Do a search on Singapore EarlyBird before buying it. We hated it here, and that's a common sentiment. Apparently Singapore gets much better starting with 1A. MEP is fun, and different. My kids call it "Puzzles" - they don't realize it is math. The C-rods go with Miquon, and the abacus goes with RightStart. I don't think I would buy the manipulatives unless I was buying the curriculum.

We LOVE LOVE LOVE RightStart! Level A is perfect for kindergarten. We also do Miquon (Orange book) and MEP (Reception Level) on the side.

Not a sport, but my kids are in a lot of therapy - PT, OT, & vision therapy, so 4 days a week we have those appointments in the middle of our school day. I have a humungous Land's End bag that has school in it. Each kid has a backpack with their pencil box, glue sticks, scissors, small write-erase board, folder to carry completed work home, etc. We do school everywhere. The lobby if we have to, but the therapy offices know that we homeschool, and we are often able to use their conference rooms. I try to do skills that everyone is working on when we are all together, and focus on individual weaknesses when I have them one-on-one. It has taken some real practice to get the kids to understand that we have to X amount of work every day, and they can focus whereever we are, or they do it in the evening instead of doing something fun with Daddy. Think through which of your subjects are portable, and which aren't. RightStart math? NOT portable! Too many manipulatives. Reviewing memory work? Very portable! I do have to unpack everything, think through the next day's stuff, and repack almost every night. It shouldn't be as complicated as I make it, but it works.

Hmmm - aren't you devious?? I like it!!! Why didn't I think of that??

THANK YOU for the heads up - just bought one!!!

THANKS!!

Part of the challenge is that the triplets were preemies and have some lingering developmental issues, and the kid with the handwriting issue is the singleton, who is completely typical and being the baby, the most stubborn and dramatic. New things are hard for the big kids, and after going through the entire HWOT preschool program numerous times with them, they are FINALLY getting the hang of printing. I don't dare introduce cursive to them yet! And although the baby would probably LOVE to learn cursive and learn it easily, I can't teach her before teaching them. It's a mess. I'm thinking about sending her on to public school next year just because it is SO discouraging to the big kids to have their younger sister learn everything so much faster and more easily, and she does NOT make any attempt to be discreet about it. Nothing like your baby sister rubbing things in your face, huh?

I have an Excel spreadsheet with subjects down the side and grades across the top, and I try to add curricula that gets mentioned frequently (like MCT) so I don't forget about it. It's really only fleshed out for the next 3-4 years though. I have it more to put comments about things like the age to start cursive & what needs to be done first, notes about how far to get in OPGTR before starting spelling, etc. 6th grade has some sort of comment about really making sure all math basics are solidified. All sorts of knowledge picked up from people here who have been there done that, so I don't forget later! :)

An occupational therapist can help desensitize children to these issues. I had a kid who struggled mightily, and now is almost normal. Truly amazing progress, thanks to an amazing OT.

I have always heard age 7 as being the age that you start to get concerned.

check out this thread: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=326140&highlight=math

We love to have Silly-Brations after every major story. The roller coaster is our fav. Yep, I'm a geek! :)

This totally summarizes my concern! My plan was to teach phonics, and not touch writing/spelling/grammar before they were reading well. And not touch creative writing before writing/spelling/grammar were firmly in place. My kids have a different plan! One of these is the kid who I didn't teach handwriting to when she asked b/c she was only 3 1/2, and it wasn't developmentally appropriate, and she figured out her own way to make all the letters and now refuses instruction b/c she thinks she already knows how to do it. I have fighting that battle for 2+ years. I do NOT want another one of those situations!! Alright, I'll just leave it alone unless they ask. THANKS!!!

OK, I have put a number chart that goes from 0 to 109 on the wall, as well as under her placemat (easier for her to track with a finger). I found some "fairy and friends" flashcards that have two cards per number (one with the numeral and word, one with the number of objects), and I have been having her work to put those in order several times a day. It's amazing how much excitement erupts over anything with fairies! I hadn't even thought about my wording, but have changed that. Hopefully that is less confusing! I quizzed her with the dictation. She can do write the number I say, and put the correct number of items. (The 2 and the 3 are consistently being written backward, but that is consistent with the handwriting issues we have with letters - she is going back into occupational therapy as soon as a space opens up.) I have been having her do a lot of dot-to-dot pictures (she's my artsy kid, so she loves that). Hopefully we will get through this soon!!

My kids all LOVE to try and write. I haven't encouraged it AT ALL. Two are reading, and two are still sounding out CVC words. One of my 6.5 year old nonreaders just drew a nativity scene and wrote: Miree ANd Jothise HAd A BAe His NAm e Wuz Jese. (Mary & Joseph had a baby. His name was Jesus.) Yes, this is the same child who constantly tells me she can't read. Hates sounding stuff out for me, but will do it to label her pictures. They all do these kinds of exercises all the time on their own. So what should I be doing? 1 - encouraging & correcting? 2 - encouraging but not correcting? 3 - discouraging until they are reading and we have started spelling & grammar & writing? 4 - only helping when they ask "how'dja spell xxx?" THANKS!!

I don't have a child that way (too young), but *I* do it! My normal handwriting is complete henscratch. When I write something that other people are going to need to read, I make the effort, and my handwriting is perfect, if somewhat juvenile. But it's so much faster to do it my normal way, and I can read it, so when I am taking notes or making a grocery list, I'm lazy! :)

I know this is old, but this paragraph really struck a cord. I have triplets who were born several months prematurely. Everyone said developmentally they should catch up by age 2, but they just didn't. I spent years pushing and working and stressing, trying to catch them up. Finally I just gave up, and decided to hold them back a year, and work with them at the level they are. Best decision EVER! They are SO much happier, and I am SOOOOO much happier! It doesn't matter how old your child is in reality. Really, it doesn't. It doesn't matter if he is actually 12! It doesn't matter if he is ahead or behind. All that matters is finding out where he is, and moving him along at a pace that is challenging but do-able. If he can't do FLL3, you need to either go back a level or two, or go to something else. Even if you had to go back to the very beginning of the series, it's the right thing to do if you are meeting the child at his level. There is no sense in continuing a program that he isn't getting anything out of b/c it is way above his head. It is SO HARD to admit that your child just may never be at the same level as his peers. Once you do it, and focus instead on meeting him where he is and working at his pace rather than focusing on "catching up", life gets a lot better! Take the plunge! My assumption is that we will get to the same place everybody else does, we will just be a year or two late. That's OK! :)

We do skills (math, reading, handwriting) + Bible daily. We also do memory work review daily (mostly in the car) - it rotates through, so we cover everything in the same order, but not all in the same day - we just pick up where we left off and keep going. We rotate through the content/other subjects. Some days we don't get to any, and some days we get through several. I have a running list of "other" subjects, and we just pick up where we left off. When we finish the list, we start back over.

Definitely. I am not sure my kiddos would EVER have gotten the hang of writing without those wooden pieces! And my youngest (who didn't use the wooden pieces) has the funkiest constructions you ever saw. I really wish we had gone through the wooden pieces stage with her.

They do have a "custom" tab and a "notes" tab in the library. I use custom to categorize - all the Anatomy books in one bin and so on - I can easily print my library by category to figure out what is supposed to be in each bin. As I have time, I copy the description from Amazon or type my own description into the "notes" tab. Also as I have time, I look up the reading level & interest level on the Scholastic website and add that to the "notes" tab.

Homeschool Tracker - you just go into the "library" and input the ISBN (10 or 13 digit number from the back of the book) and it looks up and provides the full title (including series of applicable), author, publisher, call number, etc. I ended up setting up a separate "school" just for this so I didn't mingle reading books with math texts and so on. I'm sure there is a way to easily segregate, but I couldn't find it quickly.

The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home (Third Edition) by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise The Latin-Centered Curriculum: A Home Educator's Guide to a Classical Education by Andrew A. Campbell The Core: Teaching Your Child the Foundations of Classical Education by Leigh A. Bortins

One of 6.5 year olds has a problem. She can recite her numbers. She can easily count items past 20. She can recite the numbers backwards. I cannot get her to understand "the number before". "What comes before 5?" "Um, um, 14? 2? 0?" I've tried showing her with manipulatives, I've had her count down, I've shown her on a number line. We have clearly missed something vital somewhere along the line, and I don't know how to get this click! Thoughts?

RightStart sets a great conceptual foundation We are also using MEP (free) for thinking/puzzling through, as well as Miquon (discovery based).

How does this compare to Core Knowledge? Is it about the same?