I voted that you should continue. Reading and math at that level really need to be done every day to improve. My youngers still read out loud every day, even on our vacations days so that they don't backtrack. Plus, school at that age only takes an hour anyway, so you might as well continue. My kids like the routine.

Yea! It's nice to see other families that plan from Jan-Dec. We've got one more week of school for this school year and then we take Dec off. Next year I've got: DS (almost 9) - 4th grade Singapore 4A/4B & CLE math 4 CLE LA 4 WWE 4 First Form Latin MP Lit 4 MP Geography 1 MP Insects MP Famous Men of Rome Bible/Awana Health DS (7) - 2nd grade Singapore 2B/3A & CLE math 2 CLE LA 2 WWE 2 Prima Latina MP Lit 2 SOTW 1 R&S Geo 4 RS4K Physics Pre-1 Bible/Awana Health DD (5) - 2nd half of K CLE Math 1 Reading R&S Spelling 2 Copywork Bible/Awana DS (4) - pre-K MUS Primer AAR 1 Kumon letter writing preschool skills Bible/Awana We've got most of our materials in already. Now I just have to figure out the logistics of how I'm going to teach four levels at once...

This is what we do, but I put it all in the blender after boiling and before chilling. This takes the lumps out. Actually, I made it this morning and the kids confirm that it's yummy!

My first grader does WWE Level 1 four times a week. Days 1 and 3 are copywork and days 2 and 4 are narration. Then we do FLL 3 days/wk and AAS 4 days/wk. We do cursive twice a week (opposite copywork days). On the day we don't do grammar, we work on geography. Once we finished the intro cursive book, we started to do our WWE copywork in cursive. This leaves one day a week free to work on special topics like science and art. We do math, reading, read alouds, and bible daily. Oh, and we listen to SOTW in the car for history.

Memoria Press and Veritas Press have comprehension guides for many elementary school classics.

I schedule 10 weeks of school work for every three months. We take time off as we need it, and do half days on Monday. Usually one of these weeks off per quarter is a science experiment/art project intensive week, which is a nice break from the books. Scheduling 40 weeks a year allows us to slow down when we get to difficult or interesting topics, or have more flexibility when life gets crazy!

I wouldn't call them LCC "purists" because they add spelling, some grammar, and science in elementary. However, they definitely design their curriculum based up on the LCC model. Latin, Math, LA, and Literature are scheduled every day. History, geography, science, and Bible are once a week, though included in the daily recitation. It's very streamlined and efficient, and very effective...as long as your priorities line up with theirs.

My oldest still loves picture books. I would highly recommend Bill Peet's books. Roald Dahl has a lot of pictures in his books too.

My 6.5 year old (almost 7) is about a third through Level 3. My 8.5 year old is just about done with Level 5. They both started when they turned 6, but were already good readers. My oldest did Level 1, 2, and half of 3 in 1st grade, then finished 3 and did 4 in 2nd grade. Now we backed off and is doing only Level 5 in 3rd grade.

I have waited for 1st grade to start spelling with my kids. My three oldest have all read chapter books in Kindergarten, but I've tried to keep K low key. I think that the extra time to solidify reading makes spelling a lot easier because they have a better visual memory from their reading. Although they start AAS in 1st, my two oldest have finished levels 1, 2, and half of 3 in 1st grade, so they're not behind in the long run.

I swear we've had only 5 days without rain in the last 90. In fact, we got 4 inches of rain over night last night. It would be nice if the standing water would be absorbed before the next rain starts...

My 8-year old is in charge of the dishes. He loads the dishwasher, washes the hand-wash dishes, dries them, empties the dishwasher, and puts them away. Sometime he needs help, and it's not always a great job, but he can do this job. My 6 year old wipes down the table and chairs after meals. He also sweeps the dining room and takes out the garbage. My 5 year old sets the table for meal and helps dry the dishes. My three oldest kids also fold their own laundry, cleaning up their toys, and make their beds. The also do other random chores during family cleaning time, but they are fully-capable of working. I won't yet let them clean the bathrooms, though.

I don't know all the logistics, but my husband took this route right out of high school. I believe there are two options: 1. Enlist in the military for four years, and then you'll have the G.I. bill that will pay for four years of college (at whatever their calculated rate is). There is no more military requirement after that four years. 2. Get a R.O.T.C. scholarship and attend college right out of high school. The military will pay for four years (again, at their rate) of college. During college you'll take a weekly military leadership class. One summer you'll go to boot camp for a couple weeks. When you graduate, you'll be commissioned as an officer in your branch of service and you owe them four years.

I would just use the phonics and the phonics readers. I would also read aloud to her a lot and ask her questions as you go along to make sure she's comprehending.

If I were to pick only one of these sets, I would definitely buy the Astronomy set. It would be very easy to read and then narrate the stories in the Greek Myths book and the Golden Children's Bible. A recitation for the facts to remember is in the Curriculum guide, so you could easily get away without the workbook sets for these two. For the US States & Capitals, you just need a blank map (we use one of the Uncle Josh's blackline maps for daily review). You really don't need their workbook if you need to cut corners. My son has enjoyed the Fun Facts about the 50 States book, though. The Astronomy workbook, however, is like a worktext. Three quarters of the year your student will be "connecting the dots" in the constellations, so the workbook is very necessary. The workbook also includes the teaching, so if you don't have it you will have to piece something together on your own. We tried a couple different resources for Astronomy, but my son liked MP's curriculum the most because of the focus on constellations and the tie-ins to the Greek Myths that he was studying. I haven't really used the teacher's manual for astronomy, so you could get by without it, if needed. Actually, I might buy the Astronomy student book and the States & Capitals student book, both without the teacher's manual. Have fun connecting the dots!

We use their curriculum packages, but we opt out of Math and LA. We use their Latin, their History, their Bible, their Science, and their Literature. If it's cheaper, just buy the whole package and sell the other parts. This way you will save some money and if they make future changes to the packages (curriculum guide, etc), you can get the updates. Plus, you can have the other items on hand "in case" you decide you need to try something else or need to supplement.

We are finishing up R&S 3 for grammar this year and I have been impressed with the lessons. My oldest has learned a lot, though he still makes occasional adjective/adverb mistakes on his sentence diagrams. We are set to use R&S English 4 and Spelling 5 for next year, but... I was glancing at CLE Language Arts 4 online and noticed that their lessons integrated grammar, spelling, and penmanship. I also noticed their "spiral" method for keeping grammar concepts fresh. I know that R&S reviews previous topics in the TM and some in the lessons, but my son could use constant continual review. I also liked the fact that it was a worktext so that he could work a little more independently and didn't have to write everything out. So my question is: how does the grammar instruction in CLE compare to R&S? If R&S is far better, we will stick with it, but if they're close, CLE would work a lot better around here (with four kids, you know). Thanks for your help!

My daughter is using R&S phonics right now. She's in Year 1, near the end of Unit 2. It is way too much writing for her. She'll do the matching and circling, but she won't write more than a word or two. That said, we love it. It is quick (I do the writing), the sequence is faster than ETC, and we love the edge lists. She loves keeping track of how many she gets right on the chart in the back of the book. We also do the accompanying Printing Practice book, which is just enough writing for her. It's nice that the printing practice (copywork) coordinates with the phonics lesson. Although she's starting to read Magic Tree House Books, we will probably continue in order to solidify the more difficult phonics patterns.

What is slowing your son down in math? Is it too hard, does he get distracted, or does he just not like writing? If it's too hard, I'd cut the lessons in half. If he's distracted, maybe several 5-minute lessons spread throughout the day. If he doesn't like writing, write it for him! I like Charlotte Mason's concept of short, focused lessons. My K'er does about 15 minutes of math, my 1st grader about 20 minutes, and my 3rd grader about 25-30 minutes. Your day shouldn't be taking so long. For the "extra" subjects, if the kids are not engaged and enjoying them, just drop them and hit the playground. They are meant to be the fun part. Maybe one extra subject a day. My 1st grader's required subjects are math (20 min), copywork (10 min), grammar (10 min), spelling (15 min), and reading (30 min). I do these in three different periods. Of course I read aloud a lot, but this is all the "school work" that he has to sit down and do each day.

We memorize ours through 10. We don't work too much with dozens around here, so I figure I don't need 11's and 12's. I would only drill flash cards until she can recite them quickly. This may take several times a day, once a day, or once a week. Every child is different. For my kids, the best way to drill math facts is to do more complex math problems. For example, working a bunch of double and triple digit addition problem reinforces addition facts in a more natural way.

If you don't want to read a tome, a step above SOTW would be the Dorothy Mills books published by Memoria Press. I believe they were written with middle schoolers in mind.

Go ahead and move at their pace. When you get to a lesson that gives them some trouble, you won't have to worry about getting behind if you have to slow down. The books tend to start easy and get more difficult towards the end. When my kids finish a book early you can either use math topics/resources so they don't get more than a little ahead or you can move on. If your oldest is finding it easy, you can continue to work off his confidence and move right into Beta, which picks up where Alpha leaves off.

I had this same problem when we bought our first house in Texas. Our buyers agent was very knowledgeable and professional, but the documents put out by her office were almost unintelligible. At closing I gave her back her documents with corrections and offered my editing services in the future, if desired. Even if the individual is well-regarded, poor grammar and spelling make you look like a dunce! I would be embarrassed if it was due to lack of attention (and unprofessional), and I would be embarrassed if it was due to lack of elementary education. I could understand if English was his second language, but it sounds like he doesn't care about his job enough to read back through his postings. I'd complain the college dean and ask for my money back.

We are just finishing up the Astronomy book. The first three units are constellations: summer/fall, winter, spring. It covers their background stories (mostly via Greek Myths), how to find them, and their Latin & English names. The last unit covers planets, moons, comets, etc. You memorize the 15 brightest stars, the zodiac, the planets, and a poem called The Pleiades. We work on the workbook one day and review one or two other days. You could definitely accelerate the course by doing Astronomy two or three days/week. There are no experiments, so it's simply open and go. Younger kids would have no problem doing the course, so I think it would be a good fit for your family. If you have any other questions, let me know. Thanks

We don't do MP's K & 1 Literature because we like to just read. My oldest didn't do any of 2nd and picked up one of the 3rd grade books and one of the 4th grade books in 3rd. My second son is going to do two of the second grade books next year. We also mix in some of VP's lit suggestions. Feel free to customize as you'd like. If you use the curriculum guide, you can still mix and match, but you might be on different weeks in different subjects. Once you get to 3rd grade, the composition lessons are integrated with the Lit, but you can do whatever you'd like before then. Happy Reading!