I would just start with what the WTM says knowing that I would add, drop or change things slightly as we go along. The WTM does look overwhelming at first but once you get started is really pretty simple. It is very easy to change things to fit your families' needs. I hope this helps. Susie

My ds 8 is finally enjoying some books. The one that turned him on was 'Fantastic Mr. Fox' by Dahl. Now he is reading James and the Giant Peach. Ds 6 is reading 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.' We just love Roald Dahl. Susie

Hi, We follow the WTM fairly closely. We use many of the recommendations and we definitivly follow the cycles (history and science) as well as the stages. I found the book about 4 years ago. It was this book that guided me along, gave me a starting point as well as an end goal to keep in mind. Overall, I would say that is very easy to follow. I don't do much more than research resources, buy them and use them. When I use them I simply do the next thing most of the time. On Sundays I make myself a shopping list of items I meet need to get for specific projects or experiments. That's it! The only thing I find challenging is Science. However, I do not think this is a WTM problem. I think there really are not many good Science resources available for younger kids. Both my kids are still in the Grammar Stage. Susie

:D We also thought the story wasn't thought out very well at all. The boys love it, though, and watching it inspired some good discussions about story line and such. That's what really counts. Susie

We do drive a lot less these days. However, this doesn't have anything to do with gas prices. It is simply because we do more work at home now that the kids are getting into Upper Elementary Years. Susie

English: Galore Park Junior English, Spelling Workout E, lots of reading Math: Right Start E, supplement w. Singapore History: SOTW 4 Science: Science in a Nutshell Clusters covering Physics German: Das Neue Deutschmobil Typing Music: Harmony fine Arts and Piano Art: Harmony Fine Arts Karate I think that's it! Susie

We use Galore Park Junior English and love it. I am so excited we found it. It includes everything I was looking for in an English program. The boys also love the reading suggestions in it. That says a lot in my house. Susie

I would stick with SWO for practice and memorising the rules etc. When you have him write things for History, Science, Enlish, etc. I suggest to let him concentrate on content only. Then either later that day or the next day go through the paper with him and correct all the errors. He can re-write it then without the errors. My son has the same challange. He can't seem to write and think of spelling and grammar at the same time. I do see a lot of improvement in both his writing and spelling since we started doing it this way. I hope this helps. Susie

We love this program and the writing assignments in it. We do use SWO in addition to it and read tons of books from Junior English lists as well as WTM lists. Susie

There is a lot of American History in 3 and 4. We did not find it necessary to supplement all that much. :) Susie

We love Junior English. I only supplement a little with Spelling Workout. That's it. Susie

We use SOTW but really think to do it justice you need to use the Activity Guide. With all the book suggestions and activities and maps and? it is so worth it. JMHO, Susie

You will have a lot of fun. We just did a chapter a week (sometimes more, sometimes less). Get lots of books from the library to read along with it, do map work, coloring page, and a fun activity. Be flexible with it! You don't have to do all of that every week. :)

We have found that our kids really don't get much out of camps. Whatever learning activities take place we seem to have covered already. They see plenty of friends outside of camps anyway. Susie