Singapore is famous for its "concrete - pictorial - abstract" approach, and this really does continue all the way through the primary mathematics series. It's one of the program's strengths. Having said that, I'm not sure any specific manipulative is really "essential" for Primary Mathematics. You can definitely make do. We're using the US edition and my eldest about to finish level 6. Over the years, I'd say the base 10 blocks have gotten the most use (but at times we've used craft sticks for 10s and paint chips for 100s), followed by place value discs (but we've also used milk bottle tops with numbers written on), followed by multilink cubes (but we also use marbles, toys, plastic spiders and mini erasers). In my house manipulatives were most often used to introduce place value in the earlier grades, to physically model what's going on with long division, and to introduce decimals in 4th. Some suggested games for reinforcement use basics like dice or cards, but they can be dollar store versions, nothing fancy. A compass and protractor set will be important from grade 4 up. We were given fraction bars and circles and they're nice to have on hand, but before we had them, photocopying the paper ones in the back of the Home Instructor's Guide was perfectly good. The HIG also has other copiable manipulatives like place value cards for the relevant levels.

Broadly speaking, our days look like this: Morning time: I read while they colour, build with Lego, eat breakfast or even jog on the treadmill. I sometimes ask them to narrate, answer questions or recall times tables if I feel like they need a break from just listening, or if I'm not sure that they're listening well enough. I sometimes include a bit of physical activity - "How many push ups can you do? Who can plank for the longest?" to help the boys manage their energy. Outside time: They go play outside for as long as they like, knowing that when they decide to come in it will be time for independent work. Independent work: The olders do their math, grammar, reading, writing (I'm available to help as needed). I do phonics and a math game with the youngest. If there is time left over before lunch, it's free time. Lunch. More play time if independent work was finished, otherwise finish it off. Afternoon loop: They know this is school time but it's variable according to what I think we need. It might be art, science, literature discussion, poetry tea time, a fortnightly co op with friends. They have a checklist each - I put the relevant pieces on for each day and they can move them to the "done" column as they finish. It helps them to know what's coming. We start before 8 and finish around 3, but there are several hours of playtime on the way through.

I think @JessinTX might be right. From the BraveWriter website: "The Quill* is delivered to your Brave Writer online account once per month on the 15th (starting in July). Each handbook is four-color, about 25-30 pages, is a non-consumable PDF, and can be used with multiple children in your family (no need to purchase additional copies). *The Quill is not a phonics, handwriting, or arithmetic program. It is a pre-literacy program that makes learning to read, handwrite, and apply mathematical concepts easier."

For the 9s, my niece uses a finger trick. 9 x 2: hold out both hands, and counting from the left, put down the 2nd finger. On the left of that is 1 finger and on the right are 8 fingers. 1...8... 18. 9 x 3: put down the 3rd finger. On the left are 2 fingers, on the right are 7 fingers. 2... 7... 27. And so on.

You might like this one that boardie @EKS has recommended before.

Do you know that there is a Home Instructor's Guide for Singapore? It really makes things very open and go. We use the US edition, which has fewer moving parts, and easily get through a grade level each year by doing math 4 days a week. We go through the semi-scripted explanation in the HIG, possibly play one of the games they provide for enrichment, and the kid does the exercise. Although I own the textbooks, we never actually use them. When we began, I had a 5 year old, a preschooler and a baby on the way, and it really was achievable in the 20 connected minutes I might have while the baby was napping and the preschooler was playing or eating a snack.

We like Center for Lit's approach. They use picture books every year, right up through 12th grade, as well as grade level literature. You might like their Ready Readers - questions and discussion notes for 10 literary picture books suitable for any age. You might also like their Reading Roadmaps; this is simply an annotated booklist, but includes 8 picture book recommendations for each grade year after K-1 (which include 72 picture books each). Sometimes the picture books echo the longer works, eg you might do Barbara Cooney's Chanticleer and the Fox the same year that you do Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (picture book introduction and original classic), or Lynd Ward's The Biggest Bear the same year as Marjorie Rawlings' The Yearlings (similar themes in these two).

No, those were my own finds. We used it alongside SOTW 1 and I wanted biographies of just a few important people to help my kids remember them.

Yes, the lessons still made sense - if he was referring to something from an earlier lesson, he always gave a recap. I really loved the first book, and the idea of chronological science, but it turns out I prefer something more topical. I did like the emphasis on science as a human endeavour, not an infallible answer that drops out of the sky, and that this curriculum genuinely works for family style science, but I wouldn't buy the book again. There would be other ways (for instance, we LOVED Shoo Rayner's Archimedes: The Man Who Invented the Death Ray, and some other picture books like The Librarian Who Measured the Earth and What's Your Angle, Pythagoras?)

Yes you can. Science in the Beginning is kind of stand-alone in this series: it's arranged topically into light, air, water, plants, animals, human body. Science in the Ancient World is the first one to look at the discoveries of particular scientists. We didn't love it though: because it's chronological by scientist, it jumps around all over the place, and the early lessons included some math focussed lessons that were over my youngers' heads. We were leaping dizzily from a single lesson on a botanist, to another single lesson on a physicist, to yet another on an astronomer. In the end, I picked and chose: we did lessons on a few scientists such as Archimedes and Galen where there were more than one lesson on the person, but skipped more than half of the book.

There's a thread on here from when it first came out. I stand my my rather negative review, though like Slache, it's based on samples rather than using the real program. Link:

Don't overlook literature for this kind of goal. Deep, engaging stories with relatable protagonists can help you "live your best life now" by helping you imagine what living in the story world feels like and bringing some of that empathy back with you to the real world. Lord of the Rings comes to mind, or perhaps The Power of One as @Rosiementioned on another thread recently (though I share her content warning on Power of One - it's been a minute since I read it, but it's not uncommon for Bryce Courtenay novels to include mature content). Frodo and PK are fairly ordinary people who face significant darkness with courage and grit, and good wins in the end. An empathetic reading and discussion can be really powerful.

I have one like this. I have found that minor change ups can help: Today, you can complete your lesson: under the table / on the glass with whiteboard markers / with these new sparkly pens / outside in the tree / by telling me the answer instead of writing it out / only after you find the pieces I've hidden around the house and assemble the instructions like a puzzle... Schedule one day each week to do supplements, game based learning etc - or choose one subject each day to do in this way, while the other subjects keep chugging along as usual (so Monday is alternative maths but main curriculum for every other subject, Tuesday is alternate history but main curriculum for every other subject...) Try to get them to pin down why they suddenly hate the subject. In my case, the kid claimed at one point to "hate Writing With Ease" but actually turned out to just hate the copywork. It was easy to swap that out for copying a joke from a joke book instead. You might be able to make a minor tweak that helps your kid keep going with the curriculum you first chose. You're not a newbie and you know that while it's fine to use the times table practice from curriculum A instead of B, you'd expect some overlap and some gaps if you're trying to swap Semester 2 in curriculum A for Semester 2 in curriculum B. If the kid is bored because they're bright and it's going too slowly, you might try letting them attempt the exercise before teaching the lesson and see if they already know the content (in which case, skip the lesson). Sometimes around here the boredom is just because the kid is creative and likes novelty, and I don't always have a great idea for how to make it more fun. At times I resort to out and out bribery: it's amazing how interesting a kid can suddenly find the times tables if they're multiplying M&Ms, or fractions with real pizza, or simply can finish the exercise correctly with a good attitude and then get some screen time. Another of my kids doesn't get bored so much as easily frustrated, but perhaps some of the strategies still apply. With that kid, I tend to run through a list of usual suspects: has the kid had breakfast, drunk enough, gotten some sunshine, slept well... and if it's none of those, I suggest some time outside or that they go bake some cookies for everyone to share before tackling the problem subject again.

Just an idea with his writing: you're doing great by letting him do work that's appropriate for him, even if you feel it doesn't match his "grade level". It can also help to separate the skill of composition from the mechanics of forming sentences on a page. To do that, you might sometimes act as the scribe: ask him to tell you what the history lesson you just read was about, and you write/type his words for him. Or even just make sure there's plenty of discussion happening. When you discuss a book together, he's practising the thinking skills which are critical for having something to say, and will help him work at grade level down the track when evals/interventions have shored up his mechanics.

I've become a die-hard fan over several years. For background, I was a history major, so I'm good with words and academic writing, but I did not see eye to eye with my high school English teacher and would not say literary analysis is a strength for me. As others have said, Teaching the Classics is written to equip the parent of any child, but kids from about 8th grade will probably enjoy watching it with you and learning how to do it for themselves. The list of socratic questions for digging into elements of structure and style is contained in the syllabus and in my opinion is gold. They can genuinely be used with any age kids, so that you might ask a second grader "Who is this story about?" but there are much deeper and more specific questions included to help dig in with older kids. If you watch the videos and have a copy of the syllabus with the socratic list, you should be equipped to discuss any title with your kids, no matter their age. In practice, I also bought a copy of their "Ready Readers: Picture Books" which includes answers to a selection of questions for ten picture books so I could sort of "check my work" when I was first starting out. Now, I'm even more aware of how much I don't know, but I'm comfortable being a co-explorer of books and saying, "I don't know. What do you think?" In our family, every few months I read a picture book for the purpose of discussing it as a work of literature with my kids in K-5. We might spend 15 minutes as a group talking about characters, setting, conflict, plot, theme and literary elements, or just a couple of those things. It has gotten the kids used to thinking about books this way, so that I can also discuss novels at grade level with the 3rd and 5th graders, and I find that rather than saying "this book was funny/boring/great", they tend to volunteer things like "I didn't think there was much of a conflict" that tell me they're thinking this way about books they read on their own as well. I'm also part of an adult book club and find the questions help me to get more out of the books I read. If you want to check them out, I recommend you spend some time at www.centerforlit.com. They have lots of free podcasts that will give you a feel for who they are as people and how they think and talk about books. They also have an online store with Teaching the Classics and other stuff - you also might be interested in the Ready Readers (they're available for different age groups), or in listening to a sample discussion from their "Academy Library" (a recording of a live junior high or high school class) as well. Good luck - I hope you love them!

You mentioned wanting your kiddo to do some work on story elements and literary devices. I think Teaching the Classics could be right up your alley! I'm not a fan of the workbook approach - reluctant writers here also - but love Center for Lit's Teaching the Classics method. You read a book then have an in-depth discussion together, using Socratic questions that Teaching the Classics provides. If you want to add writing output, you then have the kiddo write a thematic paragraph or essay after your discussion. The method works for any book, but if you want some more hand-holding, you can also purchase "Ready Readers" for particular titles that include questions and sample answers. If you want even more hand-holding, you can purchase a recorded discussion from their live classes and watch that together. In recent years, they've run live online classes over the summer (read and discuss, no writing assignments). You might consider those as well, as a way to test the waters and see if this feels like a good fit for your family. You can buy their stuff through places like Rainbow Resource, but also directly from www.centerforlit.com. Good luck!

Hi, and welcome to the WTM boards! Your girls are at the perfect age for Story of the World. You would read the chapter aloud to them each week (usually under 20 minutes, and often broken into 2-3 sections that can be done across a couple of days if you need it shorter again) and then find other literature and nonfiction from the library on topics that hold their interest. We use the activity guide as well - at various points my kids have loved or hated the coloring sheets included, to help them listen quietly while I read. There are great suggestions of other books to read, there's map work, comprehension questions, sample narrations to help you gauge output, and hands-on activities including cooking, crafts, board games, drama - lots of stuff! We're on our second loop through and I have all my kids, K-5, working on it together and just producing different output. It's the heart of our homeschool. For science, I take @8filltheheart's advice seriously. We have also used National Geographic docos and Magic School Bus, read books (she got me onto the NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Books list), attended museums. We like the "X Lab for Kids" series sometimes when we want a little more hands-on - they are books of experiments with very brief explanations, and there are titles about astronomy, kitchen science, rocks, the body, electricity... We also liked Jay Wile's Science in the Beginning for a one year, multi age elementary course, though it is definitely Christian. We haven't loved the others in the series as much, but the first one is a nice topical arrangement covering light, air, water, plants, animals and the human body designed from the ground up for homeschoolers: you do a simple demonstration, read about 2 pages of conversational explanation, and then narrate your learning with a question prompt provided.

What a great opportunity! Story of the World includes quite a few chapters about France, but within the context of what else is happening in the world at the time. I count 9 France chapters in SOTW 2 & 3, plus embedded info in SOTW 3 & 4 such as the Scramble for Africa and the World Wars, but pulling them out of context might feel a bit jerky, since the chapters often refer and make comparisons to what has come before. What about looking at a few key figures from French history? The "Who Was" chapter book biography series includes Joan of Arc, Marie Antoinette, Napoleon, Monet, Louis Braille and Marie Curie as well as the Eiffel Tower and has worked with 3rd and 4th graders in my family. Diane Stanley and Demi both have picture book bios of Joan of Arc. There's a You Wouldn't Want To Be... about the French Revolution. World War I and II might be worth a look too, as these had such a huge impact on France. Lots of picture books are out there about the Somme, D-Day, the French Resistance, Flanders (to mix both wars together!). There's a Louvre art deck (also available at Rainbow Resource, though this link is to Amazon) that you might enjoy: postcard sized images of some of the most famous works housed there, in chronological order. A collection of Perrault's fairy tales? It's not exactly history, but I can't imagine taking an in depth look at France with a nine year old and not reading their most famous children's stories 🙂 In case you still want a list of SOTW chapters focusing on France: SOTW 2: Ch 11 The Kingdom of the Franks Ch 13 The Great Kings of France Ch 26 France and England at War SOTW 3: Ch 4a Searching for the Northwest Passage: The French in the New World Ch 13: The Sun King Ch 25: Revolution Gone Sour Ch 29: The Rise of Bonaparte Ch 33: The End of Napoleon Ch 7: Two Empires, Three Republics and One Kingdom

No, don't feel silly! The dates are de-emphasised in the SOTW book, but a timeline is suggested particularly for logic stage kids in WTM. You can find parent-created timeline cards for SOTW 1 & 2 via a Google search for a print-and-stick option, or have the kids pick out an important date from each Usborne/Kingfisher spread. I'm not aware of a Peace Hill Press open and go option like the flashcards though.

You might look at Brave Writer's darts or arrows. They're not exactly lit guides, but they do consider literary elements and give discussion ideas among other things. They make a conscious effort to include diverse authors. You can plug in an email address to get free samples here.

We've used the K-3 2018 series, the one that's chronologically sequenced, books 2 and 3. I've been really pleased with them. I'm not artistically inclined and I appreciate that the videos give simple tips for using the different media well. No bells and whistles, but a simple explanation of how to make the project work, and there are only videos for the handful of lessons that need them to supplement the models and illustrated step by step instructions in the book. There's plenty of scope for the kids to make a genuine art project - it's not "here's the Mona Lisa, now you copy it" but more like "here's the Mona Lisa and two questions to help you look at it; now make a portrait". Then there'd be a few steps suggesting what kinds of lines to start with or what details to notice about the subject you're drawing. I've used the K-3 books with pre-K to 5th graders and they've worked well for us.

Re SOTW retention: A tip I picked up from a fellow boardie is to do the timeline once a month or so, rather than every week. That way you review the previous month's stuff as you're adding details. I ask some context questions too: was that before or after X event? What other events do we know about in that century? Or even, have we heard a story like this before? - As you know, SWB is great at giving repeating patterns so that kids can deduce that ancient settlements tended to be on rivers, or that strong kings build empires but when the line of kings weakens, so does the kingdom and someone else takes over, or that good rulers unite their subjects with things like common law, language, religion. If my kids can see a connection between Clovis, Justinian and Hammurabi, they're likely to remember all three.

BraveWriter's poetry teatime website includes ideas for seasonal and holiday themed teas, including poetry and sometimes story books as well as some themed craft and snack ideas.

If an online class is on your radar, you might check out Center For Lit's new American History and Historical Fiction offering. They're suggesting you give credit for both history and composition and it's a mix of contemporary sources and modern historical fiction. https://www.centerforlit.com/hah223

Thank you, ladies! Noreen, I set it out similarly to you and tracked with you to almost the last step where I tried to do 33C = 15C + 90. Wendyroo, I think your way uses some friendlier numbers. Thank you both so much for taking the time! I'm glad to be able to see where I went wrong and offer my kiddo two different approaches to try. Thank you 🙂