The Amazing Pop-Up Geography Book. It's Old Earth.

... so many posters with large families use 100EZ for all their children, it seems the most reliable. -- I don't know the size of Mrs. Twain's family, it is just what I have observed generally. I gave Button a little time off from the blending problem, then we came at it with Phonics Pathways (I made the Bug Card game with the three-letter cards) and also started Free & Treadwell Primer. I think the Free & Treadwell was a big breakthrough for Button. I would read a sentence, or a page, and have him read it after me, and continue for 5-10 minutes. We went over the same story until he could read it to me fairly well, I think usually in one sitting. He much preferred this to Bob books. -- he was 5 and was "behind" in reading judging by all the workbooks at the bookstore. It is true that the boards often seem like everybody naturally starts reading early!!! Button would never have taken off if I hadn't made him do it! he is too perfectionistic.

:001_smile: I planned too much ... we've simplified dramatically to keep the household happy, with a Very Engaged toddler. At the moment we're reading, writing, math, with some books & lots of Library Video stuff for sci and history (the Schlessinger Company). Here's a rundown and a rough schedule. We have no regular science, history, music, or foreign language but we hit language & math from several directions. We don't always do everything, for sure; occasionally we do a bit after DH comes home; and I feel like we are pounding in the basics, but it seems to be working. AM after breakfast, fairly independent work: Getty-Dubay Italics, or Wheeler's Elementary Speller (on days he has spelling copywork, and sometimes dictation, it counts as handwriting, too) math facts (trying Xtra Math and Reflex online, but may cut back to worksheets ... also math Wrap-Ups for all facts and the multiplication CD) Sonlight readers (many are historical, so that's a bit of History content) sometime during the morning: MathUSee or MEP math, whichever is most independent that day. during lunch or a snack: poetry, currently Lobel's Mother Goose. after lunch, while baby is in bath (and we are nearby :)) or while baby is with his grandmother, we do two of these three: WWE Free and Treadwell readers for supervised reading practice often 2-4 multiple-digit math problems, done together while I settle baby for nap: WWE copywork, some math problems, or a video during baby's nap: MathUSee or MEP Math (recently added to the mix) Life of Fred on Fridays anything extra, hip-hop class, homeschool playgroup early evening: Ed Emberley art books some nights, or painting before bed: Read-Alouds 30 min/5x week, largely from Sonlight here are our favorite videos right now: How The Universe Works DVDs Schlessinger Company All About the Solar System series " All About Ancients series (ancient Mesopotamia, etc.) " All About Government -- when time permits, he gets to watch one of those while I put the baby to bed, before we do his read-alouds. in the car: memory work, as seems useful/necessary various math various music exposure: classical, folk, foreign-language. when we have time: Apologia Astronomy, from my old-earth perspective ;) Zaccaro's Primary Challenge Math we abandoned: Getting Started with Latin All About Spelling (he started hating it) Phonics Pathways (ditto) SOTW Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding (irked me) Growing With Grammar and I'm doing my best to incorporate: beginning recorder KISS grammar

Just coming back to this ... we hit the tricky part of Delta last month, and so I started trying to alternate the beginning of Epsilon with the Delta, but it was a disaster: Epsilon (fractions) starts out with a presentation of problems like 2/5 of 15 that was horribly confusing for DS. Probably wouldn't have been so bad for a child of the standard age, but for a 6yo it was hopeless. So here's what we did: 1. To teach the complicated division from Delta, I'm simply working through this book of problems a few at a time, every day or every other day. We do 2-4 problems when the baby naps. Because we aren't getting the review problems this way we go over formulas that he memorized (area of a trapezoid, perimeter, other areas, average, etc.) every so often and do review problems once a week or so. 2. We do fact drills in the AM. Don't have a total solution on the materials we use here, but are drilling all facts. 3. I try to introduce multi-digit addition and subtraction regularly or he forgets how to do it. He re-learns very quickly, but at his age seems to need regular practice. 4. We've added MEP math, which Button just loves right now! It's free, which is super; and he enjoys the problems; and it hits things like mental computation, where I've found MUS is weaker than I'd like. We do a lesson every day or two. 5. I'm giving him Epsilon problems -- the complex fractions -- orally, while we're on a walk or in the car or whatever. Then he does some of the review & word problems later, at home. For the intro. this is working well. This may sound intense, but he's thriving and gets tons of time at parks, hiking, etc. each day; our school is actually stripped-down right now to the basics, b/c Bot-bot really benefits from being outside. -- hope this is of use to somebody!

Button is rather like that. Very precociously logical & knowledgeable, too, with a glorious vocabulary and precise speech; but he lagged on reading b/c he wouldn't tolerate us reading to him for a long time, and is a perfectionist. All the PPs have had excellent perspectives, and I will only add a few resources that worked/are working very well for us. For reading, might he enjoy working through the Phonics Pathways book? and/or Reading Pathways. They are nicely systematic, so that the child has always been taught what he is asked to do, which helped Button immensely for a while. Then, about halfway through, he started absolutely hating phonics so I'm taking a break from it. Reading-wise, he really has enjoyed (with the exception of the poetry, which I still require him to read) the Free & Treadwell readers for reading practice. We started with Primer, and I would read one page (a very short amount of text) and have him read it back, for 5 or 10 minutes or one story. We repeated a story 'till he could read it well. Now we are in the Second Reader, and I read a story one day, then he does it back over the next day or two. The language is beautiful -- they are vintage books, and in the public domain, though I have hard copies -- the stories are interesting, and he has felt very successful. Your math sounds in hand, esp. with the advice you've gotten. I myself just discovered MEP math, which DS is loving loving loving right now. It's free, and every fifth lesson is a review, so you can start simple and move quickly to where he's more challenged if you need to. much luck! I've always thought it was ironic that Button doesn't do the Precocious Reading that so many bright children seem to do ...

:001_smile:

I'm sorry I was so unclear ... I meant "conservative" as in prudent, careful, sober and cautious; the least risky course of action, and very very desirable in dealing with a child's health and hearing particularly. Thank you for catching my unfortunate phrasing, and especially for encouraging the OP to be sure the little one is hearing well!

It's not really online, but is downloadable -- I use YNAB and like it. I don't use it exactly as one is "supposed" to so I guess I'm an eclectic YNAB-er :)

Thank you for the suggestion, it honestly hadn't occurred to me to start with Year 1.

well, color me chagrined. I hadn't realized that MEP is _free_, and comes in easily parsed chunks ... I can just print out bits here and there and place Button that way. :blushing: FYI, the first page of 3a had a pictorial version of x+y+z=100 x+y-z= 60 x-y+z= 40 x-y-z = 0 and I'm sure Button's not ready for that. So my working plan is to start with 2a and zoom along. It looks like fun.

... this is for Button (not the baby! :)). We continue to have a Very Emotional Relationship with Math-U-See, which has served Button well with its systematic, mastery method and clean pages but has its little oddities, and to my mind some glaring gaps (mental math being one). Most recently, I thought we'd start Epsilon (Fractions) to lighten things up a bit while we plow through the end of Delta (Multiple-Digit Division). But the initial Fraction presentation is ... challenging. Maybe horrid. At any rate, on our second day Button flipped his worksheet over, looked at the top set of problems, and burst into tears! (you can be sure we've backed off Epsilon for a bit :). I think I'll start working with the material on our own, 'cause he pretty much has the concepts, but the way they were presented was crazy counter-intuitive and hard to read, one of the problems with accelerating in MUS). He hated Singapore when we tried it. I'm not sure if it was the actual presentation, or a problem with the placement; I accidentally placed him too low. So I'm looking at MEP (and maybe giving Singapore another try, too). I think Button would place in Singapore 3A. He has complete (multiple-digit, with regrouping) addition, subtraction, multiplication and we're working on long division at the moment. He understands fractions and negative numbers but hasn't done much with them. Any ideas for MEP placement? I tend to be "conservative" and would place him at the second grade level, but after the problem with our Singapore venture being too easy thought the third grade would be better. Whatever we do, we'll probably move along in MUS for a while as well; I'm just thinking a parallel program would be nice... :bigear::bigear::bigear: and thanks!

... not if you are truly non-denominational. Does history start with a moment of creation 14 billion years ago, or a moment of creation several thousand years ago? Even post-Jesus history is hard to do non-denominationally because the Protestants and Catholics have rather different views. I do not know of a specifically Christian history program that satisfies all camps on this; maybe someone else does?

We do, because Button loves it and also because (due to a very strong and idiosyncratic personality ;)) he's working below his abilities in "language arts" generally. We also do 2 days of WWE at a time -- one reading/narration session, one copywork later -- and Button has been doing the shorter copywork; he would be fine with the longer sentences now, but he does enough other writing that I'm keeping it short. We're nearly done with WWE1, though, and looking ahead at WWE2 I don't think we should move so quickly through it. I think I'll pace us so that we're covering 1.5 weeks of WWE time for each actual week and see how that goes ... Button is quite accelerated, and my main focus this year is on math and language, which suits our situation for many reasons. I am also explicitly trying to accelerate his writing and expression skills, so that in middle and high school his ability to produce more closely matches his comprehension level than is usual: one problem with transcripts for accelerated children is that their comprehension may be college-level, but they can't write that level of essay. I don't expect Button's output abilities to match his comprehension abilities, but I'm trying to narrow the gap as much as is comfortable for him. so that's what we're doing for this child!

A microscope sounds like a good bet: be sure you get one that's usable for a little child (particularly, you will not want an esp. cheap one b/c they are so very hard to focus). You particularly want one with some smaller magnification values. 100x is less cool than you'd think; 5x, 10x, and 20x, and 40x seem good to me but others prob. have more experience with home microscopes. Here's a link to one at home science tools; if the grandparent's budget is extremely generous, or if you want to, and can, boost the money available yourself, consider a teaching microscope like this one that allows you both to look at the image, or maybe a stereo microscope (that lets a person look with both eyes). if you get a microscope for her, try to round it out with slides and slide mounting materials. Here's HST's microscopic life kit; they have lots of others, and some microscope starting materials that are fairly inexpensive. -- as I write this, HST is having a big sale; so I apologize if the prices seem exorbitant at a future date ... Also, the Young Scientist Kits are loved by all who try them!

... have you tried them yet? Button's having lots of fun with the free Timez Attack, and I just upgraded it for him; but he detested the addition/subtraction. Maybe he must messed the pre-test up, though ...

We are ... though I suppose it might be more of just an ongoing renewal process (I figure renewal sounds positive; "fixing", not as much ;)) I think we're dropping GWG and will pick up KISS grammar next year for 2nd. Apologia Astronomy didn't pan out, 'cause we're not Christian and Button reads over my shoulder and doesn't like all the bits I skip. We may do the experiments, though. For the shortest term we're doing living books and science videos, and I may add in Montessori science. I haven't found a history that feels thorough and good to me. But we do like Eggleston's Great Americans for Little Americans, so we will prob. stick with that. Button detests AAS, no matter what I do with it, so I'm switching to Wheeler's. We're working through some Ed Emberley books for art. I'm adding the recorder as our first instrument. We're happy with WWE and Getty-Dubay italics. I just posted RE switching our content to CM, which seems best to me; I'm leaning toward Higher Up Further In. -- wheee, this homeschooling is quite a ride!

... I've incorporated bits of AO and some other Charlotte Mason sources, and would like to switch our content over to be dominantly Charlotte Mason. We won't be rigorously CM, b/c I'm teaching skills incl. spelling and math in a non-CM manner, but the content will shift and we'll add handicrafts, art and picture study, and mama reading more CM material for prep. (at least, that's my grand vision -- don't laugh too hard at me ;)) I think I'd prefer the approach of Higher Up Further In (aka charlottemasonhelp.com, or Lindafay's curriculum) over Ambleside Online, and know many on this board do too, but thought I'd ask if anyone strongly prefers Ambleside Online for Year 1, and if so, why? also: any other thoughts for a person shifting gears. All advice welcomed! ETA: or if you use any other of the available CM schedules -- Milestones, Mater Amabilis, Simply Charlotte Mason ... I know these will divide somewhat along lines of religious affiliation. For those who don't know, Ambleside Online and Simply Charlotte Mason are Protestant; Milestones, the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormon), and Mater Amabilis, Catholic. I've found Lindafay's take on art and composer study to be worth looking at; esp. she starts year 1 with an introduction to orchestral music and other forms, rather than specific composers. Her ideas for teaching music practice are also sensible and do-able. I just really enjoy the Milestones page, and there is a lot of supplemental info. and reflection on working with tinies around and managing a family -- eps. a large one! Mater Amabilis starts a science program around 2nd grade, I think, and it looks very interesting, intuitive, and also rigorous. -- we are not affiliated with a religion, and are teaching Old Earth science and Evolution, so many resources we will modify a bit. Of the above sites only Mater Amabilis assumes an Old Earth and evolution.

This is not exactly on-topic for the OP, I think, but I have to say I've enjoyed some of the manuals available at MontessoriRd. We are still using the geography for ages 3-6 with Button. I think the science and social science manuals can be very useful, and easily adapted to home instruction, and I've just loved using them. Two purchases that didn't pan out so well: the biology manual for 9-12 (not really lessons, mainly lots of info on organisms -- maybe Button will love working through it when he's that age?) and the infant pedagogy manuals, which did not seem straightforward to apply to the home. Here's another source of manuals, different and more expensive, which I've not tried myself; and I've thought about incorporating these Montessori curricula plans when Bot-bot's older. -- it took me a while to find manuals that were available to, and helpful for, a homeschooling mama! If you ever want something systematic, you might like them. FWIW: I completely understand that the Montessori materials are not the method, but the method didn't work for Button; and the materials have adapted themselves very well to my classical aims ;)

... it seems conservative to check this out ... Button learned his letters around this time, but not their sounds, and he did not speak at all until 2+. We had some art blocks with letters on them and he insisted on being taught their names; then we'd ask him to point to specific ones, and he could. So I guess I'm weighing in on the keep-at-it-if-it's-fun trend! best of luck. It's a demanding but sweet age.

... I can't complain at all; he does take the little ones on Saturday, 'cept when he's traveling. He NEVER takes them out of town though -- that sounds so decadent! :lol::lol::lol: I love this! it just made me happy ... ... a good point. will consider it ...

... I've been following everybody's responses to my OP, but only just now found a moment to reply ... THANK YOU so much for this conversation. It's really helped center me on what my goals are for my family, and also clarified the issues in my mind so I was able to have a much more productive conversation with DH. It turns out that his main concern was neither for Button nor Bot-bot, but for me, since he sees me only having less time as the baby's nap shortens and I am pretty busy as is. Partly he's concerned because I'm such an introvert and benefit from a little space, and also I think he'd like me to have more energy to follow his career and help a bit more with his work (he's so appreciative of any help I give, so there's not pressure, but he seems to value my input :)). Also, my in-laws live right upstairs, and his mother will Not Be Happy about Bob-bot staying home through preschool. She's only just getting used to Button's homeschooling ... DH suggested that I actively enrich Bot-bot's language & math skills so that my MIL will think he's "too advanced" for preschool :lol:. No worries though: there will be no academic pressure on toddlers around here! So, since I'd miss Bot-bot; hate having to work around the preschool schedule; and don't think Bot-bot will especially benefit from preschool over being home with us, I feel good passing the waiting list by. :):):)

.... DH thinks Bot-bot would benefit from preschool when he's 2 1/2 or 3, and that my older son Button would strongly benefit from some more-focused time, esp. 'cause he's accelerated; he'd be in 2nd or 3rd grade at that time. But I don't want to send my baby away! ;) he's so much fun. Button was in preschool b/c I worked (was in grad school) when he was that age; he went to a very gentle Montessori school 3 mornings a week. So the idea would be to get Bot-bot on the waiting list now ... Button is moving through his school at a very satisfactory rate; though it is true I'd love to have more time to read aloud with him, and hit history, science, and living math & art books more deeply. I'm not worried about losing ground on his basics -- writing, math, reading -- but Bob-bot just hit 18 mos with a vengeance, and is an energetic little fellow; we are not able to do much depth on our "subjects". Button would really enjoy having more time to work together on reading and on projects. Currently our schedule is this: block 1: independent work after breakfast. Button does some handwriting, math facts, 1 or 2 math review problems. Then a break of some sort. block 2: Writing With Ease; grammar; spelling; often some math instruction/problems (newish math, but not anything too hard to do with baby underfoot) during snacks/lunch: Bible story, poems, memory work review (there isn't much memory work yet, largely math/science related) block 3: as baby goes down, copywork and maybe math facts. When baby naps, we do our reading aloud; any math requiring more intensive teaching; and ideally a topic, science or history usually. before bed: read 30 min. We should be able to sustain this, b/c baby will have quiet time even if he drops his nap; but it might put me without any break from the children during the afternoon (right now we work for 1 hour, then Button has quiet time for the second hour of baby's nap). any thoughts? I don't suppose putting the baby on the waiting list will cause any harm, but I don't like the idea ... even though the little one is about as well-suited, temperamentally, to preschool as a child could be so I am sure it would be fine. Do you think it would make a big difference to Button's educational experience? Is that the most important element here (in y'all's humble opinion :))? thanks in advance ...

:bigear: I'm trying to get us going musically here, too ...

.... this is a marvelous thread! I accidentally had DHs gift (a bunch of CDs) shipped to my best friend's three-year-old across the country, and at the last minute naturally, so there's nothing under the tree from me ... but I suppose we can guarantee a happy hubby regardless ;) thanks!

:iagree: that Beethoven's Wig CDs are marvelous. RE Artistic Pursuits: we got Book One, and found it uninspiring. Other threads often suggest starting with Book Two (and I wish I'd read them before ordering!)