Second time teaching 1st grade. I am planning: Math: Singapore and Beast Academy (once level 2 is released) Spelling: All About Spelling Grammar: First Language Lessons Writing: Intense focus on proper letter formation using SCM Delightful Handwriting then Writing With Ease Tag along with big brother on Tapestry of Grace Year 4 and Dad designed physics course

My 4th grader is continuing: Math: Singapore and Beast Academy Spelling: All About Spelling Latin: Latin for Children A (we are doing this slowly so he is only about 10 lessons in after 3rd grade) History/Geography/Literature: Tapestry of Grace (moving to year 4) New this year: Writing: Either continuing with the strategies of IEW and applying them to history and science studies OR Writing and Rhetoric: Narrative Science: Dad is putting together a physics course with Usborne encyclopedias, Backyard Ballistics, and an experiment book to be determined Grammar: R & S Year 4 Simply Charlotte Mason Print to Cursive Proverbs Simply Charlotte Mason Bird Study

We are ready to purchase a dictionary and would like one that has Latin roots for our work in Latin for Children. Suggestions?

what resources do you use? I've looked at Hymns for a Kid's Heart. What else is out there that gives some background on common hymns ad their authors for the elementary age? Thanks!

Thanks everyone! We are going to try a catch a live Nutcracker as I know our Cincinnnati Ballet does it every year. I'll look up the others recommended here and watch some myself and then pick bits to show the boys. I have one who loves all things dance so he might very well watch an entire ballet especially if he's allowed to move and mimic the dance while he watches. I'll play it by ear but I definitely want to open their horizons as we haven't done much in the world of ballet yet and Tchaikovsky seems a great place to start. I appreciate all the feedback!

We will be covering Tchaikovsky as our composer for the first quarter next school year and I'm looking for recommendations on DVD versions (or netflix, youtube) of the Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and Sleeping Beauty ballets to view with 8 and 5 year old boys. Any ideas?

I'm similar to minivan mom. I make subject spreadsheets with the days down one side and weeks across the top. Each page has 3 weeks on it so that the boxes are large for all my planning. I don't do every subject every day so I just block out any days that I don't do that subject or days I know we will be off and then I plan out the year. I do this for history, science, art, and literature. I keep a teacher binder with tabs for each subject. For everything else, I just copy the schedules provided by the curriculum and file those in the binder. I really like checking boxes! I also keep a spreadsheet for my morning time but that is mostly filled in as we go. I do a loop for that and plan out the books, artists, and composers per quarter that I will use but the actual specifics of what's accomplished gets filled in as we do it.

For Anatomy, I loved the DK Visual Encyclopedia of the Human Body as a spine. You could also check out Blood and Guts as a read aloud or spine. Edited to add: For your youngers, you might like My Body Book

This may not be exactly what you had in mind but I paired this with Ordinary Parents Guide to Reading. I bought a composition book and my son colored, cut, and pasted these and wrote a word that used the phonogram. He had a good time with it. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/First-Grade-Centers-And-More/Category/Phonics

I'm pulling most of our list to match up with TOG Year 3. They assign many abridged versions to upper grammar literature and I would rather read the unabridged as family read alouds. I've also just picked some that I've wanted to get to as a family as well. Tentatively, that looks like these titles so far: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Through the Looking Glass A Christmas Carol Little House on the Prairie Pinnochio The Secret Garden Swiss Family Robinson Heidi Once on This Island Moccasin Trail By the Great Horn Spoon Across Five Aprils Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule Caddie Woodlawn Pippi Longstocking Kids on Strike In the Days of Queen Victoria Trial and Triumph Hallelujah Lass Lottie Moon: Giving Her All for China As far as an assigned reading list, we will be doing most of TOG Year 3 upper grammar history assignments as is and some of their literature. This will be a transition time with me reading some aloud and pushing him to take more ownership and reading on his own with narrations. I'm curious to see how it will go! Everything else will be student's choice provided it's not too twaddle-like.

We enjoyed reading through the Usborne Internet Linked Medieval World Encyclopedia as our spine. My son loves all the You Wouldn't Want To books. We used these for the Middle Ages and Renaissance: You Wouldn't Want to Work on a Medieval Cathedral, You Wouldn't Want to be a Medieval Knight, You Wouldn't Want to be a Crusader, and You Wouldn't Want to Explore with Marco Polo. Our favorite fiction books were Saint George and the Dragon, Tales from Shakespeare by Lamb, and the Tale of King Arthur retold by Felicity Brooks. ETA: I read these aloud to a 2nd grader.

We started considering it because we assumed an ADHD diagnosis would be made with our oldest son's limited attention span at 5 years old and we didn't want him labeled for what we considered normal young boy behavior. Homeschooling has since become so much more for us and we do so for a variety of reasons: allowing our children to discover who they are without undue peer pressure, individualized education, building a family culture, imparting our faith, to name a few.

We do our morning time after breakfast and morning routine. I'm up first, shower, and get breakfast going. We usually do oatmeal, eggs, or cereal. Then the kiddos head off the get ready for the day. After they brush teeth and get dressed, they each have one chore. One wipes down the table and the other cleans the bathroom counter (including all the toothpaste!!) Then we get started, usually by 9:00, and take 45 minute to an hour. Daily we do Bible time, sing a song, memory work, and read aloud. On a rotation of one per day we do artist study, composer study, Shakespeare, and poetry. I plan one topic for each of these areas per quarter. It is working well for us now but I'm always open to tweaking if it becomes a burden instead of a joy.

I tried Prodigy today with my 2nd grader and he loved it. I still need to play around with adding assignments based off of what he needs the most practice with. Thanks for the recommendation!

We love Geopuzzles for geography practice, Madlibs for grammar, and a deck of cards for math games of all sorts. We have other games but these get used most often.

I can't say that TOG will start off being easy to plan but it meets all of your other requests. Since your children are so young, you could start off very simple and just do the history and literature readings and add an occasional activity or map work. It would be more than enough. I don't even read the teacher notes since I'm only teaching the grammar level. I'm getting my history refresher right along with my kids as we read the books together. I'll use them more at the higher levels. I make my own checklist for each week before starting a new year of Tapestry with the bare minimum I want to accomplish and then extras I would like to get to. It has worked well to keep me accountable but keeps the flexibility for weeks we have more time. I really love this curriculum and I don't regret using it with my very young students but I do see that the best part of the curriculum starts at the dialectic stage and continues through rhetoric. It's a good fit for us because we love living books, map work, and the occasional fun activity. I'm fairly confident we'll use it at the higher levels so its worth the investment for me. Download the 3 week sample and actually get the books and work through it with your kids. If you decide to purchase, take some time to read the documents on the loom for a big picture of where the curriculum is taking your family and then put it all away for later and do only the little you need with your younger students. I also recommend joining the togloosethreads yahoo group. There is so much valuable information there for a newbie.

For anatomy, I used a science encyclopedia and I added this really fun project to our anatomy studies. It was great for a 2nd grader and 4 year old. They both really enjoyed coloring and adding the body parts to their outline each week and I couldn't believe how excited they were each time I pulled out the encyclopedia. They learned a great deal. http://www.amazon.com/Body-Science-Books-Patty-Carratello/dp/1557342113/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1458252646&sr=8-1&keywords=my+body+book

I use an assessor who does a facebook review. I create a private album and upload pictures of my children's work. She calls me at an appointed time and we discuss. It usually takes about 30 minutes. I can pm you information if you would like to consider that option.

I have the following resources on my shelf: The Handbook of Nature Study, Drawing with Children, and How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare. I know I would like to incorporate them next year into our studies to add some beauty to our days but I'm drawing a blank on how best to use them. I keep circling around, brainstorming different ideas, and searching the internet but I would love to hear how YOU are using any or all of them in your homeschool. What is really working for you or what did you try and found to be a flop? Help me brainstorm how to get the most out of these rich resources. Thanks!

I'd compare to Rainbow Resources as well. I found the Chemistry level to be cheaper on RR since I can get free shipping.

practicing multiplication facts through 12 and learning the states and capitals? Bonus if I can download the mp3 on iTunes although not strictly necessary. Thanks!

I'm sure there is a better method out there but I keep all the little things I print and laminate in hanging files in a storage box. It works for me but I don't have a ton of items so it's easy to sort through for what I want.

I've gone back and forth many times on this as well. My kiddos are still very young so I have time to figure it out but my plan for next year is to continue Writing With Ease at half pace and add in the TOG writing assignments using IEW methods. I'm not at all certain how it will work out but I'm hopeful that I can start utilizing the "Read, Think, Write" method of TOG by incorporating IEW. I'm not quite ready to leave Writing With Ease since my son has so effortlessly built summarizing skills which I think are needed regardless of writing program.

I haven't used this yet but I saw it recommended on Amongst Lovely Things and want to try it soon - Draw the USA by Draeger edited to add link

I'm a borderline ISTJ/ISFJ but the description of the ISTJ fits me better here. I'm a major researcher, always looking for the right thing, and can be very black and white. I'm not however drawn to boxed curriculum. I very much like to pick and choose based off what I think is right for each of my children.