This is really long, but I hope it is some help to you. My daughter is 7. We work with only a few new facts at a time. We started with all the facts that add up to 3, then 4, then 5, etc. She learns subtraction at the same time. I do not move her along until she is able to answer an oral drill quickly. I quiz her out loud on both addition and subtraction and I make sure I do not ask her facts in order. I want to make sure she has mastered them. I will also quiz the problem facts over and over to help her learn them. We start new facts with manipulatives and gradually move to worksheets and oral drill. Our manipulatives are sometimes goldfish or m&ms to spice things up a bit. I have a chart posted with all the addition and subtraction facts I want her to learn. Whenever she can consistently and quickly answer my oral drills we put a star on the chart near that fact and celebrate.:hurray: My chart is divided into 4 sections. When she reaches the end of a section she gets a reward which is usually a trip to Borders with mom. Every morning I have her doing online drill from the Saxon or Math-u See websites. She likes these because they are like a game to her. You can set the drill to target specific problems so that your child is working on mostly the facts you have been teaching. It takes her all of 5 minutes, but it provides a good reinforcement while I am getting things ready for the day. Before her daily math lesson she uses Mathshark, which is something like Flashmaster. She is currently working on adding and subtracting 2 and 3. I set the drill so that she is asked the facts out of order. Our daily lesson consists of worksheets from a website that is no longer online mixed with worksheets I have made myself that are tailored to her weaknesses. Previously mastered facts are also included in worksheets periodically. There are many online sites where you can print worksheets. I prefer to make my own because I can specifically target weak areas based on the oral drill I've done. I also spice them up with pictures that interest her. Horses work really well! I sometimes have her do some timed tests on facts she has just about mastered. The tests I use are short and I don't make it a high pressure situation. With my son I would have had to use a different approach to timed tests because he would have freaked out. For my Math phobic child I would highlight one row (about 5 facts) of problems and ask how long he thought it would take him to finish them. He would say something ridiculous like "a half hour". Then I would challenge him to complete them. Of course he would finish in minutes. This served the purpose of giving him a realistic idea of how quickly he could finish the page. My daughter is also working her way through Two Plus Two is Not Five: Easy Methods to Learn Addition and Subtraction, by Susan Greenwald. This is a reproducible book. I have grown tired of making copies, but recently discovered that my local copy store will copy up to 30 percent of the book at a time. I may end up having the rest of the units copied for me. I wish I had used this with my son. It seems to help them remember without making them completely rely on tricks. Every 2-3 days I quiz her orally to see how well she knows new facts and also to see if she is retaining previously mastered facts. This is when she can earn stars for the chart, or possibly move into a new section. I often make notes on the chart so I know which ones she had trouble with. That is how I know which facts to include in my worksheets. Every now and then for variety I mix in a lesson about time, money or measurement or some other chapter from our Bob Jones 2nd grade Math. But addition and subtraction drill is the core of her math for this year. We will continue making our way through the BJU Math 2 lessons after I see that she has mastered her facts. My son was rushed through this stage of learning and operated with a "fact handicap" for years which really frustrated and slowed him down as he tried learning more advanced math. Her actual lessons do not take long, but the copying and prep are time consuming. I've tried many drill programs and have found that this method works best for us. I think it will pay off in later years. Forgive me for going on and on. If you are interested in seeing some of the worksheets I designed feel free to e mail me. Shannon

What a painless (for the parent anyway) way to review. I'm sorry I signed up already. I wish I had thought of waiting till summer! :banghead: Oh well. It's not the first time I got excited and rushed into something...and probably not the last! Shannon

I'm relatively new to posting here, but thought I would share this info in case anyone else is considering ALEKS. I had been considering using it for extra practice and couldn't make up my mind. Fortunately I found this in a post from another message board. We signed up today. This is much better than the 2 day trial I saw on the ALEKs website. The trial is free for multiple children, although you do need to register each child individually. www.aleks.com/webform/c45 Shannon

thanks for organizing this, Christie. My daughter reminded me to sign up. She was so excited about the idea. I'm glad she reminded me before your cut-off time! Shannon

if he went to public school. He is an advanced reader. We find it a perfect fit. I wouldn't call it light exactly, but maybe that is because we read and discuss many of our own book choices, and we do many other writing assignments. The units are well designed and easy to understand. If you think it is light you can always add assignments. As a former English teacher I find this program to be a perfect entry into middle school literature study and writing. It does a good job of teaching without turning off the student. Also, the subject matter is not so serious that you are putting the weight of the world on young shoulders. This is something to watch for if you have a child who is working ahead of grade level in language arts. There is plenty of time for heavy intense study. We are in no rush. One of the things I like about it is that it isn't overkill with assignments. If you have a child who learns easily it can drive them crazy to keep rehashing the same information in similar assignments. (It can drive the parent crazy too!) We like it because it gives us a structured program, but still leaves us plenty of time for exploring on our own. And...I don't have that guilty feeling that we didn't do all the assignments. Check the samples and see if you think it would be a fit for you.

I found this code on retailmenot.com 251485FF Discount:10% off purchase of $35 or more, expires 4/22/08; found in Focus on the Family magazine; enter promo code on customer login screen You have to be sure to put the code in on the login screen. Hope this helps.

but I had to respond to your post. We have been dealing with a similar situation for several years! Ours involved actual agressive physical contact, lying, and an unwillingness to accept authority (on the part of one particular child who repeated singled out my son). We addressed the situation repeatedly with the parents and with leaders, but we finally had to leave the co-op. I agree with the other posts "Why subject yourself to that kind of environment if there isn't a need to endure it?" "As an adult, you wouldn't continue to participate in a group that made you feel like your son felt when he got home, would you?" I finally came to this conclusion after the problems continued and the parents did not want to address the situation. I could have saved myself (and my son) a lot of heartache if I had come to this conclusion earlier. I try to remain friendly with the parents, but we stay out of the co-op. I had many ideas for classes and co-ops I wanted to teach, but I am running them as clubs (just like the other poster) so I can control the behavior issues myself. I just wanted you to know you are not alone, and co-ops are not always the best option for everyone. Stick with the environments that allow your son to flourish. I would be interested to know if anyone else has had negative experiences with co-ops. It is not something you see discussed often. This board has a lot of great posts! I'm so glad I discovered it.