I saw this come across my FB feed this morning and thought it would be of interest. ETA: ack I forgot the link. http://blog.drwile.com/?p=13271 My disclaimer. I really don't know what happened b/w Dr. Wile ( who wrote the Exploring Creation series) and Apologia. This could be a case of sour grapes for Apologia rewriting his books. However, he has positive things to say of the 3rd edition of the Anatomy book. His review is highly detailed giving specifics on his issues with the new edition. His reasoning is logical and consistent. Enough so, that even though my eldest is in 1st grade, I'm picking up a used copy of the 2nd edition.

My boys (6.5 and 5) love Song School. We are going to continue on to #2 next year. It is an enjoyable introduction. So glad I did this as I previously was not going to go with Latin.

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Workbook pages are NOT in the back of the teacher's manual in the 1st edition. Just appendix sheets (which are basically manipulatives, items for games) and for Level B and up - the math facts practice sheets (with answers) and tests (with answers).

There is a physical book, (with cd for forms) but you can also get it all digital now. https://www.lampstandbookshelf.com/ZC/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=99_3

I've enjoyed it with my first grader this year. So far he is enjoying pretty much everything about it. I did not have him do a lot of writing his K year, just 4 spelling words a day. He always complained about writing. He has not ever complained about the copywork in ELTL. He enjoys that it comes from the stories we're reading. So I'm pleased that it is working so well for handwriting practice. The grammar has been gentle and less than what we've been doing in LOE D, so no issues there. I do the reading at snack time. We've previously read the Beatrix Potter stories, Just So Stories, and Jungle Book. But he hasn't minded. He does usually enjoy all read alouds, though. The fables and poems have gone over well. I like it a lot. I like that we are reading a story, fable, and poem everyday. I like the sentences used for copywork. I like that it progresses from picture narration, to oral and written and that this starts off slowly. Lastly I like the included picture studies. Personally, I'd include a bit more variety...but it gets done with very little effort on my part. Overall, it combines a lot of little parts very nicely into an open and go format that's easy on Mom.

I always thought it was "douche". Last year, after hearing it in a store. I decided to finally look it up. Only the Lonely = Only Baloney In Enter Sandman, I always hear "Exit, Light" as " Amstel Lite". I think there were a lot of Amstel Lite commercials then.

I just finished reading The Hobbit to my 6.5 and just turned 5 ds. They did very well with it. I wasn't planning on it. I was going to read it for myself when my dh was out of the country. I asked the boys if they wanted me to read my book out loud after theirs. But they had to be laying down in bed. (Maybe it would put my night owls to sleep :). They wanted me to read it, the did not fall asleep and they enjoyed it. Well at least until the end. My eldest said "Don't ever read that again because THORIN DIES! How could that happen? I think he's OK now. We have been doing chapter book read alouds along with their choice of picture books since ds6 was 3. So we have built up to it I'm trying to hold off in Narnia since I wanted to do the FUFI curriculum when my oldest is in 4th. ETA: the Jemima Catlin illustrated Hobbit is a gorgeous book. I broke down and got it about three chapters in. I like nice thick glossy-page, illustrated books for read-alouds instead of paperbacks. - Yes, I have a serious book problem.

This was the exact place I was on last year. We continued on to B and it has been great. We skipped a lot of the beginning redundant lessons. B (1st edition) gives a chart of lessons that can be skipped if you do A.We do about 2 lessons a week. I keep lessons about 20 minutes and We school 4 days. We are currently 20 lessons from finishing. We are taking a break and playing math games until the New Year. We also played math games during a 5 week summer break. I took that break just before the "trouble spot" some have in B. We got through with no issues. It really has been great watching my ds blossom in his math understanding (me too.). So I say go for it. It has been nice to take our time, take extended breaks to play games and to still be on target. It will have taken us just over a year to finish B. We're starting C in Feb!

I kind of go by ages/readiness but this is the general jist Preschool (3-4): BFIAR - go along crafts and Printables. Sensory bins, nature walks, etc. work on gross and fine motor control. Pre-k (4-5) Wee Folk Art for reading/crafts AAR pre-level 1 followed by LOE A. Start working on letter formation. RS A (slowly) Nature Walks K FIAR - reading and activities LOE B & C RS A/B Elemental Science - Intro to Science My First Piano Adventure Informal art & Music Nature Walks 1st TOG - history & Lit Seasonal activities/crafts LOE D & ELTL 1 - language arts RS B/C Science in the Beginning Piano Artistic Pursuits Song School Latin Nature Walks 2nd TOG LOE Essentials or WRTR & ELTL 2 RS C Science in the Ancient World? Song School Latin 2 Artistic Pursuits Piano Nature Walks

My ds was 5 when we worked through B & C. Because he was five and a boy I did not stress about the handwriting. In C, I let him write his spelling words in all caps. I did not do most of the Copywork or writing exercises. He really hated it. He did write some of his own things. We started D at the end of K. I made him then write his spelling words on the side of the whiteboard with small lines. (He had been using the big lines). We got about 8 weeks into D when we took 6 weeks off for the summer. When we began I took a couple of weeks reviewing writing the lowercase letters on paper. I used the sheets from level A. When we had done A, we did all sensory, gross motor movements, and the chalkboard for letter formation. After that we did his spelling words in lowercase in the wb. - no complaints and his writing is actually neat. We started the Copywork in ELTL and again no complaints, it's neat. And he is enjoying it. So what I'm saying is that I think it's OK to give young ones some leeway in their writing and everything will turn out fine.

We are 1/2 way through D now with my six year old. We have loved every minute if it. When we started C we were still doing a lesson a day. There was no complaints and I didn't think anything of the added length of the lessons. (We didn't do all the writing assignments b/c my ds was in K and well, a boy!) Halfway through I had found the schedule I had made at the beginning if the year. I had allotted 15-20 minutes for phonics/reading. That was all the time I felt was necessary to spend in the K year. Well, we were doing double that time since we had started C. Even though there were no complaints, I started dividing the lessons in half. (That also bought me time until The early release of D came out). It worked out well. I did the new phonograms, phonogram game, and spelling rules on one day; the spelling words, reading and writing (if any) on the next. After we finished C, my ds was reading very well and was writing things on his own. We started early release D at the end of my ds's K year. (Just turned 6). D lessons were at that time probably double the length of C lessons. (They have since been re-written to be about 1/2 hour shorter). We divided the D lessons into four days, (now we do it in two as we are now using the shorter lessons). D ramps up the reading. There is a book/chapter/reader every lesson. It also includes grammar (learning the five components of a sentence: starts with a capital letter, ends with an end mark, has subject, verb, and a complete thought. Then it thoroughly and gently teaches in-depth those five things. You will continue to review the phonograms via games (and of course, spelling dictation). You are introduced to other advanced phonograms. There is vocabulary development (contractions, abbreviations, synonyms, antonyms, homonyms). Writing exercises (we don't use the Copywork & Dictation since we use ELTL), but use some of the others. Reading comprehension exercises are thorough and orally done through narration and questions. (Her non-fiction readers are tied to the books being read i.e after reading Little Bear there is a reader on different types of bears.). Where the program really shines, in my opinion, is in the spelling rule exercises. They are so thorough, incremental, and enjoyable. I was considering just using my WRTR book after C. The dictation is about the same but I couldn't wrap my mind around some of the spelling rules. You are supposed to teach the certain rules before certain lists and mark the rule during spelling dictation. But besides just reading the rule to the kids and have them repeat it and use it during dictation there is no implicit teaching. Frankly, some of those rules make my head spin, never mind kids. Foundations D breaks down those rules into bite size pieces and illustrates the rules through word exercises often using a discovery method. Spelling dictation then reviews the rules you have learned through these exercises. I find the scaffolding here to be excellent and worth it's weight in gold. My ds's reading has really taken off. In addition to our reading in Foundations, he buddy reads with me the encyclopedia readings for science and our history books. He reads his devotional by himself and looks up and reads the Bible passages. He does need help with some multi-syllable words, but overall I'm impressed. I'm looking at Essentials again now for after D. It does not have the kind of scaffolding that Foundations has. I'm hesitant to spend the money on it for what I will essentially use as a spelling program (since I'm doing writing and grammar through ELTL). The grammar in Essentials goes far beyond what I want to cover in 1st/2nd. I'm leaning towards doing spelling dictation using WRTR and LOE's spelling game book plus ELTL level 2 and Song School Latin for 2nd grade LA before moving onto MCT/CAP/ELTL in 3rd. I've

I'm using LOE D with ELTL (well we'll start ELTL next week). I faced the same dilemma that you are. I was going to use WRTR after LOE C (b/c of D not being released yet.) I felt comfortable doing the spelling analysis when dictating spelling words and we were solid with all the phonograms. What I did not feel comfortable with was introducing/reviewing spelling rules. It's just so stark in WRTR, I didn't know if I could pull out understanding from just stating the rule. I feel it does not provide enough practice working with the rules (just stating them the rules when spelling words), When the early release of D became available I snatched it up. It exactly what I need in the introducing (discovery) of rules and the in-depth practice and review. We are also just starting exercises on unaccented syllables vs. accented. I really love the hand-holding provided for these type of lessons as I did not receive this type of education. We've been enjoy the reading comprehension activities. It does introduce grammar and vocabulary which we also have been doing. I've been pretty much skipping the writing activities (copywork, dictation, and writing projects (making lists, etc). My ds was 5 last year and we did all writing on the whiteboard. So we have spent the first few weeks working/reviewing letter formation on lined paper. Next week we're starting ELTL for writing. I do question if we need ELTL with LOE. I just want to use copywork with literature and discuss Aesop's fables. KWIM? I was going to drop the grammar with LOE, but my ds is actually enjoying it. So I may just use ELTL as review of grammar concepts and see if he can apply what he is learning with LOE to the literature he's reading. We've been doing one D lesson a week (breaking it up over 4 days). The current lessons average 120 minutes. She is re-writing them to take about 90 minutes each. She is toning down the writing portion and removing one of the 2 phonogram review exercises in each lesson. The re-written ones are being posted today. We are on lesson 11. So we have been doing D for 12 weeks. I really like it and glad I went with it. I do plan on switching to the WRTR after D. I'm pretty sure I'll feel comfortable by then to use it for spelling.

All of TOG's lit corresponds to the historical time period. Most of the "classics" in year 1 & 2 are children's adaptations of adult lit. Years 3 & 4 do have more kids lit. I'm using English Lessons Through Literature that uses children's classics for copywork and grammar. Between that and our bedtime read-aloud we've got children's classics covered. Right now I'm not interested in formal analysis. Ds is 6.

Well, I had HWT when I got LOE, I switched to that. Personally I hate the way HWT letters look. I used A with my 4.5 year old son. I'm not big on getting young boys writing on lined paper early. We did pretty much all the letter writing in A in the air, (Big Arm Movements), in the salt tray, on paint bags, on the chalk board, (and the wet, dry, try), and on our white board. (These are all suggested methods in the lessons). I didn't have money with my eldest to get the tactile cards - but have them now for my next child. We did not use the handwriting sheets at all. I loved learning the strokes (you learn a few strokes up front - to form the first 3 or 4 letters - then the new strokes are interspersed with new letters). We shouted the strokes while doing the letters in the air, whispered etc. (ex. a - roll, swing, straight; d - roll, swing tall, straight). We used this method through B. When we got to C we started to do some copywork on the lined paper. My ds is in 1st now and we are doing spelling words and copywork on lined paper. As far as manuscript vs. cursive. I know the suggestion is for cursive first. My main reason for choosing manuscript was I thought cursive might be confusing b/c reading is done in manuscript. That's just me personally.

I'm having the crazy notion of limiting implicit 3 r's instruction to 3 days a week, so we have time for projects, baking, science experiments, etc. We currently have a four-day a week schedule as my dh only has Monday's off. My eldest is starting 1st grade at 6 (May birthday). He has finished LOE Foundations A-C and the 1st 10 lessons of D. He is reading at a solid 2nd grade level possibly higher (but I haven't really tested him). He reads things around him with ease (signs, instructions, Bible verses, workbook pages) struggling with some 3-5 syllable words (determining where to split syllables). We have never struggled with phonics/reading lessons. In Math he is a little more than 1/2 way through Right Start B. We stopped lessons about 10 weeks ago before the dreaded rough spot in RS B and have just been playing math games. He knows his 10 and 15 facts down pat, grasps place value, and can add any multiple of 5 and 10. He recently has been figuring out 11, 12, 13, etc facts on his own. So I think we will be able to get over the hump just fine. His handwriting, well, that needs some work. He can correctly form his letters. But only wants to write in CAPS and it could be neater. I let it slide last year b/c he was 5. I wasn't planning on doing formal spelling (i.e. tests) until 3rd grade maybe 2nd and I'm not looking to accelerate math. Science, history, geography excite him so I don't want to shove it under the rug. It's what makes learning fun for him. Here's the plan: Tuesday - Thursday: TOG History/Literature: Mom Read Aloud w/ some buddy reading - 15 Minutes Mapping Exercise (T), Lit Oral Narration/Sheet (W), History Oral Narration/Drawing (TH) - 15 Minutes LOE Foundations D: Phonogram & Spelling Rule Lesson/Review and Game, Dictate & Mark 5 Spelling Words (T), Vocab Lesson, Dictate & Mark 5 Spelling Words (W), Read Book/Reader & do Reading Comp exercises (TH). - 15 Minutes English Lessons Through Literature Mom Read Aloud 1 chapter and read Aesop Fable- 15 Minutes (We may move chapter read-aloud to bed-time) Copy 1 Sentence and go over Grammar- 15 Minutes Outside Time/Lunch/Quiet Time - 3.5 Hours RS B Math: 30 Minutes Sassafrass Zoology Mom Read Aloud with some buddy reading - 10 Minutes Complete Animal & Habitat Sheet (T), Complete Animal Sheet & Vocab Words (W), Update Habitat and Food Charts (Th) - 10 Minutes Piano Practice - 15 minutes FRIDAY TOG Project: i.e. artwork, costume, tool/weapon, instrument, salt-dough map, diorama, etc. (May involve some reading/writing) **Optional: Wee Folk Art/Seasonal Craft and/or Baking with younger brother. (1-3 hours total as interested) Nature Study at Nature Center w/ Picnic Lunch Math Games (30 Minutes) Science Demonstration (20 Minutes) (Will occasionally do lab sheet/writing.) Piano Practice = 15 Minutes SATURDAY Piano Lesson - 20 Minutes Art Lesson/ Project 1 hour - while listening to classical kids cd. So per week for 3 R's we will do: Reading/Spelling Review all phonograms, learn new phonograms, read leveled book/reader, reading comprehension exercise Buddy read 3-4 higher level books with Mom Dictate and Mark 10 new spelling words Review select spelling rules Writing: Copy 3 sentences Do 3-4 Oral Narrations Misc. Worksheet writing Math 2-3 Lessons per week 30 Minutes of Math Games (plus occasional family games in the evening) So anybody have experience with this. Is this sufficient for a child who progresses well and (so far) has had no issues? TIA Kerry

My boys love the Otis stories. Their favorite is Otis and the tornado. Otis and the Scarecrow is coming out in October. Another series we stumbled across is the Henry series by D.B. Johnson. (Henry Hikes to Fitchburg, Henry Builds a Cabin, Henry Climbs a Mountain, Henry Works, and Henry's Night). Henry is a bear who represents Henry David Thoreau. Each story illustrates a snippet from Thoreau's writings. The illustrations are whimsical and cubist in nature. The stories are very simple for children to understand but certainly represent a different way of looking at things. They can be read at face value or serve as a jumping board to discussion. Henry Climbs a Mountain does mention slavery and Henry spends the night in jail. There is however nothing overtly alarming in it as Henry spends the night drawing on the jail walls, imagining his climb up a mountain (where he helps a runaway slave). It is a very gentle intro to slavery and those who store up against it.

We are planning around 40. We school 4x a week though. We take 3 weeks totally off in the summer, at Christmas, and the other six sporadically through the year. My boys are young, but I found with too much unstructured time all they do is want to play video games/watch TV and terrorize each other.

Beautiful! I rescued one just like him from a parking lot about 20 years ago. His name was Sinatra.

I haven't used TOG yet (starting this fall with LG) so take this with a grain of salt. It seems to me that pretty much all output for UG history is in the history response pages found in the loom (Helps for all year plans>lower and upper grammar helps) and in the weekly writing assignments. There are four different generic charts/diagrams for the history response pages. They are 1. Describe four details of an Event, 2. Answer ?'s regarding the Who, When, Where, & Why of an Event, 3. Answer 4 questions regarding a certain person in history, & 4. Describe 6 attributes of a culture (technology, family life, religion, literature, music and art.). As for writing assignments, in going through my year plan for grades 3-5, I see things like writing paragraphs, outlining the encyclopedia readings, making cluster/venn diagrams, and writing biographies, historical fiction, or newspaper accounts of historical events, etc. There are no specific questions about each weeks history, instead a child would be picking something learned to include in his/her writing. There are also listings of vocabulary & people/events to define. So there are not worksheets per se but there are definite suggestions for synthesizing info from the historical readings.

I'm a very conservative Christian pastor's wife. If YOU are comfortable using sonlight (and the reading materials), YOU should use it. Please don't ditch a program b/c of others! There are issues with using non-"Christian" books. But I believe there are far greater benefits. I don't have time to elaborate now. I will come back later. Dig around on the sonlight, AO, and tapestry of grace sites. Each of those sites have a FAQ section that deals with this issue. Pray about it and let The Lord lead. It may not be for you but it may.

Hi. Well I LOVE big puffy heart LOE. That being said. For 7yo ds: you will definitely need Essentials if he is reading at a 3rd grade level. You did not say if he is already has spelling rules, phonograms down pat. If he does not then essentials will be good. If he does, the I personally would skip Essentials and do the Ayres list. (WRTR ) for spelling. Maybe get the games book and cards from LOE to make it less "lesson" like. If you need the step by step handholding of dictating /marking words then I would also get Essentials. For your dd: foundations is definitely a "Team effort". There are SOME worksheets that are independent and some Copywork in level C and D but the rest will involve you heavily. (Though I don't know of many reading programs that are "independent". As far as how long levels will take: it will be totally dependent on your child. For essentials: if you are planning on the doing the whole program (grammar, etc.). I would personally take a week to do 1 lesson. There are 40 lessons. - So a year. You then could go back through the book using the advanced spelling lists she has posted on her website. Foundations is trickier since it is for younger kids who may stall and leap forward and lessons throughout the levels get longer. So it depends on if you are a lesson a day person or a certain amount of time a day person. I would plan on levels A-D to take two years. Each level has 40 lessons and 8 reviews. Level A - the first 20 lessons (phonemic awareness, phonograms & handwriting) should take about 15 - 20 minutes. So you could do 1 lesson a day. My Pre-k is doing a lesson in 2 days. The second 20 lessons will add reading (&spelling words). So lessons will then be about 30 minutes long. I plan on my Pre-k to take three days to do a lesson. I would say 10-20 weeks (if not accelerating due to previous knowledge) Level B adds in spelling rules, review & practice and longer readings. So maybe 40 min long lessons. - 10 - 20 weeks Level C adds in Copywork, dictation & reading comprehension. Approx 1 hour lessons. 15-20 weeks. Level D adds in grammar and vocabulary, more spelling words, "real books", and simple writing assignments. 1 1/2 - 2 hours. (20-40 weeks). My 1st ds really flew through LOE and it was about 1/2 way through C when I came to the realization that I had only wanted to spend 15-20 minutes a day and we were now spending 45 minutes to an hour a day (broken up). So we started dividing up the lessons. It took us a year and two months (which includes time off for early pregnancy & summer break) to go through A-C. We are now doing D at one lessons a week. I do not plan that kind of pace with my 2nd. LOE is very thorough, easy to implement and fun (at least in this house).

Almost all set...just a couple more things to purchase. DS6- 1st: Logic of English Foundations D then WRTR? English Lessons Through Literature 1 RIghtstart B moving on to C Tapestry of Grace Year 1 Piano Adventures DS 4-5- Pre-k: Logic of English Foundations A moving on to B Rightstart A (Goal is to be finished w/ LOE B and RS A by the end of his K year following - so taking it slow unless he wants to/can move faster.) Wee Folk Art Together: Leading Little Ones to God Song School Spanish/Salsa Episodes Sassafras Science Zoology & Anatomy Artistic Pursuits Book 1 Composer Study

My dc are 6 and 4. These are my plans: Tuesday: Safety day. - Rotate topics such as personal safety, fire safety, water safety, gun safety, bike safety. We will memorize address, phone #'s, what to do in an emergency, get lost, etc. I plan to use worksheets/ coloring pages, songs and activities/role play. Then rinse and repeat topics. Wednesday: Patriotic Day: Learn patriotic songs (wee sing America). Memorize Pledge, states, Preamble, various snippets of famous speeches. Thursday: Hymn Study Learn various hymns and background. Friday: Character Day- Activities/stories for our character trait of the month. We do Bible during breakfast, poetry/folk stories (My Book House) during lunch, and picture book & chapter book RA at bed time. History/lit and science reading take place during school. Saturday we will do picture, composer, and nature study as our whole school day.

We'll be starting with year 1. I had already bought it used (for $80.00! ) before they came out w/ the primer. I was tempted to go w/ the primer but I already mapped out the book list at our library, etc. and it's just so nice to have 3 full rotations. If only it had come out for K! But I'm excited to be starting. Over the summer I plan on sitting w/ my ds and planning what projects we are going to do, so we will have everything on hand when we start. I'm going to try to make it as open and go as possible.