Teaching journaling??? Wow, the thought never occured to me. I just tell Sparkle to write in her journal. I once entertained the idea of giving her writing prompts, but I was too lazy and she always eventually comes up with something on her own. :iagree:

What's wrong with doing sixth grade math with a five year old, as long as the five year old understands and likes it? I hope you don't take my question the wrong way. I am genuinely curious. My child *isn't* advanced in math, so I won't have that issue, so maybe there are problems that I don't see?

I don't schedule individual pages in books, but I do have a plan of sorts. For each subject I know what books / resources we're using and I know what books / resources I plan on using when we're done with the current ones. I don't know or care when we move on to the next set of books/resources. It might be months or it might be years. However, once we start them I'll work on what to use right after them. I also have a daily plan what says what subjects to do each day. I post the day's subjects for DD and she picks which subjects she wants to do when. She knows which ones need to be done before getting a play break. I am pushing her to be as independant as possible in her subjects in two ways: (1) I have an early, heavy emphasis on those skills that help her be independent (reading and handwriting); and (2) I try to have DD do as much "school" on her own as she can, and then save checking and discussing errors with me later, all at once. Of course, I'm only schooling one (with a pre-schooler in tow) so that makes things easier for me. My daughter is also not gifted, which makes things even easier. (She is asynchronous, though, which is why I hope it's okay for me to post on this thread.)

I pick programs based on where DD is academically. I try to pick programs that are "just do the next page." I decide how long to work on each subject per day based on DD's age and maturity. Although we tend to spend the same amount of time on each subject each day, how much we accomplish totally varies from day to day. For example, DD is strong in language arts. However, she is young, so we only spend about 10-20 minutes on it per day. We might do one page, or four pages, depending on how it goes that day. DD usually tells me when she has had enough. DD isn't as strong in math. We still spend about 10-20 minutes on math per day. We might do anywhere from half a page to two pages. Again, DD usually tells me when she has had enough. I don't schedule anything in advance anymore. When DD was learning to read, I bought a bunch of early readers that we never used because DD's reading advanced so quickly. When doing math, I started to stress out that we wouldn't finish the book by the end of the school year. By simply doing the next thing, and not scheduling at all, I no longer have either problem.

My older daughter does a daily journal. I got her a journal with a blank space on top for a picture and lines for writing beneath. She is required to write a bit, draw a picture, and write the date. I don't give prompts; I let her write whatever she wants. Sometimes she makes up a story. Sometimes she writes about something from real life. I make a mental note of any mistakes to work on during our regular school subjects. If a mistake *really* bugs me, I'll point it out to her but let her choose whether or not she wants to correct it. My younger daughter also has a "journal" but she just scribbles in it.

OMG! Thank you! I have been totally struggling with the idea of teaching my daughter how to write a rough draft. How simple, just ditch the rough draft. Just another reason for me to continue with MCT. What about a journal that doesn't take any of the teacher's time? I have my daughter do a daily journal because she doesn't do any other writing (except spelling). I use the journal writing to evaluate what she needs work on and what she has mastered.

I'm also enjoying Miquon with my daughter. However I've barely used the teacher's materials, even though I have all three. I didn't find the First Grade Diary or the Notes to Teachers to be useful. I only refer to the lab sheet annotations when introducing a new topic for the first time or when I can't figure out a page. On the other hand, before starting Miquon, I did RightStart A and most of B with my daughter, and I read alot online about how to use the Cuisenaire Rods. Plus, I like math. So, you might find the teacher materials more useful than I do.

Child doesn't need to know any parts of speech, parts of sentences, or types of sentences. MCT covers all of that. Child should be able to read well, but I won't hazard a grade level. If you have to ask if your child can read well enough for MCT, you're probably better off focusing on reading skills.

Copywork and dication does pull all the mechanics together; but it does so without requiring the child to come up with original content.

I wonder if these two issues (punctation/capitalization and identifying parts of speech) are related. My DD had horrible punctuation. In fact, her run-on sentences were the main reasons why I started MCT when I did. DD knew to use a period at the end of a sentence; she just couldn't figure out a where sentence ended! Perhaps your daughter doesn't capitalize proper nouns because she doesn't know that they are proper nouns? Thanks for answering my question. I guess that I've gotten lucky in this regard so far.

Please forgive my ignorance. I never thought there was much to capitalizaition: first letter of a sentence and names (or words used as names, including names of things like countries, holidays, books, etc.). What else is there? At what grade level are additional capitalization rules expected?

My dd is a natural speller with a good memory. I started with SWR to teach the phonograms and rules. I now use Spelling Plus Dictation by Susan C. Anthony. I don't pre-teach the words. I just give her the dictation passages cold. She usually gets all the words correct on the first try. If she misses any words, she practices them and usually gets them right the next time. Even though DD spells far above her grade level, there are still many words that she can't spell correctly. She sometimes has trouble with long words. She doesn't have all the rules for adding suffixes down yet. She sometimes confuses homonyms. So, until she can spell at "exit level" I will do spelling with her. Another benfit of straight dictation is that it does double duty for handwriting, punctuation, capitalization, and other grammar rules. It also builds stamina so that little hands don't tire as easily when doing writing in other subjects.

The one thing I have always loved for spelling is daily sentence/paragraph dictation. I started by making my own sentences but that was too much work. I'm currently using Spelling Plus Dictation by Susan C. Anthony as a resource for sentences and paragraphs. The book is fairly inexpensive. The dictation passages repeat words from previous lists so there is continuous review of the most common words. My method isn't fun, but DD doesn't complain, and it takes very little effort on my part. I started off with really easy sentences, and then gradually built up. I record the dictation onto a voice recorder (an iPod Nano or an iPhone work well) and then hand DD the voice recorder. When she's done, I mark any errors and have DD practice an troublespots. Overall, it's very easy for me and has been very effective. Then again, I have a natural speller, so of course, YMMV.

Okay, I'm going out on a limb, but here are some ideas to see if he will be able to handle the reading in MCT. Reading for analyzing sentences: Find a sentence of at least 10-12 words including some multi-syllable words and some words that start with the same letter and are about the same length. Can your child read the sentence fluently and understand it by the second try? Does he read with proper phrasing (grouping words that belong together)? If you say the words at random out of sequence, can he point to them quickly? Reading for discussing stories: Find a short story that is about a page long. (Say, twice as long as a McCall-Crabbs story.) Can your child read the story and identify all the characters. Can he easily scan the story and point out every time a character's name appears in the story? Can he easily tell which words are part of an exact quote? If you say a sentence from the story, can he find it? If you ask him what is the second sentence in the third paragraph, can he find it and read it? Giftedness: You child doesn't have to be gifted to use MCT LA. My daughter isn't gifted (although she is advanced.) If you wait before using MCT: You don't *have* to do anything for grammar before starting MCT, even if you wait another year. My daughter didn't do any formal grammar before starting MCT.

I am doing island level with my daughter. I couldn't imagine doing MCT with a child who isn't fluent reader, unless the child has an extraordinary aural memory. Much of MCT is discussing the text and analyzing sentences. It would be hard for a student to concentrate on those tasks while also struggling to decode or remember the exact words. If you have to ask the question, you're probably better off waiting before starting MCT.

That's what I do. I figure that my maps and globes aready have everything labeled, why not a timeline with everything already done? I like both of my timelines: Classical Education Timeline Set from Parthenon Graphics, and World History Chart. Parthenon Graphics also makes prefilled US history timelines. You can also get many of these timelines from Rainbow Resource or Learning Through History

:rofl: Dear me. I had no idea. I don't hang out on the general board. :rofl:

I mix MCT LA and Bravewriter for the same reason that I use both RightStart and Miquon math. I love both programs and I feel that they approach the topic from different but complementary points of view.

Sorry if this is off-topic, but ever since I saw this thread, I've been wondering, what is a "tea-time" that isn't *real* ???? What would a fake teatime be? Does a tea-time have to have actual tea in order to be real, or is it okay to subsitute hot chocolate, lemonade, water, soda, etc? If we have a planned activity at teatime (we read poetry) does it cease to be a *real* teatime?

If you want your daughter to like poetry, I suggest starting with Bravewriter Poetry Teatimes. I started them when my kids were 3 and 5 and they both love poetry now (my older daughter more so than my younger). I also use MCT island level with my 6 (almost 7) year old and I love it. I didn't discover MCT LA until she was six and a half, but if I had found it sooner, I probaby would have tried it sooner. It was the first grammar program that "clicked" with me. MCT LA does not teach diagramming. Instead, he teaches a four level analysis of sentences, which I think is easier to grasp than diagramming but just as effective for understanding grammar. MCT LA also doesn't do any narration, copywork, or dictation. You say that your daughter is "almost 5." That sounds like she is still four years old. Since this is the accelerated board, I don't think her age should determine whether she is "too young" for MCT. Rather, look at her other skills: is she reading fluently? is her handwriting fluent? does she make grammatical mistakes that require grammar instruction to fix? does she want to learn grammar?

Hey, that's what I'm doing :lol: I think that Bravewriter is great for coming up with ideas and finding words for those ideas. I think MCT is great for refining and organizing those thoughts and words into a correct and beautiful whole. Bravewriter got my daughter hooked on poetry. MCT is getting her to recognize that good poetry takes work to create.

Gamemaker is free and not just for kids.

I like Susan C. Anthony's Spelling Plus program with the dictation resource book.

Print any size graph paper you want. http://incompetech.com/graphpaper/

I used The Reading Lesson to teach my daughter to read. After she finished the book, I moved her into a phonics based spelling program (Spell to Write and Read). The Reading Lesson got her reading quickly, and then the spelling program filled in the phonics gaps.