I use HWOT for my 5.5 year old DD, but when she was 4, she didn't do very well in it. I just put it aside until this year. I'm still not sure if that is what I should have done or not though. At 4, she was very into spelling and "writing books" and spent much of her day writing. Of course, all the letters started at the bottom instead of the top and most were reversed. She hated having me correct her in any way on how to properly form her lettets. Everyone tells you that they are young and to wait until 5 or later. I did this and because of it, her bad writing habits are VERY strong. She has made great progress with HWOT and when she uses the workbook and slate, her reversals are gone. When she is writing for fun, she usually reverts back to old habits. I guess what I am trying to say is to be careful about letting them use improper form. What they start with seems to stick. At least it did in our case. Gwen

How does everyone deal with history when you have 2 children. We haven't even started history (dd is 5) but I am already wondering how to do it when my ds (now 2) starts school. When my dd is on the modern era, my son will start 1st grade (age 6 by then). Do you just start the 1st grader on modern times along with the 4th grader but watered down a bit? Or do you do two different time periods, Ancient and Modern? Is the modern SOTW too intense for a 6 yr old. I know we are no more violent than in the past, but the violence doesn't sound as bad when it is farther in the past. I know a woman who also has kids 3 years apart, and she said she did the 4 year cycle in 3 years so they could start back on Ancients with her youngest. Her daughter wasn't nearly as interested in the modern times, so they skimmed through it at a faster pace. She plans to add 1 yr of American History for her daughter for the last yr. Will I be cheating her if I do something similar? Or is it even possible to get through in 3 years? It seems so many love it and struggle to keep it 4 years instead of longer. I think we will probably do a lot of the extra projects and I don't want to skimp on it. Thanks for any advice you might have, Gwen

Is there a list out there that breaks down easy reader level books by the sounds they concentrate on? We have books from our library that are in a series and each one focuses on a particular sound like br, fr, cl, fl, wh and so on. We have read all of these and I was wondering if there was an online list of books that also breaks them down in this way. The one from the library is called Wonder Books and is a little too easy. She has also read all the Bob Books too. Anything similar to this and that would also be likely to be at the library would be great! Thanks, Gwen

I got a book from the library called Primary Phonics: Games by Monday Morning Press. It has tons of file folder games that you reproduce and glue to a file folder. They store very flat and my daughter enjoys them. It has games for short vowels, long vowels, and the rest are mostly broken down by digraphs or beginning and end blends. They also have Primary Phonics: Skills with lots of other ideas for teaching phonics. Gwen

I plan on using it for spelling next year in 1st grade but I'm not exactly sure how at this point. Gwenny

We are about half way through PP and I don't think we can do another day! My daughter hates the long lists of words and I think it is slowly killing any love of reading she might have. Yesterday, we did the lesson on the sh- digraph. Many of the words she doesn't know the meaning of and so when she reads them, she thinks she must be wrong and gets frustrated. For example, that page contained the words sham, shun, shank, shale, and sheaf. Do other 5 year olds understand the meaning of these words, or do they just not mind reading them? She wants to know what each one means, and by time I explain each of them, I'm tired and frustrated as well! I feel like screaming (although I don't), "Who cares what they mean, just read it!" I refuse to buy another book, so now I am thinking of putting PP aside until next year when I plan on using it for spelling, and do something along the lines of Teach a Child to Read Using Children's Books. We will just read easy readers together and when she has difficulty on a word, we will just practice that sound, digraph, or whatever it is for a few minutes afterwards. Does that sound like it will work? I don't wan't to skip over phonics, but still cover it as it comes along in our reading. Since I plan on using PP for spelling in 1st grade, I figure she will get additional phonics that way also. By the way, she is doing well in PP. She can read most of the words in each lesson and we only do 1 page a day, 4 days a week. We also play file folder phonics games and other games to reinforce what we learn in PP. She reads fairly fluently simple beginning books like Sam and the Firefly, the Cat and the Hat, and most Suess like books, and the We Both Read books. Thanks for any advice or reassurance you might have and sorry this got so long. Gwen

Thanks for all the replies! I guess I just need to relax and wait until it comes easier to her. I was hoping she would love it right away since she loves books so much. She carries her books (novels we read aloud together) around the house with her like they are her friends. She even sleeps with at least 3 books tucked into her bed. Every night I have to say goodnight to Jessie, Violet, Henry, and Benny from the Boxcar Children and she talks about them so much I think they are my children. I'll hear her laughing sometimes and when I ask her why, she'll say: "Oh, it's just something Benny's doing, that's all. He is so silly!" Sorry to ramble on, and thanks again for all the advice. Gwen

I've been wondering about this same thing! How do you get around testing. In VA, we have to test and I don't think she would pass with no instruction at all. I'd love to delay it. Why spend so much time on something they can easily pick up later when their brains are ready for it? Gwen

Is there a certain point in learning to read where children suddenly enjoy reading? My dd is 5.5 years old and reading well, about 1st grade level I quess, but doesn't seem much interested in reading books on her own. While we are at the library, she will happily read a few easy readers without any prodding, but once at home, she has little interest. I see so many other children at even very beginning levels that are so proud of their reading. She shows very little pride in being able to read and doesn't feel like she is a good reader. She also gets frustrated extremely easily-one word she can't read, and she will throw a mini-fit! Do I just wait (while still going through PP), and one day she will come to enjoy reading? She LOVES to be read to and we do plenty of read-alouds (picture books and longer novels). Gwen

A few years ago, I read a book called Fingermath. It uses your fingers as a sort of abacus and allows you to do many calculations on your fingers quickly and accurately. Does anyone teach this to their children? I'd love to teach my kids, but don't know where to start and how much would be appropriate for her age (5 years old). I think some people call this chisanbop (spelled wrong, I know). I know some are against counting on fingers, but I really don't see it as any different than teaching the abacus. At least your fingers are always handy. Sorry for the pun. Thanks, Gwen

Jessica, I just read your blog about math and I also put some of the math books you listed on hold from the library. Hopefully, I'll figure something out. It would help if I understood math better myself. I was like your daughter in school. I did great in math, but actually understood very little of why I was doing it. If you tested me a month later, I would have forgotten it all! Your daughter is still young though, it may all "click" one day and will then have a much better understanding. Great blog by the way! Gwen

We are planning on doing our own thing next year too. I have Phonics Pathways and plan to focus on a few of the spelling rules in there and using their lists of words. Gwen

I think the thing that intrigues me the most is the way MOTL presents math. I've always thought that you shouldn't need long workbooks to teach math and I remember that long pages of problems was one of the things I always hated about math. It seems like they teach you how to teach math and you can then present it in way that your child can best understand. Another bonus is that the program can be used again by the next child. The price is what gets me. I know that divided out over the years, the price is great, but paying it all at once, it seems like a lot. Right now (K5), we are doing math informally. We have been reading "living math" books or just doing activities that get her acquianted with numbers and how they work. Later this year, I want to add in a few more subjects like math so next years transition isn't so hard. Gwen

Does anyone know of a math program that is similar to Math on the Level? I'm really intrigued by the program and like that it is not a workbook program and is non-consumable. Before I put out that kind of money, I'd like to check out any similar programs to compare. The problem is I can't seem to find anything else like it out there. Thanks, Gwenny

Has anyone heard of or uses Phonics Pathways as a spelling program? I know I saw in a blog a while back that a lady used this for spelling. I wasn't really interested at the time, so I didn't pay much attention. Now I am obsessed with selecting curriculum for my DD for next year (1st grade) and wish I knew more about it. I have PP and I could see how you could pick one of the spelling rules that are throughout the book and use the words on that page as a spelling list, but I was hoping someone else has already done this and could offer some help. Thanks, Gwenny

I've been looking over my AG for SOTW1 and noticed they listed these for supplemental reading: The Kingfisher Illustrated History of the World The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia The Usborne Book of World History The Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of World History What's the difference between all these? Any thoughts on which is better or that you got the most use out of? Thanks, Gwen

I don't know if I can help you or not, but that is exactly like my daughter! I did Jolly Phonics with her at age 3 to learn the letters and the sounds, and had planned on teaching her 3 letters a week. She insisted on every day and then we went back and did all the letters over again for fun! Now at age 5, she moans when I pull out PP. She can easily read most lessons, but it is sometimes torture to get her to read more than a few words. What I have done is drawn pictures of things that interest her and then put 1 word or phrase in each section and then let her color that section after she reads the word. For example, I might draw a turtle, and put a word in each section of the shell, or just a page with lots of crude fish on it, stuff like that. Right now, I cut a bunch of colored paper strips and write the sentences and words on the strips. As she reads them, we make a chain and hang it in the living room for Halloween decoration. This has worked great and has also made her proud when she sees all the words she has read reaching around the room. Like your son, she writes little books all day long, but when it comes to anything "formal" or suggested by me, she balks. Gwen

Does anyone know of a spelling program that is inexpensive and can be used over several years. What I'm looking for is one that also teaches the meanings of the roots and suffixes (like pre- means before). Ideally, this book would cheap, non consumable, and span several years of study. Is this asking too much? Gwen

I want to use a year-round schedule but I can't think of a good one. We are only in K this year and are pretty informal so far, but next year it will be more necessary. I was thinking 3 months on, 1 month off, but 1 month off seems like too long. Any suggestions? Gwen

I think I should clarify. When I said we only spend about 30 min a day, I meant in formal, sit down at the table work. We don't use any workbooks except for handwriting. We do handwriting and phonics pathways at the table and the rest of the day we learn informally. I read-aloud science books, we do science experiments, art projects, nature walks, cooking, sign language, fiction read-alouds, and so on. I guess what I am really wondering is if I should just let her take it easy this year and enjoy learning informally, or should I start to ease in some other subjects. She reads on about the first grade level and seems ready in many ways. Gwen

I've been looking forward to next year (1st grade) and it seems like so much to be done in a day: spelling, grammer, writing, history, science, art, and something I am probably forgetting. I was thinking about gradually adding in some of these subjects toward the latter part of this year to sort of ease her into next year's workload. I plan on schooling year-round (3 months on-1 month off). Has anyone else tried this and did it help? I'm just afraid she will balk at so much work when right now we finish any formal work in 30 minutes or so. Gwenny

I'm looking for an art book that has simple projects that are somehow linked or similar in style to famous artists, but on a Kindergarten level. We have been picking 1 artist to learn about each month and then read a few books about them and look at their work. Last month we studied Monet. I was thinking a book that showed some kind of simple impressionist (or whatever style it may be) style painting techniques would be fun to go along with it but I haven't been able to find any thing like it. Any suggestions? Gwen

We are a little less than half-way through the book and we just do 1 page a day (we started in the summer when she got excited about learning to read). We also did jolly phonics to teach her the sounds of the letters when she was 3. She LOVED it! Sorry your son hated it. My daughter still uses the hand motions for each sound and remembers all the silly stories I made up for each sound. Jolly phonics didn't seem to cover blending though and that is what she really needed to get her going. PP got her blending and she has been interested in reading ever since. Gwen

My DD is 5 and we are doing K this year. For phonics we are using phonics pathways and my daughter hates to read from it. She is doing well with reading and could easily read the lessons but hates any of the words she doesn't know the meaning of and any sentence that doesn't make much sense. I've drawn pictures on paper and written in the words and then let her color in the space after she reads it and have a played some similar phonics games with her. That helped a great deal, but even that is wearing out already. I love the book and how complete it is and I don't want to give up on it yet. But I'm also tempted to just let her continue to read real books at a slowly increasing level of difficulty and slowly introduce phonics rules as we come to them (like in Teach Your Child To Read With Children's Books-I think that is what it is called). Any advise on how to make it a little more interesting? I guess she reads at maybe an early 1st grade level if that helps. Thanks