Yes... I don't feel comfortable sharing mine either. Maybe because these boards are a little too public? Maybe because I don't want to be judged for doing X in Z grade? :shrug: B's plan is in a grid with several blank rows at the bottom so we can shift things down or add things as needed (I'm waiting to add his electives for high school until we get there). Even though B has always been asynchronous, it seems to finally be levelling out -- I was astonished to see that he could be starting high school level in all subjects at the same time.

I have been working on a (brace yourself.....) LONG TERM PLAN for my oldest. Up until very recently, I found this concept quite laughable. He is currently working in 5 different grade levels, how could I POSSIBLY have a long term plan, right? Well, I have one now. :thumbup: I was curious how it compared to other long term plans for accelerated learners, so I did an advance search for the words "long term plan" only on the Accelerated Learner Board -- and it listed six matches, but none of them were actually about long term plans. :lol: I thought it was funny that nobody with an accelerated learner has a long term plan (though I guess maybe I have an odd sense of humor). Of course -- maybe everyone HAS a long term plan but just doesn't want to share it. :D

... or... you can read it as written, and at the end of the sentence say "Oh, it looks like this author believes things were designed to be a certain way. Our family believes _____." We do that for a lot of books. :)

:iagree:

I am so happy for you that you found a good solution! That must be such a relief. My blood pressure goes up every time I think about high school, so I am just hoping the choice becomes obvious as the time approaches. Thanks for giving me hope. :)

forty-two: Wow, you've been paying attention! I am impressed with your level of insight about the various programs, and you earn bonus points for typing that one handed! :D

My oldest son did this. We did HWT. Again. And again. And again. And had a HWT person come to my house for an evaluation and make recommendations. We did more HWT. We did another handwriting program. Nothing changed. He still does it when he is writing on his own, but when he does spelling or copywork he does not. I think it is because in spelling and copywork he is working slowly and deliberately, one letter or word at a time. When he is writing on his own, he is forming entire phrases and sentences at a time. Also, at the end of each spelling test I have him go back through and check for any letters that are backwards or the wrong case, and he ALWAYS finds every error. So, I think it is just that his brain is moving faster than his fingers, and some letters are easier or quicker to write in upper case. Perhaps the same is true with your DD. Though -- at 5 -- I think it is just a maturity issue. With lots of writing practice, it should sort itself out.

They were OK... we used them for 1st grade. It cover things like how to address an envelope, how to do ABC order, how to describe an object. There are a total of 44 lessons, the first page has a short fable on it with a list of words the child may not know. The second page has a picture to color with a line to write a narration, or title for the picture, or copywork of the moral, or whatever you want. Then 2 pages of gentle language arts activities. It is very low stress and does not require a lot of writing, but is not as thorough as other things I looked at. In my completely unprofessional opinion, kids in 1st & 2nd grades should be doing more physical writing, so if you go with this series be sure they are doing plenty of writing in other areas.

Not sure if this counts as a review, but... Classics in the Classroom is a thought-provoking, short, cheap, fun read for mom. There is a very long, impressive list of books in the back. It has been sitting on my shelf untouched for 2.5 years. It is great for someone who has time to actually READ all those books herself, develop lovely discussion questions, help guide the student in writing wonderful essays about the deeper meaning of the books. Unfortunately, that is not me. :tongue_smilie: If I only had one level of student, and if that student did not average more than one novel per school day, then perhaps I would be able to use Classics in the Classroom. When my oldest is ready for lit analysis, it will be outsourced. I love, love reading -- but this is one area that I don't have time to do *WELL* with my oldest, so he will do it with someone who does. :) There are many posts here about it though, with reviews from people who have actually USED it, not just READ it.

Sigh... every time I try to go to bed I remember another item from the last 4 pages I wanted to comment on... 7. Regarding MCT and Life of Fred -- I think it would be fair to say that someone who likes MCT would also like Life of Fred, but I don't think you could say that someone who did NOT like Life of Fred would NOT like MCT. Fred spends an entire chapter explaining how to find the area of a triangle by using Heron's formula, then at the end of the chapter adds as an afterthought "or you could just multiply half the base times height." MCT's Grammar Island has a multi-page conversation in which animal A replies to everything animal B says with the statement "Completely." Eventually, on the last page of the section, animal B catches on that animal A was demonstrating that a statement must be complete to be a sentence. My son found this hysterical. My son also finds most of Life of Fred hysterical. I could see how it would be annoying to someone else. :lol:

The book as a whole isn't horrible. There is NO WAY this is for 4th-8th graders, as it states. My 5th grade students came into my class already writing multi-paragraph research papers (albeit not very good ones). I purchased it to give my oldest a super-quick overview of what a paragraph should contain because he is starting to write paragraphs and we won't get to Paragraph Town for a few months. PWME has students fill in outlines, rewrite those outlines using parallel construction (switching the order of the words), then write a paragraph from that new outline. This is a great concept (a la SWB!), but unfortunately the paragraphs they start with are of the same caliber as what I quoted above.

OH!! I remembered one more! :) 6. MCT *could be* a complete program. It depends on the student, it depends on how much writing you are doing in other content areas, it depends on the parent's goals for the student. Without elaborating on why, I am going to have my oldest go through Daily Grams starting in January. I also have him use the sentences in the MCT Practice books as copywork because he still writes 20% of his letters backwards on his writing assignments (not the same letters). This particular child needs this supplementation. *I* also really like Write With The Best, so I will have him do that while we are going through Grammar Town (Paragraph Town comes AFTER Grammer Town, I will not be having him do 2 writing programs at the same time). It isn't necessary, but we have a lot of time and he needs a *LOT* of physical practice in writing.

A few random thoughts... 1. I am not trying to convince people to use MCT. I can almost foresee that with all the recent posts some people are going to buy it, try a small part of it, think "it doesn't do XYZ", and from that point on anytime someone mentions MCT the usual posters will reply with "Oh, don't use MCT, it doesn't do XYZ." If you are happy with what you are using -- use it! If you have read extensively about MCT and every post you read has you screaming "Oh my!! This is incredible!!" then give it a try. Not everyone will have that reaction. 2. MCT is a perfect program for my oldest son. Other programs that I looked at and tried samples for were just... NOT for him. *shrug* I know there are lessons to be learned in being forced to learn from something that isn't suited to your style, but we are talking about his full language arts program for the next several years, I don't want something he or I dread. I own WWE, but doing the same thing week after week would be mind numbing for my oldest. I think CW & WWE/FLL are both GREAT programs... for other kids (and not because he is or isn't gifted). In fact, my tentative plan is to have my 2nd oldest use WWE/FLL. It's not that I don't think MCT is complete, but this particular child might do better with something more structured and predictable. 3. I was at the conference where they recorded the videos on the RFWP site. It was at the National Curriculum Network Conference at William & Mary, and the attendees were people who buy curriculum for the gifted programs of entire school districts. The theme this year will be "A Time For Excellence," and with workshops like "Technology Integration Knowledge in Action: Curriculum Based Learning Activity Types", and "Uncovering the Talents of Underserved Populations", the content is obviously not geared toward homeschoolers. On a side note, one of MCT's workshops this year will be -- "Five Essential Books For Gifted Children: This session will feature an unusual examination of five essential classics for gifted children. The focus will be not on the typical review of plot and characters, but on the inner characteristics of language that constitute the rigor gifted children need. The five books recommended are Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley; Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen; The Call of the Wild, by Jack London; The War of the Worlds, by H.G. Wells; and The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame". 4. What makes a "gifted" curriculum? Good question! Another workshop at this conference for gifted educators is "Srategies to Teach More Creatively While Teaching Creativity". Seriously? People pay money for this? Schools can't even agree on what to do with gifted kids, much less what to use to teach them -- or even what "gifted" means (MCT has a great essay on the RFWP website about schools who follow the "all kids are gifted" philosophy). MCT said that he has seen Ceasar's English used successfully in an 8th grade classroom to prepare the kids for high school level literature, and he has seen the same book used successfully in a 2nd grade classroom (though this was at a boarding school for gifted kids, not implying that all 7 year olds could handle CE!). Being smart, or reading well, or understanding without review does not make a child gifted. And whether or not a child is gifted will not determine who will excel with MCT's program and who will not. 5. Perhaps actual examples will help explain how MCT is different. In Paragraph Writing Made Easy (the cover states grades 4-8), the student is breifly introduced to the idea of a topic sentence, then given the paragraph "Birds are animals with distinctive characteristics. For example, all birds have feathers. Birds also have beaks rather than teeth and wings instead of arms. In addition, birds lay eggs." Then there is a paragraph explaining to the student how to determine what the topic sentence is (find the key word which is the word that is repeated the most -- that is the topic). This is followed by 5 similar examples, then 6 sample paragraphs that they are to find the key word, count the number of times it appears, then underline the topic sentence. "Cargo ships carry goods from one port to another. One kind of cargo ship is a container ship, which carries goods in large crates called containers. Another kind of cargo ship carries bulk food such as grains, which are poured down chutes into the ship's hold. A third kind of cargo ship carries trucks and trains, which can be driven off the ship. ... The key words are cargo ship and they are repeated four times. The topic of this paragraph is cargo ships." The next lesson is titled "Taking Notes in Outline Form" and students are given a worksheet with "I. A. B. C. D." lines to fill in for the paragraph "Worker bees are tremendously busy. They gather nectar from the flower. They build the honeycombs. They feed and clean the queen bee. They also protect the hive." In lesson 6 of Paragraph Town (written for grades 4-5), after being introduced to the Gettysburg Address in lesson 5, students are asked to look at each of the 3 paragraphs and write a short title for each one, indicating what the paragraph is about. Lesson 7 then discusses topic sentences at length through a conversation between two characters, including different ways of using a topic sentence. In the teachers' section, it says "Topic sentences not only must frame the idea for the other sentences in the paragraph, they must also (usually) contain a connecting bridge back to the preceeding paragraph, so that the writing flows well without becoming confusing. The goal of the topic sentence is that the point of the paragraph will be clear to the reader, that the reader will not have to struggle through the paragraph trying to figure out what it is about. This is accomplished by wording the topic sentence so that it captures the idea of the paragraph, and also by including words that distinguish the topic of this paragraph from the topic of the preceeding paragraph. ... Discussion Questions: Can you imagine a situation in which you did not want the reader to know the topic of a paragraph until the end of the paragraph? In what situation might such a strategy be an advantage?" It then goes on to examine the use of verbals in the Gettysburg Address (which students learned about in Grammar Town) "Examine the address closely; it is only ten sentences long; what would happen if all verbals were removed from it? How important was Lincoln's knowledge of how to use phrases correctly?" OK... now that I've typed all that... I forgot my other points... sigh.

MCT hasn't been the current flavor of the month, but in all the recent posts it may seem that way. It seems to be about this time of year that the "grass is greener" affect kicks in. I first read about MCT at the RFWP website, which I heard about from Rainbow Resource (where I purchased RFWP's Aesop's Fables language arts for 1st grade). When I first saw it mentioned on the old WTM boards, I looked at it again and thought it might be a good fit for my oldest. I went to a workshop two years ago that MCT was giving to school teachers, and was able to see all the materials laid out and I was blown away. It was like finding a perfectly comfortable shoe after trying on dozens of pairs. There is something about the program that just fits my oldest son and the way he learns. It is not a good fit for every learner or every family! If you are happy with fill-in-the-blank worksheets for grammar, or if you need to have 20 math problems to feel like your child has learned something, this program is NOT going to work well for you. It is a completely different approach, with humor and insight at its core. I have used the Island level with my oldest, spread out over 18 months because the Town level really takes it up a notch. I am glad we did this, he is very ready to tackle it now (we start in January). If you are happy with traditional text formats, then by all means stick with it! :)

I was at Lulu.com choosing between Kathy DeVore's (Barefoot Meandering) notebook covers, and saw that she has written this. http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/language-lessons-through-literature-levels-1-2/7523697 The info in the sample looks great -- has anyone used it? Thoughts? Experiences? What is the ratio of Bible to secular copywork? Will there be more levels? I can't find any info on it in google searches or the author's blog. I am planning to e-mail her and ask, but I thought I'd start here. Thanks. :)

The Brock would be great for a 4 year old. Ours holds up to regular use by my 4 older boys. The light intake part did crack when my husband knocked it off the bookshelf, but it still works fine so I haven't bothered to get it fixed. I keep the extra lens things out of reach, though, because my crew would lose them otherwise. It has a lifetime warranty and is easy to use. She will love it! :)

Is it Let's Read by Bloomfield?

This is so true! I taught in a very good public school (which I define as a very high level of parent involvement, almost NO discipline issues, kids who actually WANTED to learn, and they had 98% passing EOG), but there was only minimal differentiation of instruction (kids were grouped between the 4 teachers for math, based on their ranking in the previous year's EOGs, but they all used the same textbook). Everyone learned the same thing, received the same level of challenge, and moved at the same pace. Now with the No Child Left Behind, it seems like they have just lowered the bar. Certainly there are exceptions, I know -- but even at the "good" school I taught at, they classified one girl in my class as special ed because they were worried she wouldn't pass the EOG and special ed students don't have their scores figured into the class average (teacher bonuses are tied to the class average). This girl was definitely not needing special ed services, but went into middle and high school with that label on her record, and in her self-image. Would they try to classify my son as special ed because he still writes many of his letters backwards (I know it isn't dyslexia, but I could see their motivation to label him as such). Sorry for the sidetrack, I'm just thinking out loud. :)

I'm not Bill, but I have both books and have taught 8 levels of Singapore Math, so even though Bill has nearly 5,000 posts I'd like to think I am ALMOST as qualified as he is ( :001_tt2: ha ha). There is no need for both books. If you want to get a in-depth overview of the Singapore Model Method that can be easily read and understood in a short amount of time, get the Model Method. If you have been using Singapore through level 3 but have looked ahead to the higher levels and want to see how the models are used in very difficult word problems (including how to transition from the model method to algebra), get the Model Method. If you want more actual instruction on how to use the model method, get Handbook for Mathematics Teachers in Primary Schools. There is also a Handbook for Geometry Teachers in Primary Schools and Handbook for Mathematics Teachers in Secondary Schools. If you want enrichment activities, help with making tests (teachers in Singapore make their own), or just a good reference to sit on the shelf to refer to when needed, get Handbook for Mathematics Teachers. I also have the Liping Ma book (read it before we started Singapore Math), and while it was interesting about math in general, the Handbook has more practical help specific to Singapore Math.

My youngest sister's boyfriend just graduated from high school. I had heard good things about the school so I checked out their website, and I read that TWELVE students from that school had just received a perfect score on the National Latin Exam (they offer 7 levels of Latin, plus AP Vergil, Latin Lit, and 4 years of Greek). When we chatted at my sister's graduation party, I mentioned that I had read that and he said "Oh really?" like it was no big deal. I told him I was impressed and asked which Latin curriculum he had used there, and he didn't know. Hmph. (fyi -- they also offer seven levels of math classes beyond AP Calculus)

This book is helpful for understanding the "why" behind the model method used in Singapore (which you would also sort of get on your own after teaching the upper levels), as well as the "how" of the harder problems. I would recommend this book to someone who is contemplating Singapore Math and wants to get an overview of the method, or for someone who is gearing up for levels 5/6 when the word problems become more involved. It covers primary and secondary levels, but can be read in a day. It is not worth the price IMHO. It should be free online. :)

... to confuse matters... Johns Hopkins also has their guides to go along with it.

:bigear:

Me, and yes it was hard to take a leap of faith and commit to the whole program without adding in anything else. We have completed all of the Island level, and I will say that DS can write a pretty good sentence. :) We will be doing Paragraph Town starting in December, and the Paragraph Labs in the back do *seem* like they will have him writing a decent paragraphy by the end. I will let you know. ;) I listened to MCT speak at a conference 2 years ago, and was able to see all of the books at once -- I spent a long time looking through the progression between the 6 levels (ie all 6 grammar books, then all 6 vocab) and had Mr. Thompson and Mr. Kemnitz right there to personally answer my questions. I know you are all jealous. :lol: MCT does not cover spelling, punctuation, or any of the mechanics taught in other English programs because he feels that gifted students pick these things up intuitively from all the reading they do, or they are covered in yougner grades. That made me nervous. I have added AAS & Spelling Power, and also the Perfect Punctuation Pop-Up Book just to be sure the basics are covered. I also recently looked at Daily Grams from Easy Grammar (thanks, Dawn!), and this could be a painless way to be sure these things are covered also. I wish there was something like Daily Grams that wasn't 180 lessons, then we could alternate Daily Grams & MCT Practice. I have also considered doing the practice sentences as dictation, and discussing the punctuation as it comes up in the sentences. MCT is not for everyone. It is a big chunk of money to plop down (though good resale potential!), and I don't think I would have been as willing to jump in with both feet if there were anything else that would work as well for my oldest's learning style (there isn't, I looked).

Here are examples of two lessons on a similar topic: NEM: http://www.singaporemath.com/v/vspfiles/assets/images/sp_nemt1_3.gif DM: http://www.singaporemath.com/v/vspfiles/assets/images/sp_dmt1a3.pdf Difference between the series: http://www.singaporemath.com/FAQ_Secondary_Math_s/16.htm#Differences_Between_the_Series And here is the scope and sequence chart (I made a list of the differences, and they both contain about the same number of items that the other excludes): http://www.singaporemath.com/v/vspfiles/assets/images/SSSecMath2008.pdf