Does this happen in the PSAT, too? Ds is taking this on Wednesday and he would be very confused if people were using calculators and he wasn't. Juli

This sounds like a wonderful program! I need to move from Japan to send our son. Where is it? Juli in Japan

I don't know, but thought I would bump this up for you so someone else can answer. Juli

If you're comfortable leaving your family, your dh is onboard, your dd and her husband want you there then I'd go. It's a one time thing being there for your daughter and your first grandchild. My mother was with me 4-8 weeks for each child. It was wonderful for all of us. Dh loved that I had support because he was very busy. I loved the prep time with my mom...washing and folding little clothes, buying diapers...She loved being there with me when the kids were born. She loved cooking, cleaning and walking the babies at night. My mom just loved to serve. My mom has passed away, and some of my fondest memories and favorite photos are of those times when my babies were born. Juli

Glad you love your pen! They are usually used to address New Years cards or for kids to practice Chinese characters. Have you tried Japanese pencils and erasers? They are so much better than any in the states. My kids always make sure they bring theirs when we visit Oregon otherwise no school work would get done. Juli in Japan

He's in boarding school now so I doubt he could start an online course and keep up with the regular school work. The mom is asking the teacher when the courses need to be finished. I got the impression it was by September. It seems like it would be very intense to finish a year of math in a summer. Thanks for the online suggestions. I'll keep looking.

I have a friends whose son needs to take Algebra 2A and 2B this summer. She is looking at online courses as we live overseas. Does anyone have a suggestion? It would need to be a self paced course due to the time difference. Thanks, Juli

Mine usually have at least 4 books going at the same time -an English school reader, a Japanese school reader, an English book for fun and Japanese book for fun. They also usually have a few non-fiction books they read and then those, "I just thought I'd read my favorite parts again" books. As long as they are completing their school reading and understanding it I let them read whatever they want. Juli in Japan

We, too, bought LOF for fun, but ds loves it. I was planning on having him do Math Mammoth as core and LOF as supplement, but it looks like it might be the other way around. Do you schedule LOF or just let them go at their own pace? Juli in Japan

I live overseas and download many books from ebookdestination.com Most of them are supplemental rather than full curriculum. At age 4 I copied a lot of free animal worksheets from learningpage.com Juli in Japan

I guess I would be more concerned about what type of parents those new friends are and what type of friends they would be to me rather than what age their children are. My kids have learned a lot (of good things) from our friends whose children were much older. Juli in Japan

And isn't the author of Math Mammoth Finnish? That is what we are using with our son who's last day of Japanese school is today.

My kids have gone through the Japanese system until grade 5. The biggest differences I notice is there is more rote memory in Japanese math than in the US, which seems different than what someone else said here. Kids are required to learn a multiplication song forwards and backwards and they are regularly tested on it. In grade one they spend FOREVER learning number bonds for 10. Then this skill is used for bigger number. Not like anything I learned. 9+7=16 because 9+1=10, 16-10=6 so therefore 10+6=16. They do attend school more days a year, but a bigger reason is that almost every child in Japan does a correspondence course, Kumon or cram school. Schools give homework (amount depends on school), but kids also have homework from their other classes. Skills are reinforced or enhanced depending on the kid or program. Japanese math is also a mastery approach. My son is in 5th grade and just getting to fractions. This year they will do all 4 operations with fractions, but he rarely knew what a fraction was before now. I also think with a mastery approach less topics are covered in a year so they spend more time on each one. They do the same in science. A few things I don't see in Japanese math are no work with patterns and usually only one method is taught. I did notice this year that their textbook sometimes has several different examples of how to solve the a problem. There also isn't much discovery or hands on materials used in the class, but that can vary with the teacher. There is also not enough critical thinking. They aren't challenged to use their math knowledge in other ways, like Singapore word problems. I can't say which is better because I really think there are some math programs out there that are not Japanese. Singapore seems similar, though with less practice. I think the fact they spend so much time on basic facts when the students are young, really helps. My kids have transferred into a British/Australian program and find it very easy. They had trouble with the vocabulary at first, but now are doing very well. Perhaps their Japanese math helped. Juli in Japan

This is the only program that helped my daughter become a successful reader. http://www.prometheantrust.org/usshop.htm

Hi Kris, It looks great! I was just showing ds (10) and he was wondering what do you do with all the papers when they are finished? Do they get lost? Juli in Kamakura, Japan