Love Letter School - one of my favorite ed apps.

I workout in the morning before my husband starts work. I am lucky that my husband usually eats breakfast with the kids while I work out. We also recently acquired an elliptical at home which has been wonderful, but a morning jog would work just as well. My morning workout is my time and I love that for that one hour I have no kids and no worries but me. We limited the morning activities to one morning per week. Last year there were weeks where we had 4 mornings out - the school schedule was a disaster. I have 3 kids schooling and in activities this year so my oldest had to pare down her list. It was hard to make the cuts but I haven't looked back. We limited early afternoon activities to twice a week. The homeschool classes are nice, but the times cut into school time too much. All straightening is done before bath each night, and all cleaning is done on the weekend.

I would definitely get the set with the teachers manual, student packet and readers. The divider cards are optional, and are like the AAS dividers, but only contain phonogram and word card dividers. You don't need a separate set of tiles. The only other thing we purchased was the Ziggy supplement because my son loved Ziggy. It's completely optional, but if your child likes games you may want to consider it.

What level and version are you using?

This was an interesting thread on Catholics/Protestants using MP materials. http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/showthread.php?t=123937&highlight=Memoria+press+catholic

The cards are fairly durable. My daughter is starting level 5 and the cards from level 1 are holding up just fine. Some are more worn than others, but nothing major. I will say that I do not expect my son's cards to hold up quite as well because he's not quite as gentle with them, but so far they have done fine. I would definitely not laminate the word cards because there are too many, and you won't carry all of them over from level to level like you will the other cards.

MP does recommend going from LC I to First Form. Here is a link to their suggested sequence: http://www.memoriapress.com/images/book_insides/WhichLatinProgram.pdf

I think the most important thing is that the language exploration part of each lesson be done in order. You can teach A and a, but don't teach the language exploration part of the lesson for lowercase A unless you have completed the language exploration part of the lesson for uppercase B-Z.

The only consumables are the progress chart and certificate of completion. If you have 2 kids who are working at the same time (same level or different level) you may want 2 student packets so they can each have their own cards for review. Each level adds additional cards - some which you may not need to keep for the next level, and some that you will. I have 3 kids, but I will only ever have 2 in AAS at the same time. My third will be able to reuse the my oldest's cards, and so 2 student packets works for us.

Mine have all come from Balsam Hill or Frontgate and I haven't had any problem like that.

We did all the uppercase lessons, and then combined the lowercase and sound lessons. For the book of letters, I got a little lazy and eventually just had them color them.

Is it obvious at this point that I am not the artsy type? Thanks everyone!

If we were diligent about getting it done I don't think I would have to skip any. I was only thinking in terms of K-8 and since she's in 3rd, and we are working slowly, I don't know that we will make it through all of them. Unfortunately art gets rescheduled a lot. I was hoping that if some of the books were better than others, I could make sure we hit those.

Sorry - I realize now my question was not clear. Are any of the books better than any others? If I were going to skip a book do you have a recommendation as to which book I should skip? I am trying to decide which book to move to next.

I have K-3 Book 1, but since we got a late start on the series I'm not sure we will make it through all the books. Do you have any you recommend skipping or any you recommend we not skip?

I am a Christmas tree junkie. Artificial trees are far better for decorating and in the long run less expensive. I could never afford to decorate as many trees as I do if I had to purchase real ones each year. They hold many more, and much heavier ornaments than a real tree. Diameter is definitely important and every company's definition of slim is different so don't rely on something labeled slim to be slim. Also, the height of an artificial tree is the stated height, unlike a real tree. With a real tree the top branch is usually a foot tall and has to be cut off. An artificial tree that is 9 ft tall is 9 ft tall and is tough to fit if you have a 9ft ceiling. It can be done but you may have to use a bow on top instead of a traditional topper. I would definitely get pre-lit. Fluffing the branches takes a lot of time - you don't want to have to put lights on after spending all that time fluffing. The lights burn out, but when small sections go, I add strands. If I have to add too many then it's time for a new tree. Some companies will offer a warranty on the lights. I think most of the Pre-lits come in sections, otherwise the lighting would be a mess. Balsam Hill has beautiful trees, but they are pricey. I always order mine in the days after Christmas. I have also seen some nice looking trees at Costco. I had never heard of allergies to flocking, but they are beautiful when decorated the right way. They are however messy, and it's harder to add lights when some go out because on an artificial flocked tree, the lights are flocked too.

I was able to fit the books into a small flat rate priority box for $5.35. I know that doesn't help with international shipping, but for those in the states it's not too bad.

One note - the "Leap Into Reading" Activity Book is included in the student packet so if you are exchanging the readers I believe you only need to order the Teachers Guide and Student Packet.

They very graciously removed the requirement that the readers had to have been purchased in the last year. I calculated that I will save $22-23 by returning them and purchasing only the TG and Student Materials - better than nothing.

I am using WWE 1 on my iPad without issue.

Shepherds are super smart. My friends 1 year old shepherd was boarding recently, and she let out every dog in every run. When the staff arrived next day, all the dogs were running free. They knew she did it, because she was the only one who could have reached :)

:iagree: My kids also love Shake the States.

I learned this song in elementary school and can still list the states alphabetically :) I bought my kids the Melissa and Doug License Plate Game, and my dd8, learned all the capitals in 3 days by quizzing anyone she could get to play along. It is intended to be a travel game, but it is also a fun way to learn to identify the states and their capitals. http://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-License-Plate-Game/dp/B001QVI9CI/ We are also using the book Smart About the Fifty States.

The Standards edition HIGs are better, and that is why I made the switch from US to Standards when we started 2a/2b. The HIGs for 1a/1b US are formatted the same way as the standards editions, but Starting in 2a, the US HIGs are different and not as good.

We are using GWG and we like it. This is our first go at grammar - dd is in 3rd grade. For the most part, it is very independent. Most lessons dd has no problem reading in the student manual and completing the exercises. The amount of work is not overwhelming and there is review built into each lesson.