At those ages, I think store bought workbooks cover lots of skills and you can assign a few pages a day. There is also xtramath. org for some online math practice.

Not much that hasn't been said, but I will say my IRL homeschool community as well. The women (my mentors! my children's mentors and co-op teachers and scout leaders and field trip guides) have been our constants after the library, my copy of the WTM, my R&S catalog, my MP catalog, my online friends and WTM forums, awesome homeschool mom blogs, etc. etc.) But our RL friends and support have kept us going many times.

The R&S workbooks do get into phenomic awareness if you stick with the preschool series. I remember those little pages of circling the things that start with a certain sound. Bob books would be a good set to get too, if they have an early one like mentioned above. I dont' remember doing that specifically like I do the R&S books. We loved the Bob books for beginning reading though, so I am sure the prereading ones are good too.

We did WTM's logic recs using Kingfisher as our spine and filling in with lots of library books and I used the Classical House of Learning Lit blog for reading to go along.

We did a heavy history year in 8th. We did American history (using SOTW quite often, as AM. History really needs that centering with the rest of the world to fully understand it,) and we did a full State history too. It was the most history we have ever done in one year. My plan is that we will do the 4 yr WTM Great Books, but cover enough Am. and State history along the way to give the appropriate credits there. For one thing we started a state history notebook and I plan to have her continue to add to it as we go on trips and cover topics in our Great Books studies that fit. That way we have this big project started in 8th grade that goes through all of high school to give her the half credit needed. With the Am. History and or Government I will just keep track of projects along the way and assign papers and research on the topics alongside our Great Books where appropriate starting with the election this year. It is a perfect opportunity to learn the election process, watch the debates, do some historical research for a bit even though we are officially in Ancients. I am not sure on how our total credits will end up. This year I am giving an English and World History Ancients credit, but honestly, she is doing enough work to have at least another half credit in there for literature IMO, so I will just keep watching this. Eventually her writing and lit will be the majority of her English credit, but right now she is still doing vocabulary, spelling, writing, and grammar on top of reading the Great Books and writing about and researching them plus the history work and reading. Honestly, the LA is a full 2 credits plus history right now IMO.

I consider us as having done WTM style logic for the four years of logic stage for my odd, and we are still in it with the next dd. But we didn't do everything exactly as is written every year. Some years we did a lot of outlining and summaries. (And no, we didn't do 5 para essays for our weekly summaries.) Other times, when there was a lot of writing instruction going on in the curriculum somewhere else, then the summaries and outlines took a back seat. Often that happened all in one school year. We would spend a month focusing on the writing skills in history: outlining, timelining, summaries, etc. Then co-op would start and they would have a lot of assignments there, so we would drop the outlines to one a month and one summary a month in history, continuing with reading and mapping and timelining. Then they would do one or two big projects for history a year that required a lot of research on their own choice of a related subject. I would use those co-op assignments as my teaching in writing for a couple of months. When those assignments slowed down, i could go back and focus more on outlining for awhile. Then I use my summers to fill in if I think there is something I didn't get in. The summer before 9th grade I had dd14 work through WWSI as we hadn't touched it in awhile with all of the other writing we had done in logic stage (R&S english and comp assignments, co-op classes, history/science writing, essay contests, etc.) I don't try to get it all in all of the time. There are some articles on this on the WTM site. She talks about how in the Bauer household, she is a writer, so there is a lot of writing instruction. If you have a student that is spending a lot of time doing gymnastics training a week, then the writing instruction and history reading will likely be less. I had to look at our schedules and see where we need to adjust. It sounds like you need to adjust yours as writing is being covered in the outside class right now. Do a unit on outlining at some point when you have time and that will be it for that. Do some small summary/written narration pages on history and file in your history notebooks.

Well, we had Fall Break, and I ordered it. I started it yesterday to get ready for her to read, so I appreciate everyone's help. So far the introduction is so interesting. And just from glancing through it, it does look easy to read. So I think this was good. I also picked up the Geraldine McCaughrean version for my dd12 for our next read aloud (along with The Legend of SleepyHollow since it is October) so she will likely be around for hearing that as well again. So we are off to a good start for our next 9 weeks. Thanks everyone!

When I did Am. History, I had a lot of curriculum and books around, but mostly I used in my own way. I assigned a major topic to each month. Then we read lots of books, encyclopedias, did field trips, and did all of the other skills work I like to include around history around that topic each month. So for Civil War we did one month on Civil War (I think ours was Dec=Jan, since Dec is a short month.) Then we did February as Civil War in our State and reconstruction with a bit of westward expansion and inventions/technology. Mar was WWI and the aftermath, April was WWII, May was as much after WWII into civil rights as we could get in. I would use one book from the library as our main text each month, but I had stacks of picture books and encyclopedias and projects from all of our other books to add in. They colored as I read. I read from several different books each reading session. They did maps and projects as they came up. (for us I had a couple big ones for the year planned. One each semester.) I picked projects from activity books as they came up each month. I had planned that we would do a big project in which months, but didn't really have a clue what they would be until closer to. Rabbit trails led us to them, and the kids get a say in what they want to do based on our readings. We covered state history on top of Am. that year, so we did a class weekly at co-op, plus two other outings a month around state history and several large projects which overlapped and reinforced our Am. history studies at home. We created a state history scrapbook for the year on top of our Am. history stuffs for at home. It was our biggest history year to date.

We do baked potatoes with toppings (whatever we have on hand!) for lunches and/or dinners at least once a week, usually when dh is working late. My kids love it. I do "plan and play" Tuesdays ala Flylady. So it is when I make a menu for the rest of the week and plan my grocery trip. I still haven't gotten to it. Our first day back to school plus working in the new therapy exercises w/dd has been a full day. And you know, following around after dd2 and her messes. It is going to be a long afternoon, but Tuesdays always are since it is our one full day at home a week.

Haven't changed a lot, but have adapted. I ordered Dyslexia Games spelling workbook (top 150 misspelled words) for dd12. After using it for the first month, I decided she really needed remediation with simpler more basic words, so I put that book up for later and ordered their younger book for ages 10 and up. It has different activities that I like that the other didn't, and has fewer words on a list and they are easier. We have started some learning therapies for her, so this easier book paired with her learning exercises from her tutor are a better fit. The other will come later. And I planned on Classical House of Learning Literature for her reading this year. We did it as laid out the first month. That book was an easy read for her. But the next book has too small of print and was much tougher going for her. So we have already slowed down the reading. I am reading it aloud along with her other read alouds. I still haven't replaced her personal reading yet. We are leaning towards Whyspersync and audible. com books together for Immersion reading, but haven't gotten the kinks worked out yet. So for now she is doing short readings when I can get some in. Today she read from What Your 6th Grader Needs to Know and from the Golden Children's Bible and did a picture narration of each. I want to get back to novels for her, so hopefully we will get her Kindle kinks worked out soon.

I was impressed with menu planning all the way through Halloween too. Some people do it a month at a time. I watch some YouTube moms that plan the whole month. Doing a week at a time is about all I ever get through, though in December I do plan what I am bringing to every holiday party or gathering for the entire month and keep on the refrigerator for the month. That helps me add the items needed for the coming week to the week's grocery trip. ETA: we posted at the same time. I am really impressed that you are already planned into next month!

We are into day 2 the week after our week off for Fall Break. Yesterday was just an unpack, do laundry, do a little of catch up and see where we were in school work and planning for the month. Kids had 3 hours of dance classes, which gave me time to read and plan for the month. Today was supposed to be jump back into full schedule and start the next 8 weeks off with a bang until holiday break. AND I overslept by an hour, lol. I had a rough night. After sleeping at my mom's for several nights on an air mat, my back is in bad shape, and I was up and down all night. So we jumped into our second subject of the day to keep us on track and will get back to math during the homework hour later. So today: Schoolwork in the morning (lots of subjects between the two kids.) Also plan the week's menu and grocery list. Plan our opening song and scripture for co-op this week. Plan dd2's costume for co-op. It's dress as your favorite character in literature day. I have all kinds of Halloween and dress ups to look through and see which can count as a literary character, lol. Cookie Monster? Sesame Street has books, right? :) Afternoon: reading aloud and get dd14 going on her next literature read (Gilgamesh, after she writes a summary of what she was reading.) Tonight: get dh to sit down with me and see how we did on the budget for the month with our week out of town and some unexpected expenses last week. And housework: keep up the laundry, laundry, laundry. Have dh and girls clean guinea pig cage. Do my regular morning chores. Afternoon/early evening chore: spend some time in my room cleaning. A few minutes in a drawer and a few minutes on a box of school supplies that needs weeded out. Before Bed: Take a Walk with dh after dd2 is in bed and girls are home with her. Let's see how much of that gets knocked out...

We didn't start a spelling program until my natural reader and speller was in 2nd grade, and we bumped it up to a higher level. She was reading by 4 and before 6 was reading novels. She didn't need a spelling program for 1st and 2nd grade words. Even now, she is in high school, and I am having her work through an 8th grade spelling program that we didn't get to because the lessons in word roots, vocabulary, etc. are so important, too important to skip. The point of her spelling workbooks was never really to improve her spelling. They were quick work to reinforce spelling and to teach her about the words. It is always just a very short part of her day. Then I have a younger dd that has dyslexic tendencies. We are in the process of working with a specialist on a program for her. We have dropped the spelling workbooks that contain all of the above good stuff to work on just spelling with her in a way that will actually help her to spell. But it makes me twitch leaving all of that out, and I hope that in a year or so, we will add those spelling/vocab workbooks back into her program. So do what you need with each child. And drop all spelling workbooks with a 5 yr old, even an advanced one. That is just too young to mess with it. You will make him hate school.

I have always bought what I thought I for sure needed. I haven't always bought things that sounded good and that I wanted to right away, and have made do with free or cheaper resources lots of time after I have bought the bulk of my curriculum and needed to stop buying. I often find something that will do at a thrift store or on my shelf or at the library. But that is usually after the core subjects. I buy math, English, spelling, Latin, history, and science every year that I want. I may not buy all of the supplementary stuff to go with it that I want, but I make sure I get those. I would not put together math on my own. I would do what you are doing as supplements and buy what I wanted there. It is something that needs to be done everyday, and I want the planning done for me. I have spent more than I like lots of times. For me it is often on Science. I find it easier to do science through co-op, which often means that I buy an expensive textbook of their choosing and am subject to their syllabus and timelines. But we are at co-op anyway, and it saves me the planning and the bulk of the work on labs since they do them there. My kids do well with that timeline that they get there and get their work done. So even though I wouild prefer a different text or some more freedom in science than just do the textbook in this order on this week, and turn in this work, the pros outweigh the cons for me. . Even though I have books on my shelf that would cover the same materials without having to shell out for the new text each year... I have discovered another resource this year that really appeals to one of my dds and me. And it isn't cheap really. I could put stuff together and cover the same materials more cheaply. But she really responds to the materials and is flourishing and loves it. So it is worth it to me again to spend that extra bit of money and to save me the time of putting together a bit more cheaply the same type of things. My reasons don't apply to you. You'll have to decide if something is worth it.

I wouldn't use the Rod and Staff reading as just a Bible study either. I mean, you could just have the child read the readers and not do the work. But it is meant to teach reading. BUT they R&S preschool Bible stories and coloring book that is part of the preschool/kindergarten packages are very good. I used those with my kids for Bible time til they were in like 2nd grade. I just read aloud the story and they colored in their books. Each story had a verse to learn and some questions. Some of the coloring sheets were activity sheets, but mostly they were just coloring. It gave them something to do while we read and discussed.

We ended up skipping the last half of 7 and jumping right into 8. It is a big jump. It does require more of my time to teach than lower levels, but we were ok doing it. But it definitely is not an independent subject.

For the most part, we just use a composition book. Since they were little we drew what we observed. At my kids' ages now (middle and high school) our current ones have better drawings, notes about the weather, date, where we are, temperature, what we see and hear, and a bit about the sky, wind, and moon. We do take field guides and identify birds, but we haven't ever started learning trees and flowers too well yet, but I plan too. And we draw what we like. Our main focus is to sharpen our drawing skills, to learn to love nature, to slow down and appreciate God's Creation, to make memories together, more than learning specific nature things, though we have learned tons along the way and all have different things we are into about it. Odd now takes more photos than she does drawing entries, but she's still there with us, sharpening her chosen art medium skills. This summer I read the book, Keeping a Nature Journal by Clare Walker Leslie, and took a lot of her ideas.

I just taught my kids to write using a lot of WTM's suggestions. I just did it across the curriculum. In middle school I taught the 5 paragraph essay. They took a co-op class once that assigned different types of speeches which gave us a lot to work with and a lot of practice in the 5 para essay dept. We use R&S for English, and it does include writing teaching too, but we have never bought a specific writing curric that we used. I pull things from here or there.

The timed schedule is what works for us too. If work is done early, then my 12 yr old can go jump on the trampoline or draw or play toys with the two year old or something for a few minutes until her next "class" begins too.

My 12 yr old who is an late summer bday, so is a young 7th grader does: 6th grade R&S math 8-9 Easy Peasy spanish 9-9:15 journal 9:15-10:00 (various writing and drawing exercises mostly) Second Form Latin 10:00-11:00 Dyslexia Games Spelling practice (somedays workbooks, somedays practice writing, somedays spelling with tiles, etc.) 11:00-11:30 5th Grade R&S English 11:30-12:00 lunch She does not spend an hour on math, mostly because she has trouble being ready by 8, lol. So she does have to go back to it and finish later. I don't know how she could get any of this done more quickly. The hour on Latin, does have some time wasting, but in general, we review and it takes her the majority of the hour to get a page or two done. The rest of the subjects take their full time. Afternoons vary: Two days have 3 hours of dance classes, so we just do some science and some reading before she goes. I require science written work like definitions, narrations, and lab reports for experiments. She does 1-3 experiments a week. Two days have an hour of us reading aloud together (me to them) and then an hour or so on history work. That requires reading, outlining, adding dates to timelines, and mapwork. I require reading in bed everynight or listening to an audio book, and Art happens at co-op and during journal time and during read aloud times and on school breaks and in free time. Mine each have a craft or medium they like to work in. I don't allow any screens at all until after dinner. But we keep pretty busy until then. I have never had a problem with kids who worked too fast.

I did SOTW over again in logic stage for my younger dd that was still in grammar stage. Then odd did the logic stage work from KHE, but listened aloud to SOTW and other books read aloud first. She did the geography coloring book instead of the SOTW maps. She did the outlining, summaries, and timeline book. And we all did a few big projects together. Younger dd did the coloring sheet, narrations, and SOTW mapwork.

I found there were a lot of little crafts that can be done on the fly in SOTW2. Make a stained glass window. Here color this... Copy this model of a letter and make your own illuminated page just meant using some silver and gold paint pens (things that if you don't have will come in handy for artists on many projects, so pick some up. ) There were the Chinese printing blocks. All you need is glue, yarn, and some cardboard and paint or an ink pad. There was the thing in the first or second chapter where you make their picture on a flying carpet coloring sheet. We then made those into the covers of our notebooks. There were some "advanced" mapwork pages which included some extra coloring and glueing. In general for my crafty kids, I could usually find one of the projects a week without even any extra planning just with stuff I had on hand in our regular hour and a half history session for the week. I like doing one or two big projects a year like you are talking about, but did lots of the just color, cut, glue, paint variety so that they felt they were getting a lot of crafty time.

I haven't even looked at SS or Science after 2nd grade just from knowing the things above posters have already said. And I love all that I do use from R&S. I'm waiting on a delivery today from their half price seconds sale as I write this.

Aw. There is a post on another hsing board that I go to where the new hs mom needs this today. :)

This is when I start telling my kids that the answers arean't always going to be the exact same as in the book or to each others. As long as they are grammatically correct and make sense that a lot of translation, especially out of context as in these random sentences and not from a story with some context, are going to be up to what they think sounds best. The kids may think that an article sounds better. Some may not feel it needs it. The article they add can be "a" or "the" which in English does change the meaning a bit. Look at different translations of any ancient text and you will see that the translators come up with different sounding sentences which in essence mean the same thing.