This is only our first year homeschooling, and I already feel like I've gone through three years of materials. :) I get a big dose of grass-is-greener syndrome.... "Look, something shiny!!" ;) So I'm hoping that I'm finally settling on a few pieces, and if you ask me in three years, hopefully I'll be able to list a few, LOL!!

Bumping... other thoughts??

Definitely!! There are so many great things out there. Makes it terribly hard to actually pick one and USE it, but they're oh so much fun to look at!! ;)

We're doing school-light through the summer. Math and reading each day, then maybe a fun read aloud, project, field trip, etc. a few times a week. HipGal, I think your ideas are all good ones. School doesn't have to look the same all year round. What if you had the kids do "lessons" for 30 minutes a day... choose whether it's most important to have them do math, or whatever. Then they have to read each day, then your fun learning ideas. Not at all like full school, but keeps them going with learning. The summer Olympics study sounds fun, I'll have to look at that. Lisa, great ideas... do you have a link to VP's summer contest, or is the info out for that yet?? I peeked at their website but didn't see anything.

I have been considering a word roots program, and I see two that I like, and that have been recommended to me. The two are Vocabulary from Classical Roots (the elementary 4-6 levels) or Word Roots from Critical Thinking. My first impression is that Word Roots seems "meatier" than VCR, but I can't be sure from the brief samples. Anyone have a preference between these two? Significant differences? Using one or the other that you really like? I'd love to hear about it. :)

RootAnn, thank you!! That does help, gives me plenty to think about. Like you mentioned, I liked that it's a good overview of different sciences and topics. I'll take a look again with your comments in mind. :)

Thanks for the comments. Anashoo and Clear Creek's messages are why I'm torn... teach something with which I'm familiar and have background, or go where the child is interested. DS and I talked this morning, and I asked if he's willing to give French a try... so we're thinking along those lines. I told him that if we try it for a while and he really doesn't like it, we can try switching to Spanish and I'll try to learn and help him with it. I found that our library has a Mango subscription, so I signed us both up for that today. I'm going to have him go through at least the basic French program and we'll go over it together. So I think we'll start there and see how it goes. He can also do the basic Spanish program and see if he has strong feelings for one over the other, although he's afraid he'll get confused... I told him we'll go all the way through one, then all the way through the other, with only the goal of exposure. Once we make a decision, I'll look into a more formal language program. Would love any additional thoughts. I'm also interested to hear from any language experts... would one or the other be easier to learn alongside Latin, or are they all about the same? Or, is there any order to where one is easier to learn after another?? Thanks, all!! :)

I'd have to say I'm flexible with our schedule, but strict that everything gets done. Only having one child, that's probably easier. For instance, if DS wants to take a snack break, or do things in a different order, or whatever, no problem. But assignments must be done before non-educational things. I do the same as others mentioned... I print out our daily task list each weekend for the coming week, and DS checks them off as we go.

Thanks, KristinAnnie. That's the route I'd like to take, I think. Anyone else??

We are doing Prima Latina this year, and will continue with Latina Christiana next year. I'm toying with adding another language to our studies next year as well, and I'm torn on which direction to take. The first option is Spanish. It's a growing language in the US, and my son is interested in it. From a purely practical standpoint, this would probably be the way to go. I would love to do French. I took four years of French in high school and tested into higher levels in college... and then I stopped studying it altogether. (Oh, the regrets of youth, LOL!) But I do have some retention of it... I'd love to re-learn it myself and teach my son. Then of course, there's Italian. :D I just like it and have always wanted to learn it. For practical purposes, this is probably something to put off for later. So which direction to go? What might be easiest to learn concurrently with Latin? Obviously all Romance Languages are incredibly similar... I heard that, I believe, Spanish and Italian have a vast majority of words in common, not sure how French ties into that, so I'm also considering what might be easiest to add in down the road. Thoughts? Suggestions??

Partners-in-Crime-R-Us, at your service!! :D So back to the original question for OP... how does everyone use it? Is there a spine you use it to "beef up" or do you just use it as a reading list, or ???

I've solved that problem. I've commandeered my (very small) master bathroom all for myself, and my husband and son share the hall bathroom. I don't go in theirs, they don't go in mine. Eventually, they always figure out how to replace that roll or clean the toilet. :D (Admittedly, this wouldn't work in a larger household.) Oh... and my very special secret skill? Magically making food appear in the cabinets and refrigerator. I am obviously a hunting and gathering queen!!

Oh, I'm so jealous!! We're months away from strawberries. Sounds heavenly!!

:iagree: This. Exactly this.

Me too!! Apparently I'm quite gifted at being nosy!! :D

Thank you both for the thoughts. I think I'm going to at least get the Guerber books. I'll take a look at them, and if I think they're too much, I'll reconsider... I'm sure I'll use them at some point, anyway. Glad you both think the MP version looks good as well... I think I'll go with that, certainly a lot cheaper and from what I know of the edits, we can live with them just fine. Slightly off topic, but I'm a big fan of the Guerber and Marshall books not just for the content, but I find it very cool that women wrote these books in a time where women didn't get published much!! (I'm sure that's the reason for using their initials.)

We're just starting with CLE. It seems most levels have the pretests through unit 1. It's to see what they may need review on from the previous levels, before moving on to new material. If she passes all the pretests, great, move ahead. If she falls short on one or more, do the additional material for that section. If there are areas she hasn't had *any* exposure to, can you just stop and go over that, knowing there will likely be more review on it?? Starting in the 2nd LU, it's a different format. There is still some review in each section, but it starts on the new material as well.

I always miss all the good stuff too...

We're doing US History next year, and I'm looking at possible "spines" for us to use. I'm aiming toward a rather CM-ish approach. (We just started hsing this year, in 3rd grade. So I didn't want to dive into chronological just yet. I'm aiming for a year of US in 4th, then a chronological cycle 5th-8th.) I am looking at American History Stories by Mara Pratt. These look to be terrific! Also, I'm considering the two H.A. Guerber books for America - The 13 Colonies and The Great Republic. Not sure whether I'll get the Guerber/Miller versions or just the edited version from Memoria Press along with the "200 Questions" guide. I really like these books, and I'm looking at using the other Guerber books in later years along with MOH or Truthquest, or some other yet-undiscovered program!! So, my questions... 1. The Pratt books are true historical stories, yes? Not historical fiction? It appears that way from the brief samples I was able to see, but wanted to confirm. 2. For anyone familiar with both the Pratt and the Guerber books, which do you prefer and why? What ages are each best for, and would either set be better for a 4th grader? (He is advanced, loves history, and has a higher reading level if that makes a difference, although we'd be doing at least some of it as read aloud.) 3. Finally... if I really like both... would it be too much to do readings from both sets over the course of the year? For instance, use the Guerber books as a "spine" but read selected chapters from Pratt for an extra viewpoint... or vice versa? Or would we get nothing done but reading history all year? Just collecting some thoughts... thanks!! :)

Just wanted to respond on two points... 1. Thanks for the review of "Tiger Mother"... I have been wondering whether I want to read that. I'm going to, it would be interesting. 2. Thank GOODNESS I'm not the only one who has no idea what day it is. :D Seriously, I've been off all week. Reading for me... I read 7 books in February. The one I read this week was Joanne Fluke's newest, "Cinnamon Roll Murder." Short, fun read. This week, I have the next two Percy Jackson books lined up. I also have "Garden Spells" by Sarah Addison Allen that I might start. Finally, I just received "The Latin Centered Curriculum" yesterday, and I want to start that too. Decisions, decisions... I may actually have to spend less time on the computer so I can read more. Oh, the humanity!!! ;)

www.multiplication.com www.kids.discovery.com www.typingweb.com www.scratch.mit.edu this is a programming language www.kids.nationalgeographic.com Hopefully those give you a starting point!! They're not all games, but enjoyable websites that my son loves!!

Thank you for that link! My son does fine with speech, except still struggles a bit with the R sound... but only in some words. She had a great post about the different locations of R within words, and the different vowels that control it... that will be very helpful to us!!

Go clear to the bottom of the page and choose "terms and conditions" from the links. It lists it there... I believe it said 30 days, new condition. I had trouble finding it too before ordering!! :)

I would do the evaluation as well. You can find it on the "samples" page of the Peace Hill Press store. That will tell you a lot, I think, if you give him the year one tasks and see how he does.

Aha! I knew there had to be somewhere. I will check these two sites... thanks!! :D