I'm using Getty-Dubay Italic with my kids. I don't see any reason not to do cursive first, but IMO, the print and cursive are so similar that I'm not worried about the transition. I am planning on starting my 5yo at the beginning with book A (basic). That way, he'll get the advantage of the bigger line spacing and letters that are a little simpler to learn. His fine motor skills just aren't that great, so I want to make it as easy as possible to get him started writing. If you decide to start with cursive, I'd be sure to get Kindergarten paper to practice on and I'd probably spend some time just doing the basic strokes before forming the actual letters.

I'm contemplating Noeo science for next year. You would get level 1 for 3rd grade. I am using RSO Life Science by Pandia Press right now. We like it (when we remember to do it), but I really need something more than a spine. I need extra readings scheduled in and sitting on my bookshelf and an experiment kit that is already stocked with supplies. I'm not disciplined enough on my own, so I'm hoping Noeo will solve this for me.

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This is a spin-off of an earlier post that I wrote about my 2nd grade dd who is not enjoying any work that requires her write right now. We are using WWE 2 and GWG 3 right now as the basis for our language arts. I dropped SWO already b/c it was tedious for her--she's a natural speller and she probably needed the next level up, but I'll pick up on spelling again in the future. I think our main problem is that she is very bright, especially in verbal skills, and I don't have the right level material for her. So, I've come to the conslusion that instead of pushing her up into higher and higher levels of language arts, I need to give her something that will allow her more creativity, and spend less time on the material that she considers tedious. This fall I am going to be using Sonlight and I've decided to also get her their LA for level 2 w/advanced readers. I like that it has a variety of activities and that it has creative writing opportunities (which I will feel free to skip if there are too many of those). But at the same time, I think I will want more than their "natural" approach to grammar and writing. I am planning on adding in MCP word study, which is one of their optional workbooks. Has anyone successfully used SL LA with other programs like WWE and FLL or GWG. I don't want to overkill on language arts. I was thinking of alternating what we do on which days, but I'm not sure how it would work, or if it would even be helpful. Any thoughts/suggestions?

I am going to start using SL language Arts with her this fall. She knows that it has creative writing in it and she's looking forward to it. Thanks for reminding me. I do have a book of creative writing prompts around here somewhere. Maybe I'll dust that off and give her a couple of assignments every week, then do WWE the other 3 days. Once we start doing SL, I think my dilemma will be how to add in some of the classical writing. I don't want to drop it altogether, but I really don't want to overkill on LA, either. Writing is one of the few things that dd and I are not at all similar in. I HATE creative writing. I used to copy my story books into blank books for fun when I was a kid. :001_smile: I would have loved being assigned copywork as a child, instead of having to make up things on my own. I think I'll start a new thread on using SL LA classically.

I am planning on starting with SL this fall, so I've been spending a lot of time researching, but I haven't actually used it yet. So you can take my advice FWIW. For me, the idea of omitting material and lightening it up is a lot easier than trying to find and add in new stuff. But, when you look at the SL website, Core 3 is appropriate for a 10 yo, so you may not need to beef it up for her. If I were in your situation I'd go ahead and get core 3 w/advanced readers for your 10 yo, then get Level 2 intermediate readers for your 9 yo. THe readers won't line up with history for your 9yo, but that's really not the end of the world. You may be able to work with her and bring her up to speed so that she can be using the regular readers that match her core by next year. Good luck with choosing!

Thanks for the replies! I think I just need permission to let her not do some of the writing. Sometimes I have a hard time letting her do things differently than the book says to do, even if I agree that it's dumb. :glare: I like the idea of compromising and just having her rewrite some of the sentences. And I think I will start skipping copywork. She does fine with dictation. (Except when she gets sidetracked and asks too many questions about the story that the sentence is taken from. :001_smile:) I think the biggest benefit of WWE for dd at this point is to help her learn to narrate, so we'll just keep up with that and skip the less useful things.

I'm sure I'm not the first person to post on this subject, but I have discovered that dd hates to write. She used to love to write stories on her own just for fun, but anytime I ask her to write anything for school she groans and tells me it's just to much. We are using GWG 3 and whenever she has to copy out a sentence correctly (to correct for something like capitalization and puncutuation), she whines and tells me it's too hard, and begs to be allowed to just circle the things that are written wrong and insert the proper punctuation. We are also using WWE2 and she HATES doing copywork on day 2. Then on day 3 when I dictate the same sentence she complains--sometimes she tells me that it's too easy and it's dumb, other times it's too much writing. She does not seem to have a problem with doing actual handwriting practice. I don't think that the writing is physically too difficult for her. I'm not sure what the problem is, except maybe she sees these kind of exercises as pointless and boring. What should I do with her?

:lol::lol: My dd is constantly giving me superior looks and correcting everything I say b/c I cannot remember the right word for anything. I think I forget about my kids all the time. But I can't remember any specifics. . .

My hair up top has had problems with breakage, too. I like to taper it up to the front (and have long layers farther back). That way, I don't have bangs, but I do have some shorter hair to frame my face when it's pulled back. Did that make any sense?

Was that 87 cents or 87 dollars? :lol:Thanks. I need to stop laughing now so I don't send myself into preterm labor.

Mmmm. Brownies. I need some, too. I get really tired of the whining, yelling, etc. Would you act this way with your old teacher? No, of course not! Then why you do think it's ok with me? Ugh! I still have one in school, though. When he's home and I'm not tied to his school schedule, then everything will be easy (ha ha). Ok, I have no answers. I just know that I need to write out a schedule for dd to see. Then I have tostick with it. She seems to like a lot more stucture than I do. And I think she'd be less whiney if she had very clear expectations and firm boundaries.

I like to cut their hair around 1 year. Until then, I enjoy any hair that we can get!

I like to drool over leather sofas. I voted for the set, but now that I think about it, I's rather have a sofa and 2 chairs that look good together (not necessarily from the same set)--it offers more flexibility. I have a good friend that has a red leather loveseat and 2 blue chairs. I love them, but I'd have a hard time working up the courage to get the bold colors. I like to paint my walls with bold colors and let the furniture be neutral. I agree with adding in brightly colored pillows.

Oh, I'm 27 weeks pregnant! I have been having PAINFUL contractions and I'm so paranoid that I'm going to go into labor early. I probably won't, but I like to be paranoid about these kind of things. I don't have any personal stories, but I do have a friend with an 8 yo who was born around 25 weeks. It never ceases to amaze me how normal he is (he's a little hyper, but that's hardly unusual). Like others have said, premie care has really improved a lot in recent years!

The Eyre's have a website. Here's the link: http://www.valuesparenting.com/talktokids.php If you have a "membership" to the site there is more info, but the free portion has good info, too.

Ugh. My dd has been asking lots of questions (probably b/c I'm currently pregnant). I've been putting her off, telling her that we'd talk about it when we get there in science (and if I actually followed my schedule and did science with her we'd have gotten there well over a month ago). I have actually read that around 8 is the ideal age to cover it, but I'm still not ready! Other than religious reasons, I think a good why is that this is a very special expression of love, and that you need to be in a committed relationship (which means marriage to me) in order to express that kind of love. Also, since this is a way to bring children into the world, you need to be an adult and be capable of raising children of your own before you have s*x.

I've heard of blackberries growing in my area, and I can't figure out why I can't manage to grow (varieties bred for FL) in my own backyard. :glare: It must have something to do with all the clay that the builders dumped in my yard for fill. Or maybe I am just really good at killing my plants. . . .

I am soo glad to see the rain. I was starting to get worried that we would have repeat of our fires last year. And every May, I start to worry that whole lawn is going to crumble into dust before it rains. But I have to agree. We got a nice deep soaking. Now it should stop so I can send the kids out without having muddy grass tracked all over my house. It can come back next week when my orange trees start getting thirsty again. :)

Politically? or socially? or fiscally? or. . .? I'll go looking for that post you're referring to :)

I've always known that my dd was a mini me, too. It's so aggravating not to know how to react when I know exactly how she's feeling. I just want to fight back sometimes and stamp out (our) character flaws. I need to just remember to take a deep breath and react calmly and lovingly (and try not to see her as a mini me, but as a unique individual). I have to focus on how we are different and ironically, that seems to help.

This is what my dd is wearing this year from Target: Top and Bottoms They also have have longer boy-style shorts like these. Good luck!

I would. Brown rice supposedly has a shelf life of 6 months. I know I've had it last longer, but if it's starting to smell rancid (instead of rice-y :)) I would toss it.

I can't give you a definite answer. I would go to the store and just eyeball how big the bags are compared to the bags of potting soil that are measured in cu. ft. I'm not sure how big the bags are that you are talking about, but when I've looked at compost, it seemed that the bags were about 0.5 cu. ft. and they were heavy, so 40 lb sounds about right. Maybe someone else will know better. Good Luck. Bonnie

I am in the same situation. My kids are younger, but they have the same age spread. I will be doing core 2 with the oldest, letting #2 tag along for the read-alouds for now, but I wonder what I'm going to do with #3 once I feel like he needs to do more than dink around building lego towers during school time.