Well, Writing with Style is the newest book that will be released in the fall/winter and we are all eagerly waiting for. Writing With Ease has been out for a few years ;). I also think WWE and CW are very similar I have posted about it before. Here are some threads- http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=223735&highlight=wwe+at+heart http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=210575&highlight=wwe+at+heart http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93298&highlight=WWE http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=263242&highlight=wwe+at+heart Hope that helps!

I"ve also taught in a school that was kind of one room set up. We had several classes, but they were purposely split so each class had kids from 5-12, instead of grouping kids by age or level. The classes were small (8-10 if we could help it, but no bigger than 15). There was plenty of time to help each kid individually each day (of course we were also there all day, all year, some kids for 10 hours a day :001_huh:). Each kid had thier own lesson plans but they were all in the room together. Sure olders sometimes helped youngers and some things were more likely to be done as group (say science experiments or read alouds). But I agree with Ellie, while there are somethings from that teaching that I do use with my own kids, for the most part homeschooling is just so different not much of it crosses over. It is more helpful at cub scouts or during the summer program I helped with this year.

I agree with both the pps. -Check as soon as they are done and -have them check thier own papers. But I would add, -cut down on the things that need checked. -have them check each others papers. Add some discussions or projects, get rid of some of the work sheets and papers. My boys like checking each others things too.

We are not so fond of them... No particular complaints, they just don't hold my kids attention, and they never pick one to read on thier own.

I agree that I'd probably move him into ALL. I also agree that he should at least be able to complete the WWE Level 3 final week, but I wouldn't worry so much about level 4. So probably you need to keep working on level 3. I do think you might be able to compress it some (skipping some or many of the weeks), but I think the basic skill of being able to read a passage and write down a paragraph about it needs to be easy before moving on. I do think some dictation can help this, but I don't think you need to be able to write someone else's paragraph from memory to be ready to move on to some new skills, especially if you are already in middle school.

We mostly didn't tear them out. But my middle son sometimes get picky about books laying flat. When it was bothering him then we would tear out that days work. (Then we would just recycle the papers, but then I've mentioned many times that I don't see any purpose in keeping worksheets ;))

Ours is mostly blanks then they fill out what gets accomplished each day. I put the assignments in the left column and the fill in the others as they complete the work each day. There is a sample here somewhere- http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1947811&postcount=10

That's pretty much what we do until grade 3 or 4. Here is a good thread- http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=214799&highlight=math+lab

We do a page of CWP a day. We use them about 1/2 a level behind, just to keep the topics mixed up.

Yeah, mine too. They don't mind at all going to get the markers from the supply cabinet. It's the getting them back to the school table that doesn't always work :glare: Having a little of everything we might need right in our school area helps keep us on task, but also means we don't have to skip anything that needs a couple crayons (even just to be more fun) or gets us all distracted trying to get them to the table. With little ones it is just easier for me to have one box to move out of the way, then have to worry about if she can get into everyone's supplies. The small set of drawers we have really isn't too hard to move if we need to. I have also been thinking I would get the boys those pencil bags that go in a 3 ring binder. They could keep it in their history/geo binder and have some supplies of thier own.

I have two of those little 3 drawer organizers. One that the drawers are about notebook paper sized, and one that is about half that size. In the little one we keep things the boys might need/we need all the time. It gets put right in the middle of the table, where everyone can reach it. -pencils -pens -high lighters -dry erase markers/eraser -pencil sharpeners -erasers -small ruler -paper clips -post-it notes and flags The larger one is up on a shelf -out of reach of the two year old. It contains more crafty things, things we don't need for every subject, but use most every week. Many of these things are also in our real arts-n-crafts material, but having a set right there that the kids don't play with so they are there when we need them during school is so helpful. -markers -colored pencils -drawing pencils (otherwise they are too hard to find in our drawer of pencils) -rulers -spanish flashcards -sharpies -scissors -hole punches -glue -protractor -compass -stapler/remover -calculator -chapstick (very convienent during cold dry winters) -hair ties (because I find them all over the floor, and we often need one during school anyway) I agree we also need paper. Scratch paper, printer paper, and lined notebook paper are all one the shelf with the bigger drawers and my teachers manuals. Also a dictionary, thesaurus, and writers handbook.

Yeah, but when you can pick up the exact same texts and videos for only a fraction of the price and still reuse them, that's even better!

Again, I only have Middle Ages in my hands, but I found that the lessons don't really equal on teaching period for us. Maybe we are planning on a longer time for history each day? I do want to get through 3 or 4 lessons each week, but I still think it will be fine in 2 days with some extra reading on two other days.

My son also really liked some of them. He was a pretty strong reader by 5yo, but he read the book about starving in jamestown a couple years ago and it was the book that really started him as a person who loves reading. -Okay I just checked and those Jamestown books are from the My America series.

Level 2 is supposed to go up in difficulty quite a bit from Ancients to Modern. I think you will probably be okay. But do you want to start logic stage writing yet? Things like outlines and simple reports/bibliographies? I am doing Middle Ages next year with 5th and 6th graders and don't find it hard at all to simplify the writing for my 5th grader. He will be doing one level outlines for longer and I just cut some of the summaries; we do other writing too. There are quite large "try it before you buy it" samples at pandia press, have you checked those out? I haven't started yet, but I am hoping to do it in 2 days, with extra reading time.

Try it generic ;) http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=89513&highlight=chalkdust+isbn http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=176349&highlight=chalkdust+isbn

Here is a good thread- http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=193237&highlight=movies+sotw And, here are free audio books- http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=289468&highlight=netflix+middle+ages

I also don't think that all public schools are so terrible about this either. While I didn't take latin, greek, or hebrew (although latin was offered, I choose spanish), I did read many great books, had an amazing art history class, have nice handwriting, went through Calc 2 at my highschool, can write well (despite my posts on here) and so on. I don't have great spelling (although it is much better then when I graduated from high school). Yes my public school education wasn't strictly classical, but there was plenty of reading great books, debate, and challenging writing available. I feel very comfortable with giving my kids a solid mostly classical education. We don't do all those old languages and I know many would say you can't be classical without that, but we will read difficult books and learn to speak and write clearly about them (and other ideas).

Look at these threads- http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=289810&highlight=SOTW+kindle http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=238618

Well, we don't have a dishwasher, cable, cell phone, we do have a dryer but we don't use it much (and not at all this time of year), or any kind of voice mail/answering machine. And I think this thread has convinced me to get rid of internet for the school year. So wouldn't you like to buy all of my FS and PBS books in the next month???? I am glad to have a printer, I never got things copied when I had to take them in somewhere. And I don't think I will put the computer away, we do use if for typing (and then maybe writing, right?). I do wish I had some kind of voice mail, but the phone guy says my lines won't do that, they won't do DSL either, and maybe once I get rid of the internet the voice mail part will be much less important.

One thing I do is let my boys make themselves a "cheat sheet" for conversions. So when we get to one we can't remember they can look it up and write it on a Post it to use for that days math. If they have to look it up and write it down every time they will either remember it or know how to find it (we use the dictionary or enclopedia or a cookbook or some folders have that info, instead of just our math text). Either way is okay with me!

Get rid of it! But then I don't keep anything. Lots of people keep lots of old papers, there are several threads about it.

I agree with this, especially the bold part!

I have the Teacher's Guide, the student book, and the Investigations Book. I bought them used, I think from Amazon, but maybe the Investigations I got at the sale boards here. You can see the whole student texts and investigations here- http://www.nhusd.k12.ca.us/node/52

But she is talking about on top of CC. I haven't actually done CC, but I thought it had the reputation of A LOT of memory work.