Materials I STILL need to purchase

1. decide between PLL and FLL for Sissy.
   
2. ETC 1 for Sissy
3. GRFTC A, B, C for Ellen
4. Singapore 1B WB for both girls
5. some Spanish curriculum for the girls (First fun with Spanish DVD, stuff here, stuff here, Puertas Abiertas $135, Clase Divertida $70 @ HC)
   
6. SYRWTLS and Latin for boys
7. Spanish for Children? for Pike
8. LOF for Pike?
9. Ghandi (DVD) for boys 11.99 Amazon
   
10. A Passage to India (DVD) for boys.
11. China DVD for boys (The Last Emperor? $19 Amazon)
12. Gilgamesh The Hero for Pike 6.74 Amazon
    

Daily flow with Pike (for Jamie)

• He will start on his own with Teaching Textbooks. He generally does at least a page of work; I shoot for 30-45 minutes of dedicated work. If he is not using the computer, but the workbook, remind him to check his answers. I am watching to see how he does with fractions and decimals to see if we're going to need the "Life of Fred" books.
  
• I then encourage him to get something to eat. He generally refuses. :)
• I then read the daily Writer's Almanac. Jesse usually likes to participate in this. If something piques my or the kids' interest, we'll investigate it further. Pike then does dictation. I use either the "I Have a Dream" speech or a piece of history from the WA or a poem he particularly enjoyed (right now, "The Raven") After dictation discuss the punctuation and any new grammar you might have come across and introduce any new punctuation and/or grammar ideas which come about from the dictation.
  
• I then encourage him to get something to eat. By now, he might entertain the idea.
• We then move to history. Right now I include both Living History and the history spine. As I read I frequently summarize and ask him questions to see if he is understanding and getting it. When something piques my interest (or his) we'll also discuss that too. Read from "Gilgamesh The Hero" (I have this book on order) and then a chapter (or whatever works, depending on him) from Susan Bauer's "History of the Ancient World". At this time I also add some world culture - we're finishing up with India and then we'll move to China. For now, finish the book, "India: The Culture". You need to prepare for both items daily. After each 5 chapters of Bauer's book do a written timeline and character summary - who was in power where and when charted and who begat whom so the history is easier to follow.
  
• By now, he will probably definitely be ready to eat something. Also encourage him to take a little lap around to get his body moving and the blood flowing.
• We then move on to Spanish. I use a number of sources for this. If he feels like a video, we pick one from Sr. Jordan. We are also working on Chapter 2 of Spanish for Children. He seems to really like this book. I am going to order it for him. I have many other resources if this doesn't seem to work for him. I am thinking of also ordering Spanish from Galore Press. We do verb conjugation and are currently working on what infinitives are. You need to prepare daily the day before. I have decided to go with SYRWTLS instead of SFC and am having him go through a Sr. Jordan video (or two) a day. He is also using LingQ to go over vocabulary and words until SYRWTLS arrives.
  
• by now he definitely needs a break.
• He will read from a book he chooses daily (right now "Eragon") and also will read a chapter from a book I pick out for him (right now "Snow Treasure"). It is getting to the point that it is rare that he actually does this.
• In the evening I read from a Living History book, right now "Yung Fu from the Upper Yangtze".
• Sunday he adds critical thinking to the mix. He has links I've sent him along with the "Red Herring" book. I am hoping to eventually add "The Art of Argument".
• Monday he and Jesse watch a lecture from "The Joy of Thinking". He also does his art project (that we started on Thursday) on this day. He applies what we talked about on Thursday. He takes this day off his daily stuff so that is all he does on Monday. You need to prepare for this the day before.
  
• Tuesdays he does Geography. Right now he is working on Asia. He picks an area of Asia and reads the information about each country and then plays the game to identify each country. Each couple weeks I have him go back a week and see if he still recognizes where that week's countries are. When he is about 1/2 way through Asia, start with the "Geography Through Art" book. This should start next Tuesday. You should prepare for this the day before.
  
• Wednesday he adds a science experiment (I have at least 4-6 books for him to choose from) and we read and discuss Sociology. He picks from the World Religion book, the "Teens with a Courage to Give" book or the "Save the Children" book. We also read one chapter from VanCleave's engineering book and discuss. We will probably add another science day in the coming months using the Usborne Science book (on order).
  
• Thursday we do Sociology (see Wednesday) and discuss an art project. Right now we're disucssing Van Gogh and a self-portrait. Sources for art projects are here, here, and here. We also have the Artistic Pursuits book. You need to prepare this the day before and the week before.
  
• Friday he takes the day off. He and Jesse watch a lecture from the "Ancient Cultures" DVD.
• Saturday he does Friday FreeWrite. We are now discussing descriptive writing and following along with the Writer's Jungle (red binder in the trailer). He also does critical thinking this day. You need to prepare for this the day before. In the next 2 weeks I would like to add reading "How to Read a Book" outloud as well as another day during the week of creative or directed writing.

More stuff that works

We have been using Dr. King's I Have a Dream speech for copywork and I am really loving reading it over and over each day. It has been especially lovely for me, reading his words over and over daily.

Jesse has decided he very much wants to go to university. He has asked for help getting started on his multiplication tables.

The TLC lectures we picked out are really very much over the boys' heads. But we're going through with them; they're already picking some stuff out of them.

Singapore Math is an excellent fit for Ellen - she is very much a natural at manipulating numbers.

Materials that are working

• Singapore Math for both girls. We're doing 1A now, about 3 times a week.
• Explode the Code 1.5 for Sissy. She does about 1-2 pages about 3 times a week. I'm hoping to get ETC 1 for Sissy soon.
• I'm hoping to get Get Ready for the Code for Ellen. Right now she plays Boggle.
• Headsprout for both girls. They do one lecture about 3 times a week and sometimes more.
• Teaching Textbooks for Pike. He works on about 30-40 minutes per day for Math 7.
• The Learning Company's The Joy of Thinking for both boys. We watch one lecture weekly.
• Susan Bauer's The History of the Ancient World for both boys. We read a chapter a day.
• Sonlight's Core 5 historic fiction. I read from one of the books daily. Right now we're on Yung Fu of the Upper Yangtze. We'll be moving to Core 6 books soon.
• Sr. Jason's Spanish videos (he is actually Sr. Jordan but I keep calling him Sr. Jason :))
• Rocket Spanish lessons 1-4 (just the trial so far but Pike is enjoying it). I'm also looking into Spanish for Children, LosMas TV, Learning Spanish Like Crazy and others.
• Geography once a week with Pike. He's never had any geography exposure and enjoyed the Geospy game to learn the continents. We're starting with Sheppard Software to learn different countries along with a little country information. It's a little dry but he is so far ok with it. We'll supplement that with Geography Through Art. We're starting with Asia.
• Reading the Writer's Almanac daily and Pike does dictation from either the poem or the content of the Writer's Almanac. Jesse just listens.
• Both boys are really enjoying Critical Thinking with the Red Herring book. Link to come.
• The girls are enjoying SOTW 1 and CHOA (I'm reading it online) but get a little bored with Story of Mankind sometimes.
  

We're doing other stuff and stuff to come but these are just the things that are working well and they are enjoying.

January

Well, we now have a schedule to work on.

Sissy wants: (starting Tuesday)
Reading Game: 3-4 times a week. Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday
Math (Singapore 1A): 3-4 times a week. Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Handwriting: 3 times a week. Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday
Art (Artistic Pursuits K-3 book 1): Wednesday, Sunday
SOTW1: on science day with boys
literature: daily
Spanish: daily
ETC: 3 days week.

Ellen wants: (starting tomorrow)
Spanish: daily
Reading Game: daily
Math: daily
Handwriting: Monday, Sunday, Tuesday
Art: Wednesday
literature: daily
ETC: daily

Pike wants: (started today)
Daily:
copywork or dictation
Math (TT7)
Writer's almanac
independent reading
I read History to them
I read an "Every Kid" book
Spanish (videos right now and then Destinos)

Sunday he'll add Art (Artistic Pursuits 4-6 book 2) and Critical Thinking (A Case For Red Herrings and maybe The Art of Argument after that or Mindbenders)
Monday he'll add watching one episode of the TTC Joy of Thinking DVD course
Tuesday he'll add Geography and Tuesday Tea Time
Wednesday he'll add Science Experiments and memorization
Thursday he'll add sociology (World Religion book, Teens Courage book) and memorization
Friday he'll add Friday Free Write and sociology
Saturday he'll add critical thinking

Jesse is still undecided but before Xmas said he wanted to do math and Spanish. I also got The Art of Argument and Calligraphy for him. We'll see.