We just finished up CLE LA 2 this past year and would either move onto CLE 3 or switch to FLL 3 in the fall. Just am not all that familiar with FLL enough to take the plunge, but am intrigued by it.

I am thinking of changing my daughters LA curriculum from CLE to FLL. She would be on FLL 3 in the fall. How teacher intensive do you find FLL 3 and does your child find it engaging or a little dry? Any other experiences you may have had with it would be great :) Thanks!

For those of you who have used CLE Language arts for several years, do you feel as if it has given a solid language arts foundation? We will be on our 3rd year using it (CLE 1 and 2, starting 3 in the fall) and it has been fine. DD has been learning, but upon looking at some other LA curriculums at similar levels, it seems as if they go into more depth. For example, CLE uses the terms "describing words" and "action words" whereas other curriculums I've seem use the terms "adjectives", "verbs" and "adverbs" at the same level. Similarly, other curriculums may use the terms "declarative" vs. "interrogative" sentences whereas CLE uses "statement" vs "question sentence". I'm just wondering if CLE is a little slower, but picks up the pace later or if it just isn't as strong of a LA curriculum in general. Any thoughts?

I had the same exact thoughts. I was doing Saxon and Singapore with my 7 year old and thought Singapore had a much better way of computing problems, but when I looked through Singapore 2 and 3, I saw that Saxon still had components that Singapore was missing. As other posters have mentioned, it is definitely on a broader sense, but at least introduced. My solution has been to keep Singapore as our main math program, but sometimes it gets pretty intense to the point that she needs a mental break, which is when we go back to Saxon. She finds it much easier so enjoys the "break". When I feel she has grasped a concept from Saxon that Singapore has not introduced, we go back to Singapore and I find that things have had a chance to sink in more and it's a smoother ride, ...until the next bump. Then we break at Saxon again. Seems to be working and I feel like we are covering more things than just 1 math curriculum could do.

So, it's one of those days again that your child is slouching in their seat, writing with their left hand (even though they are right handed), and are basically in lala land. Had any of those? I've taken breaks, changed the subject matter, used a timer, altogether quit for the day, did read alouds and chalked it up to another day we didn't get to finish math, grammar, and spelling. Does anyone have any other ideas for getting their children to focus when they aren't focused? My daughter is 7 and is totally capable of finishing her work in a timely manner with a good attitude, but the days in which she is "visiting lala land" are getting more and more. I'd like to be able to give her grace when she needs it, but I feel as if she needs more the discipline end of it too. Any suggestions?

We have been going through Write Shop with my 1st grader this year and we have really enjoyed it. It's just the right amount of writing for her and I really like that it includes the entire aspect of the writing process, from brainstorming, to drafting, to proofreading, and then doing something special to publish the writing (usually in the artistic realm). It is very parent led, at the least the primary A, B, and C so beware of that.

My 7 year old used to have pretty decent printing where I thought that with time and more practice, she would get speedier and neater. But it seems to have gotten worse and worse over time, even with simple tasks. Any ideas on whether I should start from the beginning again or refine her existing skills?

Our county library actually teaches a free online class on how to teach Singapore math. It has helped me so much that I went back and retaught my daughter some of the level 1 material because I didn't think I did a very good job after taking that class. Check your libraries. It was a real eye opener for me.

Yes. My almost 5 year old does ETC and we just read, read, read books :) We did start with HOP, but he didn't like that very much with the word lists, so ETC it was.

I've been trying to figure out a solution to this problem as well, as I have a 7, 4, and 1 year old. Here's what I've come up with so far. When we start work, the 2 older children do independent review work that I know they can do on their own, while I play with the 1 year old. When older are done, 4 year old takes a break and plays with the baby, while I do 1 on 1 with the 7 year old. When 7 yr old needs a break, she plays with the baby, while I do 1 on 1 with the 4 year old. Switch again so 7 year old gets an extra session. In the afternoon, when baby is sleeping we do the science experiments, history, etc so baby can't destroy it! So far so good... :)

I just finished our first year of homeschooling with my daughter who will be in 1st grade next year. I was wondering what is the best way to test her reading and math abilities. For example, I have seen on the forum how people are able to tell that their child tested in 2nd grade reading or 1st grade math, etc. Is this a standardized test you have to go in for or is there some other way I would be able to assess this? Thanks!

My daughter is 6 years old and she is very similar. Her reading ability is just fine, but in the middle of a book, she will close up shop and say she is done. I found it helps when I have her read one page, then I read the next page and so forth until we finish the book. I notice she can go longer and longer by herself this way. Also, when I am really interested in what she is reading and say things like, "Wow, I wonder what is going to happen next. What an exciting book. Can you share with me what happens when you are finished?". It also helps that my 4 year old asks her to read to him and he is not very fond of her not finishing a book he chooses ;) Hope that helps a little, but I'd love to hear other responses too.

I second AAS. We are on L2 also now. Not just word family lists, but good spelling rules that should help them with any words that apply to that rule.

Adventures in America for K history and AAS for spelling:001_smile:

Sounds a little like my daughter. She is finishing up K this year and we just finished 1A and started on 1B. It is the US edition, but I did purchase the 2A and 2B standards version for next year. I believe I checked out the Singapore website and they a chart explaining the differences between US and Standard Editions. The 1A/1B US did not seem to differ much with the 1A/1B Standard Edition, but I remember seeing more of a difference in the 2 series, so I bought the Standards set for that. Not sure what to tell you about IP. I'm saving that to do with my daughter this summer as review. We've also been doing Saxon 1 for more repetition this year, but it's much easier for her. It's been good when we need a little Singapore break :)

I actually have my daughter do both and it is working out well. Singapore's mental concepts have her thinking, but sometimes it takes awhile to get through a lesson and there isn't a whole lot of repetition in the actual lesson, so we hang out there a bit and I write her up a few problems a day until she is comfortable with it. In the meantime, we do Saxon to boost her confidence as for the same grade level, Saxon is a lot of repetition and she is always saying how she can do it. Whereas Singapore, she really needs to mentally think about it and sometimes it seems as if we aren't going anywhere, but Saxon we are always moving, but it is much easier at the same grade level.