Thank you for posting this. I'm hoping to get a good phonogram android app for kindle. Hopefully one will be available soon.

This past week I watched a Right Start Webinar on fractions. It has motivated me to add in right start fraction games for all the kids even though I'm not currently using RS.

They do continue to add things. I renewed it this past fall. I'll be on the fence for this coming fall, but it is well worth the money if your child is using starfall.

double post

1. No I don't use the workbook. I also did not use the writing activities in 100 EZ lessons for his older brother. 2. No it wasn't a problem. He is used to hearing his older brother recite phonograms though, so I don't think it is foreign to him. 3. I am doing funnix 2 to finish out 1st grade. I like it a lot for this child. He needed more time to develop reading. For 2nd grade we will move on to Sound Beginnings which is an intro to Writing Road to Reading. AAS would be an equivalent.

Ambelside online booklists have tons of kindle amazon links.

I don't use OM, but I can totally identify with leaning more toward a gentle approach. When I first looked at curr. with a gentle approach years ago I felt they were in adequate. Now that I have a 3rd grader, I can see the big picture more.

I did more with my oldest in first grade than I'm doing with my next child now. The reason is that he soaks up a great deal from what his older brother is learning. When I was in your stage, I also wanted to find something to use over the long haul. I'm using almost nothing now that I did two years ago. I'd vote for the combination of the two and continuing to revisit it and tweak it as you go.

I was really fretting over reading comprehension with DS1. I started using McAlls-Crabbs reading quizzes twice a week. I do not know if it was maturity or these quizzes, but he's grown very much in this area. I also use Sylvan's bookadventure quizzes, too.

My son never minded it in 1st grade either. I guess it depends on your definition of gentle. If your more of a Charlotte Mason minded person it wouldn't be considered gentle. There have been a lot of threads lately about gentle grammar and this is the first one I've seen FLL mentioned as gentle. Usually its PLL, Grammarland, or wait until later. I'm a fan of FLL myself. I used 1 for D1 in first grade. We're almost done with FLL2. However, with my next son I may go the gentle route and delay grammar.

I wouldn't consider FLL gentle grammar. I'd consider PLL gentle grammar, and it is for 3rd grade. If your interested in gentle grammar at age 6, I'd say don't start grammar.

thanks!

I've really been happy with The Learnables, but I don't know if it would appeal to a middle school student. I prefer the focus on comprehension and not speaking. He can understand/translate a descent amount already. We just began Level 2.

I will also add, I'm NOT an activities girl. Whenever I tried to incorporate history pockets, etc.... they sat around unfinished and became a nuisance. I learned and don't bother anymore. Reading good living history books is more important to me.

I did not, but the ancients was more of a review. He also is memorizing a timeline with CCM that is repeated in every level. He's now to the part of the timeline that focuses on the American history he's been learning with his 'core'. Fully doing two different time periods would be time consuming if they were both new material, but it could be done. I have made the decision to school year round taking days off when we need them. This allows me the freedom to not stress out about getting through material. I also don't stress over remembering every little detail. Some things I breeze by knowing we'll come around to it again later. HTH

I prefer scripted lesson plans. I loved FLL, AAS, and RS for those reasons. I also am trusting in the guidance of a good friend that is very similar to me. She thought starting out with SB was the best thing she did. I have already bought and sold the WRTR book once, so I know I need something open and go to go with it. Some people think WRTR is open and go; I am not one of them:)

Although I'm using AAS now I will be switching to WRTR, so that we all learn the markings. My DS2 will use Sound Beginnings in 2nd as a precursor to WRTR.

That was me when DS1 was in 1st. I used 3 histories, 3 maths, etc..... Now I go with the flow. Keep it simple at that age.

I've been thinking I need to write a blog to document my recent revelations on how I've found joy again. Some of the contributing factors are decluttering to the extent that people think I'm crazy, using a curriculum with a syllabus that I can check off, and deciding to school year round so I don't stress over taking days off. Pinterest, braahahahaha. I won't have anything to do with it. I'm uncrafty. I hate to cook. My kids still grow and learn.

I did SOTW 1 in first grade. It actually took us 2 years, because he went back to school for 2nd. This year he is using MODG which is heavy on American History literature (similar to sonlight). We also began using CCM Alpha (similar to classical conversations) which is heavy on ancient. Its all worked out just fine. I've enjoyed the review of ancients while getting more exposure on American history. When we move to CCM Beta we'll focus on the Middle Ages we skipped over. We'll probably use Connecting With History 2 and SOTW 2 as well. My point is that it is ok to go out of order. I do think I did a great thing by beginning at the beginning, but I don't think it is necessary to always go in order.

Kindle Fire I have uploaded all of my music and school tracks into my amazon cloud. Just yestereday DS 1 listended to his CCM memory work, French Learnables tracks, and Jim Wiess' Thomas Jefferson cd. Read alouds are actually happening, because we're not searching all over for the book and trying to remember where we left off. We refuse to go ipad simply, because they try to monopolize the market. The itunes tracks only come in a format for i products. I buy all of my music from amazon, so it goes straight into my cloud.

I like to have this series of books for them to look at while listening to them in the van. They notice similarities in the stories and it makes the 'bio' aspect less dry.

I also hated poetry. For us Classically CAtholic Memory was the answer. I'd suggest the above product to get you started. Now I love poetry, and my sons have no problem memorizing selections for MODG.

The Great Adventure Bible Timeline. It is Catholic, but if you don't mind that it is fabulous. It goes through the 14 narrative books of the Bible, but it lists the corresponding books that go with those. It has them split into 12 color coded time periods. They have one for kids, middle school, high school, and adults. I listened to the CD's when I began teaching ancients and old testament time. I was fascinated with how much I learned.

We love both!