I just got Primary Challenge Math (Zaccaro) in the mail and it looks great. My ds is cruising through Singapore PM 2B and I can see that level 1 will be fun for him. I'm just curious to find out how this book has worked for others. So... How often do you use it? How was the progression through the levels? How did it last? TIA,

You've already got a lot of great advice already. My approach to K is to learn to read, do math at dc's level (whatever that might be as long as they learn something), and read-aloud. My last K'er demanded more but it was all interest-led. Reading aloud great picture (yes, picture) books with a few chapter books thrown in is so important IMHO. It also feeds into my last goal which is to teach them that school is fun and interesting. Sometimes, it's hard work but there's usually a light at the end of the tunnel. We did the hard work in small doses and added in liberal amounts of child-led fun stuff. We usually did about an hour of seatwork including optional stuff like geography but not in one sitting. My ds could probably sit longer than most 5yo boys (he has an academic personality) but he is pretty active and had a lot of 'recess breaks'. His sitting limit was about 30 mins. I think 15 mins is pretty good for a 5yo boy. That's about how long my current 4yo lasts before he wanders off.

On average: (meaning I allowed for an average amount of dawdling) 1.5-2 hrs on basics (math, spelling, reading, grammar, writing) 15-30 mins on extras (science, Latin, logic, geography) rotating on different days Plus about 1-1.5 hrs reading aloud some of which is at bedtime. My ds will sometimes go ask to do extra math, science, Latin, grammar, reading or geography but I don't really count that since it's unpredictable and voluntary. We work 5 days per week but Mondays and Fridays are heavier since we don't have any outside activities and Thursdays are very light because we spend much of the day out of the house. We also do at 1hr of reading aloud on Saturday and Sunday.

That's great to know. Thanks for the update. We just started SSL and ds6 loves it. I'm glad the company has good customer service.

Our family (sis and bill, mom and dad, us) usually bring our dogs with us when we drive to visit each other. Each household has one big dog. We also take our dog when we visit my in-laws even though they don't have a dog. Boarding is expensive and we only do it when absolutely necessary since our dog doesn't like it. Also, since we live so far away from each other, visits are usually long to cancel out travel time. When we go on vacation without our dog, we can usually find a friend to watch our dog, but it is hard to do that. I will say that we don't care at all when the other dogs visit but always ask each other. My in-laws love our dog and like to get small doses of dog ownership when they are around him since they don't want to take on that full responsibility. We'd never take our dog to someone's house if they didn't like dogs or just our dog in particular.

I use Spell to Write and Read but I think AAS would work too from what I've heard. This approach has worked really well for us since ds6 improved so quickly and ds4 taught himself to read at 3yo.

I don't think you messed anything up! It's great that he's reading so well. My ds started reading in a similar fashion. I was making him stick with CVC and CVCC words because he was still sounding them out slowly. I finally let him put down the Bob Books since he hated them and just continued instruction with SWR. However, he picked up a Dr. Suess book on his own and read the whole thing fluently EXCEPT for a few of the CVC words which he sounded out slowly. After letting him take off with reading, I started to think that his hang ups with CVC words was over-processing. Sure enough, he went from reading Dr. Suess to a 4th grade reading level in a couple of months and his hesitation with easy words disappeared quickly. I am still continuing his phonics instruction through spelling to cover our bases. I agree that you probably don't need to do the review in OPGTR. It sounds like he's doing just fine.

Beall's Phonogram Fun Packet. We love it! http://www.bhibooks.net/catalog/item/4154960/4106242.htm

It looks great! While we're pretty classical for the basics, I'm trying to keep our our extras relaxed. Your blog might help be stay inspired. Thanks for the work.

We use WWE 1 and plan to use it with all my dc as long as they are ready in 1st. I wouldn't have a problem delaying it if one of my dc weren't reading or wring well enough. Not a problem for my two oldest boys, though. I like that it's gentle, easy to implement, and preparing us for doing WT, CW or WWS later on. That's all I wanted. I think going straight into one of those other programs somewhere between 3-5 gr. would be tough for me. I'm pulling selections from books we're already reading because I wanted WWE to tie in with our curriculum instead of random snippets. If we didn't already use (and love SL) for literature, I'd probably use the WWE lit as part of our reading list. The instructions in The Complete Writer are thorough and it doesn't take too much time to create my own copy work. I'd have to recopy it anyway since we use cursive and smaller lines than the student pages. I don't really have to do much for narration at all since we have so many read-alouds. I just make a point to do it a some point during the day.

We use both fraction circles and Cuisinaire Rods for fractions depending on the lesson. Fractions are my ds's favorite subject atm.

I agree with the other posters...it depends how serious the sickness is. We had a short-lived but nasty stomach bug this week and there's no way ds would have comprehended anything on Thursday. Even though he was better by bedtime, dh and I had picked it up so everyone went to bed without stories. No housework or outside activities took place either. We'd normally at least read even if everyone were sick (including both times I came down with strep).

Me! Thanks for the link. We just bought the full set and my dc love it!

WWE guides me through exactLy what I should do each day. I don't use the workbook, just the text pulling selections from books we're already reading. It is very easy for me to see how we are to progress throughout the year with longer copywork and narration and then onto dictation in WWE2. I also use FLL for the same reason for grammar. Those are the two subjects that I'm most nervous about teaching and the scripted or almost scripted nature of FLL and WWE are a good fit for me. SWR includes steps and enrichments for writing and grammar but because I can't see exactly where we're going it is harder for me to implement. IMHO, SWR includes plenty of writing and grammar for early elementary but WWE/FLL make me more comfortable while still being gentle. We still do some of the SWR writing and grammar but WWE is our main program.

I use WWE with SWR. I think SWR would be fine for someone more confident teaching writing but that is not me. Everything's there in SWR but I needed a little more handholding for the writing portion. WWE has been great for us so far.

LHTH...definitely not a good fit for my family. Way too easy and we didn't like many of the activities. 100 EZL

My middle guy was similar except he never pooped on the floor...he'd just hold it. I really thought we'd see diapers at 4. We didn't. Instead, we went and picked out his very own potty (cute frog one for $7) even though we had a perfectly good one from when my oldest potty trained. Then, we talked about being a big boy but didn't pressure him. He wasn't interested in treats or stickers so I just didn't push. I did encourage him to ride the frog either clothed or not clothed. Eventually, he decided to start using it to go potty and received a lot of praise and was in underwear all day in less than 2 weeks. Like you, I didn't want to make it a battle so I had to find ways to motivate him while making him think it was his idea.

Isn't it cool how they're all so different? I have a feeling my guy will continue to challenge my ideas of how he should be. KWIM?

I would highly recommend purchasing all three teacher books especially since you said Miquon looked frightening. They'll explain the method and give you an idea how to proceed. I will say that Section A in the Orange book is my least favorite and different than the rest of the series (so far...we're in Blue).

I like this idea too. My ds6 is amazing with concepts but struggles with memorization. He's not happy stalling on concepts to learn his multiplication tables. I recently decided to set aside time each day for him to watch Multiplication Rock, do Math Drills (iPad app), and use Flashmaster. He really likes all of those so I'm hoping it'll make math facts painless while we continue on with Singapore and Miquon. Funny though, my artsy, verbal genius has an amazing auditory memory. It'll be interesting to see the differences as he progresses in math.

I use Miquon as a child-led program. Ds6 chooses how many pages and which ones he wants to do. Now, it's a supplement for us so I don't know how that would change if it were our primary program. If he's proficient in a concept, he does it completely on his own and can choose to use manipulative or not. If it's a harder concept that we haven't covered in Singapore yet, we'll do some activities with the rods and I'll sit with him to answer any questions that come up. He probably does 10-15 pages per week on average but each week varies. I started Miquon on the late side with him so he raced through the first two books. Ds4 is now starting Orange and we'll be going much slower.

I use Sonlight's P3/4 for my preschoolers. It's mostly a collection of great books to read aloud which is what we do in preschool.

My ds learned to read using SWR. It wasn't really through the spelling but more a result of the systematic phonics. My ds's spelling has steadily improved but once my ds had enough practice with the 70 phonograms, his reading level took off well past his spelling level. I do agree that you're looking at two programs on the opposite end of the spectrum. SWR is a great program but it does require quite a bit from the parent at first. It gets much easier once you get into a rhythm.

I use both and ds really likes the combo. I really let him drive Miquon. He gets to pick whatever pages he wants to do. The only time he balks is when he's down to the last 20 pages or so that he's been putting off. Usually they are the end of a section he knows well. I do make him do them but mix them up with fun pages from the new Miquon book. That said, he often reaches topics in Miquon before we get to them in Singapore. That hasn't been a problem at all even though I use Singapore's method to teach the concepts. Since Miquon is so concrete is is a good intro. We have been known to go back and review a concept with rods and the base 10 set right before or during a Singapore lesson to remind him of the Miquon lab.

:iagree: Math is a subject I could teach without a curriculum but writing...no way. I am thankful that there are so many good options out there. Thanks for your comments about narration and copywork. It's definitely enough for my 6yo and nice to know we're heading in the right direction.