We're waiting until 4th grade to do in depth grammar study, and I have taught what nouns and verbs and adjectives are starting in 1st grade but informally...mostly because I wanted to be able to use that terminology and I thought it might show up in standardized testing (required in our state). I would just casually mention the definitions while working with spelling words and ask DD if various words were nouns, etc. My kids also like the free Grammar Jammers app, and I am thinking I might buy them a schoolhouse rock DVD this year.

Can anyone compare it to the Right Start games that use the multiples cards. Is it similar?

Ok! It's goals, spiritual focus, Character development, Questions asked, Topics of interest, Learning opportunities, notes, activities I kind of picked those as headings I liked from a few different planners. I'm not sure yet how well I will make use of them. We're not back to our full schedule yet, but i already found one other thing I wish I would have done differently. We don't really ever do school on the weekend, I just left that column there because I thought it would mess up the layout to take it out. But what I wish I would have done is moved all the "day" columns one place to the right and then with the freed-up column on the far left put an "overview" column. I would use that to put something like the lesson # for the week in spelling (1 lesson = 1 week), then in the daily spelling columns writing the activity we do that day and not feeling like I need to write the lesson # over and over again. The nice thing about the pro-click is I can redo this if I want to! :lol: I'll only be out the handful of sheets of paper/toner I used to print it. But I'm going to give it a few more weeks and see if I think of any other improvements....like maybe any different headings on the right.

DD started listening to chapter books at 4.5, but I didn't try much sooner. DS5 would occasionally listen to chapter books before he turned 5, but didn't reliably have the attention span for it before he turned five. Now that I have two DC with a good attention span for chapter books, I am trying some chapter book read alouds during the day (previously I almost always read chapter books at bedtime to DD when DH was dealing with the boys or they were in bed). DS3 more often than not runs off to play when I start reading or looks at his own books. He is listening sometimes though -- just yesterday even though he appeared to be doing something else nearby, DS3 made a pretty insightful comment on the story I was reading. When it comes to picture books that DS5 and DS3 pick out themselves, they can have a long attention span for multiple books in a row...but the fact that they picked the books out and they have pictures makes a huge difference.

We love history around here and even my K'er is excited about it. But I know I had very little history in elementary school (other than maybe Columbus and the Pilgrims) before about sixth grade. I still learned a ton of history from later courses and maybe even more from watching a ton of documentaries with my parents who were really into historical stuff. There are a lot of other age appropriate geography and "social studies" topics - learn a bit about each continent and the fifty states (my second grader learned to locate the 50 states last year), learn about "community helpers", learn about holidays and why they are celebrated, etc. Even really basic easy nonfiction books from the library can help with those topics, watching kids educational shows, websites, etc.

If you download it as an excel file (I can't remember if there was more than one option), everything was editable for me. I think I may have had to "save as" first to make it not a read-only file on my computer. So then I was just able to click on the headings and change them? I think they may have looked for a moment like they were suddenly not going to face sideways, but once I stopped typing in each field and clicked the next one, the text turned the proper way on its own.

:iagree: We do art, PE and science at our co-op, but it only meets twice a month for 3.5 hrs each time and there is no homework outside of co-op. PE is not really a huge priority for me and in my mind any physical activity (sports, bike rides, active play) "counts" for PE anyway (I have thought a bit about it because PE is technically part of our state requirements). My kids do a ton of art on their own, and science is of too much importance to me for a couple hrs a month to be enough. But if it's a co-op that meets every week, assigns homework etc, or it is a subject area you just are not super concerned about at this time, then sure, you could "count" your co-op as covering that subject.

You know, I think BFSU is lighter in some aspects of the natural/biological sciences. While nature observation/observing local plants and and animals, etc is mentioned as an ongoing activity, some people do this as a primary cornerstone of their science studies, so I could see supplementing BFSU with nature study resources. Some curricula might spend a whole semester on, say, studying mammals (or other types of animals/fish/birds, etc) or a whole year studying the human body. BFSU just doesn't go into as much depth on those topics so that could be another direction to pursue.

People pronounce baby b-/long a/-b-/short i/ ?? Really? Or am I misunderstanding what you are saying?

Quick reply here... ie says /short e/ in friend ... Not sure if there are other examples? This is in the advanced phonograms in LOE. I think that Pie isn't actually the ie phonogram...it's e making i say its long sound...it's following the pattern of words like pike or pine, there just doesn't happen to another letter between.

Another vote for scotch laminator (I think I paid $25 at Walmart a few years ago). I use generic laminatin sheets from SAMs club. A package of 200 sheets was maybe $20? This weekend is "non members get in free and don't pay extra" at Sam's club so it's a good time to check it out there if you don't have a membership.

There's a couple of pages here and here at 1+1+1=1.com with a lot of calendar time ideas. I pinned a few calendar notebook ideas here on Pinterest.

There's four chapters of spelling games in addition to the four chapters of phonogram games -- we haven't actually played any spelling games yet so I am not sure how fun or interesting they are.

It has a lot, lot more interactive games. Starfall always seemed to me to mostly be "watching" stuff. I doubt I would ever pay full price, but over the years I have gotten in on various "deals" and found it to be worthwhile at a lower price. I found the addition within the past year or so of the spelling games and the reading comprehension section for older kids to make it a bit more worthwhile. But there are definitely times when I had to "help" because the mousing was too difficult (the child knew the words but couldn't quite click in the right the right place at the right time fast enough).

I haven't used FLL so it is hard to make a fair comparison, but I would say the grammar is a "side dish" to the "main course" of spelling in LOE. It gives an introduction to many grammar concepts, but I definitely still plan to do a more complete grammar program for DD when she is a bit older. I can't imagine spending the $$ on LOE unless you really wanted or needed the type of spelling instruction it provides. We aren't using the handwriting portion of LOE at this time either. I may still consider it, but DD doesn't need it (she is fine just doing copywork in cursive having done a cursive program already for a year and a half before starting LOE) and DS5 doesn't want to learn cursive (and I had already purchased Reason For Handwriting to teach him manuscript).

I found this series at our library by Brian Cleary: http://www.worldcat.org/title/stop-drop-and-flop-in-the-slop-a-short-vowel-sounds-book-with-consonant-blends/oclc/214322785&referer=brief_results Our library also had the flip-a-word series: http://www.worldcat.org/title/snow-bow/oclc/154685759&referer=brief_results I've also had some luck browsing the library catalog by subject. Two subject headings I found with some good results were: Reading -- Phonetic Method -- Juvenile Literature and English Language -- Phonetics -- Juvenile Literature I think there might have been some others too -- when you do find one or two good ones, see what they are cataloged as and browse from one subject to the next. good luck!

LOL! I just transferred some cards to baggies today because I am tired of my rubber bands breaking. I find myself gravitating toward games where I can use the bigger flash cards, as I keep those better up to date. I have three stacks - mastered, in use, and not introduced. I make sure the "not introduced" pile stays in alpha order so I can find things more quickly. Theoretically I should have three similar piles for each set of game cards, but since I haven't been using those as much those piles are not up to date. The all the little baggies or rubber banded stacks get tossed in an Ikea trofast drawer. It's a lot of stuff in the drawer...some kind of boxes or dividers in the drawer would be ideal.

I finished my planner for 2012-2013! I was inspired by this thread and found the template I modified to create the "weekly planner" portion of my planner! (Thanks, littlewigglebutts for sharing your "chiller" planner!). I posted pictures on my blog (better pictures and more close ups than in my post about last year's planner): http://homeschooldiscoveries.com/2012/07/31/2012-2013-d-i-y-homeschool-planner/ This is a great thread...I must be a planner geek because it is so fun to see what everyone uses for planners!

This is what we are going to do as well...DH is getting it set up right now. I think he picked a different one that was maybe $12 for a month of unlimited or something. I am :angry: that NBC won't let us just pay for a pass to watch their streaming. So even though the VPN route is not totally legal, I feel perfectly ethical given that I can't even pay for it if I wanted to for internet only streaming.

Do you think the third sound of "a" might share more in common with the sound of the "aw" phonogram in some dialects/regions? I can hear that subtle difference in my own Midwestern dialect, but if I imagine a southern "y'all" for instance, it seems far closer to "aw".

We're not all the way through the right start levels by any means (we are mid way through C), but from what I gather on the Right Start yahoo group, some users go right from Geometry (aka level G) to video text A (which I guess is pretty equivalent to pre algebra) at what ever age they are either done with or part way thru G. I thin you can do parts of video text A concurrently with G (again from what I have read, not personal experience). But, some people feel their child is too young or not well enough prepared for VT level A (could be as young as late 5th grade if you started RS A in K and were able to do one RS level per year and wanted to start VT when the RS author recommends it, half way thru G). So some people use other programs in between. I thin it is pretty common though for students to take more than one year on at least one of the levels, which would bump up the age and maturity for starting VT A.

Just to clarify, I did page protectors in a "regular" spiral binding last year at the copy shop - I didn't get the pro click until January. But just for kicks I did try a page protector in it just now. It worked, but it was a bit tricky to get it lined up in there just right to get the holes all the way on the plastic. I'm probably not going to do page protectors this year because the proclick is so easy to add/remove pages from. I think if you need page protectors though I would go with the lightweight ones - they might be a bit easier to punch.

Here's a post I wrote about my planner from last year (and what I'm planning for this next year) with links to quite a few free printables: http://homeschooldiscoveries.com/2012/06/20/p-is-for-planner/ Hope that helps!

Not surprised that Moby Dick is a top choice for this question...I had to read it for a college lit class...I will admit I skimmed a lot. Since I didn't have to read it until college, I would have no qualms with not teaching it before that. I think I could have lived my life just fine, in fact, having just read a plot summary Instead of the whole book. :lol: Not a classic at the same level by any means, but i have a strong memory of hating Johnny Tremain as a 7th grader so I just don't know if I can bear to add it to our studies. :glare:

:iagree: This is exactly what we are doing this year. I took a calendar colored in a different color for each unit or time period (they aren't all the same length, as there were a couple things I wanted to spend more time on). Then I made up a spreadsheet with a few key texts to use, historical fiction for read aloud, historical fiction for independent reading, a "book basket" of non-fiction and picture books, and some activity books/lapbooking/notebooking resources for each unit. I'm not planning each week out at all -- My plan is to ask DD to spend 20 minutes or so reading independently from fiction or the book basket, and I'll spend time each day reading to the kids outloud as well (some days I'll pick what we read and some days I'll just ask them to pick something from the book basket). Some longer books will be bedtime read alouds with just DD (we read 30-45 minutes every night before bed). I'll assign maybe one or two written items per week (notebook page, lapbook piece etc) and then just provide the activity/craft books for them to peruse on their own. They love doing crafts though and will totally pick up an activity book and just start "doing something." Then after the designated # of weeks we'll just move on (unless they are so into it they just beg to continue...if that happens I guess I will just cross that bridge when I get to it.). You can download the spreadsheet I made of our plans from this post on my blog, if you want to see what I planned (and I know we have more on it than we would read...I just wanted lots of choices in case we couldn't find some of the books, some books didn't work out, etc): I'm viewing this as a great intro to US History for two older ones...they'll both get it again anyway when they are older! :001_smile: