That's good to know! There's certainly a lot of repetition and review and Horizons, especially compared with some other programs I've used. Did you use the drill sheets from the back of the teacher book? How about the oral counting and flashcards? Thanks!

Glad to hear that MM worked well for you when you needed something that would work when you didn't have as much teaching time. I hadn't considered that I could use MM for a while then go back to Horizons when things settle down. Thanks!

I'm trying to decide what my rising 1st grader should do for math in the fall. I have 5 children that I am teaching (including one high schooler). My father-in-law, who lives with us, is declining and may need much more of my care during the upcoming school year. I'm trying to find a way to make teaching doable should that happen. My rising 1st grader is about 1/2 way through Horizons Math K. I do like the program, but I know that it's intended to be taught from the teacher's guide (including the drills, skip counting, concept teaching, etc.). If things get very nutty here during the school year, it may not be possible for me to teach from the guide. It might be just the math sheet with myself or an older sibling available to help as needed. If things are not so nutty, I will be able to teach it as intended. (And it could end up that some days I can teach it and some days I can't.) Would it be better to do this route, or to switch to a program, like Math Mammoth, that has all the instruction on the student page? If Horizons without using the Teacher's Guide would do, I probably would like to go with it, since it's what we're already using. But if it's going to be woefully inadequate, I'll consider something else. Math Mammoth is the only other program that I can think of that has the instruction right on the workbook page, but if you know of other options, I would love to hear them. Thanks for any input you can give me.

This looks interesting. Thanks for sharing!!! :)

Yes! I go to bed at 8:30, then read for about 30 minutes before going to sleep. I wake at 5 A.M. Events that go past 8 are really tough for me. I sometimes wish that the rhythm of my family was different so an event that lasted until 10 didn't feel like it was the middle of the night!

Yes! I've done this. The most cost-effective way is to buy the hard copy of the teacher book, then print out student sheets with the free download.

Thank you! That's great to know. I was thinking TT was likely to be okay, since it doesn't tend to be glitchy. Rosetta can be glitchy on my computer anyway, so I'm a little nervous about that one.

My husband would like to upgrade our Dell to Windows 10. I'm concerned that Rosetta Stone and Teaching Textbooks are not going to work, especially Rosetta. Did you upgrade to Windows 10? How did Rosetta and Teaching Textbooks do? Thanks!

Thank you. And this is all one-on-one time, right? Thank you, lindsey. I think 2 will be best for my daughter. I don't want her to be overwhelmed, especially since the only dictation she's ever done is the short sentences in All About Spelling.

I think All About Reading could work in this situation. You might want to contact the publishers at All About Learning Press and ask them about your situation.

I'm not very good at manipulating a program either, though I'm a little better than I used to be. I did give her part of the level 1 ending evaluation yesterday and she was able to answer 2 of the 4 questions easily. I've not stressed remembering details when I'm reading aloud, so I'm thinking the the first step might be to just start asking some questions after I read a chapter.

I have a child in AAS 6 and another child in AAS 3. I was considering trying another program, just because I needed something that was less time intensive for me ... and I felt like my children needed to SEE the words more that write them after I tell them the word. But instead of switching, I decided to experiment with tweaking this program to work for us. This is what I'm doing: I've put a sticky note on the lesson book page that says this: 1. Write List Words. 2. Write 4 Dictation Sentences (Just copying them ... I put a post it above the first sentence they need to do and below the last sentence they need to do) 3. Write 2 sentences of your own using any 2 words from the list. They are able to do this on their own, and they are actually retaining the words better. I spend time the first day of the lesson, teaching the new concept. I then give them a little quick little "quiz" after 3-4 days of independent work to make sure they have the words down. If there are any words that they haven't mastered, I write them on a post-it note and place it at the bottom of the subsequent lesson's word list, and they copy those words for another week. I don't think this is an ideal way to use AAS, but I am teaching 5 children and my time is limited. I do wish I had some way to easily add in some puzzles or "fill-the-word-in-the-sentence" type of activities, but I haven't figured out a way to do that. I hope this helps!

Hmmm ... this is interesting. My daughter is a very good reader, but spelling/writing are not strong.

Thank you so much for this. I would rather go a little easy, than too hard, especially with skills like these. I edited my above post to mention that we do lots of reading aloud, so that should help her to be able to jump in. May I ask you about how long each day this takes of your time? (Since I'm teaching 5 children, I have to be careful with how much one-on-one time I schedule.)

She's a rising 4th grade and we have not done much in the way of formal writing. She does copywork daily, but has not done narration (except spontaneously when she is reading an exciting book) or dictation. **I'm editing to add that we do lots and lots of reading aloud here. So no formal narration, but she is getting lots of good literature in her everyday. I found this on the website (http://downloads.peacehillpress.com/pdfs/samples/wwe/wweevaluations.pdf) but it seems like an evaluation to see if a student has learned the concepts in the current level or not. Is this also appropriate for me to use to place my rising 4th grader? Based on what I see there, I'm guessing Level 2, but I haven't tried any of it with her yet. Also, a somewhat-related question: I have an rising 7th grader who has done 3 years of IEW and is a quite competent writer. Is there a reason that she couldn't go right into Writing with Skill? (I'm only asking because we did not do very much of the types of exercises that are in Writing with Ease.) Thanks for any help you can give me! :)

There's a story that you can use to teach this. The D is a dog in a doghouse, and his two friends are Cat © and Elephant (E) .... The story goes on from there and it was easy for my children to remember the notes. I didn't watch this whole video, but I think that this is a link to something similar ... http://www.true-piano-lessons.com/piano-notes-chart.html

I just go to target and buy exercise shorts for the bottom half ... then use a rashguard shirt for the top.

I'd love to know the answers to these questions about SYS also. I am in AAS Level 3 with my 3rd grader right now and she is not a natural speller at all (though she is a voracious reader). I believe she tests into the 2nd book of SYS, but I'm not sure I want to put her back that far. I would love to know if it would work well to put her in the SYS 3rd book (or would she be confused because she didn't the 2nd book). I'm looking to switch spelling programs from AAS to something workbook based and less teacher-intensive. (I have 5 children, and I have to do that to stay sane.) Anyway, I'm having great difficulty finding a program that I can move to that doesn't put her back 1 or 2 grade levels. I think that since spelling programs often introduce words and concepts in vastly different orders, switching is tough. I was going to place her in Building Spelling Skills (Christian Liberty Press) Level 3, but when I looked through Level 1, about 1/3 of the lessons are words or phonograms that she doesn't know yet. Also, much of Level 2 is new material. So I have no idea where to place her. I think she might do okay just jumping into Level 3, but I am concerned about all the words in the first two levels that she will not be taught directly. (If she was a natural speller, I wouldn't worry about it much.) If anyone has advice for me, I'm happy to hear it! :)

Thank you!

I'm seeing several comments in this thread that Apples and Pears worked for their struggling spellers. Can anyone tell me where they purchased it? I'm not finding it at my usual homeschool material places. Thank you!

I love knowing the reasons, too! Now that I've been through most of the program, I love that I can use that knowledge in teaching, even outside of spelling time. :)

Thank you, Ellie! :) So I know nothing about Spalding. I'm assuming it's teacher intensive (meaning direct instruction is needed every day)? If that's the case, I honestly cannot consider it. I would love it if all subjects were direct instruction for all my children, but it's not possible. Also, why do you like Spalding and would All About Spelling be considered a spin-off?

This is what I'm finding too. I have 5 children to teach, and it's just really not feasible for me to continue 20 minutes of direct spelling instruction each day with each child. I'm pretty confident that my daughter can do R&S alone, so that's no problem. Thank you so much! :)

Thank you so much for explaining how you do this! :)

Thank you! :) I think I will do that in the fall (every problem).