:iagree::iagree: Yep, that skeeved me out, too! It was hard to move past that....

The below post is pretty much my recommendations exactly (except I do R&S at 4, SE K at 5/K, 1A/B for 1st)! My 6 year old loves Singapore. The first week of school she told me "I never knew math could be so fun!!!"

Hehe, my lil girls loved this and we all agreed that it was a vast improvement to the Jim Carrey movie version! :D

Yes, we did, too. I just started making up stuff and skimming so we could finish it quickly...

Excited to hear all this praise! We plan on picking up R&S in 2nd for grammar & spelling. Now I'm excited, too! :) (Always looking ahead...)

Hmmm, I think that -- given her abilities -- she's more advanced than the CLE Kindergarten II program. I have CLE Kindergarten II right now, and I *had* CLE 1st (but returned it after having looked at it in person).** My only concern would be that if you began CLE 1st grade, there is a decent bit of writing required (filling in letters/words/etc.), and I think the content/pace picks up pretty quickly after the first few units. **ETA: I purchased CLE K for my youngest to do next year, however I now think we'll probably begin it after Christmas (she'll be 4.5). I bought CLE 1st for my oldest but she hates writing (even ETC workbooks bring out the tears and complaining.) We ended up buying Hooked on Phonics for her for her reading instruction....

Thanks! We're looking forward to it. When I told DD that I was contemplating this plan, her face lit up like Christmas! :hurray: We are using: 1. the 9 LH books (obviously :p) 2. Little House in the Classroom ~ Christine Hackett (*taking a chance on this - no preview*) 3. A Pioneer Sampler: The Daily Life of a Pioneer Family in 1840 ~ Barbara Greenwood (*got this mainly for the illustrations & crafts*) 4. The World of Little House ~ Carolyn Strom Collins I was able to purchase most of these fairly cheaply (used) on Amazon, though I've not seen them 1st-hand (just previewed online). I also have found a few maps, coloring pages, etc. online that I'll be using. Crayola has a pattern for making a covered wagon from a shoe box that looks right up our alley... :D

As far as programs with an online element, Hooked on Phonics has a Master Reader program that's Grds.2+, I think. If you're looking for some hands-on activities to build phonics skills w/ larger (multisyllabic) words, what about something like Making Big Words, Grades 3 - 6: Multilevel, Hands-On Spelling and Phonics Activities (Patricia M. Cunningham). I used the beginner levels of Making Words with my 1st graders and found it really helpful.... Making Big Words focuses on: All you need is a book and letter tiles... I can't find samples, but if he's reading well and just needs help with the larger, more complicated words, this might be appropriate for his level...

Ah, yes....we read that part a couple of weeks ago (Big Woods). Since all 3 of us -- me and my 2 girls -- are brunettes, we felt oddly pleased when Laura smacks Mary one. :D

...all in the name of being crafty. :p (Sorry if this has already been linked, I did a quick search but didn't see it pop up...) Apparently Conrad (whom I understand to be a tv personality?) did this craft video blog, but got such flak that she had to remove it from her site. Well, duh! This quote tickled me: Thought the book-loving Hive would get a kick out of this. http://www.buzzfeed.com/catesish/the-worst-craft-idea-ever

Thanks for the feedback. I actually already have all my resources mapped out -- sorry I didn't make that part clear.:tongue_smilie: I moreso asking if anyone has done this with a younger child and found it to be age-appropriate or too much? Just right? What are the scenes/content to look for in the later books that might be *too much* for younger audiences (4 and 6). Thanks! :)

A couple of weeks ago we finished up Little House in the Big Woods with my 4 and 6 year olds, and now we're a couple of chapters into Little House on the Prairie. Since my 6 yr. old is fascinated by it all, I think we're going to continue reading these books and add in some hands-on activities. Basically a year-long unit study on the series. Anyone done something similar with this age? I know there are some issues with the later books being depressing? or mature? IDK, I've not read past LHotP myself.... Things I should be on the lookout for? We're planning on doing US history/colonial life in a couple of years, so this year will just be focused on pioneers/wagon trail type stuff, as it relates to the books. Any thoughts/comments/suggestions welcome! Thanks!

You can actually fully do WWE1 with just the Level 1 workbook (instruction is in there, in the 1st half of the book). It's approx. $25 on Amazon. ETA: oops, posted at same time as PP.

We are using this for fun work for my 4 yr old and I really like it. http://www.christianbook.com/big-book-of-preschool-puzzles-2/9780830752270/pd/752270 It's a little pricey, but comes with a CD-rom, so you could print out extra copies for other children, etc.

I was looking forward to using Happy Phonics with DD6. I ordered from Rainbow Resource on 8/14, payed with Paypal (which is linked to DH's email acct. so I don't get emails regarding this). I received my order confirmation & I've been assuming my pkg. was on its merry lil' way..... ...but today I started thinking I'd go in another direction. Maybe I *do* want more of a "program". I already have lots of phonics games... Hmmm.... So I went ahead and ordered option #2 (Hooked on Phonics complete PreK-2nd grd. set :eek: :eek: ). Feeling sheepish about the $$ I just dropped, I decided to see if my RR order had shipped. Maybe I could cancel it..... Checked DH's email to see how to contact RR, get an order #, etc.... and lo' and behold -- RR had already cancelled my order b/c it was out of stock or unavailable or something! (If I hadn't been looking to cancel, I probably would've sat here for weeks, steaming at their slow shipping, LOL!) Anyway, now I feel better (and DH :toetap05: won't give me the stink-eye when I get 2 reading programs in the mail. :p) I'm calling it divine affirmation... :tongue_smilie: (Oh gee, I hope we like it now!)

That made me think.... is there a handwork skill that she could do? Simple weaving? Would that be interesting for her?

I have a hard time wrapping my head around teaching one child and it being OKAY to move along at our own pace (as opposed to the pace given to use in a guide.) :p I started with MFW, but -- being used to doing my own planning -- I got antsy with having everything laid out for me (so backwards, I know). But I *like* planning. We only made it through October of our K year with that sort of complete curriculum...:tongue_smilie: So now we are doing a mish-mash of stuff (for first grade, which is what I taught in PS). Singapore for math, Click N Read & Happy Phonics (games for phonics? blows my mind, haha, but it's what is working for my wiggly worm). We are pretty unstructured at our house, too, which is crazy because I was super-scheduled as a PS teacher.

What about giving her chunks of time to play on Starfall.com? My 4 year old loves doing all the different ABC lessons and she does it independently while I do math with my oldest.

We just started Little House on the Prairie tonight.

I had a tub of "Eureka Letter Tiles" (bought from Amazon, $12). I stuck adhesive magnets on the back of the letters a-z and used a magnetic board from the Dollar Tree. Problem solved. :p

I agree, whatever you can use consistently will work ... but that said, we've hopped around quite a bit before we found THE THING that we can do consistently. We've tried combinations of the following: OPGTR, ETC, AAR 1 (returned), Alphaphonics, CLE LTR (returned without using), BOB books..... What's sticking for us? Every day, DD does a Click N Read Phonics lesson (sometimes we repeat lessons) and Starfall. We also play a phonics game (Happy phonics) every day. Then we alternate days that we read for fluency (Let's Read readers) or do a page of ETC. Is it rigorous, all-inclusive & perfectly progressive? Doubt it. But she's learning and we aren't having to fight to get it done. Works for me.

I feel your pain. I'm cutting out sugar and caffeine, but I'm doing it little by little (i.e. instead of 2 McD's large iced teas a day, down to 1, LOL.) I am also a sucker for McD's iced coffee drinks..... I don't know if it's true, maybe someone has heard of this... but a lady at my church said that you could take acidophilus supplements + something else (folic acid, I think) and it helps with sugar cravings. IDK?:001_huh: But it's certainly worth looking into! :D

What sort of pre-reading skills do you think he's lacking? I've used a lot of the games from this site: http://www.fcrr.org/Curriculum/studentCenterActivities.shtm There is a section for Phonological Awareness skills: • Rhyme • Phoneme Matching • Alliteration • Phoneme Isolating • Sentence Segmentation • Phoneme Segmenting • Onset and Rime • Phoneme Segmenting and Blending I have a 4 and 6 yr. old. My oldest still struggles to blend CVC words. We have shelved "formal" phonics curricula (AAR didn't fit us either) and just do games and reading. She's using Click N Read Phonics (which she likes and it was only $20 for a lifetime purchase), lots of Starfall, and I just ordered Happy Phonics so we could do some practice together. We are also reading from the Let's Read readers, which are super-repetitive and have no pictures but rely on sounding out the word.

I wouldn't call Singapore independent but I don't feel overwhelmed with planning/coordinating lessons. It's very well laid-out. Most lessons have several ways to introduce a point through hands-on/manipulatives, but I don't chose them all. Sometimes we do more, sometimes less. DD really likes the workbooks, too. As she told me today: "I didn't know math could be so fun!" Haha, well... I wouldn't go THAT far :D, but it's certainly painless for us with SM. Yes, there are 3 books to juggle (HIG, textbook & workbook). I did have the bindings removed and then spiral-bound for ease of use, which has been awesome!

You're welcome! I like free stuff and this works perfectly fine for a beginning Bible timeline. :) (and I like the game that goes with it)