We don't use SOTW anymore, but when we did I bought everything and didn't regret it. The book you have to have, of course, the AG is great if your kids like hands-on, and the CD's were nice to have too, though not strictly necessary. We used them for review. I would read the chapter one day and on another day we would listen to the CD. That way the kids could point out how I had misprounounced everything!

When I had a toddler we always did that sort of thing first thing, because they were usually content to play for at least a little while right after breakfast. If they didn't go off to play, I would set something up on the table for them next to us, like lacing cards, playdough, a peg puzzle, etc. Stuff reserved just for school time.

I was all set to plan everything out week by week for 36 weeks. Then I realized I really didn't want to do all that work and I never follow the exact plan I make anyway! So this year I'm going to try loop scheduling. Basically I'm just making a list of our materials and we're going to work through them, stopping when we need to and picking right back up there the next day.This is our tentative loop plan.

I'm reading A Patchwork of Days right now and enjoying it. I also re-read A Pocketful of Pinecones every August.

MCT Language Arts. And The Nature Connection.

We used it up till this past year with DD11 (Level E). I won't go onto the next level, and we actually ended up skipping the last 20 lessons of E because she was too confused and frustrated. I didn't like the way things were being explained (or- not explained), especially in the division lessons we skipped. DD did really well with the geometry lessons in D and E, which was good since a lot of the time I didn't really understand them myself! But DS9 coming along after her is not as intuitive with the geometry so I know I won't succeed in level D with him at all. I'm switching them both to Saxon in the hopes that instruction will be clearer. For my younger kids, I plan to have them do RS up to level C, then we will switch out. As a side note- I am not great in math myself, I really need clearer explanations and more handholding than RS gives after level C. I suspect if you are more comfortable with math you would do just fine.

I am ordering MCT Town level this week for my older two (4th and 6th). We are new to this program so I decided to start out at a little lower level than suggested on the site for dd 11. My question is: do you think the grammar in MCT is "enough"? Or have you found it better to supplement it- and if so, with what? I am especially thinking of my 6th grader here. She has done up through FLL 4, but had no formal grammar in 5th. Thanks for any advice.

I have been teaching three, this year adding in a 4th (but she's only in Pre-K). Each time I've added one I've tried to find something I could do to make the others more independent. Whether it was switching to something less teacher intensive for a certain subject or writing out weekly lists so that everyone knew what had to be done and could go do it while I worked with someone else. This year I am just having to accept that our school day is probably going to have to get longer!

We are adding in MCT Town this year and also doing The Nature Connection for nature study. I'm pretty excited about both :).

I toss them. Or else save them for my 4 y.o. to scribble in!

We use Sonlight, but have found it very easy to make secular. DS (1st) Rightstart C and LOF Apples and Butterflies First Language Lessons 2 Grammarland Spelling Workout Zaner Bloser Handwriting Sonlight Core B (finish, start C) DS (4th) Saxon 3 and LOF with his brother FLL 3 Zaner Bloser Handwriting Lively Latin 1 Sonlight Core D (finish, start E) MCT Town Level DD (6th) Saxon 6/5 and LOF Decimals and Fractions MCT Town Level Latin for Children A Sonlight Core D (finish, start E) something else for grammar, undecided Rosetta Stone Spanish The book "Unjournaling" Critical Thinking books 1 & 2 Everyone: Bravewriter Lifestyle suggestions Art Lab for Kids Getting Started with Spanish Nature study with The Nature Connection Typing Instructor for Kids Composer study with Lives of the Musicians Good Times, Bad Times, and What the Neighbors Thought....and World's Best Opera CD for Kids I think that's it.

I use Post-its. One usually lasts for the whole book. The bookmarks falling out drives me to distraction. Somehow the kids stretch "finding out what page I'm on" into a twenty minute activity.

I can relate. I've been more relaxed about planning in the past but with four kids and a lot more work this year (my oldest is in 6th now) I really want every.last.thing. planned out for me. I am going to use an online planner this year (Scholaric) and I've been spending a little time each day plugging stuff in. I took each art lesson and plugged it in along with a little note about what supplies we need. Hopefully I'll be able to stick to these plans I'm making-that's what makes me nervous, wondering if I am wasting my time planning all this out, only to find I don't use the plans I made! For the stickers, I was thinking scrapbook aisle too. I'm always amazed at what I find there. Good luck!

We are doing MCT (Town Level).

We are half-way through Core D Science. My kids have loved it so far. The TOPS kits have been a big hit, though it was hard to get in the habit of doing them every day. I definitely feel like it is enough. Mine are 11 and 9, btw. I think I got the Water book from SL b/c I had trouble finding it on Amazon. Mostly though, I get the books from Rainbow Resource b/c they are so much cheaper.

We are using Getting Started with Spanish this year, which is quite inexpensive. I just recieved it a few days ago and it looks pretty good. It's just a book, but then on the website you have access to free audio and games to go along with it.

What about these? Nate the Great series Third Grade Detectives series The Littles

I use this one. They sell it at most drugstores. It makes a huge difference when I do it every day. It's kind of a pain, but worth it.

I don't use WWE but this is how we do dictation. I always let the kids look the passage over first. They look for words they might have trouble spelling and note the punctuation. They take as much time as they want, and then I dictate it to them.

Definitely worth it. Mine started at 8 or 9. It's not always the favorite subject, but even they admit that they "see" it everywhere, in Harry Potter books, plant names, words they don't understand that they can figure out b/c of the Latin vocab they know and on and on.... I was doubtful of starting it too, but after a few years of it I am a HUGE fan of Latin! There's so much more you gain from it than just learning a "dead language".

We use SL but I don't know too much about OM. So- Choppiness- I think this is more a problem with the early Cores. I am going to do P 4/5 with my 4 y.o. this fall but we will just read through the books without the guide. It sounds like the guide breaks up the books into ridiculously small portions. Core A might be like this too, I don't know. I have used Core B, C, and D and don't find them to be at all choppy. There is a lot of reading, compared to some other curriculums. But I don't think it is more reading than if we were doing exactly what TWTM recommends. Even doing 2 Cores, it has been very manageable, though my three that have been doing it are older, so they have been reading more independently. We have the wiggles too. Some of the read-aloud assignments are long. I let the kids do Legos, blocks, color, etc. as long as they can tell me what we read about at the end.

I agree with just letting her deal. I'm sure she won't complain after a few weeks. If that's not an option-What about having the fifth day be more of a child-led learning day? Let them watch documentaries, do independent art work, work on a paper, or do whatever else will keep her busy but give you time to do what you want to do?

Me too. Except I'm even older (36). I haven't tried the zinc, but the one thing I found that has worked pretty well is using a sulfur mask every morning for 10 minutes. I may try adding zinc too, but the sulfur has done wonders for the hormonal stuff.

I find I have to head things off before they get to that point for best results. I make myself exercise every day, whether or not I feel like it and even if I think I don't have time. I just make it the top priority every day. I also take a half-hour to do something I want to do every day, again, regardless of how much other stuff there is to do. And the kids go to bed early. These things all help. If I do get to that point-and I still definitely do,going outside for awhile often helps. I never feel like going out at the time, but if I make myself go out and walk around alone for a few minutes I find it helps a lot. Also chocolate :001_smile: In an ongoing stress situation (lots of those in the past few years unfortunately) a change of scene is the best thing. Taking a day trip (or better yet a vacation), going for a walk somewhere new, or even just reading a really good book....the escape, even for a little while, can work wonders and help get stuff in perspective.