We just finished God King and really liked it. (Even me.) :) I haven't read Hittite Warrior yet. I have it and it is our next read aloud. HTH, Andrea https://springlakechristian.com

I don't know if this helps, but I have a 2002 edition. I bought it used and purchased the new workbooks to go with it. So I can at least tell you that the 2002 edition matches up. (So far anyway. We are six weeks in.) HTH, Andrea http://springlakechristian.com/

:iagree: We are just doing the days of the week and months of the year songs. I have a calendar center set up so we go over the calendar there and they write the calendar on the meeting strip. I skipped the pattern all together. I don't see how skipping that would hurt, if you wanted to do that. HTH, Andrea http://springlakechristian.com/

Whoops. I forgot to mention it's for my kindergarteners and first grader.

I just wanted to see what you guys thought of my literature plans for this week. I've linked the worksheets and activities to the websites where they came from. Most came from teacherfilebox.com. Anyway, if you think I should add anything or have any suggestions, please let me know. We are starting this unit on Monday so I'm trying to finish it up. http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg7fnrn5_6cv9568dh Thanks, Andrea

I did a mid-week check-in here. I'm still working on our end of week. I also have our classroom pictures here. I'll post my end-of-week tomorrow when I finish it up. Happy Homeschooling! Andrea http://springlakechristian.com

I have twin boys that are in kindergarten. They are both reading, but one is doing better than the other. What subject is she concerned with? I keep my boys together in math. I personally think it would be too crazy having them on different math levels. For reading, I'm using Phonics Pathways and I let progress at their own levels. PP makes this very easy to do. I also supplement with Explode the Code. I keep them together on those as well. We just started from the beginning and progress through the books at the same rate. Depending on where her boys are at, I would highly recommend PP. I hope I answered your question, I wasn't sure which subjects you were referring to specifically. If you were referring to a different subject, please let me know. I"d be happy to share my opinion. :001_smile: Andrea

I've used Rod and Staff for English up until fifth grade. I agree with the previous post that the reading and phonics program is very workbook extensive. I think it is a lot of busy work for young children. I used the First grade with my oldest daughter and she loved it. A few weeks into the program with my son, we had to switch. He HATES workbooks and writing. Just something to consider. We switched to Phonics Pathways with the Explode the Code workbooks. It has been a fabulous fit. HTH, Andrea https://springlakechristian.com

I have this program and I think it's a wonderful program. The teacher's manual is very thorough. The only caution I would give is it is A LOT of busy work (at least in my opinion). I've had some children that just love the busy work and others who despised it. Just something to keep in mind. HTH, Andrea https://springlakechristian.com

You can check out the learningpage.com site. They have complete set of Zaner-bloser Alphabet worksheets. You have to register, but it's free. HTH, Andrea

Jennefer, Sometimes her site is funny. If you look directly above the image of the document you are wanting to print, there are tabs. If you click on the Zaner-bloser tab, it'll take you to the page that has several of the worksheets listed on the right. This is the link to the one you wanted to print: http://www.donnayoung.org/penmanship/p08/smprint/zpdf/z11.pdf (For some reason the link doesn't work when I click on it, so you'll have to copy and paste it.) I hope this helps. It's hard explaining how to find things on web page (in a way that makes sense anyway). Andrea https://springlakechristian.com

I know development is so important to moms, especially those that have premature babies. I have a daughter who is almost 16 months. I was induced 8 weeks early with her. She actually hasn't had issues except that she was delayed in spoon feeding. She just couldn't figure out how to eat from a spoon. Like another mom wrote, after waiting FOREVER for a developmental PEDS appointment, she was declared fine. She finally figured it out at about 8 1/2 months. She uses a spoon when she eats. In that, we give her a spoon and she uses her fingers to put food on the spoon. She then will start to bring it to her mouth and then she'll use her other hand to just pick the food off it. (She's very silly and finds this totally hilarious.) She still has a little while before she actually feeds herself. All but one of my six children were premature by at least 6 weeks. I don't remember any of them being able to eat with a spoon at 15 months. They range in age from 10-1, and all have done very well. They are brilliant, strong, and awesome kids. (I'm not just saying that because they are mine. They really are brilliant.) They all did everything at different times, except the twins and they did EVERYTHING together (and still do). I wouldn't be worried at all right now. Hang in there. It'll happen. Andrea https://springlakechristian.com

If you are looking for a story format, I like This Country of Ours by H.E. Marshall. I plan on using this for second grade, but I'm sure it would be fine for first. You can find it here. You can read the entire book on the mainlesson site to see if that's something you might be interested in. You can find it in audiobook format as well on here. I have an awesome printer so I print it out, but you can also purchase this as well. HTH, Andrea https://springlakechristian.com

We've done the first two weeks the way you mentioned. I was just hoping to take a look at what others are doing. The experiments are good. I just don't always have the items laying around the house. I guess mostly I'd like to see a plan on paper and I don't have time to do it right now. We are crazy busy this week....maybe that's why it's making me crazy. Thanks for your thoughts, Andrea http://springlakechristian.com

Does anyone already have How Nature Works/How the Body Works planned out? I just thought I'd ask because planning this out is making me crazy. Thanks, Andrea http://springlakechristian.com

My kids like this site: http://www.literactive.com/Home/index.asp You have to register, but it is free. HTH, Andrea http://springlakechristian.com

Sort of anyway. I haven't posted pictures yet. *Sigh.* It's been a really long week. :001_smile: http://springlakechristian.com Happy Homeschooling! Andrea

For year one, you would need to remove Trial and Triumph. It is a history of the Protestant Church. Parables of Nature has some christian references as well. Those are the only two that have overt christian perspectives (that I can remember anyway.) The other books may contain some references that you would probably be able to omit. It's a little harder to secularize Ambleside because of the time period the majority of the books were written in, but I hope this helps. Andrea https://springlakechristian.com

Do you have access to a decent library? http://www.ourlosbanos.com/homeschool/science_human_body.html The Our Los Bano site has a good human body curriculum already laid out week by week for grades 2-6. This would allow you to combine your children. It's a 33 week curriculum. If you don't have a good library, Blood and Guts is a really good book for studying the human body. I also like the Usborne Complete Book of the Human Body. Christian Liberty Nature Reader 5 is a book on the human body, also. I'm not a fan of RS4K, but I know many people do like their curriculum. I'm also not a huge fan of PH Science Explorer either. If you did use SE, it would probably be over a 2nd graders head. I don't have it yet, but Christian Kids Explore Physics is a possiblity. (Unless you want a secular curriculum.) I have all three of their other books and I like them. Personally, I beef up the book with extra reading and activities. (My kids love projects and arts and crafts.) I hope this helps. I know its tough trying to stay on top of numerous studies for numerous little ones. I hope your DH gets better soon. Andrea

Poor thing. I have Lupus and have spent much of my adult life on and off very high doses of prednisone. It's really awful stuff, but does it's job well. Prednisone is synthetic cortisol so it can have the same effects as a stimulant could. I would make sure he takes it first thing in the morning. (Like 6 a.m.) That is the only thing that helped me sleep while on the prednisone. I would also recommend NO naps after 2-3 p.m. That way he is tired when he goes to bed. He is also probably VERY uncomfortable and that could also be a contributing factor to him not being able to sleep as well. I'm glad he only has to take for a short time. I hope this helps and he feels better soon. Andrea

I just noticed that you weren't using a spine. This Country of Ours is more of a spine so I don't know if that's really helpful. :glare: Sorry.

This Country of Ours by H.E. Marshall. You can view it free online. If you have the funds, you could print it yourself. I've read it myself and think it's a great book. If you are interested there are quite a few books on American History at http://www.mainlesson.com. Just an idea. I'm planning on using that and my library for third and fourth grade. Something else you could do inexpensively is get notebooking pages from one of the many notebooking sites. Here is the link for This Country of Ours. http://manybooks.net/titles/marshallheetext03cours10.html You can pick a format to download it in. You can also get it in audio format which would be another cool option. HTH, Andrea

Whoops. My brain is such a mess these days. Sorry about the missing link. I saw that someone else posted it anyway. What I was referring to was the Human Body Study at http://www.ourlosbanos.com/homeschool/otters_science_main.html I'm looking forward to everyone's suggestions. I'm still on my search for fifth grade plans a la WTM.....I've been working and working on my lesson plans, and love anything that makes my life easier. I love writing lesson plans (weird, I know), but man I'm tired. Andrea

I also found this one as well. It's also by someone on this board. It's a one year study of the human body. There are plans for prek-1st and 2nd-6th. I love the books she uses in this study. HTH, Andrea

Hello, I've been looking for the exact same thing. I have a first and fifth grader this year as well. I like Elemental Science for 1st grade which was written by Paige (I think) on this board. It's not free, but very reasonable at $13 for the teachers guide and the student workbook. Paige's http://stores.lulu.com/elementalscience Jessica's http://www.lulu.com/content/1029208 For logic stage, I've also found the following: http://www.geocities.com/sandygritz/Science.html It has several schedules for fifth grade. I wasn't totally satisfied with them, but they are a great jumping off point. (I'm never satisfied with any curriculum, so don't listen to me in that regard.) I hope you find this helpful, Andrea