My 3 year old decided that my 17month old was bored since he was crying in his high chair and gave him my all about spelling card box to hold. ( Because that makes sense...) He then completely unloaded two kids worth of cards and dividers onto the floor. I want to cry. Happy Wednesday

Thanks!

Thanks for the info on the no price break. If you end up with level three winning with writing for sale let me know. You can just pm me! :)

Let it go! Let it go! Let it go! When I know I didn't like something, and don't plan on using it with my other kids I sell it or give it away. There isn't space in my house for all of the curriculum duds that we have tried. (We have 4 kids and one on the way) However before I get rid of it I do write down the things I didn't like. And when folk on the hive start talking about how great said curriculum is, I just walk the other way. Also the way I look at it, if I buy used, I can sell it at a discount and re-buy it later it I just "have" to have it.

Do you know if Winning with Writing and Soaring with Spelling goes on sale? I can't find anywhere other than their website to order it from, and I don't want to order it now if there is going to be a big sale later. Thanks!

We really enjoyed WinterPromise The World Around Me science at that age. A good balance of hands on and books. We also enjoy the God's Design For... Series which is put out by Answers in Genesis. The kids loves the Animals book.

I totally agree. We love the DVD because we put it on the iPad and she can use it when ever I am too busy with the other kids. We switched to SS because we were just skipping spelling because the curriculum we were using was so teacher intensive. So it works for us. I like having the option.

If you are doing the student pages, with the exception Of the new Primary level student pages, the student pages are self explanatory. When people talk about the blue three ring binder notebook, they are talking about a different method of doing the lessons. (We use it in our Wednesday night class at church.) It is great if you have a wide range of ages, or if you have kids that would be doing two different kinds of student pages, but you want to do them as a group.

All you need is the teacher's book. I use a $0.50 composition book for my daughter to do her list and we do a page a day. You can get the first 8 days as a free sample on their website. I recommend trying those 8 days before buying the book. Then you will know if you like it enough to spend the money.

Ok the link didn't work. Try this http://peacehillpress.com/the-ordinary-parent-s-guide-to-teaching-reading-paperback.html Go down the page until you see "a general guide to when your child will be prepared to read various beginner readers" or something like that. That I the list that really helped us. Hope the link works this time. :)

One more thing. There is a list on the Peace Hill Press site that says what books from the library, or bookstore can be read after what lessons. That has been really helpful for us. I will try to add the link here and see if it works. http://wtm-pdfs.s3.amazonaws.com/2010GuidetoSupplementaryReaders(2).pdf

We are doing basically what you mentioned doing. We just changed phonics programs and started OPGTR at lesson 50. We are moving through doing 2 lessons a day until we hit a snag. It seems to be going well. The only thing that is some time an issue is that a lowercase L and an uppercase i look the same. Other than that I am glad that OPGTR will go a lot farther down the phonics road for my child that needs all of the rules spelled out for her.

Have you considered using the books Landmark history of the American People and a couple of the The Story of The USA books and doing a few chapters a week. And for around $50-60 per family, all ages could use it. It would be easier to make it through that than trying to do both SoTW. I think history pockets would work for the youngers as a supplement, but I don't think there is enough there to be a stand alone curriculum. (And if I understand you correctly, you are looking for a curriculum that you could read at home and do a reinforcing activity together once a week?!?) Another option would be to let everyone choose their own curriculum and focus on a famous person's biography from US history during co-op each week. Good luck! Let us know what you pick!

I am about to order my curriculum for next year. (As in, it is sitting in my shopping cart!) : ) Here is what I have planned. What do you think? This is our 4th year homeschooling, but I can't resist getting feedback! 3rd Grade Saxon Math 3 God's Design for Life Science Story of the World Vol 2 First Language Lessons - Level 3 Explode the Code Level 7-8 Wordly Wise Level 3 Sequential Spelling Level 2 Handwriting without tears, Cursive, grade 3 Writing with Ease Level 2 1st Grade Saxon Math 1 God's design for Life Science Story of the World Vol 2 First Language lessons Level 1 Explode the Code 2-3 Beyond the Code- 1 Wordly Wise Level 1 Handwriting without tears, print, grade 1 Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching reading-Picking up from this year

Sonlight Science doesn't get alot of love here on the boards but we use it, and enjoy it. It does jump around a little, but that doesn't bother us. And most importantly in gets done. We have also used Winter Promise science and enjoyed it too. It doesn't jump around as much as Sonlight. But it was fun. Hope that helps!

Thanks for the encouragement! I think I may try it. I don't want to push on until we have really gotten this a little more reinforced. I an trying to be patient. I know reading will happen in its own schedule.

Some of our favorite resources online are episodes of Liberty's Kids and the Magic School Bus episodes on YouTube. I google what ever topic we are covering and usually find lots of experiments. Also, you may want to join Pinterest. (if you need an invite, pm me your email address and I will send you one!) it is free and we find tons of ideas on there.

Our local library is really small too. It is frustrating that I have never been able to find a non-fiction book that I was looking for. So we order alot from amazon. When we lived in Nashville, Tn we could find every book that Sonlight uses at the library. Now, not so much...

Another vote for b+c. And if it is overwhelming you can always slow down and spread it out. But at his age I don't really think that is going to be a problem.

Are they are as good as the hype? Do you have to do anything else? We have completed year K of Hooked on Phonics and I don't think we are ready for the next level. I think we need to reinforce what she has already learned. I have looked at the online samples but I just wasn't sure. Would ten minutes a day really work?

Sorry, the link didn't work. Try here http://www.activitybags.com/

I use these activity bags for my preschoolers while I am working with my school age kids. I thought I would share the link since the ebooks are 1/2 off this week. Hope they might help someone out.

Just wanted to say thanks for being a good teacher! Good luck finding what works for you and your kids!

Are the recordings there like librivox (volunteers)? Just curious. Thanks for the link!

I would also check out the Egermeiger Story Book Bible. It is great, very true to Scripture, not very story book at all. Your 3rd grader could probably read it on their own. I read a story and then we discuss it. Also, we use the Bible Study Guide for All ages, unit book. It is the binder with the lessons, without the student pages. It is a great way to really use the Bible as you basis of study. You could read from which ever version you prefer.