I bought it basically for history. I use my own LA's and math. I will say that the other stuff in there has wound up being a bonus. We're only on Beyond, but the history reading has been great. It's not so much to be overwhelming...it leaves them wanting more. You might want to purchase the RA's. They are pretty low maintenance also. I do use the science, geo., and Bible most of the time. I make it work for us. The good thing is that it's in very manageable chunks. I think if you've done Sonlight then your load will be lightened with HOD. Lately I've been doing some spring cleaning and just doing the basics. I plan on playing catch up a bit on the history. I realized that's another great thing about it, I can go through several days of history in one day if I want to and it won't wear me out. Alison in KY

I love the Homeschooler's Journal. Blocks run across the page for a day's entry. So on one page you have the blocks lined up with the top row being Monday...it extends to the right side of the notebook. Then below Monday comes Tuesday row of blocks. There's plenty of room to write stuff in there, but the blocks are unlined. However, What I think is neat is that it doesn't say what day of the week you are on, or have things listed by subjects...so you can write down a Wednesday on the top row if that's where you are starting off on, and you can write in whatever subjects you are doing across the top also...so if you ever change subjects then you just write different headings at the top. I think it works great with our open and go style. There's alot more to it, but usually I just use it as a journal to record what we've done for the day. Alison in KY

I picked up spelling fairly easily, but my son, now 9, certainly hasn't. I looked at Spelling Workout but it had to much writing for my non-writer (he was 7 or 8 at the time). I've since had Natural Speller and Sequential Spelling, now I have All about Spelling. Regular programs, like SWO, were just to standard schoolish to work for us, natural speller required my using list after list, and sequential spelling was the same. With AAS I just do it and I'm seeing a bit of improvement. My ideal plan would be to hand my kids a spelling workout book and have them do it, but that hasn't worked with two of my kids, so AAS to the rescue. I don't enjoy teaching spelling, but I'm just basically, like the Nike commercial, doing it. I think AAS would work for you. Just follow the instructions and go for it. We review 10 wordcards every lesson, so we're constantly going back over words we've studied previously. Good luck, Alison in KY

If you want to just order the k workbook for saxon phonics, I'll email you how to use it. I think the readers come along with it. It would probably be cheap enough then for you to buy something else also. Alison in KY

I've used Saxon Phonics K and 1. It's been awhile since I had the grade 1 around. I used the K with two of my kids, and my third child will soon be going through it. Alot of the Saxon K was cooky. That's the only way I have to describe some of the stuff. So I just ignored some of it and did what I thought was most important. I really liked it, especially the workbook portions. With my first I did it mostly by the book (except the cooky parts) but with my 2nd child, because I was busier, I basically just did the workbook and didn't do the activities. It probably would have been more fun to her to do the activities...but I just didn't feel like I had enough time in the day. For my last child I'll do the K workbook and then probably do OPGTR, which is what I'm currently using with her bigger sister. I really like the progression in K. When my son was 5 and working through it I did alot of the writing for him...it was minimal but he still hated having to make even a letter at that time. I would recommend this. Try to google Saxon phonics samples and maybe you'll come up with something. The readers are good but the pictures aren't so good...some of the women look really manly. My son one time asked if it was a boy or girl...it was like women on lots of testosterone. That was one thing that bothered me, but again, I just had to ignore it because the readers helped us so much. HTH Alison in KY

:grouphug: I'm so sorry, this sounds tough. I know nothing about ADD, but if your friends are suggesting this then please follow up on it. Even if you go to a health food store and begin there. I would go nuts if I had alot of stuff and ate cereal and frozen pizza all the time. That's just me and it sounds like you too. Flylady did look interesting to me, but I just couldn't go through with the implementation. I'm organizationally challenged, but I like a fairly neat house. I really stumble if things are bothering me AND I have to do school. Could you temporarily sign up the kids for k12 or time4learning and take a month off from piano lessons? Then start deep cleaning and decluttering in one area. Finish that area and move on. Call it a job for a certain time. Like if you were hired to go to someone's house and you HAD to work there...then wake up at a certain time and put in your 8 hours (or whatever). Really dedicate yourself to take back control of your home and school so you can get back on track and be satisified with your life. Include your kids in the process to save your back :001_smile:. They will learn organizational skills, help their family out and in the end they will be rewarded by having a less stressed mom and more sit down homecooked meals. Plus, you could offer some payment/reward to them. I think kids should have to help out in their house, but a reward for hard work would be nice to. If you decluttered and sold alot of items it will just help you be more settled in this home, and make it easier to move when you are able to. Stuff is just stuff and if you had a house fire it's all gone. It's so hard sometimes, I get it, but once it's gone you will feel so much better. So ask yourself what you really need. Same for your kids and their toys, clothes, games, etc. I usually have to go through our clothes and toys at least twice a year to stay sane, but it also helps my kids stay sane because they somehow wind up with more than they can pick-up and clean themselves (they are 9,7, 5, so there are more toys than you have I'm sure). I'd love to hear back from you on your progess...because you WILL make progress in all of this and you WILL feel better once it's done. God Bless, Alison in KY

Thank you for the suggestions ladies. Alison

Thank you all. American Heritage it is!

I'm considering buying a smiple to use math workbook for grade 4. We are currently using MUS Gamma and I really love it, but since it doesn't flow the same way as a more traditional program I occasionally throw in some little cheap workbook here or there. Well, I'm out of my cheap workbooks. I was thinking about ordering the MCP grade 4 math, but it's 27.50, so that's not so cheap. I really don't like alot of the workbooks I've seen out there. I thought about developmental math, but RR doesn't have the one level I'd buy for him. Any ideas, something that I can preferably get from Rainbow Resource? Alison in KY

Can you tell me where I can get this? I looked at Rainbow last night, but it didn't say thesaurus, but maybe that isn't part of the title? I think I found a Websters Intermediate I was going to look at, but if this is good then I want it. My current ones stink, and I'd bought one a few years ago that was not good also (didn't have any words we looked up). Thanks, Alison in KY

I already have a cheap webster standard dictionary and thesaurus, but they aren't very good. Thank you for any help. Alison

I didn't know that about the alphabet. Is it confusing then doing our a then a latin a? In a weird way I think latin would obviously be easier to write the letters but much harder to remember the sounds because they look like ours...and vice versa for greek.

Thank you ladies. So if I'm doing short lessons then that should work out fine with this program? Is this an intro latin course? Can you compare LL in levels to another latin program...for instance LL 1 is equal to LFC A and B?

How long is a typical lesson and how many days a week do you do the lesson? What age is this for, and is there a pronunciation cd with it?

Which is easier, latin or greek?

HOD would be pretty reasonable especially if you have a good library nearby. It's the cheapest program of it's kind I think.

I apologize for asking so many foreign language questions lately. I still don't know which way to go. Can someone help me look at the bigger picture and make a decision? I'll be starting something with a 10 year old, and my 8 and 6 year olds may or may not be along for the ride. Whatever I choose will have to be shorter on lesson time, or easily adapted so I can shorten the lesson times. Also, simple for someone with no experience to implement. I'm also re-learning grammar, so it can't be too tough for either me or my son in the grammar arena. I'm pretty sure we are required to have a foreign language in high school (for college entrance, correct?). But I don't really care if I go with one thing now and then something different in high school. I know at some point I would like to cover Spanish. And I know the Greek Alphabet Code cracker looks really cool. I also don't want to invest hundreds of dollars on a program that I'm not sure I'll like. Is it a good idea to try and do both latin and greek (but not at the same time)? I was thinking if I could squeeze in a few years of each, then we could cover spanish in high school. I just can't figure out the timeline. My son will be starting 4th grade soon. Also, if I tried to do all three languages, would I try two years of each, or three? Right now he shows zero interest in learning a foreign language and I'm really not that eager myself, but I know it will help him in the long run. Help me please :confused: Alison in KY

Heart of Dakota. Alison

Sue Becker from the Breadbeckers has a different take on soaking or sponging grains. Check out her articles on http://www.breadbeckers.com. Also, love the forums there for recipes:) Alison in KY

How about Heart of Dakota? Beyond or Bigger? We bought it just to use for the history because she has great selections and it's all planned out for me. The left side has history planned out, plus Bible, geography, science, poetry, and art. Then from the right side we do storytime. I do my own LA's and math. There would be plenty of time to add in more science if you wanted to. Alison

I'm a MUS fan, but that's because it's working. No one loves math here. None of the kids get excited at all when it's math time, but they are that way about most of their school. What I do is set the timer for short math lessons. My son is in 3rd grade. I used to set the timer for 35 minutes. I switched some things, started making changes in our whole day and I started giving shorter lessons. So now he does 20 minute, and believe it or not, things seem to go smoother. It's not perfect, but I think it's easier and he's actually doing the same amount of work, just not dragging it out. Also, if they "get it" then I'd skip some pages. No one said you had to do every page. In our case, most of the pages are challenging, so we do everyone. HTH Alison

Anyone use these? Please tell me details. Alison

:iagree:

The Cumberland Presbyterian church I used to go to did communion once a month. It was an open communion, so people who weren't church members could participate. They also believed in sprinkling and they would baptize babies. Alison

Cat, I didn't think you were being critical at all. And don't think I haven't thought everything you posted....it has just taken me about 14 years to figure out what works and what doesn't around my house...and I still miss the mark way too much:D. Alison