This is good, Angela. I think it's important, at least for me, to make sure I don't equate lots of work with academic rigor. I definitely get eyebrows up when people find out my 7yo 2nd grader is learning Latin, and then when I tell them school only takes 2-3 hours it's as if it doesn't compute. I leave wondering if I'm making a mess of things. So now I'm going to go look over my 3rd grade plans again and make sure I'm going for "rigorous" and not "busy".

*Like button* :iagree:

I'll bet they spent a lot less money chasing new curricula they just heard about... :glare::tongue_smilie:

We use SWO - I don't give a test every week, but each time we get to a review section we do a spelling test after we finish. Her tests are usually over a couple of lessons that way. Any words she does not spell correctly she has to write five times. We also talk about the phonics rule or whatever "tip" that word was related to so she understands the correct spelling. Next time I do a test I do missed words first to make sure she firmed them up. BTW - Paige, I like your Bananagrams idea. I wrote that one down...

:iagree: - just about word for word what I do... except I don't use a folder for each child. I just have a small tote box for each kid with their all books and I put the HST+ weekly checklist in their box for the week.

Can anyone get the base 10 blocks to print? When I try it always ends up printing the base 2 block sheet...? :confused:

I was laughing reading your op - sounds exactly like my geography requirements! :D As far as map skills - check this one out.

Cantering the Country? It's more than just a book list, but seems pretty pricey to me for what it is...

I agree that it definitely depends on the tutor. Our Abecedarian (K4/5 age level) tutor is a mother of 10 and very organized, with realistic expectations for a class of that age and great classroom control. My 5yo loves it and is learning a lot. Case in point - we were at a Persian restaurant and introduced our children to the owner, a friend of ours. His name is Qayum Mohammed. My son thought for a minute and said, "wait... Mohammed as in the founder of Islam?!" The owner and my husband were both floored. I was proud that a 5yo was starting to make those connections and that a framework of knowledge was already started in his little brain.

Cynthia Rylant has a lot of books we enjoyed when we were in that stage. We enjoyed the Poppleton books, Mr Putter and Tabby books, and the Lighthouse Family series. I think I enjoyed them as much as she did, and that's saying something.

Same here! We spent all of last week doing RS numeration and addition games and I too feel like my daughter made some strides. I was going to do it for two weeks, but I am going back to regular math lessons at half speed for this week and then keep drilling on the breaking/numeration concepts. I feel optimistic. Anyone else working on this?

You guys have inspired me to take more pictures and include them in my posts since they have traditionally been nekked. I diligently took pictures all week BUT... now I can't find my camera cord. :glare: So for now I have another nekked weekly report. Once I find the cord I will add pics. I did include a download of some Prima Latina flashcards I made if anyone can use them.

Thanks for all of the replies. A binder is definitely a better idea. Did anyone do some version of this and wish they hadn't? Any reason I shouldn't do it?

I'm working on my plans for next year and I'm toying with the idea of making a student notebook for next year by cutting up the few workbooks that I do use and splitting them into daily assignments and rebinding them that way. Clear as mud? :001_smile: Does anyone do anything like this? Pros or cons? Ideas or suggestions?

Any chance you'd be willing to share those Word files? I just ordered a pen and some ink and I'm excited to see if this helps with the same issues you're dealing with. Thanks for bringing this up.

If you really just want an SL style schedule, I have one I made for a previous year. You can erase what's in it and add your stuff. It won't let me upload it here because it's too big, but if you PM me your email address, I'll send it to you.

Thanks, Karen. I'll look for that one. I think I remember an earlier thread on which games to start with, so I'll go find that too.

That's pretty much my thought as well. She's not intuitive about math, and is a very visual learner, so we still rely on manipulatives a lot. That said, I think I'm realizing that - I'll go through the RS games box this weekend and try to decide where to start (just looking in that box is a bit overwhelming! :001_huh:) and we won't wait until the summer. We do need to learn a more fundamental approach to numbers as 5s and 10s and breaking and regrouping. Both of us, frankly. :glare: Appreciate all the comments and links here. I'll go through and look at them closer.

Ok, so my dd does still rely on counting on with her fingers for any math facts that she doesn't have memorized, and apparently I lose my mommy crown because I taught her to do that thinking that it was something she'd outgrow once she had them all memorized. :rolleyes: SO.... how do I break that habit? I have the RS games set and we were going to spend the summer playing those games. Anything else someone could recommend? How do I explain the change in approach, and how do I enforce it? I have popsicle sticks and have bundled them into 10s and 100s - that's how we learned carrying - but how do I use that to break the fingers habit? Keep in mind I'm not an intuitive mathy type myself, so you have to give me the math instructions as if you're talking to an English major. ;)

Oh,:smilielol5: my goodness. I am laughing all the way through this thread. I just love homeschool moms (and dads...). Who else is going to have a discussion like this? Certainly none of the people I know irl.

Ours is up - good week, other than today! :glare: One of those days where I abruptly declare school work done for today and send everyone to their room with a book.

Yup - we do too. We school pretty much year round, except for a couple of weeks at Christmas, a week in the Spring, and a few weeks in summer for vacation/travel. Our standard curriculum doesn't stretch that far so we do some other stuff during summers. We spend less time each day working in the summer too so we can lay around and read books and go to the pool a lot. Then we start the next grade level of all of our subjects in mid- or late August. This summer we're doing Dance Mat typing, a couple of Time Travelers sets (probably Explorers and then Colonial Times), and lots of RS math games. Plus stacks and stacks of library books. My priorities are to read a lot and do some math each day. Other than that it's interest driven. Some days we do a big history project, sometimes we just read a couple of library books and call it a day.

My son just turned five a couple of weeks ago. He's listened in to his older sisters lessons all along and is already reading, doing basic math, etc. Here are my plans - RS math games Horizons K math ETC 1,2,3 finish OPGTR (we're on lesson 50ish now so we'll just keep plugging away) Once we reach halfway through OPGTR I'll start AAS with him HWT K - I hate the way this handwriting looks, but he's not strong on fine motor skills (typical boy) so this helps him learn the "formulas" for correctly forming letters. LOTS of reading - I went through the Sonlight, Veritas, AO, etc, booklists and made a K reading list (readers and read alouds) that we'll go through together.

By the end of 2nd grade we'll have finished Horizons Math 2 R&S Grammar 2 WWE 2 SWO D Song School Latin (and probably a ways into Prima Latina by then) SOTW 2 piano lessons Classical Conversations Cycle 1 memory work lots of reading

:grouphug: Boy have I been there. Feelin' your pain.