for Korea, we loved A Single Shard.

After 2 good tries, I gave up on Singapore, we just couldn't get into it, but I know some people love it. FWIW, the programs that we love are: Math Mammoth, Miquon with c-rods, and MEP.

Bless you for telling me about this. Can you tell I haven't read through the manual? lol. Maybe I shouldn't have given up on the manual in the first few chapters! Thanks again, Tracy!

Those are great ideas for dealing with these rule breakers! I bet my kids'll have fun with that. Thanks for sharing!

Not sure if this helps, but my ds8 also tested into 7/6 with the Saxon placement test, but I didn't feel comfortable starting him there so we're doing 5/4 at a quick pace, like 2-4 lessons/day. While most of it's review, the thorough explanations seem to cement the concepts firmly for him. If the issue is retention, do you think it would help to backtrack or go more slowly?

We're using Spelling to Write and Read, and this week's spelling list (list M) has the word "sew" in it, but not sure how to explain why the "ew" says long O in this word, since the book just says this pronunciation is an exception to the usual rule of "ew" saying /oo/ as in 'flew' and long U as in 'few'. Anybody have any thoughts on how to explain this spelling? thanks in advance!

That's a good point, I hadn't thought of that. Maybe that's why multiplying fractions came easily to my ds, because by then he was in the habit of seeing that 1/2 x 2 is just 1/2 of 2.

My ds had a similar problem in that he would reverse 3 x 5 for 5 x 3 willy nilly. I didn't see a problem with that until we got to those sections in Miquon and MM that explain that "x" means "of" in math. So even though the answer is the same, "3 of 5" (as in 3 groups of 5 things) is a different sort of problem than 5 of 3. It took some drilling to get in the habit of seeing that x means of. So with the c-rods, I would do something like lay out 3 groups of the yellow 5 rods, and he would have to tell me if it's 3 or 5, or 5 of 3. I'm not sure that it makes any difference in the long term outcome but for me, I wanted him to understand that multiplication is really just a way of saying means "of" in math and to be able to figure out problems by understanding that.

me too! that's the language I was looking for...

Just in case there are people out there like me who are trying not to spend more money and can't buy the $4 lecture, here's a website where SWB summarizes her writing recommendations for elementary and later years: http://creation.com/learning-to-write-a-conversation-with-susan-bauer Since I never heard the audio lecture, not sure if the content is as just as good, but I'm guessing, and can't beat free...

This is TOO cool! We're going to do this one for sure! I never would've found it without your link, so I thank you many times over. The kids thank you too! :hurray:

These are great ideas! Thank you so much, urpedonmommy! We'll definitely try out some of these, especially the water displacement and making the screw. You're awesome!

We're reading this book with our group and looking for activities for the kids to go-along with it, so that it's not just a boring book discussion. =) They're 3rd-5th graders and anything hands-on would be great. Anybody able to share some activity ideas to go with this book? Thank you so much in advance!

Thanks, amyonthefarm! Looks like good stuff even for non-bikers. =)

Same here! My kids' behaviors also quickly deteriorate when there's any screentime involved, I really think there's a correlation there, with us anyway. I hadn't thought about using the computer would lengthen the schoolday, that's a good point. hehe, we have the Magic School bus dvd's here and maybe it was my mistake in getting them if I'm conflicted about using them! So far my kids have watched 1 of the videos...they keep asking to watch the rest (we got the whole set from Grandpa for Christmas) but I haven't felt comfortable enough to let them do that. I feel like their attention span, temperament, disposition, just plain cheerfulness and obedience starts to go haywire when they get screentime, videos or anything with quickly changing images... I feel like such an extremist because we live in the heart of the Silicon Valley and people here are very "plugged in". We don't have a tv but do have a computer to watch stuff (mostly my husband and I watch "our shows" after the kids go to sleep). I think this is key, the animation. I probably should do some research into it, ie. how does computer use affect brain development, but feel tired just thinking doing that, it's much more fun to chat with other moms in the WTM forum. :p I don't know the science behind it, but I've seen how screentime affects my kids, it's almost comical how consistent it is. Computer time = grumpy kids. Maybe I'm ignorant about how really good these computer programs are, but to me, they do look FUN. I was looking at Teaching Textbook samples last night (I like to torture myself), and they have cute cartoons! look, a cartoon man sitting at his workdesk, getting a pile of dollar bills as his salary, and some of them get taken away! Isn't that a fun way to illustrate the concept of income tax? I couldn't draw that, we have black and white math books with hard problems to puzzle through (MEP) with no cartoon men. :p I know the way we're doing it is working fine, but, I dunno, maybe I think they're missing out on something... For us, it's any computer use. We've been avoiding any computer use. I appreciate your post here... I do eventually want them to be able to wisely navigate the web, but we're thinking that it doesn't take very long to learn to use the computer, and they can get up to speed pretty quickly when they're in jr high or high school. We've been all over the board, but settling down to something similar, I think, to what you've described in the early years...simple wooden toys and manipulation early on with lots of reading, and then mostly classical for later years. I like your idea of using Khan for myself to know how to teach a concept... Last year, I liked simple computer games for reinforcement - we started with xtramath.org which I liked for it's simple, clean screens and no bells and whistles, but heard great things about BigBrainz so we tried that and boy, that seemed to affect them as much as a computer game...so now we're back to paper and pencil, although I didn't mind xtramath.org, I seem to get on a slippery slope (trying other, more "fun" programs) when we open the door to computer time, so maybe it's as much my issue as anything else. Thank you for this! I love how you draw a line (with a personality like mine, it makes things much easier than trying to negotiate gray zones) and just say no to independent computer time for youngers, and starting to open the door in junior high. I really agree with your post, and thank you for clarifying this topic for me, I've been struggling with this computer issue for me for a couple years now. I know how I want my kids to learn, but it is so helpful to hear others say the same thing and to feel affirmed that it's ok, even in this digital age where everything's online and everybody's plugged in 24/7, it's really ok to skip computer time all together for the younger years.

Sounds promising, I'll check it out. Thanks!

My son is learning to ride and I want to go over some basics of bike safety with him. Know of any good free curriculum to download? Thank you in advance!

double post

I am frustrated with myself. I want my kids to learn the old fashioned way, without computers. The reason is that I feel that esp in the early years, it's important for their minds to get used to doing the tough work of actively learning, reading, mulling over, discussion, and THEN making the learning their own...versus the passive learning by watching an entertaining video. I want them to learn to do this in all subjects, from math to LA to science and history. We've been doing this pretty much the past 2 years...and they're doing well academically, my ds8 tested at grade 7 for math and 10th for reading, and my dd6 is a couple years above grade level too. BUT the rub is that it takes so much of my time and energy to teach the kids to learn this way. I am tired. II'm getting the "grass is greener" syndrome. I could continue this road with renewed commitment if I could get some affirmation that this is the best way to teach my kids. They used to ask me for computer time often, but since I kept saying "no", they stopped asking and seem content with the way things are. The kids don't get any screentime during the week, and only very occasionally on weekends, like 30 minutes on Saturdays to play a game. But I hear about fantastic programs that are available on the computer...for math (Teaching Textboks, Khan, etc), history/geography (VP online, national geographic. etc), science (so many science videos, ScienceFusion, exploration education, etc), English (IEW's SWI Andrew Pudewa lectures, etc)...I'm so tempted to give in a little, make it easier on me and on the kids, let us relax a little...but I'm worried that it would be a slippery slope...as it is on those days when my kids get screentime they get grumpy when they have to get off and complain much more than usual. Am I being unreasonable to want to avoid computerized teaching, or should we stay the course?

Thanks for the advice, Ellie. I'll go ahead and get the TM's...Appreciate your help!

Aha, yes that makes sense! Yes, those are exactly the pages, with 4 words in boxes, 25 boxes on the page...Thank you so much, that's just what I wanted to know! It's pages like that that make me wonder if the TM is really helpful and maybe I should get it...at least the TM has answers to the workbook questions, I'm assuming. Thank you again!

We purchased and are loving the Pathway readers and the workbooks that go along with them. We're running into a snafu with some workbook pages that have lists of words with no explanation or directions printed on the page. I didn't get the Teacher's manuals, so wondered if anyone who has the TM could please help me out and let me know what the directions are? For example, in the Workbook for the reader "Days Go By" (for 1st grade), on p. 11, is one of these pages with lists of words but no instructions. If it was just 1 page, I'd probably just let it go, but it comes up again on p. 31 and 53. Thank you in advance for your help!

Thank you SilverMoon and Ellie! =)

Ellie, you've sold me on Rod and Staff! =) I'm thinking of making the switch from AAS to Rod & Staff Spelling to make spelling less teacher-intensive. I like the looks of the samples online, plus now's the time for their 10% off sale. I'm stuck on whether to purchase the teacher's manuals or not for each level? Are they useful or can you get by just fine with just the student books? Thanks in advance to anyone who can give input!

We use their readers (ie. Days Go By, New Friends, etc) with accompanying workbooks for reading comprehension - Love them!