My daughter attends an alternative public school where we pick and choose which classes she takes. There are two programs - a full-time, where we're registered with the school and must take of a certain number and type classes and take standardized tests, and a part-time program where we can take any class we want. You can change from one program to the other... It's pretty cool!

We have the 19$ Times Tales... I remember there was a deluxe version as well, so I'm not sure about that one. Ours is only 6 to 9 times, though it does problems like 3 x 6 too.

You can do a google search for "High interest low readability" or "Hi Lo" books. Depending on her level, abridged / simplified classics (like 'Classic Starts') might be an option... or graphic novels... Also Steck-Vaughn publishers has a lot of materials for older kids with low reading abilities and I've used those successfully in the past. I've also used Penguin ESL readers and adult education literacy materials for older kids who are reading at low levels. You might also try EPS S.P.I.R.E for some graded readers, though I haven't seen them myself.

Before kindergarten age, I'm more of a reading-comes-when-it-comes sort of person. A child who isn't ready, won't learn, regardless of the curriculum and regardless of how much a parent (or the child herself) wants. And a child who is ready, doesn't need formal lessons, they only need accessible reading materials (like Bob books or Dr. Seuss) in order to figure reading out for themselves. My oldest figured it out by herself at 4, my youngest is working on learning at almost 6.

All three of the Episcopalian parishes we've belonged to have been pretty normal. I always feel most comfortable in 'a step above jeans/t-shirts', but I've seen sweats and PJs and I've seen dresses and hats in the same congregation and nobody bats an eye.

How about Life of Fred? It certainly has a lot of context for the problems and a lot fewer than 30 problems per lesson.

We don't do reading comprehension separately, but include it with anything that we're reading. For instance, we're using Galore Park Jr. History and each short chapter has a list of questions to answer. So for instance, one of the questions today was asking about the date of the Battle of Salamis... so we talked about how you don't really need to re-read the entire chapter, but can skim the text to look for a specific number. Skimming and looking for specific details are the sorts of things that people are trying to teach when they talk about reading comprehension... I think these are done best in a content area rather than as a special lesson.

We were in our local public school until last month. I have the schedules in front of me: For a week of kindergarten: Morning circle - 80 minutes Literacy - 2 hrs Recess/snack - 1 hr Music - 30 min. Story/share - 2.5 hr study buddies - 30 min. Math - 3 hrs Science observation - 30 min Friendship skills - 25 min Writers workshop - 30 min. Friendship Friday - 45 min. For 2nd grade, I never got a complete schedule, but I know there was a daily reading block and a writing block and a math block. There was no science or history. There were a ton of crafts, a lot of recess, music, PE, library, etc... Other districts are definitely more focused on academics, but our district prides itself on its 'progressive' approach to education, so the kids had no textbooks, grades, tests or homework. I had some mixed feelings about the academics... I guess that's why I'm here!

I picked these up from the library this week and my daughter has been reading one of them each day. She says they're awesome. It looks pretty accessible for young readers... big font, etc...

I did the level 1 Chemistry with my 7 yr old. I supplemented with brainpop and youtube videos of Bill Nye. It was okay, but I wasn't super impressed... She learned some vocabulary about chemistry, but it wasn't the most engaging book for her. Perhaps the pre-level 1 would have been a better choice?

:iagree: The idea of three four-year cycles sounds awfully neat and well-thought-out and if I were constructing a curriculum for a school or a group of students, I'd go with it. But really, the reason I'm homeschooling is to tailor an education for my kids specifically. So while my general intention is to have our first run-through of world history in three years (Ancients, Medieval/Renaissance, Modern) and then U.S. history for a fourth year, if my kids find a passion for learning more about the Incas or the reformation or the women's rights movement in the U.S. or whatever, I have no reason not to add depth where there is more interest. It's like traveling to a new country... you can't truly see everything, but you can plan out a cool itinerary that you think your family will benefit from, enjoy the sights you come across, and adjust your plans as you go along.

I found that for my kids reading suddenly 'clicked' and a snowball effect took them from easy readers to full-length novels in a surprisingly short time. So I wouldn't panic... Even if he needs a little extra time to get up to speed in reading, it sounds like he's doing exactly the sort of thing that a first grader should be doing. For now, I'd continue with what's working and decide on which curriculum you want to use as he gets closer to second grade.

We've been to at least 15 or 20 children's museums... and honestly, I think the Children's Museum of Manhattan is one of the most disappointing. I'd definitely go for the natural history museum!

I'd go with jump as the verb and up as an adverb (like a 'directional adverb')

Rosetta Stone Polish was my single priciest one-time purchase.

My almost-8 yr old daughter sounds very similar and I'm going to write down a few of these suggestions! My daughter read the Hobbitt and also loved it. She also loved reading the fairy realm, everything by Roald Dahl, the Mysterious Benedict Society, 100 Dresses, the Giver and its sequels... It's such a fun age, isn't it?!

:iagree::iagree::iagree: We moved and had to leave a wonderful Montessori school. You can buy or make Montessori materials and use them at home and that's nice, but Montessori is so much more than that.

I think that once a child learns to read fluently, reading comprehension and vocabulary practice can (and should) come from reading content texts... like history or science. Kids can answer questions or summarize or outline or make a chart or graphic organizer or something like that with the text.

We listened to the first on a cross-country road trip and I found it relatively interesting. My 7 yr old daughter continued on and read the second and third books and loves them. I think they're her favorite books. (I started the second one and wasn't so interested...)

... double post... oops!

:iagree: How much does your daughter like workbooks? The spectrum books are intended for a supplement-at-home market for public schoolers, not so much as a homeschool language arts curriculum. We've used one once and it was okay, but I can't imagine dealing in five quite similar workbooks. There are two things I'd think about: First: What are your needs as her teacher? That is... how confident are you in your ability to teach her English? If you don't feel up to it, you might consider starting off with an all-in-one kind of curriculum rather than piecing together the different parts of what 'language arts' involve. Second: What are her needs as a learner and where do you hope she'll be by the end of the year. For example... Is she a fluent reader? Does she have good handwriting? Does she struggle with spelling? Is it important to you than she understands how to talk about language and how English works? Once you've considered these, look through the forums to find curriculum that fit both you and her.

The regular one or the 'jr' version?

We've dealt in TERC Investigations and I'm sure this is what the original poster is describing. It's as if it's a curriculum devised by people who hated math as a kid and wanted to take out anything they didn't like. Of course you need the conceptual number sense, but it's a shame when a teacher is asked to *not* teach some pretty cool algorithms (like long division -- or even borrowing or carrying numbers in addition and subtraction!).

'Stand up' is a phrasal verb (just like 'turn off', 'shut up', 'get off'...). "Up" is definitely still a preposition. You can read more about phrasal verbs - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrasal_verb

I went to a Gymboree outlet and found 2 pairs of slim-sized jeans for 4.99 each and picked up seven shirts for 2.99 each and 4 summer skirts and a dress for 3.99 each. I was never that fond of Gymboree... but now that my girls are starting to wear those 'tween sizes, I find I can't stand the 1980's teenybopper styles at other shops.