I will be using Nancy Larson for next year. Can't wait. He's already wowed just by looking at the website. I don't think you could go wrong by choosing it.

I would also recommend Spelling City. They have an iPad app but you might have to have the paid membership to use it (we do).

Oh I will be ordering this time! I was really hoping it would be back.

I highly recommend you look into Nancy Larson science.

He's about to turn 7 so I don't really think I need the wood letter pieces. I was thinking about whether or not I need a chalk board or not. I might get the chalk board app for that if I do. I see in the book there is quite a few opportunities to practice in the gray blocks so I don't know what I need. I'm not overly familiar with the programs specifics. He's not really struggling with HW. I just need to give him some focused lessons and correct some minor problems with 2 of his letters.

I just bought a used HWT My Printing Book for my little guy. Do I need the TM. I'm somewhat lost on what we need to do since I don't have a TM and haven't used the K level book with him. Do the new TM's still have daily lesson plans? I know the K one does. If they do maybe that would help give me some guidelines with his lessons each day. What say you Hive?

Thanks every one. I didn't realize there were YouTube video's explaining how the Sound Literacy app works so I watched a several of those last night. I'll be purchasing the Sound Literacy app to use with our current AAR lessons and future AAS lessons.

Wow freemanfamily! Thanks for that. It really helps me know that I made the right decision choosing RS. I feel like I didn't take care of my older son where math was concerned and I know that I have to invest the time on the basics. Of course I only have the one right now but after 8 years of homeschooling I think I would make this decision even if I had more kids.

Well I've just received Level B so I don't know how much I can really share but I really like what I've researched and felt like it was worth the price. Now that I've gotten it and received the lessons I'm even more impressed. I will start it with my little guy in the morning. For more perspective on it being teacher intensive you might look up my fairly recent post asking about RightStart. There is some great posts there. By the way I appreciate your response to my Nancy Larson science post. Maybe we can swap info on RS and NL :001_smile:

For practice if you have an iPad, iPhone you could use the LOE Phonics with Phonograms app. It's only $3 dollars and is designed to compliment LOE. http://www.logicofenglish.com/products/apps/phonograms-app If you can't do an app I would also make sure there is enough constant review of the spelling rules and maybe have her play on spelling city. HTH!

Ok I'm using AAR with my son and need a phonogram app as I didn't buy the tiles because I had intended to use the Sound Literacy App. I stumbled onto the Logic of English Phonogram app and I'm curious if anyone might be able to shed some light on how different they are. Using AAR/AAS I need to be able to pull down and use specific phonogram tiles. I just don't know if the LOE app will allow me enough flexibility. Anyone use the LOE app? I'd love some feedback on exactly how it operates.

I used AAS with my older son and loved it. I am using AAR and will use AAS with the younger one too. I used the tiles but not very much because he was older and just didn't need the tiles. With the younger one I am using an iPad app for the tiles. I personally find it very easy to adapt AAS to any child. I have owned SWR but never was able to get started and make it work. I need the scripted aspect of AAS/AAR. I can easily drop the script if I want/need to but I need the jumping off point. SWR wasn't laid out in enough detail for me. But that's just me. When I say detail I mean lessons clearly laid out for me. Again just a personal preference. I am a big supporter of AAS and AAR though. Have been since I found it. It was the easiest phonics/spelling program I've encountered and worth every penny to me. I'm learning that I get what I pay for in curriculum. My curriculum choices are expensive but the more I submit to hitting the pay button on these the happier I am.

I should have said that Marie recommends to wait to start AAS 1 until you have finished AAR 1 in full.

Nancy Larson Science and RightStart math. We too love AAR here and I've just ordered RightStart and want desperately to order Nancy Larson. You might also like Heart of Dakota too.

Oh my! I am in love with the Nancy Larson science kits :drool: but I almost choked :ack2: (really) when I saw the price for 1st grade! Is Nancy Larson completely secular? I'm a young earth creation Christian so I don't want to have to wade through opposing views in 1st. I'll do that later. Tell me it's worth it! One kit is as much as I just spent on math and phonics together and I thought I had some pricey stuff in those 2 subjects.

My manual doesn't have what I call stick figures. It looks like the student pages. It is pretty basic but not stick figures. I've been pondering whether to stick with the manual or going to the student pages. Not sure what to do since I just have one I'd be using it with right now. And their new 1st/2nd pages are completely different and have their own teachers manuals and everything. Not sure how I feel about that either.

Thank you Jennifer! That is exactly the way I used AAS when I use it so I'm familiar with stopping in the middle of a lesson and not stressing about it :-) May I ask why you wait until later grades to start CWP? Just curious. I've been pondering possibly needing to add an element of Singapore to RS.

Jennifer I've enjoyed reading your posts about RS the last few days. I want to understand how you use the times for lessons each day. So do you basically set a timer per say and go for however minutes you have set aside for that day and stop, then pick up at that same place the next day? Even if it's in the middle of a lesson? Hope that makes sense. In looking over the samples at the RS sight I'm not sure why it takes such a long time for lessons each day. Of course I'm just looking at B level but it just doesn't seem like that much time for a lesson each day. It doesn't matter to me as I've just got the one. I'm willing to invest the time to make sure he learns and understands math the way I want him to. If I had more kids it would be an issue but not right now.

Ok so I'm really really leaning towards RS for math for my little guy. I like what I see but I want users to tell me the good, bad, and ugly. I thought they were coming to Teach Them Diligently Nashville in May but they aren't so I have to make a decision based on samples online. What do you recommend on placement? I did the placement test for my son and he placed in B but when I look at the objectives for level A I don't think really think he has mastered those. Then when I look at the objectives for B I think he's ready for those and many of those seem to be repeats of A. Which level do you think is best? What manipulatives do I truly need? Is the starter set really enough or will I be wishing I had gotten the deluxe set? Thanks ladies!

This is completely how I feel! You articulated it so well. Thank you. YES!! This is what I want too! Again you so well articulated what I wanted to say. Hunter I always appreciate your wisdom. Thank you for this. It gives me so many things to ponder and remember as I embark on making these changes. I know there are things that just have to be done and it just takes perseverance and that work ethic is important to teach and instill. I want to teach those things but I also want to instill a love of the subjects and learning that I wasn't able to do for my older son. Maybe things would be the same no matter what I had done with the older one but I can't help but wonder. The price of being a homeschooling mother I guess. Ladies I truly appreciate all you've said. I am so glad I finally hit send on this post. It's been sitting with me for a while now. I'm still processing many things but I think I'll be processing until I graduate the younger one.

tell me what you would do differently than you have done in the past. I've got a 6 year old son that I've been homeschooling already but his older brother has been in the mix. Older son will be attending a cottage school so I'll be back to just one fresh new brain to teach. He's learning to read (and quite well if I do say so myself) with Reading Eggs. I've also been using ACE's Word Building paces to reinforce what he's been learning in Reading Eggs as ACE's Word Building paces are phonics and handwriting. He's also been doing ACE math and practicing his math facts on MathRider. That's all we've been doing. His handwriting could improve but honestly what 6 year really couldn't improve their handwriting? He told me yesterday, in a completely non threatening conversation, that he didn't like his pace workbooks. He does them without much complaint though. He said he likes Reading Eggs and wants to do that but he doesn't like the paces. I'm thinking that there are so many ways to teach this little guy the necessary subjects for his age that I don't want him going into doing his school work each day with dread for the workbooks. So I can basically start over right now and change up everything. I'll have 4 days a week alone with this little guy and I have so many hopes and dreams for what I want for our homeschooling and learning. He loves to be read to. He loves working on the computer. He's strong in math. He needs to work on handwriting but he's still doing very well for his age. He loves to create things - anything - he will take paper and make anything he wants to- helmets, his own laptop, swords. He's very creative and asks tons of questions. He's a perfectionist and can get mad when he doesn't do things right the very first time. He's getting better with that as I talk to him about it. I swear I'm thinking of using HOD Beyond with him next year for 2nd grade and forking over for Right Start math, going back to AAS for spelling since we now have an iPad and we can do the tiles on our iPad, and read, read, read, then go outside and play, draw, examine nature, do science experiments, etc, etc etc. If you were me, and you could completely start over with a young child, what would you do and why? I'm open to any ideas. I'm tired of feeling like I've got to follow some kind of unspoken expected path to educate my kids. I want to do things differently that I did with the older one. I want homeschooling to be organic and just part of our natural days. Can I do it or have I been so indoctrinated into today's society and mind set about education that I'll always feel like I'm failing if I do it? I need veterans wisdom right now.

Here's one for 30% off. PTEBOOTCAMP I don't know how long it's good for. I know it's a short time. I missed the Black Friday sale too and was happy to find this one. You might be interested in Inspired to Actions meal planning book camp. That's where the code came from. http://inspiredtoaction.com/2013/01/save-the-date-for-the-meal-planning-boot-camp-and-more/ Hope this helps!

I would love to have an app too but I don't have an Ipad. I would pay the $25 in a heart beat for Sound Literacy if I could get it on my iPhone or Kindle Fire. I guess I'm completely out of options at this point since a search on the app store showed nothing. :glare:

Yes I would recommend Time4Learning. They have a free trial for a couple of weeks I think. If memory serves me there isn't science in pre-k or K for that matter but it is there for 1st and I bet she would enjoy just watching the videos. No big deal if she retains everything. My son really likes it.

Yes Galloping the Globe is a stand alone geo curriculum.