Thank you all for the replies. I like the idea of filing behind the dividers after the work is completed. That would make review easier.

That seems the easiest solution. I don't plan on this being independent work however.

My oldest ds started learning cursive in 2nd grade. He has beautiful and legible cursive, but he's slower (still) writing in cursive than he is in print. I think it's important to learn to read and write cursive, but I don't feel having all work done in cursive is a hill to die on. I allow my ds to write in print, and work on typing for all of his work. I ask spelling lists and ,occasionally, copywork/dictation to be in cursive, and I require his name to be cursive as well. I would teach it, but I'd be careful not to over tax a young child in requiring all work to be in a handwriting style newly learned. ,

How do you organize it? I've printed out the Intro and the first three lessons. As I'm looking it over, I see instructions to organize a notebook (brown bordered pages for this, blue bordered pages for that, and so on) My question is---why? If I need to organize it like this, why are the pages in the order they are to begin with? I'm going through and realizing that rearranging the pages makes the flow of the Big Book disjointed and complicates planning it for daily lessons. I'm trying to think about what and how much to do each morning (or 3 days a week---haven't decided yet). Do you just keep it together and work straight through, working on a page or two (more or less) at a time? Or do you rearrange it according to the notebook dividers and work on each section during one lesson? (which seems like too much). Or arrange the work behind the notebooks after you complete the work? (which is slightly annoying in that I printed the pages double sided so one side is brown bordered, the other blue) I may be over thinking this, but I really don't see any clear instruction in the materials provided in how to implement it. It's completely written to the student, and even the answer sheets are copies of the regular sheets with no extra info for teachers. I'd like to use it and make it work for us. (Please don't make me start over with researching Latin options...<shudder>) Some advice or examples of how others plan/organize/implement the program may help. TIA.

Maybe it's not to late to look into occupational therapy, but other than that, I would drop handwriting as a subject and expect legible writing with everything else. Let him decide to write in print or cursive for the majority of his writing. If cursive is important to you then save spelling or dictation for cursive practice. And work on typing proficiency. If his handwriting is so messy as to be unreadable most of the time, I'd continue to work on it.

My plans are still slightly shifting, but I think I have the basics set down. I'm still trying to iron it out. Language arts: Bravewriter (I'll pull from Jot It Down again this year, and likely go through The Wand with him, still thinking about adding the new Quiver of Arrows when it's released) WWE1 will still be our copywork resource, unless I add Quiver. I may just drop WWE entirely. ETA: I don't think I will do Quiver, as Julie from Bravewriter has mentioned that it would work best with a fluent reader. I'll have him work through The Wand instead, maybe do Quiver next year. FLL2 for grammar Continue with WRTR or drop it for Sequential Spelling, and dip into OPGTR when needed, unless I find The Wand to be sufficient. I thought about trying Recipe for Reading, but I'm not liking the teacher guide. I may just have him finish WRTR, start Seq Spell after that, and use OPGTR as an evaluation guide. A quick review through HWOT. Lots of reading aloud, and reading practice. I want to stay away from workbooks this year. Honestly I just want to drop everything and trust Bravewriter to cover it all. Math: Miquon and SM Standards 2A/2B (Family Math and RS games) Science: RSO Earth (and encouraging any interests). My ds self teaches himself quite a bit of science. He says he doesn't want to stop learning about animals and plants, so I may try to continue following any Life science rabbit trails. History: Revisiting SOTW1 with activity book and bits of History Odyssey we didn't cover this past year. Fine arts: HFA, arts and crafts, composer study, DWC, nature study, Great Lessons

I agree that the CC math I see people complaining about resembles some curricula that homeschoolers have been using for years. The problem I think is that the texts used may be a bad imitation of some better programs. Add to that teachers who have always taught a certain way now being forced to teach in a new way they may not understand (when honestly there are multiple ways to get to math mastery). Then you add older students who have already learned math in one modality suddenly being presented another way, and parents who for the most part haven't touched math since college or maybe even high school at best. It's a recipe for everyone being frustrated. Homeschoolers can typically take their leisurely time learning some different math methods and programs, drop it without guilt or punitive policies if it doesn't work, and find some other way. PS teachers, students, and parents are sort of stuck.

OPGTR can be useful, but the primer approach wasn't enough for my child. I added Spalding (WRTR) and I saw an increase in his ability through the spelling activities. The WRTR manual is a bit difficult to implement and I basically needed to rearrange and re-write it. This year I've decided to take my 7 year old through The Wand. After talking with the SLP who created it, I'm feeling a bit more confident that it will be a great supplement to a tweaked Spalding approach. AAR and Recipe for Reading also look very useful. I haven't used any of the All About programs. I do have Recipe For Reading, but it's also a bit disorganized. Plaid Phonics and ETC workbooks can be useful to add a writing component to phonics, but they get a bit boring. Mainly the best phonics program is the one that works for each individual family.My oldest never finished a phonics program. He learned to read quickly and a spelling program was then all he needed to continue. My 7 year old is not learning to read in the same trajectory so I've had to experiment and try different things.

I agree with others who ask "why?" Why have you been studying Latin every year since 2nd grade? FWIW we'll be starting Latin ...for the very first time...this year. We've covered Latin/Greek roots in a simple vocab sense, but this year and in the next (maybe) 2 years we'll cover it in a bit more depth. I haven't even contemplated high school yet, though I do know that I have no desire to ask my children to read classics in a dead language. I want them to be able to understand scientific terms, modern languages, and common Latin phrasings they may encounter in literature or other writings. I am merely using it as a more challenging grammar, spelling, vocabulary exercise. (And it ties nicely into history) My 2nd grader will likely not even participate in learning it. I wouldn't expect him to. He's busy enough learning to read and write in English. If Latin was taking so much time that I couldn't get to other basic subjects, I'd drop it, or reduce it.

My 7 year old ds is a very loud talker, a bit dramatic and quick to tears, and a screamer/yeller when he's mad. Whiny!!! I think it's rubbed off onto my 4 year old dd, because she's always been quiet and even tempered, but lately prone to dramatics. It's funny, because my oldest ds has Asperger's and he's the chillest, quietest kid I've ever met. Telling my ds to use a quiet inside voice only make shim testy that he's being corrected and then it escalates. I have no answers!!!! I wish I did. It is a situation that pretty much drives me crazy daily around here however!

Sequential Spelling is my favorite spelling rec. Here's a placement guide. http://www.avko.org/free/Rough%20Placement%20Test%20for%20SS.pdf

I plan on trying this when our chem/physical science year comes around. It looks great, and I only hear good reviews.

I'm supposed to be thinking about pencil quality? :svengo:

It can be done. In fact the SeqSpell teacher guide does give advice on customizing the lists. The lists build on each other, but nothing will be lost from the lesson by cutting the list in half, omitting some words, adding others.

Saxon K or Singapore Essentials. Or both. Or maybe just don't ask her the RS questions? Instead ask her to teach you. Or rephrase the questions in a more playful, natural way. My kids can sniff out fake sounding scripted curricula a mile away and they will either be silly about it, or shut down. FLL was like this. I had to pre-read the lessons several days in advance and just randomly bring them up in normal conversation while doing normal things---washing dishes, playing outside etc. OPGTR, WWE---all the same scripted inauthentic sounding questions and statements. My kids look at me like I've been body snatched by a robot when I ask one of those questions. Maybe try that!! Ask the RS questions like a robot that she needs to feed the answers to! I'm really not kidding,or being snarky. BTDT with my own kids. Scripted curricula can be effective, but it's also slightly ridiculous, and kids can sort of sense that ---so change it!

The Pandia Press timelines are gorgeous!!! But expensive. I simply laminated them. I also laminated the sticker pack sheets. My kids can add the stickers to the laminated wall timeline with removable two sided poster tape and write on the timeline with washable marker pens.(There is not a sticker pack for the prehistory timeline). It was an expense, but I felt i would have spent that much multiple times making and re-making our own. I wanted something beautiful. Also I second HFA! Love it. Ancient music is easy to cover while studying religions---Hindu and Buddhist chants are readily available, as is ancient Jewish music. For the OP--I plan on venturing into this area with my 6th grader this year--- more outlining/summary work. I plan on using the K12 Human Odyssey text, and follow the recommendations in Human Odyssey level 2. Also something Julie from Bravewriter said at this summer's retreat was to have what she called "party school"--basically immersive projects finished up with a report. So instead of tedious working through a writing assignment, I plan on incorporating some fun activities and projects to facilitate learning based on what we've read and THEN after that work up a writing activity based on that topic. I refuse to kill my child's interest in writing or history, so I find myself moving away from the overly dry, academic aspects of classical ed and WTM.

Sequential Spelling.

My Dh is involved as a parent. He is the main "breadwinner." He helps with typical parental and house tasks. He trusts me to make the education decisions as far as schedules, curriculum,etc. But we do talk about it. He's interested in what the kids are learning, but doesn't take on a teacher type role. He'll play, read, build, work on an experiment, play sports, do arts and crafts etc--- just in a Dad role, not as a home educator role.

Montessori inspired anything is nice.There are a ton of blogs and websites and Pinterest boards related to it you can find with a simple search. Handwriting Without Tears is nice (you can use the wooden letters and play doh activities instead of workbooks) You may even be able to find them in Spanish. Montessori Print Shop has fun downloads. Highly recommend the moveable alphabet. http://www.montessoriathomebook.com/Home.html/ I've been dipping into this ebook for a couple years now. You could add fun science activities--Mudpies to Magnets is fun. http://www.pinterest.com/walkingiris/homeschooling-preschool/ Pinterest is your friend for activity ideas! You could also garden,bake and cook, do some nature study.

http://www.bravewriter.com/program/online-classes/class-list/2014-fall-calendar-of-classes/ I hear great things about the BW online classes.

Math stuff: c-rods, base ten,unifix, bucket balance, equation balance, Montessori math materials (some bought, some homemade). Science: activity books, bug catchers, microscope, loupes, anatomy games, body model, earth model,rock kit, snap circuits Language arts: Montessori moveable alphabet, sandpaper letters, AAS magnetic letters. WRTR phonograms, HWOT wooden letters History: Pandia Press timeline Also: KEVA blocks, Kindle Fire, quality art supplies, art cards, kiwi crate, child sized cooking and gardening supplies, FitDecks, Montessori Black Strip

http://microscope-depot.com/seriesM.asp I think a microscope is a homeschool essential.

Was it a bargain book? They are sold as is---they state that clearly on their website. I buy bargain books occasionally from RR.

They are upfront about these issues. http://www.rainbowresource.com/policyfaq.php And they do send you an email right away when something is backordered You do have control...don't click the area on the 10$ fee is you don't want to pay it. You won't be charged extra when your stuff ships.

The bolded!!! I get my orders quickly because I am in IL, but they are never brought to my door by a post man or a UPS man---always some guy in a van I never see but the 2 times I order from RR.