Love that name! Love! Love! Love! Unfortunately, my dh does not :(. I would love to name my next girl Margot, but he really hates it. To me it feminine, but not girly, and a little bit sultry, and even better, not overly used! I think it's fantastic, but most people I suggest the name to do not like it much. I wouldn't worry about it being overly French. The pronunciation, well, people might pronounce it wrong reading the name, but I'd they hear you or your daughter say it it's a simple enough name to get right. Ultimately, name your child what feels right for you and don't let a friend or extended family member talk you out of it.

Maybe we are old fashioned, but we don't have a flat screen tv, or a wii or anything like that. We have Dish and my kids are allowed to watch tv, although we limit that to no more than 2 hours, and we use the DVD player often. We have kid pass for blockbusters and a pass for all movies. We went to get a DVD just a couple hours ago. Also, we get a lot of movies from the library. They have a large selection so fun.

Yeah, I was thinking from the outline, PP & POAG might be better for 3rd grade / 4th grade maybe. Hmmm....I wonder if I could do MFW Adventures for 2nd, MFW ECC for 3rd, and PP or POAG for 4th then do rest of MFW cycle (CTG, RTR, Ex to 1850, 1850 to Mod). Or does that sound too complicated? LOL ;)! I think I need to take a break from thinking about this and wait until we get there.... What would you say the optimum age or grade to do either would be?

I'm thinking by looking at what both include, if either would work with a 3rd grader or second grader. Maybe I am wrong, because my dd is still in K, but it seems like both would be a lot of work for a 3rd grader, and really too much for a 2nd grader. It's also a lot of activities. Of course I could easily only do a couple, but I could easily see the program can be spread over 2 years if you wanted to really try it all! Ah, decisions, decisions, decisions. At least I don't have to make one anytime soon. But, the thing about doing it in 3rd is it would allow me to try out PP or POAG while still being able to complete the MFW 5 year cycle with both of my kids. If your oldest child is a 2nd / 3rd grader, would POAG or PP still work or would you end up not getting as much out of it? I personally remember having read both series in 3rd grade and loving both series. But I was an older third grader, so 9 when I read the entire LH series and AG series. Devoured them. So, potentially doing PP or POAG with a 3rd grader and 1st grader as core and (possibly) 2nd and K'er as core. I plan to let my younger child do MFWK / 1st for phonics / math / Bible and coin my dd with PP or POAG as core. Would likely do MFW suggestions for math and language in 2nd / 3rd grade, i.e., Singapore Math and Primary Language Lessons, Spelling by Sound and Structure, Spelling Power, Cursive Connections. hmmm...so opinions again. Would it work for a 2nd / 3rd grader? Anyone done it with the oldest in 2nd / 3rd? It does sort of seem like maybe POAG might be more realistically done with a 2nd grader. I think, (because it been a long time) that I remember the AG series being easier reads then the LH books. Maybe I'm wrong? Oh. And the reading for LH books and AG books. It's read aloud right? Thanks for all the great info. Susie! You've definitly helped me get a better feel of what a week / unit will be like.

Prarie Primer is recommended for 3-6 Portraits of American Girlhood is recommended 2-6 I've heard it is more geared towards 4th graders but that you can modify it for younger or older girls based on the activities you chose and the depth you go into them. I haven't done it myself though.

That' surprising. My church is very supportive of homeschooling and we have a homeschool group (though I haven't attended yet; it's during my little ones' nap). But then my kids are young, so haven't exerienced their jr. / sr. high program for kids. The older two, do they participate in activities out of the home, like sports lessons, music lessons, etc, volunteering. Maybe they could use these activities as their "mission fields". Having said that, I am a newer Christian, so, I still have pretty fresh in mind how I felt about religious people trying to convert me. I also am still relatively young, so the high school, college years are still fresh in my head. I think if a stranger were to try to tell me about God, it would have annoyed me and I would have blown them off entirely. However, occasionally I would have a friend, or meet someone in a casual social gathering, that was a practicing Christian. I was a lot more inclined to want to hear their own testimony about Christ as their savior and how they saw Christ work in their life if they didn't push it on me but instead I got to know them and I was so impressed with their moral character that I asked or let the topic be approached. I remember a couple of times, the people I met in high school that made me most want to give going to church a try were two young girls who were kind to me and just glowed of the Holy Spirit and had something at the time I couldn't put my finger on, but they had such peace. They never forced conversion on me. They just walked the walk and you could tell that it made them happy. Truely, you could see their inner beauty.

So which of the programs would you say you'd get the most out of for a 3rd grader? If, for example, POAG is lighter, is it more geared towards this grade, or is it harder than PP because of a lot of writing. Of course, you probably modify the assignments and depth of the writing for a 3rd grader. If I were to do both programs (not simotanously) which would you think'd be the best for 2nd and which for 3rd? Planing to do MFW Adventures for 2nd, but could skip Adventures to be able to do POAG and PP.

Seeing the recent post on POAG, I was thinking it would be nice to have people chime in on, if you were going to chose to do one of these with a 3rd grade girl, which would you chose. Now I actually will not be doing either for quite sometime. My dd is in MFW K right now, and I would like to do either PP or POAG for her 3rd grade year after doing Adventures and before starting the 5 year family cycle with my 2nd grader ds and 4th grade dd. However, this is a bit of an obsession seeing as how much I enjoyed both series as a girl myself. If you have experience with either, please chime in, but especially if you have experience using both, which one did you enjoy the most and why? Or what were the best, not so great aspects of the programs? How was prep time? How much time did you spend on the program as your core a day? (Assume that I will be adding grammer, cursive, spelling, and math) Could a younger child, son, be incorporated into it and still be interested (let's see, my ds would a 1st grader), or is it really girly. For that matter, my dd isn't all that much of a girly-girl anyway. Which is why the PP looks like something she might get into, with the pig bladder and gun saftey parts and all. Now I could do both, if I decide to not do Adventures for 2nd grade. But, ahh, that looks awesome, too. Any MFW users use PP or POAG? Would you be willing to nix Adventures for the ability to do both programs? Again, long ways off, but, ever so interested in knowing more about both programs. Yeah, I've seen the samples online of both, both from christianbook.com, rainbowresource.com, and PP from their actual website. So, I've seen that content, but would like to hear more of the ins and outs from someone who's used the program :bigear:

I am also interested in possibly doing Portrait of American Girllhood or Prarie Primer for my dd's 3rd grade year (she's only 5). We plan to use MFW1st and Adventures, then during my "gap year" do POAG or PP before starting MFW 5 year cycle with a 4th & 2nd grader. Because she would get US history in 7/8 grades, I am not to concerned with scope of US history in 2/3 grades. I want something fun, hands on, and appealing. Plus, I loved the books growing up :001_wub:so it'll be such a special bond to share that with her! I just have trouble deciding which I would pick :tongue_smilie:, but I have plenty of time. Any MFW users reading this, someone suggested actually spreading MFW Adventures over 2 years and then adding the PP or POAG when the books are scheduled in Adventures as mini unit studies since many are :). Thought that sounded neat, too.

for my kids to get up at a certain time I would have them go to bed 10 hours before that time. Right now, it being summer, we let them stay up late, so they are in their beds, lights out at 10 pm. They wake up at around 8 am. It's really hot were we live, so we usually don't do outside time until around 5 pm when its starts to cool down outside. So, because of this, we usually end up letting the kids play out doors late, have dinner later than ususual and then sometimes let play some more. Coming in at about 9 is not uncommon. We usually have dinner around 7:30 in summer, versus about 6 the rest of the year. During the school year, however, they'll probably be going to be at 9 and waking up at 7. They are 3, 5, 8. The 3 and 5 year old still nap, so they on average get about 12 hours of sleep a day, including the 2 hour nap.

Well, I'm glad school schedule and hours are relaxed. We plan to do homeschool Monday through Thursday during the traditional school year and make Friday a field trip day / catch up day. We are considering going through Ocean Grove Charter for a couple of reasons. One, yes, the $900 a semester is tempting. We've already bought all the curriculum materials / art supplies, etc. we need, but we could definitely use that on activities throughout the year. Two, my dd might have a learning disability, so I'd like her to have an assessment to rule out that possibility, or of course, begin support services to help her with a learning disability. Lastly, I suppose just to have someone to check in with to make sure she progressing well and help settle my nerves about where she should be at. Crimson Wife: Where abouts in the East Bay do you live? We moved to Morgan Hill 3 years ago but before that spent 4 years in Albany while I attended UC Berkeley. We lived in the University Village, family housing.

I know about the teaching but am no longer a practicing Catholic. However, I remember knowing about this teaching, but no one iny family practiced it, even though they were all Catholic (aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc.). I would like to practice natural family planning though. I am currently using b/c. Think my dh would take convincing.

Anyone have children enrolled here? I am submitting (kind of late) an application for Ocean Groove Charter homeschool that serves Monterey, Santa Cruz, Santa Clara and San Benito Counties in California? My dd is 5 so technically doesn't need to be enrolled in school yet. If you have experience, I would love some feedback about what you like, don't like, etc. Also, do they have a certain number of days a week, hours, etc. you have to follow? She's going to be entering K (technically because we already started school in April).

We're using MFWK, HWT, and Singapore Math B and La Clase Divertida Level I I do mine in blocks: Math: Calander, 100 Jar, math sheet (15 minutes) Language Arts: 15 minutes (includes HWT & MFW K) Prayer / Bible/ Awana: 10 minutes Read Alouds: 20 min. Activities: art, science, more Bible, hands on math, etc....(30 min) Preschool activities: 15 min (my daughter may or may not participate) Spanish: 15 min My schedule varies. If we have a morning with no where to go, might do a half hour of school starting at 8:30 followed by a half hour break and finish by noon. Or we might do half in the morning and half in the afternoon, working an hour strait through at a time. Or we might work for 2 hours strait through and be free for the day by midmorning. Or we get lazy and don't start until 10 or 11 and work straight until lunch or do an hour before lunch and an hour after nap. Or we get busy or frustrated and spread 1 day over 2 days. It's ok. In summer we only do 3 days a week scheduled and 4 days a week during traditional school year :). Sometimes my dd will sit in on preschool and sometimes she'll take a break then. Sometimes I do preschool 5-10 minute increments while dd is working independently. For preschool, we do MFW Preschool, R&S About Three, WHT Get Ready for School and BFIAR. I spend about 10 minutes on BFIAR and about 5 on each of the others, but only do one a day plus BFIAR. Or maybe no BFIAR and all 3. All if we have the time, because some days we might speed through K in an hour, so spend like 30 minutes on preschool and 30 minutes on Spanish. It usually takes us about 2 hours to finish, sometimes as little as 1 1/2 hrs., sometimes up to 3 but it really depends on what we're doing. We're new to homeschooling. We're winging it:lol:

I am using: MFK 2nd Edition Deluxe Package Singapore Early Bird Math B Handwriting Without Tears K La Clase Divertida Level I She needed some more practice with math and handwriting so we just recently added HWT and Early Bird B. This is more then enough to keep us busy. Also spend about a half hour on preschool with my 3 year old, so school will generally take us two to three hours with preschool time included.

My ds, 3 as of June 1st, will be doing BFIAR, MFW pre-school toys with index cards, Rod & Staff About 3's series, and HWT Get Ready for School. My dd, 5, is doing MFW K so he'll join us for Read Alouds, Bible and prayer, and activities (based on if he wants to) in science, art, music etc. For actual preschool time we will spend about 5 min. on preschool toys, HWT, and Rod & Staff each and about 15 minutes on BFIAR. Next year for pre-k4, I plan to use FIAR, R&S A-B-C Series (A-F), repeat HWT Get Ready for School, and Singapore Early Bird Math A. Then we do MFW K or another year of preschool maybe if need be. Or more FIAR, R&S G-L Series (should have the other 3 by then I bet), HWT K, Singapore Early Bird Math B

We have the 2nd edition and the book lists awesome:hurray::hurray::hurray: I don't have experience with the first, but book day is probably our favorite ( we have deluxe package) and we are able to typically locate 10 books from book list for each unit and our book day choice (you get 2 choices). I'm doing BFIAR and through the inter-library loan system, I have been able to locate all the books on the list. I don't have experience with FIAR. I know you'll have to add phonics and math. Bible is included in BFIAR, but not FIAR. I've seen a FIAR book that includes vol.1-3 + bible supplement. I like BFIAR and am thinking of using FIAR as pre-k for my ds next year or repeating BFIAR next year at a more advanced level. What made me go with MFW K was the hands on approach, the integration of all subjects through the theme unit, the fact 6 days is spent on each letter, the real life math approach, and most importantly, the Bible and Christian character traits taught! I can't say enough about how much I have been blessed to be able to share the nature of the Lord and Christian morals and character to my children:). I can often remind her of a verse when she acts up and it really will make her pause.

I'm using MFW K with my little girl and we are really enjoying it. We have not had to beef it up and though we will just be starting unit 6 I have looked through the entire tm and student sheets and by the end of the year my dd should be able to do all the all the typical K stuff. For example, math covers calendar, numbers 1-100, place value, telling time, simple addition and subtraction, fractions, & money. Language covers handwriting, letters, word blends, and reading short stories. Unit 6 starts K'ers with reading short words, which we're starting Monday. I really love the Bible, science, and art projects associated with the program as well as the approach! We love the outside time. During our unit on nests, we actually found one on our walk!