We haven't gotten to Rome yet, we're just starting Greece. But we use HO Level 2 and I originally bought the whole "Ancients" pack of Learning Through History Magazines (Egypt, Near East, Greece and Rome). We did read a bit out of the magazine for Egypt but frankly, you could probably do just fine with library books!! I have found that you can basically substitute any of the books except KFH with this program. You could probably even substitute KFH is you took the time to look up the equivalent pages in another history encyclopedia. There's my 2 cents!:D

Thanks everyone! One more question: I feel like I dropped the ball with one of my other ds on phonics (didn't cover them as thoroughly as I should have) and his spelling shows it. Now, he may just not be a speller, some people never are, but I can't help but second guess myself.... Does Phonics Pathways/Happy Phonics/Hooked on Phonics cover all the phonemes (is that even the word? I don't remember ever learning phonics growing up, I was one of those kids who just picked up reading around age 4 by being read to). I'm really concerned that it cover phonics are thoroughly and painlessly as possible. Thanks!! You guys are great!

:party: Way to go, Mom. Isn't it such a great feeling!! :thumbup1: After struggling and struggling and struggling with reading for over a year my son finally told dh the other day, "Dad, reading is easy." It brought tears to my eyes, literally. Homeschooling is the best!

Hey, do you have a link for this? I tried to google it and got everything from Native American storefronts to cute little kid t-shirts......:) Thanks for the link to Ruth Beechik's book, I've ordered it from my library, too. Happy Phonics has also been on my shortlist, it just seems to have so many parts to it. Is it really as complicated as it seems? Thanks!!

Yup, I hear ya! :lol::lol: We have the same problems here.

Elizabeth, do you mean Phonics Pathways? That's one I have been considering (still waiting for the Inter-Library Loan to come through so I can take a look at it). Can I just use my own readers with it? I know it comes with Pathway Readers but how necessary are those to the program? I have looked at Webster's Speller. I actually tried to use it with your blend phonics with ds7 when he was struggling and although I know it's amazingly thorough, I just can't wrap my brain around it and can't imagine my dd getting it any better than ds did.:confused: Is there anything else you would recommend to go with PP? Thanks!:D

Is there a phonics program out there that can be used without buying a bunch of supplemental readers? Besides OPGTR. I have tried OPGTR and SL LA 1 with ds7 and couldn't stand them (sorry Mrs. Wise!:)). My youngest is ready to learn to read (I would've started teaching her already but ds7 wasn't quite there yet and I don't want to start a competition). I need something very thorough but not too time consuming (she's #4 I'll be schooling;)), and doesn't require me to buy a bunch of readers. I have all the I See Sam books, the I Can Read It books (SL) plus a *ton* of early reader books (like I said, she's #4) and a great selection from my local library. What I don't have is a lot of time or money. Any suggestions??

:iagree: Of course, by the time you buy all these extra coloring books and spend the time finding these library books (which are both great, by the way!) you may as well buy the AG (it would give you the map info and the color pages and the project ideas, plus books suggestions and, my favorite, narration questions). It's only $23 on amazon. JMHO!:D

I think filling out the maps without the AG would be tough. But, the student pages are lots more than maps! There's coloring pages and games as well. But, I'm not sure it's worth the $$ without the instructions. Not only does the AG tell you what page to use when, it also gives instructions on how to use the student pages. But, the best part of the AG for me is the narration questions and book suggestions. I would not try SOTW with the AG, that's what makes it more than a "storybook." (A fantastic storybook that our family has really enjoyed, but still a storybook. The AG is what makes it a full history program. JMHO) That being said, if you really can't afford the AG someone put together some free notebooking pages awhile ago. I can't remember the website address but I have them saved on my computer. If you want them feel free to pm me your address and I'll send them via email. That might at least help you decide if it would be enough for your situation without the AG. You could always buy the AG later if these aren't enough.:)

:lurk5:

in it SWB says you can just read SOTW to all the kids then have the youngers narrate to you and the olders can continue by reading the KFH and outlining it. Also, the olders would do a lot of outside (library) reading to go along with it. Depending on their level the outline is simple or complex (ie 5th grade 1 sentence (main idea) per paragraph of text, outline only 1 page of outside text reading. Work up till 8th grade outlining 5+ pages of outside text with a 3 level (I. A. 1.) outline). I'm not sure where your dc are, my olders started in ps so they had little to no history. So, I'm reading SOTW to all of them (7th, 5th, 2nd and preK) then the olders move on to their "History Odyssey" lesson and the youngers narrate to me. We do projects together (when we get to them) and always have a read-aloud going that is usually related to history. My olders always have a reader associated with history (if I can't find a reader I fill a basket or shelf with library non-fiction stuff about our history studies and give them a time limit that they have to read from the shelf). I read related picture books from the library to the youngers. Even during the time periods I have good readers for the kids are still assigned a certain amount of reading time from the "bookshelf" because I want them reading some non-fiction about the time periods as well. Okay, this has gotten really long, sorry! Basically, we read the SOTW together and then the youngers are mostly done and the olders do more. If my olders hated SOTW or if they already had a background in the historical time period we were studying I wouldn't make them listen. But, I think history "sticks" better with some stories and personalities to build around so I like some kind of a narrative spine. I hope this is helpful!:tongue_smilie:

My son enjoys: Mrs. Piggle Wiggle Henry Huggins (these are far better than Ramona, Ramona has too much disobedience and name-calling) Narnia Series (I don't know if you put these in the magic category or not). Wow, we read a lot, I don't let them read toilet humor or name-calling but I didn't realize how much we read (that my 2nd grade boy likes) that has magic in it....:glare: We do a lot of historical fiction but these have been read-alouds, not readers: The Great Turkey Walk Caddie Woodlawn Number the Stars Little Britches series (Ralph Moody) The Door in the Wall HTH

If you enjoy SL, Core 3 is fabulous! Also, since it's US History I found it very easy to supplement for my kids who weren't in the recommended age range. Unless your library is truly pathetic, you should be able to find lots and lots of books for your younger dc if they struggle and older if he wants more. FWIW, I would buy the 5 day with advanced readers for your oldest (voracious reader, right?) then you can use that with him and regular readers with the middle. You could even use the 4 day schedule for readers for the youngest if he's struggling and you don't want to mess with the library. If you want something totally different from SL then I'd recommend SOTW 1 with the AG. You can go as deep or shallow with each subject as you want, you can read the chapter aloud to all three and then assign individual reading based on ability. The AG has tons of coloring pages, maps, project ideas, games, etc. Ancients can be a lot of fun for little boys! This is probably not the option I would choose if you just finished core 1 or 1+2 (covers the same material as 1 and alot of overlap with 1+2). My 2 cents, HTH!

Do you think it's a summarization problem or that she doesn't want to write it all out? From what you said it sounds like she just doesn't want to write out her entire narration. For my ds7 I only require 1 sentence of his narration to be used for dictation. He will often give me one sentence he knows is short and easy to write. Then, his second sentence will include the main info (or most of it). At this point I haven't worried about that, I'm more concerned that he learn to summarize and I feel like I'm still having to prompt too much. If your dd can summarize well why not just require her to write one sentence for awhile then go back to both? Perhaps she'll do better knowing she doesn't have to write it all. Just my 2 cents.;)

Totally disagree with this.:confused: I did this core with my dd when she was in 5th. It was too easy, would have been perfect for my ds who was in ps 3rd grade at the time (long story). We loved core 3 but I had to beef it up a lot, she's a voracious reader. The next year we brought all the kids home from ps (yay!) and did Core 4. We continued to use the Landmark book and it was a favorite of all my dc. I really liked the discussions it caused and the cultural aspect it brought to history. We hated Story of the USA. I found it to be terribly basic and boring and, frankly, inaccurate in a lot of places (specifically very liberal and left wing toward the last half of core 4, most of 3 was okay, just too basic). But, your dc are younger than mine were so Story of the USA might be perfect for them! Just make sure you check the SL boards and IG notes when you get to SofUSA for tips on correcting inaccuracies. Both books (Landmark and S of USA) have great notes in the IG. Core 3 is **fantastic**!!:001_smile:

My only question would be about the 1st grader using IEW. What level IEW did you plan on using? I'm not sure they have anything for a 1st grader. Usually in 1st you're still doing sentences and capitalization and punctuation and spelling, etc. etc. I use the IEW's SWI-B with my 5th and 7th and they love it. With my 2nd grader I use WWE 2. In 1st grade we used WWE 1 and I really liked it. You could easily use IEW SWI-A with a 5th grader as well (5th grade is the borderline so I would think you could choose based on where you think your dc is in writing). Mostly I'm talking about the 1st grader. :) I think the 5th grade plan looks excellent! FWIW!

The rule in our house is you must reda the book first. Dh and I broke it and went to see the movie last night (I'm always disappointed in movies because the books are sooooo.much.better. so this time I decided to just go and enjoy the movie first). I enjoyed the movie. As someone who had not previously read the book, I found the movie to be a lot of fun. As a mother previewing for my kids...I did not appreciate the "suggestiveness" and I didn't particulary like that Percy was rewarded at the end of the movie for disobyeing orders and leaving camp instead of being held responsible for his actions. That is enough that I may not take my kids - jury's still out on that one. But, we do plan on reading the book together when we get to Ancient Greece in about 3 weeks. I was hoping the movie would be a fun treat after reading the book. I guess I'll decide after we read the book if the movie would be worth it then for good discussion material. I was surprised so many people on this forum recommended the book, glad to know the book is not as suggestive as the movie!:001_smile:

Before buying level 1 I'd check the table of contents. I tried using level 1 and level 2 Ancients and they didn't line up. I spent a little time lining them up before the year started but eventually gave up on level 1 altogether and just used level 2 for my olders and SOTW for my youngers. It's much easier just lining up the SOTW chapters. If you like the feel of level 1 after downloading the samples then go for it. But, I found it wasn't worth my money. Someone else on these boards emailed me a list of SOTW chapters and UILE and KFH all lined up all corresponding. That made lining stuff up so much easier, pm me with your email address if you want it and I'd be happy to send it to you.:D Level 2 is great!

Just wondering how user friendly this book is. I tried Amazon but it doesn't have the "search-inside" feature for this book:confused:. Has anyone heard of it? I have a BA in French (15 years and 4 kids ago....:tongue_smilie:) and would like to brush up my skills. I can still read it but speaking is another matter entirely. There's a Adult Ed class offered here at the community center for really cheap and this is the book they use. I'm just trying to get a feel for whether it will be too basic. Any ideas are appreciated!

Just wondering how user friendly this book is. I tried Amazon but it doesn't have the "search-inside" feature for this book:confused:. Has anyone heard of it? I have a BA in French (15 years and 4 kids ago....:tongue_smilie:) and would like to brush up my skills. I can still read it but speaking is another matter entirely. There's a Adult Ed class offered here at the community center for really cheap and this is the book they use. I'm just trying to get a feel for whether it will be too basic. Any ideas are appreciated!

usually the people are very friendly and willing to answer questions. (Best Buy, RadioShack, Circuit City, etc.) Any system you want to buy they should be able to install in your car. I would look for one that plays CD/CDR/CDRW/MP3CD's. It would also be great to have one with an input jack (they make little cords that plug into an ipod's headphone jack and then into your car stereo's input jack). When my bro visits we like to hook his ipod in the car, then we can get a real variety of music without changing CD's on long trips. When I buy a book on CD I like to burn it onto my computer as an MP3 file and then burn an MP3 disc. (You can put the entire book on one disc!) This means when I'm traveling alone with the kids (dh is active duty military, plenty of deployments) I don't have to keep switching the cd's while I'm driving. Plus, if the kids lose/scratch the cd I can burn myself another one. Since I don't give these away or sell them at all I don't feel like I'm breaking copyright laws. If I wanted to get rid of my original I would first destroy my mp3 cd, then I could sell/give away the original. Caution: some electronics stores will have salespeople paid on commission who may or may not try to talk you up from what you really need. I always recommend doing research online before going to the store. Then, going once and learning. Then, going home and "sleeping" on it. Then, returning to the store to buy and have it installed. But, that's just me!:D Good luck! We LOVE being able to listen to books in the car (it solves a lot of "airspace" issues with my dc.:tongue_smilie:

I think taping it together might be a problem for me (I'm just never that coordinated:tongue_smilie:). But, you might try hole punching the cards in the corner or side or top corners (whatever works) and using those little (or big) metal rings. You'd get something comparable to a rollodex (sp)?? You could still add to or change (something cards give you that a wall timeline doesn't) or change up your colors or add tabs to certain cards to seperate time frames (ancient/medieval, etc)......Just thinking out loud.;)

:iagree: Me, too! :iagree: Is the perfect program out there????

I had the binding cut off WWE and had Kinko's coil bind the teacher part (putting the back cover on the teacher's part) and just give me the rest of the pages. I ignored the perforation (it's now in the wrong place on the page to be useful). I took them home and three-hole punched them, put them in a binder and now I pull them out as needed. It works wonderfully! SOTW I bought in paperback and had Kinko's cut off the binding and coil bind it. Reading from it is so much easier this way. The AG I bought 3 hole punched already so I just put it in a binder.

I could have written that! The reason I'm homeschooling is because ps was crushing my oldest. The final straw was when the bus driver got off the bus one day and pulled me aside to tell me he couldn't get her off the bus in the mornings at school, she would go to the back and hide under the seats. I knew she was being bullied (we were working on coping strategies at home) from other kids and her teacher. But, I didn't realize it was that bad. No 4th grader should EVER have to endure that kind of emotional beating! I thanked the bus driver for telling me, went home and cried. Then I brought her home! I haven't looked back (well, okay, not seriously, at least, we do a a day every once in awhile;)). When we have one of those days I mention that I could send her back to ps and she shapes right up!:D I LOVE this!! I'm going to remember it the next time I get the "socialization" argument. This is awful. I have a dear friend (my inspiration for hsing) whose oldest (of 4) and youngest are both autistic. She finally pulled the oldest out in 6th grade because bullying had gotten so bad he was literally getting beaten up every.single.day. They recently moved to Okinawa (military family) and the kids wanted to go back to ps. This kid is now in ps for his senior year (1st time since 6th grade) and played on the football team and has tons of friends and is doing great. Bringing him home allowed him time to mature and learn social skills. My friend is no longer worried about him leaving home and living on his own someday. She (and I) truly believe hsing saved this boy's life. Keep working on your friend!:grouphug: