We are still on vacation, but we will start "Alice in Wonderland"'tomorrow and "Om Kas Toe" next week. It's so hard to choose, there are so many great books, and I want to read them all!

Wow, there are some great ideas here! I have been just looking ahead and ordering books and movies from the library a few weeks in advance. So far it has worked out well. We are moving slowly with SOTW 1 though.

Probably not too out of the box, but we are new home schoolers this year, so it's new for us- We did fractions on the beach today with measuring cups and spoons. ;) We learned all about the moon and tides while basking in the sun. And I told the kids a story about Archimedes while they played in the sand. Then they "played" Mesopotamia by digging a cour rivers and pretending to live near them :)

We tried grade one English for my dd. She is entering second grade and reads at about a second grade starting the year level from what I am told. She found the reading too hard. Those were her words, but after talking to her, it was really that the story (jolly Robin) was too boring in her opinion. She did fine with the reading and only stumbled on a word or two per chapter. My son is going into first and could never read the reading for first grade. I skipped over Jolly Robin and had her read some of the other assignments, and she liked those. She did the worksheets out loud and did fine. So we will not be using it as our curriculum, but we will use pieces of it. I will likely use some of the zoology program to go along with our study of the animal kingdom this fall. I checked it out and it looks nice. The math doesn't seem enough for first or second, but I only skimmed over that. We are using Singapore. So for us, using pieces will work out well, but as a whole, no.

I would probably do no more than 15 min required. My dd is almost 8, and she's reading at about grade level. She rarely wants to read for more than 15-25 min at a time to herself or out loud. She will listen to me read all day though! I don't want to push her too much. Both of my kids are fidgety. DS often swings while I read to him ( swing is in the doorway of the living room). DD will play quietly nearby. But they both hear and retain every word. They actually retain more when they are moving. You might try having her swing or at during read aloud time. That might make it possible to read during the daytime as well.

How old should a child be for visual link? Any idea if it would work for 1-3 graders?

I was thinking I'd start with capitals because they have more straight lines. Curves and circles are very hard for him. Makes sense though, to do lower case first, as they are used more. Retained primitive reflexes? Huh. That's a new one! He has sensory issues, but the opposite of most people that I know of. My daughter and I are extremely sensitive ( think tags on clothing, loud noises, the usual). My son is the opposite- seeking out sensory input. He's loud, he is rough with his body, he seems the sensory input rather than avoiding. I'll check it out though.

We love the videos by the Disney imagineers. I can't link on my phone but a quick search here will get you to a link. I heard about them here on these forums. They are expensive to buy, but our library was able to get a few for us, so we just watched those.

My son is 6. He went to kindergarten last year and did HWOT the kindy level. He goes to OT for poor hand strength and sensory processing issues. He's pretty smart in many ways, but writing and reading are hard for him. Oh, he goes to speech too. He did the preschool HWOT book in OT. Anyways, I want to work with him daily on his writing. I bought some of that lined paper for little kids today on sale, and I'm ready to start tomorrow. :) I was going to start with "A" since it is first in the alphabet and in his name. But I know sometimes other letters are taught first. He knows all the letters and basically how toake them, he just needs a ton of practice. Should I start with "A" and go alphabetically or go in some other order? Suggestions ? Thanks, Chelsea

I forgot to add- Monthly artist and composer studies ( we have done Picasso and Bach this summer and enjoyed them both) We will try to add music, art, and geography in with our other subjects as they fit in.

This is going to be our first year home schooling, and I'm starting to get a little nervous. I have a dd who is almost 8 and a ds who is a young 6. She can read at about grade level, and he is just really starting to read cvc words. We will be using SOTW ancients REAL science life along with other random books with experiments Singapore math 1a/b for ds and 2a/b for dd Language arts will be a hodge podge- OPGTR for both Progressive phonics Daily read alouds by me Daily read aloud by dd Spelling- dd will have a list each week and a test on Fridays. Her request :) Spanish will likely be Salsa and possibly a tutor one a week Dd wants piano lessons once a week by me. Weekends need to be mostly free because I work nights every other weekend and am not around. DH won't do anything school like with them. We have judo twice a week in the late afternoon and Speech and OT for ds once a week (1.5 hours total). I can work with dd during this time, although she prefers to do something like brain pop. He's having fun at OT, so she wants to have fun too :) I'm ok with that because she's actually learned a bit from brain pop. I'd also like time for math games and such. And ds is very energetic and needs to move frequently. I'm not sure how to go about it all. We all love SOTW and science. I would like to do them 1-2 times a week. Math and LA need to be done every day, but how much and what do we do? Any ideas for a simple starting schedule? We already read a lot and "do" science and history a few times a week just for fun. I need to find a way to add in math and LA and the other stuff. And I want it to be fun so that my kids will be happy home schooling. :) Thanks, Chelsea

Well, I suppose it depends on what you want her to get out of it. I am not planning on making my two do the narration or questions if they don't want. They are younger, so perhaps that's why. We have listened and/or read up through chapter 11 of the ancients book. The kids sometimes act out the stories while they are playing. Sometimes I'll ask them a question or two during the week after we have read a chapter. But I don't make it very formal. Just in passing "hey, do you remember the ruler who called himself the king of the world? what was his name? remind me what he did". But that works for my kids. They don't get annoyed, and they like to "remind" me what we have learned. The map work- I just ordered the activity guide and haven't gotten it yet, but it's likely that my second grader will do it and my first grader won't. The activities are enjoyed by all. And they do help the kids remember the stories. How about a timeline? With pictures? I was thinking of a notebook for my kids where we add pictures we have taken of the kids doing the activities, any maps they have done, etc. It will help them remember because they will probably look at it from time to time. I definitely wouldn't force anything with my kids. I want them to enjoy history at this age, get a brief overview, and remember the basic ideas. They will remember their favorite parts, and they will forget a lot. The audio books are great for reinforcement for us. I'm pretty sure this isn't what you were thinking, but maybe a more relaxed approach is ok? If not, maybe someone else will have ideas that work better for your family. :) Chelsea

You can download a sample if you have a kindle app. I did that for the seashore one, but I haven't read it yet.

I'm curious too. They get good reviews.

Educents has a 50% off deal on the complete set of these plus the downloadable worksheet page. I haven't tried them before, and I'm wondering if I should get the set and take a chance or just buy one and see how I like it. The deal is only good for a few more days. I was thinking it might be nice to have the full set so that I can have my daughter do pages that pertain to what we are learning about in other subjects. Also, she's not a huge fan of writing, but she loves drawing, so maybe this would help her get through the writing. Any thoughts? Thanks, Chelsea

I have a subscription (free through my mom) and I don't love it. I have downloaded a few clips for the kids, but I find the site super hard to navigate. Also, I don't think it works on an iPad. Perhaps I'm wrong. I find that Netflix and the library are more useful. Also salsa for Spanish rather than the Spanish on discovery streaming since I can never find the episode I want when I want it!

Wow, classical house of learning's pages are amazing! Thanks!!

I'm sorry to hear about your baby. As for history, personally, I'd so SOTW. You already have the book. I am using it with my two (first and second graders) without the activity book. My kids don't particularly want any more writing assignments, and they don't enjoy coloring for maps, etc. So we are just reading the chapters and then getting a ton of library books on each chapter and delving a little deeper if they are interested. So far they are loving it. We have done a few activities - hands on stuff, that I either came up with or found on the internet. So for the first chapters we got some clay and the kids made clay pots. For Hammaurabi's code we made our own version on large black paper with silver markers and hung it on our wall. They loved that one. :) For the chapter on Joseph going to Egypt, we listened to the soundtrack to Joseph and the Amazing Coat (just because we love it). Satori Smiles is a great resource for ideas for hands on history projects. I have been printing off maps from the internet to show the kids where things are/were, but otherwise, we aren't doing mapwork yet. They are really into Ancient Egypt right now, so we are reading tons on that. We also got the IMAX video about Egypt and the kids enjoyed that. So anyways, I'd go with SOTW and just do your own thing. It's not at all hard to find great books to go along with the chapters. And if you decide to use the activity book, it's not that expensive anyways. Much less than K12. That said, I know nothing about k12. :)

Has anyone used this book? My kids are going to be schooled at home this year. I'm hoping that we will continue for many years, but if we don't I'd like them to have covered some of the same topics as the school in town. Balance and Motion is actually one topic covered in science in the first grade, and I know both of my kids would enjoy it anyways. I can't seem to find any reviews of this book though. thanks!

ok, I just looked at the placement tests. I know without even giving them to her that she will need 1B. She'll probably go through it quickly, but she definitely needs it. Perfect. thanks! I will check out the videos linked too.

great. I didn't think of the placement tests. Thanks!

I'm completely new to this all, but here's what I would do... I might read the book together, maybe a chapter at a time. My daughter would read some and I'd read some. She doesn't have the reading stamina yet to read too much. Have her tell you about what happened. Maybe have her write a sentance or two about what was read. That will cover comprehension, handwriting, and some grammar. You can decide what she needs to learn for grammar at the time and work that into her writing. If she is just learning about the parts of speech, talk about nouns after reading and have her pick out some from a page, etc. Spelling- you can chose words from the book, I guess, but I'd rather go with a spelling list if you are concerned about spelling. We are using Spelling Plus (I think that's the name) for spelling words. Vocab- from the book would make sense. I'm not sure if there are threads on this, but I bet there are. It's just finding them! Easy Peasy all in one homeschool does something like this. I was looking at it for the first time last night. SHe has the kids read a chapter, write a sentance or two, and answer some questions. There might be some vocab covered. She doesn't do spelling at this age though. You could look at the site and see what you think. I think Grade 1 English is a good example. Grade 2 is a lot of poetry, I believe. Hope that helps a bit. I'm interested in what others say. I like the idea. What books are you considering? My two are first and second grade this year.

My daughter was in private school last year for first grade and did their math program (TERC) for that year. I wanted her to do the workbooks for 1A/1B this summer as review and to make sure she was ready for 2A to start in the fall, but that didn't happen. She told me today that 1A is boring and too easy. I was wondering if I should buy 1B or 2A at this point. She likes Singapore, as do I, but she was just bored. She's pretty good with math facts up to 10 and ok up to 20. She gets the concept of addition and subtraction well and can figure a problem out if given a few minutes. Will we miss anything important if we just start at 2A? Will we miss the whole "making 10" thing? I hate to buy something we don't need. On the other hand, my son is 21 months younger and doing 1A right now. So if I buy 1B and she doesn't use it, he will likely use it eventually. He does find math more intuitive, but I figure we will still need to do 1B with him. He did kindergarten at the private school only. He will be considered first grade this year, but he is only just 6 this month. Any thoughts? I don't have tons of money, so I'm hoping to just order what we need. :) THanks!

wow, great site! Thanks. :)

Would that be a platform scale? I feel like I want a balance, but I also feel like there is no reason to get one, except my son might like to play with it. :) What would I do with a platform or a balance, I wonder...