This is a very sweet book also, lots of little poems/prayers (definitely Christian in content): http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0394827058/ref=s9_cartx_gw_d0_g14_ir01?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-7&pf_rd_r=0FDEMPTFEBA89923RM6D&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938451&pf_rd_i=507846

OOPS! Double post -- Please see other thread. :) http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/showthread.php?t=439678

...when do you find time to read them all!?! I feel like I'm drowning in library books! Without fail, the day before the books are due, I'm reading dozens of books so that we can return them the next day. (Yes, yes, I know we can renew.) Both of my girls are (for the most part) non-readers. And they LOVE-LOVE-LOVE checking out books. Lots of books. And they want them ALL read (translate: mommy reads). Sometimes more than once. Add that to the "school" reading that *I* have planned each week, and I start to feel a little overwhelmed. Do you limit the # you'll read to them? Limit the # they can check out? (Right now we have a "if you can carry it, you can check it out" limit. :p) I love books and I want to encourage this same exploration and pleasure in my girls.... but our current system is not working. ETA: And my oldest is into animals in a big way. One of the books she checked out this week was The Encyclopedia of N. American Animals (which clocks in at a whopping 384 pages.) And she wants us to READ THEM ALL! :glare:

Yep, don't forget those fun facts in your memory work! :) I just put together some more aspects of my lil' girls' memory binders (used 1/2 binders with pages in page protectors). We included those types of facts: continents, skip counting, ROYGBIV, 7 days of creation, 10 commandments (there are some neat finger-plays to help teach this!). Another (short) poem idea (one my girls are working on for Thanksgiving): Thanksgiving For each new morning with its light, For rest and shelter of the night, For health and food, For love and friends, For everything Thy goodness sends. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Check out Read-Aloud Rhymes for the Very Young. We like "Singing Time" by Rose Fyleman (one of the first poems in it). I also suggest: "Sometimes" by Mary Ann Hoberman

:iagree: with the previous posters. One needs to decide what is most important, long-term. Are memories (like you have of your mother) what you most want your child to remember of you and your time together? Or a different type of memory (untidy house, but working together to build a model of something/read a book/history activity). I have my degree in elem ed. I bought into the public education model and did not ever see myself homeschooling. HA! My DH had different ideas and planted that seed in my heart. But if my kids went to public school, I'd probably have to go back to work full-time....so it's not like I'd be sitting at home baking treats or out with friends. So, easy call for me: home with my kids.

Well, aside from what you're already doing, I don't know that there's much more you could do to discourage sight reading. And -- IMO -- all fluent readers become sight readers as they gain fluency, no? Perhaps he is just that advanced and able to quickly decode mentally. (But -- wow! 3.5 years old, just a few weeks reading and that far along?! Congrats! :D) Keep covering pictures, keep playing decoding/phonics games. If you aren't already, you may want to begin some formal phonics instruction to discourage bad habits (sight reading, etc). OPGTR can be done orally, since he's so young.

I have done a bit of both (beginning sounds and word families). We did letter-by-letter for a long while and DD was struggling with putting the sounds together to make a word. Then we added in the first workbook from R&S Phonics 1 and it was just what DD needed to get her over the hump. It does the beginning sounds (sa, se, si, so, su and so forth). It really helped DD get to the point of sounding out words. Now we've moved back to OPGTR and she was able to carry that over. She's also able to approach word families (tan, ran, fan) more easily now. Word families help her spell (i.e: "you know how to spell ___ -- now we can figure out how to write ___"). *ETA: We used R&S for 2 months, at the most. But that change of approach really gave her confidence. So.... maybe there's something to be said for both approaches.

No suggestions, but this is a great idea!

Ah, one more reason I *need* an iPad for school!!! :) My DD uses xtramath, but I key the answer in for her. She can't find and type them fast enough.

Sorry, I just saw this... Yes, I like it well enough. It's nothing fancy, but I just decided that my own "homemade" penmanship lessons weren't cutting it for my oldest (who insists on starting letters from the bottom-up, etc). We haven't been using it long enough to see drastic changes, but I'm hopeful. Book A (all manuscript) starts at the basics: tracing circles, drawing lines from the top-down, horizontal lines from left-to-right, diagonal lines. Then it progresses to copying/writing letters and then 3- and 4-letter words.

LOL! That's classic, love it!

Our local thrift store had the entire set of My Book House (1-12, the pastel set) except for #2, last time I went in.

I'm picking our cursive program for a few months from now... I've decided to go with a simplified cursive, similar to NAC or what Teach Me Joy uses. For those that have had experience with these (either), why did you like it? Why would you recommend one of these over the other? Some reviews I've seen for NAC said that it teaches letters in order, not by stroke. What about Teach Me Joy? Does it matter?

So, those of you currently using the self-paced history, do you also use the recommended book list?

Well, I think you gotta do what you gotta do, but .... *I* wouldn't have flushed it.... I mean, what if the toilet had CLOGGED?! Would you then have had to PLUNGE it!? :eek:

Same here, for my 6.5 yr. old girl. And writing her "o" letters clockwise AND from the bottom, instead of the "proper" counter-clockwise.... And writing many other letters backwards. *sigh*

LOL, there is that female cat character that talks with a southern drawl. I have had a few :confused: moments with the content. For example, there is one game where the child is asked to find "uh" and your choices are like: a, m, t. Turns out, it's asking for the word "a" as in "uh cat or uh dog". Weird. Other than that little quibble, my daughter loves it. We also like ClickNRead, but it's a bit more boring (but way affordable). What DD loves about Reading Eggs is that she can earn golden eggs with each lesson, then she goes to the "store" and "buys" clothes for her avatar or furniture for her "house." :p

Yes. :D (Though, I guess we haven't technically started place value. SM introduces the "teens" as a group of tens and group of ones. So 13 is a group of ten and 3 left over. Singapore introduces the numerals 11-20 pretty much at the same time they expect you to learn the # names. She can count well over 100, but if I call out "14" she struggles to remember how to right the numeral. She can count 14 items and can tell me that 10 + 4 = 14. But she may call "14" forty-one, when she sees it on paper. And she is having a hard time "reading" the number words when the lessons ask her to.

My girls love Starfall, too. I definitely think the $35 year-long subscription is worth it for extra content. There are tons of math games and shape puzzles and a "talking library." My youngest enjoys this a lot (we liked it well enough when it was free, but my kids seem to use the subscription "site" more frequently.) It still has the free content all there, just adds more.

:D Try these, starting with the longest first. Reading Eggs will allow you to use 2 extension codes per child. 5ABCSHOP : 5 weeks ABC1034 : 4 weeks ABC4Eggs : 4 weeks ABC88EGG : 4 weeks ABCSHOP5 : 3 weeks UKJ23TVW : 3 weeks UKJ23HAW : 3 weeks

My 6.5 year old is LOVING it. Obsessed with it. We're about halfway through our free trial (68 days, woot!) and I'll probably subscribe for her if I get another email w/ a discount. My 4 yr. old likes it, but doesn't have the stamina to play some of the games. She loses interest quickly and wants my help. I'll not bother getting her an acct....maybe later...

My 6.5 year old is STRUGGLING with understanding and remembering the teens (11-19). We are using Singapore and I think I definitely need to approach this concept with a supplement. Any ideas? Favorite ways to foster that larger-range number sense? I guess it extends into tens/ones, so if you have games that help with understanding, I'd appreciate it. ALSO: For SM users, how much do you worry about them knowing the number names? (ie. reading twelve, nineteen, etc). This is a child who still struggles to read "cat" and "frog", so I'm balking at her being required to read these big number words.

We're currently using Book A from this (it uses the simplified Zaner-Bloser style). I'm currently debating whether to continue on with this cursive next year or NAC (which I'm leaning towards)...

What ages is Grammar Punk designed for? I can't find many reviews, so it may be for older kids...