My normally very mathy 6 year old is not understanding fractions with Cuisenaire Rods. I am looking to purchase a dedicated fraction manipulative (like Rainbow Fraction tiles). What's the best one to purchase?

My normally very mathy 6 year old is not understanding fractions with Cuisenaire Rods. I am looking to purchase a dedicated fraction manipulative (like Rainbow Fraction tiles). What's the best one to purchase?

I don't understand why people don't agree with this article. I suspect it's because they don't like the source of it (NR). Can someone please point out one lie or mischaracterization? I'm genuinely confused here.

Well, technically, the author is talking about homeschooling not afterschooling so you aren't included in the population he is talking about :).

So then why not just send them to public school? That's free.

"Homeschoolers may have many different and incompatible political beliefs, but they all implicitly share an opinion about the bureaucrats: They don’t need them — not always, not as much as the bureaucrats think." This is the line that I remembered most. If you are homeschooling/afterschooling, you are doing just that- rejecting (on some level) bureaucracy.

Can you point out the lies? I'm wondering what ticked you off? Was it the article or the fact it's from National Review?

We use Saxon and Miquon. As soon as I finish one level of Saxon, I move onto the next. My boys love the creative, thinking part of Miquon but still need the spiral mastery of Saxon. I don't worry about matching up the curriculum though. We are just going through the Miquon books one at a time. I also don't have the kids do all the problems in Saxon. It's just too much writing.

Jews don't believe in Original Sin either. I think that's unique to Christianity.

Furthermore, Judaism isn't about fighting evil but rather spreading good. We are told to always strive for greater good primarily by perfecting yourself. We talk about being the best person that you can be and striving to be closer to G-d. Going back to comparison of Good vs Evil and Light vs Dark- Jews are instructed to be an "Or LaGoyim"- a light unto the nations. We are "spreaders of light" not an army against evil. And light shines on every surface- every person goes to Heaven- you don't have to be Jewish. Not only do you not need to be Jewish to be a good person in the eyes' of G-d, we try very hard to dissuade people from converting and it's a very difficult and lengthy process. Judaism is joyful- G-d's love is compared to that of a parent's or of a lover. He loves us and just wants to shower us with His goodness. I am religious not because I am too scared to sin but because through following the Torah and doing mitzvos, I am able to get closer to G-d and G-dliness. The Jewish religious life is infused with happiness, knowing that we get close to G-d when we do what He commands us to do. This is basically what Hasidism is all about (I am not Hasidic).

I've never seen the serpent being explained as Satan. Also the Jewish view of Satan is very different from the Christian one. Satan in Judaism is the prosecuting angel, who constantly seeks to prosecute people for their sins. G-d is slow to anger, most merciful and reluctant to punish but Satan is always present, trying to convince Him to punish. This is a very very simplistic view of the Jewish view of Satan. Furthermore, Judaism doesn't have two forces, good and evil, constantly battling each other. There is good (G-d), and the absence of good similar to how there is light and the absence of light, darkness. Darkness doesn't exists by itself- it's merely the complete absence of light. Evil is the same idea- complete absence of good. This idea is reflected when we talk about the soul. The soul is a reflection of G-d like a mirror. When we sin, it's as if we are making marks on the mirror, making it hard to see, when we repent, we are wiping the mirror clean. Once again, this too is a very simplistic answer. Hope this helps.

Gematria is when you take the hebrew letters of the world and add up their values. Perhaps you meant Gemara?

Your first paragraph is a famous story- I don't know the specifics off the top of my head but I can find you the source over the weekend. Off the top of my head, they asked for the desire to have teA to be removed from the world because it caused so many sins- and the next day the chickens stopped laying eggs. The point of the story is that temptations serve a purpose, a person needs to channel their urges appropriately- the example being that one with the urge to spill blood should become a ritual slaughterer. As you can see, this is part of the free will debate. You have a natural inclination to do something but does that mean you shouls do it? Or how to you do it? As for Adam's lying- I'm refering to Genesis 3:3 where Eve tells the serpent: "...but of the fruit of the tree... G-d has said, 'You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die'." The question is asked- why does Eve say this? If you look previously in Genesis, G-d only commands Adam not to eat from it so where does Eve get the idea that she couldn't touch it? According to the Sifsei Chachamim (a commenter on the Torah), after Eve was created, Adam told her about what G-d had said concerning the tree but he added "not touching" to the prohibition as an extra layer of protection. The story continues: "The serpent said to the woman, "You surely won't die..." (Genesis 3:4) and he persuades her to eat from the tree. A question arises- that's it? All the snake has to do is tell her she won't die and then she'll eat from it? Really? Rashi (another commentator on the Torah) explains by quoting a midrash (wiki: the whole compilation of homiletic teachings on the Bible)- that the serpent literally pushed her and she accidently touched the tree. When she saw that nothing happened to her that's when the serpent said Genesis 3:4 and convinced her to eat it. Hope that helps.

I went to Jewish Schools through college and constantly questioning was the norm. Critical thinking was rewarded- you were considered a top student if you could ask good critical questions. Besides for Jewish Studies, we approached our secular studies with the same critical thinking approach. Our English Lit teachers loved it, especially when it came to Shakespeare. The first time I took classes in a secular university, I was shocked by how quiet my classmates were. I was the girl that was asking the questions that led to long intense debates over philisophical aspects of the class that we were learning (Public Health Policy). Jewish kids are often viewed as having a lot of chutzpa (wikipedia def: the quality of audacity for good or bad) because they are rewarded for critical thinking. Of course some are just badly behaved :) but we constantly question everything as children and continue as adults. That's probably why there is the stereotype of Jews being good lawyers.

There are so many different valid views with Orthodox Judaism as to the meaning of the story as well and the consequences. We could spend years just discussing the different approaches. For now- I'll give you the simplistic answer I was given when I was a child. Originally the good inclination (yezter hatov) was in man and the evil inclination (yezter hara) existed outside of man. What this means is also debatable. My understanding was that "evil" was easily identifiable and separate (the snake). But once they ate from the tree, the evil inclination was now part of them. Men constantly struggle against their evil inclination (not always realizing that it is the evil side advocating). Mankind now has difficulty determining what is morally right and wrong and struggle is both indentifying what is morally correct and then following through and doing it. This also introduces the concept of free will (bechira chofshis) which is what separates man from the rest of the world. But that is also a very complicated discussion as well with many valid viewpoints. It is not important in Judaism if this is a literal story however there are many philisophical debates as to what exactly happened and what that means. Practically, this is not really that important to the practice of Judaism and we reject the Christian notion of "original sin". Truthfully, the only time I really thought about this story was when I was in labor and yelling at my husband that it was all men's fault that I was in pain (Adam's lying led the the snake tricking Eve into eating).

I'm Jewish and I don't mind answering your question. I'm not quite sure what you are asking though...can you be more specific?

I use them both. Building Thinking Skills is very pricey so I put the pages in pocket protectors and have them write on it with wet erase markers. Both are very good logic building books.

These are 20 dollar workbooks. The cheap workbooks I have no problems ordering for each child but with 4 kids under 6, I would like to avoid ordering expensive ones more than once. Also to be clear, the workbooks do allow you to photocopy for family members but since it's in color (and you need the color to complete the sheets) copying the pages just isn't worth the money either.

I'm a newbie to homeschooling and last night I decided to rip apart my workbooks and put them in page protectors. I would preferably like to use dry erase crayons to complete the sheets. Is there any brand/type of page protectors that will work well with dry erase crayons both in terms of writing and erasing?

As for the why boxed question- ease of use is definitely a factor. Also my ds does well with a mapped out curriculum. He's not happy when we just bounce around from idea to idea. Ideal for him is something that is spiral that has multiple grade levels available that we can use for a few years.

Why what?

I'm looking for a secular boxed science program for my Ker for next year. I'm overwhelmed at the choices. I've researched Nancy Larson, Real Science for Kids and RSO. Any recs?