My oldest is in 2 now and I have yet to use any of the ones I have except for the mental math sheets, like I said. But my oldest has grasped everything right away. I may just plan to order them again for 3 based on what you all have said. Thanks!

What level did you start using them? We have yet to pull ours out for anything more than the mental math sheets in the back. I'm leaning towards not bothering to order them next time, but worry that we'll end up needing them.

We love the Ordinary Parents Guide. It might not be exactly colorful or intriguing, but it is thorough, straight to the point and would be easy to work through at a faster pace with your oldest. Spelling wise I swear by All About Spelling.

Does anyone use teaching textbooks successfully? If so what level did you start with and what did you use before? Also is your child a 'mathy' child or do they struggle with math? I keep seeing negative posts about the program, and am simply trying to find success stories.

At this point with our children it is to spark an interest and inspire them. This is coming from a person that hated history in school though. I want them to give them a balance of interest and knowledge when learning about history. The more interest, and realizations of history being fascinating I give them the more they will be accepting of the knowledge and facts.

From what I understand from researching is that the concepts are taught with the cds and practiced with the workbook. So to skip the cds you would need to teach the concepts on your own.

Thank you!

Those of you who have done island level using only one book at a time, what order did you go in with the books?

From what I understand, all the books are so incorporated that it is hard to remove a part. For example in BL, supposedly, it uses poetry concepts taught in MotH. So you will have to skip some of the reinforcement activities. As far as writing activities go in SI, I personally think (from the samples) that they look like they would be easy to use in addition to other writing programs, if you pick through and choose appropriately. For us I intend to continue WWE along with fully using SI.

With my daughter I plan to use MCT Grammar Island (grammar, writing, poetry and vocabulary). I plan to also continue WWE. My daughter struggles with the dictation also but I simply break it up. We went through some struggles with the narrations too but that has since been resolved. Remember, a program doesn't have to be cut and dry. Make the books you chose to use work for your child, in the way they need them to be. As a side note, I also plan to continue on with WWS along side MCT.

:lurk5:

I am not sure what subjects you are asking about but our family truly enjoys Sonlight. You can use the Complete Writer with Sonlight to cover grammar stage writing.

:iagree:

What do you use when WWE is a massive chore for your child and it isn't working out? We've tried going down levels and it is not working out. Any suggestions? She writes without hesitation in her journal, with complete sentences and thoughts. But when we use wwe for the narrations she struggles to great extent. We will be switching to MCT Grammar Island in a few weeks when she finishes FLL 3. Is the writing program complete and able to be used alone? We had planned on using WWE along side MCT.

Awesome resource!

:iagree:

I struggle with health/safety/fire prevention every year. We too are required to cover those topics yearly. I know you were looking for a specific curriculum for health but I personally have yet to find one I like. I decided to simply cover one health topic a year with a living book as our source. Usborne makes many books that cover a vast range of topics and kids enjoy them.

:bigear: I've wondered the same thing. It's in our line up plan for next year.

Maybe look into a literature based history. The point of re-visiting history over and over is to expose them to the information in greater and greater depth, and with them being capable of deeper understanding. Don't become consumed by trivium order but focus on simply trying to expose them at least twice during their education.

Monday through Friday. We attempted four day weeks last year and it didn't work out well four us at all. Our family needs the consistentency of five day weeks apparently.

A good friend uses FIAR, and while she loves it she won't be using it next year. It took a lot of planning to pull it all together. Our family uses and loves Sonlight. We own cores P3/4 through C so far and really enjoy each one.

My oldest still prefers to read aloud :001_smile: I truly would not worry yet. I do understand wondering since I have been in those shoes. Try to remember the simple act of reading is the goal in life much moreso than them reading silently. Really, having her read aloud helps with oral reading skills too.

Thank you!

Are the e-books on lulu.com printable?