Personal favorites that were read in elementary and reread throughout my life: 1. Five Little Peppers 2. Johnny Tremain 3. Witch of Blackbird Pond 4. Jacob Have I Loved (One of those curious books that I disliked the ending but made a huge impression on me.) 5. Eight Cousins (Louisa May Alcott) 6. An Old Fashioned Girl (Louisa May Alcott) 7. Anne of Green Gables, Emily of New Moon I looked up the Alcott books on the reading list and they are listed for high school. I was a little surprised by that. They are good age appropriate stories and a fun introduction to a great author.

Will look into Essential Learning. Agree with the pencil as a bottleneck...good term for it.

My soon to be 4th grader had a brief introduction to handwriting in second grade and has not worked on it at all this year. From what I gather he has to pick it up on his own now. I would like to get this done over the summer. Do any of you know a curriculum that is basic, quick and easy for a student to follow without a lot of parental guidance? (Asking for the moon, the stars and a little extra, I know.) I have reviewed several of the comments regarding handwriting curriculums...my concern is that I want more of a cliff notes approach rather than a full year curriculum. There is little chance he will be motivated enough to do a 9 month curriculum in 2 months---it is not feasible for us. Yes, he will build on what he learns over the summer next year but he really needs the basics. I am thinking mostly the lower case letters and their connectors would be a great place to start. Anyone have suggestions? Also, I welcome comments on whether your districts are doing handwriting programs or not. It seems as though most people here think it has become close to obsolete. Have any of you noticed whether it impacts the student's long term writing capabilities (as in essays)? Thanks for your advice.

Currently using Houghton Mifflin math for K, 1, 3rd grade. The pages are too busy for me and my third grader. I am having a hard time making sure he learns the material because there is "too much" extra stuff on the page, and I do not mean math problems!!! Have reviewed many threads regarding math texts. Would like a simple book that gives a brief lesson with several examples (book shows work and uses examples to distinguish subtleties). Then page of questions maybe with 2 or 3 word problems at the bottom. (Sounds like my elementary textbook from the 70's-80's). Does anyone have a recommendation? Or remember who made the textbooks 30 years ago? Also, if someone suggests Saxon (I have never seen a live copy of Saxon). How important is doing all the problems and how many problems do you "assign" per day. We (husband and me) love math but scared that spending lots of time doing problems may turn math into a "grind" for our kids. Need balance---thanks for all advice!

Any advice on how to turn a student into a voracious reader? I know that the right books are very entertaining but would like to go beyond this to where student reads anytime, anyplace for fun. Anyone have a plan that worked?

Yes. Bump... Seriously what does everyone else use? Everyone can't be tablepad, tablecloth and so forth? Are you?

We watch almost zero TV... The key for me is to not turn it on...Sounds silly but if it is on I found that it was hard to turn off. We also have a system where the cablebox is in a closet so we need to unlock the closet to start the system (sounds onerous and it make it less easy to goto). It also helps to downgrade to the lowest cable option there is so there are less options. I have not gotten rid of it completely though because I will watch the Olympics as a family and have an occasional movie night. Curiously I grew up with uncontrolled TV and we had zero problems and did well in school so I hope I am not doing this for nothing....

Does anyone know of any table manufacturers that put Formica or corian on the top of the table and come big enough to fit 8 people? We are looking for an easy clean, kid friendly kitchen table for eating, homework, crafts, and so forth. I can't find anything that is not wood top at our local stores in the size I need. Thanks.

I am uncomfortable reading this--an unknown number of students meeting with one adult in an otherwise empty building.

Would you ask your family members more about what they mean by being "bored" and losing "love of learning"? What have they seen happen-negative and positive? Have they seen any students advanced? Are there gifted programs? They have a different viewpoint and willingness to share it. It may be useful to explore their experiences.

I am thinking about hiring a high school student(s) to help tutor some of my young elementary aged kids this summer. Has anyone done this? Could you share some of the benefits/pitfalls? Thinking could use for read-alouds, phonogram review, maybe spelling lists in WRTR and math mammoth worksheets. Maybe total of 4 hours a week (3 separate kids so maybe 30 mins of prep and 30 mins each child x 2 days) What am I doing?---Big family, same stuff but want the other kids to have Mom Time and not schooltime all the time. Thoughts

Is your daughter at the level where she will proofread her own essay, go to the shelf and select Warriner's handbook, and review when to use a certain form of punctuation? If so, then she is ready to stop grammar lessons. (This could also be a "deal.") Well-learned grammar benefits from practical reinforcement where the student and teacher are the same person. By the way, would anyone who has the white book--- Warriner's Handbook tell me--PM--- what the copyright or ISBN number is? I have seen there are newer versions such as Holt traditions with the image on them but I would like to get the older version... Thanks and hope it does not hijack the thread.

Warriner's Handbook These are out of print but may be found on amazon/ebay as used books. They have different levels but they all teach the same basics with easy to understand exercises. I would recommend "writing out the sentences" for most exercises. I found it tedious in high school, but now believe that it reinforced spelling, punctuation and other concepts. I think they do have a section on diagramming that I never had to learn. I cannot comment on that section.

One advantage of Heidi is that there is a sequel Heidi Grows Up that may be used as independent summer reading. Please consider adding the following to your list for eventual reading: An Old Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott. I think this serves as a wonderful introduction to the world of LMA. I would say it is lighter than Little Women. .

As soon as I read that the readers were not required and that Ms. Spalding recommended quality children's literature following completion of list A-G I thought that the readers were incorporated for business reasons. I wonder if many of the changes (teacher's manuals, readers, videos, and so forth) are to make the method more attractive to public school systems and also "check the box" when compared to other school publishers. I have the first grade teacher's manual and use it for the spelling list section only. Anyone who pursues the new items please let us know.

Do you mean on WTM? That would be fun. Let me know if this goes forward.

1. In depth science project as in competition level. 2. Anatomy Coloring Book---year of anatomy/physiology 3. Astronomy---check out free online courses from colleges and see if any are a good fit (math may be an issue for some) or start high school type curriculum i.e. Biology and go from there. It is great to have extra years to cover science as it is so vast.

Anyone tried it?

Bumping as I am curious too...

When I was in grade school a friend of mine had an unusual Little House book that included pictures and had some different stories in it. You may wish to investigate it since I remember it had some different perspectives than stories in the series. For example I read that Laura won a Sunday School verse contest around the time of Plum Creek. It was also interesting to see photographs of the family as well.

If you are speaking of the decodable readers (a couple posts above this, not McCall Crabbs) listed in WRTR---my manual says they are not required. It also says that while they may be useful for some children they should not be used for very long. Also---agree with the Ellie compliments wholeheartedly. I frequently find answers to my questions by searching through posts and looking for her name. Thank you.

You may want to invest in the phonogram cd---I was not saying some phonograms correctly when we started.

I am in 1A---where are the chapter tests? I see reviews---is that what the chapter test is? I have the complete curriculum CD if that makes a difference. Thanks!

I have the Math Mammoth CD. I thought there were supposed to be chapter tests for most of the chapters? We are in 1A and I see Reviews but not tests---does anyone know where the chapter tests are or are the "reviews" the tests? Thanks!

Do universities ever average scores? How does the university computer "know" a score was taken under these conditions especially if applying early?