Thank you, Melissa for sharing this. If you are able, can you share what you mean by 'the feel is so different with TOG'? I'd be so interested to hear what you mean by this. Thank you.

Thank you, Marie, for being so willing share and offer information. I appreciate your time. Thanks for your thoughts about taking it easy with TOG...I totally get what you are saying. Thanks for the science info, I have actually looked at RS4K so many times and almost bought it---especially since there was a 25% off bundle special. I really like the way the info is presented, it seems really kid-friendly...lots of great scientific terms and info, presented in a way that seems really appealing for a kid. Thanks for sharing about WA. I am also using WWE so, maybe that is plenty for now. Thanks again for your willingness to offer information and share your experience.

Thanks for the tips, Marie, I appreciate it. Goodness knows, you are one of the most diligent researchers out there:)

Thanks so much. All of the responses have been so helpful. I've done some research in the past regarding TOG and even purchased a unit from year one (DE) about a year ago but, haven't used it. At the time it seemed a little more than I could handle planning-wise but, I've grown to a place in homeschooling where rigid, and sometimes scripted, daily schedules are way too confining and have left me feeling like I have no room or freedom to be my own teacher. I've been feeling like I have just been following and executing someone else's plan and that just isn't going to work for the long-haul. I am now at a place where having the ability to plan our days and choose what we want and don't want to include will be beneficial. TOG certainly offers the ability to customize to fit our specific needs. Also, now that my younger daughter is getting older I am starting to realize that I need to really start thinking about combining, versus juggling two separate programs. I have a couple of questions, hopefully some of you can answer otherwise, I'll start a new post. Does TOG recommend a particular science program? I know they don't include science, just wondering if they have a top recommendation as I am having a hard time settling with science. Do you use Writing Aids and how do you like it? I think that's it for now. Thank you for your time.

Thanks, Marie, I may start another thread as you suggested. I'll also do a search as I know there are a ton of TOG threads. Thanks again, everyone, this thread has been very helpful.

Thanks for the bump. I saw my post head into page 3 or 4 shortly after I posted, and I thought it was a goner so, I didn't come back to check. I'm happy to see some replies! Thanks very much for these detailed responses, EXACTLY what I was looking for. And yes, Marie, you are right about me being interested in hearing from those teaching D and R levels since that is where a heavier focus on academics would likely come into play. I'm interested in ANY comments though, from people who are using any TOG level, and those who were once deciding between SL and TOG, and ended up going with TOG. It's been a while since I was considering using either TOG or SL so, I was hoping to gain some insight at this time. Again, the replies so far have been great, thank you for your time.

I would be interested in other reasons as well, if you care to share. Thank you.

Angel, I think you are doing great. Mcruffy is a well rounded program and should give your daughter a great opportunity for skill building. I used SL 4/5 and did not like reading the books in snippets. We read them as we chose, without the schedule. I don't know if you have seen this already but, a company called Handle on the Arts has coordinating activities/worksheets for some of the Sonlight cores. They have a P 4/5 option and you can take a look at it here... http://www.handleonthearts.com/cart/handson-activities-prek-4-and-5-c-24_28.html PS~My daughter will be starting cheerleading this fall. I hope she likes it as much as your daughter! I totally get all the princess/Disney stuff, too!

I have a 3 1/2ish little girl who is super busy! I'll just share what we like... Oak Meadow K activities/crafts/storytime Oak Meadow 1 activities/crafts/storytime (with her grade 1 sister) Starfall.com Abeka ABC-123 Preschool Phonics and Numbers workbook An unlimited supply of dot-to-dot books Dr. Seuss books Sonlight P 3/4, P 4/5 read-alouds Unifix Cubes Coins/money Coloring books _____________

*I* would use 4/5 for K and then, LHFHG for 1st grade. Just my 2 cents though, seems that you could go either way with these 2 programs. I'm just thinking that LHFHG has the focused study of history (as compared to 4/5 and some kiddos aren't interested in/ready for history yet ) and the storytime portion of LHFHG requires that the kiddo be pretty good with listening to chapter book stories that have few pictures. 4/5 has the great variety of stories, touching on many different subjects areas and most of the books are colorful and contain many pictures to engage a younger kiddo. I think SL Science K could be easily added to LHFHG since the science in LHFHG is simple and fun allowing time for the addition of more science, if desired.

Maybe McRuffy Press?

I pay $21 for a half hour lesson once a week, by a professional music teacher in her home.

Wonderful, thank you!

Here's the PDF link to the most recent OM Newsletter that contains an article on homeschooling multiple children... http://www.oakmeadow.com/downloads/jan2010newsletter.pdf

Kitten's First Full Moon, for the very little ones.

I give a book a couple of chapters to engage us, and if it fails to do so I put it away. I used to feel like I needed to finish it because it was part of our library but, I don't do that anymore. I know we can always try again another time because sometimes I pick books that are just a bit over my dd's head. I'm learning! Also, I feel like I am still discovering what types of stories appeal to my dd at this point in time. I have some books I thought she would totally get in to and I was so wrong. I am finding out that her choices are quite different than what I would automatically pick for her.

I just recently purchased this on a recommendation from a gal on this board and I am very happy with it. I am using the Vol. 1 with my 6 year old. A friend of mine asked about it via email and this is the note (see below) I wrote back to her telling her about Vol. 1. I hope it helps. Oh, I bought it at Rainbow Resource. Here's my email to my friend...(excuse my typos and such, I get lazy with emails sometimes!) It has you read a short fable, then discuss the vocab associated with it, then it has varied written activities that go with each lesson/fable. For example, here's the first one we did: Read "the goose with the golden eggs" talked about the vocab. associated with it (it listed 9 words to go over) Here's the words: surprised , pure, greedy, shouting, excited, joy, wicked, golden, content. Kind of easy words but, 3 of them my dd didn't really know. Then the next page has a picture from the story to color and under the pic the kiddo is to write a sentence about the picture. Of course you would make sure they used caps where necessary and ended with a period and so forth. Next page has a fenced farm area picture with a little barn and silo (child reads these words). The center of the picture is left blank and the kiddo is to add some drawings of things that belong on a farm. they are to label the pictures by spelling and writing the words themselves. My dd drew a girl, slide, bed. Okay, so a bed doesn't belong on a farm in the middle of a field but she drew and labeled (spelled) all drawings herself. Guess a slide doesn't really go there either, lol! Oh, these are the directions on this particular page: "Nouns name things. "Add some things to the farm. Write the name of each thing you draw." The next page (I think is so cute and fun) has a big picture of a basket filled with big eggs. The directions say: Write the naming words (nouns) from this story (The goose with the golden eggs) inside the eggs. There are 8 eggs so, your kiddo would write in 8 nouns. i think it is great because the kiddo gets to color, come up with nouns, gets spelling and handwriting practice, and has to use there noggin to think back (or go back) to the story to seek out the nouns. I just really love the creative aspect to this program. It is actually fun and has the kiddo covering some great concepts as far as LA. I LOVE the price too. I love how it keeps the kiddo engaged and uses a great variety of activities to keep it really fun and fresh.

Thanks, Kuovonne. I'm thinking if I can get my dd pretty solid with reading and handwriting, plus some basic exposure to grammar, we will be ready to possibly get going with MCT early next year. Will have to see how she progresses from now until then. Thanks for sharing your experience, I appreciate it.

Fantastic, thank you. I appreciate you sharing your time right before dinner. I was able to look at some samples at RR and they look just right for my daughter.

I'm still here.:tongue_smilie: Okay, good to know, Lisa. Do you think you will do the other Aesop books in the series. Feel like sharing about the Aesop books, or rather do you have time?

Thanks, Lisa. It looks like the Aesop's might be more age/level appropriate for my 6 year old, than the SF. Maybe I could do Aesop's first then Sentence Family??? Who knows. I have totally used up my computer/research time today, that's for sure.

Thank you, all. I very much appreciate all the input. I think I've concluded that I will wait a good while on MCT and work through some foundational stuff first. My daughter is bright but, not advanced. Upon looking through the links provided in this thread, I came across Sentence Family and Aesop's Fables My Book About reading, Writing, and Thinking. They look to be something that might suit us very well.

Got it! Thanks, Lisa.

Thank you, Mariann. I appreciate the links. Lisa, you mentioned using FLL and you would probably drop it if it weren't for your dd liking it, why would you drop it? I have FLL 1/2 that was given to me, would love any thoughts about it. Thanks!

Wonderful, thank you very much.