Thank you both. Clear Creek, what did you use for pre-algebra?

We are using this bc it has the amount of review my son needs to finally understand math and not forget everything 3 months later. I'm just wondering how it compares to other math programs. I know it is not as advanced as many (we came from MM, and it was a huge step back....but that was what he needed.) That is ok. But will it get him prepared to do Algebra in 9th grade if we use it 6-8th? Does it cover pre-algebra topics sufficiently? Thanks!

I switched to Rod and Staff for these reasons. It was exactly what my oldest needed.

Maybe he could google scientific inventions from that year? Or composers, folksongs, instruments from that time? Transportation they used(land or sea.)

Thanks everyone! We don't live near a mall but it might be worth the trip, and I never thought about asking at the schools. I didn't think about the fact that it would give off fumes etc.! Yikes! We'll look into the air dry kind.

I want to do some clay projects with my 4th and 6th grader (pinch pot animals etc) and I'd like them to have that glossy painted look that ours did when I was kid in public school. But obviously we don't have a kiln. ;) So I was wondering if anyone could recommend types of clay, glaze etc that is for home use (so either air dry or bake in oven.) Also, do I need a sealer for it? I know nothing about clay and everything I'm finding is for the kiln.

Is Sonlight considered a box? We are using Sonlight core E this year (an old core that I'm borrowing from a friend). It's ok. I like the schedule all laid out for me, but I shouldn't have tried to combine the boys in one core. The history books and readalouds are great. The independent readers are WAY too easy for my oldest and most are too easy for my youngest, although they enjoy the stories. So for second semester I'm switching some of the reading around for my oldest boy. I didn't want to switch all of our LA or math to Sonlight's choices, so I kept what we were using. I also don't do their bible. I guess I ended up tweaking our "box" to the point that it's not really a box anymore. I say this only to point out that my husband tried telling me that I like being eclectic and choosing all my own stuff, and that I wouldn't be very happy with a box. He was right. There is absolutely nothing wrong with boxes AT ALL in my opinion. But if you really like being eclectic, it's hard doing what you're told. ;)

We are making these super simple ornaments this week that I found on pinterest. We're going to give them to the grandparents. I think they'll be adorable, and they will be done quickly enough that my craft-hating boys won't quit the project halfway through. ;) They are thumbprint reindeer ornaments. The blog they're on is www.littlebitfunky.com/2011/11/20-minute-crafter-reindeer-thumbprint.html

Thanks so much for posting this! I think I might add this into our science over the next couple of years. My kids have loved all the BF books we've used in the past but I had totally forgot about the science prog. We're doing a combo of Sonlight and Ambleside this year, and my boys are really loving the books that are about different scientists. :)

We used this with my ds who struggles somewhat in math. He seemed to really understand fractions and decimals at the time we were learning them, but a couple of months later he couldn't remember what to do to add, subt., multiply or divide fractions. We used the fractions series through the summer as a review and it was simple and clear and worked well as a review. I bought decimals and we will use that as a review as well...maybe next summer or sometime this year. For my other son who does well with math, I'm not going to bother with them because he doesn't need the review. We used Rightstart and MM as our main programs (although my oldest has now dropped MM and is using Rod and Staff for 6th bc MM was not working for him. My youngest has dropped Rightstart bc it was too slow and is only using MM.)

Thanks everyone! Off to check them out!

We received a catalog from World Vision and thought it sounded like a great charity (for those that might not know, you can donate animals such as chickens, goats etc. to people in need around the world.) The kids were really excited about the idea but I wanted to see if the money you donate actually goes where it should. :) I'm not really sure where I'd find out, so I thought I'd ask here! Is this a charity we can trust, or can you recommend a similar one that is trustworthy? Thanks

What about the Hobbit? It has some battle scenes but no cussing.

Just an idea for the public speaking: We meet with a few other homeschooling families to do this. At this point we only meet once a quarter, but may increase this as the kids get older. We pick a day and time that works for everyone and leave it completely up to the parent what the child does (oral report, memory work, book report, interactive presentation, musical instrument presentation, you name it.) This has worked wonderfully because it is completely on our timetable. :)

Hi! Yes, as others have said, since he is in first grade, he will work through the Kindergarten book (book 1) then move straight into book 2 (first grade). He should NOT do the review or extra credit in the kindergarten book. Review and extra credit is only for kids that finished the book for their grade level early. If he then finishes book 2 this year, he can then do the review for book 2 and then move into the extra credit book for book 2. However if he doesn't get them finished this year, he will not continue with the review or extra credit books for book 2 next year; he will move into book 3. You can't finish up the reviews and extra credits the following year (so these awards are harder to earn.) Hopefully I'm making sense. :) Also, the leaders are "suppose" to only allow 2 'helps' per section (not per verse). A 'help' is suppose to only be a word or two to get the child going, not a sentence etc. They are not allowed to help with the reference because they want them to be look them up later in the future. Our church use to be more lenient and gave help with references or longer helps than what the rules say, and we realized the kids were not really memorizing them. Now that we have gotten more strict, the kids are really learning them and remembering them much better. :)

Thanks for all the suggestions! This looks like it will work well for us. :)

Hmm...that sounds like a good idea. I didn't think about skipping the composition lessons, which we could easily do since we're using a different writing program and they get plenty of writing. Thanks!

Are you looking for a curriculum that is just discussing origins of the earth or are you looking for earth science? We are using a "neutral" geology program this year: http://store.gravitaspublications.com/level-1-grades-5-8/middle-school-unit-studies-geology/middle-school-geology-student-textbook.html for earth science. It's neutral in that it doesn't bring up the origin of the earth, but discusses the rest of earth science. It's only about a 9-10 week program though. Not sure if that's what you're even looking for. ETA: Sorry! Just reread your title and realized this wasn't what you were wanting. :)

Here's the situation: :) R&S works great for us. No problems using it. But there are a few school extras that I would like to fit in so I'm trying to think of how I can juggle around what we use to make room for these. So I was thinking instead of doing grammar 4 or 5 days a week, would it work to do it only 3 and then take longer than a year to go through the book? Would this end up hurting them for testing purposes etc? We would also be doing AAS spelling in fewer days per week so I'd have extra time there too. Anyway, does this sound like a good plan or not? And if you would NOT do this, could you tell me why? :) Thanks!

Mine learned all the states by having a US placemat (not sure why, but they thought it was fun to quiz each other during meals and picked up 90% of them this way,) and playing Scramble the States game. We also use Seterra for 10 min per week, to teach capitals. This worked really well for us. Now this year, I'm working on having them learn to spell them. :)

I buy it all bc it's pretty cheap but you should be fine with just the texts. I like to give the worksheets in place of the written exercises when the two are covering the same thing bc it means less writing for my pencil phobic boys. We do as much as we can orally though.

As someone mentioned, Ambleside has a lot of folksongs. The Wee Sing America does too ( first half of the cd is patriotic, second half is more like children's folk songs.).

We are. It will be weird bc my oldest joined the local school's soccer team which doesn't start school till weds. So he will have soccer practice 9-11 Monday and Tuesday morning then come home and have school. But my schedules were so pretty I didn't want to change our start date! 😉

In 1st thru 5th we had "open classrooms" which was basically one huge room with a teacher (and his/her class of 25-30 students) in each corner. Our desks had tote trays that pulled out and you carried with you when you switched teachers for math or reading. But since all of that grade was in one room it wasn't a big deal. Art, music and P.E. were taught by other teachers, but we were taken down to them by our main teacher, so once again, no big deal. 6th grade was the first year we were on our own to get to different rooms/teachers for every subject.

We're finishing up the Little White Horse at bedtime and will start Moccasin Trail during school when we start school Monday.