My 3rd grade son is into level 4. He is doing well, retaining, and transferring the spelling over to his other writing, most of the time. Because it is difficult to have the tiles around babies and toddlers, we have rarely used the tiles since end of level 2. I write it on a whiteboard or on paper and he's doing fine with that. He also doesn't seem to need a lot of review, so maybe he doesn't need the intensity of AAS, but I'd like to continue if I think it gets us where we want to go. At this rate we will be done with level 4 by or before spring. So here are my questions- Is it really complete? Other than review, if he continues to do well, can we be done with spelling after level 6? I really can't tell from the samples of level 6. I thought I read here before that children will spell at the college level after level 6. But on the samples I see two or three syllable words like certainly and service, electrical, physical. :confused: Do you think the average speller will need to do something like Megawords after AAS? Should I just skip levels 5 and 6 of AAS and start Megawords at the end of the year? Or do you think that after level 6 of AAS you could continue spelling by applying the principles to lists of multisyllable words?

That is how everyone I know pronounces it, like the word "we". Maybe it's your friends who are confused. :glare: And I, too, said "Her-me-own" before I saw the movies. :)

With one of my children there seemed to be a clear preference very early. But, I'm not sure what to make of the learning styles theory. It seems almost like a fad to me. Reading Daniel Willingham made a lot of sense to me. He has a video on youtube about learning styles (he says there is no such thing).

What age kids? I would not want my kids to read or hear that book until at least 11 or 12. Come to think of it, I don't know if I would want to read it aloud. It was a powerful book for me, and I think my dc reading it themselves might be a better experience for them.

I can't answer your question, but I can relate to this. My DH can't easily be more involved with academics at this time, and he really isn't interested in what curriculum I use or in what approach I take to grammar or writing or much of anything else. It is wonderful that he has such unbounded trust in me. But man, I get tired sometimes of being the one to make sure it all gets done.

I don't want to go anywhere either. I try to enjoy it but by the end of June I am ready for summer to be DONE. LOL.

Well, statistically, most siblings are within a few IQ points of each other. Sometimes the ones that don't "shine" are actually the ones that are more intelligent according to the IQ tests. Early speaking and reading don't necessarily indicate giftedness, either. If one is gifted though, the others probably are to some degree. But some parents are a little bit focused on it, aren't they?

I think the brackets around SH are to show that SH is one quantity. Not S times H. The equation isn't 100% clear to me, but I would have assumed correctly. I don't think he needed the x in the denominator, though, he could have just written q/(m)(delta T).

I agree with Pamela and Daisy. You got into a power struggle even if you did remain calm. The threats of taking things and upping the ante during the fits don't work and make things worse. BTDT. :D Not like I have it all figured out yet. But then here is where I really part ways: To me, it sounds like he was trying. I would give him the benefit of the doubt here and say that he was still not in a great state of mind after a fit and maybe didn't remember the math after the summer break. I would have him write in the correct answers after going through them orally, or make sure I give him another set of similar problems the next day to go over it again. But not send him back to his room as punishment. That is assuming he was ready to apologize to me for screaming at me and talk about his behavior.

Are you having her narrate? Is it only the history she can't remember, or any readalouds? I know that SL provides comprehension questions, but I think students own the material better if they have to process it and say what they remember on their own. If she can't remember to narrate, you can start by reading much smaller chunks at a time. Stop after every few paragraphs and have her put it in her own words. Ask her if she sees the story in her mind while you are reading. Perhaps having her draw what is happening while you are reading would help. When I have ds narrate I write the names of the major characters on the whiteboard to remind him (this also helps for the times when he writes about it himself). We are doing SL but doing it TWTM/CM way with narrations and some notebooking. If it is JUST history, then maybe changing the history spine would help. It would be harder but you may be able to use Story of the World chapters to cover the same topics.

I hope you get some answers from your doctor soon. I just wanted to speak to exercise, in general. 30 minutes is better than nothing. But, 30 minutes of aerobic exercise even most days of the week, is not enough for anybody, let alone a growing child, unless the rest of the day already includes a significant amount of activity. If someone is basically sedentary the rest of the time, then 30 minutes is not going to counteract that much. 45-60 minutes of moderate to vigorous aerobic activity, 6 days a week, is what is better for weight loss, but also, just incorporating more activity into daily life. Walking places instead of driving. Getting a pedometer might be fun and motivating for a 12 year old, too.

I think this is right. I only have the older Earlybird books before they were redone with teacher's guides. There are just a few lines at the bottom of each page suggesting activities with manipulatives to introduce the concept. But it is all covered again in 1A of Primary Math, first grade. It is nice to introduce the concepts in kindergarten, though. It can be a little more relaxed that way, and maybe first grade will go easier and faster.

But. But. How do you say Low instead of luh without accenting the Low? The luh sound is because of a schwa if that syllable is unaccented, no? And because the email did not indicate an accented syllable, I am still left wondering. :tongue_smilie:

How about http://www.thelatinschool.org/summerreading http://www.perimeterschool.org/parents/summer-2010.cfm (pdfs on right side, this is a school that uses charlotte mason methods)

frozen vegetables work well here. As far as eating the sandwich and leaving the vegetables, I give the toddlers less bread so maybe they will be hungrier for the vegetables. And rather than a slice of tomato, I will cut it up in chunks on the side. Chunks of avocado. Half a baked potato with mushed up cauliflower, plus cheese if you do cheese. Applesauce or thinly sliced apples is a good side. My little ones like rice with veggies cooked in it (you can throw some in when the rice cooks). Keep it in the fridge and it is good for a few days of lunches. Mac and cheese could be healthier if you stuff it full of vegetables, even mushed up beans, so that the mac and cheese is just a small part of it. I think toddler food is hard, too. Planning ahead is key, but doesn't always happen.

I don't think it is likely to happen any time soon. But, I don't think it is irrational to consider it. When we consider all of the extra issues that have been hidden in the gigantic, thousands of pages, bills that have been pushed through in the past couple of years, it seems possible that a legislator could try to do this with homeschooling. And then, it would have to go through the federal courts, and who knows where that could lead. But I'm not going to worry about it. For now, we homeschool while we have the freedom to do so.

#2 is correct. http://www.merriam-webster.com/netdict/apologia However mostly I have heard #1.

Is it possible to still link to any of these posts? I'm asking particularly about the famous review of FLL. :D I really should print out more posts that I especially like. I've lost my bookmarks too many times now.

I'm just taking a guess here. I've done WWE1 and 2 and have started 3. I've also listened to ALL the audio downloads on PHP. Can't get enough, apparently. :) Is the disconnect between narrating short passages (as in WWE) vs. narrating an entire book the child has read independently? When she said to just ask a couple of questions, that's the idea I got about what to do for a book instead of asking for a book report. And yes, I think that was mentioned in the audio lecture on literary analysis. But for short passages that the parent reads aloud, I have understood the goal to be working towards a very short summary and picking out the main ideas. In WWE3, the kids are asked to narrate summaries of 3-4 sentences.

I feel like I don't read as quickly or thoroughly from a screen. I don't have an ipad or kindle, though, just talking about ebooks on a laptop. Are the readers easier on the eyes?

http://www.youtube.com/user/peacehillpress#p/u/6/0fZmTmxVxy0

It's a stereotype that has a basis in truth. Legos also lend themselves well to homeschooling households because they are something that wiggly boys can do while they listen to read-alouds. And they don't usually want to color or draw (there's another sterotype for you-- the girls color and draw and write stories, the boys hate writing and all build with legos). ;)

My oldest is 3rd. Could you pare down the content subjects for the 3rd grader so you are doing history and science each 2 days a week? Then what about " Didax editing, Daily paragraph editing and Vocab development through dictionary skills books, and the vocabulary cartoons". That is a lot to add to your basic programs of R &S, and Spelling Power. Is the extra reading program necessary? What about just doing narrations from real books? I'd leave out the geography for now, too. You can approach geography through history studies. Or maybe you could do it more condensed as a single subject over the summer. Are you doing two complete math programs? I would pick one as your main program and just throw in supplemental pages here and there where you think they would benefit from a different approach. Personally Latin and Spanish are the things that I am having trouble adding in. And I don't have nearly the list you have.

Sleep hormone changes thyroid stress not young anymore :P I've experienced all of the above but unfortunately, the last one just gets worse and worse! :D Oh and staring at a screen too much along with lack of exercise seems to get me in a foggier state as well.

Thank you for the link! I just watched the hydrogen and sodium films. They are great and we will definitely use some of these! OP I hope you can find a way to make Elemental Chem work for you. I do think it is abstract for an early elementary kid. I wish I had some of those atom and molecule models to make it more hands-on (has anyone tried making some with those styrofoam balls and some craft dowels?) An elementary aged kid can't really "do" chemistry, as long as we're having fun and getting some idea, it's good.