So, would you say that, as a whole, it's more about having high moral standards versus being "religious?"

I planned to use it over 2 years. My girls are only 4 and 5 years old, and we started in late August. However, we just finished chapter 3, which is fine by me. I think my youngest will get more out of it as she matures a bit more. We might or might not get it done by August of 2010, but again, that's fine by us. We have plenty of time. :)

How is Rod and Staff in the religion department? Do they lean towards any particular religion? Is their grammar program heavy in religious teaching? I'm hesitant to use "religious" curricula just for the reasons that are stated in the BJU/A Beka thread (anti-Catholism, Catholic haters, etc.). I want my children to learn math as math and English as English. As for the religious learning, we have a Bible curriculum and Sunday school to teach them our beliefs. I do not mind the occasional story about Joseph being thrown in or Bible verses here and there throughout the pages, but I don't want something that will tell them they need to be Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, etc. ANY information about the R&S materials would be very helpful. Thanks! :lurk5:

Yep, we're on it. We're going with the Math Mammoth, though. She REALLY likes it. We've done some 2nd grade sample lessons, so I'm going to go through the Saxon assessments with her and briefly cover anything she doesn't know yet. (We still have to do quarters, nickels, skip counting by 5's, etc.) She doesn't usually need much review once she has practiced it a few times. I'm hoping by the end of the month I'll be moving my 5 year old onto 2nd grade math. :confused: :lol: I'm going to do the same thing with my 4 year old with Saxon K. We're going to go through the assessments and see what she knows and what she doesn't know. Then we can move her on, too. She actually sat through a lot of the manipulative activities when she was 3, watching and copying her sister, so this year has been kind of a review for her on that end. Makes for easy teaching. :D

That's pretty much what we did. I high-fived her, told her it was awesome, then we went and told her dad, who did pretty much the same thing.

That's a sticky one. I can't grasp it enough myself to explain it to the young. It's one of those things I've never really understood. All I know is that I believe in God and in Jesus, I love them very much, and I try my hardest to have a good relationship with God. But let my 5 year old save her questions for a while longer. :lol:

We're going to be switching to Math Mammoth very soon. If there are any parts of it that I feel need extra teaching and/or practice, or even a different approach, I still have my Saxon 2 manual that I can pull lessons out of to supplement with. We haven't started the new program at all, so I'm not really sure how often I will use Saxon to supplement. So, I guess I'm really not much help today. :D

I know what you mean. Last year, shortly after Easter, when she was 4, my oldest asked me how Jesus can be in Heaven if he is alive. Then she asked how He can be God if He is God's son. I'm not even sure if I have that one figured out enough to explain it to anyone, in particular a 4-year-old! I get those kinds of things all the time. Or she will say, "Let's go do a search for this on your computer." Kids are funny, aren't they?

Thanks! And I thought I wasn't good at math.

I arrived at the same answer before I scrolled down and saw your post. :D

That sounds like my oldest. She is VERY in tune to logic. She's even picked up the phrase "It's an expression," because apparently we always have to say that to her. I'll have to jot down IEW as something to use with her in the future. Thanks!

I'm definitely finding that out with my 4 year old. I was giving her an assessment the other day and I showed her the number 5, and she was supposed to show me 5 with the linking cubes. She started playing with them instead. She was pairing them up. I told her she was supposed to be showing me the number I wrote down, and she said, "I am. I'm making 5 babies." I'm glad I caught this. I know if she tried to do that in a public school class it would have been considered wrong.

Looks awesome! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for this. If our current method ends up not working, I might change it up a bit. :)

:iagree:

Thanks to all of you who shared your advice with me. :cheers2:

I think I was probably looking at 2, since that's what she's going into. However, when I went to find the samples again, I couldn't find them. I did read a review of Math Mammoth somewhere that said it was set up similar to Singapore. Which, of course, made me wonder why I like the one, but not the other. I think we have decided to go with Math Mammoth, though, using Saxon for additional lessons or tough concepts if we need to. She really likes the free Clock unit we have been working on, and she picks up concepts surprisingly fast, so I don't think she will need manipulatives anytime soon. I taught her place value the other day, and then how to add multiple-digit numbers that don't need to carry. I think it took about 10 to 15 minutes total. The next day she asked me if there are also millions. :lol: I'm really starting to think that I'm holding her back. :blink:

This sounds like something that would kind of work at our house. However, the youngest (4 years old) needs to be taught. She is definitely the type to work alone, but wants to learn to read. I have to help her with this, but she resists. She thinks she can just do it on her own. (Any tips on this would be helpful - not to steal the post! :D) My oldest (5 years old) does work from 10 until 12, with a 15-minute recess in the middle. It took us a while to get to this point, and it is working so far. I tried making certain lists of things that had to be done each day for her to mark off, and that went out the window right away. Knowing that she is to be in school from 10 until 12 helps get her into the school room every morning. However, we also had to tweak the way we were doing the schedule of subjects. I now make a list of 4 days' worth of lessons that I want done by the end of the week. We steadily work down that list. For example, this week looks like this: Math, Bible, language arts, science, math, Bible, language arts, history, math, Bible, etc. Today we were able to get through bible and part of a language arts lesson. (She wanted to play a phonics game, so we took an educational break!) Tomorrow we will finish up that LA lesson and move on to science. Some days we get through all 4 subjects, and some days, like today, only 1-1/2. However, if she is done with the whole list by Friday at 11:30, she gets free piano time on my keyboard for the last 1/2 hour of school. I only get 4 days of lessons in as opposed to 5, but the days seem to run a little smoother. (Well, as smooth as they can be with a 5 year old who wants to act 5 one day and then be treated like she's 8 the next!) Maybe the Webkinz could be a good Friday afternoon incentive for your daughter. If she doesn't get the work done by a certain time, she has to wait for the weekend to play it, but if it's done on time, she can also play Friday afternoon. Good luck finding something that works for you. That seems to be the toughest part of homeschooling for me.

My favorites are: Holy Bible Facebook The Weather Channel Mancala FS5 iFirstAid (never used it yet, but it's there if I ever need to) I have the free versions of all of these, too. My hubby has an iPhone and he likes Lose It! for tracking calories if any of you are dieting. I record my weight in it, but if I try to track my calories, I eat more. (This is the first time in my life I have tried losing weight, and I think my psyche doesn't like it!) Hubby's phone also has Shazam. It's a neat little program that you can use if you hear a song that you want to know the artist of. You hold the phone up to the speaker for about 15 seconds, and it will give you the song name, artist, and album. It's a shame the iPod doesn't have a mic just for this purpose. Maybe the next gen will!

I have looked at Singapore a little bit, but it didn't really look like something I would like. What do you all like about it?

Not in this instance. I was watching the MUS demo, and Steve Demme told a story about posing a similar question to students once, and they asked him which operation they were supposed to use. So I looked at my daughter, who was working in an activity book, and asked her the question. She answered without hesitation.

Oops. I meant that she answered 2 for me, 2 for her dad, 4 for her sister, and none for her. It was pre-coffee when I made this post. :D

I was also wondering about starting MUS in later grades. For my youngest, who does well with Saxon "as is" I am thinking about switching to MUS after Saxon 3. Other than placement testing, is there anything I should be aware of to make the transition smooth? Would she have to go back to become familiar with the way to use the blocks, or is it something that can be picked up pretty easily?

My daughter is 5 years old and currently working through Saxon Math 1. However, it is kind of boring and repetitive for her. I am looking to switch her next year, and am kind of torn. We like the looks of both Math Mammoth with some Saxon lessons thrown in to spice it up from time to time or Math U See. Do any of you have any opinions on either of these or suggestions for something else that you have found that works on kids who seem to get the abstract ideas quickly? I should also add a story from yesterday that I want opinions on, too. I asked her, "If I bring home 8 apples how many do each of us in our family get?" She said, "You get 2, Dad gets 2, my sister gets 4, and I get 0 because I don't like apples." Is 5 (she just turned 5 in Feb.) too early to get math on this level? Or is this pretty normal. She's my oldest, so I never know for sure what is the norm. I'm always worried about holding her back. Thanks in advance for your help!

I'm originally from between South Haven and K-Zoo, but we live close to Metro Airport now.