My girls started LfC last year (3rd & 5th) and we spread each chapter over 2 weeks. It made it much more manageable, but the younger still needs more hand holding. I am glad she's doing it though. It's much more fun for three of us to do it together. They also do not like watching Dr. Perrin teach so I watch it and then reteach it to them. Their eyes glazed over whenever he came on. We just added in Spanish this year, but Latin really gets way more emphasis.

My older kids have more binders than my younger, but basically they each have a science binder, a history binder, and a general binder where I put their writing, math tests and projects, reading log and summaries, an activities section where I put sports/club info and certificates and awards, and geography. I don't put their workbook subjects like Latin in there. And these are really just for storing the work after it's completed. I copy what I need each week and keep in in my big binder until handing it to them. My older's science and history binders are loaded with the work already, because that's the format they came in.

Well, mine used to be Latin until I moved it to first in the day. I haven't even placed my order for art, and this is our 3rd day back to school. :tongue_smilie:

Latin: continue LfC A Math: CLE 7 Grammar/Spelling: CLE 6 Reading: CLE 7/HO/WTM list Writing: IEW History-based Middle Ages History: History Odyssey Level 2 Middle Ages Science: Elemental Science Bio for logic stage U.S. Geography: Star Spangled States (done with little sisters) Logic: Orbiting with Logic and Fallacy Detective Spanish: Getting Started with Spanish Music: piano and choir Art: Atelier PE: soccer, swimming, tennis, triathlon

I'm very thankful for all the definitions memorized in FLL1/2. Also, knowing that great list of prepositions is fun. The only thing I'm doing differently is not letting my rising first grader get *ahead* in grammar. I just never saw a benefit and am actually slowing my older kids down now to get them back on grade level in grammar.

I hope so because I'm planning to do the same thing!

I'm planning to use Elemental Science Biology for the Logic Stage. Looking it over, I expect her to be pretty independent.

6 am: I head out for a run or hop on the exercise bike. 7ish: call upstairs for girls to get up, get dressed and come for breakfast. I eat and take care of puppy. 7:30: call again, 6yo comes down in pajamas, 9yo comes down in pajamas, 11 yo comes dressed. They eat and look after puppy while I get a shower. 8:30: send youngers up to get dressed and older up to do the things she forgot. 8:45: Latin together 9:15: she does math, checks with me for her writing assignments and does it. 10:45: does grammar with me and moves on to spelling, logic and IEW poetry 11:45: she's done with her morning, usually earlier than this, and takes a break while I finish same subjects with her sisters 12ish: we eat lunch together, I often read aloud 1:30: science and history together 2:30: assigned reading 3:30: snack before we head off to soccer or swimming. dinner happens between 6 and 8, depending on the night. they play outside with neighbors if it's a short sport night. I call them in between 8 and 8:30 for showers and they're in bed by 9, but often read or listen to an audio book until 10. Friday we only do Latin and Math, possible catch up on science if we're behind, then use the afternoon for fun and errands.

My third dd is getting this slower than my first two also. I wanted to agree with an earlier poster about the Kumon dot to dots. We have the book that goes to 100 and it's helped a ton. She would do several a day if I let her, it's so much more fun than just plain counting.

sorry! lulu.com :)

In the past I've used Apologia for 1st grade on up, but my new rising first grader will not tolerate the wordiness. I'm going to use Elemental Science for her, she likes to color, write and DO science so I think it will be a great fit.

I'm looking at I Speak Latin for my rising first grader. Drew Campbell wrote it and it's available at Lulu. I'll probably follow it up with Prima Latina in 2nd grade.

No orders have been placed, so there's still plenty of time for me to change my mind, but we're planning... math - CLE7 grammar/spelling - CLE6 writing - IEW Medieval History-based reading - CLE7 lit - TWTM logic - Logic Lift-off, Fallacy Detective history - History Odyssey Middle Ages Lvl 2 geography - ?? science - Elemental Science Bio Logic Stage Spanish - Starting Out in Spanish Latin - ?? likely First Form art - Atelier Bible -?? music - piano and choir p.e. - soccer and swimming

We have a new Airedale Terrier that will be a show dog and needs a name to fit. We're co-owning with the breeder/handler so we all need to agree. His guidelines are superhero for the ring name and then a name associated with it for his pet name. For example, show name Green Arrow and we call him Ollie(Oliver). We've also thought of Percival of the Round Table (Percy). Anyone have any other fun superhero names or great literary or historical names? The kids really like Rufus, but I can't connect that with anything...

Love the workbook! My kids always enjoy the lit and like the pictures in the corner.

We're planning to use Elemental Science next year too! My little one will use Bio for the grammar stage and my oldest will use the new logic stage plan. I'm going to tweak one or the other for my middle. They've already looked at it online and can't wait to begin.

I'm sure it can be done, especially if you have a good library system and a big homeschooling community (good resource for used materials). I tell my dh $1000 per year for 3 kids. Of course, most of it goes for my oldest and gets passed down. Sometimes I don't spend quite that much, I don't expect to for next year, but I like to plan for extra in case we need to make a change mid-year. That hasn't happened for us, but I know it does happen.

I picked it up at a used curriculum sale and my girls share the book. It's dated 2005, so I don't know if something has been updated in a new edition, but there's no writing in the book at all. They can't stand the audio either and don't use it. Hope that helps!

They are normally very independent with their CLE math. If they need help on a new concept we read through their lesson together and then do several practice problems on the whiteboard(the TM usually has several practice problems on the new concepts). Typically, they don't need me for this more than once a week. At the beginning of the year I made a rule that they can't interrupt me while I'm teaching my youngest phonics and math. It's VERY hard to keep her attention anyway. They do everything they can in math without me and then move on to another independent subject (spelling or reading), but leave their math on the table so we don't forget to go back over it.

I'm not changing much for my middle child: math: CLE 5 grammar: R&S 5 writing: WWE 4 spelling: SWO E or she may move to AAS which I'm planning to use for youngest science: Apologia Anatomy & Botany history: SOTW Vol. 2, etc. reading: CLE 4 and reading in Middle Ages time period memory: IEW poetry memorization lvl. 2 Bible: possibly Explorer's or stay with VP Spanish: still searching geography: SOTW maps and ??? extras: 4-H, soccer, swimming, tennis I'd rather she not be ahead in R&S grammar, so I may switch her to CLE 4. I know she would be very unhappy to have to repeat the same R&S book.

I've used CLE math from 300-600, so I can't speak to the lower levels. The TM's I've used are not scripted. Most of the teaching is in the student books, taught directly to the student. The TM will often have helpful suggestions for teaching a tricky concept and will have extra problems for use as board work when introducing a new concept. It's pretty minimal, but I've never found it lacking. I'm sure the lower levels have much more b/c it would be necessary.

My kids have all been early readers too. We all enjoy the Pathway readers, which make me feel like they're making progress that I can follow. Additionally, we use Sonlight readers and, more recently, we follow the HOD recommendations for Drawn Into the Heart of Reading. We're not using HOD, just her book selections. We've always been pleased with the stories from these three sources. I too found it impossible to use a K program with any of my kids. If you want something put together, Sonlight might be a good option. They seem to cover more content than skills. That way you can teach the reading, writing, and math at the level they need.

Yes, this was our first experience with IEW. I just decided to wing it and have felt pretty good about things. I do think that I'll eventually get the whole seminar or whatever it's called, but we've done fine with just the theme book this year. I know that now they have a student and teacher book, but we just have one combined. It must be an older edition; I picked it up at a used curriculum sale. We've enjoyed it so much that I'm sure we'll use the Medieval book for next year.

My current fifth grader has not done very much formal writing. She did Writing Strands 3 last year, and this year we're using IEW's Ancient History-Based Writing Lessons. She's not very enthusiastic about writing, but I think she does a decent job. Below is a sample, she's edited it with a little input from me. I don't always think she uses the IEW "dress-ups" gracefully, but they have improved her writing overall. The Israelites were slaves in Egypt. They worked day after day, waiting for freedom, and the land they had been promised by God. After 400 years, God finally sent their savior. His name was Moses. Strangely, Moses was a meek man, but God used him amazingly. Moses went to Pharaoh to demand freedom for the Israelites, but Pharaoh refused. God plagued Egypt and caused famine for the Egyptians. At last, after the final plague, which killed many children, Pharaoh let the Israelites go. Happily Moses led the freed people out of Egypt. They headed toward the land of Canaan. Before long, Pharaoh changed his mind. The baffled Israelites looked back and saw the immense Egyptian army charging behind them. Powerfully, the Egyptians thundered after them. To make matters worse, the vast Red Sea stretched out in front of them. The Israelites cried out to the Lord and railed against Moses saying,“Hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? It would be better to serve the Egyptians, who are steadily gaining on us, than to die in the desert.†However, Moses was strong and answered, “Fear not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.†Boldly, Moses stretched out his rod and miraculous things began happening. With determination, the angel of the Lord and a pillar of cloud zoomed behind the Israelites and darkened the way to confuse the Egyptians. Next, the Lord sent a powerful wind all night and blew the waters of the sea until a solid path appeared. The Israelites walked through the sea. Towering walls of water wobbled on either side of the path, but did not fall. When Pharaoh, who was astonished, and his army tried to follow, the Lord made their chariot wheels collapse. Moses stretched out his rod once more and the massive walls cascaded and swallowed Pharaoh and his army. Everyone saw the greatness of God and believed in the Lord.

You've received some good advice, but I just wanted to add that I think Rod & Staff has clearer grammar explanations than BJU. We used R&S for a couple of years and I switched to BJU b/c I liked the looks of the workbook. I felt it was much harder to understand and we've come back to R&S. My daughter is using grade 6 now and though much of the material is new to me, I do understand it from the lesson.