We like it (God's Design). It gets the job done, and my children are learning lots of science vocab. Plus I read it out loud to both dc at the same time.

We are using God's Design for Science. We just started it this year. It's not enthralling :-), but interesting enough. We already have a full plate in other areas (see my sig.) so I really appreciate that it can be done zippity-quick when we need to. But it gets done. My kids check out science books and videos from the library when they want to dig in. If we had a curriculum any more involved I really don't think we would get science done. My two cents.

I second MEP. My 5th grade son started on it this (our first homeschooling) year and we are both loving it!! Try MEP Y3 if your dc is math srtrong. If not, then Y2b. hth ivette

I use FLL and WWE with two children on different levels. It takes me about 15 to 20min. with each child. FLL is only done 3 days a week. The lesson plan that takes you through the whole book in 1 year is only 3 lessons per week. And WWE is only 4 days a week. And like you, I am doing TOG Y1, and other mom-intensive stuff.

:tongue_smilie: See?!?! I'm not the only one saving books for grandchildren!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Hello, beehive!! :D Just feeling very thankful today and needed to share. This will be our first real year homeschooling. I pulled my dc out of PS in late April for a number of reasons. We are a very tight-knit family. Even when the children were in PS, both mom and dad work from home, so we always received them, played with them, studied with them, dinners together, etc. But even in the little time the children have been out of school, and we have been homeschooling I have seen big and wonderful changes in them. I know it is not always peaches and cream. And that sometimes they go "ugh, another math page?" But today I am grateful for children who beg me to read them real literature before bed. (We are currently reading through The Wizard of Oz). Children who ask me can they do an extra chore for the privilege of playing "Timez Attack" (a video game that drills them on multiplication tables :lol:) That one kills me every time. Grateful for a son whom I felt drifting away in PS, who now says "Mom, I am following the moral of the Aesop fable about the turtle and the hare", when I tell him he's taking too long on his math page. For a son dramatizing an Ancient Egypt pop-up book for his sister and her stuffed animals. (We are doing TOG Y1. Egypt is a huge hit in our house). For a daughter who read "Babe" by herself and now wants to watch the movie, so she can point out all the places where they changed the story. The list just goes on. So, whenever you wonder exactly why you are doing this, remember those little moments when the house is way too quiet, so you wonder what they're up to, and you find them curled up with a book in a corner. That did not use to happen at this house, but now it does. I am so thankful that God made me homeschool. And I am immensely grateful for the WTM, and everyone in this board. I have learned soooo much from you. God bless, Ivette

:iagree: Yes. Our UPS store (used to be Mailboxes, Etc.) runs a sale for prepaid copy cards at 3 cents per copy.

MEP Math ...... except, they're not really selling anything! :-)

Do you photocopy the student pages for FLL and WWE, so you can use with your next children? Is it worth it? Even at $0.03 a copy (UPS Store copy card) it comes out to almost the same I paid for the book.... Your thoughts? Ivette :confused:

Of course, I'm joking with the grandchildren thing..... okay, maybe half-joking. LOL But do you on purpose photocopy some things, or have your dc write them in notebooks so you can resell books?

I found really good notebooking pages at http://www.notebookingpages.com They are around $3 to download. ETA: I just checked and they have a sale going on right now. So it may be even cheaper!

Now that we are going to start the school year, I am debating on how to use certain books so that at the end of the year they are in re-sellable condition. But I keep thinking, "I don't know if I WANT to sell this book." Am I being overly sentimental? Should I be thinking more along the lines of "Hey, a homeschooling family needs to recoup as much $$ as they can." Most of us are making do with little to begin with. Or am I right in thinking, "What if I want to homeschool my grandchildren? I'll have to buy this all over again!" :lol: Help! :D

I am buying a used set of R&S English 5, that doesn't have the tests. I can buy the tests from R&S. They're cheap. But wanted to check if I need them before I spend $4 on shipping for a $2 item. :lol:

This will be my first year homeschooling. At first, I couldn't make heads or tails of the online samples, until a friend of mine walked me through them. I ended up loving it. We did a mock week of it with my dc. I borrowed the sample week's books from the library, we read, we did some of the activities, colored maps. We read the teacher notes and had discussions about what we read. It felt very natural, and it was really flexible. I realized, we don't have to do all the activities listed, because the ones we ended up doing taught us new things. The kids learned lots of new vocabulary. It was fun. Mine are Lower G and Upper G, so I am not planning on TOG being very intense right now. But when we come back around, I'll have a really good feel for it. So if you want to wet your legs, have someone walk you through it. It just looks daunting at first. If you don't have someone close by. I'll be happy to.

Hi! Most school supply stores where I shop have reams of handwriting paper that are grade-specific. The width of the lines gets smaller each year, until the student is ready to let go of the dash! I think there are places where you can order this paper online as well. HTH

After FLL 4, can they go to R&S 5? Or would they have to go to R&S 4? For those of your who have transitioned to R&S, do you transition right after FLL 1/2?

:iagree: I'm with you. That would mean it would never get done in our home also. I agree more with the Classical method, where children do not have to come up with their own ideas until a later stage. It is evident when they try that it is so hard for them to create writing at this age.

tullyfamily, what ages are your dc, what fll and wwe levels are you using?

I started looking through my FLL3 tonight. It does start out with simple things my ds 10 already knows, so I think we'll fly through those lessons, but there is diagramming, helping verbs, prepositional phrases and lots of other things he does not know. Does FLL4 review all of that enough that he could start with FLL4 if he has not had any formal grammar before?

Thanks!

This is a question mostly for those of you who use TOG. (and FLL and WWE and/or R&S) hee, hee :D I am looking for a sounding board. This is our first year homeschooling. I am using TOG for the first time this year. My children come from PS, so they don't have any formal grammar. I consider grammar to be very important. I know TOG has writing assignments each week, but since my dc have not been taught much grammar or composition, I decided to start them on FLL. Dd 7 is a second grader and I will be doing FLL 1-2 and WWE 1 Ds 10 is a 5th grader and I picked up FLL 3 and WWE _??_ My questions: --- Is FLL 3 okay for my ds 5th grade? --- What level WWE should he start at? --- Since they are doing FLL and WWE is it okay to skip the TOG writing assignments? Or does that create problems? --- Do you have your dc build those TOG word banks? I think I want to transition them to Rod & Staff. Have any of you done this? Or do you consider it better to stick with FLL? Help! :bigear:

One of my posts from an earlier MEP thread: I am currently using MEP with my dc, and we all love it. It works well for us. I've seen several posts curious and asking about this program. The MEP homeschoolers Yahoo group recently posted a link to a blog from a MEP-mom who did a fantastic job of writing up and introduction to this math program. Here it is, in case you are curious... http://ohpeacefulday.blogspot.com/2009/06/mep-101.html FROM THE BLOG, for those of you who are wondering what MEP is.... "What is MEP anyway? MEP stands for the Mathematics Enhancement Programme. It is a maths curriculum developed by the CIMT - Centre for Innovation in Mathematics Teaching - at the University of Plymouth in the United Kingdom. It is currently undergoing trial in British schools. MEP is free for non-profit use and while not specifically designed for home schoolers, the programme works well with a little modification for a 1-on-1 teaching style. You'll find the programme at their website: http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mep/default.htm."

I cannot say enough good things about this program. I am using it exclusively with my dc. We only started using it last April, and already I have noticed great improvement in their mental math skills, and knowledge of math facts. If you search for mep you will turn up several postings about it. It is a teacher-led program. But the lessons are simple to implement. My dc love it. They call it math puzzles, not math class. They actually bicker over who gets to 'do math puzzles' first. Let me find a couple of links that may help you learn more. HTH, Ivette

Maybe it's a commentary on our curriculum obsession. She knows how we homeschoolers buy really specific books for every subject. ha, ha, ha, ha I can see half of us now, navigating away from your post and trying to find the website for "Writing With E's" :smilielol5:

A Big :grouphug: to all homeschoolers! I have seen so many posts on re-re-re-rethinking curricula! So I am starting a post where other wise h'sers can advise and encourage all of us on why we do not need to, or should not be rethinking the choices we spent so much time researching in the first place! I know some of us need some reassurance. :D :bigear: