Are you looking for picture books? 'If you lived at the time of the American Revolution' or 'If you lived in colonial times' are both good. There are others from that series that could be beneficial as well.

It sounds like the girl was at least making an attempt at being social with your child, even if she did a poor job in your mind. She is likely very uninterested in your DD's knitting hobby and finds it too repetitive and boring compared to the more open ended exploration pattern of minecraft and was trying to bridge the interest gap by offering your child to watch her so that they would be able to make conversation. As a parent I would encourage my child to make conversation with another child about their interests rather than completely shutting the door on their attempt at being social.

We will be adding it into curriculum this year, DS is 7 and will be starting 4th in the fall.

DS7 will be on some 3rd grade level things in the fall still. He likes to continue math and science lessons in the summer. We are going to make a switch to Abeka language arts completely so there may be a handful of summer lessons to get him completely on the same page to start for fall. Language Arts/Poetry/Reading/Vocab/Spelling/Penmanship: Abeka 4 Math: Singapore 3A (he'll be about halfway through 3A as of fall, we do summer lessons). History: SOTW 1 with activity guide Science: McHenry's The Brain, McHenry's The Elements, Focus on Middle School Chemistry 1, Focus on Middle School Physics 1 Foreign Language: He's not interested yet. Religion: Daily Devotional Athletics: Flag football, soccer, junior wrestling

Been wanting to try McHenry's The Elements and Carbon Chemistry for my DS! Excited to get a deal! Bundle 5 for $25 Ellen McHenry's The Elements Ellen McHenry's Carbon Chemistry Ellen McHenry's The Brain Weather on the Move Unity Study Classical Astronomy Field Guide Always excited to add to our science library!

I think all families will have a slightly different answer here, as what we deem essential is not only driven by our values but also our individual children and their strengths, weaknesses and interests. Our essential subjects for DS7: Language Arts curriculum (poetry/vocab/spelling/language/reading/penmanship) Math curriculum History 2x week Science 2x week I often let them add an elective in if they want something more... like Geography, Music or Art but we don't consider them essential. Similarly with athletic instruction - my children have zero athletic talent and just struggle against a wall with instruction. Sending them outside to play in the dirt aids their learning so much more here ;)

We wrote our own this past year too, utilizing this site heavily for activities for lesson plans: http://www.museofthemorning.com/museblog/2013/the-ultimate-guide-to-resources-and-activities-for-story-of-the-world-vol-1/

Pre-level 1 real science 4 kids physics?

A sampling of some of the spelling words from the first few lessons would be very helpful. I like the thought of giving half the spelling words at one time. It is my understanding that their vocab lessons use spelling words, is that correct?

We school year round. DS 7y is finishing up Abeka 3rd grade readers. We are working on R&S English 3 text right now. I give no formal vocabulary lessons but he would assess at a 3/4 grade level. He is right on par though with Spelling at 2nd grade level. He actively learns to spell at least 3 or 4 of the 16 words on his spelling list per week, the rest he has mastered already. I would love to move to Abeka Language Arts entirely in the fall to grade 4. A friend had an older copy of the A beka Language Arts curriculum lesson plan for me to review first and I see vocab/spelling are entwined, I do like that. But I'm not sure he can tackle 4th grade spelling. Not being familiar with the specific spelling words, can you offer any suggestions? Will it be impossible for me to do A beka Language Arts 4 curriculum with him if we need to do different spelling words that are back at his normal age/grade level?

So wonderful to hear!! Congrats to you and your DD!! Not sure it is brag-worthy but this past pear my DS (7yo) has officially exhausted all elementary age science curriculum available. We decided to move to child-led versus 7th grade level with him and he is excelling. He also found his niche in Singapore 3rd grade math after we tried numerous math curriculums this year - none moved at the pace he did as well. My DD (5 yo) is reading sight words, blends, sounding out 4+ letter words and doing great in Gr. 1 math!

We use Rod & Staff Grade 1 for our K math. We like the worksheets, the handwriting practice with the repetition and our 5 year old enjoys the simple hands on felt board the teaching uses (ducks and a pond). It was very reasonable price wise and using a teacher's manual is definitely optional if its' not your first go at homeschooling. If it is your first, then the teachers' manual may be helpful. We purchased our workbooks (there are 2 for the grade 1) and the teacher's manual for maybe $20 on a used curriculum page :) When we need a change of pace we add in some dice addition games or such.

Thanks for the ideas ladies!

We have all the pieces of A Beka 4th grade LA curriculum EXCEPT the worktext and I can't find it anywhere. We have the version with the bluebirds on the front and it's not the most current version. Is there somewhere I can go to get pieces of older editions like CLE has? HELP!! Thanks!

My DS was focused on reading/writing at that age but my DD is about a grade ahead. I can't find a grade 1 language/english lesson book I like as well as my R&S higher grades (if that makes sense). I'm considering grade 1 CLE for her but haven't decided - I think I'll order a copy of the older edition 1/2 first language lessons to see if it might fit :)

Rod & Staff English lovers... what did you use for your pre-2nd grade English texts Thanks!!!

There will be some incorporation of American history as it's unavoidable - discussing what each president was noted for... but I want to go light on that. He tends to use his free time to take things further regardless. We will come back to American History when both kiddos are in upper elementary/middle school after all the SOTW lessons are complete.... even though we're excelling in everything, I would like to basically push pause have a fun/interesting year on history and geography as both kiddos will gain a lot I think from each other being on the same lesson for SOTW for the next 3-4 years. :) Mostly, everything I run into has some question on accuracy of facts (president nicknames wrong, presidents credited for each others work etc). I do plan on using the 4-6 minute short clips from the History channel (on their webpage). We'll probably spend an average of 2 days lessons on each president (our history time of day is about 20 minutes.

I was planning on using SOTW 1 for my DS7 this coming fall for history and then starting DD5 on it the following year. However, I think they will enjoy doing it together at the same pace, and I have no issues waiting a year as I don't feel that DD will get as much out of it as she would if I wait till she's on mostly 1st/2nd versus K/1st work. That being said, I decided to tailor my DS's geography and history curriculum to his interests (he enjoys both and we end up having both daily M-Th). I want to do a US States year-long unit with heavy emphasis on the regions of the US. Does anyone have any suggestions for books to supplement or even drive this curriculum. He's 2nd grade next year but most of his studies are at 3rd grade. He reads and comprehends at a 4th grade level. I am happy to put the work in with him - it doesn't need to be independent focused. For history, he'd like to focus on US Presidential history - more than superficial as I'd like to give each president at least 2 days of 20-30 minute lessons.

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We're just continuing the lessons she's on now in Prek.... by fall she'll be on/into: R&S math 1 CLE Lang 1 D'nealian Handwriting K maybe history with DS7 (debating starting SOTW or holding off a year to get them both at the same entry point) pre-level 1 RS4K courses with DS7 Piano lessons, art (havent decided on fall curriculum on this yet) and bible with DS7 as well like this past year. We are progressing rapidly on phonics/reading without a formal curriculum in prek now.. I'll decide what I'm going to use for phonics/reading curriculum as we get closer to the fall.

Yep, his troop isn't chartered through the school but the organize the membership of troop based on the school boundary lines... it is chartered through a completely independent council, but the school often holds the larger monthly den meetings (our weekly meetings are at a local church). I was worried we might lose the ability to participate if they hold meetings or events in the school.... even if they are chartered with an independent organization. You guys answered this wonderfully -- BIG thank you!!

We live in Iowa and our homeschooling laws have changed in the last couple years, for the better. We are now offered the option for private instruction without any requirement on days of school in session (we are considering switching to year round homeschooling rather than the typical Aug-May school year we do now). However, without meeting the day requirement, we lose access to dual enrollment in the local school district. We only have one reason we currently open enroll honestly, and it is boy scouts for our son. Can anyone tell me if Boy Scouts are a school extracurricular activity? Will we lose boy scouts if we lose dual enrollment?

My extended family was very opposed to homeschooling and hasn't completely accepted our method of education. I go "againstthegrain" in our family to educate our children at home.

We are starting first grade materials as well. Our schedule: Social Studies - MWF 1 hour Science - TR 1 hour Art - 1 hr/wk Math 40 min/day Writing - 10-20 min per day Reading/Phonics - 1 hour I'm still looking at music curriculum vs. music lessons vs ??? Goals: Fluency in reading Agreeable workable attitude/problem solving skills Lots of hands on projects Find an agreeable routine that works with DD3's needs Money management skills (though this may come during the end of the 13-14 school year or even in the summer) DS is pretty easy to teach as he is very bright. However, he is still easily frustrated and I want to help him work on problem solving logic to achieve his goals. We plan on continuing our HOP/language lessons this summer as well as chores.