We follow a loose 6 weeks on/1 week off schedule year round. We do a 5 day week with Mondays being our "fun day." On Mondays we do recitations of memorized material, music and art appreciation, zoo trips, nature hikes, and keep an illustrated copybook of the Book of Proverbs. Tuesday through Friday we do all of our regular school work. We chose year round schooling because we all seem to do better with structure. I also detest having to review so much. In the summer months, we tend to do 4 half days of school, always finishing by lunch time. We just continue on with studies - the kids are always finishing things throughout the year. We just pick up with the next thing as needed. I really like the flexibility to take off when we need to, when we have visitors, or when we just want to do something fun (such as go to Disneyland or the beach when everyone else is in school :-)

book light mechanical pencils gift card to a local restaurant for a "date" w/ Mom or Dad tickets to a local attraction like the zoo or museum movie tickets

We have our flat panel above the gas fireplace. It is mounted high enough that I am still able to decorate the mantle. It wasn't my first choice, but really was the only place that worked in the room. It is definitely not too high. It is very comfortable to watch.

We have used it 4x and it has taken 18-24 months every time.

My MOTH (Managers of Their Homes) schedule has made a world of difference in my homeschool. I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but the more scheduled we are, the more relaxed we are. The days are scheduled so that I get 1 hour of uninterrupted time with my spacey 6 year old. This allows him to complete about 80% of his work in one sitting. My olders take turns playing with the 2 year old, who also does 45 minutes of room time and spends 30-60 minutes at the table playing with puzzles, paints, or Play-doh. Everyone knows what is expected, what comes next, etc. My oldest does much of his work in his room, so as not to get too distracted. We are never perfectly on schedule, but there is a simple flow to our days that greatly reduces the constant distractions and relieves that chaotic feeling that I had gotten used to before. HTH,

My personal favorites to bring are soups, especially Minestrone. I just stick it in a large plastic throw away container. It includes all the meat and veggies - I make a loaf of crusty bread to go with it. Simple and nutritious. I have also made Teriyaki chicken and rice. It can go in a casserole and just be reheated.

My 4 oldest children all began Phonics Pathways at 4 years of age and did quite well with it. It's simple. I like simple :-)

50 cents per tooth, except teeth that are knocked out in ridiculous accidents...those get more :-)

Happy birthday to your little one :-)

I agree with this. The History Pockets were a bust here. My kids just aren't color, cut, & paste-types. I like the layout of SOTW better. I feel it has more flexibility - you can pick and choose which books and projects will work for you. Skip the coloring pages if he won't like them. You've still got maps, comprehension questions, books recs, projects, etc.

I assign the book when the subject is discussed. I usually assign a certain number of chapters per day and then just continue with our history studies. It has not been confusing at all for my children.

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Someone here recommended Dog Friday by Hilary McKay a few weeks back and we just finished it. It is a great, great book. Wonderful for a read-loud. All my children (ages 2-12) enjoyed it. It has great potential for conversations. Highly recommend!! (and a hearty thanks!! to whoever recommended it.)

We take the same approach with outlining as SilverMoon. Sometimes we even skip the outlining all together (esp. in Aesop - it's much more necessary in Homer). I have one child who is much more creative with his re-tellings. Again I agree with SilverMoon - if the action, characters, plot, and moral are true to the original, I'm fine with that. Sometimes I will have him stay closer to the original, just to be sure he can. My younger 2 simply tell the story back in their own words and are usually very close to the original. What has helped me very much with Classical Writing is to figure out what works best for our family and be content to do that. It's very easy to get wrapped around the axle feeling like we need to do everything exactly the way the TM says to do it. So I would encourage you to relax a little bit. If your child needs extra work on the outlines, and getting the action in the right order, spend time on that. If your child needs more work on writing in his own words, instead of telling it back verbatim, work on that. Does you child need work on grammar? Spend your time picking apart the sentences and piecing them back together. Classical Writing can be a really flexible program.

How about the Singapore Intensive or Extra Practice books? They would probably fit the bill for a short time.

Changing indirect quotes to direct and vice-versa is in Aesop. Homer A has a lot of expansion/compression-type exercises. Entering the story at a different point (in media res) is covered in Homer B, as is telling the story backwards.

I would agree that this looks good for a strong student. My 12 years old's work-load is similar, although distributed differently.

Very sweet :-)

Another vote!

Well, I can tell you what we are doing and give you a little bump so more people see this :-) My 6th grader finished Singapore 6B this summer. I am taking this year to go through Life of Fred Fractions & Decimals and Percents followed by the Dolciani Pre-Algebra text - just working on the areas that he needs a little extra practice in. Our plan is to then tackle NEM 1, so we are not doing exactly what you are. Maybe you could do a solid Pre-Algebra text alongside 6B switching off days to be sure all has been covered? Sorry I can't be more helpful.

The My Father's Dragon series (3 books) has always been a hit w/ my kids at about that age.

If you wanted to invest in it (it is pricey), I would recommend IEW's Poetry Memorization program w/ CD.

We really don't do abridged versions here. I prefer to have my kids read most of them themselves when they are appropriate. At your children's ages there is so much great age-appropriate literature that would lend well to read-aloud times: Pooh, Mary Poppins, Peter Rabbit, Mr. Popper's Penguins, Peter Pan, Narnia, anything by McCloskey, Lois Lenski, etc... I feel that I made that mistake with my older kids - trying to force literature upon them that they weren't really ready for, and missing so much wonderful, age-appropriate literature. Now that my oldest two are able to read practically anything, they gobble up the classics, many times reading well into the night because they can't wait to see what happens next. Do I think you're making a horrible choice if you choose to read abridged classics? No. But, I believe my little ones are better served by reading copious quantities of the wonderful literature written for their maturity level and leaving the tougher, more complex stories for when they are able to comprehend them in their original form.

Mine's in my sig. Happy WW!

I received this, as well. I am not associated w/ this organization, nor is anyone in my family. So, they must give the awards out to non-members (or at least they did 17 years ago :-)