I'm sorry I don't have any answers for you. But, I am interested in what others have to say. My middle son is moving into this book next year, and I would love to see what people suggest.:bigear:

:iagree: This is my favorite lower elementary geography program. I plan to use it this year (my third and last cycle through it) with my upcoming 2nd grader. She is excited about it. She remembers it a bit from the last time we did it.

I started out my first year (8 years ago) using everything my aunt suggested from her homeschooling experience. From there, I was able to determine what worked for us and what didn't. The only thing from my first year that I still use today is Spelling Power, Saxon Math (after 3rd grade), and Horizons math (through 3rd grade). We ditched everything else. I would make a pros and cons list if you are truly struggling with decisions. I did this a few weeks ago when trying to decide between TOG and MFW. I would talk about specifics with my husband with that list. From there, he was willing to sit down and have a conversation about it. He lead me to TOG after I was able to lay out the pros and cons.

I used Spelling Power with my oldest, who is a natural speller. I started my middle one with SP, but he is NOT a natural speller. We eventually switched to AAS. After 2 levels, he was ready to switch back to SP (in 6th grade). We are taking it slow, but he is succeeding. My youngest is using AAS right now (1st grade), and she will use it next year as well. She will switch to SP in 3rd grade. She, too, is a natural speller.

Great lists! Can't wait to go through them as I compile a list for next year's literature.

I can't wait to explore all of these lists and links!

We saw that at the theater. I was worried my 6yo dd would be scared, but we all loved it! She wasn't scared a bit. It is a movie I would buy, and I don't buy many movies.

I have a friend who does this, but she does it for non-core subjects. They don't do it for math and language arts. I couldn't handle teaching a full day of history or science. 'I' would get burnt out.

:bigear:

I agree with the suggestions for FLL. I used it with my 1st grader this year, and we both enjoyed it.

Does this mean it won't count as a full high school credit to satisfy his math needs? Is it only .5 credit? His next math would be trig. You would recommend doing both of those back to back?

I'm not sure which direction to lead my son (an upcoming junior) for his dual-credit selections. He tested into College Algebra and English Comp/Rhetoric. This gives him the ability to take any freshman-level class next year. He can take one course in the fall and one in the spring (college rules). So, here's my dilemma... He is probably going to take College Algebra one of those semesters. That's great! For the other class, his choices are... English Government History Anthropology Biology We are switching to TOG next year which will/could cover Lit/English, history, and government. That would leave him with Anthro or Biology at the college. The adviser is concerned about whether the college he wants to transfer to will accept the biology credit if he chooses a science major (which he's leaning toward). So, should I let him take one of the TOG subjects (maybe government?) or take a second math (which he will need to take the higher level sciences if that's the path he chooses)? He could also take a business class or foreign language if he wants, but he's not sure he wants to do either of those. So, I'm not sure what the best path is. Is there a 'best' path? :confused::001_huh:

Well, without read-aloud/Bible reading/science/history/fine arts (which we did as a group this year), my 1st grade dd (who would do school from sun-up to sun-down if she could) does about 2.5 hours of school. This includes the following: Bible instruction - 15 min Vocabulary 15 min Math 30 min Spelling 15 min Silent Reading 15 min Read to her 15 min (This is where I read aloud books my boys wouldn't be interested in.) Literature 15 min Spelling 15 min Grammar 15 min

Me! Me! Me! For me, it was very frustrating until I had a lightbulb moment. I was working thru Saxon Phonics with my dd last year (K). She was reading Amelia Bedelia books on her own at the time. About Christmas, it hit me! DUH! If she is reading chapter books on her own, I can probably forgo a formal phonics program. And, I did. I switched to AAS. It has enough of the rules in it to make me feel like I'm still teaching the phonics rules. But, I'm not drilling her on the mundane 'how to read' phonics. She is reading on a 4th or 5th grade level now (in 1st grade), and there are very few words I have to help her with. She does read on her own A LOT, but I also have her read to me daily so I can see that she's actually getting the words not skimming over ones she doesn't know. I would let him take the lead on speed. As soon as I dropped the phonics, she zoomed up in levels. I think I was holding her back, which was not a good thing for her. Now, she has 3 books going at a time. They range from picture books to chapter books. She just plain loves to read, and it came really easy to her.

I would only use Spelling Power with a natural speller. I used it with my oldest, but my middle one struggled horribly with it. I used 2 levels of AAS with him before he wanted to go back to Spelling Power. My youngest is currently using AAS and will switch to SP in 3rd grade. She is a natural speller, but I want to wait to use it with her. Spelling Power, in my opinion, does not do a good job of teaching rules (even though words are grouped together by a rule). My middle son needed to know 'why' words were spelled a certain way. AAS does teach the rules, and he used it enough to know that some words have rules and some just need to be memorized.

It's not one of your choices, but I love Galloping the Globe. It's literature-based world geography. I plan to use this next year with my 7yo. It will be my 3rd (and last) rotation through it.

We won't start TOG until September. To be honest, however, it wasn't a factor in our switch. I will have 3 students next year - 11th grade, 7th grade, and 2nd grade. I had to switch to something they could all use. I can't afford, nor do I have time to teach, 3 separate history classes. There are some subjects where I allow my children to have a say, but there are some I don't. Because TOG will allow me to teach all 3 kids from the same core, I didn't give them a choice. It's the one area I can minimize my planning/teaching time when most everything else (math, science, grammar, etc) must be taught separately.

We are using MFW for 10th grade this year, but we are switching to TOG for next year. I'm making the switch, because I don't have time to read everything that is assigned for my high schooler. There are no discussion questions assigned in MFW. So, I can have my son tell me what he learned or write an outline/narration/etc, but unless I read the selection I can't really have a meaningful discussion with him. There is A LOT of reading done on a daily basis (for Bible, History, and Literature). I like that about MFW, but I can't read it all. So, one of the biggest reasons for our switch to TOG is the fact that they have 'summaries' of the reading that I can read. Also, with MFW I have to buy multiple levels to teach all 3 of my kids. With TOG, it's an all in one I only have to buy for 4 years. Then, I can just cycle all the kids through the levels multiple times. MFW is NOT a bad program. It is pretty rigorous, and my son enjoys it. (Well, I don't know if he enjoys it, but he doesn't HATE it.;)) But, it doesn't work for our family. It would be better if there was some kind of overview or list of discussion questions so I could dialogue with him about his assignments. Right now, I feel like he's on his own. And, that doesn't work for me.

Here's what I found when I googled 'Logos Elementary Literature List'. But, it doesn't have the other info you listed... http://logosprincipalspage.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/lit-list.pdf

Katy, Here's a link to Little Keepers. You'll find a link to the table of contents and a sample skill. http://www.keepersofthefaith.com/product/LittleKeepersatHome And, here's one for Keepers... http://www.keepersofthefaith.com/product/KeepersatHomeHandbook

We are in the same boat with my 16yo son. We decided not to get a checking account in his name until he could prove he was responsible with money. And, so far he has not. What we have done is shown him how to budget his money. We have suggested putting some aside each pay period for the upcoming weeks. And, we told him that once his money was gone - it was gone. That means, if he runs out of gas/spending money 5 days before payday, he is stuck home or has to find a ride to wherever he wants to go. He is still not great about budgeting his money, but he has only been 'stuck home with no gas' once. It will still be a while before we allow him his own account. We are afraid he won't 'see' how much money he has, and he will overdraw his account. That would create a whole new set of problems for him.

I am doing Little Keepers/Keepers with my dd, and Contenders with my sons. We will be earning badges, but just because they want them. DD works on her assignments weekly, and I kind of let the Contenders fall by the way side. My son finally asked why he wasn't getting to work on his stuff, too. So, back into the rotation it goes...:001_smile:

Where do you store all of your copies? I really want to get ahead of the game for this upcoming year. My plan is to input all of my lessons in HST as my books arrive over the summer. Then, I would like to make all of my photocopies over the summer, as well. I just can't decide the best option for storing them over the course of the school year. Do you have a master binder for each subject to hold your copies? Or, do you have file folders? I'd love to hear how others accomplish this...

I began using R&S with my middle son last year, and I love it. He has learned so much about the parts of speech and diagramming. I plan to use the 5th or 6th grade book with my oldest next year (in his junior year) in conjunction with an SAT prep course. He struggled through diagramming in middle school, because I started him at grade-level in 7th grade. He didn't have the foundation he needed to succeed. So, we will do a crash course in grammar basics/diagramming with R&S.

I had decided not to renew my subscription for the upcoming year (after using it for 2 years). It just wasn't in the homeschool budget. But, now it is!! Thanks for sharing this.