This covers everything I've experienced and have heard about Shurley.

MEP, which is also free, is another option.

FWIW, my dd was 5 and reading Henry and Mudge for the last half of K. Once she was in 1st grade, I figured we should step things up a little bit and give her something more challenging to read. Her response was, "I miss Henry and Mudge!" For the past two years, this child has devoured every Geronimo Stilton she can get her hands on. Getting her to look at anything more substantial has been slow going. Periodically, you see the following sentiment on these forums, and I'm inclined to agree: Most kids by 4th grade all read at the same level.

I try to incorporate Music Mind Games during our morning time 2-3x a week. In order for dd to have some knowledge of common folk songs, I use the list in What Your X Grader Should Know series. This year, I am also trying to teach her recorder. It is trying. The idea of using her tongue to differentiate the notes will need to be worked on for a little while. I will also try a SQUILT unit on Bach, since she had a good sale on it on his birthday a few months ago.

Dd loves SOTW. Probably it's just me, but I have enjoyed the activities for Vol. I more than subsequent volumes. We did a lot of the activities out of that one, including the mummy chicken. Anyhow, in addition to some of the books Lori D. mentioned, we also liked "The Greeks" from the Footsteps in Time series, and "Ancient India" from the Hands-On History! series. They both had crafty things that I liked better than the suggestions in the SOTW Activity Guide. ETA: There's also "Ancient Israelites and the Neighbors." Plus there are numerous coloring books by Dover and Bellerophon for ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome.

I try to teach dd the folk songs listed in the What Your X Grader Should Know series. I had these fantasies of playing them on the piano, but for some reason my 4yo is really against it, and makes it nearly impossible. I used the books below; the Golden Encyclopedia isn't entirely American folk songs, but has some the other doesn't. Golden Encyclopedia of Folk Music American Song Treasury

Hi, Lori D! I can't tell you how many of your posts like this one that I have bookmarked in my browser so I can refer back to them. Thank you!

A lot of people here really love Mystery Science, too. I happened to stumble upon a lesson about how biceps work without having to sign up somehow (I don't know how that happened), but the robot finger showing how tendons work was a great demonstration! The videos were short, to the point, and were better than trying to find random things on youtube. My understanding is that you can get the first year for free, and then it's $60-ish annually. I haven't researched to see how it might line up with BFSU, but it might be worth looking into.

We don't. I think dd would obsess about them. Besides, it would be just one more thing to do. And if it is unnecessary and not helpful, why bother?

Ah yes, ZeFrank came up with the Earth sandwich using this idea some years ago.

That's it! Thank you! You have saved my sanity. :-)

I am pretty sure I saw it mentioned on this board within the past 6 months. I believe it is geared for ALL ages, including high school. It is kind of unit study based, focusing on history and science. It doesn't come packaged up as a yearly thing, you can buy it in chunks. It was written by two sisters and had Hunter's stamp of approval. I have looked and looked and I cannot find it, and it is just going to bug me until it turns up. TIA!

For second grade, we like English Language Lessons Through Literature.

A lot of people really like the big Evan-Moor Science 1-6 book. I haven't used it or looked at it, but their stuff is usually high quality. Here is a link to their site:http://www.evan-moor.com/p/602/giant-science-resource-book

It took awhile for our dd to get the concept of rhyming. I don't think it happened until she was maybe 6, but she was reading pretty well before it clicked.

We schedule art once a week-ish. We just started using arttango this year. We used Sandi Henry's book, Kids' Art Works! for 1st grade, and I really, really liked it. The directions were easy to follow, and the materials easy to come by. The final products looked great, but still looked like they were done by kids. It included a lot of different mediums. I first ran across it at the library.

True. I think if I ever read another homeschooling blog or book that counts making cookies as math, I will scream.

We've done the narration pages for history a la WTM, but haven't done much writing elsewhere because she is writing-resistant. Since she is starting 3rd grade this year, one of my goals is for her to do a little more writing. Our science curriculum kind of makes you wing it in terms of output, so I am having her do a science notebook for the first time. In order to make it less intimidating, I am incorporating one or two elements of free lapbooks that I find online and she fills in the blank and pastes it into a regular spiral notebook. It is too soon to tell if it helps with retention. ETA: I suppose this is what some might call an interactive notebook.

I was telling my husband the kayaking counts for PE and water safety, the chicken thing counts for science (we just had a lesson on muscles and tendons), and I suppose a somewhat anachronistic home ec., and then it dawned on me -- I sound just like a homeschooler! :lol:

This idea is so brilliant! I am now planning our first 6th day, and nature study will get the first priority because it never, ever happened last year. I am so excited to have a planned day where I can focus mostly on fun stuff, and not worry that core subjects aren't happening.

We have started our fourth year of homeschooling (how did that happen?) I have hs'ing friends who have told me when they send their kids to VBS or the 4H fair, they count it as school. I was never able to bring myself to do that because it wasn't academic. The way things have happened is that today dd will be going over to her grandfather's house to help pluck chickens and then going kayaking with her father in the afternoon. And I am counting it as a school day. :-)

Another vote for Mercy Watson and hot buttered toast! Also, the Henry and Mudge books are a delight.

I tried just reading it to my daughter and she absolutely HATED it. To the point where she said she hated science, which is definitely not the place we want to take her. I am finding that if I write up an outline, use supporting books from the library and find a demo or worksheet from someplace else (dd actually likes worksheets), it is more enjoyable for her.

Susan Wise Bauer has set up a blog which has video links for most chapters of each volume of SOTW. Links for modern history may be found here.

Another thing to consider is, how much writing did she have to do before that assignment? SWB in her talk about writing refers to a fuel tank of sorts for young children and writing. They have only so much patience or stamina for writing in a day, so you need to figure out how and where you want to spend it. Writing down numbers for math counts, too.