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Annie Laurie

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Everything posted by Annie Laurie

  1. My oldest uses MUS. Ds7 uses Horizons currently, but I'm about to switch him to Singapore. We've had trouble finding the right fit for him. I've definitely decided to either use Singapore or go back to MUS for him. Dd5 uses Horizons and Miquon. I don't think a Ker needs formal math, but she is a natural at math and it's her favorite thing. Miquon is my personal favorite.
  2. The activities in the IG are pretty basic, like make cookies when you read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, or build with blocks, etc. Things you probably would have thought of anyway. The only reason I've found the IG useful is just that it makes me feel like I did something just for my 3 yr old who can get overlooked with all the big kids school work I have to help with; and while the 3 yr old does get read to a lot anyway, a lot of it was him listening to his siblings read alouds, or bedtime stories. Now I make a special time for just him and I (20 minutes or so after lunch) and he picks 3 stories from Core A and we cuddle on my bed and read them. I do like the selections in core A and my ds adores the Teddy game, we've played it endlessly since getting it. I think Mighty Mind is better for slightly older kids though. Really, you could compile a list of picture book classics or poll other hsing moms for their favs and buy them at a used book store and make time to read them with your little everyday and have the same experience.
  3. Thank you for the feedback! I will go check out their forums.
  4. And a very good suggestion that is! :o
  5. Has anyone here used it? I'm looking at the 9th grade chemistry for my oldest next year. Is it possible to do the experiments from the practical book or is that written for school use with a lab?
  6. My Little Pony and Biscuit games in the same place? My dd is going to freak! Thanks for sharing. :)
  7. My kids like this series they sell at Barnes and Noble called 100 Things You Should Know About... There is one on Ancient Rome. Another fun series is Tales of the Dead; there is a book on Ancient Egypt, Ancient China, Ancient Rome, and Ancient Greece.
  8. If you were going you transition your kids to CW in 3rd grade, what would you do with them in the meantime? I already plan on copywork and working on narration skills. My dd who is in K will do some phonics review during 1st grade, but she is already reading on a high 2nd grade level. My ds is currently in 1st and I don't feel he needs phonics anymore since his reading level is 4th grade and he reads on his own without effort. I am pretty laid back with little ones and we've been mostly unschooling- we've played around with parts of FLL and SL LA 1 and 2, but mostly I read aloud to them everyday and they read something to me everyday. We also have a sustained silent reading period everyday. Other than that, we play math games, we play outside, and kind of do whatever tickles our fancy at the time. My ds though has a personality that is happier with structure, so we have gone back to doing explode the code and a math workbook everyday too. (He is picking it back up with ETC 5, which is really review for him but good handwriting, spelling practice too). If you're still with me :), what I want is to slowly transition to more structure without being overwhelming for them and still having plenty of time for free play and board games together, time outside, or whatever we want to do. I want to lay a good foundation right now for writing and reading on a deeper level starting in 3rd grade. So on the Classical Writing website, they recommended for 1st and 2nd grade: copywork beginning dictation spelling reading and phonics What is a good resource for good copywork passages that I could have on hand? Dictation in 1st and 2nd grade- really? (We do this informally when they ask me how they would say something or spell something and I dictate and they write in in their notebooks, so can I eliminate this formally? trying to keep it simple.) Spelling. Again, really? I've never believed spelling is necessary until 4th or 5th grade, then they've read a lot and built up a mental "word bank." Is there something they'll be missing by not doing spelling? Should I stick with ETC? Try a spelling workbook? Reading we have covered, and phonics. TIA!
  9. I would back off all the highly structured curricula you have been using, and focus on the three Rs, and then follow her interests on the rest.
  10. Yay! I just ordered this last week and am waiting for it to get here. I'm so excited now. :D
  11. Thanks for offering another viewpoint, I appreciate it! I actually am a relaxed hser and am in the better late than early camp. (Or that's how it worked with my other kids), but my 3 3/4 yr old is a new experience for me. He asks me to do "school" everyday, and it's not his way of saying he needs attention as he does get a good bit of one on one reading and cuddling time and we play board games and puzzles everyday, he just loves writing and reading and doing "school work" and thrives on doing what the big kids do. He has extremely advanced fine motor skills and reading skills. I know that doesn't mean he needs to do anything formal, but I think he'd be very happy to. I would wait until he had at least turned 4 and never push if he changed his mind. But you do have a very good point, I have quite enough to do with the other kids and he likes to sit in on their school anyway. (I tend to be a curriculum junkie:o, trying to break that, so I'll have to give this some more thought.)
  12. David and Micki Colfax, (who wrote Homeschooling for Excellence), talk about how their kids didn't learn to read early, one son was 9. All four sons went to Harvard so it didn't hurt them in any way. I hope that's a little bit reassuring.
  13. Homeschooling for Excellence by David and Micki Colfax The Relaxed Homeschool by Mary Hood Dumbing us Down by John Taylor Gatto Teach Your Own by John Holt A Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola
  14. Wow, thank you. That was very helpful. It really looks like a K program with all that is in there. My son will be 4 in May also and really loves "school work". He has very advanced fine motor skills and can write well and knows his letter sounds and many cvc words, so I'm trying to decide between this and MFW K. Looks like he'd enjoy Horizons.
  15. I'm looking for some discussion on this and don't see any on the other hs boards I read at. So if anyone here has seen this in person or used this, I'd love to hear about it. Is this program just doing workbook pages each day or are there hands-on activities also? What do you think is a good starting age for this? How much time do you think this would take each day? TIA.
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