Hawaii...hands down. Probably the Big Island. There is so much to do there!

This does look nice. I was thinking of using these books from Kolbe for 1st and 2nd. Once I started Latin, I was planning on waiting until my kids were ready for Junior Analytical Grammar before I started true English Grammar study. I like that the MP is short and sweet and to the point. I wouldn't do the second page of each lesson though.

I think it sounds like a great plan. CM is very rigorous and leads to a very peaceful school experience. We switched to a completely CM education about a year ago. At first it almost seemed too easy. There weren't complaints. The day just seemed to flow seamlessly. We spent a lot more time reading beautiful living books and less time doing busywork and workbooks. The change in my family life and my kids' education has been wonderful. I don't see myself ever going back. As far as giving high school credit, I am not worried about it. We have several different read alouds going at once (since my kids aren't ready for independent reading). We always have something for literature, history, nature study, artist study, etc going on at once. It is definitely not conventional in a PS model, but it is a lovely way to educate. I do believe that my kids will be prepared for college although the first time they read twaddle, they might feel their eyes glazing over. :lol: If you need some inspiration, read this blog!

Can you post a link? I couldn't even find it on their site.

I wish I could adopt her, but that would never be a possibility. The parents both love her. Thay just need to grow up and raise her. BIL is 35 and lives at home. He pays nothing to his parents who make less combined than what he makes. It isn't a good situation. I just talked to my husband about the comment that people don't understand what disruptions mean to a homeschooling family. I think he really got it. He is going to back me up on the no Monday's and the notice. He definitely knows further in advance than this.

They were never married. The two grandmas raise her. She watches TV all day. It is very sad. I don't blame the grandmas. They are too old to be able deal with a toddler all day. My kids love her and so do I, but this situation is just really difficult.

He has to work so that is where he is. As far as trying to get him to leave, subtlety does not work. The TV is never on when he gets here. Last time I told him I had to get the kids ready for gymnastics and he still didn't leave until I was loading them in the car. I think I will tell him that Mondays don't work and that I need more notice than the night before. Please pray for me.

When I was considering Spanish, I really liked these programs: Sube Sonrisas Sing N Speak All of these expect that you can at least pronounce Spanish which isn't hard.

My BIL has a little girl and he gets her a couple of days a week. Lately, he has been asking me to watch her every week. Last week and this week are only for a few hours, but he only calls me the night before and it is very disruptive to our homeschooling. We homeschool year round and do extra in the summer because we have a lot less going on during the summer (plus it is usually too hot to play outside). She is a sweet 2 year old girl, but for some reason chaos reigns when she is here and when she leaves the house is completely wrecked. Then my BIL always comes late to get her and stays at our house for several hours afterward watching TV on my couch while I continue to watch his kid. This girl doesn't have the best life and I do like doing activities with her and reading her books since this doesn't happen much, but this is just getting too much for me. I have talked to my husband and he sympathizes, but says I just need to do it. We pay my BIL to housesit our dog when we are out of town and he usually doesn't even thank me for doing this. I feel trapped in this situation and it isn't good for my family. This usually happens on a Monday which is the day we get the most school done normally. I really just don't know what to do.

I have a similar problem except it is not a bunch of extra curricula. It is 100's of living books. I think we could read them for the rest of my life and never finish!!!!! :lol::lol::lol: BTW, I will buy your LOF-Apples. :D

I found that rewards were counterproductive. When he was in pre-K, his teacher had a "treasure box" that the kids could go in if they did well that day so I started that in my house. I saw no increase in attentiveness or getting things done in a timely matter. I began to instead emphasize how hard my child was working. I began to rejoice with him when he figured out a tough concept and talk about how hard he worked to achieve that. We celebrate achievements in school when Dad comes home. I also show him when I am having to work hard on something (such as teaching myself Latin). He began to do the work because he wanted to learn and to do things on his own. He began to even do a little extra work sometimes. Figuring things out became his reward and he is getting very self motivated.

All I did with my DD when she was 3.5 was let her play with some Montessori stuff and listen in as she wanted to. We did work with sandpaper letters (tracing and sounding them out) a couple of times a week. I would never want anything formal for a 3.5 year old. That is the time to play, sing, fingerpaint, etc.

If you are looking for Spanish fluency, I would start as early as possible and try to get a native speaker to help at least once a week. That shouldn't be too hard in NM! Latin is the best language to learn to understand English grammar as well as to have to have a foundation to learn other related languages (including Spanish) later.

Paths of Exploration, etc are completely secular. At least that is what their brochure says. I have looked at them IRL and didn't find anything religious at all, but I haven't done the program myself.

Zaner Bloser handwriting is really good.

If you are interested in American History, Paths of Exploration and the other two levels are secular.

I contacted The Struggling Reader via FB and they told me that they are having problems with their website. You can get questions answered on their FB page or call at 252-281-1823.

We use this and LOVE it. The games are very fun and easy to implement. There are several that would work better in a bigger group, but most can be modified. I have also made up several of my own games in the same style based on my individual kids. I really cannot say enough great things about it. It is a big investment, but worth every.single.penny IMHO. I have not yet used the tests. I probably should since I paid for them. They are so nice to find any holes in the child's knowledge, but I am not sure that I would buy them again since I haven't used them. If you can find her at a conference, she runs an excellent special there. Their website is down right now (I contacted them via FB and they said that they are having trouble), so you can place orders or ask questions at this number: 252-281-1823. If you have any specific questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Great! It seriously took me several weeks of lessons before I truly felt comfortable with the program. There were a lot of books to juggle! It is such a great program! I hope it works out for you and your DD!

We have two terrible libraries. We were studying South America and there was a total of ONE book between the two libraries. We are charged $2 per book on ITL. A couple of times they have purchased books I have requested, but it takes awhile and I am impatient! :tongue_smilie: So, I have started to make my own library at home. That is the main reason that the UPS truck brings me orders from Amazon.com almost daily. :lol::lol::lol:

:iagree: I have heard so many people dislike Miquon on these boards. Just do a quick search and you can find a lot of negative opinions. I think the main problem is that people don't get the Lab Annotations, First Grade Diary, and the Teacher's Manual (I can never remember what it is called). They really are essential to understanding the program. The orange book does use the rods a lot. By the time you get done with that book, it becomes much easier to use the program independently. Most days, my son just does 1-2 pages on his own. I am amazed at his sheer understanding of how math works from this program. The kids take ownership of this information because they learned it themselves through carefully organized "experiments." Hence, it is called math lab. :001_smile: I think you really just need to try it to know if it will work for you. I absolutely love it, but not everyone does!

Definitely a rite of passage! Welcome to homeschooling. You are going to love it! :party:

Thank you for this review. It was extremely helpful!

As much as we complain, Americans have a lot to be grateful for. If you ever have a need for Hershey kisses, let me know. I will mail you some!!!! I had a German penpal that always asked for Hershey's chocolate. And he would send me real beer. Although I guess that probably wasn't legal... :lol:

My preschooler really enjoyed the Catholic Treasure Box books. Who Am I is a great program, but I would use it in kindy and not in preschool. It is good for preschool if you have an older child using it as well. Honestly, my daughter does a lot of Montessori type activities and listens in on whatever she wants to with my older child (science, history, read-alouds, etc). With both kids, we have been spending a month or two on each continent which has been really fun learning about animals, culture, food, geography, etc. My son (in kindy) got more out of it than my preschooler, but they both enjoyed it. I think the most important thing for preschool is reading lots of wonderful picture books. Like others mentioned, Catholic Mosaic has a wonderful booklist.