Content wise, I don't think it's too much. My youger daughter is in a preschool program and they cover many of those topics. On the other hand, I think it's important to look at how you teach the concepts and keep the activities age-appropriate.

I think I'm pretty rigorous. Here's what the academics for a typical day look like: Skill Drill Math drill is a multi-step word problem. Reading drill is one lesson in the McCall Crabbs book. Grammar drill is one sentence from MCT Practice Island Spelling and handwriting are writing a paragraph from dictation. Anki covers all memory work for all subjects. Teaching New Skills Language arts is whatever is next in MCT LA. Math is whatever is next in Miquon or RightStart. Content Work Science, social studies, literature are a work in progress. I do require DD to get a biography and a science book from the library each week. I also strew a lot of books and DD does a lot of free reading on her own. I also try to provide DD with free time to explore her own interests. I think that the most rigorous aspect is that DD does a multi-step math word problem and takes dictation every single day. How about streamlining what you do now, and challenging them to find "more meat" themselves? For example, letting them explore a science or history topics in more depth, or coming up with an ongoing project or experiment?

On the flip side, MUS blocks are on a 1/2 inch scale, by using MUS blocks, so a child might be able to estimate length in inches after using them for a while. However, I suspect that it would be more difficult. Acutally, the MUS blocks *do* have hundreds. They are big red squares. However, MUS blocks do *not* have a block to represent a thousand, whereas base-10 blocks (on the same scale as c-rods) do have a thousand cube. Bill - I'm surprised that you don't have a thousand cube!

I'd decide on what math program you want to use first, as I find the MUS and Miquon programs to have very different approaches. If you think you might use or supplement with MUS, get MUS blocks. If you think you will use or supplement with Miquon, get C-rods. If you won't use either MUS or Miquon, I like C-rods with base 10 blocks because they are the same scale, there is a thousand bock, they are cheaper per rod, and they take less storagae space. If you choose C-rods, then you have to choose between the ones with notches and connectors versus the smooth ones without connectors. I won't go into that debate, but SpyCar has some very strong opinions.

Well, don't quote me on it. I've never seen the Town books. I heard about punctuation from this post.

I'll play. Here's what I found in the first half of Grammar Island: - Treasure Island (Jim Hawkins, Long John Silver, Robert Louis Stevenson) - Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot (Grizzlebones) - Three stooges (Larry, Moe, Curly)

Thanks for the explaination. Grammar Island & Parts of Speech: I'm finding that only half fo Grammar Island is parts of speech. The rest is parts of a sentence, prepositional phrases, and clauses. There's also a lot of grammar info in Sentence Island (subject verb agreement, misplaced modifiers, sentence fragments, etc.) Sentence Diagramming: I thought the MCT 4 level analysis was supposed to replace diagramming? Do you feel that it is not enough? Punctuation: I have only the Island level books, but I am under the impression that the Town level of books covers punctuation in depth. I was a bit disappointed to put off punctuation until we get to that level, but I can teach the few things that really bug me on my own and leave the rest for later.

When I want to insert a character that I can't type easily I usually copy and paste it from somewhere that has it. I also lookup characters in Word using the "Insert Symbol" feature.

I'm really curious why you are switching from MCT to FLL, especially since she enjoyed MCT and learned a lot. Could you also elaborate on what you mean by "just go through the motions with grammar"? That phrase seems at odds with your previous comment about really liking MCT and learning a ton. Did you do all of MCT (grammar, poetics, writing, vocab, and practice) or just the two books you mentioned?

Here's how we use MCT. I'm using Island Level with a younger child, so we're going slowly, and that really affects how we use the program. I aim for no more than 20 minutes per session. Sometimes we stop because Sparkle's attention is starting to wander. Sometimes we stop beause of the clock. Sometimes we stop because there's a natural break in the book. That means that some days that we do one page. Most days we do more. I don't schedule specific books for specific days. Because it takes us much longer to go through the books, we do Grammar Island for several days in a row until we get to a natural stopping point. Then we switch to Music of the Hemispheres for a few days until we get to a natural stopping point. Then back to GI. When we're done with GI, I'll add in Sentence Island and Building Language using the same method. We started Practice Island as soon as we finished all 8 parts of speech. We do one sentence per day, but only the first line of analysis. As we complete each level of analysis in Grammar Island, we'll start that level of analysis in Practice Island. As it will take us far more than 100 days to complete Island level, we'll use each practice sentences more than once. I do no planning. Not even a bookmark! I have Sparkle flip through the book until she finds where we left off. In the act of looking for the right spot she gets a quick reminder of what we've done. Plus, if she doesn't remember doing a page, especially since it might be a week or more since we were in that book, that's a good reason to go back and do it again.

Can I post another MCT brag? One of the reasons that I wanted to try MCT even though Sparkle is young is because she loves to write poetry. Except that her poems are horrible. Her poems would contain random rhyme, but not much else. I struggled between trying to praise her efforts and cringing at the awful writing. These past few days we've been doing Music of the Hemispheres and introduced Sparkle to the concept of stressed and unstressed syllables (a precursor to talking about meter). We analyzed the pattern of stress in the book, and then Sparkle had the idea of analyzing the pattern of stresses in one of the poems that she had written. I copied the poem from her book so that we could mark up the syllables. The poem flowed in a few places, but the rest was a mess. I slowly coached her into a few edits, suggesting where to make changes to help the pattern of stresses flow better, but she came up with the words herself. The result isn't great literature and doesn't make much sense, but at least it no longer hurts my ears. Here's the poem. Picture it next to a drawing of a coconut tree. ***** Palm tree, palm tree On the beach, Do you think You could reach For that nut In the green Spiky hut? ******* Except for the first line, all the lines now have three syllables: stressed, unstressed, stressed. The "green, spiky hut" is a metaphor for the canopy of leaves at the top of the tree. Not too shabby for a six year old. And a big *thank you* to MCT for presenting the concepts to Sparkle so that I could discuss this stuff with her.

Hi Dee, You were one of the people who introduced Anki to me in this thread. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU I'm shocked at how many threads there are where people ask about systems for memory work and totally ignore posts about spaced repetition software. It's a shame. I tried the other methods (binders, index cards, etc.) before I found Anki, and I will never go back. Since you are doing multiple languages with similar scripts, it makes sense for you to have different decks for each language. When Sparkle's vocabulary gets larger, or if I ever add a second language, I might split off her foreign language back into its own deck again. I think that Sparkle hasn't balked at the total mish-mash of stuff in her Anki deck because it's been that way from the beginning. I only recently added the math facts and the US States and Sparkle wasn't surprised by suddenly seeing these things at all. I also like having everything in one deck because then I can throw in stuff that doesn't really fit in anywere else, like siblings birthdates, phone numbers, and safety rules (stop, drop, and roll). Amusing side note: my younger daughter has been begging for her own Anki deck since she was three. I keep telling her that she has to learn to read first.

Yup, one massive deck. I use tags to identify the different categories (verses, math, phonograms, grammar, etc.) I find it works best to have one deck per person, after all, the goal is to have all the info in one brain with random access to all the info. For a while I separated out foreign language vocabulary, but as Sparkle doesn't many words yet, it was easier to have just one deck. Usually I have Sparkle first memorize the poem or verse outside of Anki. Then after she has it memorized, I add it to Anki. For poems, I prompt her with the title and author of the poem. For verses, I prompt her with the first few words of the verse. Sparkle also had all her phonograms memorized before starting Anki. I prompt her with the phonogram (and some surrounding text in the card model for context) and the answer is a combination of a written cue for the sounds and a sound file with the sounds. Sparkle has been using Anki for a little over a year and I love it. She now has some items (like phonograms) that she won't need to review for a year or two. At first I was a little nervous about starting such a program with a young child (she was five at the time) but it has worked out beautifully. At first I did many of the mechanics for her (reading the questions, clicking the answers, etc.) but now she can do it by herself.

Sounds fine to me. How clever of your daughter to figure it out. Instead of taking the 6 from the 10, she's taking away 3 from the 3 and the remaining 3 from the 10. Agh. Sounds bad that way. How about this: 13 - 6 = = 10 + 3 - 6 <--- (split the 13 into 10 + 3) = 10 + 3 - (3 + 3) <--- (split the 6 to match the 3 from the 13, this is where 6-3 comes in) = 10 + 3 - 3 - 3 <--- (distribute the minus sign because you're subtracting both parts of the 6) = 10 - 3 <--- (the + 3 and - 3 cancel each other out, then you subtract the remaining part) = 7 Here's another example: 15 - 7 = = 10 + 5 - 7 = 10 + 5 - (5 + 2) <--- use 7-5 to find the 2 = 10 + 5 - 5 - 2 <--- the +5 from the 15 and the -5 from the 7 cancel each other out = 10 - 2 <--- subtract the "other part of the 7" from the 10 = 8

You are farther ahead in MotH than I am, but here's my thoughts anyway. Being able to write poetry is far more difficult than being able to appreciate poetry. While one might be able to pick out similies, metaphors, meter, alliteration, etc., being able to *create* these things is *far* more difficult. Think about learning to read compared to learning to write. When children learn to read, they can decode and understand far more complex words, sentences, paragraphs, and stories than they can spell or write on their own. Creating poetry and combining all the different poetic devices is even more challenging. You might want to try having them practice with the individual poetic devices before having them try to roll them all into a poem. For example, focus on just rhyme scheme for a few poems. Then focus on just metaphors or similies for some other poems. Reading modern poems that don't fit the traditional forms can also help. As far as when to advance, I don't know.

I *love* the spaced repetition software that we use for memory work. We use Anki, which is free, but a bit difficult to figure out. Here's how our software works. I throw everything in it: foreign language vocabulary, poems, prayers, bible verses, math facts, phonograms, skip counting, geography, science facts, etc. It supports text, words, and pictures. Sparkle spends 2-10 minutes per day doing memory work on the computer. The computer presents her with a question. She says or thinks the answer. Then she clicks "show answer." She compares her answer with the correct answer. If she got it wrong, she clicks "again." If she got it right, she clicks "hard," "good," or "easy," depending on how much she had to think to get the answer. Then it shows her the next question. The computer calculates how long to wait before showing her each question again. If she missed a question, she'll see it again in a few minutes. If she got it right, it might be a few days to a few years before she sees it again, depending on how many times she's gotten it right. Another thing I really like is the flashcards I set up for math facts are linked to each other so that questions for each "fact family" are spaced out. For example, if "5-3=?" and "5-2=?" are due at the same time, the program knows that they're really asking the same thing and won't show the questions one right after the other. Oh, and Sparkle has about a thousand "flashcards" in her deck. There's no way that I could manage that many physical flashcards.

When Sparkle is a bit older and more self-motivated, I'll probably find her a tutor or go with online classes. I've actually investigated several options for teaching her Chinese, including two local Saturday schools. Right now she isn't mature or motived enough for a method that requires $$ or a commitment to a specific time slot. When we're around a native speaker, I usually prefer her to help Sparkle feel good about learning Chinese, to help motivate her. At this time, I feel that having the native speaker give corrections (except when she can't understand) would be too discouraging for Sparkle. So, for the time being, I'm using a computer program and Sparkle is recognizing characters, learning simple grammar, and being exposed to the pronunciation. I can do this for free on a flexible schedule. I think that it is a fair trade-off versus not doing Chinese at all for fear of getting tones wrong. BTW, for personal reasons, it's important to *me* that my kids learn Chinese. Right now, it isn't important to *them.* If they were personally interested in learning and capable of applying themselves, I'd probably be willing to actually spend money on lessons.

Oh dear. I have so many thoughts racing through my head. I think I'll restrict myself to describing a small portion of my situation in the hopes that others won't through their hands up in dispair because they won't have a native teacher. For personal reasons it is very important to me that my child learn Chinese. For personal reasons it is also just not in the budget for my child to have a native tutor. So, I am teaching my daughter myself, even though I don't speak Chinese. I am using a computer program (not one of the ones previously listed) with my daughter. Yes, I know that my daughter is building some bad habits this way, but I believe that the benefits at this time outweight the negatives. I have occasional access to a native speaker. She does not find my daughter impossible to understand.

Congrats on this achievement. Out of curiosity, what does having a four year old memorizing math facts look like? I'm assuming that he's doing it in his free time? Does he use manipulatives? Flashcards? Draw stuff?

I find that on the general board there are far more posts from parents who are worried about their children "being behind" or "keeping up." That can also skew one's perception. Asking for help with a struggling student seems to be more "acceptable." Well, I hang out here based on the description of the group at the top of the page. My child is not gifted, but she is working ahead of grade level in one area, so I feel that I have as much right to be here as anyone else.

Yes, get the whole set (basic homeschool package), not just Grammar Island and Sentence Island. You definately need Practice Island. As for the other books, well, would you eat only half of a delicious, nutritious, well balanced meal? Here's another taste of what MCT LA can do. During DD's *playtime* today, she decided to draw a picture, and write a sentence to go with it, then label all the parts of speech. She asked for some help figuring out the part of speech for the word "up," so I coached her to find the answer. Other than that, it is completely her own idea and her own work. (The "A" in front of "verb" means that "swam" is an action verb.)

Sparkle is currently in first grade. Here's some of what I've used this year and last year. Sparkle is accelerated in English, but not in other areas. English: The Reading Lesson (finished before K) McCall-Crabbs Test Lessons in Reading Comprehension (currently using) I don't do much for reading because Sparkle reads chapter books on her own. I'm thinking of starting Teaching the Classics, or Suppose the Wolf Were an Octopus. Spell to Write and Read (dropped) various other spelling programs (dropped) Spelling Plus Dictation (currently using) Sparkle does daily sentence dictation. At first I made up my own sentences, but that ended being too much work, so I bounced around spelling programs a few time. Sparkle gets plenty handwriting practice doing spelling, so I never used a handwriting program. MCT LA Island Level (currently using) BraveWriter Lifestyle (currently using) Math: RightStart A (finished in K) RightStart B (currently on hold while doing Miquon) Miquon Orange (currently using) The Verbal Math Lesson (for word problems only) Science, History, Geography, etc.: Weekly nature walks (currently using) Five In a Row (dropped) Story of the World 1 (dropped) I plan on eventually restarting either SOTW or CHOW for history. I want to do more for science, but I'm still trying to figure out what. Misc: Anki memory work (currently using) Pianimals (currently using) Faith and Life (currently using)

Thanks for the replies. I feel like there is no-one IRL that I can brag to. So many of the kids in my homeschool group struggle with reading and writing that I'm afraid to mention how well Sparkle is doing around them. From reading the MCT threads, I think that there are several six year olds using MCT. I didn't use FLL. I own FLL and read it several times, but the idea of actually implementing it filled me with dread. This post in this thread gives Sparkle's language arts background prior to using MCT.

I've been using the first level of MCT LA with my six year old and I'm really pleased with it. We just finished all eight parts of speech, and I had DD do the "storymaker" exercise. I usually act as DD's scribe, but yesterday I was feeling lazy, and made her write. Here's her story: *** Yes, a glad duck flew curiously around a rock. While a sleepy lizard was on the rock. Then the duck snached the lizard up and ate it. The duck found ten more and brought the lizards back to her family. From then on the duck was called, The Lizard Cacher. **** DD then drew a picture to go with the story. I was so pleased with the story that I didn't even mention her misspellings (snached, cacher), or the incomplete sentence, or the fact that in real life ducks don't eat lizards.

I think that MCT works for us more because *I* like it so much, rather that DD's learning style. She isn't gifted. She doesn't like hard work or challenges. She would be satisified doing a page of mindless drivel, but I wouldn't be. She memorizes things easily, but applying them is more difficult.