My 9yo son also loves the Great Brain series (I think there are 8). Also: Broken Blade - Durbin Hatchet (I edited a bit as I read, but great story!) Chronicles of Narnia Indian in the Cupboard Akavak and Eskimo Journey (and other James Houston stories) Henry Reed books Soup books Jackie and Me (Gutman) Baseball books by Matt Christopher Call of the Wild Various Classic Starts (abridged classics)

We used Our Los Banos American History curriculum last year. I think it is great! It has so much to offer. She has done a lot of leg work in gathering a great book list, websites, and even worksheets. If you spend some time on her site you will find the links to everything you need. I especially liked it because its free! I didn't feel guilty for skipping over some things and adding others. I've done Sonlight and Winterpromise and I think Lost Banos is as good as these, without the cost. Hope that helps!

My oldest son just turned 9. Our plans for the fall (so far...always subject to change!) Math Mammoth 3 Just Write (finish 2, start 3) Prima Latina Flashkids Grammar Flashkids Spelling Tapestry of Grace yr2 unit 3 Noeo Physics or Easy Classical schedule Explorer's Bible Study or Positiveaction.org My goal for the year is to get him reading more of his own history and science work, and to continue building his writing skills.

Wow...I'm impressed! I'm planning on pretending I'm a beach (instead of the Alaska tundra) and reading as many beach reads as possible. I just finished Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand and planning on reading the new Sophie Kinsella book!

We've done Singapore, Saxon, Moving with Math, and Math Mammoth. We're sticking with Math Mammoth (through Winterpromise). I love it, they don't mind it, and I can see how the mental math is paying off.

Noeo Biology I was an easy scheduled course for us to follow. Everything is included - experiments and books.

I realized long ago that I will never be a great teacher, but I am happy for what my kids are gaining by being home. I can smile when they spend an entire morning making a lego Star Wars battlefield in my livingroom before we do school work. I'm happy for the time my 3 boys get to spend together becoming best friends. Every afternoon when the PS kids come home, I'm reminded of the bad language and bad attitudes that permeate our local school and I'm glad my kids are not immersed in it. I've slowly realized there is no perfect scenario. We ARE missing things by staying home, but we are also gaining so much. If my boys remain friends and strong in their faith when they are older, I'll feel like I've done my job!

We were in a similar situation. I was nervous that my son had gaps in his phonics so we breezed through Alphaphonics (about 10 min. per day) to cover it all. We supplemented with Spectrum workbooks and ETC but didn't do it all. He wasn't writing well and I didn't want that to hold him back from learning to read well. With my younger son I'm going all the way through OPG with Spectrum and ETC worksheets. I feel good knowing we are thoroughly covering phonics without having to do a bunch of games or twaddle work!

So I just started adding a short drill worksheet to our list for the day. I would just put a few on each day so they weren't overwhelmed. It seemed to help a lot. I downloaded Basic Facts Worksheet Factory (for free, can't remember the url) and also used Super Kids Math Worksheets at www.superkids.com. We also did Flashkids for M&Ms as treats occassionally, but the drill sheets seemed to be the most productive.

Anyone using this?

but they are full of worksheet pages: Giant Science Resource Book and the Complete Book of Science. It seems like when we used Sonlight for 1st grade the science had a lot of worksheets too.

We've just started early American history. Have you checked out the Los Banos curriculum? She has a lot of internet craft links and recommended books. We did the Time Travellers CD for Explorers. It has some excellent paper crafts. We also used Easy Make & Learn Projects - The Pilgrims, Mayflower & More, and Hands-On History Colonial America. Both are Scholastic books. Hope that helps some!

We've been using it this year for a 3rd grader and K' er. My boys really like it and I do too. It seems very thorough. I was wondering what others think of it?

It was nice to get a professional input in the whole scary scenario. I appreciate your opinion (as well as everyone elses!).

I can't wait to read Swiss Family Robinson to my boys, though.

The cutting and pasting scared me to death. I sold them before we even began. Of course I also have 3 squirmy boys!

No requirements at all from the State.:thumbup: We voluntarily joined the IDEA homeschool program (run through the Galena City School District) and we receive money for curriculum and a computer. They require quarterly reports and State testing, but I think it's a good trade-off. Most of the employees with IDEA are homeschoolers too, so they are easy to work with. Alaska has a few other programs you can enroll in that are similar. There are a lot of homeschoolers in the state, which I love. Make us not feel like outsiders!

The sports theme is just what we need.

We love this program too. It doesn't have frills, but gets the job done. We spend about 10 minutes on it per day. I mix in Headsprout.com, ETC 1-3, and Spectrum workbooks to spice things up and add some writing. I also have my 5yo read a reader everyday. He has learned so much and I know that I'm covering everything with OPGTR. I tried Sonlight 1 and 100EZ lessons and my older son did well, but I felt like we had gaps. Now I feel assured that we are hitting everything. Good luck!:iagree:

I have a 3rd grader on his 3rd year of STOW (Early Modern). Next year I will also have a 1st grader. Should I include the 1st grader in our year 4 or should I start Ancients (1st year) with him separately? What have your experiences been? Thanks in advance, Wendy

I read separately with my boys. One is 8, the other 5. With the older one we have two read aloud times. One for our history reading (we are reading about Balboa right now) and another fun read like the Great Brain series usually at bedtime or some other down time. He also reads independently for about 30 minutes each day. I'm trying to work on his fluency so I pick fun books that hold his interest like A to Z Mysteries by Ron Roy and sports books by Matt Christopher. Next year I'm hoping for him to do more nonfiction and maybe some classics, but I mostly want him to enjoy reading. My 5 year old can't sit still for as long as my 8 year old. We follow Easy Classical Kindergarten curriculum some and I add picture books and a few longer books for our read aloud time. He is a beginner reader so he reads a few pages to me a day along with our phonics curriculum. Hope that helps! I try to make reading fun and it is definitely the highlight of our days. Wendy

Have you tried any of the Bill Wallaces series? They are funny animal stories written from the animals' perspectives. I'm trying to remember titles: Dog Named Kitty and Snot Stew are a couple. Wendy

We are using the TT Explorers unit right now. It is a wonderful program for such a great price. I think it will take us about 4-6 weeks to complete it. I am integrating it into Los Banos American history. Some curriculums zoom through the Explorers, but since I have boys who love adventure stories I wanted to spend some extra time on this. There are many notebooking and lapbook ideas. You wouldn't need to do them all. There is a 1-2 page summary of each explorer, some copywork, some mapwork and some small projects to go into a lapbook at the end. We are supplementing the program with short biographies on each explorerer. We just finished Pedor's Journal, Cabot and Son, and a short biography of Balboa. I like the easy paper crafts. I don't like having to cook or do random crafts. All of the ideas can go into a beautiful notebook or lapbook (although the curriculum does have a few other ideas). For $25 it has been a great purchase. The graphics alone make it worth. High quality and educational! Wendy

We used both of these programs. We used MWM for 1st and 2nd grade, and Math Mammoth for 3rd (and 1st for my youngest son). MWM has a lot of good hands on ideas and moves a little slower. Sometimes I skipped over things. It is a bit more expensive and takes more teacher time. Math Mammoth is very thorough. To me it is like Singapore Math with a lot more problems. My 3rd grader really took off with Math Mammoth, and actually seemed to enjoy the challenge. There is no teacher prep with MM. It's also very affordable. We bought it through Winterpromise. Im planning on using again for 4th grade and continue using the 1st grade with my youngest.