Math: Rightstart C Grammar: Rod and Staff 3 and FFL2 (?) Literature: not sure yet Spelling: Rod and Staff 3 Science: Considering God's Creation History: MOH Geography: not sure yet Russian Grammar: grade 3 book Russian Literature: grade 3 book Writing throughout Bible: Telling God's Story

This is the azbuka (азбука) that I used with two kids already and am very happy: http://www.vasha-kniga.com/productdetail.asp?productid=555900

At that age, I would suggest the букварь or азбука for learning to read. My kids speak Russian as their first language and I teach them reading using an азбука. Even though they are geared for 4-5-6 years old like pp said, the way they work is by introducing a few letters and then form words with those letters. The words get more and more complex as the child learns more letters. They don't make you learn the whole alphabet at once and try to read all the words. They won't have the child read a word with a letter they haven't learned yet. Also, these aren't "baby words". By the end of the book, the child should be able to read a story that is a page and a half long. For learning how to write, I have found this: http://www.nekin.info/e24.htm If you scroll a little, you will see several pdf downloads. I use the pages provided everyday for writing, and my 5 year old is learning the letters now. I will say that if you are not going to do grammar lessons, you will need to find people that will speak to your son in Russian. Russian is very different to speak than English, as in forming correct sentences. I hope I was able to help a little. :)

We are in Canada, but our first language is Russian. My kids all speak Russian. How old are your kids? We could do a pen-pal thing. I would LOVE for my oldest to write more. You can pm me. :)

I am looking at this for my 3rd grader next year. Would I absolutely need the TM with either book 1 or 2? TIA!

Is this really true? :drool: 'Cuz if it is, I'm getting them like.... tonight!! We go through crayons like toilet paper........... Off to search for these! OP: My almost 4 year old just recently stopped scribbling on her work pages. I let her scribble, but pointed out how much nicer the (coloring) page would look if it wasn't all scribbled on, in BLACK! :laugh:

Another vote for OPGTR. Rod and Staff for grammar and I use FLL for review (grammar) and copywork/narration/dictation.

Is she looking to have a all-in-one curriculum or one she puts together with various books? I am a non-native speaker, and so are my kids even though they have all been born here in Canada. The OPGTR is really great for us! Rod and Staff is what we have for grammar and a little bit of FLL to expand or do more written practice. Also, R&S for spelling. I find R&S works very well for my child, who doesn't speak English at home. Subjects like history and science we are still waiting on only because we are working on building vocabulary to where I won't be reading and translating. this might not be the case for her though. Most non-native speakers *I* know use an "all-in-one" curriculum just because it is easier.

My sister Sofiya. Sofiya is my sister. She was really scared to walk. But on January first she realized that it is fun to walk. So now she is walking!! Started the year with: Two flamingos Those flamingos went to the river to eat some shrimp. But the shrimps were not there. But then they had to go to the ocean. This is her time of the day to just write about whatever she wants. I do not correct these, I want it to be her "free" writing time. I use this mostly to improve her creative thinking rather than writing. She does ask how to spell different words though. I see a lot of areas for improvement still, but I do see some progress between the two entries. I haven't used any writing program with her yet and I'm kinda on the fence about it as language arts are her strong point. What do you ladies think? Should I go with a writing curriculum to help her improve? Is she doing fine? If I should use something, what would you recommend?

I know it's not creative writing, but I just wanted to brag a little bit. ;) I am going to copy word for word 1. in 2. pin 3. sin 4. spin We are all begining to be good spellrs. I just got the sequential spelling books last week, and wanted to see how she would do. She got them right the very first try, no erasingI think she's a natural speller like me. We are ESL and don't speak English in the home, so she's only been exposed to the words in books. Thanks for looking. Just felt like gloating.... :) Edited: to add she'd 6.5 and finishing 1st grade.

I also want to say just go for it. Things to look for: WANTING to do it. My 4.5 year old begs to do math. I'm going slowly with her right now, but the main thing I look for is the desire at that age.

We take a good long time, but my kids are young: 6.5, 4.5 and 3. The reason we take a while is because we have at least 3 books going at the same time. One fun, one challenging and one Bible based. I like it this way as the kids (and I) get a choice each night (we read at bed time) and they aren't worn out with any one book. I also like how it takes a little more concentration on their part to remember what we read the previous time in a given book.

Those look great! I haven't heard of them before. Thanks for the link!

Interesting! I haven't heard of Carson-Delosa or strait cursive for lefties. Makes sense though! I also find it very interesting that you don't teach uppercase cursive. Can you share why? Is that both for lefties and righties?

I have a DD who is left handed. She LOVES writing and drawing and everything to do with pencils. I want to gently start her off writing letters because she begs daily to have "writing class time". I need to start her in cursive though because my girls are learning another language where it is only written in cursive, and my oldest keeps getting confused with one being manuscript and the other cursive. So, in hopes of avoiding that mistake again I want to start with cursive first. I am right handed. DD is a lefty. I would LOVE to get something that will teach a lefty how to write properly, since I am a little clueless. Anything out there K level in cursive or a gentle grade 1? Thanks Kate

Can somebody who has this pm me so I can ask some specific questions about the program's philosophy/ world view, please? Thank you Kate

I have a leftie too, and I'm a righty (is that even a word?? :001_huh: ) I'm not sure what to do myself, but I'm listening because she is VERY much into writing! Is there a different way they form letters? I was planning on doing cursive first too. Lefties, please share how you learned best! BTDT moms, how have you taught lefthanders? :bigear:

Thanlk you. I will look at all of these suggestions! Any more?

I will preface this by saying that I have searched this forum for past threads and came up with nothing. I am not a math OR science person. I can't stand bugs or slimy things, I am not naturally interested in how or why things work. But I want my kids to learn about all sorts of different and interesting things. I have a 1st grader and we aren't doing anything science at all unless planting a garden is considered science. LOL I am looking forward to next year. I would love to find a curriculum that would introduce us to lots of different science topics. I just think my kids would get bored to tears if we did just animals or just the body or just astronomy for a full year. They are a little ADHD at times. LOL. Maybe what I am thinking of is (shorter) unit studies? I would like to cover several topics during the year and I absolutely don't mind interest lead rabbit trails. I would like it to be somewhat easy on the planning out part, but I don't mind gathering books and what not from the library. I would LOVE for it to have a Christian (Young Earth) bias. Please don't tell me that I am just dreaming and no such thing exists! LOL! I would plan it all out myself, but I work almost full time from home, homeschool, and right now I have 4 kids 6 y/o and younger. I don't think I would do a good job anyway. LOL I think I would tend to stay away from subjects that *I* find gross, but if it was part of the curriculum I would do it just because it's there and also because my kids will still find out that I skipped it and make me go back and do it! rolf! So any suggestions for what's out there? Edited because I am having trouble spelling tonight.

I too switched from quantity to quality. She is doing two languages for writing so she spends a good amount of time with a pensil. Sentence wise, I think she does very little, but she is learning to write the cursive letters of a different language in addition to 2 Zaner-Bloser pages, so I'm cutting her some slack. Once she learns both of the alphabets she will be writing more. Before we jumped into learning Russian cursive, she was able to copy a 6-8 stanza poem easy.

I don't think that a handwriting curriculum is going to correct his grip. Just do what you are doing and correct, correct, correct. I have a lefty that is only 4.5 and I started correcting her as soon as she showed interest in writing letters(around 3.5). If she was/is drawing I don't say anything, but when she writes I remind her to hold the pensil correctly. Now, she holds it just fine and even shows off a little to her younger (3 year old) sister! LOL

Thank you ErinD! I'll look at those too.

I am embarrassed to say that I totally forgot about the search feature. oops! I'll go try that.

I wasnt able to find anything at The Learning House... hmmm maybee didn't look hard enough. Anyone else? Are there no Canadian homeschoolers here? Is there a different forum for Canadians?

Is anyone on here from Canada? Is there a curriculum out there for Canadian history? Any book lists? TIA. Kate