Asiaforkids.com has a lot of resources. Also Families with Children from China has an archived "mall" site that has listed some websites that maintain Chinese language skills.

I bought sandpaper letters from Didax (amazon.com sells them, but I originally got them someplace else). If you don't let your children mishandle them (ie. they only use them during "school"), they last for a long time. For the moveable alphabet, since it is so expensive, I got this plastic set from Montessori N Such and this box. It wasn't cheap, but it was cheaper than most moveable alphabet, and I have used it for all three of my children.

Look, Montessori materials are very expensive (although I have used most of mine for all three of my children--even the cheaper ones)--and most of the Montessori online catalogs charge an arm and a leg for shipping. Why not just use books like Basic Montessori that Marie recommended and buy the materials online? Another set of books that are oldies but a goodies for Montessori information is Teaching Montessori in the Home: The Preschool Years and Teaching Montessori in the Home: The School Years (and because they are so old, they are cheap and to boot, you can probably find them in your local library). For sources of materials I like Michael Olaf, Montessori Services and Montessori N Such, but as I said, their shipping costs are very high. The best source of Montessori materials (with the best quality but out of this world prices) if you have money to spend is Neinhuis Montessori.

I am not sure exactly which magazine that you are refering to, but I believe that you can order a subscription to some of their magazines from amazon.com.

I don't know how much money you want to spend, but what about the Calvert School's Discoveries in Music? It has 32 lessons (about one a week for a whole school year) and includes a lap harp, flutophone (like a recorder), and triangle. It has lots of suggestions for expanding the lessons (including songs to play on the lap harp and flutophone), but if you cannot prepare one more lesson, your children will still learn a lot from just watching the videos. They are a little bit dated, though.

I strongly suggest reading The Autism Book: What Every Parent Needs to Know About Early Detection, Treatment, Recovery, and Prevention by Robert Sears. He talks about this sequence--the child can talk but won't, the child goes to speech therapy for a long time but there is no improvement. He himself used to refer the parents/child to speech therapy, but really, all the speech therapist works on is speech. You need a more holistic evaluation. Going to the Developmental Pediatrician is vital! I read once that parents are correct over 90% of the time in regard to concerns about their child. If you think that something is wrong, chances are you are correct. Don't let anyone brush you off or tell you to give it time if you feel so concerned. Go with your gut feelings; they're probably correct!

I was/am using Singapore 1A, and we definately used the balance scale to compare weights (the last subject in the 1A books), and the multilink cubes, which are essential for addition.

The standard high school Shakespeare plays are Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and Hamlet. In the high school that I went to, the principal objected to Romeo and Juliet (I guess because of all the sexuallity involved), so we substituted Julius Cesear, which is still my all time favorite Shakespeare play (got to love all that blood and gore :lol:!). We also read The Merchant of Venice in that school because I went to a Jewish school, and The Merchant of Venice shows some classic stereotypical anti-semitism of the Renaissance. We also read some assorted sonnets that were printed in our anthologies.

I have read the first edition of The Learning Gap. I also recommend that you read Catching Up or Leading the Way and Preschool in Three Cultures to give you a more complete perspective of "Asian" education [which in these three books means Japan (who was outproducing us in the 1980s), China, and Taiwan]. In The Learning Gap, which compared the elementary schools of China, Japan, and Taiwan to U.S. elementary schools, there is no tracking and no standardized tests. There are also huge classes. The teacher expects the entire group to learn at the same pace. They also teach less concepts in math every year but do each concept more in depth. There is a lot of collaborative learning. In Asia the child is expected to become a group member--there is not the same focus on the individual in schools or society in general. Children's performance in school is also considered important for the family's pride--hence all the rukus about Amy Chua's book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. Thus, the family (particularly the mother) puts a lot of energy into the child's school performance. With the curriculum of schools nationalized, if a child is doing poorly in school, the mother can just go to the supermarket and get a workbook that correlates to the national curriculum for the child's grade. In Japan, the competition to become a teacher is fierce, and the teachers are paid as well as a engineer at Toyota, for example. Thus, the schools can get the best teachers. Also, teachers do not teacher every period. There is a recess after every period and there are specialist teachers for science, so teachers have time to prepare classes and help struggling students. Also, Japan has over 200 school days per year (as opposed to 175-180 days in the United States).

For total physical response, there is Live Action Spanish, which I see is now available as a book or as a computer program.

I am using Modern Curriculum Press Phonics A ("Plaid Phonics") now with my son, who is six. I did not use the Spelling Workout that correlates to Phonics A, but I probably could have. I just wanted to get him reading! My son has ADHD, and "failed" kindergarten (he went to a Jewish school) last year because he was not reading well at the end of the year. He could read some of the first "Bob Books" slowly but not fluently then. I am homeschooling him now. His school was doing "whole language" with very little explicit instruction in phonics, and he was just not getting it (some children really need the phonics rules explicitly taught). Plaid Phonics is better, and they do work on one or two skills at a time, but if you need a scripted program (and you do not remember and/or were never taught all the phonics rules), this program does not have all the phonics rules spelled out one at a time. It could be that the teacher's book, which I do not have, has more of a script that you could follow. I found myself lost sometimes trying to figure out what skill they were trying have taught (and I was schooled in a phonics program in the 1970s--Old Court Phonics, which I unfortunately did not keep to reference :lol:). I started my son on p. 80 or so in Phonics A, because he already knew all the letters and their sounds (he did learn something in kindergarten :)). After about p. 80, Phonics A starts with the short vowels, one at a time. Then it's on to the long vowels, again one at a time. After that it's up to consonant blends. The last section deals with contractions. At first, I had him to only one page at a time (remember, he has ADHD so concentration is a issue), but we've now worked up to about two pages a day. We are finishing the book within the week !:party: His reading is much improved but still very slow.

I have absolutely no experience with Russian, but a few years ago the textbook Russian Face to Face was popular. The video Russian Faces: Language and People. A Video Program for Beginning Students is a companion to the series. This website has the ISBNs for the books and audiocassettes in the series if you want more information.

The first edition of The Well Trained Mind recommended the following books (which are unfortunately out of print) for history that are well suited for a kindergarten child: Journey Through History: Prehistory to Egypt by Maria Ruis, Gloria & Oriol Verges Journey Through History: The Greek and Roman Eras by Carme Peris, Gloria & Oriol Verges Journey Through History: The Middle Ages by Maria Ruis, Gloria & Oriol Verges Journey Through History: The Renaissance by Carme Peris, Gloria & Oriol Verges Journey Through History: Modern Times by Maria Ruis, Gloria & Oriol Verges Journey Through History: The Contemporary Age by Carme Peris, Gloria & Oriol Verges If you want to do general geography and not purely history, www.cultureforkids.com has great books and other resources for purchase.

I was going to suggest you try to interlibrary loan the teacher's guide. Even if Columbia is the only library that has a copy, they may still be willing to loan it out.

About 15 years ago, when I moved here to Texas, I saw that I really needed to refresh my high school Spanish (I took 2 years of it--all that my high school offered, even though several girls in my class begged the administration to add a third year). I studied using: 1. Destinos, which was offered on public television at the time. To use it, first you watch the video (which I believe that you can now watch online), and then do the exericises in the book and workbook. 2. Dime! was at the time the most communicative approach offered in a high school textbook (I bought it at a second hand store). I did it page by page, exercise by exercise (orally, to myself), though the book, until half way through book two (then I got stuck). It has now been replaced by En Espanol! If you and your son are motivated enough to go through a textbook like this page by page and do every single exercise, even orally, then you really can get pretty far. But to help with the corrections, you will also need a copy of 501 Spanish Verbs.

I bought at a second hand store How to Talk Dinosaur With Your Child by Q.L. Pearce. It has very few, if any pictures, but has information for you to talk intelligently with your child about dinosaurs with your child. It is a little dated though; it was published in 1991.

Veronica-- Of course, I am no judge of your financial situation, but if it were my child, I would have both parents go, unless we would absolutely not eat. You see, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for your child to be in this school play at this particular time. He may be resentful of your husband for not showing up at his once in a lifetime chance to be in the spotlight, at this particular time in his life. Yes, a school play will not be as wonderful as a Broadway production, but it will be something your child will remember to the end of his days. Do you want your son to remember that Daddy would not even shell out the $5 to see him in his glory (sorry to be so blunt)? Try not to let your anger at the school's constant requests for money get in the way of your relationship with your son. And like I said, I am in no way judging your for your financial situation. I know what it is like to be down to the last dollar. I just want you to understand that to your son, this is more than a dispute with how the school it managing its finances. This is a once in a lifetime chance to be in the spotlight (even if all he says in the play is two sentences). My Dad, who in his late 70s still talks about his role in a high school play (he was the aunt in Charley's Aunt--he went to an all male boarding school), and I remember very fondly the two musical that I was in--Finnian's Rainbow in fourth grade and Oliver! in ninth grade. And I did not have major parts in either production.

A good activity book for learning to read music is Keyboard Capers, for which you can buy manipulatives (or make your own from the book). As is implied by the title, you would need a keyboard to teach the concepts, but it could be a really cheap keyboard that you buy at Target or Walmart. As far as teaching recorder, I used Oak Meadow's recorder syllabus. It is a four year program, and you buy a new syllabus every year. You do not need to order a complete curriculum in order to order the syllabus. The recorder syllabus assumes that you know nothing about reading music. By the way, you can get a really good plastic soprano recorder for under US$10.

I wrote this in response to the O: The Oprah Magazine article (February 2011 issue) about Amy Chua and wanted to share it with you. I find it ironic that in the same issue that O had an article about creativity, there was also an article "Asian Mother Knows Best." "Asian Mother Knows Best" highlighted Amy Chua, the author of the recent Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. Ms. Chua's rules for raising her daughters--no play dates, many hours of enforced practice on the musical instrument that Ms. Chua chose for her daughters, and no grades less than an A--are all practices that do not encourage creativity in youngsters. Indeed never being allowed to fail is a real creativity buster. Her daughters were just encouraged to memorize and regurgitate information, not use their knowledge in creative ways. It was reported in the Wall Street Journal that Ms. Chua would also not let her daughters be in a school play. The odd thing is that studies show that participating in school drama has a bigger effect on a child's SAT scores than playing an instrument. If Ms. Chua, who seems so white-knuckled about her daughter's achievements, really wanted her daughters to score well on the SATs, she would have allowed them to participate in the school drama club. Ms. Chua pushes her children to excel in school by memorizing. This attitude of the “Chinese Mother” (and father) probably stems from the Confucian philosophy of venerating one’s parents. If a parent is to be practically worshiped, than what better way can one honor his/her parent than by bringing home the best grades possible? If the parent is the one determining what are grades and activities that a child may do without regard to his/her desires and natural inclinations, then the parent is only serving himself/herself, not his/her child. Indeed, in China, authorities are worried about the high rate of suicide among teens; they try to be at the top scholastically but just cannot keep up with the perceived demands. These Chinese teens commit suicide to avoid bringing shame to their parents for not being number one (and indeed in a country of more than one billion people, it would be very hard for everyone to be number one!). It is also a Confucian belief that innate abilities were irrelevant; rather it is the amount of effort and diligence put into an activity that promotes achievement. Of course, many people would agree that effort put into an activity will promote achievement. Indeed, that is the premise of the popular Suzuki Method that is often used for teaching a child an instrument—that it is not the innate talent that important in achieving mastery of an instrument but rather the amount of practicing that is important. When the Wall Street Journal article reported that when Ms. Chua pushed, threatened, and insulted her daughter for not being able to play a song that her older daughter had played at the same age, her reaction was in the spirit of Confucian philosophy. (Mind you, would it would have been so terrible if Ms. Chua’s daughter had practiced another week or two before being able to play “The Little White Donkey” with both hands simultaneously?) China, which emphasizes memorization and standardized testing, is trying to reform its educational system to be more like the American educational system (which before the No Child Left Behind Act was less focused on learning "cold facts" and more about using available resources, both scholastic and human, to come up with solutions). The American school system, although very faulty, traditionally was about finding the child’s strengths and using them to promote achievement. The focus was on the individual. The Confucian philosophy was not for individual rights or freedoms, but rather for the collective good of society in general and the well being of the family group in particular. How very ironic that Ms. Chua, whose parents came to this country to pursue individual freedom that this country offers, rejects the very strengths that our society has to offer. She very belatedly says in the O interview, “I wish I’d realized earlier that parenting cannot just be one size fits all.” A very American, yes, Western concept! Resources cited: Amabile, Teresa. (1992). Growing Up Creative: Nurturing a Lifetime of Creativity. Creative Education Foundation. Bronson, Po and Merryman, Ashley. (2010). “The Creativity Crisis”. Newsweek (July 19). p.p. 44-50. Confucian Beliefs. http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=88 (retrieved February 16, 2010). Fowler, Charles. (2001). Strong Arts, Strong Schools: The Promising Potential and Shortsighted Disregard of the Arts in American Schooling. New York: Oxford University Press. Stevenson, Harold. (1994). The Learning Gap: Why Our Schools are Failing and What We Can Learn From Japanese and Chinese Education. New York: Simon and Schuster. Tobin, Joseph J., Wu, David W.H., and Davidson, Dana H. Preschool in Three Cultures: Japan, China and the United States. New Haven: Yale University Press. Zhao, Yong. (2009). Catching Up or Leading the Way: American Education in the Age of Globalization. Alexandria: ASCD.

Laundry!

Does your daughter intend to go to graduate school, particularly medical or law school? If she does, will she do well in the more competitive school, enough to be competitive for grad school admissions? Will your daughter be overwhelmed by the competition in the more competitive undergraduate school? Or will she be goaded into working harder and/or be stimulated by the intellectual peers? If the second school is a "party school," will she feel peer pressure to join in? Or will she be the pariah for not joining in? These are the questions that I would have your daughter consider before making a decision. Brenda's advice of having her spend an overnight visit in the dorms and checking out classes is really the only way to tell for sure.

I graduated high school in 1987 from a Jewish high school. I did not even break 1000 for my SAT score, which was the minimum score required for the state university in our community. When I complained to my dad, he asked me, "And how high did you think I scored on the SATs?" Meaning he scored about the same. I did end up going to community college for a couple of years and then transferring to an upper level school to get my degree and never even used those SAT scores. I loved community college! I loved the independence, the manageable course load, the willingness of the instructors to help you when you are having difficulty with the material, and the mix of students from all walks of life. It was a great experience.

Maybe these are too easy, but what about books by Carolyn Haywood, like B is for Betsy?

Rowan-- I am using an 1990s version of the textbook Mathematics in Action for first grade (ISBN #0021085013), after my son and I had trouble with Singapore Math 1A. I had used Mathematics in Action as a supplement with my older two girls (who were/are not homeschooled). I really like the early grades Mathematics in Action because it has paper manipulatives made of cardboard in the back of the book and uses them consistently in the text. Mathematics in Action is a great combination of older styles of teaching math with newer manipulative and literature based programs. Unfortunately it is out of print, but you may be able to find copies at Follett Educational Service.

I assume that you are asking for college admissions and/or scholarship opportunities. (I do have to preface this by saying that I find the whole competitive college admission thing appalling, and thus find all of the books I am going to mention symptoms of the college admission frenzy). I was also going to suggest What High Schools Don't Tell You and its companion, What Colleges Don't Tell You for ideas of extracurricular suggestions. In addition, How to Be a High School Superstar by Cal Newport gives suggestions of how community service can be adapted into major research opportunities that then translate into major scholarship opportunities. For instance, Jenn mentioned that her daughter is into horses. Using the strategies from How to Be a High School Superstar by Cal Newport, she could volunteer for a veterinarian who works with horses and maybe learn about various diseases they are vulnerable to, and start a campaign about prevention for the disease.