Little Women (dramatic reading) by Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888)

Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849-1924)

Caedmon's Hymn History: The poem is one of the earliest attested examples of Old English poetry. It is also one of the earliest recorded examples of sustained poetry in a Germanic language.

This Country of Ours, Part 1 by Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall (1867-1941) This Country of Ours, Part 2 This Country of Ours, Part 3 This Country of Ours, Part 4 This Country of Ours, Part 5

Our Island Story, Part 1 by Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall (1867-1941) Our Island Story, Part 2

Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) Sequel to Alice in Wonderland (which has already been listed on this thread by another poster) :)

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849-1924)

Poems Every Child Should Know edited by Mary E. Burt (1850-1918)

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849-1924)

Just So Stories (version 2)

Grimms’ Fairy Tales by Jacob Grimm (1785-1863) and Wilhelm Grimm (1786-1859). Translated by Edgar Taylor (1793-1839) and Marian Edwardes.

A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter (1863-1924)

A Christmas Carol (dramatic reading) by Charles Dickens (1812-1870)

Black Beauty: The Autobiography of a Horse by Anna Sewell (1820-1878)

Anne of Green Gables (read by kayray)

I have taught both of these in the past in co-op situations. I'll share the bokks & ideas I used: I LOVE the books by Kohl. The first time I used them, I had 25 children in my co-op class ranging from K to 4th grade. The books are arranged so that you can use them with varying age groups. There is a brief biography on each artist with an art activity that will correspond to the technique or some other aspect of their art. Each activity is coded (at the top of the page) for difficulty. The supplies & the instructions are clearly written for each activity. They even have photos of other children's art work. I have used both Discovering Great Artists & Great American Artists. Each time I used these books, I created a DVD slide show presentation (by pulling images off the internet) for the artist we were studying that week. You could easily go to the library & get picture books & save yourself a lot of time. One year, I created an art class myself by just searching on-line for unique types of art which used recycled items. That was a fun class...but gathering all the recycled items too quite a bit of time. Somewhere I have the syllabus for the classes I have taught. If I can lay my hands on them, I can email the files to you. (No sense in recreating the wheel when you can ride on someone else's!) For science...my passion...I usually pull from several different texts so that I was able to cover different areas of science. Real Science for Kids is a great text with strong emphasis on scientific method & they have levels for all elementary ages. Noeo Science is another fun living book - hands on science for young ones. It has a great balance of different types of science (where if you go with the RS4K, you are stuck in one type of science - bio, chem, phy). Well, that's all I have for you for tonight! Best of luck! Remember...it's all about making it fun & discovering at this age!! You will be the FUN teacher with these 2 subjects!!! ~Kimberly

I have taught SWI-A & ATFF in my home over the past 2 years. Here is my two cents worth... SWI-A is an easy way to step into the TWSS system. You can either watch the DVD's yourself, or have the students watch them. Because SWI-A was 'taped' over a weekend seminar, it moves quickly. You will need to break it up into a syllabus that works for you & your child. You can easily do it in one year. The year we did it, we covered it in 18 weeks. I had 2nd & 3rd graders in my class with no previous writing experience. We decided to go with ATFF this year (at the recommendation of an IEW rep at one of the conferences last year). I found it did not cover as many techniques as SWI-A, but you can easily add them in (you will have to modify the check list if you use them). If you have never used the IEW TWSS type writing lessons, then you will definitely need TWSS along with ATFF. ATFF does not teach the techniques as thoroughly as SWI-A or TWSS. I had 2 new students in my class this year with no previous IEW experience. They had a harder time mastering the techniques when compared to their counterparts who had a year of experience under their belts. Hope that helps! Kimberly PS...if you need ATFF, I have it for sale. :) {Sold the SWI-A last year} Next year, we will be using Ancient Hx Lessons

(This is a re-post as I think I originally didn't put it in the best location.) I have been using Rightstart & my children are placing well above grade level with this curriculum (almost 2 years above grade level). We complete Level E this year & I'm planning what to do next. I would like for those of you who have used Rightstart Geometric Approach followed by VideoText to please report how your child did on their testing at the end of the year. If you would, please include the age your child was when they took the test, the test you used (Iowa, Woodcock,etc) & test scores (you are welcome to put low 90's, high 80's, etc if you would prefer not to put specifics). It would also help to know if the student was 'self taught' or if you were teaching along side the videos with VideoText. In addition, I would love reports from any of you who did other math series after RightStart E that differ from the scenario above (ie. Life of Fred, Singapore, Chalkdust, etc). THANK YOU, THANK YOU in advance for taking time to help me make this decision by giving me some concrete 'results'. I found it interesting that none of the curriculum 'salespeople' at the SC Homeschool Conference' could give me any ballpark on how students do with their different curriculum. (That's why I'm doing my own research) :grouphug: To simplify results, just copy & past, then record your results/post here: Math series (in order of use): Years used (2008-2010, etc): Age of student at time of testing: Test used: Testing results: Teacher involvement: Self-taught Student:

I have been using Rightstart & my children are placing well above grade level with this curriculum (almost 2 years above grade level). We complete Level E this year & I'm planning what to do next. I would like for those of you who have used Rightstart Geometric Approach followed by VideoText to please report how your child did on their testing at the end of the year. If you would, please include the age your child was when they took the test, the test you used (Iowa, Woodcock,etc) & test scores (you are welcome to put low 90's, high 80's, etc if you would prefer not to put specifics). It would also help to know if the student was 'self taught' or if you were teaching along side the videos with VideoText. In addition, I would love reports from any of you who did other math series after RightStart E that differ from the scenario above (ie. Life of Fred, Singapore, Chalkdust, etc). THANK YOU, THANK YOU in advance for taking time to help me make this decision by giving me some concrete 'results'. I found it interesting that none of the curriculum 'salespeople' at the SC Homeschool Conference' could give me any ballpark on how students do with their different curriculum. (That's why I'm doing my own research) :grouphug: To simplify results, just copy & past, then record your results: Math series (in order of use): Years used (2008-2010, etc): Age of student at time of testing: Test used: Testing results: Teacher involvement: Self-taught Student: