I bought Grade 5 this weekend for a few dollars. Is long division in the Grade 4 book?

Thanks everyone, it makes money sense to go with the digital version.

That's really wonderful! I see you are now using Wheeler spelling. No more AAS?

I had the same question last year or so, but I've observed that DD's vocabulary has been expanding without us directly teaching it; she listens to a lot of audiobooks and seems to figure out the meaning of words through context, and we do a lot of reading aloud to her. DH told me that he never studied vocabulary unless it was through reading, and his extensive vocabulary is impressive, although DD has taught him a few words recently :D. By the way, one of those words came from WWE2. He didn't know the meaning of noddy.

What kind of binding did you get? How much did it cost? I should have bought the ProClick when I had the chance.

Just yesterday I was thinking I wouldn't be buying this - no way for some "big picture" idea for writing and no way just to feel inspired. But this morning, I took a look at Homeschool Coop. It's about $77 for the hardcopy version and about $40 for the digital version. Which version would you recommend? If digital, did you print out 200+ pages? Did you put it on a Kindle? I won't be reading it on my computer. I've been known to print out more than 200 pages in one afternoon (that vintage thread made me do it), so it's not really a problem for me. If you purchased the binder version, why? To sell it in the future? To avoid printing out 200 pages?

Thank you for the list and I really like the looks of Moneybags.

DD received this chess set, No Stress Chess, and was playing it at 4 or 5 years old because the cards tell you exactly what you should do, so in just a few games, she knew all the moves. Just between you and me, I didn't know how to play until receiving this game board :blush:.

Is that the handbook that costs $97 and is for the parent to read but not for the child? I'm thinking about it, but I did just also spend $100 on IEW. I do have a few subscriptions of Arrow (is that what your kids like?). I noticed that the first chapter of Writer's Jungle is about reading aloud, copywork, and dictation. The reason why I like WWE is that SWB does tell us step by step what to do, but I'm also trying to figure this from different perspectives. Maybe due to lack of confidence on my part, I would like to combine a few writing programs.

I've downloaded so many stories from librivox.org, mainly Ancient Times, and I will begin to do this again for the Middle Ages. We've heard 4 different authors talk about the event at Marathon :glare:. Also, I've managed to gather quite a few books on Kindle for free. Vintage texts are perfectly fine for us. I looked at various cursive copywork workbooks, but ended up making my own in various subjects using StartWrite. I've seen a few vintage texts, including spelling, on google books that I have used with DD.

I was just thinking about that a couple of weeks ago. Long time ago, I would have said math, but the more I read about language arts, I would say writing. I don't know how to approach this subject. And, after reading your post, I'm also thinking "oh, oh, if Angela thinks it's difficult yet Satori can write without stopping, I'm kind of in trouble."

I was trying to figure out how to lure you back in :D.

Oops, I think I was the one who brought up the font size and inadvertently got people upset. DD is 6 and is working in MM4 so for us the font size is not as friendly to the eye as SM's, and I happen to be sensitive to font size across all subjects. Most of the books I buy for DD are either the read-aloud or large print versions. It's not small for an older child or adult. I noticed that the font in the last part of 3B dealing with fractions was further reduced (and I don't have a program to enlarge it). However, I have to give full credit to MM for getting her to this point. She loves it and is never overwhelmed by the problems since I only assign just enough during one sitting. I would never drop MM due to white space or font size problems - we just work around them. There are some kids, like mine, that you just cannot force them to write small or a lot. I hope it's just DD working on her fine motor skills and, in the meantime, I do most math problems orally with her or she dictates to me.

Perfect! DD uses this way even with bigger numbers, but she has come up with other ways too. We have a name for each method, and this one is called the Secret Way. I would avoid paper and pencil because I didn't see any stretching of the brain with standard algorithm; it almost seemed as if she were thinking of other things while crossing out numbers. It was robotic, mechanical, busywork.... I sound anti-standard algorithm, but I'm not; I just think it's good to have children play with numbers in their heads first.

A 2.5 year old is still a baby; or at least that's how I remembered DD when she was at that age :D. Anyway, I read to DD at least 800 picture books that year (we don't have a TV) and it was such a fun time for both of us. Everything was learned through play and conversation.

Dh could care less and usually stares at me blankly when I talk about math; in fact, I'm not even sure why he agreed to homeschool.

If you think the font size is a problem, then it's going to be a problem for me too. SM's font is really quite perfect for us, but I need MM for the teaching of concepts, which is why I need both math books.

Yes, the problem with MM is that the font is not as large as SM's, almost making it seem as if there are many, many problems per page, which can make a kid instantly hate it, but it is a solid program. I have done many of the problems orally with DD which has the benefit of strengthening her mental agility. DD's writing is huge so her numbers cannot be confined to the space given, which makes SM a better fit for her. On the other hand, SM makes larger leaps which can be frustrating. MM makes smaller leaps and it's just perfect for introducing new concepts. Unfortunately, I've been known to request DD to do every problem in MM. There is never too much math :D. I would keep MM for teaching concepts because I truly believe it does an exceptional job (as does SM but MM does it in smaller steps). And then some other curriculum if your kids cannot stand the layout of MM.

Good to know! I'm going to be using LOF Fractions as a supplement to SM and MM. We started a couple of chapters but haven't reached the part about fractions.

Ooohhh, that's cruel to dangle one chapter in front of math book lovers a whole year before the release date.

Thank you for letting me know. Are you finishing this chapter, resuming your current math curriculum, and then waiting for next summer to switch? I really hope to be able to use it next year, but we'll probably finish grade 4 and 1/2 of grade 5 by the summer. But I like to use different math books for review, so I could get grade 4 Beast to use next year as a review and it sounds like a fun book to use.

I was too late for a sample. Which grade did you get? Was it the complete Beast 3 book? I'm just wondering how it compares to SM and whether the scope and sequence and the way it teaches concepts are similar to SM.

And don't forget the sequel to the Passage, coming out next year.

I would combine Miquon with RS Games. We used this combo for preschool and DD was able to get all the math facts just by playing some games. She still has very fond memories of that time. Like Bill said, one thing with numbers beyond 10 is to use the Asian system of counting. I switched the way I taught DD math when I realized that it was more difficult to use English to teach math and also for her to do mental calculations in English. For example, nineteen should be one-ten, 9-ones and thirty-five should be 3-tens, 5 ones; yes, it's probably a little awkward for you in the beginning, but we do this in an Asian language, so it's a natural way for us to speak.

Well, I'm not sure if Bunnicula counts, but after listening to the series for the umpteenth time this month, DD thinks she is a vampire and will declare herself to the public on Halloween. What about The Passage by Justin Cronin? I'm still listening to it but there definitely are some vicious vampires in the book.