we just found it this year too and love it. My ds has been enjoying it so much we do two lessons a day instead of just one. And even then he begs for more.

I used TLP last year, but didn't want to give up the grammar that I was already using and liked. We read the stories aloud, discussed the questions and answers, and orally did the vocab sections. We didn't do the spelling or the grammar parts. Sometimes we would add in the enrichment things if we had time.

We are using HO Ancients, level 2 this year. The writing is very basic. Some of the lessons do require more writing than others. I have my son set a timer on the longer lessons. And he only has to work for 30 mins. If he is almost finished at the 30 min mark, and wants to continue, he can, otherwise he is done. This works great for the longer writing lessons and the pocket lessons. We do history and science daily, about 30 mins each a day, 4 days a week. As previously mentioned, at the beginning of the book it states that a short summary is 1-2 sentences, and longer summary is 5 sentences. My son is on about lesson 20 out of 87. He had to do one, one-page summary so far, on pyramids and how people believe they were built. With the pockets, my son doesn't mind doing them, he just doesn't like coloring them, so I don't make him. He just reads them, cuts them out, and glues them together. My son has really enjoyed this program. He likes that he can do it on his own instead of waiting for me to do it. The only complaint he had was the pyramid report. He didn't like reading all the books trying to find a different belief on how the pyramids were built. They all said basically the same thing. So he ended up using a history channel show we had watched that suggested a different way. I set up his binder the way they suggest, and then I put 2 pages from HO manual into page protectors in the front of his binder. When he finishes those pages, I switch them out for the next two pages. That way the pages aren't getting torn up in the main manual.

My dd does a lesson or review in 2 days. Then 1 day on the quiz or test. Do you do all the problems? For the lessons, we only do 20-30 problems. At least one from each section, if she has difficulties with it, I have her do more. Otherwise that is it.

In the front of the activity guide, it has a short section on multilevel teaching. It says for the older child (5-8th), have them read SOTW independently, follow with the appropriate pages in Kingfisher history encyclopedia, add dates to timeline, and then do additional reading at their grade level. See TWTM for detailed book lists.

I agree that you don't want to give extra work for the sake of filling in the time. But I would be concerned about finishing math and language arts in an hour. I would think that it should take about 2 hours. My son is also very efficient and it takes him at least 1 1/2 hours to do those subjects. One thought I just had about the math, is she still at the beginning lessons where it is all review? For my kids, I always had them double up on the first lessons because they were so simple and reviewed what they already knew. Then as new things were introduced, they would slow back down to one lesson daily.

Biology- about an hour to read through section and answer questions. Then quarterly we take a week off and do experiments all week instead. Computer Lit- online course, about 30-45 mins reading through info and doing assignments and tests Algebra 1- chalkdust- I give dd 2 days for each lesson, and 1 day for reviews and tests. First day is watching the video and doing practice. Second day is doing 25-35 problems Language Arts- Spelling- dd is behind in spelling, we do 10-15 mins daily working on that, Writing- CW Diogenes Maxim takes about 30-45 mins a day, Analytical Grammar- she wants to do all three seasons in a year, so daily she does about 30 mins working on one lesson Literture is tied into history History and Geography Geography- taking a geography class at an enrichment program American History- reading History of US- reads one book in a week, about 50 pages a day, then write a research paper each semester. Historical Fiction- reading 12 books over the year after the History of US book for the timeframe, then writes a summary and evaluation Great Books- we chose 12 great books that we are reading together and discussing German- 30 mins on Rosetta Stone Art- taking a class at an enrichment program, and works on the projects a little each day.

Something that I did when my youngest was 5 and I was combining him with the 8 year old for history and science. If he got tired with the reading, the 5 year old was welcome to wander off while I continued with the 8 year old. I am amazed how much he remembers when he wandered off so frequently, but I guess he was listening from where ever he was. What I do with my now 2nd grader Math- daily about 30 mins Lang Arts (gram, spell, reading, writing, journal)- daily 1 hour History- daily- by his choice- 30 mins Science- daily- again by his choice- 30 mins German- daily 20 mins Art- once a week- 30 mins Music- hit or miss PE- daily 30 mins Read alone time- daily 30 mins So we do about 4 hours a day. Granted, the history and science would be less if he didn't want it daily, and German and PE would not done at all if it wasn't for older siblings. Even without those, it would be about 2- 2 1/2 hours.

thanks for the responses. Another question. I make a list of assignments for the week. I generally expect her to finish (or work towards in the case of a project) each subject each day. However, I only check work on Fridays or Saturdays. At this age, would it be better to just assign the work and let her figure out how to do it within the time period she has? For example, do all math and history one day. And then the next do science and writing. Or is it better to have the habit of doing a little bit daily. Since in most school situations you would have homework that is due each day. Thanks for the help.

I am not sure. We just watch the video, and then do the assignment. I guess we haven't really followed along in the book. I have the Elementary Algebra book and the Combined cds. I will try to look a little later.

my son struggles with multi-digit multiplication too. The main thing that helps him is doing it on graph paper. He is in 5th grade, almost 11. I am using Abeka, and while they have alot more available for practice, I only have him do 2. He would freeze when he saw even a row of 6 multi-digit problems. So we discussed and agreed on 2. He is not a slacker, and works very hard in all other areas. But his handwriting is still big for his age, and it was very difficult for him to line it all up. We are increasing the number required as his ability increase.

I am trying to decide if it is better to a/ give my dd a list of assignments and she does #1 and moves to #2, and so on until done. Or b/ give a timed schedule where there are classes, and she works on a subject for a 50 minute class time, and whatever isn't finished, is homework. In both cases she would have a list of assignments that need to be finished each week. The benefit to the timed schedule is that I can know when she will need me since I am also teaching two other children that need me too. But she says it is distracting to have to stop an assignment in the middle and finish it later. Any ideas if one way is better than the other for those that have been there?

my dd is doing AG this year. Since she is older, she is doing it by herself. She has never diagrammed before. But has been able to understand the instructions given in AG. As long as she labels the parts of speech correctly, she can get the diagram correct.

We are using Elemental Science for my youngest, 2nd grade. I have never been able to stick to a program before this one. It is simple, and follows the WTM suggestions perfectly. I has an experiment day once a week, and then the other days are for reading and narration. We are doing Biology currently and will be doing Earth and Space this spring. We are doing 1-2 lessons a day, 4 days a week because my son is loving it so much. It takes less than 30 mins each time. The experiments are simple.

I kept mine on a high dividing wall between my kitchen and breakfast nook. It was high enough to not be accidently knocked over, but low enough for the kids to see from a step stool. Ours never stank either.

we are following History Odyssey, which is very similar to WTM's logic notebook. I started my son with 10 sheets of paper in each section. And he just writes in the appropriate section, after the last thing. I have him skip two lines, and highlight the title for each thing he writes. That helps me to find it easily. But since many of his writings were only 1-3 sentences, it seemed senseless to have them each written on a new sheet of paper. Having him write directly in the binder helps with the filing paper issue too. Last year we were always loosing the papers and then having to figure out where they went later and that was an overwhelming task. This way, the papers never even leave the book.

We have given it up as well. My dd is doing Classical Writing which also covers parsing. And if we took it out, it would make AG a 4 day subject, which we needed since we have an enrichment program on Fridays. So I like parsing, we are just covering it elsewhere.

I have never used the tm for Reason for Handwriting. I have used it for all three kids, and this is the 7th year I have used it. I just have the kids do one lessons a day. We usually do A, B, and transition. In transition the first part of the book is print, the second part is cursive. Then I just move them into using their cursive for copywork and dictation. We like the program and find it very easy to use.

Apologia General Science was her first attempt at science last year and she only made it 3 chapters in before she was stuck. She liked the experiments but not the writing style. I think we will try the science for high school physical science book next year. I ordered the books for biology on pacworks for this year.

thanks for the ideas. I like the looks of the one at pacworks.com. I had my dd come in and look at the samples. She could understand the way it was written and the definitions for the vocab. I think I might try that one.

Now we love science, but have always struggled to do it because of the mess and stuff involved. But this year I got Elemental Science for my 2nd grader. It has been great and the experiments are very easy, and you only do one experiment a week. For my 5th grader I am using Christian Kids Explore____. It isn't my favorite program, but we already had it. He reads the lesson, then the science encyclopedias, he does vocabulary. Then on Thursday he does a simple experiment. I did buy him several science experiment kits that will take more time, I have one for about every 2 months. It has made all the difference to have a simple program that is all worked out and I just have to open and go.

We have always struggled with science. We love it but have been horrible about implementing it. Until this year. We are doing well with my 2nd and 5th grader. But for my 9th grader, she is just failing miserably. Is there some basic, easy , science program that is usable for a 9th grader. Even if it isn't good enough for credit, but something that would be enough to prepare her for a high school science next year.

my son has been loving the program. We have used Biology for several weeks. It is very easy to use. I just pull it out and do it. The experiments are simple, and the supplies are easy to get. Most are things I have laying around. The only prep work I did was to print off the whole book and put it in a binder. Then make extra copies of the animal pictures, and copies of some of the extras found on the yahoo group. It took maybe an hour to put it together. I have dividers in the binder to break up the book so I can find what I need easily. And the best praise I have for it, is that I actually use it daily. This is the first science program I have been able to stick to.

I found this curriculum on Rainbow Resource. When I searched it on this board, I thought it sounded pretty good. But one post mentioned that it could only be done in a group setting. Is this true? Or is it like some other programs that say that a group needs to do whatever, but it is adaptable for just one person? Thanks

SOTW AG is our first choice, but we have gone through each book in the series 2 times now, which is why this year I choose to go with HO. It has been a nice change of pace. I wanted something new to do.