How old is your son? You may be able to pick and choose among the books b/c they are a BRILLIANT description of the time period and culture. I would definitely discuss the one where Jonathon becomes a gladiator before your son reads it. But, each book describes the way the relationships between the four main characters met. Also, read the website at romanmysteries.com for more information. I was able to buy one of the most recent books about a Legionary from Londonium while in a Trafalgar Square book store last week. I am so thrilled to finally get at all the pieces of this mystery. It's AWESOME. I say that b/c I spend most of my time in the juvenile library sections picking out books to read. Enjoy the series for whatever parts your want to read. And know that Pliny was real. I learned that too from the books about Pompeii.

Is there a product that anyone is found to guide a teacher to outline the Ancients SOTW book along with the various encyclopedias (KF or Usb.) suggested during the Logic Stage? SOTW4 A.G. actually outlines the Modern book word for word. I'm looking for something similar to that product. Did I mention that I'm learning my grammar/english lessons right along with my kids? Well, I didn't get it the first time through in my grade school classroom. Thanks

we did some biology when the kids were k & 1st grade. earth sci and some apologia astronomy when they were 1st and 2nd grade. Chemistry was so much fun for 2nd and 3rd grade. Now, Elemental Science physics is getting going for 3rd & 4th grade this year, based on the foundation of Elemental Science Chemistry that we got last year. It's a good transition for us. My kids get so much of the physics as they work for hours on the lego creations they come up with each week. But in the end, enjoy the science fun.

I can't be bothered to have a planner FOR them. Last year I put together a planner modeled from the oldest's 1st grade planner from his classroom. It worked out that their planners included all the spelling, grammar and math work for our records and anyone else who comes calling. I use a comb binding machine to keep everyone orderly. If they don't start to OWN their own planners, they may continue to count on me to keep EVERY SINGLE PAPER organized. And I left the teacher planners in the classroom when I gave up my teaching position to be a mom in the first place. I do keep a master spreadsheet and make sure we all stay on schedule. If I wasn't here and someone else had to "substitute" they'd croak. But I don't intend to wander off and leave these folks without a guide.

My my Mindy, you do draw some ornery folks from the hive. But, anyway, I'd have you go FREE to donnayoung.org and work with her handwriting suggestions. I've used the Reason for Handwriting books, but decided to go O NAtural for handwriting this year. Enjoy it and encourage junior to write no matter what.

Hey, the videos they do at the University of Nottingham http://www.periodicvideos.com/. Those folks are a hoot and it goes so well with the elemental chem format. Try one of the less focused videos for these intro weeks. My 2nd and 3rd graders loved Elemental science chemistry! Mainly because what I was using before showed that I didn't have a clue. Science geeks always lighten our day

I'm trying to finish SOTW3 in August with Lewis and Clark next week. Then Mexico and S America. Then Trail of Tears and Alaska chapter. SO< then I'll be ready to plow into SOTW4 and I've no IDEA how I was going to squish chapters! NO IDEA! You've heard of "flying by the seat of your pants" right? Well, not after this thread. You are really AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE! I just hadn't found anything on Hannah's help yahoo group and just didn't know how. But now, THANKS BUNCHES!

I had to do some mending after the first year b/c the seams ripped. Otherwise, it has worked well to place completed stuff into filing crates below each hanging pocket.

It only does 8 pieces of paper at a time and usually doesn't give me too much trouble. I bought it with coupons and knowing that it might only last 2 school years b/c of how much we use it. I use notebooks with the kids for science, habitats and the student planner. BTW, at the end of the school year, I bought a 2" comb to bind their entire year and it was a bit of a headache with this machine, but I got it done and their planners for last year are complete if any state official comes knocking on my door - ever.

Maybe those characteristics you most appreciated about the previous 3 programs could lend to the choice. What did you dislike the most of the programs, if anything? I've chosen Elemental Science Physics to use the 2 library books and Paige's notebook pages that are very organized and mobilize my science intstruction to this year's 3rd and 4th graders. I also ordered the gears kit from Rainbow Resources that was over the top fun! Hope you enjoy and plow thru physics with gumption. You know, physics is your friend... ie. energy, friction, momentum etc.

I chose k-3bk2 b/c we were finishing SOTW2 and slamming through SOTW3. With k-3bk3, I'll do SOTW4 with the kids. Impressionists are a big deal in that period. Take a look at the list of artists that are covered and then decide how they correlate to your other subjects. Continuity may play in your favor with the kids.

This book was expensive, but art got done all year. The children recognize the various artists' works when we see them in books and at the museum. 3rd year of h-sing and this is the first year that art got done. It also went along with the SOTW3 and that helped. The Ambleside Online art print group at Yahoo didn't hurt either. Barb at Harmony Art Mom got me started on the materials and it was worth the money. I'm looking forward to K-3 book 3 for this fall with my 3rd and 4th graders. See the "art" tagged entries on our blog listed below. See if any of the work looked doable for your kids. I'll continue to use Artistic Pursuits because it fits into our schedule for 5-10 minutes each day and project on Friday. The kids like it. I'm a junior high science teacher by training. Art wasn't my first choice to teach my own kids when I brought them home from the classroom.

my kids couldn't write that small and all 3 doing the lapbooking at the same time meant that I wasn't going to write the information 3 times in a row for them. SO, we use the activity ideas and the graphics and instead of making mini-books, we glue them into notebooks. Storage is easier too. I love the habitat series for an idea of what materials and when to cover the topics.

I appreciate all the info from Jimmie at her website. It's http://www.jimmiescollage.com/. We did a "unit study" in 2008 in conjunction with the olympics and used many of her suggestions.

Artistic Pursuits went so well along with the second half of SOTW2 and the first half of SOTW3 that we covered this past school year. I also used the Ambleside online art resources for free at a yahoo group. If you're dealing with your 6 year old boy, the projects might be fun from Artistic Pursuits K-3 book number 2. See our art projects as the blog listed below. I found Artistic Pursuits from Harmony Art Barb. She sure knows what she is talking about and has h-s several sons.

I've read all of the series and look forward to the London part that will come out soon about the 4 main characters during Domitian's time. BUT, I will not allow my kids to get near this series until the Logic Stage because of the realness of the story. There were slaves that were poorly treated. There were boys turned into gladiators and used terribly. This is a valuable series of stories, however, it is not age appropriate for my Grammar stage children to read.

We're wrapping up a fun year of notebooking with Chemistry guidance from Elemental Science. It is laid out for 5 days a week, but honestly, sometimes I invest 5 to maybe 10 minutes on the definition days and at the most 15 minutes in prep and experiment observations. My kids are huge on "short attention span theatre" and can barely handle sitting that long at the end of 2nd and 3rd grades. But it is worth following the plan in order for science not to get dropped each day at our house. Check out the blog listed below for science or chemistry entries.

:)

I've completed 2/3 of this book with 2nd and 3rd graders so far this year. I am having success and appreciate how it went along with our SOTW2 history chapters. I didn't get a brayer and regret it now. Very important to have a brayer to complete many projects without frustration. Have FUN! I also used the prints from Ambleside Online Yahoo group in order to present more information.

Isn't it the goal that the kids are not afraid to create? Maybe I'm justifying my absence of art here, but until they were in 2 &3rd grades, my kids just sketched the best they could nature or their pets they loved the most. But when we can read a 5 minute piece about Durer each day that I've found online and tie it to the Renaissance history from earlier in the day, that's a win! I'm a science teacher. I tried Draw with Children and will try it again next year, but for today, Artistic Pursuits is working just fine. We actually try to read something about Durer every day this week and then on Friday, when there is more time, the 3Gs go at the task, this week, of making a wood print with wax paper, paint and paper. Maybe we'll try a second attempt when the first doesn't work out just right, b/c I do have perfectionist who get very frustrated, but in doing so, we've learned about the technique AND about ourselves.

This is our 3rd year of homeschooling. Art fell by the wayside prior to my finding AP on the Harmony Arts Mom website. If she uses it, I figured I would try. I chose the issue that went along with my HISTORY curriculum, that is the last of SOTW2 and the beginning of SOTW3. Yep, I've done art with these 3 children weekly since August 2009. I enjoy allowing them the time to notebook about an artist and then cut/paste info or paintings of that artist in our own made up notebooks (stored in the history binder). You might find a few of their works on the blog. Art is not falling by the wayside this year. It uses supplies found in common stores and often displayed for a week at a time on the art wall, but then I try to scan the "work" and say good bye to it afterward. There is a record of the work, but I don't have to store it for the next 20 years. And it reinforces history.

one thing I forget, I included and will include lots and lots of books. I just stop in front of the non-fiction juvenile section of the library at 574 area for deserts. There seems to be quite a few references from Homeschool share that delve into story books about oceans, seashore, coral reefs etc...

I started with HOAC lapbook on deserts and moved onto including Dover coloring pages and then turned the desert lapbook into a notebook instead b/c my kids get worried about constructing lapbooks. I include references to http://www.mbgnet.net/sets/desert/index.htm. I'm working on an ocean habitat notebook starting with the HOAC lapbook, but I'll include the Ocean book from Williamson Kids can! and Janice VanCleave experiments book about the Oceans. I've looked at the Swimming Creatures book from Apologia, but I didn't get the most out of the Flying Creatures of day 5, so I'm not going that way for oceans. Plus, can you imagine a visit to as many examples of each habitat studied? Deserts are done in 2 weeks, so I'm really hoping that the oceans stuff comes together soon. I'm following Paige's Elemental Science format for lesson plans because her directions are BRILLIANT for chemistry! Otherwise, get out and see as much of the world as we can!

I was in Maracaibo some years ago over Christmas. The family only got a Christmas tree and decorated it with lights for me. The manger scene, on the other hand, was as big as 1/3 of the room. No kidding, 9 ft by 9 ft and all the thousands of pieces were placed on "hillsides" built up from underneath by all kinds of lifts. The shopping was similar. But far less materialistic than the US. And Maracaibo is the oil shipping/refining center where a great deal of money is made and spent. It was hot (near the equator) and church was church. NOthing unusual there. It was my first trip abroad and such an eye opener. There were many other things about the city and trip to the mountains that were unusual, but not the Christmas celebrations.

You could throw more money at science (Elemental Science ), or you could just work at what you have more slowly and include books that the kids pick out at the library about science for their own reading. Trust me, transition from the classroom for the mommy is just as hard as for the kids. Don't rush the pursuit of science until they WANT it. My husband is a nuclear engineer and would 'freak out' if I didn't include some kinds of science, but it may just take them the transition to realize how good they have it to study in depth to their hearts content. Don't give up. You may need to hold hands a little longer, or maybe even the daddy could set some goals for the kids to meet, but don't give up.