We went to the lake today and found some eggs. The problem now is that we don't know what kind of eggs we have. I was expecting large globs of jelly with little black dots in the middle (like shown in books). What we found were 2 clumps of jelly (about half the size of a dime). If you look closely (very, very, closely), you can see tiny specks in the middle of the eggs. Could they be fish eggs instead? Each clump is attached to a plant stem and the other a pine needle. The tadpoles we saw at the lake last summer were at least 2-3" each. Surely they came from a bigger egg than these? I guess we will have to wait and see what we get! Gwen

I have a few questiong about raising tadpoles. We plan on collecting them from a lake nearby (I've seen boys there in the past scoop them out to use for bait). What kind of container should I put them in? I'd rather use something I already have, but I'm not sure what would work. I don't have an extra aquarium lying around, but I do have several plastic storage containers of various sizes. But if I used one of those, I would need some sort of a lid. Can anyone share what they have used to house their tadpoles? Also, what time of year can I start to expect to find tadpoles or eggs? We live in eastern VA. Thanks, Gwen

What are some of your favorite, can't miss, resources and books for studying the human body? I really like books that have simple activities or projects that correlate with the topic, and of course, great pictures. I don't want a curriculum, just books that I can likely find at my library. Our libraries are great and have lots of books to choice from - almost too many (and too many library locations) to browse them all. I was hoping you could narrow down my search a bit. Thanks, Gwen

I really feel for your daughter! I have sewed over my finger as well when putting in a zipper. Before then, I thought a finger was too big to even fit, but know I know. Gwen

I forgot all about sewing on paper! When we learned in home-ec, we sewed on lined paper to practice control. Thanks for all the other great ideas! Gwen

I'm looking for good books or ideas to teach my daughter (6 in a few months) to sew. Right now she pushes the foot pedal as I sew, but I can't think of how to go about teaching her to sew on her own. Should I start with a little hand sewing? Everything I find is for older kids, yet I want something that will make a nice finished product that she will be proud of. I was thinking doll clothes (18" size), but anything I think of seems too complicated for her age. I don't want her to work hard on something and then have it fall apart while dressing her doll. Thanks for any suggestions, Gwen

Thank you Heather, That helped a lot! Somehow I had missed the movie from her website. It cleared up many of my questions. I wish my student was as cooperative as hers! My daughter couldn't read the word bliss the other day and when I asked her to sound it out instead of simply telling her the word, she nearly lost it! Gwen

ElizabethB (and anyone else who can answer my questions), I have a few questions about how to teach the syllabary. I have a 5 yr old and we have worked through half of Phonics Pathways. She can read the words in the lessons (hates it though) but when she reads a book, I find she often gets lazy and guesses (or moans) at long words. She reads at the 2nd grade level (I think) and has a great memory for words. After she reads it a couple times, she memorizes it so has no need to sound most things out. I want to get her sounding out more as she knows how but gets frustrated when she tries and then gives up. The syllabary and Webster's seems like a great approach but even after reading all the recent posts, I'm not sure how to go about it. I have taught her to blend ba together to say "bah". How do I now tell her that ba says "bay", yet ab still says "ab"? I'm afraid I'll confuse her more than ever! Once I read more of Webster's, will this be clear to me? I'm excited to get started with this, but I wish I understood it a little better. I think I need to print out the first part of Webster's from Don Potter's site and read it over. When something is in my hands I can understand it so much better than on the computer. Thanks, Gwen

Is there a list somewhere out there of beginning readers (about 2nd grade level) that are quality literature? I have just been browsing the shelves at the library and picking anything on her level that might be interesting to her. She likes the books we pick, but I want books that will naturally lead to reading more classic, great literature. What do you read that is good for the stage between Frog and Toad and The Secret Garden? Everyone seems to warn against reading "twaddle", but what is out there for 2nd grade level? She is not ready for long chapter books (she's 5), Mercy Watson chapter books are the only ones she has read and each chapter is only a few pages long. Picture books would be great for her, but with so many to choose from, it is overwhelming. Just hoping someone out there knows of a list that has already been put together. Thanks, Gwen

This idea really intriques me. I love the idea of delaying math. Not delaying practical and hands on math, but the drill, the written math, and rote memorization. As a previous poster mentioned, she taught herself math for nursing school. I had to do the exact same thing! It is shocking the simple math that I could not perform (and I was an honor student)! I knew how to pass my highschool tests with A's and not understand a thing. Now that my daughter is in K, we informally do math and read lots of "living math" books and she understands so much better than I do already. In VA, we have to test yearly and I'm not sure how I could continue to do this. I opted her out of K this year (even though we do K work), and then next year I can say she is in K (but really do 1st grade work). This would only give me an extra year before I test. I just bought MOTL because I think it has a lot of ideas for teaching math practically and concretely, and it has no workbooks. I haven't recieved it yet, so I can't tell you much more than that about it. I'm going to try to find the Bluedorn book as it seems to go along with my own personal philosphy. To bad the library doesn't have it. Gwen

Thank you all for your replies! I am certain now that I will at least get him evaluated and also do the hearing screening. Does anyone know of any books or videos that I can use with him while waiting for the evaluations? We watch one the Signing Time videos every day and he already knows well over 100 signs. This helps alleviate some of the frustration but I'd like to know exactly what kinds of things I can do with him at home in the meantime. The sort of things that speech pathologists would do with him. All I can seem to find are the blowing bubbles and licking peanut butter off the lips sort of thing. He already happily blows bubbles all the time. Gwenny

I have a 2.5 yr old son (3 in May) who speaks very little. He probably has about 50 words and only puts together a few 2 word sentences. What he does say is not clear. I was planning on waiting to pursue speech therapy but he seems to be making little progress. In my area, children under 3 get in-home therapy. A friend of mind has been through it and she said all they do is one-on-one playtime. My boy is very shy and would be unlikely to play with anyone until they have been over dozens of times. It seems like a waste of time to me. He gets tons of playtime (even one-on-one) already and I have done everything to help him speak. I read at least a dozen books a day to him, talk to him, sing to him, he listens to songs at nap time, audio books (his 5 yr old sister's) at night time - all the things that are supposed to produce early talkers. No results here. His sister, by the way, didn't say a single word until 17 mo. She caught up and now she won't stop. I read an article once that suggested that much of the success of speech therapy in this age group is related to the fact that it is also the age when many kids naturally experience a speech explosion, with or without therapy. Part of me thinks he will just talk in his own time. He passes or exceeds all other developmental milestones and understands everything that is said to him. The other part of me worries that he will be forever behind. Does anyone grow to age 30 and not talk? I guess what I am wondering is what are other's experiences with speech therapy at this age and are there any resources out there that I can use to help at home. I have read several books on the subject and they always list the things I already do. Thanks, and sorry for the rambling. Gwen

How do I pronounce this last name? I hate not knowing! Please spell it phonetically for me. Thanks, Gwen

Does anyone make their children memorize the lists of things recommended in WTM? Things like rulers, dynasties, kings of Rome, etc. I can see my dd memorizing poetry, but I don't know if she will go for memorizing rulers and dates in the first grade. Gwen

I'd like to know the answer to this too! I can't get my daughter (5.5yrs) to even do a page/day (4 days/wk). You would think I was torturing her. She screams and throws herself on the floor - it's not pretty! It doesn't seem unreasonable to just write 1 short sentence or 1/2 the capital letters, but she hates it. The coordination is there and her writing is very precise (especially since she erases each letter several times). I just wish I knew how to get her to do it happily! Gwen

My dd 5.5 years old just started to read Frog and Toad and Mouse Tales. We own both and had read them to her many times before because she loves them. When she got to the point where she was ready to read these books independently, I think knowing the story already really helped her to be able to read them more successfully. It gives her a little ego boost to read a book that I once had to read to her. She doesn't see it as a "baby book" like many of the beginning readers. I don't see any reason why you should have to save them for later. Let them enjoy them now and then again independently later. Gwenny

Wow! After reading all that I start to wonder if I do enough. Actually, my dd 5.5 hates the little "formal" work we do. We do: HWOT: 1 page/day but we just finished the book and do 1 sentence or half the letters/day. This is what she hates most. Her writing is great but she doesn't believe me! Sends her into a fit every time. Phonics: Just reading 2-3 books/day. 1 or 2 of her choice and 1 of mine, followed by practicing trouble sound or a phonics game. Sometimes dislikes this as well, even though she is reading well (Amelia Bedelia level books). 1 Science experiment/week-she loves this 1 Art day/week (messy art that I would otherwise put off.) She also loves this. The rest is completely informal and she doesn't think of it as school. We do: -signing time videos from library -picture books about an artist (1 artist/month) -science books-whatever strikes her fancy in the library -living math books and math games- no formal math program or written math -lots or read alouds- picture books and chapter books Looks like a lot more now that I have typed it! Skill wise, she is doing well. Counts to 100 by 2's, 5's, 10's. Enjoys adding things and counting them. Reading and writing well even if she doesn't agree. Gwenny

She got the Imaginarium castle (from toys "R" us). It's huge and takes up half the living room (dh's idea)! And non-fiction books would be good too. Gwen

My 5.5 year old dd got a castle for Christmas that she LOVES. Anyone have any good recommendations for books with castles in them for this age. I'm looking for fictional chapter books, but if you know of any easy reader or first grade level books, that would be great too. I searched and found the The Castle in the Attic but I don't know if that is too hard for her age or not. Something with magic or a little violence is OK too. Thanks, Gwen

Perfectionism is part of the problem here. She wants her letters to look EXACTLY like the book or like mine. Any deviation, and she literally throws herself on the floor and has an all-out fit. We use dry-erase markers a lot for handwriting but even this sets her off if it smudges or the line doesn't come out dark enough, etc. Chalk is the same way-it either smudges or the line made is not "perfect" enough. I just wish she could see how other 5 year olds write. I have told her a million times that it doesn't need to be perfect, but she won't have any of it. In reading, it is a similar problem. If she doesn't know a word, she instantly starts crying and whining and slides to the floor. I always read books to her the first time and she memorizes them somewhat so a word she doesn't know can be figured out in context and she doesn't get quite so frustrated. Luckily, she seems to get reading easily (at least I think so, I've only taught 1 child to read so there is no one to compare to). She has always been strong-willed (even as an infant she cried ALL day). It really shows when we "do school". Gwen

I don't know what to do. My dd5 is starting to hate doing schoolwork and constantly complains about doing any work at all. How do you get them to do their work happily? What am I missing? This is her first year of any schoolwork and the only sitdown work she does is handwriting (HWT). It should only take about 5 min. but it takes her much longer with the added crying and fit throwing. For instance, today I asked her to fill in the missing letter to practice capitals and then write the numbers 1-9. That's not too much is it? She writes "books" and colors all day, but she acts as if this is too hard. We practice reading on the couch. I read a book to her, and then I have her read 2 books to me. One of her choice and 1 of my choice (slightly harder). We work on whatever phonics sound/concept that she has trouble with on a dry-erase board. This doesn't bring as many complaints, but she still doesn't enjoy it. She reads great for a 5 year old but she doesn't think so. Math is done by reading living math books and games and this at least doesn't get many complaints. On Wed we do a very simple science experiment and on Thur we do an art project. This is the only part of homeschool she likes. I feel sad that she thinks school is so terrible. All the fun things people tell you to do for K (finger paint, nature walks, reading fun books, playing with water and sand, zoo and museum trips, lots of craft projects, etc.) are things we have always done. It's just part of our life, and she doesn't consider it school. She thinks of school as handwriting and reading, both of which she hates. The sad thing is she is great at both. Should I just back off on handwriting all together? I'm afraid she will return to her previous writing habits of poor letter formation if I do. She taught herself to write at age 3 and nearly all letters were started at the bottom or backwards. Thanks for any suggestions and sorry it got so long. Gwen

I'd love to know the same thing. I'm considering it for next year but want to know more before I shell out the big bucks! $300! Gwen :lurk5:

Patty, That is the one. I got mine from the library and it has a lot of games that we use to help review specific phonograms. My dd 5 loves them. It don't think it does a lot with the letter sounds though; for most of the games, they need to be able to read a little. There is another book that I had from the library called Jolly Phonics or maybe it was The Phonics Handbook or something like that that we used for letter sounds. It had an action (hand movement), a story, and a picture for each sound. My dd LOVED this at age 3 and still remembers the silly stories I made up to go with each sound. It also includes sound like ee, oo, ie, or, which I think helped a lot. I hope that helps. Gwen

I'm torn between starting FLL1 with my dd next year (grade 1) or waiting to start grammar until 3rd grade. I have FLL1/2 and it looks fairly gentle and the lessons seem short. However, if I can just wait and start grammar at a later date and catch up quickly, why bother until then? I know Charlotte Mason, and others too I believe, recommend introducing grammar later. I guess I trying to simplify next year's schedule. We plan on also doing WWE1 and it seems some of the same things are covered. Will WWE1 be enough alone? Gwen