I am finding my daughter does better without manipulatives as well. She is 5 and was doing abstract addition and subtraction before we bought math-u-see. She finds them cumbersome and too time consuming to model a problem with manipulatives when she can easily do it in her head. So we are backing off of using them and doing the math alone instead. We did find the manipulatives very helpful for teaching place value but so far that has been the major help. We keep them around for particular problems when they are useful or to help solidify a concept if it is apparent she is a little confused but other than that we are not using them on a regular basis anymore. For example she didn't like using blocks to show that 4 + 2 = 6. It more than triples the time to build the problem first than to simply say 2, which she can easily figure out in her head.

Thanks! It feels like we'll be just fine without them. I showed 1A to my daughter this morning and she cruised through the first 2 chapters and 7 exercises. When I asked her what she wanted to do next she said "math-u-see". LOL. I had to veer her to some other activities but at least she is loving the programs we have. I think it's going to take us awhile to pick what we need and go with it. On Friday she did a few lessons in Rod and Staff too and loved those. Sometimes it's hard to pick a curriculum.

Well, we have printed a few e-book based curriculums. But besides that, we photocopy many consumable items so that they can be reused for multiple children. We have things like ancient history maps on CD so that it can be used multiple times that I print out. We print out color pages, handwriting pages and all sorts of other miscellaneous items that my daughter wants to do from free websites. I photocopy my daughter's letters before we send them in the mail so that I have copies of her progress. We are part of a parent partnership program so we copy invoices, receipts, student progress reports, etc. There have been many things that I haven't printed or copied because the cost outweighed the benefit. There have been some ebooks and some consumables that I wanted to copy rather than buy/use for convenience and reuse but the cost per page didn't make sense. I'm thinking a laser printer and eventually something like a Kindle will be a good fit for us. The kindle I can do without so that will be a perk for later down the road.

Thank you for all the tips! I think I am going to go with a laser printer. There are a few good ones on our local craigslist for $50. I was drooling over a $300 one that is about $800 new but I think at this point that is pushing our real needs. LOL. I found one that is a combo printer, fax, scanner and copier but the only downfall is that it doesn't have a flatbed scanner. :( Luckily, most of the things I scan are single sheets of paper but it is nice to scan from a book. I think we'll keep our inkjet around for scanning from books. I was having the same problem as others. We replaced the black ink cartridge in late August and it is all ready at 20% and I've hardly used it at all to the point of being ridiculous. Up until now we hardly used our printer so I had no idea how bad it was. We have a nice 3 in one HP photosmart.

So, now that we are officially homeschooling I am finding that our inkjet printer is working overtime and I am not even employing it to print all the many things I would really like to (all of the e-books). Have you found a cheap and effective way for all of this copying and printing? Is there a magic printer I should know about? A great place to buy ink? A printing service that is cheaper than at home? FWIW, we only have been printing black ink. Thanks!

Thank you so much for the list. One question. It says essential titles are in bold but I did not see any bold come across.

Thank you, that seems very helpful. Do you need a HIG for each level or just one and then you are set? Did you do this blend of Singapore and R&S or did you just know of the link. If you did both, how did it work out? Were you glad you did or would it have been simpler and more constructive have just used one program?

I recently purchased Singapore Math 1a and 1b textbooks and workbooks to use as a supplement to Math-u-see. I didn't realize when I made the purchase that they have a home instructors guide that goes with it. Do I need this? Everything seems self explanatory in looking through it. Is it worth also purchasing the instructor guide? Also, someone gave us the entire Rod & Staff beginning arithmetic curriculum for free and looking through it I like it too! I have no idea what to do now for math. Math-u-see is working just fine for us. We are using Alpha but my daughter doesn't really seem to need the manipulatives much, all though they came in super handy for learning place value. Does anyone incorporate more than 2 programs at a time? Is it unwise to pick here and there from multiple programs? I was thinking about letting her do a bit from each program and then let her choose which one she likes best. We only spent $20 on the math-u-see used and $20 on Singapore and none on R&S so we aren't in this a lot of money.

We got this a lot and still do. My daughter is bright and I think she is special because she is my daughter but at least until this point and I would venture that progressing forward she will always be a bit ahead but I don't think she'll ever be truly gifted. Maybe, but I doubt it. I honestly think people's expectations are just too low for what children can learn and accomplish if they are curious, loved, feel safe and are exposed to various experiences. My newly two year old can barely talk but he knows his colors and people are amazed. He has a favorite color all ready. My daughter spoke in complete sentences by 18 months, cut with scissors, wrote words, knew the alphabet all by mid 2. There have been lots of little things like that and everyone always gushes over how bright she is and I agree she is bright but I don't think she is gifted. I think she will always be inquisitive and a quick learner and she is a pure joy to us but I'm not seeing anything that makes my jaw drop. But yes, she is definitely ahead of normal. But when she was 2 and 3 when her advances really stood out against the other toddlers/preschoolers who were still learning to talk and walk and jump I looked at a lot of gifted boards with the same questions you have. The differences were just blatantly obvious then and now they are harder to see. Not because she isn't advanced anymore, she is, but because it's harder to notice right off the bat. Anyway, I've gotten really sidetracked but I think my point is that there are some really low standards for what kids can do.

Hugs. Anniversaries can be tough. I hope you are surrounded by people who love and support you. :)

When we rely on diagnostic equipment to tell us whether there is a health problem or not we are acting just as ignorantly as relying on a spell checker or a calculator to do basic spelling or math problems. It's not normal or okay. It may be common but just because something is common does not make it okay. It means your body is deficient in basic vitamins and minerals and your body is just worn down. I would highly recommend seeing a well qualified naturopathic doctor or midwife that specialized in a strong knowledge base of herbal medicine, etc. My first pregnancy I took prenatal vitamins and went to a regular OB and that was it. It was an awful labor, I was tired and run down during the pregnancy, I didn't sleep well, I was diagnosed with an irritable cervix, etc, etc. Second time around I used a very experienced midwife with a masters in herbal medicine and one who had delivered over a thousand babies with a 1% hospital transfer rate. She had me taking a lot of supplements and vitamins and red raspberry leaf tea. Needless to say, I had an easy pregnancy, no more pre-term contractions, and a faster easier labor. Plus, my son was 11 lbs 3 oz and his labor was easier than my daughters (8 lb 11 oz) and I didn't even tear. It was a wonderful experience. I really, really, really dislike the modern medicine mentality that our country has evolved into. I don't dislike modern medicine. I dislike how it is used. That is another rant.

I would agree. The tests that are used to evaluate K and 1st graders here in Washington are done verbally and require no reading. They are also multiple choice.

This is such a scary attitude to hold. I agree it is important for Children to learn how to find information but it isn't the answer. Someone who can not think and rationalize without technology is not educated, they are indoctrinated.

I have no idea how long it would take if we just sat down and did it in one chunk. For us, and how our life goes right now, school is an all day almost every day thing. I have a crazy 2 year old son that makes anytime but his naptime challenging for staying on track with anything. When he takes a good 2-3 hour nap we get all of the subjects done except our reading aloud. All though that has only happened 2x this year. LOL. So, our school day is all day plus we love to go places and so we do bits here and there and make up for lost time during the weekend or in the evenings. This is our first year of "formal" schooling. Up until now it has been completely child led and we had absolutely no schedule. So I am happy that I am writing out a "plan" which is also a first for me. In fact, until coming to this board I had no idea that homeschoolers actually planned out their lessons and syllabus for the year. I didn't even plan out my schedule for the next day, let alone a whole year! LOL. So, I started by planning the next day and now I have graduate to writing down Mon/tue/wed/thu/fri and putting down what I hope we'll finish in a week. Someday maybe I'll graduate to a monthly or gasp, yearly plan. As long as we come close to my weekly goals I don't really care. Plus, she's only 5 and so we are ahead of where she needs to be. I'm just trying to keep up with her.

:blush: With tacks. :tongue_smilie:

We haven't done any writing yet either and in fact, haven't even done the games yet. Just reading through the book. I do intend to copy and do some of the games at some point...

We are using a combination of Phonics Pathways and Bob Books. It's working great and we love it. We have the old Hooked on Phonics that someone gave us but my DD found the audio tapes realllly boring and too repetitive. The gal on the tape said, "let's do that again!" and my daughter rolled her eyes, looked at me pitifully and said, "do I havvveeee to?" She also just didn't seem to like the program. So, we'll be passing it on. I did just buy Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading because it has such high reviews and I like to have multiple resources for a given subject. Haven't read it yet though. So far I have just done our own spelling words. I have those word tiles that have the first 50 sight words a child should know and we've been doing 5 of those at a time. Reading them, writing them, using them in sentences, spelling them orally, etc. Once she has mastered them (can read, write and spell them orally) then we paste the words on her "word bank" a poster sheet hung on the wall. I figure eventually we'll move to a formal spelling program but this is great for now and helps with her reading because she knows so many of the sight words now. Plus, Phonics Pathways teaches spelling as well. For the Bob books, we've had great luck getting them at our library. We also got Phonics Pathways at our library first before I bought it.

I am right handed. I mostly do a continuous stroke pattern when I write which is part of the reason. I guess one that I noticed right away is that I start my capital A's from the bottom just as I would a triangle. I also start my M's and N's from the bottom. I guess those are the only capital's I do that way. All of the lowercase I do the standard way but I don't lift my pencil for most of those like they teach with HWOT. I assume that naturally goes away as they progress more with handwriting.

Thank you. I was wondering about this and at first it was what really turned me off the HWOT. I don't like the way it looks and the lines seem really off from most other writing programs. I have heard so many people in real life, really suggest the Getty Dubay italics. Where do you normally purchase that from or are you able to get that from online. I didn't realize that this wonderful resource was in the free homeschooling resources that someone put together and I love the copywork books. The penmanship book seems like it would be an easy enough workbook. Here is a link: http://www.albright-news.com/blog/homeschooling/copywork/ For those of you that print things off from online how do you save money on ink? Is there a special place to go to print things cheaply?

This sounds good there are no reviews on amazon though. We will not be studying slavery for quite some time but I'd also like to know additional resources for the history of slavery across the world as it seems people tend to focus only on american history of slavery. I'd also like to know about materials that deal with the financial aspects of slavery, the financial aspects of the civil war, etc. I think often these things are not discussed enough and only the emotional aspects of slavery are portrayed.

Here are some D'Nealian alphabet worksheets. You can choose which worksheet you want to print. There are a few different options including a Bible alphabet. http://www.first-school.ws/theme/alphabetp12a.htm

Oh! Thank you! The McGruffy font that you were talking about has the alphabet chart that shows the direction the letters go in! ( a couple of the other fonts did to). I right clicked it, saved it as an image and then printed it full size. Now, I'll just laminate it and we can keep it at the table with us. Perfect! Now, I don't even need to leave the house. We'll give this a go and if it doesn't work well I'll buy some workbooks.

Thansk for all of the suggestions. I think I will look at our local store to see what they have. I forgot I also have two reams of the HWOT paper that the same friend gave us. Essentially we're just missing the workbooks. Yes, the workbooks are only $7.25 ea but the $6 shipping would be nice to avoid. You'd think letter formation would be intuitive but I didn't realize until looking at the HWOT manual that *I* form many of my letters "wrong". My handwriting looks fine and I'm fast enough and my hand doesn't hurt so that is what mostly lead me to wondering if a program was really necessary. Anyway, I'll pop by our educational store and take a look today. I don't mind trying one out for $7.25 and then going from there. It would probably save time and effort from all the ink and printing.

This really shouldn't be that difficult of a decision but I keep going back and forth. We've spent so much money on curriculum this year and I'm okay with that because a lot of the products are long term investments. However, I just can not seem to make my mind up on a handwriting program. Part of me wonders if it is really even necessary? My daughter is 5 and has good fine motor skills and always has. She can form and copy letters just fine however her letter formation is inconsistent and she forms many of her letters starting at the bottom and sometimes reverses a few letters (b, d, p) and a couple numbers (5, 3, 9). We have the teachers manuals for Handwriting Without Tears (HWOT) that someone passed down to us but not the workbooks. By browsing through the teacher manuals it appears to be a big deal to nix the bad habits now. However, I also like the idea of the Zaner-Bloser style and I think I'd prefer to use that. By looking around on some of the freebie threads there seems to be a vast amount of free resources online for printing your own worksheets, copywork, etc but none of them show which way you are supposed to form the letters that I can find. Does anyone know of HWOT or Z-B style handwriting that has printable sheets with directions for printing the letters "correctly"? Or considering she doesn't have any real issue with writing should I just stick with the free printable worksheets and trust that it will all work out. This really seems like such a silly thing seeing as it is only $22 after shipping for the K and 1st grade student HWOT workbooks but I just would really enjoy not spending another $20 if I can get away with it. Wow, what a long winded way to ask a simple question.

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