I teach grammar informally as we read and go for walks. I have found it to be the easiest way. The sentences he reads are simple. As we read I will point out what a noun is, explain it, and then have him pick out the nouns in sentences. We makeup silly sentences as we walk and do likewise. So far my son can mostly tell me the nouns (naming words), verbs (doing words), adjectives (describing words), adverbs (word enhances.) He can tell me if a thing is a past present and future tense. He can also tell me the subject of a sentence and the predicate. We will do more formal grammar when he is older.

Yup... I was certainly going to mention starting the Clan of the Cave Bear series with Ayla and Jondalar. In 8th grade. I also read similar historical books of that genre too. A Phillipa Gregory series comes to mind. Maybe Wide Acre? In 9th grade if did read Marquis De Sade. But by that point I was reading a slew of cheesy historical romance. None of the above books have left me scarred. Or made me promiscuous. Quite the opposite.

I never formally studied any grammar until I studied Japanese in 5th-12th grades. But we only touch on the bare basics in relevance to studying Japanese. I have since found a grammar class or a test out is often a requirement in college. Personally I wish I were familiar with all the terms, cases, tenses, clauses and all before I did it at college level just because it was a lot to take in, even with the smattering I had already learnt. So, even if it is for that reason alone I teach my son grammar.

I am unfamiliar with that book so I am not sure if Edward Lear would work. But I thought I would suggest it.

Ok. I just looked through the Singapore 2A textbook. He is close, but not quite there. The first half of 2A is pretty much to where he is. So... In maybe a year. Thank you.

Thank you very much. I had read that. But the samples kind of threw me off a bit. :)

We are planning to do something similar except we will be using Go Math. Which is a blend of Saxon and Singapore. From friends that have transitioned to Saxon I have been told that it doesn't really matter what is done in the early grades. Just as long as the student has a solid idea of math and they meet what is lined out in core standards. Most programs are core aligned. Saxon 5/4 can be started as early as 3rd grade if they child is ready.

We got this. I don't have cable TV at all so this and HULU is TV for us. I have it hooked up to a flat screen TV and I don't think it is too bad... But I have never had HDTV before so it is hard for me to compare. My son is 3 and there are tons of shows for little ones. His all time favorite is Number Crew. He also likes Math Monsters, Real World Science, A First Look science shows, The language of Science and the Junior shows (Zoologist, geologist etc) Harold Syntax (I think it is called), a few of the standard deviant shows and the Discovering Math and Discovering Language art series' also. There are plenty more that he has not yet seen that I have been screening for him. Rabbit Ears, an animated series about famous people (heroes something?) like Alexander Graham Bell, Benjamin Fanklin and more. All in all it worked out at about about 40c cheaper a month than Netflix. So worth it for us.

Www.readingbear.org is also free online. YouTube has some amazing clips covering math, science, geography and so much more.

How young or what prerequisite would one recommend for BA. From the samples online it seems simple enough. But I assume it gets quite challenging?

Maybe they are going for a Montessori model where classes are made of 3-6 year olds? Many kids thrive in that kind of Enviroment. Is it possible that the lower work is just review for the new school year? I do understand your consternation though and I would certainly have chat with her teachers.

It may be an old post but it is very helpful. My son loved citiblocks and plays with them daily. This post give me ideas on other blocks to expand his play.

This is spot in for what most Kindergarten kids are aptly doing by the end of Kindergarten in our school district. These are 6 year olds. The beauty of homeschooling is that the public school standards don't apply. :D

Our situation is different. But similar. My son also had a speech delay and he is now caught up so I can relate there. He did however learn to read at a younger age (2) using a sight word method. He was able to intuit a lot of phonics but we still did phonics instruction to no avail. It wasn't until he was reading for close to a year and a year and a half that he was able to blend words unfamiliar words. What I am trying to say is that it can take time. Some kids pick it up simply, others not. In many public school kindergarten classes here they implement a blended approach to reading. Many kids learn their letter sounds alongside sight words and context clues. A typical beginner Kindergarten book will be about 8 pages long and have text and a picture. They will have sentences that look like my examples below. This is an apple. This is an orange. This is a pear. This is a strawberry. Or Look at the dog. Look at the cat. Look at the fish. I think you get the gist. Children will easily start to recognize the most commonly used sight words (aka high frequency words) used on every page. They will then use the context clue (picture) and the beginning letter sound to figure out the last word. This is called emergent reading. As the child progresses more and more words are introduced to sound out. By the end of Kindergarten the child may be able to read short books with simple sentences, use context clues ans sound out pretty much any CVC word.

My son loves the Rush Hour game. http://www.amazon.com/Think-Fun-5000-ThinkFun-Rush/dp/B00000DMER

My son has been reading since he was 2.5. Now at 3.5 his reading is flourishing. He is currently reading Little House books with ease. What we do mostly is just give him lots of access to books. A variety of books too. Fiction and non fiction books. Even childrens encyclopaedias. At one point my son was reading 30 beginner reader books a week. We took advantage of the library. Don't forget to still give him access to lots of picture books. Some of them are at amazingly high reading levels. My son can Read chapter books. But choose picture books 90% of the time. Which is great. You don't went to stymie their love of reading. You could certainly continue working on phonics but also work with fluency and comprehension. Many companies make workbooks for reading. Sectrum books are available at places like Staples. They have Spectrum Reading series. You could use those for some comprehension activities. You don't need to of course. You could wing it. After your son reads a book have him answer a series of questions about the book and write them into a comprehension book. Or have him write up and illustrate a summary. It doesn't have to be fancy. He can just write a sentence or even dictate a sentence about what he likes or relates to in the book. Or what he didn't enjoy. Make sure he is familiar with the author, illustrator and the parts of a book like spine, title page, contents etc also. My son did a summer reading program this summer. We wrote down all the books he read and he would give me a review and who he would recommend the book for. This is his review for the book Oink-A-Doodle-Moo. "This is an absurd story because animals can't talk, wear shoes or order pizza! But I liked it! I like Texas because cowboys come from Texas. I think my friend ---- would really like this book because his daddy works with cows." Introduce literary concepts also. Explain the difference between fiction and non fiction. Introduce poetry and rhyme. And makes sure he becomes familiar with punctuation and grammar. A good phonics program could be implemented with a spelling program. Which is what we will be doing.

I would do 3 hours total school time. Full of lots of play. But limit seat work to 2-3 15 minute segments.

We really like series also because me son gets attached to characters. My son's favorites are: Little House Picture Books Madeline Babar Wizard of Oz The two gruffalo books Biscuit Henry and Mudge Noodles. He liked dogs, I should check out Marley. Corduroy Thomas the Tank Engine And not really a character based series but worth a mention. Books by Beatrix Potter.

I had my son doing seat work daily.... Then he hit 3.5 and became a little nuttier and more active again. Which is normal. Now we set goals based on achievement rather than time. For example: I give him some math work and tell him to complete a certain section and to do his best. Some days he will sit and request more. Other days he flies through the work haphazardly. He only ever does his work in 10-15 minutes segments unless he desires to sit longer. I require math and language arts work daily. As he is 3 we limit handwriting but I do wish to add some daily.

Personally we love the books. They are a great fit for my 3 year old son who is a workbook junky. I don't think anything of the "gifted" title. I have found the work books to be different and enriching for my son. He just flew through the 1st grade reading and 1st grade math Sectrum books in a matter of weeks. However the books by Flash Kids slowed him down a little. He still enjoys them and they cover other skills. I would worry less about them being label for gifted students and would be more concerned about him do work above grade level. But thus far, neither mean anything to my son. I don't think my son is gifted. And if it were ever proclaimed that he was I would certainly agree with many of the previous posters. It does not mean he is any better than anyone else. He just has a little more ease with doing things. It Doesn't mean he has to work any less either. And I think it should be noted that everyone has a gift. Some kids can sing well, other run fast, he just enjoys math.

I don't think I have ever posted here because my son is still young. He is only 3. WTM is a forum I look to for his future. Google directs me here quite often as I review curriculum. I HAVE used JG with my son. However it was only the first part of the math program and I like it a lot. I have been searching for reviews and considering if i will continue to use the program. That is how a thread like this gets rejuvinated. As for the program, Yes it is pricy, yes the quality of the materials are sub par. But the customer service is amazing. And though the first part of the program may not be a complete math curriculum it is very simple and soild. I think the program is amazing for covering fact mastery. It is ideal for remedial students (I tutor a 5th grader) and young students just starting to learn number facts. I wish that I had the program and had used it with my son before we started with Right Start math. The name is misleading, and certainly a marketing tool, like "baby genius" or "baby Einstein", but I think the genius part of the name is derived from the fact that children as young as 2 can easily learn addition, subtraction, multiplication and division from this program.