I considering the same for next year. I've pretty much decided to go with either Pandia Press' RSO Chemistry or Elemental Science Chemistry. They both look like strong programs to me with a good deal of scientific method and experiments that are applicable to what we are learning. I like the look of the RSO Chemistry better in terms of aesthetics which matter to my oldest but I like the spines offered for Elemental. I'll probably purchase the Usborne Science Encyclopedia and do some readings from there along with RSO Chemistry. I'm still debating whether or not to purchase both a chemistry and physics year and do half next year and the rest in 4th. eta: I always feel like you and I are deciding on science right around the same time each year. It's fun to have another momma asking the questions I'm thinking!

I loved "The Plant that Ate Dirty Socks" when I was a kid but when I tried reading it aloud, I just couldn't get through it.

I thought of one more: KONOS. It's a unit study approach with multiple levels in one volume. Again, probably not reusable one year after the other but able to be repeated as your children age and nonconsumable.

I would put All About Spelling in this category although some think it is expensive. It's completely reusable and has definitely taught me quite a bit about how to approach spelling. Center for Lit's Teaching the Classics would be multi level, reusable year to year, and provide some teaching for you as well in the literature category. I'm a huge fan of Tapestry of Grace for many of the reasons you described but it's certainly not cheap the first time you make the investment and wouldn't be if you don't have access to a great library. For my growing family, it makes sense in order to purchase 1 curriculum that can be used with all my children at the level they need and can be repeated again 3 times per child. I'm sure many would disagree with me though that the cost is worth the value. :laugh: I think the only way math becomes reusable is if you save the workbooks like Sweetpea mentioned above. I think that's brilliant! Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding would qualify for science, I would think. Not totally reusable year to year but certainly able to be kept for your next child coming up and very cheap for the value.

This is my second K'er and I'm excited to go again! Reading: OPGTR + lots of good books Handwriting: HWOT + simple copywork Math: Singapore 1A/1B done slowly and Miquon to supplement Memory work Everything else is tag along with big brother, 3rd grader: TOG year 3, Chemistry, Artistic Pursuits

I'm planning a combination of Singapore and Miquon for K. I decided to go forward with Singapore 1A/1B instead of purchasing their K curriculum. Most of the same concepts are just repeated and I already have level 1 on the shelf. I'll just take it slow and reinforce as needed out of Miquon.

Have you looked at Tapestry of Grace? It has a Biblical worldview and resources broken down by lower grammar, upper grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric. I would think that you could use the upper grammar level with your 4th, 5th, and 6th grader and move your 6th grader up to dialectic after you get familiar with the program. The book offerings for the lower grammar level are pretty quick reads for the most part so you could read those aloud to your youngest and then plan activities for them altogether. They offer a free 3 week trial that I would highly recommend before purchasing to see how it fits with your family.

We started this year after Christmas with Handwriting Without Tears. A lot of people don't like the look of it but I love the gentle instruction and figure we can always go for more style after the basics are down. My son is loving it and I imagine we'll be done before we officially start 3rd grade. I'll continue to reinforce with our copywork.

Writing: WWE 3 half pace and IEW TWSS principles applied to TOG assignments Grammar: FLL 3 and Sentence Family Spelling: Finish AAS 3 and start AAS 4 Math: Singapore 3b, 4a and maybe add Beast Academy 3 History: TOG Year 3 (transitioning to UG) Science: Undecided between Elemental Science Chemistry or RSO Chemistry Latin: Prima Latina Changed to Latin for Children A Bible: What We Believe: Who Is God? Art: Pulling from Drawing with Children and Artistic Pursuits 1 & 2 currently on shelf We'll continue with morning time. I want to read through the Chronicles of Narnia as our main read alouds for the year. (Dad started Narnia with the boys as a bedtime read so I am compiling a new list. We'll also start piano lessons and continue with our weekly co-op. I'm probably teaching a poetry class for his age range. Updated with our current changes. More may be coming!

I used "No More, I'm Done" to teach a creative writing co-op class this year for 1st through 3rd. I chose to use it for the reasons you described above. We were making good progress with WWE but my son really wanted to add in a creative element. He writes stories all the time during his free time. I wanted to add creative writing without dropping WWE. It has been a good fit and many of the students in my co-op class have enjoyed the lessons.

I used OPGTR to teach my now 8 year old boy. I am using it again with my 4 year old boy. I love it because the lessons are straightforward and include lots of practice. For a time, my oldest son struggled reading directly from the book so I wrote the words letter by letter on a dry erase board. Once he got the hang of blending, we moved much faster and he lost his reticence for reading directly from the book. My 4 year has enjoyed everything about OPGTR but he was very excited to start reading and I think has a natural talent in this area. I believe OPGTR is about as comprehensive as you can get for the money. I don't regret choosing it at all.

I would stick with Artistic Pursuits 2 when you go through TOG Year 2. I really enjoyed that this year with my 2nd grader and it lined up perfectly. I used part of Artistic Pursuits 1 last year but we didn't get that far and I just pick up additional lessons this year as we have time. I would see no problem with skipping AP 1 and using AP 2 next year. The lessons don't really build on each other and I felt like AP 2 was self-contained enough that I didn't need to finish AP 1 first. I have enjoyed having AP 1 on the shelf to pull from when we have extra time but I don't feel the pressure to use all of the book in order.

These responses are very encouraging. I'm already forking a lot over for TOG Year 3 next year so I would really be stretching our budget to get TWSS and SWI. I'm leaning strongly towards just getting the TWSS and applying it to our TOG writing assignments, literature, and science studies. I love the idea of using outlining with our scripture passages.

Do you have an author for The Private Eye?

I'm making some small tweaks. My 2nd grader is really taking off in reading so I am going to slowly increase his reading time and add in some of our TOG books for him to read aloud instead of me always reading them. I'm also going to implement Jessie Wise's recommendations at the beginning of WTM to make weekly (probably bi-weekly) library trips requiring books on different topics to be checked out. So far, we've mostly stuck with fiction books on his level but I'd like to make a push for more non-fiction during his personal reading time. We are going to start cursive writing next semester instead of waiting until next year. He's ready for a change and I think he's come a long way in building his printing skills this past semester. Everything else is really working for us. It's been a productive semester.

I'm considering purchasing TWSS as teacher training for writing. My ultimate goal for the program would be for me to internalize the teaching methods and apply them to our history and science studies not needing any additional writing resources from IEW. Did you feel like you could make your own writing assignments after viewing the TWSS videos or did you need the SWI to solidify the practical aspects of the teaching? At what point did you feel comfortable making your own assignments: after viewing the TWSS videos, after implementing SWI for a year, or after completing the continuation courses and some theme based units?

My personal favorites: "The Well Trained Mind," of course, "For the Children's Sake," "Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics," and "The Handbook of Nature Study." I recently added "How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare" to my library but haven't implemented much of it yet.

Our co-op offers many classes for this age range. The most popular have been art and gym, of course, followed by anything in a science category - human body, magic school bus science, and earth science have been done in recent years. I personally taught a geography class where we explored different cultures and customs around the world and a creative writing class using principles from "No More I'm Done." A lego math class was also very popular.

We have a pretty cool cavern replica in our museum here that we are going to tour. We may try to do a field trip to some local caverns if I can find some nearby.

That would be awesome, although probably a little out of budget since we live in Ohio. Maybe someday!

These are great! Thanks everyone for the jump start on researching this!

We are following the WTM suggestions for 2nd grade science. While I really like the resource suggestions for astronomy, I'm not a fan of how simplistic the earth science encyclopedia is. I want to go more indepth on the rock cycle and identifying rocks and minerals. What suggestions does everyone have for this topic? Favorite library books, resources to help you identify rocks, fun experiments we might want to try? Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Thanks for posting. We got 2 boxes and added a printer we were needing. With the $50 off $200 visa checkout promotion, we got a Brother printer and both boxes of paper for $75!! Thanks!

I'm setting up classes for next year and I can't find this information in any of the tutorials. I created an art class, added all the assignments, and then added notes for myself on what supplies are needed for each assignment in the notes tab. However, it appears that if I rearrange the assignments, the notes I inputted do not move with the assignment. They are linked to the date not to the assignment for that date, is that correct? Is there a way to link notes from the note tab to the assignment so they all shift together when I make changes? Thanks for the help!