We did CC for one year and I felt much the same way that you felt. I also felt that it was academically lacking and mostly just a way to have social time. There are so many other options. Do you own thing, set up a small co-op with just 1-2 other families, or find a bigger co-op. Either way, your kids will be happy and you will have so much more time in your week!

My daughter and I do most of her R&S level 5 orally.

An art class that I pay a teacher to do. My kids love it!

You are the momma, you know your kiddos best, and you love them more than anyone else in the world. Will you do it perfectly? No, none of us do. But, at the end of the day, you are more invested in their success than any other person on earth. Trust yourself and stop wasting energy on negativity.

I would do online Latin classes. It would be so nice to outsource this one so that I don't have to be learning every step of the way with her.

Thanks for the advice on this, ladies. I looked at Writing Tales and I like what I see- but it's heavy on grammar and spelling too and we already have other programs for that. I emailed CAP to ask them when the rest of the books are coming out and they said that book 4 should be out by the end of this month and then they are planning on releasing 2 books per year after that.

Please help me decide which writing curriculum would be the best for my 10 year old daughter going into 5th grade. We did WWE 1-3. We have also finished IEW Fun and Fascinating, Fairytales and Fables, and The Ancients. We were both feeling a little burned out on IEW, so I bought WWS1 and have it ready to go for 5th grade. But, in reading so much on these boards, it looks like many 5th graders struggle with WWS1. I've also heard great things about CAPS W&R, but we've never personally used it. So, I need a little direction from some who have traveled this road before. Should I: 1. Try WWS? 2. Stick with what I know- IEW- maybe US History based? 3. Give CAPS a try (maybe book 3 Narrative for the first semester and then Book 4 Chreia/ Proverb for the 2nd semester)? She doesn't particularly love writing. She likes to write her own stories, but IEW has never been what I would call enjoyable for her. Is there such a thing as an enjoyable writing curriculum???? Any help would be most appreciated.

I have an upcoming 5th grader as well. We just finished FLL4 and have now started R&S5. My daughter definitely needs some help with the grammar. Even after all 4 years for FLL. Some is independent, but not all. Also, for Latin, we have tried 3 different programs and if you are just starting- our favorite, by far, was GSWL. Such a gentle and easy start. You could easily combine your kids for that. 10-15 minutes a day and enjoyable for all.

We go down and do the singular and then the plural too. The farther I'm getting into Latin, the more I'm understanding how important it is to know what each function does. Take the time now to figure out what part of speech nominative is (subject), genitive (shows possession), dative (indirect object), accusative (direct object), and ablative (many uses). You must understand these in order to translate correctly. And, yes, we chant. The 1st declension is known as the feminine. So, I came up with a way to remember it: the first one is "a". Most feminine words end in "a", so that will help you get started and remember that it is feminine. Then, "ae", "ae", think of a woman who has long eyelashes, since "ae" sounds like eye. We make the hand motion of a big curly eyelash in front of our own faces. Once we have the "a", "ae", "ae", we can remember the rest of the chant just fine. I don't know if that makes sense, but good luck!

I've spent a fortune on Latin for Children and Visual Latin and then found out about GSWL. It is by far the best, the clearest, and the easiest to figure out. Since I'm learning Latin too as we go along, I definitely appreciate GSWL- we both finally understand it! Latin for Children and Visual Latin were a daily struggle for us.

I need some help deciding what to do for a co-op that we have. We have a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 6th grade girls. We get together for our co-op once a week, but would be willing to do more on our own throughout the week. We are currently using Apologia Botany and I think it's a bit over everyone's head (except for the 6th grader who is enjoying it). We feel that the Apologia experiments are a little too involved and time consuming. We feel that the text is dry and boring and all of the girls have glazed over looks within 5 minutes (again, except for the 6th grader). My friend and I realize that we need to change curriculums to make science easier to teach and much more hands on. I have researched science curriculums and am leaning towards NOEO or REAL Science Odyssey. My questions are: have you used either of these? What do you like or dislike about them? Would they work well with those ages in a co-op setting? Do they make science simpler and funner and more hands-on that Apologia? Any help is much appreciated! Thanks! PS- if there is another curriculum that you adore, please share.

My oldest will be going into 3rd grade, so I may not be the best advice giver. We did CC last year too and I follow TWTM very closely. I LOVE FLL and WWE. Obviously, because of the age of my child, we haven't started WWS. I also got introduced to IEW at CC and I think it's a fantastic writing program too. If IEW was hard to teach and hard to write, think about doing WWE. I feel like it is a complete curriculum as well. It's easy to teach, quick, and my daughter doesn't complain at all about FLL or WWE. However, she complained a lot about IEW Fun and Fascinating.

I use the Intermediate World Atlas by Rand McNally for my 8 year old.

I love Singapore for a supplement to our math. It teaches math in a way that I have never thought about. It teaches concepts in about 3-4 different ways so that the student really understands the concepts and the "why" of a problem. It's much more than just memorization- you have to understand "why" when you are doing Singapore. We are on level 1B and 2B and so far I have never used manipulatives or a teacher book, just the workbooks which are a great price.

OH, I forgot. I just downloaded something I'm really excited about. It's from Knowledge Quest. It's over 420 maps with everything from Ancient Civilizations to modern states and all of the maps in between. It you input your name and email information on their website, an ad comes up that offers the maps for $37. It downloaded quickly and there are questions that go to each map, a teacher map key, and blank maps that you can print out whenever. I think I'm going to like it a lot. Also, we just finished a year of CC. Basically, you memorize 4-8 geographical locations a week. You don't learn anything about them or go into more detail with them at CC (you could obviously do that at home). I've decided for next year to get a more complete geography curriculum. Looking at possibly, "Trail Guide to World Geography" and "The Ultimate Geography and Timeline Guide".

Blobbing the continents is explained in Leigh Borton's book, "The Core". Basically, what you do is take a 8 1/2 x11 page of plain paper. Fold it in half the long way. Draw a line across the line- that is your equator. Then, draw a line above it (Tropic of Cancer) and another line near the top (Arctic Circle). Draw a line below the equator (Tropic of Capricorn) and one near the bottom (Antarctic Circle). Then draw a line going down the page in the middle (Prime Meridian). Start with this. Have the child look at an atlas and explain what these lines are. I had my 8 year old draw these- just the lines and label them, for about a week until she was solid in her understanding of what they were and where they went. Then, we moved on to blobbing. Start with Africa right in the middle. You want to have the child look and see where the continent lies (is it north of the Tropic of Cancer? Does it go south of the equator? Does it go north of south of the Tropic of Capricorn? Does the Prime Meridian go through it?) Ask her lots of questions about "where" it goes. The, start with just drawing an oval or circle or whatever, instead of trying to outline the actual shape of the continent. What you are trying to do is have the child become familiar with "where" the continent lies in relation to the lines on the atlas and in relation to each other. Then, after they have mastered that- it took my daughter a couple of weeks- have them start trying to make the shape of Africa more realistic. Once they have mastered Africa, move on to Australia, then the other continents. This will take awhile. We have been doing this for about 2 months (probably 2-3 times a week) and my daughter can now do Africa, South America and Australia pretty well. I hope that explains it well.

We did CC last year and we are not doing it this year again. I too was doing SOTW and my own science curriculum. I felt that CC just added a lot more for me to do every day. Although it's only 30-45 minutes a day, that's a lot when you are still trying to fit in everything else. If you do CC, then make it your main curriculum. If you do WTM, then skip CC IMO.

Alright ladies. I'm trying to decide between CLE math and Horizons math for my daughter going into 3rd grade. I have read great things about both of them. I love the price of CLE math. I have heard that the teacher manual for Horizons is not great. I'm not strong at math and so I would love something that explains to me how to explain concepts to her. Not just, "teach them how to do this", but "here is how you explain this". Also, do you feel that CLE or Horizons is a "stand alone" math curriculum? Or, do you supplement with something else? What? Thanks so much for the insight.

Just wondering if the manipulative kit that Horizons sells is necessary for Horizons level 3 math. It's $105, and I would rather not spend the money if it's not necessary. Please let me know if you have any experience with this. Thanks!

I will be teaching a geography co-op to 2nd-6th graders next year. I'm looking for a great geography curriculum and have stumbled across "Trail Guide to World Geography". It looks like it recommends that you also use "The Ultimate Geography and Timeline Guide" along with it. Has anyone used this curriculum? What did you think? Do you have any better suggestions?

Hi there- I'm new to this forum. I'm homeschooling my second grader and we are currently learning all of the states and capitals. We thought it would be fun to get a postcard from all 50 states and as many foreign countries as possible. We are looking for people who may be interested. Basically, if you are interested, you would send out 49 postcards from your state one week (less than $16 postage). Then, you would receive one postcard a week from another state for the next 49 weeks. I thought this would be a great way to get my daughter excited about learning geography, history, and interesting facts about each state. So far, we have OR, AK, NY, AL, CT, AZ, WA, CA, MS, SC, FL, GA, VA, HI, NM, and UT. If you live in another state and are interested, please let me know. I will get it up and running as soon and I get all 50 states. Thanks so much!

Hi there- I'm new to this forum. I'm homeschooling my second grader and we are currently learning all of the states and capitals. We thought it would be fun to get a postcard from all 50 states and as many foreign countries as possible. We are looking for people who may be interested. Basically, if you are interested, you would send out 49 postcards from your state one week (less than $16 postage). Then, you would receive one postcard a week from another state for the next 49 weeks. I thought this would be a great way to get my daughter excited about learning geography, history, and interesting facts about each state. So far, we have OR, AK, NY, AL, CT, AZ, WA, CA, MS, SC, FL, GA, VA, HI, NM, and UT. If you live in another state and are interested, please let me know. I will get it up and running as soon and I get all 50 states. Thanks so much!