Thanks, Julie! I guess that makes sense. Like you, though, I like those cumulative tests. I see them as practice for college.... :) I did decide to plug them into our schedule, but - in case anyone else is wanting to do this, too - if you want to have your kids do the reviews before taking the exam ...

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 9:31 pm Both of my kids are quite good at remembering details and being able to retell the stories. Summarizing is a bit different, though. When they are struggling, I have them pretend that Daddy is coming upstairs to see what they've been learning today. When he asks what...

Posted: Sun Sep 03, 2006 9:48 pm We started our Creation unit on a Monday, so Friday of that week was Day 5. At the breakfast table Saturday morning, my kids hollered, "Today is Day 6!" They were so disappointed when I told them that we weren't having school that day because it was Saturday! We hav...

Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 7:12 pm Concerning the Cuisenaire Rods/Math Sense Blocks, I have broken things down and made lesson plans for days 1-5. (We don't use them on Day 6.) I came up with these ideas by reading the Mathematical Concepts section at the beginning of the workbook. I also tore out al...

Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 5:34 pm Handwriting is covered in several places. On Day 1 of the Reading Plan, you trace the textured letters with your fingers several times to get a "feel" (pun intended) for how to write the letter. On Day 2, you use the handwriting page in the workbook plus trace the t...

To help my kids learn to summarize the bible stories for their bible notebooks, we play "Pinky Dinky Doo." There's a kid's show on cable by this name, and at the end of each episode, Pinky Dinky Doo plays a variety of games to aid in listening and comprehension skills. In one of these games, she pre...

LoveBaby, I was the one who wrote that earlier post you referred to. I hope I can remember everything I wrote that you found helpful before! The first thing I did was go through the "Subjects" and "Activities" lists and delete things that weren't applicable to what we do. Then I added things that we...

We just hold each one by the edge and trace with the other hand.

To help my kids understand the different phases of the moon, I found a small yellow ball and painted half of it black. Then I designated an object to be the earth (we used a blow-up globe but any object will do) and another object to be the sun. I held the "moon" between the sun and earth so that th...

On the night of Day 4, after we've learned about the moon and stars, go outside and lay on a blanket and look for constellations. You can print starmaps from http://www.scienceplace.org/planetarium/astro_events.asp and then you'll know what you're looking for and where to find them. (Our kids are us...

Instead of just going to the grocery store on Day 3 and describing/tasting the apples as described in the TM, have an apple party. After noting the differences between the different kinds of apples, serve them up along with apple sauce, apple pie, apple juice (cold), apple cider (hot), baked cinnamo...

Helzberg Diamonds has small cards with pictures and information on many different types of jewels. You can just go to an HD store and pick up the free cards. This also might be a fun field trip, so your children can actually see some different types of jewels that you might not have in your jewelry ...