What we are doing for 3rd grade: - Just having the kids read SOTW ancient and letting them choose projects from activity book - Read memoria press classical Christian classical studies book 1 together - Kolbe religion course for 3rd grade - Have 3rd grader read and complete study book for memoria press ancient world book - Lots of group reading and discussion of famous men of rome - Let 3rd-5th grader work together every week to add their own favourite events to world history time-line poster

I pulled my third and fifth grader out of public school over the summer, and started home schooling, and have been trying to come up with a nice comprehensive science program until 9th grade. Tentatively, I've planned: 5th Grade, this year - Life Science and The Cell 6th Grade - Earth Science and Astronomy 7th Grade - Chemistry & More Biology 8th Grade - Physics & More Astronomy (Try to get them to do real amateur science) So, far things have mostly gone well. We procured a nice microscope with digital camera and example slides. Both kids have been experimenting with making their own slides. I'm not sure if they are doing the slide making 100% correct. They've made model cells/etc and memorized most of the parts of the cell. We've read most of Ellen McHenry's book, started to go through the Harcourt 7th Grade Life Science Textbook and are also taking selected parts out of the Tiner text/workbook from Memoria Press. I'm considering having the kids setup a terrarium so they can simulate a mini ecosystem perhaps with a lizard and numerous tiny plants/animals. What we're missing I think is a good experiments, activities, and labs. I've gone through books, but most experiments seemed to be aimed at either the young elementary w/ minimal equipment or older high school student who is presumed to have a bigger lab. And, a lot of the interesting cell stuff is also difficult to see with just an optical microscope - although looking at pond water and recently living blood is great. What experiments/labs/activities would other home schooling parents recommend? Is there a great list already prepared somewhere?

Prima Latin can be extremely easy - I wouldn't worry about having it as a third grade subject, especially if you just do 90 minutes of it every two-three weeks and let the child move at his own pace. DVD essential. Overall, an easy 3rd grade I think is 2.5-3hrs/day and an aggressive third grade is 3-4hrs/day, divided into thirds - math, language arts/penmanship, and science/history.

the ellen mchenry cell science book is great and can be found on amazon.

Agreeing with above posts that 2nd grade is too early. However, we've found prima latina perfectly fine in 3rd grade if handled carefully: a) It is absolutely our last priority, it gets touched usually only about 3 times/month for maybe 90 minutes at a time. b) We always start with watching the DVD (ordered separately), this makes it much more fun for the younger children as they find the presentation interesting (if repetitive) c) Have the child practise vocabulary and do the workbook mostly on his own, it's a puzzle, he can re-read pages or watch the lesson on the dvd d) when he completes the lesson, give him encouragement and then have him _teach_ you the words and grammar he has learned e) In other subjects, especially science, when encountering new words always discuss where knowing latin and greek would be helpful to understanding the word. f) Don't push, get the child started but prima latina is easy enough that if you are relaxed and consistent, the child will do a 'good enough' job introducing himself to the language. I only help when he asks me to.

It depends on your personality and how much time you have.... - Roomba used to be recommended product, but they haven't innovated that much in the last few years, are horribly expensive, and need constant repairs. It is a sad site to see a pile of old broken roomba's in ones garage.. - Traditional vacuums will work, but yes - they'll occasionally break and need maintenance too and always must be manually run. Can you make running it one of the kids chores? :) - Neato Robotics has a roomba clone that is actually smarter, picks up dust hair, and if properly maintained ..should last at least 4 years at a time. You can get a square trade warranty for it if you want to be careful. My wife insists on perfectly clean floors and this is what works for her. We expect to replace it every 5 years or so.

Honestly, on a typical day: I'll pull out both of the kids singapore workbooks, scan the next two pages they haven't yet done (our goal is two pages every day of the week), review in my head whether they can handle it easily on their own - if they can, I give it to them and have them do the pages, and then I check the work and go through each step of the problems they got wrong. I may then make up other problems to make sure they really understood. If the kids are seeing a new concept for the first time or if I think it is difficult, I might get out the textbook or teachers guide - review it, and then bring the kids into the living room and pull out a whiteboard to 'teach' them the concept...and we'll explore where that concept takes us. I'll make up several problems and have the kids compete to see who can solve them first, or let them take turns solving made up problems. Then, I'll give them the text to quickly scan before they start doing the workbook. Occasionally, if the kids are caught up where they should be and I'm not worried about being able to complete the workbook on schedule, I'll bring out the test book or the math sprints. The test books provide that added challenge and review that makes sure that they haven't forgotten what they've done in the workbooks. And, the math sprints are great ...especially with boys, and definitely if you combine it with having them run a lap around the house between the two phases of the sprint. If I'm having trouble teaching something, I just open up khan academy..and let the kids watch the videos for the topic. There isn't much need for anything more in K-6 grades. We'll consider switching to AOPS when the oldest reaches algebra.

I've been learning that managing schedule/ensuring stuff gets done each day just takes a bunch of iteration and time to get right. When one starts homeschooling, he/she is tempted to make it like real school with a defined start and stop point and leaving the weekends free. Then, one gets ambitious at the start of the year....one comes up with complicated schedules and many subjects/books/etc. What seems to be working long term here is: a) Get the kids motivated to do their work, define a minimal set of work they kids can start on their own each morning - restrict key fun activities like touching the computer until _after_ they have finished completing their minimal do-on-their-own coursework. b) There may be more sports and social activities and less schoolwork going on during weekends, but one shouldn't consciously treat any day different from any other. Kids thrive on a regular schedule and part of the key avoiding burnout is to keep school days as short of possible, which means doing a little bit every day. c) Integrate school with life - there are no defined start and stop times for school during the day, except that I expect the boys to do their chores and other obligations as soon as they wake up and to spend their last hour of the day reading and spending quiet/other time in their room. d) Define the subjects/areas that you know you will need to interactively teach, that require in depth focus, additional audio-visual materials, or that will not be completed every day. Create a dedicated daily block of 1-2hrs to teach these. For myself, I let the kids spend 9am-noon doing the minimal work, let the kids have up to 1hr for lunch and to go to the park, and then dedicated 1-3pm for english grammer, dictation, essay writing, history, and science. e) Ensure that there is a dedicated block of time late in the day for exercise, socialization, and sports - kids need to burn off energy, stay in shape, and have fun to stay motivated and healthy. But, they need to realize that fun happens after they do their work. So, sometimes between 3-5pm for our family, the academics end and the kids go off to the park again, swim, have lego robotics playdates, or just go upstairs to play wii u sports/fit. f) If there is any TV, it is via tablet and limited to 30 minutes to 1hr in the evening. The kids can alternatively play computer games, but only after all other activities are complete and not at the expense of reading time. We try to limit games to classics, exercise, or very strategic thinking types...no minecraft, no shooting pvp...so lately it is chess, bridge, stratego, or wii u. g) There is a tendency that the more one home schools to become more tolerant of the juvenile behaviour at home - after all, you need the childs cooperation the rest of the day to keep them learning. That is exactly the opposite of what is needed... stay strict but with a clear set of unchanging rules..the kids will eventually adopt the behavioural standards you set as their normal. It can take almost a year after the child leaves public school to stabilize, but eventually one can see a marked shift. h) Otherwise, let the kids control their own time. Treat them like mini-adults. You may be their demanding boss, but when they've delivered their work products and met expectations for the day..it is time to let them have their freedom. i) The long term hard stuff like science really needs the parent to focus on developing the childs interest in the subject and continuing to make activities and resources to explore that interest available. The teaching and books are still important, but are essentially worthless without the child developing the interest in the subject and finding his own value for what he is learning.

As far as parental controls/etc goes: - I'm not sure about the newest fire hdx, but the kindle paperwhite can be locked down seamlessly so kids do not worry about logins and are restricted from performing purchases or admin actions on the device. - As far as kindle android apps goes, the amazon customer service is super nice...one of our sons accidentally purchased $50 of apps which we found out about later due to numerous emails being received by our account...Amazon completely refunded the entire charge when we explained what happened...but I think it was just a one-time thing.

For the fire, we have one for family use that it devoted to presenting video supplemental educational material -- we setup a DLNA server in the home and the fire will stream any videos (whether from dvd, downloaded mp4's/etc) to the tablet. Otherwise, there are some nice apps that can turn it into a mini whiteboard which is helpful with Math. Yes, it can stream/play video from amazon prime or be used as a kindle reader. Each of the kids has a dedicated kindle too. This is easier on their eyes, and the new ones have a nice vocabulary builder/flashcard application with solid parental controls.

Simple schedule: Early Morning - Kids can do whatever they want and pursue their own interests as long as they are ready for school to start and have done all their chores Late Morning - Interactive lesson introducing key subjects of the day, generally science or history, then 1-2hrs for the kids to work on basic language arts Early Afternoon - Lunch, Some play time, Math/other subjects Late Afternoon - Swimming, Wii U Fit/Sports, Reading for at least 1hr

For 3rd-5th grade: Kolbe: Phonics, Voyages in English, Catholic National Reader, General Geography, Worldly Wise, Catechism Memoria Press: English Grammar Recitation, Latin, Greek History/Greek Mythology, US/Ancient World Geography, Copybook & Cursive Writing, Science Workbooks Other: Singapore Math, Discovery Education, Life Science & Botany through mishmash of sources, Story of the World, Writing Strands

I love the memoria press curriculum and pair it up with Kolbe Academy material + Discovery Education and Various Science Resources....It works well in general, but I've found that the kids will give up on the classes as too many workbooks unless I start the day by teaching them interactively on a subject for 45 minutes, let them do 2hrs of workbooks + take a break/lunch + do something else interactive with them for 30-40 minutes + do another 1-2hrs of book/paper learning + let them go to park/sports + get on the wii u to play sports/fitness games...this is the only way I can make a real classical curriculum not feel like drudgery to them.

If you are thinking of having your kids participate in lego league robotics competitions: - Junior Lego League is fine for 2nd-3rd grade and allows for wedo projects (coach deals with age issues), but can be completed just with lots of regular blocks, technics, and technic compatible motors. You can never have enough technic pieces...they are used extensively in later age mindstorm projects. We bought WeDo kits but never used them. - First Lego League is a bit of a challenge for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade, but if the kids keep at it - they hit their stride by grade 6 and should be able to win awards by grade 7/8. You want multiple robots and solid group (FLL is as much about teaching team skills as robotics).....if you don't have any yet, get the EV3 rather than the NXT. - First Robotic Challenge is for high school - My kids haven't gotten this far yet. At some point in FLL, it appears that it is a good idea to expose the kids to more than just lego programming....code academy or embedded arduino microprocessor mounted on a bread board.

I'm constantly refining my opinion for the best way to teach singapore, but currently the textbook + workbook + book with tests/answerkey + occasional dabbles into khan academy + various math games on the kindle fire hd seems to be more than sufficient. If I was to make any change going forward, it would be to drop the workbook and replace it with either the intensive practice or word problem book. I honestly wish singapore would just redo the workbook to incorporate more of the word and intensive practice problems and then I could just settle for that new book rather than the three we have now. There is barely any time for the IP + CWP as it is. I suspect though that just the IP or CWP would be too much. The test book is very nice and should stay as is.

We have the complete set of singapore books, eventually we'll see about going to AOPS...we've looked at a few supplements, but with the IP and CWP singapore books...there is almost no need.....khan academy for videos and some additional exercises is usually enough if we need to go outside singapore, there are also some nice cheap/free math apps for the kindle fire that I occasionally let the kids play.

I didn't find the SM website to be that expensive....yeah, if you go all out, perhaps $100/yr/child for all new math books...but you don't have to go all out, and even then....SM has so many problems in their books, much cheaper than paying for other workbooks or supplementing with kummon/etc..And, unlike language...just one set of books to get...so I thought it was a relatively good deal.

The way we're doing it since Dad doesn't know latin: 3rd grade: Prima (easy to do, no stress if you get the DVD w/ the workbook and just focus on introducing the child to Latin) 4th grade: Latina Christiana (I think we can do this at home with just the dvd, workbook, and flash cards) 5th grade: First Form Latin 1 - This is where Latin starts to become a little stressful for the child - we make it easier by enrolling in the online mp course and watching the DVD, we dedicate ~4-5hrs/week 6th grade: First Form Latin 2 - not sure if we'll do it online or not 9th grade: I think Kolbe emphasizes the henle latin books, not sure how we'll approach it...

School starts at 9am monday-friday, and as possible on weekends. For every day of the week, there is a list of subjects we will work on..usually 15minutes-1hr per subject with a total estimated completion time of 3-6hrs if the kids are working at an average rate. During the day, the kids can take breaks whenever they are feeling overwhelmed..but all the assigned work has to be completed by the end of the day. If the kids end up working too late too often, then we cut down on scheduled free or optional activities. Occasionally, I may also move one item from one day to the next. On birthdays and other important events, I'll just cancel whatever the kids don't finish. But, in general, what is scheduled for the week gets completed by the end of the week. That said, if a child wants to do a slightly different activity for a specific subject..I generally let them do so, as long as we are making progress for the assigned subjects and at a reasonable pace towards the yearly goals. I know exactly which books I want completed by the end of the year.

I'm running a hybrid curriculum for 3rd and 5th grade boys this year: We've taken religious studies, phonics, spelling, voyages in english, catholic national reader, and some other snippets of various subjects from Kolbe. From Memoria press, we grabbed some science, grammar, history, penmanship, geography, and Latin. Singapore Math + Life of Fred Writing Strands Additional science from Ellen McHenry books. Logic/Philosophy from miscellaneous sources. SOTW for additional history, especially activity projects. In general, I love the Memoria Press comprehensive curriculum - but I do find that it does require a parent and/or other sources to jazz up some of the content. Discovery Streaming plus and/or online classes can help.

Another plug for horrible histories, my kids found it on discovery streaming plus and spent hours being entertained while learning from it. It's not nearly as comprehensive as Liberty kids though ...but it did make them think and seemed to directly address the questions kids are likely to have.

My 3rd and 5th grader are devoting their science time this year to life science, botany, and the history of medicine since those topics flow together very well. We have workbooks/etc from memoria press and some other resources, including the harcourt elementary science book.

No perfect answer here, I've been struggling between light days that make the kids happier versus high work days that require intense pushing but which make me feel like the kids are meeting the goals I want. So, last week, I finally got around to putting down on a list every workbook, text, reference, and subject matter I wanted the kids to work through during this year. Then today, I used that list to create a simple spreadsheet showing what I want done each day of the week. This allowed me to realistically assess the workload and cut down some subjects. And, I told the kids they are free to play/etc after they've done the work on the list for whatever day it is, but only if the work is high quality. I think giving the kids certainty about what is expected is key. The work just isn't coming out of large pile that grows to consume all their free time. I have a 3rd and 5th grader. The 3rd is much more sensitive. The 5th grader only demand is that he has time for competitive sports, but he likes the idea of working quickly and finishing the day earlier.

Language arts is usually 90 minutes to 2hrs here every day. Reading is 30-90 minutes/day. Math is 30 minutes to 1hr We have history, civics, and/or geography every day, 30 min to 1hr Latin averages about 30-45 minutes/day We don't do science every day, but it's usually 45-90 minutes when we do it We also have a philosophy/logic class twice/week for 30-45 minutes each

First year with singapore too, so far the best process that works with us is to: a) let child read section of text, then go over concept with them in front of a white board and a few made up problems b) If there are any concerns about their grasping the concept, use khan academy videos c) follow up with workbook d) two times/week let them do a sample test from the dedicated test book e) once/week do math sprints f) The intensive math and word problem books are great and wonderful for forcing creative thinking and real effort, however I'm just having trouble figuring out where and how often to use them....we have a full schedule as is.