Just curious - what are your thoughts…how long is an appropriate time to encourage a 3rd grade boy to read independently every day? My DS doesn't typically pick up a book unless I make it a part of his daily homeschool routine. We typically set an alarm every day and he reads until it buzzes. I am passionate about reading and want to pass this love on to my children. Thanks! Lou

Thanks so much for your responses!

Hello WTM Friends! I'm curious for those of you who are a part of Classical Conversations and have kiddos in Foundations - do you use a Grammar curriculum in addition to the core memory work? After attending a CC Practicum this year, my dear friend was led to believe she has fallen behind by not including a Grammar curriculum in addition to her core CC memory work and phonics curriculum. She has 2 kids in Foundations. Her oldest is about to enter 3rd grade. We both are about to start our 3rd year with CC and were always under the impression that at this age, we really only need to teach Math and Phonics in addition to the Core Memory Work. Did she and I miss the boat on this somehow? If we do not include a Grammar curriculum in our weekly routine, will we be ill prepared for Essentials? Thanks so much for you help and input!

So sorry for the late reply. I am just now looking at this thread again and realized I did not thank you all for your responses. Each of your responses is so helpful for me. Thanks so much for taking the time to share your experiences and knowledge with me!

Thanks, Um_2_4! I would love to hear more about your workboxes and file folder/envelope games. This year will be the first that I actively try to do at least some form of homeschooling with all 3 of my children. I'm trying to figure out how in the world I'm going to organize and execute all these plans! Thanks for all your ideas!

Hey Ho, Parents of Twin Preschoolers! I have been slaving away on planning out lessons for my oldest son's upcoming homeschool year. With all my planning for his schooling, however, I do not want to neglect my bright and very active 4 year old twins. I know that if I don't plan out at least some basic lesson goals and plans for my twins, very little pro-active learning will take place with them this year. I decided to start with writing down my goals for this year, and then put together a very simple daily/weekly lesson plan for my twins. I was wondering if anyone else has any ideas to share about their plans for their preschool kiddos (twins). Does anyone have a daily/weekly plan? We will be attending Classical Conversations again this year. Last year, my twins simply went to the nursery. This year, I decided to put them in a class (simply because it seemed the better alternative to spending 3 - 4 hours in the nursery). If you're curious, here's the post I just wrote about my goals for my 4 year olds twins: Preschool Goals for 4 Year Old Twins Thanks! Leslie

Hello all! For what it's worth, I thought I'd share my blog posts with my plans/ideas for Classical Conversations Cycle 2, Weeks 1 and 2. I'll be a tutor for the first time next year and I wanted to get started early on my planning so that I'm not overwhelmed next year. Cycle 1, Week 1 post Cycle 2, Week 2 post I hope that it can help others. Thanks!

I can not thank you all enough for your replies. It is so helpful to me to hear that I don't have to do every page of the workbooks. Sometimes, I know in my heart that part of the book is unnecessary for my son, but my type A brain has a very hard time if we don't complete every page. I feel like I'm cheating in some way. I'm also concerned that without the worksheets he won't get enough practice or repetition/exposure to the concepts. I think I'm going to go through the textbook and see exactly what topics are remaining, then just find games that cover those topics. I'll definitely get the Zeus on the Loose game and probably a few others. I found this game online which I really like. I think I'll redo it a bit so that it becomes more about adding and subtracting within 100. Thanks again for all your ideas! I love the chalk idea and the scavenger hunt idea. My son would love those ideas.

Sorry. Wasn't sure what to title this post. I would LOVE some suggestions about how to help my son to focus and do his math work. Here's the scoop: he is naturally gifted at math. He used to enjoy it. Perhaps it's just because we're toward the end of the year, summer is here, and he's ready for a break. Or, perhaps it's because the math problems have gotten a little harder lately and he's not able to just fly through them like he did before. But, lately, I can not get him to focus to save my life. It's almost as if he is experiencing A.D.D. for the first time. However, I don't believe his ability to focus is the issue. It's more likely that it's just not his DESIRE to focus. He is able to focus when we do our phonics lesson, but I believe that is because it is more interactive and quick paced. With math, there are several workbook pages that he has to sit down and complete. It could take him all day if I didn't set a timer and give incentives to finishing. We use Singapore math curriculum. We only have 9ish lessons to go until we're finished with the 1st grade books. I'd love any advice, books or blog posts to read, anything! I know I must be missing something as the teacher if I can not help him enjoy math. Math was never my favorite subject, but I just enjoy learning in general and hate to see my son detest doing his work. Thanks in advance for any and all help!

Hello friends, I have a quick question for those of you who use Spell to Write and Read for your phonics program: how many spelling words do you go through in a school year? We are in our first year using SWR. My son is in the 1st grade. We got off to a late start using the program this year simply because it took me forever to figure out how to implement it. Once we got it going, we shot to do 3 spelling words a day, and one sentence (using the spelling words). We also do just a few minutes of the phonics flashcards. We have completed about 80 words. I'm wondering if we should stop once we get to 100 words and start reviewing the phonics and handwriting. As a side note, SWR is one of my favorite parts of our homeschooling day. However, this is not my son's favorite subject and he really resists my attempts to get him to write more. I would really like for him to write more sentences in a day, but I don't want to make homeschooling a negative experience for him. I'd love to hear what other people are doing that are using this program. ' Thanks so much!

I'm trying to get a game plan for the read aloud books I'll be reading with my 1st grader this year. I have the typical 6 year old boy who loves cars, ninjas, Star Wars, karate, etc. Some of the books that he has liked are My Father's Dragon, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and James and the Giant Peach. Any suggestions? Thanks! Leslie

Hey guys! This coming fall we being our first year in Classical Conversations (1st grade Foundations). I'm sitting here trying to work out our homeschooling schedule for the semester/year (ie. what we're going to study in every subject each week). Here's my question: what do you guys do in the weeks that you're off from CC? Do you fit ALL of your homeschooling into the 24 weeks, or do you extend the reading and math portions all throughout the year? Do you take all of December off to celebrate religious holidays? Do you fit in non-CC curriculum or activities/unit studies in those off weeks? Thanks so much for your help! Warmly, Leslie

Hello all! Does anyone have a recommendation for a Bible based history curriculum? I'm looking for something simple to begin with my 1st grader. I'm hoping the curriculum will begin at Creation. Thanks!

Hello all! I have a 6 year old (1st grader) who will begins his first year in Classical Conversations in August. I'm still trying to figure all this out. When do I need to incorporate history (I'm thinking SOTW) into our at-home curriculum? I understand that we will be going over the history timeline in CC, but I was thinking that we may need to supplement that with SOTW. Is this true? Just to give you a more complete picture, we will also be supplementing with math, phonics, and Bible in addition to possible adding piano (taught by dad), and Spanish. I also have 3 year twins that I will be caring for and "homeschooling". I also have an at home business, so I do have a few concerns about being stretched. Thanks so much for all your advice and input!

Here's my situation: I am trying to figure out which direction to take for my bright 1st grader next year. I have 3 friends (families) currently enrolled in CC and another one seriously considering it. Although there is so much that appeals to me about CC, I am not completely sold on it just yet. After coming across a few posts on this forum, and reading posts by the Accidental Homeschooler, I am incredibly curious about the TOG curriculum. I would LOVE to get together my own little co-op of 5 or so super cool, interesting families with similar world views and a passion for Christian Classical Education, but I don't currently have a group of homeschooling friends like that. We are close to about 5 other homeschooling families and, as I mentioned before, they are mostly committed to CC. Other than those few families, we are pretty isolated as homeschoolers. What would you do in my situation? I am definitely a leader type and have no problem organizing a group. However, I do not have a lot of experience homeschooling and don't have the vast wisdom many of you veterans have. I am also a bit of a control freak when it comes to my children's' education (OK, and pretty much every other aspect of my life as well). Art and creativity are vitally important to me, though my son seems very drawn so far to math and science (where does he get that?!?). We have visited 2 separate CC campuses and he has loved the experience. Oh. Also, I should mention: I have 2 year old twins that I fear will be have a hard time spending 4 hours every week in the nursery (as there isn't much structure - the children pretty much play with toys the entire 4 hours). Thanks for any and all input. I am open to all thoughts and would love to hear your honest opinions about each program. Thanks! Leslie PS- Why does CC only have 3 cycles as opposed to the 4 described in WTM?