Right now for K we're only going to work on MCP, but I'm going to be combining MCP and Miquon for first year. I'll see how it goes. We'll be doing one day MCP, and one day Miquon. Or we can also do four days MCP Math and the last day Miquon. Not sure yet, but I definitely don't want to overwhelm my beginning Math person ;)

Hi there. My ds is going to be 5 in September and we're going to start school the day after his birthday. Right now I'm doing warm-ups, but not quite as extensive as we're going to be doing once September comes around. Reading & Phonics Tanglewood's Really Reading Program Spectrum Phonics Gr 2 Tanglewood's recommended set of basal readers Richard Scarry's Best Word Book Ever Mathematics MCP Math Level K and A Miquon Orange Book Penmanship Italic Handwriting Book A (Getty-Dubay) Poetry Poems for the Very Young Geography Maps and Mapping My World and Globe Literature Peak with Books Selections from Honey for a Child's Heart The Children's Treasury of Fairy Tales Natural Science Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding Music Piano lesson once a week (also done by Mom) Art Done by Daddy; not sure yet but I really like Artistic Pursuits for next year! Spanish A conversation with Mama once a week and Kidspeak CD-ROM Bible Once a week reading Phew! I guess I should also count that we're teaching him swimming and he'll be in soccer and perhaps also in karate.

Nice thread. I'll be using SOTW 1 and 2 in years one and two, then going through British history, then American History (I feel British History gives a really good understanding of American History right after), and only afterwards SOTW 3 and 4 (in grades/years 5 and 6). I feel the kids will be more mature to handle some of the content of modern history. Some time when the children are older we'll be reading A Young People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn. The other side of American History. I like to provide multiple perspectives. Here's my projected History track: Year One: Story of the World: Ancient Times Year Two: Story of the World: Medieval Times Year Three: An Island Story by H.E. Marshall Year Four: This Country of Ours by H.E. Marshall Year Five: Story of the World: The Renaissance Year Six: Story of the World: Modern Times Year Seven: Landmark Egypt, Story of the Greeks and Romans by H.A. Greuber – Ancient Western Civilizations Year Eight: Story of the Middle Ages by Greuber, France and Story of Spain Year Nine: History of Latin America and the Caribbean Year Ten: 20th Century History, Technology and Current Events Year Eleven: History of the American People (both sides), Government and Presidents Year Twelve: Story of Mankind, From Confucius to Kant: Philosophy and Ideology through Humankind’s Journey

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I received it today! Wow, it looks really interesting! Every time I tried to look at the book I get interrupted by the kids though :glare: Will do my best to curl up with it some time today or tomorrow and let you know what I glean from it (though don't expect anything as elegantly or eloquently conceived as Targhee or mom2moon2) :D

I'm getting Maps and Mapping from Young Discoverers (Kingfisher) so we can learn about maps in Kindergarten. I consider maps to be a great tool and necessary to understand the concepts later on. Then we're doing My World and Globe by Ira Wolfman, which includes a cute inflatable globe with stand, a friendly book with 9 easy chapters, and reusable stickers. All for just under $14. There's even a sticker with "I live here" so you can show your child where he lives. Other stickers include seasons, some countries, some states, a few natural wonders and famous monuments, animals and habitats. I think it's a great introduction. I plan on doing this in a very relaxed manner, as they come up in life, and on a weekly basis. In first grade we'll be moving on to Geography lesson plans by Tanglewood Education http://tanglewoodeducation.com/corebook.htm. It's included with the corebook (also included with the corebook is a whole year of lesson plans for health & safety!). I swear I don't work for these people, but how do I love their materials :)

Oh, this would be Kindergarten, not fourth grade for me. I'm sure that will make it easier.

It really helps, thank you. With teacher's manual you mean the Lab Annotations, right? Then I will be sure to get that to help me. I'm doing a la Charlotte Mason, so I'd like to keep lessons short (10-15 minutes). Maybe we can do MCP Math one day, Miquon the next. I really appreciate you taking the time to help :)

Thank you, ladies! Now how do you schedule the two of them without having math burnout? Do you do MCP one day, then Miquon/Singapore, or 4 days MCP and one day Miquon? CactusPair, I couldn't agree with you more about the teaching style. I do like MCP Math a lot too. I like that it's uncluttered too, as ds (and I!) are easily distracted. Question for melmac: Is Miquon hard to implement/understand? Not coming from a strong math background, I'd prefer something more like MCP to implement.

We're going to do it by regions, starting from our state to our state's region, going from there all across the states. Last on the list will be Alaska and Hawaii.

Tami, I like your schedule! I understand a lady who likes to plan ahead ;) I make Powerpoint Presentations. I like to make them each page pretty and add books' pictures. In the intro pages there's a full grid of all subjects, then dailies, 4X a week, 3X a week, 2X a week, weeklies and so on. Then a page for each subject with the pictures of the materials. I also created a list of future subjects we'l be studying in history for all grades, and science. Each Powerpoint presentation for a grade. It gets me all excited about the year and keeps everything in one place :D

My schedule looks similar to yours, except there's no circle time as such, Spanish and Papiamento instead of Arabic, and no History. We're doing Science with the Building Foundations in Scientific Understanding. And I'm teaching ds how to read, he only knows a few words (he's going to be five in two months).

That is reassuring, thanks for the reply :) I just wonder if the two are compatible.. I guess I'll have to see for myself and report back to the group!

Try Family Math, that will make math seem relevant and fun again (or for the first time :))

Rainbow Resource lists a few providers of prepared slides.

I think Sonlight offers some kind of help but you're not going to get hand holding with Singapore I believe. This is the reason we're starting K with MCP Math and not Singapore. We're going to try Miquon for supplementation, as I am attracted to the idea of conceptual focus.

My dh is an artist, gemologist, diamond expert and ancient (especially Egyptian) history buff. Since he's the handier one in general in our marriage, he's going to be the one teaching ds (almost 5) some gardening. Neither one of us knows how to yet, but all my plants so far have died or not grown at all :o This year for K dh is teaching art (includes appreciation) and he'll be my teacher's assistant for setting up science experiments. Next year in first grade he'll be reading a history supplement to ds and will be there for us to pick his brain on Ancient History. In third year he'll be teaching ds about rocks and minerals and continue to have a hand in art, science and history throughout the homeschooling journey. Oh yeah, and logistics, directions, logical thinking, wiring appliances, setting up wireless systems and some other neat stuff he knows how to do. Gosh, what would be do without him? :001_wub:

I use Rainbow Resource too. Since I won't be starting until the beginning of September, I'm still tweaking my wish list. I don't want to interfere with someone else's shipping -- someone who needs it quicker than I do :)

The book Family Math I hear is very well done. Check it out. It makes math fun and meaningful.

:lurk5: Just the question I was thinking of myself the other day.

I started piano at 7. I know someone who's five years old and taking guitar lessons. He has a child's size guitar. Don't know if that will work for you or not. They also have a small house and are on a limited income (I don't know if the latter is your situation, but it is theirs). I'm going to start a gentle introduction to piano for my five-year-old in September. He's turning five in September. I'm not a teacher perse, but I did have nine years in piano and used to play in concerts in my local town. Good luck! Music is such a beautiful thing. I like Nicolas D'Angelis for inspiration. He's such a good guitarist.

I want a combination of momto2Cs' and Targhee's curriculum -- in an ideal world, right? :D I have found great links and information on living books in science at Paula's Archives and movies on History, but alas not Science. For science I really like Nova and I've heard good things about Bill Nye the Science Guy. For 7th grade and up I like Rainbow Science, but I'll see if something better comes up. If Noeo comes up with more for the later grades and Building Foundations for Scientific Understanding keeps on going with their volumes for later grades all the way to high school with lists of recommendations, I'll be ecstatic! This is what I love about creating my own curriculum -- the freedom, the seemingly unending possibilities!

What I'm going to do is this. In first year (or grade) I'll be doing 42 weeks, so one chapter a week. My idea is to do history every day. The first day we read the chapter and either narrate or discuss. The second day we work on the Book of Centuries and timeline based on the previous day's story. The third and fourth days we spend reading supplemental fiction and nonfiction, the fifth day we spend doing the activity. We'll be doing school 42 weeks a year, but we will only report 36 to the state.

Wow, that 501 Science Experiments looks fantastic! I also really like Nature Crafts for kids here and Science Smart, here. I own both. I like the meaningful projects, such as making a sun dial, wormery, time zone maps and a hot air balloon. The explanations are science lessons in themselves and are well written. Nature Crafts for Kids (or Nature Smart, a volume more than double the experiments in Nature Crafts) encompasses astronomy, weather, plants and animals. Science Smart encompasses earth science, geology and geography. Some projects include:

Hmmm.. I don't know about easy, but certainly the Nature Crafts for Kids is a great book with meaninful crafts. I'm not an artsy person at all, and crafty? Forget it. I never completed any handicraft when I was a child. Yet I'm drawn to this book (to be used in first grade) for its science teaching while making sun dials, etc. Definitely more than just busywork. Good luck searching and I'll keep checking here :001_smile: