:iagree: Really take all of the above to heart! I tried Abeka on the advice of a PK teacher and ditched it. Lots of busy work, lots of writing that is too hard for little fingers. I LOVE MFW K for a 4 year old. You can take it slow and drag it out to a year and a half or two years if you want and he will learn a lot. You can keep him on the same grade level with the school kids without using the same programs.

:) Thank you for your experience and clarification! I will keep this in mind. :D

Okay, I delved into a few pages and see the third year samples are being worked on! yay! I want to add to SWB Thank You for writing this program. I was not happy with any others out there, and the task of doing it myself without direction seemed daunting and time consuming. This was exactly what I was looking for.

I am not sure that this merged thread is working well. I mean no disrespect, but I see several questions with no responses and most of us don't want to read through 19 pages of posts.

:bigear:

:smilielol5:

:iagree:

Thanks for the support ladies. :rant: School takes us only 45-70 minutes and we barely fit it in with a toddler and I am just no good at housework and organization. The kids are fighting :boxing_smiley:with eachother all the time, Jake is teething, I am tired! We are behind in first grade work because of a new baby....I just needed something to prop me up! :grouphug:

:iagree: I don't understand what you mean here. :confused: I think that if one skips phonics because the child is already reading, that would be choosing the short term goal. As they are expected to read at a higher level it could cause problems in the long term. What are your thoughts? :bigear: Tink, it seems AAS will have you covered!:001_smile:

This isn't working out as peachy as I had hoped. 5 year old is way too used to being spoiled. She was my total baby until he was born. I am talking co-sleeping, hairsmelling, bouncing in my lap baby. The transition from baby to K is hard enough, then I had PPD. One in 1st grade while the other is starting the logic stage seems scary too. Good experiences needed.:grouphug:

That's easy. Whichever family members you want to spend the most time with. But if you really want to retire away from family in TX, test it out now.

Well, you never can be too careful when it comes to phonics IMO. My aunt learned phonics from her DH because she couldn't sound out unfamiliar words after learning to read by sight. My DD is reading everything, including this LOL and I am making her finish OPG and ETC to be safe.

I was wondering this too. As it stands now, I can only find samples for 1. A sample from the third grade program would help me choose between the two. I do know that writing tales includes grammar and a little bit of creativity, and my guess is that WWE has neither in 3&4.

Thanks. I am going to see if my library has some of this. I spent all my first grade money already, and now I am looking at WWE (which is pretty pricey) too!

Thank you ladies for your expert help. The recorder for age 7 and a half is what I will aim for, I think. Sign language will start as soon as I have the money, because she loves it.

DD has chosen the flute as her instrument of choice, since she is only 5 I am thinking the recorder would be a better fit (and easier for mom). I know nothing about the recorder, the piano is more to my taste. Any information you can give me would be great. I particularly want to know it would not be a waste of time. I have no idea how to add it in, as I am already stressing over adding sign language and even grammar LOL. Thanks!

These are great! I love the category breakdowns!

What if DD needs a more hands on approach, or for a child who can't seem to sit and listen, yet does not learn visually either? Thanks for any suggestions.

:iagree: In the spirit of full disclosure: I would not use a full SL core History. It is not as gentle as CM; they schedule too many books in quantity, the quality isn't always CM standards, and the schedule rushes through them too quickly. I also think Geography and History both is a bit much, depending on how you plan to schedule it. I am using OPGTR and ETC together as well, but not starting spelling, and I am thinking I will hold off on Language Lessons and concentrate on Handwriting alone for at least the first half of first grade. But WWE looks great and I am chomping at the bit to start it, so we will see. I am choosing WWE instead of LLVY or PLL, adding my own picture study in. I must seem to waffle so much on these boards. LOL Looks like your first grader will be learning a lot!

Karen, this might seem simple to you, but I really needed this direction! :confused: I am printing it out. Thank you!

I finally got around to looking at Writing with Ease. Wow! I am ditching plans for any other language lesson books, but I really still want to include picture study in our lineup. Any suggestions?

That is a great quote! I want it for my sig! LOL

It seems to me you might be looking for very basic help here. Please forgive me if I am wrong!....You need to choose one book as a spine and have a schedule for it, then after that is all scheduled out with enough room for additions, look through your other books and materials for subjects that match up, then add those pages to your schedule. Have you seen a spreadsheet schedule for a program that uses multiple books?

I wouldn't be able to do that much...but if your kids cooperate it looks great.

Lori, I could use suggestions for grammar stage earth science. Weren't you a gem to offer ;)(of course, it wasn't to me, but I will just presume to ask):001_unsure: