Okay, I have 3 dc in school right now and one preschooler. We are going to do a Singapore/Miquon combo for math. I have ordered Singapore but not the Miquon yet. I was going to get one of those kits that had all the levels and the small cuissenaire rod set. http://www.lamppostpublishing.com/miquon_math.htm Which kit and which quantity/size cuissenaire rods would I need to last 4 dc ages almost 3-9? Would I be able to get by with the introductory set or would I need the small group cuissenaire rod set?

Does anyone have a link to this chart? I liked the idea of Miquon too b/c ds 6.5 went to Montessori and having seen how much physically seeing the math and being able to touch the math helped him...I really want to do it with the girls as well.

We are switching from R&S 3 to Singapore 3a/3b this year as well. Only we are using the U.S. edition and well, it isn't so colorful. The kindergarten ones were colorful, but after kindergarten it is 2 tone black and red or black and green depending on the year. I am very happy to go to Singapore though. R&S Math 3 was so many problems and copying and it was taking us forever. Singapore has a placement test on their site and I would go by it when deciding what to order.

Ok, after debating back and forth about a lot of different math programs, I am going to get Singapore from Sonlight and just order their kits that come with the HIG, Textbook, Workbook, and some manipulatives depending on the grade. So I have a 1st, 3rd, and 4th grader. We are going to use US edition Singapore Primary. My 1st grader is finishing Earlybird kindergarten 2b in the next 2 weeks and I ordered 1a/1b kit for him. My 3rd and 4th grade girls will both be doing 3a/3b this year. I have read where some people use Miquon with Singapore or alternate with Miquon in the summer. I want to use Miquon and Singapore both. If anyone uses them both, how do you implement them together? Do you alternate? What color/level Miquon would I need for the kids. Thanks for any advise or suggestions.

I so want to switch to MPH with my 4th grader since my dd8 loves Start Up Science and it has such neat things to do in it. She magnetized a needle last week. We will be making a compass and making a circuit with a switch and lightbulb soon. I can just picture how great MPH is for a 4th grader. I want to try it so bad, but the $80 guide is out of my budget right now. I could swing all the activity books and student books...just not that $80 lesson plan book. I hope some others chime in and say it is doable to not have that one expensive guide.

Is anyone using Singapore MPH Science without the $80 guide?

I am using the Singapore Start Up Science with my 3rd grader and love it! I am looking at the MPH for my 4th grader. The teacher's guide is so expensive though. Is it really necessary? Can you get buy with all the teacher's books and student books but not the $80 guide for all of them?

If he's got a 1:1 aide during your teaching slot, the aide will be responsible for him during that time. If the other 2 teachers haven't requested/required a 1:1 shadow, perhaps they feel better equipped to deal with this child than you do? Beyond your legitimate concern for your own child's safety, I don't think there's any more you can do to force the other 2 teachers and the coop to address your concerns and IMHO 2 adults could handle the basic safety of the class even if 1 had to deal with the disruptive child. Families with special needs kids have to function with just 2 adults and they manage. I guess I wasn't clear. They want an aide for 1:1 for him for all hours of the co-op. The aide for the first hour wasn't requested by me. She got asked after he took to her after it took 2 adults out of the 3 in the room to calm him after 5 adults had to help the class cross the street while the chaos ensued. It was a dangerous situation for the parents and kids involved. We are asking other Moms to give up their free hour instead of his Mom helping in the class. I don't think that is right. There are 13 other children to think about in this situation as well.

I sent you a pm. With you being a co-op director, I thought maybe you could give me some more guidance on what to do and how to get a dialect going all the way around.

I'm not sure what we are expected to handle and not handle. That is my main complaint. I am lucky there will be a 1:1 aide during my hour, but the other 2 hours are still unmanned so to speak. We are going to set up a quiet corner but I am not sure how that will work out. It is a touchy subject for sure at the co-op. I want more guidance from the co-op on the subject. I want to know what they think we are supposed to handle and at what point we can get the Mom. Right now, we are supposed to handle it all from my understanding. There is no plan to contact the Mom and now she is not in the preschool class at any time during the co-op.

The only advise I have been given is to hug him tightly and he will eventually calm down. This really makes me uncomfortable and well he physically recoiled from me when I tried and threw himself to the carpet-covered concrete floor and tried to run out the door. There will be a lot of children in the classroom and that would put one Mom holding him until he calms down. The philosophy right now is that other mom's should come forward during their break time to volunteer to help or not complain about it. Basically, if you aren't willing to volunteer to help then shut up. It is just worded a little more politely than that. It may turn out alright. I don't foresee any volunteers stepping up to the plate any time soon. I'll admit that it is going to take a little time to see how things are going to turn out. We only meet once a week. It could take a month before he will even know any of us. I just feel cornered and trapped to a certain extent. I really feel put on the spot. I could ask for a change of teaching assignment, but that leaves my son in the classroom and me in the dark on how it is really going in there. It isn't like I have no idea how much stress these meltdowns can cause and I am not ignorant of the amount of time it takes to really see improvement with behavior management and social skills training. That is why I am trying to discuss the what-if scenarios. They are just in the process of evaluations and don't even have a diagnosis or any therapies in place. We are really flying blind with trying to help. I would also like some advise on how to get the co-op to listen to valid concerns about this situation without thinking it is discrimination or prejudice or without being shut down before you can really voice concerns. I think everyone is hoping for best case scenarios and not even thinking about worst case scenarios.

Our city has a very good program for special needs and early intervention. They will even come to your house for therapy. I know. I have used it with my own ds who needed speech and had some delays. In fact, this is what I pursued with ds when formal preschool did not work out due to meltdowns. I think this is more what they need to pursue. I realize they want the other children in the family to be able to attend the co-op. This is difficult b/c we aren't allowed to just drop off the children and we are required to teach and help for up to 2 hours. I want to be supportive, but I also want a back-up plan. The what-if this doesn't work out plan. For the moment, there is no point of no return in what we are expected to manage in this classroom concerning the situation. I am fortunate that he will have an adult helper during the time I am teaching and helping the class. The other 2 hours there will not be a specific helper for him. Maybe all will go well, but there will be times that he will need undivided attention and that will leave the class with only one adult to handle the other children. This concerns me b/c I have a child in the class as well. I am looking at this from the viewpoint of the "teacher" of one of the preschool classes and as a "parent" who has a child in there for the rest of the time. None of this is being addressed. It is all coming at us from the standpoint that we need to help this family make this situation work. I am not against trying and doing the best that we can, but I do think there needs to be a discussion about how to deal with situations that are beyond our capabilites and situations that we shouldn't be expected to deal with in the first place. I have tried to bring up the subject of what if the situation does not improve or if it worsens and I have been shut down on the topic. I really want to get a meeting together with all the preschool teachers to discuss the class, but I don't want to come across as being prejudiced or callous. I feel given the situation that all the teachers should meet and discuss how to deal with the situation and what we feel comfortable with and when we feel that we should be able to call the Mom for help. I am honestly going to give it a try, but I don't think it is fair or right to ask this of Mom volunteers.

Oh, how I feel your pain! I was that afterschooling Mom for the last 4 years. I had grown up in a private school not public and knew we could not afford that type of schooling with 4 children. We live in a good school district according to the state. I relented to sending them to public school and afterschooling. As they got older, I was more or less teaching them at home not afterschooling. They had so much homework and it was if they weren't being taught at school. They would have no clue with the math homework especially. There was no time to afterschool in 2nd and 3rd grade. Well, I wound up teaching what they didn't learn at school and then we did their school homework. We would begin after school and wouldn't finish until supper and bath time. Yes, I could have just let them at the homework and made sure it was completed and not checked for correct answers like other public school parents were doing. Then those same parents wondered how could their children be getting c's and d's and how was my dd still getting A's in 2nd and 3rd grade. As the years went on, my oldest dd had a horrible time in school and was bullied a lot. DH agreed to let me homeschool full-time this summer and we would address it again before school began this year. Well, he thought I would go insane with all 4 children and full-time homeschool. The kids loved it and so did I. He still wouldn't relent. Then, one night during a car ride to my ds's ball game, my dd9 had a long talk with dh about homeschool and public school that I was not privy to hearing. I had stayed home with the other children that night. I still don't know what she said to him, but he agreed to homeschooling. It may take your child coming to him one day and giving him the hard truth of public school in order for him to see the light about the type of socialization and bullying that occurs. Just be ready when he does see the light.

I would still do a phonics and handwriting program. My dd9 taught herself to read by 3 and tested reading at 3rd grade level in kindergarten. Her reading level has increased, but her reading comprehension tests average now. I wish that I would have used phonics, vocabulary and more intensive spelling afterschool with her. I like Christian Liberty Press' Adventures in Phonics. It is really strong and includes a lot of writing. Their kindergarten AIP book is great. It has enough handwriting that you wouldn't need to use a separate program and it isn't expensive. It also prepares for spelling after lesson 80. You don't encourage inventive spelling and that is a very big plus in my book.

I totally understand the Mom needing a break. I have been there, but at the height of my son's meltdowns I wouldn't have put him or me in this type of group setting. This is the first year that my almost 7 ds has gotten to play tee ball or join the cub scouts. He was asked to leave 3yr old kindergarten b/c of meltdowns, he would melt down in 4 yr old k but not as bad, he still had meltdowns and I had to come and pick him up from kindergarten a few times. He knew the academics but almost failed Kindergarten b/c of immaturity. We brought him home for 1st grade and he does better in small group settings now. This is the first year that I have gotten to enjoy my son not melting down and being able to self-calm in group settings. So as bad as this may sound...I wouldn't have chosen to teach this class if I would have known ahead of time that it would be stressful. I am a worrier and overanalyze things. This is honestly stressing me. I am honestly worried that 6 teachers/adult helpers will be working and none of us have talked together and came up with a joint plan on how we will deal with any potential meltdowns. We haven't talked about the visual timetable or anything to help him cope. We could all deal with it differently come the next co-op day. I do appreciate all the suggestions though and just hope that it will all go alright next co-op.

Christian Liberty Press is definitely an inexpensive, complete curriculum.

This helps so much. We do have 2 teachers at all times. One to teach and one to help. Sadly, he doesn't just have to get used to me. He will be getting used to his 2nd period teacher and helper, and 3rd period teacher and helper, and 4th period teacher(his mom) and helper. Every hour their will be 2 different adults switching out. So it is a lot at one time. I believe he will have an adult buddy. As of right now, it is just to be one Mom that he took to the other day who was filling in for my usual helper. I like the idea of rotating adult buddies. I am planning to make a big visual timetable for the class and a smaller one with the velcro pull off items to put in the envelope as we finish them for him directly. I used the small type one with my own son when he was 4 and first went to preschool. Actually we used them at home as well. I know it comforted him to physically see what he was going to do and then to know when they were over and putting them in the envelope. I am hoping it will do the same for this little boy. We are putting up a gate at the door so he can't physically leave. I offered to get the lapdesk and bean bag as well as the visual timetable. I love the idea of a social story book and it wouldn't be too hard to make on the computer. Thanks for all the suggestions. I am definitely feeling a little better about it now.

I agree. She is in the preschool class the last hour. I don't understand why they didn't just have her mandatory 2 hours volunteering to teach with the co-op in the preschool class. I am honestly going to do my best to help them. My son used to have meltdowns and I have been the Mom who was told by a preschool that my son just wasn't ready and it was too much stress for him. So I have true sympathy for their situation. However, it was the best thing I ever did to take my son out and wait until he was ready. Does the visual timetable and quiet corner sound like a good plan? I don't think that they will change the set up now with the teaching assignments. I want to do all that I can for this family, but I also want to do all that I can for the other children in the class.

I do not have a special needs child, but I thought this would be the best place to post. We joined a co-op this year and all the moms have to teach a class. I chose preschool b/c my son is the youngest in the class. The first day we had a little boy that melted down badly and we have to cross a city street to get from the gym (opening prayer and pledge of allegiance for all grades) to the preschool class. This was not typical my Mommy is gone meltdown. Another Mom came and got him and then rejoined our group with the little boy in her lap at a preschool size table. All the while he screamed at the top of his lungs. Finally, the other Mom says he is autistic. Not one Mom teaching or helping or even the preschool director had been informed of this, but the people who run the co-op knew of his special needs. Another Mom took up a lot of one on one time with him and he seemed to take to her. He calmed down and you would never have known he was screaming and incoherent for the first half hour until it was time for the other kids to leave. His mom was there by then and he melted down as each child left with their parent. I'm scared he will hurt himself. He flings himself physically to the ground and screams and cries and he is hard to comfort. We are implementing some changes such as his parents will take him to the preschool room instead of opening in the gym and he will be the first child to leave. I think they said he has just started evaluations and he may have sensory perception disorder. I have went on boardmaker to make him a visual timetable for our co-op preschool time. I am going to buy a lapdesk so that his adult helper can take him to a quiet corner if he melts down during class time and a beanbag as well. They really want to make this work b/c they tried 2 years ago when he was 1 and really was just in nursery while their other children went to co-op and they couldn't do it b/c he couldn't handle it. Everyone is a little upset that no one was made aware of this before hand and we couldn't prepare and make the adjustment easier for him and his family. The co-op was not large last year and almost everyone is new this year and the preschool teachers were totally in the dark about this. I am a little concerned with the decree that we need to make this work for this family. I am not sure it is in this little boys best interest to keep him in a classroom upset. Not once did they take him from the room and the stressful situation or get his Mom and we have been given no guidelines on when to get his parent since she is teaching a class at the same time. I feel for them and am willing to do whatever I can to help him adjust. I am just not sure that trying to force it to work no matter what is the best idea. He tried to run off from the room twice and we are getting a gate, but I am a little nervous given that none of us have any training or real knowledge of how to work with him. We are all just Moms that volunteer to give our kids some enrichment and classes they normally wouldn't get at home. And of course, since it was so hush-hush and he melted down in the gym everyone saw it and now all everyone has heard is he is autistic. A baby was crying in the nursery and a parent was asking is that the autistic child. One of the preschool parents has already suggested that he be removed from the class. I know I will have parents asking me about the situation and the coordinator gave me some insight on what to say. But I'll be honest. I am nervous about it and what if he does get so upset no one can calm him. What if he just isn't ready? Thanks for any advise and any suggestions. I really want to help the family in any way that I can, but I am just not sure that insisting that it work is the answer.

This is where I got mine and I love my high quality sandpaper letters...http://polliwoglearningproducts.com/index_files/Page369.htm A good book with create your own Montessori items is TEACH ME TO DO IT MYSELF: Montessori activities for you and your child by Maja Pitamic. It is under $20 and you can order it from Barnes and Nobles.

Yeah! This is the one I had seen before!

I looked at it a little bit, but am curious does it have any type of report card features. I have to keep a report card for each year with dc's file.

I am using homeschool tracker the free version and I am debating upgrading to the $49 plus version. I thought I had seen some web-based free grading/record keeping sites that were similar to homeschool tracker on a thread before now. If you don't use homeschool tracker, but still keep your records, lesson plans, attendance...on the computer; then, what do you use? Is it free? How much does it cost?

I have looked at the samples on the site and found it very intriguing. I was just a little confused. I read through your whole post but shortened my quote. I just want to make sure that I get this right. So, you get the teacher's notes and background to teach everything and a guideline for the grade but the actual resources such as history and science resources or math or whatever are not included...?

:grouphug: Boys are often slower than girls developing fine motor skills. My ds6.5 is just now starting to do a little better. He is definitely where his sisters were at 4 just now. Are you using a fat pencil? This can make a big difference. I found some Ticonderoga My First Tri-Write pencils (fat and triangle) that have really made a big improvement with my son's ability to write well. We still have trouble with the lines, but I am thinking of trying Handwriting without tears next as well. http://www.staples.com/Dixon-Ticonderoga-Tri-Write-Pencils-2-Dozen/product_562750 We also use the sidewalk chalk by crayola on the chalkboard. It helps with developing the muscles needed for writing to have them write on a vertical surface such as a chalkboard on the wall or an easel. A slant board also helps. These are just some of the things that I have tried and seen improvements with my son's handwriting.