I'm wondering as I'm looking through your replies if they are "fun" books because most of them seem like they would count in the evening time reading that SWB talked about in the WTM. What I'm looking for is some must reads for the school-time 20-30m challenging reading. I looked yesterday in TWTM and found a list in the reading section for 1st Grade and she is recommending these for that reading time: Trojan Horse - DK beginner reader The Odyssey - McCaughrean The Gods and Goddesses of Olympus - Aliki Pandora - Burleigh Atalanta's Race: A Greek Myth - Climo D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths King Midas: The Golden Touch - Demi Pegasus - Mayer Myths and Legends - Verniero Favorite Greek Myths - Osborne Aesop's Fables and on and on........ So, this is how I understand it: books like Amelia Bedalia, Winnie the Pooh and all of those would count as FUN books right? Or do I have this wrong? And then the school-time reading slot should be books relating to myths, legends, and ancient history related like the above list. Thanks for all the replies!! WOW, lots of rec's just have to figure out what is fun books and what is the challenging morning reading.

I'm looking for books she can read on her own for the 20-30m reading time in the morning, not read-alouds. Thanks!

:lurk5:

Anyone else :confused:

We use and love the Golden Children's Bible.

We didn't start OPGTR until K, so we will finish it this month mid-1st grade year. She has also read about 150 readers since K. She is ready for the big books - i.e. chapter books. What are some of the MUST reads that you would recommend for a 1st grader? Not asking for a huge list, just a few that she can read between now and 2nd grade. She has "fun" books for the evening as those are easy to pick out - I'm looking for the books that would count towards the 20-30m reading slot during our school day. Thank in advance! ;)

My dd7 is a wiggle worm and she is a math lover since we started Saxon math. She needs the constant repetition, she likes to time herself doing the fact sheets and I love how easy it is to teach. Saxon math left such a great impression on me when I had it in private school that I knew one day I would use it with my own children. Your child will KNOW math if they do the Saxon way, they just can't miss something because of the constant review while learning new concepts. ;)

Thank you! The flashcards sound like a good idea.

Anyone else :confused:

We have been doing this a lot - I've been going back and having her read the words and then I think she has it and then a week or so later, she forgets again lol. I will keep at it and hopefully it will stick soon......

We are nearing the end of the OPGTR and dd has been reading well but in the past month she is forgetting things from 30 or so lessons before. She is forgetting a lot of the vowel blends (ou, ea, ai, etc) and then the silent gh and more. Is this normal? I went back and tried reviewing but she still forgets them later on. Not sure what to do or if this is something she just has to keep practicing while reading books and then it will be easier for her. :confused: To add: Do you think adding in something like "Explode the Code" would help? If so, should I start with the first one or what? Thanks in advance!

I was looking at the Evan-Moor History Pockets and was wondering if they are worth buying? Does anyone here use these to go along with SOTW?

I love Apologia elementary sciences but it was just too much for dd6. We did a few chapters of the Astronomy last year in K but of course I had to put it all in words she could understand and it took us most of the year to do just 4 chapters. We tried some of Zoology 1 over the summer and that was even more over her head. This year for 1st grade, I just couldn't deal with it - too much explaining, too much trying to get it "on her level" of understanding and so we are shelving them till 3rd grade or above. Instead, we are following the suggestions in the WTM and its on-level and science is not a hassle for me anymore. :)

Our choices are in my siggie below. We really like WWE1 and I wouldn't wait till 2nd grade because its very simple and designed for 1st grade level. My dd6 also has a few penpals she writes 1-2 times a month, and she also writes letters to local friends.

Those are the 2 we are using right now along with Real Science Odyssey Life for labs/experiments.

Before I knew better, I had taught my dd at 4yrs old how to write and she was writing before she ever learned to read. It didn't encourage any sight reading though as you had asked. The only sight words I've given her are those in the OPGTR and she still wants to try and pronounce them instead of using them as sight words. So no problems here with introducing writing (copywork) first. ;)

:iagree:

We love Story of the World!! :lol:

I love Apologia but it was just too much for my dd6 and I found myself having to explain a LOT. So we are saving them for 3rd grade or above and doing the WTM science rec's for now.

You can find the entire list on their website in the resources section, see page 7 in the pdf below: http://resources.veritaspress.com/samples/000105.pdf

They are doing FREE 30-day trials right now so you can check out the course online for free. We are doing "Old Testament and Ancient Egypt" and dd is having a blast going through the lessons. http://resource2.veritaspress.com/Resources/Scholars_Online/Scholars_Online_New_Self-Paced.html

You don't have to do anything until the child is 8 years old. Then, you will have to be "qualified" by either enough college credits, taking a parent qualification course or being deemed competent by the superintendent. I'm going with the parent qualifying course when my dd reaches 8yrs old. All you do is listen to audio, turn it in and get your certificate. (cost is about $150) Or you can spend a whole day at one of the seminars. Either way - its easy to be "certified". On the declaration of intent form - which is only required for those 8yrs and above - you simply check the box that you are "qualified". By law, they can't ask how you are qualified and you don't have to show proof, you simply check the box. From 8yrs old and above, each year you must administer one of the approved achievement tests - only you and the company see the results and by law the state can not ask you if you took it or even see the child's score.

I had Saxon math in private school and I can say that if you do Saxon math you will KNOW math! My daughter is almost finished with Saxon 1 and she loved it and so did I. I don't read everything word for word in the script - I simply summarize as I go sometimes. We also don't do the back of the worksheet. Saxon does constant review as you learn new concepts so the child doesn't forget what they learned a few months ago. It is the best approach of math in my opinion! ;) Some say that Saxon 1 is more for K and Saxon 2 for 1st grade but it evens out around Saxon 3 and above.

I use Firefox bookmarks and just started using Google bookmarks - you can easily add all your Firefox into Google's. I have categories, sub-categories and even more from there - it looks something like this: Homeschool - History - Ancient - Ancient Egypt; Ancient China; Ancient Greece and so forth. I also like to blog links but I haven't gotten around to doing too many indexes yet. I do have link indexs for Ancient Egypt, Astronomy, Online Books/Audio and Human Anatomy.

We dropped Apologia Astronomy and picked up WTM rec's for science with the encyclopedia as spines. We also added in RSO Life for labs. We also are putting our composer study on hold till I can pick something to introduce music.