Okay, let me rephrase. :D For those of you who use ES for the logic stage, how do you schedule the lessons? Do you follow the guide or do your own thing? If you do your own thing, do you mind sharing what a week looks like?

Here's my dilemma: My daughter is going to be using ES Biology this year. We usually do a 2-day per week schedule, and I love that one is included for the program. However, I notice that there are more activities to be performed on the 5-day schedule than the author included in the 2-day schedule. I'm now trying to figure out how to fit in the extra activities. Has anyone else who uses ES ran across this? If so, how did you work with it? Did you tack a bit onto each day? Skip the "extras" all together? Have all the reading done during a separate reading time?

I've been bad about "weekly updates," but I've been trying to make posts as I prepare for our new school year, which begins 8/5. Here's the link to my blog. (My vote is for the general board. :))

If you are using Google AdSense, how did you manage to get approved for it? I had applied a while ago, and they denied me, but I was unable to find out why. Now, I'm trying again. I was assuming that maybe it was because there had been a gap in my posts. I've been trying to post more, and would really like to get my blog going somewhere.

:iagree: This is my rising 5th grader. She can do two lessons of grammar in about 10-15 minutes, math takes her about an hour now that she is doing more multiplication and division, and she spends about an hour each day on either history or science. Writing is done WTM-style through her history summaries, and then science summaries when we get started with her ES Biology in a few weeks. She reads a LOT on her own, so doing formal literature with her is hit and miss. When I have her doing literature as an assignment, it only takes her about a half hour to read and do the required activities that go with it. We will be adding in logic and probably continuing Latin at home since no one signed up for the co-op class for level 2. But even then, it looks like she should probably be done in about 3-1/2 to 4 hours. It seems light for 5th grade to me, but she gets it done and is progressing, so I just go with the flow. :D

I use a mix of things, really. I've been meaning to make a detailed blog post about my method. It's a mix of handwritten plans and Donna Young's V Planner.

Someone gave me their "extra" student book for Beta last year, and only a few pages here and there were missing, including all six pages for lesson 4. I called them and asked if they would be willing to just send me a couple pages from lesson 4, and they said "no." I felt like saying, "Do you really think saying 'no' is going to make me purchase an entire book for one lesson?" I, too, am spoiled by being able to use eBooks for each child.

This is where we are at with my 9yo daughter. She, like her mother before her, really hit a wall once division was introduced into the mix with MM. We are now taking some time to really start to go over the multiplication facts. I'm including my 8yo, too, who uses MUS. We are literally going to be repeating "3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18..." over and over a couple times a day until we know them forwards and backwards. (The author of MM has a video on her site about multiplication facts.) Do you think it is also possible to keep with MM, which my 9yo usually thrives with, but then supplement Delta and/or Gamma to solidify the facts a little better? She has never really needed manipulatives to learn things in the past, but I wonder if maybe, just maybe, this would be a good supplement for her. How do you think that would look? To the OP: I have one child who uses each. MUS is a perfect fit for my 8yo. She's the type of learner who always likes to draw or color when being taught, but then knows exactly what's going on. If you make her "pay attention," she totally doesn't get anything out of what you're telling her. She was also a wiggler as a toddler whenever it was time to sit and look at books. She doesn't always need the blocks to do her work, but when she's stuck on a subtraction problem, she pulls them out and gets the answers right away. I usually don't have to interact with her much, but just earlier today she was showing me the "proper" way to do the blocks for a subtraction problem, and I could totally see the answer in front of me. I was always a struggler in math, and still have to pause when asked to figure something out without a calculator. However, being a visual person, I could see how MUS really gives you a different approach to math, not just with having something you can touch and manipulate to arrive at an answer, but with something you could picture in your mind when doing the same problem later on. Good luck!

I, too, am now thinking of testing this out. I know when my oldest was first starting to write a lot, I had gotten the fat Ticonderoga pencils. I don't think I've gotten any since then.

Staples will start having great weekly deals where things are like a nickel or a quarter. I stocked up on pens, pencils, and the erasers that go on top of your pencils last year, and still have plenty left this year. I think Office Depot does the weekly deals, too. I would definitely get extra 1-subject notebooks, pens, and pencils if you get the good deals. It's better to have less to buy next year than to have to run out and get something for a dollar that you could have gotten for 10 cents! I also highly recommend rubber cement. If you do any type of lapbooks or mini offices or timeline books, the rubber cement holds better than glue sticks but doesn't make the paper all wrinkly. :)

I love your color wheel and your library labels. Thanks for sharing the file for those! How do you link up to the blog hop?

Worded, but with pictures. Totally didn't think about it being Wednesday! I could have saved myself some time! :P

We have been using the R.E.A.L. Science Life Science for a couple years. (We also do Apologia at our co-op, so they get LOTS of science!) I really like it for the grammar stage, but I do have to stay on top of the supply list, as others have said. However, my 9yo is going to be doing ES logic biology this year, and she is really looking forward to it. The WTM style of history for logic stage is going really well after three weeks, so I think this will work for her as well. I can't say that I love the look of the ES grammar stage materials as much as the logic stage ones. My vote would be R.E.A.L. for grammar. Good luck deciding!

I think at one point when she was younger I knew that. Thanks for the reminder!

When I did an image search I had found several that looked like they were done on computers. They looked really nice, but I know that my daughter would rather do hers the "old-fashioned" way. I do like the nice, neat look of the compter ones. Maybe someday I'll have to do one like that! Or maybe save that for when she gets to the next rotation. Thanks for the link!

Thanks again, everyone! That helps me not be so stressed about things. I just always think that if she's only spending 2 hours on school, she must not be learning to her potential. She does do a lot of reading and writing on her own, though, and I don't take that into consideration. Her new history program, WTM style, is going pretty well so far. She really enjoys that she gets to read, write facts, read more, do map work and timeline work, and write a summary. We're three weeks in, and no complaints so far. :D

So you don't do an actual literature program? Just reading for other subjects?

:drool: :drool5: I now want this for MYSELF!!! Thanks, everyone, for the suggestions. Here's my blog post that describes what I decided to do. We just started using it a few days ago, and I think it's going to be a good fit for my daughter.

HP makes a really nice OfficeJet. They are sort of a cross between an ink jet and a laser. Ink is WAY cheaper than ink jet, but the printers are WAY cheaper than lasers. I paid around $200-300 for mine in December. I think it's the OfficeJet Pro 8600 Plus. There are three in the series, and I got the mid-grade one. It does color, and it also does double sided without you having to flip the paper. In addition, it's also a scanner, a fax, and has wireless capability. If you use a laptop, like I do, this feature is way more helpful than I could have imagined. I can be upstairs in bed getting ready for the next week and print out materials without getting up! And my 2 cents to the OP... I prefer getting PDFs for as much as I can. It gives you the option to make extra copies if you need to. I can't tell you how many times we've taken a math assignment somewhere, didn't get it completed, and then "misplaced" it. I don't usually do all my printing right away. I plan in 6-week increments, so I only print out what I need for the upcoming 6 weeks.

Okay, I know it's been two years, but I have to know - Did you ever find the binder? If so, where was it? My mom lost dish soap once, and about a year or two later my dad found it hiding in the corner between two cabinets under the sink. He only found it because he was tearing out the cabinets!

So books really do seem the way to go, based on the responses so far. Do you think there are any advantages to something like the Book of Time or the Record of Time over the Book of Centuries, other than you can fit more per page? It looks like the Record of Time has five years per page, which is better than a two-page spread to cover 100 years, but if we're just jotting things down instead of using pictures, would the Book of Centuries be enough? How full do your pages get on these books? (I'm just thinking free versus $25+ at this point in time.)

Anyone else?

What do most of you do for timelines? Do you have a wall timeline? One that folds up into a binder? We have actually just recently begun a Book of Centuries as a family. If you use a wall timeline and your children are not using the same curriculum, do they each have their own? Or do you share? It seems like if you shared, the younger children would never get to add to the timeline. If anyone has any recommendations for a nice timeline to purchase or make on your own, I'm open to all suggestions! :D

The problem is this: My daughter is going into 5th grade, and could easily complete the bulk of her school work in just a few hours. She learns quickly and is not the type who needs the general rule of "3 days, 3 different ways." Once she has been taught it, she is ready to move on, and generally retains information, as long as it's not history facts. For this reason, we generally don't finish any curriculum. She gets to a point where she knows the rest, and we just move on to the next level or choose an entirely new curriculum all together. Now that she is a bit older, this has slowed down a bit, and I feel like we are finally in all the correct levels and curricula. I don't want to let her just float through doing her work in such a short amount of time. I can't really skip ahead, because if she hasn't learned there/their/they're yet, she needs to learn it. If she learns it in 5 minutes, I feel like more learning needs to happen. Hence, why she frequently will knock out several grammar lessons at a time. If I don't let her keep going, aren't I just holding her back?