Our math program also calls it trading. We use dimes and pennies for a visual and practiced each problem using the dimes and pennies before writing.

Thanks! Looks like just what I need.:)

My experience has been that boys do not write well at that age - I think I would wait and give him some more time to develop. Let him play with his Legos all summer and strengthen those fine muscles. Then, if you begin in the fall, he may be more successful and have a real sense of accomplishment.

This is my first year homeschooling - I have a daughter in 2nd grade. My vision for this year was to nail down basic math skills and to inspire her curiosity. I have a son still in ps who will be graduating this year. We were very fortunate that he has been in a special AG program since 4th grade that was a perfect fit for him - but his curiosity was his motivation for his success. He has been accepted at all 5 schools to which he applied - he was invited to compete for scholarship at three of them - one has offered him a full academic scholarship so far and he's waiting for decisions on the other two. I want my daughter to have similar opportunities. Unfortunately, we have not been able to get her into the program that he has been in. So, we are homeschooling. I really do feel that less is more. It was not just learning all of the "facts" that got my son these opportunities - it was his curiosity, and his love of reading. We stick very closely to our math program and moderately work on other language basics. We also enjoy a moderate schedule with SOTW spending much time reading from the recommended literature lists. Then, I like to keep most of our schedule free to go to various field trips or to travel or go wherever our interests lead us. By about 5th or 6th grade, we will start to gradually firm our program. But for now my primary goal is to ignite the spark!

And, are there any (free) online sites that list the reading level of most books?

I have covered a couple of hardcover books that get frequent use and many softcover books. For the softcover, I just cover them with clear contact paper. For the hardcover books, I've used the Durafold Clear Dust Jacket Covers that I bought from demco.com. But, I see that the link to vernonlibrarysupplies shown above has better prices, so I may try them out next.

I'm in Raleigh - this is our first year of homeschooling - I have a daughter in 2nd grade.

Thank you all for your replies. It hadn't even occurred to me to see if our library has this available. I will check there first! Arwena, the Learning through History magazine looks very interesting also. Have you subscribed to that one - or is it also available at your library? We're going to look for them today!

I have seen some references to a magazine called Calliope which has history-related articles and is written for children. Is anyone familiar with this magazine? And, would you recommend it to be used with history curriculum or just for pleasure reading?