did you use the teacher's manual for the critical thinking books one and two by Harnadek

I have found Teach Them Diligently, by Lou Priolo the most effective. It is written for the parent. I find it much more useful than Shepherding a Child's Heart. It discusses using Scripture in child training. I a nutshell, have the child memorize a bible verse, such as "do not forget to do good and to share". Memorize first. Then as the situation arises in life, remind him of the verse. There is a lot more to the book as well. I have found this has been much more effective than nagging, scolding, workbooks on sharing, or reading other books on character. Most books addressed to the children are very contrived, and my kids pretty much agree as they read the book or discuss with me, but applying scripture in the real life situation has been the most effective in seeing genuine change.

Why don't you use SOTW ? It is such a hit with our family ! Have you read Child's History of the World, by Hillyer. Sonlight has a number of books in their catalog that you could consider.

We just went into reading books. My kids loved reading the Dr Seuss books - such as green eggs and ham. Sonlight has lists of easy readers in their catalog.

We have used Prima Latina and then go onto LC 1 and LC 2. My dc have never found it boring. My two who have used it are ds who is not strong in anything that involves writing, remembering vocab, grammar etc, and dd who happily writes, remembers vocab, finds grammar a breeze, etc. They both used this program with equal success. We use the DVD's, while helpful, it is not essential for PL. The DVDs were perhaps most useful for ds who is an auditory learner, but dd would have managed quite fine without them. My dc and I really enjoy the prayers and hymns. We listen to the on the CD quite often. Very pleasant. Both are enjoying their growing latin skills, and coming across Latin derivatives in everyday language, incl ds despite his being not so strong in grammar. We are happy with this program, so we have never looked into any other latin program.

ds did CAt 5 in 3rd grade. The parent / teacher is given a teacher manual to read the questions to the child. As from 4th grade the parent only reads out basic instructions and then leaves the dc alone to complete the test in the time allotted. I did find it useful, and will do it as from 4th grade (when they can do this independently) for all my dc. I am doing it partly for information purposes for myself, and also for dc to get experience in test writing.

Right now just a few days a month seems appealing to me - I have been grouchy and tired for the past 6 months - only 3 to go ... Don't say anything to me, because I am likely to take it the wrong way, and jump down your throat at the slightest provocation ...

I did this with my first three, all with great success. I also first read Ruth Beechicks books and started that way with all of them. Once they knew their letter sounds, or most of them, then I started working on blending. They aren't ready to learn to read until they can blend - start out with little words like 'am'. Once they could sound these out, then I went onto use Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons The names of the letters comes quickly and easily once they are already reading. My kids are now all strong readers, and I don't say this is the reason, but it certainly did work well with them.

:lol:

I wish I could stay awake long enough for my voice to get froggy. Oh well, blame it on third trimester ...

I know this wasn't your question, but if you are following WTM then it will be soon The hardest new thing for my 5th grader (and I ) to learn has been outlining. I read and re-read the WTM chapter on logic stage history, ds worked through the Remedia book on Outlining (I highly recommend this), and initially I had to help him significantly. We have now got the hang of it, but it does take a bit of effort.

MP is busy producing their replacement for Henle. First Form Latin is the first year program - a beta version is available from them if you request it.

Fantastic !

Zagazoo by Quentin Blake describes this exactly - you should be able to check it out of the library. Delightful picture book about a couple who receive a package, a baby named Zagazoo - and all the various stages he morphs through ! Really funny !

I've been told that when they are teenagers this improves ... I can only say I hope so ! :confused: ds is 10 and still highly distractable. His memory has always been excellent, so doing any memory work isn't going to help. We all homeschool together in the same room and he has a really hard time concentrating when the others fidget or talk. I have given him a checklist for his homeschool work and chores for the day. This helps him to focus on doing one thing, checking it off, and then moving onto the next - instead of me having to remind him. So it helps with him remembering, for example to feed his rabbit or take out the trash. But as for a quicky, like taking his laundry to his room, why does a simple task take half an hour ?!? And if the two boys are up in their room putting their laundry away together - well, just say I had no idea that putting laundry away could be such an exuberant affair.