With a 1st grader, you could do Bio instead of the Intro. I'm using Intro with a K'er and it works out well but I know she'll be ready for Bio next year. We're doing Bio 4 days a week. The lessons plans are currently written for a 5 day a week schedule but I need to combine two days due to our weekly schedule. It's very easy to accomplish since it is mostly reading ,discussion, and then notebooking the narration. A simple experiment or two during the week and you are all done!

:iagree: I own a crockpot and pressure cooker. The crockpot stays in the cabinet most of the year because I just don't enjoy using it unless I'm making roast beef. The pressure cooker, otoh, I use all the time.

This sounds very similar to why we use HO instead of SOTW. We do sometimes use the coloring pages from SOTW AG, but only when it is of interest to DS. He prefers the dictionary work & maps in HO. The only thing I don't care for in HO is that it is not in purely chronological order. It seems to use geographical then chronological order. I'm about to change this by lining up the HO lessons in a different sequence. I don't know that it bothers DS but it drives me batty!

History Odyssey

Thanks for the link! DH & I enjoyed reading it.

:lol:

No, but I'm planning to get one. An Ipad is on the list but I may also consider a Kindle or other e-ink type reader for those occasions when I do not want a back-lit screen.

:iagree: As they get older, I fully expect they will have more work to do just because they will be digging deeper into the material.

:iagree: I've really enjoyed her videos. They have been very helpful and encouraging.

RSO is very hands on and my DS loved it. We're now using Elemental Science which is more the WTM way and is not experiment heavy. If he wants more experiments, I'll pull from RSO. HTH!

Love it! I'm seriously considering moving our learning center into what is our current playroom. I really like the base cabinets for storage and bookshelves on top. Good work!

:bigear: I would love to know too. My DD loves to do stuff like this and I would like to add this to her craft toolbox.

:bigear: I'm loving all of the great ideas in this thread! And may I say, I'm glad that I'm not the only one with this problem. My DD just turned 5 and it seems like her favorite words are "more school.":001_huh: I'll agree that it is exhausting. We all need to get together for a cyber cup of coffee!

Thanks! I love books. I'm giddy when the UPS truck arrives to bring more.:D Although, I am running out of bookshelves. So I look at every wall in my house as the perfect place to add more shelves. I'm not sure you would call that a decorating style, but it's mine.:tongue_smilie: I think HWT gives a very easy transition to cursive since they teach cursive without the open loops. It's a vertical style very similar to HWT print.

:bigear: I'm wondering about this too. That appears to be the case but can anyone clarify?

:iagree: I also think that HWT will teach them to write in cursive but "style" will come later. I know that my handwriting has changed several times over the years since I learned cursive in 2nd grade. For practice sheets or other printouts, I use Educational Fontware in Pages or Word.

:ack2: :crying: :cursing: :banghead: That is all.

tuesdayschild, Thank you for sharing! I absolutely love the paper dolls in your pages and so will someone else. My DD will love those when we get to level 3. :)

:lol:

Although much younger, we ran into the same issue with DS. He's a perfectionist and any criticism of his work, especially writing, is probably going to be taken personally. (WWE became a problem for us because of this) I'm now trying some of the ideas from BW Writer's Jungle with great success. I'm still reading her book, but it sounds like the idea is what the previous poster mentioned. She has the book divided into sections to help break down the process of writing, revising, editing, and publishing. Each step is then broken down further for the parent to give clear directions to help the student.

Welcome! :seeya: We really liked HWT for the younger ages. They have great multi-sensory activities that turn learning the letter formation into fun play.

Hear Myself Sound Phone is the one we have. It worked very well for this purpose.

Singapore gets my vote. The workbooks are to the point and just to help practice the concepts learned in the lesson. There are some days when we have fun just doing the problems on the white board together, using manipulatives, or math games.

Same here. Although, we're not required to keep grades. DS just wants them.

Agreed. Take a look at Family Math for Young Children instead. It is geared for ages 4-8.