I gave each child a composition notebook. Before we begin each lesson I write the date and what we are doing (dictation, copywork, narration, etc.) Then if it is copywork, I copy legibly and neatly for the child what I want them to copy. I use the passages etc. from the workbook. Then they copy directly underneath what I just wrote. I do this b/c copywork is not a handwriting exercise although many people use it as that. This way my children are just focusing on the writing and how it is written instead of worrying about how to form letters neatly, etc. I do encourage them to be neat and if it illegible they have to do it again. For dictation and narration I write the date and what we are doing then they write their dictation according to the rules in the book after I have read it to them 2 or 3 times. For narration they narrate to me and then I write it on the lines in the composition notebook. This also saves me from having to type things into start write and print it out. The only thing that takes a little extra time is that I have to write out their copywork but even that only takes a few seconds. It is an extremely efficient and effective way to use the workbook. So basically I got the wb for the passages etc. without having to actually find stuff on my own. We totally ignore the actual student pages. I'm highly doubtful that the student pages would benefit my DC anyway. I like our method...hope it helps someone else!

This just in: DD9 just came home beaming! She got a blue ribbon for her skirt and a blue honor for her pillow sham! So now I am assuming we have to go to the fashion review to find out about state fair selection? Do they just announce it and then we will get details on how that process works? Our fair has an open class for adults...that's what I was thinking of entering.

We are not participating in the fashion review. I really wanted us to but I just don't know what to expect. So we aren't. I also wanted to enter some sewn items in the adult open class, but it just is really hard to know what to make when you don't really know what is being "judged". So I guess this year will be our learning year! LOL! I am having a really hard time with finding answers to my questions locally--I guess it all seems kinda wishy washy and then reading how varied things are. I think I've been a little bit disappointed b/c we joined a club that didn't meet regularly--um, or at all! Then I found out through the grapevine that we should have joined such and such club. Wish I had known sooner...hope I can join that club next year!

I'm so glad I stopped by the boards today to hear this discussion. This is our first year and I'm still a little hesitant! Our 4H judging started last Friday. DD9's first official judging takes place this afternoon. I was going to back out at the last minute, but she really wants to go through with it. So her 2 sewing projects (wearable and non-wearable) will be judged this afternoon. I can't take her since I have to go to work and so my sister is taking her. i'm anxious to see how it all turns out! Foods judging (preparation and preservation) for her is tomorrow morning. Photography poster (color pictures) is Wednesday morning. Then DD7 and DD6 have 3 projects to enter in mini-4H. Do you all just feel like you LIVE at the fair during the week of judging and project entry? I guess I was so naive to think that the kids just dropped off their projects and then picked them up after the fair was over. LOL! I am nervous about the judging. Mostly I'm afraid of the kids having a bad experience and of it taking up our whole day. KWIM? Perhaps someone with experience could chime in for me and let me know what to expect and that it will all be fine. DD9 is just sure that if she doesn't get a blue ribbon that means that she did a bad job. I've tried to tell her otherwise, but to no avail, so unfortunately there may be several tears shed tonight over the sewing projects!

This is just hilarious! LMBO!!!!

you know the "adult only" ones...the ones you really don't appreciate your children dragging out in front of your guests and asking "hey mom, what's this do?"

just curious. i need a new hiding spot. the miniature mafia has found me out.

It's totally like they don't even remember how to behave like human beings! I mean every word out of their mouths is either whiney, complaining, yelling, or bickering. I totally think it's time for break. School isn't even fun anymore. We were going to school until next Friday, but I just don't know if our sanity will last that long. I even took us down to doing the bare essentials...a math lesson per day and independent reading. I wanted to school as long as possible since we have such a busy summer planned. We won't be able to get back into the groove until mid-August at best. Is it a crime to throw in the towel NOW and hope they don't regress in their learning during the next 8-10 weeks?

I was absolutely horrified at the ending of the movie. I would not allow my dc to see this movie. they are very sensitive anyway and it would haunt them for a while. I even had a trouble sleeping last night. Aside from the fact that it did distort true facts, I would not want the movie to be grotesque. I have read the diary of anne frank and discussed it with my dc but in a gentle manner. we did not discuss all the atrocities. we did say that many people were treated horribly and forced to work under inhumane conditions and even gave them several facts and true examples, but at a young age, they do not need to know or understand all the gory details. it is very sensitive what happened and extremely sad. My dc cried when we read a condensed version of Anne Frank by usborne. I find it hard to believe that the little boy Bruno in the movie didn't know or understand what was going on. I find it even harder that the mother didn't really know what was going on. Anyway without spoiling the whole movie, you should see it and understand that it is a fictional tale and many events are distorted, but it is still sobering especially if you are at all familiar with the true events in history.

I just finished watching this movie. wow. that's about all i can say. so powerful and sobering.

DD9 has been taking violin lessons since she was 5. She is progressing well and likes it...it took a while to get over the practicing on her own hump, but she has done it an dis now efficiently practicing on her own with my listening ear outside the door and she often plays for us as well. She's doing great. DD7 has just begun piano lessons. We waited a while on her b/c she's just so wiggly and has such a short attention span. She's doing really surprisingly well and LOVES the lessons and her teacher. Practice could be a little better, but we're working on it. I have 2 more children who are not going to be able to start lessons right now (ages 5 and 4). I really feel like music lessons are important to their education. I can not teach them. I have some music background, but this is one area where I'm willing to let someone else teach them. On to the real questions: my parents pay willingly for DD9's lessons and always have. I've hinted around about paying for DD7's lessons also, but they never give me a yes or no. So here's the situation we're facing: no way to be able to pay for the lessons--originally I was going to be donating plasma to pay for the lessons but that has been a flop, so now I'm faced with having to drop the piano lessons b/c I can't afford them. Which makes me feel really badly for DD7 b/c she really is liking them and doing so well. But then I feel like well if DD7 gets no lessons then DD9 shouldn't either. I really need advice here. I feel like it's SOOOO important and don't really want to drop either child. Mostly I hate it that if I drop DD9 we've wasted some 4.5 years of lessons and money! Help me see the light here or offer some creative ways to pay for lessons! BTW we have no other outside activities other than church activities which the kids do enjoy, but nothing really extra curricular like sports, dance, gymnastics, etc. and there is no money to do those things.

For beginning readers I use Ordinary Parent's Guide and SL Fun Tales readers (not their LA readers only). I also use SL I can read it series. Once they are reading well on their own, we use books from our personal library or public library. I try to choose books that are not just fluff. For example DD9yo has been reading classics that are rewritten for younger kids....heidi, Three Musketeers, etc. they are easy to find at the library. I don't feel the need to purchase "readers" or literature anthologies as I think it's better to have them reading real books. But if you wanted a reading program you could readers from Pathways readers or Bob Jones or the like and have them read a passage or 2 per day.

If you want it all prepared for you and ready to go then it's worth it. I mean 180 "lessons" with NO prep from you. I don't think they give enough room for a child to copy the entire passage if they have low motor skills or if they write very large. If I were to use these, I'd have to retype the material into Write Start software in our preferred font (HWT) and print it out. So if I were to still be needing to use copy work in this format (which I don't need to since we now use WWE) it would not be worth it to me. I can just as easily come up with beautiful poetry, songs, manners, verses, math facts, etc. on my own.

In WWE 2 the narration passages are going to be longer probably like what you are already doing. It also helps them to pick out the central idea, not just repeat 1 thing they remember. If you wanted to skip to that level, but don't want to start dictation just yet, you could still do the dictation as copywork. But I think your original plan sounds good too. Either way would be fine. WWE is so gentle and well written that at 7 you DD is doing fine, so no need to rush her! (unless she is just DYING to do something more challenging, then I say start WWE 2).

i don't think so, but the CS was using Abeka for grade 3 which is ahead about a year ahead, so when the kids went into grade 4 they already knew most of the BJU math 4 text so they bumped them up to grade 5 math.

If I could afford the DVD route, I'd be using it this year. I think their math and LA are well written. Our local CS uses their math program and has bumped the grades up a grade level (grade 4 uses grade 5 math text). I've looked into their language (grammar) and it seems similar in approach to FLL...very strong on grammar topics just not done orally. I don't know much about TOG, but it seems like you should be able to do it since you will have some of your time freed up with 2 using the DVD program. The only problem might be finding the time to do it with them involved with DVD school.

If your boys have had any experience with phonics at all they might be able to breeze through level 1. if you can afford it, you might consider getting level 2 also. Is it worth the price tag? I do think it's a bit pricey for spelling, a subject that seemingly should be inexpensive, BUT it does have excellent results. And while my children don't necessarily LOVE the curriculum, it is presented in such a way that makes spelling EASY, which I think is key to their understanding. So, yes, I do think it's worth the cost. i hesitated over purchasing level 4, so I bought SW D and E for my oldest. She took one look at them and thought how boring (and I thought how disjointed and so little explanation), so it looks like i'll be reposting those for sale. i ordered level 4 yesterday. Also I feel like this is a curric that is totally reusable. i don't have to purchase additional student materials or workbooks. So while level 4 cost me $40, I will use it for 4 children which brings the cost down to $10 per kid. A workbook approach would cost at least that or even more!

DD5 knows all the letter sounds consonants and short vowels. We skipped right to the section that starts with them sounding out short vowel words. Previously (this whole year) we've been reading through the Fun Tales readers from Sonlight. But she just wasn't quite getting the blending part. I would always find myself sounding the words out for or with her b/4 she would actually get the word. So we started OPG. (She didn't like 100EZ and I don't either!). So in OPG when there are new words to sound out we are to follow this procedure: I sound them out and read the words by myself, then we sound out and read them together, then she is to sound out and read them alone. She looks at me like I am insane reading it 3 times! And then by the time it's her turn to do it alone, she can just read them, b/c she has them memorized! This just doesn't make sense to me and is somewhat frustrating to both of us. My next oldest DD7 had the same trouble. It just doesn't really seem like DD5 is really sounding out the words, just copying me and then rereading something she already has memorized. Does anyone do it differently? Also when you use OPG do you read anything else at all or does that serve as a sufficient reading lesson? We will only do 1 lesson per day at a time. If she asks for more then I'll do more later in the day, but not in one sitting. It's too much to process for little ones. Just wondering if we should continue reading the BOB books and the Fun Tales readers? Or if OPG would be sufficient?

Pre ETC ABC do a very good job of teaching beginning consonants. I wish they taught the vowels. Honestly you can't read ANYTHING if you don't know the vowel sounds! Books 1-3 are very solid in their presentation of phonics concepts. I wouldn't start book 1 unless the child KNOWS their basic consonant sounds. I wouldn't use them as a stand alone phonics program. I would however use them in conjunction with something else. For example, I've noticed that AAS and ETC could possibly work together with ETC being the supplement or reinforcement. Books 4 and 5 have some pretty awkward sounds/topics. not really sure if I'll use them with my next child. BUT book 6 is good again in its presentations of phonics topics. Haven't gotten to books 7 and 8, but I'm going to give it a try with oldest DD this summer probably. i use the ETC books as "seatwork". We don't use a lot of workbooks around here, so basically they have to do 2 pages per day. I like for it to be something that they can do on their own, without me standing over them "teaching" them. They just go do their seatwork, and usually the ETC books are just review. Another series that is good and goes hand in hand with ETC is the Right into Reading series (1-3) and the Jump Right into Reading (K). They seem to be more thorough than ETC and provide reading practice as well.

I agree you don't absolutely NEED a whiteboard. I started using the program long b/4 she introduced the magnet pieces. duh i could have thought of that on my own, but i'm more of a by the book girl. anyway, oldest dd got lots of GOOD practice with ABC order but not having them up on the board.

We used SL P4/5 when my DC were the same ages as yours (or extremely similar). It was very easy for my first grader who devours books, and we read them all really fast...much faster than scheduled. AND they are easy books to just sit and read you really don't have to follow a schedule. That said my DC STILL love to have me read them...yes even the 9yo. They each have their fav. stories. I have the older version of SL when it was called core preK, so we have the treasury that has Tar Baby in it--I think I've read that story at least 3 times this past week! I think they just like hearing my accent...I do get into reading that story! It's so much fun. If you went with the core K you'd have a lot more scheduled and it wouldn't be as easy to get it all in with a baby in tow.

Did you request their sample pack? I was impressed with what I saw, BUT the cost was WAY over the amount that I could reasonable justify spending! The games package looks pretty cool, but in all honesty, you could probably really come up with them on your own. All About Spelling is a good way to teach phonics if that is what you are wanting to do AND is much less expensive! Despite its name it can be used to teach reading and she has now developed a reader to go along with level 1. So you could teach 2 subjects at 1 time!

So when it says Annual spring sale does it mean they will have it on sale next year too? i don't really see any need to purchase something that I won't need until next year early just b/c it's on sale, but the price and free shipping is so tempting! That is saving you almost $25-$30 per set!

Yes an intro is fine. Think of all the years following this one in which they will learn about predicate nominatives. It will also be thoroughly reviewed in the lessons which follow and then throughout the book.

Plexiglass would be a less expensive idea, but it would scratch easily. What about laminating your map? Depending on size it could cost a little bit of money, but it would be protected while on your table.