We're into Lesson 3. We built the light house and started these fast plants http://www.fastplants.org/#menu on March 28. They are now about a foot tall and blooming. Spring seems to be the perfect time for this subject, although I suspect you could do it anytime that works for you.

Sounds like my dgd's idea of an April Fool's joke.

Bible: Apologia Who Is God? Math: finishing Horizons 4. Looking seriously at doing CLE next Grammar: MCT History: MOH 2 & SOTW2 Geography: ?? Spanish: Auralog Tell Me More with Rosetta Stone as supplement Latin: probably Lively Latin Science: continue Apologia Botany & Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day, plus sundry other experiments, etc. PE: co-op, basketball team, Tai Kwan Do Music: piano lessons, recorder, co-op Art: Atelier, projects from online sources such as Art Projects for Kids, co-op Plus lots of reading

We started with Rosetta Stone, and then switched to Auralog Tell Me More so that we could get more grammar and writing. We go back to Rosetta Stone for supplement. I'm going to try to hunt down someone who actually can carry on a conversation in Spanish, because I sure can't!

http://www.phillipmartin.info/clipart/homepage.htm These are not at all in the style of Homeschool in the Woods, but the cartoon figures of Phillip Martin are fun! And there are many available. We like them a lot.

Just a word of caution on the Top Secrets: If you want to truly make this a geographic learning experience, make sure that your kids take the time to read carefully the "story" that goes along with each page. After doing a few of the countries, my 8-year-old had figured out the pattern to the games, and I had to insist that she slow down and read the country's information. You can skip through the games pretty quickly once you know the routine. But she loved them! We also enjoyed the Highlights kits for the individual states. They're a little easier and use a different format.

Prismacolor is the best, in my opinion.

Oh, now I feel so much better. I was afraid I was doing something terribly wrong. We, too, loved B4FIAR and FIAR, but Beyond just hasn't been working for us, and I was considering dropping it. I want us to read the books, but we have no desire to stretch it out over so many weeks.

Oh, never mind. I've found some previous posts that answer this question. Sorry. I keep forgetting to do a search.

Shannon mentioned the errors in Lively Latin. Can anyone elaborate? A lot? Just a few? I'd like to hear other opinions. I like the looks of the program, but I'm flying blind here.

I've seen sets at Goodwill, Salvation Army, and the like. Just keep your eyes open. And yes, library used book sales are good sources too. But I never thought I wanted to have that many books on my already-sagging bookshelves!

I rarely have my student do all the problems. I just go through and star about half of them for her to do. She "gets" it, so it doesn't seem worthwhile to torture her.:) If she has trouble with any problems, I'll go over one or two of the unstarred problems with her. That keeps us both happy.

We're going to do McRuffy Color next year in kindergarten. It arrived last week, and I really like the looks of it. Teaching this child is going to be a challenge for me, no matter what curriculum I choose. Her older sister started kindergarten math with the 2nd book of Horizons, and she's been going strong ever since. Horizons has been a good fit for her, but the second child is going to be a whole different ball of wax! :001_smile:

:iagree:I always drool over their catalog. We tried AS1 a couple of years ago, when we were just beginning with homeschooling, but we didn't make it all the way through, and what we did do was a huge struggle. Your comments make me feel much better. I was afraid I was doing something wrong.

I ordered the 2nd edition. Just because I love to spend money on books. :001_unsure:

As a piano teacher, I would hope that you would encourage her to keep playing the piano. She is obviously talented in this area, even if she muddles along for awhile. It will be a lot harder to start back again once she's dropped the lessons. The level of interest fluctuates in most students. I nearly dropped lessons at her age, but just a word from an older sister whom I adored ("I wish I'd stuck with the piano") was enough to make me keep at it. And it turned into my life's occupation. Good luck. It's hard living with a musician. :001_smile:

At the moment, I don't have pictures of the schoolroom, but I'm certainly getting ideas from all of you. Thanks!! As I write this, our room is a big mess, and I've been planning to straighten things up after Christmas. Since we're supposed to start back to school on Monday, I guess I know what I'll be doing tomorrow & Sunday afternoon! :eek:

I just bought this last month in preparation for beginning in January. Now I wish that I'd waited a few weeks for the 2nd edition. Thanks for the link to the new samples. I've made sticky notes to add to my "old" new book. :glare:

DGD8 didn't want to get involved watching The Secret of Kells, but it wasn't long before she was totally engrossed in it! We had the DVD sent to the house from netflix.

We're going to try a few new things in January. I love starting the new calendar year with some fresh ideas. We're going to focus on the literature/grammar/spelling aspect more and ease up on the history and science for a while. DGD8 be adding MCT and dropping Rosetta Stone Spanish for Auralog Tell Me More. I can't believe this school year is half over already!!

I'll be watching this thread with interest. We've got a science fair coming up this spring, and I just want to "call in sick.":willy_nilly:

I don't know if it's a "favorite" or not, but we used Dance Mat typing online to teach a 6 year old. She's a whiz at typing now, a couple of years later.

We liked it for about 2/3 of the school year, but DD decided she didn't want to use that kind of program again this year. She enjoyed the spelling games and the quiz-bowl (can't remember what it was called) but we had a few tears when test time came around. Like a previous poster stated, if the answer isn't exact, it will be counted wrong. I spent a lot of time overriding. We supplemented with occasional experiments. The program did, however, cover a subject that I was uncomfortable teaching--science! And for that, I'm thankful.

Thank you, everyone, for your considerate and thorough replies. I never even thought about searching the abbreviation TOG. That would have been too simple! :001_smile: I will do some in-depth investigating and, hopefully, come to a decision eventually.

I haven't seen many posts here on Tapestry of Grace. I'd like to hear your opinions, pro and con. Did it work for you? Why? Why not? I've done a search, but it didn't show many hits. I'm just just starting out with the WTM classical plan, so I have a 3rd grader who is coming late to the party, but we've got our party hats on!! ;)