Mostly new. I plan to use most things I buy with all 4 of my kids (and hopefully more to come) so I need it to last.

I agree with the other posters that you shouldn't really plan out how many days you will spend on each lesson (which was hard for me because I am a planner!). How many days it takes for us to complete a step has varied widely for us. Some steps we complete in 1 or 2 days other steps take us 3 or 4 days. It just depends on what is being taught and how quickly my Dd picks up on the concept. We are only in Level 2 but here is how we use AAS in case it helps you get a better picture of how you can make the program work for you.....Typically I try and teach the new concept in one day, two if really needed. After going through the lesson I read some of the words off of the spelling list for her to spell with the tiles. Once I feel like she has a good grasp on the concept I have her write all of the spelling words on paper as I read them to her. I than dictate to her either three phrases or 2 phrases and one sentence. The next day I test her on the previous days lesson by having her write all of the words again and then write two phrases and a sentence. If I feel like she has mastered the current concept then the next day I will move on to the next step, if not we do one more day of review. This pattern has seemed to work well for us thus far. Keep in mind though that we often spend longer than 15 min. a day on the days where I am teaching her new material, on the review days however, we maybe spend about 5-10 min. sometimes 15 if my daughter is having a hard time concentrating. Setting a timer for 15 min. like others have suggested may work better for you, it just doesn't work for us. HTH!

I have always bought lapbooks from HOAC when they have a sale. Their sales usually seem to be pretty good. On average the price I have paid for each lapbook when on sale has been anywhere from $3 to $5, a couple were $7 or $8. Last year they had a great sale before school started, so you could keep an eye out this spring and summer. A side note about the supermembership, last year during their sale they had a couple of days where the super members got an extra % off on top of the sale price. I was tempted to purchase a supermembership just for that :tongue_smilie:!

Thank you for taking the time to type that up, that really helps!

Do they give away note booking pages each month like they do with the 2 free lapbooks a month for super members? What are the unit extenders like? Are they just extra mini books? Do they have unit extenders for all of their lapbooks? Just curious do you get more use out of the fact that you get free lapbooks each month or the fact that you have access to the unit extenders? One more question...what all do you have access to under the super member extras on their website (is it just unit extenders or is there more)? Sorry about all the questions, I have been very tempted to sign up for super membership in the past but have yet to bring myself to pay the money for it. Thanks for any help!!!

:bigear: We have purchased some of their lapbooks and have really liked them. I have been tempted to purchase the super membership in the past and this would be the perfect opportunity to try it out. It seems like a good deal. If I am doing my math right at its current price on HSBC you get 24 lapbooks for $2.25 each. I will have to think about it some more. Thanks for posting the deal on here!

Thanks!!!

I have never used sonlight myself and I haven't been closely following all of the recent threads on sonlight, but I believe everyone is a little upset about sonlights upcoming changes. You can find out about the changes here.

We will be using Yr. 1 next year with a LG student. It will be our first year with TOG and I am extremely excited. I ordered all of the books for the year and have all the Yr. 1 units of the IG, now I just have to get started with planning:tongue_smilie:.

:bigear:

We have used RSA and now we are using RSB. Like another poster mentioned it is time intensive in the fact that you have to be there for the entire lesson, but I don't mind that at this stage. I don't do any prep work before hand. I have all of the manipulatives in a box and just pull the box out at math time. I also prepared all the extra index pages, including cutting apart flashcards etc., before the beginning of the year. Having all that ready makes the curriculum very open and go for me. With using RS my Dd6 is actually understanding math this year, a big improvement from last year when we were just using a workbook. I have never used SM so I can't really give an opinion on that, although I do plan on trying to combine it with RSC next year, not sure how I will do that yet. I am also curious to know how well RS and Miquon go together and how others make that work?

Congratulations!!!! :party:

:iagree: On Monday we went to a children's museum and on the way we past a school with a bunch of kids outside having recess. We pointed out to our kids that if they were not homeschooled they wouldn't be able to go to the museum with us they would instead be in school ALL day like the kids they saw. At that moment they were really glad that they got to do school at home. Maybe you could have her do a practice day at home so she could see what school would be like of she were going to school, including waking up and having to sit at her desk quietly even if she is done with her schoolwork. And perhaps add in more worksheets and writing, busywork, like the kids in school have. Maybe that would help her realize that the grass is not always greener on the other side. I agree with the other posters in the fact that you are the parent and you get to decide what you feel is best for her. You could even ask her WHY she wants to go to school, what does she think will happen there that won't happen at home, and try and meet that need. For example if it is social than schedule more regular play dates for her, etc. HTH! Good Luck!

Thanks!!!

Thanks!!! You have given me a lot to think about! :)

One more question, where do you get all those great experiment ideas? Thanks!

Yes!!!!! Sadly, I feel like I have learned more this year teaching my Dd K than I did most of my own PS education. I am really glad I had a few years of catch up work when I was homeschooled myself (7-10th) but I still feel extremely lacking in knowledge in most academic areas. I am excited of the chance to be able to redo my own education through my kids. 12 school years to go and I have a feeling it will be an eye opening ride!;)

Looks great!!! Looks like you guys are having a lot of fun! :D I am contemplating coming up with our own science curric this next year as well, or at least a mish mash of a bunch of different things. How long do you plan to spend on each animal? Are you guys going to study plants and the human body as well or just animals?

I would love to see it as well!!!:001_smile:

I had never heard of grammarland. Thanks for sharing!:001_smile:

:bigear: I am loving the suggestions on this thread. Dd is doing K this year and I am having a hard time fitting it all in. We only spend about 2-2 1/2 hr. a day but she is only in K. We are only doing the basics Math, Spelling, Handwritting, and Reading. I had big plans to do all kinds of things this year but they quickly flew out the window :lol:. We have dropped history for the year and for science we either read out of our RS4K Chemistry book or our Usborne Childrens Encyclopedia. Next year I plan on adding Formal history, Science, Art, Music, WWE, and FLL. I have no clue at how we will add any of these subjects and still stay within her attention span:confused:. I am loving reading all of these suggestions. Keep them coming.

Sorry this is a bit off topic, what program did you switch to?

:bigear:

This is what we do as well! I voted 5 days.