Miquon has been a great supplement here. I also use it with SM like the PP. My ds refers to it as his fun math. One thing that appeals to him is that they cover topics much earlier than other curricula. The first section he completes in any Miquon book is fractions because it's his favorite. The use of the rods make more advanced concepts easy to understand. He might not have the concept mastered with Miquon but is more than ready for it when we get to it in Singapore.

Beginning Geography from Evan Moor is great. While I love the Voskamp book, it reads more like a science book instead of a geography book. I boutght it hoping to use it for geography this year but will use it for science instead this summer.

Ds6 and I are also very mathy and I find them useful (starting at PM 2...didn't need it for 1). I tutor advanced high school and college math so teaching math comes easily to me. The key for me is that I didn't learn arithmetic the Singapore way so it is a good guide for me to teach my ds correctly. The Signapore method is definitely superior to the way I learned.

Looks like you got solid answers to several of the questions. The only comment I'll make on spiral vs. mastery is that you concentrate on one skill at a time in Singapore. Once that unit is done, the student is expected to have mastered the concept. It will not come up again at that level except for the reviews throughout the book (about 8 4-pg reviews per book). We also use Horizons which is a spiral program. In each lesson there are problems covering several concepts that have been learned over the year. I really like Singapore and wish I could have been taught math is way when I was a kid!

I use US Ed and find the HIGs very helpful!

Singapore as our main teaching math. We also use Horizons, Miquon, and CWP as supplements. My ds is very mathy so we've also added Zaccaro's PCM and some other math books (like Penrose the Cat) for fun. Those are completely optional for him.

:iagree: especially with the bolded. We did SL P4/5 with my accelerated ds for Kindy and it was great. The read-alouds were fun and it gave us more time to work on The 3Rs. We did Core K for 1st and are just starting Core 1 (on week 4) for 2nd grade.

Just another chiming in to say that CWP doesn't cause tears here either. My ds likes CWP better than the workbook. He thinks in word problems. :001_smile: I use CWP after we've finished a level (both A&B) because I've found that it works better for my ds that way. By then, the practice problems are easy and I sit with him during the challenging problems to help. So far, it's taken us about a month to get through each CWP book in between levels. ETA: we don't use IP.

I used EM Beginning Geography last year and really like it. When we did it, it was in three books. This year, I plan on doing thte newer version with my up-and-coming K'er. As I was ordering, I decided that my 2nd grader would enjoy doing it again with his brother so I ordered two copies. Unfortunately, we haven't found a good follow-up yet. Galloping the Globe provides book titles and ideas for studying different countries and is a good resource but not exactly what I'm looking for.

:iagree:

Not that I've seen.

Love this thread. I hate talking on the phone! I do have one to add: If you are clubbing and want to give out a fake number to someone, don't let it be mine! I do not appreciate the 3am booty calls when I'm 8 mos pg and can't go back to sleep once I've been woken up by the loser you wanted to blow off.

I've had two miscarriages resulting in the loss of three babies. I'm very thankful for the dc I do have with me but still mourn the loss. I understand this. It is hard not to wonder, "what if..."

Writing is different from handwriting. However, since my ds is proficient in letter formation, we use WWE and spelling as his handwriting practice. It works very well if your dc is beyond the learning stage in handwriting.

:thumbup1: We're getting ready to have a baby too so a big school break is upcoming. Have fun with all of your new stuff.

I don't really have any titles to add since you've got such great suggestions but what a thoughtful idea. I'll need to remember this when my dsil has children. We already have so much baby gear to give her.

SL's P3/4 is a favorite here. It is mostly just great books to read aloud but that fits my preschool philosophy anyway. We've been using it for over 2 years now and there are selections that fit each one of my boys. We do love the matching game and Mighty Mind that come with it too. I've been surprised by how successful a purchase it has been.

I always let them take two naps until they're consistently staying up too late (I'd put them in bed but they wouldn't fall asleep till after 9). Once we'd drop it back to one nap, bedtimes went back to normal. With my last two it was around 12 months (give or take a few months). My niece seemed to need two naps much longer (past 2) but didn't sleep as long at night.

I don't know if it is mandatory but I'm really glad I bought a school table. It is much more comfortable for my ds to sit and write properly. We also are in more of a school mode sitting there and work more efficiently. Plus, it gets used for all kinds of things from crafts to the holiday kids table. I bought mine at Walmart and it came with two chairs. It was inexpensive but decent quality and pretty (which was important to me). It's honey colored wood and isn't an eyesore in our house. We've had it for 2 years and it still looks new...which is saying a lot in our house. ETA: this is the one I bought. It was a Christmas present to the boys. http://www.walmart.com/ip/KidKraft-Avalon-Table-and-Chair-Set-Honey/4200617

Thanks for the info. That is good to know. I'm planning on continuing with Latin using Prima Latina. I'll probably just get SSG as an extra for him to work through as interested. One thing I've liked about SSL is that mt dc find it so interesting that they could easily repeat it over and over. SSG might be one of those repeating programs for us until we decide to pursue Greek more earnestly in the future. I think ds will enjoy the challenge but I'm not willing to split my focus between the two languages just yet.

I do think it's going to be hard for you to know which is a better fit until you try both. You can try SL and go back to HOD if it doesn't fit. The different S&S of each program won't make a bit of difference with the young ages of your dc. As a bonus, SL has the 18 week guarantee. I tried HOD early on because I like the philosophy of the program but it was not a good fit for me or my dc. It was a good experiment to find out what works for us. We're like you in that we get plenty of hands-on from science, art, map work, and math. Occasionally, there will be a craft in one of the SL history books that will catch our attention and we'll do it but we don't need more. That's definitely an area that varies from family to family. There is a company called Handle on the Arts that sells inexpensive books that provide hands-on projects to coordinate with the early SL cores. I've heard they're great but we wouldn't find the time for them.

Love it here too!! I don't have any Latin knowledge and the songs are great for me to learn pronunciation. My dc like it a lot. In fact, my ds6 has asked to do SSG next.

This is my plan. My ps system didn't teach diagramming either so I'm learning now.

The only question I can address is the right amount of books. We're starting our 3rd year with SL. I do know that some think SL schedules a lot of books but we read through the read alouds much faster than scheduled. It's hard to stop reading when you have dc begging for one more chapter. We're only in Core 1 but as we move up in cores, my dc's attention span will lengthen so I don't anticipate the load getting too heavy for us. From hanging out on the SL boards, I've found that we aren't uncommon. Bible and history have been the right amount for us. Although I often get requests to read more in those subjects too, my answer is usually no because I don't want to rush through the topics and we only have so much time in the day. Now, it hasn't been a problem for us to accelerate the RAs because I just add in other fabulous children's classics when we get too far ahead in the reading schedule. Our current added-in read aloud series is The Chronicles of Narnia. After we're done, we'll start Little house in the Big Woods. There are so many great books to read and so little time :D I just wanted to give you another perspective on the reading load especially since you're looking at the younger cores anyway (right?).

I haven't used all of those yet but Egermeier's was perfect for my 1st grader this year. I plan on starting Vos for 2nd grade in June. When I was trying to figure out our progression last year, several people suggested doing Vos after Egermeier's.