Growing so fast: Language Arts: *Current Plan* Grammar: MCT grammar/sentence/practice Island for independent reinforcement in summer & early fall. Followed by ELTL 5 (literature, copy work & grammar) for rest of year OR followed by MCT Grammar Town and MCT Search Trilogy. Poetry: Music of the Hemispheres Spelling: LOE Essentials Writing: CAP 4 Cheria and Proverb, 5 Refutation & Confirmation Latin for Children B or dropping Latin and going with Ceasar's English. Math: Rightstart Math E (2nd half) and Beast Academy 4. (Alternating Days) Combined with DS 8/9 History: TOG Year 1 - Ancient Science: Science in the Ancient World & Sassafras Geology and Astronomy (He loves these books & does them on his own) Art: Projects from Deep Space Sparkle PE: Football (Fall), Basketball (Winter), Baseball (spring), Tennis (Summer). Music: TBD Composer Study and Piano

I am totally in the same boat with you. My eldest is in ELTL 4. I love the diagramming and he has been doing extremely well with the program. Initially I was going to move over to W&R after ELTL 2 but stuck with it. We like the copia exercises in it but I just felt recently that he needs a bit more direction in the writing. I picked up a used copy of narrative 2 a couple of weeks ago and it seems exactly what we need. So we are finishing the year w/ the reading, diagramming and some of the copy work & picture studies in ELTL 4 combined w/ W&R. I did pick up a used ELTL 5 for next year. I just don't really want to give it up. That being said I also got a used set of MCT grammar/sentence/practice Island. I'm going to have him go through at least part of those books after we finish ELTL 4. I like the way MCT uses the 4 level analysis for diagramming. My DS diagrams well but I don't think he fully comprehends that words are parts of speech & parts of a sentence at the same time. I think the 4 level will give him his "aha" moment. Then I'll let him decide to continue with MCT or ELTL. .....(maybe). I just really like the lit selections in ELTL and the diagramming/grammar taken from the literature...and the picture studies. Sorry to be of no help to you, just commiserating.

My first DS just breezed through Foundations. My 2nd DS has problems with fluency. His understanding, decoding, & spelling are excellent. I did take a break in B because of the fluency but he got so bored reading the same things he didn't want to do anything. So I slowly started back up. He really needs the stimulation of learning new phonograms and rules, but we needed to add in lots of reading practice. I use AAR readers and word cards. I did do a few lessons out of AAR since I had it but he hated it (esp...the fluency sheets). So we keep going on, I do think that it will just click with him and he will then already have a solid foundation. I do also have an eye appointment set up for next week.

I didn't see a sample on my AMazon mobile app but Amazon often just puts up a generic sample of classic works. The Ingpen illustrated books are simply beautiful. Lots of illustrations, chapter dividers, heavy paper, and relaxing word spacing. I have quite a set of these books going.

My ds7 really enjoyed the geometry section. He is my good at math but not liking it child. He said to me, "I didn't know shapes were math," which is funny to me since we've talked about quadrilaterals & triangles since level A. I'm pretty sure he didn't think drawing could be math. I liked that he had a hands on way of discovering fractions and relationships between shapes instead of just looking at pictures. I did have to help with the tools but it was good working together.

I have no personal experience (we started from K), but there have been several on the RS Facebook and/or yahoo group that switched later. RS puts out a Transitions lesson book to help older kids switching over with the way RS teaches before being placed in higher levels. I love it and the way it helps visualize/manipulate numbers.

Love the stand mixer. I do have an extra bowl so I don't always have to wash in between when doing more than 1 thing at a time. What I love most about it, is that I can do something else/ prep while it is mixing. My dh got it for me years ago for Christmas after I told him I was not going to make another chocolate peanut butter cheesecake until I got one. ...After I had burnt out my 3rd hand mixer in a couple of years making it.

Lego High Speed Train Set. Someone got him the cargo train set for his birthday. And now he has to have this (because, you know, they have a picture of it with the cargo train on the cargo train box). Do Legos ever go on sale? And Bongos.

I really love ELTL. We have done 1 and are 1/2 way through 2. (I also have 3 which I have read through). I had planned on using 1 just for the copywork in 1st, then moving on to something else for grammar and reading. My writing adverse son actually enjoyed doing the copywork b/c it came from something we just read. He likes that sort of thing. I at first didn't get the samples of later levels but the more I looked at it the better I liked it. Here's what we did. Level 1: We did 3 days a week (that is the recommendation.) I read the story at snack time. (Five children & It and Jungle Book we divided up. 1/2 at snack and 1/2 at bedtime. During lesson time I read the poem & fable. Every third lesson is a narration lesson. It alternates between 1.) picture study (in which the child would tell you about the picture) and 2.) the child drawing a picture about the fable of the day. Toward the last 1/3 of the level, the child would orally narrate the fable. (In the end there is still space to draw a picture also.) Then my DS would do the copy work. Grammar lessons include nouns and action verbs ( done orally) and the use of quotes to show someone is speaking. Level 2: Lessons are written in a 3 day copywork pattern which is in addition to copywork from the story. So repeating every 2 weeks. Day 1: Scripture Verse Day 2: Picture Study Narration (not written). Day 3: Poem (usually 4 lines every 3 days until poem is finished) Day 4: Maxim Day 5: Fable Oral Narration. -one sentence you use for child's copywork Day 6: Poem. Grammar lessons are really gentle & short! and use passages from the story. The child then marks up ONE passage from the story. (In the wb space is also given for the child to draw a picture of the passage.) The lessons do spiral back so they are constantly reviewing. It also does not FEEL like the child has to get every thing right away as it will come up again. Grammar Lessons include nouns (person, place, things, ideas - all introduced separately.), pronouns action verbs, state of being verbs, linking and helping verbs, adj, adv, & prep. Direct & indirect quotes, contractions, abbreviations, and homophones/homonyms are also discussed. Days of the week, Months, Seasons are reviewed/memorized via poems. Address, Phone # is used in copy work, addressing envelopes/writing letters are also covered. The definitions of grammar terms are also supposed to be used for memory work. Writing includes the oral narrations and then starts to build toward the end with written narrations, prepared dictation, and some exercises like turning direct quotes to indirect. This all builds up slowly. Each day also includes a poem and a fable to read. How we do it. I read the chapter during breakfast. We Do the memory work after our morning "music"/wiggle time. We use the copywork for memory. So everyday we recite the current scripture, maxim and poem, then 1 set of past memory work. 1 set for Mon, Tues & We'd, & Thurs. so that we are reviewing old ones a week, then eventually once a month (on Fri.) We do a different grammar def. everyday. I do the grammar lesson right after memory work. I guide my DS as he marks up the passage. Memory & Grammar are done in less than 10 min. I actually DON'T read the poem and fable most days. I also do literature with TOG and also different things with my 1 yo & 6 yo, so something had to go. The daily poem is different then the copywork poem. She suggests letting the child pick out one of the daily poems to memorize but it is easier for me to have him memorize the poem he is doing for copywork. My DS then draws a picture to go with the day's chapter and does his copywork independently. To me the curriculum just "flows" and gets a lot done with a minimum of work for me. I did get the workbook (I printed & spiral bound it). It saves time on me (not having to write out) and aggravation (as in "I lost the page" the passage was on).

My 2nd grade dos: Reading: Can read above MTH level but does not like to read longer chapter books by himself. What we do. Spelling/Reading: RLTL- 4x per week, LOE games 1× per week. 100% w/ mom. Spelling dictation, read aloud. Literature, Grammar, Handwriting: ELTL: 25% Independent. I read the literature chapter (during breakfast), go over grammar lesson or take narration with him and go over memory work (verses, poetry, & grammar); he does copywork and draws picture narration from chapter independently. History: TOG. 20% Independent. We buddy read history/literature book. I work with him on oral narrations, get him stared on and help out with map work and other projects. We work on together on a long term writing project once a week. Math: Rightstart C. 30% Independent. We work on lesson together and play math games together. He does worksheets independently. Science: 100% with mom. Elemental Science: Sassafras Anatomy. We buddy read, I guide him in filling out logbook and doing demonstrations. Latin: Song School Latin - 90% Independent. I will watch DVD w/ him and sing songs w/ him and will play Monkey Match. He does workbook on his own. Art: Artistic Pursuits: 75% Independent. I go over lesson/artists and get correct supplies. He is then on his own, though I often join him in doing the project. I'm using this year as a start in a journey towards independence. Copywork & the few worksheets we have are the only thing completely independent. (Though I'm still in the room working w/ his brother or sister, so I can keep him on task.) Buddy reading this year will hopefully get him comfortable to read his history/science books on his own next year. His oral narrations and guided writing will hopefully lead to his own short written narrations next year. ETA his activities. Yeah, screen time would be his first choice, barring that: Imagine play - which to him is: run around the house with a light saber, bounce off the back door, run back through the house, somersault unto the sofa, bounce off, rinse and repeat. WHen I ask him to imagine play outside, he says, "I can't - there's no sofa outside." We went to a local nature center Friday and newly installed in their "natural" play area was a sod sofa. I need one of those! Besides that it is: Lego, wrestling with his brother, reading super hero readers, playing in our 8x8 sandbox and playing with little sis.

LOE foundations is a very complete phonics program covering reading, spelling, and handwriting. You wouldn't need anything else. I did use the AAR readers in conjunction w/ Level A & B because they are so nice. I bought them used along w/ the whole AAR set since that was cheaper then buying just the readers new. I did use some of the AAR lessons with my 2nd DS while on summer break. I did not like it as well as LOE. (I like LOE because it is interactive, has a ton of phonemic exercises sprinkled throughout, and the discovery method it employs of learning rules). However there are a lot of people who prefer AAR and it is a very solid program. Since you already have it, maybe you should give it a shot. I definitely think that doing both programs simultaneously is overkill (with exception to the readers). The same goes for Phonics Road. I was going to use that before Foundations came out. It was too mature for my then 4.5 yo. When Foundations came out it was perfect. It really has the same information but is geared younger with color, pictures, & games. My 1st DS used A-D my 2nd ds is now in B. I do puffy heart love LOE. Phonics Road is a get it done program but very thorough. It would be possible to get the LOE games book and cards set to go with either PR or AAR to liven them up a bit without going full freight on Foundations. I know nothing about CLP's kindergarten program. I do think anything that adds on my more learning to read/spell/ etc would be overkill but a program with good books that you read to her would be good along with exploring some science/social studies or history topics. For math, we have really enjoyed Right Start. HTH, Kerry

I just wanted to add that I did a modified writing with my boys. In A we did writing via gross motor movements, salt tray, paint bags and tiles. In B we used large letters on a white board. We started using the worksheets provided for spelling in C. (I skipped the sentence copywork in C also - my eldest was still in K then). It has worked out beautifully for my eldest, who now easily does multi-sentence copy work in ELTL 2.

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My level 1 had a top line but level2 doesn't. So I think it was a change with the upgrade. I was worried at first, but my ds did just fine. His handwriting has really improved as a matter of fact. (Whether this is due to the lack of line or simply maturity, I'll take it.)

Well with my boys, we did very little writing in K. Pretty much the only writing we did was one sheet a day of letters and about 3 spelling words. We do some FIAR lapbooks, and if they want(Ed) to write some info on their mini-books, they did. If not, I did it for them. My oldest did do writing on his own when he wanted. In 1st grade I added 1 sentence a day copy work, 5 spelling words a day. Again he could write down what he wanted for history/science or I would write for him. Now, in second grade he writes 1-3 sentences of copy work a day. We do 10 spelling words. He gives me a narration for history and/or science and I take one sentence of that for him to write down. I have been very pleased with his writing this year and he is slowly building up stamina. In K we focused more on the mechanics (letter formation, spacing & spelling) than on quantity.