We did Life last year and really enjoyed it. DS was 6 and DD was 8. I supplemented with Bill Nye and Magic School Bus videos and books. I also supplemented with a lot of library picture books. Mostly we used it as a spine.

I'm not really sure about whether or not you should have him do copywork. My son is 7, and he is very resistant to writing. However, he does love to make signs for his bedroom door (like "beware, dangerous monster inside" and such). So that's what he's been doing for writing lately! Do you care what your son writes? Maybe he would enjoy copying quotes from books he likes or making signs or lists or something.

So then what is the difference between morning time and regular school time in the morning? Is it the basket? Usually my kids get their own breakfast- ds at around 6 and then again at 8. dd around 8. And then while they are eating, I'm preparing my breakfast. I like the idea of doing some things in the am during breakfast, but I'm not sure how that would work.

Do those of you who do a morning basket limit the time? I feel like if there was our read aloud plus composer or artist study books, etc in the basket, we'd be doing it for hours. My kids really love that kind of thing. We would never get to math!

thanks farrar, I've added a few more from your list!

Thanks everyone. So after reading through some lists, I've come up with the following list. Misty of Chincoteague Baby Island Swallows and Amazons Ronia the Robber’s Daughter Holes The Indian in the Cupboard The Enchanted Forest- Dealing with Dragons From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH The Rescuers, Miss Bianca The Mysterious Benedict Society Islands of the Blessed The Incorrigible Children book 4 Starry River of the Sky The Whipping Boy The Sisters Grimm Book 1 The Marvelous Land of Oz Caddie Woodlawn Beowulf (Morpurgo) Pegasus (Mayer) My kids are going to do WWE levels 1 and 2 this year, and although we have already read a lot of the books from WWE, I think there are a few they will want to read. So we can add those if we want. This is just a list of ideas - some we will read aloud, others will be audio books. Just thought I'd share.

So far I have- Starry River of the Sky (we loved Where the Mountain Meets the Moon) The Marvolous Land of Oz (we also loved the first Oz) For history we will be studying US history from 1789-WW1 or so. I have a book list for that. I'm looking for a few more fiction books for our read alouds. We have a few audio books already on deck as well- The Islands of the Blessed The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place book 4 I'd love some suggestions. thanks!

Progressive phonics is free online. You can print the little books for a cost at home or save them to kindle. That's what I did. :)

My kids are ok writing and reading in the car. I know some kids get car sick though. We usually listen to stories, music, or educational DVDs in the car. You could listen to foreign language CDs or music as well.

My dh works long hours. He usually leaves in the morning just as we are getting up and isn't home until the kids are long asleep. He financially backs their schooling. His long hours allow me to work just 12 hours a week at night, so I can be with the kids otherwise. He doesn't really talk to them about school, as far as I know. I pick the materials and do the teaching. I decided we would home school. They did a go to school - dd for two years and ds for one, and his involvement was the same. He's really only around on the weekends, and we don't generally do school on the weekends.

We aren't changing a whole lot from last year. DD did Second grade last year, DS will do it this year. :) AAS level 2 WWE level 1 (he started last year, and we let it go. fine motor is an issue, and he wasn't ready to write much) HWOT again Jot it Down (poetry tea once every two weeks at least with Jot it down projects weekly) The Sentence Family Singapore 2A/B Mr. Q's Earth Science History- we will continue our American history study from 1800's as well as finishing SOTW Ancients. We are about 1/2 way through anicents. Spanish- Elementary Spanish once a week and Salsa once a week. Music- composer study (read a book or two about the composer, listen to some music or a story a few times) Art- artist study. kids loved this last year. We read a book or two and then do a project based on the artist. Piano- I'm aiming for weekly lessons Judo- 2 times a week plus competitions We may try to add swimming, but I'm not sure when. My second grader also will continue with PT, Speech, and OT this year. He is a cub scout and has meetings twice a month or more. Man, he's busy!

Peter and the Starcatchers series read by Jim Dale Anything read by Jim Dale (he does a great Alice in Wonderland) Roald Dahl Harry Potter The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series (we are only on book two, but so far they are so much fun) Narnia The Sea of Trolls and Land of the Silver Apples. We haven't started The Islands of the Blessed yet, but the first two were great. My kids are enjoying Percy Jackson, but I only listened to the first. The narrator wasn't very good, imo. DD read the books first, and she's enjoying listening to them again. Artimus Fowl series is kind of fun

Thanks. I didn't realize I could find examples on youtube!

I'm so excited. I read in another thread how to save videos/clips into "my content" for later use. Elementary Spanish is a pain to find through search, so I was able to get the whole next unit lined up nicely. Other things I've found- the teacher's resource sections- There is so much available. I'm going to start with one of the math cartoons- I can't remember the name now- but it has activities to go along with the shows. Shows are only 15 minutes. My kids will be excited for the show, and the activities look fun, so I think they will do them happily. We are going to use Jot it Down next fall for writing. We will do the fairy tale project first. I found Rabbit Ears productions of several fairy tales. So we can read the story, watch the Rabbit Ear production, and then do our project. yay! So fun. I also have saved a few Horrible Histories and Time Warp Trios. The kids love those. Reading Rainbow is on there too. I'm curious how other people are using DES. What are your favorites?

We started using The Sentence Family last year. It was a big hit with the kids. We learned the four types of sentences, nouns, verbs, adj, and adverbs. We will continue with the rest of the parts of speech in the fall. I figured that was enough for first and second grade. Other than that I just incorporate grammar into our daily lives. But if you want an easy way to learn the parts of speech, this is a good one. We also used some books from Scholastic- the dollar days downloadable books. There was one for each part of speech.

I'm so unclear as to what is offered. I have two kids - 7 and 8. Can we do these things with just the three of us? Can anyone give some examples as to what the videos are about? My ds has a weak core/ weak fine motor and will be starting PT. He's able to do regular P.E. stuff. Might this program be helpful? thanks, chelsea

He should definitely start with level one. I wouldn't buy the student pack for him though. I bought it for my dd (who was in 2nd grade this past year, first year home school and first year with real spelling instruction), and she flew through it doing one full lesson a day. My son did one lesson a week. We could have done just fine without the student pack for dd. If you wanted, you could probably do AAS1 with your son in just a few weeks. The first level is pretty easy, and even for a struggling speller, I bet he'd learn quickly. My kids learned the letter sounds using the AAS app. before we even started. I wish I hadn't spent the money on the whole level for dd. For AAS2 I could have shared also. DS will start that in the fall, and DD will finish next week. From now on, I will buy one student pack for my kids and see how it goes.

So has anyone tried this or taken a look at it yet? I'm intersted, but I'm not sure it is worth it for us.

I love my fitbit one. I have an iphone, and it syncs to that, but it can also easily sync to a computer. When you buy a One, it comes with this little thing that plugs into a USB port on your computer. You don't plug the fitbit into the computer. It uses bluetooth to get the info there. I don't use the cloud either. Then you sign up on the website and it can sync to there. You will get emails with your progress and can check it whenever you want. You can also see on the fitbit itself your steps, calories burned, stairs, miles, activity level, and the time. I have never used it biking. If you use a stair climber, it will register steps, but it will not register stairs. In order to register stairs, you have to climb up and change altitude. I clip mine onto my shorts or my sports bra top. I have to charge it about every 1 1/2-2 weeks. It takes about 1-2 hours to fully charge.

My dd did AAS 1 and 2 this year, and ds did AAS 1. We found that memorizing the rules was very important. I didn't insist on it as soon as they learned the rule, but I did remind them of the rules when they needed reminding. We wrote the rules on the sliding glass door in the kitchen so we would see them frequently, and when someone misspelled a word, we just refered to the door. They learned them without trying that way. There really arent that many rules in the first two books, and if you learn them as you go, it's much easier. I occasionally mention the rules when we are writing or reading together as well, if the opportunity arises.

Well, I'm probably not the best person to answer, but I'll go ahead and answer anyways. ;) We are first year homeschoolers, and my dd is going to be third grade aged next fall. My plan is as follows- Writing- Jot it Down. I bought it with the intention to use it this year, but we didn't find the time. WIll use next year. Handwriting- she doesn't really need any, but she likes it, so we will continue with HWOT. She did cursive this year and loves it. Reading- She reads a ton, but next year I will likely have her read some books of my choosing as well as her own. Her understanding of what she reads is fine, so I don't feel the need to do more with reading at this point. She comes to me with questions about words/ meanings if she is having trouble. Her vocab is great from all the audiobooks and read alouds. Grammar- We began The Sentence Family this year, covering the types of sentences, nouns, verbs, adj, and adverbs. We will continue with this next year. I tend to throw grammar in whenever I can and not make it a seperate subject at this point. But she likes The Sentence Family. Spelling- All About Spelling level 3. She just finished 1 and 2 this year and seems to like it enough. I really like the program. We do a lot of reading. I read aloud daily, and we always have an audio book going in the car. So that's my plan. What are you thinking of using?

Thanks for sharing this. My dd is starting on AAS next week. :)

The Maestro books are great for American history. Maestro is the name of the author and illustrator. There are several in the series.

Sounds like something we would enjoy. Thanks! I just placed a hold at my library.

My mom is a reading teacher for seventh grade at a public school. She was told not to correct the students' grammar. She also told me that grammar isn't even taught in seventh grade at her school. Crazy! She said that my children already know more about grammar than her students. It's scary and sad.