My K-er is finishing up the HWT Kinder program. We're also slowly working our way through OPGTR. Next year, I'd like to add WWE/FLL, but having all four of those programs for LA, plus math, is sounding like a lot for her (and for me). I'm wondering if I really need to go on to HWT 1st, or if the copywork in WWE/FLL would be enough if I keep an eye on her to make sure she's still forming letters correctly. What would I miss if I didn't do HWT 1st? I did it with my older, but I don't remember what it was like or how it was different from HWT K.

My husband's just made the switch. I was all for it, but must admit that it was harder on us than I expected. He was a computer engineer at IBM, and had a good career for 11ish years, but he was getting restless. He always thought architecture sounded interesting. Then he learned about landscape architecture, a field neither of us had heard of. It took us a couple of years, but he applied to multiple schools, and we ended up moving across the country. We had invested well in the real estate bubble. We left without having sold our house. Then, a month after he started grad school, the market crashed. It took us a full year to sell the house. Etc, etc. We were able to do the 3 years of school without any debt, but drained almost all of our savings. His family helped some. THEN, he graduated, and it's taken him nearly a year to find a job. He's been relentlessly pursuing every firm he can find. We ended up moving back across the country to try in a new area, and he just started a job a couple of weeks ago. In this field, in this economy, everyone starts contract, but he does get full-time hours. We're hoping the work will continue to come in, and it will become permanent. DH loved school, but it was hard on our family. Unemployment has been hard on him. It'll probably be years before we'll be able to live as comfortably as we did on his engineering salary. We worry about saving for college for the girls. All that said, I've been supportive all along, and I think in the long-term, we'll be glad we've done it.

My dd did gymnastics at a non-competitive gym from 3-6. It was a great experience for us. We chose to stop then partly because of finances and partly because she was good enough that moving into competition was inevitable in the not-too-distant future. I was not willing (for our family) to start her in the long hours of practice (and the risk of injury and the all-consuming nature of the sport) that young. It might be different if she were an only child, though. We've just started martial arts for her. I am a black belt, we've recently moved back to my home town, and she's attending my old school with me. It's much cheaper, much lower pressure, but still challenging and motivating and great exercise for her. ETA: I don't think there's any harm starting her at a recreational level now and re-evaluating when you get to the point where competition is an option. I think gymnastics is possibly the best first sport for young kids.

Hmmm... hadn't thought of that. Definitely humid here, but the a/c is running. You're probably right that it had to do with storing it before it cooled. Shoot. Yes, cream of tartar is optional in the recipe. I think I have used it in the past, but didn't this time. I wonder if I could cook it again to firm it up?

What happened? I made the classic flour/salt/oil/water playdoh on the stove with my kids yesterday. It was the perfect consistency. We put it in plastic containers and got it out this morning, and it was terribly sticky and useless. We've made this recipe multiple times and never had this problem. Any ideas? Is it salvageable?

Your girls are the same spread as mine! I've decided to combine the 2nd grader and kindergartener for content subjects/read-alouds. I didn't think I'd have the time (with the 2 yr old) to do those separately. We're doing SL Core B.

I've been doing it with my 1st grader this year, and it's been great! The book choices are excellent. My dd has been able to read most of the RA's to herself, which has worked perfectly for us this year. The actual text is good too, and my dd has enjoyed the state pages. The coloring pages are a bit lame, but my dd doesn't complain. Most days, she writes her own sentence about the story and draws a picture to go with it.

We are doing Core B with a 2nd grader and K'er next year. My 2nd grader also reads at a 6th grade level. I was originally planning to get the Grade 4/5 Readers/LA, but I decided to do Grade 3 instead. I think the books will still be interesting to my dd, and it's good to use a lower reading level when learning skills like dictation and narration. My goal for her next year is to learn to write her own narrations. Then I'll be able to use the Grade 4/5 Readers/La with Core C. As far as whether you should use one or two cores: I don't have a 4 year old waiting in the wings. It might make more sense for you to do one core with your 2nd grader, and another one with your 4yr old and 5yr old. Or, you could combine your older 2 this year, then let your oldest move on to Core C the following year and have your then-5 and 6-yr-old back up to Core A.

This is my plan too! We'll take what we want of the SL LA, use WWE-style copywork/dictation/narration with the readers, and do FLL2.

I'm hoping to be able to combine my 2nd grader and K'er for much of our school next year. History/Science/Geography/Literature/Bible: SL Core B (plus SOTW 1), with Grade 3 Readers, and SL Science B LA: SL Grade 3 LA modified to fit our needs, with WTM/CM copywork/dictation/narration, maybe use Sentence Family as an into to parts of speech Math: Singapore 2 w/IP's Fine Arts: Story of the Orchestra, A Child's Intro to Ballet, Come Look With Me books, Lamb's Shakespeare stories, poetry Co-op classes: Drawing, Prima Latina, Gadgets and Gizmos And: Taekwondo

Betsy Tacy American Girl Ramona series Clyde R. Bulla historical fiction, surprisingly

We moved mid-year, and we're currently staying with my parents. I'm doubling up on lessons and trying to get a little in daily. I'm hoping we'll be done before the end of June.

My oldest, who has always had advanced fine-motor skills did it in K. We were using the HWT 1st grade manuscript, and mid-year, she decided she wanted to learn cursive. We didn't have a ton of the manuscript wb left at that point, so I think we did 2 days of one and 2 days of the other (I got the HWT 3rd grade cursive book) each week. She didn't finish the cursive book until mid-way through this year (1st grade), though. It worked fine for her!

We've been very happy with CW Primer this year. It's very rich, and yet it gets done.

I'm planning to do Core B with my 7 year old and 5 year old next year. I'm not sure whether we'd have time (or if mommy would have patience) for both history projects and science experiments. If you had to choose one or the other, which would you choose?

Thanks for posting this! I need to get my dd started on Nesbit books.

I know SL isn't perfect... I've heard many similar complaints as yours. I *think* we can make it work for us, but we'll see. I personally don't want to do a lot of lit analysis at this age, though I probably won't use the SL comprehension questions much either. It seems to me that some of the books are really rich and deep and some are lighter and easier, and that is intentional. I feel like I can get too caught up in putting together a rigorous curriculum when I haven't read hardly any of these books. I don't have time to put it all together and still be a mom. Or, that's how it seems right now with a very destructive toddler on the loose. LOL We'll see how this year goes, and we might be changing direction the next year. It is interesting to hear that you do have your child reading the books herself. I think we can make a plan where we have a mix of me reading aloud and my oldest reading some for herself that will work well for everyone.

Thanks for the suggestion, but we've just finished early American history this year.

Ease is what I'm looking for! LOL And, I'd like her to read a variety of books and not just American Girl books! It might be that I could use the Grade 3 readers to really work on her narration skills, since they will be easier for her. She'll always be reading something else as well. Interesting about mom reading everything aloud until Core 100. I guess I'll just have to figure out how to make that transition myself. It's important to me that they learn to read and understand and not just listen to me (though I look forward to doing the read alouds together as well). That might be one way to make things a bit more challenging for my oldest and not overwhelm my middle one. And, in a few years, I'll have #3 to worry about, so I'll need to older two to be able to do some independently by then.

This is all helpful, thanks. My oldest is advanced both in writing and in reading, so it's hard to know what would be best for her. She will write long newspaper articles that she makes up herself with correct grammar, punctuation, etc (most of which she's absorbed and not been explicitly taught). The instruction on paragraph writing in Grade 3 LA would probably be good for her. I could also use the copywork selections as dictations instead. I'll also keep moving her towards writing her own narrations ala WWE.

Thank your for sharing your experience. I think our kids are the exact same age spread, so it's helpful to hear how it's going for you. It's hard to know how much to be intentional with challenging my oldest, and how much I can just trust that she'll do it herself with her natural curiosity and drive. We'll see about Core D when we get there. We've done Adv in America for 1st grade this year, and my 6 year old has done almost all of the reading herself (including those books scheduled as read-alouds). As a result, she's read about half of the Core D readers already. I do think that after a couple of years she won't necessarily remember a lot and she'll get more out of them. But if my second follows suit, I think she'd be able to handle a modified Core D by 2nd grade. Again, we won't know until we get there!

Thank you for your input... it's helpful! I was considering the Handle on the Arts supplement as well, mostly as a way to engage my k'er. I already have the SOTW 1 AG, so that may be all I need. It's just nice that the HotA guide already has a weekly activity picked for you!

Thanks for your help! So, I confess I had planned to use Grade 4/5 Readers/LA because my 2nd-grader-to-be reads at a 6th-7th grade level. The Grade 2 Readers would be a joke for her, but I might be convinced to do the Grade 3 Readers/LA instead. I think the Grade 3 LA might be a better fit. And, that way I'd have the Grade 4/5 Readers/LA for when we do Core C. I'm sure she'd enjoy the grade 3 books, and her comprehension of those would probably be better than more difficult books. But, I also want to continue to challenge her reading level. Any suggestions on how to do that?

Pretty please?

I've been putting together my own curricula/plans for the last two years for my oldest dd. Trying to add my second into the mix is just making my brain hurt, and with a destructive toddler, I'm realizing I'm going to need to be more efficient. So, I think I'm going to use Sonlight Core B next year and combine my 2nd grader and K'er (except for Math and LA, obviously). So, I have a couple of questions. One, who has used the CD-ROM's that come with the cores? What is on them, and do you find them helpful? Two, if this year goes well, I could see us continuing with SL for a number of years. When/how do kids transition to reading more of the books on their own? I know this year I'll be reading all of the Bible, history/geography, and science books plus the RA's. But, I assume at some point kids will begin doing the reading on their own (except the books scheduled as RA's)? How would that work if two are sharing a core?