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ca06c

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Everything posted by ca06c

  1. I’m looking forward to using the WTM academy but for younger grades, MPOA looks like a decent option. We’ve used some of their materials with success in the past but we are secular so I usually get them from their charter site. for those that have done MPOA, how religious are the online courses?
  2. We worked our way through SWO A and found retention was a bit lackluster without supplemental practice. I gave Soaring with Spelling and Vocabulary Level 1 a shot because I liked that it had a day's lesson on one page and offered a bit more practice per day than SWO. It also bakes in review. However, I have reservations about the word lists. They seem a big impractical. Has anyone used both and can speak to the comparison of the word lists. Honestly, the word list alone is making me reconsider. Is there anywhere that I can see the SWO B word list to compare for myself?
  3. I have a recently turned 6 year old Kindergartner that is reading at a 3rd grade level. She's always had phonics instruction but at some point just took off with reading far outpacing the level of instruction and I've been trying to play catch up all this year to make sure there are no gaps. She has a really great memory and I fear she is leaning on it more than she is on her phonetic skills. We did OPGTR up till about section 8 and stopped because it got to be too dry for us. We moved on to TGTB Level 1 and that was better received but the integrated spelling was not a great fit so after completing Unit 2 we hopped on over to LOE Foundations. We started at B as suggested, breezed through it in a week and a half, and are not almost half way through C. I have reservations about the order the phonograms are introduced. It makes little difference for us since we're mostly reviewing but it does make me think that perhaps I wouldn't use this with beginning readers. Namely, I feel it introduces silent e, -ing, and, -ed notably later than the other curriculums. That aside, the spelling is better integrated here than in TGTB, and she loves spelling analysis but I'm not convinced it's enough in the way of spelling instruction. Worth noting, we do not use the writing, comprehension, or grammar aspects of LOE because she has good penmanship and we have FLL and WWE on the schedule for first grade. So, we're essentially just using the phonics, readers, and spelling. The readers being far below her reading level. I have read a lot of good things about AAS and I think I want to pursue it for first grade but then it bears the question, if I'm not using LOE for all these other components what is left? Are the many moving pieces and cost worth it if it's just straight phonics? Cost isn't really a concern so much as time. Would AAR be more efficient at this point?
  4. This is helpful, thanks! This was my approach too but our library is shut down now and only doing online reservations for hold pick ups, which complicates things. 😞
  5. I have a 5 year old that is reading at a second grade level. We picked up OPGTR this summer to review and make sure there weren't any gaps. We're now at a point where the lessons are new information but with the "review two, one new" rhythm I'm finding it is taking us multiple days to complete a lesson (as I try to cap it at 20 minutes daily). Is this normal or am I possibly having her review too much material? And a question on blends. She blends really well but when she sounds out a word, either aloud or "in her head", she tends to not blend. So, for example, trumpet will be sounded out as t-r-u-m-p-e-t as opposed to tr-u-mp-et but she can read the word as trumpet. Should we work more on 2 and 3 letter consonant blends or is it fine if she's able to blend the whole word? Lastly, does anyone have a resource as to what lessons/sections of OPTGR correspond with what grade level or Lexile range in order to find appropriate corresponding reading material? Thanks in advance.
  6. Is there somewhere I can find what lessons in OPGTR roughly correspond with grade levels, Lexile score, or something similar?
  7. Thanks all - we're perfectly fine taking our time. The issue was more so finding materials that were a good fit and I think we've done that with OPGTR but I'm still interested in Classical Phonics and their supplements and was interested in some feedback regarding those.
  8. ... guess who’s back, back again ... apparently, I refuse to let this thread die. We sat with BOB books and Progressive Phonics for a bit. Revisited OPGTR and actually really into it this time around, though we’d be picking up more or less half way through the book. my plan now is to do some review using OPGTR to get her used to the flow. And use OPGTR with readers and maybe also Progressive Phonics. Possibly throw in some ETC. Currently a little over a quarter way through ETC 2 but starting to tire of the wacky illustrations. Was eyeing the FSR books from Memoria Press - book D would be a good review and E would be new material for her. Do these pair well with OPGTR or would they be overkill. Or if I like FSR should I just consider picking up Classical Phonics instead of OPGTR?
  9. Perhaps those of you that use Memoria Press can clarify something for me. What exactly is the difference between the Core Phonics books and the First Start Reading Books? From a glance, Core Phonics seems similar to Explode the Code. The First Start Reading are described as "The worktexts are about half letter presentation, blending, and reading practice and half writing practice". Are the First Start Reading books then just more of what's in Core Phonics + writing practice? Does this seem redundant?
  10. @Sarah0000 This is really helpful! She understands subtraction and can do double digit subtraction with the manipulatives. In the time since this post was written, she's breezed through Singapore Essentials B and we both enjoyed it. I'm considering putting her in Singapore level 1 but I've heard there's a learning curve to teaching it which is intimidating me a bit. Do you find it pretty open and go? Part of what drew me to MM was that it was a work text and seems pretty streamlined. My plan right now is to work through MM this summer and see if we like it but I was also considering just moving on to Singapore and using the MM skills pages for added review.
  11. @mathmarm This is really helpful, thank you!
  12. and... I'm back. We skipped ahead but PP is still not working out for us. We seem to have much more success with ETC and beginning readers, but I worry it's not comprehensive enough? Can anyone speak to this? If not, what other reading programs are similar to ETC but more comprehensive? I'm eyeing LOE but I worry it may be too involved. I'd like something scripted but streamlined. I tried 100 EZ Lessons and TOPGTR and they didn't work out for us either. Maybe I need to revisit them though, but she seems to do much better with purposeful or contextual reading.
  13. Hey, neighbor! I submitted applications with Visions, VV, Vista Oaks, CWEB, and Compass. VV and Vista Oaks waitlisted us and I still haven't heard from Visions or CWEB. Compass apparently can't cap enrollment as part of its charter agreement, it just hires out more educational specialists to fill the need, so my understanding is we're guaranteed a spot with them should I not hear back from the others. Do you use a charter? We moved from out of state in September so still getting acquainted with CCC and completely new to the charter system.
  14. @square_25 I've considered it, but I think the graphic novel format would not be a good fit for her right now. Maybe next year though.
  15. It's not that I do not want to use them, I just don't know if they'll be a good fit. I've read that RS is more spiral and thus harder to accelerate if needed. If you've used it, has that been your experience? I perhaps should've mentioned that another factor is my intention to move on to Beast Academy in a year or so. Would RS be a good fit if only to be used for a year or two or is it one of those curriculums that you need to use for a few years to really get the value out of (and by value, I mean educational, not financial)?
  16. @mms, when did you switch and can. you speak a bit to the differences between the two programs?
  17. @mms do you know where I can find extended samples of the Miquon Orange book? Everything I've seen on their site and Rainbow Resource is rather limited and, frankly, not very inspiring. But it is so well loved that I'm sure there's something I'm not seeing.
  18. Thanks, ladies! We did look into MEP previously. I had settled on MM with the RS game pack but just needed confirmation that it held its own against the other options. Just about to order curriculum and had a momentary feeling of cold feet, I suppose. The last time we homeschooled, the kid was older and we just went straight into Beast Academy and AoPs so this was uncharted territory for me. Thank you for the input.
  19. DD is 5 coming out of Montessori primary class. She has a very good handle on place value, single digit addition and subtraction, can count, order and name numbers to 100, can write all her numbers, can skip count by 2s to 20 and 10s to 100, is highly proficient with the AL Abacus (meaning she can "see" the numbers easily without counting) and c-rods (but prefers the abacus). Understands the concept of division, can compare numbers but trips on some verbiage, has some numbers facts memorized, can use a timeline to add, can add 2, 3, and 4 digit numbers with manipulatives. Basic geometry knowledge. No concept of how to tell time and very preliminary money sense. The Montessori math she's been exposed to have obviously given her a great foundation, but I can sense the sometimes it lags a bit in progression for her taste. Which is to say she often makes connections faster than the lesson sequence. This is the one subject she begs to do and while she's otherwise very wiggly and requires a lot of redirecting to focus (understandably at her age) she will focus deeply when doing math so I want a curriculum that will continue to nurture that in her. She just finished Singapore Essentials B and it was on the easy side for her and we had to hop around sections a bit more than I'd prefer to get. flow that made more sense for us. I liked ShillerMath because it's Montessori, but don't know anyone who has used it and hard to find many reviews for it. I also like RightStart since she loves the abacus and loves math games but I worry that the spiral approach means it's harder to speed up if/when necessary. Math U See looks great but I've been told it may not be a good fit for kids who have a natural inclination to math. Everyone recommends Miquon but what little I've seen hasn't thrilled me. Is there a link to longer samples other than what is on the Miquon and Rainbow Resource websites? I initially had planned on doing Math Mammoth. I like that it uses an abacus and I like the simplicity of the work text approach but I don't want to pass up something more comprehensive. Price isn't an issue but I don't want to keep track of a million manipulatives. Your thoughts? Also, anyone have experience with either RS or ShillerMath's digital packs? Price isn't an issue but I am attracted to the convenience and minimalism they offer.
  20. Thank you all! Glad to hear I don't have to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Will skip ahead and bounce around as needed.
  21. DD is coming out of a Montessori primary program. She has mastered phonograms and CVC words and was beginning to read words beginning with consonant blends. She had read through the first set of BOB books and was reading the Kindergarten sight word set at home. We had worked through the Explode the Code primers and ETC book 1 at home. I wanted to use Phonic Pathways + ETC + readers this upcoming year but I'm stuck on where to jump in with Phonic Pathways. She is far past most of the CVC pages, but I still went back and tried reviewing the two letter blends in the beginning of the book with her and she was very frustrated with them. She sounds out individual letters in her head when reading and then says the word out loud perfectly blended without issue and she continued to do this even after spending time with the two letter blends. Meaning, she can easily read "se" but when she sees the word "set" she is not reading it se-t in her head but rather s-e-t - but the end product that she vocalizes is blended. I understand how the former leads to fluency faster but am I wrong to think that she will get there just the same with repeated exposure? Can I move on to a part of the book that is more aligned with the level of reading she's at? I feel like drilling these two letter blends are really dampening her enjoyment of the subject. To be clear, not the reading of them so much as the way PP wants them read. Also, these are two-letter blends for CVC words: se, pe, mu, ba, ra, and so on, not cl, bl, gl, cr, etc. which she had already been working on in her Montessori class. Or do I just drop PP altogether if the issue is less the pacing or approach of the book and more the style - which unlike ETC, the Montessori language work, or even BOB Books isn't very purposeful (as in, it's just reading words on a page with nothing to connect it to or story line to follow) - and stick to ETC, early readers, and some of the Montessori language work for supplement? Thanks in advance.
  22. In Contra Costa County and in need of charter recommendations. Anyone local?
  23. Yep! The Learning Resources one has the high place value back side too.
  24. Same here. I'm encouraged to hear from you, and elsewhere, that MM is abacus compatible. The AL abacus is just lauded for having two colors in groups of 5s so it helps the student more readily group by 5. It's not unique to the AL Abacus, in fact there is a nearly identical one sold by Learning Resources.
  25. Following up: I edited the typo in my last comment, it was Essentials B that I ordered, not A. But, as suggested, I'm finding that I'm having to do a lot of cherry picking with Essentials B. Half of it is too easy for her, the other half is presented in a way that confuses her immensely. For example, she subtracts without issue when we play games like Sum Swamp and the like. She understands the concept and while I understand the value of familiarizing her with varied vocabulary for subtraction, the emphasis on "fewer" in the first subtraction section just wasn't clicking with her. As soon as I rephrase to "take away", we're back on track. I'm also not super keen on the emphasis on counting when she seems so drawn to grouping. I'll have to revisit Miquon, although at first glance I liked Math Mammoth more. @wendyroo I'm considering jumping into MM1 (with AFTS as a supplement) as soon as we work our way through what I can salvage from Essentials B. Can I adapt it to use with the AL abacus in addition to c-rods? We really love the abacus. I know Kate Snow did a whole blog post about how the AL abacus is her favorite manipulative and she feels it can be used with most any curriculum. In the meantime, we have the rods and I'm going to make an effort to really sit with education unboxed to see if I can will myself to love them as much as we do the abacus. We use them interchangeably at the moment but more along the lines of how number beads are used in Montessori math.
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