I just told my son, who is a "slight" perfectionist that we are not trying to teach him to type right now, we have a separate program for that. I also told him that his grandfather, who obviously reads very well, couldn't get the "perfect" score either bc he can't type at all. It worked. He doesn't care about getting airplanes anymore. Oh and I also like that they tell you the rules and review it too, so I don't have to worry about pronouncing everything correctly since English is not my native language

Ok, I wasn't sure if I should say anything, but.....I would suggest getting both, Russian and non-Russian authors bc you might be very surprised how different views and perceptions are and how the same periods are described so differently.

I keep hearing so many good things about BFSU, but what really scares me is all the prep work that I would have to do.

My kids are closer in age - 5.5 and almost 4 and my 4yr old is starting to read while oldest is...well...learning, but not that fast. And oldest said it a few times that "B is sooo smarter than me". I told him that they are both smart and B is doing so well bc you, his big brother help him so much and he is learning from you. And it's true, I catch DS1 teaching DS2 many different things. I don't want to diminish DS2's accomplishments, but I am trying to show DS1 how instrumental he has been in those accomplishments. I also have a 2.5 yr old and I can see how DS2 is "teaching" him also.

This is such a sore subject for me. First of all, we moved to this area fairly recently and neither my DH nor I have any friends here or family. So, we can't even have get-together at our home bc we DON'T KNOW ANYONE. Second of all, besides the flakiness of HS moms, I am finding out that many don't like to drive. Well.....we don't live in NYC, so driving is kind of a requirement. Then!!!!! I don't have the best personality so when meeting new families I never know if 1) they just don't like me or 2) they really are sooooo busy or 3) they just don't want to drive or 4) our kids didn't click. My oldest, 5.5, doesn't want to do ANY activities, but desperately wants to have friends. So, I try to find him friends. It is sooooo hard for me. I feel like I am dating all over again, except this time, I am dating in "pairs" - me AND the kids.

Are you using ETC at all or just using LOE?

I can't add anything valuable to this thread, but now I am really curious where you guys are from LOL

What is that saying - sometimes the best defense is a great offense. I wouldn't even let her open her mouth again, and instead would start telling her what a terrible waste of time for her to do "school at home" and how silly it is and how she might as well just send her kids to regular school, etc etc etc. And I know you are saying she is a great friend and she might be (we all have our faults), but if someone was rude to me and I did try the "nice" approach first, I would have no problem turning the tables at some point. But I've been known for my bluntness and not taking a lot of crap from people. Then again, may be that's why I don't have a lot of friends.

Pam, it's not a fair comparison. I was born over there and didn't come to US until I was almost college age. My Russian BETTER be better than your Russian :) We started AAS 1 and he really enjoys it. I know I probably came off as I am really worried about it - it's not that. I just wonder how did it make sense for ETC to do 3 word syllables in book 4 and then go back to simpler rules/lessons in book 5. At first, I was going to skip book 4 (I actually had a thread about it on here), but I guess it's the OCD part of me, I just couldn't do it. We are doing on-line version, so I can move back and forth between books and parts anytime. In any case, I might just not to anything for now and see where he is when we are done with the whole program. Although, I will read Elizabeth's blog. I am sooooo tempted to get AAR, but I promised myself to get a handle on how much money I am spending on curriculum and other HS stuff. It was getting out of control there for awhile and my oldest is not even in 1st grade yet LOL

whew. OK, so 1 - I feel better - THANK YOU. 2 - Elizabeth - that was a nice compliment - THANK YOU! and 3 - I will certainly look at all the links, so THANK YOU!! Oh and my native language is Russian.

Are you me??? Yes, I have no idea how words break into syllables. I mentioned this a few times - English is not my 1st language and while I think I did just fine graduating from college and getting a Master's degree and writing papers and working for many many years- well, I don't know the basis of grammar rules at all. I always just had a "feel" for it, and never really had to learn it. Did you buy everything for level 3? Teacher's manual, student packet, etc? It would be over $100 and I just want to make sure it is worth it.

He is 5.5

So, we are moving along ETC quite nicely and he is learning the rules and remembers them fairly well. However, he has a VERY hard time with breaking down bigger words. Book 4 covered certain rules and he did OK, but still has a hard time with syllables, where they start and end. I could go back to doing Book 4 but I really don't think that would help as he already gone through those exercises a number of times. Are there any other resources I can use to reinforce/learn better just this particular thing? He even does great with reading a whole sentence as long as it doesn't have any 3+ syllables words. Suggestions, please!! Thank you

I like that. I actually have green notebook from HWOT that is exactly has the exact same pages

I need to make sure he practices every day, I've noticed that he is forgetting some lower case letters and all of a sudden he is writing certain letters the opposite way. that's why I am going to start copywork on a regular basis now. He is still kind of young, in my opinion, so I wasn't pushing writing too much, but I don't want him to back slide either.

OK, it seems no one has any opinions on BW vs LLTL. Hmmm, I might have to bug Farrar LOL I looked at LLTL and really liked it, but you know how you are set on something and them boom, you get another option. Urggghhh, so hard to decide LOL Whitehawk - that is a really neat idea. I might "copy" it :)

I am probably no help since we just started and my kid is a year younger so attention span might be different - I do it by time. 15 min or 20 min if he wants it. Kind of OT, but I am beginning to think that I like "timing" lessons in general We are on step 6, btw

Whitehawk, that is really great!!

Anyone can compare LLTL with Brave Writer?

Thank you. Are they Christian or secular? How would they go together with BW?

What is LLTL and FLL?

I don't have WWE. I was thinking of doing BW but haven't looked at it yet, so not sure if it has copywork or not

OK, thank you. Is there some kind of pattern or something that I should follow when giving them copywork or any sentences would do?

So, we are fiiiinaaaaallllyyyy learned all the letters, upper and lower case in HWOT orange book. Should I start him on copywork? Dictation? What comes next? Is there a path to follow or would random sentences be OK? I am severely lacking in the knowledge of LA sequence of what is done when, etc. so any help would be appreciate it. Thank you!

I'll have to ask our library about printing. Again, just one of these things that would never occur to me. Thank you, ladies