Hi Sarah! It seems like I research something every few months when I feel like I need more information about a certain topic or I've run into a problem. I think you are about at the point where you need to just discuss with your husband what you think the best curriculum options are, see if he has o...

This can be hard for moms, but I don't think it's really as hard on the child as they make it sound. I think kids complain about school from time to time in any setting, they just don't like to have to work, so don't take it personally. I have felt the way you are describing a lot, too. This year (o...

We found a fun video about France at our library from a series called "Europe to the Max". We watched the tour of Paris and saw many famous landmarks. We used wedgits (another type of building block) to build our Eiffel Towers while we were watching. For an art lesson we read the books "Katie Meets ...

Do you have the Complete Book of Animals? I have started looking through this book and they are more on their level than the POE worksheets. We have done some of the POE worksheets and some of the time we go over it orally and they answer questions out loud and I write the answers in for them. Rachel

I though these would be scary for my children when I read the first chapter of the first book, but they have loved the first and second books and can't wait to read more! The spiritual lessons really are so deep, but the story gives us a more concrete mental picture in our minds to help us understan...

Yes! We are also reading Jotham's Journey for the first time this year and my son said, "This is a cliffhanger book, Mommy!" They can't wait to read it each day. During this busy time of year we have had to skip some days, but the children are happy to hear two chapters on another day! A couple of t...

We completed ADV last year and I saved the ADV manual. Although we are in ECC, we took a break last week and I pulled out the ADV manual and we did some of those things again and added in some new activities. The Thanksgiving unit is just nice to pull out and use again for that specific week! Rachel

Thank you so much! What an awesome post! I need to print this one and laminate it so I can look at it whenever I need to remember WHY we are on this journey called homeschooling. Thanks for the encouragement along the way. I'm glad to hear that your daughter has done well, but that you are happy to ...

I think it sounds great! My dd did K a year early and a we only had a few units to finish the next fall. I debated this whole issue and it was so good for her to have that time to be a Kindergartener. We used ETC and another phonics program to keep working on reading and now that we are doing 1st gr...

We have listened to the Wee Sing cd on more days and more songs than is written in our lesson plan and that has been fun! I have also used library books to supplement our book basket with books about Brazil, the rain forests, the animals of the rain forest, etc. I also found a book about a day on th...

Hi! I am also traveling through ECC with a 3rd grader and 1st grader this year. My 1st grader sounds similar to yours, she is breezing through the reading/phonics of 1st grade and so she is included in most of ECC. I felt "guilty" for not doing ANY World Geography pages until this week (we are on we...

Ha ha! Yes, my 8.5 yr old thinks potty humor is funny most of the time, too! I also read the virgin verse and was not asked about it. Then I skipped over the animal reproduction pages. I'm not sure when we will look at them. I have a couple of books from the "God's Design for ..." series in a drawer...

The cooking projects are always a fun experience! We made pancakes with syrup and tried the vanilla ice cream with the maple syrup on another night - which was surprisingly good! And we watched the movie of Anne of Green Gables over the course of 3 nights. I also made the blueberry dessert for a nei...

Well, we just did that last week and I didn't cut the bottom off with a knife like I normally would, I tore it off. That helped some of the strings show up better. I also used my fingernails to pull the ends out and then very slowly pulled them up. I don't know if that's really a trick, but that's h...

Hi! We are doing ECC this year, too. my ds is in 3rd gr. and my dd is an advanced 1st grader who will turn 7 in Dec. She is very much like you describe your second child because she is also perfectionistic and wants to do everything that her big brother does, but she actually reads and writes more e...

No toddlers here right now, but we have a 3 month old puppy distraction!! I read all of that to my children, but my 3rd grader is dyslexic and is still learning to read. So, last year, it seemed like I had more to read aloud to them in Adv. and I began doing Bible reading as we finish breakfast (usu...

We also made a gift bag/tissue paper pinata. We even used tape! I didn't want to invest my kids into something they were going to turn around and destroy and they didn't mind hitting this one with a stick! It was still fun!

Rachel

Hi! You have already received some great ideas from some very wise homeschooling parents. :) I want to encourage you, too, in keeping this year fun. Kindergarten has so many great character lessons and activities and I am sure your 3 yr old can even participate in parts of it! One thing I like about...

Hola! We just had ours tonight and it worked well to have it on a Sunday. My dh was even involved in hanging the pinata and videotaping the pinata game! We didn't get to make every recipe above, but we had plenty to eat! We tried the tortillas with cornmeal, but didn't have shortening so they turned...

Hi! We are a bit further down the ECC journey! We are going into Week 7 tomorrow. I wanted to jump in here as I am catching up on reading the message board. Window on the World - It was weird that week to talk about all these different, false religions, but it seemed like groundwork for studying oth...

Hi Courtney! First, I think that these reversals are common and they do take some time to work themselves out. My ds is dyslexic and has some of them at 8.5 yrs old, but my dd is not and is reading well for her age and she still makes some reversals, too, at 6 yrs 9months. If I catch them reversing ...

Hi Karla! It can be tough, but it's worth it! I really understand how that has felt and it now makes me laugh at all the crazy things my kids have tried in getting "out" of their school work. My son was 5.5 and my dd was 3.5 when we began homeschooling and we've tried lots of things. At that age, I ...

Hello! Last year we cut out the circle or oval around whatever object was in the center and it made it easier, but I don't think cutting out the object (the star) would be wrong, either. It's going to be for your own family to enjoy. We glued each one onto an 8.5 x 11 inch piece of cardstock and kep...

We found colored sand at Wal Mart and used glue sticks to draw patterns on cardstock and then sprinkled sand on them. It was a beautiful day so we were able to do this outside and on top of newspapers, outside it was easy to clean up! We also made another sand project where we filled little jars wit...

Hello! We are also doing ECC and 1st grade this year, but I am really limiting what we do in the 1st grade curriculum because it was our main program just two years ago and even though my dd was a PreK'er at the time, she did all of the science, music, art, Bible read alouds with us at that time. If...