Wow - very helpful. Thanks!

I used all three levels - K, 1 and 2 - with my son with success. HOWEVER, the cd's were much too repetitive and slow-moving for us, so I ditched them and continued myself with the other materials. Other than the cd recordings, I think the program very thorough and my little one found it fun. He is a very strong and fluent reader now.

Beyond Words involves what I would call a moderate amount of writing assignments, however many of the worksheets and literature webs can be done orally or with you transcribing your child's responses. Most lessons ask for a journal response of some sort, but you may be able to cover that with discussion or with a drawing. There is also a lesson on persuasive writing which uses a worksheet with the hamburger model of paragraph construction. Overall, I think the writing assignments are not too much for the target age group, and they are definitely tweakable if you need to adjust them a bit.

It looks good enough that I am getting excited to teach it! There are some classroom-oriented activities, but nothing that cannot be adjusted for use with a single student. It addresses its stated goals very well and is rich with interesting and thought-provoking discussion points. The writing requirement is about right for challenging my 7 yr-old to use his creative and analytical muscles but not overwhelming him. I did not purchase the student booklet packet due to price, which have the poetry readings for the unit. So far, I've been able to track down all but one poem, but I still plan to check the library's assortment of children's poetry anthologies before I give up on that one. Otherwise, the library here has most of the other books we'll need. I bought a couple from amazon and a poetry book from ebay, spending a great deal less than the $56 that the publisher wants for the student booklets. As we go along, I'll share a bit more including how my son responds to it. I am hoping it works well with him because I want very much to do some of the other levels in the future!

I know what you mean! I recently got the MCT Island series and the W&M Beyond Words for gr1-2. They do look very exciting and I can barely wait to get started. I guess I should look into the AoPS materials for future!

I posted this yesterday, but you can take a peek at my Jedi-in-Training. Have a great week, everyone!

Did you know that Finale makes a cheaper notation software? Look for finale NotePad here: http://www.finalemusic.com/notepad/ There is also LilyPond, which looks good and is free: http://lilypond.org/switch/tour I've been shopping around for this also, but I haven't actually used either one.

This looks terrific! Thanks for sharing!

I used Miquon with my DS when he was 5, and he absolutely begged to do math! All through the year, he never tired of what he called "the fun math." I feel that the Miquon approach really gave him a foundation in understanding concepts and confidence in problem-solving. The rods were quite easy for him to understand pretty quickly. Definitely use the Lab Annotations book.

I think they used a window or door shutter, rigged it (attached) a sail and an oar, to make a raft or boat.

Photos up from our visit to my Dad's place on the bayou in south Mississippi. Hope you're all having a great week!!

One photo this week and not a single word, I promise!

I just finished this with my 7 yr-old son. We read it together instead of having him read it on his own. While the reading level may technically appear to be a little on the easier side, there are some archaic speech patterns and vocabulary that present a bit of a challenge all on their own, IMO. It's a good story with much to think about and discuss - not at all an easy reader in that sense.

I actually had a crush on Leonard Nimoy growing up. Totally geeky, I know. Thanks for this little tidbit!

just our front porch chipmunk

We actually took a break this past week, but had a really cool trip on Friday evening.

I posted 3 surprising photos taken by my 7 yr-old son, discovered on my camera along with about 100 other goofball shots.

My beliefs line up with the Theistic evolutionists - I am a Christian who sees no conflict between religious belief and scientific theory. Evolution was just the process through which God created and continues to affect His creation. (please no debate - I am only trying to answer the original question. :)) We covered pre-history lightly, maybe two weeks with my 6 yr-old, before we began Ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt and Israel. I briefly explained the differing viewpoints and how sometimes the debates could become pretty heated. (This is a great point to stress being respectful of others whose opinions are different.)

Looks like fun for my little science nut! Thanks!!!

You have already gotten some good advice from other posters here. I want to add a little encouragement. My 7 yr-old son has always been an extremely reluctant writer. I have only required a bare minimum from him in the way of writing, though I will often dictate for him as he composes his own thoughts. Just within the past couple of weeks, he has suddenly developed a passion for writing and drawing - all on his own! I firmly believe that he just was not yet ready before - definitely not willing! Be patient. :)

Our grow a frog is about three years old now - a female, so she's pretty big! If I held her in my hand, I'm certain that her feet would hang off. Go ahead and plan on at least a five gallon tank. I made the mistake of trying to use aquarium gravel, but our frog kept trying to eat it and once actually succeeded. We watched gravel work its way through her little body. It had to have been painful! I ordered the sand after that and installed a filter that sticks to the back of the tank and looks like a stingray. Other than regular tank cleaning, she's an easy pet to keep. We order the food pellets, but it's good to read from previous poster about the bloodmeal worms as an option. Ours learned a fun trick pretty easily. We wet the tip of a finger, then press into the food pellets for a couple to stick on. We hold "loaded" finger an inch or so above the water, and she jumps up out of the water to grab the food off of the finger. Feels funny and never fails to impress visiting kids.

Barb, aka Harmony Art Mom, does a great job of breaking this down into easily doable lessons with her Outdoor Hour Challenges. See her blog here: http://handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com/ There are links to the challenges and how to approach them.

A little late in posting, but it's finally up. I'm looking forward to reading your weeks now!

Miquon relies a great deal on the use of Cuisenaire Rods. My personal favorites have little markings along the side to make them easier to understand in the beginning. Click HERE to see from Rainbow Resource Center. I've also seen them at our local school supply store. We used Miquon exclusively in my son's K year. Now we use SM, pulling from Miquon for "fun math" from time to time. They are both terrific! Have fun!!