This made me LOL because a friend and I were taking summer credits and I suggested taking grammar (which neither of us needed; I thought it would be useful and easy). I think I got a C (which did significantly impact my GPA), and my poor friend had to RE-TAKE the class later to erase the F she got! I do remember arguing with the teacher about genitives .... she said "six feet of hose" was a genitive (the hose's six feet) and I disagreed. I hope I was right but honestly don't remember.

Did you see the "recommended" schedule in the very beginning of the HIG? Jennifer Hoerst lays out a daily schedule of which textbook pages, workbook exercises, materials, and other (mental math, Rainbow Rock CD) to use. I'm looking at 2B and in the first half of the HIG there is a mental math sheet assigned nearly every day, while there is only 1 scheduled in the 2nd half. I keep a sticky note bookmark in the HIG to keep track of which lesson I'm on. I usually do one a day except when it's totally review and then I may double up. On each daily lesson, there are symbols to draw your attention to the textbook problems, workbook exercises, mental math (not scheduled every day), games, etc. so you don't have to consult the table at the beginning. I think the HIG is exceptionally well laid out :) ETA: I don't use the extra workbooks so I don't know the best way to schedule those - seems that people use them in very different ways anyhow!

I am exactly as you describe (VSL). When I first discussed homeschooling, my husband gently told me that while he didn't doubt I was smart enough to HS, he wasn't sure I would be disciplined enough. I had the same worries. I have never, ever been a routine person (total type B LOL). I use a planner which is probably the only thing that keeps me on track. In my state, I don't even have to keep records but I pretend that someone is going to audit me and I want to have good records. I also consider how much my son needs the predictable routine, which keeps me from slacking off. My daughter challenges me because she often wants me to work with her in the late afternoon when I have totally checked out and it's a real struggle. I think I need to have a specific hour to work with her.

I think your day sounds lovely, but I understand why it can take a lot of stamina! My advice to you is to remain flexible. If you have a busy day, it's OK to drop something on the schedule. Trust me, public school teachers do it! Maybe on Mon & Tues. you can plan to do just the basics at home and use those books on tape for the commuting (great idea!). Do more if you have time, but don't feel pressured.

Me too! I just got it the other day and it looks like it will meet my needs perfectly. I looked at a lot of other books used as spines in other programs and they were either providential (not what I want) or written in very old-fashioned language that my son doesn't speak :tongue_smilie:. The Complete Book of US History cover a lot of ground, gives enough information to make it interesting but not so much it's overwhelming. Since it's only $10, I may even let my DS write in it ;)

Exactly. For history especially, it is really nice to have one main source that provides the chronology and ties everything in together. In Science, I am using a program (REAL Science Odyssey) as a spine and supplementing along the way with extra books that fit in with the topics scheduled.

Not curricula per se, but the Complete Book of United States History is a wonderful spine for grades 3-5. It even includes extension activities and timelines. At $10, it's cheap too ;) I will be using this next year, filing in Jean Fritz books and pertinent read-alouds and readers. There is also a Complete Book of World History for grades 4-8 that looks just as nice.

Dyslexia is a broad term, so what works for my son may not work for yours. We use AAS but it is difficult for my son. He can repeat a rule but still have difficulty applying it. AAS teaches them to say the rule, demonstrate the rule with tiles and then writing individual words, and then apply the rules in dictation. After WEEKS and WEEKS on the basic rules my son still struggles (after months of work, he just wrote "step on the rug" as "sep on the wrog.") With dyslexia, there are no quick fixes. I wish AAS had corresponding workbook component as my son seems to learn even better when he can read and apply a rule to written work. Carson-Dellosa's Basic Phonics G.A.M.E.S. are fantastic. I have every level (K-3). They start out letter/sound recognition, and work up to complicated things like spelling -sion and -tion for /shun/. They are colorful, interesting, and the games are varied. There are board games, card games, memory games, bingo, sorting, etc. with all different themes. We are still using many of the 1st grade games that work on identifying short vowel sounds. He doesn't even really realize he's practicing. Highly, highly recommend. You do have to laminate the game pieces but it's sooo worth it. We are using CLE LA and while the spelling moves way too fast for him, the grammar is excellent. Lots of chances to recognize the rules and apply them. He does really well with their workbook format and constant review. My son didn't read until he was nearly 8. I credit AAS and ETC for finally getting him to where he could do well enough to keep going and not throw the book. He reads all the instruction in the CLE LA (which can be a lot!) and ETC incorporates a lot of reading, plus he reads to me from a reader every day.

I would be thrilled to pieces. The fact that he voluntarily wrote this for his own enjoyment is a wonderful thing. I would make a big deal of how cool the story is, and how you can't wait to find out what happens next. I would not edit it directly - it might undermine his joy. Save this story and in a few months, bring it back out and let him see for himself which mistakes he made after he's had more practice. If you've already covered those things (capitalization, use of quotation marks), I would make sure to point them out in his dictation work. If you haven't really covered them yet (I'm not terribly familiar with WWE) then I'd go ahead and introduce them ... but I wouldn't refer to his creative writing. Let that stand as a source of pride, not something that needs to be fixed. ETA: his poor spelling may have been because he was in a rush to get his thoughts down. As he practices proofreading, he will have a chance to correct misspellings, so I wouldn't worry too much about the spelling in his first draft.

I use: Rand McNally's Beginner Geography and Map Activities DK's Children Just Like Me Disney Learning's Our World Geography Songs (some of the songs are beyond irritating but others are fine) I think we'll do Evan-Moor next year.

:iagree::iagree::iagree: All of the above ... as well as a predictable schedule (no wondering what's next or how much more to do), reward system, fun games to reinforce math & phonics (great change of pace), and no video games before schoolwork (it seems to make it much harder to pay attention). Without medication, none of the above would be enough.

I'm not religious *at all* and I just ignore the religious references in CLE LA2. My son has a general understanding of Christian beliefs so if I think any clarification is needed I just say "Christians believe ...." but mostly I just let it go. He knows what we believe so we don't need to make a big deal about it. In the bit of LA we've done (201 and part of 202) the only part that really stands out is the line "Language is a gift from God" which is hammered in. Honestly I thought that I would be annoyed (so I just bought 3 units to try out) and it really doesn't bother me. The LA itself is very strong and I can already see that it's very effective. Even though we skim over the "God says" part of it, the character lessons are good. Lessons like do your best work, don't cheat, take care of your body, etc. are all things I agree with. In general though, I'm fairly relaxed about religious influences and look at what we can learn from other faiths, and I just use CLE as an example of that.

I have a nearly-2 year old and there's absolutely no doubt he gets less of my attention because I'm homeschooling. Even though I do the bulk of my educating while he's napping, that pushes housework and stuff to his awake time, plus I'm kinda burnt out at the end of the day and feel less like going out and doing something. I'm trying to shift my schedule so we do stuff in the morning before naptime. Last week on a rare dry day we went to the zoo and were home by 11:30. I'd love to do library story time or go to the inflatable gym place but those kinds of things are either during naptime, or forbidden for kids over a certain age (so I couldn't bring my 8 y./o).

LOL! He is very easy to watch, isn't he?

Thanks! I wasn't sure if the Story of the USA books would be enough. I asked on the SL forums and was told (emphatically!) that taking away Landmark would not leave enough meat. As Landmark is inaccessible (I did read through it and I'm sure my son would be lost) then there's no point in leaving it in though. Thanks for the tips about Rainbow and the biographies. I wasn't aware of those and will check them out. Or I could pay you to write a schedule for me ;)

I thought those were very strongly Christian worldview ... I will look at them more closely. Thanks!

We are starting US History after we finish Core 2 (sometime in the spring) and for the life of me I can't find a program that meets my needs. Maybe I'm just too picky LOL. Please help me find something that works! My son is 8 and not a strong reader - he just started reading a few months ago. He is just starting to write sentences. He enjoys RAs, has above-average comprehension as long as its written in modern language, and doesn't need or want a ton of hands-on crafty stuff. I prefer secular, although something from a "Christian worldview" is OK if it can be explained or modified ... nothing that's from a providential angle though. A) Core 3 seems like a good option except there is NO WAY Landmark will work and I am not sure he will be ready for the readers. I think he's just a little young for that Core. I could save this for later. B) WP's AS1 is a possibility ... I'm not really sure the unit study approach will work for him - one study a week seems kind of forced. I worry the program is a little young for him, and maybe too light to get all I want out of it. C) WP's American Crossing is designed for an older age group, and uses the Time Travelers CDs & crafts. I believe the text from TT is the spine of the program. From the samples, the text looks like something he could follow. This is tempting because I can use some of the crafts now, and some later when we revisit American History. Expensive, though! D K12's history (bought from the coop) ... 3rd grade would cover the time period (along the lines of SOTW 3) but I'm very nervous that 3rd grade work would be expected. His language arts skills are more like 1st grade. I'm not sure how much you have to follow the program if you're an independent user. E) VP's Explorers to 1850 ... I do own History of US but I want to save that for when he's older. I think it also schedules BJU history but I can't find a description and don't know what angle that takes. F) A self-made chronological schedule of history. This I actually do have. It's basically all the resources in Cores 3 and 4 listed chronologically. If I pull out Landmark, I worry that there won't be enough of a spine left to really connect the history. ETA Option G) SOTW 3 with activity guide ... honestly I need more of a schedule. We did SOTW 1 and the books I checked out were very hit or miss. I want something with resources that have been vetted for his age. Are there other options I'm missing? Am I misunderstanding the programs I listed?

I'm using Core 2 for history, but we do it 3 days a week which took a little squeezing but is still extremely managable, even light. We do Science 2 days a week which is how it's set up, but we often condense two "days" into one. When you say you are reading a chapter a week in SOTW, are you reading the chapter the first day, then doing various activities the rest of the week? Or are you breaking up the reading and doing a bit each day? If you're breaking up the reading, reading an entire chapter in a day may actually increase retention since it's more of a complete story. I think what I'd try to do is start the new chapter on Day A, and plan corresponding activities, mapwork, extra reading etc. for Day B and Day C. If you have a short week, you can just drop one of the activity days. I really like alternating days. It frees up time to really sink into a topic instead of just skimming the surface.

Actually, Jaycee Dugard's daughters thought that she was their sister. The person they called their mother was the perp's wife. When they reported that their mother homeschooled them, I'm sure they meant the Garrido lady. Not that she wasn't a hot mess herself, but she probably had some access to curriculum or at least a library.

It sounds like you're doing lots of fun things with her and working hard to make it accessible. Maybe she is unable to do the math because she is stressing about it - does that sound possible? Like it's a mental block: "I can't do it!" that's tripping her up? Have you tried taking a break and working on time, money calendar, etc. that use math in a "sneaky" way? Maybe a change of focus will give her a breather and you can come back to sums later?

Does she seem to be a visual learner? Maybe a Mathtacular DVD would work, or LeapFrog Number Factory DVD would work Is she a hands-on learner? Acting out stories with manipulatives using words like "3 more came" and "2 left" would connect addition and subtraction to something she already understands. Saxon K does this with teddy bears and stories (look at samples at http://www.exodusbooks.com/details.aspx?id=1675) and Funtastic Frogs uses little plastic frogs and worksheets (avail at Rainbow, Amazon, etc.) What all have you tried? Which games?

HST+ does allow you to print off a grid schedule that shows all of your assignments in a week (print report of assignment calendar). You can choose to do one student at a time or all together (but that would likely take multiple sheets so might as well do one at a time). To see the assignment calendar, go here: http://www.homeschooltracker.com/screens_plus.aspx and in the left-hand margin, choose assignment calendar. Click on the other report styles to see the different options.

I gave my dd a similar gift for Christmas when she was about 10. Huge, huge hit! I bought my stuff at Michael's with the 40% off coupons, at times buying a few Sunday papers for the add'l coupons. :001_smile: I think Prismacolor brand is very good (dd recently got some of those) but Derwent also seems nice. If you have an art store nearby you could ask the folks there, or call them and buy online :tongue_smilie:.

I just use the reader package as a suggested book list. I live near a thrift store that sells kids books for $.55 each so I browse their shelves regularly and pick up a ton of readers there. Since my son reads aloud, I ask him questions as he goes. He reads about 20 pgs. a day of the regular readers (levels 2-3) so a schedule would be pointless.

:thumbup: I have a pretty big selection of I Can Read and Step Into Reading books. ICR is much more decodable than SIR (which assumes advanced phonics or a large sight word bank). You can buy both kinds on Amazon using their 4-for-3 promotion which works out to $3 for most books. I have also found many at thrift stores. We LOVE Arnold Lobel's books (Frog and Toad, Owl at Home, Uncle Elephant, Mouse Soup, Mouse Tails, etc.) I think they are all Level 2. Lobel uses some patterns and repetition so they are instructional books, as well as pleasure reading, IMO. We are working our way through Amelia Bedelia books. Since they are full of homophones, they are great practice for phonics rules. These are level 2 as well. The Step Into Reading books have lots of nonfiction titles available. Hungry Plants is an awesome one!