:iagree: We're using them this year. That said, I also have ds read for 2 hours in the afternoon: 1 hour nonfiction, 1 hour literature/poetry. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, he spends that nonfiction reading time reading history books. So, in our case, we use the Famous Men series as a "spine" or as our memory work, basically, and our silent reading time to really explore the era (and learn about more than... famous MEN. :D )

:lol:

:lol: Too late!!! It is truly an awful system, and I'm sure we wouldn't have had any success. :ack2:

Here's what I wrote to/for myself as a guide. Hope it makes some sense! :blush: Latin Without Tears Guide.pdf.zip

Yep, we do this. * The 3R's + Bible and Latin in the a.m. * After lunch, silent reading time (1 hour nonfiction, 1 hour literature/poetry) * 1 subject per day as an "afternoon subject". This worked for us in 2nd; we missed it in 3rd; we're back to it in 4th (3 weeks in and going well). How about Art on Monday and Singing on Friday? :D

Sage advice. :D

I think I'm going to write this out and put it on the first page of my binder. This is wisdom I needed to hear, Hunter-- every word. :)

Thanks, everybody. I'm feeling much better now. As for Latin Without Tears, I had devised a system to use it, continuing with ds's base from GSWL. I took enough Latin in college to make good use of the book. It could have worked. :)

I have buyer's remorse. Why did I pay $115 for First Form Latin when I could have used Latin Without Tears, a FREE google ebook, instead? I'm frugal. I'm disappointed in the numerous mistakes in MP's FFL. I'm also past the 60 day return window. Please tell me just to buck up and keep going with FFL instead of ditching it and going back to my original plan of Latin Without Tears ( or finishing Latin Primer 1 which is sitting on our shelves and seems a GREAT deal like FFL). :banghead: If you can't tell me to buck up, could you please share your story of $100+ not so wisely spent to cheer me up? :D :lol:

NM

This looks great! Thank you very much! :)

:party: So glad she made it home safely. :)

Thank you, Hunter! The R&S 5 lined paper has similar proportions, but I've been looking for a paper in notepaper format. Thank you very much! (Do you usually order it from Amazon?)

:grouphug:

We enjoy this booklist quite a bit: 1000 Good Books List. :)

We REALLY LIKE Rod and Staff's 5 lined paper. We started third with this and ended third with this.

We school year 'round, beginning in July and ending in June. I schedule 40 weeks of school, which allows us to take 1 week per month off. Sometimes we take the whole week for vacation: Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's (back to back), when relative come to stay, etc. Sometimes we have a "light" week instead of vacation. Light weeks may have a Robinson-type schedule (1 math lesson, 1 hour/lesson writing, 2 hours reading) plus something fun in the afternoons: botanical gardens, zoo, library, crafts, cooking, etc. Or, light weeks may be a chance to catch up on subject we just haven't gotten around to doing as frequently as we like--art, educational games, etc. It works for us! I'm not fanatic about it. If we're on a roll, we may keep going, knowing that we can take off an extra week later on if we're sick or know that company's coming for a while. (We have in-laws that come from Europe and stay for weeks at a time.) In fact, this year was unusual in that I took off three weeks June/July to get our schedule in order. Ds couldn't WAIT to get back to school. He said, "I really don't think it's a good idea to take off more than a week again!" :lol:

:iagree:

Yep, we're changing this year, and I'm very excited. In a way, I'm going back to some things that worked in 2nd grade: 1) Scheduled 40 weeks. 2) Scheduled day with 2 hours reading (from 1-3 pm). THIS IS GLORIOUS! Ds 9 is happy to have plenty of time to read; Ds 3 is happy to have time to watch videos or play games on my ipad (the only screen time for any of us during the week-- I'm refusing to feel guilty about this! :rolleyes:; I'm thrilled to have plenty of QUIET time to read and nurse a cup of afternoon coffee or tea. :) 3) Daily copywork in addition to our R&S and other studies. This year, using Dictation Treasury, copying M-W, writing from dictation Th. This is working VERY well. 4) Opening the day with the 3 M's: Music (Singing), Memory Work, and Mental Math (from Ray's or R&S TM-- Love, love, love R&S Tms! ) This is new, and inspired by William Lyon (from a vintage google ebook on education): 1) Textbooks and required "recitation" (now called "Memory Work") for a few subjects. For us this year, they are: Natural History (a.k.a. "Nature Study"), Geography (via R&S Homelands), and History (FMOR, FMOG). Previously, all our memory work was poetry / Scripture. Textbooks make compiling memory work a breeze! 2) Elocution/Declamation: Accomplished through McGuffey 4th Reader. I've seen a HUGE improvement, just over that last 10 days, in ds's comfort level of speaking standing up in front of people. He went from awkward/uncomfortable, to tall, secure, and wanting to invite people over to listen to him speak! :) If this year is a success (so far so good, 2 weeks in), I *hope* to use it as a model for our future grades. (This is mostly likely wishful thinking. :laugh:) Here's our template, FWIW: 3 M's Reading (formal subject, including oral reading grades K-3, declamation and/or elocution grades 4+) English & Copywork Arithmetic Latin Spelling Lunch 2 hours Reading (1 hour Science/History/Nonfiction, 1 hour Poetry/Lit.):001_wub: Weekly Subject -- heavily inspired by William Lyon's plan Penmanship and Art in the late afternoons or evening, if we're up to it :D Typing and Piano

Thanks so much! :)

I haven't read any of her books, but ds is thoroughly enjoying her Nature Lover's Book. :D Yikes! Two years ago, I bought this book for $16. Didn't realize it was now OOP and $$$$$!!!!!

We started up July 9th. We had a 3 week break for Teacher Inservice. :lol: Or, shall I say, the dc had a break while I spent the time with Excel and a mug of coffee. :D

This being the case, here's what I'd suggest. DD9 - 4th grade Sonlight B+C World History - Already own Sonlight Science C - Already own Teaching Textbooks 4 - Already own Sonlight LA 4-5 with readers - considering purchase. May I suggest Rod and Staff English 4 for English (LA) and 1000 Good Books list Elementary for Reading (get from the library). Alternatively, purchase the reading schedule from SL and get the books from the library, if possible. Handwriting Without Tears 4 - considering purchase Pentime 4 or here Wordly Wise 4 - considering purchase We use the vocabulary words from McGuffey's Readers and CLE Reading 4. If you're interested in a reading program, we really like CLE which covers literary terms and vocabulary; otherwise, I've heard Wordly Wise is great! All About Spelling - considering purchase. Rod and Staff Spelling 4 ARTistic Pursuits 4-6 - considering purchase There are many, many books in most libraries for art. Or some people like Art With a Purpose. We use some free books from google, as well as Ed Emberley, Mark Kistler's Draw Squad, etc. Drawing Textbook is great, too. Spanish (need suggestions). I'm not sure I'd tackle this your first year homeschooling, but I've heard great things about Getting Started with Spanish. DD7 - 2nd grade Sonlight B+C World History - already own SL Science C - already own Horizons Math 2 - already own Sonlight LA 4-5 with readers - considering purchase Rod and Staff English 2 and 1000 Great Books Primary Level Handwriting without Tears 2 - considering purchase Pentime 2 or Rod and Staff Penmanship 2. R&S handwriting paper is fantastic! Wordly Wise 2 - considering purchase Possibly CLE Reading 2, if you're interested. All About Spelling - considering purchase R&S Phonics 2 ARTistic Pursuits K-3 - considering purchase. Do this subject together, using the above resources. Spanish (need suggestions) Do this subject together, using the Getting Started with Latin.

I agree with the others. This guide would be, IMHO, a good guide for anyone grade 3- adult! :) We used it last year in 3rd (orally) with happy results. But I can easily see an adult using it as a nice intro. to the language. FWIW, we give it two thumbs up!

Good to hear from you, Mt. Cougar. We just got H.A. Rey's Find the Constellations from the library and really like it! I DID buy the MP Astronomy set (and kept it for some future use... sometime??), but much prefer Rey's book. (Ds learned the 15 brightest stars and their constellations, which seems the whole point of the MP Astronomy from what I can gather. We just stuck it in our memory work.) I love the idea of mapping using the Core method. We did this last year for U.S. geography, along with the Dover U.S. States coloring book. Ds also memorized the states and their capitals. It was a fun, inexpensive semester for geography! We may go back to the Core's method next year. Ds really loved tracing/drawing maps! I'll look into Teaching the Classics book. Thanks! Now's the fun time of the year, when the $$ for this school year is spent, and I can begin scoping out materials for the ethereal future (which costs nothing but time). :lol: