MFW K is perfect for a 4 year old. It starts from scratch, so if you have already done Preschool and then get MFW K it is pretty disappointing. It is a great program, but definitely not advanced.

:bigear:

I have the old LA which is atrocious, though I may at least use it to pull copywork out of. There is a reader schedule you can buy that I believe includes comprehension questions. Might want to look into that.

Could I get more info on the Landmark book? I am planning way ahead of time. :tongue_smilie: Will start Core 3 in 5th grade, 10 years old.

:iagree: The exposure pegs are set without curriculum this way. MFW sounds great!!

You could study the history cycle in order, but with different materials. I am planning to use Tanglewoodeducation.com, which uses Our Young Folks Josephus. If you explain false gods in the context of false religion and contrast it with God's people, it is not a problem. I see nothing wrong with starting the cycle at a different point though. Are you aware that there are arguements that if you start with American History you are missing a good opportunity to introduce new and unusual cultures to a more receptive crowd. Basically, after they have had American History they may become less open-minded. Personally, I can't wait to really dig into ancient history when all the details will help with our understanding of Bible history and prophecy, in 7th grade.

Thanks. I will look into that book. I have Children A to Z and am not really happy with it. It seems to give mostly the same info as my Atlas. The Kingfisher Young Peoples Atlas of the World. Using the groups in this along with DH we have picked our 20 categories. There are no representatives for the Vikings, but I suppose that can come through history study. USA Canada/ Alaska Hawaii/ Pacific Islands Mexico/ Central America South America British Isles France/ Germany Spain/ Portugal Italy Greece Russia Middle East India China Japan Southeast Asia North Africa (Egypt) Central Africa (Kenya) Australia/ New Zealand The Poles Thank you all for the help!

That's my DD she says that I have to be with her, sitting right with her, because "that is why we homeschool". I am really struggling. We use nap time some too, but his napping is variable and DD is almost always wanting lunch as soon as he gets to sleep, plus I never get housework done, I am not picky but some things are plain dangerous if they are not cleaned up. Also, we have work that should only take 20-40 minutes but by the time DD throws a fit and insists on 2 recesses we barely finish by 4pm. We started out with music, PE and recess so it would be fun but it is taking all of my time and energy and covering no ground with our curriculum. Some things that work for me but not well enough, long enough: I usually do read alouds outside with both children in the swings. Sometimes Jake will play with books he has lots of touch and feel books and books with paper pages that are a little more sturdy. He LOVES to play with a bible because of the tissue thin pages. If I hold it just right he can flip pages without tearing. We also pull down the couch cushions and he will climb on them. This is a good thread! Mostly, if I did not have to cook and clean we can get the school work done no problem. Hoping to uncover some great tips here.:tongue_smilie: DD is 5.5 and DS is 12 months.

:bigear: I have the same problem but not enough time to read replies, so I am marking this thread. :grouphug:

Rose, would you mind telling me why? (once again, clueless) I am thinking SA needs more than just Brazil...and I want Indonesia too.

I was wondering about Germany. I thought it might be important, but like I said, I am clueless. Thanks. ;0)

Thank Y'all for your help!

Help me decide what else to include, or any to exclude. This is for 1st grade overview of culture, zoology and geography. We will probably spend two days on each country. Some are picked because of the zoology. I have no Middle East because I don't know which to pick, and we are descendents of Vikings, so I need something there too. These are my picks so far... Brazil Mexico USA/Canada Hawaii Alaska China Japan India Uganda Kenya/Rwanda Egypt Russia Australia France Italy UK So I have 4 spots left. Help me fill them? I may need to add a spot or two. I am clueless when it comes to culture and geography. I am looking forward to learning with her. I would think France, Italy and UK cannot be left out. I am worried more Europe should be included? Thanks for any input.

Hilyer's A Child's History of the World

Well, my DD HATES repeating lessons, so we keep going forward. She gets plenty of review with incidental phonics, and is reading very well and if I find a particular lesson that I feel she needs again, we do it later instead of dwelling on it at the time. So I would just go with "1 new 2 review" and then move on. Fluency comes without practicing the same lesson and same words over and over.

Sounds like he is doing fine. Fluency will come with sounding out. I feel that most children can skip blends. We took a year long break from HS because of a sibling, and now picking back up with OPG we are skipping many lessons that we do not need. One great reinforcer for learning to read by sight is closed captioning on the TV. Works for us!

I am doing tanglewoodeducation.com which pretty much follows the 4 year rotation, but has 1 year for ancient, then 1.5 years on England, then starts in with American while still following England. I plan to use Sonlight starting with American (core 3+4) 5th grade after we are done with Tanglewood up to that point in history.

Have you seen tanglewoodeducation.com? I am doing their history until we start SL again in core 3+4 I also plan to get 3+4 and use it for two years. I have also seen people selling the used IG for only $15!! On yahoo groups. There are several CM and sonlight recycle or sell groups and they have much better deals than ebay. Also I noticed that out of all of the books most of the readers are at the library, but the spine texts are never there and some times you can find the readalouds. (my library is very bad) HTH

Rose, can you give specific info on your set? I LOVE Jules Verne, and that set sounds great for our family. :D

Is this my child to a T? She already knows how to do everything. (incorrectly of course) Wanting to read the replies later.

Sonlight has Advanced 2nd grade readers which are actually at a 3-5 grade reading level but are toned down in the contents for younger and possibly more sensitive children. A2 http://www.hstreasures.com/a-squared.html is supposed to be very independent, with very little mom time involved. I only used it for K, so I can't vouch for it in higher grades personally.

I only read the first few replies. My DD went through a stage like that. I stopped making her sound out words. But I knew she was smart and I did not want her behind. I was in college to become a K teacher, so the pressure was enormous. I HAD to have her advanced! We quit for a couple of months. I got OPG and went through every rule as fast as I could. No repeat lessons. I crammed all the phonics rules in her head. We had to quit due to family circumstances and we took a break of about 9 months. She already had the rules in her head, even though she was not "clicking" on the sounding out part. Now, as soon as it "clicked" (while we were still on a break) she can read at a 3rd grade level because the other rules were already there. (syllables, blends, long vowels, ing, oy, you name it) So there's another approach for you. :D

A2 http://www.hstreasures.com/a-squared.html worked for DD when she was 3. I got the demo for $6 shipping. We switched to OPG when she turned 5. MFW Kindergarten is very good too... and I don't see how anyone wouldn't love it, but by the time I bought it she was halfway through the phonics bit due to using the suggestions in the A2 demo.

I am taping National Geographic and have great shows on India (tiger) and Uganda (Kobb) I am so excited. She is starting 1st grade, but has had 3 years of Kindergarten LOL. Turns 6 in July. Thank you for the bookstore idea. It's perfect!!

I somehow missed that... good to know.:D