We read lots of living books (tons of Let's Read and Find Out books), do a worksheet based on what we learn, and accompany most topics with several hands on activities, crafts or experiments. We log and photograph our hands on work, and write down any vocab from the reading. This all gets filed in a three ring science binder. Right now to go along with a human body study we are also making life size body posters with all the organs colored and pasted on. My kids enjoy science a lot and never complain about it. We are using Evan Moor's ScienceWorks series as our foundation and I add resources to it all the time.

Thank you for your response! It is so hard to know what to order when I haven't seen any of these materials in person...

Nobody has used this? :001_huh:

I have my daughter say the entire problem with the answer. She is having trouble seeing the relationships between the numbers and I think it cements things in her mind if she says the whole thing. Audio + Visual.

I did a search on this forum to try to get some feedback about the Study Time Arithmetic math series available from Pathway Publishers. It looks similar to Saxon in its spiral approach, and I am considering using it for my daughter. However I am coming up short on any opinions/reviews about it. Honestly, it looks strong, but I can't find much about it. If any of you have used this curriculum or know someone who has, I would love to know your thoughts.

I didn't have trouble with the site, the coupon, or the downloading. It was quick and painless. I have a Mac and it was superbly easy. Hmmm I wish I knew what to suggest. I felt like I can't wait for next year's sale!

I don't have any math curriculum advice, because I am not currently using one except what I put together and am still debating what to jump into for 3rd grade, but I wanted to agree with some of the other women and say that you are the best person to walk your daughter through this math struggle. She will not be able to understand math any better in school and things will move faster than her pace. In this situation you are able to offer her the "tutor" approach and it will ultimately be what is best. Hang in there!

Her knowledge of place value is important, and it helps for them to understand that ultimately when counting by 5's the hundreds place is completely irrelevant (until of course they reach 95...). I am working on this concept with my 2nd grade daughter and counting by 10's. Example: what is 10 more than 24? She started catching on when told that the ones place does not matter at all when skip counting ahead by 10's. It just stays the same all the time. A discussion about this with the hundreds place would be important, but of course your daughter would have to have a handle on the place values, first. :) That seems pretty basic, but it is what I do with mine. Also, a number chart from 100-200, or 200-300 would help her to see the concept visually.

I am in this dilemma this year with addition/subtraction facts for my 2nd grader. I decided to do some fact family work/drills every day and just keep plugging away at our regular math program. I assume we will do the same thing for multiplication when we get there in third. I memorized all the times tables in fourth grade (my parents gave me some sort of incentive, I can't remember what) and I think that was an acceptable age to expect full memorization. How we will go about it, I don't know, but knowing that table made math INCREDIBLY easier for me. I think it is very important to have it completely memorized, but the rest of math should not stop until this is accomplished. Encourage the memorization alongside the regular curriculum, I would say. You don't want to get behind in other areas!

I think it IS possible to learn just by reading, but *somehow* I think you need to be sure the comprehension is there. Which is where the narrations come in. I don't know your children, but perhaps they have never been formally instructed in what is expected for narration? A whole chapter of science would require more than one sentence, for example. Maybe try just oral narrations for a while to see how much content they can come up with. If narrations aren't accomplishing what you want, perhaps you could try hands on projects to reinforce the science learning. My children are younger than yours, so I don't have specific advice for that age group. I wish I could offer more. I know how it is to feel frustrated with an aspect of school that just isn't coming together...and if it would make you feel better, I don't think there is anything wrong with using all Rod & Staff. It may not be the most *exciting* curriculum out there, but your peace of mind about your children's learning is invaluable.

I had already went through and purchased some of these dollar days books, before I read about the code!! Booo. So then I went through again, but used the $10 for a regular priced book. I was worried it wouldn't work on the discount ones, but some people said they figured it out...thanks for posting!

We don't have any curriculum money in our budget, either. I get a LOT of books from inter-library loan, lots more from my local thrift stores, and the rest I have to raise the funds for! I do this by selling old curriculum/clothing/anything else I can find on eBay. I also purchase the books I need off of eBay (if I can find them) because the prices are so good. I *rarely* purchase new books unless they are completely consumable or impossible to find, and even new books can be found at a significant discount if you shop around. This has allowed me to get the curriculum I want at a price I can afford.

Hits: Enjoying the ScienceWorks series by Evan Moor-currently doing Human Body DD actually likes R&S Spelling 2 SOTW 2 is working well (we add lots of additional reading) DD working through CLE Bible 2 happily-she is a worksheet sort of girl Teaching Art to Children (Evan Moor) is always cheered by the kids Misses: No major ones yet! Except the fact that I am now regretting doing two separate Bible programs with my kids. I wish I would have combined them. Otherwise we are moving right along. So far so good. I don't get too many complaints about school from them, but I know it is still early in the year:tongue_smilie:

I let my daughter use counters or her abacus for addition for a long time. Abstract math is now clicking well with her (gr2) and she scorns the idea of using counters. But we depended on them for K/1. She did Horizons and enjoyed it, but like most math programs it needed a little tweak to work for our family/child. I wouldn't worry about abstract addition not making sense to your son yet. My K son is leaps behind where his sister was in abstract thinking at the same age, but does great with anything hands on. Just keep at it, and let him get his hands in it.

DD7 reads her Bible lesson out loud to me several times a week. That is really all the reading aloud we do. She is a great reader and reads fluently, so I don't stress it that much. But some of the Bible language is hard to pronounce. She mostly just does a ton of silent reading on her own.

I agree. My daughter does not recall the details of everything, but I love the lightbulb of recognition when she hears a name or event that she recognizes from SOTW. I am trying not to stress it too much. I want her to think history is fun!

We are enjoying this program, too, with a K & 2nd grader. We also do art appreciation, sort of Charlotte Mason style, one artist at a time. I try to tie in the aspects we are learning in the above book with any picture studies we are doing.

I really enjoy the activity guides. I like the questions they have after each reading, the additional reading suggestions, and the maps. We only do a few of the actual crafts/activities because they are time intensive sometimes, but there is so much to choose from for every type of family/need. We do not utilize the coloring pages much either, but if your child loves to color they would be useful. Last year I did not use the AG for SOTW 1. I had the time and energy to come up with all my own supplementary maps/ideas. This year the AG has been invaluable for SOTW 2 since it is all laid out for me. With a toddler and a baby on the way I needed the simplicity!

Will be starting an abridged version of Robin Hood with my K & 2 graders. Just finished Favorite Medieval Tales by Mary Pope Osborne. Also have been reading the American Girl books with my daughter at night before bed.

I've got a very active 21 month old, and he REALLY makes school difficult for my K and 2nd graders. We started school two weeks ago. So far we try to do the 3 R's in the morning before his nap, and everything else while he sleeps. Our read-alouds will often wait until he is in bed for the night. We have weekly goals, but our days change from day to day based on errands, the toddler and everything else! I have always had a pretty rigid schedule, but this year it just won't work. The kids don't seem to mind!

My daughter (7) has been in dance since she was 4. She originally was dying to go, and I was thrilled about that since dance is a love of mine as well. However, there were times that she did not want to go (ages 4 and 5) because it was "too much work". She wanted to play around (think: twirl in a beautiful tutu) and was not happy with how structured the class was. Her father and I kept encouraging her to go and now she is devastated to miss class. It is the highlight of her week. I think there are always times that kids want to quit things. If she really HATED the class I would not have made her go because it would have been a pure waste of money and energy. But since her lack of enthusiasm was simply due to laziness :) we kept making her go. I'm glad we did!

Interesting question! I have never tried this! DD is 7 and just started 2nd grade this year. She could probably manage to get a thought out on paper, but the spelling and punctuation would need WORK. I may try this and see what happens...:)

I think it sounds good! It is similar to what we are doing with my 4 year old this year. You will, of course, want to be reading, reading, reading to them, but it doesn't have to be "lessons".:) For the three R's, I think that looks great (I would add in manipulatives for K to supplement the Horizons lessons-it helped my kids a lot). And Artistic Pursuits is pretty hands on, from what I have heard/researched. Have fun! New curriculum is always exciting.

We use a silverware caddy like this one: http://www.kaboodle.com/reviews/partyware-flatware-caddy. It looks nice, and keeps everything in its place. We just got one at our local thrift store, and it has worked so well. The handle makes it easy to transport, too.

I taught my daughter phonics and spelling at the same time when she was in first grade. I did not use a curriculum, but came up with words that followed a specific rule (such as -oa- words) and we would work through them for a week. It was laid back, but very helpful. She could read well at the time, but I still felt she needed a firm phonics foundation.