I haven't been around much. Lots of moving and we didn't have internet for close to half a year. Anyway, just wanted to come and update that ODD is doing fine learning cursive in Russian and regular printing in English. I'm thinking I will switch to D'nealian handwriting from Zaner Bloser. Main reason is that the issue we came accross was one language is writen very strait while the other is written with a slant, and it takes hew a while to wrap her brain around the change. Hopefully this will be helpful to some.

I was looking at that ""How much time does your 10 y.o. spend on each subject ?" thread, and got to wondering. For those that know exactly how much time is spent on each subject: How do you time each subject? By clock? Timer? Other? Is it necessary? What happens when the time runs out and not everything is done/comleted? We are in our first year HSing and I too sometimes use a timer to speed things up, or we would be writing 4 sentenses all day and get nothing else done. What do you do, and most importantly why or why not?

My ODD is in first grade. We are bilingual, but our mother tounge is Russian, and that is what we speak at home. She can read, but we are still going through OPGTR. She has just discovered that she can text her dad. Now she keeps asking me about the spelling of certain words, even small ones like where, soup, meal, etc. Her reading level is WAY above her comprehension level, because she is really good sounds out her words. Should we start with some kind of a spelling program or just wait til next year and work on building up her English vocabulary? (which is small right now) Would spelling be a good way to build the vocab? Should we just read more books from the library?

I was wondering the same thing. This is our first year as well. I am not doing too much, and I love getting things used. I know I have spent about $400 on our school books and math (Right Start) which was over half of that. I too am hoping to use most of the things for more than one child. We currently have one in 1st grade, one K and one 2.5 and one more due in Oct. so I am hoping to useat least RS for all of them. We are bilingual and are doing Russian as well. Reading, and writing. I bought books for that too.

Thank you. Yep, Russian is just like that too. NO ONE prints in Russian, which is why I want to start her off writing correctly right away. I doubt that she will write in cursive English once older- most likely italic like what I do. I guess I will do cursive in Russian and just Follow ZB for English writing.

I have a question to those that teach handwriting in two different languages. How do you sync them? We are doing Russian and English. DD can print (but still needs more practice) in Russian. Usually in grade 1 (in Russia) she would learn to write cursive. But she is behind in writing her letters in English, mostly because we focused more on Russian reading and writting last year. She knows her English letters, because she can read, but doesn't write them well at all. All the books I have been looking at to teach writing in Russian are either preK or K level if they are teaching print, which would just bore her. The others (grade 1) teach cursive. I have already bought Zaner-Bloser 1 (manuscript) to help her learn her English writing. Should I go ahead and teach one language cursive and the other print? Wait 'till she's in grade 2 to start cursive in both languages? WWYD?

Thank you for your input! $10 saved!

Are these neccessary? I don't mind getting them if they are. :bigear:

Thank goodness! I nearly choked on my tea when I saw the price. I read it, but I don't own the Well Trained Mind book, so I couldn't reference it. If almost no one gets the TM, why do they sell it.... and at that horrifying price!

I was originaly going to go with HWT, then looked at their cursive and didn't like it at all. I see many of you use ZB, but do you really buy the almost $100 TM with each grade? I would think that once I choose a program, I should stick with it instead of jumping around. I do like the way both teach print letters, but with cursive, it's ZB hands down for me. I don't know if I can bring myself to buy the TM every year.

ok, thank you. We were having a discussion with a few other moms and we couldn't come to a consensus. Good to know that they range quite a bit. I don't have a lot of them, just a few and my DD(6) can read them with some help and a little understanding (native language- Russian)

Just curious. What level or grade do you think those books are? Like Big Dog...Little Dog; One fish two fish, red fish, blue fish; etc. Or at least at what age were your kids able to read those (even if they needed a few corrections)?

Thank you for all the input. I have one more question: For a leftie, would it be better to buy just the K TM? Will that give me enough info to keep going with a leftie?

Thank you. It all makes sense now.:001_smile:

I was looking at some older posts about curriculum plans for the next year, and saw that some are doing FLL along with WWE and a handwriting curriculum on top of all that for grade 1. Am I understanding correctly that FLL teaches grammar and WWE teaches writing/handwriting? If so, why would the child need a separate handwriting curriculum? Maybe I'm just lost?:confused:

For the Kindergarten and first grade, is t absolutely necessary to get the teacher workbook along with the student book? I don't mind getting it, but I can't see that "I" would need too much instruction on teaching to write the kiddo the letters. Am I wrong? This will be first year of "formal" schooling for us, so I am clueless as far as what "I" would need for instruction.

This is so true for my middle DD!! She is so far the only lefty and has a hard time with scissors and the veggie peelers. Her favorite thing is to peel potatoes, but it is SO sad to watch her! I have no idea how I will be teaching her to write when the time comes.....

thank you for the clarification

So is STOW considered "secular"? Does it weave in any religion?

How does this book teach "the beginning" Does it go into creation? If it does, is it the literal 7 day creation or the 7 "ages" of creation. Can anyone tell me? TIA Kate

Thank you to those that replied. So do Sonlight, TOG, Winter Promise list their reading lists online for all to see? If not, where would I find any "book lists"?

Hi. Fairly new here and have a question. If I wanted to add "live books" to any history curriculum, how would I go about it? How do you do it? Sonlight has a book list (as far as I heard) so that searching process is out. Example: If I go to our library's web page and type in China in the search feature, it will show various results. How do you pick and choose which books you would like to get? MOST of the stuff is geared towards older kids, but what if I want to find books for my 4,5 or 6 year old? How would I know that the book is appropriate age level? Sorry if this is an easy question for most, but I am struggling with finding the answer to it. Also, our town's library is small but we are part of a bigger regional group of libraries so it is not always as easy as "just flip through the book and find out", if I will need to order the book from a different library first, KWIM?

I wanted to chime in and say that a program like that would be great for our family. We speak Russian at home full time. I read to the kids in Russian, they learn poems in Russian, etc. Right now my 4 year old is starting to read in Russian but still does not know the American alphabet; neither the letters nor the sounds. A program like that is something i am looking at to introduce the English language to her.

Thanks everyone! I did read TWTM and did like that approach. Then I come here and everyone talks about and raves about TOG. I think that program is pretty awesome, but EXPENSIVE! So that is where my question comes form. The Biblioplan and one other suggested here use Susan Bauer's book SOTW as the spine correct?

Thanks Tahara! I am new to researching curricula and have not come across that one yet. Anyone else have any suggestions?