Thank you!!!!!! I'm so thankful for the advice I've gotten here. We will do a quick review just to be 100% sure that she knows all of the letter sounds and then move on through the beginning cvc lessons. I think that ought to do it. I was confused because we had started with How to Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons and we both hated it, but that book tells you that you must start at the beginning. I love Jessie Wise's style and her common sense instruction. I think this will be much easier and more fun for both of us.

I am having a little trouble moving beyond simple cvc words with my dd. I decided to pick up a copy of OPGTR and don't know where to start. Is it okay to start a few lessons into the book if my dd already knows the sounds that most of the letters make? Should I start from the beginning just to be thorough? Are their guidelines for parents in this position?

My dd will be 6 in March and we will be starting "first grade" at some point in the very near future. I will be using First Language Lessons as well as STOW. What else would you recommend as part of our language arts? We are currently working through our Explode the Code books and practicing reading using Now I'm Reading books (similar to Bob books). Is this enough? I read that we will need a spelling book and a handwriting book but I'm wondering if the writing she is doing in the ETC books will be enough. As for spelling, is this something I can do on my own? Can I pull some words out of our current ETC or STOW lesson and use those as spelling words, or is there an advantage to using a purchased spelling program? Also, she seems to be ready for 1st grade aside from the fact that she is not reading fluently yet. She does not know any sight words and still needs to take some time to sound out CVC words. I can see that it's starting to click for her and I have a feeling it won't be long before she is able to read longer words. We have 100 EZ lessons but hated it. I wonder if i should get The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading, but I'm not sure if it would be beneficial since she is already reading some. One more question....should I want until she is reading fluently before I start FLL with her? Looking at the first month of lessons, I am thinking this will be fine, because she can definitely understand all of what will be taught, but if for some reason she needs to be reading well before starting this book, I'd rather know now.

My dd is 5. We have been using Horizons K but took a break because she was getting frustrated and I was having trouble explaining the concepts in a way she will understand. We quit when we got to the lessons involving place value (tens and ones) because I knew it would confuse her. Currently she can count past 20, recognize all numbers up to 10, add and subtract using a worksheet and abacus, tell time to the hour, etc. She has been at this same skill level for awhile now, and I know she will get the other concepts but right now everything is frustrating to her. New concepts need to be introduced slowly and carefully and I need to be able to explain things in a way she will understand. So, I need a new curriculum with lots of suggestions for games, ways for me to teach a new concept, and something that is pretty gentle and moves slowly. According to Saxon's placement test, she's ready for level 1, and Miquon looks interesting to me as well. Without having the books in front of me to look at, I have a hard time deciding on what will work for us. Any thoughts? Also, since Miquon seems to be the least expensive, I'm wondering if I should try that one and see if it works for us, but I noticed that lots of people use it with Singapore.....I'd love opinions on that as well.

I'm so sorry! I did NOT mean to sound like I was labeling her at all! I just wanted to know what I was doing wrong because like lots of homeschooling parents I'm still a little insecure, lol! I really don't think she has a learning disability or anything even remotely similar. I really thought the problem is just me. I mean, we started off the year with such high hopes. I bought Horizons Math K along with all of the manipulatives. I made flash cards. I set up our school room for learning and then we started with one math lesson a day. First it was easy for her, then it suddenly became miserable. I just assumed I screwed her up somehow. It's the same with reading. I hear about other kids going through 110 easy lessons easily, one lesson a day and magically they are reading fluently. Or so I thought...... Okay, so I'll keep on moving along and stop beating myself up over this. Thanks a bunch for all of your advice. I am really sorry if I came across the wrong way. I definitely do not think my dd has a learning disability and no she has never ever heard me say anything of the sort....my thoughts and frustrations all remain safely in my neurotic mommy brain, lol!

I need some advice..... We started Kindergarten in July and so far seem to have made no progress with regards to math, reading and writing. My dd seems really stuck and can't seem to learn any new concepts and when something is even slightly difficult, she gets frustrated and cries and gives stranger answers that she knows are not correct. I just don't know what to do. When we read, she can do it, but cannot do it fluently. She also seems to have no recognition of words that she has just read. For instance, in the Bob books, the names of the characters are used over and over again throughout each book. Each time she sees them she sounds them out as if it's a brand new word, even if she has already read it 10 times within the past 10 minutes. Sight words are impossible. I have tried teaching her two at a time, but no matter what she cannot recognize them. Words like "the, a, and, on" are sounded out over and over again each time we read even though by now they ought to be sight words. She has been stuck at this level for a year now it seems. We use Bob Books, ETC, 100 easy lessons, and click n kids phonics online. Nothing is working. With math, it's the same thing. She does not seem to recognize numbers past 19 even though we have gone over the numbers a million times. So far, she can count up to 40 (but not recognize the numbers on paper), do basic addition with her abacus, write the numbers 0-9, and count by tens. Anything more than that is too much for her and makes her melt into a puddle. Here's an example. Every day we practice counting by tens using dimes. I have been explaining that pennies are 1 cent and dimes are 10 cents and when we count our pennies we count by ones and when we count our dimes we count by tens. This has been explained probably 30 times. Today I explained this to her and pointed to 3 dimes and said "can you tell me how many cents are there?" She said "I don't know." I said, "do you remember how many cents are in a dime?" She said "no" I said "well, there are 10 cents in a dime, so that means we can count by 10 when we are counting dimes. Can you do that for me?" So then she tried, but couldn't figure out how to get started. I pointed at the first dime and said 'Okay we start with 10, so 10....." she then said "10, 20, 30..." She then had to write "30" We had already talked about "30" and what it looks like and she had already written it and it had been pointed out to her but for some reason suddenly she forgot what it looked like. Needless to say, I'm really frustrated. Things are not progressing smoothly and I really need to keep her on track for 1st grade in the fall. I feel like I must keep up with state standards so that if for some reason we ever do need to put the kids in public school, we can do so without them being behind. Does anyone have any advice for a slow learner like my dd?

Am I posting this in the right spot? I'm Kathy :) My husband and I have 4 children, ages 14, 5, 3 and 7 months. My oldest is in public school and it looks like she will finish high school there but our younger kids will be homeschooled. Currently we are loosely following Winterpromise's Animal Worlds and Advanced K Language arts, and using Horizons Math, taking science classes at our local science center, and trying to stay outdoors as much as possible when we aren't doing school or chores in the house. Next year we plan on following The Well Trained Mind for 1st grade and possibly even for myself. My education was horrible and I really don't think I learned anything during my teen years. I'd like to do it over again if I have time. I was thinking of redoing 9-12 grade as my 2nd dd works on 1-4th grades. Let's see....more about us...we live in Alabama, but both dh and I were born and raised up north. I love to sew, knit, take pictures, and procrastinate, lol!