Of course- KS2, KS3 stands for Key Stage 2/3. These are the different stage of education in English state school system. Each Key stage covers several school years and for many subjects, under the current National Curriculum, the set topics do not have to be covered in a specific year but should have been taught at some point during the relevant Key Stage. E.g The Roman Invasion of Britain does not have to be taught to pupils in Year 4, but must have been at some point between Years 3-6 (Key Stage 2). As for CGP, I actually have no idea what that stands for, just that it is the name of a company that publishes educational books and study guides in UK. I've just looked inside the covers of some I own and it doesn't say there what CGP stands for either- I'm guessing C(something or)G(someone?)Press/Publishing. * Edited to add that I've just googled it and CGP stands for Co-ordination Group Publications.

Which age group is it for? Are you specifically looking for something that covers British history? I can't recommend Galore Park History as both the Junior English and Latin were a big flop for DS, so I've avoided GP every since. We love Oxford University Press's KS3 History series by Aaron Wilkes however. They are aimed at 11-14 year olds, so roughly Gr6-8 I think. Before that we used CGP's KS2 History books. Both series run chronologically although neither fit neatly into the WTM 4-year cycle.

My day starts at 6am, because I like time to myself before everyone else is up. While I have my morning coffee I look through what we have planned for school that day (I plan in advance for the year, to the point that everything is pretty much open and go) and get out the books and resources we need and write any copywork etc. on the whiteboard. Then I get started on the daily chores. I use a routine with one list for daily chores and then a kind of loop schedule for everything else, focussing on 1 room per day. By around 8am the kids are up, dressed and breakfasted (they are 9 and 10yo so can do all this themselves) and we are ready to start school. We do Maths, English, French and Music daily. Depending on what we are doing I'll either work with both kids together or do 1 to 1 individually. While I do 1 on 1 with one kid the other will be doing any independent work, reading or practising their instrument. We finish up usually with our read aloud between 10-10.30. Then its a break for kids to run about outside and get their chores done and I'll finish mine and start preparing lunch. Around 11-11-15 we do our content subjects altogether. These are on a loop schedule, spending about 1 hour per week on each subject. We're usually done ready for lunch not much after 12. After lunch, the kids do self-led learning (I'm trialling letting them 'unschool' Art and ICT/Coding this year), have a music lesson (tutor), or go to a park meet or the pool, dependent on time of year. If we need to go to the library or any doctor's appointments I try to schedule them for this time of day. I'm around to help the kids during this time but by now MY school day is done, so usually I'm finishing up any chores or having time for my self. I'm hoping to do a qualification through work next year so I'll try to fit that in then. At 2.30pm I get ready to leave for work at the After-School program. My kids attend most days (it's free for staff children), so they get to play and socialise with their friends or join in the sports/craft/cooking sessions. Twice a week, the kids go to other clubs (Scouts) right after this until 8pm/8.30pm, otherwise its home and free-time for everyone and the kids get their screen time until around 8pm when its time to get ready for bed. So showers, brush teeth and everyone has a coloured basket to take toys and clean clothes to their rooms to put away. In the mornings they use the same baskets to bring down any dirty laundry. I do more read alouds at bedtime, but don't count those as school and they are mostly geared towards the 10yo (girl) as the 9yo (boy) claims to be too grown up for bedtime stories! I know he still listens to them from his bedroom next door though. Once they are done, I'll grab myself a snack (toast/cereal) before heading to my own bed. Kids nearly always eat at the After-School so we have our main meal at lunch time and they just get themselves a snack when they get home, if they are still hungry. I read to myself in bed but I'm normally always asleep before 11pm.

We are only two thirds through Level 2 but we don't do written narrations in ELTL yet. I ask them to give an oral narration, with prompts usually, from that lesson's literature reading (we dropped the fables after we all got sick of them in Level 1). Which is probably more in line with the schedule set out in WWE, which I find also helps comprehension. I do this most lessons, even though ELTL only calls for narration every two weeks (every sixth lesson) as my kids needed more practice at narration. I'm looking for GOOD sentences (and hopefully factual accuracy) from these narrations and that's all. For dictation we use the copywork selections for that lesson instead, since my two are older and don't really need too much penmanship practice now. I write the selection on a whiteboard in the morning and give time for it to be studied, reminding them to focus on spelling rules used and why punctuation is where it is. I cover or turn round the whiteboard during dictation. Afterwards I'll uncover it and , if they have any mistakes we review why the original has those spelling/punctuation (rather than why their version was wrong) so they can make corrections. We are beginning to do some written narrations in other subjects (History/Science) this year. Once they are going well I may transition the Literature narrations in this way too. Twice a week after we do our reading on a subject I will ask the kids to tell me everything they have learnt about it, while I write what they say on the whiteboard as a word cloud. For example we read the SOTW chapter on St. Augustine and afterwards they tell me- "He was a Monk" "Pope Gregory sent him to Britain" "He told the Anglo-Saxons all about God" Then I ask them to put together a sentence using as many of those facts as they can, so we got "Pope Gregory sent a monk named St. Augustine to Britain, to tell the Anglo-Saxons about God." I write that final sentence down and the kids copy it into their notebooks. I'm hoping that by the end of the year they will be able to take notes from the reading themselves, which they can use to construct sentences for their notebooks, without needing the in between steps.

My two will both be 4th grade when we start back next week. Not much is changing from last year though, just going next level up on the book covers. I divide up their subjects into 3 'blocks' of time during the day. Since the kids are minecraft crazy, they named the blocks after different cubes from the game- gold, diamond and emerald. 8.30-10.00 Gold block- Maths, English and French. I will do 1 to 1 work with each child for around 30-45 minutes, then switch. While I work with 1 child the other works on anything independent from their list, reads and practises musical instruments. Once they are done they are on a break until.. 11.00-12.00 Diamond block- content subjects we do all together like History, Geography, Science and Religion (world cultures and beliefs NOT instruction as we are an atheist family). These are done on a loose loop schedule, so usually a different subject everyday but as long as they all get done over the week, I'm happy. This is followed by lunch, were I might do a read aloud linked to our studies that day or if I'm feeling lazy we watch a documentary. 1.00-2.30 Emerald block. This is basically for anything else and its mostly child-led independent learning. My only rule is that they should being doing a 'purposeful activity' for those 90 minutes. They can extra learning on the diamond topics, work on their Art Award, Crest Science or Cub Scout badges, which are all ready planned out for them. Or they can go out and do sports or nature studies if the weather is good, or use computer apps for coding, typing, maths etc. Playing mindless video games is not acceptable. Watching TV documentaries is ok, but cartoons/ Disney channel is not. We also have a fourth block on their planners (Redstone) which lists each of their daily chores and any personal care or life skill targets they are currently working on. All boxes for each block must be checked before they are done for the day. From 3pm each day they go to the after-school club (socializing and fun activities) where I work and have a weekly violin lesson, scout meeting they attend, plus swimming twice a week and Saturday morning music school.

We are in England where I think the state schools have to run for 190 days (380 half day sessions) each year. Home schoolers don't have any required number of days and it would be very unlikely to be asked to provide that information to anyone. I like keeping count though so have a pretty spreadsheet and have always kept count just in case we are ever questioned. PS here run on a roughly 6 weeks on, followed by 1 or 2 weeks off calendar with 6 weeks off in summer- 3rd week of July to 1st week of September. My job and the kids outside activities run on that system, so we have to stick to it somewhat but we also adapt it to better fit our needs. What that looks like in reality is 30 weeks each year of full school for us, while the state schools are also in session. Then we have 13 weeks of school 'light' during the state school breaks. For light weeks I only plan to do Maths and English. If we have got behind in any other subject we use that week to catch up, or we do review/extension activities. The kids will be doing clubs that count as 'educational' in those weeks too and I will have to work longer hours (that extra money pays for us to homeschool) so we have less time for normal school those weeks anyway. The other 9 weeks will be our break weeks and ,with the exception of the Christmas break, are all taken when state schools are in session. That means we can take advantage of cheaper prices and smaller crowds :laugh: . 2016-17 Academic Year Term 1 6 full weeks (starting 1 week after the state schools) 1 light week 1 week off 6 full weeks 2 weeks off (Christmas) Total 12 full weeks, 1 light week, 3 weeks off Term 2 6 full weeks 3 light weeks (only 1 is state school half-term break, the others are due to ALL our birthdays falling in these 3 weeks, plus it helps to combat the annual Feb/Mar slump) 4 full weeks 2 light weeks (Easter break) 2 weeks off (vacation to France) Total 10 full weeks, 5 light weeks, 2 weeks off Term 3 4 full weeks 1 light week 4 full weeks 2 weeks off (1 of those weeks they are usually at Music School, so I could probably count those days actually) Total 8 full weeks, 1 light week, 2 weeks off Term 4 6 light weeks 2 weeks off Total 0 full weeks, 6 light weeks, 2 weeks off This schedule means that we always start the school year later than state schools and are usually done by July 1st, so 2-3 weeks earlier than their state schooled friends, which my kids love. We do school through summer but it is only Maths and English (because I feel my kids need to keep practising these skill subjects year round to progress and prevent backsliding) and anything we didn't get finished during the year. It only works out as an hour or so out of their day and they admit they find it makes starting up full school again in September much easier.

It depends on the subject, when they finished it and why. We do math here year round so when they finish 1 book we just go onto the next one, regardless of the time of year. We also do LA through summer too but usually just 1 focused area e.g last year it was learning cursive, this year it will be creative writing. So in the unlikely event they finished all their LA ahead of time, we would just switch to doing our summer program instead from that time onwards. Also if they were to finish something up in Feb/Mar, I would find something to do for the rest of the year. If they finish it like only a week or two early I wouldn't. They get time off for that subject until I had planned to start the next thing. If the reason they got done early is down to hard work on the student's part, then I think they should feel the reward of having a few weeks off from that subject, even if they do finish it way early in the year, they would get a couple weeks off before starting the next level. However if they worked hard to finish say their spelling book a month early but were also a bit behind on grammar, I would then use that extra free time to catch up with grammar. It needs to be worded carefully though so they don't feel they are being punished for working hard, by getting given even more work to do as that removes the incentive to work fast through anything next time.

We kind of do something similar to this, partly because I needed to add in far more British history than is covered in most Ancients curriculums e.g. SOTW. The National curriculum for primary age pupils here is almost exclusively prehistoric Britain through to 1066. I didn't want my kids to miss that but also wanted to cover all the other Ancient civilisations of the world too. The pattern we have fallen into is: read through SOTW, a couple chapters per week with notebook pages and update our timeline. Then when we get to a point that the kids find particularly interesting (or a convenient point to jump across to "let's find out what happened in Britain at that time") we will stop moving forward with SOTW or read all the chapters it offers on that subject at once. We will stop at that time/location for 3-4 weeks, read widely on that topic, do arts and crafts, eat food from that culture, watch documentaries, learn more about their beliefs and culture and read stories written by those people and look at the art from that time. If possible we will also make a visit to a museum or other place linked to that topic. When we have completely exhausted that topic we revert back to reading through SOTW. During the periods of intense focus on History topics, we will cut back on how much is done in other areas e.g science, geography (Maths an LA continue regardless). Then when we go back to just SOTW plus notebook/timeline, we will work more intensively on a science topic instead for a time. In this way we end up covering all the content over the course of the full year.

Ask the kids what they want to call that time? Their ideas might not be too crazy! In our house we have timetabled 'blocks' of time throughout the day, during which we cover different subjects. When I first pitched this idea to my (Minecraft obsessed) kids, they asked if we could name the blocks after those in the game of Minecraft. So now we have Gold block (Maths and LA, individual time with me) for FlowerGIrl between 8-9am, then DoodleBoys Gold block (he's not an early riser like his sister) from 9-10am. Then group work (Science, History, Geography, depending on the day/season) is called Diamond block and runs from 10.30-12 noon. Independent work and personal projects are from 1-2.30pm each day in Emerald block. During that time I'm available to help or answer questions if needed. They can and do work on these outside of that time but after that time I'm no longer teacher-mom and just regular old needs to get the laundry/dishes/vacuuming done-mom. :laugh: We have been using this system for the past year and it is working quite well. I use colour coded book covers and project files for the subjects in each block (yellow for gold, blue for diamond, and green for emerald) and each has a separate drawer/shelf. Now it is easy to know where to put books back in the correct place and find them again next time. Plus if something is out of place it is easy to spot. In the last couple of months the kids have created themselves a 4th block called Redstone. This is for all the things they are required to do (e.g. X chores per day, free choice leisure reading for 30 mins, work on their Cub Scout badges) each day but are not strictly school work. They like me to include this stuff on their daily planners, so they can tick it off before they are done for the day.

Thanks for all the replies. I think I am comparing too much between PS and what we do, which looks nothing like PS intentionally (because we tried it and it just didn't work out for my kids). I think I need to chill out a bit more over writing but at the same time I don't think I'll be able to let it go until I *prove* to myself that we don't need to add more. So I've decided to re-jig the timetable for the rest of the year. Currently our LA looks like this: Mon-Fri- ELTL (literature, lesson and copywork) and AAS; Thu- the picture study or narration exercises from ELTL; Fri- Comprehension exercises. After Easter I will try adding in EIW (as I already have it) to see how we like it. If the kids hate it or I find its too much or its not bringing anything useful to our HS. So our LA will look more like this Mon, Wed, Fri- ELTL (literature, lesson and Copywork) and get the picture study narration done on the Friday, even if that means we take a little longer that day (the reason why we started doing it on a 4th day originally) Tue, Thu- AAS, it means doing it less often per week but I'm happy they are retaining things well at the moment. We should then be able to try out EIW Mon-Thu, to see how it fits for us. I'll leave it off the schedule for Friday as ELTL will take longer but if I find we have extra time, we will do comprehension exercises after. I don't mind dropping these for a while as we are getting through the 4 book very quickly right now, at a rate that means they will be finished with them all well before the end of primary (KS2)school. So we will try that schedule for the term after Easter up until July, that gives us 12 weeks for a decent trial run. If it goes ok we will continue with it for summer, then reassess for September. I think from looking at the previews we would be able to complete EIW in that time, so I'll know whether I want to order level 4. If it doesn't work I'll drop EIW from the summer schedule and fill that time with AAS and comprehension instead ( I wasn't planning to do either of them over summer, when we have a 'lite' schedule). Any thoughts? ( or just tell me to stop messing with things and just get on with it, if you like :coolgleamA: )

I've been checking out the preview for level 2, the grammar increases but I can't see that there is any additional writing, although the copywork selections get a little longer. I don't mean add more writing for handwriting/penmanship practise, I mean writing as in being able to compose their own sentences, paragraphs or even short stories and factual reports. I have no idea if these are age appropriate (D is 8 and F is 9) expectations as LA is my weak area having never been formally taught these skills myself. Unlike in say science or history, where I know the end goal and the content to cover to reach it. I'd love to just stick with ELTL alone and be confident that that is enough, as it feels so easy and stress-free at the moment. However I can't help the doubts creeping in, that I am somehow doing my kids a disservice by failure to teach them some important skill. I think my worries are mainly due to: a) Comparisons with the kind of work similar aged children in PS are producing e.g. Page long stories, with clear beginning, middle, ending. Alongside that are the targets for end of primary school here (UK) F is 18 months away from this and can do very little of that list. She has also mentioned going to PS for secondary, which she is far from being ready for at the moment. b)My personally experiences of not knowing how to write well at school. No one taught me how, I was just expected to do it. I avoided writing as far as possible, which lead to behaviour issues, truanting and ultimately leaving school aged 16 with poor results and having to accept a life of low-paid jobs. I want better for my kids but fear my lack of knowledge will hold them back. c) I see on posts here and other forums, people using multiple curriculum, or even putting things together themselves. I've never seen anyone just use ELTL, so feel I must be missing something out. And the reason why I'm asking here what I should be doing :laugh:

We are currently close to finishing ELTL 1 and I plan to continue on to ELTL 2. I happy with it but feel like I should add in more writing exercises/instruction beyond the copywork alone. I have the DVD of EIW grade 3 (but no workbooks yet) and was wondering if that would work. Or would it be too much combined? Or should I try something else completely? LA is my weak area so I really have no clue.

I found both my kids had worked out how to do all that stuff on their own somehow, without ever being taught and just playing around on our home PC <feeling old> they do need to both go through it again this summer though as a requirement for a Cub Scout badge, and also do a refresher on safe searching etc. My son is 3rd grade and is currently learning how to code using a book called Super Scratch Programming Adventure. He's almost done with that one though and wants to move onto Python (I think it's called) next.

Schools in UK finish 3rd week of July for summer but we are planning to be done by end of June. By then we will hopefully be finished: -AAS3 -SOTW 1 with added projects on Greece, the Romans and Roman Britain -All our Biology courses -Nallenart 3 for French -Galore Park Latin prep 1A -All the citizenship/health topics still left to cover for this year (we are on track for this!) -Mapstart 2 If that goes to plan then our summer will look like this -1st week of July, kids have 1 week Summer school for Violin- I will get the house straight, file this year's school work(in the attic) and start on planning next year -2nd week will be family vacation week (before PS kicks out so cheaper and quieter) -3rd week we have a French family from our Twin Town in France coming to stay!!!! -End of July/August- kids go away on Cub Scout camp and I recover! and finish planning school for next year. All august I work Mon-Fri, 12-6pm each day at a Daycare centre. My kids will come with me to that and join in all the activities- sports/art/crafts/baking plus day trips out to local woods/parks/beach/zoo. If all goes to plan (last year we moved house and it didn't) we will still do school 'lite' each morning before I go to work. so we will carry on with: -Maths, MEP Year 3 for F and 4 for D, just carry on from where they are and continue on in September -ELTL 2 -I'm still considering adding in EIW 3 after Easter so if I do work on that to get it done by September. If not -AAS4 -F has been doing both Harmony Fine Arts and Artisitic Pursuits (for fun) so she will carry on those so she finishes all projects by September (so we can start the next books in line with SOTW) -If D is still interested he can carry on with GP Latin book 1b Extras -No music tuition over summer (closes down after Summer School) so I'll assign some fun practise pieces- we have Disney for Violin -Swim coaching continues but I may book them on an intensive course if any are running for their levels (should be ASA 5 by then and intensives are usually only 1-3) -Take part in the County Library Summer Reading Challenge -Continue working on gaining more Cub Scout badges Phew! That sounds a lot! First week of September PS's go back here but we always take that week off, go on some field trips or a vacation (if we didn't in July) just because we can. Second week we will start school but it will mostly be carrying on from where we left off or start the next book/level. New stuff we be: -Geography, I want to do a fully survey of the British Isles, but need to work out exactly how still (can't buy curriculum for this here) -SOTW2 will be combined with Our Island Story somehow -I have no idea what to do for Science -Hopefully doing an in depth study/comparison of major world religions Also though I will count F as going into 4th grade from September, but under the English system she would be starting Year 6 according to birthdate. Year 6 is the year of the dreaded KS2 SATS testing. In PS they will spend most the year cramming for these tests, kids and teachers getting more stressed as the year goes on. They are luckily non-mandatory for homeschoolers so luckily F won't have to do them, but as she knows her friends are, may ask to anyway. I think it will be a bad idea as she likely won't pass and feel a failure, whereas if she did them the following year, I think she would do much better. We will also have to visit and apply to secondary schools if she decides she wants to start in Year 7 in 2017. How did my baby grow so big!

I have an 8 year old and a 9 year combined for LA. Both are very reluctant writes. The 9yo mainly down to some LDs and problems with motor control, which she sees an occupational therapist for and is making brilliant progress. The 8yo just hates writing; he's a mathsy kinda guy. Both had some pretty bad experiences in PS with writing, so I've really not pushed it too much in the 2 years since they came home. I've focussed mainly on other areas of LA and just the mecanics of writing, but now I'm trying to work out how to start introducing some writing composition into their schedules. Currently we do ELTL. We all love this and want to continue. We will finish level 1 this term and I plan to buy level 2. However looking at the previews I have a feeling that level 2 is still a little light on writing, so I was considering adding something else in, at least until ELTL3, where I can see the pace picks up quite a bit. I have the DVD of EIW grade 3, but would need to buy the workbooks if we went with this. But should I? Would it overwhelm the kids and turn them off writing again? Is there too much unnecessary overlap, that would mean more work just for the sake of it? We do have time in our LA schedule each day to fit EIW in maybe twice a week. We currently do approx. 1 hour per day. So 3 days we do ELTL (literature and Copywork) and AAS in that time. On the 4th day we do the Narration/Picture study portion of ELTL and on the 5th we do reading comprehension workbooks and go over any poetry they are memorising. So on the 4th and 5th days we are always finished well within the hour and could fit in EIW I think. I'm just not sure I should. Any opinions from people who have used one or both these curriculums before I commit to buy either?