My son would LOVE those! He loves to color around his copywork. He illustrates everything. Buy, I'll probably skip it since we have a lot of copywork in other ways. I'm going to keep it in mind for when he starts learning cursive though.....fun!!

The bolded made me smile. Mine does not read like an adult, but he has made a LOT of progress this year and finally enjoys reading all sorts of readers. He has never been afraid of a pencil though. He's very rarely complained about any written work except a little early on in 1st grade. I think the above is the approach I'm going to take...staggering the writing in the different subjects. I think that will work well. :)

Thanks everyone! WWE1 is the only workbook we use and we don't use her pages. The Apologia is for notebooking, but it has copywork pages in it with verses that correspond to the lesson. MFW isn't a workbook at all, but includes copying the weekly verse. I'm not interested nor do I have time to find my own for him and he isn't reading at a high enough level for him to pick. So, I use WWE and MFW and now have the Apologia notebook too. It makes sense to think more in terms of amount of total writing or amount of time instead of how often for copywork specifically. I'll have to think on that and see what might be appropriate for him. He can definitely do at least 4 sentences a day easily. Maybe we'll start there and work up as the year goes along. Thanks for the insight!

We are starting next week. I'm not feeling the need to do much. But, within the first couple of days, you have to have a letter to you child about what their name means to you. I'm planning to do that in the next day or so. Other than that, I'm going to start gathering materials for every week for the projects and put them in a bag with the week number on it...similar to an Apologia lab kit which is grouped and labeled by week. I think I'll take it a step farther and inside that bag group things according to the project/day. That way each week and day, I can just grab that bag and go. I may even go ahead and cut the names of Jesus for the poster and the state cards and such and put those in there. I usually don't do those type things till it comes up. I find them easier to keep safe in a big sheet rather than cut apart, but that's just me. (But, I'm not planning to have all the gathering and grouping done before we start. I'll just do it as time allows and if I don't get to it, I don't get to it.) Anyway, not having actually done the program, but planning to jump right in next week, those are my thoughts. Congrats on having 4hrs to yourself!!!! :D

MFW has Adventures in U.S. History. It's for 2nd and 3rd graders though. It would have to be beefed up a bit for your 4th grader. We are starting it next week. It looks great! It has lots of hands on things included. It is early US history with an overview of the 50 states.

I've been looking, but I can't seem to find this anywhere.... My son is going into 2nd grade (8 in Oct.). I'm using several different programs for different subjects that all contain some type of copywork. (MFW Adv, WWE workbook 1, FLL-some, Apologia Jr. Notebook and maybe more that I can't think of right now) Obviously, doing all that copywork would be to much. I'm already planning to skip any/all copywork in FLL and probably the copywork in Apologia. But, I'm not really sure how often copywork should be done. In WWE1, it is 2 days a week. So, is that all he needs? How often should copywork be done...twice a week, once a week, daily? I don't want to have him do too much, but I do want him doing the copywork in MFW (Bible verses in particular) and I'd like him doing it in WWE1 also because she is picking out selections based on mechanics and structure. That would be 3 days a week. Is that too much? Just for info's sake, my son doesn't mind copywork and has no problem copying 10+ word sentences. (He copies his own summaries after doing a rough draft. They are 3-4 sentences long.) He started WWE1 toward the end of 1st, but has been doing copywork once a week or more all year, Bible verses and other things. But, on the other hand, I don't want to make him do more than he needs, KWIM? Bottom line, how many days per week should a 2nd grader being doing copywork?

It's rough. I have 6 who are all 7 and under. When we started HS'ing, I had my oldest who was 5, 3 year old twins and 1 year old twins. It was nuts! :lol: Now, I have a 7 year old (starting 2nd), 5 year old twins (doing K), 3 year old twins and an 8 month old....it's still nuts! LOL!! Personally, I use containment...A pack and play or gated playroom or a playyard. I start using it early with my kids so they get used to it. They can play in there for 30 minutes to an hour several times a day. I've found it works better if they are not in the same room with me and can't see me. They are happier that way. If you haven't done that in the past and want to, you'll need to start slowly, 5 minutes or so at a time and work up. I also use afternoon naptime even though I prefer not to do that. I also school year round to give us more flexibility to get derailed often and not finish the days work often. I have 12 months to do what only takes 9. It really helps us with the stress of needed to get it done. Of course, there is the highchair and tot school too. Ultimately, I find that I have to just keep going despite all the interruptions. No matter how frustrating it gets, I have to just keep going back to the school table and going forward and ignoring my desire to throw my hands up and say it's pointless to try. But, just continuing on through it all, you do get it done even though it feels like spinning your wheels. Just keep going.

We school year round. I've never had an issue letting my kids skip school to do something fun with friends. They can't do it everyday, obviously, but it isn't every day something fun comes up. We do have neighborhood kids. They do come knocking, but it's almost always after school is done for the day. If not, we just call it a day. The thing is doing school year round allows us the freedom to skip or take off at random and still get it all done. It's not been a problem for us and we don't miss out. :)

That is the lowest I've seen it. My kids liked it, but it didn't work well for all 3 of them. I wouldn't be able to just buy it for the one that was learning a lot from it. So, I'd have to buy 3 subscriptions and it's just too much for us to justify. But, for one kid, that's a good price if you it is beneficial and you want it.

Nevermind! I just double checked. It gives you a coupon if you request a catalog. Sorry again! Okay...out the door....

I do, but I'm walking out the door right now and won't be back till Monday evening. I'm waiting for the directions to print and figured I'd pop over. ;) If you want to wait, you can PM me and I'll get you the info on Monday night. It is one I got from a convention and might be $15 off or so...I can't remember. I'm so sorry I can't get it right now. I'd love to give it to you! Sorry!!

Not OP, we are doing it with MFW. But, my son really loves to notebook. So, I'd like to have more pages than what they provide. :) ETA - But, I'm not going to be spending much time looking for anything either. We will probably only do what is included unless something falls into my lap. ;)

I can't seem to remember her name right now, but here is the link: http://wateronthefloor.wordpress.com/magic-school-bus-science/ Hope that helps!

I have 6 kids all 7 and under, including a 7 year old, twin 5 year olds, twins who are 3 and my youngest who is 8 months. Believe me, I get the constant mayhem and sleep deprivation! We had the same problem with the time shift from getting up earlier to later after the baby ws born. It's an on-going issue here though because I'm not a morning person. What I had to do recently was start waking the kids up at 8am no matter what time they went to bed even if they were going to be tired. That way, they would be able to go to bed earlier that night and get up earlier the next day. It wasn't easy for me, but the kids took to it well. It definitely helped. I'm planning to start getting them up even earlier when the days start to get shorter (so a few months from now ;)). Even though I'm not a morning person, we do better when the day gets going earlier. I'm trying to adjust even though my body is fighting it. :glare: The other thing I'd suggest is if baby isn't on a regular napping schedule yet, I would work on that. If baby isn't getting good consistent daytime sleep, it will affect his mood....causing fussing. I often school while holding or nursing the baby. I don't like it. It's just the way it is. And, of course, there are definitely days and weeks where I feel like I just can't handle it. It might be the kids are acting up, I'm exhausted, or my hormones are getting the best of me. I just have to keep plugging. We do school year round so we can be more relaxed and allow for getting derailed often by both children and my mood (because of lack of sleep or hormones or whatever). We have 12 months to get done what usually takes 9. It helps a lot not to be on a tight schedule. But, we still try to stick to our schedule. You'll get in a rhythm and routine. It just takes time to adjust to the needs of a new baby.

You need to figure out a time when baby is generally not sleeping and it is often mayhem. That is the best time to have help. It's not all that helpful to have help when the baby is sleeping or when you are usually not schooling anyway, if doing school is the goal. You want your help to be worth it. :D

I'd love to find a teen HS'er to be a mother's helper. I have 6 who are 7 and under. I'd love to be able to have someone play with the twin 3 year olds and my 8 month old while I did school with the olders. My husband and I have talked about it several times. I just don't know where to find someone and I don't really want to spend the money....but it would definitely help. Here is what I want to do...I want them to come from 10am - 1pm. They can occupy the kids from 10 - 12, then from 12 - 1 while I feed the kids lunch, they could fold my laundry and do light house work, like vacuum. I had someone do this several years ago before I was HS'ing. It was awesome then. The best of both worlds. :D

Good question. I'll give it a bump for you. :)

DisneyWHAT? Where? ;)

Having never used HOD, I think MFW is for the same reasons above. I'm a MFW user and I love it. However, I identify more with the classical model than with CM. I tweak a lot and I don't use their LA recommendations which tells you something since I tend toward a more classical approach. I do really enjoy the content in MFW and we are sticking with them long term. MFW does include narration. The author tells you in the intro or notes in the fronts of the books to have the student narrate both history and science readings back to you each time it's done, but she doesn't repeat that throughout the manual. You are just supposed to remember and know to do it as part of all the readings. From the limited amount that I have seen, HOD spells it out a little more and reminds you to do it each time. For MFW, you don't write it down each time. I'm leaning toward more notebooking than they include. ;) If you go with MFW, I think you will enjoy it and find it is the good mix, but heavily leaning on CM, you are looking for.

It's good to know they can connect together. We can definitely sleep apart, but we don't like to, especially when vacationing. I don't mind being low to the ground. My husband always has. He rarely sits on the floor with the kids. He plays on the couch or at the table or whatever. (It isn't that he doesn't play with them.) I'm often found on the floor even when my kids aren't around. I even sit on the floor at the library to look at books on the bottom shelves. I have no issue with it. I can definitely understand not wanting to carry anything heavy. We hike on our camping trips, but we always set up house at a campsite and go back there at the end of the day. After all, we do have 6 children 7 and under. ;)

I've never heard of Thermarest. I'm looking at those now. They look good. My only concern is they are low to the ground. My husband complains about that with the air mattresses which are higher than those. Plus, they don't have a double size and, well...we are spoiled and like to sleep together even when camping. :001_wub: Although, I did see they have some bedding that puts two together. I wonder how well that works......or, maybe we need to suck it up and sleep next to each other instead.

See, that's the thing...we've never knowingly damaged any of them. We just deflate them (by rolling) and then keep them all together in their own plastic bin, nothing else goes in with them, which we put on a shelf when we get home. We can never find a hole anywhere. I feel we take good care of them. They just leak air. Maybe I'm missing something. It's very sad because it is such a waste of money. :( Okay, I'm seeing the trend. It isn't just us and we need to find another sleeping solution, probably not for this trip though. We have another planned later in the year. We will come up with something better by then. Maybe we will make what we have work for now because we probably can. (We have other mattresses we didn't blow up.)

Those look awesome! At the store or on the website? I don't think we will be able to go to Costco before the trip. We are 45 minutes from Costco and we leave on Friday morning. But, technically, Costco is on the way.........

We enjoy tent camping. We started doing it about 3 years ago. This will be our 4th or 5th trip. We have a 10 person tent and we set up air mattresses to sleep on. The problem is our air mattresses are always leaking. We blew up our air mattresses a couple days ago to see which ones were good. We blew up 3 queens and 2 singles. 2 of the queens leaked enough that they aren't useable. One of the singles did too. One of the queens was questionable. So, 4 out of 5 aren't holding air. :thumbdown: Most of them are fairly new. 1 has only been used 2x's before and it's ours. These are all different brands. Actually, the only one that really held air was the cheapest brand. :tongue_smilie: We don't allow shoes on them or the kids to play on them really. We don't use them as trampolines. I don't get it. Is this just the nature of air mattresses?? Do we have bad luck?? What's the deal? Anyone else have this issue with air mattresses? Any ideas to help us avoid this with the new ones we are about to buy?

I don't have a pre-set plan. We just school when we aren't doing something else. LOL! We take days off for appts and playdates and randomly because my younger kids derail us. We have 4 "full" days a week and a light day, but the light day is usually used to catch up on what we missed during the week. We take off for camping trips and vacations. We take off around Christmas, but probably not as long as some. We basically use the year round schooling so we can be relaxed about schooling. Our school year goes from July 1 - June 30. So, as long as we are done with the "year" in that year, we are good. :)