P.S. I am having to tweak MEP ALOT with money, weights, and measures. If you print out the worksheets on standard sized printer paper, the printer shrinks the measurement on the page. Because it is European it teaches European weights, measures, and coins. Recently we had to skip a few lessons that dealt with converting g to kg and cl to l. I try to come up with my own problems to substitute those questions using inches, feet, yards, ounces, pounds, etc.... Eventually, I will teach the European weights and measures, but for now I am wanting ds to learn the US calculations he will encounter in real life America. (Although, I do think the European system of g, kg, cl, l, cm, m is so much simpler to learn and teach!). Instead of having my ds measure CM on the worksheet problems, I cross those problems out and write " hands on application" and ask him to measure something of similar size around his desk. Another piece of advice is to use the centimeter side of a meter stick or yard stick as a number line as needed.

Year 2 is what my 7 yo is doing now. Year 1 mostly covers number facts from 1-20 . It also covers Roman numerals, calendar, telling time, basic shapes, easy weights and measurements, and a few other things. I taught money counting, calendar, basic weights and measures, and telling time hands on around the house using US money and a real calendar instead of their worksheets. 7yo is definitely not too old to start into the program. From year 1, I would do a basic teaching on the <,>,= symbols if your former math program didn't cover that. If the charts and puzzles in year 2 are too new for your child, I would go back and pick some worksheets from year 1 that use charts, tables, and puzzles. The number work will be easy, but it would get your child use to the MEP style of teaching.

If you are looking for subjects other than the 3R's (which would be enrichment only).....for literature read alouds, poetry, music study, artist study, and such I would look into Ambleside online or EasyPeasy. They have links to free online resources for many extracurricular subjects. I pick and choose from those suggestions quite a bit. Like you, I used a dry erase handwriting board for writing in the beginning (still using it with my youngest). PBS has tons of educational shows that are good for K age. My children especially like Wild Kratts. We watched many YouTube videos of traditional children's folk songs. Those songs put some spice into our 3R work. For social studies, I hear some Mr. Rogers videos are online (haven't looked them up though). I signed up for a free trial of Amazon Prime and let my Ker watch several Mr. Rogers for the one month it was free. We attend whatever free community classes available for that age group through our library, community center, and local nature center. Go to the zoo or museums if and when the have a special free day. If you don't have Netflix, there are some Magic Schoolbus videos on YouTube and probably at your local library. My daughter is doing well with the free downloads of Progressive Phonics books. 100 ez lessons is at our library. Also, the "what your _______grader needs to know" books are at our library. They have a good summary of what to cover beyond the 3Rs (again, it's fine if you just cover the 3rs for now).

Duplicate post, sorry.

Just checked the Progressive Phonics website to find out what pre-primers it offers, but their website is down for maintenance. I read a review that the website is being re designed, so it may be down longer than you need it to be for starting reading in January.

My 5yo is liking Progressive Phonics. She feels accomplished every time she finishes one book and moves onto the next. This is my first time teaching reading from ground zero since my ds learned to read in ps kindy, so others are welcome to give pros and cons to using Progressive Phonics as the main reading instruction. I downloaded all the Progressive Phonics unto my ipad for free, so it is easy for us move through the books and I didn't have to print anything. It seems like it will be easy for your mom to start the program and you pick up where ever she leaves off. We didn't use any pre primers to reading, watching leapfrog DVDs were good for learning letter sounds for dd. I'm not positive, but Ii think Progressive Phonics had pre reading books. HTH

Thank you all. I've never heard of some of these series, so it is great to have this list. Thank you also for the links.

My 7yo does copywork, reading on or above level, oral narrations, and a simple dictation based spelling program for LA. I am needing a good cursive introduction workbook and cursive copywork program since my cursive is terrible (I made straight A's in everything except handwriting throughout elementary and may need to relearn how to write cursive neatly myself, lol). I am wanting a systematic program for the next 1-3 years that teaches grammar, syllables, punctuation, verb tenses, prefixes and suffixes, irregular plurals, and other aspects of English not covered by oral narration and copywork alone. Teaching all things LA is not my strength. I am thinking of getting Explode the Code workbooks, but wonder if I need something else for a more full English program. Would ETC be enough combined with oral narrations, copywork, and spelling? What is a good simple workbook based cursive writing program? I have PLL, but feel it is redundant since I do picture study, copywork, oral narrations, and memory work separately from the PLL lessons. Wondering if it might be worth starting PLL just to have a grammar book that tells me what to teach. I don't want to add ETC, PLL, or any other recommendations just as busywork. If I add them in, I want the material to build a strong LA foundation. I also was wondering if Rod and Staff English covers LA thoroughly, and if so will their English program fit in with an ecclectish/CMish approach to education. I know CM believes LA needs to be more informal, mainly through copywork and oral narrations early on, but since LA isn't my strength I need some outside resources in this area for my children. Insights or suggestions?

My children got the complete Liberty Kids DVDs for Christmas. I'm thinking about getting them The Complete Magic Schoolbus DVD collection. What other CD or DVD series are there for younger elementary aged that are educational and fun? They watch Wild Kratts and are learning a lot about animals from that.

My children got the complete Liberty Kids DVDs for Christmas. I'm thinking about getting them The Complete Magic Schoolbus DVD collection. What other CD or DVD series are there for younger elementary aged that are educational and fun. They watch Wild Kratts and are learning a lot about animals from that.

If you have a decent blender, a little milk substitute, frozen bananas, blueberries, and flax meal blended together into an ice cream type consistency and topped with crushed walnuts is our new breakfast favorite. If you don't have a great blender to tolerate the large amount of frozen ingredients, you could blend everything not frozen and freeze into single bowls or Popsicle molds. Dh has to have traditional breakfast, but the kids and I eat things like above all the time. Also, I make muffins using almond meal instead of flour that are good, tons. Of online recipes. We eat some grains, but carrot sticks dipped in peanut butter and honey is a hit for snacks or lunch, could work for breakfast. I love the ideas the above posters gave.

This is me.........>>>>>>>..........running away from the park sales lady.............>>>>>>>>>............... Seriously, I'll stick to getting micronutrients from the whole foods vitamin company, Vitamix green smoothies, and other real food. I so appreciate everyone's unbiased input. I'm likely to encounter the lady again as she is new to the neighborhood, takes her kids to the same playground down the block from me, and asked for my number after a very friendly conversation about life in general in which she said she could tell me more about the Reliv when she wasn't chasing down her little ones at the park. I had no idea she was in a MLM business, and was being strategic in the conversation to market a product! If she calls, I will say a firm no to the product up front and offer a park play date instead. In the meantime, I'll try to get good at "pass the bean dip" conversation. Thanks again for all the insight.

Thank you all for sharing. The heavy amount of soy daily in the product is disturbing to me as well. I'm not sure how bioavailable our supplements from the chiro are. The brand is Standard Process that claims to use whole foods, many of which are grown organically. They are chewable. I've only been giving them to our son for asthma a couple of months. Therefore, I would hate to change to a claiming to be miracle healing protein shake when I haven't given a true whole foods diet with added supplement a try in building up ds's immune system first. The supplements from the chiro are less expensive than the meds the traditional pediatrician prescribed, and also less expensive than the Reliv nutrient shakes the lady I met at the park sells. Also, the chiro thinks my ds won't need to take the supplements long term, we're just trying to get his immune system working well so I won't keep needing steroids from the regular MD for asthma attacks. The more natural healing options are new to me, there are so many options, all claiming to be the miracle heal for any and all ailments. I'm finding a common thread with all of the options comes to whole foods in the most pure and unprocessed form. I talked about the Reliv with my husband this evening as well, sharing your posts. His gut feeling is to not buy it.

Just curious, I was chatting with a friendly lady at the park, and the lady sales this product that is supposed to be the perfect balance powder shake to help immune related illnesses. She says many have been cured from immune problems taking the protein shakes. I am in research mode, but already am transitioning to a whole foods diet, trying to get more green smoothies in our diet, and started taking vitamin supplements recommended by my husband's chiropractor that are made from all natural (maybe organic) food substances. It is quite expensive, and I'm thinking just spending more money on better quality whole foods will be better. Insights anyone?

When doing artist study, I save artist print images from the internet to my photo album. Each artist we study is put into its own album. For learning songs, since I can't sing on key, we pull up YouTube videos from the YouTube app. I try to find videos where the songs have the lyrics on the screen. I have a list of favorites in my YouTube account of songs we want to learn through the year. The other day my ds wanted to know how sinkholes happen, and I have no idea. My ipad is in with our stack of school binders. I just picked the ipad up, and showed him a YouTube a video about it. So convenient. We'll also listen to a composer's music on the ipad. For my youngest, I downloaded all the progressive phonics books into my iBooks app. This has saved a ton of printing. My son reads from the Treadwell readers from iBooks as well. We watch Netflix and Salsa Spanish episodes from the ipad at times. I downloaded free lesson plans to go with the Salsa Spanish videos into iBooks, and teach from those lessons. I had downloaded the free online MEP math lesson plans to the ipad, but discovered for math I like having the lesson plans in a printed binder. You can put the Kindle app onto the ipad, then any Kindle ebooks you buy or download for free go directly unto your ipad. When we are out and about on school field trips or doing projects, I take pictures of our "school on the go." I copy booklists from various curriculum companies into the Evernote app, then choose an ecclectic mix of books from those recommendations. That is helpful to pull up when I'm at a used bookstore. Haven't used this much yet, but plan to listen to audiobooks from it. I basically consider my ipad a portable school room. We do have plenty of books, paperwork, projects, hands on, writing, and other things to do; these things are the bulk of the school day vs. being on the ipad. I don't know much about printing from the ipad, only that it can be done with the right app and a compatible printer. We print from our laptop at home.

Doing a Jesse Tree for the first time this year. We made 12 sets of 25 ornaments to give away to various relatives and close friends. Boxing them all up today.

Blondeviolin--We are about lesson 65 , and the double digit subtraction starts a few lessons before that....somewhere b/n 55 and 62 maybe. Thanks to everyone for their replies. It's good to know that I'm not wasting our time teaching math using this new-to-me method. Sounds like it will pay off to slow down the lessons, do the subtraction solutions the way MEP writes in the lesson plans, and wait until MEP brings up the vertical column subtraction in Y3 to introduce "my" way of subtracting.

We are using MEP year 2 with ds age 7 . It seems a perfect fit for my teaching style and his learning style. We are both mathy. Since a young age, my ds has had a good concept of numbers and how to think abstractly. We used a variety of manipulatives quite a bit last year, but he has never been dependant on them. However, we are doing double digit subtraction now, and this is the first time he is overwhelmed with math. MEP does double digit math completely different than the way I learned it. I learned to do math vertically from right to left with borrowing and carrying. I suppose most people schooled in traditional public school learned this way. MEP teaches horizontally, more so from left to right. For example, 59-38 would be solved this way: 59-30-8=21. For a problem crossing tens, MEP would instruct like this: 42-26=42-20-2-4=16. I suspect regardless of if I continue to teach multiple digit subtraction the MEP way or if I translate the MEP problems into vertical columns and teach borrowing and carrying from right to left, the new concept may just need more time for my son to understand. I'm just curious if I should introduce the US traditional way now so he can decide which way he wants to find the solutions. Will it handicap us as we get into more difficult math using a program that doesn't teach math the way I was taught? I love MEP, but curious if his slowing down on this new concept is normal for any child just being introduced to double digit subtraction or does the concept come more naturally if taught the way most US based math books teach subtraction. Any insights? Thanks in advance.

Sorry, but the deal ended Oct. 31st. Wish I saw the post one day ago.

Have you heard of or looked at Simply Charlotte Mason aka SCM? The geography, history, and Bible guides can be done as a family, with the older kids having extra independent reading for depth. There are read alouds for the early years. It is a 6 year history cycle with 3 years on the ancients, but the reasoning for spending 3 years on ancients is that those years are heavier Bible history to line up with world history in ancient times. For the younger years, you can keep to the 3 r's adding in the extras as time permits through library books, field trips, programs, audiobooks, and other things. Remember that as your littles grow into school age, your olders will be more independent in their school work. Also, as your children grow they will be able to share many household responsibilities that you are doing on your own now. Things like cooking, cleaning, laundry. I don't have a large family, but can imagine that life would be even more busy for you having 6 in regular school where you have to help with homework, keep up with the info in the folders the teachers send home for parents to sign, make lunches each morning and give each kid a good breakfast in a time crunch, monitor the social health of each child in a different classroom, and fundraising/volunteer pressures. I am guessing it will be hard and busy to homeschool 6 children, but would guess it is easier than the season you are in right now with many little ones dependent on you for most daily needs. Your reward in the end will be great even though it may be hard and busy. Someone with more than 2 children can shed more light on whether or not it can be smooth homeschooling 6. I would also encourage you to spend most of your time and energy beyond the 3 r's for your oldest on working on habits like obedience, attention, and chores. This will keep you busy now, but will make it easier for you later when all are school aged.

If you want something to try for free, there are episodes for free called Salsa Spanish. The lesson plans for the teacher are at http://edu.wyoming.gov/searchresults.aspx?SearchQuery=Salsa . I'm not good at linking, but I think the episode link is http://www.gpb.org/salsa/term/episode . If you have trouble with these links do a search for Salsa Spanish episodes and Salsa Spanish lesson plans. For the lesson plans, lesson 1 goes with episode 101 . I have all the lesson plans in an iBook folder, it's very convenient. There are lots of suggestions for games, songs, and hands on activities to help with the vocabulary. HTH

For K- parts of MFW K, Progressive Phonics, recess For 2nd grade- MEP math, Modern Speller, Draw.Write.Now, going to the library, CLP Nature Reader For both- simple cooking lessons, Salsa Spanish with lesson plans

Just a couple of weeks ago, while planning to cover US history more in depth next school year, I panicked because I realized that I won't have time to add in all the capitals, birds, flags, flowers, mottos, etc.... with the other things I have planned. We have a children's US atlas with those details that I plan to get out for my ds to look over in his personal reading time. It may interest him like other non-fiction books do, but no big deal if it doesn't. I think I might cover each region instead of each state, pointing out more specifics about states that stand out more historically. I am originally from Texas and suspect a prior poster is from there ;) . I was led to believe our state was superior when I was young. I haven't lived in Texas since I was a teenager, which was eons ago. While I was taught much about Texas state history through 8th grade, I know very little about the history of the state I've lived in the past 25+ years.

I got terrible headaches for the first time in my life a few months after having my 2nd child. It was my vision. As far as school schedule, I try to do 6 weeks on then 1 week off, with longer breaks around Christmas and part of summer. I change it up when something unexpected comes up on a different week than was planned to be an off week. But, trying to stretch the break out much past 7 weeks of straight schoolwork starts to produce burn out in all of us.

I have the MFW K manual that I follow loosely,. I use the letter themes, character topics, science focus, Bible verses, and songs. I wonder if I should feel guilty at times, because I'm not fitting in the hands on crafts, thus my dc aren't getting all the fun craft activities to correlate with the weekly themes that I see on the wonderful MFW users blog sites. I'm just not into crafts, but like you, I take my children places where hands on crafts are done elsewhere when possible. My conclusion has been that it will be okay if we don't do them, and they are still learning. I love the idea of FIAR, but know I wouldn't do all the hands on projects to correlate with the books with that program either, so I use that as a reading list instead . Confession: I get on a guilt trip about it with dh, and he says dc won't resent me for not doing all the crafts. We've done a few things like leaf prints and build a nest, but I liked helping with those things more than other crafts. I do have paper, glue, scissors, markers, paint, and play dough available for them to do their own projects, just they're not related to the school.