I like Progressive Phonics: http://progressivephonics.com/

I have the Patternables book -- I tore out the pages and laminated them. It's definitely been a success here, too.

I had no trouble downloading to a netbook. To answer someone else's question, yes, mine came zipped. I didn't have trouble unzipping them.

It's definitely not overkill to have them both. My kids like the progressive nature of the Mighty Mind designs, but they also like the pattern blocks. They seem to enjoy the variation of having both.

I chose the download; it's easy to make backup copies. Thus far, I've just printed the pages we needed, but I'm using MM as a supplement so I don't need to print every page.

Bearing in mind that I'm not terribly familiar with what's covered in each RightStart level, what about doing one of the following: 1) Just keeping on with the relevant RightStart games to prevent things from being forgotten. 2) Doing some of MEP 1 during the summer. MEP 1 covers addition and subtraction within 20, but has a great many interesting problems that are probably different from what is done in RightStart.

I have no idea whether the Children's Dictionary we have (DK Merriam-Webster) contains potentially objectionable words. I chose this particular one because it was available at the library used book sale for $1. It's sitting on the shelf right next to a standard collegiate dictionary and an encyclopedia. I have no objection to my children looking up any words it might strike their fancy to look up.

My daughter's birthday is at the beginning of November. In our area, the cut-off for school is September 1, and homeschoolers must register with the school district based on the child's age. This fall, she'll be a Kindergartner as far as the school district is concerned, and also as far as the language we use to describe her. This past year, we had no real academic expectations. I don't really agree with TWTM that preschoolers should be taught how to read, but since she was interested, I did teach her this year. We also did a fair amount of math work, at her request. But we didn't have any program of study for other subjects, and I wouldn't have worked with her on reading and math if she hadn't wanted to do it. I tend to think it's not a good idea to push academics onto young children unless they are obviously clamoring for it, so I would advise against considering this your child's "Kindergarten year". If he happens to complete Kindergarten work, he can simply enter into his "Kindergarten year" already having met some of the expectations. My daughter, for example, will enter her "Kindergarten year" having already completed Kindergarten-level reading and math. Since we're homeschooling, that doesn't matter -- I can meet her where she is in each subject. She doesn't need to be a "First Grader" in order to do "First Grade math."

If your husband's main concern is that you be doing something, would he respond well to a schedule of what you'll do? For example, library story time once a week, nature walk twice a week, museum visit twice a month, reading aloud 30 minutes daily, art project twice a week, swimming twice a month, etc. Perhaps if he sees that you'll be providing lots of great learning activities, he'll be more on board. I agree with musicianmom, you can't predict what kids are going to learn and when, but you can plan interesting and fun things to do. Oh, and for the record- I intentionally avoided even thinking about academic stuff for my kids at this age, and they learned just fine!

Thanks for the suggestion, I sent it to my friend! I also passed along to him the TOPScience web site: http://topscience.org

A friend of mine's second grade daughter is really bored with the limited science instruction she receives in school. Math is her favorite subject. He asked me whether there are any materials he could use with her and her 4th grade brother to introduce them to physics, with a certain amount of math. He's looking for something experimental. I don't know anything about physics for elementary-age children, since mine are still so young. Do you have any suggestions for secular resources of this kind?

My personal recommendation is to get the Miquon teachers' books and the first two student books. Start with that, and see where it takes you. You might decide to continue with Miquon through all six student books without using another program, to supplement with another program, or to switch entirely, depending on how things are going. Many people switch to Singapore only when they are entirely finished with Miquon.

Like I said, I don't know all that much about either RightStart OR Montessori, so perhaps I'm out to lunch on the whole thing. And I definitely wasn't criticizing the RightStart curriculum. I know it's not for me, but that's because I want the pleasure of doing my own thing, and I think I'd find RightStart stifling. I'm sure RightStart is a great math curriculum, it's just not my style.

Oh, I wasn't trying to suggest that Miquon would be less work for the teacher than RightStart. But I didn't get the sense the original poster was concerned about how much work a curriculum might be. I thought RightStart might not be a good fit for her because it sounded like she wanted more of a DIY approach. I could, of course, be reading her wrong. :)

I don't know that much about RightStart, but isn't it very "open and go"? As in, telling the teacher exactly what to do and in what order? I wouldn't really have thought that was what the original poster was looking for, since I thought one of the hallmarks of the Montessori method was letting the kid have a lot of control over what they wanted to do. In that respect, Miquon would be a better fit because the student can follow their own path through the curriculum -- they can pursue each area as long as it interests them. But of course, this is coming from someone who is not that familiar with either RightStart or Montessori, so I could be totally off base!

The Miquon workbooks and teacher manuals are all you need to go with the Cuisenaire rods. You won't need any other Cuisenaire rod activity books. Lots of people switch to Singapore after Miquon, but I have no personal experience to add since my oldest is still young. We're doing MEP together with Miquon, so we may just continue with that.

I think Miquon would be a good fit for you. It's a complete curriculum through third grade, and you can easily supplement it with your favorite Montessori activities. It's intended to be liberating for students and teachers, and you're encouraged to add your own ideas to it.

I have been having so many joyful homeschooling moments lately. Yesterday my daughter and I were doing some math (an entirely optional activity for her, she's 5.5 and won't start Kindergarten until the fall) -- here's how I wrote it up in my blog: The highlight for me was when I tried a new approach to even and odd numbers. We've only touched on them briefly before, and she clearly didn't get it then. This time, I took out some of Erika's glass "math stones", in groups of 2, 3, 4, and 5. I asked her to divide each group into two equal parts, and then explained that the groups she could divide into two equal parts were even numbers of stones, and the ones she couldn't divide into two equal parts were odd numbers of stones. We then took this further into 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. The cool part was when she started saying things like, "I don't really need to divide these into two parts, because I know that 8 is equal to 4 plus 4." and "I don't really need to divide these into two parts, because I know that 9 is equal to 4 plus 5, so it's an odd number." Watching her make discoveries like that is amazing.

In my junior high school back in 1983 or so, it was typical for the bright students to take Algebra in 8th grade. The super-bright kids might even take it in 7th grade. Average students took Algebra in 9th grade. The high school also offered 2 years of Calculus, to accommodate those students who took Algebra in 7th grade or who took extra math somewhere along the line (in summer school, for example). So I wouldn't say this is a new trend. I took Algebra in 8th grade, but I'm sure it would have been fine in 7th grade as well.

I entirely agree with what other respondents have said. As long as she is getting most of it, it's OK that she doesn't understand everything right away. My approach is to make sure I get back to it, perhaps approaching it in a different way or building up to it slowly, so that she eventually does understand it. But we continue to work on other things also. My daughter is also 5, and I think MEP year 1 contains some pretty challenging stuff.

I think your daughter is probably ready to start Year 1, but not necessarily to do it straight through. Be prepared to go sideways and slow down if needed.

I think this one is from the same original manufacturer as the one we did, so I just wanted to comment that we did manage to do it indoors without a huge mess. We took a large, flat box (only about 3" high), and lined it with newspaper. Then we did all the work inside the box. Yes, a bit of dust did get onto the table, but was easily mopped up with a damp rag.

My daughter recently completed, with a lot of help from mom & dad, the 4M Dig A Dino Velociraptor: http://www.amazon.com/4M-Dig-A-Dino-Velociraptor/dp/B001JKU3EI/ We bought it at a museum. Anyway, she had a lot of fun. It was difficult and took hard work -- definitely not something that will be done in an hour. It's easier if you use a wet cloth to make the section you're working on damp. It comes with good instructions, and the finished skeleton is nice. It's recommended for ages 8 and up, and I'd expect that your kids would be able to manage it without help.

It seems to me that this is one of those things that depends on the child. We usually do about 4 lessons a week, and we started on lesson 27 although the first 15-20 lessons were mostly review. I think it likely that we will finish in about a year. We didn't start using the OPGTR until my daughter was past 5 and had reached a stage when she was asking for academic work and able to grasp it with relative ease. If we'd started it when she was 4 or 4.5, it would have taken longer, because she just wasn't at the same stage of readiness.

Thanks for sharing your experience. Yes, I found this idea concerning when I was reading the book. I don't know much about dyslexia, though. Thanks for commenting. One of the reasons why I wish I'd read this book sooner is that although we were already using a phonics program (OPGTR), this book has given me a better understanding of how to use it. I think I'm now much better equipped to answer some of my daughter's questions, and to explain things more clearly.