where can I find what all these initials mean?

at your children's pace and follow their lead. Progeny Press guides are outlined in segments. For instance,the guide directs you to read three chapters then go into the guide and complete the vocabulary, comprehension, and digging deeper questions. Don't let your kids get bored with this or frustrated with the amount of time it takes. Sometimes answering the questions involves going back into the book to re-read. This can be tedious,so make your plan to cut it short. We are currently reading Carry on, Mr. Bowditch. Some of the chapters are rather long so DS and I take turns reading; sometimes we even read only one or two of the chapters, and finish the reading part the next day. The idea is to enjoy literature! You don't want to turn them against it! Remember not to be a slave to it, either. Take a few days off if necessary or simply draw an illustration of your favorite part one day. The guides are easy to use; just take them one step at a time. You'll have a lot of fun! Don't skip the preliminary activities either! They add a lot to the story!

Sometimes, if we're spending a significant amount of time in an outdoor setting, I'd bring one of my naturestudy handbooks (other times we make notations and wait till we get home). We always carry a plastic bag, a few paper towels, gloves, and a pair of scissors to collect samples. When we come across something of interest, I occasionally look things up, or we pick a piece of it (if it's growing) and sketch it into a spiral artist sketch book when we get home. Other times we press flowers/leaves etc., put them in a plastic bag, take the bag into the sketchbook flat, and label it. Now that DS is older, I let him take pictures with the digital camera. We print them out on computer paper and write a blurb underneath. We had a wonderful time working on a Contenders of the Faith badge on "trees" and we drove around with our camera, tree identification guide, and a bag for samples of leaves. We were delighted to find that our library (a historical building) had a tree collection which was originally built by a wealthy man in our town's history. The research desk provided us with a map of the grounds and the names of the trees with locations. How cool is that! After having done this for a period of years, friends and relatives start saving things for you. One friend stopped by with a big, huge slug that she found on a barbecue grill! We measured it and really had some fun finding out more! My dad saves things like vacant lobster shells (he eats them carefully so we can enjoy the exoskeleton afterwards), pictures of of fish on its way down a pelican's throat (from his trip south), and stuff like that! He sent us a dead dragonfly, a live swallow tailed butterfly, and other insects he's found in his garden! What a dad! Anyways, the sky's the limit! We do own the binocular is and a magnifying glass, which are good for lots of things! Wishing you the best on your nature studies!

We used Winter Promise: Quest for the Ancient World. I was looking for a literature oriented program and found Beautiful Feet and Sonlight to be too advanced for my son. Winter promise has a middlers program (grades 4-6) which looked wonderful! It's actually a literature/unit study combination with lots of projects to do as well. I found most of the books exciting (with a few exceptions) and we did do a few of the projects, but not many as we would have liked) because we spent a lot of time on language arts and math. Then, because we got off to a late start, our year will be ending with the Greeks and I'll be selling my program and finishing the study of Rome either over the summer or in September using History Pockets in conjunction with Homeschool in the Woods New Testament history. (I am however, still using Classical Kids (great book!), Gladiators, and The Bronze Bow, and of course, the Bible. Winter promise covers some science (archaeology and "ancient science." For math we use Math-U-See epsilon, Critical Thinking Math Story Problems, and Building Thinking Skills (which really isn't math, but I categorize it with problem solving)- Language Arts fluctuates between Learning Language Arts through Literature, Total Language Plus guides, And Progeny Press for variety through the year. We do copywork and Daily Grams as well. I stuck a little extra grammar in there just for fun using A Beka, but I hated it! Had I known about Growing with Grammar, life would have been easier. We utilize our co-op science themes which this year was: Hydrology and Weather. We go into more depth at home on our own time. DS also enjoys piano and chorus, Range Riders club (at church), & Contenders of the Faith. For physical education DS spent most of the year getting up at 5:15 in the morning to go to the Latitude gym three mornings per week which he loved! He had phys ed and drama at the co-op as well. I know we did more than that, but I'm blown away looking at everything we did accomplish! Wow! In retrospect, I didn't know we did that much!

We, too have struggled here and there with math. (We use MUS). Before you go spending all kinds of money on another program, try calling the regional sales person for MUS. They usually put their stickers on the back student book. If not, you can contact the main office in Pennsylvania, where you may even talk to Steve Demme himself! They will give you wonderful advice! On two occasions, I've asked them to resend PDF files of the chapters my son got stuck on. They were very glad to do so, and re-explained their procedure that we tend to forget when things are going well.

I recently discovered Growing with Grammar at our local convention. You can go to their website by the same name and take a peek at the sample pages. I've never seen grammar simplified as well as this program does. The page is very clean looking -- kind of like a Math-U-See page, and the explanation is very clear. I need seventh-grade and it will be available on May 1! I can't wait to get it!

check it out at www.apoogia.com

I saw it this weekend at our homeschool convention and fell in love with it!:party: It's called Growing with Grammar. The author is just coming out with grade 7; it will be available May 1. Assuming your son is probably in grade 5 or so, you can check out sample pages on their website of the same name. It's worth checking out!

From what I understand, completing 4 high school progeny press guides would be considered a high school credit. I think 2 guides would be a fair "sprinkle"

My son is not dyslexic, however he does need something more than I've been using. Where does one start with Sequential Spelling? He is in the sixth grade and I would say has average spelling capabilities at best. Advice anyone?

nm

I want to cry!

I appreciate it!

I would like to see the table of contents for this book.Can anyone help me? thanks in advance!

I would go to the website for "In the Hands of a Child," and look at the questions they address in their lap book (they're listed in the sample page) You can use these as starter questions, and as you're looking up your information, you're bound to find other interesting information. Another idea is to use a textbook table of contents to collect ideas for what you'd like to put in your lap book. Hope this helps!

We have the game called Take Off. This game has a huge laminated mapof the world. It is very long and has airplane routes flying from Hawaii in the East around the world and back to Hawaii. Storing the game requires rolling it up. This makes it very difficult game to play as you're always fighting with the map curling up. This is what we did: We spread the map on the table and secured it with a couple of pieces of tape. Then, we measured the length of the table and got a piece of heavy duty plastic at Wal-Mart to cover it with. We used packing tape to secure it under the table. Now it is useful for school, referring to when reading the newspaper, and of course for playing the game! Everyone loves it!

I bought this program when it first came out (DS is now 22 years old).I had very high expectations of Saxon. All it did for him was burned him out!!! Thankfully, a friend introduced me to MUS and it helped a lot! He still doesn't like math, though. My now 12-year-old is working through MUS, and we take our time doing it. If he doesn't get a concept, we work on it until he does. I've learned that it's very important!

Can I come to your school?(did I miss something, or did you forget math?)

They are both wonderful curriculums! Let your children decide!

Mind sat on the shelf. We had much more fun with Rummy Roots card game.

I've been wondering the same thing!

I don't know if money is an issue for you,but Betty Lukens felts are wonderful! You can use a children's Bible and present the story, then at playtime let them review it on their own!

Put her into the next level. One of the great advantages about homeschooling is that your child can move right along!

Our homeschool co-op offers this from time to time.If you don't have a co-op you could always offer one at your home.

They have a wonderful keepsake type timeline book which goes with their CD-ROM timeline figures collection.