Can anyone recommend any good quality (but not too $$$!) science kits for young elementary? My almost 7 yr old likes playing around with things. Whether it be electrical, physics, or mixing things,, etc. We have some neat electrical kits but they're a bit too advanced for him. Today we cut open a used toe warmer to see what was inside and he used a magnet with it to get the iron powder out, we mixed in some salt. we used a stereoscope and mangifiying glass. He loved it! (but it was so messy with the charcoal powder in the toe warmer!) I've seen magnet kits for sale but have often read bad reviews- poor quality magnets, etc. and seen other kits that are just way overpriced for what they are or very cheap quality components. so.... are there any good kits that aren't overpriced but offer some good learning/experimenting? I'd love some things he can play around with on his own or an easy to follow book...

So by what route do most homeschoolers get OT type evaluations? I live in NY State so when going through the public education route that would mean that I'd have to go before the school board at some point and get approval for therapy and it would probably have to be done at the school. I'm not sure how to take a private route on it either. Not sure if our insurance would pay for it. ??

thanks! although he needed to do some coloring or shading for math today (bar graphs) and said how he hates coloring and was pretty much refusing to color. or even draw diagonal lines (cross-hatching, etc.). He likes to draw- well, lately only draws lego themes. He tried to draw a horse from a learn to draw book that he likes last week and flipped out because his horse was too fat. He does lego's a lot... and so is good with little things, etc. it hasn't seemed to help his writing. I wonder if it's his larger muscles that need more strength- arms/shoulders. How might I know if he has a weak grip? He presses too hard when he writes- wouldn't that mean his grip is strong if not too strong? I don't know those finger games (or any!) I'll have to look those up!

my son is 9.5, left-handed, "late" writer (refused to hold pencil correctly at earlier ages). I have not pushed it all along. He is now working through Getty-Dubay Italics and has almost finished book C that starts doing italic cursive joins. He likes it well enough and does beautiful work in his book. He can also do beautiful handwriting on lined paper when he tries. His faster, less careful writing is legible. However, when I watch him write either in his handwriting book or when he's writing something else and trying to have nice writing it seems to be slow and hard for him. I can see that he seems to have to stop and think for some letters how to form them properly. And it still doesn't seem all that easy for his hands. He claims he "hates" writing. I don't have him do much independent writing. He'll either dictate or narrate to me. He has started piano lessons and doing well there. Teacher said he was very stiff at first but said he is loosening up. so... not sure if there is OT type need, or just more practice, or ?? what is the best way to help a child get faster at writing- meaning, it is not so hard for them to do the actual writing. Is it just more and more practice? if just practice, I need ideas for implementing it. He only wants to do a half page in his italic book at a time. He really would not like to do more practice. Is there a way to make it more fun? more motivating? He wrote a letter to grandma the other day but it's not something he wants to do that often.

It seems no one knows the answer to my question.... does anyone have any pros or cons to share about either program? Mostly I find positive reviews of either program that don't give me much information.

Can anyone tell me the main differences (reading/instructional/method- wise) between Reading Eggs and Ooka Island? My son has done a 4 week trial of Reading Eggs and loved it. Now he is ending a 2 week trial of Ooka Island. We'd like to buy a subscription to one or the other since he loves them both and I've seen progress with his reading skills since he started using the programs. He started writing and spelling words on his own after starting Reading Eggs and after 2 days of Ooka Island was able to whiz through a workbook page (LOE Foundations) on last sound in a word (a skill that he had been having trouble with for a long time). Has anyone used both or studied both programs and figured out the main differences? As far as what content it focusses more on, methods, etc.

that is what I thought about pictures too. I had read somewhere that it also can interfere with tracking because their eyes are darting all over the place to look at the pictures and back again. But MIL is so truly adamant that he must have pictures and have some context for the words he is trying to read that he needs to have an idea first before reading the word. ?? but when we read novels there are no pictures! And he's delighted to sound out c-a-t "oh cat !" without a picture. He does seem to have trouble in the hooked on phonics pages that have all words (I do an older version of HOP and we do not use the audios- we do it together). He'll read "map" for "mat" even though the whole line might be "at" words. or sometimes the wrong first sound. He knows the sounds. But he seems to want to just read the word right out without having to sound it out. So I'm not sure if he's guessing because he wants to be fast, or gets the phonograms mixed up, or ?

your situation sounds like mine! they are 2.7 yrs apart though but older learned very easily and much on his own it seems. Younger not even interested in letters until he was about 5. It's not that I'm in need of a new program so much as my mother in law's urging and comments making me doubt myself. She is kind of adamant that I do what she says and not focus on phonics right now. I'm just checking here to see if she could be right, but I'm thinking not really. I guess I'm curious about pictures too. My son definitely studies the pictures to help him figure out words. Is that good, bad, depends?

well, actually, she went back to college or got her masters in the 80's I think...

yes- "whole language" was "her thing". She thought it was wonderful. She said "all" the kids loved what they did and loved to write, etc. I think she is probably not aware of the kids that probably hated it but were polite and just did what they were supposed to. And spelling, etc. didn't matter so I guess they had less to complain about with writing. ?

that is what I thought. But she didn't begin teaching until the 80's and retired around the mid 90's. So it wasn't that long ago that she (and the others in her school/area) were teaching that way. But I also was a public school teacher- jr. high and high school science. And I saw what were possibly the results of teaching reading that way. And writing. They did not try to pronounce words they didn't know and they couldn't write a complete sentence.

My first son learned to read with hooked on phonics and loved it and did well. My second son was not ready to learn reading until the past 6 months or so and has different needs, issues, learning styles than first son. He wants to do hooked on phonics just like he knows big brother did. but yet he doesn't like all the words and no pictures on one page (sat, cat, rat, mat, etc.) We are halfway through the first part of logic of English foundations and he likes that (sort of. he would not choose it but he has fun when we do it and he forgets what book I'm using.) my confusion comes from my mother in law. She was a reading teacher in public school and kind of puts phonics down. She admits that some is needed but that he should be using pictures for context clues and learning through repetition and sight words. She gave me a bunch of little readers that have the form of repeating the sentence on every page but changing only one word like "This animal lives in a tree. this animal lives in a hole." (I just made that up but you get the idea). I've noticed that my son seems capable of learning phonics and is doing well with logic of English and can do hooked on phonics (but doesn't always get all the words right). When there are pictures he seems to definitely use the pictures and do more guessing at words than actually trying to read them. Isn't that a problem? or maybe it's not. ? She said to read readers to him first so he hears it and understands it and understands the story, etc. I guess that makes sense but she made it sound like it would be ok if he sort of memorized some of it. It "seems" like she wants kids to be confident and "feel" like they are reading even if they are not actually able to decode the words. ?? Am I misunderstanding? Is she right? (I have a hard time talking to her about it because she is so adamant about her own methods.)

I finally decided I'd like to try WWE (hardcover guide) with my son. (I had the book for over a year and for some reason couldn't delve into it- but now I have and wish we had done it last year). I like the idea of finding my own literature selections for narration and copywork but not sure I have the time and confidence to choose good selections. I'm aware of the workbooks that already have selections but know that we may not like all of them. Has anyone here on the forum or on a blog shared their own selections they used? We would be doing level 1 or 2 this year. It would be just a further guide for me and more to pick and choose from if I had trouble finding my own. I've tried searching but didn't find any such thing.

Thank you all for your ideas. So many angles! the last suggestion about the nerf gun might work well- with a lego theme. Sometimes he seems like a walking advertisement or young marketing executive so maybe writing some lego "ads" would work. I like what the Brave Writer article says. I've always struggled with how to tackle copywork without him feeling like it's busywork or pointless or just miserable "school thing" he has to do. I'm not sure some of those ideas would motivate my boy (candle on the table, etc.) but using ideas like the nerf gun example would be a good start. Maybe it would be easier to then transition into more literature based copywork.

I have not done a good job so far teaching my son writing skills. He was slow to hold a pencil correctly and actually physically write. Now he does nice work in his italics book but otherwise does little writing. He is still resistant. We do most work that would require writing orally. He writes for spelling. He will be 9 in Sept. and is capable for mostly 4th grade work (though I'm guessing for writing he is behind that- I'm trying not to think in grade levels lately). I tried using copywork a couple years ago but he only did it a few times before resistance set in. I slacked off on requiring it. :( He dictates to me sometimes (he entered a story writing contest, 4H project descriptions, etc.) and does pretty well putting out his thoughts verbally. Should we begin copywork at this point? If so, how can I motivate him to do it? He doesn't see the value or point in it. I don't want to cause tears and anger over it. But perhaps we just have to work through that and he just has to learn to do some things whether he wants to or not. ?? or should we move into dictation? Can anyone recommend a program for us? (boy, 9yrs, resistant to writing, otherwise excellent verbal skills) I'd like him to be learning to write paragraphs this year.

thank you for your thoughts and suggestions. they are helpful. too tired tonight to check them all out but will tomorrow.

This is my 4th year homeschooling (son now almost 9 and 6 yr old starting). I started out this morning feeling good and that I could get my IHIP partially written easily and then I got online and sidetracked and started feeling like I don't even know what I'm doing anymore! I guess I'm really stuck on writing/grammar and science. My son is probably behind in writing. I glanced at a Montessori scope and sequence that was somehow aligned with common core and saw that my son is not doing any of that writing! (we are not doing Montessori- it just happened to come on when looking for a language arts scope and sequence). What is a good way to figure out what he should be doing when for language arts? an overall general scope and sequence for say K-8? or higher? He will be 9 in sept. and is reported as 3rd grade to district but is really mostly a 4th grader. (I think! I don't even know anymore! homeschool curriculum is so different in some ways it's hard to compare grade levels it seems.) though I was a science teacher I keep feeling like we need a science program to keep us going as I don't do well with just pulling books and doing experiments, etc. can anyone recommend some not too $$ science programs they like?

Can anyone briefly explain or post links to articles about how common core math is different than the math some homeschoolers might have been using? How does common core change RightStart Math or Singapore Math for example? Is it more about what topics are taught in what grade or how it is taught?

I don't have a lot of background with all the different methods of teaching reading (other than phonics vs. whole language). I'm not exactly sure what needing more OG than OG-inspired means. A slower pace? Could someone tell me what some OG programs are vs. OG-inspired programs? It like how also the last poster thinks that some programs can be better for some kids than others, etc. It can be frustrating as a home educator when a program or those who use and like it make it seem as if is the best or the "right" way to teach something. I don't have a strong background in teaching reading so I guess I don't have many opinions yet... not until I dive in and try it out. But then can tend to feel like something is "wrong" with my child's learning if they aren't learning by the "best" methods, thought might do well learning a different way. Not sure if I'm making sense. It's all just confusing sometimes! I don't do well bouncing back and forth between programs either. But might have to in this case.

yes- that is what I'm starting to think too. that perhaps my son is a kid who can't make as many connections at one time as other kids... it seems so much harder having had a somewhat advanced child first! it was so easy to teach him- he teaches himself!

This is what I'm starting to wonder about my son. He is delayed in some areas- haven't had good, thorough test results yet. He was tested at a university speech and hearing clinic by a graduate student (which was a disaster if you ask me). What I got from that is that he is delayed in some areas of expressive language. He has speech issues in a few areas, some age typical like "r" and "L" but also in a few others that are more subtly like "sh" and some other soft sounds. I'm not sure how that all is impacting his learning to read but all along I knew there were going to challenges compared to my first son. I'm already seeing some issues with my younger son that I didn't see with my first. I think that he might also do well initially with hooked on phonics but then I'm afraid I'll see more problems further down the road that will be harder to deal with if I don't teach him the "other" way (LOE/Spaulding, etc.) He just really, really wants to be reading. And he is all excited with HOP having read his first "story" already and a "book". He wants to just go right through the whole level (but he wants to move faster than he should be.) I really don't know what to do. :confused1: I chose LOE because of the high level of phonemic awareness, kinesthetic learning, and help/suggestions with pronunciation (which are so far not helping at all because I just get him to understand what his tongue is supposed to be doing.) I liked that it incorporated spelling and handwriting. but... so far I've been skipping the handwriting because it seems too hard for him. (and because I haven't taken the time to make a sand tray or other sensory type writing methods).

yes, but I don't think they teach that rule in the beginning when the child is first learning to read cvc words. "Sad" is one of the first words they introduce. Maybe I just don't get it yet because I was looking ahead. I know the rules from doing AAS with my older son. But it would seem highly confusing to teach a child just learning how to read that rule. ?? or am I wrong? And I do understand why they teach spelling at the same time as reading. That was a weakness with HOP and thus when my older son finished all the levels and was reading really well I realized he couldn't spell at all. :blushing: But now I see where the rules could just prove to be "too much" to handle in the beginning for some kids.

I just started Logic of English Foundations with my almost 6 yr old son. I used Hooked on Phonics with his older brother at age 5 (now 8.5) which so far has worked well for him. (though he is now using AAS for learning spelling). I know that HOP is considered incomplete phonics. But my concern is that teaching all the phonograms for each letter up front from the start seems confusing. I actually don't remember for example at what point HOP taught that "c" also says /s/ but there was no issue it with the other sounds for my first son. When a child is taught right away /k-s/ for "C", how does he know which sound it should make when he encounters it? I looked ahead in LOE Foundations and when it finally teaches cvc words and immediately includes spelling, the lesson has them spell" sad". How does the child know whether to use a "c" or an "s"? I've already seen my son getting confused by the multiple phonograms for some letters. I may be asking for trouble but I also started the first book of HOP with him recently (old version- the kind in 5 or 6 separate diff. colored boxes with cassette tapes which we don't use- I sit down and do it with him as I did with my first son). My son wants so badly to learn to read and was feeling that LOE Foundations was too slow. While he actually likes doing the lessons (he gets to hop, jump, shout, etc.) he realizes he isn't actually learning to read words on a page yet. I understand why LOE starts much more slowly than HOP and I had several reasons for choosing it, but he seems ready to start reading at least a few things. HOP teaches which sound to use (shows an apple for "a" and pig for "p" and then they blend it /a-p/. There is no confusion of whether it is long a or the "ah" a. so my question is, do children get confused when teaching the multiple phonograms for each letter (though it seems that the top programs teach that way). Can anyone send me a link that explains that method simply? Has anyone used Logig of English Foundations and found a way to speed things along initially for a child who already knows all the first sounds/phonograms of each letter?

Part of me thinks of it positively as well. But he sometimes has trouble narrating/telling me about what he read. He'll sit down to read his God World News magazine (written at his grade level) and will tell me tidbits of what he read but if I ask him a question about it he often can't answer it. Sometimes with books I can't tell if he just hates narrating or he is missing things. And I don't ask detailed questions. And yet he's a kid who from early on if he had an outing he would retell every single thing in the exact order he did them in.

thank you. I should consult my MIL again- she was also a reading teacher! I like your info on reading scripture. That was in the back of my mind in a different way. That if he ever reads scripture to a group (church, Sunday school, etc.) he should really be reading the exact words (there are already enough translations out there! LOL). But I never thought of it like you said- having him read scripture aloud could help in that it might force him in a way to read it exactly as it is written (not familiar terminology with easy substitutions that come to mind)