Next year my oldest will use McGraw-Hill Science grade 6. I'm planning on having him spend 2 days outlining each topic, a day working on an experiment, and a day answering the review questions. There's one option. :) Another option is Noeo Science. Level 2 is for grades 4-6 and Noeo is currently working on Level 3. There's also a Yahoo group. A third option is Apologia Elementary Science. The library is another option. A friend is simply having her 6th grader read a science book each week on a topic of his choice. You can always add a few experiments and reports. :D Best of luck!

FLL 3 has been a hit here. I'm using with ds (4th grade) and dd (3rd grade). My 4th grader has learned a lot but found it easy and confidence building. Dd has learned a lot and found the course challenging but not frustrating. Neither child had any formal grammar before FLL 3. :)

I'm printing up the couch to 5K plan. :D I used to run in highschool, cross-country and track, hated track....loved cross-country. :D It's the running in circles that gets to me..lol. Do I have to commit to specific days? :eek: I'll run today, Thursday, and Saturday.

In my copy of Biblioplan Middle Ages, it lists the name of the man you're studying in the Famous Men of ... and Optional Guide. The page numbers are not included, though. :)

Once children are reading well, you can substitute spelling for phonics. Let him run through SWO A quickly and get started in SWO B. Drop ETC, and follow your instinct. :) Read alot and cover the rules as you run into them in SWO or in your reading.

Multiplication. For a 5 number license plate it is: 10*10*10*10*10 because you have 10 different possiblities (0-9) for each of the 5 places. If, on the other hand, you are not allowed to re-use any digit, the answer would be: 10*9*8*7*6. :D

I'm a working, homeschooling mom, also. My dh came home last year telling me about a friend who'd been working 80+ hour weeks. I just looked at him and walked away in disgust... uh, between working, housekeeping, errands, childcare, and homeschooling... add up the hours, honey! lol ;) Seriously, as a mom who's been there done that, you're doing too much. FIAR is more than enough for a 5yo; throw in a bit of phonics and math and you have a marvelous school day. You could even drop all schooling except phonics and read alouds for the rest of the year. Personally, you and your dd need to have fun schooling together. Good books on the sofa, fun projects in the kitchen, but do not attempt to have a structured school day for the rest of the year. You'll burn yourself out. :eek: I agree with JudoMom. Drop all schooling expectations until fall. Enjoy your little ones. Also, I only try to do an awesome job with the 3 R's and Latin. We do all right with history and science, but all other subjects is catch as catch can. Something has to give. :cool: Saturday is my day off. After work, I don't do anything but very minimal cooking. I play on the computer, read a book, let the children watch as many DVDs as they want (Bill Nye is well loved), and relax. My dh doesn't quite understand, but having a day that I'm allowed to goof on is important to my sanity. The house doesn't get too trashed in one day, dinner is in the crock pot, and I always feel better on Sunday. :D Best of luck!

We use Biblioplan also with 5th, 4th, 3rd, and prK children. We're all enjoying it. My oldest outlines the Kingfisher pages on his own, and I read aloud from some of the books scheduled during the classtime. Our Biblioplan classtime is usually around 20-30 minutes 3 times a week. In addition, each child spends some time doing their assigned reading. My oldest usually has 100 pages a week assigned, while my middle 2 children have 50 pages. The books are well chosen and my children enjoy the literature. The entire family has enjoyed the family read alouds in the evening and the books have sparked family discussions. It's been a wonderful way to include my dh in our schooling. We started a timeline in January, the one Biblioplan offers, and it's been a wonderful way to review the people and stories we've already covered. All in all, I LOVE Biblioplan. :D

Well, as of this week, I'm using both CW and the IEW theme Ancient History course. I love the idea of CW but find it hard to 'teach' with. We're now using it as a suppliment. :rolleyes: I picked up IEW theme Ancient History and love it. It tells me the structure of each piece of writing and includes some stylistic techniques. IEW does not go to the depth of CW but is far more managable. PLUS, I'm able to work with my 3 oldest children at the same time! I've asked my library to order the IEW DVDs through interlibrary loan to preview the seminar before I order, so there's another option. :D

And sometimes one forgets to bring her calculator to a 400 level statistics final...:eek: Knowing how to do the math longhand can REALLY save your bacon at times. :D

I've used FLL 1/2, FLL 3, and GWG 5. FLL 1/2 lays a wonderful foundation for grammar. It is used orally, but does have recommended copywork and dictation exercises. FLL 3 includes a scripted TM and a workbook for the student. I'm currently using FLL 3 with a 3rd and a 4th grader and we're enjoying it greatly. GWG has an extremely well written instruction book that is written for the student to read, a student workbook, and an answer key. My 5th grader has been completing GWG independently and thriving. Both FLL and GWG are excellent programs but my 3rd & 4th graders will be switching to GWG next year for the simple reason that it is more independent and therefore more likely to be done. :rolleyes:

I hate to suggest this but since you say it's being passed from son to son... have you done a thorough cleanse of the house? Not a normal clean but an open the windows, scrub the ceiling, walls & floors, get under furniture, behind books shelves, wash curtains, disinfect ALL the bed linens with bleach and hot water, etc and see if you can kill the germs being passed around. :eek: I'm not talking about a normal clean but rather disinfecting the house. Also, are you using a humidifier? Dry air can irritate the lungs. I can't think of any foods to try other than chicken soup & garlic. I hope your sons are well soon. :)

I have my children do 1 entire Saxon math lesson each day. Even if every problem is wrong, we stop there, no more math is done that day. Once the child's percentage drops below 80% and remains there, I pull the child back to a point where they are able to make 100%. We are usually able to finish the books in a year because we do math 5-6 days a week, 45-50 weeks a year. Doing math almost every day gives us a lot of breathing room. :rolleyes: I should say, my #2 son has been working through Saxon 54 for 18 months now. I started him in 54 before he was ready :o and he's been making wonderful progress, with lots of repeating. I'm not bothered because this is the way my homeschooling has worked. The children need to repeat new 'subjects' 2-3 times before they have enough of a foundation to move forward quickly. This is how they learned to read, to write, etc. Through hard experience I've learned my children must master the material or we will flounder and end up repeating the information anyway. lol, and jumping from curricula to curricula ends up taking more time than simply repeating the lessons and moving forward. :D

I have the new 1999 Kingfisher. 2 level outlines are working well but my ds and I tried 3 level outlines once and it drove us crazy. I'll try again in a couple of years but for now 2 levels is enough. :)

I am having my son outline from Kingfisher. He does 2 pages at a time (or 3-5 paragraphs) and uses each large paragraph as a main point and finds 2-5 subpoints within it. It's working well for us. If we used SOTW instead, I'd likely have him outline one section at a time. Doing an entire chapter would drive ME crazy, much less my son. :p If you want the entire chapter outlined, perhaps divide it throughout the week instead of outlining on Monday only. I prefer my son to complete a smaller well done outline versus a longer sloppy one. :rolleyes: I don't believe a science textbook would be too condensed...but Kingfisher is working well for us. :D

I agree with WTMINDY, it's soo much fun! :D Plus...you can avoid housework for a little while longer. It's research. I can't possibly homeschool effectively if I don't know the particulars of EVERY curriculum, even if I have a fair idea of what we'll be using next year. Must be prepared. :cool:

My ds had the same problem last summer when we attempted to start 76. We ended up going back to lesson 45 in 65 and repeating all the material. I also provided an incentive for getting 90% or better: he gets an extra 10 minutes on the computer. He also grades his own work (under my supervision) and shows me his mistakes and WHY he made the mistake. We've restarted 76 (on lesson 46) and he's much more careful with his work. :D I've offered to allow him to restart 76 if it gets too difficult. ;)

And you can see from my little lists above that I don't know what to do when a child gets to the 5th grade and has finished all 4 volumes of SOTW. What do you do then? Repeat them? Use something else? I've ended up switching over the Biblioplan, which uses SOTW, for my family, but there is no reason you have to switch. The SOTW activity guide includes what pages of Kingfisher your logic stage child should read. Your child can then do logic stage studies as per TWTM. Much of it is explained in TWTM and will answer your questions when it arrives. :D

I'm going to weigh in since there was a time I had a 5 yo, 4 yo, 2 yo, and was pregnant with #4. :D All right, 5 1/2 years ago, but still... Congradulations by the way. I love the age spread. :) Now that my children are older (11, 10, 8.5, and 5), it's much easier to have them working together on history and science. I'm able to coordinate family read alouds, science dvds, projects, experiments, field trips, etc. to what we are studying in history and science. We're able to have family discussions on what we're learning. It is much easier and I love the discussions the family has. It's one of the perks to having children so close in age. :rolleyes: I would suggest starting SOTW 1 on schedule with your oldest but have all the children listen in to the read aloud time. Let them have a snack and color while you read. Do fun projects with the children. The narrations and map work can be done with children in the 1st grade and up but keep everything low key and make it a fun family activity. :D The depth will come, later. Best of luck!

Biblioplan has a 1 page chart for each week. It charts what pages you need to read in each spine, what book each child is reading and how far, suggested map & timeline work, and a suggested writing topic for grammar and logic stage children. Biblioplan also schedules a family read aloud. If you pick up the high school suppliment it will suggest history chapters and great books to read that coordinate with the younger children's studies. My children spend around 2-4 hours a week on history and literature. Tapestry of Grace has around 50 pages of material for each week. The reading load is heavier and writing topics are assigned by level (there are 12). There is map work and time line work as well as suggested projects for the children. TOG also includes fine art. It has worksheets for the children, discussion questions for 7th grade and up, and summary sheets for the parents to read. My friend, who uses TOG, says her family spends 2-3 hours a day on TOG. TOG does include most subjects within it. :)

My children do the same thing. They'll be reading a lovely variety of books and then bam... none of the bunch will touch anything but comic books for a time. This will last a few months before they'll branch out again. I don't think your ds will read nothing but Calvin and Hobbes for the rest of his life. :) I've left my children alone for their personal reading, but all readers are assigned 1-4 books a week for schoolwork to ensure a more varied diet than just comics. ;)

K-3 is anything that works until the child is ready for Saxon 54. We've used Saxon, Singapore, Rod & Staff, and my youngest is using Mammoth Math. 4-12 is primarily Saxon Math. We're using all the books from 54-Calculus including both 87 and Algebra 1/2. I'm considering using Life of Fred as a suppliment on the side for a different perspective on mathematics.

We use specific instructions along with plenty of cheers. For instance, I told my children to pick up the 'Barbies' or another toy. If that was too much, I would instruct the child to pick up a Barbie and put it away. Then repeat as needed. :rolleyes: I've also physically guided my small children through the actions needed, however cheers with the promise of a treat once the room is cleaned works best. :) HTH!!

I feel the same way even though I've been homeschooling now for 7 years. There's always someone doing more writing, more science, more history, a better Latin program, or saying my curricula isn't good enough. It will drive you crazy if you let it. :eek: That being said, I'm schooling on the philosophy that a bit of average school done every day is better than the best curriculum done sporadically. :cool: