Thanks Mariann for responding!

I obtained a Phonetic Zoo cards and cds but I don't have the teacher notes. Anyone used this program think I need it? If I do I'm not sure how to get it.:glare: The IEW website allows a download of 12 pgs. only.

Elle, FLL is teacher directed and so is R&S. I tried FLL when my boys were younger but didn't finish. Now we use R&S English. The lessons are short for us. We like it very much. I purchased 2 student books so the boys can write in them. This way there isn't so much extra writing in their notebooks. Maybe your family could do much of it orally. We do some of that too. R & S English definitely needs to be modified just a little otherwise it's just TOO much some days.:lol: Could you put your girls in the same R & S English book? Meet somewhere in the middle? This could help your homeschool tremendously. It's a suggestion but may not be possible.

I'm jumping in on this discussion because I had the same question in the writing dept.:) I am probably using WWE next year as well with my kiddos. Mallory, thank you for the suggestion on ways to enhance WWE 2 with older children. I'm thinking I can combine Day 1 and Day 2, not sure yet. When using WWE with several children how would I go about getting answers to the narrations from each individual child? My 8 and 5 year old will gladly give descriptive narrations. On the other hand, I have a 10 year old with speech and language difficulties. I have to "pull" answers out of him! At times it's a challenge for him to tell me what was read aloud in a passage. This is why I am going with level 2 for all the children - plus I already own it. Once they master narration/dictation we can go from there. Thank you for suggestions as well.

I don't have a MP3 player. Can I still download the lecture? Will it just download to my computer?

Where can I access the link to download the lecture? Thank you!

We used it 3 years ago and going for another round next year. It was great! Very easy to teach and no stress prep. This time around my older boys will use CTG and my younger ones will only do the family portion. You can add in library books or readers that go with the science topic and branch off from there. For instance, we will read Owl Moon and Owls in the Family(as a read aloud) in the bird section and focus on owls for a couple of days. We've never made a solar system model so maybe we can add that in to the program. You get the idea. It's at a good price and doesn't require too many books. We couldn't get any of the Moody videos though. I might ILL one them to see what they are like. I priced them once but they were very expensive. Hope this helps!

Just wondering... We are presently using Rod and Staff English 2 and will begin Rod and Staff English 3 next fall. Do I need to add in a writing program? If you presently use R & S English or have in the past what did you do? Is Rod and Staff English 3 a full writing program? If I do add something in I think my choices would be Writing Strands or WWE. Thank you!

Yes, that's the title. You can also get an email sent every few days from them. It's biblicalparenting.com or .org maybe??

The reading workbooks start out really simple. The first lesson in the reader has a picture and the word God. That's it. So initially you might think it's too easy but it picks up shortly after that. The first 10 lessons are "pre-reading". After that the reading lessons begin. The days of creation and early old testament are covered. There are new sight words in every lesson until unit 3 I think. Every reading lesson has the sight words, review, lesson, reader, and workbook pgs. HTH

I have used R&S green 1st grade books practically all 4 years we have homeschooled. It can get repetitious BUT it works!! Children will learn to read and read well. It can take a long time to do phonics and reading on the same day. I am going to use it with my kindergarten age son next year only very slowly. Phonics workbook on M/W/F and Reading on Tu/Th. Reading may have to be done orally until he's ready for more writing. This year he worked on unit 1 workbooks. The phonics unit 1 book is very simple. I looked at Explode the Code at a local bookstore. The layout of ETC is strikingly similar to R & S Phonics 1st grade. I already own the R & S workbooks so that's what we will use.

When we do problem of day I write it on the board. The boys write the number sentence and answer on paper. We do 2-3 math meeting items a day until we have covered everything by Friday. If an assessment is coming up we go over similar problems on the test. It just takes too long to do the entire meeting everyday. I've used Saxon K - 3 but just tapered the MM about a year ago. It works well.

Julie, We will use PLL next year. I just bought the PLL Teacher Guide. I think that it is going to help me on those days the lesson refers to a different time period. You can look at a sample at lostclassics.com. I will sometimes use art books I own for picture narration. The pictures in PLL are black and white and on the small side. I like Donna's idea of alternating PLL and FLL. I would like my boys to know what a noun, verb, and pronoun are but I don't necessaryily want to drill it everyday. So I think I will add in a little of FLL in that regard. My mom-in-law gave me a very, very, old copy of BJU English! It was my brother-in-law's! Anyway, I can use that for an occasional workbook page for practice.

Saxon explains things in a way that at least I can understand. Sometimes I think if math would have been explained to me in that particular manner maybe I would have understood it better!

I wanted to add we use math computer games or the Math-U-See online drill. These benefit students with any math program!

We've used Saxon for 4 years. It is a stand alone program. We use lots of manipulatives for the lessons. Also I don't let my kids count with their fingers. I supplement with wrap-ups for math facts/drills or something like that. Next fall I am going to use Cuisenaire Rods with my 4 year old one day a week so I will probably have the older boys use them as well.

I would like to know as well. I am making a Rainbow Resource order soon. I am curious to know which Christian Heroes books to purchase. Thanks Crystal for your input. I will order Nate Saint but which others?? Someone chime in! Marsha

I will definitely look at Getting Started with Spanish. Thanks!:) We use MFW as our main curriculum. English From the Roots Up is scheduled for our 2012 and 2013. I just noticed that last night. So that will be when we study Latin and Greek. I think your choices for Latin curriculum will work just fine. I don't think you need anything else right now. Perhaps you could invest in a cd. Enjoy! Marsha

We are just finishing up Adventures. This year was fun and educational. Our best so far. This was our first year using MFW. We absolutely loved it. We will continue to use MFW for years to come. The TM is user friendly and well written. There are great activities that kids enjoy. You should go for it.;) If you are looking to buy used let me know. I have the basic package with some read alouds, Animated Heroes VHS tapes, and some book basket books. In August we will use Exploring Countries and Cultures. It looks great as well! Marsha

Yes, I did! This year we will begin Spanish! lol I know it is a change of plans but I have everything to teach/learn Spanish including Rosetta Stone. I am thinking of using EL to memorize some basics like months of the year,colors and numbers. I would like the kids to memorize a prayer in Latin but I don't remember seeing that in the book. We will come back to Latin next year sometime. I am wanting Prima Latina. I am going to frequent used book stores to see if it shows up. If it doesn't I will purchase the package. There aren't any samples of EL on the internet. I really didn't find it anywhere except Sattler's website. I just looked in the TM and the TOC is not very lengthy. If she doesn't respond I could PM the contents to you if you would like. I don't see any harm in that. Let me know. Marsha

Hello. I looked over the TM and student book last week. It is a decent program. IMO it is not for beginners (me included). I think it should go along with something. Getting Started with Latin might be a good choice. I looked at several Latin programs and Elementary Latin is not the ideal starter program for us. I have very little background in Latin so I need a little help! Prima Latina looks like something I would use the first year and tie in some of Elem Latin, maybe. Overkill? Not sure until I could look at Prima Latina firsthand. I don't think Elem. Latin looked like too much fun. It's a workbook approach. There are coloring pages (gods), a crossword puzzle, and jingles. Grammar - no I don't recall any. I can't grab it now because it is in a sleeping baby's room. lol I remember fill-in-the-blanks, vocabulary, some conjugating. Marsha

Shannon, I didn't know you were on here! :lol: Very good suggestion. We will definitely try it. Nathan always likes a good competition! Marsha

Well I have plenty of math manipulatives/resources. I just need some fun and interesting ways to use them. For instance, I bought several medium size rubber balls from the dollar store. I was thinking of ONE way to use them for math! I would gladly welcome any ideas you've implemented in your classroom. ;) Marsha

We will begin to study Latin next fall. Two years ago someone gave me Elementary Latin by Nancy Sattler. I have the TM and student book. I do not have a CD although I would really like to have one. I was wondering if anyone has used this program. There isn't much info on the books anywhere on the internet. Prima Latina seems to pop up often and I have to say it really does appeal to me!:) BTW I will be learning along with my boys so I do need something easy and fun to teach!! Marsha

I haven't posted in a while. I pop in every now and then to read posts. Glad this forum is here for us homeschool moms. :) I am looking for a different spelling curriculum for next year. We are using Rod and Staff right now. I would like to switch to something else. I'm thinking of using All About Spelling OR BJU. I have looked over AAS and it looks like a very good program. I am concerned about the high cost since I would buy Level 1 and 2 for two children and teacher guides. BJU is at a local bookstore at a cheap cost and it also looks good. So I'm wondering if AAS is worth the cost. Or are there any BJU Spelling users that can give an opinion? TIA, Marsha