:iagree:We do this a lot! I live overseas and have things shipped to my parents before they visit. My mom is coming in 3 weeks, so I'll get a suitcase full of books then!!! (Of course, I am also super excited about seeing her, and not just because she is bringing homeschool materials :001_smile:)

I plan in chunks, depending on when we reach a natural stopping point. I also plan weekly, mostly for things like LA and math. I can't plan those subjects far ahead because I don't know for sure how much we'll get done each week or when we need to pause for extra review.

I would say that if she can read the Little House books, then AAS will give you enough phonics that she won't need further instruction. I think AAS is good for cementing those rules, and it sounds like she has basic decoding and fluency down. I don't know what she covered through Abeka, but FLL 1 is pretty simple. I think it is still a good place to start, though, even if she goes through it pretty quickly. It works nicely alongside WWE.

Looks great to me! I would just add in read alouds, but maybe you have that planned already.

I agree that if you do AAS, he'll get the phonics he needs through that. My dd was also a very early reader, but we did persist through to the end of OPGTR. Many of the lessons were super easy, but we did them anyway to cement the phonics instruction. Once we finished that, at around 5.5, we didn't do any other phonics. We use Spelling Workout, which is very different than AAS. I think some people even use AAS to TEACH kids to read!

Well, I'm not really sure WHAT grade dd is in, she will be an older 6 in the fall and is working on 2nd grade level. Here's the plan: Saxon 2 R&S grammar SWO B, C WTM style writing SOTW + AG ancients WTM/ ES science Artistic Pursuits Lots of read alouds and readers

We are doing: Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading HWOT Explode the Code Developing the Early Learner WTM/ ES science (with Let's Read and Find Out science books) SOTW Ancients (along with older dd) Artistic Pursuits Mark Kistler's Draw Squad VOS Child's Story Bible LOTS of read alouds

My dc are pretty accelerated, and we found that HOD just was not a good fit. They work at different levels in different subjects, which makes it hard to follow someone else's lesson plans. We just use curricula at our own pace and tailor it to work for us. That way I can ensure that they are being challenged where they are at.

I found it to be a very helpful read. While we did get some lessons from it, it mostly just gave ME a new perspective on drawing which I can hopefully (somehow) pass on to my dc.

SOTW ancients, R&S grammar, Spelling Workout, WTM style writing, Saxon math, OPGTR, HWOT, Artistic Pursuits, LOTS of "Good Books", and a mix match of science from WTM, Elemental Science and the various books/ kits we've collected.

Yes, you can just cover the month with masking tape. Actually, I think I'll go back and do that since we just colored over the month and it looks kind of funny. Thanks for the suggestion :001_smile:! The only other thing that won't match up is the season, but to be honest we just skipped those since we have covered seasons thoroughly in daily life.

Thanks for that reminder! Why is every NEW thing so tempting???

I agree with Explode the Code. You may even want to go through the last 1/4 or so of OPGTR to build up those skills and fluency.

We had similar frustrations when we tried 100 EZ lessons, but saw significant improvement with OPGTR. I always use the chalkboard until they are reading fairly well (and until the sentences just become too long to copy :tongue_smilie:), and I think that makes it less intimidating.

I just have to reply because I spent some time this morning trying to get rid of the mammoth amount of chalkdust that was flying around our schoolroom! I love using the chalkboard, but it IS messy, and becomes more so as time goes by.

Thanks for this! I know its true. Sometimes it feels more acceptable to go slower, or start later, or be more relaxed. My kids seem to thrive working ahead in most areas, and I should stop worrying about whether we're doing the right book for -- grade!

My dc loved Intro. Each week has a short list of book rec's, which really add more depth. We found the experiments interesting and simple to do. There may have been one or two from Mudpies to Magnets that were harder for me to implement, but I'm in Asia and lots of things are hard to find here!

:bigear: I've hear that before, too. I've also read somewhere that there is a lot of disagreement among scientists about which order would be ideal.

I think that is a great combo for LA! We basically did just that (with SWO, and my own copy work), and it worked really well. We also do a lot of read alouds, and I occasionally have dd narrate and make a notebook page after reading (about twice a week).

Sounds similar to my 6 yr. old. We finished The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading more than a year ago and haven't done phonics since then. My dd is also a natural speller, but we are working through the Spelling Workout workbooks to go over the rules. It also teaches alphabetizing, proofreading, etc. We finished First Language Lessons in K and will be switching to Rod & Staff 2 next week. R&S requires more writing, and I think that will be good for her. We also do daily copy work and are planning on adding in dictation soon.

With my dd, we started the book with lesson 27 when she was 4.5 and finished the whole thing in one year. She was SUPER motivated to read, and seemed to know the material before we even covered it. With my ds, we started with lesson 1 at 4. It has taken us about 5 months to get to lesson 39 :tongue_smilie:. We do it every day, but only for about 10 minutes. I'm going very slowly and reviewing a TON. I anticipate picking up some speed once he's finally fluent with cvc words, but he's just a different kid than his sister. I expect we'll finish the book sometime during his first grade year.

I did get the flash cards and we have used them a lot. You do have to cut them all out yourself (they weren't perforated), so I'm not sure whether it really saves you time vs. just writing the words on index cards. I already had magnetic letters, but honestly we haven't used those much.

Good to know! It seems like each book does significant review, which is nice. I can imagine that teaching 3 different levels would be very time consuming!

:iagree:We tried LHFHG, but I ended up dropping it completely. We were using other programs for the 3 R's anyway. We still read the Thornton Burgess books, but did ES Intro for science and TONS of picture books/ chapter books.

Wow! I would LOVE to do that much science, and those are 3 really awesome programs. Hmmm.... getting ideas! Do you actually do all the experiments, too? That would be a ton!