Anyone? I don`t know if I`m doing something wrong or if this is pretty typical. My older DS just picked up a book and was reading so I never went through this with him (but I also started him older).

Yes, $400. This is where I was getting confused. Maybe I misread it (which wouldn`t suprise me these days). I just checked our library and it is available (yay!), so I`ve ordered it. I`m glad I`ll have a chance to look it over and decide if that is the route I want to go. :001_smile:

I read somewhere that someone dropped over $400 on the program :confused: If I were to order the program is this and a notebook all that I would need? Are the flashcards included in the book if I bought it new? Does this program take a lot of effort to learn like SWR?

I`m wondering if I`m moving too fast w/ this program for my Ker. We have been using it now for several weeks but we are only on lesson 6. He knows his letter sounds fine, but he needs to sound out each and every letter for every word before blending them together which makes reading the stories veerrryyy slow going. He is just not getting the blending part. I am not sure what to do, as he seems to understand all the lessons fine, but the blending is just not happening. Advice?

Hmmm...it is tempting to just drop spelling until he`s 8. VERY tempting! I think I`m going to drop the tiles entirely. Using a whiteboard seems to work much better for him, it speeds up the pace of the lesson. As it is, we are getting through 1.5-2 lessons a day and I know he could go faster as it is pretty easy stuff for him right now. Do the lessons get more varied at all or is it always the same format? The slow pace of the program and unvaried nature of the lesson is causing us some bordom.

Thank you for your feedback. Has anyone else used it?

I am looking for reviews. We are using AAS and it's not working for us. My DS is not a workbook loving child, but doesn't mind a little copywork. I am looking for something that teaches the spelling rules w/out a bunch of twaddle. I'm hoping to find something short and sweet yet effective :) If it can be done somewhat independently that is a huge bonus!

:bigear:

Thanks for the feedback, Phonetic Zoo looks interesting but I'm wondering if my ds would be too young? He is 7. I like the idea of WRTR but it also looks like it takes a lot of time to learn the method and is costly. Is this the case?

I thought it would be perfect for my workbook-phobic 2nd grader but it is sadly not doing it for us. DS is bored, I am bored, he's not paying attention, the letter tiles are distracting...it's just not working. We only just started it a couple of weeks ago, we're more than half way through level 1 and I have level 2 ready to go. I'm going to give it until we're through level 2, but if it is still painful then I'm going to switch. Any suggestions for a spelling program for a child who does not like workbooks?

Thanks everyone, I was really upset about this last night. I actually lost sleep over it. It felt pretty sick having a child accused of saying something so awful and then her whole reaction t/w me when I defended him. I know that children hear bad words, but like one of the pp's mentioned it doesn't register w/ them b/c they don't know they are swear words. I can remember one occaision where the kids heard swear words but it didn't click in their heads whatsoever (this was months ago). Even if the kids picked them up and remembered them I find it unlikely that the first time they used them they put 2 swear words together, direct them at an adult and use them in perfect context. Usually kids try out new words in the home, not realizing they are bad. I don't think it's likely, at the age of 7, to keep 2 really bad swear words in your back pocket and direct them at an adult. I also think it's possible she misheard him. I have heard her call her young DD the very same words she purports my son for using. So these would be words that her children know and she probably expects the same of others. But really, she didn't behave like a grown up. An adult doesn't come tearing up a neighbours front steps chasing 2 little children, bang on the door and have an aggressive tone and demeanor and use words to verbally attack me. If she had an issue w/ my children that she honestly wanted to resolve, even if she was upset, she wouldn't have been so aggressive. She was looking for a fight. It's going to be hard to avoid her. We live in a townhouse so we don't have a yard. The kids like to play in the front b/c that is where all the kids play. They can play in the back, but we don't have much of a yard and it's not fenced so I can't corral them there. If other kids are playing in the front, then that is where they want to be. I usually stay out there w/ them, but I can't always b/c I have another LO and things that I need to do in the house. Because of my health issues, the kids haven't been spending as much time outside as I would like. Now they will be spending less time out there b/c I don't want them anywhere near the crazy lady!

You know, I shouldn't have sent him back out but I did. There is a bit of backstory, that being I am having a complicated pregnancy and am supposed to be resting. I haven't been resting so my dh told me to park it on the couch today. I assumed my dh was watching the boys (the kids were still w/in earshot and eyesight of me from my living room but I wasn't paying super close attention), I thought DH was out in the garage but he wasn't. I did instruct my ds to stay away from the crazy lady, which he did, but she came after him. I really didn't think she was that nuts. Now I know better and the kids have been instructed to come inside as soon as they see her and I will go out w/ them or they can play in the back. There is no way that I will let my kids near her unsupervised again! I also wanted to add, that they are only allowed to play right in front of our house where I can see/hear them at all times so they are not running wild or anything.

My son wrote a story about the whole incident. He is a highly sensitive child and he loves writing. I am very proud of him for using his writing as a coping strategy, which he clearly did today. His story outlined the whole incident, explaining what he was doing, what she accused him of and his feelings about the whole thing. Bless his heart. I am really upset that she would come banging on my door and say such horrid things. In fact, I am quite sick about it. I guess I shouldn't care what the neighbourhood crazy lady thinks, but goodness she was really mean. No wonder the poor kids are afraid of her. I know some of you think my OP sounds odd, I really didn't think I needed to give a whole bunch of background info as it would be lengthy but I can clarify if necessary.

would you defend your child w/out question? One of my neighbours came to my door today absolutely livid. There has been a history of her causing trouble w/ my children (they are afraid of her). They came in today very upset, I settled them down and sent them back out. Shortly later is when she came to my door. I asked her politely what the problem was, she started telling me some things that sounded suspicious, I told her that she was upsetting my children (they were howling w/ tears), she then told me that they used bad words to call her names. At this point she began losing credibility w/ me b/c the words my kids think are bad are pretty mild (i.e. hate, stupid ect.). I won't write the words she used but she said my son called her some very strong swear words. We are a Christian family and I know my kids wouldn't use such words. In fact, they've never even heard them. I told her at this point that they would not use words they don't know. She tore a strip off me and I told her that I did not believe the things she was saying. She swore at me and said all kinds of horrible things about my family. I don't believe for a second my kids would use such words. How could they, they've never heard them! My kids are nearly 5 and 7 by the way. So I got to thinking, should I believe in my kids w/out question? Would you?

So it's ok to scale back w/ my k-er? We did start school this year in mid-July, so we have a few weeks of school under our belts already. If I focussed on just math and LA w/ my older DS and let things go a bit w/ my k-er, that would be alright? What if I ordered something on the computer like reading eggs or time4learning for my younger DS. Would he gain anything from that?

I need some advice on how to make this year work for hsing b/c I am seriously getting stressed about it. My school aged kids are in gr K and 2. I've posted before that I'm having some pregnancy complications. At the moment I am having twice weekly appointments that interfere w/ our school (one of those appointments is all day, the other one not as long but I just don't have the energy for school on that day). If everything goes beautifully, I'll probably continue having twice weekly appointments for the next month, after that it will be more frequent or I could be admitted. I will be delivering the baby at least 3 or 4 weeks early in mid-October (at best!). Baby will need surgery after birth and we will be in the nicu for about a month as long as they don't need to take the baby sooner. So, the way I see it, at the moment I am able to hs 3 times per week for approximately the next month (unless I do school on the weekends, but I don't have energy for that). After that, I will probably not be able to do any more school until after Christmas. Am I going to be able to get through everything this year?

When our desktop crashed, we bought a laptop and set it up all wireless. We really like it (we've since bought two more!). It is nice being able to take the computer w/ us to any old room we need and to space the kids out on their own computers in different areas so they don't disturb each other. We don't use our computers for much beyond word processing and web surfing so laptops fit the bill for us just fine :)

I'm Canadian and this is how we do it in my family. In my dh's family however, they have no etiquette. It's a free for all, people start serving themselves as soon as they sit down and do not wait for the rest of the family to get seated before digging in.

Nope. Life is too short for people like that. I had a friend who was similar to what you describe. She was very petty, I realized just how adolescent her behavior was when we had lost touch for a bit and she un-friended me on facebook :001_huh:.

My response is in blue. Another part of it that bothered me is that it didn't seem like a sermon. He also brought up people who complain about the music, people showing up late..etc..from the point that he begun until the time I left w/ my son I didn't see him open the Bible once. Granted, I didn't hear the whole message, I just don't see where he was going w/ it other than to make complaints. I also didn't like the way he brought up the whole children in the service part. He made it seem like children are bratty and nuisances who disturb other people. I could just be overly sensitive, and in all honesty, I didn't hear the whole thing. But I didn't like what I did hear. I also wanted to comment that I have no problem leaving my little guy in the nursery, but he makes it plainly clear that he is not comfortable there and I really don't blame him. When I have gone to stay w/ him in there, the room is unwelcoming and I found the volunteers to be a bit stand-off-ish. The nursery was always a friendly place in our old church, this one comes across as a bit unfriendly to me. We are not commited to this church. It is the first one we have tried since looking for a new church, so I am not at all opposed to looking elsewhere. It's just that our older 2 kids really like the kids church program, but I guess there is no reason why we couldn't try a few more churches and always come back. All this business about kids not being welcome in church just doesn't sit right in my gut.

After many months of decision, we decided to try some new churches as there were some things happening at our regular church that we didn't like. So, we found a church where the kids really feel comfortable and enjoy, my dh has been enjoying the preaching, the music is great etc. We have been going there for most of the summer, but I have not been able to hear a whole service b/c our toddler is not comfortable in the nursery so I have been staying w/ him. Since this has been going on for some time and after weeks of going to this church I had not yet got to hear a sermon, we decide to just give up on bringing him to the nursery as he would be moving to a different class in September anyways. Well.....the sermon did not seem like a sermon at all. The pastor gave a lecture about how they have a kidz church program and that is where all kids are expected to be (unless they are fewer than 5 months old, then they are welcome in the service). :confused: I didn't catch the rest of the service since at that point I took my toddler out, but apparently they have the service telecast into 3 other rooms. my dh wasn't sure where these rooms were, but to him it sounded like it was in rooms meant for nursing mothers and/or not otherwise suitable for toddlers. So...I'm a little bothered by this. I feel like the first time I came to church I got reprimanded by breaking some unspoken rule that I did not know about. And now, I don't know what I am supposed to do w/ my toddler the next time we come to this church?

Thank you for your advice. I am trying to do too much. I'm trying to pack a normal amount of work into fewer days b/c I have fewer days available due to all my appointments. So trying to keep up w/ housework and rest just isn't working. I will go through my schedule and cut back to only what's necessary. Thanks for helping me see that it is ok to not do everything.

I'm having a hard time coping w/ everything at the moment. For starters, I am having a high risk pregnancy where I am being followed very closely, my appointments are a good drive away and are an all day affair. I've been warned that bed rest, a hospital stay and early delivery are all likely in my future. Sigh...so I have a lot of stress going on w/ this pregnancy but I am having a hard time balancing my need for rest, my children's needs, homeschooling and housework. This is my first year hsing 2 kids, so I'm spending more time schooling than I am used to. It's the middle of summer and none of us are into it but w/ everything that is going on I want to be prepared for when I am laid up in the hospital or spending time in the NICU. My house is a disaster, I am exhausted and my kids are behaving unruly. I feel that in order to get everything done I need to sacrifice my rest. If I sacrifice rest, I feel tired and overwhelmed, if I take the time that my body needs I feel I am shirking my responsibilities. How do I balance all this?

I've used level B, I am just beginning levels A and C. It is very much open and go so no prep time required. I find lessons take (for level B anyways) anywhere from 30-45 min. I can't say if it is any different for the higher levels.

I'm thinking of it for my Ker. We did the free trial and he enjoyed it, but I was just wondering if it's worth the money for a subscription. It would be nice for him to have something educational to do independently while I am working w/ his older brother. Thoughts?