I use the MP3's on my iphone. :)

We use the audio CDs, but we use them in sequential order. My student using them has extreme vision issues & despite the ease in which they are written he'd be in capable of reading an entire chapter without problems. So he listens instead & does the tests afterwards. It works well for us & he does fantastic on each of the tests he takes. :D

:lurk5:

:smilielol5:

I have had a full cycle while pregnant for a month or two. It threw hte Dr's for a huge loop who then freaked out when they realised I was 13 weeks along. Made that particular pregnancy seem less lengthy except I was horrifically "all day" sick for the first 6 months.

I'd suggest a few things: 1. In your spare time this summer read the book The Self Propelled Advantage which leads to #2. 2. Let your eldest do their core on their own. If they can't then you might need a middle ground where all three can be together. Seriously though, if your child can handle the readers in Core E they can handle many of the other portions. Also, a lot of those books are available in audio format so your child could still be working independently as needed. ETA: I forgot #3! :lol: Slow down the Core. I'd see no reason Core E couldn't take 2 years. An 11 year old {based on your siggy} might get swallowed up with Core F & the books in G might be a bit deep still. If you took 2 weeks per each week of Core E you could do a 2-3 day week reducing the work load or slowing books down a bit more instead of rushing through them.

I didn't vote because.... 1. I plan annually with a "this is what I want to accomplish each term" 2. I plan weekly so that we can have an "open & go style" based on the term plans i made previously. 3. I also begin planning for the following year once the first year is started.

I purchased the audio mp3 downloads from PHP during the big sale they had in 2014. I purchased the Test & Activity PDFs late last year. We also have a paperback version which I'd have to peek inside of for the publication date, but I don't believe it's the newest. I also have a PDF of the book {obtained before I was given the paperback copy} from 2013. I think we have a few too many copies of SOTW. :lol:

Yes, but the book didn't explain that to the children so it was a bit of a, "WHAT?!" type answer there. ;)

Today we listened to Chapter 21 while following along in our book & now I've got a few questions.. 1. I have never heard Genghis Khan said with a /j/ before, so it was quite interesting to hear Jim Weiss read it that way. How do YOU say the name with a /g/ or a /j/ sound?! 2. The chapter spoke of Genghis Khan breaking through the Great Wall of China & taking the city of Bejing while John was signing the Magna Carta. In the test booklet the question {#3} asks: Genghis Khan wanted to conquer the rich Chinese City of________________. My child confidently said Bejing, yet the answer key says Peking. There is no reference in our paperback or our audio to Peking in this lesson. We've reread it a few times over because I was beginning to think we missed something. Even now as I type this I'm wondering.. did we miss something or is there a typo in the lesson or test? ETA: It's clearly a typo in the answer key because on page 194 of the test it states: "Just on the other side of the Great Wall lay the rich Chinese city of Beijing, where people lived in warm houses, heated by fires, with soft beds, plenty of food, and bags of gold. Genghis Khan wanted to conquer this rich city." Phew, I don't feel so much like we flaked out during our lesson. :lol: So solve the puzzle.. how do YOU say Genghis?!

Have you peeked at Konos? They have laminated ones with figures you can tack {blu tac} to the timeline so they can come down, go back up, etc. I loved then when we used them for our wall timeline. :)

I don't think that it's a HUGE issue if a 6 year old can't read. I had a very late bloomer who had the desire but lacked ability. There were more underlying problems there. However, not knowing his alphabet is a little different. Do grades matter? Do you HAVE to classify him as one? What's the LEGAL obligated age your child MUST be enrolled in school. I'd consider these things before panicking.

FWIW, these "summer sessions" will be dead of winter here & a great pick-me-up for those who need to get through the dreary days ahead.

I know EXACTLY what you mean. I'm NOT loving Writing Rhetoric & I'm not sure how to persuade my child that it was a better choice. ;)

Thanks for the insights, much to consider. :) We can't access the magazines mentioned above, in fact Cricket, last I checked, wouldn't ship to me as I don't live in the USA. It might be another one I'm thinking of as I've checked a few I know he'd REALLY enjoy if I could. My older student is using WWS & loves it. I'm not sure how many of the W&R books I'd use. My original objective was to spread 1 book over 2 terms; we have 4 10 week terms here with 9 weeks of academics & saving the 10th week for catching up, reviews, & oral presentations. I was aiming for 7 lessons per those 2 terms & then moving him into a paragraph writing book. In my opinion he's behind in writing, but as eager as he was to learn to read (self-taught for the most part) he was not ever eager to learn to write because he was too busy exploring. Anyway, thank you for taking the time to share what your'e doing, especially with one so close in age! It's given me some food for thought & ideas!! :D

We've gone with Book 1. The only prior writing he's done is WWE, he's not ready for WWS, he could do more WWE as he did not complete all 4 levels of them. He was such a reluctant, & poor writer, I actually started him in Level 1 when he began WWE. I love Bauer's no nonsense approach to writing which highly appeals to me for a variety of reasons. ;) My boy likes W&R, but he's only on Week 2. He likes that it's more then just copywork & I don't want to squash him by moving him out if he likes it, but at the same time Im not fully sold on it yet. Then again, we're only on week 2, kwim? ETA: If I'm 100% honest I want to use WWE, but I don't know if my boy would freak out if we "backed" up to that or not, kwim? I could finish out this week with W&R & do some WWE & then let him compare the two. FWIW, he did an amazing rewrite of the fable from Week 1 with W&R. His vocabulary was fantastic, he got the moral across & he didn't skimp.

I have a reluctant writer in the home who was using WWE & we enjoyed it immensely. He went from giving poor narrations & having a hatred for writing to giving out beautiful narrations, awesome summaries, & stating in the middle of swim class that his favourite subject was writing. I ended up purchasing Writing & Rhetoric for our new school year {started last month} & we're only 2 weeks in. I don't mind the book by any mean, but in many ways I don't think it's the same no nonsense approach as WWE takes. At the same time, though, W&R allows for some different writing opportunities, all though they are obviously much more creative writing based then expository. I'm curious which one you use & why. As an aside, my child is 11.

Simply Stated is one that works in the USA even has call numbers for the library World what about Scholastic's Read Around The World With 20 Great Picture & chapter books

I couldn't get into Olly, but man I loved Homeschool Planet. I didn't stick with it because I prefer pen & paper & couldn't justify the annual fee when the paper version was cheaper. Ha!

Embrace it. Beat them to it & get a head start. You can totally do it! My kid picked French, which wasn't my choice. We ended up going with Rosetta Stone because they can plug it in at anytime & get going. I inspire him by getting lessons done & walking around saying French words. ;)

Wow, quite talented!

I might suggest something like: Before Five In A Row Winter Promise I'm Ready To Learn Winter Promise Journeys Of Imagination Sonlight Pre-K Winter Promise Letters To Little Words {specifically aimed for the Pre-k Crowd} Handwriting Without Tears Sing Spell Read & Write Preschool/kindergarten {but if he all ready KNOWS his letters he might be bored, I'd look it over prior to a purchase for sure!} Saxon K -- I wouldn't use this with a student in normal Kindergarten, but I think it's fantastic for someone below that level. Basically they use toys or food to show a 1:1 relationship in some fashion or other.

We are currently using Chem 2 & enjoying it. I like that it: Uses Real Books Has lots of experiments {We just had a week with nothing but experiments!} Has notebooking; sometimes specific such as drawing models or defining words What I don't like: When we first started I thought Level 2 was a bit week for my youngest child; sometimes the reading still feels that way, but Level 3 is way over his head. I think rather then going for level of ability with reading books you need to check to see if the books are understandable. We should have used Physics last year, but based on what I was told we purchased Level 3 & it was just over his head. Upon looking up the books some of them were labeled for Grade 9! Sometimes the experiments are a wee bit.. lame. That could also be based on the fact that I mentioned above. He was, for instance, dissapointed in his first 2 experiments in which he mixed water & food colouring, but having said that.. my eldest did the EXACT same experiment using a Grade 7/8 General Science book.

If only it wasn't an international phone call..

Not a fan of MM & I can't imagine how difficult that would be after using MUS...