My 8 & 6 year old sons each spend about 15 minutes, four days a week. My oldest is in Level 5. He does the lesson on Day 1 and spells the words. On Days 2 & 3 he writes dictation sentences. On Day 4 he does the Writing Station exercise. My second son is in Level 2. He does the Lesson on Day 1 and writes the words. On Day 2 he does the dictation sentences. He does a new lesson on Day 3 & writes the words, and then writes the dictation sentences on Day 4. It's actually quick and easy. I've tried other spelling programs, and this one was faster and more effective.

You don't NEED the readers, but they really are worth it! They are a small & hardback. They feel like "real" books, much more official than those other stapled together phonics readers. The illustrations are beautiful, and of course the stories coincide with the AAR lesson plans. My daughter reads and reads them in her spare time. When she finished each one, she got to write her name in the front (that's our family policy on books). She is very proud of her "books" and can't understand why she can't get level 2 yet. If you've got younger kids who will use them and the cost isn't a severe deterrent, I would get them. I doubt you'd be disappointed.

I homeschool my children because: 1. We are military and move frequently. I don't want to continuously have to worry about changing school districts. 2. We want to take time off when Daddy is home from deployments (flexibility) 3. Personalized education 4. Academic rigor 5. Ability to mention God 6. I like to be in control!

Are you new to this dentist? Every time we move (we are military), the first appointment involves paperwork, x-rays, and an oral exam. We have to schedule a cleaning as a separate appointment. After the initial exam, everything is done when I come in for the cleaning. I always assumed this was a new-patient thing.

I agree with most everything others have said. The one thing I have to add is that there is no way that I would have become a stay-at-home mom if I didn't have the legal marriage paperwork. If it's that easy to walk away, I wouldn't risk my future earnings for the sake of my family. I would need to have a "fall-back" in case of a spur of the moment break-up. In addition to the covenant before God, I always thought that the purpose of a legal marriage was to protect the family. Before women worked, they need to be taken care of. If the husband died, the wife (widow) had no income potential and needed his pension benefits. The same for the children. Medical benefits are applied to the family for the same reason. Instead of having two completely independent people living together, marriage was constituted so that they could work together as a unit for the benefit of the family. This assumes some risk on the part of the husband & wife, and the legal protections support this union. Obviously times have changed, but I don't know if it's for the better. I believe our society is deteriorating because we value earning money and buying things over a stable, family-centered lifestyle. We don't value the SAHM and the benefits she brings to society. If you hear the stories of kids these days, you'll understand where this is heading. Anyway, I don't care who gets legal "marriage" status & benefits as long as "traditional" marriages are respected and supported. Maybe we have deviated from the original purpose for marriage, but that doesn't mean that it's progress.

WWE2 is simply narration (summarization), some copywork, and dictation. These are skills that could be practiced across the curriculum if well-organized. For those of us who don't always have it together, the open-and-go workbooks are handy.

My oldest has the same problem. With word problems he can figure out what to do, do the correct operations, and then get the right answer. If I make him use a bar model, he's lost. I figure that the point is to be able to use the bar model to get the correct answer. The problems might be easy at this stage, but they're only going to get harder. I don't require him to use the bar models, however when we work the problems together I always use the bar models and talk him through it. He's getting to the point now that if I draw the bars, he can get the answer, though he can't draw them himself yet. I'm hoping that by near-constant exposure he'll be able to incorporate them into his problem-solving toolbox.

We use Singapore Math for our primary program, but it only takes my kids about 20 minutes. I also give them a page from something else. The extra page is usually something unrelated to what they're doing in SM. For example, my second son does a SM lesson and a page from MUS Beta every day. We also do math at least 45 weeks a year, so we have time to add in the Intensive Practice books too. From my (limited) experience, I have learned that a little bit of a new concept every day for many days will cement it into memory. This is why we don't do two or three SM lessons a day. I like to spread the lessons out to make sure it makes it into long-term memory.

I wouldn't start WWE until he could read the copywork. However, if you wanted to work on is "writing" skills, you could have him start to narrate short passages that you read. This would get his brain working before having to add in the reading/writing aspect.

We have used Prima Latin & Latina Christiana and we plan to use First Form next year. We haven't used any other Latin, so I can't compare, but I can tell you our experience. Prima Latina is mostly a review of English grammar, basic Latin vocabulary, and Latin prayers. Towards the end they added in the 1st conjugation to give the student some exposure to grammar forms. Prima took us about 20-30 minutes three times a week. The program helped reinforce English grammar and gave a gentle intro to Latin. It was perfect for a 2nd grader who is still spending a lot of time on basic skills. Latina Christiana was definitely a step up. There are 10 new vocab words a week and a new grammar form about every two weeks. The work level was good for my third grader, who was challenged to apply his new vocab and decline & conjugate into the needed forms. We work about 20-30 minutes a day, five days a week. We incorporated the Cumulative Review worksheets and the Ludere Latine game book. We have learned a lot this year, and I think LC will make the transition into First Form nice and gentle. We did not use the DVDs, but we listen to the pronunciation CD and use the flashcards. Although it is not a "flashy" program, it is age-appropriate and effective. I didn't have any previous exposure to Latin, but I was able to learn alongside my son, with additional helps provided in the Teacher's Manual. I whole-heartedly recommend this program, even though I have nothing to compare my experience to.

Memoria Press' New American Cursive was designed for 1st graders: http://www.memoriapress.com/descriptions/new-cursive.html

Memoria Press has a 6th grade US history program: http://www.memoriapress.com/descriptions/index_American-Modern.html

I have Osgood-Schlatter and my left knee was always super-tender when I was growing up. I could never kneel on it and it would throb after excessive amounts of exercise (I was very active). It would usually flare up when I was growing. I would just take an Advil and be ok. Knees are tricky to figure out. Your daughter may have pulled a ligament that didn't heal properly or this could be one of those normal flare ups. After a while she'll probably be able to figure out what's "normal," but if you're not sure I'm sure a doctor could figure out the problem. BTW, now that I've stopped growing, there's no more pain. However, the pointy knee still makes it difficult to kneel...

I sell on Ebay. I try to save my stuff for late spring/early summer when everyone's buying so I can get the best price. I figure with all of their safeguards and policies I'm less likely to get burned. I also belong to Paperback Swap and trade a lot of readers this way.

I would continue copywork in manuscript until she learns how to form the cursive letters and how to connect them. The tricky part of cursive are the different types of connections. Once she can form the cursive letters, you can practice connecting them with cursive copywork. My two oldest used HWT cursive in Kindergarten. The lines were big enough for their large writing.

I would recommend the lists from Sonlight, Veritas Press, and Memoria Press. My kids have all loved the Billy and Blaze books for this age. You can also get started with the Magic Tree House series because the first books are a much lower reading level and then move up as you go through the series.

We just bought a house in the Miami area in January. We were pre-qualified at a low rate and were ready to shop! The market here is down about 50% from its peak, so we wanted to get a good deal. First of all, about 80% of the houses on the market were short-sales. We have heard many horror stories about these deals taking months to work out because they have to be approved by the seller's bank, and the banks are backed up. Another 10% were foreclosures. You can get a decent deal, but the homes are trashed. Toilets missing, wires stripped out of the walls, mold growing everywhere due to the power being shut off. The remaining 10% were conventional sales. No problem, right? Well, this is where the cash buyers from South America come in. Any decent house is scooped up within a day or two of coming on the market. I never thought it would be so difficult to find a place in a "buyer's market." We finally got a decent place, but it wasn't the "deal" that I was hoping for.

I just got my 4th grade package in the mail. The teacher's manual has the weekly schedule in it, but the recitations and other "extras" haven't been included yet. (however, when they are, you can call up MP and they'll send you the updated one for free) I have to say that I'm really excited about what I see. The insects set is awesome. The reader is very Charlotte Mason, and the student workbook has sketching sections each week. It's nice to have a science that doesn't involve experiments. The Geography set looks great too. They include a US States review book in which you review one section a week. I was a little wary about the Classical Composition: Fable set, but the explanations have made all the difficult jargon easier to understand, and I might actually be able to use it well. I have been very pleased with the MP packages over the last few years, and I think that next year will be the best yet! Feel free to PM me if you need more info.

We moved to South FL in January and our house was full of ants. All food was in bags, and nothing improved. When we sat down on the sofa, they were crawling all over us. We finally called a local exterminator company and after about 6 treatments (mostly with bait), they are gone. We've never had to call anyone for ants in the past, but we couldn't get a handle on it ourselves. Apparently there were tons of nests in the walls from the previous owner. Here's a link to help identify your ants. Desperate times call for desperate measures! http://www.trulynolen.com/pest-identification/pest-guide/Ants/

If you are going to set up your tiles on the table, you don't need the magnets. We used ours on the refrigerator for the first two years and now we've got a magnetic whiteboard. You will need to organize your cards, so if you don't buy the AAS box/dividers, you will need to purchase one somewhere else. We never used the phonogram CD. We do about 15 minutes, 4 days/wk. Some lessons are short & some are long. You just move at your child's pace. Level 1 is the beginning and introduces a couple new concepts like when to use a 'c' vs a 'k'. You should start here even with an older student. AAS is an expensive program if you've got an older student who's an only child (luckily I've got four!). However, it's the by far the best stand-alone program we've tried. We especially love the dictation sentences and spend most of our time here at the upper levels (we're finishing level 5). It's easy to move faster or slower depending on your child's needs, so you can tailor it to your kids. Enjoy!

I don't buy the teacher's manuals. Sometimes they state the definitions/answers more eloquently than I would, but I really don't use them.

I would recommend AAS. We also had two really early readers here, but I knew that spelling was a completely different skill and I didn't want to miss something important. I wanted to be able to move at our pace, not complete a certain number of pages a day. We started AAS in first grade with level 1. Working two days a week, we finished the first three levels that year. Towards the end of level 3 we slowed down and started doing one step (lesson) a week. We did levels 4 and half of 5 in 2nd grade, and now we're finishing up level 5. The dictation in the program is perfect and helps to review previous spelling concepts. And the program is totally open and go. The only problem with moving this fast is that it can be pretty expensive. However, seeing as you have another child that will use the program, your cost/child is half! You will need the spelling interactive kit (one time purchase) and the level you are doing. I would recommend getting the first two levels to start. You also need something to stick your tiles on. We used the refrigerator for the first two years, but we finally purchased the recommended 2' x 3' magnetic white board. Enjoy!

Because she is a resistant reader, I would make sure that her reading lessons are short, but often. Maybe two five-minute sessions a day. This would keep her from being overwhelmed, while still making progress. And by mixing up lessons between the two programs, you could attack reading from different angles, hopefully keeping things interesting. Everything else looks good, but AAS might need to be started slowly so you can cement some reading skills first. Flexibility is the key, right? Good luck!

Don't move to the Miami/South Florida area. This place is crazy! The drivers are nuts, the place is either dangerous or gated with nearby strip malls. And, yes, we live in a neighborhood with an HOA. Everything is very expensive, especially the food and the ubiquitous toll roads. Luckily we're in the military and know that we only have to live here for 3 years. The beach is nice, though. I would move back to Georgia in a heartbeat. The people are so much nicer up there, and everything is much less expensive (esp homeowner's ins).

If you are looking for a summary-type narration, usually 3-4 sentences is sufficient (as in WWE). In second grade, I wouldn't make him write the whole thing, or the quality would rapidly diminish. I like to type his oral narration (helping him form decent sentences), and then I dictate a sentence or two back to him to write. I hope that this method will help him develop a decent writing style. Time will tell, I guess.