:iagree: this is how we pre-k here

I switched from MUS to righstart :tongue_smilie: That said it really depends on your child and the way that is best for THEM to learn. Different kids learn better in different methods. Rightstart is an AWESOME program that when it works , works fabulously but it may not be the best way of learning for your child. So you can either take it slower and add in supplements for different angles of understanding or scrap it all together and try a different method. Honestly if I were you I would first try picking up SM 1A workbook which are pretty inexpensive and use it along with righstart to see if you get any improvements before doing anything too drastic. You might find SM works way better and switching over to SM completely. I don't think I would ditch RS and go over to MUS though. MUS is expensive and it would be defeating if you found it to be ineffective as well. Both RS and MUS use manipulatives a lot and have very little workbook instruction and it may be the lack of pictorial representation that is causing the trouble for your kiddos understanding.

I am on lesson 22 of writing out a custom shcedule for my k'er and this was a nice break to watch and further reinforced why I am going LOE :tongue_smilie:

Another very happy RS user here! That said I use it alongside MIF workbooks and student texts. My son is gaining so much from RS way of teaching and really exploded once we began using it instead of SM by itself. I do also throw in a lot of montessori manipulatives too which work perfectly with RS being that it has montessori roots. I will be starting RSa this spring with my 3.5 year old when he turns 4 and my K'er will go pure SM when we finish RSC which we will be moving into shortly.

My oldest is high functioning autistic and my 3yo is pddnos although his neurologist and I are suspecting he may be further in the spectrum. HFA kids are awesome but they can also be super challenging! blanket statements of they don't like XYZ don't really work here because just like nuerotypical kids they are all so different from each other. Also many but not all spectrum kids also have sensory processing disorder which can range from mild to severe and have it's own host of peculiarities. one thing that seems to hold true for most on the spectrum is obsession with particular topics to the extreme and if you really want to attempt to engage them then that is probably the best way. Try slowly talking about that subject or approach with a toy related to that subject. Just do not be put off if you are rejected because some ASD kiddos will feel very invaded especially if they are already out of their comfort zone (their home) My kiddo actually tends to come across very social unless he is overloaded. He just has ZERO social skills. He will walk right up to a stranger and tell them about his underwear or go sit on a strange man's lap or pet other children he's never met :lol: It's when he is in sensory overload that you see the typical ASD mannerisms come out like hand flapping, covering the ears and such. the signs of autism started showing at 18 months with my son and became undeniable when he was 3 which prompted us to come out of denial and have him evaluated. I myself am HFA as is my son's father (he is from my first marriage but adopted by my DH) so I do believe there is a genetic connection there :tongue_smilie:

honestly i have SO many manipulatives on hand it is ridiculous :lol: We have the linking cubes that MIF uses as well as singapore but I find having a variety of manipulatives really helps kids see things from different angles. I especially love montessori manipulatives!

my kids play it on the kindle fire so that took care of the mousing problems here. that said my 5.5year old LOVES it! In fact he's snuggled on the couch playing it on the kindle fire now :D

http://rivendelacademy.blogspot.com/ check it out!

I add in language smarts from critical thinking company, Zaner-Bloser handwriting, Madlibs junior for fun and lots of games. If you want a list of them all I can come back and post them :tongue_smilie: Oh and I also made my own Montessori style grammar farm which the kiddos LOVE :D

I have my beefy B&W brother laser for that :tongue_smilie:

Title says it all :tongue_smilie: Looking for a program for my older kiddos for afterschooling and it has to be secular per their mom and I don't want to have to do a bunch of editing :tongue_smilie:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=2375601&sku=O11-C110

just found this site which we may use and thought of this thread :tongue_smilie: http://www.kidtest.com/store.html?section=tests it looks promising

we are looking into giving tests either each semester or annually to track our 14 yo's progress as grades in PS do not really give any clue of mastery or where the child is needing help or excelling. Can you buy tests somewhere like benchmark tests or tests used in better states as standardized tests or even better tests used by better preforming countries? I have found a few but I am not sure if they are what my husband is really looking for.

I am kind of wanting something that will not feel behind to her because she tends to be very sensitive. I do have a copy ClassiQuest biology and I do also have a copy of writeshop but I am not sure if writeshop may be too far behind for her? I also have LOE but again not sure if I should even go there since she is strong in reading. would it be adventitious to start latin with her this year? As far as math goes she has expressed wanting something more hands on. We have had her working with teaching textbooks and she thinks it is boring. I plan on having her do some work with my K'er in math so she gets some exposure to foundational math with manipulatives. if we only end up getting to afterschool still what should I pick as my most important subjects and how often should I aim for?

looking for secular I pull different things together to form a curriculum for my littles so I am definitely ok with that!

We may be pulling our 14 yo rising 9th grader out of PS to homeschool and just in case we do I need to start looking at curriculum. My oldest that we HS is a K'er so I haven't spent as much time researching highschool level coursework. Even if we do not pull her completely out (hinges on her mom as she is my stepDD) we will definitely be augmenting her education because we live in a state that is FAR behind and she is struggling in some subjects like math and science. We prefer to use secular materials in our schooling. Any and all help is greatly appreciated!

PERFECT thanks so much! really cements why I homeschool even more! :tongue_smilie:

I can find for the counties in my state but I need to find State rankings throughout the US and then comparing the US school system to the world. Thanks so much in advance for the help!

bumping for more suggestions. To clarify we haven't started AAS but we own it from the older kiddos. I was looking at using LOE as our learn to read program for K.

the toner comes w/ pretty detailed instructions. on our old printer the hubs made a small home with a soldering iron to inject the toner into then used a special sticker included in the kit to cover said hole. In our newer brother the replacement drum we bought right off the bat because the replacements have a stopper in them so all you have to do is pop out the stopper and refill. there are also instructions on how to clean the drum ect. the hubs does all these things but I am pretty sure it involves rubbing alcohol and a lintfree cloth. :tongue_smilie:

I love brother and HATE HP :lol: That said I do not have to replace my drums but I do clean them when I refill them with toner. I get my toner bottles really cheap off ebay and it is super easy to replace the toner on your own and drastically reduces the cost per sheet which adds up when you print a lot!

Of course I had to go and read about this new spiffy English program and both the hubs and I are impressed. :tongue_smilie: However we already own saxon phonics K-2 and 3 sets of consumables for them albeit the only ones we've opened and used are 1 set each of the K and 1 levels and the others we were saving for the younger kiddos. ugh now you know my plight. :lol: My ODS is high functioning autism and taught himself his phonograms by the time he was 2 however he has very low self confidence and high anxiety so he needs a really thorough approach that really teaches phonics well. He does fantastic with reading eggs and he can read far better then he will admit. He is right about done with the first workbook in saxon phonics 1 but I have a feeling that there are holes especially because of many days we took off last year while dealing with him settling into therapy and getting on the right medications. Now that he is well managed and his anxiety levels are finally down and under control we are ready to buckle down for our official K year and learn! Do you think he'd benefit going back and starting anew with LOE? I have to admit we really only used the workbook for Saxon phonics as the cards were too blah for him and I had to come up with games because well he loves games :tongue_smilie: I think this is why LOE is appealing to me so much. Another question is will LOE be enough? like we wouldn't have to go from LOE into saxon phonics 2 would we? I am just kind of unsure with the shorter nature if this program if it is like not as complete in understanding or something LOL We do have HOP master reader in our closet ready for when the kiddos graduate the basic phonics program so we could just go into that right? I should mention we also have like 5 levels of AAS and How to teach spelling w/ workbooks. ( we used them with my older step-dds) Could we go from LOE into AAS for ongoing spelling? I feel like such a noob here but I want to make sure all of our bases are covered and such! thanks so much for reading my enormous post! :lol:

I have 1 already bought that we are planning on using this year with my oldest. It does look super fun and will be a great keepsake but...... he is my oldest of soon to be 4. So to buy enough for the upcoming kiddos that would be another 89 bucks :001_huh: Is it THAT good? Why oh why can they not sell an ebook version for those of us who have multiple kiddos and don't feel like putting in the effort and time to make something like it on our own? :lol: I am definitely interested in hearing from those who have used it and their thoughts!! Oh and DS1 is a total workbook and coloring book kid so I know he will love this! DS2 is really into those sort of things already so I am sure he will love it come his time too. But again is it worth almost 120 bucks a year to buy enough for 4 kiddos?

we use righstart B for kindy along side math in focus workbooks and a lot of montessori manipulatives. We like to see things from lots of different angles LOL I use rightstart A for preschool and we actually start B right afterward so he is halfway through B as we start kindy