Mercy Watson. Probably a lower level than 3rd grade, but so much fun!

Thank you for this. It is very reassuring. I know she'll be able to write at some point, perhaps it will be in 4th grade when I plan on having her start learning how to type. ;-)

We just finished lesson 5, so it's good to know that is coming up. I'm trying to navigate between striving for high standards and working with the kid in front of me.

In planning for next year, I want to make sure I'm not leaving things out. Dd writes neatly, but is reluctant to do a lot of it in one sitting. Right now, I can have her copy an 8-10 word sentence without her complaining too much about it. It looks like she should be doing a literature narration 1-2x/week and writing it down. I think we'll start with trying to get her to copy longer sections of her narration and gradually move into dictating it. The same principles would apply to history narrations as well. She does copy her narrations for history (up to ten words of it), but she would cut them short if she knew she was going to have to write all of it. We use ELTL, so there is copywork there. Because the dictations in AAS are only one sentence, I was thinking about using Dictation Day by Day to build on that. So, at the minimum, she should be doing two narrations, and three dictations a week, right? Any clarifications or suggestions would be appreciated. TIA!

It is a major accomplishment to have one year down. Even if you never doubted, you now know for a fact and have proof you can do it!

From what I've read on this forum and elsewhere, MEP works best if you do everything in the lesson plans. I do skip or modify the ones that call specifically for a classroom setting. If it has you elicit ideas from the class, I will suggest one or two possibilities to help dd come up with ideas. I did entirely skip the lesson on liquid measurements. I just don't care if dd knows about centiliters. For the weeks on measuring, I have substituted MM, which is really nice because it includes both metric and standard measuring.

:grouphug: I'm sorry I can't help, and I'm sorry they are insisting on that. ETA: Not knowing what region you're in, perhaps there's a local yahoo group you could ask. I'm on a Rochester list - simplyhomeschooling@yahoogroups.com - and I am pretty sure someone there could help personally help you or track someone down. Now that I am thinking about it, if you are in WNY, PM me. There is a ps teacher in our district who homeschools his kids. There is a good chance he would be willing to help out.

I can't personally attest to the Reception (K) level of MEP, but plan on using it with the next child. Years 1 and 2 are very thorough.

There is the Preschooler's Bible by V.G. Beers. Almost everyone in this bible has black hair and definitely not-fair skin. It also makes an interesting theological point in that all the stories are written in the present tense.

We have friends who are really into the robotics club at 4-H.

Jupiter was in the west. It is super bright, brighter than anything else in that direction. It should not be too hard to find - and I am a total noob at astronomy. The moons are all lined up in a row.

So far, the first was a little over six, the second child was about 5 and a quarter.

We did not get a chance to see Saturn, due to the tree line and some cloud cover, but we did get to see Jupiter's moons, so that was cool. Thanks again!

Dd went to a private preschool, not the one offered by the school district - we would have never done that, even if we were going to send our kids to ps. At that point, I was still not entirely convinced about homeschooling. At any rate, bringing her home was not a big deal. Her brother will be going to preK at the same preschool this year because he is a textbook extrovert and extremely social, so he will enjoy being with other kids (especially boys) a few days a week.

That is totally understandable. I think the reasons why I have our relative sign off and you write up more than the bare minimum are similar - it's a way to cover your backside. I wouldn't spend money for a stranger to evaluate my kid, either. The way the law is in NY, you could have a friend you know from a co-op sign off, if you wanted to. Don't ask the school district if so-and-so will be ok, just inform them on the 3rd quarterly report. Sending in paperwork is always accompanied by some amount of stress.

Thank you for the heads up! Hopefully we will not have significant cloud cover, as it often seems we do when we want to look at the sky.

A verteran hs mom told me about the one sentence narrative, and we are in a district that is ALL about following the rules. If it works for them (and they haven't said anything so far), it must be ok.

We have a retired school teacher in the family, and she does the assessment because that made me feel better, especially the first year. She talks with me for about an hour and then signs a sheet that says "This student has completed the requirements that will allow her to enter X grade in the fall." Some people add, "See Quarterly Reports for details."

We will be finishing up Vol. 1 this summer. It is a fantastic curriculum - but with a very steep learning curve in terms of figuring out how to teach it. A lot of people do not have the time, resources, patience, etc. to get over that initial hump. But because it is so thorough, I would figure out a way to make it work even if my kid hated it. Science "experiments" are a bit of a pet peeve of mine. There are lots of homeschool resources that offer "experiments." Most of the time they are not experiments, but demonstrations. BFSU contains at least one, and more often several demonstrations per lesson. Occasionally, you can find a better demonstration online. I don't think you need to supplement BFSU with additional demonstrations, unless your kid is really interested in a particular topic. On the other hand, if you are using at the pace recommended (which we didn't - I am trying to squeeze 3 years into 2), you have lots of time in a year to look at extra books and do additional activities per lesson.

I read it well over twenty years ago and remember almost nothing. I guess it's good he didn't read it. The teacher who assigned those idiotic parameters was of no help whatsoever in locating a book that met them. I was grasping at straws, and at that point in time, I was totally unaware this forum existed. Otherwise, I would have come here. :-)

We tried Spelling Workout because it was recommended in TWTM. Dd is a horrible speller. She was able to do the pages in the workbook perfectly, but retained absolutely nothing outside of the spelling book. We switched to AAS, without using the tiles, and her retention is much better. That said, she is the first child I have homeschooled. After hanging out on the forum, I think the next go round, I would be inclined to put spelling off until the kid is done with phonics and is reading well.

Lexiles were probably developed for schools, possibly even specifically for the Accelerated Reader program. My son is in ps and he had to read a book and then take a 10 question quiz on the computer about it. If he did well, he got so many points, and then prizes and trophies were awarded at the end of the year. In 8th grade, he had to do a book report on a book within his lexile AND it had to have won a prize. His lexile was at college level. Do you think he could have read Flannery O'Connor, or Hemingway or Fitzgerald? No, they were below his lexile. It also ruled out classic writers, because I am pretty sure there is no record of Homer winning a prize for the Odessey. I eventually hit upon the Tin Drum by Gunter Grass. He never read it and made up stuff for the report and received a decent grade for it. I could not bring myself to get upset with him for faking it.

If my husband asked this of me, I would hand him the WTM. If that is not your cup of tea, then I would start with what it is you are aiming for with a high school education, as well as taking into account state standards. If you expect your child to go straight into the work force or learn a trade, then the education you provide will look different than if you are expecting your kids to go to college. Then you need to look at your beliefs about children and how they learn and what your priorities are. Some households are vigilant about math, other families focus on science, and still others emphasize literature or the arts. Then maybe you can make a plan of what to use for next year, because what you think you will use the year after that - heck, even the second half of next year - will probably change.

She very infrequently has a 50% off sale. I purchased my membership three years ago at that price, and I don't remember seeing another one until a month or two ago. I am cheap, so I wouldn't want to pay more than that. That said, I am very pleased to have that resource available. More often, she has a 20-25% sale. We use a lot of her sheets for SOTW, but sometimes she doesn't have the topic covered. In that instance, I can usually find what I need at homeschoolhelperonline.com.

My dd is Not a natural speller. We have had success with All About Spelling. A) She enjoys it. B) She probably manages to spell things correctly when she writes on her own about 80% of the time, which is a tremendous improvement.