducible quizzes while LC II doesn't (that I can find anyway). I noticed that my LC I TM is 3rd edition and my LC II is 2nd edition - does that have anything to do with it? I like the layout of my LC I TM much better so maybe I should invest in a LC II 3rd edition? But the point is, I don't know what to do about the quizzes. Can someone help me figure this out? Thanks!

Oh my gosh, so many wonderful suggestions and resources! What to do?! lol! Harmony Fine Arts At Home looks really great and I can def. see how it could work with SOTW. I don't want to purchase it at this time but love the info on their site!!! It's really helpful for choosing composers and putting something together. Then of course the simplicity of Stories of the Great Composers/Meet the Great Composers is very appealing as well. Just when I decided I was going to throw something together myself, this does look very easy and I like that it comes with activities. Of course it probably has different composers than I would choose for this year. If I put something together myself, I wonder if I could find similar activity pages. Hmmmm. Okay, now I'm just thinking "out loud". I'll get this figured out. But again, thank you for all the great ideas, info, lists, etc. Like I said, so many great resources! I'm very grateful!

I am being lazy.... We are finishing up SOTW 2 and then hopefully starting and finishing SOTW 3 this year. I would like to do a composer study this year for the first time. I don't want a course book, program, textbook, etc. I want to put something simple together myself using library books, cds, etc. (maybe one composer a month?). My question is this. I was wondering if I could do composers that would go with the time period/s we are studying. I say I am being lazy b/c I know I could research this myself be I am hoping to start school very soon and am scrambling here with last minute details so I was hoping that someone might already have some info or suggestions. Does anyone have such a list or any thoughts/suggestions? Thanks!

I'm definitely not happy about the way my ds feels about writing and would like to do change that (of course he's got a laziness issue in general!). IEW is not an option for us right now because of cost but I have considered it in general. Here's what I'm wondering (and this just came to me), does anyone use Writing Strands anymore? I haven't heard a lot about it lately but I know at least it used to be very popular. I just really feel like I want to add some writing but I don't want to overwhelm either my son or myself and from what I remember WS is affordable and pretty easy to implement. (I owned a couple of the books years ago but didn't use them at the time...I need to go rummaging around and see if I still have them!). Of course if I do try WS, I haven't a clue which level to use. Hmmm.... Thanks again!

I know this is a matter of opinion, of course. I was considering adding a writing program to my 6th graders R&S English this year but now I'm not so sure I want to do that - just for the simple fact that I don't want to get in over my head with too much to do. I did recently receive my R&S 6 English books and I need to look through them to get an idea of the writing assignments, but I thought that maybe there might be some people here that have already been thorough them and might have some thoughts. And I thought I might mention that my ds does not like writing at all - report writing, story writing, anything like that. He's not a bad writer, though. He just doesn't like it. Thanks!

I should add.... I haven't decided for sure on Videotext, it's just what I'm leaning towards at this time. If I take this next year to do R&S I can consider Algebra options during that time (Jacobs and TT look good, too.) Now I feel like I'm just talking to myself in this thread lol!...

Thanks, Beth! I def. need to take a good look at the scope and sequence of both programs to decide which level of R&S we need. My oldest is pretty good in math but also pretty lazy (lol!) so I'm not sure he could work a level ahead in R&S! I'm just still trying to decide if the general plan makes sense - to use Singapore up to 5b and then do R&S for a year or 2 before moving on to Videotext. I think I like the plan, I'm just waiting to hear from others whether it sounds like a good or bad idea. And I don't know if I should do 1 or 2 years of R&S. I was thinking that Vidoetext starts out with pre-algebra so maybe one year of R&S would be enough. And yes, I expect that my boys/kids would be done with Singapore in 5th grade (that's what my oldest did anyway). I wouldn't say my goal is to start Algebra in 8th grade - just whenever they are ready for it, but I would think by 9th. So generally, we could finish Singapore 5b in 5th, do a year of R&S in 6th and go on to Videotext in 7th..... is that too early for Videotext? Should we do another year of R&S? Can anyone help me with that???

I am really struggling with my curriculum choices in general right now, but I'll keep this post about math. ;) I haven't been on these boards in quite a while but I'm getting back into the swing of things, so to speak. Last year we adopted a little girl and our whole year was kind of thrown off because of that...totally worth it, of course - don't get me wrong! But you know what it's like when you're trying to home school and you have big things like that going on in your life. Anyway lol! Math - I've mostly done Singapore but I've also done R&S and I tried Horizons one year, too. I really like R&S but just love Singapore, too. They're so different and it makes it impossible to choose. I tried doing both one year but it was too much for my boys so I stuck to just Singapore. My oldest has finished Singapore 5b and my 2nd ds has finished 2b. My oldest has done really well with Singapore, and 2nd has done well so far, but I worry about how he'll do in 3, 4 and 5. I'm trying to decide if I should stick with Singapore or go back to R&S. So here are my ideas and I really need some input. I'm now thinking maybe I could do Singapore up through 5b, then go to R&S for a year (or 2?) to fill any gaps and just cement everything before moving on to pre-algebra and so on. I was planning on using videotext at that point but still have a little time to be sure about that I guess. Does that plan sound ridiculous? I really want to do both programs (Singapore and R&S) but can't do them at the same time - it's just too much. IF I do this plan or something similar, should I go from Singapore 5b to R&S 6? And then should we do R&S 7 or could we go on to videotext? And is it ok to skip Singapore 6a/6b? Oh, and I should add that I am NOT a math person so even though I love Singapore, it isn't the easiest for me to teach. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!! :)

Thanks for the replies! I def. plan to buy the cds, but it sounds like I may not be able to really match them up with our SOTW. Since we're about to do SOTW 3, I think I'll buy "What in the Wolrd's Going on Here Part Three: Napoleon to Korea". I haven't checked out exactly what's covered in SOTW 3 and 4, but I'm sure it'll fit in there somewhere. Actually, I'll probably buy all 3 of the Diana Waring cd sets (as money allows) since they look so good but we'll probably start with part 3 since it will match most closely with our history. Thanks!

I'd like to hear about this, too. I've read the posts on this program but still don't understand how it works. It's the implementation that worries me. I'm a little concerned that the program offers too much freedom for the parent (in my case of course). I need structure and will be a total basket case if I'm not given enough guidance - esp. in a subject like math. I'm going to continue to read about it on the website but would love to hear from those who have actually used it.

I don't have any of the Diana Waring cds yet but I'm thinking about buying the "What in the World's Going on Here" series to kind of go along with our SOTW. We'll be finishing up SOTW 2 shortly and will (obviously lol!) be starting SOTW 3 sometime around the beginning of the next school year. It seems there are 3 cd sets in the Diana Waring series so I'm wondering how these will correspond with the 4 SOTW books - in other words, will the 3rd Diana Waring cds go better with SOTW 3 or 4 or somewhere in between? Does anyone know? I hope that makes sense. ;)

Michele- I like this idea. Did you come up with this or did you get it from one of your Language Arts programs? Do you do this every week, and starting in what grade? Would you mind expanding? Maybe you have in previous posts but I haven't been on the boards in quite a while and have some catching up to do. :) Thanks! Rebecca