I think my oldest moved to Boxcar children.

Bribery has seen us through many rough patches :)

I have not used Sonlight, but from the research I have done it would be harder than TOG to use with many children at different levels--it is possible to combine children who are close in age and use a single core, but with children at many different levels you would probably have to use several cores at the same time. TOG was specifically designed for families with children at many different levels. The program is written from a Protestant perspective, but there are Catholic and Orthodox Christians who use it as well. I don't think it would work well from a non-Christian perspective. I am LDS and find that other than occasional tweaking I don't have to worry to much about a slightly different religious perspective. Year 1 relies pretty heavily on Bible reading as part of history study, but you choose whichever translation/version your family prefers. There is a Worldview portion of the program, if your family's religious traditions are significantly different from those of the author this is where you will likely find the most material that needs to be tweaked. Alternatively, the worldview portion can be left out entirely. TOG is designed to be "tailored to fit"--there are a lot of options and resources offered, you are meant to choose among them not use all. Have you tried the 3 week sample from their web site? Beyond that, I would recommend finding someone in your local area who is using the program and would let you look through it; I know it helps me a lot to hold something in my hands, turn the pages, etc. Alternatively, you could buy a single unit, check out the books from the library, and get a feel for whether this is really right for your family or not. I started by buying a used volume of the "Classic" version, and found I liked it so well I have now converted entirely.

I couldn't get all of them to work, but so far we have watched several Tchoupi and Clifford episodes, and something else I can't remember...Firefox browser worked when Internet Explorer didn't, so if you're not using Firefox already try that first. Here's the l.ink for Tchoupi: http://voirdessinanime.com/t-choupi/42630, which directs you to: http://www.tiji.fr/Tout-Tiji/Ti-heros/T-choupi/Videos/Le-record-de-crepes/Le-record-de-crepes and Clifford: http://voirdessinanime.com/clifford

This site links to streaming cartoons in French: http://voirdessinanime.com/ Just thought I would pass it on for anyone who is interested!

The author also posts book recommendations on her blog: http://www.chouetteunlivre.fr/ By the way, who can tell me the best way to get French books in the US? Should I try to order from Canada or???

Thank you Stacy for outlining what you do with for mapping. The atlas recommendation is especially helpful. Leigh Bortins recommends starting with children as young as kindergarten by having them draw continent "blobs" on a simple grid--the basic shape and position of the continents, without worrying about details. Once that is mastered you can work on more accurate shapes and on drawing regional maps. She suggests working on one region/continent each year (for small children) or working at a faster pace for older ones. I've also seen a book called "Mapping the World with Art" that looks interesting. Has anyone used it?

Is anyone teaching geography through mapping the way Leigh Bortins outlines it in the The Core? I'm interested in her suggestions, but I'd like to know how it works out in practice. Are there particular atlases or materials that make this easier? Does anyone teach their children to draw maps of the world using another method?

Thanks for the suggestions. Do you all think skip counting is important to focus on before memorizing multiplication facts? --Sarah

I want to start working on math fact memorization--does anyone have favorite methods or resources to recommend? I want to do addition, subtraction, skip counting, multiplication, division, and common squares...should we attack them one at a time? Or do addition and subtraction together? I like math, but I'm not organized and I feel like I need some kind of organized system for this!

The stories of test anxiety are scaring me--my kids are a long ways from PSAT's, but I wonder if I should plan some standardized testing along the way to prepare them for the experience? My oldest tends to be high anxiety...Personally, I always enjoyed taking standardized tests--I remember taking the SAT on my birthday and thinking it was fun! But I've always thought challenges were fun--DD definitely does not view them that way!

Thanks Cindy, your summary was succinct and helpful. I too have wondered what exactly RC would add--I think I'm pretty happy with what I've got right now. I'm wondering, though, do you still use RC materials mixed in with your others? It seems it might be nice just to have as a resource...

I love this idea. I've been wondering about how to approach math facts--so far we've just worked on understanding the concepts and figuring out facts as needed (I really think this needs to come first--if kids don't know WHAT it means to multiply, memorizing the facts is not worth so much). Now that DD7 understands most of the concepts, I'd like to work on getting the facts memorized. Setting aside as separate "arithmetic facts" time sounds good to me.

I've been trying to teach dd7 to ride without training wheels--she's terrified of falling. How do I get past that? She's been riding with training wheels for at least 3 years. I've seen bikes for small children with no pedals--you push off with your feet and coast. I'm wondering if that is a better solution than using a bike with training wheels for small children?

I am considering doing a double-loop type schedule--let's say, a couple of everyday subjects first, then a loop with 4 or 5 subjects that I want done at least twice a week (scheduled so we could get through 2 a day ), then a loop with things that don't matter very much to me if they only happen once a week or so. Do you think this could work? --Sarah