:001_smile: It's true! OK, now I'm answering my own question, but I just came across this: http://www.readskill.com/resources/literacyskills/pdf/SyllabicationTips.pdf Now I am thinking perhaps I might teach syllabication on my own?!?

Yes, good point. Perhaps I should clarify: my main goal in doing spelling is to fill in the phonics and syllabication gaps. I am less concerned with strictly teaching them how to spell since they are both progressing nicely without any direct instruction. I consider them "natural spellers" because they spell many words correctly on their own (from having seen the words in their readings), learn correct spellings quickly and easily, and are motivated to spell correctly. I'm drawn to going more toward a dictation (Spelling Wisdom, perhaps?) method, but I hesitate to drop the rule based approach altogether because I do think they could use a bit of help decoding multisyllable words. Sometimes they guess and, while this doesn't seem to be affecting their comprehension one bit, I can't help but think a little more understanding of phonetic rules and syllabication would be beneficial. I don't actually know how to detail these rules myself (hence the need for curriculum), but I do know that I learned them at some point. My second grader is really doing third grade work (he has always wanted to keep up with big brother). I looked at Explode the Code--thanks for the suggestion!--but even books 7 and 8 looked like they might be too easy for my fourth grader. Not sure. He has always been such an advanced reader, but a delayed writer, which is why Explode the Code didn't work for him several years ago. Hmmm...

I am in a similar situation with my oldest boys. May I ask, where do I get a list of these spelling rules? I am a natural speller myself and I guess I have an intuitive understanding of the rules, but I can't specifically list them.

They'd be ahead in everything but writing and grammar. I'm not really sure how those would stack up since we've prioritized totally different aspects of those skills. But, is that supposed to make me feel better? Worse? Since the public schools aren't my standard, I'm not sure how valuable the comparison is. I appreciate having the freedom to do it differently. If my goal was simply to keep up with everything they do in public school, then I would probably send them to PS.

OK, maybe this is a simpler version of what I'm really asking... Will Rod and Staff teach the phonetics and syllabication that I am looking for or not? It is cheap and easy, and I'm happy to pick it if it will get the job done.

I am struggling to choose and stick with a spelling program for my boys (4th and 2nd). Both are avid readers and natural spellers. HOWEVER, they do not have a good understanding of syllabication (but how important is that?). Also, when they read aloud they sometimes pronounce words incorrectly, and I wonder if that would be improved with a bit more phonics instruction via spelling (or maybe that is just normal?). I am wanting to fill in some phonics gaps that they never learned but ONLY IF THAT IS IMPORTANT. It doesn't seem to be holding them back. Is a thorough understanding of phonics and syllabication necessary? Given their natural spelling tendencies, I do not want to spend much time on this at all. I'd like it to be independent. We do so many teacher-intensive things already, and I don't have time to spend on this area in which they don't seem to have much trouble anyway. So, maybe you can help?!? We have tried Spelling Workout and it just seemed like busywork--am I wrong? R&S looks similar and I might try that, but I need to know if it is worth it. I have Megawords and, while I like the material, it requires a bit too much of me and has too much repetition for my boys. I could make it work if that would be the best option, though. I am drawn to Spelling Wisdom, but wonder if we will be missing out on learning the "rules" and such. Anybody know anything about How to Teach Spelling? Or what about Soaring with Spelling? Options like Spelling Power and Sequential Spelling have obviously been ruled out due to their teacher-intensive nature. Help!?!

This is the key! The Essentials class is a bit like putting your mouth to a fire hose. We are getting A LOT, but plenty is overflowing as well (hopefully to be better grasped in the next two years). Do not expect mastery of anything but the basics the first year. Everything will be covered again, and it will make that much more sense the 2nd and 3rd times. I have had to determine what I expect of my son and communicate to him that we are aiming for progress, not perfection. My 9 year-old is a reluctant writer and is in Essentials this year for the first time. Everyone else is at least 2 years older, except one girl who loves to write. One of the huge benefits of the class is that my son has been inspired to better writing after hearing what his peers have written! Since he is a firstborn, he doesn't have this opportunity at home. Having the wide age spread has really been a positive in our case.

Very helpful--many thanks!

Really? Perhaps you are correct, but then I doubt their business will be sustainable. They will likely be found out eventually. I think the issue is more likely one of perception. Others may disagree that they are getting Fords and remain perfectly willing to pay Lexus prices. I don't personally feel I am being taken advantage of by any curriculum provider. No one is forcing me to buy any product. Like another poster mentioned, it's always a bummer when I buy at the wrong time (I once bought two levels of Rosetta Stone 7 months before they came out with their "all-new" version and they only offered the free upgrade to those who had purchased during the prior 6 months), but that's life. I generally do not buy curriculum with the intent to resell. By the time it gets through all of my (soon-to-be 5) kids it is not likely to be in great shape or up-to-date! Maybe that is why I'm not generally bothered by revisions.

Thanks, Cleopatra! I appreciate your thoughts. That makes sense. I may go ahead and try one just to help me figure out what is and is not beneficial, but I can see the wisdom in learning the skill myself, as you said. I will have no shortage of children with whom to use that skill in a few years...might as well start getting some practice now. Also, if you don't mind answering one more question, TTC guides--what are these?

I was disappointed in the lit. guides, too. Not much substance, IMO. May I ask what you meant by "over the top?" I have been wanting to try Progeny Press guides myself.

Interesting. I, too, have purchased all the HIGs but not used them much. I am glad to have them on hand because I occasionally pull them out when I'm struggling to explain a concept, but they are too cumbersome to navigate on a daily basis. The games have helped us out of a rut on occasion, too! I feel confident that I am teaching "The Singaporian Way" from the time that I have spent reading over the HIGs (and Liping Ma's excellent book). It seems erroneous to assume that one cannot possibly be doing it "right" without the HIGs, though I can see how this is sometimes (perhaps often) the case. Your thoughts on being right-brained are interesting to me. I'm a strange blend--both mathy and artsy--and I find the textbook drawings (thanks to the included thought bubbles) to be very intuitive as well. I can also point to a few excellent math teachers that were sprinkled into my education over the years. They challenged me to understand everything that I learned on a conceptual level. Anyway, I can relate to your thoughts. :001_smile:

:iagree: Well said. For those concerned about a child needing more review to retain what has been learned, I can see how this might be very true with some children. I find the review is easily accomplished by staggering the chosen supplemental materials. I have not needed to create any additional review.

Not sure where you live, but I typically order Singapore books from Sonlight and they are often on my porch the next day. Orders over $150 are eligible for free FedEx shipping and, since I'm in Colorado where Sonlight is based, they are here almost instantaneously!

My children have all been proficient readers by Kindergarten also. Their handwriting skills have been all over the map, though. I agree that a program is not needed; daily reading together is the easier, more enjoyable, and more effective way to go, IMO. I would suggest starting with the list of readers from the Sonlight catalog. You should be able to find the level that seems appropriate for your child and go from there. That's what we do, and all of my children are growing into avid readers! Also, we wait on spelling until 2nd grade. :001_smile:

I approach it this way as well. You can try to catch up in SOTW, but, IMO, it's probably more trouble than it is worth.

Our experience... We will be enrolling in our 3rd year of CC, and I have gotten over the need to have all the history match. The beauty of the CC Timeline is that it allows one to study history out of chronological order and still make sense of where each piece fits in the big picture. I disagree that it is confusing; I have found the opposite to be true. The history sentences are not something we completely master when they are presented, but instead we sing them a few times and then refer back to them and master them when we get to them in our own history studies. In this way, I feel that I am not a slave to the CC curriculum but am able to make it work for me. Just a suggestion to consider. We are currently doing 2 years of American history at home using the Veritas cards as our structure. My children have memorized the 160-event world history timeline, and they are also enjoying going at a slower pace to flesh out some of the events that they only know as a title. Our CC memory work does "suffer" in the sense that my children will not be memory masters, but that is not my goal for them, honestly. Some of the memory work is too random for me to justify spending all that time drilling into their heads. Much of the memory work is valuable, though, and we spend our time on that. TOG looks very complex to me, so I don't know that I would spend all the money on it only to not be able to do most of it, but maybe you are OK with that?!? I think that if you want to do a separate history course at home it must be fairly simple or you run the risk of going crazy. We are using the Veritas Online Self-Paced course for history at home and doing LOTS of reading to correspond with each card. That works for us. I didn't want to give up all the reading, and I don't mind that we are not perfectly mastering everything in CC. We spend our time on the parts that I deem valuable. If you purchase TOG for the booklist, I think you can make that work at home, but if you hope to do all the additional stuff, too...you are likely to be disappointed, frustrated, or both. Just my thoughts...

1. Mastery (with occasional review) 2. We use both the Intensive Practice books and the Challenging Word Problem books. So, every year I buy 2 HIGs, 2 Textbooks, 2 Workbooks, 2 Intensive Practice books, and 1 Challenging Word Problem book. It seems like a lot, doesn't it? 3. I buy and like having the HIGs, though I only use them occasionally. They are somewhat more cumbersome to use on a daily basis when simply talking through the pictures in the textbooks is so intuitive. At times I need to explain something to a child in a different way or reinforce a concept using manipulatives or a game or just make sure I'm covering it all, and then I pull out the HIG (and feel better that it wasn't a total waste of money!). 4. Ahead, BUT some superfluous topics are NOT covered as early as in other math texts. 5. Extra Practice books just present MORE problems in an identical way to the textbook and workbook. We do not use these. I would not recommend them unless your child REALLY needs extra practice and the IP books are too challenging for him or her. The Intensive Practice books are, in my opinion, one of the great strengths of the program. They have a totally different look to the pages and always approach the problem from different angles to ensure mastery of the CONCEPT, not just an algorithm. I stagger the child's assignments in such a way that the IP books serve as another review of lessons previously covered. The CWP books are amazing in that they actually introduce algebraic concepts without using variables. Instead, children are taught bar modeling which will help algebra make sense later. I just purchased Bar Modeling: A Problem-Solving Tool which I highly recommend for a deeper understanding of how to help your child with the CWP books. You are correct that the Workbooks do not have much practice, and, no, I do not think they would stand alone as successfully. I consider the IP and CWP books to be integral to the program. I would drop the Workbook before I dropped these books! 6. I never scheduled them for the first few years. It was always, "Do the next (however-many) pages." That worked OK initially but was starting to fall apart as I added children in different levels and my oldest's math got more and more difficult. This year I am following the recommended schedule in the HIG, and I added the IP books and CWP book to the schedule, evenly distributing pages over the course of the year. It is important to know that the student must finish the entire chapter in the Textbook and Workbook BEFORE even starting that same chapter in the IP book. Often concepts presented at the end of the Textbook chapter are expected to be known in the first problems of the corresponding IP chapter. 7. Yeah, probably. We haven't done much extra drill, though. My oldest is gradually getting faster on his own, but he does take way too long to do his math. 8. I don't prep at all (other than scheduling the IP and CWP books before the year starts). A little prep might help things run more smoothly, though. 9. Mine probably spends an hour or so, 4 days a week. He could get it done faster, but he dawdles. We do finish one level per year (2 Workbooks, 2 IPs, and the CWP for that level).

:bigear:

Not really. I guess I had always intended to finish with my oldest as well, but by the time I got back to it, he was so far ahead it seemed pointless. :001_smile:

Sorry, I've been MIA and just saw your question. This book is by Voskamp, but in the wonderful style of Hillyer (I think his geography book is OOP?). It is a complete book, but you can add other books to enrich it, if you'd like. It is SO good!

The science cards are nice, but not necessary. The Audio CD has all the spoken memory work and history sentences set to music. The Memory Work Resource CD is for the computer and has visual reinforcements for the memory work. I've purchased both, but never end up using the Resource CD to be honest. I'll probably skip that next year. Next year is Cycle 3--U.S. History. It doesn't correspond exactly with SOTW, but Volumes 3 and 4 would be the closest fit.

I am using it with my 4th and 2nd grader. I would NOT recommend starting with a 2nd grader, though we are also doing it to simplify things. Also, my second grader is 8 and has been doing grammar with his older brother from the beginning (we started FLL with both of them when the younger was in K and the older in 2nd). It is a stretch for him! My expectations for him are somewhat lower. I agree with everyone else that sees no problem in even starting a year, or two, or several, later! I agree that it moves quickly with a TON of vocabulary and grammar. We have had to slow down a bit and will not be able to finish by the time this baby is due. No worries, we'll hopefully try to keep practicing what we've learned and pick up where we left off next year. We even had a good foundation having done SSL last year (totally easy and fun) and having our declensions and 1st conjugations memorized from CC (that has really helped!). The folks at Classical Academic Press are such fun. Enjoy!

:iagree: This was our experience as well. With my oldest we actually didn't even finish all 100 lessons. We got to about lesson #85 and he picked up Hop on Pop (recommended in the back of the book). He slowly worked his way through that book and began to tackle others by Dr. Seuss. I bought a few more recommended books in the back of 100EZ Lessons (The Carrot Seed, Who Took the Farmer's Hat?, A Kiss for Little Bear, etc.) as well as the Sonlight readers for grades 1 and 2 (great selections!). He was reading all the time, often spelling words he didn't know from the backseat while I drove. After a few months of this, we formally began Kindergarten and I read him The Boxcar Children as a read-aloud. He enjoyed the book so much that he trotted off to his room with it one day at Quiet Rest Time. He was already familiar with the storyline, so he finished the book on his own within a couple days. Within weeks he was tackling the Narnia series. I tried a few things with him at that point, Explode the Code and Phonics Pathways, but it seemed like such a waste of time! Any "gaps" that he might have in phonics are now being addressed in spelling so I'm perfectly happy with the results. For my subsequent children, I have them all finish the entire 100 lessons, and then we read some Dr. Seuss books and others from the Sonlight grade 1 reader list until they are confident (doesn't take long at all!). At that point I give them a list of the Sonlight grade 2 readers (regular, intermediate, and advanced) and award them a sticker for each book completed. Once they complete an entire level I take them for ice cream or some other treat. I have three avid readers (though they each have their own "style"--some devour and others savor) and my fourth is on lesson #67--we're hoping to finish up before baby comes. All that to say, it doesn't have to be complicated! I didn't plan to do it this way, but it turned out to be so easy and natural. No curriculum needed...just daily practice and lots of books. :001_smile:

I just taught continents and oceans and got the globe out all the time as we read about other places. We occasionally labeled things on a large laminated map as well. That prepared them just fine. I am using A Child's Geography with my 1st-4th graders now. It is wonderfully written (Charlotte Mason style) and gives a comprehensive, in depth overview of geography. We LOVE it! A Child's Geography also includes a lots of copywork suggestions and many book selections to enhance each chapter.