Are they these watercolors? http://www.jerrysartarama.com/discount-art-supplies/watercolor-paints-and-mediums/lukas-watercolors-and-sets/lukas-aquarell-1862-watercolors.htm http://www.jerrysartarama.com/discount-art-supplies/watercolor-paints-and-mediums/maimeriblu-superior-watercolours-and-sets/maimeriblu-superior-watercolours.htm I of course had to go search to satisfy curiosity :lol:

:iagree: Rightstart is a fantastic program and IMHO if it is working well with your kiddo and they are enjoying it then I would try and stick it out until the end of B then make the switch. I have HS'ed with a newbie before while doing RS and it really wasn't bad I mean newborns sleep a whole lot so it is not like they are climbing the walls raising creating bedlam like a toddler :lol: If you hate teaching though how about supplementing with SM? I am not saying do both in one day but rather do a few days of RS a week and a few days of SM a week to allow yourself to get in some breaks but also allow your DC to keep going with the method that is already working for him. Also supplementing with SM will let him see things from another angle and help make the transition next year into SM more easy for him. just my 2 cents.

DS is high functioning autistic for one so not sure if tht goes along with why he is having problems figuring out this concept. We started math with him with MUS primer but is was too boring for him and he wasn't retaining anything. We switched to RS which he loves and he has been retaining the majority of what we learn BUT He seems to have a mental block about number order and no concept of their "size" He guesses most of the time and I am ot sure if it is out of confusion or laziness. for instance if you ask him what is one bigger then 4 you will often times hear 3. Or what is 3 morre then 5 you will hear 6. It is like word problems are unbelievably hard for hm to grasp. However you give this kid a worksheet with probems and part whole circles he will fly through it and most will be correct. i want him to be able to do both though which is why we are doing RS with MIF worksheets as a supplement. I have tried a lot of strtagies like busting out our montssori bead material, cuisenair rods, number lines and the like but he still struggless with number order and understanding the sie of quantities. It seems to only be connectd to words though becuse as I said given the problem 70+8 or 5+4 on paper and the ability to use part whole circles and an abacus he can do it. I do't want him becomming fully reliant on the abacus though. Any ideas on activities or anything tht could help him with this problem? It is extremely frustrating for him and mom as well LOL :tongue_smilie:

This is DS1s official Kindergarten year but our materials are more first grade level. Finish up rightstart B/ MIF 1 then into RSc and MIF 2 Logic of english Nancy Larson Science 1 HO ancients lvl1 GWG 1 Zaner-Bloser 1 Atelier art 1 PE: Wii sports, angel bear yoga, yogorilla, tai chi for kids philosophy for young thinkers we were going to start SSL but I decided to hold off till next year since we have a new bay coming and i don't want to overload us!

i made some for the first human body book a while back i can dig up if anyone is in need of them.

DS1 taught himself all the letters and their sounds by the time he was 2 I credit letter factory and his love of workbooks. but knowing letter sounds and such doesn't mean reading early. It will happen when it is supposed to and it takes some kids longer to get to that next developmental stage of blending. DS1 was able to blend around 4. We take breaks as necessary to accommodate him cause the last thing I want to do is burn him out. At 5.5 he is now fully ready to plow forward and knows the majority of rules and such and it breezing through now!

I second the shorter length as well when teaching grip I use these http://www.amazon.com/Cadoozles-Mechanical-Pencil-Assorted-Barrels/dp/B001BZB5HU/ref=sr_1_3?s=office-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1344950782&sr=1-3&keywords=Zebra+Pen+Cadoozles+Mechanical+Pencil they are usually on sale at staples this time of year. I got my pack for 4$ and still haven't run out. I just slide the grip onto them and we are good to go!

woot! Awesome and thanks for the heads up! We have the photo fish and a few add on sets but there was some other stuff I was wanting to grab!

i never use chunky pencils ect. instead I use rubber grips to teach how to hold and they are reusable :D http://www.amazon.com/The-Pencil-Grip-Crossover-Ergonomic/dp/B001SN8HPI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1344913598&sr=8-2&keywords=pencil+grip

ok so I want to know what makes these so much better then a digital writing tablet for the PC? or why they seem so useful considering there is no save function. :bigear:

Ok so I did some more digging and used some of my Mom's connections up at UPMC pittsburgh where David Hammer has his clinic which specializes in childhood apraxia of speech. This guy has been treating and researching the disorder since the 70s and uses a method very similar to prompt which predated prompt. Not to mention he's 6 hours closer to me and in network for our insurance :lol: Our game plan for now is to keep him in his normal speech therapy and feeding therapy down here and augment with workshops specifically for apraxia up in PGH. Even though the SLPs down here did not think he had apraxia it took my mother's friend from children's a min of listening to him to say she was near 100% sure that is what is going on here. I am going with the likely hood that the SLPs down here (WV) just have never encountered a real case of apraxia before and gave him the blanket diagnosis of severe articulation disorder because it was the closest fit for him. I am feeling a bit better now because I was like so unsure why his progress with speech was still so slow and why at 3.5yo he is still struggling to make a large majority of the sounds needed for intelligible language. She also said we can go ahead and start LiPS at home with him because every little bit helps and it is a great program for kids with apraxia of speech. So I went ahead and ordered LiPS and will start soon as it gets here. I also being the over researching dork I am ordered a few books off of amazon on apraxia so I can be more armed with the knowledge I need to help his as much as I can. Thank you soooo much ladies for your help! It means a lot to have a bunch of experienced mamas to help you out when you are clueless at times!!!:D ETA: I am also still going to send an email over to the Prompt therapist in cincy as well cause it can't hurt to have more options!

is prompt still effective with a child who does not have apraxia of speech though? He has been eval'd 3 times once being for apraxia and he does not have that as far as all of the evaluations have said. His main driving problem is his SPD and oral aversion to sensory input thus the severe feeding problems ( doesn't eat most foods) Unfortunately Prompt just really isn't an option for us as his feeding therapy is the most important factor right now because he will continuously bring himself to the brink of starvation in his food refusal. Luckily where we live we have one of the best feeding clinics nearby and he goes weekly now and then come October he will start his week long intensive daily feeding therapy. We are doing what we can to try and desensitize him orally and get him used to saying different sounds ( he does not like the way they feel to say them) as well as slowly trying to introduce foods other then milk and nutritional shakes. Yeah this fall is gonna be crazy here with all of that and a new baby coming :lol: If prompt would still be a good idea for him anyhow I will of course try and get him there. I looked and there is a therapist in Cincinnati which is where my grandmother lived (she just passed away 3 weeks ago) and if we haven't sold her apartment yet I could look into going there next spring for therapy if needed. Thanks so much for the advice :D pushing is always ok if it is the best interest of a child's needs!

I am not looking to start phonics now per say more of just reasearch and fiind so I can then budget for it :lol: He is so so smart ( he can do huge adult jigsaw puzzles even) so it is just his speech that is terribly behind. He's been in speech since 18 months old through birth to three and since he turned three he has been in private speech and though he has made vast improvements he is still severely behind. I looked into prompt before but I couldn't find any therapists that were even moderately close to me :( I would love to find something that I could do here at home with him that would help supplement him. thanks for the advice and the link I will be looking through it all again later when the kids are more calm :lol:

My 3.5yo DS has a severe speech delay. At 3.5 he still is unintelligible 90% of the time. Cannot say compound words and only has the ability to say maybe 4 2-word phrases. He also has severe SPD and a severe feeding disorder as in he just doesn't eat and relies many on a liquid diet. He is in speech, OT and feeding therapy once per week. He has some interest in reading as he sees big brother doing it and I just would like to be prepared as he nears 4yo. In your experience which program is best suited to a child like this? I have AAR and that was bombed and he knows what the letter is but just can't say half of them. I am thinking I am going to need something more specialized then just what I have on hand (saxon phonics, LOE). I want to help him with his speech and his reading/phonemic awareness as much as I can and I am scared that he will not be able to learn to read like he wants to until he's much much older because of the speech holding him back. This child LOVES books. He sleeps with them (literally) clutches them everywhere we go and will sit and look at them non-stop through the day. I have heard of LiPS, Barton and such but I am so new to all of this I just don't know what is good for whom and what their strengths and weaknesses are. :tongue_smilie:

:bigear: How does this compare to trying to do something like saxon phonics or LOE with a child with severe speech issues? my 3.5 yo has a severe speech delay and he drops sounds and still at 3.5 cannot say more then 2-4, 2 word phrases and forget sentences altogether :lol: He's PDD-NOS with bad behavioral problems and severe SPD. We (his neuro and I) are beginning to suspect he may be deeper in the spectrum then just PDD-NOS. I am worried about teaching him to read and this is all new ground for me. His older brother my 5.5yo is HFA but his language exploded from nothing at all to talking like an adult at 2yo and teaching himself his letters, sounds and starting to blend on his own. They are two totally different kids! He goes to speech and feeding therapy 1 a week but I am kinda truth be told dreading phonics with him because well for one half of what he does say you cannot understand anyway :tongue_smilie: OK sorry for the thread hijack :lol: just looking at picking someone else's brain who may have more experience than I LOL

Cry :( someone sent it to me the other morning and I hadn't really gotten time to read it :tongue_smilie: did get me excited tho! if only eh LOL

I bought and sold AAS twice :lol: I just can't wrap my mind around it. I am using LOE with my K'er and we are LOVING it! We used saxon phonics first which does teach marking so he understands marking and such but decided to switch to LOE because I liked it better and it has ended up really being a perfect fit and he is gaining sooo much from it! ETA LOE includes spelling, reading and grammar. At K level though I have decided to leave out grammar and continue using logic smarts for that.

they are claimable as deductions per this law http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/110/s3076/text

I put it up on my blog to download if anyone could use it. http://rivendelacademy.blogspot.com/ The first 7ish weeks are a condensed version of the schedule from Bugsmama (to give credit where credit is due!) Thanks so much for the head start which I needed to get myself going and motivated to finish the entire schedule!! I have readers and children's books scheduled in to match up with the lessons as well.

I would honestly wait till four for RS A. At three just leave out trays of Montessori type manipulatives for your little one to interact and play with. You would be amazed how much they learn through simply Playing with manipulatives. Montessori manipulative are by far my favorite for this age!!! They also transition perfectly to RS since RS is based on Montessori math.

do they exist and where can you get them? This is driving me batty finding books that I can schedule that cover the more advanced phonograms like aigh and such. Do they even exist? :lol:

OPGTR may not be the best suited for her. We tried it too and it ended in frustration and tears for me and my DS! 5 isn't too young for phonics if the child is ready to learn however forcing the wrong approach will end in tears and a killed desire to continue for both you and you kiddo. OPGTR is dry, plain and really not exciting IMHO. It is a great program for those for whom it works but it definitely did not work here. My two personal favorites have been Saxon phonics and now Logic of English. These two methods have really worked wonders in our house. We switched to LOE recently and it has been amazing honestly and truly!!! I am seeing lightbulbs go on and self esteem building with each passing lesson and I could not be happier!!! Though if you just want to add really fun card games you could just buy the games book and two desks of the phonics game cards and be good to go! Saxon phonics is also pretty dang awesome! it incorporates cards, games, songs and workbook. The majority of the program is non-consumable other then the workbooks and the colorable readers that come in the student packs. There are a bagillion cards in the main kit that can easily be used in a plethora of games. Game I have found are like the best way to retention because the child attaches the information to something that is fun and enjoyable so it really helps to reinforce it!

I got the better binders from staples.com and they are super well made and will probably last a long long time. They are on sale 50% off now too so my 3" binders were only 14.99 a piece! :D

I used SM primary with my older girls before std came out then switched to std with them. I liked std much much better the HIG just made so much more sense to me. With soon to be 4 kids I need EASY :lol: that said I did end up switching my younger kids to MIF for kindy and 1A-1B then we will probably go back to std (my books for the girls started at 2A anyway :tongue_smilie: ) I like the gentle and cohesive approach of MIF for the younger years but the cost is well EEK especially if you go full with the TMs. SM is definitely way more cost effective. I just didn't care much for the std. edition K books and my kids LOVE the MIF k books!

with careful budgeting and making a lot on your own you can easily implement Montessori in your home! We have shelves placed throughout our homeschool with Montessori type things on them as well as two bookshelves that are full purchased Montessori manipulatives. If you look in my blog link in my siggy you can see our schoolroom and our shevles. We also have some cheap common place items that work for the Montessori philosophy that the kids really enjoy doing such as: Mini broom and dust pan (http://www.amazon.com/Schylling-Little-Helper-Broom-Set/dp/B000BN8Y8G/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1344083981&sr=8-3&keywords=mini+broom) you can male a square with painters tape on the floor and have them sweep floor yuck into the square then teach them how to sweep into a dustpan. A dishpan and drying rack from walmart for under 10 dollars - the kids have a supply of plastic dishware and such they can wash. a tray with cloth napkins they can fold. these are all practical life ideas. You can pretty much find a wealth of knowledge for free on the techniques behind Montessori. You do not need the instructional binders IMHO I too wavered back and forth on getting them and taking some training courses but we have done just fine on our own. I do have and love this book though which explains A LOT! http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Montessori-Learning-Activities-Under-Fives/dp/0312018649/ref=pd_sbs_op_54 our "real" Montessori shelves are filled with my favorite manipulatives which are: Bead material thousands cubes hundreds flats movable alphabet sandpaper cards (upper and lowercase) stamp game metal insets cylinder blocks sandpaper numbers then a bunch of Montessori inspired less expensive items from amazon. Just do a search in the toy section for "Montessori" It took me little why to budget it all and build my Montessori setup but it was well worth it and the kiddos love it