You could do that for the second child but would still need one complete workbook for the parent pages.

Not Redundant. They make it open and go. The textbook is actually redundant if you have listened to SWB's writing lectures. It explains the whys behind her writing curriculum. The workbook has everything laid out so you don't have to find dictation or narration passages. We have loved the lit selections.

History My Father's World http://www.mfwbooks.com Science Apologia elementary, jr high and sr high Writing: Writing With Ease, SWB writing lectures for 5-8th grade Grammar: Analytical grammar, gets the job done, very easy to use Math Mathusee or Singapore through 6th grade, Saxon with DIVE cd 7th and up

The outlines are really for grades 5-8. I don't require my dc younger than 4th grade to do SOTW 4 at all. I used MFW's 2nd-3rd grade supplement but you could just get books that go along with the time period. Focus on presidents, other famous people, inventors, etc instead of all the wars.

You could do JAG and AG in 5th-8th.

I'm in the same boat. Teaching 4 8th grade through 3rd grade and a 4 year old. Listening to SWB's Teaching children to work independantly helped some.

I think your plan will work fine. It's important to me to keep them on the same history through 8th grade. I couldn't do 2 different time periods in the 2nd to 8th grade age. But high school is different as they work more independantly.

The high school programs are very different in content even though they are studying the same time period. It will not be redundant. My son will be doing Creation to Greeks in 8th and High School Ancients in 9th. I plan to have him focus more on science and other subjects of interest and not have a heavy history focus during 8th grade.

:iagree: SWB says if you follow her recommendations for writing you don't even have to do Rod and Staff writing lesssons unless you want to or find it helpful. Her audio MP3s have been the most encouraging lectures I have listened to this year!

I think my ds will be practicing persuasive writing on that 1st assignment. I will have a chance to look at the high school program in depth in a few weeks so I will have a better understanding of what is expected.

Thank you everyone for your replies. I do remember her saying if your child wanted to do more writing (or you wanted them to) that was fine, but her plan mentioned in the lectures was perfectly fine as a minimum and would get the job done. I have WS and IEW on my shelf so I may insert some extra work eventually but plan to try it her way first.

But I just listened to her lecture for middle grades and she said not to do the writing assignments in Rod and Staff(or any grammar program that puts grammar and writing in the same book) but to do her plan instead. She said they are unnecessarily complicated and children aren't usually interested in the topics assigned.

I listened to SWB writing lecture for middle grades, and felt a burden being lifted off in regards to writing. Then I read 2nd edition WTM (don't have the new one yet) and she recommended doing the same thing as in the lecture but adding in Writing Strands or IEW in addition to writing across the curriculum. Am I understanding correctly that she now says that writing across the curriculum in history, science, and literature is enough without an additional writing program? I plan to have my dc do MFW's high school and was looking at some of the writing assignments for 9th grade. They assign a persuasive essay the first week. MFW also recommends Writing Strands and says that the students need to have completed WS 4 (but preferrably 5 or 6) before high school. Will my dc be prepared for this if I follow SWB's recs for middle school? I really want to as I greatly respect her opinions on writing.

Switched on Schoolhouse has 7th and 8th grade general science.

How long do the audio downloads stay in your PHP account? I have saved them to my computer but was just wondering.

She said " MFW teaches to the olders and the younger ones just tag along." I don't think this is exactly true. There is something for everyone in MFW. When they are learning to read, the dc have their own program with K and 1st. After that the programs differ somewhat. ECC has somewhat of a younger feel with many of its books, that's why they added the middle school supplement which is done independantly by the student. Because it is designed for a wider age range there is a wider range of books, particularly in book basket. It is so easy to tailor the curriculum to fit the child from that list. I love the flexibility in MFW. I can get appropriate reading material for all of my children. In RTR I must admit Augusta's Caesar's World is geared toward the older crowd. But SOTW is great for everyone. I did not require my 3rd graders on down to listen to ACW, but they did anyway. They liked coloring the pictures that went with it. In EX1850 to 1850MT there is a 2nd-3rd grade supplement so they have their own set of books. The older crowd does SOTW 4 and others. But again the book basket list has something for everyone. As far as moving to independant work, MFW does this gradually. In the elementary years, Bible, Science and History is read aloud to the students. Reading and book basket are independant. By sixth or seventh grade most of the work is independant. They begin to break off from the family group, gradually moving to totally independant work by 9th grade. (The teacher's manual is written to the student in high school.) My seventh grader did Science, math, grammar, and writing assignments independantly this year. The only things we did together as a family were Bible, SOTW, Exploring American History, and read alouds. I assigned the other history books and World of Science book to be read independantly. As far as instruction in narration, dictation, etc. There is some instruction in the manual but I found SWB's materials to be very helpful in this regard. That is why we are doing WWE. After it's systematc, incremental instruction, the history summaries are very easy to do.

Yes thank you!

Please help me. I can't figure out how to do this problem. The ratio of the number of books that Lina had to the number of books that Sulung had was 1:2. After Lina bought 24 new books, the ratio became 2:1. How many books did Lina have at first? Thank you.

I am praying. Being without a car is tough! :grouphug:

:iagree: I do this too. When I walk through the door with the new library books, they are excited to see what I brought them.

My dc all liked the free version and it really helped them solidify their multiplication facts. It beats out drilling with flashcards.

My fourth grader did Level 3 this year.

Hits MFW 1850MT Singapore Math Analytical Grammar IEW SWI B WWE FLL Get 'er done Apologia General Science Saxon Math 87 Misses Progeny Press Lit Guides - I liked this. It just didn't get done.

1850 to MT is my favorite year. (I've done every program except high school.) I don't think the history skipped around that much. I thought it flowed well. The only things we did all together was the Bible lessons and SOTW readings, outlines, etc. I had my dc read Last 500 years and Children's Encyclopedia of American History on their own. These books are 2-3 page overviews of a time period with illustrations and captions. My dc often read ahead in these as they enjoy that style of book. The book basket list was great. We did several extra read alouds. We also watched several movies related to the history including Ken Burns PBS Civil War Series, Sergeant York, The Hiding Place, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Life is Beautiful, The Devil's Arithmetic, and The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler. We have a Clearplay filter so some of these dvds were the edited version. The memory verses were not time consuming. Most of the time it is only 1 verse per week. There are 6 weeks of the year that there are no new verses assigned so it is just review.

Focus on strengths to make sure that they are successful at something. That will encourgage them to pursue their strengths and interests more fully. It will also encourage them when they are struggling through their weak areas. A child who feels he is not good at anything is in a sad state, but a child who is successful in at least one area will have the courage to persevere in his weakness.