Thanks! I have never heard of Commander Toad. I'll check it out. I don't feel so bad now just grabbing books from the Library. I appreciate all of your responses!

So, I was just wondering if, as parents, you sit in on your child's classes or view the Archived ones or just leave it to the online teachers... In other-words, how much do you keep up with your students studies if they are enrolled in an online course? Thanks!

We're not to High School yet, but we did sign our 7th grader up for the Ominbus I online course through Veritas. So far, I am very impressed. He is really enjoying it, and it has taken some (but not all) of the pressure off me. If you don't mind the cost, they have a wide variety of courses to offer, a diploma program, and have just started classes, so it's probably not too late to join.

My newly 7 year old is really starting to read! Yay! But I am running out of quality readers as he basically refuses to read a book more than once! What is your favorite Easy Reader book or compilation? I need help going to the Library! I've had to buy all of our readers b/c our library doesn't carry hardly anything from the "lists". (Even with the inter-library loan system!) I would really appreciate your recommendations! Thanks!

I've finally figured out what works for me. I just create a skeleton plan for each week of the semester, print it out and put it in page protectors. Then I can check off if we completed that session as indicated make notes to adjust it for the next week. It does keep me organized, but I don't feel lost if one area needs more attention the next week or is missed. I love working this way because I have a good overview of what "should" be covered for the semester and it provides the accountability that I need. Yet, I don't have that "locked in" feeling because I can always go back to the weeks and check off as we complete that section. It's our fifth year homeschooling and I finally have a system that I like (including the workboxes--they have saved me from perpetual whine-a-thons!!!)

Just wondering... What is your favorite children's poem, and do you incorporate poetry memorization into your school day?

Check out http://notebookingpages.com/ She has some free pages as well as tons of subscription pages.

I bought the VP song for the Bible cards and ended up abandoning it. I felt reciting the cards in order to be much more straight forward and useful. I kept having to roll through the extra lyrics the find a reference point. Just memorizing the Timeline in order gave me a precise and orderly way to recall a certain event when needed. :001_smile:

We have used Spalding, but are moving to Spell to Read and Write. They are basically the same. I did however, concentrate mainly on learning the phonograms with my Kindergartner. He hates writing, so I have held off on the writing intensive part. As far as phonics programs goes, this is truly phonetic. There are NO sight words. We started with Phonics Museum, which I LOVED until they introduced sight words, and I couldn't understand it. After learning the Spalding method, I can phonetically break down words that they had on their sight word lists.

We've used Learn to Type. It is very no-fuss, no-frills and has worked well for my oldest. I haven't started my younger yet. My ds, 12, never liked the game-based programs, so I found this website http://www.typingweb.com/tutor/courses/ and he is doing very well now.

We have memorized the VP Cards via Classical Conversations. We use SOTW for History along with VP suggested literature for the time period. We also make Timeline Notebooks using the timeline figures from Home School in the Woods. http://www.homeschoolinthewoods.com/ I love having the timeline memorized. It has thrown open the door of history for me!

We've been homeschooling for four years now, and both of my boys whine, sigh, roll their eyes, etc. at least once every day. The younger fusses before any lesson in which he is required to write anything! I dream of driving them down to the PS and enrolling them almost everyday, but BTDT and it was not joyful either. I have friends and they all have whiners. I am starting to see the patterns and am trying to find ways to circumvent the onset of the tantrums. Maybe by the time they graduate, I'll have it all figured out. Just to reassure you, you are not alone.

Sounds Divine! I may do this with my youngest. My oldest will be in Omnibus, so we are going through a bit of a transition into more independent schedules. I love, love the SL reader lists, just never felt called to "do" SL. Thanks for the idea!:001_smile:

P.S. They are both very teacher intensive!

We just finished our first year with WRTR. I bought the Wise Guide to help this year as the words are grouped a little different and sentences are provided. I will do a combination of Spalding and Spell to Read and Write. I have a struggling speller and he improved 2.5 grade levels this year. I am pleased. We use the McCall readers but not the Grammar or Writing portion. It just wasn't working for us. Spalding and SRW are both solid programs, inho.