I purchased Shurley English 1 because a friend highly recommended the program. She said her kids loved it and did very well with it. I liked what I saw on the website, I loved the idea of the program. Then I got it in the mail...I was not 100% excited about it, but I did not know what else to use. Then, I joined these boards. I started looking into Rod & Staff. I purchased 2 and 3 through the For Sale boards here, it is much more in line with the way I teach...quick and to the point. My son does not need a bunch of jingles, he just wants to learn, memorize, practice and move forward. I skipped the first 4 chapters of Shurley English and still feel like it is slow...we learned 2 jingles for today's lesson. Tomorrow it is a story about words and sentences (we read it for 2 days!) I planned to save R&S for 2nd grade next year, now I am rethinking that. Has anyone used Shurley English? Does it move this slowly the whole year (Level 1)? Has anyone used R&S English 2 with a first grader? How will this effect our grammar studies through high school if we stay with R&S? I don't want to go a year with no grammar. He is in 2nd grade math, he reads at a solid 3rd-4th grade level. What would you do? Any thoughts?

I just posted in a different thread...There are a few a think!! We started today. It took 30 minutes for my 3 year old, and my First Grader finished all I had planned, plus extra math in a little over an hour! That was with some arguing about starting and a lot of "When can we be done?" See my blog for some pics and more details.

I think it went very well! My 3 year old was SOOOO excited to start school, she was in her desk, ready to go before I was! She is doing letter of the week from Brightly Beaming Resources. Day 1 was a success! DS5 balked a little at starting back to school. He wants another month off. We started everything except Classical Conversations. Handwriting was the only struggle. He did more math that what was planned, and did it quickly! We did have some issues with Grammar. I think I am going to switch programs. :confused: A friend raved about Shurley English, and I liked the look of it on the website. I love the idea of how it is done; but I think it is too scripted for me. Everything is in my manual and his book has very little. It is not arranged by chapters, but by exercises, jingles, vocabulary, and tests. It is too much prep for me. Rod and Staff looks like a MUCH better fit for both of us! He did not like the jingles :tongue_smilie:. Here is my blog, with some pictures of our first day! I have had a blog for 2 years...only minimal entries so I used today's to summarize last year and our first day. It is still short, but I hope to blog more regularly to document our journey.

I was 6 when the challenger exploded.

The Challenger Explosion, I was in first grade and we were watching it on the TV in our classroom. When the explosion happened our teacher jumped up, turned off the TV and we went outside for recess. The image of the explosion and smoke pattern is forever burned in my memory. I also remember watching all the coverage of Baby Jessica with my parents.

I found a free lapbook template set on currclick.com. I have printed some of the shapes out to make an ABC book with my preschooler. The template has minibooks, pocket shapes, flowers that fold it, and a few others. We are going to make one item for each letter and put pictures of things that start with that letter on the mini book or flower and in the pockets. I had originally planned to do all pockets so we could make it a game, but I changed my mind. This will be our first lapbook! My son is doing a SOTW lapbook to go with book 1. There was a link to the blog on this forum somewhere. Just Google Story of the World Lapbook and the blog comes up at the top. I got a few ideas for DDs ABC book from seeing all that she did in her book. You can also download a lot of lapbooks at currclick, some free, some for just a few dollars.

:iagree:This is why we are starting! My kids are going nuts and watching too much TV because it is just too hot to be outside for long!

One district starts today, they are switching to a modified year round schedule. The other 3 main districts around us start in 3 weeks. We are starting today....as soon as my DC wake up!! They had an overnight with Mema and Papa and then we all went swimming for 3 hours. It has been a quiet morning so far.

I have a phonics and letter writing app, "Pocket Phonics." "Flash Spanish" a Spanish picture dictionary, and "Latin SB" a Latin pronunciation dictionary and word of the day program. "Digitz" (I have the lite/free version) a math game where the numbers drop and you have to click numbers to add up to a certain amount (5, 10, 9 etc for the entire round). There is also a great pattern game called "Color Fill." There is a pattern that you color with four different colors, but you can't have two sections of the same color touching. "Slice it" has you slice geometric shapes into equal parts. "PuzPenguin" a game where you have to place ice cubes in strategic places and move a penguin around to get him through an ice hole. "Angry Birds" has the player work with angle and trajectory to use birds to know down structures. With our "Words with Friends" and "Scrabble" I got an app to help find good words, it has a dictionary in it. If we use it to find a word, we look at the definition. "Moxie" is a word building game. You get one letter at a time and have to place them on the bird to make words, then replace letters to make new words. Similar to the boardgame "UpWords." I have a free "TimeReading" to help with determining DS's reading level. I also have a Bible app that has 100s of translations of the Bible, you can read it on the iPod/iPhone or listen to it read aloud. You can also select reading plans to follow and it will track your progress. (You can read on the phone or from your own Bible and just check off the chapters.) There are so many more, but this is what I have on my iPod right now.

Our garage is full! We have two closets that are packed and then the toys!!! I am slowly trying to clean stuff out. It took a 3 days to pack the truck when we moved from MO to OK! We filled two storage units floor to ceiling plus, what we took with us to my parents' house. When we moved out, we had added quite a bit to our collection. Now....I know I have accumulated more, but I am constantly getting rid of more. Watching Hoarders helps motivate me! ;)

I lived these books as a kid! I cannot look at my 3 year olds ringlets without thinking of Among! I have been known to gently pull a curl and say "boing!" We just checked out The Mouse and the Motorcycle

I prefer chocolate ice cream, cookies, and candy but I would rather have vanilla or strawberry cake.

Singapore has placement test to print in theory site. Give her a few of those and see where she is.

My mom has started asking Mr what to het the kids and she gives us cash more than stuff now. She is even looking at stuff I can use fir school! She is buying DS some my little pony ponies readers instead of a junk souvenir from her next trip!!

I borrowed the second edition from the library and recently purchased the third edition. They do recommend their own programs in each area, but the also list a couple of other curriculum programs for each subject. I think they do provide good explanations of why they would or would not suggest using a certain product.

Do they itch? Are they getting bigger, or just more? Is anything coming out of them? Do they hurt her if you touch them? Does she have a fever? My DD was prone to Staph infections if she got diaper rash. They started as small bumps that looked like pimples or bug bites, and they kept getting bigger. They built up pressure and hurt with the slightest touch. With heat they would drain a little and the pain would go down. 2-3 infections were MRSA and the rest were just Staph. You have to go to the doctor if that's what it is, she would need antibiotics. She would most likely have a fever, and the bumps will start to hurt, a lot! Could it be an allergic reaction? I only recently found out that I am apparently allergic to Advil and other similar medications. I broke out into the worst hives and had some asthma type symptoms. I itched like crazy. A paste of oatmeal and cornstarch helped relieve the itching. Again, they started out as little bumps and then spread. I hope you figure it out.

I think it is definitely worth it. We only pay for the streaming video. My kids love the PBS shows and recently discovered Busy Town Mysteries! I have enjoyed some of the documentaries. I have a hard time browsing on the ROKU or Wii, it is a lot easier to just look around on the website. I would not pay for the DVDs, just the streaming.

Look at Spelling Plus by Susan Anthony. It has a plan for spelling through 6th grade. It has spelling lists created that cover the 1000 most used words, they are divided by spelling rules. There is a larger list in the back of the book that is also arranged by rules. Each list references the page of extra words. The book thoroughly explains the method to use to teach the lists. Add in the Dictation book and I feel it is a very strong program. I think Shurley Grammar would be a good fit for a classroom. You can get the First Whole Book of Diagrams as an addition to teach diagramming. Singapore Math with all the add ons - IP and CWP

The History Tunes are the Sentences (I believe). The Audio CDs are of all the material in the Parent Guide.The timeline is separate. You have to buy the VP cards. We are doing this at home this year as well. I purchased the Parent Guide, the VP cards, and all the audio cds for each cycle.

We start tomorrow, too! I am ready to get back to a normal schedule!!!

Last pic.

The past two weeks we had a musical theatre camp for K-3rd and 4th-7th graders. My DS5 participated in the camp (the only boy with 21 girls!! in the k-3rd group) He played Prince Philip in Sleeping Beauty. He did such a great job!! All of the kids did. The little girl playing Aurora told her Grandmother the she wanted to marry my DS when she gets a little older :) I have one more picture to share, but it only let me load 5 pictures, so see the next post.

I have an HTC Inspire and I love it! I do not sync music to it, I do have a separate tOuch for that. I prefer the way my phone works. It has a bigger screen than the iPhone. I love the calendar. I have a Google account and use that calendar, I love that it automatically sync with my phone. My Phineas calendar IS my Google calendar! Now I just need to get dh on an android and set up my gmail account so we can use the same calendar!

I have a general Idea of what is going on, but I have been reading between shows. Can I get a PM? I am really curious after 20+ pages!

At 18 months, my ds got into the pantry, opened an applause and pulled a spoon from the diaper bag. He ate without making any mess! He is 5 and can make PBJ, popcorn, chicken nuggets in the microwave, get a bowl of cereal with milk, and make chocolate milk. He wakes up before the rest of us and learned to fend for himself. I think that this is a very important life skill. My husband and I share cooking duties. He cooks some wonderful meals. I want my son to be able to do the dame thing when he gets married. My 3 year old is my cookie expert. She comes to me with two sticks of butter at least once a week! ;)