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Medieval Mom

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  1. :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 )

  2. I am thinking about changing our schedule around. Currently we do the 3R's in the mornings and then history-MWF, science- T TH. I want to fit art, music and geography in there somewhere. I'm thinking of changing to doing the 3R's in the morning and then:

     

    Mon-Fine Arts

    Tues-History

    Wed-Science

    Thurs-Geography

    Fri- ?

     

    I'm hoping that just spending more time, one day a week will work better. I know the prevailing opinion is to do what works best for your family but has anyone followed a schedule like this? And how did it work for you? Thanks!

     

    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

  3. This is the first I've heard of Latin Without Tears. It looks adorable! That method could be fun to add to a family wide moment at the beginning of school. "Basket time" they're calling it now?

     

    To answer the question, if you're already into FFL, it sounds like it's working fine for you, I'd keep going. If you haven't actually started it, well, I'd look long and hard at all my options and work out a solid, doable plan for a year.

     

    Sage advice. :D

  4. Chalk it up to teacher education. Even when we don't use something, it's not wasted, because we always learn something just by reading the TMs and planning to use it.

     

    Adam had his weeds. We have crappy homeschool materials. They all have something wrong with them. It's our curse. We just muddle through the best we can, with what we have. Believe me, if you'd have gone with the other choice you would have found your weeds there too.

     

    Never get rid of anything. You WILL use things for reference, and often you will want to try it again.

     

    Nothing is perfect and nothing is wasted.

     

    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. :)

  5. 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:

  6. 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:

  7. 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

  8. This will be our first year homeschooling. We are on a fairly tight budget so we're trying to do as much as we can with as little money as possible.

    ...

     

    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.

  9. Thank you for posting - I had the exact same feelings. I love their Latin and am looking forward to the Classical & Christian studies - I probably won't do all the writing, but we will do the recitations. I actually liked the look of their science. It uses a living book, and I like the way (in the sample) they drew out the facts and had places to sketch. We might do some orally, but that's okay with me.

     

    But I look at the geography and ... it looks dull. I love to learn and I was bored. I was thinking of either using A Child's Geography: Explore the Holy Land (and adding something for Europe) or doing Mapping the World with Art over 2 years. And I love mapping as in the Core, so we'll do that even with the first option.

     

    I bought 2 of the lit guides to try out. One for each of the oldest boys. I can tell it's not going to be my thing. I'll keep the books, but we won't do the writing. Instead we'll do CM narrations, dictation/copywork, and good old discussions. I'm planning to buy Teaching the Classics when I can, and I think it will be better for literature discussion.

     

    If anyone wants a wonderful book to add to the 3rd grade astronomy, H. A. Rey's Find the Constellations is wonderful. There are several low-cost copies on Amazon's marketplace. (Disclaimer: I couldn't afford MP's astronomy set, so I'm not saying if it's good or bad. But I really like Rey's book on the constellations.)

     

     

    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:

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