All About Spelling

That's actually what I like about ILL for her, it's writing intense without overdoing it in the beginning. She's a very proficient writer (she can fill a piece of college ruled paper on her own) and is asking for more written work but I didn't want a workbook program for her. She's ready for more of a challenge writing wise. Neither of my boys were ready for this much writing at age 8 but she definitely is. I was actually more concerned about something being covered in PLL that would be assumed she already knew in ILL. Unfortunately, our library doesn't have much at all in the way of homeschool titles and what they do have is always checked out and overdue. :glare:

Thanks Tara. ;) I like both now :lol: but I think ILL is still my best bet for dd(8). ;) I'll be keeping Sheldon's PLL in mind for my littles though. ;) Thanks again. ;)

I've been looking over Intermediate Language Lessons and I think my 3rd grade dd could do it even though it does say it is intended for 4 - 6th graders. I plan on spreading it out through 3rd and 4th grades. She has not done Primary Language Lessons, just informal grammar up until now and listening in on her two older brother's grammar lessons. The main reason I want to go with ILL instead of PLL is cost. I can use ILL for free using the 1914 version on Google Books. Does she really need PLL before doing ILL? Will I regret not doing PLL? If it makes a difference, I plan to have her do Saxon Grammar and Writing starting in 5th grade like her brothers.

We are doing History Odyssey Level 1 Ancients with my 3rd and 4th graders and Level 2 Ancients with my 5th grader. It is pretty much all laid out for me. You do have some supplemental reading and activities to choose from in Level 1 but it's not as overwhelming to me as the SOTW activity guides were. It's usually a choice between 3 - 4 activities and it's not even every week. So far the supplemental reading has been limited by what I can find at the library. I've only been able to find 1 - 2 of the 6 - 10 titles mentioned at the libraries in the two counties closest to me. The level 2 is completely laid out, no optional activities. My oldest son is behind in his writing skills but I still find the amount of writing required doable. He does complain a little about the writing but overall he enjoys it. I like how it starts with "Write a sentence about ....." and gradually increases the difficulty of the writing required. That's just the kind of hand holding I needed and the kind of slowly rising expectations ds needed. The Kingfisher History is a bit dry but so far the most he has been asked to read is a 2 page spread, most of which was pictures. You can try 12 weeks of any of the HO titles before you buy. That was excellent for me so I could spread my curriculum purchases out a little bit. Plus, since we are already using it and like it, I know it won't be a wasted purchase. ;)

I don't really consider Latin to be a foreign language, it's more of a study of ancient English. ;) I found 4th or 5th grade to be the best time to start Latin for us but none of mine had a rock solid grasp on English in 3rd grade. We were still working diligently on phonics and spelling in 3rd grade. While vocabulary and roots can be memorized while they are younger, I found it unnecessary. Yes, ideally, foreign language should be started young but you can still become fluent even if you never study a language until high school or later. My dh was in his late twenties before he learned to speak Japanese...fluently. ;)

The free ones on that site are the ones I was referring to and that Karen sent me. ;) Thanks for the link. Bookmarking. ;)

Thanks PM'in you. ;)

A long time ago I printed out binder covers for our history notebooks. This person had made one for each of the four years of history study and I believe she had some science ones to (I seem to remember the biology one having a photograph of a tree frog) Anyone remember what I'm talking about and still have the link? We need new binders covers the old ones are getting kind of tattered. ;) TIA I found some for sale on lulu.com. They are similar but not the ones I'm thinking of. Plus the ones I have were free....