I can only give a minimal answer, as this is my first year participating in our local co-op but I'll still try... Our co-op is nursery ages through high school, approx. 200 students. I only have younger children, so I don't know much about high school. I do know they have a variety of classes that they choose from. Biology,meterology, anatomy, chemistry, zoology, essay writing, economics, government, civics, geography, spanish, latin, various arts, photography, yearbook, music appreciation, home ec, and a few more. The 1st-5th graders have a focused study in the mornings. First semester was government/elections and U.S. Presidents. Second semester is Georgia history (we are in Georgia :-) . The afternoon is their choice of clubs, such as art, p.e., science, drama, girls' club, boys' club, etc. The preschool and kinder classes are pretty much regular K and Pre-K stuff. Nursery is for children too young for pre-school. It is a wonderful co-op. Very well run, lots of friendly people. I love it!

Fireproof, that makes great sense for her bc when I get her to slow down and "read every word" she reads considerably slower, almost like she is concentrating too hard. Thanks for the encouragement!

Ellie, she learned with K12 when we did their online school in Kindergarten. We are using OPGTR now. She can read pretty big words, as we are near the end of the book, but swaps words or adds extra words when reading sentences. Lexi, I feel the same way! I'm just don't know how to correct this besides correcting her each time. I'd love anything to help with this,

My first grader is a fine reader. She reads to me, her siblings, and to herself. However, when she reads to me (so I'm sure when she reads to others) she often assumes certain words are there, instead of actually "reading" the words. I think this is just because she is hurrying. For instance, today, she was was reading and the sentences were "The big hand of the clock is at 12. The little hand is at 7. It is seven o'clock." What she read was "The big hand of the clock is at THE 12. The little hand is at THE 7. So, it is seven o'clock." I think she just figured there was a "the" in the first two sentences. Do I correct this every time? She does it frequently so I feel bad if I constantly interrupt her. I do correct when she reads the wrong word, usually mixing up "when" and "then." I want her to really be reading what she sees on the page, but I don't want to frustrate her by interrupting her too often, making her feel discouraged.

We are definitely a books and paper family too. We use the computer/tv for videos or images (usually history or science, when she wants to see what something looks like) but that is it. I have the millions of binders to prove it!

Thanks for the tip. I've been fed up with the various sharpeners that we have tried, so I will definitely check this one out!

I am so very sorry for your mother's sickness and how everything is now. Absolutely take the time off! Watch silly movies, play games, do crafts, anything that is attractive. I wouldnt bother sending your kids tp school. I think it would be even harder. You will eventually get back to the schoolwork, and your kids will do just fine. I will be thinking of your family.

I was surprised to read through this and see how many people (I think everyone?) chose gymnastics. I've only the experience with one co-op but it is extremely well run with a couple hundred kids. It has semester-long topics in the morning (fall semester was government and elections, spring semester is our state's history). There are specialty clubs in the afternoon to choose from (science, art, drama, p.e., and more) with higher level classes for older kids. It is my dd's favorite day of the week!

Thanks OtherJohn!

I've tried several times, today and yesterday, to use the search feature, but I always get "no results found." I know that there are results for the words I chose because they were really general. i.e. I was trying to find a posting in the for sale forum that I had seen the day before, but the search engine couldn't find it. I found it just by scrolling through all the sales posts, and it did for sure have the word I was searching for. Anyone have any ideas about that? Do I need to change something on my computer?

When my dd hit a mental block of some sort in her math (she is a first grader), we switched to new topics for MONTHS then returned to the difficult part. She was struggling in subtraction so we did money, clock, extra addition work, graphs etc. When we returned to subtraction, she was much happier and seemed to be learning it much better.

Truthquest American History... While I love the concept, I can almost never find the books she suggests and sometimes can't even find a book on the topic at all. Just too much work, since I bought the Binder Builder too. My dd enjoys it when we get to it, I just don't take the time to get to it very often.

We first checked the book out from our library, so we could see how it worked for us. After renewing it the maximum number of times, I figured I ought to just buy it ! :-) We skipped ahead through the stuff I was sure she knew, lightly reviewed things I wasn't sure about, and then slowed down when we got to the new stuff. Good luck!

I have a first grader and this is certainly beyond what she does each day. She usually does 1-2 sentences (usually copywork, not dictation) a day. When I do dictate sentences to her, it is 1-2 words that we are currently learning the spelling rules for, along with very "easy" words for her to spell. That teacher is expecting an awful lot!

Same for me, except my computer had just completely crashed. She is wonderful! (Maria, hope you stumble across this thread... You've got some big fans!)

My dd would be in first in a B&M school, so I say she is in first. She is doing second grade work in some subjects, but I still always say first grade.

I have access to a laser printer, so that makes it a lot cheaper to print. I have 3 more kids to still use the program, so buying a CD was definitely the way to go for me. Our library had .05/page printing for awhile, so that was cheaper than my own ink jet printer (before I had access to the laser one) and cheaper than Staples. With 5 kids, I'd say a download or CD is cheapest in the long run.

Thank you for that idea! My daughter is in WWE1 and also struggles with the narration. She just gets distracted quickly when I'm reading so that when I get the questions, she doesn't remember much of what I read. This sounds like a great tactic to try!

:iagree: AAS does recommend "pronouncing for spelling" on such words, because regional pronunciations vary widely on many words. We live in the south, and there are certainly words that dd tries to spell with the "southern" accent.

Our first grade curriculum... Phonics: OPGTR Spelling: All About Spelling 2 Grammar: First Language Lessons 2 Writing: WWE 1 Handwriting: Handwriting without Tears Lots of library books and read-a-louds. She gets intimidated by big chapter books (i.e. lots of text with minimal pictures), even though she can easily read the words. So, I let her choose shorter, smaller books to keep it fun. They are only first graders once!

My dh is also a hunter who hunts just for food for our family and others. He would never just shoot an animal for sport and leave it in the woods. People that do that are appalling to both of us.

:iagree: At kindergarten age, I'd simply let him pursue writing for the fun of it. Spelling can wait! If he asks you how to spell something, I'd spell it for him. I waited to start AAS until my DD was reading first and second grade materials.

For mine, it was a "lightbulb" couple of days, just after the Christmas break last year. She went from slowly sounding out words to just "getting it" and reading much more fluently. I was surprised it happened after a break from school, but that is how it went for her.

With my 6 year old, we skipped ahead to the first lesson that I wasn't sure if she could do or not. I would have her read some words and maybe a sentence from each lesson. If she knew it without much hesitation, we'd go to the next lesson and repeat the process. When she clearly knew how to read whatever the rule was, we'd spend only 5 minutes or so per lesson. If she didn't know the words quickly, like gn- was a hard one for her, we slowed down for that day and did the full lesson. So, some days, we would "cover" 5-6 lessons. Other days, we'd do just one. As for the mentality of "covering every lesson," I was confident enough listening to her read certain words that I knew it would really be a waste of time to spend a full phonics lesson on something that she knew. She would be bored and then would start being easily distracted etc. I would get frustrated getting her back on track, so it just made sense for me.

It sounds like everyone is in basic agreement! That is fabulous, because it makes it an easy choice. She is a very kinesthetic learner. She loves using manipulatives in any subject possible (like the letter tiles for phonics or AAS). Based on everyone's advice, I will definitely get out our counters or c-rods and let her use those as she is learning. We were in K12 and our state's cyber academy for kindergarten and the first part of first grade this year. They FLEW through the math facts, so it made me feel that she was behind. Thanks everyone!!