We've had great success with Justice! Cute tween bras!

How old is your daughter you are wanting to teach? Do you have any dietary preferences, i.e. vegetarian, no sugar, whole foods or just anything?

Great! So does Megawords teach phonograms and spelling rules along with syllablication? Or would she need that base first? Any others agree or disagree with the suggestion of using megawords? JeniRae

:bigear:

We are in year two of hsing. Dd11 is an average speller but has never had any spelling instruction/rules. I'm sure she would pick up phonograms and rules quickly and apply them if she were taught. Would you suggest SWR or MW? Or both? Thanks JeniRae

Thank you for your advice. Yes some is sticking, mostly that in which he knows the phonograms and can try them all out at once. Anyone else out there know any programs that learn all the sounds to each phonogram at once but is not necessarily a spelling program? JeniRae

I have a 7 year old son who I have been trying to teach to read. He does great blending sounds together so that is not a problem. I have tried OPGTR and Alphaphonics. Very little sticks. Several months ago I began AAS. He was able to master the phonograms that we covered pretty easily. However I chose to stop spelling in order to spend more time focusing on reading. My plan was to quickly increase his reading ability and then return to spelling. The phonograms he has learned seem to help him read in that when he sees a word such as "head" he knows to try each of the "ea" sounds in order until he finds the one that works. That seems to be the method that logically makes sense to him. I think OPGTR and AP are too random in his mind and therefore don't stick. I, as the teacher, do much better having a structured program layed out for me. Anyone have any recommendations on a reading program that teaches all the sounds for each phonogram at once and then applies it to reading. I am not looking for anything fancy with lots of components; the simpler the better. I considered WRTR but the time to learn it kind of scares me. I have 3 other children I homeschool as well so time is of course a needed consideration. He also struggles to write and that is another reason I wanted to focus on reading and not spelling. AAR interests me but he is beyond level 1 and only the readers are out for level 2. I am not sure of their approach to teaching reading either. One other piece of information, he has a hard time "seeing" the phonograms as he is reading unless I color them so he is able to see them isolated within the word. Which isn't a problem and I don't mind doing. After much repitition of the same phonogram he eventually starts to see it on his own and I am able to wean him off the coloring. Any advice would be greatly apprecieated. Thank you. JeniRae

Hello all...I have been a sporadic lurker for a couple of years and last October decided to take the homeschooling plunge. I have a 13 dd, 10 dd, 6 ds, & 2 dd. My question today is in regards to my 10 dd and math. She has done first thru 3rd grade Saxon in PS. Before beginning PS she used to think very logically about numbers. However after doing 3 years of Saxon no longer thinks logically but rotely plugs away at the formula. She was beginning to dislike math. I wanted to recapture her mathematical instincts and love of numbers. My sister, who homeschools her children suggested Singapore. I researched it along with Right Start. I liked what I saw in both programs. I chose to go with Singapore 2B because it was less expensive and from what I read was under the impression many feel RS is week in levels C-E. It has been going barely okay. I purchsed the RS Games in hoping to supplement. However I struggle determining which games to use when in order to help. In addition she already spends 20 min at least with mom instructing and then another 30 minutes on the independant work and finishes only half the lesson, so spending more time on than that on math doesn't sound appealing to her or I. We finished 2B and have moved on to 3A. While I see her kind of getting this different thinking in math, she still struggles. Overall she is happier than with Saxon but at times is till frustrated to tears. I can't help but think it should be better than this. She's a very bright kid who used to think this way naturally. I feel I am very patient with her and that is not an issue. But I have always easily excelled in and understood math. However until trying to teach it, I didn't realize what a horrible math teacher I am. When I read through and prepare the lessons it makes sense to me but when it comes out of my mouth I think I complicate it. So any thoughts on switching to RS? I hear some use RS as spine and supplement with Singapore. If so any thoughts on a simple way to do it? She loves games and that is a huge appeal. Do you feel RS is lacking in the upper levels? If so in what way? How do I assess if there are any gaps? And how would I fill them? My oldest has only done Saxon as well and is currently doing Algebra with the D.I.V.E. CDROMs. She has always struggled and is struggling horribly now. She too is in tears spending two hours a day on math and only completing 1/3 of the problems. I have decided to switch to Video Text Algebra for her and hope this 10 dd will use it as well. Any thoughts or recommendations would be greatly appreciated! Thanks Jen