Thanks. Anybody know whether it's possible to insert borders. Since borders are image, is it possible in StartWrite to place the image 'behind' the word ? You know ... like what Microsoft words would do ? Thanks Dian

Try Reading Made Easy by Valerie Bendt : http://www.valeriebendt.com It's a bit similar to 100 EZ Lesson but the marking is simpler. I find the marking is very helpful to enable the child to read more easily and confidently at the early stage. The scope and seq is rather different from regular reading program, going from short a to long a within a few lesson, without even going to other short vowel first. This, in combination with the early introduction of frequently used sight words like the, you, etc, enables the child to read interesting sentences and short stories within a few lessons. Hence, you practically do not need any other reader like bob books etc to accompany this program. It also includes several games and kinesthetic activities to reinforce the reading. Plus, in each lesson, there are practices to read sentences without the marking to make the transition to non-marked reading easier. In short, this book combines reading lesson with the love of reading. The later point, is often forgotten in many primers which mainly focus on decoding skills. I've used such primer in the past with my son, but we're both bored to tears. Really, to get your child to be motivated to read, they need to have interesting stories to read . You know, the one with meaningful sentences, not the tongue-twister sentences (KWIM ?). Reading MAde Easy supplies these stories(along with pictures) in abundance within a few lesson. When you finish with this, you can make transition to non marked reading in several ways: - making the readers (without marking) from the stories in this book. - and then get other reader. In our home, we used Mc Guffey primer (first 30 lessons), then switched completely to a combination of Elson and Treadwell primer. Both Elson and Treadwell primers are available free from google books and baldwin project respectively. I highly recommend these two primers. The language is easy enough, but the stories are not dumbed down. They are interesting to read. We enjoy these a lot in our home. If you want to reinforce phonics to help with reading and to some extent, spelling, you can use explode the code workbooks at later point. HTH Dian

Will startwrite allow me to just insert double/three lines in the middle of sentences for 'fill-in-the-blank' exercises ? THanks DIan

I'm toying between Educational Fontware and StartWrite. This is what I want the program to do: - HWT font with double lines (Preferably). - enable me to put border and images in the copywork sheet. - enable me to put just the double (a la HWT) or three lines for my son to guide him to practice 'fill in the blank' . Any insight ? Thanks Dian

Almost half of the lesson in the level B book cover exactly the same stuffed found in the level A. So, you don't need to buy the level A if you can slow down and stretch the lesson. The nice thing about level A is that it's so slow and is perfect for a kindergartner. However, if you have an above average 4 year old, then you may be able to start the level B book with her. Just make sure to slow down when she doesn't get it. At 4, my son wouldn't pass the counting stage of 1-10 with the abacus. It would've been frustrating if I insisted on proceeding with the lesson beyond 1-10 counting. I revisited RS when he was five. At that time, he could do level A comfortably. There were however, a few topics where he got stuck. When that happened, I shelved the book for a couple of weeks and just did the game/review. A lot of times, it's just a factor of maturity. Hope this helps. Dian

MAy I suggest "Reading Made Easy" by Valerie Bendt. Link is here: http://www.valeriebendt.com It's like 100 EL, but RME"s marking is very simple, e.g.: the short vowels are gray, the long vowels are black, the silent letters are dotted, etc. It is also very cuddly and has interesting stories + pictures. Our reading lesson have been very enjoyable since we use RME. Before, we used Phonics Pathway, Bob Books, Nora Gaydos' Beginning Reader + The Pyramids , and both me and my son got bored with them. In fact, my son cringed everytime I pulled out the 'black book'. I haven't used OPTGR, so I won't comment on it. But here's the contrast between RME & Phonics Pathway (PP): - RME: ADvantage: a. lives up to its name - it makes reading easy and painless by the means of marking the letters. So what your child has to know is blending. b. No need for reader because it contains many interesting stories quite early in the program. This is possible because RME has a different scope and sequence from other programs. It starts with the short a, then go on to long a, etc. It also introduces a couple of high frequency sight words, e.g. a, the, could, would, is, you, etc. This feature, coupled with the letter marking system enables your child to read interesting stories sooner. So there's no need of other reader, like Bob books and Nora Gaydos books to spice up the lesson. c. THe stories are interesting, sometimes funny, and there is also one or two pictures to come with the stories. This is good for instilling the love of reading + you can also do some comprehension work with the stories. My son also liked to speculate what comes after the stories is finished too. d. Incorporates other learning style: e.g. games is incorporated in the lesson. Also, it is suggested that you have several index cards where one word of a sentence is written on each. Then you can ask your child to read the sentence fast, and after shuffling the cards, you can then ask your child re-arrange the word cards so that they form the sentence he just read. As your child's reading improves, you can make index cards wtihout the maarking. e. Copy work: optional. But I occasionally asked my son to type for his copywork, then print out the copy work + scanned pictures, and asked him to color it. Conclusion: RME blends the joy of reading and reading lesson. It is also a painless way to get your child to read. DISADVANTAGE: - not as thorough as PP. It only goes up to beginning second grade level. No 'tion, no 'ew', no 'ture' , etc. - no explicit phonics per se, i.e. you just ask your child to read based on the marking. NO need to explain: ay = ai = long a sound with silent y/i. So after RME, you may have to supplement with ETC or customized phonics lessons for troubled/new words only (this is what I do, by the way, using the ELSON readers). OK, now on to PP: Advantage: - very thorough, complete and cheap. - lots of drills. Disadvantage: - You'll need several phonetic readers (meaning: readers containing disjointed sentences) to avoid boredom. The disadvantage of using such readers are obvious: the kids reads by decoding only. Since the sentences are so unnatural, your child will not be able to guess the next words, which means that it's harder to comprehend a sentence while reading. - It "may" take the joy out of the reading process. - WOrds are not learned in context. - PP doesn't have any marking, so your child has to think each time he wants to read. It may frustrates some child if they are asked to do this at the beginning of their reading lesson. - No sight words. We're through with RME. At the end of the book, I made little reader booklets containing all the stories in RME minus the marking. Then I gave him customized phonics lesson on new/difficult words as we read through the Elson Runkel Primer. Both the ELSON eader and teacher manual (incl. suggested phonics lesson) are available free from google books, if you are interested. It's best used after 100 EL or RME> Hope this helps. Dian

From what I've heard, Spencerian penmanship allows the students to write fast and legibly at the same time. THe newer type of cursive, i.e. palmer is developed mainly for business writing. They are highly legible when written slowly. However, if you're trying to speed up with it, then the writing is going to be non-legible. Smithhand (SMith HAnd) has a cursive course for 4th grader up which teaches simpler Spencerian. Well, they don't say it is a Spencerian. But they say it's a narrow letter cursive, much like Spencerian, but, it's simpler. IT allows the student to write legibly and fast. HTH. Dian

Kfamily, so how do you combine ILL + old grammar book/CC LOng ? Do you do both or do you do ILL first, then the grammar book ? Long books looks like it's on the target for upper elementary. For older student, you may want to look at English Spoken and Written book III by Ida Bender. I cannot remember the exact title, but I know this book is heavy on composition and grammar. Yet, it's not dry. Dian

Hi, I came across other old Language Art books for children when browsing google books. They look similar to PLL. The titles are: - Primary Language Lesson: by Sheldon. (Sheldon's primary language lesson). - English Written and Spoken, Language Lesson for Primary Grade / book I: by Ida Bender and Emerson. English Written and Spoken goes up to its intermediate level /book II(probably same grade as ILL intended to be) and advance book/book III. Book II and book III of these contain also a lot of grammar and composition. I like what I see in this series. ANy opinion on these books ? ANybody has used these ? Thanks Dian

My son wants to learn French. I took 1 year French at univ, so I know a little (and have forgotten most of that little French that I knew). But my hubby speaks French very well. He took his undergrad + master degree in France, and is still speaking French whenever he talks to French or North African in his office. For those of you who teach French to the little kiddos and only know a little French: - Do you do it conversationally only ? - Or do you follow a certain program ? If yes, what program ? Also, what is the reason to teach French as the second language ? Most people here would have opted for Latin or Spanish. But I know Charlotte Mason suggested French. Not sure what her reason is though. Thanks Dian

KAte, I just PM-ed you. Dian

I've seen several moms making their own copywork sheets. I'm so intrigued how moms can make these sheets so beautiful with elegant pictures and border. Anybody can help ? Dian

My son is 6 years old, and he's at the K level. We just finished Reading Made Easy which, like the 100 EZ Lesson, brings him to the beginning 2nd grade level. However, since RME uses marking (just like 100 EZ), he's not accustomed to read material without the marking. This is what I did first to make the transition easier: - made little readers (or booklet) out of the stories from RME WITHOUT all the marking. It works really well. - Got him progressive phonics from http://www.progressivephonics.com which is a real deal considering the amount of phonics it covers phonics (btw, I got the download version for 10 dollar, which is half the special price offer, by filling out the scholarship form and stated that I am a homeschooling mom ). Progresive phonics allowed us to read aloud together. He read the letters with the big fonts, I read the rest. The reading is organized into 'phonic rule' starting with the short vowel, then vowel team, then silent e stuff, etc. At first, he enjoyed it. One book later, he balked at it because he didn't like the stories. Sure the stories are humorous, but sometimes my son just didn't get it. He prefers RME-type of stories. So, I ditched it. What we are doing now: - finish off the little readers from RME stories (home made). - supplement this with the Mc Guffey primer and other 'old' primers (FREE from googlebooks, baldwin projects, gutenberg and many more sites). Here are other old primer you can try, if you are willing to print them out and use them: a. Rose Primer and Sunshine primer (googlebooks). Starts out very easy. Just like Mc Guffey. b. Runkel-Elson Primer and Treadwell primer (google books and baldwin projects). Starts out a bit advanced than the ones I mention in a). Elson primer has a teacher guide at the back of the reader. So you can make an elaborate lesson out of it if you want. I highly recommend you to at least try Mc Guffey and Elson. All these primers depict sweet moral stories, just like Pathway Readers. I was about to order pathway readers when I found these gems. My son loves these. He prefers these primers to Progressive Phonics. YEt, they are MORE difficult than the progressive phonics. I also found that these old primers move quite fast. If you want to stretch your lesson so that your child can practice more on a concept, you should use these primers together. I also teach phonics as we go along, depending on the words he has difficulty with. I find that the BEST way to teach my son phonics is to do it that way. He's kind of boy who will balk on phonics lesson if I attempt to do it separately. He hated Phonics Pathway and the Pyramids which made him read list of words and non-sense sentences. Progressive pHonics is better because it incorporates those words in a context (or so I thought). But turned out he hated it because of the stories. So now I try hard to only give him REAL stories. Looks like his taste is for sweet stories like RME stories, Mc Guffey and oldie goldie primer stories. I suspect if I give him pathway readers, he will love it. I also do tandem reading with him. E.g. we read Snowy Days by Jack Ezra Keats (his little sister's favorite) together. I read the difficult words, he reads the easy words. We enjoy it because he likes the stories and he feels like he reads that aloud to his sister. The sentences make sense to him. The stories make sense to him. That's what matter to him. HOpe this helps. Dian