:bigear: :bigear: We are halfway through AAR2. We have not read the stories or the fluency sheets more than once. Getting DS to read them at all is a major accomplishment, not b/c of the difficulty per se, but b/c my son would rather play all.the.time. It would cause too many battles to have him re-read them! Nonetheless, I am pleased with the progress we've made with AAR even with the minimal review. We're almost to the point where DS can pick up regular early reading books...and I think that will stimulate progress more than repeated reading of literacy sheets (I hope). He may not have all the words memorized, but the quantity of words he has the confidence to tackle is encouraging to him...I think! Yet, I would be interested in additional resources (particularly FUN ones!) to break up the monotony of AAR (it is getting pretty formulaic: lesson, activity, fluency sheet, book excerpt, repeat). We'll still remain with AAR as our primary program though...esp. since I like the extra literary activities like onomatopoeia, reading comprehension, etc that the later lessons touch upon.

Following this thread. We are also using AAR. We are on level 2 now, which does a little bit of reading comprehension and language arts (for example, we recently discussed onomatopoeia). We are doing Fiar level 1 but I don't plan to continue to level 2. After finishing level k of HWOT, I started wwe b/c I already had it, but I find it so disjointed. I have FLL but not keen on doing another round of it this early (I used it for my older child in 1st). I have also added some draw write now pages. Eventually we will do Hwot (1st grade), but I'm undecided about options for comprehension, creative writing, copywork, and grammar. I may pull out the sentence family, and also looking to order Write about Me book from EPS. I'm tempted to get just a traditional textbook, such as VIE.

Following this thread. We are also using AAR. We are on level 2 now, which does a little bit of reading comprehension and language arts (for example, we recently discussed onomatopoeia). We are doing Fiar level 1 but I don't plan to continue to level 2. After finishing level k of HWOT, I started wwe b/c I already had it, but I find it so disjointed. I have FLL but not keen on doing another round of it this early (I used it for my older child in 1st). I have also added some draw write now pages. Eventually we will do Hwot (1st grade), but I'm undecided about options for comprehension, creative writing, copywork, and grammar. I may pull out the sentence family, and also looking to order Write about Me book from EPS. I'm tempted to get just a traditional textbook, such as VIE.

We've already completed FLL 1+2 and then MCT Island+Town levels, so I'm looking for review to cover some gaps left from MCT. I have FLL4 but also was eyeing JAG plus mechanics. The DVDs look appealing as I'd rather use my one-on-one time for science and history. I've read mixed reviews here about JAG so I'm hoping for a comparison between FLL4. We've already done a few lessons of FLL4 and it has been more interesting than FLL1/2....but there is still a lot of repetition and emphasis on memorizing definitions without explaining (in contrast, the DVD lesson of JAG seemed to have a more thorough analysis of prepositions). Thanks!

Did you find a good alternative to Sonrisas? I was interested in Calico Spanish, but the material covered in the first level is not as thorough for the price tag. Yet, I can't really find anything else I like better!

My dd gets a majority wrong with CWP and I have definitely questioned whether to continue with the books. I go over the problems she needs help on, but it is time-consuming and I'm not sure that it is an effective use of my time. Singapore text/workbook is straightforward and I see the progress and it's effectiveness. Similarly, I've been debating about Beast Academy, which also has many challenging problems. At least with BA the answer key is detailed and self-teaching. Both CWP and BA have been so highly reviewed in these boards that I questioned my reservations about them. It is good to hear others echo my thoughts. We'll definitely be dropping something and look into the Zaccaro book. I suspect any learning enhancement with CWP/BA may be outweighed by the frustration caused in my DD and cementing the feeling that she is not good at math.

Sentence Family and 101 Doodle definitions have been our fun LA. We could definitely use more ideas.

Any reviews? Alternatives for music? I was considering this curriculum for my kids. It looked like a fun curriculum (if you google samples plus the name you'll get a generous preview of lessons). There are only 14 lessons, but the pdf of all 6 levels is on sale, so it might make more sense to buy the set. My older DD already does piano, so I'm not sure if she'll benefit from this. We need some more "fun" in our day though!

I have used the old RS Level B and the new edition of RS level A and a third of level B. I mostly switched b/c I preferred the layout and incorporation of more songs and poems in the new level A (I did not already own level A and was using it for the first time with my DS). I also liked that the new level B does more with subtraction, which was a major negative in the old edition and complicated switching to another program (my plan is to switch to Singapore for 2nd grade b/c I have the materials and the combo worked well for my older child). I did not buy the manipulative set, and my math card games book (purchased separately a few yrs ago) was the correct edition. I just purchased the teachers guide/worksheets, and so far, the only mani. I have needed are the gram cubes. My local hs store sells the manipulatives a la carte, so that saves on shipping. I have used my base 10 set for a lesson in RSB b/c it was more intuitive.

I share your thoughts! I don't want to drop it b/c it was so expensive and well-reviewed. DD has learned and doesn't complain about the assignments, but I find it very dry and complicated. We frequently make use of the dictionary app to learn definitions and pronunciations! I think the difficulty of the words can be disheartening for DD. Building language was much more fun for her. The only real fun part is the crossword puzzles (and she likes doing research for the writing assignments). I plan on looking into Wordly Wise and revisit FLL4 possibly. Glad I'm not the only one!

My son does not love crafts. We are working through FIAR1 and most of what we've done has been fun. I don't love FIAR and wish there were other options (see my other post on this subject). But it works. We've worked through the free fold n learns (but using them as worksheets) -- available on the FIAR blog if you register. The most enjoyable part of the curriculum has been the videos I've dug up for them (pinterest, googling). Occasionally I find an online printable that he would enjoy (paper airplane for Glorious Flight, juggling monkey for Clown of God). We are doing SOTW2 with my older DD and my son tags along. He likes some of the coloring, but the material is more advanced for him. If you aren't doing STOW for your older children, I would probably choose FIAR over SOTW.

My DD9 used More Favorites from VP and it had some great crafts that she loved. I'm saving it for next year for DS6, but I doubt he'll enjoy paper/cutting type crafts. The VP primers do too much reading comprehension and not much application like FIAR! I looked up the samples of Lighting Lit but it seemed like a lot of writing -- not sure if I like it better than WWE (or LLtL, if we switched). I haven't looked at the Wand. We tried some Arrows with DD9 and they were okay -- kind of hard for me to implement b/c I feel we will miss things by just picking and choosing. I started Figuratively Speaking with her, which is more methodical (although a bit too advanced -- she's in 4th and the curriculum is labeled 5th and up, for good reason) . The VP primers, for all their faults, are enjoyed by my craft loving DD.

Does this exist? Basically something like WWE1 using whole books (or picture books) with copy work for handwriting practice and guided reading comprehension questions, along with brief discussion/fun activities for setting, literature, art, etc like FIAR1 (which is actually a bit too wordy/advanced at times). As is I don't love FIAR, but the free fold-n-learns (we use them as worksheets) and pinterest suggestions for videos, etc have made it enriching...albeit too time consuming for me to consider volume 2!

When we finished HWOT book I had him finish some of the kumon writing books we had from prek. Recently, we started WWE1 b/c that's what I already had from my oldest, who used it in 1st grade with the longer sentences. The curriculum has two sentence options, and I pick the shorter one. I don't love WWE and have been considering LLtL, but the later lacks reading comprehension. My ideal curriculum would have copy work, reading comprehension and some gentle lit discussion (like FIAR) in one package! I bought the HWOT 1st grade level but haven't started it yet.

I also have my DD work through what your x grader needs to know independently, and there are several art projects she completes. She also does a daily Doodle Definition, which is part art part vocab!

We are using level 3 of Atelier with a 9 year old and 5 year old and they both enjoy and learn from it. My 9 yr old (almost 10 yr old) loves art and pretty much sets up the art table herself (I have pre-purchased all supplies). My 5 yr old normally dislikes arts and crafts but somehow the DVDs magically motivate him to participate (perhaps he likes being like his big sister).

:bigear: :bigear: :bigear: We've done most of FIAR1 and I don't recall much info about this. There was a brief discussion in one of the books about jobs, if I remember correctly. A trip to a fire-station is wonderful, and we've received some good info/coloring sheets etc at a Home Depot workshop where they happened to have a firetruck on display. But still, in preschool my DS had more focused teaching and I would love some guidance on how to reinforce that at home in kindergarten -- things like memorizing phone number, knowing how to behave in a fire, etc which could be easy to forget to talk about with kids.

We have the new expanded edition of Caeser's English along with the rest of Town. We've finished Grammar and Paragraph Town but the lessons in CE have been taking while to complete and the words difficult for my DD to understand. I was wondering if CE is a one or two year program? It would be helpful to know CE's approx grade level so I can better judge if the assignments are just too challenging. We've flown through MCT until this point...but it seems like we've hit some sort of roadblock (we are also finding the same issue in math, where the assignments are taking much more time to complete). We've been doing each component individually and at this rate we won't get to poetry this year...so I was considering taking a break from CE. (I know some of them are supposed to be done simultaneously, but it's just too much to juggle).

I have FLL/WWE from my oldest and started using WWE with my kindergartener b/c we needed handwriting practice after finishing HWOT workbook. He'd be a bit too young for FLL. I like the reading comprehension questions of WWE and the shorter copy work sentence is appropriate for his writing ability. However, I dislike the haphazard nature of using isolated passages. I like the idea of reading whole books of LLtL, but looking at the samples I didn't see reading comprehension questions (it really is nice to have things all in one place in the chaos of having a toddler).

The phonogram program has been very helpful for our family for my kids' review. Yes, I could review the cards one on one (and actually memorize all the phonograms myself), but it frees up our time for other subjects and cuts down on what would be a time-intense program. I am glad there is an app b/c it will be more portable and fun for my kids to use the ipad over the computer. Yes, it would be nice if the tiles moved -- but having any app is better than none!

We have been watching the salsa episodes - amazingly, even my 9 yr old and toddler watch it as intently as my kindergartener! My 9 yr old started Duolingo--and we often listen to music CDs. But I was hoping for a fun yet structured curriculum with lots of review. The kids just don't seem excited about learning -- therefore retention is not great.

I am looking for an open and go spanish program for a kindergartener and possibly my fourth grader. I am a native speaker (albeit a but rusty and out of practice). I need the guidance and time saving of a scripted program. I was looking at Calico v Sonrisas--both appealed b/c of their immersion style. My kids are not fans of learning spanish despite my trying to talk to them, so something fun would be worth any price. My fourth grader has almost completed GSWS but it would be too advanced for my son. She could use vocabulary reinforcement. Thanks!

We've done WWE1-3 and MCT island and town, but I am not sure our writing is where it should be (and we need to keep our children at grade level of a good public school system). We are currently working through Killgallon (not fun for my DD but were sticking with it for now). I was considering CAP but not sure it will help with topics such as book reports, letter, etc. Are there any recommendations for open and go writing tools...and would adding CAP be too much.

We have completed FLL1-2 and MCT island and town level of grammar. Should we purchase LLtL3 or wait until 4? We've done extensive work on identifying parts of speech in MCT but my dd is fuzzy on definitions, and needs traditional mechanics work. We have a few things to keep us busy (vocabulary and poetry sections of MCT town and kill gallon) if we should wait until the 4th level comes out. We currently doing daily grams and editor in chief -- both are indicating we need more formal work on mechanics.

Do you know if the timeline can eventually be printed? I see you can save images.