We have used "The Classical Kids Collection" both boks and audio cds and loved it. I would strongly recommend it.

We started when DS was 4 and he has been doing well (we started out in a group class with a very experienced teacher). Our teacher mixes different curriculum - Faber, John Thompson, Little Mozarts, Progressive Piano Method, Alfred - ear training books, theory books, solo books, lesson books. She picks out lessons from each book and progresses really slowly with lots of ear training, notes reading and music theory thrown in to keep the class moving smoothly along. At almost 6 years old now, my son is moving on to private lessons and still has the love of music and piano in him. He can play fluently, though only small pieces. So, it is a great age to start. And if you are instructing your kids at home, then there is nothing better than that! One thing though, take it really slowly and expect gradual progress. Good luck.

Thanks so much for taking the time to explain what this all means. Now it seems that I have more options to research before embarking on my handwriting remediation mission.

As a PP stated, MM has too much going on in each page. My DS was unable to write so much in such small, confined spaces and always complained and found a way to avoid doing MM because of that. I am not sure if this is an issue for your child too. If so, I think that MEP is a better choice for you. As for MEP placement, you can start as low as you are comfortable with (though my almost 6 year old started in level 1A and had no problems).

I have been hearing "ball and stick" method of handwriting for a while. What does this mean? And is it specific to the "font" or style used by one company - Zaner Bloser? Or is it a method of writing? I am trying to remediate handwriting and want to choose ZB. We tried HWT when DS was 4 and gave up because he was not ready to hold a pencil, let alone write anything and we frequently ended up in tears. So we switched to Kumon workbooks for a while. Now at 5 years old, he can write but with poor letter formation, letter reversals etc. His motor skills seem to have developed and he is able to write 1-2 pages of copywork. I want to start on ZB but the words "ball and stick" show up a lot in my searches. And one website states that ZB stopped using ball and stick method a while ago. I am confused. Thanks for your help.

I give a lot of praise, write out a certificate of appreciation for my DS on my computer and print it out to mark the occasion and take him out for a special lunch or dinner or dessert in a restaurant of his choice. I do this for the academics as well as achievement in extra curricular activities too (a new belt level in martial arts, passing a certain level in swimming class etc). It makes my DS feel special and also associates extra effort with special rewards. And makes the occasion memorable - he still remembers the small celebration and the treat in a small restaurant we went to when he potty trained (more than 2 years ago)! I feel that in academics and career the same principle works - smarts, hard work, achievement and good work ethic all bring rewards - so why not start out early?

I am sorry for your situation and commiserate. I would advise you to put your son in PS if there is no cooperation from family or spouse for what you are working so hard towards. The reason I say this is because I have BTDT. My husband looks at my efforts to educate my son with extreme suspicion (as in "does she know what the heck she is doing?" kind of way and assumes that I google around in my spare time to find something to teach my son!). I afterschool every single day and it has taken my husband a year and half of seeing the progress my son has made to acknowledge that I know what it takes to educate my son as well as not to push me to outsource the afterschooling to one of the neighborhood tutoring centers where all his friends and family send their kids to. In the end, your son benefits more by having a mom who is not stressed all the time by fighting to convince every one around that her choices are right. And you can accomplish a lot by afterschooling - if you do it systematically, you can spend quality time while accomplishing what you want. And maybe your son will benefit from the social interaction at school and maybe you will have less tension at home and feel that you have more of yourself to give to your family. It is tough if you have disagreement at home on how to educate your child - but we can always do the next best thing (in this case, afterschooling and summer schooling). Good luck and hope you feel much better.

I have hoarded curriculum and some classical literature for all elementary levels for my DS who is 5 (started hoarding classics from birth, curriculum and workbooks at 4). We use them all, informally to keep learning fun and introducing concepts that will keep DS thinking. I use all the curriculum to read ahead and make advance lesson plans on how to teach my DS. For example, his reading skills and math is 2 years ahead of his age, so I am reading the curriculum that is 2 years further out right now. And I have things like dictionaries, thesauri etc that are upto middle school level. I have the whole collection of Magic Tree House books, Winnie the Pooh, LOTR, Harry Potter etc (some 45 books) and he is progressing through my MTH collection right now. I have the whole LOF series and BA series and we are on book 2 of LOF now. When I see what I like, I just buy the whole series. I think that it is OK to hoard 3-4 years worth of stuff if you are going to go through them in preparation for schooling your child.

My DS is tired at the end of the day. That could be the issue. You could try helping him unwind and then sitting with him for part of the work as some kids will just refuse to motivate themselves unless an adult is around. I would suggest a break after school, a snack, some extra curricular activity (like music or sport etc) before doing afterschool work. In our house, there is no screentime during school week except for school work related stuff - the parents come under the same screentime blackout rules. And could you try a rewards system? It works in our house.

I would want to do whatever possible within my powers to help my struggling child, no matter what the teacher says. Because she is after all your child and it is you who have your child's best interests at heart. It is kind of sad that your daughter misses recess because it is the main time for them to socialize and take a break and it is wonderful that you are willing to put in extra work to bring her up to speed (which should have been the teacher's job in the first place!). You are on the right track. I recommend that you ignore the teacher, tell your daughter to not mention that she is familiar with the material and move on. Many of us afterschool, it is the same concept of getting ahead in certain subjects (maybe using a different curriculum, but so what). I hope that they are able to evaluate what her needs are and come up with a better plan for her.

I used SM EarlyBird A and B and Miquon Orange book with some MEP Reception thrown in. I don't think that you need the SM Home Instructor's Guide or the Teacher's guide at all for this stage. I have heard that SM Essentials was a lot better, but my DS at 4 loved colorful pictures and the EB was full of them and helped retain the interest of a 4 year old who could hardly sit down and work let alone focus for 20 minutes on math. In contrast, Essential Math is mostly black and white and may appeal to a kid who does not like "busy" pages in the math book. Since I used EB, I decided to move on to 1A Standards edition much earlier (before 5 years). The transition has been smooth. We did Miquon simultaneously with Cuisenaire rods (about twice a week) and MEP once a week (I picked what pages to do and did not go through each section of it). It has worked out great so far. So, I think that you are making great choices. Go for it!

I have a kindergartener who is ambidextrous and can read a book held upside down. So, we are having major letter and number reversal issues. His teacher in K and our pediatrician say that it is a developmental thing and that it will resolve in most cases by the time they reach 2nd grade. But, it drives me nuts, especially the b and d mixups. While talking to a homeschool mom that I know, she said that there is a "bed" song in the PBS show WordWorld that helped her kids remember the letters correctly. I found the clips online and DS loved it and memorized the song - line and circle is the letter "b", circle and line is the letter "d". He stops writing when he encounters these 2 letters and sings this phrase out to himself and figures it out. Our problem with reversing b and d has been 100% solved. We are still working on "p" and "q" and number reversals. Anyway, here are the links to the PBS video clips that I found online. Try it and I hope it helps to solve your daughter's problem. WordWorld: Frog Fixes his bed: http://pbskids.org/v...egory=WordWorld WordWorld: Bugs Sleepover: http://pbskids.org/v...egory=WordWorld

Oh, thank you! I knew I was instinctively right, but this article says it a lot better than I could too :)

Thank you all. I had not heard of Soaring ... I will check it out. Mallorie, I am glad to hear that you like R&S - from reading several forums, this seems to be an easy program. nansk, when I looked at Spelling Plus, I thought it had to be taught with the author's DVD - good to know that the DVDs are just a supplement to the program. I will post back when I have reached my decision.

I do not allow it. My son spells as follows: Skol (school), BluBary (blueberry), snom (snow - upside down w), wat (what), chees (chess) etc. Personally, I cannot stand it and it drives me nuts. And I see no creativity in reinforcing bad spelling. I told the teacher that it is OK for her to teach as per the guidelines of the school district, but at home and during homework I will correct the wrong spellings. My son writes 2 pages of journal every week for school homework and I painstakingly erase all the creative spellings (sometimes multiple corrections are needed) until the words are spelled correctly. I like that booklet suggestion too and will get one for my DS.

I am looking for some help in picking out a spelling program (1st grade level) that is easy for afterschooling. Possibly with less parental involvement - workbook style? And no flash cards, manipulatives etc. I am going to use it as a supplement rather than a main program because we already do ETC and several other subjects in afterschool and unfortunately I do not have much time to devote to spelling. We have been using lists to memorize words and have occasional dictation tests and also regularly use online phonics programs. My goal is to get my DS to improve his spelling with a "student driven" program involving minimal parental guidance. All my research so far is pointing me to R&S Spelling by Sound and Structure and Spelling Workout. Any specific thoughts on them? Or, is there a good and "easy" program to implement?

Sorry to hear that your son has a math teacher who does not know the Pythagorus theorem. You are better off with work you send from home! For my son, he is allowed to attend classes one grade level up for math and LA and for the other subjects, he can help out his fellow classmates. Does you son's classroom have a computer? If not, can you send in an ipad loaded with apps or pdf worksheets? Can you get an EPGY subscription (we got our own when the school district refused due to lack of budget)? What about "Independent Study"? In my son's school, the older grades can take time off formal schooling for "Independent study". Please keep us posted on the outcome of your meeting.

If you are looking to enroll your kids into EPGY (the gifted program with Stanford tutoring) and CTY programs, you need some kind of testing and scores.

Thanks Crimson Wife, got your PM.

I am curious about this other program too and would love to know what it is ...

There are a lot of people who enjoy academics and so do their kids! My DS gets a sticker for each day of piano practice and each chapter of math work he completes (we are a mathy family and just love math and do a lot more math than the norm) and he pastes them in a book in patterns and multiples and has fun choosing them and counting them and when he gets to 100 stickers he goes out for a treat with mom. It totally motivates him to practice piano or doing math because he gets to choose the treat and the restaurant of his choice - given a choice my son would play with legos 24 hours of the day for 365 days of a year. His love of learning is thriving and has not been destroyed by his "pushy mom compelling him to work for petty rewards" (infact he asks for more math curriculum) and he is loving the progress he has made in piano and looks forward to learning, practicing and playing the theme to "Angry Birds" on his piano this year. I don't see my rewards system as being contemptible at all. And I get the fact that the accomplishment and the pursuit of goals in itself should act as rewards, but may not necessarily work for a 5 year old. Though my child enjoys the feeling of accomplishment when he masters a new piano piece or when he learns a new concept in academics, the reward system helps in keeping things "structured" in his learning process and instills in him the discipline to work towards a goal and achieving it and enjoying the sense of accomplishment (I earned 100 gold stars in 2 weeks, wow, that was quick!). In my mind those feelings of accomplishment that a small kid gets when he reaches those so called "contemptible rewards milestone" makes them feel powerful which is great confidence booster at that age. Disclaimer: I have only one kid and do not have a psychology background and hence the opinion expressed here is homespun.

I had the same issues with my Kindergartener who was not allowed to check out a book from his favorite series "Magic Tree House" because the school librarian deemed that he would be unable to read it by himself and that my son's class could only check out picture books. So I "coached" him to go up to the librarian and advocate for himself and tell her about all the other books in that series that he had already read and how he could read like a "big boy". He actually did it and it worked! He was allowed to check out chapter books from the next week onwards with a reminder that if they were too much for him, a parent had to help him finish reading it. So, my suggestion would be for you to let your daughter speak to the librarian and see what the response is. If it does not work still, I strongly suggest that you pay the librarian a visit and explain your daughter's accelerated reading level in person.

My 5 year old gets 10-10 1/2 hours. But, 11 - 12 hours might be better. I let him take a late afternoon nap on the days he falls sick and let him sleep in on Saturdays.

Thanks for replying. I feel bad that I am trying to stifle a little kid's excitement about math when I ask him to tone it down at school. My son is an engaged, happy and eager learner at home and is quite proud of his accomplishment when he works on "above grade" material. I deliberately use multiple curriculum so that we can delve deeper and hence progress slower while achieving mastery. And I don't push at all - it is just a routine that we got into and it worked for us. He understands very well that he needs to give others a chance to think and arrive at their own answer instead of blurting it out quickly, but when he gets excited (which he does if he is the first to figure math facts out) he is just too young to curb his impulse. And thanks for highlighting that his behavior might have a positive result of advocating for differentiated instruction for him. I never gave thought to it as I assumed that a public school is what it is and it is up to the family to provide any other resources for their gifted/bright child on their own time (and $$$) if they so desire (our school district has drastic budget cuts and no gifted program). I need to think more about advocating for him and see if I can work with them even though they might not have any budget for helping advanced kids.

I afterschool my Kinder DS almost 25 minutes on math 5 days a week all year long. He finishes 4-5 pages of math from one of a multiple choice of curriculum (either miquon, SM or MEP). This is the formal math we do. Informally we do DreamBox, EPGY math, Khan academy videos, verbal math, read LOF, play with cuisinaire rods etc on and off during the week. I volunteer at my son's school as teacher's helper during math time and recently found that what my child's peers are learning is far behind where he is academically. And hardly anyone afterschools in his class though a couple of kids do math drills in their afterschool care program. I have noticed that my son interrupts class to give out answers to any math question in his excitement while most other kids are still struggling to come up with answers (e.g. how would you make 85cents using only quarters and nickels? He had the answer instantaneously while other kids were still thinking about it). Though he is a very disciplined student and listens very well, he cannot contain his excitement when he feels that he is the first person in class who understands a new concept. His teacher has to tell him to let others have a turn and then DS remarks to the other kids that the answer was "too easy". I feel sorry that he interrupts class due to his eagerness, but he is only 5 and excited. Am I doing too much math for his age (he works with 2nd grade level math at home)? We enjoy the "mastery" approach and take our time to move on to the next topic but he still seems to be so far ahead of his peers. I don't have any specific goals in afterschooling except to keep him challenged and the learning process to continue beyond the classroom. Any thoughts?