Your plan looks good, but if you're just getting started out, I would recommend starting slow. The key is to get into a school "routine" that works well for your whole family. Mostly by trial and error, you will probably find the best time to do your seat work and the best time to do your more active activities. You will discover how to include your youngers and when you need quiet time to concentrate. And then, of course, this will change as everyone gets older. Enjoy your new endeavor!

This is why I don't start AAS until first grade. In kindergarten, we learn to form letters and then do 1-2 sentences of copywork every day. By the end of the year, they can write letters with ease. I don't think they should have to concentrate on two difficult things at the same time (spelling & printing). I also don't require assignments done in cursive until they have been doing cursive copywork for a year. AAS is a great program, but the writing (especially dictation) is necessary to take full advantage of it. Best of luck,

We do our cursive copywork (a couple sentences), AAS dictation sentences (5), math assignment, grammar (maybe about 10 words). Everything else is done orally. Because I have them write so little, I expect their best handwriting.

I wouldn't let him get ahead. If all the fun pages are done, he won't want to do the "hard" pages that go with them. If the material is easy and he's motivated to get to the fun pages, tell him he has to do all the pages in between first. Otherwise, I'd just print out a couple dot-to-dot pages for him.

I think we have the same MIL. Mine always brings me suitcases of stuff that the teachers are throwing away and makes extra copies of worksheets. My kids gag at her idea of sitting down and doing a math worksheet on their vacation. We graciously thank her for bringing the stuff, and then usually dump around 98% of it after she leaves. It's the thought that count, huh?

That looks like exactly what we need around here. Now where do I buy it? I'm sensing a birthday present...

I already replied above, but I wanted to give my advice. You've got lots of time; it's not like you're "behind." I say you stick with CVC words and whatever else she already knows. Keep "encountering" them in everyday life and in books. One day the blending will click and she'll try to read everything she sees. Keep it fun and exciting, like you're a detective, finding them everywhere you go. My two oldest learned to read really early too. It's nice to be able to take a no-stress approach and see them take off! As for readers, Sonlight's Fun Tales have really big print. Bob books are pretty big too. Dr. Seuss is pretty big, but there are a lot of words on a page (and most of them are sight words - have her read the phonetic ones). Have fun!

I agree with this. We went through the fluency pages only once, checking off each line as we finished them. This way she felt like she was making good progress, even if we didn't finish a full lesson that day.

I'm so glad other people have days like us. I do have to say, though, that now that my youngest is 3.5, our days are much more "normal." When all my kids were younger (6 and under), we did one "seatwork" subject in the morning and then played until nap time. Then anyone with more work would sit down with me. This allowed them to concentrate and I didn't have to occupy the little ones.

We had the same problem with this program. It seemed to have a ton of "girly" books. We ended up skipping some of them. He liked the Beverly Cleary books, but we skipped the Little House book and Grandma's Attic book. The Whipping Boy book was difficult because of the dialect (we read this together). He read the other girly books, but he wasn't happy. I got some other "boy/adventure" books to intersperse, and it turned out ok.

I always get the Yesterday's Classics versions. Their formatting and print size is great. And the added benefit is that all of their books are the same size (looks good on bookshelves)!

I only use ETC to reinforce phonics concepts. We typically use only 1, 2, and 3, and with minimal writing. After that it doesn't usually serve this purpose anymore because my kids are practicing reading books. In first grade we start All About Spelling, so I have no experience with Spelling Workout. My advice is to only use products that are providing added benefit to your school day, and sometimes this means picking and choosing lessons within books. Remember, you're in charge!

Memoria Press has its New American Cursive that is easy for younger kids: http://www.memoriapress.com/descriptions/new-cursive.html

For us, the dictation was the reason that we came back to AAS (now mid-level 5). The dictation sentences get longer with each level, and give you a chance to see if they have retained previous lessons give them a chance to use their new words while writing. My advice is don't skip! If they are difficult, do one or two a day. My oldest does his lesson on Mon and writes the words. On Tues-Thursday he writes three dictation sentences. If he makes a mistake, he gets an additional sentence. On Fri he does the writing station exercises. This is the most effective spelling program we have tried, and it is mostly due to the dictation!

We're military and we've lived 8 different places in the last 12 years. We usually have a good idea when we'll move, but we don't usually find out where until about 1-3 months out. If I were you, I wouldn't freak out. I'd make sure I was organized with my school papers and then just wait until you find out where you're going. You aren't going to be asked to test or submit portfolios right away; probably after your first year. When moving time is approaching, I start to go through the entire house and start throwing things out and getting things organized. Start in one room and go through every drawer. This takes forever, so start early! Everything else can wait. I know that it's hard to wait, so hang in there!

My kids are still young too, but I don't think that you've got a super-long school day. If I added everything in, we'd probably have the same school day. My 1st grader does: Bible (4x/wk) WWE (4x/wk) GWG (3x/wk) AAS (4x/wk) Cursive Copywork (5 min) Reading (20 min) Read Aloud (30-45 min) Math (30 min) - We use Singapore and MUS History/Science/Other Topic (20 min) This really isn't that much, but for us the key is to break it up into small chunks so that they don't get worn out. For example, we do Bible over breakfast. After breakfast he does cursive, math, and GWG (about 45 min). He takes about 30-45 min off to play while I work with others. After his break he does WWE and AAS (about 30 min). Then he's done until after lunch. During lunch I read aloud to the group. After lunch is assigned reading time (20 min) and then our weekly topic slot. I read aloud again at night. When I sense frustration, I try to identify the problem. Is he hitting a wall? Is he overwhelmed with the number of problems on a page? Is he tired? I've noticed that when you push them, their little brains tend to shut off. The other key for us is routine. Like you, I need a daily routine to get everything done. My kids know exactly when they will work and when they can play. I've noticed that this helps with whining and fighting over schoolwork. We also work year round. The rule is: if Daddy's at work, so are you! I also like Charlotte Mason's method for switching between different types of work. For example, a brain-intensive subject like math should be followed by something less taxing like handwriting or physical like sweeping the kitchen. I don't feel like I'm going overboard with my expectations, and I don't feel like they're being pushed too hard. They still have plenty of time to play and do other activities, and I have my sanity! Best of luck,

The VP_Elementary yahoo group has files that tell what books and what chapters are assigned each day. We are finishing NTGR this year and pick and choose on the literature. We love it!

There's also Growing With Grammar if you are looking for workbook-based.

We do printing copywork in K and part of 1st grade to help with accuracy and to build up writing endurance. Then we do cursive copywork the second half of 1st and 2nd for cursive writing fluency. We also start AAS in 1st grade, which starts with phrase dictation and moves to short sentence dictation in level 2.

I totally agree that you don't need the DVDs for Prima Latina. The CDs help you pronounce the vocabulary, so you should be fine with just the CDs.

Just realize that WTM wasn't written by an expert in science. She might have some relevant ideas, but I would lean towards recommendations from people in the field. On a totally unrelated note, we incorporate more of an unschooly, interest-led science program around here in the early years.

I always lost tons of hair for about 5-6 months after birth. Just about the time the new hair was a decent length, I had another baby! I recently moved to Miami from a colder locale and my hair is falling out like crazy again! I hope I'm just shedding my "winter coat."

All three of my readers were confused for a while. If they paused while reading, I immediately told them the letter so that it didn't slow down their fluency. While writing, I made sure they formed the letters correctly: a 'd' is a tall 'a' and a 'b' starts with a line and comes back up and around. Over time there were fewer pauses and they started to get it right. I wouldn't worry at 5; at 7 or 8 I might get it checked out.

This is the same type of LCC block scheduling used by Memoria Press. You have the "daily subjects" of Latin, Math, Language Arts, and Literature, and then you have one more block of time for a "weekly subject." In third grade they have Greek Myths, States & Capitals, Bible, and Astronomy for weekly subjects. We do our daily subjects in the morning and the weekly subject after lunch. It works great for us!

I think it would be fine; after all, that is what you do in Level 3. I'm guessing you are directed to read to the student in 1 and 2 because some kids can't read/comprehend on that level yet.