You all are incredibly encouraging! I thought for sure I was ruining my son by insisting on a few minutes a day. :tongue_smilie: My greatest fear in this HS'ing journey is that I will raise a kid who hates to read. (He loves to be read to, however, thank God.) And I didn't want to start K on the wrong foot, since K is supposed to be fun! <<Another idea is to photocopy some of his readers that have a picture and a sentence or two that go along with them, then cut apart the sentence and the picture, have him read the sentence to see which picture it goes with. Turn the book into a game.>> The above idea is wonderful - thanks! And WRT bribes, I'm all about them, LOL. I suspect that's why he likes the treasure hunt, since the last envelope has a picture of where he can find a bag of fruit snacks or Easter candy. And the fire truck game is wonderful b/c he *loves* to win. Elizabeth - I love your concentration game...it's another game I play with him, thanks!

I actually have that book - awesome! I found it at a thrift store awhile ago, but I've never used it. Phonics Pathways is another one that works into sentences using pyramids. Maybe I'll try that. Did you take breaks when she became resistant or work through it?

My son will be 5 in a few weeks. He knows how to read cvc words and words like hill and kick. But lately, he has become resistant to readers (or reading any sentences, for that matter). He much prefers flash cards or games where there is just one word to read. (I do treasure hunts, where he has to read the word on the envelope...if he gets it right, he looks at the picture of a part of the house that I stuck in the envelope, go to that area, find the next envelope, etc. He also loves the fire truck game found on this site: http://www.kellyskindergarten.com/Games/GamestoMake/games_to_make.htm) So basically, he only likes to learn how to read when there is a game involved. He couldn't care less otherwise. Should I just continue to use flash cards until he asks to read books? I wanted to take the next step and start on the long vowel sounds, etc., but I don't know if I should just take a break, especially considering his indifference. However, he is definitely progressing, so I don't want to lose the momentum. Anyone teach her child to read without the use of phonics readers? (I assume most of you will say "He's only 4, what do you expect! Good grief, take a break!", but I thought I'd ask anyway. :lol:)

Considering your criteria, McRuffy might be a perfect fit. (I've only used McRuffy K, but I assume 1st is similar.) Each week has a corresponding reader that you read every day (there are usually questions that go along with it), spelling words are introduced on Mondays and you do various spelling tests and activities throughout the week, and there's a workbook page and handwriting practice each day. For me, I'm realizing I need phonics only, so I'm not doing McRuffy as written. But for someone who wants all-in-one, it is a great program. I can also tell that it was originally designed for the classroom setting - there are many different methods of learning utilized in the curriculum, which I definitely appreciate; however, since I'm only teaching it to my son, I find myself skipping a lot of the activities. BTW, the readers are clever and cute!

I prefer the individual volumes. My son will more readily hand me one of those to read to him than the thicker volume. :)

This is great, thanks! I see they use all 4 yrs of SOTW. Anxious to see if they supplement SOTW II and III.

I love this paper and used it last month, but I am still trying to figure out how it works. Anyone know? Love the idea of placing magnets on it!

I'm bumping this up...I just noticed that on amazon.com, these are running $13ish dollars per kit.

I'm so glad to hear that! I too am Catholic, so I'm off to research it. :001_smile:

I am around Lesson 70ish with my almost-5 yr old (LA). I would recommend it if you want an all-in-one. Every day is a bit different in terms of the workbook, and my son really likes doing the activities. I don't do much spelling or handwriting with him, so in that regard, I think I could have gone a cheaper route (Bob Books with OPGTR, for instance. Or Progressive Phonics.) Pros: ~ He can read! :) We are nearing the end of cvc words, and although he is no where near fluent yet (he still sounds most words out), I can tell it is clicking. ~Variety in the daily activities ~The readers are cute. ~The TM is great, IMO. Cons: ~I don't think it's worth $100 if you don't use most of the aspects. We don't do the sliders, puppets, spelling, and handwriting. That's just us, though! I am basing this on the fact that I have Phonics Pathways sitting on my shelf and it was $20. And it covers several years of phonics. ~I'm not a big fan of the games, for some reason. My son likes them, but I find myself making up my own or searching online for other ideas. ~I am more WTM-ish in terms of writing. Haven't encountered that much in K, but I didn't like McRuffy's approach in the samples I saw for 1st-4th. This is something you can easily tweak, however. So, all in all, I think K is great in terms getting your kid to read. It's fun and colorful and easy to use. When we finish it, I will probably continue with ETC/PP, which I also have, AAS, FLL, and WWE. But I will definitely keep it to use with my younger kids! With Math, we are only on Lesson 24. I plan to use it for K, then go into Singapore 1A/1B when he finishes. Some of the things are really easy for him (I can already tell he has a mathy brain like his mom and dad!), but I suspect most curricula are like that in the beginning. He loves it though.

I was going to post another link from this same blog, correlating SOTW 2 chapters with chapters in Catholic books: http://vmalott.typepad.com/blog/2008/05/catholic-resour.html

I do too, but I got the impression that some people thought they were too cartoonish for their taste. :tongue_smilie:

My son is learning to read using McRuffy K. He is only 4.5yo, so I don't do much of the handwriting yet. But we both love it! We are on the 4th or 5th reader, I think. I also started McRuffy K Math recently. Too early to give a complete review, but from what I see of it, it is just what we were looking for. I think because it is more traditional and has somewhat cheesy graphics (LA and Math), it might look less sophisticated than other curricula. But I think Brian does an excellent job at making it thorough and fun at the same time. Oh, and I have ETC too, but it seems like overkill now that I am well into McRuffy LA. He incorporates a lot of review in both these subjects.

I'm going to bump for you, since I'm curious too!

I agree with all your points. We are also in the middle of K and love it! I can't wait to buy the math and get started on that, too.

I'm only doing K phonics, but we love it here. I can't wait to dive into the math. It's just so parent/child-friendly. During my initial glance at the samples online, I got the (erroneous) impression that it was a workbook-centered curriculum. But really, there is so much more to it. The TM is a must, IMO! I think that if there is an aspect of the curriculum you don't like, you can always supplement with something else and skip those parts in McRuffy. I know that can negate the benefits of AIO, but it's an idea. :) (I like the idea of using WWE/FLL along with it once we get to that point.)

I thought I'd prefer the hard copy, as well. But I bought the pdf, printed it, and combined the teacher's guide with the corresponding student pages. Whenever my son finishes coloring/drawing, I stick the sheet in his science notebook. It's been working out well! We have been having a great time.

I love McRuffy K! When my son wasn't catching on to cvc words, we took a couple months off. Then I started playing some of the McRuffy folder games and some from http://www.kellyskindergarten.com/Games/GamestoMake/games_to_make.htm, specifically the Fire Engine game and Space Mission. We went back to McRuffy, and he is suddenly getting it. I personally plan to use it (and ETC every once in awhile) and nothing else to teach him to read. :)

Jen has an awesome blog, and in a series of posts, she describes how she does LA the CM-way. She mentions spelling, so I thought you might be interested: http://wildflowersandmarbles.blogspot.com/2010/07/considering-charlotte-mason-and-our_05.html.

8filltheheart started a great thread about this earlier this year: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=173293&highlight=teatime My only concern would be making sure my child was exposed to a wide variety of topics. Otherwise, he would have no idea whether he cares about a particular subject like Ancient China. So, in that sense, I can see a curriculum like SOTW being a great resource, even if it means just reading a section before quiet time.

You may want to check out the following link: http://www.lulu.com/product/file-download/grammar-stage-memorization/631808 Lots of cool ideas!

I also want to hijack if you don't mind. :) I'm interested in those who used something else in K-3. How was the transition into Saxon 5/4? I'm considering using McRuffy for the early grades. And for those who do start Saxon with 5/4, what year do you start it? I only ask b/c a lot of folks seem to start Saxon 1 in K, and hence are in 5/4 in 3rd grade.

A bunch of homeschoolers in our area just went, and they said it was awesome! Hard to believe the ships were made by hand to replicate the originals as much as possible. I don't believe the guided tours were super expensive. Maybe $7 for adults, and a couple of dollars less for children 5 yrs and older.

Wow, the etsy one is beautiful! Go you for making one yourself. My neighbor got it from Costco a few years ago. I think it looks something like this: http://www.amazon.com/KidKraft-65022-Savannah-Dollhouse/dp/B000C5E25W. I guess if she's too rough with it, I could always put away the furniture and let her stick her Little People in it. :001_smile:

My dd will be almost 2 yo when Christmas comes around. My neighbor wants to get rid of her big wooden dollhouse + furniture and asked if I wanted it. It would certainly save me a lot of money if I just gave that to my dd as her gift, but I have no idea if it's at all age appropriate. (I somehow doubt it!) She likes looking at this one dollhouse that's set up in a display case at our library, but...well, she's a toddler. :tongue_smilie: And I'm a clueless mother who has been immersed in all things boys for the past 2 years. Just wanted to see if any of you who maybe have both older and younger girls in the family (so maybe the younger ones play with the older ones' toys) can tell me your experience. Obviously not a big deal whatsoever, but it's quite large, so I don't think I can just store it until she's 6. :001_smile: TIA!