I use R&S grammar with my boy who uses IEW. We skip the writing lessons. So when I figured it for the year he only does grammar 3 days a week. He likes that a lot. I love the review that he gets every time he has a lesson. He also almost never makes a grammatical error that he has learned about in R&S.

I have contemplated using this for my boys but I've really wondered about the excerpts. Are they well known stories? excerpts from classics? written by the people at CLE? Is it mostly just literary analysis? Or are there other activities that they do? For anyone that uses it, why do you use/like it? What makes it so great?

Are you a check the box kind of person? I know that I am and I'm also a very goal oriented person too. It can get very overwhelming because I tend to over expect from everyone. (just ask the family they would all agree) I found I had to take some time buried in the computer room and on my bed and figure out what I wanted to finish in the year. Then I figured out how little we could get by each "week" to get there. I don't actually do days because things always come up. Our school "week" sometimes also takes longer then one week but we just keep plugging away. I actually planned that in some by figuring on a 32 week school year. But I'm thinking that the 32nd week will probably be late June or early July for us, mostly because things keep coming up, like a SIL on bedrest with three kids under 4 so I had to spend at least one day a week at her house. But I'm digressing. So I guess what I'm trying to say is if you found what is working for your dc then keep those resources. Figure out what you feel is enough to complete in a set time and run when the children let you run and take baby steps on the days when that is all you can take. The children are young and they will learn what they need to as long as you keep trying a little each day. Sorry this got so long, but I hope it helps some.:001_smile:

We go through phases where I'm reading aloud to my olders then we stop for a while then we get back to it. Right now I'm reading to them again. I do it mostly at night right before bed. During school hours we start their reading time by switching off on a book that we are reading together. The boy I'm reading with reads the first paragraph on the page then I read the rest of the page then he will read the first paragraph of the next page, and so on. We do that for about 15-20 minutes a day. I'm not expecting to stop that at all.

Thanks so much for those ISBN numbers. I have them all saved in my computer so when we are ready for pre-algebra I can find them. Wahoo!

I do make both my ds10 & ds8 read aloud to me. For my ds8, I pick a story to read, it can be short and be done in one day or a chapter book that we read for a week or so. For my ds10 we just read the book he is currently reading for History or Literature, we start where he left off when he last stopped. With both of the boys they read the first paragraph on the page, then I read the rest of the page. We do that for around 10 pages each day. They are also required silent reading daily during quiet time after lunch.

We are finishing week 11 out of 32. We had a hard go in Aug and Sept. It just wasn't clicking like I thought it should. But about the middle of Oct it just started to click and it is going much better. After Friday we will be off until after Christmas :hurray:

I don't have any answers but would love to hear some. My ds8 is like this too, and I struggle with it so much. So ladies & gentleman, any enlightenment?

:lol::lol::lol: I'm laughing so hard now. Thanks for the good laugh.

Mine is not a "body" word. It is flautist. I'm a flute player so everyone tells me I'm a flautist. I tell them that I play the flute and not the flaut. It actually makes me visibly cringe, so my dh will say it to be funny.:tongue_smilie:

Good job! :thumbup:

I use white boards for spelling practice, teaching grammar especially diagramming, math, math, and math. If one of my ds' are having issues figuring out a problem then it goes on the white board where they write it larger than on paper. This helps them to see what they weren't getting. Also if there is a list of things I need them to do, it gets put on a white board. We use the white boards a lot, it really helps to cut down on the scratch paper clutter that would be hanging around.

I use R&S but debated with CLE. I believe that they are both great curriculum. I like that I will have most of the R&S left for the younger children. I let my boys write in the R&S math text book, but they have to write out the English. That has worked for us. I also like the interaction I have working with my ds on his math facts that R&S suggests for me in the TM. But I did buy a whole year of math from CLE to look at and get the feel for. My dh & I decided to stay with R&S because our boys were doing well it and we didn't need to jump ship.

I know I'm not much help because I'm having the same problem in that my costs have gone up each year, too. I do try to get reusable curriculum and my second boy is starting to use his older brothers older stuff. I just keep finding "better" curriculum that I think will fit my second boy better. One thing I do is have an idea of what I'll be teaching next year, not a hard set plan but a wish list with options. Then I watch the sale boards on everything and buy when I can. I have found some good used stuff on yahoo boards for each curriculum that I'm thinking about. I also watch the sales from stores for the non consumable parts of the curriculum. Like I said I'm not much help, but that is what I do.:)

It looks like something I would plan for my munchkin. Good luck and may she enjoy the dirt.

:iagree: The things we use most are #1-the dry erase boards, markers & eraser, #2-pencils, colored pencils & pencil sharpener, #3-one 2" notebook for each boy, #4-paper, wide rule for my older boy & manuscript paper for my younger boy. #5-the desk in the bedroom. There are times when I need to separate my boys because they aren't doing any work otherwise. The globe is a nice addition and the boys like "seeing" where the history is taking place. HTH

I have a friend who named her son Segen, she pronounces it Say-gen (like get but with an n instead of a t). The word means blessing in German. Another of our friends named her girl the same name but I not sure if she changed the spelling.

I have to agree that is strange if it was recently. I tried to post about a week and a half ago and it would not let me because I don't yet have the 50 posts. I read a lot more then I comment, but I do that normally, I'm known for being really quiet. It must have gone into effect after February because I was able to sell a Latin program then just fine.

It sounds like the program would work for her, able to teach the phonics but not be babyish. But there is a lot of info in the books and a lot of black on each page. The WISE guide, the one you would be in most, has a double page for each 20 word list. But there are the words listed, once without markings and once with markings, sentences, and notes about any rules. There are notes for things to do before you give the list. There are also enrichments listed under the words. I personally find the book very overwhelming.

I use the McCall-Crabbs Test Lessons in Reading for my boys. They are short little paragraphs, some fiction - some nonfiction. Then there are between 8 & 11 questions that they answer. The boys are only allowed 3 minutes to read and answer the questions. There is a grade listed for how many they answered correctly. They like to see how their "grades" have gone up. As a side note my ds8 asked me last night during reading time if he could read from the book he just finished a month ago instead of one of his storybooks from the library. :p

I have made my boys a reading list that includes books that are easy/on level/and hard. They choose about 7 books from the list to get at the library. I ask that if they start a book, they read it. When they finish a book about half the time I ask them to tell me about the book. My younger boy usually reads all of his short storybook type books for the week, he occasionally has longer books. My older boy will read all of the short storybooks plus one longer one. We will have around 3 longer books at home. He then decides if any of the long books stay for next week. HTH

I found a book called Peak with Books by Marjorie R. Nelsen & Jan Nelsen-Parish. It has quite a list of easy books listed that are age appropriate for her. I'll be working though the list with my dd4 this next year. It has 42 "main books" that have enrichment activities developed if you want them. But each of those 42 books have at least 5 books that are loosely related. For example, one of the "main books" is The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. It also has 5 storybooks about snow/snowballs/mittens and 3 more nonfiction books about snow/animals that hide in snow listed on the pages for The Snowy Day.

My boys used K12 our first year of homeschooling through our districts online school. It was nice to get me into the groove of homeschooling. I was teaching a 1st grader & 2 grader at the time. My older boy completely tested out of all 2nd grade work and even tested 4th grade in LA. So he did the 3rd grade everything but LA (4th). He found it all very doable except for the writing. There was many tears over the writing. My 2nd boy did all 1st grade work except math which he did 2nd. He had no issues. I thought that the K12 program was good but I was totally computered out by the time we were done with school ever day. If the lesson wasn't on the computer I had to be very close to it. And the computer was in my bedroom so we would be in my room for hours doing school. We are very happy doing our own thing now.

I have used a bit of the 3 year old program with my daughter. She really likes it when I get it out. There are some really good fun activities that we have done. For literature I just grab books from the library to read to her.

I use them and love them. :001_wub: The grade 3 ones review the math processes. Add & Subtraction in the first half then in the second half they start into multiplication & division. The child will work on say x8's for about a week before they show up in the speed drills. Even like that ds doesn't do really well until his 3-4 speed drill with the new concept. In grade 4 & 5 there is a lot more variety in the drills, they aren't all just review of the basic processes. There is fractions, number strings, roman numerals, multiplication charts, reading questions, add/subtract/multiply/divide larger numbers. My older ds loves to see what he will get and try to beat the clock. So to answer your question, I find them very helpful.