This is us, too. I always think we'll get more done than we do. I try to do math 2 times a week: same curriculum as during the school year. Math is a "just keep plugging along" kind of thing. Everyday we have silent reading time. Everyone, myself included, sits down for 30 min+ and reads. This is pure enjoyment reading, I never assign books in the summer. I do that all year long, sometimes I just want them to remember books can be just for fun!:D We always participate in as many summer reading programs as I can find.

Kenneth Branagh's version of Much Ado About Nothing is wonderful!! However, there is a scene right at the beginning with some nudity (it's not s3xual, it's actually fairly comical for an adult) and a window scene later on that's a little "bawdy" for a kid. Great production! Just wanted to second the opinion that you preview it. Branagh's version of Henry V has one of the best battle scenes ever and his speech right before that battle (St. Crispin's Day) is amazingly moving. My kids (14, 11, 8, & 5 at the time we watched it) all loved it and decided that maybe Shakespeare isn't so bad.;)

Ds12 is doing WWS, mostly independently, I just check it when he's done. When he does have questions he moves on to a different subject until I have time to help him. Ds9 is doing WWE3, he reads the passages then I ask the questions and he gives me a narration (which I write down) or it's just a dictation day so I read the dictation passage to him and he writes it down. This takes 15 minutes, mostly because he hates it. Dd6 is doing WWE1 and I read to her and write down her narrations. On copywork days we talk about it then she copies. It takes maybe 10 minutes on a long day. I don't know if that helps you, but I have found WWE to be so quick and easy, open and go, and effective for my kids! Managing 3 different levels has not been as hard as I was afraid it would be.:)

The card should work for the tip, too. Lucky server, that's a really nice tip!:D

Dd14 has 2, she got Kaya for Christmas when she was 10 and she bought Julie herself. Dd6 is saving her money. I told her when she had $75 and could read the American Girl books, I would come up with the rest to get her a doll for her birthday. She is whizzing through (and loving!) the books and she has $47 saved. So, for her birthday in May I'm expecting we'll add another AG doll to the household. My only stipulation is that they choose one of the historical dolls, I just can't stomach spending that much on a doll without any "educational" value.:tongue_smilie: Right now she's leaning toward Josefina. We'll see what one she ends up with when she's read all the books.

:iagree: Brilliant! This seems like a non-confrontational way to let the mom know that your girls need to be paid more. It's also an opportunity for them to perhaps find another way to earn money that's not you or this lady.:D

My son (reluctanct reader) finally took off reading with Calvin and Hobbes. :001_huh: But, the first chapter books he got into were the Bruno and Boots series by Gordan Korman, he's also now enjoying the Splurch Academy for Disruptive Boys by Julie Gardner. The 39 Clues series and the Charlie Bone seres were also big hits (although he did those on audio). HTH

You're welcome. I love the wealth of info on these boards!! :001_smile:

Found it!! There's tons of good info in this thread. HTH:D

Absolutely! I find them invaluable. Of course, I have no idea how to write or teach writing... There was a thread awhile ago on the board about the WWS TM, let me see if I can find it.

We're LDS and we did core 3 (2007-8) and core 4 (2008-9). My biggest issues were in the IG. Thus, no big deal, I can choose to read or not read John Holzmann pontificating on the subject at hand and my kids don't have to deal with it. The only book I struggled with was Incas, Aztecs, and Mayans where Holzmann's ramblings were sidebars in the book itself. (He compared ancient human sacrifice to modern day abortion. Yes, thanks for bringing up that subject with my elementary aged kids:001_huh:). We skipped the missionary stories and we did our own Bible/scripture study. I never used any of their material for scripture study, for obvious reasons. HTH:D

:iagree: This is me, too. What a great idea! Thanks!

You might find this thread helpful. I read through those books and decided not to use them. I'm not terribly politcally correct, but I couldn't stand the use of the n word among other dated things. You can find them free online and see what you think yourself.:)

:bigear:

:iagree:

We've done WWE both 5 days a week (which worked well for us) and also 2 days worth of assignments on one calendar day but still only done WWE 4 days in a week. (ie Monday we did day 1 & 2 of week 10 then Tuesday we did day 3 & 4 of week 10 then Wed we did day 1 & 2 of week 11 and Thurs we did day 3 & 4 of week 11). This lets us finish 2 weeks worth of work in 1 calendar week thus moving through the material more quickly but still gives us a day off to do our fun things (art, music, etc). Both of these schedules worked for us at different times.:D

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

Wow, I missed his age! WWS has been a lot for my 12 year old....What does your mom gut say? You know him better than any of us.;)

:iagree: If he really is sick, I'd let him rest today and finish tomorrow. But, I'd want to finish it before break because that's a bugger to come back to right after a long break.

Mine came around 9pm last night. I didn't know they still delivered residential that late.... But it's here!!!:party:

I got a phone call from PHP yesterday confirming my pre-order and saying that it should ship in the next 10 days or so.... Is it up on the PHP website yet? You can always call and ask them.

We jumped right into Growing With Grammar level 6 and he's doing great! I would love to use ALL, but I think he'll be done with formal grammar instruction by the time it's ready.:(

RS was amazingly easy to implement, it was the first science program that actually got done on a regular basis around here. :iagree: One caution: if you're not a science-oriented person you may have trouble explaining things when the kids get stuck. There's little to no extra explanation in the teacher's manual for a non-science person like myself. It was more difficult to teach for me. On multiple occasions I found myself calling an engineer friend of mine or heading to youtube to try and find a video of the concept that would explain it to my kids better than I could. Of course, any middle school science program may have been like that for me. You start talking scientific terms and my brain shuts down and my eyes glaze over.:tongue_smilie: HTH:)

:iagree::iagree:

So, anything good to pass on to us??:bigear: :001_smile: