This may be helpful: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/showthread.php?t=345763

Great ideas - THANKS!!!

We are doing Level 1 with a group that is just-turned 4 up to 7 1/2 years old. So far, the activities have been very "adjustable" by the kids. Those who have stronger skills just make their project a little fancier, using the same supplies. For example, the first project is to draw a caterpillar and fill each segment with different lines. The 4 year old just made all hers stripes and polka dots. The bigger kids really experimented with swirls and checks and using bubble letters to fill in. All the projects we have done so far have been like that. So I don't know about the upper levels, but based on my experience with Level 1, I would say aim for the lower end of the age range and just let the older kids have a little more freedom. The video actually does most of the teaching, you don't need any artistic talent to do this program. :) Even so, could you pass this off to your olders to teach your younger?

YES!!! :) Thanks y'all - I really needed someone else to be excited with, and my husband's response was not cutting it!! :)

The best news EVER!!! I just busted MEREDITH reading after lights out. MEREDITH!!! Voluntarily reading!! Even being disobedient to read!!! I tried mightily to be stern, but I think she knows I was trying to cover up being thrilled!!! The child I thought would never learn to read!! This child is now 7+ years old. Three months ago, I was still listening to CCCCC-AAAA-TTTT, despite LOTS of gentle instruction via OPGTR. I don't know if it is the vision therapy, or the dyslexia tutor, or just developmental, but something has FINALLY clicked with her! Such a relief!!! I seriously came downstairs and cried. Chuck thinks I'm insane. That's OK - who cares what my husband thinks?? MEREDITH CAN READ AND SHE LIKES IT!!!!!!! YIPPEE!!!!

Hmm. I hadn't even thought about it being a modern person. I assumed the group wanted me to indicate some certain time period in history (ie Stone Age), and that's what has been stumping me!

Glad it's not just me!! :)

Our history group is doing an archaeological dig on Friday. (This is young elementary school kids.) Fun ideas for "artifacts" to bury?

I'd have never thought about that - THANKS!

I plan to teach it to my kids, but really only b/c they need to be able to read it. I I live in a GREAT school district, best in the state, but they barely even teach printing anymore. They say that hand writing things is going to become obsolete, and in the future it will not be a useful skill so they don't want to waste much time on it. :001_huh: Clearly I don't buy that, as I am working with my kids a lot on their handwriting, but if you get too many public schools doing that, there will be a whole generation that can't read cursive, and a person who exclusively writes in cursive is not going to be considered legible. I am thinking that italics might be the best compromise? We aren't far enough down the road to have made final decisions, but that's my thought for now.

In SC, the law says the children who turn 5 on or before Sept 1st go to kindergarten. Most kids who turn 5 in the summer, though, wait and go the following year, so your child is definitely very young to start kindergarten. I would *call* your child a preschooler for the 2012-13 school year, but teach him at his level. If he is ready to read or start math, go for it! If not, that's fine too!

I didn't think of it either until after I watched the video the first time and realized that I had bypassed 1000 cheap markers just like they were using on the video, and instead purchased really expensive fancy art markers! :)

There are lots and lots of old posts about this - if you search you will get more opinions that you can possibly imagine! This family has been in and out of CC several times, and reading about their journey was immensely helpful for me. http://accidentalhomeschooler.blogspot.com/search/label/Classical%20Conversations I truly think whether or not it is for you depends on: - what you are looking for - CC is primarily memory work - either you provide the context, or there is no context - are you comfortable with that? If not, is it worth sacrificing the time for the other benefits (a class of friends, practice on presentations, science experiments, art projects, etc.)? - whether or not you fit in with the group and are in line with their expectations. The group south of me is made up of very fundamentalist Christians. The group north of me is very liberal hippy types. One is very high pressure, high talent - they work hard and most of the campus makes Memory Master. The other is very laidback - more a get-together group with a side of learning. They haven't had a MM in ages, if ever. I would not be super-comfortable in either of those groups. Thankfully the one near me is somewhere in the middle! You need to visit the campus before making a final decision. This is important enough that I am driving past a new startup group 2 blocks from my house to get to my old group this year. I may transfer after this year, but only after seeing the makeup of the new group and deciding whether or not it would be a good fit! :)

I *think* tagboard is just heavyweight cardstock, or lightweight posterboard. I would buy one of those two, depending on the size you need. Yes, Crayolas are wax crayons. The easel brush is the hard one. When you go to the paint section of Hobby Lobby or Michaels, the labels don't say "easel brush". They will have the measurements, but there will be several different kinds with that measurement. I would watch the video and see if you can figure out whether it is flat or angled or round, and how long, and that kind of thing, and then go look through the ones labeled 3/4 inch and get the one that looks like the video.

My kiddos went through preschool, where they practice counting a LOT. I thought they would never quit counting, but they finally did! The youngest (who just finished preschool in May) still forgets and counts all the time. I just prompt her every time I see her finger moving "wait - you know this - you don't need to count! Stop and look - does it have a middle? No? So what number is it?". As for the games, start with the ones from the Appendix - you don't need the whole game book yet. We sang that song every single time there was an opportunity. We sang it with me singing the main line and them the numbers. Then vice versa. Then me signing every other word and them the in betweens. Then backwards. Then when getting out silverware. "Hmm - I need 6 forks" sing that line in the song. "Hey - there are 7 geese - see?" Break out in song! Etc. etc.

Are you talking young 4s or almost 5s? P4/5 is perfect for kindergarten (5 year olds).

I'm not doing a lot of drilling (other than CC memory work), but I do commonly say "tell Daddy about xxx" to review. I also rotate in the books we read previously, CDs we listened to previously, etc. a LOT.

Hum the appropriate line from the song when he gets stuck to give him a hint. If you practice the games enough, he will start knowing 5 & 1 is 6. I wouldn't start over - just keep moving! Level A is about exposure & developing comfortable familiarity with the material. It all gets repeated at Level B, which was the original beginning point of the series. If he was *confused* about how you knew 5 & 1 was 6, I would take a break and come back in 6 months. But if he understands but just hasn't fully learned it, I would keep on trucking, and playing those games as much as you can stand! :)

I don't think you need to see quantities over 5. What you need is 5 and then the others. The trick is not trying to come up with the sum, but instead noticing the parts. "My abacus has 5 blue beads and 2 yellow beads - show me on your fingers how many that is. Yep - 5 on your blue hand and 2 on your yellow hand." They don't even need to say the word 7 - just get the 5 & 2 on abacus, fingers, tally sticks, and tiles. That, and singing Yellow Is the Sun about a gazillion times. (We held up fingers each time we sang it - all seven then five and two waved forward separately.) Oh, and we also played those card games quite a bit. You know the 3 sets of cards, one with tally sticks, one with fingers, and one with beads? Play memory or else the other game where you each flip a card & state the number, then the person with more gets a tally stick. We played those a LOT.

Thank you thank you! I have spent the last THREE HOURS trying to get the stupid thing activated. DH has taken over now. Hopefully it will be worth it!!

I just got an iPhone for my bday. I am SO clueless. Before this, I had the free phone you get for signing up with Verizon. :) I am trying to figure out what I use it for. I am trying to come up with USEFUL things, not games or other ways to waste time! If I have a book that I have read out load a gazillion times to my preschooler, can I record myself reading it, then somehow get it onto a CD for her to take to naptime with it and the book? What else do you use yours for?

I have a friend with triplets whose birthdays are 3 weeks and a few days apart. She had the first at 29ish weeks, and they managed to stop her labor and keep the other two cooking for 3 more weeks before they couldn't hold the delivery off any more. :)

I keep telling myself "SWB says "reading is easy, reading is easy", in encouraging us to know we have the ability to homeschool. But I've overthought this to the point that I am pulling my hair out! (I've done that about quite a few things lately, come to think of it.)

Yes. I am Southern, but definitely not with a rednecky-type accent - just a generic Southern accent. (I was in speech therapy for years, and most Southerners don't think I have an accent at all, though folks from other parts of the country know I am from the south.) The only true problem I have faced so far with phonics/pronunciation is not really hearing a difference between "e" and "i". I guess I'm not *really* saying "awl" instead of "all", I was just typing it that way b/c it was the closest thing I could come up with make it obvious what I was asking. The a in father sounds more like a short O to me. Maybe I'm losing it...

Ditto - what an awesome resource!!