We got white "drop cloth" style slipcovers from Ugly Sofa for less than half the price of Pottery Barn.

I used it when I was homeschooled. I started with the 6 th grade book. I was very well-prepared for college.

I think your instincts are right-on. Stop and go over the facts!

Maybe try the booklists that Veritas Press (First Favorites 1 & 2) or Memoria Press (Storytime Treasures) use for 1st grade reading?

One of the boxed curriculums I looked at recently (Timberdoodle, I think) moves from The Reading Lesson: Teach Your Child to Read in 20 Easy Lessons (kindergarten) to Phonics Pathways (1st grade). So, maybe phonics pathways would work?

Ihave time before I have to deal with this, but I'd like to know... portfolio evaluation or standardized testing? Why? To add, I live in a state that requires one or the other...

"Whole language", circa the late '80s. Heavy on sight words, no real phonics at all.

I'm a terrible speller, too. I often wonder if I would be a better speller if I had been taught phonics, rather than being taught sight-reading. I think that sight reading can be tempting because it can be done quicker. I live in an area where sight-reading is very common, and it gets strange to be at the park or something wherein all the other parents are teaching their 3 year olds sight words, and I'm patiently waiting for them to develop enough to de-code using phonics (which, for my kids, came around 4 or 5). That being said, we're using a heavily phonics approach. It's working for us. :)

None of the unschoolers I know watch TV, either. I guess I don't know that type of unschooler.

My GYN told me last time that it was best to reschedule.

:party:

The part that interests me the most about the article is that a sixteen year old boy, who appears to be totally unschooled, had the motivation to write it, edit it, and get it published. But, yes, I can see why the article itself would not be interesting.

The few unschoolers I know have textbooks and "school like" activities, along with other things. Doesn't seem to me to be the materials that define unschooling, but the manner of presentation. Rather than parent-directed "Now we're going to...", it's watching the child interact with the educational options available and finding what captures the child's interest.

I, honestly, probably would have said okay but still felt uncomfortable. I would have allowed it so as to not ruin the game for all the other kids, but would have not liked the fact that my kids were playing with them. Wouldn't have whined about it, though. I'm not, at all, anti-gun... just not big into them as toys. Oh, but even though we're "no gun", my kids still play in the dirt, run around, climb on the slide, etc. :001_smile:

My parents used tutors for all highschool math and languages for us, and most of science. It was great for us, because it allowed us to adjust to new/different teaching styles before college.

Apple cidar vinegar and local, raw honey.

I use Ener-G, too. I have used bananas, but they work best with a bit of unflavored gelatin or agar agar. The fruits just don't seem to bind well enough on their own, to me.

How long per day is he reading? I'd imagine that the more time per day he reads, the faster he will become fluent.

I probably would have offered to buy her the can of formula and drop it off at the church for her. I assume she'd turn down that offer, but at least I'd have tried.

Take most of their toys away. When my kids rooms get out of control, it means they have too much "stuff". They pick a few special toys, and the rest are put away in the garage.

You could buy just the tiles from AAS and use those. Make a bingo game out of the blends. Write the blends on a grid, then call the sounds for the blends like a bingo game. Blend hop-scotch. Write one blend on each square of the hop-scotch and have DC say each blend as its landed on.

I use Emergen-C Egg Replacer... if I'm out of that, I use ground flaxseed. It's 1 T of egg replacer or ground flaxseed and 3 T of water to replace one egg.

We're moving through "blend phonics" for the rest of this year. She also has used ETC (finishing up book 3). Not sure what we're doing next year.

The farm is going to be PERFECT for my tactile learners. I'm very excited for them to get old enough to use it!

My DD is only 5, so I haven't looked too much, but I bet it'd be do-able to combine the grammar symbols of Montessori to a more traditional program? Even the farm could work - introducing the elements of the farm according to the sequence of a traditional program? I'm looking at FLL1, which I haven't used yet, and your son is past this level, but it's the only grammar book on my shelf. I think what I'm going to try to do is... as nouns are introduced in FLL, I'll introduce the solid red triangle, and also a set of printed red triangles, to be used to identify nouns she comes upon. When she's starting to understand the idea of a noun, we'll introduce the labels for nouns in the farm. Repeat with verbs, etc. My thought is that introducing the elements of the Montessori grammar along the scope & sequence of a traditional program like FLL will combine the best elements of both programs.