Welcome to homeschooling. I do not know what the KG levels are. We love Singapore MAth. Other people do other things. I bought a magnetic calendar and this is how my dd learned about the calnedar, and a plastic clock with gears to coordinate the 2 arms, and told her o'clock, half past, etc... MAde sure she knew 60 mins in an hour. Have fun!

I am putting an order from rainbowresource and want to order a map, or a globe, or something geography. My oldest is second grade. Any favorites? Any geography resources that are fun for 7 yo (girl)?

Thank you, BIll. I saw your other posts on this subject, it helps.

Why or why not? We are just starting 2A, and so far it has been great with math. I use HIG, textbook, workbook, IP, CWP. But now it is all confusing with the standard/California option. We also use simultaneously Abeka 2 workbook because it covers a few topics Sing. does not. ANd also do a bit of RightStart. Anyway, math is going great here. I need to buy 2A and not sure what to buy. Thank you for your input!

Thank you for the links and explanation!

DO you ladies have any links? What is BF? Thank you.

Is there a good one free I can just print out and give it to my dd? She is in second grade. Thank you!

Shannon, The way other religions are presented (as "just as good") - thinking of Ch. 6, and Ch. 7 (Islam - others too, but I stopped here)- comparing to how DIana Waring starts her Ch.3 about Byzantinum and Muslims - are completely different. DW starts with looking in the Bible at the diety of Christ and talking about how in the islam, Muhammad is consider the last prophet for muslims. But this is not what the Bible said, because Christ is the fulfillment of everything up until then and nothing more is needed. SOTW does not enter these details. But presents all religions as the same. DW does show the difference in the Bible. To ME this is very important. It does not have to be this way with everybody. So yes, if you put the time and energy, you can add what the Bible says by yourself, but for me the little $10 activity book from DW saved a lot of time and sanity and made my "history" life easier. I still think for each chapter in DW activity book I will add the coloring pages from SOTW and maybe some of the projects, map work, etc. SOTW is good just not exactly what we want. And my kids get bored with Jim Weis voice on the cd... Again, what I liked about DW is that it uses the Bible as history textbook. Yes, you have to add reading from other resources, that I already have from Veritas PRess - like Greenleaf Famous Men and others. I think this will work for us and will help my child see more of how God works through history. This, God's way of working through history and cultures - is completely missing in SOTW. Everyone is looking for different things in their teaching. I think I found what I was looking for.

I do not know where you find the ratings, to answer your question. How do you know if books are reading level 2, 2.25, etc? What reading level is Little Bear? My 7 1/3 yo can read Little Bear very well. She can read well Andy Russell (don't know the rating, but the librarian said it is 3-rd grade, my dd is second). But she stumbles sometimes with longer words. Although I told her I will not be helping her much anymore, she has to take it apart and try to figure it out herself. She read easily the Courage of Sarah Noble, but a little harder on her is Little House. I read this one aloud, but ask her to read a passage every once in a while. None of these books have reading ratings, so I don't know. Does your dd read harder things than Little bear, and only stumbles on long words? Does she skip words? Does she not understand what she reads? Maybe trying smaller passages would be better? Maybe "alternating"? One page you read aloud, one page she does - I do this as my dd is not crazy about reading. Also, I notice that my dd is more likely to put more effort into her reading if it is a subject really dear to her - like horses, ponies or bunnies. Maybe this would help your dd, too.

Thank you for the recommendation.

Such a beautiful picture, and great success! Thanks you for sharing.

Thank you for the links and pictures and ideas!!!! Noow I have something to look for!

So which ones of those boxes are Index Card boxes - 3 by 5? I need them for AAS and memory work. I just need the link - I have looked at things before and was not able to find a right thing. Thank you.

I need a couple of these, bought the $2 at Walmart, and did not findmuchbetter at Office Max. Which ones do you use, and can you buy them online? Thank you.

I know that the Kumon school has evening/afternoon classes to supplement school. I do not know how much they are, the person who told me about these was a doctor with a child in K private school and doingKumon school in the afternoons. I do not know how spread they are, either.

Thowell, I gave up on SOTW 2 for two reasons this week - one, it is not biblical, and second, although we have the books and the cds and listens to them, my dd does not retain anything. I started Diana Waring's Activity guide for ROme, reformers, etc..., and we like it - it uses a lot of NT Bible as textbook - for the beginning of the church. Has questions, too, like SOTW, and I can ask for narration from dd. I can add in map work, no problem. Just SO much more Christian. I am really not worried for not being as complete as SOTW. Not for second grade. And I will add the middle ages cards from Veritas PRess.

"There are so many non-chemical cleaners on the market that this really doesn't have to be a concern. " Can you please give me some names/brands, or products that are like this? I would like to teach my 7yodd to clean the bathrooms, but don't want her to use the chemicals and cannot find our gloves either. I start really simple - sweeping the kitchen floor, putting dishes away, and helping with setting the table. No laundry yet at 7, it is just hard to lift her up to push buttons and all and don't have a stool in the basement yet. She empties the drier and puts away her stuff - folding is not great either, yet. SHe knows how to peel potatoes, but it takes a loooooong time. Learning to use measuring cups and spoons. Getting good at vacuuming. Of course, since 2yo, knowing how to clean the toys off the floor.

I started out liking SOTW 1 and2, but now in 2 I am fiding it is a lot of work to add the Bible in it. Now we do some church history using Veritas Press, soem Greenleaf stories - I don't know, I would love a more Christian curriculum. I am thinking I will be moving away from SOTW pretty soon. I do have the guide for Roma and middle ages by Diana Waring and lookds REALLY good. I may be switching to that. Later on, in higher grades I may use the Notgrass company.

For my oldest, we spend about 50 -60 min - second grade. She does 2 pages of Abeka workbook, 1 lesson Singapore Math (I teach with manipulatives and do together the textbook exercises) + Workbook exercise for the lesson, then 2 pages of CWP or IP, or something else.

My 7 yo does terribly with the tests. I think I will drop them. They are pretty hard for a 7 yo. Sometimes even I have to look up the answer.

I use the reviews. I tell my 7 yo - you have 20 minutes to do these 4 - or 6 - pages. She finished before that, but it is a "timed" test. If she finishes early - which she does - I tell her to go review, and make sure she did not skip any - we had a problem with this before. Are there any test books to buy from the Singapore website?

Yes, I think she is. Just review them 2-3 times a week, they will come easily.

What I am not getting about MM is ... what is so great about it? I looked at second grade and what they would study - and all that I just finished covering in 1B with my second grader in SIngapore. Maybe not the cup with millimeters stuff. My dd does it mentally, too, things like 85 - 37. Without problem. At the begining of second grade. Easy to teach, too (for me, SIngapore is). It is true, I teach her, I use the TM a lot, but this is what I want to do, I don't expect her to learn math without me teaching her. So I am missing something here, cause I just do not understand why MM is so wonderful?

In Earth science so far what I find offensive is in the books (Usborne) - but I explain to my kids so they know the two theories, and to distinguish the true one. I find that I needed to add parts of a Christian curriculum because God is not mentioned at all.

We did SOTW last year in second grade SOTW 1, and my dd loved the activities. CC does cycle 2 this year, so it would be SOTW 2. I don't know, I think I would do some fun stuff - lego contructions, art, Pe or something else he enjoys, soccer, etc...