We approached each year of CC that we were going to do our very best and shoot for MM. I think it is really something the child needs to "own". I worked with all my kids to learn their memory work; however, my oldest daughter (4th grade at the time) decided to work toward MM. Throughout the year she worked on her memory work and then at the end she really put in extra time to get it all down. She did the extra memorization work and she reached her goal. That year I was the director of CC and it was really a thing of beauty (for lack of a better term) to hear children recite such a large volume of memory work.

Sometime this last year I saw an interview on a college campus where they posed this question (can you just be friends?) to women and men. Each gal said "yes" and each guy said "no way" and then laughed because they knew they were playing this game with their female friends to "just be friends" but they did have romantic interest. It was pretty funny to watch the repeated answers.

Sounds like things are really changing for you! I echo want an earlier poster said that it might not be the best idea to drop math. What about keeping Latin and math and then being "unschooly" for the rest of the day? I think it would work well if your child is proactive in learning. I can see where my children would like this for a season, but not an entire year. Perhaps you both need a rest. Burnout? Elizabeth Foss' book Real Learning has some great advice on this. I love that book for helping me to refocus on real learning (aha!) (side note: author is Catholic, I am not, so I skip over those parts and glean from the rest).

:iagree:

For our Bible time or studies, we have enjoyed using Susan Hunt's various books (e.g. My ABC Bible Verses, Big Truths for Little Kids, Sammy and His Shepherd, Discovering Jesus in Genesis) and Sinclair Ferguson's "Big Books of Questions and Answers". Great books that teach about the Bible and about Jesus. We usually work through these books along with scripture and catechism memory.

You may want to consider getting the Home Instructor Guides. They give some of the "why" behind the exercises, mental math pages and other good tidbits for teaching Singapore.

Tell me your favorite copy work books for first graders. I have seen Memoria Press' book, which looks great. Any others?

:lurk5:

Have any of you seen WWE materials used in a small classroom? I'm interested in doing this and gleaning from experienced people! I have used WWE material and loved it. Next year I'll be teaching first grade in a classical Christian school and I am considering using WWE 1 for the writing portion. Of course one of the gems of WWE in homeschooling is that since it's one on one, you get to really see if the child can answer the questions and narrate the material. You can't replicate that exactly in even a small class, but maybe you can still use the method. My class will be pretty small, maybe 6 or 7 kids. If you have experience or a different idea on this, I'd love to hear from you!

:iagree: My oldest was in K when our 4th child was born. My beautiful plans and strict time schedule went out the window. We basically did the above - reading, beginning handwriting and math games. I do think it was a gift from the Lord to have to scrap everything big and narrow my focus to the essentials. Life was so much sweeter that way, and K homeschooling should be sweet! :)

Grab a copy of The Well Trained Mind and read the math section. It gives a great overview of a handful of math programs and defines spiral and mastery. And then you'll find the great advice to just pick one and stick with it until you find it doesn't work. Really, for K you don't need a math curriculum. Count beans, count candies, count toys, count while you skip, count while you're in the car, play math games, post a hundreds chart on your wall, learn skip counting songs. At this sweet age kids learn a ton just by living life and you being intentional by talking to them about numbers, etc. Then for first grade try out a math curriculum. (This is no help to deciding between your two options, but I love Singapore :) )

For us, WWE weeks spark an interest in a book, my kids ask to find it at the library and they find a new friend.

WWE levels aren't necessarily by grade. I wouldn't start at level 3. What you should do is grab the text book - Writing with Ease Strong Fundamentals. This book gives you a great overview of WWE philosophy, describes each level, and shows where you are going with the program. Also, in the book each level has an evaluation. So you can give your son the evaluation exercises and that will tell you exactly where to start him. As for FLL, I would suggest starting your son at a FLL level 2, especially since you say he has some difficulty with writing, spelling and reading. You can always double up or skip lessons if it is too easy. I'm also a big fan of the CD for FLL to play the chants for helping verbs and other things. Sometimes it's nice for the kids to hear someone else's voice :) My opinion is to start at an easier level and let him have some success in an area (language arts) where it has been difficult in the past. BTW, I found the same thing with GWG. I switched from FLL to GWG because I needed work my oldest could do on her own. After two weeks I was back to FLL.

Local yarn shop is a #1 choice. My other suggestion is to grab a children's book on how to knit. Quite often children's "how to" books are so much more simple and leave out all the extra mumbo jumbo that you don't really need. I love knitting and I hope you'll learn how to do it. My girls loved to knit while I read out loud to them. Now I should knit while they read out loud to me!

Be rest assured that you're in good company! In the past I've bought Apologia astronomy and then found a vendor who puts together all supplies for the experiments. Will it make you sad to hear that even with that all done for me that I didn't get beyond a few chapters? My new science method, which is going fine, is to make a stack of science books and just let the kids go at them. It's my one "unschooling" area :)

After teaching 1st grade to three girls in basically the same way, I'm thinking about venturing to new territory and using Memoria Press' first grade package. MP uses Rod and Staff math. I've used Singapore, which has been great. Just looking for some opinions about Rod and Staff math for first grade. Great? Good? Bad? Ugly? Would you use it again? Thanks!

:iagree:

Just take a deep breath :) Your son is still young. If he's 5 in the fall, he must only be 4 1/2 right now. That behavior is age appropriate! K age can be 5 or 6 and that is fine. Actually the flexibility on that is the beautiful part of homeschooling! Enjoy your wiggly worm for now and read The Well-Trained Mind's section on K. It really is so freeing! Your whole job is to prepare him for first grade work. Read lots of books, teach him to read, teach him to write, listen to beautiful music and let him run around outside! I also really like the idea to let him play with something while you read to him. My son has to have his hands on Legos or PlayMobil or something. I let him do that as long as he is quiet. Or maybe your son could make a Fruit Loop necklace (string cereal on a piece of yarn). My son had to concentrate so hard on that he was quiet as a mouse while I read! Yet you can also work with him on his self control of his body! Start out small. He could sit on a couch or a stair or a mat while you read to him for 3 minutes. Talk to him about self control, holding still, etc. Then you can increase it a bit each time. Reward him for this as it sounds like it's hard for him!

Another vote for OPGTR. We're on child #4 and he is loving it, especially the games. A couple friends who used 100 easy lessons said that they found it confusing and it didn't go far enough. I love the simplicity of OPGTR, the simplicity in the lessons and the cost.

To raise a good reader? Great question to ponder! In our family we love to read and work to instill that love in our children. We make some intentional choices - books for Christmas and birthday gifts, no TV (they can watch movies on the computer, but we make it very uncomfortable - ha!), books all around the house - bookshelves in the living room, hallway and bedrooms. When we're at the library and the kids ask to get a movie, I smile and make them repeat "Books are better than movies." It's become a family joke! Have you read Honey for a Child's Heart? It is a fabulous book about how as parents we are to give our children the sweetness of life (honey). The book is divided in two parts. The first half covers the greatness of good books, how to pick out books, etc. The second half is a wonderful book list for children.

Dear happycc - That does sound like a difficult situation. I think as homeschooling parents it becomes easy to ignore our little ones because we feel this urgency to teach the older ones. I say that not in criticism, but because I have been there. That was one reason we prayed earnestly that the Lord would provide a way for my older kids to attend a local classical Christian school. Amazingly, He provided in an incredible way. I love homeschooling, but I realized that I couldn't do it all. I would guess others who are or have been in your situation could give you some advice. There is that pull where we are to teach our older ones but also to nurture our younger ones. I wonder if you started the day with focused time on your 3yo, maybe like a small preschool? When I had my 4 kids at home, I would do as you do and assign each child a time to play with and read to and teach the youngest one. They loved the time to play school and it was sweet for the youngest one.

First you should grab a copy of WTM and have a good read of the grammar section, which is where both of your children fit in, and then zoom in on the history chapter. You can have people throwing lots of ideas to you, but it would be so good for you to read that section, focus in on the history chapter and then you can find your cup of tea. In our house, we are big SOTW fans. I would get SOTW volume 1 and the activity guide. You can tailor the extra reading books for each child. The activity guide is full of book lists.

I think it is overkill for a 6yo. If you haven't read the WWE text called Writing with Ease Strong Fundamentals, you should get a hold of it and read it. I am thankful for it because it shows me where we are going on the WWE road. It is good to see where you are going, what is the goal - see the forest and not just the individual trees. I gave GWG a shot at a time when my hands were full with little ones and I needed to have the kids to more independent work. I quickly found out that I preferred the simplicity and lessons of FLL and WWE and we ditched GWG after a few weeks. So many other great things to do rather than doubling up on grammar. I'm sure you have ideas brewing - even just lots of reading would be wonderful!

Save your money or if you really need to spend it, buy lots of wonderful picture books. Preschool is a sweet time to read together and explore the world, play games together, do puzzles together, cook together and color together. Go to library story time, listen to wonderful music. No need for a curriculum!

I know you asked for resource on where to purchase, but I think you would save money if you change your decision making order. First narrow down your approach to homeschooling or your style of homeschooling. And then figure out what you need and then where to buy it. A book such as Mary Pride's homeschooling book (or maybe there is a more current one) that helps you narrow down your style will be invaluable. Then instead of being distracted or swayed by a million options from countless sources, you will have a much more narrow focus. If you find you love the classical WTM philosophy, you can pick out your resources (from the handy dandy resource listed in the book) and then shop around. Maybe you are already doing this, but your OP sounded like a different order. Have fun planning!