www.creativelearningconnection.com is the store's website if anyone is in northern AL or southern TN.:)

I bought it brand new, but it was at my local homeschool consignment store. I'm sure they are in lots of online stores too including Rainbow. I'm so excited because this may save my voice for all the other read alouds we do for fun.:)

I just put in a plug on another thread for the Jim Hodges cd that covers all four books of Mara Pratt's American History Stories. They are great and it is 14 hours long, but it has very small sections. You could use something like that and ask for a narration either drawn or orally. We love Pioneers and Patriots here too.

I just got the Jim Hodges cd of Mara Pratt's American History Stories today. I have wanted to get the books, but didn't know when I would get through all four. Now I can play a small section and have the kiddos narrate. I am so excited, can you tell? We have been through Am history so many times, but I wanted my younger two to have some narrating practice with short-chaptered books such as these. I only paid $13 for 14 HOURS of Jim. Yeah!

My husband says there is no price high enough that would make him do what I do.:lol:

That is too funny! I got the Leap Frog Fridge phonics free when the CPSIA legislation went through as my homeschool consignment store had to purge anything "questionable". That little voice has been singing constantly from the depths of my kitchen and now my daughter is sounding things out on her own. Who knew?

You are so right about the basics taking forever. By the time my kids have worked through math and English I'm ready to call it a day.:tongue_smilie:

I had a HOD revelation too. I LOVE HOD and am doing it right now, but I am thinking of just doing HOD and not LHFHG too. It is hard to combine. Now I had a revelation of sorts that I thought I would share. I bought the book All Through the Ages by Christine Miller and I love it. What if I did Preparing and just picked a few books for my four year old and a few more from the grades 7-9 section to beef it up for my oldest? I really think that using one volume and getting age-appropriate tie in books for the ages that fall outside the volume is my best bet for sanity. Bigger has a lot of fun painting and artsy activities that younger kids love. My other suggestion are the planned guides from Simply Charlotte Mason. The guides are cheap ($15 for a printed copy, less for ebook) and are very Christ centered, purely CM and geared for grades 1-12! The one linked it for Creation to Egypt and then there is one for Greece and one for Rome. I love anything that Sonya Schafer produces. It is so simple to implement I am seriously considering trying it out even though I love HOD. Another option is Queen Homeschool. I have ordered some their history and science guides and books and look forward to trying those also. They have some bible, vocabulary, map work, etc. worked in with each book and one book lasts for 4 weeks making it very doable with a houseful of activity. I love her other products so this should be no different.

I wish you could get a college degree in self-education. Digesting Charlotte Mason's 6 volume series and lumbering through thousands of curriculum manuals should count for something!:)

Any of the books listed for Heart of Dakota's Hearts for Him Creation through Christ would be appropriate. I think that Christine Miller's adaptation of H.A. Guerber's work is probably one of the best spines for this topic. Also, All Through the Ages from Christine Miller has this period divided by genre and age level.

If you have the assignment scheduled for Wed. then it will not show up until the next Wednesday. I put things that are consecutive, like math, on everyday so that I have the option of using using it any day. If I have a picture study scheduled for Friday and I don't get to it I just skip it until next week. You can add a note on any day too or go back and record things you forgot. It is kind of "lying" but sometimes if I don't get to pic study on Fri but do it on Sat I just check the Friday box anyway.:tongue_smilie:

We love, LOVE them here. :) Some will say they are weak on grammar, but they make up for it with great copy work and poetry, picture study, narrations, etc. If you feel the need to beef up the grammar at this young age you can add one of our favorite books, Grammar Land, which you can get free online in many places. It is a wonderful narrative story that helps kids understand the parts of speech. All of my kids love the books and we plan on continuing through the series.

Another thing is that fact that it is so CM specialized. You can put in a book like A Child's History of the World with instructions for oral narration 2x a week and written narrations 2x a week. Maybe you want something memorized--you can record that too. I have some things listed as "narrate to Mommy" or "draw a picture about the lesson". You can customize how each book is assigned to the student. I even have "worked out on the Total Gym" or "Skateboarded" listed as options for my son a few days each week.

That is a great question. :) I tend to load up the organizer so that I can pick and choose what I click as 'worked on" or "finished" each day. For instance, I have three different math programs under my son's name. Each is loaded with all the available lessons. If he works on MUS epsilon lesson 20 I check it done. Now the next day he may work on Systematic Mathematics lesson 4 so on that day I check that done, leaving the MUS slot blank. Anytime I want to print a report I can and it will show what was worked on or completed each day. If we took off school for a day and went to a museum I just add a note at the top of the day and leave all subjects unchecked. The note will be in my report when I choose to print. Sometimes I load it up with things I do not get to do when I thought I would. I either leave them in and ignore them or take them out. If I think I may come back to something I just leave it in. My intention is to do picture study and composer study on Fridays. Well, some Fridays I only get to one or the other. I have it listed in a generic way in the organizer. I don't say which composer or artist we did as I can just put a note in beside the check mark. If we don't get to it I just leave it blank for the day. Oh, if you miss a day or two it gives you the option of bringing up previous days and checking things off. Sometimes I get in just once a week and bring up two weeks at a time and check away for a while.:tongue_smilie: Now lets say I hate a book, but we read only three chapters. I can daily record what I did and then drop the book off and put something in in its place. I love it because I can change resources as often as I want without it interupting the flow of the year. I just print my final report after 180 days and it shows what we did in all its eclectic glory.:)

I just re watched the seminar and loved it again. I think it is an excellent tool. If you like what you see there you can use her free curriculum guide listed on the site to get started. I like things a little more planned so I have been using HOD, but if you like a little less interference SCM has actual printed guides done for Egypt through Rome and she is planning to add a guide each year until a six year history rotation is finished. The outline is free on the site, but the printed guides pull it all together lesson by lesson. I have been using the SCM organizer for over a year now and really love it. I put everything into it including piano, nature walks, and even chores.:)

I use it and love, love it, love it. My 9 year old uses the second book, grades 5 to 7, for copywork (he does dictation from HOD) because I wanted him to be copying challenging selections. My 11 year old does the second book from dictation every single school day. He spells well, but needs lots of practice in writing. I have observed HUGE improvement over the last few months.

My favorite: www.progressivephonics.com LOVE IT!! :) Why? It is super simple and easy on the mom. You can print off some of the books for free.

:iagree::iagree::iagree: My new Ker LOVES it. :) Plus, it only takes about 40 min or less, for us anyway. She does the little action song, her bible and we do the science and history. It does take longer if she is doing a project like painting, but that isn't too often.

I love their materials also. I think Sandi Queen has put together very functional CM products with a bent toward simplicity. She is a very busy mom and created these products for her own family. Some people claim they are not rigorous enough, but that is largely dependent on what your personal philosophy. Shakespeare and Jane Austen never diagrammed sentences and yet they somehow waxed elequent! Her grammar may be "light" but if you take the whole thing into account she covers many things a program like Rod and Staff or other "rigorous" programs simply do not cover. If you love the CM approach and like to use workbooks to that end you will love her things! I think that her book choices are wonderful for living science and history. She takes a less-is-more approach and has kids really soak in a story.

I would just add to go very light on the narration. It is a hard thing to do when it is new and can be frustrating initially. My daugher is almost five and I don't require any narration from her, but she will narrate on her own if she likes the story. Five in a Row is wonderful for that. FIAR remains one of our best memories.:) Don't be frustrated if things go more slowly than you may desire. I only say this because it is hard to gage expectations the first year. The pathway readers are wonderful and all my kids loved them. We started with the red book at six years of age.

We read small chunks and then the kids narrate. I have them draw things occasionally and add them to their nature study notebooks. My kids are really enjoying Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures. It is very laid back and easy to teach if you are familiar with narrating.

I love Rod and Staff, but if I was looking for a change I would look at a couple of "new" things I found. I like the site: http://grammarandmore.com/ or this one: http://dgppublishing.com/ and of course I love Queen's.:)

:iagree: I am in the minority but I believe that grammar does not have to be done continually for 12 years. Spending a year working on dictation and copywork may help it all to make better sense when you tackle it later. And to throw yet another wrench in the program. I found this site and LOVE it. I bought the book just to have as a reference. The way they parse sentences looks wonderful for boys.:)

I have looked long and hard at Living Books Curriculum. I love CM and they have a very pure representation of her methods. I did not choose it because I wanted to have the LA portions all laid out for me. If I remember correctly (and I may not) you are supposed to pick copywork and dictation from the books yourself. I personally wanted that all done for me. As they get their older curriculum finished I may come back for high school. In the end I went with Heart of Dakota because it included all the CMy things I love, but it was all laid out day by day including written narrations, copywork, dictation, etc. I am specifically referencing the manual Preparing Hearts for His Glory. This DOES NOT have picture and composer study, but I find these things easier to fit in than the LA portions.

I wish I had not started my oldest off with textbooks and computer programs. Poor thing did not have all the lovely one on one time that his siblings had. I would ban workbooks too. Instead I would use a salt or corn meal box for letter formation, lots of narration practice with gobs of great books that the kiddo likes. I personally do not like ANY grammar before 3rd grade and R&S 2 orally in third.