DS1 loves to read and reads quickly. If I take a book for our curriculum (say "Trumpet of the Swans" or whatever) that's supposed to last a few weeks, he'll read it in a few hours. Goes with almost any book. He reads it that day and is done. In full disclosure, I was the same way. I remember in high school, we'd be assigned "Pride and Prejudice" or what not, and I'd read the whole book the first night. That lead to problems on some of the quizzes which would involve quotes from that night's assigned reading which I didn't remember...but other than that, I don't think it did me any harm. I still stay up way too late reading. :) BUT...should I try and slow DS down? He seems to be remembering the books and enjoying them. Isn't that enough?

When we started back this year, DS1 barely remembered any of his multiplication facts. At the end of last year, he could fill out up to 12x12 in a table in 5 minutes or so. The first week back, it took him over an hour. Now we're in our third week, and he's remembered most of his facts. He can do a table in 7-10 minutes. It might just be a bit of summer brain rot. :)

Try some of the Right Start B. It's fully scripted, which helps. There's not a lot of writing which might help as well. Another option to consider is that you don't really need a curriculum for 1st grade. You could do the Miquon Orange book. You could also just let her experiment. If she leaves the year knowing basic addition up to 10s, her doubles, and some basic subtraction, shapes, calendar stuff, she'll be fine. You can print worksheets off the web of things she struggles with.

My husband is Egyptian, so we started with Arabic. Arabic is weird in that nobody really speaks the standardized version...everybody has a dialect. Then the Qur'anic Arabic is kind of like Old English. DS1 can read Arabic (with vowel marks which usually only exist in the Qur'an)... and we're working on spoken Egyptian Arabic this year. We're also doing some Qur'anic Arabic, but minimal...5 words/week vocab. Probably my best foreign language is French, and my two eldest have been bugging me to let them learn French, so we might start that as soon as I can get together a curriculum. We have a new neighbor who is Algerian, and speaks fluent French (and Arabic)...so I'm going to see if she has any desire to earn some money with tutoring. My accent is OK for an American, but if they can learn from somebody with a better accent, then by all means, I'll do it. I took Latin in 6th grade, and it was one of the most useful things I ever did. I did horribly... but learned a lot. :) I hope to start it around 6th for my kids as well. We've done words here and there when they come up for vocab, but nothing formal yet. Will probably use Minimus when the time comes.

What about "The New Colossus" poem....it's written by an American woman poet, Emma Lazarus, and is on the Statue of Liberty. :) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Colossus Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. "Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" Edited to say NM...see you already have this. :)

"It's a very strange problem." Thank you for making me feel better. :)

Thanks mom2bee. :)

Here is a list of numbers. Circle the multiples of 5. Two of the multiples of 5 are common multiples of 5 and X. 4 5 7 10 15 24 25 27 35 42 45 49 What is X? The answer is (according to the teacher's manual) 3 or 15. What is their thought process? I can work back and see it, but I'm not sure how to help my son do it. We can list all the multiples of 5. (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45) But then how do we figure out which are for X?

What about featuring some women? I'm sure there's some stuff out there by Eleanor Roosevelt, some of the suffragettes, etc. Here are some quotes: http://www.nwhm.org/education-resources/history/quotes

We started OM 4th grade this year and are just now in our third week. (FL...starts way too early IMHO. :)) The first few assignments are about exploring your native landscape, and then you make a model of that landscape using real plants, sand, etc. Well, it's alternated between being way too hot to being super rainy, so I put that on hold. I've done the Language Arts bits, and actually went back to the OM 3rd grade curriculum I had to do some OT work for now until it's a bit cooler. We've been working a lot on cursive writing too. DS was supposed to read "Stuart Little", but I misread it and he read "Trumpet of the Swans." Finished it last week and now it's like pulling teeth to get him to write a book report. I decided to take a page out of Brave Writer and just had him narrate stuff back to me about the story. I then had him write a letter to Sam (main character in the book). Grammar has been way lay backed. Reviewing what is a noun, what is a verb. This week we're on adverbs and adjectives. For Math, we're doing Math-in-Focus 4th grade. Should finish chapter 2 this week. Had to do a bunch of review of the times tables. Really liked the various active ideas (as did my son) from 3rd grade.

For those of you doing ancients, this is a great deal. IMHO, all Demi books are beautifully done and researched. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0761455582/ref=cm_cr_mts_prod_img

Thanks everybody! :)

Oh boy, thanks! :)

If so why/why not? I seem to vaguely recall having to memorize them, but I can't for the life of me remember why. Was it a factoring thing?

Honestly, I'm probably still too relaxed at this level. DS1 is a good reader, so I let him read what he wants. If I let him, he can finish a book/day. We do have "assigned" books that go with our curriculum, but 99% of the time, he's choosing what he reads. I have bought some of the BraveWriter Arrow things for some of the books...so we've just started using those. I did find this site online for free, which might be helpful. http://www.k12reader.com They have free spelling lists, reading comprehension sheets, etc.

I bought The Writer's Jungle and some back issues of "The Arrow" via HSBC. So far, I really like the approach. We're working on narration right now ("jot it down"), as well as doing "The Arrow" for "Trumpet of the Swans." One thing that I actually agree with is that she recommends hitting grammar only once during elementary, middle, and high school. That's how I was taught... I remember 7th grade being major grammar year. We didn't have a major grammar program every year--it was just touched upon.

Not a real calendar thing...but a few years ago DS1 and DS2 kept getting tomorrow and yesterday confused. So I had three library pockets labeled with yesterday, today, and tomorrow on them. I then had a bunch of index cards with the days of the week on them. We'd put the days in each day so they could get the concept. Did it a few weeks....they got it.... stopped doing it. :) Being Waldorf-y, I actually love doing a morning verse with my kids. When they were younger, we'd light a candle and sit in a circle and all that. Kind of got away from that....but might start again cause everybody loved blowing out the candle. :)

We're trying Bravewriter this year. I purchased 5 of the old "Arrow" issues on HSBC. We also have Galore Park Junior English--which looks good.

For handwriting, check out the Draw Write Now books. I'm sure one of them must deal with horses. :) Here's a bunch of horse related books for that age. http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/709250-horse-books-authors-for-2nd-and-4th-grade-girls

Growing up, I never learned any mental math strategies. I don't know if it wasn't commonly taught back then (70s and early 80s) or what not. Still, I was always very good at math...did well in Calculus.... SATs....etc. Having taught math to my kids over the past few years, it's amazing how much I have learned/enjoyed from the mental math aspect. IMHO, it's not 100% necessary, but makes life (and understanding) better. It might make sense to go back a grade level (if you bought a package deal)... or even email Maria for help. I think struggling with it for a month or two will be worth it in the long run. Of course, if it isn't working, you can also switch programs. I was pleasantly surprised that Math in Focus gave me a 180 day free preview of every level when I signed up. That really let us explore it, and let my kids explore it too before committing. (I bought used textbooks, and new workbooks).

Honestly, Sonlight. I've been lusting over their book lists for 10 years now. We used whatever the Core Kindy is now called..."Exploring God's World"...when DS was 5.... but I completely ignored the IG and just read the books. I'd like to try an actual Core using the IG...but some of the posts on how it's changed has given me pause. I did find an old Core D+E (American History in one year) from around 2005 on eBay and snatched that up. Not sure if we'll ever use it, but I own it nonetheless. :) Oh, and I've drooled over Oak Meadow for the same amount of time. (I know...complete opposites). Well, this year, I bit the bullet and bought 4th grade. I am really pleasantly surprised. I won't use their math just because I like what we've used before... but in reading through it, even if we just did that, DS would have a very good year and learn a lot.

Do you read the actual books that the passages are excerpted from? Just curious. Was thinking it would be a pretty good list. Some seem hard to find here, but others are classics. I do know that they also seem to give a recommended list of books at the end of each chapter. I can see us definitely doing the Dahl books, and possibly "Treasure Island." "My Animal Friends" by Dick King-Smith "Three Indian Princesses" by Jamila Gavin "THe Witches" by Roald Dahl "Treasure Island" by Robert Louis Stevenson "History Diaries: Diary of a Young Roman Girl" by Moira Butterfield "Classic Poems to Read Aloud" by James Berry "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" by Roald Dahl "Dog Days" by Geraldine McCaughrean Any other tips/advice most appreciated.

For foreign language, we really like Michel Thomas over Rosetta Stone and Pimsleur. Far more useful for actual conversational speaking IMHO. :) Most Americans (at least in my experience) have never heard of it/him. I don't know how unknown it is, but I love "Aunt Ruth Grammar" http://www.auntruthgrammar.com

BTW, here's a study that reaffirms the constipation/bed wetting link. http://children.webmd.com/news/20120130/study-constipation-may-cause-bedwetting "Undiagnosed constipation appeared to be a frequent contributor to bed-wetting among the children who took part in the research. When these children were treated with laxatives or enemas, most stopped wetting the bed within a few months. “Most of these kids did not have symptoms consistent with constipation and the parents had no clue,†says researcher Steve J. Hodges, MD, an assistant professor of urology at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C. “What these children had was stool in their rectums, and that is the problem we addressed in this study...â€"

We had a bed wetter until he was 9-1/2. One of the issues that we totally didn't know was constipation. Resolving that, made all the difference. YOu may not even know your child is constipated (we didn't). Ended up using Miralax and fiber gummies, as well as a toilet squat step. We wrapped the mattress in plastic (bought a tarp at Walmart...secured with clear packing tape).... over a mattress protector...because we ended up having to wash the mattress protector too. This way, we could just spray it with cleaner and go. Also used a reusable mattress pad, but a lot of times it would move. :( Another great thing was the Tide with Febreeze. After a bunch of accidents, things smell...no matter what. Tide with Febreeze made a gigantic difference.