Hi everyone, Bethlehem Books has a sale on 3 audio titles (65% off) and 50% off the eStacks collection. You can see the details here: https://www.bethlehembooks.com/audio-book-sale-friday-13th The coupon code for the audio books is audio13 and the eStacks books are already discounted (see title list above). Sharing because we've enjoyed many titles from them and these could be good for summer reading, or living history book supplements. Happy reading/listening!

I agree that creating one's own project and working on it steadily is a better learning experience than working with the time/resource constraints of a course. Courses are useful, but open-ended exploration gives more learning opportunities. Within programming, there is a progression of skill. As the code is written, a student can ask: 1) Is the solution logically composed? If the requirements changed, would the code need to change extensively? 2) Is the solution efficient? Does it make unnecessary repetitions or use a lot of memory? Would it scale well with large amount of data? 3) Is the solution extensible? Can a friend use my code in another project easily? To that end, I would encourage the students interested in the programming field to use frameworks/languages that allow such exploration, and try projects with code 'in use', e.g. Apache's open source projects.

We use an online tutor for Mandarin lessons. Textbook and supplemental resources are suggested by the teacher, who is an experienced elementary school teacher. During the lesson, she - quizzes characters learned last lesson, as well as memory work (passages memorized, sentence assignments) - teaches a new unit from the textbook, including how to write the characters, - uses the supplementary resources: a workbook and sentence writing/grammar. At the end of the lesson, I speak with the teacher for 5 minutes to learn of any trouble spots, expected homework and I also raise my concerns, e.g. if I have seen DS struggling over certain words. During the week, we spend 15-20 mins daily : - Practice writing characters from latest lesson (to be quizzed next time), and memory work. This is usually the first 2 or 3 days of the week.The remaining days, I quiz DS on the newest characters and earlier lessons (up to 5 earlier). - Practice creating sentences (grammar practice) and writing down a couple of variations. - I ask DS to read aloud short excerpts from children's books. I also read-aloud to DC and they play some apps for drilling characters. So in short, we use the textbook as a spine and progress a chapter/week. My focus is on the textbook and resources, but I also try to find resources created for his age group/level to add variety.

Hi Targhee, the way your family covers Math sounds wonderful ! I'm wondering if we can do the same. How do you allocate your time between the spine and supplements (Math Circle, games, explorations)? Also, a big thank you for the game suggestions - I hadn't heard of them :blushing: so while searching for the rules I found the following page on NRich, which has a good listing: http://nrich.maths.org/public/search.php?search=game&filters%5Btype%5D=2&page=0

Puff, puff, chugga, chugga by Christopher Wormell - detailed pictures and wry sense of humor http://www.amazon.com/Puff-Puff-Chugga-Chugga-Christopher-Wormell/dp/0689839863 Here's a thread on train books, good suggestions http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/229673-best-train-books-for-littles/ 10th million time.. lol, I remember those times when I used to read until I couldn't keep my eyes open and I started babbling incoherently.When that happened, dc knew that reading time was over!

Griffith Observatory in So. Cal will be broadcasting in about 15 minutes (9:45pm PDT): http://new.livestream.com/griffithobservatorytv ETA: Adding extra info from LA Times article (http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-lunar-eclipse-los-angeles-watch-20140413,0,4433412.story?track=rss#axzz2yspYXkgZ) "In Los Angeles, the most impressive part of the eclipse begins at 10:58 p.m. Monday, when the first “bite†is taken out of the moon and spreads across the rest of it, blotting it out completely by 12:06 a.m. Tuesday, the Griffith Observatory said." ETA #2: Use the "Extended View" icon at the bottom right (it's the middle icon) of the feed if the chat window is too distracting/irrelevant.

Fiction by last name, although picture books get a dedicated bottom shelf as well as sets (BookHouse, Childcraft). Non-fiction by a simpilfied Dewey - we use the 100s (e.g. 800 for Literature) and expand into the 10s (e.g. 820 for Shakespeare) depending on our collection. A sample chart can be found here: http://www.cf.k12.wi.us/library/deweydecimal.htm. Science readers, e.g. Let's Read and Find Out series, get a dedicated bottom shelf too. ETA - Books that I'm using for the current school year are pulled out onto a separate shelf.

Here are some pins for Chinese materials here. I pinned them over the past couple of years so some may be dead but I think the mainland Chinese ones are quite stable (the Singaporean ones have a habit of moving, alas) http://www.pinterest.com/duplorers/elementarymiddlehigh-chinese/ Another website/iPad app that I like for stories is ChildRoad. It gives a monthly subscription to online stories for age ranges 4-12 years old. From listening to the youngest age range, I think the age range refers to native speakers. http://www.childroad.com/

Hi everyone, I have some items free for shipping so I posted an ad on Classifieds with title "FFS:" (note the colon) I was thinking, if other people had items to post, they could 1) Create a classified ad with "FFS:" in the title 2) Come here and bump this thread This way, people can find items easily on Classifieds or learn about it from this thread. I hope that's OK. If I'm informed to the contrary, I will update this post. PS: Just in case the search isn't working on classifieds, my FFS posting is here. You may find it interesting if you are looking for SWR materials or Teaching the Trivium.

I'm going to post a classified with a certain title prefix (FFS:) and put a link to it on the General Education board. I hope this is acceptable - if not, I'm happy to move it. ETA: FFS Thread on General board here

We're using Mr. Q Physics as a spine, I use the main lecture to explain the concepts, then throw in a video afterward. PhysicsVideos ( http://physicsvideos.tripod.com/) has several nice ones for free, we like the ones by Julius Sumner Miller. The Way Things Work DVDs are good too, as well as Disney imagineering videos - hopefully you can find them at the library. +1 also for the Let's Read and Find Out books mentioned above. We have non-fiction reading time at the end of every school day, and I might suggest titles related to our study (although ultimately it's DS's choice, so long as it's from the basket of science books).

I remember there was a Free For Shipping (FFS) thread on the old board, where people would post their curriculum to give away and interested parties would contact them and pay for shipping. I see there is an option to list things for free within Classifieds, but when I click on a couple of such listings they usually turn out to be mixed lots where the seller couldn't list a price at the top. So I was wondering if the Classifieds are indeed the way to go (and readers would need to sort through the threads) or if it would be all right to start a thread on one of the boards..

Here's a description of what's done in Singapore with respect to tracking: http://www.ncee.org/programs-affiliates/center-on-international-education-benchmarking/top-performing-countries/singapore-overview/4136-2/ I grew up with the tracking system (IIRC screening for giftedness was in Grade 3 and 6, streaming to determine which track in Grade 4). It's apparently now changed to a banding system, which is still tracking but students can take subjects outside their track depending on aptitude. I don't personally know anyone under the banding system, but it seems to address students having different abilities in subjects.

I saw this article in the Boston Globe and thought it might be of interest. http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2014/03/15/the-poor-neglected-gifted-child/rJpv8G4oeawWBBvXVtZyFM/story.html I think some (many?) posters here have experienced the system as it described. But on a broader scale, what do you all think of the suggestions raised? Excerpt: Precocious kids do seem to become high-achieving adults. Why that makes some educators worried about America’s future.

How long have they been working in their respective languages? Also, how do you/they measure the degree of success? Foreign languages do take time (years) and that can be frustrating if there is no feedback on their progress, even if they are learning. At their ages, I would expect that grammar concepts are easier to grasp but remembering the new vocabulary is harder. If so, I would look for their interests in their language, e.g. apps, online videos. That may be easier for Spanish than Latin. The Bilingual board has a couple of sticky posts, as well as discussions, which may help: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/forum/8-bilingual-education-board/

Thanks to all who replied! My plans are slowly coalescing - I really like the suggestions on how to cover culture, mapwork, history and Swedish because those get short shrift normally. To be honest, I've not really done those outside from reading books; now I have ideas on how to go about it. I'll also look into borrowing/buying an umbrella stroller there - we're taking the train from the airport so it would be difficult to bring one and keep track of dc, the luggage and it. Now to think about toys/books which will fit into a backpack and hold up play value for a month..this will be interesting, to find the balance between too few and too many. DS especially likes to read continuously until a book is done, now he will have to make those books last.

I'm still reading/processing the responses here, but thank you for all the fantastic ideas so far! :coolgleamA:

We're planning to visit DH's parents in Sweden for a month. This is the scenario: - They live in a small town with few amenities (small grocery store, post office) within walking distance. A bigger city with a library is 20 mins away. Stockholm is an 1.25 h train ride away. - They speak English, but are much more comfortable with Swedish. All media in the house is in Swedish. I can guess my way through simple Swedish sentences, my dc know a smattering of words. - There are few families with children in the neighborhood; also, children would be in school during the time we visit. - There are lovely forest trails nearby. Weather-wise, it should be spring weather - good chance of rain, temperatures between 50-60F. When I'm optimistic, I look at the trip as a time to reconnect with his family as well as a language/cultural immersion. I can imagine my dc picking up the language and getting mega-doses of Waldorf nature study in a sylvan environment. When I'm pessimistic, I imagine my dc bouncing off the walls and whining because they don't understand the language, have nothing to do and have no friends to play with. If I send them outdoors, they will return within 10 minutes because they aren't used to exploring by themselves. Our travel will be limited because DD is too heavy to carry, but too young to keep up with us (we plan to take public transport throughout the trip). Sadly, the latter seems more likely. DH tried to remember what he did at their ages, and it was mostly playing with friends. DH's parents still have some of his old toys in the attic, but not many. So I'm wondering if I should bring along some schoolwork - it could add normalcy in a foreign environment, keep them occupied, maybe even help them remember what we covered this year :tongue_smilie: . Or look for some pertinent activities, e.g. do a unit on Vikings, find nature guides for plants/animals in the north, i.e. school-ish, but not too structured (drawbacks: I would have to spend extra time planning those activities now, and I'm not sure I can find a whole month's worth of activities). I guess the question is how unstructured would I dare to be, when the fallback options seem so scarce, and I want to avoid bothering DH's family. Any ideas?

If you were buying the bundle (11), try adding the DVDs individually instead. The latter seems to work.

Welcome, JourneyUp! We use 四五快读 too. Like you, we too feel that time is a constraint - Chinese is a difficult language to maintain without the immersion environment. I posted this link on the Chinese Homeschooling Social group, it shows how much time per subject is spent in Shanghai schools - they spend a lot of time on Chinese! But I like their emphasis on the basics, though I have trouble achieving their focus. How does your school day look like? http://www.starbaby.cn/zhishi/3208-1.html

This is really tangentially related, but in a similar vein: Photographers took family portraits of 56 ethnic Chinese groups. The contrast of apparel and colors is lovely. http://www.chinahush.com/2009/12/06/family-portraits-of-all-56-ethnic-groups-in-china/

Hi Mamamin, if you haven't already seen it, this thread may be helpful. I think the author of the curriculum also pops in to answer questions on it, and she has created a Yahoo group. http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/495070-i-may-have-found-what-im-looking-for-in-a-program-that-truly-uses-literature-to-study-la-skills/ http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/barefootragamuffins/info

Alice Goudey's "Here Come The (Animal)" series is written for early elementary level. She usually traces an animal through its life, describing its habitat, food and challenges but vividly enough that the reader empathizes. Robert McClung - I've heard good things of his books, we have a couple by him and they are similar to Alice Goudey's. Jeanne Bendick's contributions to the "First Book of" series. She manages to ask the questions that kids, at least mine, are curious about. Thornton Burgess animal stories - the ones which focus on an animal, e.g. Blacky the Crow, Chatterer the Squirrel. Not everyone likes these - perhaps a bit too much dialog, or the languageis dated, but our family did. Usborne's "See Inside" series - they aren't 'living' books, but they are clearly illustrated and my kids spend a lot of time opening each flap and poring over the information within.

Just popping in to link a set I read about in another thread: Journeys to Bookland And an anecdote about owning anthologies: my toddler learned number sequence because she kept watching us put them back. I've seen her standing in front of the bookcase, muttering "1, 2, 3.." to herself while pulling out books that were out of sequence and putting them in the right place. So there you have it - anthologies can double as math manipulatives. :tongue_smilie:

I've found big library book sales (25,000+ books - see booksalefinder or other book sale listing) to be the most reliable place to find sets of books, like the Let's Read And Find Out. If you have the time, these are worthwhile to keep going and building a collection over time. The other way I've found sets is on eBay and etsy - I keep a saved search which I occasionally run. These are also good for out of print books. I look at the pictures to get a feel for the condition and like hjffkj, I'd prefer someone who spends time on description vs pasting a generic description. I also like the Bargain Bin selection in Better World Books - it works out to $3/book if you buy 4+ books and they occasionally run sales of 40% off. This works well for 'filling in the gaps' of a collection. Their book conditions are usually accurate, but it may be hard to find pristine copies at the low prices. Finally, going up the price range, I look at Bookoutlet for books which are still printed, like some of the Let's Read And Find Out. These will be pristine. I've found Bookoutlet good for reference books, e.g. the Elements book by Theodore Gray.