Mep reception is gentle and fun, but it is definitely the pre-k level, not k. Miquon Orange is hands on, but I felt the scope was too narrow to serve as k. I am really liking right start for kindy math. It is hands on, fun, has a broader scope, and the lessons are easy to break up into severl smaller chunks for wiggly kids with short attention spans.

Reading comprehension consists mainly of decoding and vocabulary. I see you have Aas planned, which takes care of decoding. Bringing vocabulary at least to grade level is the other big ticket thing you can do. I'm sure that's why she suggested wordly wise. Idk if ww is the best choice as I haven't used it, but vocabulary should be addressed explicitly if it is below grade level.

Most of it would work with one child or parent and child. There is a section that lists games for aerobic activities, and many of those require a handful of kids. The childhood dances also require several children...square dancing, the farmer in the dell, etc.

We use this book. http://www.amazon.com/Home-School-Family-Fitness-Curriculum/dp/1578262747/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414717621&sr=8-1&keywords=homeschool+pe+curriculum If you look at the reviews, the low rating states that the main complaint is disorganization. I have to agree. However, it does give you a framework and keeps the family together without costing an arm and a leg in supplies. It lays out weekly plans near the front and then you have to flip to the page. Iirc, there was a typo on one that I needed to find myself. The activities extend across multiple pages so cutting the spine and reorganizing is not an option. All in all, it does the job though and gives me benchmarks for what should be achieved, as well as making sure my kids are exposed to things that might not be part of our daily life. Anyway, it is not perfect, but it is the best option I'm aware of for an all in one pre-k-12 guide.

It has been a huge help to read through everyone's posts and reviews. Through some trial and error I have found a few posters who seem to like the same stuff I like. The signatures are very helpful for me in this regard. Equally important, I have noticed a few who have taste or educational philosophy that is so different from mine that I can pretty much say that I won't like it if they do. I have also learned that I like open and go skill subjects, but in content areas I prefer things that many seem to think are difficult to implement.

I like Aar: no writing, cute little games, includes readers, and very incremental.

Start by having him stretch the vowel sounds out /aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa/ for 5 seconds or so. Do this for all the short vowels. Then tell him you are going to end the sound with another letter. If you have tiles or flash cards you could have him crash them together. My ods loved that. Make sure he doesn't let any "quiet" between them. So then you would do aaaaaaaaaaaaat. Progress through this with all the short v/c combos. When he gets that down begin adding consonants before the vowel. Use the sounds that can be stretched first. Namely f, l, m, n, r, s, v. Have him stretch the consonant sound out as he did the vowels before so he might say ssssssssssssssssss. Then have him add the vowel so you would get ssssssssssaaaaaaaaaaa. Then tack the final consonant on so it would be sssssssssaaaaaaaaat. Remind him not to let any quiet sneak between them. While you are working on these things, continue to model blending in your read alouds or daily life. Sound the letters out separately and then blend them together. You can slowly continue on with learning phonograms and rules if you wish. After he sounds it out, just blend it together for him and have him repeat it.

I think I would go back to the level 1 readers, maybe start with the second reader and have her read those to you, repeatedly until it is easy. Then move to the 3rd reader for level 1, and then onto the level 2. This could be interspersed with regular lessons, or you could stop the regular lessons in favor of building fluency and stamina until she catches up to where you are in the lessons.

We are using rs a for pre k. My older child did mep reception and miquon Orange for pre k. Miquon and RS a are more advanced than mep reception. Between miquon and rs a, I prefer rs a and I intend to use it again for my next child. If you are only using level a, you don't need the huge expensive manipulative package. You can buy the manual used and make your own manipulatives. You just copy from the appendix onto some cardstock. Grab a box of craft sticks from Walmart and use random bits for the rest. We use colored erasers instead of colored tiles, real money instead of plastic, etc. the math mammoth site has a nice example of a diy abacus. We are using version 1 and break each lesson into 2 days. We do the warmup on both days. We spend about 15 minutes per day. My dd likes the manipulatives but so far she has been underwhelmed by the memory-style games.

Supposedly, that issue is why Wile left Apologia. He doesn't feel that Christians MUST be ye. I was also favorably impressed with the samples of his new series, but I haven't seen it in person. I also admit I am still somewhat uneasy about his actual science, though reviews suggest that it isn't as full of doozies as the apologia series.

This brings up some good points. I haven't run into secular texts with the philosophical issues in the elementary level. These are presumably high school and college level right? We are not there yet, but if you could recall specific books/publishers, I would be interested in taking a look at them.

Nobody in this thread said Catholics can't believe in a young earth. Rather, we object to the assertion that Christians (including Catholics) MUST believe in a young earth. The age of the earth is unrelated to our faith. Since ye "science" is pseudoscience, most of us pass, just as we pass on teaching our children alchemy, though our faith doesn't forbid the teaching of alchemy.Eta:alchemy via sorcery would obviously not be allowed due to the sorcery. I mentioned it as an example of junk science, but maybe it was a bad example due to how often it is associated with sorcery.

The "science" in those books is just as bad as the argument that something must be true/valid because it is popular with a group of people who are self selected to include a high percentage of people that are hostile toward science.

There are no "Christian" programs for science. The only religious science program for the youngers is the behold and see series, unless there are others that I am simply unaware of. The "christian" programs that claim to be science books don't teach science. They are religion books that teach fundamentalism. I Am not interested in teaching that to my children. So, the short answer is I'd take a secular science book over a fundamentalist religion book any day of the week.

Dp

Many of the Bible, history, and saint books in ma are also used in CWH, but they are organized differently. Ma runs those threads concurrently. CWH organizes it chronologically so y1, for example, is heavier in Bible and y2 is heavier in saints.

The banned books mentioned are for catholic hs groups, such as cathswap. They may be banned because they teach falsehoods, such as saying that catholics worship saints (praying is not the same as worshipping) or that the pope is without sin (only infallible on matter of dogma). Others have errors of omission. It might say something like, " the Church convicted so-and-so of such-and-such and so-and-so was executed two months later," leaving out that the person was executed by a monarch for political reasons. But this leaves the reader to draw the conclusion that the church executed so-and-so when it wasn't the case. Others are banned because the company, bju for example, is vehemently anti-catholic and actively seeks to sow hatred and discord. Most of the catholic hs programs use apologia for ease of use. I'm not sure if the lesson plans address the inaccuracies, but I personally feel that teaching kids that a Christian must believe in a young earth is a great disservice to Catholics. We have no religious reason to teach that and kids that think Christian= ye may throw the baby out with the bathwater when they really look at the available data.

We use connecting with history. The lesson plans make it pretty easy to use but you do need to still be involved. It would allow you to combine everyone though. The lesson plans were just released last year iirc so keep that in mind if you are searching reviews that are older and say it is difficult to use. We use bfsu for science. I plan to stick with it for awhile. Science is my passion and bfsu really lets me dig my teeth in. If I needeed something more laid I would consider behold and see, which gets good reviews, or kolbe, which has lesson plans for secular science with a textbook. I'm not aware of anything for elementary, aside from behold and see, that is religious and also scientifically accurate. Someone posted a link awhile back to some new middle school books that are religious and still use the scientific method. Nova...something? Maybe someone else will remember.

She is not educating them. She is in violation if the law. Why doesn't she just send them to school? Is there a life threatening allergy? Are they in witness protection? I'm grasping at straws here, but barring extreme circumstances it sounds like they would be much better off at public school. Is it even legal for the 13 yo to care for the others for a week? Sounds like there is neglect...in more areas than education. I would probably report it and leave it to the authorities to sort out.

I agree on the dots. They are very helpful. I think mine was around $20 at Walmart.

For level 1 you could work on a cookie sheet. I needed the 2'x3' once we got to level 2. I ended up hanging it on the wall at my eye level. When it is time to use it I pop open the nearby kitchen steps tool for the child to stand on.

We LOVE math evolve. I have to cap it at 30 minutes.

Drop it but keep the reading for the older. You can talk about the books in the context of life more easily if you let go of feeling like you need to be following a plan. If you feel guilty you can find a parish near you that offers vbs for the 5 yo next summer. It will fulfill all the messy, crafty, sing song craziness that is just so impractical with a toddler around.

Diligence dollars positive & perseverent points

We allow very little screen time. The leap frog letter factory dvd is worthwhile. I also like the free apps little writer and geoboard.