I don't know Singapore very well, so others can answer better. What I can say is that it's certainly not cartoonish... the worktexts are very straightforward. They don't add any flourishes or fun and games, but nor do they need to. They do present math in a clear, direct way that makes sense to my kids and makes it pretty easy to teach. MM is no miracle cure for math issues, but it is an affordable and down-to-earth mastery type approach that is worth considering. I should add... Parents of younger kids have noticed that the font (and answer space) is small. My 6 yr old hasn't noticed.

We did an 8-10 yr old girls slumber party and these were a few I considered: Wallace and Grommit - Curse of the wererabbit Chicken Run Annie Princess Bride Wizard of Oz James and the Giant Peach

Books are books. I think people take 'grade level' on books unnecessarily seriously. If your child is enjoying them and learning something from then, then it really shouldn't make any difference whether they're at a pre-school level or a high school level. I still enjoy (and get something out of) reading children's books and I've had five years of graduate school.

I've done and read a lot of research in second language acquisition and it's all pretty not-surprising... if you want to be able to have a conversation in another language, you need to be actually practicing conversing in the language with another speaker. You can certainly learn some vocabulary and grammar of other languages with books or tapes - and you might even get pretty good at translation, but you can't expect any degree of fluency without conversation practice.

Sure, my kids answer the door... but usually I'm there within a few seconds, because it's so rare anyone comes to the door. When my older daughter stays home by herself (never more than an hour at this point), I ask her to not open the door, though it's never actually happened than anyone has knocked. But really.... our door's always unlocked anyway, and so is everyone else's doors, so it's not like some potential 'baddie' couldn't just walk in. I don't care to live in a world where I believe that danger lurks around every corner... so I don't live that way. That said... when we I have lived in high crime areas, my feelings were different than here in a nice small town.

:iagree: Do it on a case-by-case basis... If it smells off, dump it. I'd be most worried about the meat. The eggs and cheese and cream and rest of it can last longer than you might think. Could you buy a bag/block of ice to add to your fridge or transfer things out of/in to your freezer (since I assume that's still pretty cold.

I like gmail too. I've been pretty spam-free for the past 4 years. Plus, everytime I change jobs/schools/cable companies... my gmail account just stays with me.

What happens if it's a draw?

:patriot::patriot::patriot::patriot:

I have been in the same boat and went with Galore Park Jr. history which I mostly like. However, my third grade daughter loves Greece and Rome so much and wants another year, so I figured now might be a good time to combine with my rising first grader and have another trip through the ancients. This time we will be using SOTW. I'm curious how that is going to work for us. The only other suggestion I have is the OUP World in Ancient Times series, which is probably going to be better for an older child (certainly my first grader is not up for it...).

I figured I'd go with Kilgallon's story grammar and sentence composing texts if MCT Island wasn't a good fit.

Regarding the placement tests... I tested my rising 3rd grader using the K-3 tests. The ceiling is the Saxon 3 book and she tested into Saxon 3. But if I wanted to know if she was ready for the next level, the only thing I could do is give her the Middle Grades test, in which case, assuming she scored fewer than 15, she would place into Saxon 5/4 automatically. So the placement tests aren't very useful for parents debating between Saxon 3 and Saxon 5/4.

I love being affiliated with a public school. Ours is an alternative program for homeschoolers that allows us to register for whatever classes we want to. I see it as the best of both worlds and wouldn't change it for anything!

My daughter adores the Mythlopedia series... It is illustrated and has a two page spread per god/goddess. It is pretty silly though -- not serious at all. Perhaps just the sort of thing that your 10 yr old would love?

I do like the TM a lot, but it's really not necessary. It's got cool extra worksheets and good information, but not essential.

I don't know the official word, but I'd imagine that the Get Ready for the Code series (ABC) is for Pre-K to Kindergarten. After that, it depends how fast the child moves through the learning to read process. My 6 yr old has done ETC 1-3 in Kindergarten and is ready to start book 4, which I think is pretty normal. Sure, you could do that. We did three books in a year, but you could do more or less. We just do two pages each day in kindergarten. I might increase it for next year. A complete lesson (a chapter) takes about a week or so. Each day we probably spend 10 minutes to do the two pages. Yep. There isn't a lot of variety -- every chapter is laid out the same way. It might bore me after a while, but my daughter thrives on predictability, so it works well for her. I don't think so... I haven't used them anyway. I think we'll stop at the end of first grade. I imagine around ETC book 7? No Those things are covered in the first three books. I'd consider starting at Book 3 anyway though. The books aren't pricey and it would be a good review. Also, book 4 is a big jump up - moving into longer multi-syllable words. We use ETC for spelling and handwriting work too, so starting with what he already knows is probably good.

Or you could give them a dry erase marker and call out the name of a place and have your child draw the route on the map. (i.e., You're starting here in Seattle, first fly to Tokyo, Japan, now to Shanghai, China, now follow the Yangtze river to etc...

You could tape it to a piece of foam board or cork, print off a page of flags - like this http://www.linariadesigns.com/collections/world_flags_thumbnails5.jpg (Google 'flags of the world'), cut and tape the flags to some pins and have your child pin each flag to the country. Like this: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_LxLfmghofGc/SqNG9hPRBjI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/dmepdHFSmiU/s400/CIMG9999.JPG

For next year (or at least for the first bit of next year), we'll be using... DD8 - Learning Latin Through Mythology (have) Minimus Secundus (need) Greek Code Cracker (need) Math Mammoth Division, Fractions (have) Place Value (need) RS Polish (have) MCT Island (need) HWOT Can-do Print & Cursive (have) PE, science, electives - outsourcing to PS DD6 - Math Mammoth Subtraction 1 (have), Addition 2 (need) ETC 4-6 (have) SOTW 1 & AG (need) RS Polish (have) HWOT first grade (have) PE, science, electives - outsourcing to PS

The whole plus 10 and minus 1 thing helps a lot with number sense and just knowing where a number is in relation to other numbers.

Thank you! I think you've got a wonderful perspective. The goal is greater than just memorizing division facts or whatever... the goal is to have a child who can communicate in math and (ideally) can see the elegance of math. She's got a lifetime to get there. And you're right that if she can provide her own motivation, it'll be a far better journey than if I have to drag her through a subject she feels is unpleasant.

At 7, there is an enormous range of what kids can do and your first grader sounds like she's perfectly on target! It's all about learning to read, to write and to do math. It's not a race -- you're going at an absolutely reasonable pace and she will get there.

I think it's weird... My dad is a horrible dancer who gets easily flustered. He would've been horrified to be told to do that -- they're not his dance lessons. Plus - the single rose -- that seems weird. It's a dad, not a date! But mostly... I just hope that there are no children at the studio who don't have fathers or whose fathers have passed away, or are divorced, or in prison, or in the army... It sounds like a potentially disastrous thing.

As long as you have wireless internet, it shouldn't be a problem. I don't know *how* it works though... Magic??:tongue_smilie:

My 8 yr old daughter is an incredibly bright child (and fwiw officially 'gifted' according to the WISC and local PS). She's a person who looks at things from a wide perspective and makes lots of connections between topics. She's really a very deep thinker and subtle and mature in her interactions with other people. She also very witty and has a wry sense of humor. All of this is great... The problem is that she seems to be both a perfectionist and somewhat... unwilling to work, which is a difficult combination. So, for instance, she loves all subjects which require her to just read and soak up ideas... things that come easy to her. But... every time she encounters anything that requires work or memorization or practice and she declares (between dramatic sobs) that she's "bad at it". From an educational standpoint, the biggest problem is math. She's actually quite good at math, but she's decided that she's horrible at it. I've tried giving her easier math to build her confidence and strengthen her arithmetic skills, but she tells me it's boring. I've tried giving her harder math to give her challenge, but she tells me she's bad at it. Currently we're working from Math Mammoth blue on various topics around the 3rd/4th grade level... which she hates. The only interest I've been able to find is with the Murderous Maths books and LOF. Murderous Maths are fun books, but not really a curriculum... and LOF is too advanced for her I think. We did sample the first five chapters of LOF, which she loved and did okay with, but I don't think she's ready to tackle the rest of the book just yet (I have yet to introduce long division... :scared:). For the record, she's also decided that she's inherently bad at typing, handwriting, singing, gymnastics (particularly cartwheels)... really, any skill that she is not immediately successful at, she has decided that she is just naturally bad at it. So... any suggestions for how to approach this learning style? Advice? Commiseration?