:iagree:too, well put. As far as taking it literally, it should be noted that Genesis describes a geocentric view of the universe as well as numerous problems in the definition of a day and how a day could exist before the sun, etc. Plus, they probably didn't have a word for "nucleotide".

Tbh I will probably use mr q for that reason. Rso and mr. Q seem to be the only realistic choices for doing a wtm rotation. I will just make sure that religion is included in other areas and that my dc recognize God as creator of all, including the laws of the universe. I'm a sah catholic mom sitting on a bio and chem degree with a retired curricula writing mother. maybe I should get off my duff and write some better options.

I keep looking at the apologia because of the layout and the handy kit but after thumbing through them I think I simply can not reconcile with Church teaching. The attitude kind of makes me want to slap someone too, sort of condescending toward anyone stupid enough to hold an old earth view, like we are so naive and silly. I'm leaning heavily toward mr. Q but I hope to be able to see behold and see irl sometime in the next few months. I like the samples and would probably go that way if it weren't for wanting to combine ages eventually.

We are about a third of the way level 1 with my 3year old. It is a bit pricey but the manuals are scripted which takes a lot of pressure off me since this is my first year. I ultimately purchased because it didn't require any writing from the student and offered the tile work instead. The readers are very high quality and ds is happy to read from them. He dislikes the fluency sheets but overall enjoys the program. I plan to purchase level2 when it's released.

We're also using mep and miquon orally and with rods and it is going quite well. I made little number tiles for my son to move around and use as answers. We like the free app "little writer" for practicing letter formation though you may already be past that stage. Not sure what I'm going to do about spelling or if there's a point in teaching spelling before they write well but that is another thread.

Before we started AAR1 I did some work on blending with ds. What really got it to click was using "stretchy" consonants at the beginning of cvc words. I used short a for all the words and for the beginning consonant I used; f, s, m, n, and r sinc those are the easiest to draw out. Then we focused on not leaving any gaps between the sounds so he continued with the first sound right into the vowel. The final consonant isn't so critical since it's the end of the word. We placed the letters far apart to start and would draw the first and second letter out a long way. We moved them closer together bit by bit until they were finally touching. This method was very effective for us and we are flying through level 1 now.

My son will be 4 at end of dec and is ahead in reading and math with fine motor skills typical for age. We are using aar since it requires no writing. For math we're doing mep and miquon. I made him little squares with numbers on them so he can use them for answers instead of writing. We also do a lot out loud. I also got him a small stamp to use for things where he needs to draw x number of objects.

This is my 1st yr and my ds is prek age but somewhat advanced. Before I found the hive I wasted money on a few workbooks. Once I found the hive I was able to over-research everything and purchases made since then are being put to good use.

n/m didn't see the date

Did you print them in color? What was the cost?

Do I need to print out both the copymasters and the posters? After reviewing some lessons it some that some the pictures listed under posters are the same as pictures in copymasters. Are they a different size? Just the copymasters should be plenty or you could just have the student look on the computer if you prefer, and trace with finger. And, the Receptive level is listed both under transparency collection and poster collection but when I checked there were no transparencies labeled R, only for levels 1 and 2. So, I am assuming I don't need any of these? I haven't used any of the transparency files but I think I did run across a place there was something missing, perhaps that was what it was, but not crucial for me so far. Also, I read somewhere that some pages worked best printing in a different size? Is this true? That will be a consideration for the measurements but that isn't until later in Y1 and throughout Y2. You can either click "do not scale" or something like that so it prints in proper size and then your margins will be squished or you can buy A4 paper from amazon but then it won't fit nicely in a binder or folder.

The r in the page link is for reception. Not sure on the others but I've used pp's definitions as my working model.

Did you already join the file sharing group? I'm eyeing this for next yr so you ladies have me a little concerned.

:iagree: We are loving it. There are folk songs and all sorts of general kid songs along with Christian songs. Only a couple are specifically Catholic. Here's the site. You can also order from chc. You'll need to buy instruments separate. I spent around $50 on nicer instruments but I could have gotten away with $25. I bought $3 of remnant rip stop nylon to make dancing scarves and another $2 to make ribbon streamers. I'm using w/ my almost 4 yo and a toddler. You use the same program over each year as their skills increase so in the long run it's a good value if you're starting at 2.

I've only tried aar and progressive phonics so take my opinion with a grain of salt but we are enjoying aar and considering your feelings about phonics I suspect the light scripting and hands on fun would really be appreciated.

Thanks for the link! I couldn't access anything from the hmh homepage.

It looks really neat but I'm turned off by how difficult it is to view samples. I also don't understand how you use it w/ a 2nd child. Can you purchase an additional year of online support or would you need to purchase an entirely new set? It's very unclear in info available how much of the program is online vs. on a cd/dvd. Would it even be possible to use it without purchasing the online support?

Geology kit, blue/purple miquon, htts, and usborne time traveller. I'm kind of boring.:tongue_smilie:

:bigear:

I haven't had a chance to try it yet but Behold and See from CHC is textbook format with experiments spelled out in the book. It is Catholic, old earth creationist/theistic evolution. It is quite well liked on another board that is exclusively old earth.

bumpin back up...How long do you find you actually spend on ccmemory each day? Would you recommend buying the map sets or just print them off yourself from free resources?

In my college labs we were required to write the report right in our notebook. It was always bothersome to figure out how many pages to leave blank before switching. Out in the real world working as an R&D chemist the lab notebooks were used for a very brief intro, outline of the experiment, and recording data. Lab reports were written separately, typed into an access-like database, with nice tables and/or graphs to display the data from the notebook. Notebook numbers and pages were referenced in the report and a note at the bottom of the page in the notebook referenced the lab report#. I think the key is to make sure the actual data is recorded in pen in the notebook. A write up or discussion of the data can take place inside or outside the notebook as long as all your ducks are in a row for cross referencing.

Thank you, the microphone never even occurred to me. I can see the twins really loving that!

:bigear: Nobody?

I want to buy a few instruments to go with our Making Music Praying Twice that's otw. I have a 3.5 yo, an 18 month old, and I plan to invite young 4yo twins to join us. MMPT recommends several in each category and recommendations but I'd love to know which get the most mileage at your house so I can buy higher end versions of best loved stuff. TIA