This. So this. It reminds me of a lady I knew when I was expecting my third. She was expecting her first and was giving advice on nursing. :001_rolleyes: I find our newbie homeschoolers are very "know it all." They have walked the path for all of two minutes, but they are suddenly very, very wise. About everything. And they like to tell you all about it. In detail.

Is there a particular reason that you want to skip a level? I think it would be better to fast track through a level than skip it entirely...

This. Exactly. I also not only have him read the sounds from the flashcards, but I dictate and have him write the sounds. This really makes them stick!

Pippi Longstocking! I was so excited to read it to my kids and they patiently sat through it, but they laughed at nothing and were less than thrilled when I shared with them that there were more books in the series. :crying: If they don't share my love of Shakespeare, my heart will never recover. :(

BJU is bright and colorful and makes good use of manipulatives. It's only cost effective if you can get a used TG though.

Thank you for this info. My DD typically does 2 TT lessons per day, so I was thinking I would cut that down to 1 and then do 1 MUS lesson, just the teaching and then some practice problems. I don't think we'll utilize their review sheets, as she's covering the same stuff in TT right now. Do you think it would work this way? It's definitely a pricey supplement, but I've got three kiddos, so trying to justify it that way...also thinking it would be worth it if it helps fractions "click"...

Forgot to ask, what do I absolutely have to buy? I have a set of the blocks & overlays that I can borrow, so I don't need those.

My oldest is using TT and it works quite well for her, but she needs more help with fractions. I was going to try Key To series, but after seeing a video, I am thinking she might do really well with Math U See Epsilon. It says it's only 30 lessons - is it reasonable to use as a supplement? And if we've never used it before, is it relatively easy to jump in for fractions?

I haven't, but it's a good idea. My oldest was forever grabbing the Math 6 book by the coils too, and they are wrecked. :( I like that it's coil bound and can rotate cover to cover, but it is huge. I think it might help if they'd use a sturdier cover too. BJU TG's are similar in size, but much more durable, I find. They also crimp the coil end around the top coil and it prevents the coil from "spinning" through...

http://essentialsinwriting.com/ might be a good fit. I did find it helpful to watch the lesson (they are pretty short - maybe 15 mins or less, if I remember correctly) with the kids so that I knew what was being taught for that lesson. It includes grammar, and we didn't use those portions, so it wasn't worth the cost for us and we switched. I did really like the writing lessons though.

Does the Teach Your Monster to Read app have all the same features as the computer version? And is it glitchy at all? To OP. 2nd all of these. Teach Your Monster to Read is an especially huge hit. My little guy begs to be play.

Absolutely normal! Do you have magnetic letters (or similar). I'd give him three, dictate a sound and have him pick the letter from the three choices. You can then have him write the letter, using the model as a help. Eventually give him more letters to choose from and before long he won't need them at all. :)

:iagree: You are very likely to hit another "hump" when she gets into the next level of reading as well. Multi-syllable words could very likely be a struggle. AAR 4 is very good for this. Another we've had recommended and plan to start in the next few weeks is Rewards Reading. If she's dyslexic (and I'd trust the testing that she is) just reading isn't going to be enough. You will want to give her tools to break long words apart. Using a notched curser will also help her slow down when reading and focus on each part of a word. My oldest is dyslexic, but she's made steady progress each year in her reading. She needs to see things multiple times for them to stick. We used to think she couldn't memorize well, but it turns out she actually can - what she struggles with is being able to instantly recall the info that she's memorized. She knows her phonics inside out and backwards, but can't always pull the info from her memory quickly when she is reading. The more times she sees the info, the quicker her recall is and the more fluently she reads.

We have an app called Spell Better. It's free and it is awesome. :) The kids put the word in, spelling it the best they can, and it brings up suggestions. They can click on the word to hear it pronounced, define it, etc. And did I mention that it's free. :)

I used this method with both of my kids and it's amazing. Everything just clicked for them. It really helped them to see the why's of each step. https://denisegaskins.com/2010/04/12/the-cookie-factory-guide-to-long-division/

This is me! We are on day two. Yesterday wasn't bad...it was pretty typical as far as things go, but for some reason it has been an emotional roller coaster for me. I had a major case of doubting myself last night and a heavy feeling that we weren't "doing enough". There is really no base for my thoughts/feelings. I am happy with the curriculum we are using and how things are progressing. I feel like we've hit a good groove the past couple years. I think it could very likely be that switch to grade 7 that is freaking me out.

This. My middle kiddo also struggled with the timed aspect and got very frustrated. The edition we have let me lower the time, but not eliminate it entirely. We only just started with Mavis Beacon, but so far, so good.

I have not used the curriculum you mentioned, but wanted to offer :grouphug: . As another member posted, try focusing on just the 3 R's and then slowly adding in other things. It will get easier as you get more comfortable and start tweaking things to work for your family.

This is the first time even hearing of this book and the title alone is cringe-worthy. I googled it... couldn't help it. LOL The website is bad! Click the "window" for this and click the "wreath" for that. After skimming for even a few minutes, she really doesn't seem to have any interest, nor respect, for university. Her focus seems to be on character - which is fine...but why market as a high school help if the focus isn't on academics?

Really like the looks of it, but it's only available in the US (thumbs down) and it's really pricey. $200 as a supplement is a lot. :(

I dislike PDF's. I like the convenience and I like free shipping, but I hate reading things on the computer/iPad, so I print them off and then I hate that they don't have a nice, shiny cover. I have a thing for professionally bound books. :) I agree with another poster about the SOTW activity guide. This is our first year using it, we haven't even started classes yet, and I already dislike that book. It really, really needs to be spiral bound. Another pet peeve is expensive curriculum that requires assembly. I *get* that it's cheaper to ship AAS cards on flat, perforated sheets, but it's a pricey program and I want that work done for me. I also disliked that the Winston grammar cards weren't laminated. They seriously need to rethink that. Those cards are meant to get a lot of use and they are very flimsy. It was a royal pain to have to organize them on laminating sheets. ETA: Anything with a heavy learning curve. If I have to learn 50 new "symbols" and watch a 6 hour teachers video, I bail. Fast.

This.

yep :) I haven't come across a list that another user hasn't already entered. :)

How are you using AAS? For my oldest I found we had to take a week to do each lesson. She needed that repetition. So Monday we teach the new lesson and then she writes the words every day. Thursday and Friday we add in dictation and writing station. We also do several review words daily from both the review & the mastered piles. Another help for her has been adding in Spelling City. Giving her another way to play with her spelling words has definitely helped.

Thank you! :)