Thanks for your post Mathwonk. Being in Russia I had studied Euclid Geometry at school for 3 years so I can appreciate it:). Does AOPS Geometry book cover any formal proofs? How deep are they covered? Thanks a lot.

My daughter who is 10 finished SM5 and we are going through 5B IP and CWP now. She is also using RS "Geometry" once per week as a Geometry program and MEP. I had been debating what do do next also. I was planning to use SM 6 next two month with her including IP and CWP6 as well as Math Olympiad trainer 4 and 5 books this summer( I already own all of them). I decided to buy "Pre-Algebra" book as well as "Into to Algebra" and "Counting and Probability" from AOPS for her. We are going to use only 4-5 chapters from "Pre-algebra" book because she already studied some topics before. She can build and solve simple linear equations with 1 or 2 variables. I think we will go through first 2 AOPS books withing a year. For those of you who used "Intro to Geometry" book how did you like it? I am looking from the point of view of a mother who went through 5 years of formal geometry studies( 3 years of 2-D and 2 years of 3-D Geometry). Looking through TOC I saw that 2_D and 3_D geometry were combined together in one book. Did you feel it was enough material or you would rather add more things to it. Does book cover any proofs and teach how to solve them? If my daughter was proficient in Russian enough to learn from Russian books, I would use them. I don't feel I want to spend a lot of time translating to her unless I must. Thanks a lot.

This coming school year we are going to use a combination of " A Child's Geography:Explore His Earth" and " Our Planet Earth" from AIG which will cover Earth science and Geography at some point. I will be making my own curricular using various resources most of which are in Russian. I was raised in Russia. Formally, Geography as a subject had been studied there for 6 years( 6th-11th grade). Before that young children( primary school) study a subject: "World around you" for 5 years which combines elementary knowledge of geography (maps reading, cardinal directions, etc), science, history, some elements of political science and few other things.

I think it depends on a child. My son is 6 and he is very interested in Robotics, so I purchased a curriculum for him and his older sister who is 10. :)

For any of you who are thinking about purchasing any 4-H curriculum, they will go on sale (25%) this coming Monday. Here is a link to an announcement: http://www.4-hmall.o...epress2013.aspx I was purchasing a robotics curriculum for my kids and saw an ad.

Thank you very much to all of you who reply. I really appreciate your advice. I will be checking out all suggested resources. Thanks a lot.

My daughter is using "Level 3 Figural" from Critical Thinking Company(suggested for grade 7+ ) and almost done with a book. We skipped Level 2 book because I couldn't locate it in time. Now I don't think we will need it at all. My daughter, who is 10, is very good with visual problems and was working with this book: http://www.criticalt...id=05243&code=c You can try Building Thinking Skills level 2 for your daughter since she is a little bit younger than mine. I think you can look at samples at Critical Thinking Company website. http://www.criticalt...id=05242&code=c

Hi, My 10 years old daughter decided to write a novel/book about children traveling in time through history. She was so facinated with Magic Tree House books, so she decided to write her own stories. She has already developed the characters, a plot, locations and now finishing her first chapter. She wants to publish it someday:) If your child is writing a novel, do you help him/her with data research or assist with writing? Does your child write every day or from time to time? My daughter is very creative, but not a very good writer. Where do you publish/show your child's original writing? My daughter doesn't want her ideas being used by someone else. Thanks a lot for your replies. Lena. P.S. If you have any suggestions of books/programs to use which will be able to help with writing, please let me know. I am thinking about odering a "story/novel writing" books from IEW.

My oldest daughter(10) and my son(6) want to be robotics engineers and they know the name of the college they will be attending. My daughter most likely will choose Computer Science and my son will be involved into electronic/computer science engineering. They will be getting a new EV3 Lego mindstorm set for Christmas. My second daughter(4 years old) hasn't decided yet, but she wants to be a figure skater, a gymnast, a dancer and to speak several languages. Right now she is just skating, doing her math and learning some Japanese. My 2 years old little scientist and engineer experiments with everything she can get hold of and having lot of fun

I personally agree with you. My oldest daughter started learning a foreign language at age 2, which didn't affect her math abilities. She is very good at math (my standards are very high- 100% on Singapore/Russian math assignments). She started studying math at age 3.5. My child is not truly bilingual, but she can read and write in Russian at 1st grade level. Russian is not a foreign language for our family, French and German languages are. My son started counting in French before he even knew how to count in English. He was about 2 years old. He outperforms my oldest daughter in logic and beats my husband in SET game very often. I think young kids are like sponges. We just need keep supplying them enough "meaty" materials to "consume". I can not always keep up with my kids. :tongue_smilie: Whoever wrote that strange article has very limited understanding of brain development and doesn't have his facts right.

I agree with Bill. I started my almost 4 years old daughter with RS, then switched to SM + MEP. Later we used SM (textbook, IP and CWP), MEP, Russian math ( peterson math, which is considered to be the challenging elementary math program in Russia) and MEP. Right now we are doing different books related to SM(PM textbooks, IP, CWP, Olympiad problems, mental math) , Russian math and RS Geometry and ready to move on AOPS Prealgebra/ Intro to Algebra combination. With my son, who just turned 6, we are using 2nd grade Russian math textbook, RS math, SM (textbook, IP, CWP) and will be adding Beast Academy materials this coming winter.

I have 2 oldest kids participating in it and they really enjoyed the challenge. My son made top 100 students even he had a lot of website down time. First day we couldn't excess 2 categories for at least 3 hours and had a lot of "the results could not been finalized" half of the time for my daughter. She didn't score high due to web site loading/ keeping track of results problems. She is a slow typist also, so we need to work on it more. Overall kids really had a lot of fun and looking forward for world education games in 2013:) Congratulation to all of the kids who got high scores and did so well just participating in it!

My son who is 5, can work independently. Since he doesn't always like writing, it takes him so long to finish some several operation math problems. When we are working together, he moves through topics at a fast pace. Doing a lot of math orally helps to accelerate quicker avoiding the boredom of hand writing. My oldest daughter studies independently and prefers writing the answers to the problems while working the solution in her head. If she is approaching a challenging problem, she writes the important steps down to keep track of her thinking process.

Hi, I think the quantity of time/ quality of math work will depend on your child's math abilities. Last year my 4th grader was doing 3-4 hours of math daily 5 times per week. She works independently and asks questions when she needs some help. This year we do math daily because we have 3 different math programs to cover. Here is an example of our math schedule: Mon.-Russian math/ Logic Tue.-Russian math/ RS Geometry Wed.- Singapore math Thur.- Singapore math/Logic Fr. - Singapore math Sat.- Olympiad problems Sun.- Olympiad problems/working on mistakes/ Logic She did LOF Fraction and Painless Fractions independently as an extra activity.

Thanks for the link. I enjoyed the presentation. This program might work for my 4 years old who likes building:) Do your children like the program? Thanks.

:iagree: In the past, I looked through Saxon math textbooks and wasn't impressed with them. Too much drilling for my taste. We use Singapore math challenging word problems, SM Intensive Practice and Math Olympiad problems with my 9 years old. We also used Andrew R worksheets(a grade below) choosing only the most difficult problems to do. After them challenging word problems were very simple.:tongue_smilie: We are planning to use a combination of NEM and AoPS books in the future. P.S. My daughter really enjoyed a LOF Fraction book as a summer fun reading material. Now she is finishing Painless Fractions which she also likes a lot.

Russian math (Peterson math) introduces variables in 1 grade so my son has no problem understanding them. You don't need waiting for mastering of the arithmetic at all.

Hi, My daughter started writing in cursive in English without really learning a manuscript. Now she is learning writing in Russian without learning how to print. My son is studying Russian and Japanese simultaneously and learning to write in both languages without any confusion. Just my 2 cents.

I haven't used BA with my kids yet, but I used an advanced Russian math program and SM with my daughter. This math program introduces variables in 1st grade and my son, who is only 5, has no problems understanding them. When dd works with Singapore math, she uses a bar diagram method; when my child studies Russian math, she uses algebra. No confusion at all. I think that a bar diagram method is a good visual tool, which helps to think analytically and "see" the problem. I strongly advice my daughter to use both methods to solve challenging word problems.

Hi, here in MO private coaching cost between $20-30 per 30 minutes depending on the status of a coach. Ice is an extra charge. My daughter just passed her basic 8 test and moving ahead. We skate only once per week in learn to skate classes plus extra ice time when she is working on her elements. She started skating earlier but wasn't ready to push herself very hard, so it was going very slow for her. She changed her attitude so we can see the results. I agree with several posters that figure skating is a costly sport. My second daughter started skating at age 2, but she is not ready to work hard to put her through Learn to skate classes. If your son wants to get serious about skating and you can afford it,that is great. Johny Weird started skating at 12 and achieved a lot of good results. Next year we will be hiring a private coach for my oldest child. She hasn't competed yet. She wants to be very good and mentally ready for competitions.

Grammar Island by MCT is to English Grammar. My almost 6 years old was really enjoying it listening to the stories and learning about some grammar:):lol:

Hi! I have a question for those of you who already own updated Caesar's English I. Is it possible to use original CE I TM and new enhanced CE I Student book together? I already own an original CE I TM, so I am just trying to utilize what I already have without buying too many books this year. Thanks.:D

Hi, I have used Connection Academy with my K/1 grader, when we just started to homeschool. We used it as a supplement to our own choices. We did Home economics, Foreign Languages, Social Studies, Music theory and art. We were pleased with the results. We tried math, (Calvert math) but it was not enough for my child who was working 1 year ahead in math anyway. She tested 92/100% on math (MEP pretest/ test). We were kind sorry about our state quitting funding it and turning it into private on-line school, where it cost a lot to take a class from them. My daughter being only 6 years old had an excellent French teacher who had additional private lessons with her reading some children french books. We were not pushed around but just needed to have a monthly phone call from a room teacher and requirements to participate in an on-line class from time to time.

I am not sure about Russian math thread. It might be only interested for Russian-speaking people, because it is in Russian language. I am using Peterson's math for my kids. For my daughter it is kind a supplement this year, but for my son it is a core. Many parents/elementary teachers in Russia dislike this particular author, because 50% of assignments are very challenging(very hard on parents who are not good at math); textbook/workbook doesn't provide "enough explanation" of the topics presented, and introduction of algebra elements are in a second grade textbook. I like it and my kids love it, especially my puzzle-loving son. I think this particular curricula gives kids a chance to think creatively. It engaged my son in a lot of extra activities such as pattern recognition, writing math expression, logical thinking etc. One of the assignment for the 2nd grader was to write an algorithm(directions) " how to use an elevator?" We plan to continue using this author through 6th grade books. I don't own a Russian math 6 book , but I think it is the one many people refer to when they talk about Russian math textbook. What Russian math books do you refer?

I dislike comics myself, but my kids love them. At this point, I am more thinking about getting just practice books for my oldest child, and later when my son is done with his SM2/Russian math 2, I will get the "textbooks" for him. It will happen next year, when whole 3rd grade BA curricula will be completed.