I know you can stream it, but right now there is a $2 off coupon for Schoolhouse Rock when you buy from Amazon. If you scroll down just below the product picture there is a sentence about the coupon and you have to manually "clip this coupon" to claim it. Currently with the coupon that makes the set $10.48. Nice! http://www.amazon.com/Schoolhouse-Rock-Special-Anniversary-Edition/dp/B00005JKTY/ref=pd_cp_mov_0

Chrysalis, what do you mean about that dilemma? I didn't consider MM6 equivalent to a pre-algebra course. So I guess MM7 will end up being a "true" pre-algebra course?

I've been looking over the updates to the Math Mammoth in the revised edition. I know the Common Core correlation is there and some changes were made for that, but Maria (author) indicates she also made revisions for other reasons too. I have 2 students using the "old" MM: one at 3A chapter 2 (multiplication concept), one starting 4A chapter 3. Despite reading through the list of revisions, I'm uncertain what to do. I'm fine with the sequence of topics, don't care if they correlate to Common Core (and more topics were moved later than earlier, so why bother at this point), but some of the other revisions...well, maybe it would be good to have those? Has anyone studied this out or considered what to do on this? Would love to hear some other thoughts.

Thank you so much for the comparison! And I would LOVE to see some examples like you mentioned, definitely!

I'm very interested in hearing an answer on this as well. My thought (without having CAP yet) is that CAP has a larger creative component?? But that's just a guess, really. Thoughts?

Thank you for the couple of replies on this....so... what do you think about working through PARTS of Fable? Instead of the whole thing? Or is that just too much trouble and not effective? Thinking....

I enjoyed your review -- thank you! I know I've asked this before, but now that people have been using CAP longer, I'm wondering what the thought is on skipping CAP Fable and going straight into CAP Narrative? My kids have done a good amount with rewriting fables already, and I worry that they are just going to be sick of it. Or will they be missing out on fundamental experiences or instruction if they skip Fable? Anyone know if they are keeping up with the publication schedule enough that the next set of books will be available before August? It worries me to be on the leading edge of the publication plan.

Can you give a bit more specific info or background or details? And how old is your dd? How long were you with the book? Thanks!

A friend of mine was asking, so I thought I'd get some additional feedback here: What's the thought on using the program without actively reading the books at the same time? For example, in the case of this family, many of the books used have already been read by the time they come up in the various levels. And even for those that have not already been read, there is a regular, involved "progam" (for lack of a better word) of reading classic literature already in place. So...ya...what about just doing the exercises and all of that without the literature -- sometimes knowing/remembering the book, sometimes not.

I have set one, but was excited to see set two until I saw the price (considering the books I already own from that set). I'm interested to hear what anyone things of actually joining/subscribing to the Gateway to Classics. Do you find that you use the actual plans at all? Or do you just use the e-books when you want them? Do you think it's worth it?

Would you give some examples of the menu/descriptions? This sounds fun! I'd also like to hear more about your reading journal, what those included things look like, etc. And how do you use that figurative language chart you shared? And finally, do you have a resource for these ideas, or are you just coming up with these on your own? Thanks! :)

I'm interested to hear more about where you're at with this, as well. My oldest of my younger crew is in 4th grade, so she's the one I'm thinking of with what you're describing. I regret that one of my older ones did not have more technical training like you mentioned, as it would have really served her needs in college.

I really like Teaching the Classics material for this, rather than book-specific guides. The literary graphic organizer that Mom31257 posted is very much used with TTC, as well as the numerous discussion questions in the the back of the TTC guide for those of us who need a little help getting rolling with it. ;) We don't do this for all the books we read, but we've had some better conversations that I expected when we do use those resources.

We've used the BBC Dance Mat Typing, TypingPal when we got a deal through HSBC, but for the long-term we use Mavis Beacon. My littlest ones use Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing for Kids, but they all end up with just the regular Mavis Beacon. All of the others we've used serve to encourage and interest and assist them in getting better acquainted with the keyboard and getting them moving in the right direction with typing on their own and not looking at the keys. But to me, all of those other programs are like appetizers and light meals, while Mavis Beacon is the main course.

This has been so interesting reading how everyone does it a bit differently, and why. Thank you so much for sharing. While we have our own way of doing things, I have to be careful with myself to be sure to question and challenge myself somewhat regularly, to see if this is really the way I want to be doing things. I do fall into the CM "camp" in terms of some of what she said about trying to prevent a student from seeing the wrong spelling -- from getting that wrong "picture" of a word in his/her mind. As such, prepared dictation really suits us. Even with programs of grammar where a main activity is to find all the things wrong with the text -- I just don't really want to dwell on the "bad" examples, at least with elementary kids (my thoughts on that change as the student gets older and has the experience needed to more confidently do that). However, I do like some of the advantages of holding a longer passage in one's mind, as with SWB's dictation passages in WWE. And I actually have WWE but don't use it on a regular basis. But all the various comments have me thinking through some things... and that's a good thing. :)

I've been reading some of the writing threads and keep seeing these come up and feel like people use them in different ways. Obviously do what works for them, which is fine, but I'm interested to see some direct answers to what dictation or prepared dictation means to you and the value you see in it. How do you do it? what do you call it? how long is the passage? For my part, I've always thought of "dication" as what (I think) is often referred to as "prepared dictation" -- specifically, the student: -sees and studies the passage in advance; -writes down any potentially questionable words of spelling (or I point out a few if I feel it will be necessary); -pays special attention to punctation (which may include a brief comment from me about why something is the way it is...although this is quite infrequent) -after a couple of minutes of studying/preparing the passage as noted above, I read the passage to the student -- AND THIS PART VARIES FOR ME: sometimes I read the whole passage, being careful that my voice is expressing the punctuation; sometimes I read in manageable phrases, assuming they will remember where/what much of the punctuation is, and then I will reread the whole thing again at the end with my voice expressing the punctuation, in case they want to make any changes. I've actually not been a fan of writing something for copywork once or a few times, THEN also having it be a dictation passage. I guess because it feels boring and uninspiring to repeat it (unless used less frequently, say, with a goal of memorization). And when doing dictation with a 3rd-4th grader I would typically do one beautifully constructed sentence, possible two, for a dictation "passage." So how do you do it?

OK, well earlier today I bought 5 mp3s: Writing for Elementary and Middle School, The Real Child, Teaching Students to Work Independently, and Literary Analysis. Wish I had noticed the slides sooner! Thank you for sharing them! I might have changed a choice or two, but I'm sure I'll still enjoy these. I really appreciate the thoughts and suggestions so far. I briefly saw the slides for Academic Excellence split into 2 age groups -- don't remember seeing an audio for that, but that seems interesting. And I was also eyeing the science audio but have to go look if there is an outline for that...and what else is on that page...hmmm...this is just going to get me into more trouble. ;)

Thanks for the replies! Here are a couple of specific questions. I am for sure getting the elementary writing (still debating on the middle school), but then I saw this one that reviews all levels: http://peacehillpress.com/audiobooks-lectures/writing-without-fear-mp3-download/ It's said to be an "overall summary of writing goals and methods for K-12" -- what do you think? Also, the "What Is Literary Analysis? When, Why, and How Should I Teach It?" http://peacehillpress.com/audiobooks-lectures/what-is-literary-analysis-when-why-and-how-should-i-teach-it-mp3-download/ The description is a bit vague on the target audience. Is this targeted to older years? I am especially intrigued knowing SWB's college teaching background, but wonder how relevant it will feel with elementary kiddos. I do like/use the Teaaching the Classics approach with my kids...although I am not as consistent as I want to be. Thanks! :)

So with the sale on SWB's mp3s, I'm looking! ;) Any you've listened to that just really inspired you or brought things into focus? I'm sure favorites are different for everyone, but since buying ALL the mp3s probably isn't an option for me, I'd love to hear what you think. I am particularly eyeing the writing for elementary years...although then I feel like I should get all 3 with middle school and high school just for the "big picture" aspect. It never ends! lol

Thanks, SunnyDays! We did the first practice set orally today, then they wrote out the 2nd practice set of 4 sentences. I haven't really looked through more than 1/4 of the book, so I should probably do that. ;) Anyone else care to chime in?

I just started reading through the exercises and was planning to start this pretty much right away. I'm wondering if those of you who love/use this book have your kids write out every exercise, or do you just have them talk through them when it's an exercise that lends itself to that? I guess more to the point, do you think that much of the VALUE of the exercise relies on the actual "putting pen to paper" to help really solidify the skills and actual point of the lesson?

LOL! That review! The poor 3yo!

Lots of random thoughts: I used it for several years, sometimes following more closely than others. My biggest complaint using "as is" was their main history text -- HA Guerber's This Country of Ours (in the early years). It just has way more of a bias than I thought was reasonable. Of course, every author has a bias, but I took a topic that I had studied more in depth in my own history studies and was just appalled that the author was so completely one-sided in her presentation. There was absolutely no attempt at a balance. So I felt like if that was so biased, what else might she have written where I wouldn't recognize the bias. It was really a shame because the literary style of her histories made them fun to read with lots of details...but I just couldn't get past her lack of trying to have any real balance. On the plus side, there are so many great books all scheduled out for you. Yes, they focus on public domain books, but that is in part because AO had a goal of keeping resources widely available at a minimum cost. And back in the early years of AO, you really could do it extremely cheaply if you were willing to read off a screen or could cheaply print it. I haven't kept up with it in more recent years, so I'm not sure how many books would really NEED to be purchased nowadays. I do think that consistent classic literature, poetry, music appreciation, art appreciation, and nature study -- certainly considered essential elements of a CM education -- are vitally important and not to be neglected. Whether you use AO's suggestions for that, or come up with your own, or look to some of the many other CM resources now available (simplycharlottemason.com (SCM) comes to mind). The classic literature selections listed in AO (free reading and literature sections) are excellent! And many of our favorite books for literature as well as other subjects are on AO's lists. So I still feel it is a great resource. When my college girls were 4th grade, we did AO Year 4 and that was the year we followed most closely (it may have changed a bit since then, as that was many years ago). I think if you want to do AO as written, it is great to be able to take advantage of the many free scheduling resources, etc. That was a great year for us -- it was very challenging, but richly rewarding and satisfying. Shakespeare, Plutarch, Bulfinch's Mythology, etc.: those are some tough books in their original forms! But they were beautiful. There is nothing on AO that you couldn't pull together yourself, but having it all scheduled out is so easy! However, my two kids were 18 months apart but for the most part did the same work, so it was more like twins. I could definitely not enjoy AO if my kids were split into different years like my younger three would need to be -- history and geography are so easy to do together across the ages, and that's where I think a site like SCM really fits us better. OK, I had some more random thoughts to share, lol, but my timer beeped so hope something here was useful to you.

lprstn -- I, too, would be interested in hearing what math programs you combine and how you do it. Regarding MM, Rose I really appreciate you mentioning about cutting back on problems. I remember thinking we might do that at some point but haven't really, at least not systematically at all. The perfectionist in me (and the one who has some past math regrets with my oldest ones) still resists when I start to look at what problems to skip. lol I think with MM4 I also felt like there was little new material being taught, which felt just counterproductive. Supplements: We did start using Primary Challenge Math by Zaccarro (only on 3rd or 4th chapter) -- the 2nd grader does Levels 1-2 and maybe a problem or two from Level 3; the 4th grader skims though Level 1-2 and focuses on Levels 3-4. HOWEVER, I am often involved in helping them talk through / think through the problems, and sometimes end up teaching new ways for computation to solve it if it's a bit beyond what they've learned or there are "tricks" to make solving it easier. I'd be curious to hear if this anything like the way others use it. Do you think it should more independent? I like LOF Elementary, but it feels like a snack more than a meal. Kids love it. lol And of course Khan has been used for the past year as a supplement. I haven't used BA or anything else, although I've heard people talk about them. Would love to just be able to borrow stuff for a week or two before buying -- wouldn't that be great?! ;)

Have you ever seen Gerald Durrell's A Practical Guide for the Amateur Naturalist? It's OOP, but readily available at a low price. I bought a hardcover copy years ago for probably $5-$9 including shipping! I don't know if you could find samples online, but if you have questions about it maybe I can tell you about it from my copy. If memory serves, it might be divided into seasons for study. Definitely not at an early elementary level, and doesn't feel like a "kid" book at all really, but would very accessible for your daughter's age if she really has an interest in the subject. Maybe I can snap some photos and to show you what it's like, if that's helpful.