Thank you. I hadn't looked at this before. I am looking forward to checking it out.

Thanks for the suggestions. I had looked at R.E.A.L. Science and really liked it but wasn't sure if it would be too hard for my 5 year old (since it says it starts at a 1st grade level). What do you think?

Thank you! Very helpful in giving be a "short list" to look at instead of the endless number of things that pop up when I google. I hope things settle down for you and thank you again for responding.

I am looking for secular k/1st science curriculum suggestions. My son takes after dh (a wildlife biologist) and is extreemly into science, especially life science. He is constanly asking me to do more science stuff. I on the other hand am not the "sciencey" type at all. So, I feel like in order to do more than I am currently doing (reading science books from the library and doing random experiments from books and the web) I will need a bit of handholding and something that is sort of laid out for me. My son is only almost 5, but he is pretty amazing when it comes to his vocabulary and ability to comprehend complex ideas that we read about in books and discuss. He grasps concepts that I feel should be pretty over his head. I don't really have much to compare it to, but I feel like he is advanced for his age in this area. So, I feel like he could probably handle something a little more rigorous in science, especially given his interest in this area. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thank you. Tamara

We got some learning to read books for my son in El Salvador the last time we went to visit. All the ones I looked at basically just introduce the vowel sounds, then they go through each letter pairing it with all the vowels (i.e. ba be bi bo bu, da de di do du, etc). Then they start having kids practice reading words with those sounds. That is it. It took me a while to accept that too. Since phonics in English is such a complicated mess that takes a couple of years to get through I just couldn't beleive it could be that simple, but it is.

I live on the Big Island (Hawaii). There is a really big homeschool community here. My impression is that this is true on most islands...as the schools are pretty aweful here (I say this is a former public school teacher that taught here on the Big Island). My experience on the Big Island has been that most homeschoolers here lean towar unschooling, though I have found a few that are more traditional. I am not sure if this is true on Oahu as well. It is expensive to live here. Housing, food, and gas are much more expensive than the mainland. However, there are a ton of free activities (beach, hiking, etc) to do year round and lots of free family type events all year long as well. So, I feel like I spend a lot less on entertainment than I did when I lived in San Francisco. Also, shipping to Hawaii is always a lot more. Media mail often tekes 2-3 months to get here and is very unreliable, so be prepared to pay extra to ship your homeschool supplies/curriculum. That said, I wouldn't live anywhere else. Hawaii is a great place to live. So laid back, no stress, and I love being able to take my kids to the beach anytime (we are beach people). I also love that I don't have to buy them winter clothes, fall clothes, summer clothes, etc. every year. I hope that helps. Tamara

Thanks for this! I live in Hawaii and shipping is always an issue for me.

Thanks for the suggestion. At first I was a lot more on it as far as changing things up everyday....so maybe I do just need to get back to making it a little more fun and different each day so that he doesn't feel like we are just redoing to lessons when we review.

I ma about half way through level A with my almost 5 year old and we both love it! Math is not really my "thing" so I love that it tells me exactly what to do. My son is not a work book kid, and doesn't write well yet, so he loves that it is fun and different everyday, and that he doesn't have to write during math time. I think it is worth the cast. You really get a lot of fun things and I feel like my son has learned so much, and also that what he has learned he REALLY KNOWS and UNDERSTANDS. I am planning to keep using it and purchase level B. I am bummed that it seems people don't like the later levels because I love it and would hate to switch to something else.

Thanks for the suggestions. I just feel so unsure of myself at times. rosesinsummer: I love the Daily Five idea! I am definately going to give that a go to change things up a bit. I think it will get him to review a bit without being upset about it since it will feel new to him in a different format. 3peasinapod: I should definately get on the readers. I have the Bob books and some Nora Gaydos, I just need to dig them out and actually use them more consistently, so thanks for that reminder.

So here is my situation. I began OPGTR with my son when he turned 4 and he will now be 5 in a couple months. He has done really great, and being that he is so young I am thrilled with where we are. We just finished up section 4 (consinent blends). He reads cvc words easily (without sounding them out). The consinent blend words he still has to sound out each letter and then say the word. That said, once he sounds out the letters he gets the word right 99% of the time. Here is my question: Since he is still sounding out each letter for the consinent blend words, is it ok to move on to section 5 (consinent diagraphs), or should I repeat the section 4 lessons untill he is reading them without sounding out? I am in no hurry right now because, as I said, he is only 4, so I wouldn't mind just repeating section 4, or at least part of it. At the same time, he really dislikes repeating lessons (the couple of times I have tried to do this to get him to practice a little more he got very upset and said he wanted to do the next one). I think this is because he gets frustrated that there are words in the world that he doesn't know how to read...lol. When I read books to him he will ask how to say a word on the page, and if he can't make sense of it he starts asking me "When are we going to learn to read words like this?" So, what would you do? Thanks...this is my first kiddo, so I am new to the whole teaching reading thing and just learning as I go.

My son liked it for a couple of months then he was over it so I cancelled the subscription. I definately feel that it was supplemental and just a fun thing for him to do. I don't feel like he got nearly enough out of it to make it his reading program. I more used it as a reward for getting through a tough lesson in our regular school. He doesn't miss it now.

We live on the Big Island (Hawaii)...so food is expensive here. We try to do $800 a month for the 4 of us, and that is tough. I always love visiting family on the mainland and going to the grocery store...I feel like everything there is a bargain...lol.

This would be my suggestion too. I have been thinking about this as well since I have a 5 year old too and am thinking about what to do with history next year. That said, I think the Ancients is probably the safest time period. I feel like it just gets worse the more toward the present we go, or at least it doesn't get any better. I am a little confused by all of the people suggesting doing American History first...that seems pretty full of death and some pretty heavy topics to me--in fact I fail to see the "fluffy" "light" part in it all. Thinking long term I was actually thinking my son would have to be a lot older before I could even think about doing American history with him. Genocide, slavery, religious persecution, racial prejudice,....on and on....how do I talk about those things with a 5 year old? Or 6 year old? Or 7 year old....you know what I mean. Just my thoughts.

This is the one we use. My kids LOVE it.

I use readingeggs as a reward for doing our regular phonics lessons (OPGTR and bits and pieces of ETC. I will be starting AAS in a couple of months when we are a little farther into OPGTR). I don't feel like it would be an equal replacement for them. My ds just kind of goes through it and doesn't necessarily master a concept before he moves on. It is possible for them to get through the levels this way. I also don't feel like there is enough practice in readingeggs by itself. At least not for my ds. That said...I feel you. When we first started a few months ago my ds really disliked both OPGTR and ETC. I had to put them both away for a couple weeks and then come up with a new strategy for using them. Some things I have done with OPGTR that helped us: 1. He NEVER sees the OPGTR book. 2. I have him make all the stand alone words with letter tiles and then read them to me. 3. For the stories he either reads them off the white board, erasing as he goes, or I make a little book with a sentance on each page. He reads the sentance and then draws a picture to go with it. 4. Sometimes I change the names in the story to his name, his sister's name, mom, dad...etc. He thinks this is hillarious and it seems to make the stories much more enjoyable for him to read. 5. I just got this little mailbox at Target for putting Valentine's Day cards in and once in a while I have been writting out one of the stories on paper and putting it in his mail box like a letter for him. He is constantly chacking his mail box now and loves to read his "mail". As for ETC...I just use it to supplement when I feel like he needs extra practice with a concept, but we do not do all the lessons. Also, I really minimize the writting part of it because he loathes writting. So, I try to keep reading and writting really separate. I just have him tell me what the answers are and I write them in if writting is necessary. He must do all the reading though. I hope that maybe some of those suggestions help make OPGTR and ETC a little more appealing to your dc. Good luck.

Congrats! I made the mistake of trying to use the book the first time I tried OPGTR. After about a week my son would throw a fit whenever he saw the book. So I put it away for a few weeks and now I have him make all the words with letter tiles then read them. For the stories I either write them on the white board and he gets to erase as he reads, or I make little books out of computer paper and he gets to draw a piture once he reads the sentance. I set this all up the night before so he never sees the book. We are moving write along with the lessons now. Funny how that works.

My son is in K this year and I am doing prehistory with him. I am just winging it on my own though. I made a list of topics I wanted to cover and am working my way through them with picture books from the library and comming up with my own little projects to go along with each topic. We will be doing SOTW 1 next year. I have been pretty relaxed about it, just wanting him to get a sense of what happened leading up to the ancients.

My 4 year old loves Right Start. He begs to do math most days. I look foreward to it to and I am not a mathy person at all.

Thanks for sharing. I am going to try this.

This looks great! Thanks for the suggestion.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I am really gonna get on it and search this week.

This is the problem I have been comming accross too.

Thanks. We really have nothing locally. We live in Hawaii and there are not many Spanish speakers here. I will check out Amazon though. Thanks again. Tamara

Anyone out there on the Big Island in Hawaii? We are really trying to find other homeschoolers here that are not unschoolers. It is looking like an impossible task, so I thought I would give a shout and see if anyone else is out there.