Thanks, Rose! That is very helpful. Good to know that WWS will take about an hour. Darlene

I'm working on planning for the upcoming year and would like to find out how much time your kids spend each day and how many days per week is spent on any of the following curricula: Writing with Skill Story Grammar for Elementary MegaWords (and how many practice pages per study session) Book of Lively Latin Science Fusion History Odyssey, Level 2 Ancients Wordsmith Apprentice This isn't all we're doing, and so far the way I have her subjects laid out, a couple days a week seem unreasonably long. I'm curious to see how long your kids are really taking to get through assignments. Thank you! Darlene

Thanks so much for all the suggestions, everyone. It looks like they'll all put me on the right track. :001_smile: Darlene

My 5th grade dd would like to learn Geography by studying the music and/or foods of different countries. Are there any programs that might fit the bill? I'd love an out of the box program. Thanks! Darlene

DD 4th grade: Hits: MUS Delta/Epsilon SOTW 1/2 Literature suggestions from SOTW activity books Easy Grammar Sequential Spelling Caught Ya's Purple Umbrella story (helped to solidify what was learned in Easy Grammar) LOF Edgewood Mind Benders WWE 3 Art and Robotics classes Garfield Typing Pal Misses: LOF Jellybeans (she just lost interest in LOF) I Speak Latin (she liked the movement lessons, but would work better with parts-to-whole) Writing Strands (just hated it) English from the Roots Up This was a successful first year homeschooling! :001_smile:

I enjoyed looking through the Michael Olaf catalogs and got ideas about how to create some of my own materials. In addition to the traditional Montessori materials, children of this age, especially the toddlers, enjoy doing more Practical Life activities, which help prepare their minds and bodies to move on to the Montessori tactile learning with manipulatives. It's easy to make little sets like a basket with materials for flower arranging or window or table washing yourself. Little bowls and spoons can be used to sort dried beans, wooden puzzles with the little pegs for each piece help with fine motor skills. Find postcards with pictures of famous works of art and place them in a basket for children to sort through or select to place on a little easel. An apple cutter can be used by the child to slice an apple that has been cut in half. Letting them make juice in a pitcher from frozen concentrate or set a place for themselves at the table for their snack. All of these activities are part of the Montessori experience. :) Darlene

Thanks so much for sharing your calendars. I printed the school year calendar and filled in my ds's school calendar (he's not homeschooled) so that my homeschooled dd can be on the same school schedule as her brother. I'm going to try the web organizer and planning calendars as well. :) Thanks! Darlene

My 10 yo daughter just finished the Children of the Lamp series (six books) and loved the books. Other series of interest is anything by Rick Riordan and the Artemis Fowl series.

I have an Excel spreadsheet for this purpose. I've been listing materials I have, want, or am considering. I like the idea of making a Pinterest folder. I'm pretty new to Pinterest and am figuring out how to use it best. Darlene