LOL! I know what you're saying. I've been rather proud of myself in encouraging DD to do as much as possible herself. I figured out that her wonky-glued eyes or what-have-you is so much cuter than I can do. I only do things that have to be correct or are still too difficult for her to do. That pretty much includes stapling and cutting. While she can cut, I do go ahead and cut project pieces ahead of time so that I don't have to have a lot of extras on-hand. And, it goes quicker. Too much cutting can be tedious for her and use up too much time. She does most of her own gluing. I absolutely do guide her in most everything she does. Can't expect her to know how to do something, if she's never done it. Usually, I make up extra project pieces and model how to do things. Then, she does her own. If she needs to draw an animal and write a sentence about it, I'll do it too, but with a different animal so she can really understand what to do. She loves that I do it with her. As for writing, you can always print part of it and have your DC fill in the blanks so to speak. We don't notebook/lapbook at the moment, but we do do things like Evan-Moor's ...Pockets and a lot of drawing/writing activities. Maybe start small and go from there. Choose one subject or theme, or do it once a week or something.

I would love to be part of an awesome co-op, but we're small and rural here. After months of searching, I finally found a secular play group in our vicinity. Unfortunately, there are only about 30 kids who are a part of it and most are significantly older than my DD. Plus, all of the play times haven't worked out for us so far. :sad: So, we're pretty much on our own. The play group is just that anyway. I was hoping for something more. My focus now is finding a 4-H group for DD. We wanted her to be a part of Girl Scouts, but the way that group is going, I think we'll steer clear.

Thanks so much for the suggestions! I double-checked our lesson. It's all about George Washington, so I think I'll pick up two books about him. I have a printable Scholastic mini-book about Presidents' Day. I'll save some money there and just use that as a basic intro about the day. I *think* our library actually has the ...Teeth one, so I'll check it out tomorrow. :001_smile:

Thanks so much! :D Is George Washington's Teeth historically true or more just for fun? I know you said that it sneaks in a lot of history, but if I only buy one book about Washington, would this be a good one or is it more of a fun follow-up book to a biography? I did see that it has good reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, but I don't necessarily want the one thing DD remembers about Washington to be about his teeth. LOL!

Anyone? :001_cool:

Anyone have any suggestions? Our lesson recommends these, but I'm not sure they're the best. Hard to tell from the very basic non-helpful previews on Amazon. I did find a better preview of this one on Google Books, but it seems so simple (like one sentence per page simple) that it may not be worth buying. Also, looking for a good picture book on George Washington. Thanks! :001_smile:

Awesome...my DD will love these!! :D Thanks so much.

Darn, you don't have a girl. We have this book and it would be a great introduction to a host of famous women. http://www.amazon.com/My-Name-Not-Isabella-Little/dp/1402243952/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327897186&sr=8-1 It abstractly introduces Sally Ride, Annie Oakley, Rosa Parks, Marie Curie, Elizabeth Blackwell and then provides a brief biography of each and book list in the back. (Ok, not all are American.) Just noticed there's one for boys too. Not sure who is featured in it. (I see now that they are shown in the book preview on Amazon...Teddy Roosevelt, Thomas Edison, Chief Joseph, Fred Astaire and Jackie Robinson.) http://www.amazon.com/Name-Not-Alexander-Jennifer-Fosberry/dp/1402254334/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1327897186&sr=8-2

PS - What age child are you looking to use this with? I recently found a new Evan-Moor book that I think might be good for younger students. http://www.evan-moor.com/Product.aspx?CurriculumID=6&ClassID=253&SeriesID=256

We have it and love it! There are three worksheet pages of cut-and-paste activities per chapter. There is at least one that uses pictures and one that is a little more advanced and uses words. The middle one falls, well, in the middle. :D I've found it very useful with my 4.5-year-old. It helps me know whether she understands whatever concept we're working on without her having to write something. We only use one or two worksheets per chapter. There is some very good info and hands-on activities at the beginning of each chapter and picture book recommendations as well. Having said all of that, I do use it only as a supplement. Here's a sample/preview here. http://www.dedicatedteacher.com/estore/product/TCR3706/?sid=94983d04d8ecb7b05f4dc5488cedfad1&fs=1

I'm looking into TeacherFileBox. Are you limited by how much you can download? I'm particularly wondering about the monthly subscription.

Thanks for the post. Is there not a sample for Hideaways in History? Maybe I'm just not seeing it. :confused:

That's awesome! A 28...that's nothing to sneeze at. Good job!! By the way, I was in Civil Air Patrol when I was in high school. :D Did an encampment at the fly-in up there one summer too.

Anyone have more thoughts about the Junior ones? Or, pics of ones your DC has completed? I'm on the fence. I like the idea of a ready-made kit, but I'm not 100% sold on the sample.

Well, we did take DD with us to see Body Worlds and the Brain, but we didn't explain to her that they were real people. :tongue_smilie: We didn't tell her they weren't, but luckily she didn't come out and straight up ask. I would have had to tell her truth...I don't lie. We just said stuff like this is what your heart looks like, etc. She would have started crying, if she would have known those were real babies.

Hah! A lot of it looks remarkably similar to Kindergarten. It begins by reviewing capitals in gray blocks and on two lines. Not one letter per page per day, though. It's accelerated. Then, each lowercase letter is presented just as it is in Kindergarten, except with a different picture to color, on occasion. After a letter page, there is another page that features two columns of words to copy that uses the letter being practiced. For example, A and a are at the top of the page, then at, cat, coat, tacos and was are to be copied twice...once in each column. Sometimes, they have a sentence or two to copy instead of the columns of words. It reviews numbers as well. So, it's just more of the same, really. You can view a sample of First Grade on HWOT's Web site. I've looked at Zaner-Bloser's sample...it actually looks more fun. Seems as though a child might relate better to the copy work. Plus, there's a little creative writing in it. The child gets to finish sentences sometimes, write letters, etc. Also, they incorporate other lessons (i.e. days of the week, Spanish words) into the copy work. http://www.zaner-bloser.com/media/zb/zaner-bloser/programoverview/hw_ntl/data/hw_ntl/HW_Grade_1_SE.pdf We finished HWOT Kindergarten today, so I REALLY need to make up my mind. I think we'll practice her name, address, etc. for a week or so.

Ah, ok. I totally flaked. I wasn't planning on assigning DD a grade...not sure it would mean much to her, at least right now. But, I guess I do need to have something in mind to tell people when they ask. Yeah, you're right, I'll have to train my brain because right now I consider her to be finishing up kindergarten since that's the level of HWOT, HOP and SM we're using. I constantly have to stop myself from comparing her to the neighbor girl who is in PS kindergarten...she 1.5 years older!

Thanks for the post! :001_smile: I've read about the grade thing on here quite a bit. Our state pretty much doesn't regulate home-schooling. You may report your child, but you don't have to. (They actually state that by reporting your child, you may have a better chance of being investigated. :001_huh:) You must maintain records, but you don't have to submit them. No testing for sure. If I ever have to make her official, though, I will surely list her according to her age as it correlates with public school grades. That totally makes sense. We may end up studying cultures and geography next year. Still researching it all. I ordered an Usborne Encyclopedia of the Ancient World book this morning so I can read up and better understand what studying Ancients really entails. For the first cycle of Ancients, I was really thinking it more of an ancient culture/geographic study anyway. Honestly, age 6 still seems too young to me to dive into those specific details that I originally posted about. I figure DD would have two more cycles to learn about those things. PS - I pretty much just throw "first grade" out there when looking for materials because if I don't, people look at DD's age and recommend fluffy stuff. I've found first grade is more her level, but it's tricky because she doesn't have the stamina for a lot of writing. So, I have to track down a lot of cut and paste/worksheet/paper activity kind of stuff that teaches at a little bit more advanced level.

I wasn't impressed either, but I was kind of excited about having a whole pack of bookmarks (the coupon cards). :D

"Doody", not "booby"? :confused:

My thread from a couple of days ago. :D http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=341398

Something to consider...thank you! :001_smile: PS - Do I know you from another board?

Well, we officially started DD's kindergarten year this year, so next year will be her first grade year. I was going to try to follow the WTM method, thus the study of Ancients. What we're doing now to then (we're schooling year-around), is what several people have suggested. We're studying American symbols, famous Americans, early Americans, and American holidays right now at an age-appropriate level (see siggy...Non-Fiction Literary-Building Booklets). I'm really not sure what we'd do history-wise, if we don't start with Ancients next school year. DD has a very good memory...she remembers things better than I do! :tongue_smilie: She loves school. No real hurry, but we're pretty much beyond basic pre-school/kindergarten things now. She regurgitates info well too.

Thank you. This was very helpful to me. :001_smile:

Isn't that the truth?! It took me forever to find a Bible story book that I felt was truly age-appropriate and wasn't heavily editorialized. I also didn't feel she needed to know about things like circumcision.