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sleeplessnights

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Everything posted by sleeplessnights

  1. I would start easy with listening to the SOTW CDs in the car. I like MP's idea of focusing on famous Americans' biographies in 1 & 2 and then starting a more formal history in 3rd. I don't know how much you can really expect for a 1st grader in history, so don't stress!
  2. I just ordered 3D for my oldest and 3A for my second son. I think they're going to love the change in pace!
  3. We love MP, but we really don't use their K-2 materials except for Prima Latina. At these ages, my kids would rather use materials that are less-schooly and more interactive. We use All About Reading, ETC, CLE & Singapore math, All About Spelling, and Writing With Ease. Starting in 3rd, though, their curriculum is awesome. We've done 3rd and are working our way through 4th. We plan on continuing with them for many years to come!
  4. My youngest is 4 and I always feel a bit of guilt for him. We've got a system worked out where we work from 8-10 and then take the rest of the morning off. He knows that he can join us in the school room and work on his "work" or he can go play elsewhere until 10. I am usually cycling through kids, so there's usually someone free to play with. He also has his reading lesson during this time. My older kids finish their work during his quiet/nap time in the afternoon from 1-3. Luckily school still doesn't take too long.
  5. My oldest did Prima Latina in 2nd, Latina Christiana in 3rd, and now First Form in 4th. My second son is doing Prima in 2nd, and my younger two are not doing Latin yet. I plan on keeping them all on their own individual schedule. I'm afraid if I tried to combine them my older son would be cranking through and my younger one would be struggling to keep up. This way they can both work at their own pace. It working so far, I guess.
  6. I am studying Latin alongside my son. We've done Prima Latin, Latina Christiana, and this year we are working our way through First Form. There really isn't any reason to be far ahead of your student, unless you want to. Your student will be starting with nothing and so will you! My son always thinks it's funny when he remembers a word faster than me...
  7. Like others have said, CLE is great for math facts and practicing computation. The word problems & application, though, are way too easy. My kids were zooming through the Singapore books and didn't have enough practice and review, so I started up with CLE. Now we do CLE books 2-5 (1 is a review), then do Singapore work problems for a while. Then we do CLE books 6-10 and then do more Singapore word problems. The kids like the change-up and I feel like we get the best of both worlds. We use CLE as our primary program because the kids get a lot of practice, it is taught to the student, and it schedules in speed drills daily. This is great when you are teaching four kids at a time!
  8. We start in January, but we are usually about a half a year ahead of public school kids. All my boys have fall b-days, so they're more than ready. We aim for 10 weeks of schoolwork each of the 1st 3 quarters (Jan-Mar, Apr-Jun, Jul-Sep) and then about 8 for the last quarter. We try to take all of December as our "summer break." We take days off here and there, but usually the rule is that if Daddy is at work, they are too. We are taking about 2.5 weeks for vacation in April, a week for VBS in June, 2 weeks for tennis camp in July. And we take time off if we've got visitors in town, usually a couple of weeks a year. This schedule works really well for us right now, but I can see how it could get tricky in high school. But since my oldest is in 3rd this year, I'm not worrying about it right now.
  9. My fourth grader does: 8-10am: Math, Grammar, Spelling, Latin 1-3pm: Reading, Writing, and Science/History/Geography
  10. We have used MP for the past several years, and I love their materials. They work really well for our family. We started 4th grade at the beginning of the year and are finishing up week 5. Here are my observations so far: First Form Latin: Wow, I'm really impressed. This program does an excellent job explaining and presenting the info. The workbook is excellent. Famous Men of Rome: We break this into smaller chunks over 2-3 days. My son likes the color pictures and the stories. He says this is his favorite subject so far. We bought the flashcards and make new vocab flashcards every week. We review for five minutes daily and things are going well. Insects: I really enjoy the reader for this course. It's much more Charlotte Mason-y and interesting to read. My son likes the diagrams in the workbook. I appreciate the overview of classification at the beginning of the course. Geography I: We did the States & Capitals course last year and eased into this year's geography. The maps in the workbook are nice. The only problem is that some countries are passed over (like the small ones in the Middle East), which we'll add in along the way. 4th Grade Lit: We read their suggested titles, but prefer the VP guides when we can get them. VP's lines are bigger and I don't have the time for a ton of discussion about each chapter. We don't use Christian Studies because we do family Bible Study. We use CLE for math and grammar, R&S for spelling (as recommended), and WWE4 for writing. Now that we've gotten into the groove, I can tell that it's going to be a good year. My son is working more independently and is genuinely interested in what he is learning. My younger kids (2nd, K, and Pre-K) use some MP materials, but we have a considerable reading/writing imbalance, so we use other resources. Starting at 3rd grade, though, MP rocks!
  11. We made pumpkin pancakes this morning: 8 eggs 1 cup pumpkin puree 2 tbsp vanilla 3 tbsp honey 2.5 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp cloves 1/2 tsp allspice 3/4 tsp nutmeg 1/2 tsp baking soda 4 tbsp coconut oil They taste like little pumpkin pies. My kids love them!
  12. We got one from IKEA that has angled, adjustable legs. It is very sturdy. I can't find the exact one, but a smaller version is here: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S29820433/
  13. I have a quick question: Have you used the Scholar's Plans for VP's Literature? Does it provide anything besides what pages to read, like discussion questions or background info? I was wondering if they would be worth it. We love their literature, but we haven't used their plans yet.
  14. My third grader spends about 3 hours on schoolwork, with about another hour for reading. He does Math, Latin, L.A. (grammar, writing, spelling), and another weekly subject in this time.
  15. I believe that kids need to get their facts down cold in order to be able to do their upper-level math at a decent speed. I like CLE's method of memorization. Start with about five easy flashcards and go through them a couple of times. The next day add one or two more and go through them a couple times. If your student is slower to pick them up, they suggest two to three short sessions a day. As your pile gets bigger, take out the ones that are now easy to keep the pile manageable, but be sure to add them in every once in a while to review. This will allow you to get through addition and subtraction in a year. My 3rd grader (four operations) & 1st grader (2 operations) are at about 30/min, and my K'er is at about 20/min for facts up to ten (due to her writing speed). I think one of the keys is to make it a given each day, like brushing your teeth. My daughter likes practicing on her own and then I "quiz" her by pulling a couple out at random. Try to keep it light and fun and not stressful. It takes about 10 minutes max a day, so you're not really cutting into valuable school time.
  16. My kids have all been early readers & advanced in math, and we love MP! The problem with MP is that there is a lot of writing in the early grades. So, even if your child is advanced in most subjects, unless they can write a lot, you will have to make some adjustments. I would not skip a grade because the material gets considerably more difficult once you move towards middle school grades. For K-2, though, you might have some difficulty. We typically pick and choose their materials at this level. We don't do their K-2 lit guides; I just let them read. I like their recitation and enrichment activities for these levels. And feel free to do some subjects orally. When they reach 3rd grade, their extra subjects can be used at-level for advanced students. We use math at our own level, though we start using their lit guides (even though the texts are easy) in order to work on writing complete answers and vocab skills. My students also continue to read books at their challenge level every day. I have been very impressed with the work level in 3rd & 4th grades, it's just those first couple of grades that can be tricky. Good luck!
  17. We start up on Monday! I think we'll have to start up slowly since we took all of December off. This could be painful...
  18. We just finished this course in Dec with my 3rd grader. He thought it was a lot of fun. The course is divided into four sections: summer/fall constellations, winter constellations, spring constellations, and planets & other stuff. The book starts out with basic information like the 16 brightest stars, what is a constellation & and an asterism, brightness, etc. Then they methodically go through the major constellations, the origin of the names & the story behind them, how to find them in the sky, etc. It also covers the zodiac and why these 12 constellations are important. The fourth section has a couple pages about each planet and information about the moon, comets, dwarf planets, meteors, etc. The course is very independent and my son had a lot of fun memorizing the stars and "connecting the dots." We added in some extra fun books like Magic School Bus, we got a star chart for when we went outside at night, and we made a couple of trips to the local planetarium. He is so proud of himself when we go outside and he can "see" some of the constellations up in the sky. It is amazing what you don't notice when you don't pay attention, like how a constellation is in one part of the sky when you go to bed and another when you wake up. BTW, we also did MP's Greek Myths at the same time, which was nice when certain stories were referenced. We also have the Usborne space reference book and the Read-and-Find-Out books about the moon, solar system, and space. We don't do these formally, but since his interest is piqued, I find him perusing these during reading time. Let me know if you have any more questions!
  19. Merry Christmas to me, too! I usually have a list of products I'm saving up for...
  20. I loved By Jove as a kid! I've looked for it for my kids and can't find it for a reasonable price. Let me know if you know where I could get it! The Percy Jackson books are good too, depending on the ages of your kids.
  21. I don't know when it will be out of beta, but you can call them later and they'll send you the final version when it comes out for free. I got about 10 books replaced back in November.
  22. OK, I went and pulled out the book to make sure that I've got it right. Last year the English Grammar for the Grammar Stage and Intro to Composition were in the same book, but they split them into two. The grammar book does not follow the Literature, but the Composition does. Looking at the curriculum guide, a normal week would be three very short lessons. The first lesson would be like a WWE narration lesson. You read a passage out of what you have recently read, you orally answer some guided questions, and then you write a short summary of the passage. This is easier than WWE because you know the context of what you are reading (and have read it before). Then the two remaining days you do a dictation passage. Again, these are from the literature with characters you know and using language at your child's reading level. Yes, they are easier than the WWE passages. If you were looking at rounding out the composition lessons, you might consider their poetry guide. You memorize a new poem about every 6 weeks. They usually follow along with the literature you are reading. For example, while you are reading Farmer Boy, you memorize "The Happy Farmer" and "The Hayloft." You study the rhyme scheme and rhythm of the poems in addition to basic comp questions. My son has enjoyed the selected poetry. If you have any other questions, let me know. There probably aren't many people who have used these products since they're so new.
  23. My kids aren't that old, but we all do Bible together at breakfast (they each have their own AWANA lessons). We all listen to SOTW in the car and the younger three do social studies (history topics) and science topics together. My oldest does his MP science and history, though he likes to know what the younger kids are doing. My 2nd son reads a lot of biographies of famous Americans to himself. I intend to have them doing their own history and science using MP's curriculum once they reach 3rd grade. Up till then, we just hit on various topics like the water cycle, holidays, major historical events, etc.
  24. Yes, The composition book book is very similar to WWE, but it uses passages that you are reading in the literature books. I don't think the passages are used in conjunction with the grammar like in WWE, but there is narration, copywork, and dictation.
  25. We have done Prima Latina and Latina Christiana I. Both of these programs need to be taught by the parent. We got the DVD's for LC, but they were slow and dry, so I usually watched them and then taught the lesson myself. We will be starting First Form in January and it is written to the student with lots more practice pages, so I'm expecting him to be a lot more independent this year too (although I need to learn along side to answer questions).
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