That's me ;) but at least it's not accidental. Or maybe that's even worse ... at any rate, the Montessori pedagogical methods were what simply did not work well with Button. Bot-bot is more mellow tempered and it would probably be fine. But my oldest was so particular, perfectionistic and had such strong ideas that he would never (really, truly never) go through a Montessori lesson as given. He would not tolerate a presentation of materials, and he would not voluntarily select a project and work through it on his own, and he also used nearly everything for purposes other than the ones they were designed for. I read Montessori's original work, the modern adaptations, tried Montessori for the Earth's ideas, and did my best to apply concepts from the Michael Olaf articles, but it didn't work well. However, incorporating language and math materials to his learning style worked very well (not all materials worked, the movable alphabet being a notable no-go for language learning but he loved playing with the letters) and using the MontessoriRD geography manual with some other materials & sources has been invaluable. I've been surprised that more parents here, who are often looking for rigorous scientific lessons, do not use Montessori methods for biology, physics, and chemistry. Having seen this thread I imagine that it is because the Montessori pedagogical methods have goals and implementations different to the classical method; but for a systematic, thorough, engaging and accurate resource the Montessori materials are hard to beat. It has taken me some experimenting but it's working well now. So I would just say that while the materials are NOT the method, that can be a good thing for some of us :001_smile: True Montessori methods, I agree, are ill-suited to the home, but I know that many homeschoolers have gently adapted them and are quite happy with the results. -- this seems like a very fruitful thread!

thanks so much!!!

:) we're due to start soon, when I have my magnetic board; I may end up at Amazon, or experimenting with magnetic paint ...

that's just what I was wondering ... how do you do it in HST, then? does bumping muck things up so you have to reschedule it all, or maybe you just enter the work as done when you do it but the assignment stays on its original date? and thanks for the help!

My HST trial expired while I was Otherwise Occupied :blush: ... what I actually do is next-item-up type homeschooling for several subjects. As in, if we miss a day, the next day we just pick up Geography where we left off. Is that a thing one can do in HST? ... I know the Simply Charlotte Mason planner does this, but I am hoping to use a different planner for other reasons ...

... apparently gluing a specimen doesn't allow for the expansion & contraction of the plant relative to the page, which will happen as temp. and humidity change, or for later removal of the specimen a la this web page. who knew??? well, probably lots of folks, but not me.

:iagree: these are a great place to start if you have preschoolers. None of those resources ended up being usable for us, and I was grateful to find the more pedagogical materials ...

I've found Montessori materials well-suited to our Geography, and plan to use Montessori sources for botany/zoology this year. You can get actual manuals from montessorird, if you have any questions just ring them: they are kind and helpful. I've been happier with their manuals than their cards/booklets, but everything is fine. I adapt the suggestions as needed ... I've recently found this Montessori Primary Guide site which also has info. useful for actually instructing. Sorry this post is non-optimal, due to fussy sick toddler. Short story: there are tons of montessori-style cards, etc. online for teaching various subjects, either free or inexpensive if you print them and, probably, laminate them. A Google search for discount montessori will turn up suppliers for puzzles, etc.; I'd run a company by the Hive before ordering from them. I've found the hardest stuff to get my hands on is how to actually teach a subject to my little one, beginning to end, which is why I've been so happy to have access to the manuals. good luck!

DS6 watched Visual Latin's first (free) download lecture and he was sold ... we aren't using the program at the moment b/c it assumes/teaches a young earth theology in lecture 2, which is counter to what I'm teaching & I don't want to confuse him, but the first lecture did a nice sales job for Latin language ...

She's old enough that you can give her word problems to check her understanding, esp. if you use the name of people she knows and examples of objects she's familiar with. If she knows that having one cookie and receiving two more means three cookies altogether, I'd say she's far enough along to start reviewing/practicing her facts in the way that seems right to you.

Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh; most libraries should have it, too.

Well, I'll have to try Basher again. I didn't like the Biology one for some reason ... but I guess it isn't _all_ about me ... :D Keeping Clean sounds a lovely hit for our house, hoping the library has it ...

:001_smile: So glad to hear this -- ours is in the mail!

-- any that you can recommend, or warn against? If I don't do this we may not get much Literary Reading done this fall :blushing:

I love to see what other folks are doing; though there's an elegance to the streamlined signatures, and I keep thinking about paring mine down. The quote is one I came across while pregnant and homeschooling K with Button, and it seemed to express what I think is critical about education whether we keep hsing or not. Esp. in context, standing firm is expressing a willingness to do the right but hard thing, and to be willing to change one's behavior if it is harmful ...

thanks. That's encouraging; and doing the book myself would help me feel like a Good Mother :)

:iagree:That's sort of what I was trying to say. If you are interested in teaching specific artists, it prevents study of ancient & non-Western works that can perfectly well be studied rigorously. On the other hand, being familiar with the Ambleside Online choices gives a much better art and music background than most children have, certainly a very rich artistic education. confession: am also an art history major ...

The hardest for me has been music from the ancients periods, so I thought I'd share my preliminary conclusions. prehistory: ethnomusicology comes in handy here; there are recordings from music in traditional societies that are still [somewhat] extant, esp. from Africa. There are also a wide variety of recordings of Celtic music, some on traditional instruments, and a few of traditional European folk musics. Ancient Western civilizations: these look neat Egypt and Sumeria Greece Rome For ancient Eastern music (esp. for a family without recent Eastern roots/immigration), I figure the main thing is to get the unusual tone systems into the little one's ears, and you can find for ex. Chinese traditional & folk music CDs easily on Amazon. I will say that "composer study" has struck me as a little modern-Western for a historical approach. The same thing with "artist study". Which is to say, the idea we have of individual authorship and it's importance is not ubiquitous. For the older periods especially, it may be more useful to group artistic works by school, era, sphere of use (personal vs. public art), etc. ... great thread! :bigear:

... we're going to be switching Button to italics in a week or so, starting very gently with Getty-Dubay A. My handwriting is NOT italic, but is quite legible. Ought I get the book for adults to learn italics? learn with DS? not fret about it? -- it's not like there's a lot of extra time 'round here ;) and I have a tendency to overschedule myself ...

I'm glad there are other Rhyme Bible fans! Emily, did you move straight to an adult translation or use another child's Bible at the next level? ... and I've never heard of Beast Academy; will check it out.

Well, I found some neat-o things lately and thought I'd share. Anybody else have happy discoveries? There are so many wonderful programs bouncing around the boards, but I am particularly listing the things I hadn't heard of or found elsewhere. xtra math is prob. the most boring, but I'd never heard of it 'till a recent search on the boards ... it's a math drill site for basic facts, the person who recc'd it has her kids work through it before hitting Khan Academy. Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans for the younger elem. set, and A First Book in American History for the slightly older, are what inspired me to try this thread. The author is Edward Eggleston, born in the 1830s; he was Methodist, anti-slavery, and President of the American Historical Association. The stories are slightly dated ("white people" and "Indians") and not as comprehensively inclusive as Howard Zinn but they are in lovely language, have a moral center, and I think will help build a love for the best in American History and in America's values. They are also delightful and interesting! Button _loves_ history now, and this should be good for both the religious and secular crowds. If you've had a hard time finding really good children's drawing instruction (Monart was not a good fit for what I wanted; think contour lines and a focus on underlying forms) you might like this article, and others like it can be reached from here. He's opinionated, which I hope you find refreshing and not alienating. :) The last one is prob. the most idiosyncratic, but here it is anyhow: The Rhyme Bible. I want to teach Bible stories but not as literal or even revealed truth (well, complicated caveats, but I'm trying to teach them from a cultural, moral and ethical perspective and not a personally religious one) but Button's super sensitive (hates conflict, murder for sure is out) and a bit resistant to the Bible stories I'd tried before. This is a nice way to get the basic storylines in his head and the complicated/morally ambiguous/violent parts are left out. Abraham, for ex., has a son in his old age and then we move on to a whole new story with no need to go over the unpleasant near-sacrifice of the child; we meet Adam and Eve but not Cain and Abel; you get the idea. It was recc'd on letteroftheweek.com's baby section; she uses it for early religious instruction, so like Eggleston I think it is a nice resource for all faiths (incl. secular humanism). hope this makes you smile! and is maybe useful to somebody!

Hip-hop :) but we started him at 5; I don't know when he'll figure out that it's mostly girls. Maybe not before that becomes an attractive feature! We did swimming lessons this summer. And I go for two hours outside play/day. We have a yard & good parks nearby, so it is relatively easy for us but it took so much effort to get into the habit, at first he didn't know what to do with himself outside. Button was miserable with soccer. -- I have thought about starting the Canadian Air Force 10x exercises with him, but haven't done it yet; and he likes Yoga for Kids ABC.

:iagree: that sounds great for your situation; the Family Math books (here's the one for younger children; we're doing this one now) worked much better for Button than Peggy Kaye's books, not sure why. I also like the Ambleside Online/Charlotte Mason focus on outdoor time; if you can, two hours of outside play a day has a lot going for it.

Kristen -- Is that SSL with the toddler? :bigear:

It does seem like there are different questions being asked. In the original post, I am imagining a correlation measured over a large population of children btw. age of beginning reading and reading level later. Obviously there must be SOME correlation between early reading and later success, if only because children with disorders related to reading will be less likely to read early and less likely to be extremely proficient at any given time (as a population, that is). I'd imagine that this little trend is washed out in the noise of a large sample, and other trends probably are too. This board is probably more likely to think of the odds that one has read early, given that one is gifted. That's very different ...