This year I have a 4th grader, 3rd, grader, 1st grader, 4, year old, 3 year old, 19 month old, and a baby due in October. Previously, I have always just kept a list of the subjects each student needs to do for the day and I just check them off once they are finished. There is no order to it. Some days a child will do math before lunch and some days that same child will do it after lunch. I keep seeing all of the schedules where people have color coded their children and broken the day into 30 min periods which remain the same from day to day. I'm just wondering if I should try something like that this year. Questions: Will it make the day run better if everyone knows exactly what to expect? Will we end up getting more accomplished? How in the world could I possibly stick to a strict schedule with so many young children? Should I just put my 3rd and 4th grader on a schedule and then just work 1st grader in like I've been doing? Has anyone tried both ways? Do you have any suggestions/thoughts? Thanks so much for helping!

My 4th child is in K4 this year. You would think I would know what to use for handwriting by #4!! :) Can anyone suggest anything? Thanks so much!

Thank you!!

I'm doing Apologia Zoology 2 this year. I don't want to buy the apologia notebook (and I know about the free notebooking pages online) but I was wondering if anyone has any coloring pages or "fun" pages online to use. I don't really think I want a lapbook but maybe I do?? Thanks

That is so funny! Congrats! When are you due? Our baby is due in October-5th boy. :) Are you going to use 65 in 4th? I decided to go ahead and do it and we'll just slow it down if necessary.

I have 2 daughters - 3rd and 4th graders. Neither has had a consistent year of grammar. I bought R&S English grades 3 and 4 to use for this upcoming year. However, I'm looking at the 4th grade book and one of the first lessons has the assignment to list all of the helping verbs "you have memorized." My 4th grader hasn't memorized those yet so I was wondering if I could/should just combine the 2 girls into R&S 3 for this year and then just keep them together as they progress through the next few years? I was thinking I could add some Writing Strands 3 assignments for my 4th grader to make sure she is writing enough? Thanks for the help! :)

Thank you all for the help! I decided to go with Saxon for my oldest but I was looking at Horizons for my 1st and 3rd graders. Saxon just looked like WAY too much teacher involvement for me for 1st and 3rd! :)

Anyone else have anything good to recommend? I went to the site but really don't want to/can't look through over 7,000 items! :huh:

Ok great. Thanks for the help. I wasn't really thinking about using Singapore because it's more teacher intensive and we're expecting baby 7. I am pretty set on Saxon but just in case I change my mind, can a child move to Singapore in 4th grade and do well or would it be a lot of relearning??

My upcoming 4th grader placed into Saxon 65. Is there any reason not to go ahead and put her in it or should I put her in 54?? Thanks

I'm considering switching to Horizons from CLE. I would be teaching 3 grade levels - 1st, 3rd, and 4th. I expect 1st to be teacher intensive but I'm wondering if my 3rd and 4th graders can do any of it independently? They like to have some of independence (like in CLE) so I just want to make sure that if we do switch, they can retain that. We are thinking of switching because of the number of pages in CLE (4-5 a day) and the lack of color. :) I understand that there may be the same number of problems in Horizons, but the fact that they are having to do 4-5 pages in CLE makes it seem daunting for them. Thanks-

I need spelling help. My girls are great readers but cannot spell!!!! Honestly, we haven't really been using anything so I'm trying to really work on it this coming year. I'm considering Rod and Staff, Spelling Workout, and Spellwell. I know there are a lot of people that love AAS, but I'm not interested in that. Any thoughts on these programs or is repetition, consistency, and lots of practice the key?

Yes - my MM is all on my google drive. I LOVE haven't it all there!! Congrats on making your decision!! :001_smile:

Honestly, it's going to be hard for them to do math independently at those ages. I've used both - MUS is not really independent. They can watch the 4 min video but then there are 6-8 worksheets for them to do during the week. My kids never needed the blocks for the problems but just used them for play. MM doesn't have a K level and although your K may be working at a first grade level, I think it would be pretty advanced for a true K. It picks up speed quickly. If the children can read well, then they might be able to work on some of it by themselves. With either MM or MUS, they will be asking you questions and you will still have to help them explain things. MM is less expensive so if you wanted to try it out first, it's not that much of an investment. MUS on the other hand, is pricier. It is super hard to pick. I"m having that trouble now with grammar. However, you won't ruin your children if you pick one hate it and then pick something else. I've used both MM and MUS and settled on CLE. :)

I know a lot of people mention that they do 2/3 (just an example) of R&S orally. Others mention that the child should write down every exercise. If you have used R&S for at least an entire year, could you please let me know what you've done and name the specific grade you used. I'm just wondering if people do more orally for 2nd/3rd grade but more written for 4th and up. Also, if you do all of R&S written, how much more actual writing do your children do? Narrations in history/science? How many times a week? Thanks so much!

Just wanted to see if anyone had any thoughts on this. Thanks so much!

I need help for my girls who will be in 3rd and 4th grades next year. I am in planning/scheduling mode and have been looking at both programs. SWI-A looks tedious. In addition to watching the 40 min video, the days of key word outline, rewriting, final draft, etc, for one paragraph seems like a lot. However, I know so many people swear by it and claim it's the best. If it is, I'll give it a try. On the other hand, Writing Strands 3 looks more student/teacher friendly and not quite as daunting. However, it does not look like enough material for an entire year. So, if you use WS 3, how do you schedule it? Do you do it all in one semester? Do a lesson then take a week off and rotate like this through the year? Also, what other types of writing do you have your child do in addition to this or is this enough? History summaries? Answering science questions? Or, am I missing another "perfect" writing curriculum for 3/4th grades? Thank you SO much for all of the help!!! Adding-we are doing Easy Grammar for Grammar so no addition "writing" in that program.

Thank you!!! I found it!

Does anyone have this code? I got it in my April newsletter but deleted it on accident!!! Thanks so much!

So do you separate all of your children? I have thoughts many times that it would actually be easier. Thanks for those links.

My oldest can read anything and everything. My 2nd grader reads on a second grade level and my K reads on a first grade level. Thanks for all of these ideas. The hardest part sometimes is just picking something.

We are expecting our 7th (and final) child. I need help on simplifying. I want quality material but also recognize my current limitations. Can you give suggestions for any subject? Next year my school aged children will be in grades 4, 3, 1, and 4k. We prefer Christian material but it's not a "must" across the board. Thank you so much!

I'm just wondering how long these lessons take to complete.I am currently using R&S but I'm considering FLL, Easy Grammar, and Climbing to Good English for next year.

Is Climbing to Good English as rigorous as R&S? I like that it is a workbook, doesn't have 180 lessons, and doesn't look like it's full of busy work (CLE?). However, I don't want to sacrifice a good education for children because of laziness. :) Can anyone help with this? Thanks!

Ok. This is all very helpful. I'll look at reading it aloud as well as looking at some of these other authors you have recommended. Thanks for all of the help!