I agree with the previous posters who said that Singapore and Miquon complement each other well. With my eldest, I started her out on Earlybird, then began adding in the Miquon assignments when she began 1A in Singapore. I did the same with my second born. I've just begun Earlybird with my third and I may start Miquon earlier this time. I'm not sure yet... My two oldest kids loved/love Miquon though :001_smile:. I use Singapore as a spine and then I usually add in Miquon either to reinforce what they are currently learning or to introduce a topic Singapore doesn't cover. The chart that was linked by a previous poster was helpful to me as I was scheduling. There were also times I was much looser about things and I would just let my dd pick out a few Miquon pages to do at random. She enjoyed that :001_smile:. I've been a bit more structured this go-around with ds6. This was a rambling way of saying - Try the Miquon! It's a lot of fun :001_smile:.

I have always assigned the written work from the textbook. In recent years I have begun cutting the assignment down to "odds only" or skipped sections I thought were repetitive. We don't do the Oral section. My dd reads the lesson on her own. I assign the worksheets as a review after she has gone through a few lessons. I try to assign three worksheets at a time. I wait until she completes the lessons for the next three worksheets in the book, then I assign the worksheets.

I'm happy with VP's Phonics Museum. I've taught two kids to read with it and I'm now working on my third... I dabbled in 100 EZ Lessons with the same three kids. It was a disaster with my eldest. My second child loved it, but once he was able to hold a pencil reliably I moved him into Phonics Museum. My third child tolerated it, but I am now using PM with her, too.

:iagree: I forgot to add in my earlier post, my dd does R&S largely independently. I taught the lesson to her when she was in level 2, but soon discovered she could easily read it on her own and figure out what to do without my input. I corrected her daily assignments when she was in the earlier levels, but now I only correct tests. The student text is very self-teaching. She will occasionally come to me when she has a question about something.

It is grammar and comp., but you can easily skip the writing assignments. The grammar and comp assignments are not integrated KWIM? For example, my dd is using R&S 5 this year for grammar. The writing assignments in the text are set off by little rows of flowers around the lesson. If you are using another composition program, skip them :001_smile:. R&S's grammar is extremely thorough with lots of review built in. I also love FLL, but I am only familiar with it up through FLL 1 & 2.

Ok, that's it then. I don't have DE. I have the Print Redesign. :001_smile:

I think this in Evaluations, not the Loom....unless I am missing something. (which is entirely possible :tongue_smilie:) I guess I should say: I can't find it on my Loom CD, but I can find this on my Evaluations CD.

We do the same thing here.

The Tub People was always a favorite here. My kids also loved all the Frog and Toad stories, Amelia Bedelia, and Corduroy.

Word Within the Word is the next step up in the MCT vocabulary series. It is for grades 8-12. Almost forgot: It also says on their website for "academically motivated" 6-7th graders.

It's separate. It can be done independently from the rest of MCT's Language Arts. I think the vocabulary is worked into the other books on the same level, but it is not necessary to do the whole level.

We used to use Wordly Wise. We've been very happy with our switch to MCT's vocabulary. We're in the middle of Caesar's English 1. There is root study as well as word lists. There is a lot of practice with the words including discussion, re-wording sentences, synonyms, antonyms, Latin roots, etc. It is more time-consuming than WW though. With WW, I just handed her the workbook and she was independent. CE requires more Mom-time. It's not a huge time sink though. We're pleased (both Mom and dd) and plan to continue on with MCT.

:iagree: I just had this conversation with my eldest this afternoon. I told her that creative writing is a valuable pursuit, but it is not something which I wish to focus on in our homeschool because of its limited usefulness. If someone is gifted at creative writing, they could grow up to be a published author, but that is sort of the equivalent of aspiring to be a rock star :001_smile:. If a person has talent, that is fantastic and it should be nurtured, but it cannot be forced, nor should it be focused on too much because the odds of being able to make a living at it one day are not good. Academic writing on the other hand has much broader application and would certainly be necessary for the college-bound. I am moving into MCT writing after we finish up WWE because they focus on academic writing.

I'm really happy with these white boards from Hobby Lobby. One side is blank, one side is three-line ruled. They have held up great this year. Oh, almost forgot...price is $9.99 for a three-pack. My dh found these for me. He's so helpful : ).

For books: All readers/history books are separated into groups by historical time period and "level". So, for TOG Year 1, I have a shelf for the Year 1 LG books and a shelf for the Year 1 Dialectic books. I label the shelves, too. Other types of curricula, like math texts, grammar, science, etc. are just organized by subject wherever I can find room at the moment. For what my kids are currently using right now: Each kid gets a shelf for their books. I also have a wall mounted magazine rack for spiral-bound notebooks. I give my eldest a separate spiral bound notebook for each subject for her daily assignments. This is kept in my teacher area so I can easily get to them for correcting her assignments. I need a better system for the subjects which require binders. I'm drowning in binders. They are space hogs. For my teacher-area: I have my desk in a different room from the school room due to space constraints. I have just recently set up my own bookcase/shelf unit with my TMs, software, assorted school supplies and my all-important file crate. My file crate is divided into subjects and then has folders in each subject for any conceivable type of worksheet or print-out I might need. I try to get these set up at the beginning of each school year so my kids can find their own worksheets. I always seem to be photo-copying something...

Forgive me if this has already been linked but I don't have time to read the whole thread at the moment. Pop vs. Soda map of the US I'm originally from Central PA and I say "soda". My dh is from Southern IL and he says "soda". This makes for marital harmony.

This is not a good option if you live in a town of 2000. We'd be out of "paper" in one afternoon. We use Scott btw :001_smile:.

We do one chapter per day.

:iagree: I've had way more problems homeschooling with 2 year olds in the house than newborns. My youngest is 2 years and 5 months now....I hope things get better soon. :tongue_smilie: To the OP, enjoy your baby, you'll get used to the new "normal" in no time :001_smile:.

We love TOG, too :001_smile:!

I'm logged in, it will show me the Primary Resources for the Years I have not purchased, but it will not show me Alternates. It will only show me the Alternates for the Years I have purchased.

I tried this to look ahead at resources for Year 3 (which I haven't purchased yet) and it wouldn't let me. I don't think it will let you look at Resources for Years you haven't purchased yet....or I am doing something wrong (which is entirely possible :lol:) When I looked up booked for the Years I already own, it let me pull up a list of Alternate resources.

I don't know if there is anyway to pull up this list on TOG's website, but for each week of TOG there is a two page spread of reading assignments for that week. The page on the left has the primary resources ala what you would find at Bookshelf Central. On the right hand side of the spread there is a list of "Alternate or Extra Resources", divided into four columns for LG, UG, Dialectic and Rhetoric. So, as an example, my kids are on Week 31 of Year 1 right now. In the UG column SOTW Vol 1 is listed as an Alt. Resource for UG. It says to read Chapters 34 and 35 this week. That is what I am doing with ds 6 this week (even though he is LG actually) in addition to reading Cleopatra by Diane Stanley, which is one of the Primary Resources for LG this week. I have my dd10 doing a mix of dialectic and UG this year, so in addition to the Primary Resources for this week (Usborne Romans, Ancient Celts, Ides of April), I'm having her read Streams of Civilization p. 150-155 and p. 250-252 from the Alternate Resources. I scheduled this because I already owned Streams and that saved me from buying Story of the Romans by H.A. Guerber in the Primary Resources. There are lots of things listed in the Alternate section that could be substituted for the Primary Resources if you already own them. When I ordered TOG, I held off on ordering books until I had the reading schedule in my hands. Then I could go through each week and see what we already had.

I used SL Cores 2, 3 and 4 before switching to TOG Year 1 this past year. I just recently purchased Year 2 and hashed out lesson plans for the year. I worked in most of our Core 2 books into TOG's framework for my ds 6. I tried to match up topics for each week. For the literature/read-alouds from SL, I just stuck those in throughout the year ignoring what was being studied in history that week. I think little kids need some fun literature sometimes without worrying about history all the time. Of course, I heavily modified TOG for next year as well because I don't like how quickly they zip through the Middle Ages/Reformation/Renaissance period. I modified it to be more in line with TWTM's four year history cycle.

I use TOG without the library. We buy all our books. I mostly buy for my 10yo though. I rely primarily on SOTW1 as scheduled in TOG for my 6yo. I cherry picked a few titles that looked good for him.