A friend told us about this program and now our boys are becoming avid bird spotters. I've attached the link to Arkansas Game and Fish Commission to read about the program. Individuals record their bird sightings and once they have collected a certain number, they mail in their records and receive a certificate. There are different levels they can work towards. https://www.agfc.com/en/get-involved/in-the-field/wingsoverarkansas/ Happy Bird Watching!

We used Sonlight Science for my ds9 in 4th and will be using F for 5th. He likes the variety of books and often reads ahead. My question is can I use Hist/Lit D+E for him and my ds7 and ds6? We haven't ever tried a subject as a group. I primarily focus on the 3 R's for my younger two, I just would like to expose them to more, not for mastery. Will the read alouds be over their heads? Ds9 has done SOTW for the last 3 yrs independently, so it would be a different approach for us. And are there activity pages/questions for history and lit? I have a separate grammar curriculum.

I have a similar experience. With my DS9 I started FLL1 in 1st and we just couldn't do it everyday.....way to boring and repetitive,but the lessons are incredibly short. We only finished about 1/3-1/2 of the book. However, he was well prepared for R&S 2 in 2nd grade. If you want for 1st grade, just focus on what nouns are. Then verbs, gently. In 2nd grade R&S and now in 3rd, we do most if not all the lesson orally and he completes the worksheets. We also did WWE 2 for the 1st semester of 3rd (2lessons/day) and began W&R Fable the second semester. The mental development needs to be there before starting W&R. The child has to begin thinking beyond the words for W&R to be effective. I'm glad I didn't rush anything....I'm learning that just because they are smart for their age doesn't mean their minds are mature yet..... My son wasn't ready for W&R until the last half of 3rd, but I am loving the discussions we are having....and again we do most of the lessons orally. I don't want him to hate language arts the way I did just because of busy work and excessive writing.....maybe next year we'll increase the amount of writing he does.

I know it exists somewhere, but I can't find a book list (fiction or nonfiction) that correlates with SOTW 3. I know the activity book has reading suggestions (I don't have this yet, it's on my want list for next year......) I'm looking for longer chapter books (like Adam of the Road) not just picture or reference books on a 4th grade reading level. Thanks for any suggestions!

I use the Acts and facts Science cards that Classical Conversations produces. It seems overly simple but my DS 9 memorizes a card a week. Later when he can do more independent reading of a textbook, he will already have some facts tucked away in his brain and be familiar with the concepts. ck12.org has some short articles on science topics with short youtube videos that are excellent. You could combine the ACts and Facts Science cards with the ck12 articles with not too much labor on your part. I use the ck12 pages to help teach my highschool co-op biology class. I also have a K, PreK and 2 yrold......so anything my 3rd grader can do on his own the better. Later when I don't have so many interruptions, I'll do more experiments. Janice Van Cleave (?)has some great books.

You know I just started using the activity book, I didn't even think about the review cards!! THanks!

I've tried to incorporate CC history sentences into our daily work and I really like the idea, but they skip forward randomly. So I thought I would come up with some history sentences for copywork and memorization and correlate them with whatever chapter we are doing in SOTW. We usually do a sentence/week. Anyone else try this? BTW, we are so tired of narration. SO Very Tired. I have my son summarize what he read that day and write in his own words 2-3 sentences. But he doesn't retain much of that.

I have a ds(8) and WWE and FLL drive him crazy. We do R&S 3 orally and maybe diagram 2-3 of the sentences when they are assigned. I find the worksheets that go with the lessons are good to reinforce but not tedious, they only take him maybe 5 minutes. So far any written assignments we do orally. Some say R&S can stand alone and maybe they are right, but I like having a separate writing cur. We were doing WWE 2, but 3 out of 4 days crying is involved. So I've trudged through the first 22 weeks (doing 2 lessons/day) and now we are going to switch to W&R Fable just for something different (we'll see how that goes.) As a parent I can see where WWE is going and I trust the method, but I need some variety.

My ds8 likes to read and doesn't have trouble spelling. I think he has a little bit of a photographic memory, he doesn't need much practice before he remembers how to spell a word. We will be finishing AAS through level 7 next year (3rd) but I don't know what to use next. I thought about something that teaches the Latin and Greek roots, but am open to suggestions. I don't want something too tough because he does have the maturity you'd expect for a typical 3rd grade boy.

My ds8 likes to read and doesn't have trouble spelling. I think he has a little bit of a photographic memory, he doesn't need much practice before he remembers how to spell a word. We will be finishing AAS through level 7 next year (3rd) but I don't know what to use next. I thought about something that teaches the Latin and Greek roots, but am open to suggestions. I don't want something too tough because he does have the maturity you'd expect for a typical 3rd grade boy.

Argh! I just bought SFC! So what did you buy to replace it? I chunked veritas history....just not a fit for my younger boys

My DS (8) is using The Complete Book of Spanish workbook ( on Amazon for about$9) and Duolingo. The workbook is a gentle introduction to Spanish vocabulary. He does one to two pages a day. He loves Duolingo so much that I have to get him to quit. He does it all by himself. I received CAP Spanish for Children last week but we will work that in gently next year. Another post summed it up well, SFC is grammar heavy, while Duolingo emphasizes usage\conversation. Duolingo has two settings to allow you just to listen or you can set it to require verbal answers. I think his workbook and Duolingo make a great pair and when he finishes the workbook we will start SFC.

Wow, I can't imagine spending 4 digits on homeschooling materials, but i know from looking at many curriculums that's certainly possible!! We spend less than $250 on curriculae, $200 community sports, $100 HomeSchool co-op fees & classes for 2 kids(3rd and k), so thats $225/year/kid. I know high school will be considerably more. I purposefully choose highly recommended curriculums that can be reused (and resold) and I buy used whenever possible. I'll eventually have four hs'ing so I make my dollars count. I feel I should say that I have post grad degrees in science fields so I've never purchased science texts, because science is akin to breathing in our house. And I get all our history\social studies books from our library. So here's some encouragement to those who can't spend four digits on each kid, do the best you can, don't chase that elusive perfect curriculum (it probably doesn't exist), and trust God with the rest. ☺

I can add to this a little of our experience. I, too, felt MUS was lacking but liked it because I wanted my DS to listen to someone else besides mommy all the time. I wouldn't say my ds8 is advanced, but he flew through Alpha in K. So I had to supplement just to have a math curriculum that lasted us all year. MUS only has 30 lessons with 6-7 pages of problems per lesson. That's when I added Singapore (slowly). It's been great! He is in 2nd and I couldn't be happier with the results of using both. We don't do everything in Singapore, but just the problems and concepts that aren't covered in MUS, and together they fill up our whole year. We do two pages a day, 1 MUS 1 Singapore or 2 MUS, plus speed drills. Sometimes I find extra worksheets online if a particular topic stumps him. For instance, he really struggled with adding 8 and 9, so I printed worksheets from the internet until he mastered it( it took three weeks). Same with some of the multiplication facts, we used flash cards too until they were mastered. This was just a memory issue not a comprehension problem. Summary of things I like: MUS: someone else teaches, introduces algebra (solving for an unknown) in 1st grade, introduces equivalent fractions without the student realizing what is happening, worksheets aren't overly burdensome Singapore: teaches kids to think mathematically, different approach to solving problems, introduces fractions early, worksheets aren't burdensome Cons: buying two curriculums (yak!!!), Mr Demme's method sometimes seems a little convoluted, ( I don't think we've watched a video this year, with minimal mom help, but if your student struggles to understand math concepts mr. Demme can help), Singapore requires mom explanations I look at it like MUS and Singapore are two sides of a penny, same penny, totally different view. Haven't tried beast (too expensive just to try), tried Saxon 2 and it wasn't great, but DS hates monotony ( which is another bonus for combining the two curriculums) HTH PS: DS is in 2nd working through MUS Gamma and Singapore 2a and b. I have Singapore challenging word problems that we will incorporate next year, but a grade below

I second Duolingo. My ds8 loves it.

We have used singapore with MUS, and like the PP, you can teach these without the TG. I didn't even use the text book or TG for 1 & 2, but will probably use it more in grade 3. The TG presents several different methods of getting your students to think mathematically, which becomes more important as you progress, but like I said I haven't used them for 1 and 2. You can find a ton of textbooks on eBay so that tells me others haven't found them too important either. YOu should be aware that Singapore can be rather advanced, some have needed to go back 1\2 a grade depending on their student. Just curious why you are ordering the first half of 1st grade and the second half of 2nd and 3rd? It usually goes 1a,1b, 2a,2b, etc. I've used a mixture of the Standards and US editions, and there's not that much difference, but the US ed is cheaper. I have the CWP, and I find they truly are challenging and I haven't found the time to work them in yet. Maybe this summer..... So recap: Workbooks definitely, TG becomes more important ( not necessary for 1&2), textbooks optional, I don't have experience using the extra practice b\c we already use another math program.

My boys are using SSS and a cool app on my tablet called Duolingo. My ds (8) grabs the tablet right after breakfast for his lessons. He spends about 10 minutes a day. The app has settings to do just auditory or add in the verbal responses. The pronunciation is very clear. It is nice for him to have that independence and he really loves it and is teaching it to his 5 and 3 yr old brothers. The app constantly circles back to the first lessons so that he doesn't forget the material. If he misses too much content it will have him redo the lessons until he shows proficiency. Can't beat it for free! HTH

I'm looking for a writing curriculum for next year. We are currently working through R&S English 2, which teaches grammar. Next year we'll use R&S 3, but from what I've seen the writing portion is pretty dry. We tried FLL but that was too much mommy talking for my boys and I'm afraid that's what WWE 3 may become. (I began to sound like the teacher in Charlie Brown, "Wha, whaa, wha, whaa.") Is it possible to use any of the theme based books without having viewed TWSS? I've written a master's thesis, so I have writing skills, but I need some structure teaching them. I'm more of a science and math, logical brain type, so I need some balance with finding appropriate selection of "fun" reading for kids. I've looked at many of the samples and I'm torn between WWE 3, IEW theme based (especially the geography based, All Things Fun and Fascinating, etc.) or maybe W&R Fables. Purchasing TWSS is out of our budget, and I don't think any of our co-op members use it. Please post your suggestions/experience. THANKS!

I thought I would add my two bits. I have 4 boys, active, body and mind. I tried FLL 1 with my oldest ds in 1st grade but I became the teacher in Charlie Brown, "Wha, Wha, WHa, WHAA." The material was great but I lost them after 4 or 5 sentences. So for 2nd grade we are using R&S English 2. I talk less, he reads the lessons aloud to me(mostly). We do the exercises orally and occasionally I have him write the exercises but only the short ones. I think the written exercises a bit too much for a 2nd grader. He reads on his own quite a bit (3rd or 4th grade level), so he naturally understands some basic grammar (singular, plural, pronoun usage, etc.). He does copywork and simple journal entries for his science and history. Next year we will use WWE 3 for writing and R&S 3 for grammar. I will probably skip any writing in R&S and keep with the flow in WWE. I just received R&S 3 in the mail yesterday and have FLL 3 and compared them side by side. It was like looking at two apples, one Red Delicious and the other a Fuji apple. Both apples, both good for you, both thorough. It came down to me talking less and my son more actively participating in the lesson by have to read aloud to me. R&S 2 takes us less than 15 minutes a day and we usually do 2 lessons (orally). So its not time consuming, open and go (but we do have to find a quiet corner of the house.....)

A friend has a son (6) who has already finished MUS Alpha and halfway through Beta only because his mom is pacing him. They are on a tight budget and constantly buying textbooks is not an option and they don't have internet at home. Any of you veteran HSers have a suggestion for an advanced or challenging math curriculum? I know he is young, but he is incredibly bright. Any input would be helpful. Thanks!

I was not prepared for how quickly my K5'er would progress through this book. We are on lesson 19 (of 30). We spend 1-3 days or longer on a lesson to ensure that he has mastered the information. So now I'm looking for what is next. I like the MUS short video lesson, kind of gives me a break and he gets to listen to someone else for a change, but I went through Saxon math in Jr. High and I know Saxon has a great reputation. For those of you have kiddos who do well in math, what would you do? I don't think he's a math genius, but he doesn't struggle too much. If he isn't being challenged, school is awful for us..... TIA