For just five tiles you could probably just make your own replacements with adhesive magnets from the big box or craft store-- or gluing to old magnets you have in the house. OTOH, I bought a second set of tiles when we ordered level 3 or 4, because my ds was annoyed that there weren't enough of some letters to spell certain words (like puppy which requires 3 p tiles)-- including a word that was in one of the lesson examples (which annoyed me:)). So, I think you could go either way and be fine.

This will probably be the least helpful reply you'll get, but here goes... I just load the web page and let my kids watch his videos. That's it. They're supervised on the computer so I know what they're up to, and I let them pick and choose and explore whatever they want from his site. My ds adores them and has learned an insane amount from them. He speaks of Sal Kahn as if he's his hero/personal mentor. And he enjoys comparing the way Khan does something to how Prof B does it, or Fred does it, etc.... That's the real reason I replied-- while I haven't done anything formal with it, I think the videos are an amazing resource. They're great reinforcement for what is being learned/taught and they can also introduce new ways to approach the same material/concepts. So, if I was going to be more structured about it, I'd probably just target them to the child's interests, and/or the curricula they're using. HTH a little, anyway, TaraHen

Can't speak to MEP questions, but writing reversals are still pretty normal at age five. You could demo, or gently correct, and maybe try some of the little reversal tricks to get her writing in the right direction. One of the tricks I remember is for b and d and it's making the word bed (because it looks like a bed if the letters are properly formed). My dd got them down by remembering that the d comes after c, so you start by writing the c, then add the stem. But I really wouldn't worry much just yet. So tomorrow at 7am, you're off the hook for this one :001_smile: HTH, TaraHen

I'll try to answer this one for you. Even though you'd be joining late in the game, your child shouldn't feel rushed because he is working individually, not trying to "keep up" or "catch up" with anyone else (ah, and to answer another question, yes the LAW is self-paced like the math, too). And speaking to both the issue of pacing, and your question about placement level, you can always move him up or down in grade level to meet him where he is-- or move him where he needs to be if he's beyond the level of the work. In the program, once you login, the parent can adjust the child's grade placement by half levels. And in the OE group, like the one we're in organized by Melissa, she can help you with the placement. EPGY has been really fabulous for my son. I'm so glad we joined Melissa's open enrollment group this year. I intended to only use the Math course for him (he's only PS K age this year and Math is his area of strength-- but apparently not the only one :)). But, he saw the link to the LAW course on his student page and wanted to try it, so we let him. Silly me for thinking we wouldn't want to use it. He loves it and has really amazed us with how far he's gone so far. My daughter, who doesn't work well on computer screens in general, decided she didn't want to use EPGY. Even though we paid for both kids, the OE was still less than we'd have paid for one course if we applied through Stanford. And it's been well worth it just for what my son has been getting out of it. HTH, TaraHen

Mine has amazing visual memory, poor auditory retention, too! For a while I was baffled-- assumed her an auditory learner b/c we had such great/deep conversations, her vocab and general grasp/use of language is astounding-- and she has some nonverbal weaknesses. But alas, I was wrong... Things are easier now that I've figured that one out!

RVA/Chesterfield, really? Well, hello, neighbor :)

we do, but we're poets :)

Kathy, thanks so much for your response. Our dd also started thinking she wasn't "good" at math, but she's got a real knack for it. Speed and rote just aren't her game. As a prof, I'll take the student who gets the concepts but doesn't memorize over the rote recall whiz who lacks the conceptual understanding/abilities any day. I frequently remind her of this. I love what you wrote about separating the "arithmetic facts" class from the "math" class-- that approach is right up my alley :) We also try to incorporate things into our days that aren't part of our regular program math-- games, activities, projects, books, like Penrose, Number Devil, etc. This is the stuff that gets both of my kids on the same page, and we all enjoy it. They're very different little birds:) Dd is artsy, literary, history/social justice, very creatively inclined. Ds is math/science boy--seems to have a rhizomatic brain- info/systems machine crammed into his little boy head. We already can't keep up with him on some things and he just turned 6 last week. Your Richmond isn't in VA by chance... we sure could use a nearby mathematician- lol! Also, great to hear that all of this will eventually lead to memorization. Good to know there's a light up ahead! Anyway, thanks again for the response- much appreciated! Cheers, TaraHen

Thanks for the replies, everyone! I'd forgotten all about Calculadders! I remember making a mental note of it way back-- thinking we might want to check it out for dd someday, and it totally slipped my mind til I saw your posts. What would I do without the hive mind? And thanks, too, for your thoughts. My gut was to work on the facts on their own, and otherwise forge ahead with our plans (unless we hit a wall), so was nice to hear from others with similar thinking on that. Cheers, Tara

If you had a child, who has some difficulty with fact retention/memory/rote stuff (has always gotten math concepts in a snap, but due to LD has always done the processes for every problem) and who spent a year in PS and learned/retained nothing, so you now realize you'll need to do some serious remedial work, AND, you have LOF for her and know she loves it and it seems to work for her... what would you go to for the pre-LOF review/catch up stuff she needs? We've never had good luck with the standard programs in the past. She's a really smoking smart-- but creative and artsy/verbal/narrative leaning quirky learning style sorta gal :) TIA Tara Hen (home recovering from surgery AND finally got our schoolroom makeover wrapped-- in the nick of time!)

My kids had fun with this: http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/tech/cloning/clickandclone/'>http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/tech/cloning/clickandclone/ From their main genetics site: http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/ Tara :)

Hi Denise, As a veg since childhood and a cook (writing my own vegan family cookbook in my "spare" HAHA time), here's my 2 cents about your picks... I think Vegan with a Vengeance and Veganomicon are great cookbooks, BUT...these books' usefulness to you will depend heavily on: 1) your overall cooking prowess 2) the amount of time you have to spend cooking and 3) well stocked pantry/accessibility to lots of ingredients. I always hesitate to recommend these to people I know are new to cooking/veganism and to people who have really busy lives (like me!). The authors cook. For a living. They don't have kids and they're not homeschooling moms. The recipes rock. The food is delightful. My fav vegan restaurant seems to use a lot of their recipes-- for good reason. For once in a while special meals or indulgence, or for the person with a lot of time to spend on meal prep, these books are fab. But for day to day use, novice cooks or new vegans, I think these cookbooks will be too impractical for everyday meals. You might check out the Post Punk Kitchen blog and try some recipes from the books to see how you feel about them before buying the full books. I actually don't have Vegan Planet- haven't even looked at it. So sorry, can't comment on that one. But, it looks pretty good-- you might have prompted me to add to my Amazon cart :) One other note: the Madison cookbook that was recommended is not vegan-- pretty sure it's ovo lacto veg. The "Garden of Vegan" and "How it All Vegan" books are okay. Simpler than VWV and Veganomicon. But, not terribly original and pretty redundant (definitely avoid la dolce vegan). But they've got easy to pull off recipes so might be an okay resource. Also, there are a lot of vegan blogs these days. Tons of recipes to be had- free and at your fingertips. And, I always find veg cookbooks at used bookstores. Feel free to PM me if you ever need a recipe for something particular :) Good luck! TaraHen

We're vegan, so can't help you with the chicken-- but we mummified an apple and it was fine. So, if you hear back that the chix mummy is a stinky project, you could always try the apple to keep good relations w/ the neighbors :001_smile:

It's not a book, but my little guy loved the card game "Chomp" when he was interested in food chains. It's a sea creature card game, like the game "War." The sea creature higher up the food chain takes the pile... I also found some online printables for him about the food chain-- maybe from Enchanted Learning, but it's been a while and I can't remember exactly which site(s) they were at now. Fun stuff!

I second or third the nonfiction suggestion. My 5 year old (who's also an advanced reader) loves nonfiction right now-- prefers it to fiction (though I suppose he prefers nonfiction, anyway). My dd, 10, was in the same boat at 5, though. She really enjoyed biographies--written for kids a bit older, but perhaps b/c they're fact based they gave her enough to chew on without content that felt too mature. I'll list some books I remember one or both of them enjoying, but I'm in the middle of an extreme homeschool room makeover right now and almost all of our books are in boxes, so I can't look them over to see how good a fit they'd be for you. Guessing some of these will be below the level you're looking for, some maybe above. Mr. Putter and Tabby Amelia Bedelia Catwings Mr Popper's Penguins Mrs Piggle Wiggle My Father's Dragon also, dd loved some of the Usborne books-- large type/illustrations: like Stories from Around the World, Greek Myths, etc. They also put out some thin paperbacks for young readers that might fit the bill-- really wish I could remember some of the titles... And she loved Aesop's, Just So Stories, etc. Little guy LOVES the Magic School Bus books. And things like: G is for Googol. Q is for Quark. I agree with the suggestion to seek out picture books meant to be read by adults, too. Some in not so distant past: The Incredible Book Eating Boy, Do Unto Otters, Jan Brett books, Frances books (Bread and Jam for Frances). There were loads and loads of picture-story books out when we were younger-- we have all of dh's from the book club he was in as a kid, such as: Little Bear, Frog and Toad, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, The Magic Pot, The Fire Cat, Hester the Jester, etc. etc. Reading books at all different levels is pretty normal. For mine, the books all seemed to fit some need: whether it was just for pleasure, or challenge/further development, developing fluency (usu a bit below challenge level), etc. Also, some 5 year old advanced readers need bigger or less print b/c their physical ability to read chapter books lags behind their actual reading level. And some, like mine, are also highly sensitive and bothered by content (sometimes even content that others her age are ready for). We keep out house stocked with lots of books, on lots of topics, in lots of genres, at lots of levels--- at all times (used bookstores where you can swap for credit are great for this). We're all like walking collections of miscellany. And my maniac kids read the weirdest stuff. The history of snowmen. Cookbooks-- my kids both LOVE to read cookbooks! Also, for free, or random/weird/old etc reading, you can find loads of public domain texts online for download. I just (accidentally) found Hodgson Burnett's Little Lord Fauntleroy... you can start here: http://www.archive.org/index.php The good thing about this is you can adjust font/print size if your young reader needs it bigger... The early/advanced reader thing does present a challenge for a while, but it works itself out eventually :) Tara