Would I be able to just buy the teachers book and make up letter tiles and phonogram flashcards? From what I can see the student pack is four sets of flash cards, which I can easily make on index cards, and the tiles can be made as well. They won't be as pretty, but they will work. Actually I may have some magnet letter tiles around here somewhere...I would love to do AAS, but don't have the $65 to buy everything right now. I could though, get the TM for $17. Would someone who has never done AAS be able to do that?

Ok. I am trying to understand how to do this, but I am really confused.:confused: Do I just say the two letter 'words' and she writes them? Does she spell them? Do I show her what they look like first and then test her? Is there a part that tells us when to use long vowel sounds/short vowel sounds? I've been looking at the Websters speller for two days, and I still do not understand what to do. For example, the word Find uses a long I sound, but the word Fill uses a short I sound...how do I explain why? I can not find where in Websters it tells us that kind of thing... I feel so stupid! I'm a good reader and speller, reading is my favorite pastime. However, I was not taught phonics or spelling rules at all. I think I can see when a word looks 'off' because I read a lot, but I can't explain WHY it's wrong, kwim? sorry for such dumb questions...:tongue_smilie:

We are using- Miquon math Beautiful Feet books for history and geography Charlotte Mason style nature notebooks for science Copy work for handwriting, grammar, spelling, and bible ala CM First Steps and various readers for reading She is also writing to two pen pals weekly, playing on Time For Learning, watching nature documentaries, visiting interesting museums, science centers, aquariums, zoos, farms, sanctuaries, nurseries, preserves, theaters, and traveling a ton...we have gone to the Keys, the mountains, and we are planning a trip to the desert soon. Most of our learning happens as we experience it first hand. :)

We love love love the D'Aulaire books from Beautiful Feet. They are everything I wanted in a children's history book-accurate, well written, and beautifully illustrated. They captivate my six year old, and we are flying through them. They are pricey up front, but well worth it.

We are using all of the D'Aulaire books from Beautiful Feet books. So far we have read Lief the Lucky and have just started Columbus. It's hard to stop once we start, and the books re not lasting nearly as long as I thought they would! They are historically accurate, well written, and beautifully illustrated. We love them around here! I also purchased The American Story 100 True Tales to use as a story telling spine...I plan to use all of the D'Aulaire books they have, and for the time period in between, read from the other book. My oldest is six, and this year I really want to give her an overview of American history, and focus on a few key people from the D'Aulaire biographies. Next year we will dive deeper into various events. Hope that helps!

Thank you for all of your replies! It really helps to see what others are doing! So here is what we have been doing, could you tell me if it seems like too much, too little, or a good balance? Dd is 6.5 and is just starting to read independently. She can read more than she thinks she can, I just pushed her too much when she was younger and now she has a stigma about it.:001_huh: She is very resistant to formal phonics, ala 100EZ lessons, or Funnix or things of that nature. So far, what is working best right now is to let her read from the First Steps book, and from picture books she knows the story line to. She is quite advanced in math, aand it seems to come easily to her. She really grasps the concepts of multiplying and dividing as well as adding and subtracting. We do school six days a week, simply because my kids really thirve on routine. It also leaves a cushion for those hectic days. Daily, I have her copy a bible verse as her writing. She also has two pen pals that we write to weekly. Have talked about basic grammar and punctuation with her, but nothing formal. She is required to read something to me, anything at this point. We do one page from Miquon. Four times a week, I read to her for American history, using the books from Beautiful Feet curriculum. Two to three times a week, I read to her for geography, again using the BF books recommendations. Science happens daily, one to two times a week we work on our nature notebook and the rest of the time we are outside quite a bit. She also loves reading out of animal encyclopedias and watching Nat. Geo documentaries, so science is easy for us. We will be attending a monthly class at our local preserve as well. I have HOD Beyond, but I found that we were skipping so much it wasn't really working. We didn't do their phonics, math, spelling, devotional or science. That left the poetry and history. So I scrapped it for now. I do love the idea of HOD, but it just didnt work right now. So what do you all think? Too much, not enough? I feel really guilty for not doing phonics, but honestly, she is sooooo resistant to reading right now (and that's my fault) I'm hesitant to push it. She'll be ok just reading right now, right?:confused:

What does a typical day look like for your first grade kid? I'm having a hard time figuring out how much to do every day...sometimes I want to let her play and not do too much seat work, and other times I think I'm failing her by not pushing her a bit more... It would be really helpful to see what others do on a typical day. Specifics would be great, like if you do copy work, how much is it exactly? One sentence, a verse? 10 minutes, 20? Or math, how many pages? Or time spent? How often do you do science and history? Art, composer or picture study? Do you do grammar, spelling, and phonics, or just kind of read books? Sorry, I'm just having second thoughts and doubts about what I am doing right now lol. Thanks!!!

My goal this year is simplicity in HS...in order to leave more time for other things! For my 6 year old 1st grader, we do- Copywork from the bible daily (I count this as handwriting, bible and spelling) Reading from her reader daily Miquon math one page daily *this takes about 20-30 minutes at the table American history read alouds from the Beautiful Feet book list 3x a week Geography read alouds from the Beautiful Feet book list 3x a week *this takes about 15-20 minutes snuggled in bed Nature journaling 1-2x a week *this takes anywhere from 20 minutes to a few hours, depending on the weather. It takes about one hour per day dedicated to schooling, but of course lots of life lessons and field trips help in educating our kids too!