Advanced Language Lessons, SWB's new grammar program.

I would steer clear of acrylic or epoxy stickers - I have had some of those yellow in books I did several years ago. I would also stay away from bulky items or metal stuff - those were very trendy in scrapping a while back but probably not so much now, just thought I'd mention it.

ENTJ here. I think I have lost some of my J as we have added children but it's usually temporary and comes back after each one lol. I am fairly rigorous, at least compared to people I know IRL. I would say I am fairly draconian in my parenting, just need to get my feet under me after having twins to achieve thus in the schooling. ;)

Your opinion is just as valid as anyone's opinion, Ellie. I do find it intriguing that you are so very negative about the idea of holding kids back. I have seen you respond in an equally negative fashion on threads about starting kids in kinder a year late and I just don't understand why it is such a big issue for you. Maturity is not a requirement of graduation but it certainly would aid a young person in adult endeavors, such as college and I don't consider it enabling to allow children that extra year. Nor do I consider it a failure on the child or parent's part to not meet an arbitrary deadline of "before 18".

will check these out - thanks!

To me, this is what bare bones is. Math, LA split between oral and written (FLL is a great idea btw), lots of reading and narrating/telling back (I don't use readers though) and history/science as read alouds (with activities or experiments if that's your thing). Then you have plenty of time and energy (on his part) to work on writing. Now I would hope after a year of doing 'bare bones' that he could add things back in the next year but if you really want to focus on writing and give him a shorter day to help his self esteem, I would cut way back to the 3R's and have the rest be reading/read alouds.

I would guess you aren't getting a lot of responses because it just came out earlier this year and a (typical) new school year hasn't begun yet since it's release. I know lots of people homeschool year round but I also think lots of people start their new year with new curriculum in late summer / early fall. That being said, I have purchased this and plan to use it with my younger 2 boys (2nd grade and preKish/K). I am hoping new levels will be released on time so we can continue using it. :)

There is a difference between cleaning and picking up what got taken out while the sitter was there. I do not expect cleaning but I do expect sitters to supervise the kids putting away anything they took out while I was gone. I do not expect them to put away toys that were already out or deal with dishes. When we get a sitter I frequently have the kids already eating dinner when the sitter arrives - in that instance I expect the sitter to put away any uneaten food in the fridge, and to supervise the kids clearing their own plates and cups to the sink. No expectation of actual dish washing. As for transportation - that depends on age. I would never expect a sitter's parent to drop off and pick up. I do prefer and try to only hire sitters that can drive.

Well, this thread makes me feel like we are all in a similar place. Apparently writing is the biggie for 5th grade lol.

My top priority and goal for my fifth grader is writing. Other goals are working independently with check ins from mom and working on math application.

If she is not experienced with photography or at least a motivated amateur I would not buy her a digital SLR. I love the quality of pics my SLR takes but it is not as easy to use as a point and shoot and it's bulky. I have a "purse" camera that I am pretty happy with - it's a Canon elph - do an amazon search for that and you'll find some good options. It's a very small camera and will fit in my jeans pocket if I'm not taking my purse. It takes pretty good pictures and should suit her needs well.

our church VBS is free. we do it in the evenings though. Locally I can't think of any churches that charge for VBS.

I think my biggest challenge is figuring out how to transition my oldest away from the group things that I'll be doing with the youngers. I'm wondering if I should have a printed to do list for him and "meet" with him first thing in the morning, then let him work on his own (with me checking in to make sure he's working!) while I go about schooling the youngers. For example, I'm going to read history to the younger kids but he doesn't need to participate in that - he will read and outline his own history, so it doesn't matter if he does it at the same time. I will go look for the large family scheduling thread on the curric. board - I think I saw it (it was several months back if I recall) and I do remember that most moms were involved with schooling most all day. *sigh* For me, anything past 2 is just hard.

BTT - wondering if I didn't get a lot of responses due to the weekend....

Thank you for your input! When I was working on the schedule I was vacillating between what I posted above and a different type where the kids weren't doing the same subjects at the same time and I 'assigned' an older to play with the twins at intervals. I think I went with this one because my head was spinning a bit...it's such a challenge to figure it all out. I think you have a good point on the toys, I was hoping to pull together some toy bags or trays (a la tot trays) for the girls that would be just for school time. Good luck with your year - with the ages of your bottom 5 you have a very similar load to me!

Well, before I finish ordering curriculum I am trying to figure out when it's all going to happen. Our last 2 years have been lightish due to pregnancy bedrest, newborn twins, etc, so I am trying to get back into a full school routine and continue the transition of my oldest to more independent work. My priorities and goals for the year: 11yo/5th grade - logic stage workload, writing is a priority, literature discussion, independent work (with mom's direction) 9yo/4th grade - shift into older elementary workload (last year he did all his seatwork reading and math by 10:30 most days lol), writing is priority, science exposure is also priority 7yo/2nd grade - reading development to chapters books is top priority young 5yo/prekish - priority is to spend time reading to him and doing preK-ish to K activities 20 month old twin girls - priority is playtime, reading time with mom or brothers I am attaching the schedule I worked out last night and I'm a bit disheartened we won't be done until 3 or 3:30. Keep in mind that when they finish a subject early for the time slot I've allotted that I'll let them choose between moving on to the next subject or playing until the next time slot begins. So thoughts? Is it just too much? Oh - and this is our schedule 4 days a week, 1 day we go to an enrichment coop in the morning and run errands or have playdates in the afternoon. Trying to see if I can insert an image of the schedule here:

For lack of better options I bought IEW a few weeks ago - now that WWW and WWS are coming out I feel like I don't need to go there. I'm very concerned about the heavy style emphasis that IEW creates so I'm returning it and going with WWW for my younger kids (along with some WWE) and WWS for my oldest (fifth grade this fall).

My fraternal girl twinkies are 18 months. I had the higher level ultrasound but only because other reasons warranted a referral to a periontologist (sp?). I had trouble with cervix shortening (with a history of preterm labor) so I had ultrasounds to check cervix length and baby growth almost constantly. It was a long pregnancy but of course worth it in the end. I had 4 previous deliveries so my OB had no problem trying for a vaginal delivery (and we were successful with that). If you have any questions about that or want to chat about deliveries you can pm me. I'm sure all of us twin mamas have a soft spot in our hearts for twin mamas to be! :)

Very helpful post, Lori, thank you!

We take a long lunch as well. It's just needed when you have littles I think. Lunch prep, eating, clean up, diaper changes (you're probably past that…), settling in for nap, checking email…it really does take 2 hours. Every time I do our schedule with times it looks like this and I feel like it's way too much but honestly it is what it is. Lots of kids = long day.

IMO you don't need a comprehension curriculum. I give my kids books to read and ask them to "come find me" when they are done. I then ask - what did you read about today? What was your favorite part? What do you think will happen next?, etc. There's a whole list of questions in the WTM to give you ideas on what to ask.

For teacher's manuals I love the idea of them all being tucked inside ibooks on the ipad - no searching for the right book or bringing a stack of manuals to the kitchen table in the morning. For the kids workbooks I do like PDFs because it's easy to print them. I've used the SOTW activity guides for years and always hated copying the coloring pages for multiple kids - I'd much rather have a digital copy so I can print more easily. As to ereaders - I have a kindle that I use for reading but the kids don't use it much. I buy them regular books to read. It does not produce eye strain because it's not backlit. My oldest has expressed interest in getting a kindle - we'll probably wait until he's 12 or 13.

This past spring I needed science for my oldest kind of on-the-fly, so I downloaded Real Science 4 Kids Biology for him. LOVED it. I can print it or he can read it on the laptop, I can easily have fresh new copies for future kids, it's working great. Yesterday I got samples of SWB's new writing program and I downloaded them to our ipad. This was like an epiphany for me - I think it would be awesome to have my teachers manuals for FLL and WWE and WWS on the ipad vs printed out. I can then reference them during school time and the kids can have their stuff printed in a binder. I am just really loving the whole digital curriculum era. The only downside is that I can't resell later on but that's not a huge issue when nothing has a good resale value anyway and I'll be using these programs with lots of kids.

So sorry! I misread!

I'll sign up for this plan too since my head is spinning around WWS / WWW and Bravewriter. :) I am sorely tempted to do both WWS and WWW with my boys and throw in the fun parts of Bravewriter for..um well, fun.