We are using: FIAR FLL 1/2 SOTW 1 God's Design Human body Apologia Botany Copy work from what we are reading and other rabbit trails as they pop up.

Has anyone used Donna Wards books and Modern History Through Canadian Eye's? I'm working on my plans for the next few years and hoping to prebuy as soon as I have the $. I'm trying to decide between them or if they would combine well. I will almost always be combining grades and I don't mind making adjustments for age. If anyone could share what the like/don't like about them, it would be a big help! Thanks,

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Canada :001_smile:

Well with my K'er she has just 1 binder with everything in that. My older dd has a history binder and then a binder with dividers for everything else. Last year we had a separate binder for science but most of what we are doing this year is tied in with their unit studies. So I keep it all together. They like looking at it better this way.

Yes I found out with my first pregnancy I'm o negative. Dh is also, he was tested to find out if our blood types were ok or if I'd need shots while preggy.

I was just wondering how far a head do you plan? I mean in years/grades not just weeks. I'm trying to decide what subjects to cover and when...and it's turning my head into mush lol. How many do two different history programs at the same time? We are working through SOTW 1 and my kids love history/geography. Dh wants me to do more geo/history with the kids. Just keeping it easy, read aloud and hands on "fun" stuff. I was thinking of starting some Canadian history with them after I finish our Canadian geography unit. I know we'll cover all of this again, but when I'm not sure...So I'm just trying to get an idea how often most people go over the same subjects. Sorry if I'm rambling little ones are driving me crazy today. :tongue_smilie:

Yes right now our girls are 2 to a room and baby is with us. We are planning to turn another room into a bed room for us, then give the girls the larger room. Then ds will have his own until/if we have another boy.

Thank you! I'll try and pick up as many of the books in the bundle as I can. I don't think Geo Matters ships to Canada. But I've found some of the books listed at a few different shops up here. Our library isn't very good at all, most books have to be ordered in. Since that takes so long I'd like to get as many of the most used books as I can.

We LOVE FIAR. :001_smile: Basically you pick a book from one of the manuals and read it each day, or less if you and your ds prefer it. There is a different topic for each of the five days of study. One day will be social studies were we learn about the country it's set in as well as different occupations, feelings ect. Another day is language arts activities based on the book, then science, applied math and art. It's fun and easy to implement. I love that on a really crazy day we can do it orally. When we have more time we can really dive in and have fun with lapbooks etc. We read books about the country/area it's set, watch videos on the area. If your library doesn't have videos like that try Youtube. I've found some nice travel videos there. We research areas of the book that interest my kids as well. Different animals, flight, weather etc. That's one of the great things about FIAR is you can easily beef it up if you like. But it's really a very easy approach that works so well. I add in math we like MUS and some other things just because my dd like it. Oh and I jump around between the first 3 volumes. I'm hoping to get vol. 4 next year.

I'm thinking of using Galloping the Globe next year with my grade 2 and K'er. From the few reviews I can find on the book I think it might go well with FIAR. Using the story books from around the world during that country's study. Has anyone hear used it? What did you like/not like about the book? From what I understand it's not a stand alone program? So what are the most suggested books to use with it?

I'm starting to plan my oldest 2nd grade year. She turns 7 this spring and is reading well about a 4th grade level. We've been using FIAR, SOTW 1, FLL, MUS Beta, with readers and Canadian geography. So what did you love for 2nd grade? We've really been enjoying FIAR so might continue with that program or alternate it with something else...There are just to many interesting programs to pick from. :lol:

We go mostly year round and take a week or so off when we need it. I'm due with #5 mid Nov. so we'll take a week or two off then. Dh will be doing the lessons with the kids through Dec. this year. :001_smile: Some times I'll take a month off in the summer if we are really busy. But we still do some light work nature studies, some math etc. The one year we took all summer off the kids had forgotten a lot of what they had learned before break.

Well mine are 6 and under and I LOVE Five in a Row. It covers all the subjects except phonics and math. I do add in extras as new interests pop up. But it's so easy to teach and adapt to different learning styles. They also have programs for older students. For phonics we used 100 easy lessons, math is math u see and grammar FLL.

I love that set! Dh and I watched them a few years ago, most library's have them. I just borrowed the first two DVDs again.

I used FLL with my oldest last year for K and she loved it! We would have finished the first part of the book had I not have put the breaks on "extras". Morning sickness knocked me right out for months. Anyway it's one of her favorite school books. :001_smile:

I used MUS Primer for my dd when she was prek/k and she went through it quickly to. We finished it at her pace to build confidence and she thought it was fun. She's almost finished Alpha now, would have sooner but we took some school breaks. Anyway it's working out great for us. If your son really likes it then I would finish it and move on to alpha. :001_smile:

Nope, I've never had a problem. :001_smile:

Our school area is mixed between the kitchen and living room. It works well for us! I'd love to have one room for all of our school stuff but we just don't have the room for it.

A cream such as tramaheal will help (had lots of skin/muscle healing herbs) or the liquid version. I really like arnica for muscle pain, helped a lot after my last birth to lol.

We use FIAR and love it! I also started with B4FIAR this year and alternate weeks to include my 2 year old (almost 3) more.

I don't think you have to do one, but for my oldest we did MUS Primer. She really wanted to do it and loved using the blocks.

I make my plans hand written then move them to HST. I find that the easiest way to input lessons plans into HST is to make a hand written list of each lesson/test first anyway. I've also had more then once pc crash before so I like to keep a hard copy of everything. :001_smile: I do love that HST can do the report cards and other records that I might need.

I started out a few years ago with homestead blogger and homeschool blogger. At the time I thought they were easer to use then blogger/blogspot. Now I would say the other way around, blogsplot has many more options and easer to use. That said I decided to use word press and put a blog on my own website. I've been moving my post over there slowly. Since I pay for my site and back it up, I have full control over it. I really like word press and if you want a free one with them, you can host it on their site.

I started covering 6 years ago. Normally I ware a D shaped veil, some times its called a missionary veil. I put my hair up in a bun, then lay the veil across the top of my head a few inches back. Then bring the corners down under my bun and snap it in place. I use 4 hair clips to hold it on, one over each ear and two in the top center. I bought my first one from woman I met online but after that I made my own.