Finally got around to blogging about the brand new schoolroom setup! enjoy :) http://homeschoolinginthemountians.blogspot.com/2010/09/finally-our-new-schoolroom-in-all-of.html

I looked at the publisher and through rainbow resource and it ended up a few dollars cheaper through the publisher when shipping was involved.

for some reason I LOVE mastery in math but when I looked at AAS and used it a bit I just really didn't hit it off :tongue_smilie: I felt kind of overwhelmed and lost even though it was scripted. I don't want to hate what I am teaching IKWIM so I sold the AAS. With DSD 9yo having so many probems and begging for help with spelling DH wanted me to go ahead and get AAS again which I did impulsively but I am thinking we'll be sending it right back and going with PR instead. I am just hoping that PR1 sticks and just ins't too fast for her since this is an area she struggles in. If it ends up being the case then I guess we'll use AAS with her since it is more geared to kids with LDs and difficulties and we know she has ADHD and suspect dyslexia

So I am still working on this area for and currently we are on lesson 36 in OPGTR but are kind of paused and just playing games until I can figure out where to go. Our long term plan is to go into PR in 1st but here now in Pre-k with a DS begging to read I want to give him the best start possible with the smallest chance of fixing boo boos later from teaching him in less effective manner. My biggest worry is sight words. I don't like them and would rather teach them phonetically to avoid a problem later. OPGTR teaches them as sight words which I am not liking. So do I stay with OPGTR and supplement to get the phonetic teaching of the sight words or do I switch him now to an OG based system? The ones I am looking at per advice and would like to know more about are: Dancing bears Recipe for reading sound beginnings sensational strategies My questions are: Which of these is the most teacher friendly? I love that with OPGTR it's open and go. All I need to teach it is my card set, some magnets and the book and it is pretty scripted. What are you experiences with these programs? Did one work brilliantly for you or is there one that stands out as not working as well? If I went with dancing bears what would I need to buy? There are a ton of books on the site and I am confused as to what I'd need if I chose this route. Thanks so much again ladies you have been such a big help!

Thank you all SOOOOO much for the advice, answers and help! I have been so back and forth and torn over this decision it's crazy :lol: I am thinking I will most likely get PR1 and at least physically look through it and watch the DVDs to get a better idea. I had AAS a while back and I tried to use it for the 9yo but I was overwhelmed by it for some reason. :001_huh: I am still unsure what to do your my 9yo as it would only get done here and not at her mom's house. Her mom is um not very academically concerned and wants to be the "fun" parent rather then the one who makes them work so it is up to DH and I to help DSD out unfortunately. She is a total guesser in that she will not sound out words and doesn't have the skills to segment them and figure them out. She makes the same mistakes over and over especially with substituting sounds. like she will spell "sit" as set because she confuses the sounds and letters. They have started into multisyllabic words in 3rd grade now and it is pretty over her head and she is getting lost quickly. She is reading on probably a 1st grade maybe 2nd grade level but if you were to ask her what happened in most books she would not be able to tell you. The 12yo gets good grades in spelling so I am really unaware of any problems in that area however she just totally doesn't get a lot of stuff when reading. She has a lot of problems with summarizing and deriving the meaning in the writing. For instance I had her reading little women this summer and filing out a reading comprehension packet as she went through the book. For character development/descriptions she would put things like tall, thin, dark hair rather then about the character. She gets stuck on the literal words rather then the meaning behind them. I really wish AAR would be coming out sooner! I have DS1 begging me daily for reading lessons and I am just hesitant because I don't want to take a wrong approach and then have to fix it later. As far as he goes I am really leaning towards doing PR1 with writeshop primary for first grade. Then in 3rd grade adding in MCT. I don't foresee going through to Latin road so we'd be doing MCT full time after PR4 anyway. I am most concerned with giving him and the other littles a really strong foundation in phonics. If it is just grammar and composition in PR then there wouldn't be too much overlap when we start MCT and it might just complement each other and reinforce the material. If it ever gets overwhelming then we'll know to back off some too. Does this sound like an ok plan or am I being too ambitious? again thanks so much!

:D

I was dead set on it prior to marriage :lol: Dh is a very logical man though and after hearing my reasoning and reading up on it himself he agreed there is no better way for our kiddos to be taught then by us :) So there was never any debate or argument just the two of use figuring out HOW to homeschool instead of whether or not we should :)

bump :) thanks for the advice so far ladies :)

thanks for the link it gives me something to think on. But if it's just in the TM and only a few of the books I think we'd be fine :)

DH trusts my decisions in homeschooling. I will ask his advice from time to time or share curricula with him that I find really exciting so he does know what is planned. When he's not really busy at work he'll have me save a subject for him that he can work with the kids on when he gets home as he does like to be involved. :)

we are using OPGTR as our "spine" for learning to read and were just planning on using AAS to supplement that so where OPGTR has sight word cards we'd use AAS or PR to teach the phonetic way rather then sight words. We are on step 36 of OPGTR and DS just learning a few sight words got thrown off and we've been working all week getting him back to sounding out rather then guessing. He is already blending pretty well and can sit and read some lower level library books and bob books so he's pretty determined to go all the way with the reading :) One more question I had is...... Is PR secular? We have a blend going on in our home and like to teach our religion separately so the ability to use it secularly without heavy modifications would definitely be a big point as well.

Yes I have more questions and I didn't want to take over the early reader thread completely with them :lol: Ok I am so on the fence and sorta confused and my head is spinning. Gotta love indecisiveness! :tongue_smilie: So let me break it down to make it easier for you all and me. :) I have 4 (soon to be 5) kiddos to figure something out for. The 2 older ones (my DSDs) are 12yo and 9yo. Right now we have 50% custody and they are here every other week with us. This may be changing though to being with us only weekends and summers. The 12yo is pretty good as far as spelling goes but greatly laking in reading ability, comprehension and writing. The 9yo had a really hard time learning to read in PS and has horrible spelling. DSD1 wants help with writing mainly so we are starting writeshop with her. DSD2 is embarrassed by her spelling problems and wants help. Now I also have a pre-ker who loves books and is so very eager to learn to read like a big boy. He knew is letters and sounds by age 2 and we started OPGTR a bit before he turned 3. I would rather teach him full phonics then any sight words to avoid any guessing and strengthen his reading as he learns. I have OPGTR I just reordered AAS level 1&2 and the first reader I keep looking at phonics road and really liking what I see however we are pretty set on our other LA. (MCT with writeshop) However if phonics road can really give my kids a great foundation in phonics, reading and spelling then I can justify the cost in the long run even with not using 100% of the program. So my questions are: If you are using it to remediate older kids would it be better to go through AAS 1-3 then into phonics road 2? If I go with phonics road how easy or difficult would it be to modify it to not use the other aspects of LA (composition and grammar)? Would the program be as effective or worth it if I wasn't using the composition and grammar parts? If you were to start with a younger child would you first use AAS and OPGTR to teach them to read not going too in depth with the spelling rules and then go into PR1 come K or first grade? If I used AAS to teach my DSs to read would levels 1-2 be sufficient keeping in mind that I would go into PR1 and hit a lot of it again? Or should I just stick with AAS for the whole ride and stop drooling over PR entirely? :lol: thanks so much for your help and reading my crazy ramblings!

We have SSL and I really liked the setup and look of LFC compared to all the other curricula I looked at but I am a bit apprehensive about it's stance as far as if it is too religious or whatnot as we prefer secular materials and teaching religion in our own way. Thanks!

OK I have another question for you all :tongue_smilie: So if we go the route of AAS 1-3 now and then decide to go from there into PR level 2 would we have any holes or anything? Also can you do PR without the grammar and composition or would that make it not worth it? We are MCT people here so we are covered as far as other LA goes. :D I sat yesterday during the littles nap time and went through the PR website, watched the sample video (with my mom who is a 2nd grade teacher) and we really like what we saw and how things were put forth. Now I know why I avoided looking at it for so long cause I had a feeling I would like it and it has a pretty hefty price tag :lol: But it would even out if I used it for 4 kids right :tongue_smilie:

will be stopping on my way home tomorrow to get play sand and a rubbermaid box now :lol: That is a great idea and DS would LOVE it!

I am about to put through my AAS order and just wanted to double check on one thing first :tongue_smilie: My DS is young (4yo) and he isn't quite ready for writing yet so would be a huge problem to modify AAS to skip the writing and just use the tiles for now until he is ready for that part? He is really loving the learning to read process and is eager to get to where he can read the big boy books we have collected for him. We plan on continuing with OPGTR but skipping learning "sight words" and do the AAS right alongside. I may take a break though with the OPGTR to begin the AAS and get through the beginning of book one then pick back up with it and do them alongside. Just when we come to "sight words" in OPGTR we'll approach them by teaching them phonetically rather then by memorization. I can say that I did notice that after learning the first few "sight words" DS would start to guess more at other words instead of sounding them out like he had been doing previously. Thank you so much ladies!!! I really can't thank you enough for your help and wisdom in this area!! :D :grouphug:

Thanks! that is exactly what I needed to hear :) AAS it is then and thanks a ton for all the info ladies I have added like crazy to my bookmark list :lol:

So I am at the stuck place of deciding between going with AAS again or SWR and I am just not sure which to choose :lol: So for those of you that have used both or either which is more open and go and has more hand holding and is more "scheduled". I can see with SWR I'd need the set which is 90 on amazon. With AAS I would need the tiles and the level 1 and 2 sets most likely which would run 79 + ship so they are comparable for the initial cost of start up for me.

OK so could I continue teaching with OPGTR and ETC and when we hit a "sight" word use something else to teach the word phonetically rather then teaching them as memorized sight words with the cards as the book instructs? Or would it just be better to switch into something else all together and if so what would be the best and easiest to implement for a teacher or that I can use for a beginning reader and remediating a 9yo? I like hand holding in this area so scripted is best :) thanks!

I am right in the middle of dealing with the aftermath of a child who learned to read by sight words memorization and has finally reached the point where it has become painfully evident and is really causing troubles for her. She had a lot of trouble learning to read period in PS and now that she has learned to read the PS way she is having a terrible time spelling :( So we are now facing starting back at square one and teaching her actual phonics. Now my question for you all is what about programs like OPGTR that teach phonics but also some sight words? I am using OPGTR with DS1 and it does teach some words as sight words like as, has, is, the, A, was ect. In your opinion is there a better way to teach a child these words then just as sight words and if so how? Is there a book or other resource I can get that can help me teach these words in another way that would make things easier on DS in the long run? I definitely would rather take the long slow path now then try and fix problems later down the line. :)

Ok we are using Spelling power for our 12yo who is a pretty good speller and it is working well. However our 9yo is having a really hard time with spelling and constantly bombing her spelling tests at school. She is really getting upset and very self conscious because of it. I already know her main problem which is a total lack of phonics teaching when the PS taught her to read. She learned in 1st grade at 7 years old and had a really really tough time reading and is reading on maybe a first grade level even now at the beginning of 3rd grade. There seems to be a lot of confusion with the letter sounds and she has a lot of trouble breaking down words into the sounds as well. Now the biggest challenge for us is we don't have full custody of her. In fact custody might me changing now to only weekends and summer. What help she get rests squarely on our shoulders as her mom is against working at home with her because she thinks kids should have fun and leave learning at school :glare: She has asked DH for help and gets really upset every Friday after the spelling tests because she feels that she is stupid or that she just can't spell. Then she see's her little brother who could read at 3 and such and gets even more discouraged :( So what would you do? Is there a program that would fit her the best and help her out even if it was only on weekends? DH was asking about megawords but that starts at 4th right? Could it be adjusted for a 3rd grader or is there another approach that would work better? I was thinking of putting her through OPGTR and just move through it quickly until she hits a spot where she needs more work and then go into something like megawords. I used to have AAS and am kicking myself now for selling it :tongue_smilie: would it just be worth it to pony up and buy it again and if so should I start her back at one? DH would rather I go a more inexpensive route as we just spent $$$$ on brand new loft beds for the girls and are in the middle of putting in a brick walkway in the front. Thanks so much for the help!

I hadn't planned on giving tests in general during the early elementary/ grammar stage but I have seen a few recent threads where people have mentioned giving tests in 2nd grade or so and was curious if it was a bad idea to avoid testing? I had decided to avoid it for the reasoning of building more confidence and staying away from pressure or measurement during the early years. I figured once we hit into maybe 5th grade or so we might start testing as the kiddos are better able to handle it. My DSDs are in public school and takes tests of course and I have noticed that it really injures their confidence and they tend to get more put off and in that "i'm not smart enough" rut rather then it making them want to improve. What do you all do and how do you approach the idea of testing?

Can you use this effectively with the standards edition books? We use the STD ed so I don't want to buy the US ed just to do with this book if YKWIM. I am thinking of adding it to my upcoming order to help me better understand how to teach effectively. I have already read the Liping Ma book but I just well I wasn't good at math to begin with and kid of avoided it in my own educational career but have found a new passion for math and want to give my kiddos the best start possible :) thanks!

I got my machine from ebay. It was 74.95 with free shipping :) I just found an awesome place to get coils from too! This company makes the coils and have overstock/sale leftover from custom orders. Their prices definitely can't be beat at least from my research anyhow http://www.spiraflex.com/coil_binding.asp

how religious is latin for children? i was hoping to use this program but we like to separate our religion from our curricula and would prefer as secular as possible.