I believe this has been discussed before, and they made a conscious decision not to have a logic stage board. If I remember correctly, it was determined that the division between stages is just too fuzzy. As SWB has stated, the transition to logic stage is gradual, and happens at different times in different subjects. I haven't gotten there yet, but I imagine the transition to rhetoric would be similar. Perhaps the two boards could have overlapping age ranges: K-8th and 7th-12th?

While Kingfisher would be very difficult to narrate, it would work well for outlining. That being said, SOTW works well, too. And, doing a section or two of science is a good idea.

I imagine that Robin Williams was just like your son. I would consider it a gift. He sounds delightful!

Give him only tiny pieces of crayon for coloring. Make sure each piece is less than an inch long. If he wants to color or write, he'll have to hold the small piece correctly because that is the only way to hold it! This is the method recommended in Handwriting Without Tears. If he finds it too frustrating, he may decide not to try at all. That would probably indicate that he's not developmentally ready yet. If that happens, back off for awhile.

Have you looked at Video Text Algebra? It is video/DVD based. The video lessons are short, only about 10 minutes, because the concepts are broken down into very small chunks. All the concepts are presented in print form also. The student works half of the problems (odds or evens). Then, the next day, they do a short quiz to see if they mastered the concept. If they do well on the quiz, they move on to the next lesson. If not, they view the video lesson again and do the other set of problems. If they still need practice or help, there is online assistance and extra practice problems. The first module (A) of the series is considered Pre-Algebra, then the rest cover both Algebra I and Algebra II. They can be done as fast or slowly as needed. They also have a Geometry course. It's kind of pricey, but I saw it at convention, and it's very impressive. It was recommended by Jay Wile (author of Apologia science) at that same convention. http://www.videotext.com

Same here. When I get a sense that they are thinking about leaving, (or sometimes when I think it's time for them to go), I just announce to all the kids that it's clean-up time. I've never had anyone refuse to help clean up (unless it was a big mess when they got there). :o

Here's an article Susan Wise Bauer posted several years ago. In it, she transcribes a dictation session she did with her son, Ben. http://www.welltrainedmind.com/J01script.html You can find lots of wonderful articles (written by SWB and other WTMers) if you go to the home page of welltrainedmind.com, and click on Complete Article Index. You'll find a list of articles, organized by topic. It's a great resource.

I use Pampers Cruisers, and they don't seem to be shaped differently, front to back. You could probably use them backwards (but I've never tried).

I'm in the "I hate glass cooktops" club. They're not only hard to clean, but they're hard to control. My mom has one, and I hate it. We lived with her while our house was being built a few years ago. I burned every single thing I tried to cook. I couldn't even make Rice-a-roni without burning it, and having it turn out all crunchy. Yuck. I love my JennAir with dual-fuel. It has a five-burner gas cooktop, and two electric ovens. One is a large convection oven, and the other is a small electric conventional (like a toaster oven, but larger). I love that little oven. It heats in less than five minutes, and it's great for so many things. I use it practically every day. The large convection oven will hold a large turkey with ease, or bake several sheets of cookies, or countless other things. Both ovens are self-cleaning. It's wonderful, if you have both gas and electricity.

I believe this is THE most important advice. Never salt them until they're cooked. Then, season them and let them simmer a little longer, to absorb the flavors.

Never. I hate spiral bound text books. (Well, I don't really *hate* them, I just don't like them very much at all). :) I like my SOTW activity guides to be three hole punched, so I can take out the pages sometimes (and put them back), and to more easily access the student pages. I had to have my Volume 4 cut and punched. You didn't ask, but I'll say I don't like spiral books for several reasons. The pages tear out, you can't read the spine in the bookshelf, they don't stand up by themselves, they don't stack well on the table (spiral always sticking out), they don't work well in a book bag (always catching on other books and things), and they're too floppy. To each his own, though. Some people love spiral books. I'm sure there are some people who wish all their books were spiral bound. It's just a matter of preference.

The WTM approach teaches kids to write well before it requires them to do tons and tons of writing. PS seems to do the opposite. They try to get them to just put words down on paper, lots and lots of words, before they even attempt to teach them how to write well. First, let me say that this opinion is based on my experience. I'm not making broad generalizations about ALL schools or ALL teachers. But, I see your question in three parts (or, at least, it can be interpreted in three ways). First, penmenship/handwriting: Public schools don't take the time that they used to teaching kids to form letters consistently. Kids are jumbled around from style to style, from little instruction to none. Then, they're expected to write pages and pages everyday. I've seen the work produced in 1st to 3rd grade, and most of it is illegible. But, there are volumes of it! Instead, I had my children spend 5 to 10 minutes a day practicing making perfect letters. The lessons were short, but those neural pathways were deeply entrenched. As they practiced, their speed increased, and their volume increased, but their formation remained consistent. Second, writing content: they expect kids to write pages and pages of stuff, without first teaching them how to construct proper sentences or paragraphs, how to organize their thoughts, or even how to make sense. Their theory seems to be that if you just get the kid to get their thoughts down on paper, you'll be able to teach them the other stuff later. Does it work? I suppose it might for some kids. Instead, I didn't expect my kids to write paragraphs until they were comfortable and proficient at writing sentences. I didn't expect them to write sentences until they were proficient at copying other peoples sentences (becoming familiar with syntax, punctuation, etc. through copywork and dictation), and with getting their thoughts together (I wrote their narrations and creative stories down for them). Of course, a school teacher wouldn't have enough time in a year to do this for every student, so she just requires them all to just write and write, hoping eventually to instill proper grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, word usage, etc. through grading and correction. Third, volume: they require lots and lots of writing, pages and pages of writing, at a young age. These pages are a jumbled mass of letters. There is no way to distinguish words or make sense of the sentences because they child hasn't yet learned to form letters correctly, to spell correctly, to leave space between words, to punctuate or capitalize, or to make any sense. They're quite good at filling a page with something that looks like letters, but it is all meaningless. They're not proud of what they did. Instead, my kids might produce one sentence in first grade, three in second grade, or a short paragraph in 3rd. They're proud of it, though, because it is perfect. They can show it to their dad and he'll actually be able to read it, and understand it. He won't have to hmm and haw, and ask cryptic questions, or say, "Tell me about this." :o/ So, to (finally) answer your question: If your child enters school in third or fourth grade, he/she might not have the physical stamina (at first) to fill an entire page with writing, but he'll be able to produce a little bit of very good writing. I believe they'll be ahead. They'll be able to build the strength in their hand in no time.

I'd get the HTW Teacher's Manual, and the slate. The TM explains the philosophy and the methods. It also has a pattern to make the letter shapes. The letter shapes are helpful because they teach the order of the strokes. The slate is important for one of the best teaching methods I've come across: The Wet-Dry-Try method. This method is explained in the Teacher Manual, which also shows how to use the letter shapes. I wouldn't buy the wooden shapes. They're too expensive to use for such a short time, especially with only one child. Of course, you might find it worth it since you have little 3yo coming up behind. Don't get the Printing Teacher Guide because the information is redundant (it's already in the Teacher Manual). Don't get the magnadoodle thing. You probably already have one. You won't need the special mat. Any placemat will do. Just draw a happy face in the corner. HTH, Suzanne

My first thought was Easy Grammar. The first thing you learn is prepositions, so the first thing you learn to do is go through the sentences and cross out all the prepositional phrases. It's like going through and decluttering the sentence before you get down to the business of analyzing it. After you finish crossing out the prepositional phrases, you're left with just the "meat" of the sentence. You label the parts of speech, but there's no diagramming, just labels, arrows, symbols, and such. The work is done in a workbook, so you don't have to copy everything (like in Rod and Staff).

I also went from FLL to R&S at Level 3 before FLL3 was published. It worked really well for us. My dd cried, though, when we finished FLL and I told her that we wouldn't have it anymore. She absolutely loved that book. She would have been happy to go into FLL 3 if we'd had the option. I don't think you could go wrong either way. I'm sure Mrs. Wise is thorough with FLL3. If your dc enjoy it, I'd consider staying with it. R&S3 was a rather dry "awakening" for us -- for me because I wasn't sure how much to require of her (R&S instructs the child to copy entire pages of exercises), and for dd because it was intimidating. We eventually settled into a routine of doing most of the work orally, but it was rough going for the first half of the year. We didn't finish the book -- we skipped the last chapter. And, we never really did dictation like we were supposed to (my dc are 10 and 11 now) after we finished FLL. Okay, now I find myself talking you into sticking with FLL for at least another year. :o) So, I'll go with that. If your dc enjoys FLL and is learning from it, don't try to "fix" it. R&S will always be there, waiting for you.

I sing a lot of classical Latin music, so I chose ecclesiastical. It's what I know, and it's what my kids are most likely to come across in their daily lives.

I wouldn't skip ahead. I'd have her go through every lesson in 5 since she hasn't had much grammar. Next year, in 6, she may be able to make up some time by skipping exercises she already understands. My dd (6th grade) has been using R&S since level 3. Most of the topics are revisited from year to year. They're re-introduced, and then expanded. My dd has been able to skip the exercises in about half of the lessons because she already understands them from Level 5 (and 4, and 3). Actually, she skipped more in the first half of the book (sometimes 3 or 4 at a time). Now, at the end of the book, she's needing to do almost all of the lessons because their new/difficult. She takes the test (from the test booklet) after each chapter. If she misses concepts, she goes back and reviews those. If she does well on the test, we just go to the next chapter. For the most part, she's done very well. She's been able to move through the book at an incredible rate. She only has 30 lessons left in the book, and she didn't start it until the end of September. Take your time in Level 5. Make sure she thoroughly understands the material. That's much more important than getting her up to an arbitrary "grade level". She is where she is. It's important that she learns this stuff. You can try to accelerate her next year.

"If you starve a cold, you'll feed a fever." That's how it actually goes. No starving, ever. It's simply not a good idea.

Ummm. Well it depends on how fast things "move" in the bathroom. :o) Seriously, it takes me about 3 months, on average, to read a book. My book list consists of about 8 books, and it never seems to go down. Those books just sit on my bookshelf, staring at me. Don't beat yourself up. It's not worth it. You can't be "behind" just because you created a list of books to read in a year. You only did that because it seemed like a good idea at the time. That doesn't mean the goal is realistic. Every hour you spend reading is time you *don't* spend doing something else, and sometimes life just gets in the way. Don't wallow in stress that you create for yourself. It's not worth it. It's just a season. There will be a time when you have all the time in the world to read lots of books about many interesting subjects. Perhaps this isn't the time Just a thought.

Our co-op seems to be very organized. It has about 50 families.

Run it through the dishwasher if you're worried about germs. I'd do the soap thing to clean it, like Sue suggested.

Crazies (emotional meltdowns) started around 8 1/2, but she's 11 1/2 now, and those have settled down now (mostly because she just understands what's happening). She hasn't started her period yet, but her chest is budding, and personality changes indicate it's coming soon.

Yes, just once, in elementary school. The PE coach caught me and another kid swinging on a chain-link gate. I guess we weren't supposed to do that because he took us to the principal's office. I still remember the way he leaned against the wall, smirking at us while Mrs. Mercer lectured us. I don't remember a word she said, but I remember the grin on his face. He totally enjoyed my humiliation. At least, that's what it seemed like to me. . . Maybe he just had gas. :o}

Actually, a child doing 3B and 4A in 3rd grade is advanced. Generally, because kids in the USA start school at least six months younger than the kids in Singapore, a 3rd grader here would be doing 2B and 3A in 3rd grade. Both of my kids got behind in their Singapore levels (dd in 2A, ds in 3A), but both just caught up with themselves. My 4th grader just started 4A, and my 6th grader just started 6A. We're right on track according to the folks at Singapore Math.

I instituted an allowance, then started docking him for every whine or complaint. Our allowance isn't based on doing chores, it's based solely on attitude. He is given the promise of $5 a week, but he loses $1 for every major outburst, and smaller portions for every whine and complaint. I keep track on a little notebook on my desk. Money speaks to my ds.