bumpity bump - anyone?

Hi all - you are all such a wonderful source of knowledge! I currently have a K4 and 1st, and have been planning out next year, ready to spend curriculum money when our stimulus check comes :thumbup: so I've been pouring over this forum listening to all you wise btdt women! So, I have a question. We are using SOTW which I love, but I'm not terribly thrilled with the AG. Diana Waring's stuff looks very appealing, but since I already have SOTW2, I was going to use that....but I was thinking about using the Elementary Activity Guide for Romans, Reformers, Revolutionaries with SOTW2. It seems like the basic information will be the same, right, since it's pretty much covering the same time periods? just maybe with a slightly different perspective or covering different information......I fill in SOTW with library books and extra stuff anyway, so I don't really mind if the information is different - SOTW has turned into just an introduction/jumping off point to get further into things. But I'm wondering if it's unrealistic to use a completely different activity guide and text?? Or do you think it's doable?

I have 4 littles and one due in May, too.....this has been an interesting school year, that's for sure. We're going through the summer to make up for toddler distractions and mommy's learning curve :tongue_smilie: I liked the idea of giving them each a room to keep clean - I think that will work wonderfully over here. I just wanted to mention a couple of really great parenting books - Keep the Siblings, Lose the Rivalry, Respectful Kids, and The Parent Survival Guide - all by dr. Todd Cartmell. He's a christian child psychologist, but he is really good and very practical. He has a lot of step by step methods for training kids to be obedient and loving and respectful, lots of family time discussion ideas and verses and activities to get the point across to the kids..... But the big thing is just practice practice practice. Kids don't learn positive communication skills on their own, and it won't ever come naturally without lots of training and practice. We've just started implementing some of his ideas and it has really started to change the 2 older ones. Even just teaching them a couple of sentences to use when they are mad at each other or fighting, so I can say 'how are you supposed to talk?' and they will remember to talk appropriately to each other. Yesterday we did a lesson on a lemon and a strawberry - they are both fruits, but they're different, and you treat them different - you need more sugar to go with lemons than you do strawberries.....just like fruit are different, people are different and so mom and dad are going to treat each kid like the unique special person they are. Now if I could only get my 1 and 2 yo trained to obey :tongue_smilie::tongue_smilie: