Hi, I've used Horizon with 2 dds so far - dd6 has done both K books and is finishing 1A at the moment. I wouldn't panic about sums like 22+5 because they are teaching them to count forward on a number line. It's not difficult and they aren't even really expected to know their tables particularly at that point, they are just introducing the concept of addition being moving forward along a number line. Neither of my dds has thought this was a tricky thing to do at all, and it doesn't take away from the fact that they still need to learn to do single number addition in their heads. My dd8 is doing Horizon 4 but I have always done supplementary math as well that is more focussed on one particular topic at a time. I think it is great that Horizons - completely unlike Singapore from the books I've seen - keep the kids covering most math topics every day. By the time you get to fractions especially, if you teach it then leave it, you will invariable find yourself re-teaching it when you come back to it. I'm an ex-highschool math teacher, and this is a real concern of mine. Long answer and I don't know much about "levels" of primary math, but I do think you should "stay ahead" of your child in what you're introducing to them. They are not at all "scared" of math concepts at this age, and the more they become familiar with concepts while they're not scared the better. My thoughts anyway. Jenny

My dd8/9 was up to SOTW4 this year (our school year starts in Jan in Australia) and my dd5/6 was ready to start history, so after much debate between having the 2 dds do different levels in history or do SOTW4 with both, I settled on SOTW4 with both! We are exactly half way through the year so I can give you some feedback so far: dd6 struggles with the comprehension questions. However, she grasps the general concepts enough to do quite a reasonable narration with prompting. When my older dd was 6 and we were doing SOTW1, she was much better at answering the comprehension questions and doing the narrations. I don't think dd6 is any less bright than dd8 but it is definitely more complicated material. I have no regrets about my decision for them to do SOTW4 together - they love doing it together and I know dd6 will do brilliantly with SOTW1 next year after her baptism of fire into SOTW4. dd6 is definitely very interested in the material and we all discuss with dh at dinner what we have learned, so it seems like dd6 is still getting a lot out of it. Also, dd6 really enjoys the mapwork and does beautiful maps - she is looking forward to doing illustrations next year though. We have a history folder with the best out of the 2 dd's maps for each section followed by dd8's outline and dd6's narration - dd6 is very neat and her maps easily compete with dd8's for accuracy etc. The folder is already packed with extra projects included as well but it looks wonderful. HTH, Jenny

There is a real push towards keeping language-learning abilities (neural connections are lost, believe it or not) open in children by starting to learn a language before they are 7. I didn't learn any languages before 7 but learnt fluent Japanese in 2 years as an adult living by myself in a small town in Japan where that was all I spoke, and, though I initially was helpless without a dictionary, it was amazing how quickly I did pick it up when I was forced to. However, some Europeans that I knew living in other cities, who already spoke several languages from birth, picked up Japanese far faster and more accurately than I did. Ever since then, I guess I've felt language learning wasn't just about the language itself but a certain ability. And it's a very "social" ability - it means such a lot to people when you can actually speak their language or even pick it up quite quickly. I started by not having it as a part of my school day at all, but as flash cards that we did after dinner or vocabulary memory games played as a family. It's sort of always been associated with fun. Just thought I'd mention that as you're doing your schedule, because it's easy to forget that some things don't have to be desk work or in "school time". I know some people look at the learning continuum and try not to be structured at all, but I'm an ex-teacher who works better with structure. However, over the years I've come to see Bible studies and language learning as something to be enjoyed as a family. dh learns our foreign language with us so if God ever grants us the opportunity to live there, he won't be the one with no idea. Less idea than the kids and I probably, now that they're doing it in "school time" as well, but better than starting from scratch. That was a bit of a ramble but I've definitely been where you are now - all the things that you could do and never enough time. Actually, it seems to be always like that, but, as you said, some things do just have to be left till later. Cheers, Jenny

Hi, I've just done history 3 times a week for the past few years, starting in grade one, and it seems fine for us. My second dd is in grade one at the moment - we're halfway through the school year in Australia. However, having been trying to teach my dc's a foreign language for the last five years, and reading a number of books on foreign language learning along the way, if there's anything that needs to be done daily, it's your foreign language. In my opinion anyway, it's a great skill to have with lots of benefit from it, but it's not really worth doing unless you do it daily. We do at least half hour every second day, playing games together with the language that we're learning or revising, and the dds do their own course work as well every day. Whatever you do anyway, it'll be great, and I'm sure you'll make adjustments as you go along. I always do - start with a plan, but when you realise it's not going well, be able to adjust it. Cheers, Jenny

Hi Melissa, That sounds great. My dd8 has been doing book reports each Friday using the questions out of TWM. I love the idea of being more creative about it. What is the link? Cheers, Jenny

Hi, I did actually do SOTW 1 without the AG because I had the old version of TWM and it didn't mention it, but I've had the AGs with every other book and they are wonderful. With SOTW 1, I came up with my own maps, my dd5 tried to draw relevant illustrations and we scoured the library for appropriate books. However, with the AGs, the maps are there ready to be coloured-in, the illustrations are there, comprehension questions, demos in narration, and wonderful projects to do together, plus lists of extra books to look for in the library. I took my books along to my HS gymnastics group recently, and half the mums went straight home and ordered them. Jenny

Just to leave behind quality literature - my kids love the Wombles. They teach cleanliness, recycling, and good relationships, I think. And they're very cute. The colourful ones for preschoolers are adaptations from Elizabeth Beresford's books so they're not well written but they're still the same wholesome wombles though. Jenny

Hi, French games sound fun but I don't have any Japanese games - I just use what we've got and speak in Japanese (you know who the big games makers are - the Germans! I don't think the French are as prolific on educational games). She'll quickly remember instructions, colours, how to ask for things, talking about buying and selling with junior monopoly or something, numbers with playing cards ... anything. Do you have battleships or could make your own battleships board and vary what's along the axis? Maybe, at 9, it's something she might enjoy making herself - you could get out games books from the library on making your own, or even "learning a foreign language books" will often have games to make. I think that if our local library in Gold Coast, Australia, has all these sort of resources, you'll probably find you have plenty. We're a tad behind you guys for resources. My eldest dd is 9 this year. They're growing up aren't they! She can help me with so many things now and we do a lot side-by-side, even just cooking, washing, cleaning up, getting ready to go out (not a small task with 4 of them). Cheers, Jenny

Hi, I'm teaching my kids Japanese because I used to speak it fluently, having lived there, but now I keep my dictionary on me at all times and check with my Japanese friends for help. However, Japanese-learning (and Latin for that matter as well) have a great association for my kids because we always play games with it. We just play vocabulary charades for Latin, but with Japanese, I get out picture bingo games, language-learning games from BLM books, memory games, Twister, a version of battleships with time on one axis and days of the week on the other ... all sorts of games. I try to give all the instructions in Japanese and the kids have to say their parts of the game in Japanese. Oh, and I also sing lots of Japanese songs with them. So... learning Japanese is just associated with FUN! I speak to them in Japanese a fair bit during the day now too so that they can follow instructions and dd8 is starting to try and speak it back to me a lot more in general conversation. My dc8, 6 and 4 all play these games with me. Not sure how old your daughter is now, but I'm sure she'd be up for games. Cheers, Jenny

Hi, I'm an ex-highschool math teacher (this is in Australia!) and I think Horizon is great, even if I have to paste in Australian coins over the money questions. I have 2 dcs using it now and I really don't have to teach them much at all - the steady progressions in the books tend to teach the dcs themselves. I get the dcs to do some math each morning from local books I can pick up at the bookstore - focussing on one particular area for a while, eg. fractions or graphing, and they work through Horizon on their own in the afternoon. Even when I've gone ahead with the bookstore books, say in fractions, dd8/9 tells me she understands it better once she's started doing it in her Horizon book. I'm amazed but I think it's very, very good. Cheers, Jenny

I have used all 4 SOTW books, and I use it with the reference books: The Encyclopedia of World History and The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia, as SWB suggests to do. The reference pages are given in the SOTW Activity books. Though there are slight differences in detail between SOTW and the reference books, we have not found any significant discrepancies, so I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of the books at all. All historians have different slants so there will always be slight variations in accounts. I think SWB's style of writing is so entertaining for children and adults alike, that people who are put off by the negative comments are missing out on a wonderful resource. Jenny