Ha! I think I could guess where those comments came from (I have heard this many times myself). I have boys though, so it's less of an issue. When they were small they had big afros, but now that they're older their dad likes to keep it very short.

This is the set we have. The pages are a bit glossy and the bigs are sturdier than standard paperbacks. We love them!

I read about this book in the NYTimes Book Review six or so weeks back and put it on hold at the library. We just read it last week and really enjoyed it!

Farrar Williams has reviewed many graphic novels on her blog. Here are a few posts on the subject. My older son devoured many graphic novels before digging into more text-heavy comic books. Look around -- there are some surprisingly good ones out there (I didn't know!).

We also loved Dragon Rider! Mine have also really enjoyed Redwall, the Poppy series, and the Julie of the Wolves trilogy. We're currently listening to The Capture by Kathryn Lasky, the first in the Guardians of Ga'hoole series, and we're really loving it. I would recommend choosing something the adults will enjoy as well. If I have to listen to or read any more Magic Tree House I will go completely nuts!

My 5 year old has been reading his way through the I See Sam series in lieu of a formal phonics program and it has worked wonders for him. While I sit with him while he reads, it's definitely something he does "by himself" (that's important here too).

Hmm. Project-based is quite a different thing than problem-based. If you're going for project-based, definitely check out the link above and do a board search. There are some amazing threads. For problem-based learning, check out these Think! challenges.

Department of Defense??

Thank you for this link!! They look like they'd be very easy to use when beginning to read aloud with the kids.

:bigear:

If you're into the real food or slow food movement, Weston A. Price and/or Nourishing Traditions, than this program may suit you. However, if you're not into that stuff, then nevermind. :)

This one isn't math-only, but it's a good start.

Keep in mind that there are two "types" of division: partitive and group. We use the same algorithm and arrive at the same answer for both (of course), but it may help when you think about repeated subtraction. Partitive division is like sharing out. For example, I have 8 cookies and 4 kids. If I share the cookies equally, how many does each child receive? Of course your answer is 2. You shared out your 8 cookies to your 4 kids and got 2. Repeated subtraction doesn't make sense here, because you can't subtract your 4 kids from your 8 cookies twice. It just doesn't make sense. However, repeated subtraction makes sense if you consider group division. For example, I have 8 cookies and a serving size is 2 cookies. How many children can receive a serving of cookies? Here, you can subtract your 2 cookies over and over again until you realize that there are 4 groups of 2 cookies in your original 8, so your answer is 4 children. So, I think repeated subtraction can make sense as one way to introduce division.

LOL, I think I understand this because I'm a Montessorian too (and hence am oh so familiar with the checkerboard). If you're interested in just the Montessori checkerboard, you can print one out from montessoriprintshop for a dollar or two. I would have Staples print it onto 11x16 paper. You can also print out pictures of the beads from that site. I would recommend printing on tagboard and/or laminating. That isn't as awesome as all the beads, but an easy way to get the feel for it. You could also use cuisinaire rods or perhaps even math-u-see blocks if you make the checkerboard big enough. Have fun!

this is great! it works because categories, tens times times equal hundreds, units times units equal units, and both units times tens and tens times units equal tens. the way the lines cross, these categories are multiplied sort of like in an array. love it.

I've never seen it go on sale -- I shelled out the big bucks but for us it was worth it to get science done. I do have NL2 for sale on the boards if anyone is looking.

We have done so many wonderful audiobooks! I don't know the ages of your children, but we have loved the Poppy series by Avi, Julie of the Wolves and sequels, My Side of the Mountain (and sequels), a long list of the Redwall books, and Dragonrider to name a few. We love John McDonough and Irene Worth as readers.

I'm looking for suggestions also! So far, I have found these: The Great Migration: An American Story (Jacob Lawrence) Action Jackson (Jackson Pollock) Sandy's Circus: A Story about Alexander Calder Hokusai: The Man who Painted a Mountain I look forward to hearing what others suggest. :bigear:

:iagree:

I know exactly what you mean! Not only that, but the information seems so basic! Even though my boys are on the young side, to actually study seerah we went with the IQRA books Mercy to Mankind that are for grades five and six. They are definitely not too advanced for read-alouds.

I'm conflicted about Demi's book. I think it is wonderfully done, but from a Muslim perspective, I wish that no prophets had been depicted in the illustrations. Also, I think the depictions of al-Buraq (the winged steed) and the angels are a bit problematic. However, they are definitely beautiful and the illustrations are true to old Persian miniatures. The text I think is well done and respectful. I really like the other two you mentioned. We've recently read Time to Pray by Maha Addasi (we got it from the library) and while not brilliant, it is an insight into a girl learning to pray that may give another perspective about Islam. There is also Zaki's Ramadhan Fast which similarly gives a child's "day in the life." You may also want to look at What About Me? It's a nice tale of wisdom based on an old Sufi story.

I was going to suggest Ad-Duha's materials also. My kids really like the story format of the books like Muhammad and Maryam. We haven't gotten as much out of their children's tafseer materials, but I'm hoping someday we'll figure out how to make them work. I've long resisted the I Love Islam series, primarily because they seem very young for the target age and because they appear to jump around a lot. A lot of people use them and love them though, so perhaps I should take another look. For Arabic / Quran, I would suggest getting in touch with someone locally to help with this. My boys have used Qa'ida an-Nuraniyya (mentioned before, it's done by Shaykh Ra'ee), but it would be tricky to do without knowing tajweed yourself, I would think.

If you're being given them, then I would absolutely take them. They are loved by many and may prove useful. You can always pass them along to someone else if they end up not working. Personally I much prefer the I See Sam series and would recommend those if you were looking to purchase readers, but I would never turn down BOB books.

I love Mollie Katzen's books too, and I'd also suggest these cards. There is a review here (just scroll down until you see Kids' Kitchen).

We just started this today. Already my boys are loving it! I thought it was too much for me to read aloud, and probably a bit much for lower elementary ages American history study, but they *love* audio books and this is no exception. Plus, at least for the first volume, the reader is the same woman who did Julie of the Wolves. We love her voice!