I am starting in earnest to plan for christmas and am after some fun ideas and suggestions for my kiddos. I am placing a huge order at rainbow resources within a few weeks as one kiddo needs the next level of math asap (and we are in australia so i need to do a big order to save on postage). I am specifically after ideas for stocking stuffers but other christmas inspiration welcome (preferably available at rainbow). My kids are 9, 8 and 5 (all girls) and a 2.5yo boy. Ideas I have so far: Stickers Erasable colored pencils Erasers in fun shapes Nail tattoos Card game each Board game each (these form their main present not a stocking stuffer) calculator (for eldest) smelly pens little activity books (for the 5yo) maybe some more teddy counters as ours have dwindled in number glue and tape, you can never have too much of these (according to my kids) We have enough card and construction paper to start our own craft shop lol and same with paint. Last year they got tape dispensers, sharpeners, staplers and rulers which do not need replacing. I try fill their stockings with fun but useful items so we are not overrun with random "stuff" and also so I can save on the cost of presents/school supplies by combining the two. What other fun stuff have I missed? Big or small items. Thanks heaps!

I am so thankful for this thread. I have had it on my wish list for ages and was going to order soon based on all the recommendations in the forum however I was never convinced the book was for me, I was ordering it based on recommendations and against my own judgement. Book officially removed from wish list, that just saved me some money and space on the book shelf :001_smile:

I learned binary and bases other than 10 in school, 5th-6th grades. I loved it as a kid and am really looking forward to dd getting to beast 4 (it will not be long now). Hopefully she enjoys it as much as I did

My plan is to move to JAG and then AG after FLL4. We are about to start FLL4 so have not tried the Analytical grammar courses yet but I have JAG ready and waiting so we will at least give that a go.

H is pronounced haych here in australia :001_smile:

I have been seriously thinking about getting some of the Ellen McHenry stuff for a while so I am thinking about getting a make your own bundle of 5 items to get those items, other than that nothing much I need. Every year I look but so far I have never bought a bundle, this may be the first year I buy

If you have used Quark Chronicles before, how important are the notebooking pages? From what I can tell the main book itself is just a story and all of the additional reading and learning happens in the additional notebooking pages, is this correct? I am seriously considering getting a bundle with the Quark Chronicles Zoology however from what I can see we will also need to have the notebooking pages, bought separately of course, to get the most out of this program which is an additional expense to consider before buying. So, if you have used Quark Chronicles how essential do you feel the notebooking pages are? Are they additional to the main book or are they an essential component of the program?

Being aussies there were many instances in that book where I could not for the life of me figure out how how certain words were together in terms of pronunciation. Tube however was not one of those cases, it is pronounced with a long u t-you-b

I am checking out curricula options for miss 4 who starts K next year. She has ASD and SPD so can be a bit of an out of the box thinker. I used MUS for my 2 older girls in K and then onto a combo of MUS and MM for 1-3. I have MUS and MM but I can see those options will be a complete disaster with this particular child. I also have miquon however this does not cover K and I feel it is a bit too advanced at this stage for her. It seems that a lot of math curricula start at 1st grade level. What are people using for K? She does a lot of manipulative work which will form the majority of her math time and instruction next year but she also needs to work on numeral recognition and learning how equations can be expressed on paper etc, I feel a worksheet/book is better for this than manipulatives. Also, she is asking for a math book like her sisters. What would you recommend? What are the best K math books out there? I do not want a program with all the bells and whistles, we can do all that extra stuff ourselves, I just need a program that covers the basics and we will add manipulative work and games. We are really only looking for math worksheets I think so are there any free or cheap books that may fit our needs?

We are going to do AoPS prealgebra after finishing beast. I am hoping all of level 5 will be released before we get to that stage (starting 3C now) but she is moving through them fast. Current plan is beast to the end of 5D and then prealgebra.

Thank you OhElizabeth, it sounds like you know exactly where I am coming from. I am glad you have worked out a system that is working for you and your DS, it sounds like he is doing really well. As to assessment, we have just moved interstate mid assessment so I am basically having to start all over again. She has had therapy since age 1 for speech, OT, feeding clinics, nutrition (due to her not eating) and behavior but nothing at the minute while we wait to see new specialists and get all the next round of diagnosis and assessment finalized. I am impatiently waiting for her to get back into OT and speech therapy, she did so much better while doing those. As to the self advocacy stuff, she just stands there and screams when she wants something. No one knows what she is screaming about, it is usually something simple like she would like some toast, but she can't make it herself and she can't or won't ask so instead she just screams until someone figures out what she wants. Same thing happens with shoes she can't manage or getting clothes out of her drawers and so on. I really need to work on that this coming year, she really needs to be able to do a lot more of the basic stuff on her own like getting a shirt out of the drawer, and it would be so helpful if she could ask for help when needed rather than just screaming. As a general rule, now she is talking (did not talk until age 3) she is actually very clear and well able to communicate on pretty much any topic as long as she is not frustrated over something, the moment something does not go her way she seems to forget she can use words and just screams or gets violent. She just loves math manipulatives and lego but hates pretty much anything else even remotely school related. She would not even let me read books to her until this year so reading and book work are definitely not her things. Actually truth be told she still will not let me read a book to her however whenever I read a book to her little brother she always comes in very close and sometimes chimes in with a book request "for Jarvis". I will have a think about how I can incorporate more manipulatives into everything. And yes, routine and structure are key. That will be the hardest thing with her "school", I will still have her 2 older sisters to school (5th and 3rd next year) and her younger brother, in a large family with so many kids doing school routines are just not always able to be followed to the letter. You have given me a lot to think about. Life skills, communicating appropriately, and just staying put rather than hiding, bouncing off the walls or escaping are all so much more important for her right now than being able to read. What worries me is that she is really bright and I feel she is getting behind where she would otherwise be due to her other issues, she can not only count but add and subtract in her head and knows most of her times tables (thanks to her older sisters) but cannot recognize a single numeral (or letter). She has no concept of pattern at all (even a simple ABABAB pattern she just does not get) but can complete huge puzzles completely independently. She is just so difficult to work out, she will get obsessions that last for months and then they stop as suddenly as they started and she develops a new one. I guess I will just have to learn to go with the flow and tailor her schooling to her current obsession. I love your teacher table and independent station, that sounds exactly what we need here. So much to think about, thank you so much!

It has just occurred to me (no idea how it slipped my mind!) that my 3rd child who is ASD is due to start kindy next year :ohmy: I have NO IDEA how to approach teaching her, she is just so different to the older 2 and I can already see that every single curricula item I own will not work for her. Now I know that all kids are different but I would really love some suggestions on what others have used for their ASD kindy kiddos so I can research the best options for my DD. We are mostly looking for the basics, reading, writing and math but any standout suggestions in other subject areas would be great too. She also has SPD which among other things manifests similar to ADHD for my dd so not only does she have ASD but she struggles with concentration and staying still. What have you used for your kiddos?

My dd1 is in 4th now. Every morning she is required to do 20 minutes of literature reading. Most days there is 1, sometimes 2 readings I ask for history or science. These are usually about 20 minutes also. This is the entire "required reading" I ask of her daily however she is highly encouraged to complete another hour of reading later in the day. This extra hour used to be a struggle that required rewards and bribery to get done, now the struggle is getting her to turn the light off at night as she wants to read for hours and hours lol.

My oldest dd was born 3 weeks before out cutoff. Had I sent her to a school "on time" she would have been 4yo for the first half of her K year. Out of my mothers group (all kids born the same month) it was pretty evenly split between those that sent their kids to school as 4yo's and those that decided to wait an extra year. As my kid has never stepped foot in a school the age thing was never really a big concern for me. I decided to start her on time as a 4 1/2 yo with the idea in the back of my mind that if I needed to adjust her grade later on I could easily do so. Her age has never really been a factor due to being at home as I have adjusted her curriculum to meet her development, maturity, learning style and abilities just as I have done for each kid regardless of age or birthday. She is now in 4th grade and quite asynchronous in her learning, reading at 8th grade level, math 6th grade, writing 3rd grade, and socially she leans toward older kids preferring to socialize with 5-6th graders. I am not sure if there is a single grade level that adequately describes her but 4th grade will do for now :)

We have a lightly padded vinyl cover on our table. Usually the kids are writing in a book in which case it is not an issue but for single sheets of paper they have clipboards as you cannot write on that padded table cover directly without creating a lot of holes in the paper

Sounds like we don't want to miss this book! I think we will stick with the original AOPS plan for as long as it suits us and then reevaluate, thanks. I was planning on ordering the book shortly, a good year before dd needs it, as I was hoping to work through it first. I have heard good things about it and love math, I am actually really looking forward to getting it and seeing what all the talk is about.

I am trying to sort out here we will head for math after we have finished with elementary mathematics and there are so many options, none of which seem to have good samples online. Is there a thread that lists all the popular prealgebra options? If so please link me there, I cannot find anything in a search that is helpful. I guess I am looking for prealgebra, can you help me with where should we be heading next. DD will be 10 and starting 6th grade. She will have finished BA3-5 (assuming all of 5 is out by then but this is for about 12-18 months time so we should be good to go) We are working through (or rather skipping and jumping through) both MUS and MM for teaching of concepts not covered in BA and also for drill in basic operations. She will have finished MUS through zeta and MM through to the end of 6B (old version). I was thinking I was all organised and was going to do AOPS prealgebra but now I am second guessing myself. What other choices are there for her? She absolutely loves BA, loves it, but I don't want to move into something that will be too hard and put her off, however it needs to be sufficiently challenging. I am looking for something comprehensive and thorough. Ideally I would love something that we can continue with the series for the next few years and not a single once off book. Hit me with your favorite math choices for this level. I am just getting myself confused here lol

I am looking to buy my eldest dd a new atlas for history and geography next year, she will be in 5th and I am hoping to get her one that will at least take her through the logic stage so good for grades 5-8+ I want it to be comprehensive but not overly complicated for a 10yo. I want it to be a world atlas, prefer one that does not focus on or have a bias towards the US (as we are aussies!) There are just SO many options out there, I have looked a few times and give up as there are just way too many options available and I have no idea which ones are the best or where to start narrowing the list down. Does anyone have a recommendation for a good atlas for this age/level please. TIA

A lot. Unless something is not working I do not look at alternative curricula for our current schooling but I love researching future choices and each new choice is backed up by hours of solid research meaning that we rarely have to change curricula mid year, in fact in 5 years I think I have only actually ditched one curricula mid way through. The other reason I spend so much time researching into the future is that I like know where we are going next so that I can make sure we are adequately prepared for that next step. By looking at next's years curricula 12 months early I can get an idea of where we need to be skill wise at the end of the current school year, if I feel we may not be adequately preparing for that next step I have plenty of time to supplement or modify the current schedule where needed to make the transition easier.

We averaged 2-3 per year here but some years it was 4-5 and other years only 2. I "plan" on doing 2, if it happens faster than that then that is great but the minimum goal is 2 a year.

I agree with KSinNS, my dd8 is doing MUS and beast and it is a perfect combo for us. I love that MUS is giving her the drill in basic operations and it teaches in such a clear way. While she does not necessarily need a lot of drill (and we actually skip most practices pages in MUS) she does on occasion need reinforcement in the standard way of doing things and setting out a question as she is a very non standard thinker (hence our use of BA). We both LOVE beast, absolutely love it, what beast is missing MUS covers and what MUS is missing is there in beast. For the record, dd is in 4th grade, she is doing MUS one (almost 2) levels ahead and beast half a year behind (that averages out right lol) due to me waiting to buy beast as I did not want her finishing level 4 before all of level 5 was released. My dd8 (2nd grade) is DYING to start beast, she is also doing MUS and will add beast to that once the first kiddo is completely through level 3.

I am planning for the next school year and (as usual) am stuck on science, sigh. We have been using R.E.A.L. science up to this point, grades 1-4, and it is ok I guess, nothing amazing but no serious issues with it either. So, here are my wants/requirements, please someone, tell me what programs fits this description :001_smile: - must be secular - middle school level, about 5th-6th grade level for the coming year - I would prefer a series that covers the entire middle school time frame to avoid jumping around between books - textbook based is best for DD - dd also prefers to work alone or with minimal parent involvement - minimal preparation required - you must be able to get it shipped to australia (you would not believe how many homeschool resources cannot be shipped here). If it is available as a pdf download even better. - either inexpensive or non-consumable (or both!). I need something I can either use for all 4 kiddos as they get to that level or something cheap enough that I can just replace it each year as needed. Please tell me there is this exact program out there just waiting for me to find it! TIA

I will start this by saying we love beast, love it! My daughter begs to do math daily, even on weekends and I love the problem solving aspect, so fun! Now onto the issue. It is easy, really easy! (at least it is so far lol, I could be on here asking for help in a few weeks you never know). Everyone seems to be talking about how hard it is, how parents and kids alike found some/most chapters really challenging. So far we have just finished 3A so it is early days but we have both found it so easy. DD is 8 and in 3rd grade, she finished book 3A in only a few weeks while also alternating days with another math program. I have seen many threads and discussions about how hard the geometry and skip counting chapters were, to us they were so simple! Are we missing something? We have loved every minute of those chapters and will not be moving away from beast, I believe dd has learned some great problem solving skills and it has made her think about things in a different way, but the problems themselves have actually been really easy and quick for her (and me). Seriously, are we missing something or is beast just easy for us?

We use FLL and love it, it is so easy to use

I use magazine holders for the kids books and papers etc. They have 3 holders each, language arts, math and the last one is all other subjects (except for subjects done together which is history and science). After they finish they have to put their books back in the right holder. As we work on the dining table they actually have to put everything away before lunch and dinner each day, sometimes they get a bit lazy in the middle of the morning and leave things out after they are finished but they cannot eat until the stuff is away and the table cleared. For lose papers, once they are done I have a pile for each kid (up high!) that I throw everything on and then once a week file those in their binders myself to make sure they are in order and neat as my kids are still young. For pencils, erasers, scissors and other assorted stationary I got sick of people losing stuff and fighting over the same pencil or claiming someone stole their red etc. I have now color coded everything, and I mean everything. Their scissors, rulers and tape dispensers I bought new this year to match each person's color. Pencils, pens, erasers and so on have all had the ends colored (using a sharpie, dye or paint depending on what worked best for that item) that way if I find a pen on the floor I instantly know who it belongs to and if in the morning there is only one pencil to be found we all know who owns it. Each kid has a small metal bucket to keep their stuff in which makes clean up easy. There is a shelf for the pencil buckets, when not in use they live on the shelf but when working the kids collect their bucket put them in front of them at the table.