We love Catan & can see it being used as an enrichment as well. The 2 player card game could be used more for history enrichment than the regular game or even the expansions. In the 2 player card game you can add different people (i.e. blacksmith) or buildings/places (i.e. abby, marketplace). I could see that particular game bringing about a deeper discusion of life in that period of history.

Do you know if the fee covers multiple students?

Title contains the question. My 8 yr old has lost alot of his mental math skills during break. I've pulled back out our addition & subtraction flash cards but with 2 other little people to attend to I'd love to outsource this to a technology resource.

Thank you!

MistyMountain - I'm curious as to why you would not use it alone and what you use along with it? OP- I have no knowledge of Mosdos but started using MCT's Island level last year with my then 2nd grade 7 yr old boy and he & I have both loved it. We are planning to finish the Island level books this 3rd grade year.

I have spent a good bit of time today searching in vain for an older thread on the MCT Island level that someone had posted a link on how to actually sequence the Island level books. I'm looking for that link or someone with the knowledge on how to progress through the set. We are currently 1/2-3/4 through the Grammar Island book and I'm thinking it's time to add in the next book (Building Language). Does this sound right to anyone?

This is my second year teaching at home but my first year to add our 2nd child. So far what we like for older brother has been SM (SE), SWO, Z-B, MCT Island level, we also did Cycle 2 of C.C last year with lots of living books on the history subject. However, my opinion of these curriculum choices steam from starting with an already reading AL 2nd grader. DS #2 was going to 1 last year of local preschool before coming home but is saying he want's to "stay home & do school". DS#2 is more than ready for blending & reading & I think I've settled on AAR for our reading curriculum. I'm torn between adding AAS or SWO when the time comes. I'm also looking for a math curriculum to do lightly (read at our own pace) with him. We are loving SM (ST) but I haven't heard much on their Kindergarten books. Or if I should just look at starting slow with 1A? My final thoughts turn towards the possibility of doing (BFOSU) with both boys together. We haven't done anything formal with science at home yet but I'm liking the reviews on this curriculum. Has anyone done 2 kids at the same time with an age/grade gap?

I'm still working out our 3rd grade plans but this is the list so far. Grammar: MCT (we are currently 3/4 through Island) Spelling: SWO (finishing up B & starting C in the fall) Handwriting: Z-B starting on cursive. I would like to add some copywork/dictation this year but kind of flounding on where/how to start. Reading: We don't have anything formal. We read alot of books. Some about our history subject each week. Dad reads him Rush Revere at bedtime. We are working through Little Cabin in the Big Woods as a read aloud with his brothers. He loves to read from our Complete Calvin & Hobbes set. Math: SM (Standards Edition). We are starting 2B next week after our May/June break. Goal is to finish through 3B by next Summer. I'm planning to add BA in the fall. Not sure if we will start with level 3 or do 2 as it's released. History: CC Cycle 3 & supplementing with living books & SOTW. Science: CC Cycle 3 with supplements. Starting to look for a more structured curriculum. I'm eyeing BFOSU. Art: Classes at our local Art Studio. They offer weekly daytime class to the homeschool community. Music: Looking at starting him & his younger brother in Hoffman Acadamy. Latin: Considering doing SSL with him & K level brother. I've never had any Latin so I feel the most unsecure in this department. P.E.: Soccer again in the fall, moving up into U10 this season. Going to start back into weekly swim down in the big city. Also thinking of adding martial arts but don't want to be over scheduled. May do that between soccer seasons. I vacilate between feeling like I'm not covering something & feeling like I'm over doing. He is my oldest & we have a 5 yr old & 3 yr old (all boys). Some days I feel like the biggest accomplishment is keeping them alive when they're benting on destruction. We do alot of outdoor play on our 16 acres of woods.

I would like add that the 5 yr old has always been highly verbal & loves words. For example at 23 months old he said a clear, distinct 6 worded sentence. All adults have been able to understand him from age 1 because he enunciates very well. The summer after turning 2 in April he stood on a tree stump and announced that "this is spectacular". He is always wanting to know what a word means (last night he wanted to know the meaning of "neccesary"). Now that we have started phonic sounds his is constantly breaking down the sounds in a word & figuring out the first letter & alot of times the ending letter/sound.

I haven't read through all of the responses but saw the one regarding tachycardia which was my first thought. I feel for you in this situation & can understand where you are coming from. I am a musician, have repaired congential heart defects & have dealt with similar issues. One time we had a surge through the speakers while setting up for our "traditional" service & it alone was enough to set my heart off. Thankful our church we attend offers both a traditional & a contempory service. The only difference being in the music. Also, we had a period of time where the contempory service music was ridiculously loud. We had some new sound board volunteers as well as some new exquipmemt. It took them a few services to get a good sound running. And who knows if someone may have brought it to their attention or not. I second the others in saying that you should politly talk with your ministers and see how they respond.

I'm going to take sometime tomorrow to sit down & look through the A Bekah books we have at home & look at the other suggestions online. I did see a recommendation for "The Reading Lesson" curriculum in another post on this board. I was actually looking over the sample of the first lessons from that curriculum the other morning when 5 yr old DS#2 crawled up & starting blending & reading "cat sat" from their lesson 1 page without my prompting. My oldest is a very quick learner & loves "rules" so he did well with A Bekah & learning the blend ladders and all the rules. (He knows them better than me) This son is more impatient & gives up if he feels like he isn't doing well. I'm wondering if he can hold out through all the blends & rules to really get into the "reading" part.

My oldest son learned to read at the private school he attended during K & 1st. My middle son is 5 & on the cusp of reading (nows his lettet "sounds" & just blended pig sat on his own yesterday). I also have an early 3 yr old who is picking up sounds & knows alot of his letters now. I have some of the A Bekah K books, there handbook for reading & a few 2nd grad readers. Most where given to me about 4 yrs back. I feel like I should use what is on hand but wondering if there might be something that flows better for us. From what I've looked at the A Bekah books we have on hand it's more designed for a classroom of kids. Any thoughts, suggestions or just plain encouragememt would be appreciated.

Good afternoon. This question maybe coming a little early on but I'm trying to formulate what we do this year in mind of the path ahead of us. My oldest is headed into 3rd grade. This last school year we have worked through SM 1b & 2a, Spelling Workout B, started MCT Grammar Island (3/4 done) which we have loved. We also participated in the local CC community & he really enjoyed the memory work & the community time. We are planning to return to the group this coming year for Cycle 3. Where my uncertainty lies is in the following year wether we would want to do the Essentials program or not & if it's something we would have to do to be able to participate in the rest of the program. I will say he's absolute favorite schoolwork to do is his MCT book & I'd rather give up the CC work in order to stay with MCT. I'm wondering how that will flow together into the essentials program or if they will not be compatable?

I hadn't thought of using both but that actually sounds like a good idea for us. He grasps things quickly and if I don't keep up with him gets bored and then we have problems. From what I'm seeing online of 3A I think it's something we are ready for but I'd wait til we finish 2B in Singapore. They are scheduled to release the 2A in august so I guess we could even start there and just see how fast he moves through it.

Hello! My oldest son and are pretty much have our first year at home under our belt and I'm looking towards "next year" and thinking of tweaking our math choice. He will be 8 next month in June and did Kindergarten and 1st grade at a private christian school in town. They used A Bekah for alot of things although I don't know what Math curriculum they did. This year in "2nd" grade we started Singapore SE in 1B and have finished through 2A and are planning to continue and start our 2B books today. When I originally looked for Math curriculum I was suggested either Singapore or to check out the Beast Acadamy (which I really liked but they didn't offer 2nd grade yet). While Singapore has been a good fit for us so far and he is bright and grasps Math very well with it I am wondering if Beast Acadamy would be an even better fit. I think I want to use the Art of Problem Solving in the upper grades but know I can transition from either SM or BA at the point needed. For other reference we are in MCT's Grammar Island (which he LOVES and begs to do), SWO book B, and did Cycle 2 of CC last year with our local CG and plan to continue this next cycle.