We are overseas and dc are in national school for language learning purposes. I look at what is being taught and suppliment accordingly. For example I've taught ds some manuscript writing but leave cursive to the ns. Their math program is pretty good so I just fill in the holes like US measurement. Ofcourse, they need to do English LA at home. Learning another language and culture is enough Social Studies for them at this time.

We love Sonlight. Their use of a mix of books keep dc hooked.

Mine love Noeo Science. We'll be continuing Chemistry 1 this fall. Dc especially like the experiments.

Yes, they do review and repeat in FLL3, a little too much for dd's needs. They also add diagrams. We've enjoyed FLL greatly but dd needs something more challenging at this point. Dd has a strong foundation and is flying through lessons now. The only thing about FLL3 that I do not like is that at this point, I wish they would go deeper into the understanding of the poems. Memorization and a few comprehension questions isn't enough. We will be moving on to MCT in the fall. For a student who needs the repetition, I highly recommend FLL3.

I just ordered MCT Ceasar's English, Building Poems, and Paragraph Town for next year but I didn't order the Grammar Town or the Practice Books bc dd has a very good foundation from FLL 1,2, & by the end of this year, 3. I've started to alter some of the FLL3 lessons to introduce the MCT mindset. I did buy Music in the Hemisphere to use asap. I'm looking forward to this bc I find FLL3 weak on poetry. Dd is asking for a deeper understanding of the poems she memorizes. For Grammar, however, I think dd can wait a year until Grammar Voyage for more grammar. Time will tell if I made the right choice. Also... I will be using Writer's Jungle/Bravewriter principles to design my own writing assignments and I'll be using some other sources for language practice exercises. We use SL for reading.

Dd will be in 4th next year: My eclectic LA - We'll be using a Bravewriter (Writing Process) approach to writing - We'll be using MCTLA2 as the core for the rest of LA Math - Teaching Textbooks 5 & Mathematical Reasoning Bk. 2 Bible - SL2 with ds History & Read-Aloud - SL Core 2 with ds Science - Noeo Chemistry 1 with ds PE - Homeschool PE for the PE challenged Mom Health - 4H Health Portuguese - Learnables Slovak - Slovak national school afterschool clubs Music - Music Ace & Violin Lessons Typing - Typing Jr.

That sounds like an interesting curriculum. Do you have an link for Barry Stebbing?

Dh and my Mom are Brazilian though Mom was born to Latvian immigrants. Dh and I both speak English and Portuguese at home but dc are not fluent in Portuguese. I often kick myself over not stressing Portuguese when dc were younger. When they were toddlers, dh was gone for periods of time and I taught violin/music lessons in our US home. We were in survival mode so dc didn't learn to speak Portuguese. ((Sigh!)) They do understand some, more, I think, than I did at their age. I grew up hearing Portuguese and not speaking it. When I lived in Brazil for 2 years as an adult, I flew to fluent in 6 months. I'm not stressing over their Portuguese but I'd like them to be speaking sooner than I did. When dc were 2 and 4, we moved to Lithuania where they were learning some Lithuanian but never became fluent. At 5 and 7, dc moved with us to Slovakia and started to learn Slovak which we decided would be their second language. This fall we will be starting Portuguese with the Learnable wordless books as a spring board. Also for dd, who's into words, we will be substituting Portuguese for Spanish in her Ceasar's English lessons. I may add the Slovak words even though some do not have Latin origins. Dc will hopefully continue attending a Slovak afterschool program to keep up with their Slovak.

I'm having problems with Hybrid display. The threads box on the top displays way past the screen; the box is wider than my screen but the post boxes are normal. In order to scroll down, I have to go across horizontally and cannot see the names of the posts any longer. I don't know if I need to do something in options or if this is a part of the problems you are working on.

An artist once told me this when I asked questions about dd's creative nature. Her love for art and her creativity have really blossomed. She went to art school in Lithuania bc she really wanted to but hasn't had formal art instruction since 2006.

My dd fits almost all of those descriptions. She does well in visual arts but more than often she'll use words as her medium.

My dd,now 8, is gifted in verbal imagery; she also shows great potential in the visual arts. She did the same thing with her dinner.;) At age 3, we were reading Tony de Paulo's Clown of God. She told me at the end dd-"Mommy, the story gets sadder and sadder until the end. Me-"Yes dear." dd-"He gets older and older." Me-"Yes dear." dd-"Yes, the pictures get darker and darker as the story goes." I had to go back and look; she was right. She was able to understand color as a way of expressing emotion. Not long after this she and my mom were walking downtown; she begged to go into an art gallery where she amazed Mom by her interest and understanding of art. She also would describe things as "teal" instead of just blue etc... Last week while doing grammar, I asked her to provide an adjective for the noun snow. She said "warm". When I asked her why, she began to explain the emotional warmth that snow gives her. Insights I've gained while teaching a right-brained kid: Her weakness is that she will embellish facts. She may see a bird during a nature walk and add details from her imagination. Narrations are great for working on indentifying fact from fiction. I also need to clearly separate non-fiction writing from creative writing. I have to give her an outlet for her creativity. Doodling is allowed and encouraged. I do very little prepared art projects, art in a box. She has her own craft box full of things to work with. Next year we will be making a revision "Writer's Tool Box" which she will fill with verbal things to redraft her writing with. She responds to Math concepts better when they are taught through word problems. She also learns vocabulary better through hearing them in the context of a sentence, of the boarder world of linguistics, and of history. Dd connects things quickly. I'm trying to figure out how to help her prepare for Geometry proofs bc she thinks globally. She may get an answer correct but may skip steps in explaining how she got there. Baking from a recipe and having her write out recipes is one way I can think of to help her walk through explaining a process. Classical Education is meant to provide rich models of good literture for educating our dc. This may make creative children feel stifled if these models are treated as time-tested formulas. She needs to learn to organize her thoughts but also the freedom to deviate at times. I need to introduce classical models as tools and/or spring boards to good writing and not as formulas. She naturally internalizes many grammar rules by simply seeing the beauty of it in classical literture. In other words, immersing her in reading/analyzing good literture and exposing her to fine arts are crucial. I am sharing a little more than asked bc I too thought that the other subjects would be easier. I've learned that artistic child will also approach learning differently in other areas. I put in bold print what I think may perhaps be most helpful with an artistic child. IMHO, Art in a Box is as much "dwaddle" as dumbed down books. I love Artisitc Pursuits bc it teaches art from a classic work, hands the child the materials for that particular style of art, and lets them create. Sometimes directions are needed as are grammatical rules but it should be kept to a minimum.

We've done a few Lit. Units. We enjoyed the worksheets and research. We did not like have to do stop-and-go reading. There are time consuming exercises for each chapter that delay getting to the next chapter. It took forever to get through Poppy.

We are a multi-cultural expat family living in Slovakia. I was born in the US. My mom was born in Brazil to Latvian parents. My husband is Brazilian. Hubby and I speak English and Portuguese fluently. We are almost fluent in Slovak. We can survive in Lithuanian, Italian, and Spanish; Hubby better than I. My daughter, age 8, is close to fluent in Slovak, understanding but speaking little Portuguese, forgotten Lithuanian, and fluent in English. She's begging me to learn French. My son, age 6, is functional in Slovak, understanding but speaking little Portuguese, forgotten Lithuanian, and fluent in English. We lived 2 years in Lithuania where our kids went to preschool. They have been in a Slovak school for the last 1 1/2 years as we go through language school here. We're afterschooling as well and hope to return to homeschooling this fall so we can work more on Portuguese. We'll hopefully continue the kids in the afterschool program at their present school.

We live in Slovakia and are learning Slovak. The kids aren't fluent in portuguese; my husband & I are. My daughter turned to a Slovak classmate the other day and asked "Que isso?" When he looked at her funny, she repeated herself then it dawned her that she wasn't speaking Slovak. We all mix languages especially my husband and I. Sometimes all in the same sentence! I don't think it is all laziness as the mind sometimes has funny ways of processing language. I'd suggest gently having them repeat their sentence with the proper correction.

Our dc are going to Slovak schools so we need to suppliment LA and anything else that may be missing. School here is from 8-1 which isn't that time consuming. I so look forward to returning to hsing though.

Dd found out about them from friends when we returned to the states. She was 6 at the time. She loves them, the dolls, the DVDs.

I used both K and preK. Dd did well with SLpreK & FIAR at 4 and SLK at 5. Ds, 2 years younger than dd, at the time wasn't ready for either. The same situation - 2 years apart but academically 3 years. At this age, if you are gearing for both, I'd do preK and add add some other books to it. Five in A Row is a great for preK.

I've heard lots of great things about R&S. Thanks for the input.

Has anyone used this? How does it compare to FLL 1 & 2? Dd has loved this approach so far but I am not sure about 3.

Ground Beef. Elementary years in MD and upper years in New England

I'm new here and soo excited. We are afterschooling b/c we are learning to speak Slovak as we have only been here less than a year. It is so good to find a forum with folks who are afterschooling.