[More Starfall vs Reading Eggs vs ABC Mouse]

My dd6.5 was reading at a 5.5yr old level and my dd8.5 was reading at a 6.5yr old level. So to me it was enough to see the improvements and want to purchase. Also we follow up with our other subjects that back up phonics, spelling, and language arts. If we didn't back up the reading eggs with anything else I think my kids would be easily confused.

 

:iagree:

[More Starfall vs Reading Eggs vs ABC Mouse]

Well as I am reading through the responses I'm trying to figure out why no one likes reading eggs, I think it's great but I am wondering if it is because my kids are slightly older- 1st and 3rd grade? I like it and my kids do too- it has a lot of variety and there is a more variety of skills practices- phonemic awareness activities, phonics, reading, spelling and vocab. Both kids were tested to find out where they start and so they didn't start near the beginning (since they're older?) and it's gone well.

:iagree:

 

We used the free portion of Starfall when the monkeys were younger and it was nice. I'd been considering more.starfall, but ds has taken to reading eggs and asks to do it. So we're going with it for now. I think its given him the confidence boost he's needed for reading.

[if you use Math Mammoth ...]

I have the ebooks saved on a flash drive, my home computer and maybe my work computer... :blushing:

 

I can print it at work and that's worked well for us. I'm planning on having the completed books bound at Kinko's or Office Depot. I like that buying the ebook meant instantaneous gratification.

[Groupon for Magic school Bus Young Scientists Club]

They just came up on Homeschool Buyers co op too' date=' so I'd be interested to see if anyone else has feedback on them...

 

Thanks![/quote']

 

:bigear: Saw that too and was wondering the same.

[VIE, anywhere I can get this cheaper??]

:iagree: I got mine through HBSC last summer.

[What are you using for first grade?]

Technically, our first grade year will start in January. But as my 6yo ds has completed all his k'er stuff and needs something to do while his sister finishes up her 2nd gr work, we've started him on a couple of things already. We're going to be moving into some downtime soon where I plan to just do quick spurts of light stuff to keep the memory fresh, so the plan for January is:

 

Math: Finish MM1a so we can move into 1b (1 chapter to go and we've already started the place value stuff in 1b) and LoF Apples on Fridays (already started)

Phonics/ Reading: Plaid Phonics A (already started), lots of practice readers

Writing: Zane Blosser gr 1

Grammar (by his request): Voyages in English, gr 1

Spelling: haven't decided for certain, but we may go with Spelling Workout A

History: Tag along with dd on SOTW 1

Latin: Continue working on SSL 1. Then I'm hoping SSL 2 will be ready by Spring so we can try that once we complete 1

Science: Intellego k-2 unit studies. We've slowly worked on astronomy and weather. I'm planning to continue weather during the winter and move back into astronomy in the spring.

[Going from ViE to MCT?]

Thank you for the poetry and vocab examples, they were exactly what I was looking for! :001_smile:

[Going from ViE to MCT?]

:hat: bump...

[Going from ViE to MCT?]

Has anyone out there gone from Voyages in English to the MCT Grammar Books? We're finishing up ViE Gr 2 and while I have gr 3 ready to go, I'm wondering if my dd (8) would prefer MCT as she finds the workbook of ViE easy (but could use more work on her writing skills.) She also enjoys language and stories right now, so I'd hate to kill that love with something boring.

 

If we did transition, would I start her with Level 1 or Level 2 package? (Grammar Island, etc.) Also if you use MCT what are the vocabulary and poetic books like? I didn't seem any sample pages for Building Language and The Music of the Hemispheres.

[I feel like I've been had!]

Originally Posted by elfknitter

http://www.publicdomaintreasurehunte...public-domain/

 

While I do think it was shady to charge so much for something that's mostly a public domain book with a few worksheets tossed in, the issue is more of an ethical one than a legal one. It would seem she can do this and the situation unfortunately becomes one of caveat emptor.

 

Yes, "she can do this" in the sense that it's not a criminal offense — unfortunately plagiarism is not in itself against the law. It's still highly unethical; a student caught plagiarizing in college could be failed or even expelled even though they haven't technically committed a crime. I'm sure if any of us caught our kids plagiarizing text, whether from recent books or public domain sources like wikipedia or googlebooks, we would read them the riot act and impose severe consequences! So the fact that this woman is plagiarizing another author's work and selling it to unsuspecting teachers — homeschooling parents — seems extra-slimy to me.

 

Guess I felt like I was saying the same thing.

[I feel like I've been had!]

http://www.publicdomaintreasurehunter.com/2010/08/02/plagiarism-ethics-and-the-public-domain/

 

While I do think it was shady to charge so much for something that's mostly a public domain book with a few worksheets tossed in, the issue is more of an ethical one than a legal one. It would seem she can do this and the situation unfortunately becomes one of caveat emptor.

[Math Mammoth'ers, can you start grade 1a in K or is it "true to grade"?]

I've got 2 using MM1. My then 7 yo (now 8yo) started last fall with MM1 because she didn't have any formal math before hand. It's been somewhat a tough go, but I think we'll finally be finishing off 1B by next month. Math is her weakest subject area. At the beginning of this year my then 5.5 yo wanted to start doing math like his sister, so we started him very slowly in 1A. He took to it like a fish in water, but we also had some issues with the handwriting. We've taken breaks during the year to focus more on writing and have recently returned to working on math. We'll probably be finishing up chapter 3 shortly and have dabbled some in the place value chapter of MM1B. I think it can work for some K'ers, but every child is different. Plus manipulatives have been a great help for my two when trying to figure out problems. Oh, and with both children we tend to work through the word problems together.

[Another Library Vent]

Since public libraries are primarily city and county run, I imagine the quality of a library is entirely dependent upon how much value the community places on it.

 

:iagree:

[What kind of physical activity does your 7 year old boy do?]

Our local community center offers tiny tots judo for ages 3-6 which my now 6yo has enjoyed. He's showed interested in ballet since his sister goes and we put him in that last year. Since he's still enjoying it, we're continuing this year.

[Would you choose classroom publishers, if you could.]

I'm open to any and all sorts of curricula. My only premise would be "does it work for us?"

[I love Zaner Bloser!!!!]

ZB has been working well for us too. I wish I had started my dd on it sooner, but started ds on the K book.

 

We just use the workbooks. To me, the TMs didn't seem to add anything extra to the program.

[MCP Plaid Phonics- is TM necessary?]

This is set A from Rainbow Resource: http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/MCP+Phonics+Word+Cards+Set+1/037750/1305757297-1922446

[MCP Plaid Phonics- is TM necessary?]

That was the feeling I was getting from looking at samples online, but I was curious to hear from others.

 

I'm also bumping this for an additional related question.

[MCP Plaid Phonics- is TM necessary?]

The header basically sums up my post. For those of you who use it, do find the teacher manual useful or can you purchase the student workbooks and go? I'm considering books A and C.

 

ETA: Could anyone fill me in on the word card sets -- are they necessary or just a nice addition?

[Can you recommend a phonics based spelling workbook?]

We recently started How to Spell 2 (covers grades 2 and 3) and I'm consider getting book 1 for ds. I find having the TM How to Teach Spelling by Laura Toby Rudginsky very useful.

[Tell me about Elemental Science]

How does this curriculum address evolution?

[If I purchase a download (MM), how do I "store" it long term?]

Get a gmail account, and then upload it to Google Docs. It's free and my account has 7.5 gigabytes of space. You can access it from any computer, so if your main computer dies or something happens to your house, you'll always have your files.

 

I tried loading mine to google docs, but the pdf maximum was like 2.5MB which was WAY less than the grade 1A file.

 

I have a 4GB thumb drive that I keep copies on. I also have the items downloaded to our hard drive (because we have the room.) I probably should take some time to burn a CD copy... just to be on the safe side.

[Being upside down improves brain function]

:)

 

Actually, from a yoga view point being upside down allows more oxygen to the brain which helps brain function. So basically, he's right.

[Latin curriculum of choice]

What age? I have a 5 and 7.5 yo and Song School Latin works for now. I'm thinking Latin for Children for the older next year and SSL2, if its out, for the younger next year.

[If in your family one adult works so the other can homeschool...(more info in post)]

Hmm, I'm an odd woman out. I am the working parent and dh is home with our children. I was a 40 hour a week employed librarian and for the last 9 month I was reduced to 30 hours. I do have a very short commute -- I live in the town I work. I chose 9-10 hours for those days I do work because sometimes I do say a bit longer than 9 hours.