I buy 100% no sugar added apple juice. My ds loves it. I always dilute juice (even for us grown-ups in the house). Don't know why. My mum used to do it too. When we go out I tend to order lemon and mint juice (they put mint in everything around here). Very strong but very nice.

Thank you for the sample. Very very helpful. I just ordered startwrite too! Why? See below... Not exactly, startwrite has the dubay-getty italic and some others which are really cute. I intend to use the instructions and methodology from Penny Gardner's book and make my own copywork using DG from startwrite. My husband made a very wise observation when he told me that ds is likely to personalise his italics as he grows so I shouldn't get to hung-up on one particular font.

I have Penny Gardner's book and I love it. It just doesn't offer enough copy work for me. I tried making my own but I have carpal tunnel syndrome and I am leftie who writes with a hook approach, so I didn't get very far before my lettering became wobby. I have briem italic font in my pc. The joiner program will not work no matter how sweetly I talk to the machine. Again I'm no computer geek so it could be something easy to solve, but I just don't know how. Could it be because I use Open Office and not MS Word?

My ds is ready to start writing. After a lot of soul searching I settled with italic handwriting. I really like the fact that with italic the transition from manuscript into cursive seems easier. Well, I downloaded the startwrite demo and I got all excited when I saw the DG italic, the the Q Queensland, andVvictorian modern cursive (which looks like a streamlined italic font anyway), and the New Zealand italic. Now, of course, I'm confused. The all look so kiddie friendly. I especially like the fact some of these italic fonts have an uppercase G that looks less typographic and more easier to master for a small child. Has anybody here tried the "alternative" italic fonts? Any comments? Are they just different italics or does the difference make them useless/better/worse/no different? I'm sure you can tell I'm reaaaaally confused now. :willy_nilly::willy_nilly::willy_nilly:

Just to be on the clear about this. Who or what body eliminated the letter RR, LL and CH? Was it the Academia Real de la Lengua Espanola in Spain?

No, you didn't give me nightmares. I just learned a lot from your reading your message. Ta. Thank you all for the replies. This board has come to my sanity's rescue yet again. As a newbie hs I was all happy and ready to go until I realised I had to teach my ds to read. I panicked, did some googling, went out and bought a whole set of phonic handbook, reader, flash cards, cd, and whatnot. Then I find the little one "reading behind my back". It just goes to prove that one of the many joys of hs is finding out children develop at different speeds and in different ways.

I can see where this is going. Startwrite works so long as you stick with it. I need to choose a font...

Try donnayoung.org .It has many many form -all for free. It even has an excel planner and useful hints about homeschooling and organization. :001_smile:

Funny you mention this. I didn't learn to read by phonics either. Uhm....I'm seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

OK. I'm loving this replies. |It lets me see if people are really using startwrite and how. Thank you guys.

I only have 1 kid but I don't mind paying for something if I'm going to use it for a good while. Pardon my ignorance. What is the HSBC code, or is this the coupon name? Sorry I don't know.

I got some free font in my pc which can generate linked up versions. However I look at the startwrite website and the new versions offers dotted letters, colour arrows and all kinds of bells and whistles. Is it worth buying the software if I'm going to use 2-3 fonts max? Any startwrite users who can comment?

Being poor to me is when you have no where to live and have to rely on family or strangers for a place to sleep. BTW, this is a sure fire way of finding who your real family and friends are!

When ds was born I quickly realised I didn't't know any lullabies in Spanish but I remembered some Christmas carols! So I sang "Nino Lindo" which is a song about the newly born baby Jesus. My ds still asks for it if he can't sleep.

Ditto.

LOL :lol:

My 4.5 yo has resisted the phonics approach more than once. I have assumed he is simply not ready to read and left it at that. However, I have noticed quite a few times he "reads" behind my back. I've caught him reading things off the television screen, books, street signs, etc. I'm thinking he is recognising words by sight, which I was always told is a big no-no and that children must learn phonics or they will never have good spelling. I don't quite know what to think, or if I should discourage ds from doing this, or...what? Help. :confused1:

I have two laundry plastic baskets in the bathroom -for all of us. It helps to keep it simple around a 4yo and absent-minded dh :D

This year I got loads from amazon. Also, ebay (yes, believe it or not, people get rid of their old textbooks) -try "mummylittletreasures" ebay seller who is a mum with her own shop with fantastic manipulatives and what not. Scholastic has its own website. I got Singapore math from christianbook.com in the US because their shipping was more than reasonable. Math Mammoth I got as a download from curriclick. UK Sonlight users have a yahoo group where their sell and swap stuff. I found a UK supplier of wooden cuisinaire rods (made in Germany!) and they have tons of traditional wooden educational material. I even saw some teacher pre-made lesson plans at WHS Smith in Manchester.

Bump. :bigear:

donnayoung.org has tons of handwriting freebies including lined paper.

I am just beginning with singapore math but I got the US edition because it is what I found used. However I am told you can go as high as 2b in the US edition and then switch to the standard edition without too much hassle (hope this is right).

My kid doesn't like erasable ink so I scan the pages I need and print them.

I'm pretty much done, still waiting for some Singapore math on its way here from the US.

I'm in the UAE where restrictions are far less than in Saudi. As for curriculum shipping costs are very high but if you can go back to your country once a year or so you can order online and have everything shipped to a friend's house and bring back with you in your suitcase. If you have friends visiting they can also help with this. I wouldn't worry so much about basic things like markers, and notebooks, but textbooks and science kits. Bibles and other religious materials may be seized though. I hope this helps.