I hear you! My son (2nd grader) finished OPGTR last year and he is doing so well with reading. I would hate to drop OPGTR with my younger one because I have seen what it did for my son. I just thought doing both would be too much and since AAS kind of covers both... but I will try doing both because I do love OPGTR, especially because I have very fond memories of sitting on the couch with my son doing our lessons. He called it our fun time book.

Thanks, what grade is your daughter in?

We haven't done any formal handwriting instruction this year for 2nd grade and my sons handwriting is kind of sloppy (even for a 7yr old). I was planning on going on to cursive next year. Should we spend the rest of this year making his printing neater? What about after cursive, does handwriting lessons stop?

I was thinking it (OPGTR) "could" be used as spelling too. Just as you described. Teach the rule, read the words &/ sentences and then make spelling worksheets with the words or words that go along with that rule. I think I will try and do both and see how it goes and then drop OPGTR if it is too much with both.

I've been using OPGTR with my 1st grder for reading. Used it for our 3rd grader too. I just ordered AAS for spelling and am hearing that it is a very detailed phonics program. Should I not continue using OPGTR with the 1st grader? Or did I do the wrong thing in ordering AAS... maybe it wasn't needed and I could have just gone on using OPGTR for spelling and phonics instruction???

How long does it take you to just do the read alouds and history portion? Do you enjoy this curriculum?

I think in the long run I do plan on sticking with MFW. What about you? Do you plan on doing HOD bigger with your younger child too? I have SL 1+2 already and thought about doing that this year and then ECC next, but SL intimidates me lol. I was actually thinking of selling it because of this reason. Plus HOD looks so fun, I really wanted to give it a try. I don't know if we will like it as much as MFW (we love it) but it looks fun.

We love MFW but will have a 1st and 3rd grader next year. We did Adventures this year with them (K'er & 2nd) and it went extremely well. For this comming school year I wanted to do ECC but have decided I want to wait until my the 1st grader is in 2nd to do ECC. So we would do it with a 2nd and 4th grader instead. I think they will both get more out of it then. So I thought for this coming year instead we could do HOD Bigger Hearts and then follow it with MFW ECC the next year. Does anyone have thoughts on how that would work? They seem to be studying different subjects so we wouldn't be overlapping from what I can see.

Thanks for sharing the video. Your daughter was a joy to watch. She was so cheerful and had such a good attitude. She must really love her spelling lessons. I placed my order today! Can't wait to get started. I ordered levels 1 & 2 to be safe.

AAS charges 39$ for their 2x3 board and 3$ additional shipping. I think I found one at walmart for 16$

I am placing my order within the next 1/2 hour and I need to know whether to get a white board from them??? Should I or do I really need it or can I get one at walmart for cheaper?

What about MFW?

OK thanks everyone! My son 2nd grader is a natural speller and reads pretty fluently. He has some trouble with multisyllable words though such as penniless, and national. Those were two he just recently read wrong. I am hoping this program will help him more with that. Plus it looks fun to me lol so I think we will give it a go. I guess we should start with level one from the sounds of it though. Thanks again!

We are getting the complete book of spanish for our two, and I am going to try using spanish in 10 minutes a day maybe once a week to go with it. Ours are 7 & 5, I just want a gentle approach at first so I figured I would go cheap lol

Thanks for all your feedback. I wouldn't know if there were any errors, but I am sure they would be small enough to be fixed later on. I am just wanting a gentle early exposure for my two kiddos.

has anyone ever used this? Is it easy for someone who doesn't know spanish to use?

Wow, I feel like I won't be doing enough after reading through all these. MFW 1st and following along in ECC with older brother Singapore 1A & 1B OPGTR (here and there) AAS1 SL 1 readers PE through local college And tons and tons of read aloud time, free imagination time, and outdoor time!

Thanks for your response. I agree with you about doing their recommendations... but the math lessons in the first grade math seem like it would take a lot of preperation time. If I used singapore 1A instead it covers the same things and I wouldn't have to set up for all the activities (playing store or resteraunt). It is just so fun looking though. I know my daughter would really enjoy the games and fun way they do math. I am just worried that with the new baby preparing in the eve's wouldn't last long and before we knew it we would be skipping math. :/

I'm in the same boat! I think we've decided to go with PLL & WS. I have liked MFW's recomendations thus far. So I will trust them.

We are starting MFW ECC and 1st with our 3rd & 1st graders. I am wondering if I should do the math as layed out in MFW 1st or just start her in singapore 1A. I am a little worried about taking on too much. Not for her but for me. We also have a baby, so I am thinking it would be easier to do singapore instead of all the math activities in MFW 1st math? Any ideas?

Thanks so much! I thought it would give ideas for activities. It doesn't really.

I am wondering what a typical day with all about spelling looks like. Is there much writing? If so what do they write? If I want to move at a faster pace with one student is that possible? If so how would you do it? I have an emerging 1st grader who would be doing level 1 and an emerging 3rd grader who would be doing level 2/3 hopefully. Anything you can tell me about this program would be great!

Hi there, We are in Dallas OR. Between Salem and Corvallis. Anybody in this area?

Anyone know of a fun grammer program? I am thinking of doing writing strands next year for writing and need a grammer program to go with it. I will have a 3rd and 1st grader I suppose I should have spelled grammar right lol. oops

What is MCT?