At 5/6, my son's writing wasn't developed enough to do the spelling. It was too frustrating for both of us. So, we just focused on learning the letter and letter team sounds both by sight and dictation for K. We used OGPTR to learn reading. We'll start the spelling portion this summer and continue in 1st grade.

I've been there. To give you hope, my son is really starting to read well at 6.5 after more than a year of frustration (mostly on my part). There may be an issue as a previous poster suggested. However, it most likely will be a simple formula of time plus patience plus persistence (practicing gently every day--or nearly every day) to get her there. Good luck!

This may not be for boys, but I enjoy going to Discovery Land's presentation of the musical Rodger and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! Discovery Land has an outdoor stage and the production is very good. http://www.discoverylandusa.com/ I prefer the Philbrook over the Gilcrease just because of the gardens.

We're reviewing math and the timeline heavily. We are sporadically reviewing the definitions of parts of speech from Cycle 1 and 2 and various science sentences I want them to retain for our studies.

:bigear:

I had this problem too...until I took the time and copied/prepared for all lessons in one fell swoop and filed them away. It made all the difference. My 6.5 yo is wrapping it up too. We love it and will continue with RSB. Good luck with your decision.

I have the RS A instruction manual, but I just don't get how to play Old Main. I don't understand her directions as written. For starters, how many do you hold in your hand to start the game? HELP!

This is a bump, because I need to know too. Our pediatrician wants my son's cholesterol checked based on family history. We haven't gotten it done yet, because we also eat well, and I'm unwilling to put him on medication at six if it is too high.

If you're in CC, your director should have it.

Now that Classical Conversations is done for the year, do you parents of Memory Masters have any tips to share? What were some of the keys to successfully learning all that information?

I'm a fan but haven't heard it yet. Union Station is magic together. I hope it's great, and I have every expectation that it will be. I'm sure we'll own it sooner or later. So, for now, this is basically a *bump*.

That makes sense. If I think about it logically, to improve his reading, my son needs to practice reading, not practice memorizing random strings of numbers as the speaker at the HS conference suggested. Although learning strings of numbers after one hearing (such as telephone numbers) would be a good skill to have too.

katilac, Do you know of specific strategies to improve short-term verbal memory?

Is there really a correlation between being able to repeat a string of six numbers and reading ability? I'm asking based on information presented during a HS convention this week. I have a 6 year old who reads but not well. He still sounds out all but the most frequently used words. He can not repeat a series of 6 numbers back to me. Can your six year old do this? (for example, say to him/her 609516 in a monotone voice with a slight pause between each number). If your child can do this, is he/she a 'good' reader? It's strange to me that my son can't do this, yet can memorize a long poem just by hearing it 5 or so times on a CD and can play his violin quite well by ear.

A friend of mine recently said her kids really enjoyed Big Red by Jim Kjelgaard. I haven't read it, but I think she said the dog actually lives.

My library doesn't have all of them. I only purchased the ones our library doesn't carry.

My son is only in K, but for cycle 2 we spent about 15 minutes a day reviewing the memory work. Plus we listened to the audio CD whenever we were in the car. You can use CC memory work as a spine for your history and science, or you can do your own thing. For cycle 2, we read books related to our history/science sentences. For cycle 3, we're going to do American History following the plan at Guest Hollow and not worry with syncing it up with CC. For science, we are going follow the WTM plan for first grade science, which includes the body (the body is part of cycle 3 science). You'll need to do your own thing for math, language arts, spelling, Latin (if you want) as the CC memory work is not a full curriculum.

Good question. Bump.

Since it's so writing intensive, I think it is better suited for a first grade. My son is in K, and we have been drilling the letter and vowel/consonant team sounds ad nauseam. His writing skills are just now to the point where I think we could move on to writing the words. We started the word lists in January but stopped because he was writing so slowly. It wasn't worth the frustration to keep going with the words. In the meantime, we continue working on OPGTR, HWT and drilling those letter sounds and learning the rule tunes NOW in advance of when he'll use them when we start again on the words.

I'd like to stress what Heidi said about the emotional/social side of it. Really assess how you think your child would handle it behaviorally. Ask yourself questions like: will he/she participate or hide under the desk? will he/she cry whenever you leave the room? will he/she cling to you or sit in a chair while you are in the room? I've had a 4/5 year-old in Foundations and been the tutor of the 4/5 year old class. If the child is not emotionally/socially ready, it will be a nightmare for you, your child, the tutor and the other kids in the class. Intellectually, children at that age do well memorizing the material as their minds are little sponges. If they're not emotionally ready at 4/5, work with them using the material at home.

My son is 6 and we are only on lesson 61, so you're not behind us.:001_smile:

I also recommend the Neufeld book. He talks about wooing your children so they chose you over their peers. He'll lay out the reasons why it's important that kids are parent-oriented not peer-oriented. I've been in your place. A lot of the kids who come around are house are ps kids. Often, when the bus rolled around the corner, I would get the kids in the car and take them to the park, library, or whatever to break the cycle of them wanting to play with these children. The problem seems to have gotten better over the past year. They often spontaneously play in the yard with the neighbor hoods but are not allowed to leave our yard or go to other's houses.

Here's another link to the Pinocchio book that talks about the illustrations. There other illustrated classic suggestions on this guy's blog. http://www.readalouddad.com/2010/12/todays-book-order-adventures-of.html#more

Here's a beautiful Pinocchio: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1568461909?tag=kifobo-20&camp=213761&creative=393545&linkCode=bpl&creativeASIN=1568461909&adid=0RDTYH0HYRXA8FP6256F&

:lurk5: