Thank you for Karen (8filltheheart) and others who have chimed in and given me input. Finding age-appropriate books is what stumps me. I'll give it a try though because my son especially seems to look forward to it. He's already told me that apart from tv, he also wants to know how other things work (computer, telephone, car, airplane, etc). Btw, that horse study seems to be v. interesting.

I'm v. interested to learn how to design theme-based studies like the ones done by Karen (8filltheheart), Jackie (corraleno), Karen Anne, etc. How do you start ? Go to amazon to find books ? How do you know the book is appropriate ? Where do you get the idea on what aspect to study ? Then how do you decide what the output will be ? Do you tell your child to read the book and then you discuss with the child ? Do you ask the child to write a report ? Or what ? How to make sure that the input/output is age-appropriate. My dd (3rd grade) wants to learn how number and letter (incl the writing) came about. And my son (4th grade) wants to learn how tv works. Thanks a bunch.

Many people had processed food + meat growing up. But most said that they don't cook like that. So what do you cook now ? When and how did you change your eating habit ? Is this an indication that most American people are like this (eat healthier than previous generation) or do you find that most people are still eating mostly processsed food ? I grew up in Indonesia and I ate whole food with lots of veggies. However, since my family is/was well off, we ate/eat more meat than most - but I think our meat consumption was still wayyyyy lower than American's. Also, we deep fried a lot (fish, tofu, chicken, tempeh, veggie w/ flour - fritters (?)). We drank one mug of fresh cow milk everyday. Now, I strive to not deep fry anything. The only thing we fry is veggie (in olive oil), i.e. when we make stir fry. We eat mostly seafood with veggie, legume, whole grain rice/pasta, and fruit. Tempe and tofu are still on the menu. We also up our fruit consumption and strive not to have chips/soda/biscuits/ice cream, etc at our house. Fortunately, even before we 'changed' to eat more healthily, we only rarely have that kind of items - it's not something I ate frequently growing up, so my hubby and I (and our kiddos) were never attached to those things. I changed because both parents and hubby's family are full of people with cardiovascular disease and diabetes. We are at the late 30s and want to lower our risks of developing those diseases.

That first $120 really gets down on me ... In the other hand, that program offers video which will be good for my ds, and it promises a hand holding on pronunciation and whatever is said in the video. So it's not a 'guess this word' (or immersion) program at all.

One more: no 'he' and 'she'. Only 'it' for both masculine and female. I was so confused when I learned English back then because of 'she' and 'he'. I thought English was difficult. But of course, I didn't know that there are many languages 'worse' than English ....:).

This is their email reply to me when I asked about the pacing, anticipated release date, and whether grammar is included. "Two modules per year would be sufficient in terms of time and learning. We are currently working on Modules 4 & 5 concurrently. Module 4 will be ready Fall 2010 (?? may be a typo to fall 2012 ?) and Module 5 will be ready January 2013. Our program covers all the bases, listening, reading, writing & speaking. In the first 3 Modules grammar is taught where necessary but the emphasis is on accuracy in speaking and comprehension. Beginning in Module 3/4 the grammar & writing gets more robust as students are generally older by the time they reach that level. Once a person purchases Modules 1 & 2 ($59.95) the rest of the Modules (when completed) are free. http://frenchessentials.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=8&vmcchk=1&Itemid=88 This is too make our program as financially accessible as possible for homeschoolers wishing to do French. By nature most homeschool families are one income and doing homeschool is a financial sacrifice. Our goal is to produce one to two module per year until high school. If you buy one and two you can download Module 3 for free when you wish. You will just need to email us for a coupon code." PS: I did consider Art de Lire before, but I am concerned that the author seems no longer maintain the business like it used to be (judging from some posts in this board). But at the same time, I'm actually worried with French Essential since they haven't released all of their modules. If they don't release the next 5 modules on time, I can end up using only 3 modules which will cost $120 in total, which makes it pretty expensive (and no physical products in hand, mind you) .

Not only that ... you can use the same pronouns for both subject and object. No infinitives. No linking verb (like arabic). E.g.: if you want to translate this sentence into Indonesian (I want to see him), then you can say: I want see he. He wants to see me --> He want see I. (no subj- verb agreement, remember ?) See ? it's easy !! Between banten and jakarta ? What city would that be ? If you're in west java, you will be exposed to the local language as well.

I was researching for a French program and came across www.frenchessentials.com Anyone tried this ? It has videos, audios, and workbooks (all downloadable), and the program incorporates writing, listening, reading, and speaking. They plan to have 8 modules, but at the moment, they only release module 1-3. Module 1 and 2 are $60 each, but everything else is free afterwards. Module 4 is due to be out fall 2012, and module 5 Jan 2013. We only need to do 2 modules/year. I contacted them this morning with some questions, and they got back to me within a few hours. Looks promising from customer service side of things. Any feedback on this program ? TIA

Hi Kate, Just to let you know I'm Indonesian. Our language is the easiest in the world. No tenses, no subject-verb agreement .. easy peasy. Many vocabs are from Arabic. A while ago, I found a website on learning bahasa. It's by a mixed couple (Indonesian and American). Okay, this is the website: http://www.learningindonesian.com Btw, are you going to be in Jakarta ? I hope not ...:). Huge traffic jam.

Are you talking about MPH 3/4 or other Singapore Sci. program for younger kids ? MPH - if you use all components - may be too advanced for an average 6 yo. IMHO, using RSO, MPH and BFSU is possible if you can coordinate them. May be you can use BFSU progression, and use MPH/RSO to help flesh out the content.

What's wrong ? Just download the pdf and print in booklet mode (if you have a laser and a PC). With Mac, if you want to have a booklet mode, you should download a free software called create booklet and that software will create a new pdf file with a new page arrangement.

I use Maxwell's books to get my kiddos started with paragraph. My dd started it when she was 6.5, but my son didn't start until 8.5. His books are v. good for this purpose and the usage lessons are more challenging too. You can always skip the writing lessons and do the rest orally though, but my suggestion is to find other book which is more appropriate for your dc's age. If you're looking for a simple book, may be something from Mary Hyde (googlebook) will fit the bill. In fact, I may use this book for my next children if they're not ready for Maxwell in the first and second grade, together with WWE. Just FYI: WHen my son was first and second grade (and couldn't write a lot), I didn't use Maxwell's books. We just did narration, copywork, dictation (through spelling), and summarizing exercises from WWE I and II. We also used Junior English from Galore Park mostly orally. Sorry if I confuse you. I didn't see your kid's age when I first replied to this thread.

The instruction says: Write a story in which you use these words: Frank Wilson, wallet, owner, reward, five dollars, found. My dd (7.5 yo) story: The Falling Wallet Once upon a time there was a man named Frank Wilson. He was walking by the street until he heard a sound, "Help! Help!" cried a lady. He found a wallet falling down. He ran and ran and he got it. He gave the owner the walet. "Here you go, " said Frank Wilson. The owner was so happy that she gave him five dollars. --The End --- My ds (9.5 yo) story: Frank Wilson's Funny Tale Frank Wilson saw a poster which said "Young lady lost her wallet. Reward: five dollars". Frank saw the wallet in a lion's den. He got the wallet, but the lion ate his pants. Frank gave the wallet to the young lady and she said, "I am not giving five dollas. I'm gonna give you pants instead. " -- The End -- What do you think ? Thanks

Yes, I started when ds was 3rd grade (8.5 years) and dd was 2nd grade (6.5 years). Notice here that when we started, my dd was 6.5 years. If your son can handle the writing, then of course you can start him off with Maxwell book as a first grader. There's no way I would start my son with Maxwell in his first grade year. He only did copywork, dictation, spelling, and oral narration back then.

Crimson wife, Does your accelerated DD (assuming the 9 yo one) ever do Math Mammoth ? My 7.5 yo dd is also accelerated and is now doing MM 4 with CWP 3. It's v. likely that by next June 2012, when she's 8.5, she'll be starting MM 5. At this rate, she'll finish MM 6 when she's 9.5. I'm thinking of getting DM 1 w/ Hor-Prealgebra when she finishes with MM 6 and CWP. But you said that your daughter is going to do DM, Horizon Prealgebra and SM 5b-6b together. Why not wait till your dd finishes SM series ? How about AoPS ? Any plan to use the prealgebra ? Does your dd good at math or passionate with math ? My dd is good at math, hence the acceleration. But she's not passionate with it, so I don't know whether in the future I'll incorporate AoPS at all. Looking forward in reading your response. I'm right behind you with one accelerated dd.

I started both kids a year ago with Progressive Lessons in English Composition by Maxwell combined with select lessons (also by maxwell) from First English. Those, combined with WWE II (we've done WWE I) proved to be the gentlest writing lessons ever. PLEC book combine English usage and composition and I recommend a first few chapters of this book to help with composition especially if you have a child who is at lost when asked to respond to pictures (like the ones in PLL). It starts with teacher asking children to answer questions orally about a picture, and proceeds with asking children to copy and fill in the blank a composition piece (provided by the author) about that picture. After completing the composition piece, I would talk to dc about paragraph and tell them that's a sample of what's expected when they are asked to describe a picture or make a story about a picture. This type of lessons go on for - I don't know - twenty or so chapters (plenty of practice). Sometimes, they're not asked to fill in the blank, but to combine sentences (as part of English usage lessons) as well. In First English, children are asked to answer questions where the answers are part of paragraph writing. I picked and chose those types of assignments for my dc when they first started up with paragraph writing. You can follow those up with PLL (writing section) or Ida Brautigam's progressive composition, but I'm using PLL at the moment. With PLL, I usually ask children to re-tell and then I would write an outline (while explaining about paragraph) and ask dc to write from the outline in form of paragraph. I also add lessons which convert poem into prose from Maxwell's books (above) for more variety. They love PLL because the assignments vary from simple re-telling, dialogue, picture describing, story making, to letter writing. PLL seems v. gentle, but I can see marked improvements in my children's writing just by getting them to write everyday using PLL's writing portion. We're going to finish before Christmas holiday and will continue with ILL in January and may add Writing Strand next year to get children to write better. HTH,

Julie, I'm not teaching my kiddos essay. They're happy with PLL/ILL. The book is for me ...:) I was science major and was in UK education system. So I had no experience writing history/lit essays.

What book(s) do you recommend for parents to teach essays (cause-effect, compare-contrast, persuasive) ? And is there any book(s) with lots of samples of well-written essays ? thanks

I need comprehensive reference books /encyclopedia type for 4th-6th grade. My head spins when looking at amazon - which one is the best: dk/usborne/kingfisher ? I need for these following topics: - biology: one for animal, one for plant, one for human body. - earth, space, oceanography, meteorology type of encyclopedia. - physics. - countries. What are your favorites ?

Working on 3 concepts at the same time with MM works with my DD. She doesn't need a lot of repetition for mastery, and remembers well. With my son, I have to constantly revisit old concepts, even with 3 concepts going on at the same time. So I thought, I might as well get a spiral math program for him. I'm ordering Horizons 4 now, but I will explain concepts a la MM and will add in word problems from MM.

Maria teaches word problem pretty explicitely in MM 1 and 2 (as far as I remember) For instance, she explains that to find 'differences' or solve 'how many more/less type of problem, a student can use either subtraction or counting up (finding the missing addend). Later at the end of MM2 and MM3, she helps students to solve multiplication word problems, e.g. use multiplication to find 'more of the same thing, e.g. 2 pills daily for a week equals how many pills ? Same with division. However, before she provides the short cut, she gets students to draw lots of pictures to visualize the word problems. Bar diagram as an aid to help solve word problems (especially when the numbers get bigger) comes up in MM3 and MM4. Just FYI, the word problems in MM 4 gets more complicated because now it deals with 4 operation. Students are taught the order of operation and by MM 4, students are expected to be able to write number sentences to go with more complicated word problems.

You can use FIAR conversationally, or you can add on lap books, notebooking activities, craft, etc. You can go deep or you can just touch on a topic. It all depends on your kid's age and interest.

FIAR is not supposed to be a complete curriculum. You're supposed to add phonics and other LA plus math. It's there in the book, in the website, and in the forum.

You can buy FIAR from Rainbow Resource. I bought mine from ebay though. WTM Sale Board or Homeschool Classified are other two places you can buy FIAR from. The books used in FIAR 1 and 2 books are the easiest and cheapest to obtain because they're so common. I ordered them from ebay or abe books. FIAR 3 contains more OOP books and some reprint books which are not widely available used. You can start off FIAR conversationally, adding in either library books or children encyclopedias if needed. Nowadays, you can even incorporate youtube videos into your lesson. I would not do any lapbook/notebook activities with pre-K/K crowds as you'll end up doing most of the things. This will burn you out, unless you have a student who is very into cutting, pasting, etc. You can add more and more as your child grows up. Things you can add to make it meatier: writing summary, making vocab cards, copywork/dictation, listing facts, mapping, reading more advanced reference books, and of course notebooking/lapbooking. Some topics in FIAR are repeated, so it makes many concepts stick. Children also remember the facts because they remember the picture book.

We're alternating FIAR 4 and ByFIAR for my 9.5 yo ds (4th grade) and 7.5 yo dd (3rd). FIAR is what you make of it. I see it more as a stepping stone to dwelve into a topic. Whatever they learn through FIAR seems to stick more. Perhaps it's because the picture books provide contexts.