I have never done AAS, but LoE is definitely a teacher and student working together program. It is very well laid out though so it is not teacher intensive as far as planning. It also doesn't require a lot of extra stuff. ( phonogram cards are the only requirement and these can be purchased or you can just make your own with notecards) There are 40 lessons in the book. Each lesson has most of the following sections: part1 - phonograms, exploring sounds, spelling rule Part 2 - spelling dictation (15 word spelling list) Part 3- grammar, dictation, composition, vocabulary development Every 5th lesson is review. An advanced student could do a lesson daily, a struggling reader could need to do a lesson a week. Y has 4 sounds. /y/, long e, long i, and short i I really like it. It is a great program.

My 4 y/o is definitely on the gifted spectrum. She started talking in paragraphs very young. She is reading and doing math at a first grade level, by choice without much intentional intervention from me. (I do realize this is not ridiculously off the charts). But she really has a strong interest in natural science; rocks, bugs, dinosaurs. I initially kind of passed this off as quite normal for a 2,3,4 year old. And overall she is a fairly well rounded kid. But I have started to realize that this she is actually beyond the norm, especially when it comes to rocks. She has hundreds of rocks, she wants rocks for her coming 5th birthday. She will sit and watch YouTube videos of a college professor showing/listing properties rocks/minerals for his class for an identification exam. We took a field trip to a gem and mineral museum and her eyes lit up like a kid at Disneyworld. So I guess my questions are, for those with kids with passions: When did they start to show up? How do you balance providing a lot of opportunities to learn about an interest, without overdoing it and pushing the interest on her?

I have had to sit down with my older dd and have a heart to heart about this. Dd2 is 4 and is reading better than 6 y/o dd1. dd2 also is way ahead in their weekly swim class. Dd2 is much better at memorization, science etc...and while dd1 is still ahead in math I don't know how long that will last. Dd1 was quite sad about this one day. First I explained to dd1 that she was academically smart (because she is and I didn't want her to think she was behind.) Then I explained that academic and athletic talent weren't the only talents. Dd1 is much more talented in areas of patience, kindness, and compassion, those skills come easily to her, where they are hard work for dd2. Dd1 also is more organized and methodical. I used dh and I as examples of the differences in people's skills and talents, demonstrating how we compliment each other to show how important it is that people don't all have the same talents. I also related her skill sets to people she loves and respects. "You so much like Aunt Susie because..." Since that time she has done pretty well. I do try to reinforce both dds' natural talent, and encourage them to work hard in the areas that come less naturally. I also try to be honest with them about my strengths and weaknesses as an example. I was the younger sibling who was academically ahead. I think my parents did a pretty good job at giving a realistic view of our strength and weaknesses. Celebrating our strengths, and encouraging us to either work hard at or accept our weaker areas. I was never better because I was "smarter". But I was still allowed to be pretty happy about being smart. And I knew I had to work harder on anything involving physical coordination, as well as social/emotional skills like patience and sensitivity to others feelings.

I needed something initially, but that is because I did not understand proper handwriting. I was taught handwriting in a very confusing way in ps as a child. So I used a curriculum to learn how to form letters most efficiently so I could teach it. But I certainly don't see the need for continuing with any handwriting curriculum beyond that, unless the child has difficulty.

Logic of English Foundations, it has lots of activities for different learning styles. It starts very basic, it is even good not to know the letter names :). It is for ages 4 to 7, so it would fit a delayed 1st well.

:) actually I definitely would have said "banana" to my 11th month old. Though I wouldn't of expected her to say please. I would have said something like. "Yes that's a banana!" Emphasizing the "ba". But wouldn't expect her to say the "ba" the next time or anything.

I actually use a spelling to learn reading program. (I use Logic of English Foundation, but there is also Spaulding, and All about spelling and. Some others). So we do spelling while we are learning reading. I love it because now I do understand the rules for myself, which I never learned in school either. My spelling is so much better now. (My typing is still terrible though, so don't judge by my posts ;) ) Also the spell to red program works for my natural reader and my struggling reader. My struggling reader is learning to read and spell. My natural reader is mostly learning to spell.

I do correct it on something like that. But only after I thank them and complement them first. And tell them it is a great opportunity to learn the rules. :) Pancake. "C" makes the /k/ sound before a, o, and u. "C" makes the /s/ sound before i and e, so there you need to use a K. So K is usually only used before e and i. Though there are a few exceptions. "Micks" "ck" is used after a single short vowel at the end of a base word. If you have "cks" then you have a plural word. "X" is used for non-plural/ non-possesive /ks/ sounds. Hope that makes sense. :)

I am pretty simple as well. We do language arts and math intentionally. We do go pretty deep with those. But I only really use 1 main curricula for language arts and one main one for math, with occasional other worksheets to supplement that I happen upon. I don't like making crafts, but my kids are welcome to make use of craft supplies if they want to. We study geography by looking at the map and talking about the locations when we watch The Amazing Race, as well as when we hear about people going on vacations, missionaries etc... We read a lot of random books and watch documentaries I happen upon to get a sense of history. We have discussions in the car about earth science and weather, we learn about plant science when we plant our garden. They play a lot outside and observe bugs, dirt etc... We talk about chemistry, physics while baking. If they have a question about something I don't say I don't know, we look it up or figure it out. But except for language and math I don't plan any of it. (Well I do plan a few field trips, but those mostly involve taking advantage of opportunities that become available) The funny thing is I don't feel plain vanilla, I feel different since so many I know/read about have lots of focus on all those activity things, where as we pretty much focus on core academics. I am sure this will change as they get older, but I still hope it will be more because they want to pursue the topic than that I will do a lot activity planning.

We tried 8 books in FIAR and there was only one I or my kids actually wanted to read again. Some of the books I really disliked. Some were just boring. It isn't just you :). I consider myself a very well educated person and I have read voraciously since I was a small child. But my taste in children's lit is pretty different from most of the stuff on the "classics" list. I actually have a pet theory about classics. I worked in a library, the books we had the most of were the so-so pop authors, Danielle Steele etc... I would complain that someday historians are going to call that classic lit from the late 1900's because there will be so many copies still around ;) I have distrusted classic literature since, and just go with my taste. I know this a crazy thing to confess on a classical education board :)

I think I see a common thread through a lot of these post. I remember people working very hard to "remind" us gifted kids that we weren't better than anyone else just because we were gifted. I think people worked so hard at that that they convinced a lot of people that they were actually "worse" than other people. It is funny because I think most people who are actually gifted realize that it isn't something they have control over, that they can't take credit for their giftedness, just for what they do with it. I have to wonder if people do this to gifted athletes, singers, etc...for some reason I kind of doubt it.

I wonder if you haven't received a lot of response because a lot of people don't have spouses who endeavor to support or encourage them in homeschooling. My dh's preference would be to send our kids to ps and that I would go back to work. But since my preference for homeschooling is stronger, he is supportive by "letting" me to homeschool. He also is supportive by being willing to live on less income since I would certainly earn a lot more if my kids were both in school. I really can't expect w whole lot more of him, since it is not his preference. I do wish I could occasionally express frustration about things, but I really can't because he feels the need to help me "fix it" and his solution is to send them to our lovely little school. But I really don't need anything fixed, just a chance to talk through things sometimes, So maybe one suggestion would be "just listen, don't feel the need to fix it"

Have you looked at MEP? It is free online. I haven't looked at the third grade. But the program is known for including a lot of Logic and puzzle style problems.

LoE foundations. Love it. My current 1st grader is finally making progress, and is doing it with my advanced 4 y/o. Hopefully E,F will be out by the time my 4 y/o will be in 1st. It is a complete program for us.

I hope I am replying to what you are actually asking. My initial reaction was maybe 5 minutes at a time but I realized I was confining myself to what I consider my 6y/o's actual school. Since my 6 y/o is not a fluent reader I have to read directions in math. And obviously she can't work on reading independently. Her handwriting is fine, so copy work can be done in a couple minutes. However my 6 y/o is perfectly capable of sitting and working on a quiet independent activity for half an hour or longer if the activity is of interest to her. Since yours will be able to read you might be able to get more independent work, since you won't need to read directions. I spend about an hour to two a day working with my 1st grader, not in one fell swoop. If your goal is to keep your 6 y/o occupied, quietly, so you can focus on your younger one your best bet would be to find quasi educational activities of interest, but not so important that it must be done just right. My 6 y/o likes crafts, Draw Write Now books, some educational aps on my iPad. Since yours is an independent reader, that might be a good time to assign reading, either for independent lit or in science and history topics. I have never had a specific calendar time, we just talk about it a lot in daily life. (What we have planned for the week, whose birthday is when, we do have a calendar they can look at.) We only use the hundreds chart when needed in math, haven't needed it for a long time. But it was never something we did regularly. I would think you could drop those once your kids master it. Hope this helps. I have been dealing with a 6 y/o and a 4 y/o this year. It is fun, but can be a little tricky, because they always want to be together.

Thanks. :) now I don't have to watch it. I have never been addicted to this show, but thought it was well done and funny. I have been a bit caught up on the "mystery" of this season though. I don't think I would like the ending. I never really thought Ted and Robin were that good of a match, and I got way to invested in Robin and Barney to have spent a season watching their wedding and then find out they got divorced. I'd have to wait 2 weeks to watch it online anyway, now I can forget about it.

This is how I have understood it and seen it used. PreK is a child doing pre kindergarten level work, the year before kindergarten. K4 is a 4 y/o doing Kindergarten level work. K5 Is a 5 y/o doing kindergarten level work. Kindergarten is the general term for the school year before 1st grade, and could be equivalent to K4 or K5. Someone doing K4 may spread the work of kindergarten over 2 years. Transitional K is doing an extra year of kindergarten, regardless of age. Although I see my understanding of the terms is not consistent with some other responses. Of course this is all still very murky because "kindergarten" level work is not a clear definition either. I just go by age based on the local school district when I need a grade level for an outside program. (Our school district just has plain "kindergarten") Otherwise I just do what I want as far as curriculum "levels"

Why would you apply to all the ivy's. Seems like a waste of application fees. Or it is just a stunt. I mean are there really that many people out there who have to settle for Harvard because they couldn't get into Penn or Columbia? I knew several people who I thought could get into any Ivy they wanted, but I never met anyone who wasted their time and money applying to all of them.

Same experience here, though I am DDD, so I can't buy in a lot of cheaper stores anyway. good ones last if you are careful. I bought 3 last year and spent about 150 total. The 2 most expensive are in great shape. The least expensive one is getting a little stretched out, but I wear it the most. I think I will buy a new one soon. I only wear my good bras when I go out. For home days I always wear sports bras, so that makes them last better as well.

How frustrating! Frantic finishing isn't fun either, so hopefully that will be a learning experience. Thank goodness she is "only 9" so she does have more time to learn time management. (Although there are plenty of teenager who would do the same thing ;) ) Hope the day gets better, a and you get some rest.

Yes, so aggravating! (Although I can't whine to much since they are providing such a great free program) Still down this morning. I usually spend Sunday night planning, and was going to do a big long range plan. Since the "server" seems to be down I hope it is maintenance or maybe some accident knocked it out temporarily. I do have two of the year 1 lesson plans sets on my kindle. As soon as it comes up I an going to load the rest.

I have been using it, for my first grader. I don't know how organized this is but: I plan about 2 weeks at a time. I write down in a spiral notebook "Day 1". Then I write a brief outline of what activities we'll do, what materials I need. It looks something like this: Lesson 47- Activity 1- number ladder Activity 3 - word problems Activity 5- use c-rods Worksheet 47 I print out the worksheets, but I just follow the lesson on my iPad. Sometimes I do 2 lessons together, it just depends how well my dd is doing. I rarely do all the activities, since some are very classroom oriented, and my dd is pretty mathy. The first time I looked at MEP I thought it looked so confusing, but when I sat down and wrote it out it was pretty easy. I haven't looked at the later years though. Hope this helps :)

If I had to pick one I would go with ordinary parents guide. To be honest, I tried both and neither worked for us, But I do see where I could have been able to at least use the info in OPGTR and modify it to teach to my daughters learning style. It was kind of a reference tool. 100EZ didn't seem very modifiable, and really wasn't a reference. ( oh and my daughter just moaned and groaned about OPGTR while 100EZ actually made her cry, but that could have been the order of how we used them)

Our church also runs the gamut, jeans/shorts to suits/dresses. As for our household, it is only about 5 yrs ago that I stopped wearing skirts every Sunday. I was pregnant in the winter and did not want to invest in maternity hose. Of course around that time people stopped wearing hose in general, and I never went back to skirts all the time. I do wear skirts to church in the warm weather. Dh always wears khakis and a button down, sometimes a tie. This is his choice. The girls almost always wear skirts/dresses by choice. I would enforce that they wear "nicer" clothes, but it really hasn't been an issue yet. As they get older I will insist they wear clothes that are clean and in good condition. But I don't think I will intervene much as long as the clothes aren't distracting to others. I enjoy wearing my nicer clothes to church, I don't see myself switching to jeans soon. But I don't care if others wear them.

When I speak about the issue with show your work problems I am not referring to upper level math. Certainly one needs to show work in algebra and above. But do you really need to "show work" for 90/15? Kids are being required to "show work" in arithmetic. Which means drawing picture diagrams to answer problems. Kids are marked wrong if they get the right answer, but don't draw the picture the "right way". This is supposedly so kids demonstrate the concept not just the algorithm. But instead it just turns the picture into the algorithm. Now I do not think that the common core intended for this to be a result. But it is in many places, because of the reaction of school districts to the common core testing. Just wanted to clarify :)