I think children benefit from developing lengthier attention spans at this age. And I think this helps when it comes to formal schooling. I would set up two short "school" times. Make it fun. But make it clear that it is not a choice. I'd start with right after breakfast. First I'd read a couple of fun books and then get the child started on a project like a challenging puzzle or writing in colored sand. Work with them a while and then say "I need to go help sister". I want you to stay here and work on this a while. Try to increase "on task" time to twenty minutes. If you really want a curriculum, I'd recommend mothershubbard (free online curriculum with daily lessons and hands on--and it even has fun phonics stuff).

I like sequential spelling. It teaches kids to listen for spelling patterns. The words change daily (no weekly test), but the word patterns are re-visited again and again. Super simple.

How old is your child? I would say that the younger kids would need some help and explaining (1st - 4th). Amy

Look at Audio Memory Geography songs. It uses songs to teach geography. You could use the continent maps available by a broader view (I think that's the name of it). Half price bookstores have them very inexpensively right now (I think $3 per continent). My daughter loves to trace the pieces (which are the shapes of the countries), label them, and make her own maps from them. Then she decided to make little booklets about each of the countries. AWESOME!

LOVE, LOVE CLE (Christian Light Education) for math and language arts. Moves quickly, not too much busy work and students become independent learners very quickly. I've tried sonlight for history. It's o.k. I'm planning on trying My Fathers World next year.

I live in a high traffic area and never made more than 200 at a garage sale (each of which included lots and lots of stuff). Mostly because people just "stop by" on their way to work, etc and I needed to price items accordingly if I wanted them to sell. This year I decided to try a consignment sale (I did Just between friends, but it doesn't really matter which one you do). I priced items higher because I only kept 65%. I had two 18 gallon tubs worth of clothes and two 18 gallon tubs worth of toys. This is one quarter or less of what I would have at any previous garage sale. I sold almost everything and made $300. I'll do consignment sales over garage sales any day. The prep is a pain, but I still end up with more money and someone else takes care of dealing with the buyers. Amy

You should really look at My Father's World. It is not STRICTLY montessori at all but it has a lot of montessori flavor to it (bookbaskets, etc). They also use a classical history approach starting in 2nd grade. One thing that I find very montessori like is their learn to read part of MFW kindergarten. They have students trace textured letters and then practice writing in sand, build words with letters, etc. I've worked in an AMI certified montessori school as an assistant, btw.

We love How to Teach Art to Children (Evan Moor). It's super simple but has projects which teach all the elements of design. Even my preschooler and toddler do it (albeit in their own way!!!). If I were to get it again, I'd get it in the downloadable form at currclick so I wouldn't have to make copies.

I personally haven't used them as part of a curriculum, but I've heard wonderful things about them. I've also listened to some of the stories and I find them very good. They always have a few episodes here if you're wanting to know if you like the style: http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/Your_Story_Hour/archives.asp?bcd=2009-3-22

Here's a youtube of the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hXMGAeN3CA

I love it! It's somewhere between Rod & Staff and Horizons. I found R&S too focused on one thing at a time (facing two whole pages of addition facts is daunting for a first grader). Horizons teacher manual was really, really bad so I didn't consider it. I switched to CLE and LOVE it! The review of the facts is there (some flash card, one minute speed drills) but in smaller chunks with extra math stuff added in (oral problem solving, number dictations, measurement, time, and even a bit of geometry stuff). The teacher manual makes it simple without being scripted! Amy

We love it, too. The best part is that the books have a lot of variety and are designed so that the students can work on them independently very quickly. However, you want to wait until june to buy the first grade language arts. They are re-doing the language arts for 1st so that it more closely lines up with their learn to read program.

Christian Light Education math. Small chunks of information and it progresses at a good pace! Multiple topics at a time to keep it interesting yet with plenty of review. Amy