I really like this planner http://www.tinasdynamichomeschoolplus.com/free-printables/7-step-curriculum-planner/ because you can print only those pages that seem relevant to you. I made my own two-page calendar pages because I wanted more months than just the school year but other than that, I print the pages I want and take it to Office Depot and have the cover and back page laminated and the whole thing bound. I use it more of a record of what we did than an actual planner - if I plan ahead, I just get depressed when I don't meet my 'goals'. So I know what i need to do each day and write down what we did. Makes me feel accomplished. :) And it's free!!! Only the cost of laminating the front/back pages and binding. So about $5?! (I only use her free pages) S

If you're interested in Beyond, I have a used copy of the guide I'm looking to sell~ :) PM me if you're interested.

How did you know, between the first and second editions, that the second wasn't right for you? I'm considering doing B with my son next year (Officially K but he's been exposed to quite a bit of math already, so I think A might be too slow for him) and I just assumed the second edition was the way to go. :)

I received an e-mail from a company stating they have new "Audio Adventures" from some of the original producers of Adventures in Odyssey. The whole e-mail reads like spam to me but I was curious if this was legit? Has anyone heard of this or used these? They sound intriguing, as we love AIO, but again, the e-mail was so sales-like and pitchy that it just feels sketchy to me. Perhaps I'm too suspicious. :)

My daughter hated 100EZ Lessons so we switched to Logic of English Foundations and she LOVED it!! But my son very much enjoys 100EZ Lessons. So yes, it really depends on the kid. OGPTR and Phonics Pathways are much cheaper than LOE though, so yes, you may want to try those out first. Your library may even have them so you could try them without having to purchase anything!!

Both books look really good to me! I've been drooling over the Draeger books and didn't know about the other one! Another book to add to my wishlist, I suppose!!

Can you combine your kids at all? If so, consider doing something together, just at a much simpler level with the young ones? Read SOTW, some other books from the library, do a craft, possibly keep a timeline and that's it. You can keep it super simple but still give them exposure. All of this, of course, would be over the course of the week so you wouldn't have to spend TONS of time 'doing history' together.

I'd start with reading and math. And if you find that you still have the energy (as well as your child) add in other things. But make sure to do reading and math every day.

There's always The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading (OPGTR) or Teach your Child to Read in 100 EZ Lessons or Phonics Pathways. Those are all relatively cheap, you may even find them at your library to see if they would work for you. I tried two of them and they were bombs here but the 3rd (100EZ for us) was well received. AAR or LOE are great programs as well, but they're quite a bit more spendy. :)

Now you've all encouraged me to go spend some quality time with OneNote and master that! :) Because, you know, I have so much free time these days. :) Ha!!

I do a ton of research and I have my little spiral notebook where I take notes of things I see here but overall, I kind of fly by the seat of my pants. We do our work and the next day we go on to the next lesson. If I have it too planned out, I get paralyzed by my schedule and that "I'm behind feeling" doesn't work very well for me - makes me just give up. This way I'm not exactly sure where we will end up but we've gotten done the last couple of years with everything in April or May so it has worked out. But keep in mind, my kids are little and we don't have a TON of school work to do every day. It's way more manageable. I would imagine I'll need to up my game real soon considering we'll be starting 2nd grade next year. :) But for now this works. :)

I make free handwriting pages here. And you can save them!!! http://www.handwritingpractice.net/handwriting/index.html It doesn't have many font choices but I figure the cursive is close enough to what we use that it's okay. And I really like the d'Nealien printing, if I ever teach my kids how to write manuscript. ;)

I'm only just today learning about this what I did today was buy the kindle book, then there is an option to add the audible book for some low price and have it delivered to your Kindle. My understanding (and anyone can correct me if I'm wrong) is that it has to be read on the Kindle to have the words highlighted as it's read. And yes, it has to be a wispersync version that is compatible with your book for them to play nice together. :) I hope this helps!

I'm looking at using ELTL 2 next year with my 2nd grader and I was wondering about the workbook. Is it necessary? Is it helpful? Can I just make my own worksheet based on what I see as the questions/copywork in the manual?

I only ask because if I go into Audible to look for the book I'm getting (free on the Kindle, yay!) there are quite a few options for the same book but they all indicate "Whispersync for Voice-ready" and by tapping the button above in my Kindle purchase, I'm not sure which audio version I'm getting... perhaps it doesn't really matter? TIA!!

Okay, so I feel kind of silly asking this question but if I want to purchase both the Kindle and the Audible version, I click on the "Add Audible Narration to your purchase for just $xxx" (from where I searched for the book in Amazon) and place the purchase. Then I open in the Kindle and I'm good to go? Can I do this on other android devices or just the Fire?

Thank you SO much for your explanation of how the immersion reading works on the Kindle!! I really like the idea of seeing the words as well as hearing them - I know it's super easy for me to completely check out when I'm just listening to a book online, I imagine it's way easier for kids who are just getting comfortable reading!! No I need to go sign up for Audible so that I can get my one free book/month and collect a few of the books she uses in ELTL 2 before school starts next year! But then again, like you said, $4 for the two versions isn't that much of an investment, especially for the payoff!!! THANK YOU!!!!!

We're only recently allowing our oldest access to the computer. She currently uses xtramath and prodigy and isn't the type of kid to just push buttons to see where they'll take her. So I feel relatively safe, for the moment, with her online, somewhat unsupervised. But I'm sure this 'security' is very much misplaced so my husband and I are looking for some kind of internet safety program to limit what websites the kids can access, etc. My husband spent some time the other day looking and it appears that Windows 8 used to have a feature that effectively turned OFF the internet completely except for specific sites you enter (for their profile). But in the upgrade to Windows 10, they have removed this 'feature' thus not really providing any security for your kids, at least through Microsoft. Microsoft doesn't care about our kids' safety, big shock. What have you used to secure your computer and/or internet so the kids don't accidentally get to places they shouldn't be? I'm currently researching Magic Desktop, Peanut Butter PC, KidZui, Mobicip, Maxthon, Net Nanny, Safe Eyes, Circle (unfortunately for iOS only)... And it seems that even Chrome has some security settings? There are lots of choices, some considerably better than others.

Is the price listed the discounted price or the regular price? I'm specifically looking at the Bible programs.

Did you say you wanted to use WWE and want something like the short paragraphs there? What if you follow the WWE guide and just read the book they're taking the excerpts from? You can read aloud to him and just have him read a paragraph or two every day? That way you still get through a book (instead of only getting a paragraph of a book) and he gets the practice you're wanting him to have. Just an idea... :)

I recently saw RightStart packages on HSBC but they were a bit different than what's on RS's website. It's not significant but I wonder if this may help save some money?

One thing that came to mind when I was reading your post and responses, is that you would like a curriculum set up for you. What if you decided which box you like best (for it's methodology and such) and then fine tune what you get. For example, if you want to get a K program but he needs 1st grade math, just sub out the math for a higher level. And do that for all the subjects. Take a peek at what's covered, consider where he's at and go from there. Or use a 1st or K program as a guide - see what they include and what they exclude. Use that as a guide as to what to buy and build your own bundle. But do try to remember that he's young. Let him explore, read him lots of books, let him be a kid. There's plenty of time for 'formal' schooling down the road. :) I wouldn't try to push too much on him - just the basics, reading and math. And let everything else go by the way side. :) Best wishes!!! S

Love his lessons!!

Here's the link to the thread about the illustrated chapter books http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/587514-highly-illustrated-beginning-chapter-books/?hl=%2Billustrated&do=findComment&comment=6840752

Thank you for the feedback!!!