It sounds like he's covered a lot of 1st grade math already. We've used MUS, MEP and MM they are all great. You could look at the materials and start part way through a book. Or start at the beginning of a grade 1 book and go through it quickly as review until you hit new material. Not to hijack the thread. But Sleepymommy, I tried to PM you but your inbox is full. :tongue_smilie: I had planned to use MEP and MM together this year. MEP being my main and MM extra practice. So far I've had a hard time working MM in to MEP. Maybe because the lessons look so different.... Any tips would be appreciated! I always find it tricky trying to line up different programs...

We are using Ecoutez, Parlez! and my kids really like it. It's a book with pictures and the written words. It comes with a CD that has you repeat everything as you read along. There is also a workbook you can buy separately if you want writing practice. Or just make your own pages. I got mine from the Learning House in Ontario, Canada. But Rainbow Resources also has it.

Yes you know your children better then ANYONE else. Follow your gut on this. :001_smile:

:grouphug: Even after 3 to 5 years of schooling (5 if you count prk/k lol) we still have some bad days. It's normal. Most of the time if we are having a real grumpy day here, I put everything away. We curl up on the couch and read together. Seems to put things right around here. Although some days it doesn't work. lol If your co-op is causing a big stress in your life and the kids hate it. I would drop it. Do your kids do their work together? Would separating their lesson time help? One could go work on reading or copy work while you work at the table with the other. Might cut back on the fussing if they aren't side by side. Maybe taking some "light" schooling days would help. Do some "fun" stuff first and ease back into a full load slowly. Math games, card games, trivia, family reading time, make some cookies. They all are "fun" but have a lot of learning in them. It is hard, but will get better. :grouphug:

If your dd enjoys reading on her own she is probably learning a lot already. But if you want more challanging work for her I wouldn't hold it back because it "might" hurt your son's feelings. If he was in a class room setting some children would be on his level others a head or behind him. Same will happen in the work place. I would give her what you feel is the right level of challenge and the same with your son. If you see any problems coming from it then talk to them then and I'm sure you can work it out. :grouphug:

I'd say if you like it and can afford it get it. :001_smile: It's not in our budget though I try to find a plus size coat when I'm preggy. I'm in Ontario to and you need a good coat in our winters! I've found that cheep coats aren't warm and don't last long.

Most of our geo comes from FIAR and Galloping the Globe. But I also use SOTW some times. Our kids love the Geo puzzles to. Hubby also does "map time" with the kids. He started it a few years ago. When he started he would point to 1 country on our wall map and teach them what it is. The next day he'd point to it and ask them what it was, then teach 1 or 2 new ones. Kept that up every day and they knew most of the world countries. Then he moved on to our provinces, lakes and world oceans. He stopped for a while when his work schedule was crazy but he's going to start again. They love this and have fun seeing who will shout the answer first.

This is my first year using it with 3 kids. I think it's very thorough, but takes a little more time for me to teach then MUS did. But over all the kids like it better. I also have the MM blue series and I'm going to use that for for some drill work a few times a week. Also to teach money and time.

A friend was telling me about this program today. I've never used/seen it, but might be what your looking for? History of Christianity & Western Civilization http://www.visionforum.com/browse/product/?productid=63480

Aww that's great! :hurray:

I don't know off hand when it's taught in the PS here. But I remember starting to learn it in 3rd grade, but might have been 4th. I use MUS with my oldest for K-2 then switched to MEP for this year. If we had stayed with MUS she would have been learning multiplication most of this year. But after I looked at MEP it seemed that it was interduced in the last half of year 2 and year 3 assumes they know the basics of it already. Between that and the other differences in how it's taught I decided to start fresh with year 2. So a lot of the topics are review but they are presented in a different way then dd is used to. Each curriculum will be a little different and each child will be ready to learn it at different times. :001_smile:

She's just using FIAR. I do add a little extra work for her. I use Galloping the Globe as well and some times pick out some selections from it. So for a social studies on China we would learn were it is, color a flag, color the area on a map and label the capital. The FIAR lessons are really rich and can be done orally or you can do written work or lapbooks with them. What ever suits your family best. I only add the extra because she really likes hands on things and wants it. I'm going to get the FIAR vol 4 to use next year. It's like a bridge between FIAR and Beyond FIAR. Longer story books and the studies I hear are more for older children. But I know there are people using the normal FIAR with kids as old as 10 just fine. They just give a little extra work with the lesson. Like more map work or reading a related book.

I think there are a few. The main one I use is FIAR and it has a Bible supplement you can buy. It covers social studies, LA, art, science, applied math. Then you add math and phonics. TOG is another one although I haven't used it yet. It covers history, church history, writing. I'm not sure what else. But I'm sure someone here can tell you more about it. FIAR is my fav for the younger years though. My oldest is in grade 3 and I've been using it with them since prek.

Aww I'm real sorry you weren't feeling well. I get real bad morning sickness when I'm preggy to. But it sounds to me like you DID have school today. Even if it wasn't what you had planned. Play dough, Word World, math and Explode the Code, sounds like a good first day of K to me! :grouphug:

Unit studies really seem to be the right fit for our family. We've been using FIAR and GTG together. So I try to pick an artist or composer from the country we are studying. We'll read a little about them, maybe do a coloring page on the artist. Try some imitation work to. If it's music then I try to play it during snack or lunch time. If it's an art project then I will print some work out and add it to the bulletin board, wall etc. Anywhere they will see it often. We don't ALWAYS do this, but I try to often.

Another good site is Dr. Dino. They have free seminars up, more for adults but our kids like them to. But they also sell homeschool kits and videos. I know they have a dinosaur vid we're going to get soon.

Our favorite geography study for the younger grades is Galloping The Globe. Its a unit study book, and has lists for each country. There are sections for culture, literature, science, geography, history etc. You could easily leave out any topics that are not needed. Its very easy to use and our kids love it. If I remember right, the first section covers the continents, oceans, maps, then moves into explorers. After that it covers 1 country at a time. http://www.geomatters.com/products/details.asp?ID=75

I was wondering if any one else who was downloading the free study the Bible with us units were having problems to. I went to download my unit 5 earlier last week but the link wouldn't work. I received the download link for unit 6 on Fri. and it doesn't work either. I see they've had someone redo their website, and I know that can take time to work out glitches. But their email isn't working either. lol Everything bounces back to me. I'm just wondering if anyone's heard anything about the changes. Also if you know were the new download area would be? I've looked and don't see it. :001_huh: http://www.explorerbiblestudy.org/ Thanks!

Aww I'm real sorry, hope your feeling better soon! We got hit with it last week to. :sad:

Yeah but government forms, job applications etc. all want you to print not write in cursive. Or at least up in our province they do. I am going to start teaching cursive this year to my 3rd grader. I like it, I find it neater and faster for myself to use. :001_smile:

Oh I just LOVE your school room!! :001_smile:

I've been exploring different math ideas as well. I just found a great blog with lots of math game ideas. Hope this helps! http://blog.aussiepumpkinpatch.com/search/label/living%20math

If things weren't so tight right now I would be staying with MUS and just adding MM on to that. Its $90 for the Canadian edition with shipping and with the repairs needed right now... (sigh) But if MEP doesn't work out well for us maybe in a few months I'll be able to go back to MUS. In the mean time though I need to work with what we have. I would love to hear how you combined the programs though! Did you use both as a full program? Or one as a spine and pick out matching sections of the other? What is it you like about how MUS teaches multiplication? I was reading my MM multiplication topic book last night. It looks like it does a good job with it to. They show a few different ways to "see" it. Thanks!

Yes I did and it was a big help. I could see there was enough new topics in year 2, for it to be good idea to start there.

Yes here's a link. :001_smile: http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mepres/primary/y126sw.pdf