Yes that is my concern. My kids have been asking about he disciples who were martyred and did St augustine know Jesus personally etc etc and so I've wanted to cover this area of history but not in a way that is super graphic. I like the way SOTW touches on the Crusades and Inquisition without going into too much detail, I was hoping to find something similar. I may try the VP self paced for the Gospels, I imagine this will not be graphic?

I'm thinking maybe the Veritas Press Gospels self paced will be a better option and less violent than drive thru history...

Tell me more about 106 Days of Creation please :)

F

Following because we will be doing the same thing at my parents in North Carolina

We use SOTW as our spine and Usborne Book of World History as a helpful (and illustrated) supplement. Sometimes we add extra readalouds or YouTube videos. Then we put HIW figures in our timeline. That's our history curriculum for 4th and 2nd grade :)

I wanted to try Drive Thru History but the disclaimer at the beginning worried me. How violent are the reenactments? I've got a couple sensitive kiddos...

Looking for books, curriculum materials that cover church history, the early church in particular. Suitable for 2nd and 4th graders

I would have to set a time limit- like one hour a week maybe? I've done this in the past and kept a running list of what I wanted to check during my internet time, then I would have to narrow it down to what would fit in an hour. As far as top 5 sites... Probably Amazon, GroupMe, Facebook (it's a total time suck but it's also how I keep up with so many people), SimpleHomeschool and Amongst Lovely Things

My DD7 cottage school is using ACSI Math for 2nd grade next year. She's finishing up CLE 100 right now. I have no experience with ACSI, how do you think this will transition?

Idk why but binders make me crazy. Something about a neatly bound spiral that is just so much easier to use...

I have a very specific, odd question. I recently bought ELTL Level 3(from someone on this board!) and I'm trying to make it a little more user-friendly and independent for my 4th grader. I have the Text and the Workbook. Since the text is written to the student, I am considering unbinding the Text and the Workbook and rebinding them with each Lesson's workbook pages immediately behind that lesson's instructions from the Text. (Hope that makes sense)… This would make a HUGE book so I would probably divide it into 3 sections. And I'm also trying to decide if I want to use all the workbook pages or just the exercise pages and let him do the copy work in his commonplace book... Any thoughts on this?

We are doing something similar this year. We do CC one day a week already, my rising 2nd grader will be enrolled in a Cottage School (similar to a charter, it covers all the basics of 2nd grade- math, reading, spelling, writing plus some Bible, music and art), and my rising 4th grader will be going to an integrated Science-Math-Art co-op one day a week. So that means I will only have 2 days at home with DD7 and 3 days at home with DS9… I've committed to trying it for one year and we can always re-evaluate for next year. Technically, if its a total disaster, we can pull out at any time. My kids are young and I will not always have the flexibility to let them do this stuff. But that means I'm going to have to lower my expectations for our school to what we can do on the days we have at home and TRUST the education they are getting other places (not an easy thing for this admitted control freak).

…I almost always end up frustrated and then dreading it the next time! I LOVE the idea of Circle Time / Morning Basket / Symposium / Whatever you want to call it… I've read Teaching from Rest and listen to all the podcasts- Readaloud Revival, Your Morning Basket, etc etc. It sounds like such a cozy and important time. In reality, I find that I am frustrated with the lack of order (admitted control freak), short-fused when kids interrupt or don't listen, overwhelmed with all the choices and what I feel like we need to do, impatient when kids don't know their memory work and on top of all that, I don't particularly like reading aloud… I get headaches when I do so for longer than 10 minutes... So right now, we do lots of audiobooks during meal times and in the car, listen to our memory work CD's and my husband reads aloud 2-3 evenings a week... So should I just let the dream of Circle Time go? Is there something I can do to make it more enjoyable? Has anybody else struggled with this?

Peace and Calming essential oil blend, Magnesium spray, Epsom salt baths and tart cherry juice (helps the body make its own melatonin) have helped us. Also figuring out any food sensitivities. My son does not sleep well if he has food dye or conventional dairy. My nephew's sleep is disrupted by eggs and citrus. Neither are true allergies but definite sensitivities

I have heard really good things about Doodle Crate and Tinker Crate, and my understanding is for that age, it would be very independent (always a plus in my book)

I feel the same way with AAS! Why is it so hard to implement?? We switched to Phonetic Zoo after AAS 3 bc it just wasn't getting done, but I still prefer the way AAS teaches.

What got done- CLE Math 100 and 300 AAR 1 and part of 2 Phonetic Zoo Abeka Cursive Workbook SOTW 1 Copywork What didn't get done- Abeka LA3- soooo dry and boring, we quit halfway thru and did our own thing ETC- we do it randomly but not often Abeka Science and Health

I agree that observing a day at both co-ops would be helpful but it may be too late in the year for that? We are part of a CC group here and while there are some families that participate for the community factor, I cannot imagine paying that money and committing that time if I wasn't sold on the program- especially as you move up into challenge, the workload is pretty rigorous.

Ok I'm looking at the workbook version of Level 3 and thinking that would be a good fit for my 4th grader. Do you read the literature as readalouds or does your child read independently?

Here is what I want, if anyone knows of an LA like this pleeeease let me know :) -Workbook format (I'm fine if I have to print and bind myself) -Mostly teaches to student (I am here to help but if he could get started with the lesson on his own that would be great) -Includes reading, copywork, narration and dictation exercise from literature, poetry, hymns, Scripture. -Some creative expression exercises like picture study, write a letter, etc -Gentle but solid intro to grammar to prepare for CC Essentials We have done Sonlight and Abeka in the past- Sonlight was enjoyable but little retention, Abeka was fine but boring. I have been looking at Queen's Language Lessons (looks great but gets terrible reviews), First Language Lessons (love the simple and direct teaching of grammar but don't see much in the way of Charlotte Mason style copy work, narration and creative expression), English Lessons Through Literature (I love the look of this but it seems very teacher intensive) and Intermediate Language Lessons (I like this but the grammar instruction seems almost too gentle- like labeling sentences 'command' or 'asking'- why not use the actual grammar terms 'declarative' or 'interrogative'?). I may have to mix and match a few things to get what I want... Help!!! :)

I am thinking about getting this for my kids. How long does each lesson take?

I was just working on this tonight! We are expecting a new baby in July, so much of our summer will be spent preparing for and welcoming him into our lives! I also plan for DD7 and DS9 to do 2-3 CLE Math lessons a week, read every day, review our Scripture Memory from the year and learn some helpful life skills (laundry, self starting chores, etc). Fun stuff will include: 1 week of art camp 1 week of soccer camp Winshape Day Camp Gymnastics classes Riding lessons

Asking the same question above, do you feel like it is relatively independent? We will have a newborn and a 2nd grade sibling...

Do you feel like it is relatively independent? We will have a newborn and a 2nd grade sibling so my availability is hit or miss...