WE are going to start using this in the fall. I am so excited. Before I made a decision about whether to get this or not, I checked our library and we have most of the books. I had to get a few of the spines, not many. We are going to use this with another hs family. We will be meeting twice a month so I have no idea how long it will take us to go through a lesson but I know for sure that it will take us a lot longer than a year to get through all 4 quarters.

Funny that you should post about this. I have recently fallen into this situation. We have been getting together with another hs family once a week to swim. This has been going very well. My kids love her kids and we are very like-minded in how we school our children. We have stepped things up a bit and now we are doing nature study things together as this is my weak area. Our two families went to a provincial park yesterday for a guided nature hike and a pond dipping. We had an awesome time. We talked yesterday about doing the same thing that you are talking about. Both of us are very much interested in doing living math with our children. Once a week we are going to meet together to do the living math history lesson plans that are found at the living math site. One of us will do some acitivities with the older group of kids and the other one will take care of the younger group with some easier activities. I am very excited about this and so is the other mom. This has been an answer to prayer for both of us. If you are interested in this, it might be easier to do a subject that you are either both interested in or one that that is being constantly neglected like nature study, art, etc.

I don't schedule ETC. We just do however many pages ds can handle. The number varies from day to day. We started ETC in Jan and he is halfway through Book 3. He is starting to slow down his pace now so I think we won't be going through the books at breakneck speed like we were in the past.

We will be starting our 5th year in the fall. I knew that I wanted to homeschool even before I had children. Those first five years went by soooo slow. I thought I would never have the chance to hs. The last 4 yrs that we have been actually homeschooling have gone by in a blink of an eye. This is very scary to me.

I read this book in Jan. and it had a huge impact on me. I loved her writing style, even though at times it got a bit raunchy. I loved her insights about God. The thing that made such an impact on me was her thoughts on being still. You can't hear God speaking to you when you are doing all of the talking and the moving. In order to hear God you have to be still. He speaks in the stillness. This book made me see the importance of meditation and having a 'quiet time' every day. I read Practising the Presence of God by Brother Laurence right after Eat, Pray, Love. These two books seemed to compliment each other, imo.

We are experiencing the same thing with our ds who turned 7 in Jan. The reading thing just isn't clicking for him. But for him, there are other signs that indicate that this isn't a maturity issue. He has severe speech problems, his writing is atrocious, he has an awkward pencil hold, to name a few things. Due to all of these things combined, the bell has been ringing in my head that there is something else going on here. So we have our first appointment with a reading specialist on Mon. morning. Since talking with this woman last week, I am very encouraged about our situation. If your child doesn't have any other issues, then it just might be a maturity thing. In this case, I would think that taking a break might be beneficial. When you do start up again, you might want to look at Games for Reading by Peggy Kaye. I use this with my ds as well as OPGTR. He loves the games. It just puts a different layer on the whole reading thing. We also use the Starfall website. It might help to use various resources rather than just one.

During the school year, we usually start around 9 a.m. Now that the warmer weather is here,though, we aren't getting started until about 10:00.

Somehow I missed this the first time around. My dd sounds alot like yours. We started with a formal curriculum and she just wasn't ready for it. But I didn't know about living math back then and I forged ahead. This was a huge mistake. I now have a math phobic on my hands. We still use a curriculum--RightStart but we also use living math ideas as well. This combo has helped a great deal in changing my dd's attitude towards math. I think RS is the best choice for my dd. It presents math in a hands on way. This works for her. Based on my experience with my oldest, I have decided not to use a curriculum with my youngest. This is not to say that we aren't going to be doing math. We will be doing it every day but we just won't be using worksheets and a schedule. I have gone through RS A twice now so I feel confident that I can teach math the RS way without actually using the book. If our K year turns out well, then I will proceed to do this for the next year as well. Julie at the Living Math site has written lesson plans that have a living math feel to them. I am thinking of doing these for next year. This would be a supplement for my oldest two in addition to doing RS.

I find that my reading choices go in phases. I might read a few books that are 'thinking books,' but then I need to offset that with a few fluff books. I could not just read non-fiction and classics all of the time. That would make my brain hurt. I also find that my summer reading list is full of fluff because summer is my busy time of year and my brain can't handle anything too stressful.

For us the new things will be... Imitation in Writing--Fairytales Christian Kids Explore Physics Math history curriculum from the Living Math website (I am really excited about this one.)

I did the Pre-Level with my 8 yr. old in the fall and it was just fine for her. In fact she really enjoyed it. I know they say that the Pre-Level doesn't give enough info for the older kids, but it was fine for my dd.

Winners: RightStart Math Real Science 4 Kids--Chemistry Pre-Level 1 Vocabu-Lit FLL OPGTR A Reason for Handwriting--Cursive Losers: WRTR HWOT--cursive KISS Grammar

We LOVE picture books here. Here is a list of some of our favourites: Isadora Dances by Rachel Isadora. Story about Isadora Duncan A Place Where Sunflowers Grow by Amy Lee-Tai--japanese internment camp during WWII Apples to Oregon by Deborah Hopkinson Sky Boys by Deborah Hopkinson--how they built the Empire state building The White Cat by Robert D. San Souci Hear, Hear Mr. Shakespeare by Bruce Koscielniak All the World's a Stage by Rebecca Davidson--Shakespeare Pig on the Titanic by Gary Crew Mom and Dad are Palindromes by Mark Shulman A Drop Around the World by Barbara Shaw McKinney

Here are some of our favourites: Understood Betsy Wind and the Willows Five Children and It Baby Island Strawberry Girl Wheels on the School Mary Poppins Ella Enchanted

Our plans for 2nd grade are pretty basic as my ds is struggling with reading, so that is our focus. Math-- RightStart C Language Arts-- OPGTR, ETC, SWO (I"m not too sure about this. I don't llike SWO but ds loves workbooks so we will try it out and see how it goes.) copywork. Spanish--Easy Spanish Classical Studies--Aesop Fables (also use this for narration practise) Science--if he shows an interest, he can follow along with his sister's science--Christian Kids Explore Physics

This is what we have read this year for 3rd Grade: The Secret World of Og Swallows and Amazons Princess and the Goblin Jungle Book Little Princess Alice in Wonderland On the Banks of Plum Creek Prince Caspian Heroes by Charles Kingsley Caddie Woodlawn

Bible -- MP's Christian Studies II Math -- RightStart (finishing Level D and starting Level E) Language Arts -- FLL4, dictation, copywork, Writing Strands 3, Vocabu-Lit 4 Spanish -- Easy Spanish History -- Bible History -- Remembering God's Awesome Acts (I think that is the title of it. Science -- Christian Kids Explore Physics Art and Music -- Picture and Composer study

I don't have an official diagnosis but I think my ds is dyslexic. He sounds very similar to your dd. He had some develeopmental delays as well as speech. He would reach a certain age and then he would be able to overcome some of his difficulties. This is why I have had some mental blocks when it comes to his reading. I keep thinking that he will get older and then things will just click for him. But I have looked at lists of characteristics of dyslexics and my ds has many of these characteristics. I totally understand the feeling of being overwhelmed. I feel like I have hit a wall and I don't know exactly what to do next. Many people have recommended Bright Solutions I think this is what I would go with but it is horribly expenxive. I haven't looked at Dianne Craft but I have heard good things about her as well.

I recently purchased a book entitled "Picture Perfect Childhood" by Cay Gibson. You can get it at Lulu's. The essence of the book is a collection of picture book lists according to topic as well as a history timeline. There is a monthly list of books about events that happened in history in that particular month or about a person that was born in that month. Also, each month has a Shakespeare, geography, music, fairy tale, myth and nature selection. These books are awesome. My 8 yr. old even enjoys them. There is site (House of Literature) that has a similar list originally done by the author, but the list found in the book is more complete. As I said before there are other lists there as well, but the history timeline list is the one that we use all of the time. Also, the author of this book has a website that will feature a picture book author each month. May's featured author is Patricia Polacco.

Level A covers the same things that Level B covers but it goes much slower. Level B continues on from where A leaves on. I wouldn't do A with your ds. He would probably be bored from the slowness. I would get B for him. Even then, if the beginning goes too slow for him you can always skip or double up lessons. I don't know if you can do B with both of your kids. If you did do B with your dd you would have to go very, very slow with her. There is an awful lot packed into B and it just might be too overwhelming for a pre-schooler.

The deciding factor for us that our oldest hates workbooks. We started out with MCP and dd quickly slid into the land of mathphobia. At that time, she did not do well with workbooks. Her learning style was more hands on. So this was the clincher for us. The other factor was that I have two other children. In my mind, I am getting my money's worth out of it in using it with three children. I only have to buy the workbooks for the other two and I think they only cost $20. This is how I justified it to my dh. I am very happy with RS. I have a mathphobe who does very well with it. I also have a math whiz and he does well with it, too.

Here's another vote for the Sutcliffe books. They are wonderful and should not be missed.

I don't know if this is what you are looking for but there is also Teaching the Classics. It is a DVD set as well as a handbook. It is very expensive but I think you might be able to get away with just getting the book. I have this but I have only watched the first DVD. TTC is set up that you watch the DVD's and then teach your child the literary elements and parts of a story through discussion and asking questions. This program is based on Socratic questioning. There are questions included in the book. Just a thought.

Yes, we are definitely going. My kids have been waiting impatiently to see it since Feb.

Peace Like a River by Leif Engers Math Power by Patricia Clark Kenshcraft Norms and Nobility by David Hicks