Thank you all! I went to the jumpstart website last night and it was SOOOO confusing even for me! All these Madagascar pop-ups, and nothing I could see that was organized or where we were supposed to start/go

Not sure if this is the best place to put this. I am looking for a program for my special-needs 4 yr old to do when my older son needs one-on-one schooling time. My 4 yr old isn't reading, but he recognizes and knows the sounds of all the letters. He also does pretty well with numbers and is very good with computers/electronics. We have a regular pc and a kindle fire. I haven't had much success finding educational programs for the kindle, and would prefer one for the pc, anyway, so he doesn't get distracted by other apps on the kindle. We have done starfall but he gets bored with it now since he's been using it for the entire school year. Thanks!

http://cathyduffyreviews.com/history-geography/Classical-Acts-Facts.htm I just saw this review from Cathy Duffy. HTH!

I don't think they have separate cards for art. I believe they decided to do a combined approach for history and art. The front of each history card is a piece of art, whether a painting, sculpture, photograph, etc. Most are paintings. They have the artist's name and maybe some more info about the art, I'm not sure and am not with them right now. We are just getting into them. We just LOVE them displayed on the wall, though!

Thank you! :001_smile:

What we did was DH (my amazing handyman!!) put a nail in every spot that had a stud (only a few spots per row). When he put the nail in, he hammered it through the clothesline (we used actual clothesline). Then, because it was nailed in so tightly in the wall, he was able to pull tight on the clothesline and nail it into the next stud. And yes, they are just regular, very cheap, wooden clothespins. I LOVE how these cards color up the room! We are in military housing and cannot paint anything. I've gotten really sick of looking at white walls for years, lol! So this has been so nice to look at when we walk into the room! My kids absolutely love the cards. My 3 yr old is constantly looking at the artwork and it has become his little ritual every night at dinner to point to at least 3 or 4 and ask me what they say. :001_smile:

They are the new timeline cards from Classical Conversations. They are expensive, but after receiving them I am SO glad I got them. They are so worth it to us! I love the size, artwork, info on the back, etc. They are very nice quality laminated. These are the first two sets. We will do these this semester. Next semester when we do the last two sets, I will string the first semester's cards at the top of the wall, towards the ceiling. That way we can still see them and point to them when we sing the song, but we won't need to take them down. The 2nd semester's cards will go on the wall where these are now.

I'm looking for ideas for a reading tree. Pictures, anyone? :001_smile:

We just did this. My friend gave me the idea. Hers are strung up her stairway wall. This is in the dining room where we do our work. I love that I can easily point to them, take them down to read the backs, and put them back up again.

I didn't think of bird seed! We have a gigantic bag of it! I wonder what it will look like when it is tall? Do you happen to have a picture? Thanks for the tip!

We want to do the Nile project from SOTW 1. I see so many pictures online where people have done this. Where in the world can I get a SMALL amount of grass seed? Or do you use some other alternative? I don't want to have to buy a gigantic bag of grass seed for this project. Thanks!

Same here.

This is the thread that concerned me: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/showthread.php?t=418448&highlight=abraham+sotw

Take it from a mom who is in the process of re-teaching cursive to a 10 year old- correct it now! This is our first year of homeschooling after realizing how much my ds fell through the cracks in all areas, even at an expensive private school. He is now doing Simply Cursive: http://www.school4jesus.com/bookshop/homeschooling-ebooks/simply-cursive-style-1 He cannot read in cursive without serious struggle, and his writing is not legible. He writes most of his letters backwards. It is really frustrating that I did not catch it sooner.

hmmm...that's an interesting idea

uggghh! That's what happens when you go online at 3am! :tongue_smilie: I meant the cost of PRINTING...not shipping!

I don't know. I'm hesitant because of the cost of shipping. Also, we've only been using mm for three days and while I'm loving it, I don't know if I'm committed to using it for the next several years.

We are doing our first full year of homeschooling. Ds is 10. We started sotw 1 this week and are really enjoying it! However, I just read some posts here that talked about issues with Biblical stories not being true, etc. We are starting cc in a couple weeks in addition to what we're doing at home, so I don't necessarily want to add in another or different history program, but I would love to hear how people have adapted the first book to satisfy their Christian beliefs. Chapters that stood out to them in need of changing or skipping, added books or activities, skipped books or activities, etc. Thank you!

These are the first 2 sets of CC timeline cards. We are working on these the first semester. At the end of the first semester I will move these first two sets to the top, along the ceiling line. Then We will put the last two sets where the current ones are.

This is what we decided to do :)

We are doing cc for the first time this year, as well! I got the first two sets of timeline cards and plan on getting the other two sets sometime before next semester. I saw them in person before ordering them and am very pleased with the colors, quality of the cards/lamination, info, etc. I imagine it would be a lot more work to not only memorize the timeline, but learn, process, and visualize the pictures/events without these cards. We just finished putting them on our wall with clothespins flopped onto a clothesline that my husband artfully strung on the wall. It looks so beautiful and my kids love looking at them, reading them, and going through them whole we listen to/sing the timeline song.

My friend is doing CC and she strung cord up the wall by her stairs and hung their timeline cards with clothespins. It's awesome and I love the idea of having them on the wall for kids to point to as they say or sing them. Does anyone have timeline cards on the wall? I want them to be accessible in case we want to look at the backs. I'd love to see pictures or hear ideas of how people are displaying them! Eta the reason I'm not copying her exact idea is that it wouldn't work on our stairs.

I'm so glad I'm not the only one annoyed by it! It has taken a lot of patience and deep breathing to get through the pokemon-obsessed conversations, and asking me a hundred times a week which my favorite pokemon is, etc., etc., etc.! I'm trying to find ways to channel it into something productive, if I can't channel it away from pokemon.

I'd love to see pictures. It would probably make me feel much better, ha ha! Although I have to say I wish my stack were MUCH bigger!! Because of how much we spent on CC this year to get started, my stack of tangible items is pathetically small. Like shopping at Whole Foods and spending $150, only to look in your bag and realize you just bought 6 things! Ha ha!

:eek: you can't claim homeschooling stuff as "educational expenses" for your kids??????? Oh, my DH is NOT going to want to hear that! :rant: