I have an ongoing co-op for FIAR and BYFIAR I also try to use units from homeschoolshare.com because they are free. I also do a small family group for science Mr.Q (free) and history SOTW. I am going to try to do Spanish as a co-op and see how that goes. I found a free program designed for teachers that do not speak Spanish. HTH

We took an extra long time off this break which is not normal for us since my kids do not do well without a schedule. I used that time to tweak(endless tweaker here) and plan out the next 6 months. I went in expecting :banghead: but I got this instead :thumbup: . My dc both asked for more work when I said they were done. I need to check them tonight to make sure they are not aliens! Now I am nervous for tomorrow!

:iagree: For some reason my dh feels better when he can see a checklist of things we have done. You could even put things on a list as you do them in a day. For instance if he makes playdoh animals, you could briefly talk to him about where they would live, how they behave, and what their life is like. You could count that as science for the day, and write it down that way on the checklist. There have been times my ds6 didn't want to do school. After reading the boards I realized he needs time for all of the info I have thrown at him to sink in. So every once in awhile I will give him a pass on school just to play. HTH

My kids loved the Jenny and the Cat Club series. They might be below her level, but they are entertaining. Here is a link: http://www.nybooks.com/nyrb/jenny/jenny_books#7 My library carried all of these books. HTH

DS turned 6 in July.....Here is his schedule ETC book 3 (2 pages daily) R.E.A.L. science (2 days a week) TOG Y1/SOTW V1 at DS rqst to do history everyday RS level B (4 days a week) Living Math.net (1 day a week) HWOT 1 letter per day (5 days a week) FLL1 (1 lesson per day) Mazes/Word Search/Puzzle (2 times a week) Read Alouds by me every day Harmony Fine Arts (2 times a week sometimes more) Homeschool PE 2 times a week Book club (for young kids) While it looks like a lot, my wiggly DS doesn't do any handwriting except for HWOT and the puzzles/mazes. He has struggled in handwriting, so I don't push it. He also is not big on crafts, but will color some. Struggles:reversing b and d, handwriting, thinking he can't read, any sort of crafts esp involving glue or scissors, and attitude about school Even though my dh thinks I am crazy, I let him pick out what he wants to do in school. We go over his schedule twice a year to see if he wants to change something or do something different. He has a list of electives and core subjects. He knows I will not budge on the core subjects, but I do allow him to complain about a subject(usually math and phonics) only during these times. Once I started allowing him to pick and choose he has really had a change of attitude in school. I also have started making him a checklist for school everyday, and if he doesn't get an attitude he gets to pick the order of subjects for the day. The time we spend on school varies(depending on how long he stares at his HWOT page) but I would estimate 1.5 to 2hrs per day. HTH

My DS6 was like this when he was 5. Everytime I get the HWT book out I say remember this is just practice. A year later I still say this, and it finally seems to be sinking in. I also had a hard time with handwriting, and will remind him that it takes a lot of practice to get the letters the way you want them. I the only time I correct him is when he is doing the strokes in the wrong order. If it doesnt look good to him or me, I say that is ok we will practice on this some more, and we will go over it again in a couple of days. I also only have him do 2 pages a day in HWT or 2 lines on the block paper. Once a week I will have him draw letters in the air, use the playdough, or rice to review the letters. He is still stubborn when it comes to reading. I do let him pick out his own books out of a selection I have approved. I noticed that the books he wants to read are above what I would pick out. HTH

I love this program!!:001_tt1: Just wanted to say thanks for putting it all together for us. I love the new lapbook pieces

We are a whole family of bookahaholics. When my ds turned 3 I told him we could do anything he wanted for his birthday. He told me he wanted to go to the bookstore! I have curbed my habit by buying books at the thrift store or the 1/2 bookstore clearance section. I have found if I am patient I can find most books that I need at a discounted price. I also use the library alot. I am thankful that the library systems in our area can get almost anything.

I looked at DK Animal Encyclopedia along with other books when I was looking into WinterPromise Animals and Their Worlds. I found that the DK book has a lot more animal specific info than a lot of other books. It was the only book I could find info on gazelles. The other books I looked at only mentioned gazelles as a food source for lions. I looked at the bookstore and at the library off and on for a week or so. I think it would be a good fit for a 1st grader, and one section is very doable in one sitting. HTH

:iagree:

I usually lurk while I am at work, but on my off days I only check the boards twice a day. Once in the morning and once at night. The only exception is if I am waiting for a reply when making a purchase.

Not sure what happened since the links are the same, but it is working now. The first one is for the Georgia Public Broadcasting station, and the second link is for the Wyoming Department of Education website. Thanks for letting me know!

My ds6 is the same way as your ds6. The classical style will work well for him.I made him a list of things we will do in school everyday. This way he knows how much school is left and he can check it off of his list. I have noticed though that he will do some history related projects fe help build a catapult as part of our Ancient Rome history. I just found a free history curriculum that is done everyday, uses literature, has some memorization work and uses Story of the World as a spine. Here is the link: http://bringinguplearners.com/mosaic-myths-maps-and-marvels/ Other things your dc might like: First Language Lessons, OPGTR, ETC (with writing if your ds enjoys if not skip the writing parts), and maybe Handwriting Without Tears. You could also check out R.E.A.L. Science if they are intrested in science. It follows the classical rotation. Here is a link : http://www.pandiapress.com/real_science.htm HTH

We do unit studies at our house. I base my unit studies on a Five in a Row type style. There is a book at www.homeschoolshare.com called Meeting Trees. HSS breaks up their unit studies in to sections (social studies, science, amath, language arts, and art). The idea is to do one section per day. In the Social Stuides section there are 4 ideas. I pick and choose what would intrest my dc, and the amount of time I have for that day. Do as little or as much as your family is intrested in. When we do a unit study we do our 3 R's in addition to the unit study. I use the lapbooks as a review or instead of worksheets. I find them time consuming since my ds doesn't like to cut or glue. HTH

anyone?

:iagree: I picked this out b/c my ds does not like experiments that take a long time to set up, something that is complicated or crafty. This fits the bill perfectly. Short. to the point and fun.

It is called Mosiac. It is a free program for younger students based on the classical history cycle. So far she has completed Mosiac 1, and is working on adding Mosiac 2. She uses SOTW as a spine. Here is the link: http://bringinguplearners.com/mosaic-myths-maps-and-marvels/ If you use this can you tell me what you think? Any thoughts, hints, or ideas would be helpful. Thanks

I found a free Spanish program tonight while I was looking for something else. It is catered toward teachers that have no previous experience in Spanish. Most of the lessons are viewable online. There are free activity guides to go with the programs. It says it is for K-2. http://www.gpb.org/salsa/term/episodes(for the episodes) http://www.k12.wy.us/saa/cs/fl.asp(for the activity guides) Any information would be helpful! Thanks

Granted my ds is only 6, but I want him to enjoy learning. I ask him on a regular basis if there is anything he wants to change. If there is we talk about if and what we can change. There are some subjects that he knows we will do no matter what, but if I can make it more enjoyable for him I will. He told me he didn't like math. I told him that is too bad, but I did do some research to see what else was out there. I found something that made both of us hapy. Now we do one day of Livingmath.net instead of our regular math program. I also changed one other day to playing math games such as addition war. Then he told me that he doesn't think we do enough history. Off to do research I go! I found that TOG would be a good fit for us(esp. since ds insisted we stick with SOTW). We tried it out and we both love it. HTH

I am not sure about a curriculum, but there is a series of books called One Small Square. Here is a link to some of the books http://www.acornnaturalists.com/store/One-Small-Square-Series-C383.aspx. I checked one out from our library first to see what they were like. My kids have really enjoyed them. I checked out the African Savannah book. They have activities that you can do even if you don't live in that region. I am having a hard time returning it to the library. HTH

I finally took the plunge with this curriculum based on what dragons in the flower bed has said about it. I have been very happy. I am only using one unit this year since there is so much info, and I am using it only once a week. She gives you all of the info for you and your students, but doesnt plan it out for you. I had a little learning curve, but now it is easy to pick out what I want. The lessons range in time depending on how you plan them. I get all of my books from the library. Now that I have seen some of them though, I do plan on purchasing some now that I have seen them.

I forgot to mention that there are no lesson plans. She gives you a lot of info, and you decided how you want to group or present it together. It took me awhile to get use to the format. I do like that she gives the parent/teacher info to help teach concepts to the kids.

I have been using cycle 2? I think for the end of SOTW 1 that will take us into SOTW 2. I use it as a suppliment to our math studies once a week or so. I pick and choose what my ds6 would understand at this age. For example we are currently studing about the Romans. I picked a Roman Numeral book from the livingmath.net curriculum. I read the book which had some exercises in the back of the book that we worked on. I also found a Roman Numeral game that I printed off and we played as reinforcement. I take a very easy approach and fold it into what ever we are studying in history. My ds loves history and it is easy to fold it into our history studies. Since it is for multiple levels, I will use it again the next history cycle as well. HTH

I just bought one unit of TOG about a month ago. I checked their return policy, and it sounds reasonable. I figured if I didn't like it I could return it. Before I got TOG I took the first year, and looked at it as if I would be teaching it. What supplies I would need, does my library have the books on their list, what extras would I need with this unit. I picked a trial section of history we had already covered so I could compare what they had with what we had already done. Doing this gave me the extra incentive I needed to order one unit. I am glad I did as it is a wonderful fit to our history loving family. :001_smile: HTH

bump