Like others, I've saved coloring pages and related composition/copywork; but so far, I've just filed it in the current year's binder. As I prepare for next year, I'm re-thinking our binder situation. I *think* ds may enjoy having his own history notebook, as opposed to me squirreling away his work in MY binder. OTOH, I'm trying to keep things (relatively) simple this year. (And our homeschool is definitely NOT history-driven.) Thanks for all your thoughts :)

I admit it. In K-3, we've done NO history notebooking. At all. Someone either tell me a). I'm not alone or b). Hop to it for 4th grade! :D Should I make this a poll? Oh, why not!

:iagree: I have three versions of The Hobbit. This is truly an excellent one.

Rod and Staff spelling may be worth a look. :)

I think it's very reasonable for those subjects to take four hours. This year, I readjusted my thoughts on how long our day will take by recording just how long we really spend on each subject. Instead of trying to get everything done by noon, I've stretched it all out. We now school, with plenty of breaks and including time for reading/playing/etc. from 8 to 4. We're all MUCH happier. :) Math DEFINITELY takes a good hour or more. I think that's fine!

Thanks, everyone, for your thoughts. Dh and I are still thinking it over, but it really helps to get various perspectives on this.

Ah! Thank you! So there's hope!!!! :) :) :)

Are you familiar with the languages you are teaching, or learning alongside your dc? MM -- Wishing she had studied French before now.... Sigh! But hopeful she can still learn it someday :)

Thanks for this perspective, Stripe. I do try to keep this in mind, especially as, according to Norway, they are also Norwegian citizens. They *could* legally move to Norway at some point (not that we plan on it). As for having the dc spend time in Norway-- Yes! That would certainly be ideal. Then, we'd have to choose between the two official Norwegian languages (Bokmål or Nynorsk) to determine which relatives to visit. ;) That's another "strike", actually, as I see it, in studying Norwegian. It's SO fluid that picking up a Norwegian book from 100 years ago is like reading Danish. Sure, English, French, German, and all living languages change over time, but Norwegian changes FAST! Even in the last 10 years or so, many of the standard Norwegian words have been displaced by "Norwegianized" English words. Oh dear.

Thanks for mentioning the IGCSE. I hadn't heard of it before. Unfortunately, they don't offer Norwegian (but do offer German and French, of course). The resources lists for these languages could be very helpful for anyone learning these language-- Just a note out there to those who are looking for help finding language learning materials. Thanks so much!

Ahh... Your post is echoing all the thoughts inside my head! My 8yo, when asked, shrugs and either says, "All of them!" or "Whatever YOU think, Mom." Sigh. He likes watching the videos we have in any of the three languages. Part of me thinks we should hold off altogether until he has a definite opinion. But when I hear how quickly he and his little brother pick up new words in a foreign language, and how GOOD their accent is (compared to mine, in Norwegian, that is), I think it's a shame to wait. I could AT LEAST give them exposure to listening to the language so they develop a bit of an ear for it, for example.

We do have some children's books and DVD's in Norwegian, which helps. The best dvds are Dora the Explorer, actually. In these films, Dora is speaking Norwegian and learning English! :) The other films we have are spoken in high, fast-paced, squeaky-voiced characters in rather uncommon situations. (Imagine learning Norwegian from Woody the Woodpecker or Donald Duck...) We do have a dvd player which is zone-free, which is lovely. I really wish that ALL dvd players were zone free. Sigh!

Very wise post. Thank you! Yes, being able to speak the language helps. Therefore German or Norwegian would be my best bet... Maybe we could hold off French for high school. :D Our children are NOT fluent in Norwegian. Not by a long shot. Neither am I. I can converse with family, but I am very aware of my limitations. (That said, it's been years since I've conversed in German... and dh and I do speak to each other in Norwegian fairly often (several times per week.) ) So far, my dh has not spoken much Norwegian to the dc. In fact, when we do speak Norwegian between us I'm the instigator. Frankly, although he was born in the country and grew up speaking the language with his family all over the world, all his upper-level schooling has been in English. He *thinks* in English now. I'm afraid multiple languages during the week might not pan out, either. I'm attracted to it because I wouldn't really have to prioritize these languages, but do them all! (I love languages.) OTOH, I wonder if we'd ever get anywhere. Sigh! Thanks again, Regentrude.

I've edited my original post to add that I've had the equivalent of 2.5 years college German, and 2 years college Norwegian. I've also had 2 years Latin and a semester of Medieval Latin and Old Norse, but that's neither here nor there.

Please help me choose a foreign language to study with ds8. My head is spinning! 1. German: I lived in Germany for a while, and was once pretty good at the language :) I tested out of 2 years of German in college, and took 1 more course. I can still read it well, pronounce it well, but my conversational skills definitely need brushing up. Materials are available. (The R&S German books look adorable.) 2. French: Always wanted to learn French. Dh thinks its an excellent language to learn. (Dh has lived all over the world.) Materials are easy to find. I know NO French, but am willing to learn. 3. Norwegian: Dh is from Norway, so half the dc's family is Norwegian. We'd be able to call up the dc's aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents to talk at no additional cost. (Thanks, Vonage!) My Norsk is so-so at best (my accent is pretty bad, I fear), and materials are HARD to find for this language. That said, I tested out of 1 year of Norwegian in college, and took another year. We'd have dh for a tutor, but only in the all-too-brief evenings, of course. We've asked the family for help in locating Norwegian learning materials, like readers, but they don't seem to understand what we mean. :confused: Of limited *use* except conversing with family in Norway. 4. Charlotte Mason style: That is, learn 2 or 3 of these, on different days. M-French, T-German, W-Norwegian, etc. We own several videos in foreign languages. So, we could do this during lunch time by watching Dora the Explorer or Muzzy in French on Mon., the same episode in Norwegian the next day, etc. We're in no rush; I'm not trying to reach any particular level of proficiency this year. But I do believe that languages are important; and the dc seem to sop this stuff up rather easily, even ds3! Note: We're also studying Latin, so don't answer, "None. Latin!"

:D Ah, well. The good ones are worth re-reading, right?

I seem to be in the minority, but I don't consider 4 hours to be too much for a 9 y.o. :confused: My ds and I would consider it a pretty short day, if we got everything done in 4 hours. Frankly, that's what our "down" weeks look like: 1 hr. English/Spelling; 1 hr. Math; 2 hours Reading. I guess I won't post our "normal" schedule! But, to each their own!

I'd give Grade 4 a try. With anything, getting used to a new program may take some time. I think that jumping into higher levels might pose a problem for some children, but I think that jumping in to 4 would be fine. Grade 4 is where CLE starts introducing literary terms and such. In fact, many on this board have expressed that they just have their dc read the readers for Grades 1-3, then begin with the L.U.s in 4th. I honestly think it'll be fine! Ds will once and a while mark a question with ????? When I look through his work and ask him about it, he may pout and say, "I DON'T KNOW!!!" Often, he's over-thinking the answer. Or, he's being too lazy to look things up. We take a big breath, and work through it together. :) Once, he said, "I don't like looking things up!" (Glossary words.) I cheerfully replied, "Well, you better practice, because you'll be looking things up for the rest of your life! Now's your chance to become really good at it!" With lots of smiles and enthusiasm. Think Dale Carnegie! (It worked!) :svengo: At any rate, I'd expect at first to need to be near her and help her. But CLE Reading *can* be as independent as you'd like it to be. Sometimes, I'm rather involved. Frankly, my ds prefers now to do his CLE Reading rather independently, coming to me for my opinion or help with sticky questions. Just a note-- You can decide whether you want to have your dd memorize all the Bible quotes. We used to, but have recently dropped it. I just x off those portions of the quizzes and tests.

We are trying everything we can (short of tearing my hair out) to accomplish this. We used to read during ds3's nap time; but he no longer takes a nap. :svengo: In the morning, before any schoolwork, I read several picture books aloud to both boys, then bring out the Golden Children's Bible. Mid-way through the story, I usually lose ds3; luckily, he just slides off the sofa and begins playing (relatively) quietly in the room with whatever toys we have at the time on the floor: blocks, legos, marble tracks, etc. I then (attempt to) read a chapter or two read from history, nature, or literature books. If I've read for an hour, we begin schoolwork. If not, I have ds8 pull out a book and read on his own while I do something with ds3 (household work, usually). We attempt more reading around 4:00, with mixed results. At bedtime, dh now reads to the boys for well over an hour. First, he reads to ds3. Then ds3 toddles into his bed (in the same room with ds8). Dh then reads (both boys in bed on either side of dh's chair) for at least an hour, often much longer. Right now, dh is not reading what most would consider classics, but adventure stories. He's read through the original Hardy Boys, Tom Swift, etc. Since English is dh's 3rd (or 4th) language, it's really good for all of them. (His spoken English is perfect, but he admits that these books are greatly enhancing his vocabulary.) HTH!

Field guides get daily use here. Dictionary and rhyming dictionary. Holling C. Holling books have been read numerous times. Last year, I would have said the Thornton Burgess books, which ds read over and over for two years... at least! This year, it's Redwall... Golden Children's Bible Richard Scarry's Best Storybook Ever has seen constant use for 8 years. I've had to tape the spine more than once. Andrew Lang's Fairy books. Beatrix Potter. d'aulaires Greek Myths and Norse Myths. James Herriot's Treasury.

I like the audiobook suggestion. Maybe I could set aside a time in the afternoon for the boys playing with legos while listening to audibooks. :) Now, they usually listen to classical music. Hmmm...

Yep. We've done other subjects in the past, but right now we're just using CLE Reading. Next year, it's just 5 Light Units, so we'll schedule it 3x/wk. This year, in third, it's daily. HTH!

These were my concerns exactly. Ds doesn't always relish MORE work, especially workbooks. He'd really rather read, build with Legos, or play! But he LOVES his CLE Reading. He's even memorized several of the poems included. :) Like I said earlier, it's always the first thing I'm tempted to cut (mostly, because I love our McGuffey Readers-- we now use those for the "Oral Reading Class" portion of CLE). Nevertheless, I know the program covers (in one course) so much that I might otherwise miss, especially in our streamlined approach. In other words, I find that this year and next, I am actually able to streamline our LA *because* we are including CLE Reading. Caveat: We're not Mennonites, and we don't agree 100% with everything written in the program. Once and a while, ds will come to me with a frown. Once, he said, "They say there's no such thing as luck. I don't believe that." Actually, that made for a very good conversation. For several days, and with several people, we talked about the concept of Luck; what we believed, how we defined "luck", whether we "make our own luck", whether luck is really God smiling on us, etc. For other questions or answers he/we may not agree with, we cross them out, discuss them, etc. It's good to know that people believe and think differently in this world. What I DO like about this program is that it make ds THINK, really THINK-- not only about his answer, but also about his THOUGHTS, beliefs, life. In other words, for us, CLE Reading is FAR more than "Reading Comp.", and really doesn't take long every day to accomplish all that it does. The Scope and Sequence for CLE Reading can be found here.

I keep trying to convince myself that we DON'T need CLE Reading, in my never-ending desire to streamline my day. HOWEVER, every time I ask ds8 whether we should drop it, he protests "NO!!!!" Once, he asked, "Could I just do it in my free time, then?" Enough said. We're keeping it in! Honestly, this program has truly helped Ds grasp reading comprehension. I consider it our ethics course, as I truly think it has ds with this as well :) So, IMHO, I think it's worth a try. :)

Good Growth Guide by Schoolaid Health for 4th Grade does cover nutrition, but it's "old school", like when I was in school (you know, the good old 4 food groups). I'm okay with that, since I don't like the current food pyramid. ;)