We are using Phonics road for LA and Singapore for math. Sort of throwing things together for science and history, though I would like to actually start Sotw this fall. What I can't figure out are options for our youngest who is just antsy. He knows the material for the most part, but it's like I have to threaten him to make him sit down and do the work. I had to remind myself all year that he was only 5, but I did think he was able to sit for 15 min to do the work. All the phonics are finally clicking and he's starting to read pretty nicely and I think it will keep falling together. Same with the math. Currently for the summer, he has a brainquest 1st gr book that he is going through with no issues except some of the reading so far. I've been looking at packages like sonlight or calvert-minus math/la though. Or how to incorporate more fun into the work for him. It's like he's bored sort of. Not adhd, just would rather be doing something else than schooling. Yet, at co op, he's just fine. He loves the science experiments, animal and art classes there. Also trying to figure out how to school with a nb this year too. I don't think it will be a huge deal-at least if I tell myself that. Ds1 is going to be doing 3/4g work and to me is far enough ahead that losing some time isn't going to hurt, but for ds2 with him finally catching it all, losing time isn't really an option. It seems to set him back, at least now it does. Another reason I've been looking at some packages-not sure if I'll be able to really plan out what to do for lessons.

I don't know how to approach this. We told ds he'd have the week off for the holiday, but if he wanted to, he could do some work. He said no, because his school work is boring. He mentioned it again a few days later while my inlaws were in. I hope they didn't catch that. What do I do? We school M,T,W and F, because Th is co op. We only school a few hours each day. Through the week we have maybe 2 play dates, we go to the library, to the park, a field trip etc. I'm not exactly sure what ds is bored with, other than workbooks. I can't really make those go away. We're not giving him too easy, nor too hard stuff. Are there games or something I can do to make some of the work more fun? If all he had to do was art and reading, he'd be the happiest kid ever, but I'm not taking our core away for that. We're on Singapore 1a (finishing up), PR2 wk 6-he finds some of this tedious, TOG, but he's okay with that so far. I think it's mainly the math and LA. We're doing unit studies for science and he likes that, except now I'm thinking he's bored with the worksheets that go with them. What do I do? I'm trying to find math games that would be fun yet helpful. What bothers me a little also are the days I second guess home school. They are usually the co op days, because ds looks forward to class there very much. He loves his science and art classes and seeing his buddies there. I know it would not be like that in school, but...

There's a scope and sequence that you can follow. You only introduce certain phonograms at certain times. Not all at once. That would be overwhelming :) We just kept reviewing them. I'd flip through at the start of the week and see what ds got stuck on. Some of the bc's we spent more than one day on due to the amount of writing, but we'd go over it by talking each day. gracesmom-it's only asked to do 5 words per day :) I think a few weeks might have 6, and that's usually because a bc is introduced during the week

Did you look at PR2 yet? The first 4 weeks is all PR1 review :) I am very happy ds likes to read. He reads a lot. I quiz him on the spellings, and he will come to me on a word he gets stuck on. So at least I know he's paying attention to the letters. One problem I see with those workbooks, is they all have easy grammar in them, so I'm comfortable doing the easier grammar of PR2. I just may have to readjust some of the order of things. Our youngest wants to learn his letters so he can read and I'm banging my head on the wall. I broke out Phonics Pathways and am going to go as slow as possible, but he's an impatient kind. There's no way I'm starting PR1 with him this year, except for the letter sounds. Now, if he starts reading his brothers books later on, I'll have to reassess :) I have to say. The more kids I meet who can read like crazy, but can't spell, the more I am thankful to have found this program. A few of my friends are stuck on teaching spelling now, and the kids are frustrated.

You can go at your own pace. We did most of it how she outlined it, and I added in a few extra worksheets on things like endings for more practice. We stopped around wk 23 though last year and then picked it up this year. Ds just wasn't ready. I'm not sure what you mean for the words. How we did it was five words daily, a day or two for the building codes depending how long they were, and then a page per day for the stories. Some of the building codes she has go over more than one day, so make sure you review that prior to doing them.

Hmm, that's what I'm trying to figure out-dragging out the grammar section. If I ignore the grammar, honestly, I feel like we aren't doing much. Ds is used to doing phonics daily, so that's no problem for him, as well as we do reading comprehension daily through science/history, and now will add Little House. He reads a worksheet and answers the questions, so it's not overload. Or, he ends up reading a book on his own and telling me all about it, or the boys play act the book out. I'm going to check our state standards to see what they are supposed to cover for first grade grammar. I'm pretty sure when I looked at it we covered it though. That's why I feel like we are stuck in the middle.

Okay so has anyone else run into this problem? We covered PR1 last year and stopped right after base words, because I felt ds wasn't ready for the suffix coverage. We picked the last few weeks up at the start of this year, reviewed the rest of PR1 etc and it went well. I got our PR2 in the mail last week and it's so thorough that I can see why it takes some families 1-2yrs to complete. And that's starting at second grade. My ds is 6.5, and just by looking at the scope of things, there's no way he's going to be ready for all that's covered. I honestly think we'd only cover about half of the grammar. The problem is he's be okay with both the new spelling rules and words, as well as the Little House Study-he can read that level already. So can I just not do the second half of the grammar, but still do everything else? I feel like as a home schooler I can do that, but I don't know if it messes up PR2. Then I thought to maybe find some second grade workbook to do along with PR2 to supplement since we'd not be doing the advanced grammar, but when we look at them, he knows the material in those books like Brainquest and Flashkids etc. The third grade books seem split-half cover verbs and nouns, pretty basic stuff, but also have linking verbs, pronouns etc, which is what we would be waiting on in the PR2. So I feel like we are stuck some place in the middle and not sure what to do. I suppose we could have skipped PR1 last year, and for those who are wondering, it's because ds wanted to learn to read and I went with what we consider an outstanding program. Do I get one of those workbooks and have him do it anyway for busy work? Or do I just go with PR2 at our own pace for the grammar and see where we end up by the summer? It's just so much. I don't remember covering half of that stuff until 3rd/4th grade at least.

OP-have you made any decisions? I think I'm in a similar position, only we are on yr1 this year. I already have SOTW and think I may just use it this year, even though I'm starting to lean toward TOG for the long term. I don't know how hard it will be to switch to TOG next year if we do that for yr2. I'm guessing you've enjoyed TOG yr1 then? How old are your little ones?

OP-we used Phonics Pathways at first. Ds was a little over 5 when we started. I switched to PR a few months later, when we were about half way through PP. We went pretty slow. Taking a break from reading/spelling isn't going to hurt if she's hitting a wall. I think they're helpful and the kids come back refreshed. We stopped PR1 almost at the end, right after contractions. We had family in, and it got distracting. I also feel ds wasn't quite ready to go into prefix/suffix/base words yet. We'll pick it up here soon, and then start PR2 slow. I'll probably do the same thing with our little guy-he's just turned 4. We're just starting to go over letter sounds and recognition, as he wants to learn them. We'll do that, then use PP when he's ready and end up at PR1 eventually.

Thanks :)

I don't get an email if I have a message. I thought before that I would get a notice that I had one. Unless I'm mistaken, is it possible to set for this? Thanks.

What is GEMS?

I'm having trouble deciding which science to use. I started using Elemental science last year, and it was okay. The span of animals seemed to drag out, and in hindsight, we should have just adjusted to suit us, and did more of a lapbook/craft thing. I did some of that at the end of the year. I would have liked to do more experiments, and I think maybe ds just wasn't ready for that curric. So I looked at Sonlight science and it seems to have experiments and sort of follow the trivium a little. I looked at science a and b packages. I was thinking of getting both and combining them/using our own schedule. I just don't know. Science is frustrating me, since I can't seem to find something.

I looked at both TOG yr one and then Sonlight history level B I think it is. Both take history from start to the fall of Rome. Can anyone give any insight to which may be better? Does one include more options etc in the curric?

As far as I know, she doesn't? I wouldn't imagine any elementary spelling program goes into it. It would be nice to mention it to the parents though, in the programs, where to look for why words are spelled they way they are etc. Kids do ask.

We're using the US edition of 1st grade now. I have 1a workbook & textbook, then 1b w&t. No hig. A few people said to get the hig for 1b, but I have an answer book that came with the set, if needed. For first grade math, it doesn't seem to need the hig, to me. For second grade, I'll get it. I'm not a mathy person either. I do supplement singapore though. I've used some of Math mammoth sheets, some spiderman fact sheets, and we use those flash cards. This way I know where ds is getting stuck. You do need counting things, like blogs, beads, bears etc. And scale near the end of 1a. We've used the fruit on the table for counting, action figures, blocks-pretty much whatever is around.

Hope it's okay to post this, not sure why it wouldn't be, since we talk about other curriculum. My dh found this- http://http://www.mightybookjr.com/Mightybook_Jr_Home.php The books have various lesson plans, worksheets, quizzes etc, and you can read them both interactive or w/o. Also other games and stuff I haven't explored yet. I just like the whole lessons/worksheets thing to work with the books. I mean, you could check them out of your library-I don't like reading books online. Anyhow, dh said it was free to sign up using the code learntoread, and picking the 99$ plan. Worked for me. I figure every penny saved helps, when looking for material.

Awesome, thanks! How do you guys schedule time for art/craft? On a whim or try to actually fit it in a few times a week?

Us :) It's our first year and I love it. My cousin is a 2nd g teacher and quite impressed herself on what it covers and what my ds knows already. The only thing I don't like about the program is that Ms. Beers is incorrect on the base of some of her words, and if you tell your child that answer, it's wrong. Ex-http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=the&searchmode=none I took that as we Americans did not change the word thee to the. And I think the explanation of a word can be as simple or as complicated to a child that we make it. Other than that, we love it. I don't use the dvd's much, unless there is a new thing and I want to see how she presents it.

Other than learning about art through books and music, can I get some art/craft ideas? Or a good place to find them? I'm artsty, but when it comes to actually setting aside time and doing something, it seems daunting. I'd like to set aside an hour a few times a week for some creative art/craft time, but have no ideas. What do you do/use etc? Thanks. This would be for a 3.5 and almost 6yr old. They love arts/crafts too.

Just wanted to say I that you don't stop using the phonograms. You review them daily until mastered, and can always go back to review them again, if needed. At various points in the program, you are supposed to go back and review them anyhow, and all the words learned. The spelling words are used, using the phonograms, and rule tunes, that help solidify the spelling rules. They are repeated many, many times. Not the words, but the rules/tunes/phonograms. The program doesn't use repeated words, like in say, Bob books, so there's no real chance for memorizing a word by constantly seeing it. The memorization is via the constant use of the tunes and phonograms. I second emailing Ms. Beers direct. I had a question for her and she got back to me promptly and was very kind.

So we just finished up Singapore 1a, and the only problem we ran into (other than not having a scale), was addition/subtraction over 10. Ex 12 + 5. The problem comes from the problem being horizontal. If I put the problem like this 12 +5 ___ He would get it. Horizontally, he circles the ten, then adds the remaining ones, but tends to forget to add the remaining one, back to the ten. Vertically, to the eye, it looks easier I think, to separate the 10, and if he understands that the ten is not a one, then him adding this way shouldn't hurt right? I am thinking it might help if he does some of the vertical problems, and then show them side by side on a dry erase board, so he can see they are the same problem, visually. The same applying to subtraction. I think if he didn't understand what the 1 stood for, it might cause problems. He's also going to be taking a math class in co op, and while I'm going to let the teacher know what we have been doing, I know he's going to be exposed to different methods to solving problems. I don't have a problem with that, as long as it doesn't cause confusion, because for math, isn't it that the kids have an understanding of math, not just the surface? I know in Liping Ma's book, on the subtraction chapter, she spoke of how students fared better when they had a teacher who showed them multiple ways to solve a problem. For those of you using horizontal math, did you run into this problem, and did you try vertical math, to help with understanding that it was still the same problem? The only problem I can see with this, is doing the whole separating the ten, therefore creating a different problem, so the first problem, becomes 3, really. Ex: 12 + 6= 2+6=8 10+8=18=12+6=18 Those steps are subtracted doing vertical, from what I can tell. Unless visually, you broke it down like 12 > 8 +6 ____ 10+8=18=12+6=18 I'm sure I'd confuse myself if I did this with subtraction. The point is, he knows that problems are not stone, and are made of different problems, so back to my question about using both horizontal and vertical to help with understanding? Thanks :)

I'm half way through PR1-and I think it's great. It is amazing what ds knows already. My cousin is a 2nd grade teacher and said that ds knows letter pairs and sounds, that she is only teaching her kids now! It does cover everything you asked, as far as LA though. Reading is learned via spelling. Then you progress to sentence structure, and reading-in PR1. I think the PR description on the web page is pretty accurate on what the kids learn/what is covered. I don't know about dyslexia though. Perhaps Tina would have some insight on that.

It really has nothing to do with trying to convince, or defend our choices right now. I had decided to not talk about h/w with her awhile ago, just because she is so adamantly against it, and the discussion went nowhere. But over the past month or so, she seemed like she was showing a true interest in what ds was learning. Even going as far as asking me what materials I still needed, or would like for them. And I was happy, because of that. I guess it was just stupid on my part, because what I took for real interest, seems now to be more of a motive, to knock what we are doing :( I mean, how do you say, "Oh, that's great he's reading so well, etc etc", and then turn around and criticize? At least that's how I'm seeing it, and I didn't expect that. Part of me thinks she's irritated, because she expected us to fail already, so is looking for something-anything, to pick at. Anyhow, I did give her a few book titles to check out and read. At least to get an updated view on home school. WTM and The Well adjusted Child, for starters.

http://www.etymonline.com/ Thought this would be helpful for anyone looking for the word origins, but doesn't have a book. It's pretty neat. I put in a few words to try it out.