I'm contemplating switching to Singapore, at least for my oldest in 3rd grade next year (we are currently using Rightstart). I've looked up all the comparisons US vs. Stds and I'm thinking of going with the US edition. I know I would be missing out on a few topics, but those could be covered easily later. Also, the Standards HIG seems a little more helpful. On the other hand, Stds. is thicker and I would like to work through the IP and CWP books, this seems much more doable with the US ed. US seems to be less "busy," which is nice. :001_smile: So I'm just curious about all those who use US, how satisfied are you?

You could leave some kids almanacs around like this one.

:iagree: and Ambleside is very flexible and has been very smooth for us, as far as scheduling. Have you read the Ambleside FAQ? If not, I would print it out and get a pencil to mark important stuff. It is immensely important to understand CM principles when doing AO. The more you understand the richer your "school" becomes. In my opinion, WTM strong point is academics and CM/AO helps with educating the "whole" child. I'm still learning (this stuff can get deep), but I really appreciate CM the more I read her writings. I feel like I'm becoming a better mother too. You really don't have to choose between one or the other philosophy wise, because they are very close; You do have to choose schedule wise, because they are both set up differently.

I voted other. We're pretty focused on language arts, I've just used different things to get it across...and that's my regret. It just took me a while to flesh out what I wanted to use. Nobody's behind and we are looking forward to next year, but this is how we roll now :D: K: SWR for spelling/reading, + I'm adding VP's new Kindergarten Favs! 1st: SWR for spelling/reading/grammar + VP First Favorites 2nd: SWR for spelling/reading/grammar + CW Primers 3rd: SWR for spelling + CW Aesop + R&S English (we'll do this next year so this hasn't been test driven my me yet.) 4th: hopefully continuing on with this sequence. We love AO and use them for literature and reading along with VP's literature suggestions, when they catch on to chapter books, these are my favorite resources. We read the core of AO together for narration.

I instantly fell in love with these as soon as I got the SCM email! They are lovely!

We've done FFL 1 and some of Queen's stuff and my oldest who is in 2nd is working through the Spring CW Primer. My suggestion would be to stick it out with whatever you want to use in 3rd grade, so if you want to use FLL 3 then stay with it. The primers are great tools and do have weekly sections on punctuation, usage, and spelling reinforcement however, CW doesn't start with parts of speech until Aesop (or 3rd grade). I've been very happy with the primers, but I use SWR for intro into English, so Aesop won't be the first time they see nouns, etc.

How do these compare? Are they about the same in problems and challenge? Math Practice 2A Intensive Practice 2A

Ambleside Online Rightstart Math WTM Science

Aesop A Rod & Staff English 3 SWR (spelling) Ambleside Online mainly for Literature

Thank YOU! You have soooo put my mind at ease. Whew! I was really worried about the grammar being "too much." Now I can look forward to next year and make that decision with my 2nd grader. Thanks so much!

I like Exodus Provisions out of Oregon. They also have used stuff, which is nice. I have no affiliation with them, just a satisfied customer. They too have a lot of good info on their website as far as reviews and such. :001_smile: Shipping and handling charges: Our standard charge in the U.S. (any size!) is $4.95, sent USPS media mail or "best way."

Thanks for your reply, if makes me feel a little better. I've been worrying about being behind. I also like LOF, hoping my kids like it as much as me!

The Vintage texts sound fun. I picked up Harvey's a few days ago at a book fair, both husband and I feel like we should use something else too, its a real neat book though, we'll keep it around. :D

SilverMoon, can I ask a few Qs? Should I wait till around 3rd grade to put them in R&S or should I go ahead and start them in 2nd? I'll have a 2nd and 3rd grader I can put in their respective grade levels, or just wait till 3rd grade. Are your children doing Latin also? Would something like LFC or equivalent be too much grammar? If you doing it in whole also? You've been very helpful, thanks for replying and helping me out! :001_smile:

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Would this be 4th grade, assuming: Rightstart A = Kinder Rightstart B = 1st Rightstart C = 2nd Rightstart D = 3rd Rightstart E = 4th So does this mean that finishing E in 5th grade would put us behind? Does RS A-E cover concepts that would be considered 5th/6th grade? It seems like I read somewhere this was true, can't remember now where. :tongue_smilie: After E, where would they place in Singapore? Would anything in Singapore be a review? Hoping for some answers! :001_smile:

:bigear:

Thank you for responding! That makes sense. I seen on your blog where you have made lesson plans for R&S, they look very helpful, so if I do use R&S I will definitely come back for those plans! Thanks for sharing them.

If you use CW, what grammar do you use? I'd really like to use it as written with Harvey's starting in Homer, but it seems to get mixed reviews. What will I be missing/skipping by using something else? I guess one of the things skipped would be the applied grammar sections in CW? Does it bother you to skip these, feeling like your missing something? If you use Rod & Staff, do you use ALL of it? What do you skip? How long does it take you to complete a daily lesson? Can I start a child on R&S 3 if they have had little to no grammar? We will use SWR + CW + maybe a different grammar (and maybe not :D) Thanks so much.

Sure. I use the Light Blue Series (by Grade). I print out the chapters, in color and back/front, then I staple them together. Then, I let them go through the "book." I keep a math binder for each child which has their MM book in it and our RS stuff printed out (I use the RS worksheets on CD). So basically every. single. day. we need that binder. I teach 2 RS lessons a day. This just saves my sanity. :D 2nd grader 5 lessons/sessions per week in C (we need to get ahead) 1st grader 3 lessons/sessions per week in B (he's just right) Kinder 2 lessons/sessions per week in B (we have some time b/c she's in K) If we are doing a RS lesson, they just need to do a box on MM in the afternoon (about 1/2 page). If they won't have a lesson, because its not their day, or mom is taking a break, or life happens, then we will do 1.5-2 pages of MM. We can do one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Its not as cut and dry as I say, because sometimes topics hang them up and they need to do less, and sometimes they really get something and they can do more. This has been a life-saver for me, I don't feel like the weight of math is on me anymore. I still put RS first as a spine, but every 8-12 weeks, I need to break from teaching it, but now we don't lose anything. Like I said before, we also do a page on saturdays, and I will continue with MM through summer, I might give them a 2-3 week break before we start our new year in mid August. MM is great b/c you can move around the chapters when they get tired of a topic (like geometry and coins, etc). You can accomplish a lot by doing a little at a time. If they worked at an average of 1 page per day and 6 days per week for 45 weeks, that would be 270 pages. There are only 222 pages in the 1st grade book, 249 in second grade book, and 282 in Third grade book. So, its not so bad. We also use Singapore's CWP a semester to a year behind the grade level, so both my boys are in level 1 CWP. You can plan these for when they don't have RS lessons. Or in the summer when they are doing less in school. The key for me has been to split up the work, and I even do some in morning and some in afternoon. My kids typically work about a semester behind in MM, so they are learning their topics mostly from RS. They have learned subtraction with MM, but they kinda already "knew" it from using RS. We always use the abacus too when working on MM problems. There are times when I do the problems orally with them too, with me writing in the answers and them reading the directions and problems. This has been very, very helpful, to hear them reading the problems aloud and working on directions. If you have a rising 1st grader, I would start using MM a little per day. Maybe only a box or even less. I think children are very different here, some will want to do lots and then get tired out the next day. Some will complain over every little bit. This is where you have to be realistic and consistent day to day with the amount. Another thing is, the addition section can be long, so I would do some from the subtraction, and maybe shapes chapter (1B). I just wade through trying to keep us generally using them in order. Now that I think of it, my last update for MM, had a Kindergarten Math Review Chapter 0, which was about 14 pages long. I hope this doesn't sound too complicated. Its really pretty easy in practice. Hope that helps! :001_smile:

:iagree: Great Advice! I couldn't have said it any better. :001_smile:

I love, love Rightstart. I'm using for 3 kiddos right now who are 2 different places in B and one in C. This semester I added MM to the mix and it has really cemented some of the loose ends and weaknesses of RS. Some kids just need to be able to WRITE it down to help cement the process. They can do it with all the manipulatives, but they need to transfer that to paper on a consistent basis to be successful. I am stick it out with RS, but we do half to 2 pages of MM a day Mon-Sat. (this is the only school they do on saturday, yea, 10 minutes of brain-work will not kill them on the weekend, LOL). This has really helped my 1st and 2nd grader. They don't do all the problems if they understand the concept, but they do most of them. If I do a RS lesson with them, they do half a page in the afternoon (RS lessons in the morning). My other thing about RS is that is wears me out! So I do have to take breaks to get refreshed. MM keeps math going when I get tired and need a break. I'm getting ready to make a final push for the year in RS, so we'll lower the requirements for MM starting next week. Otherwise, they are doing 1-2 pages a day in MM and a few CWP's. It sounds like a lot, but it really doesn't take that long and we don't do a lot of busywork in other areas of school. You don't have to use MM, but it really goes well with the conceptually thinking of RS.

Oh my goodness! I just emailed you about it all. I really enjoyed your posts on the VP stuff. Most of it is a circumstance change. I really like TOG, it is really awesome, and a solid choice for the grammar years, especially when *mom* wants to learn too! We are moving soon and a new job can do wonders to the homeschool budget ;). I've just never been able to afford the self-paced classes and my son really enjoyed them, but we will do them in the fall for the 2 oldest. I'll also have a few more responsibilities per week and need to be able to tend to those. Otherwise, I probably would have stayed with TOG. Also, I just know my kids were rock solid on their facts about history this year with VP, and I want to continue that, plus you know I love, love, love AO and will be using it too. So VP self-paced history will combine nicely with AO. It will largely take the burden off me for history, I'd still like to read the card together once a week and do some RA's, etc. But it will be no-pressure and fun for me, because if we don't get to it, they have still learned a lot. Thanks for the thread link...going to check it out now. :auto:

We've used it on and off for a few years and love it. I primarily use it for the literature, nature readings, etc. We don't do all the history. We've been using Veritas Press history and dabbling with other things, but I will use VP self-paced classes in the fall and continue with AO for literature. I love the book selections for AO, (we haven't used TCOO, so no comment on that one!:D) and have found they really stretch my kids. They always ask for more and more. As far as the using the AO as a whole, I tend to be more classical in that I like rule-based spelling and also like to begin grammar earlier.