We did level 6 for two years when the boys were in 5th/6th and 6th/7th. We just started 7 adn plan to only do half this year and half next. I don't know if we'll do anymore grammar after that or not...

I have 7th and 8th and K and 1st. Like you my youngers will sleep in late. I find that if I can get the older boys up and we can do school between 7 and 9, we can get more done in those two hours with the littles asleep then in the whole rest of the day. I imagine you can get much of CC, LOE, and some Sonlight and make sure he knows what to do in Math and science later. We all have breakfast together. Then I can work with the little ones and the olders can go on with thier independant work from say 10-12. Next we have a break and lunch. THEN the littles have quiet time in their rooms, and I can do projects or expiraments with the olders (or go work out ;) So for us getting up early and having a quiet time for the little ones really helps things go smoothly.

I think some of it also comes from accepting that things won't always be lined up and that isn't always a bad thing. If you have a great supplement that is ahead of one or behind the other that is okay. For the one who has already done fractions (or the constitution, or verbs, or whatever) it will be a review, which are important to keep throwing in, and for the one not quite there, it will give them a little step up when they get there.

My older boys are not question askers. Never have been, probably never will be. These are not the kids that said why 100 times. That said I am sure they all knew about reproduction by 7 because it is hard to miss in our family (volunteer at pregnancy center/work as a postpartum doula/live on mini farm). I can't imagine the facts of reproduction not being a topic of conversation by that age, but it wouldn't have been because they were asking questions, just because it is something I talk about often. On the other hand my younger two are question askers.

Glad I was helpful. We have just finished it, and while I don't often read the books the boys are reading (or at least not recently enough that I can remember the similes or symbols in them), we do listen to books on CD in the car quite often. I have found those audio books a good time for us to discus some of the topics we learn about in Figuratively Speaking.

I think few kids are ready to start in WWE 3 or 4 unless they have been doing narrations and especially dictations quite a bit already. But most older kids won't need all of levels 1 and 2 either. I think the best thing to do for an older kid is get the text book- The Complete Writer (your library might have it, or a nearby homeschooler) and work through the sample weeks until you get to the right level. It has 4 or 5 weeks for each level in the text. It is also perfectly fine to go from WWE 3 to WWS 1, and just skip WWE 4.

Okay, I think I've got this straight now- If you go for the elementary books, pick the sentance composing, NOT the story grammar, but if you use the middle school ones, pick the Grammar book NOT the Sentance Composing one. Those are the books that use correct grammar terms. And I have found some cool things on thier site- http://userpages.umbc.edu/~killgall/ First there is a Daily Sentance Composing book, that sounds exactly like what you are wanting. It also looks like some of the books have teachers manuals you can download. Here is another thread about books selections- http://forums.welltr...on#entry3906659 But you can see pretty extensive samples from the links on that first site. I've never seen the Middle school book, and it is strange to have one book give examples from both Steven King and Curious George???

That is pretty much how we use it. Mostly we just do it orally together in the morning and then they write down one or two sentances. I think you want the Sentance Composing books, not the grammar books. If I remember corectly when I was researching it, the books with "grammar" in the title, don't actually use correct grammar terms, the sentance composing ones do. I am using it with 6th and 7th graders and after looking at the descriptions, decided to get the one for elementary school. The exercises are the same, and I/we much prefered the books used in the elementary books over the much more adult books in the middle school books. Not that it is going to have inappropriate selections, but this way the sentances are like old friends.

Ugghh, I recycle it all. I hate when a grandparent or inlaw brings me a box of old things that I have to now figure out what to do with them. I hate when suddenly a spelling test or a mid term report takes on such great importance because it is 30 years old But then I work very hard at keeping very few things in our whole house. Less is more.

I think you can use (or skip) either one. We don't do grammar every year. We did FLL3 as our first formal grammar when the boys were in 3rd and 4th and then didn't do grammar for a couple years and did R&S 6 starting in 5th and 6th grade. It has all been fine. Most grammar starts at the beginning each time.

I agree with many here that my boys weren't avid readers at those ages either. One was a very strong reader and the other really struggled, but neither of them read all the time until closer to 10. Now at almost 12 and 13 I have to take the books away in order to get them to sleep otherwise they'll both be up reading until the wee hours of the morning. I think you are probably doing everything right to raise readers (reading aloud, modeling reading) but give them a few more years. I have also heard that seeing fathers reading makes a big impression on boys especially, but my husband pretty much only reads at work (he is a railroad conductor so there is down time between stops) , so while they see me getting him books and he and I talking about books, they rarely see dad read. And so far the older ones are book worms.

I agree that there isn't usually room to write in the book, occasionally there is a lesson with lots of "write the word" problems that I will photocopy and have the boys circle the answers. It doesn't work that often, but they really enjoy it when it does ;)

I think you've gotten good advice, but if you can check out the instructor text at your library, I do think there is good information in there that is worth reading through. AND you know for sure what level to start with because there are sample weeks in the text. But I think WWE 1 is probably the right level.

This is what I always hear, but we did 6 having done FLL3 as our only formal grammar study three years earlier, and it was just fine. I don't think it really matters, and I really liked doing 6 over two years. But you could also do 5 over two years and skip 6 and be at the same place.

We did FLL 3 when the boys were in 3rd and 4th and then skipped to R&S 6 when they were in 5th and 6th (and took two years with it- so we are just finishing it now when they are in 6th and 7th). I thought it was just fine. We will be doing R&S 7 or 8 next year (and probably taking two years for it).

Crimson Wife- can you link or tell me more about the discovering Math changes? I have been perfectly happy with the U.S. edition of primary and we are using the original edition of Discovering Math 1, so I haven't even looked into this any, but maybe I need to. thanks

I sell cheap or give it away, in fact I often post almost everything I want to get rid of on paperback swap. No we don't have much money, but I believe that things I need will show up and they almost always do (or something close enough does). When I do have something to sell, I usually look at what it is going for here or on Amazon and do around that.

I can't get that link to work but the ISBN on mine is 0881603171 (which looks like the number in your link, so I bet it is the right one)

That is pretty similar to what we did. WWS, CW poetry, typing, lots of reading, foriegn languages. We did add in a formal grammar and a formal vocab, but if you are okay with it I don't think it is necessary. We did use a few extras that I though were worth the time. Figurativly Speaking (lit terms) Sentance Composing Reading out loud (from McGruffy Readers) Memory work

Does anyone have a link to "compound prepositions" like that? Where several preposions can have the same object? I understand ones like "according to" but they aren't the same as this and I can't find anything that shows more then one preposition to an object. I think this sentance and it's confusing diagram show why diagramming can help. What you have is a series of three things- 1- through, 2- around, 3- over the coral. Because your series isn't parallel and is made of two adverbs and one prepositional phrase, the diagram is confusing.

Did you know they have Original Editions and Discounted books at the PHP website for cheap - http://peacehillpress.com/originals http://peacehillpress.com/discount

I don't know if my rambling made it clear that the instructions for the maps are in the AG and the maps are in the student pages, so if you get the updated student pages and the old AG, there will be some lessons that the maps don't exactly line up. I didn't find it a big deal, most of them work out just fine, just a heads up.

And just to clear up any legal issues, as far as I know the copywrite gives you permission to make copies for your own family, but if you acutally used the book (and aren't selling a book that didn't get used) then you should use up the student pages on your last child and only resell the AG and the next person can buy thier own student pages from Peace Hill Press.

For the most part all of the revisions were cosmetic. Having used/seen many versions of SOTW 1 and 2 in the past, these are my thoughts. (3 and 4 weren't revised they were published the first time with the changes they realized they wanted to have in the first two) Text- The actual text, even page numbers are the same, it was a change in formating and maps, not much difference. AG/student sheets- this is where the biggest changes are, but the narrations/questions and book suggestions are the same- they didn't update the reading lists. The activies are the same, but the revised student pages are much better graphics and layouts. The maps and coloring pages are much better in the revised student pages. Some of the map exercises different although many are the same or very similar. We did use the old AG and the new student pages the second time we did SOTW 1 and I thought it was fine. I would do it again (and probably will in another couple years). CD's have a different reader, but since the text is the same you pick which one you like better. I am not sure if the tests were revised, but I am sure they were just cosmetic changes.

For my kids at those ages, Reading is the most important for the 1st graders, and for us 4th tends to be a year that takes on a lot more work and can be long days (for both of us) I can't really be on for everyone at the same time, I am either teaching the two younger or the two older and the others don't interupt 27 times. How good are the little ones at reading? They might not need grammar or writing yet. I'd probably do something like this (times are very loose)- after breakfast say 8:30- bible together, start older on independant work (reading history or science, maybe handwriting or spelling) 8:45-9:45- I work with the younger ones on reading and math and handwriting 9:45- 10:45- give youngers a break (you'll figure how structured this needs to be) do writing and math with older 10:45-11:00 Probably take some kind of break, either a quick snack or a run around the house 11:00- 12:00 MW History TTh Science F Art Music 12:00- 1:00 Lunch, outside 1:00- 2:00 Quite time for youngers, older can finsh work, if you need the extra time, otherwise 2:00- 3:00 finish grammar, spelling, handwriting, latin? But to really throw your planning off, I have late sleepers and I have realized if I get the older two up and we do an hour or so of school before the little ones get up, it is our most productive time all day