They are supposed to come out with a pre-algebra...don't know when. http://www.kineticbooks.com/ Beth

I'm not totally sure what kind of kid he is. He thinks a little more on the creative side of things and can repeat verbatum adventures in odyssey conversations he hears on tape. He's really an out of the box thinker. Beth

I just noticed that they won't have a home instructor's guide for the 5b standards edition. AAARG! I don't want to buy the super expensive teacher's guide - all I really want is the answers. I really want to stick with standards. Any solution to this other than me doing the whole book over the summer so I can have the answers quickly? Beth

He's reading frog and toad, just finished HWT 1st grade level (still working on forming letters correctly) and is trying to spell out words. I'm not big into grammar for younger than 3rd grade, but am interested in getting him starting to memorize that stuff and am interested in the narration/copywork that FLL holds. I don't want to push too much too soon. What do you think? BEth

Ds #1 learned the names of letters first. He reads just fine and had no problems. When learning to read, I had to remind him of what the letter said. He reads well and above his grade level - his spelling is not too shabby either. Ds #2 learned all the letter sounds first due to the leap frog letter factory. He learned to read a little earlier and a little faster. He also seems to be more interested in writing words down and has figured out a lot of spelling words on his own. I used to think that spelling instruction should be left until they're reading really well, but with this kid, I don't want him learning the wrong way to spell words. I need to jump ahead of him a bit. He learned over the past 6 months or so what the letters names are also. It could just be the learning style of the kiddos too, but this is my limited experience. Beth

Anything that has a video for the teacher to learn how to teach the program or a bunch of chapters to explain how the program works(such as spelling power), I won't even look at. If it's not clear cut from the beginning, it's too complicated I feel. It's like having a huge manual on how to operate my camera - didn't ever look at it. I'm sure I'm not getting the full benefits from my camera, but I don't care - it can take some great pictures without me having to read the whole thing... Beth

We have gotten rid of most TV just due to the fact that we live in a digital tv dead zone and the old rabbit ears only get so much reception. Sure we could get cable, but have purposely chosen to not have so many programs. So, they know about spongebob and others only based on what other kids have told them or the occassional tv program at someone else's house (which is few and far between now since Legos have entered the picture). I am finding that my children are starting to use bigger words than their peers - every once in a while, my son will say something to his ps friend and I'm wondering if his friend wonders why he uses such big words in his speech. We are doing TOG which is forcing him to read books other than junk food books. I am considering how to make our homeschool more rigorous without burning out my kiddos - I want them to want to learn, but it seems like such a tiresome uphill battle in this culture for their mind. Sure, I want them to be responsible citizens and workers, but for the sake of their Lord, not for the sake of the state. Beth

I usually buy all my books, but now with two levels next year, I'm re-considering...I will buy all the literature books because they have the worksheets. They also go out of print at times, so it's just easier to have on hand for future kids. yes- they do give you a replacement book and worksheet on the site, but I prefer to keep it as simple as possible. I also go through the inter-library loan and see how many libraries have the book. For example, if 10 libraries have a particular book, there's a good chance I can get it. If only 2 libraries have it, it's a book I might consider buying. I will also buy books that are needed for more than two weeks. Beth

:lurk5:

What is important to memorize in the grammar stage? history? science? parts of speech? We just are lacking in this area. Also, what are good resources for it? Beth

Is there such a thing as a dictation book that has passages that get progressively harder? I know I can take dictation out of their reading, but I know it will happen more often if I have a book we can go through. I'd rather not have a workbook - just a little nice book... Beth

I like Amazon because a lot of those TOG books are buy 3 get the fourth one free.

My third ds learned all his letter sounds with the Leap Frog letter factory. VERY painless. Love that video. We have done very short lessons. 10 minutes tops unless he chooses to read more. He liked hiding his reading sentences around the room and then getting them one by one to read. It was sort of a game that he made up. With my 2nd ds, he was a wiggly/had to move kind of boy. I would write all the words he was practicing on paper and play a sort of musical chairs with it. Where you stopped, you had to read that word. I would also put them on one end of the room and he would have to run and get a word and read it to me. We also did sight words on cards and tried to get them through a hoop when he read them correctly. It's all about the game... We did Alpha Phonics by the way - no bells or whistles. No writing. Beth

I stopped with him almost 5 years ago. Beth

My last nursing baby is now 5. He is WAYY finished with breastfeeding. I am producing a bit of milk again...We adopted a 2 year old 6 months ago now, not sure if that has any bearing. Why am I doing this? Beth

I have a son who was born with a rare chromosome disorder that makes down syndrome a walk in the park. When we first found out, people left us alone - I'm sure they didn't know what to say. We had to beg people to pray for us in person and comfort us because we were totally heartbroken. Don't leave your friend alone. There is a grieving they will go through that is very different. They have a child, but not the child they wanted. They never really asked for down syndrome, but now they have to figure out a way to grieve the down syndrome, but not grieve the child. It's hard because you love your child, but not the thing they came with even though it's so much a part of that child. We have this joy/sorrow thing all mixed together. It's a hard road. When my son went through a big surgery recently, my friend gave me a list of things she could do for me. Included on the list, was drive my kids to play dates or to sports things, go grocery shopping...ect...The first year is really tough with these kiddos because you have to unwrap the package to see how best to help them. There are often unknown medical problems. So, the first year will be very tough considering she has 4 other kiddos. Beth

I am doing TOG with a K next year. i am focusing on the literature, and maybe add in a history core reading each week. We won't do the student pages because of his age and will do an activity every other week. I don't do the read alouds suggested, but maybe will do a read aloud from the UG literature. History for him is gravy--he needs the majority of his day on the basics. For ds who is 9 currently, I schedule out (I tend to schedule like a sonlight grid - he reads something every day) all the history core, history in depth, and literature which he reads himself. He also does the student page. We do an activity once every two weeks. I haven't done the read alouds and sometimes not even the church history just because of little miss 2 year old who likes to scream if she's being ignored. He spends less than 1/2 hour on his history and I count it as his literature/scheduled reading class. Next year, I have tentative plans to also include his writing into the mix - so he gets a lot of the basics included in his history - no seperate classes- all streamlined. Beth

So, I'm getting the impression 6a/6b is a lot of review. The standards editions seem like that is not so much the case. If they are review and a little more, it may be nice to try and teach him how to learn from a math textbook. I'll have to look a little more closely. My oldest is having medical issues and I'm looking to ease up on teaching time a little more just for my stress levels (of course I have the mother who says"put them in school" - as if that would solve my problems!). Beth

I like the idea of chalkboard or video text, but I don't think ds is ready for a video instructor. I've been tossing around in my mind to just teach him algebra and all the higher maths, but don't know if I have the time to do it. It would be nice because then I could make some cash being an upper math tutor. Not a big deal - I went to college with the intentions on being a high school math teacher but couldn't handle the giant classroom situation. 150 kids per day in 5 classes- oy vey! Beth

I'm thinking of skipping Singapore 6A/6B and going straight into TT pre-algebra. He will have worked through Singapore 5B by this time. Did anyone else do this? It's mostly for the ease of my life since TT takes a lot less teacher time. I'm not a lover of TT and would prefer Singapore, but ds prefers TT and my life continues to be crazy so I need less me teaching stuff. Ds would be a young 5th grader for this. Beth

It seemed to me that the point of the article was to show that in their opinion, homeschoolers are teaching false information in science. I personally see it as a bash against Christian homeschoolers saying in effect that things they use for science are flat out lies. You could see that people picked up on this with some of the comments such as someone saying homeschoolers also admit that the holocaust never happened. So, I don't see it hurting the publishers of creation science materials but more so hurting the homeschool movement. It's like focusing on families that wait to teach their kids formal math or grammar or insert subject here until a certain age and using them as the example of all homeschoolers. It does a diservice to us all to be stereotyped. We're all very different in our approaches and you really can't lump us all together. Beth

We are using it for nightly devotions. It really is MUCH more appropriate for our 9 year old than our 5 year old. I think 9 would be a good age to start it. We read it aloud and discuss - usually very short sections. I think it's a little on the dry side. When I read it, I liven it up with intonations and little comments - it works. Beth

I am doing 5A with my son and I didn't get a guide for many of the same reasons you have. I wish I had it. Sometimes the textbook gives only problems for you to do, but no answers or how they got it. I am specifically thinking of the area of a triangle. I had to look online to figure out how to do it (I forgot how to calcuate them - imagine that!)because the examples in the textbook were so slim in explaination. So, next year when we do 5B, I DEFINATELY plan on buying the HIG. It's getting to a point also that I need the answers to problems just so that I can correct work and not have to do every problem myself. I don't have that kind of time. Beth

Maybe my problem is that I didn't really like the videos either...I'm kinda of an open and go type of gal. Maybe IEW just isn't for me. I did look at the index in the back of my TWSS and that looks doable. I may give that a try. Beth

I guess that's what I really want - a template to use for all the lessons appropriate for SWI-A. Not a lot of extra and examples and all those words in the teacher manual for the overall course. Beth