I am currently on the second to the last chapter of SOTW IV with a 4th and a 2nd grader (YAY!), and my second grader has had no trouble whatsoever handing it. I didn't leave anything out. In fact, we covered Tienanmen Square yesterday. We did a Youtube search and watched 'tank man' and a few news broadcasts of it, too. It lead to an amazing discussion of freedom and democracy around the world. I'm actually shocked that this was one of my favorite years of history because of all the discussions we've had. I wasn't expecting that.

I haven't read the other posts yet because I don't want to be influenced by them before I post. I would say that we homeschool classically. And, my boys LOVE to read and LOVE science. The middle LOVES history. The oldest LOVES math. They don't LOVE grammar and the oldest doesn't LOVE Latin. But, it is still expected to be done, LOL. ;) The people that I know IRL, as opposed to on these boards, who make comments about classical education like the ones you mentioned ..... their kids don't love learning. (And, that is putting it mildly.) In fact, as their children get older and I watch these children develop, I am more and more grateful for us sticking with TWTM as our base. I think the proof is in the pudding.

Not a curricula, but something my boys are doing that is home ec related -- my oldest son recently read The Omnivore's Dilemma for Kids: The Secrets Behind What You Eat by Michael Pollan and LOVED it. He couldn't get through a page without reading something aloud to me! It really inspired him to investigate everything in our kitchen/pantry and at the grocery store. I actually had to tell him to stop reading me labels at the grocery store last time we went. ("I'm not buying that! You don't have to read it to me!") I highly recommend it as a starting point. It opened up a lot of avenues to discuss home ec issues. I'm 8 1/2 months pregnant and have no energy for the vegetable garden this year, so I let my two oldest take it over. This involved reading gardening books, looking through seed catalogs and picking out what they wanted to grow along with doing everything to get the garden ready for planting. They planted the first batch of seeds yesterday. At the end of the season, depending on their success (lol!), we'll be able to cover more cooking and food preservation, including jam & jelly making.

The Complete Writer: Writing with Ease by Susan Wise Bauer. You can preview it here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/14292094/The-Complete-Writer-Writing-With-Ease

My oldest enjoyed: Civil War With Lee in Virginia by G.A. Henty Anchor's Aweigh: The Story of David Glasgow Farragut by Jean L. Latham WWII Midway: Battle for the Pacific by Edmund L Castillo Invasion: The Story of D-Day by Bruce Bliven From Pearl Harbor to Okinawa by Bruce Bliven The US Frogmen of World War II by Wyatt Blassingame

I checked out a bunch of poetry books from the library and picked out ones I liked along with poems I already knew I liked. Ditto with going through the Psalms. Isaiah corresponded with Christmas, so that was an easy pick. At the time that I planned the second grade list, I remember being focused on finding poems that encouraged discipline/responsibility/etc. I think I started with a TWTM list for third grade, but added other things that fit in that I found as I planned our American History study. John Donne I threw in .... because I love him, LOL. :-)

My second graders memorized: 1. Try, Try Again by T.H. Palmer 2. “Hope†Is the Thing With Feathers by Emily Dickinson 3. See It Through by Edgar A. Guest 4. Psalm 1 5. I Shall Not Pass This Way Again by Anonymous 6. Autumn Fires by Robert Louis Stevenson 7. Persevere by Anonymous 8. Psalm 8 9. Sea Fever by John Masefield 10. Jack Frost by Celia Thaxter 11. All That is Gold Does Not Glitter by JRR Tolkien 12. Psalm 15 13. Isaiah 9:2-7 14. Good Sportsmanship by Richard Armour 15. Winter by Alfred, Lord Tennyson 16. Psalm 23 17. Snowflakes by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 18. Don’t Give Up the Ship! by Anonymous 19. The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow My 3rd grader memorized: 1) The Books of the Bible 2) A Man by Edgar A. Guest 3) The Mayflower Compact 4) Boys Wanted by Anonymous 5) Timeline of American Wars from Colonial Times to 1850 6) The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 7) Opening to the Declaration of Independence 8) Preamble and Outline of the US Constitution 9) The Bill of Rights 10) Death Be Not Proud by John Donne 11) The 50 States 12) The First Twenty American Presidents

Not a unit study, but a good book we read about WWI this year was America's First World War: General Pershing and the Yanks by Henry Castor. My boys also enjoyed watching Sergeant York with Gary Cooper after we had read the above book, a few misc. books from the library, and the section in Story of the World.

Bruchko by Bruce Olson Watership Down by Richard Adams The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings series by JRR Tolkien Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson The Coral Island by RM Ballantyne

Thanks, Laura. I'm not sure, Dee. I am not Latin- savvy enough to know if a student would be ready to go from LfC B to Latin Prep. I am curious to know what Laura and Abbey would say. I'm starting the whole LfC cycle (A, B, C) over again with my rising third grader next year. Honestly, I'm not that excited about it, but I don't know what else to do and we already have all of the basic materials. I can't tell if it's just this time of year, though, or because I'm 8 1/2 months pregnant and feeling uninspired or what. Ds is looking forward to it, though, so at least one of us is excited. ;) Laura and Abbey, would you share how you use Latin Prep in a typical week? As in, Monday we ...., Tuesday we ....., and so on?

Thank you, Kirch. :) URGH, Mrs. Mungo. Now you have me stressing about another possibility! :tongue_smilie: Our website designer wants us to include all of the above to "maximize search engine hits". I agree it sounds very wordy and doesn't really flow.

Our website is going live shortly. This sentence is driving me CRAZY. Can you please help? Our company services A, B, C, D, E, F and many other communities within aa, bb, or cc County in southeastern Wisconsin. If aa, bb, and cc are the three surrounding counties, should it be "County" or "Counties"? Or, is there a more grammatically correct way to word this sentence?

I don't usually read contemporary fiction, but I enjoyed The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery.

Thank you! That helps a lot. :)

My 9 (10 in two weeks) year old is just finishing up Latin for Children Primer C. We both are ready, I think, for a different publisher for next year (5th grade). I am leaning toward Latin Prep. When people recommend Latin Prep, is this what they're recommending? http://www.galorepark.co.uk/product/parents/127/latin-prep-book-1.html I'm confused because the title, "So You Really Want to Learn Latin Prep," seems to combine what I thought were two different programs. What exactly should I order? Latin Prep Book 1, Answer Book, and Audio CD, I would think are necessary, but what about the workbooks, flashcards, puzzle book, etc? Also, any other words of advice to add? Is there a reason you would not go from LfC to Latin Prep?

I don't like Comic Sans, but at least it's not Papyrus! ARGH!!!!!

WOW! What a wonderful story. Thank you for sharing it.

I think it's adorable. One of my favorite things to do as a child was play dress up. My favorite characters were bride, mother (pregnant and after!), and teacher. :D I have three brothers and I know there were other costumes in the dress up trunk, but I can't remember ever wanting to be army guy, fire fighter, or police officer. ;)

:iagree:

I just saw this and thought others here would like it, too. I'm not sure how long the sale is on. Evergreen Classics Complete Set Includes: Daddy-Long-Legs Fables of Aesop Little Men Eight Cousins Anne of Green Gables Kidnapped Little Women Favorite Sherlock Holmes Detective Stories Heidi Alice in Wonderland Black Beauty Captains Courageous Just So Stories King Arthur Native American Tales and Legends Red Badge of Courage Robin Hood Secret Garden Swiss Family Robinson Ten Tales from Shakespeare Wind in the Willows Anne of Avonlea Black Arrow Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates Jo's Boys Jungle Book Little Mermaid and Other Fairy Tales Peter Pan Pollyanna Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm Story of the Amistad Wonder Book Favorite Fairy Tales Five Children and It Happy Prince and Other Fairy Tales Little Lord Fauntleroy Racketty-Packetty House and Other Stories Railway Children At the Earth's Core East O’ the Sun and West O’ the Moon & Other Norwegian Fairy Tales Jewish Fairy Tales Tom Sawyer, Detective

It wasn't that hard, really. Our boys are active in Cub Scouts, church, and sports through our neighborhood recreational department. (The sports counts as a two-fer in my book ... friendships + phy. ed! ;))They also play with the children in our neighborhood. We're about to start First Lego League for our oldest son, too. I've found that, regardless of math level, boys still like to be boys and have fun. :-)

Thanks! I should have added: I know the 75th percentile doesn't sound that impressive, but this particular test was for 8th graders. :D

My oldest son used (and completed with a 91% average) Rod and Staff English 4: Building with Diligence last year. I was flabbergasted when he took a standardized test and bombed the English (split into usage/mechanics & rhetorical skills) and Reading portions of the test. I decided to change gears, backtrack a little, and work through First Language Lessons 4 and Writing with Ease III (at double time) & IV (at regular pace once WWE III was completed) this year. We received our test results last week and Oh! My goodness! He went from the 20th percentile for usage/mechanics to the 93rd percentile! He went from the 28th percentile for rhetorical skills to the 75th percentile! And, he went from the 42nd percentile for reading to the 85th percentile! Anyway, I wanted to give a quick plug for the First Language Lessons grammar program and Writing with Ease workbooks. I am so thrilled with the progress they allowed us to make in only one year! :D

Eek! Wrong forum. Sorry!

Yes, we received ours on Wednesday, I believe.