I though about that, because he is aware of the major civilizations of the ancient world... And being a Catholic family the Medieval world is a really important part of history... But a quick read through SOTW 1 is easy enough... so I will at least do that with him. :)

King Arthur & His Knights (Children's Classics) by Malory ISBN-10: 0517618850.

My guys are 7 and 4. 4 year-old will begin K in the fall, formally... We use history as a spine, and my guys really love history... I did History Odyssey level 1 Ancients with 7 yo this year, and we will do a bit more of Late Rome through the summer... and begin early Medieval in the fall... But then I am going to start hs-ing 4.5 year-old, who has been around for most of the stuff I've done with ds#1... and I don't want to do both at the same time, but have the boys be at the same place for History, and then just have books and other stuff for older ds to go into more depth... So any good ideas for catching ds#2 up? I'm thinking of just reading SOTW straight through with him, and doing the History Pockets for him--hitting the highlights, so to speak. And of course doing some fun stuff from the Ancient Israelites and their neighbors, and the other book from History Odyssey... I know it will be rushed to do this over the summer, but he is so young and I think they would really benefit from doing this together... Has anyone btdt? Anything I should be aware of? Thank you! :auto:

:iagree: I learned classical, and I'm Catholic. For the Italian connection, and beauty, which is no small consideration, I prefer Ecclesiastical. We will seek out Ecclesiastical, because it just doesn't sound right to sing "SalWe Regina! Mater misericordia... SalVe Regina... "is much stronger.

I would get an old copy (or the new one-- might be even better, the old one certainly inexpensive) of Drawing on the Right side of the brain. It is an excellent way to draw--then just get some really big pads of newsprint and a few pencils and draw. The key is having a lot of cheap paper available all the time, and then just set aside some time every week to do the exercises (or every day). They are really effective at teaching you to draw, even though I don't really believe in all the popularized right/left brain stuff, this book is a good text for learning to draw... You will have to adapt it a bit for the youngers, but I could see using many of the exercises (perhaps broken into smaller chunks) for even very young children.

If your dd likes Latin and might want to study something else introduce some German. It is enough like English in vocabulary, and the grammar is similar to Latin (declining). It is a ton of fun just to sing--especially for the young child (something like Ilse Bilse 12 Dutzend alte kinderverse), and kind of just dig the grammar. German for Children is fun and easy to follow for a reading child, nice to listen to for a non-reading child, has the comic Super Katze... your library might even have it to listen to first, even through ILL. Other books in German are more expensive than Spanish, and you have to look a little harder for them, but a lot of fun. :)

Honestly, to learn another language it helps to have as many resources as possible. We'll use it for German, but also many other tapes and music cds and books and Saturday school... I think that if it is reasonably priced, then it is worth a try... more then spending 400 dollars on one program, it works better for us to spend 400 dollars on several materials... so if the children grow tired of one, they can use another. For younger children an attempt to explain grammar often times is a distraction, until they know some vocabulary and flavor of the language. HTH

We're looking at this: http://www.amazon.com/Biology-Life-Earth-Gerald-Audesirk/dp/0131005065/ the 7th edition is much cheaper than the 8th and not that different.

I really love Miquon, and I am not a mathematical person at all. My son hates drill, totally shuts down and will not do it. But He loves Miquon. I'm now using it with my younger son as well (the orange book) for a real gentle introduction to Kindergarten (he is 4) and it is a lot of fun. It allows for the children to discover things in a way that just doesn't happen with traditional math texts. I remember when my older son was doing division in the red book earlier this year. Then he came to the page that had division set up in the traditional manner, with the 'division' sign... he freaked and said "I CAN'T DO THIS--I'm too young for division!" And he was so proud when I answered that he was doing division for the past 2 pages, he just didn't know it. He is seven, and not a overtly math kind of guy. This to me is sums up why Minquon is so great. Because they're both pretty inexpensive, Miquon and Singapore seem to work really well together--like one is the left and the other is the right foot.

It is really nice to not be exposed to the all the junk. I say the first new episode (Episode 1?) in the theatre, but was disappointed. What really made me mad was how they CHANGED the ending of Return of the Jedi in the newly released dvd version. They changed the music, and everything they added didn't do anything for the original story. I like the old special effects better! There is a really good Star Wars Radio drama that the kids have enjoyed, and it is really good. It has some interesting background on the characters even for the serious SW fan. :)

Look at Michael Clay Thompson's stuff at royal fireworks press. It is really fun, doesn't ask for a lot, and is really concise and to the point. It worked really well for us.

I hs my 7 year-old. My 4 year-old attends preschool 3 days a week, and the baby is 16 months old. We get the most done when the 4 yo is at school. But the baby is becoming more and more of a challenge, wanting to be in the middle of e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. We do what we can, and a lot of the work is stuff that ds can do alone... the 4 y.o. does enjoy readings and some stuff, so the 2 days he is here, we do that stuff. I guess I just have low expectations. :lol:

I second The Art of Construction. And if you are thinking of Singapore and Miquon, could you get one workbook of each? We love miquon, but there are some things that it does really well and some things it lacks. I think pulling from both is a really good way to work. Our boys would get along well when it comes to building stuff!

We have the luxury of not shopping at any stores that have marketing stuff (no walmart or target) and do not watch TV, so the exposure to the character Indiana is pretty innocent in our house. It is nice to be able to shut out the junk but still enjoy the character that I loved as a kid as well. We are really excited for the new movie, even if it is not the best. It will be nice to hear the Indiana theme in the theater again (I'll probably cry... :lurk5:)....

Completely obsessed Indiana Jones fan in my house! Oldest son loves Indiana Jones. The show Young Indiana Jones is actually quite good. Each place Indy goes with his family (his father is on an around the world lecture tour) he meets famous people such as Picasso, Howard Carter, Teddy Roosevelt. It is action packed, but historically accurate (mostly) in a very engaging and interesting way. The books are good. We have a couple--the Titanic one and the one about Stonehenge. The themes in both the show and the movie are pretty serious, though--slavery, war--there are lots of fights. My son just turned 7 and loves history, so he loves them. But the books I read though just to know if there is anything he'd want to discuss (since they are written for an older kid). So I guess I would screen them, depending on your child's level of sensitivity. But they are worth a look for an older student. And I'd say that the TV show has a bit more substance then the book (strange, but in this case, true). And the movies are classics. They're classic Lucas Films--the first and third I think are better then the second (Raiders of the Lost Arc and The Last Crusade), but worth a view down the road.

My son sounds a lot like your daughter, only with my boy boy, science is one of his main ways to learning... A lot of stuff I've looked at is... well, fronts for intelligent design type deals. I can't have my money go to this cause, not in the name of science education! we're looking for what to do... right now I'm going to just put together reading lists of books, and maybe do some models for chemistry, naturalist type stuff for bio (picture drawing for a nature journal)... but there have to be something out there! He is a very good reader and loves to read about science. Knows a lot of the facts, understands the concepts... I'd love to have something more for him!

We just got the teachers edition of Grammar Island and would sit on the couch and read it like a book. Sometimes we would have a pencil, too, to do the little exercises. There are some really nice pages that summarize the main points of grammar. We hang this on the wall to think about. My son loves the stories, and doesn't mind the little exercises. We talk about sentences, and grammar. Sometimes he reads through it himself to review. I couldn't imagine using the work books, because this book seems so comprehensive itself. We will use the Building Poems book next year, and Grammar Voyage. Just getting the teacher edition is a really nice way to spend little money. :)

I highly recommend MCT. If your child likes to write, perhaps the poetry (Building Poems) book would be nice to have around. We plan to use it next year. :)

Look at Miquon Math. It is lovely. The drill is very hands on for the children--they have a lot of control. It introduces algebraic ideas from the start, and really is selected by the child. It reaches out to build on where the child is, by the child recognizing what they can do and then going from there. If your child seems to just know concepts, and you want to see what they know--let them just pick what they want to do from the miquon book. :)