I am doing American History, so I will check out the CD you mentioned. Thanks for the tip. And thank you all for permission to leave off with spanish for this year! That will really lighten the load and we can start with Song School Latin in second grade....

Have you checked out Guesthollow American History? That would be a great way to integrate the two children in one program and it's free. Also- it looks like Elemental Science is coming out with an American History this year.

I forgot- we're also doing Evan Moore Beginning Geography and learning the states this year. I have that Travel America program from AccidentalHomeschooler...

Hey guys: I was wondering if you could look over our first grade plans as of right now and tell me if you think they are enough, or too much, etc... My daughter takes a LONG time to get work done because she needs to bounce off the wall between each subject (sometimes during each subject) so I am a little worried that we won't be able to get all of this done without her going insane. I do NOT want to burn her out by throwing too many subjects at her. After all, she's only in first grade! But I also don't want to shortchange her... I'm sure many of you can understand my feelings. It's such a push and pull of not enough or too much, and I worry that if I put too much on the plate my good intentions will fall apart in some subjects. So- gently- can you tell me if there's something I can cut out or something I really need to add into this schedule/goal list? Math: Rightstart Level B/Math Mammoth supplement as needed Language Arts: Phonics Road Level 1 and WWE Year 1 according to the teacher’s manual and using history book selections (NOT the workbook, just from the teacher's guide). Also, we'll probably end up in PR level 2 by January because we're already doing PR1. Oh, she also reads aloud to me every day for 15 minutes from a book of her choosing. History: Library picture book selections that match up to the Classical Conversations schedule. Read the (3-5) books, do a coloring page and a sentence or summary about two of the books per week. Also, Pioneers and Patriots and other longer read alouds as desired. Science: BFSU- probably only two lessons per month because it seems the lessons take two weeks. We take a week to read preliminary book literature and then the following week we do the lesson and experiments. Also for science- Read a selection of library books (1-2) that match up to the Classical Conversations schedule. Religion: Telling God’s Story one lesson per week is the goal. Literature: We could follow the Ambleside online first year program, but I’m not sure if it’s necessary on top of all the history books? I really like the selections though… Foreign Language: Do we have to, LOL? We could keep up with Salsa Spanish but, to be completely honest, I find that I easily forget to do it and DD acts like I'm torturing her when we watch the videos. We could do Song School Latin but I’m not sure I want to do that before second grade. Art- Artistic Pursuits Level One once per week. Music: Nothing on the books yet… got any ideas? Necessary? Memory Work: Classical Conversations co op. It does cover SOME music and art appreciation but we didn’t put too much effort into the fine arts last year. We may be able to do more this year since we don’t have to learn everything from scratch. Did I forget anything? Is it overloaded? Is it enough? Thanks so much for any advice!!! Hailey

The app she likes is called How To Draw. There is also a Mark Kistler app but we haven't used it. It's 99 cents though so it's worth a shot... Hailey

bump...

We got it last year and my DD didn't like it. The videos went to fast for her and she didn't like to have to pause it. There are IPAD apps that do similar instruction and she's done well with those. She taps the screen when she's ready to move on to the next portion. Nevermind- I just went back and realized it does have a lesson section where it doesn't move so fast... Oops. Guess we'll try again!

Our area has a neighborhood watch program that lists out why police were called into our area every month. It doesn't give you a super lot of info, but it does give you a little bit.

Have you seen this? It's printable on your computer in 11x17 for free... http://www.odt.org/FreePeters.htm

Thank you so much for your helpful comments. So, in your opinion, if PR was combined with WWE you'd have an all around solid combination? Sorry if I'm hijacking the thread....

Wow, those look really nice!

Do you think WWE1 is necessary or just a good bonus? Also, do you use FLL with Phonics Road 1 as well? We had FLL 1/2 and Phonics Road 1, and I was trying to figure out if I should use them both or if FLL would be redundant. Also, if WWE1 would be a good purchase considering that we are planning to go through all PR levels, or if it would just be added unnecessary work. Of course, I also sometimes dream of jumping ship to MCT too, but that's another story, LOL.

I'd try to find a used foundations guide and the audio CD. I would not purchase the cards. I second the idea to join the CC Community. It's only 6.00 a month and it can get you by without the cards for a year. I think the audio CD is really important if you guys travel around town a lot during the week. We were able to get a lot of Grace's memory work done in the car every week. You can download the audio songs from the CC file sharing forum if you have the time and inclination.

There's a vintage curriculum thread on here that has links to some free older readers available online. We downloaded a few and read them. Also, mainlesson.com has some vintage phonics readers as well.

:iagree:with Justamouse. This church sounds seriously dysfunctional. It sounds like there's been a lot of negative stuff going on and you just happened to walk into the middle of it. Are there other members that are as new as you guys are to this church? How are they treated by the other church members? :grouphug:

OK- I got more info and I'm hoping someone might know what this means... Her high immunoglobulin is IgA and the number is 250. The number is supposed to be around 124, from what I can tell... http://allergynotes.blogspot.com/2011/01/what-are-normal-serum-immunoglobulin.html Does anyone know what this might indicate? We got an appointment in two weeks, so we'll be in quickly. I probably shouldn't even be trying to figure this out before the appointment- it can't do any good...

Wow, I clicked on the link and it's expensive! It looks interesting though. I wonder if it's on gutenburg...

I think it's cute! I am going to look the book you mentioned as well and I'm signed up to follow you. Welcome to the blog world. I got nervous about making my blog too so I understand your anxiety about it.

Thanks, I will bring that up at the gastro visit. I'm sure they will want to rule it out with another procedure. I know it's tricky to catch...

Thanks guys- I got a stomach bug right after I posted this and I've been down and out a couple days. I think I'm going to just go with the idea that the doctor is just trying to be thorough in her work. I am not sure which immunoglobulin she is speaking of, but I know there's some reason she wants DD to be seen by a gastroenterologist quickly. They are calling to set up the appointment this week so they can get us in more quickly, so when they call with the date I will ask them which immunoglobulin it is they are speaking of and what the number level is... I'm actually kind of glad I got that stomach bug. It kept me busy being sick that I couldn't worry about this, and now it doesn't seem so bad. Go figure! Besides the allergies, Grace seems really healthy. She has some ADD symptoms and some sensory processing stuff, but the neighbor told me the other day that she is a "tornado" because she's so active and busy. I really just can't believe there could be something really wrong. I just can't look at her and think she's sick when she's bouncing off the wall, LOL. She's got to be fine if she can hang from the ceiling! Right?

It seems that those who are speaking poorly of everyone else are usually the ones you need to watch out for...

Hey guys, My DD has a wide range of food allergies and abdominal pain from time to time, as well as digestional issues here and there. Her doctor ordered a celiac screening and it came back negative, but she called me personally today and said she wants Grace to see a gastroenterologist because she said she has abnormally high immunoglobin levels. The doctor is having her office contact the gastro doctor because it's usually a six month wait and she needs to get Grace in sooner, but she couldn't, or wouldn't, tell me what the levels might indicate. I'm a little nervous because I got a personal phone call from the doctor, and she's a great doctor, but I just didn't expect that. Does anyone know what this could mean? I googled and it just showed a bunch of adult diseases like lupus and such... she's too young for that and she's not in any serious pain. Thanks, Hailey

Thanks, I'll pass that compliment on to my DH, who built it all. He always says that if we win the lottery he'll quit his job and go into carpentry. Unfortunately, we don't play the lottery :lol:!

Well, someone said use liquid turtle wax. I got the turtle wax that looks like butter in a tub, and I waxed it really well. I thought I'd made a big mistake at first because nothing would come off. But then the next day I guess it had soaked in and it was fine. Now- I did learn that some dry erase boards work better with DRY erase markers, and others are better for WET erase or DRY erase crayons. Mine seems to work great with wet-erase, dry erase crayons and crayola washable markers. Those come off easy peasy with a damp cloth. Dry erase is more difficult and requires more elbow work. Whoever came up with the rain gutter idea is awesome! Grace used to just drop her marker or crayon wherever she was standing and now she just always happens to be standing in front of a drop bin...

Thank you ladies so much for the helpful info on the showerboard used to make a whiteboard. I had a hiccup when I used the wrong wax on the board, but I think the wax just needed to soak in... Now it's beautiful and we had a WONDERFUL school session today. We kept thinking of cool things to do on it for school, LOL. Pics are on my blog page if you want to see it. http://www.givingourbest.blogspot.com/ Hailey