:w00t::party:

I am disappointed that 2nd grade will be the last released :( My girls would LOVE this but won't be ready for the 3rd grade.... I plan on TT3 for them in the future. We are using MM1 right now and would love something more along the lines of this for them :/

ha ha, I did on the first page, we have spent a little over 400 this year for four kids and i thought that was a lot lol

Wow, obviously what I consider a fortune for our family really isn't compared to others ha ha! I am blessed in one regard that my boys are both on the same level minus reading fluency and my girls are both on the same level. We share a ton of curriculum that way!

Ha Ha! WELLLLLLL i am still buying up what we need for this year but suspect it will last us through the next school year as well. Last year I spent about 300 for all four kids... and ended up not liking any of it. So, I have overhauled it all and have purchased since december: TT, MCT, EFTTC, 100EZ (bought this Novemberish), ETC workbooks, SOTW1 and AG and the science encyclopedias recommended by WTM.... so my tally is right at 410 bucks...:confused: but should last us since we just started with it all in January and most is reusable for my girls later. I consider it expensive for this year.. not so much for next year; ha ha ETA: I think my tally is decent for four kids, though..

Thank you for the replies. I think I will consider letting them use it a bit more but I do think they need to learn to focus in on their own, as well!

gotcha! That makes sense!

So are you not using Grammer Island in addition to Sentence Island? We aren't going to start Sentence Island yet but make it through the first book. However, none of mine have had much formal grammar instruction this past year being that I just couldn't find a good fit for our family! Great idea with the index cards! We will be doing something similar :) We have been naming nouns all day in discussions. They particularly found it humorous when I told them to go to their noun and clean up all the nouns ha ha!

So, my son is ADHD and has a hard time just focusing on his reading. He also has issues not "wandering in thought" while listening to audio. Do you think it is unfair to allow him to read while listening to the text-to-speech function of the kindle?

So, I decided to let my girls sit in on our Grammar Island readings. I am attempting to go through the system as recommended by the publisher so I am not adding on anything else at the moment. I was quite nervous about the girls attention span but I honestly think they could outlast my 9 year old adhd boy, ha ha. It went really well. We stopped our readings right after the introduction of Nouns and then discussed on our own Nouns and named nouns from made up sentences outloud. It went really well and they seem to all understand the lesson thus far! Now, if we can just continue this path of understanding. I know the lessons will get to be too difficult for the girls when it comes to the writing; especially since they aren't truly reading yet but they are obviously ready for the concepts of grammar! I look forward to hearing about everyone else's first sessions!

we can easily do it on nice weather days but I typically finish up our chores and join them outside as well. They wouldn't stay out THAT long without me being out with them!

Oh, my! Yes, I can see why you would be! Best wishes!

ha ha. We can be terrified together. I am not a huge grammar lover and am quite anxious with teaching it even though I am a current college student myself that has passed (with As) three courses in english composition in the past two years. I shouldn't be nervous about it but I am. I just am afraid to mess it up ha ha! I am sure we will both be fine!

I think we should be fairly good. We just started new curriculum last month. I will definitely have to add on more ETC books for the girls but they are less than 10 dollars and then we will be using library books. We just started SOTW1 in January as well... I think we should call January our reboot. We dumped all we were doing minus the girls MM workbooks, lol!

IT CAME :D:party: Naturally, while we were gone to gymnastics and then I had this bright idea to take four hungry kids through Kroger to grocery shop on Valentine's day eve..... yeah, we didn't finish our shopping... so it was very nice to come home to something fun to do! i have opened my box, sniffed and flipped through and ready to start MCT tomorrow!

ha ha. All of y'all make my four computers look normal :)

My son's are learning cursive and HATE it with a passion. I really don't "care" that they hate it. I set the timer and make them work but looking at the book today; its horribly dry and boring and seems "out of order" they are using this but instead of "c" on the top right corner it says "3" my Aunt purchased it for them not me.... http://www.christianbook.com/handwriting-simplified-learning-writing-level-c/1571102272/pd/570227?item_code=WW&netp_id=221097&event=ESRCQ&view=details Anything more fun or friendly?

yeah we are way back into the country as well. Times vary GREATLY out here. from anywhere from 2pm to 6pm :/

We took the kids to see the Liberty Bell this past November. It was such a great trip. The Junior Ranger workbook they give out to the children are also wonderful! I highly recommend taking the kids to actually see it as well. Inside the welcome center/ there is a chart showing appropriate activities throughout the city per the age of observer!

ha ha wow! So, this is what I have to look forward to!

I absolutely agree! We are very pro technology. My husband is an information systems major in college, so naturally tons of discussions revolve around computers. I was also raised in a technologically advanced household growing up and I want my kids to stay on top of technology. Some don't feel it important but we do as a family. That being said, I am very much a "family room" computer user.

When we moved from AZ to GA last year; I had just purchased a new laptop for my college work. I saved my old laptop for my kids to use but have since LOST the ac adapter. We, at the time, had a desktop computer hooked up to our tv and watched "tv" on the internet with netflix and hulu instead of a cable tv provider. Now that we are settled back in GA, My husband and I each have our own laptops for college studies, the "tv" desktop is now in the kitchen for the boys to use for TT and NOW I have found the ac adapter for my old laptop for another child to use for spellingcity/starfall and the like. I was all excited about that thought until I realized WE HAVE FOUR COMPUTERS!!!!!??????? What is it going to be like when all four kids are teenagers. All of these electronics, are they REALLY neccessary or did we just get a bit carried away, ha ha! I was also considering buying two more kindles for the kids to share... The electronics numbers are just adding up in our house. Perhaps, I need to add extra insurance to our house insurance?!:001_huh:

Is it sad that I am stalking the windows just WAITING for UPS to deliver our new MCT curriculum. We plan on implementing it immediately as the boys need grammar and vocabulary instruction immediately... I almost feel its worthy of post poning todays studies so we can all just stand at windows and stare for the UPS truck LOL :lurk5: Watch it come while we are at gymnastics this evening :/:auto:

I agree. In our church; there is children's church for 1st thru 3rd and a special program for 4th and 5th. According to the state he is 3rd grade due to being held behind in K but age wise he is 4th grade level. IF he couldn't read as well as his age peers; etc. it may have been more of a concern.. He really likes being with his age of kids versus being held back to the younger children's service.

we use regularly a real clock (with batteries out that I can manipulate the arms) base 10 blocks dice beans money toys ( we use for "some went hiding" games)