This may help, too: http://www.alabacus.com/abacus/

One more pro for chalkboards is that they are better for the environment. All of those markers build up in the landfills.

We really liked MFW K. But then the next year, I realized some aspects of the phonics lessons that caused problems later. When we ventured into the world of letters that make more than one sound, my ds felt somewhat betrayed and discouraged to learn that the English language consists of more than short vowel cvc words and then there's silent letters and letters making the sounds of other letters. If I could go back, I would have initially introduced all of the sounds of each letter right from the beginning to give a realistic foundation.

I have both and prefer chalkboards because: ~Drawing with chalk can be a very artistic experience because you can blend colors. ~Chalk washes off of walls and clothes, unlike dry erase markers. ~You can use water for a thorough chalkboard cleaning, unlike the toxic spray needed for white boards (read the warning on that stuff). ~Chalk and slate are natural, the good old fashioned way. For vibrant colored chalk, check out Mercurius, they also make anti-dust chalk. Here's a few waldorf style chalkboard drawing links for inspiration! Google more for some amazing stuff! http://naturenest.wordpress.com/category/blackboard-drawings/

Don't push too much. 5 is still young. Maybe he still needs more time building that foundation before moving on. If it's not the curriculum that's the problem, find ways to integrate his interests into reading. I noticed that my ds was taking in a lot just from me pointing to each word while reading stories. Be patient and he may surprise you!

Maybe you'd like Handwriting Help For Kids. No funky paper and cute poems. My ds liked it. HTH!

When you search the library for the Really Wild Animal series, you have to go by their individual names. Here they are: Totally Tropical Rainforest Swinging Safari Amazing North America Wonders Down Under Polar Prowl Farmyard Friends

GSE (grapefruit seed extract) works wonders! You can get it for $5 at the health food store. It is very bitter and very effective. We overcame thrush in a week with it. Mama takes 15 drops in a glass of water 3 times a day, and can also put this diluted mix on the breast before and after nursing. If needed, baby can have it diluted in water on a q-tip applied to the white spots. After the thrush is gone, mama should keep drinking it for another week so it doesn't come back. Also, taking probiotics like acidophilus and others helps the good bacteria to overcome yeast overgrowth. It is naturally in yogurt, but it must be unsweetened, since yeast thrives on sugar. Avoid or cut down on sugar and fruits and carbs and use alkalinizing sweeteners like stevia instead.

Here's the one that worked the best for my ds, courtesy of another mama here a while ago: Bat before ball (draw the line for the baseball bat, then the ball) Drum before drumstick (draw the circle for the drum, then the line for the drumstick)

My kids really like National Geographic's Really Wild Animals series. There's one for almost all of the continents.

Awesome! Thanks for sharing. I am very inspired!

We used McRuffy K math and liked it, but then used CLE math 1 afterwards because it was cheaper and I had read so many good reviews for it. My ds loved McRuffy, and now refuses to continue with CLE (I think it started going too fast for him). So, although I haven't used McRuffy math 1, here's some notable differences: They're both spiral, but CLE covers many concepts with each lesson and McRuffy usually covers two concepts per lesson. CLE has more review, but more workbook pages per lesson. McRuffy has hands on activities written into the tm with many different ways of using manipulatives, which is reinforced with the workbook. CLE is more workbook based with less hands on activities. McRuffy also has fun games to practice, CLE has flashcards (my ds much preferred the games). Both teacher's manuals are very easy to use and lightly scripted, although McRuffy is a little better how each lesson begins on a new page and the small copy of workbook pages is next to the instructions in the tm (CLE will have other workbook pages next to the instructions for another page). If you look at McRuffy color and b&w math, they are different. There are more activities in the color version, and different manipulatives are in the kit. HTH!

We eat rice almost everyday, usually with mung beans and veggies. The kids love it plain with butter and salt. Add tomatoes, peas, or toasted nuts to change it up. Think about how many styles of preparing rice there are...Chinese fried rice, Japanese sushi, Indian curried rice, Mexican tomato rice, Italian seasoned rice, and American rice-a-roni, lol. Rice bags are the best for juggling. I really got into juggling for a while, so trust me when I say rice bags work better than bean bags. I've made different shaped rice bags (star, circle, square, triangle) that we love to toss and play counting games with. Here's a nice recipe for sweet rice, (we substitute with rice milk and stevia instead of sugar): Bengali Kheer (Rice Pudding) 6 cups milk ¾ cup rice ½ cup raisins ¼ teaspoon fresh cardamom powder ½ bay leaf ½ cup turbinado sugar In large saucepan combine milk, rice, and bay leaf. Cook on high heat for 15 minutes, stirring very frequently. Bring to a rolling boil and then lower heat. Simmer for 40 more minutes until it thickens. Remove by leaf and add sugar, raisins, and cardamom. Refrigerate until cold. Kheer thickens as it cools. Serve cool. Serves 4.

English the mongrel, lol! :lol: Alphabet Island describes Goofy G as /j/ jolly around e,i, and y, but gets /g/ goofed up when seeing double and around a,o, and u. Seeing double means double letters in words like geese, giggle, geezer, gill, gimmick, gizzard, giddy.

The advantage of chalk is that you can blend colors. It's great for an artistic experience, IMO. Dustless/anti-dust chalk helps keep the air cleaner. I prefer it because it washes off of hands better than markers. We have both, and my kids also prefer the chalkboard over the dry-erase board.

Christianbook.com has some samples of Alphabet Island here: http://www.christianbook.com/alphabet-island-phonics-complete-program/susan-mortimer/pd/396601#curr There's some reviews from homeschoolers here: http://www.homeschoolreviews.com/reviews/curriculum/reviews.aspx?id=17 I bought Alphabet Island Level 2 because I had a feeling my ds would like it. I did not know that he would love it sooo much. He has really bonded with all of the letter characters and stories about them like imaginary friends. When it first arrived, he insisted on hearing all of the stories and he would play with the letter character cards for fun on his free time. Just from listening to the cd and hearing me read all of the stories for phonics rules, his reading level has advanced. I'm going with it because he thinks it's fun. I plan on getting level 1 for when my 3 year old is older, since he is so familiar with the letter friends and their sounds. Alphabet Island has made learning to read a fun and memorable experience for my kids. They can relate to the letter kids and their stories, and they remember it well because it's like a personal relationship. There is some character values like helping others, which is nice as well. The bummer about this fun program is that the tm is not the easiest to use. The lessons are given in units that can last as long as you like (1-4 weeks is suggested). So it is very flexible, but harder to implement if you need a daily or weekly schedule. The tm is scripted, but doesn't have any bold or italicized print to make it stand out for a quick glance, which makes it almost like it's not scripted. The table of contents doesn't have everything in it. I actually went through it all and made a table of contents so that I could find stories upon request and know how many workbook pages there were per lesson. The workbook is turning out to not be enough practice, so I'm adding in ETC. Another thing to know is that it is all with lower case letters. There isn't much about capitals, so I added in that the capital letters are the moms or dads of the letter characters. This has helped my ds transition into using more lower case letters after two years of preferring capitals. We spend a week or two focusing on a story and then practicing reading and writing words that are related. There are no games, but lots of activities with the letter character cards. The ones that make more than one sound are double sided, to be flipped for certain words. We used McRuffy for K and really liked it. It is much easier to use and is very organized with daily lessons and weekly tests and readers. We started McRuffy 1st and it started going too fast for my ds. Since all aspects of LA are together, his dislike for handwriting and lack of interest in grammar was really slowing down his reading progress because the workbook pages required much more writing than in K. We had to start stretching one week into two, and then my ds became resistant, so we took a break. Then came Alphabet Island and that was the end of McRuffy 1st grade. I planned on coming back to it later when he was more ready, but he told me to sell it, lol! Homeschool is so great for customizing to learning needs. I personally prefer McRuffy for ease of use, but my ds much prefers Alphabet Island for 1st grade (he did like McRuffy K, though). We also had some personal vegetarian issues with the meat-eating references in McRuffy (Super Pork, Ham Dash, hot dogs, etc.), which started to make my ds dislike McRuffy. Most people won't be bothered by this, but my ds really was. I think it's an awesome curriculum, but my ds just wanted something different for this 1st grade transition time, and AI is it. Alphabet Island would work as a supplement to any reading or spelling program, just for fun. Just the cd alone teaches so many phonics rules. I've seen it for sale used at homeschoolclassifieds.com. So, that's my McRuffy Alphabet Island novel post. HTH!

McRuffy K is light on worksheets. It has only one worksheet per day/lesson. Some are very simple, like drawing a line to connect the words that rhyme, cutting and pasting letters or words, and coloring in pictures with certain letters or words. Around halfway through, 5 spelling words are practiced each week. McRuffy 1st grade usually has two workbook pages per lesson, although sometimes only one. More handwriting is required because there are 10 spelling words integrated into the workbook pages. HTH!

Check your library for Phonics Pathways so you can try it for free. My favorites for teaching reading and spelling are McRuffy and Alphabet Island. I also like Galloping the Globe for a gentle introduction to world geography, animals, and ecosystems. I suggest breaking up sessions and taking it easy in the early years. 3 hours is a lot of time for a young one. I think the most important focus for K and 1st is learning to read and write, simple math, and having a fun and positive experience with learning. Nourish their interests and make school fun!

I think McRuffy is really nice for visual and hands on learners. It is colorful, but laid out simply...not too busy or distracting. The tm is very easy to use. The readers are funny and silly, which really helped my ds stay interested in reading more. He always wanted to finish the reader, even when he was only required to read half. The games made it fun, too.

We just finished McRuffy K phonics and math and had a fun year with it. It is made by a Christian, but is secular. There is one line in the K phonics tm introduces the word sin and says: "What is a sin? What does God do when we ask to be forgiven of our sins?" It can easily be left out or substituted with a different definition. Other than that, the K phonics and math are completely secular. When you look at McRuffy 3rd grade LA, there are two versions available, one secular and one with Bible references in the readers. Here is what is says for the 'Public School' version: http://www.mcruffy.com/3rd-grade-phonics.htm The math is spiral and each lesson has some hands on activity first, and then a related workbook page. The games are fun. I thought it was a nice introduction to math. The phonics has hands on stuff like cut and paste, card, and board games, and funny readers. I really like McRuffy because it is very easy to use. I think it made me a better teacher. Each lesson clearly gives objectives, preparation, a small version of the workbook page, and is lightly scripted. Other than getting the games, cards, or reader needed for the lesson, it is very 'open and go', quick, and effective. Ruff McRuffy is a dog that I think was created by the author. At first, I thought it might have been the 'take a bite out of crime' detective dog McGruffy, but it's not. And people have mixed it up with McGuffey readers in reviews at homeschoolreviews.com. Ruff McRuffy is a funny, camping, cab driving dog that even rides a mule! If anyone is interested, I am selling McRuffy K phonics and math with everything except for the consumable workbooks, now that we're all done. :)

Improper usage drives me nuts, to... :lol: lol, I mean two, no wait, its too, no wait, it's too. ;)

We can add that to the list with melamine formula and candy and lead paint toys. Satyagraha...truth force...peaceful resistance.

Popular Mechanics For Kids (DVDs your library may have)

Sometimes just listening and describing how it sounds they feel helps to let go and move on. Try "sounds like you're really disappointed", or "that's sounds frustrating", or "it's hard when you feel like that" and see what she says then. Sometimes imagining or wishing it was different can help, or writing a letter, or brainstorming ideas to help the situation. She may just need to vent to a listener to feel better. It does mean something to her so don't disregard her feelings. Listen and say "oh, I see" and let her vent to a loving and caring ear. HTH!

I would like Rightstart, but can't afford it right now. So, I'm getting Activities for the AL Abacus for $20 and the Rightstart abacus for $10. There's also worksheets that go with it for another $20. I read that's it's more for a supplement and is not scripted. HTH! http://www.rainbowresource.com/prodlist.php?sid=1280375584-1093952&subject=10&category=2373