A beginner. I really like what I hear about classical so far and it definitely inspires me but I haven't even read the book yet. I decide what subjects I want to teach then find curriculum and material. I want a good solid well rounded education for the kids. I am a secular homeschooler. I originally thought unschooling sounded so great but dd needs structure and routine and I have since done a complete turnaround on that.

That sucks. I'm sorry. We been on the market a long time too. You gave me hope when you posted that even after being on the market a while you can get a bite. That stinks that just when you were in the home stretch that the rug got pulled.

I feel exactly the same. I need alone time. I don't like to go out to have it because there are people around and that not what I want. I just need quiet but they don't leave me alone. My kids are small but ack. I thought it would be better when they get older. I like homeschooling so far but I feel an especially intense need for homeschooling since starting. I get some during the day but even during the rare moments when I have time to myself to think I feel like I am on anyway. My dh gets home at 8 and by then I am done and want to hole up and hide away fro everyone but it does not happen. I end up taying up too late and regretting it every morning. If dh was ok with it I even have more kid (he isn't) but then I wonder if that would make the need for alone time to process even harder to come by.

If that is true then maybe I can use it with ds. I can start with 1 and 2 and maybe they will have 3 and 4 out when he is ready for it. I wonder what material 3 and 4 will cover. How long did it take them to create all the spelling levels?

With dd I started when she was 5 because I thought that was a good age and she knew her letter sounds. DS is 3.5 and knows his letters and sounds but I don't feel he has great phonemic awareness yet. When I know he can rhyme and he knows beginning, middle and ending sounds, and the concept of blending I will probably start. DS is farther along than dd was at the same age so I think he be ready to start sooner. I can see maybe starting at 4.

I am doing the same thing and I am not usually like that. I barely buy things but I keep wanting to try new curriculum or start something and then it doesn't work out or wasn't quite what I expected.

Malachi

My ds climbed out at 14 months. I moved him to a bed on the floor. He was a crazy kid obviously but he did great in a bed. He didn't wander the room or get into trouble but it was childproofed just in case. He shared the room with my dd who was 3 at the time. I closed the door and he could not reach or open doors at the time. I had to sit with him again to put him to bed at first but he eventually was able to put himself to sleep again. Bonus was he started sleeping better. He just didn't like the crib and co sleeping did not work because he was too wakeful and wiggly. I think it was easier to do it while he was young.

Oops didn't notice that this was an older post. Hopefully she get the help she needs. :grouphug:

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I don't know that this is a popular one but I really like Dr. Seuss early reader books for dd. I tried bob books and they were not interesting and dd could sound the words out but it was choppy and slow. She can do parts of the Seuss books fluently and pick up the words faster the way it is organized. They are also are pretty fun to read. I will be printing out the 52 free I See Sam Readers. I would of printed them already but we don't have a printer at the moment.

We have language immersion schools here and they are effective but they are not only for 6 weeks. Even if you could learn in 6 weeks you would need reinforcement more than twice a year to keep it up.

I am using AAS and I am only in early lessons of reading instruction. I was originally going to wait until she was reading better but I think the extra multi sensory practice will be good for dd and it starts out simple enough and moves a little slower so I think it will be fine.

I have Evan Moore Beginning Geography for now and dd really likes it. I just have the workbook. Out of all the knowledge books I have like the science encyclopedia, animal encyclopedic and books on the human body dd always picks the atlas book to read. Whenever we do school she asks if we are going to do geography today. If I ask if she wants to read books on other subjects she usually does not want to. Since she likes geography so much I figure I will indulge that and find more on the topic.

I got a copy of seeing stars because I thought it could be hepful for dd to learn to read. She is blending pretty good but she is not turning words she sees over and over into sight words. She had a hard time with letters and numbers but not counting and sounds. She has no problem with concepts or phonemic awareness. This book sounds like it will help with the issue she is having and even if it just that she still young I figure it won't hurt. Anyway I just got it recently and I found it a lot easier than I expected. It will be easy for dd to do and for me to implement. It is good timing to start with air writing single letters because I also started AAS recently and we are on the writing letters step. Since the example kid in the book is older than dd do you think I can do the parts up to cvc words then use words from her lessons until she gets to more complicated words then start the nonsense words that are more complicated then work from her lessons?

I thought that could happen but I was hoping it wouldn't. Ds really likes using it.

I'm not sure the temp because the temp on the thermostat is not accurate. I live in an apartment style condo with heated garages below us and neighbors around us and above us. I only need to turn the heat on when it is really really cold and it stays warm enough for us because of the heat from other units. I try to acclimate to the weather and we dress for the season. When I do turn the heat on I just turn it just enough for the thermostat to click on. I am not sure what the temperature is. The only time I turn it up is during showings. I am sure some people will think it is cold but it isn't to me. You can acclimate to cooler temps. We don't need air in the summer here but when I lived in California we only turned it on a handful of times. I do it to use less energy for environmental reasons and to save money but it also helps to adjust better to the weather conditions.

I definitely agree with this but sometimes it skews things a little when a child is not an accelerated learner and it seems like the norm is to be an accelerated learner. You start to worry even if nothing is wrong especially when so many do have accelerated learners but don't think of them as such because they themselves are. Does that make sense?

http://www.paulcooijmans.com/intelligence/iq_ranges.html http://www.highiqpro.com/recent-iq-research/academic-achievement-income-iq I just found some quick links. I research topics and statistics on topics a lot and I have read studies on the topic but that is what I found real quick. I know they are not the best sites on the topic.

I apologize for how I worded my post. I was more talking about potential not that all gifted kids will be successful. Income is correlated with IQ score and certain higher level careers you need to be at least moderately gifted to do. To get a college degree or even a grad degree you need a certain IQ level. To get a PHD you need to be gifted. Obviously there are exceptions to that and it varies by field. I guess that bottoms out when you are talking about the higher ranges. In the area I grew up it is not common to have gifted kids treated like how people here describe. I doubt they were really challenged but they were allowed to take classes ahead of other kids and people looked up to them for that not put them down or told them to not answer questions. In my area now there is a school for kids who are gifted and to get in you just have to prove that. There is a charter that starts the gifted program in kindergarten and allows kids to take the level of subject they are in. With homeschooling you can do that too but obviously there are issues that come up too. I do know about being 2E but I wasn't thinking about that and the issues that come with that. I am a little skeptical of the statistics they are quoting on drop outs but they do drop out more than I thought which is a huge issue that needs to be addressed. I am just shy of being gifted or on the low ranges depending on the chart and I had difficulty making friends but it wasn't because of that it was because I am shy and awkward. None of my teachers even noticed because I was so shy and lazy about doing work since I didn't see the point. Kids did seem immature to me and I had a hard time knowing what to talk about but the kids who were really gifted had friends. That just anecdote of course. I don't doubt many kids have difficulty making friends or they get treated wrong but it isn't inevitable in moderate ranges. My kids are still young but I have met a lot of moms bragging about how ahead there kids are and constantly talking about how ahead and advanced they are even when it is irrelevant. Every topic starts well she having a hard time with some normal issue that comes up with kids but she was ahead in every other area and she started talking in sentences before 1. Most parents are probably not like that and it probably much worse before kids get school age. I don't see it happening as much now that my oldest is getting school age. I actually was surprised that a mom I used to go to a play group with had a son that was profoundly gifted because she didn't bring it all the time. She was just talking about him getting into a school. A lot of what is being talked about here doesn't have to be related to intelligence. Being sensitive to noise is a sensory issue. You don't have to mention intelligence to explain that a kid is really sensitive to noise stimulus. I am sorry for the way I worded my post. I don't doubt accelerated kids have issues and get missed by schools. Being gifted is a gift and they do have a lot of potential. It is sad that many get missed, they are not challenged in school or they have a hard time making friends. I don't think any one should have to hide that but I also think that as other described that you need to know your audience and when to share. The mommy wars and the bragging does go on with regard to intelligence. I notice on a lot of boards that when a mom is worried about her kid that a lot of people with accelerated kids chime in on what their children's milestones were if it is a general question. Even on here I feel that more kids are accelerated than in the general population and it skews things a little when talking about curriculum. There are many places where being average isn't seen as a good thing and everyone wants a child that is gifted or accelerated but I don't doubt that there are issues and isolation too and kids falling through the cracks or bullied because of their intelligence or that you can't even share little tidbits or the hardships associated with it sometimes because of other reactions. Hopefully I didn't step on more toes with this. I apologize for my other post.

I want to really work with my almost 3.5 year old on phonemic awareness before we move onto reading. He knows all his letter sounds already except he says "I can't say those" for s and z because he can't make those sounds. lol Does the book below look good for that. The link below has a lot of the info from the book but I want some lesson plans and an ideas of what words to use for the activities and in what order. If you know other good suggestions for pre-reading phonemic awareness that is more than just teaching letters and letter sounds let me know. http://www.amazon.com/Phonemic-Awareness-Young-Children-Curriculum/dp/1557663211 http://www.readingrockets.org/article/377/#finding

I really wish there was something out there like that I could do with ds right now. I am not super creative to come up with my own curriculum but he knows his sounds and I want to work with him on phonemic awareness right now so when we are ready to start reading instruction we won't hit any road blocks.

A multi sensory program that is strong in phonemic awareness. If the child is having difficulty in either the auditory or visual aspects then a program the addresses that. I don't think phonics or whole word will work for all children.

I agree with this. I know that peanut allergies can be severe and life threatening but I probably would just be thinking of protein sensitivity or a lactose intolerance if someone said their kid had a milk allergy.

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