Aurelia
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Posts posted by Aurelia
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I think I would wait until high school. Middle school is where the behavior problems really start cropping up in my experience, so I would not want my child publicly schooled at that age, but that's just my opinion. I figure by high school the child should be mature enough to handle most of the things at school. I don't think enrolling your child in 3rd or 4th grade would be the worst possible time, she will have plenty of time to acclimate to her schoolmates before middle school starts.
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I haven't found RS to be overly complicated. I follow the manual and it flows well. There are a lot of manipulatives, but they all have a purpose and it keeps my on-the-go girl happy. The manipulatives are part of the reason I chose RS over MUS, because I knew she would get bored and burn out with just blocks. Also, when we revisit a concept, she's so proud when she can recall it and show me.
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My daughter enjoys Five in a Row for art since it's based on picture books, and La Clase Divertida for Spanish because they have craft and cooking projects. We haven't gotten to Latin yet, I'm still gathering info for next year.
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We use ABeCeDarian with BOB books and other readers. I love how efficient ABCD is. DD really likes Reading Eggs for extra practice because it's colorful, interactive and game-based.
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We will be doing FIAR as part of 1st grade. I do not plan to do additional history or science except as read-alouds and maybe some nature study, but if your child is really into either subject, you could definitely add it in. I think too much added material takes away from what FIAR covers and so far DD's retention with it has been great, so I have no complaints. We are just finishing volume 1 and will do volume 2 during her 1st grade year. My current plan is vol 1 in K, vol 2 in 1st, vol 3 and repeats of some of vol 1&2 in 2nd, and a few books in vol 4 in 3rd grade.
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I don't have any experience with Chalkdust, but Right Start does have a placement questionnaire you can fill out to help figure out where he would be. My guess would probably be level C.
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We didn't have any trouble with the curved letters on the slate, but if your child is really struggling, don't push it. If she can make them fine without it, I would just do it that way.
I told her the lines were to try to fit the letters in, and kind of made a game of it, (ex: "I bet you can't get your "a" between those lines!" or "Make sure your "c" bumps his head on the ceiling and his bottom on the floor.") and she does fine.
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How long and for what grades have you homeschooled? About midway through our second year - Pre-K and K
Did you know from the start you would homeschool or did some event point you down this road? I had an idea about it, but wasn't entirely sure until we finished Pre-K and I knew that DD would be bored out of her mind if we put her in public school.
Were you homeschooled? No.
Does anyone in your extended family homeschool? My mother homeschools my daughter on days I have to work. She homeschooled my brother for 9th grade.
What method and materials did you use your first year of homeschooling? Calvert - school in a box
What method and materials are you currently using? I like unit studies, but I also like some ideas from classical and Charlotte Mason. Materials used are on my sig line.
What books, ideas, etc. have helped shape your homeschool? Learning should be fun, so I try to make it that way.
What has been the most challenging aspect for you? Patience. I'm am definitely not a patient person and sometimes it takes awhile for DD to do something or get a concept.
What aspect has come naturally for you? Planning, I suppose. I'm very type A and need to know what I'm going to do in the future.
What are your favorite homeschool memories thus far? DD learning to read and liking it! Doing art and watching her joy when she does something well.
What is the best advice you've been given? Less is more. Otherwise I would try to cram in so much (there's just so much cool stuff!) that we wouldn't get the most of what we have and would have virtually no free time.
What advice do you give others just starting this journey? It's not a race. Slow down and enjoy the trip. Don't try to do too much.
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We switched to Right Start after struggling with the pace of R&S - RS has by far been the best fit for us; I tried a couple of others and they all had more drawbacks than positives in my experience. I do have a visual-spatial learner, though, so it may not work as well with one who is auditory.
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“Jogging on a woman’s ovaries can be dangerous to her health.â€:ohmy: You don't say!
That one actually made me chuckle aloud.
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I think, if it were my child, that I would pause and redo some of the earlier lessons until he gets it easily. Once he has it down, the big numbers won't be so troublesome.
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You could just get the HWT workbook, I think it's only about $7 and shows how to form the letters correctly. You can also go with trace letters. We did a little bit of both.
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How many lessons are in ABeCeDarian Level A?
I don't have my book with me, but IIRC, there are approximately 125. It's designed to do 1 lesson a day for 5 days.
Most of the lessons, which are very short in level A - I assume B and C would be similar, do require teacher interaction but we are usually done with the teaching part of the lesson in 5-15 minutes. Your child should be able to do the workbook part on his own. We also used ETC but weren't getting much out of it, which is why we switched.
They do have a spelling program that goes with level C, but I haven't used it personally, so I can't say how much it would help.
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If you are using it for one child at a time:
Level A:
Teacher Manual A1 and A2
Student Workbook A1 and A2
Level B:
Teacher Manual B1 and B2
Student Workbook B1 and B2
Level C:
Teacher Manual
Student Workbook
The reading books aren't necessary because everything is contained in the TM. We bought the student reading books but never even opened A2 because we didn't need to, I just have DD read the text from the TM. The big reading books are for teachers with large group classrooms and have the same material that's in the student books, just in a larger format.
It does cover reading levels for K-3. We are schooling year round and are picking up the next level as soon as the previous one is finished, so we will begin level B in December although first grade won't "officially" begin until July.
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I can't respond to anything about SSRW because we never used it, but I love ABeCeDarian because it is very direct and to the point. It's very easy to follow, each lesson is laid out and you do the corresponding pages (usually 1 or 2) in the workbook after you complete the lesson in the TM. My daughter has thrived on it, and I can tell her skills are improving dramatically. It also covers handwriting in level A, and the style is very similar to HWT.
By my guess, SSRW would be better with an auditory learner, just because of the songs. ABCD isn't a "bells and whistles" curriculum, but it's efficient and doesn't require a lot of busywork, which both my DD and I appreciate.
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We use ABeCeDarian reading which I don't hear mentioned much. It has been wonderful for us - we aren't bogged down working on the same letter sounds for pages and pages, has less writing than ETC, and it has been the only thing that actually taught Ariel how to segment.
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We are still in the learning to read stage, but this is what we use/used:
LeapFrog Talking Letter Factory and Talking Word Factory
ABeCeDarian Reading
For practice we have a Dick and Jane reader, McGuffey's Primer, BOB Books, and Nora Gaydos readers
We tried ETC, but it moved too slow for us, with too much writing at the time.
For handwriting we use Handwriting Without Tears.
Once we finish ABeCeDarian, I'm planning to use Sequential Spelling and Moving Beyond the Page, since it covers LA, SS and science.
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ETC does words by vowel, like the first unit is short A words - the entire first lesson is -at words, then it moves on to words like can, had, fan, bad, etc.
We have used http://www.starfall.com off and on and liked it, my daughter's favorite so far has been http://www.readingeggs.com, though. It's Australian (just a warning since DD thought the way they said some of the words "sounded funny"), but well done IMO, and it really helped her fluency. You can get 2 weeks to try it out to begin with, and if you fill out the questionnaire they email you when your trial is nearly up, you can get an additional 2 weeks before deciding if you want a subscription.
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Music. I bought Progressive Recorder for Beginners and DD complains the instrument "too loud" every time we get it out to try to play, yet for months she ran around blowing on it at top volume. Maybe I can find someone to tune my piano (the last guy who looked at it said he couldn't) and we can start on that.
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My kids really like Addition Songs...They also have Subtraction Songs. And right now Im looking into something for skip counting.
We like Skip Count Kid for the skip counting songs. They're catchy and I don't want to tear my hair out every time I listen to them.
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1. Apologies for the long winded response.
a and b) Welcome!
c) congratulations on the surprise!
We have both Moving Beyond the Page and FIAR. We haven't actually started MBTP yet (we will next month), but it looks challenging and fun. I have to store the activity pages on a high shelf because I made the mistake of letting my daughter flip through the student books and she wants to do them now! The writer for MBTP designed the curriculum to meet the US standards for school, (I assume those in the UK are similar), so if you use it, your children should be well prepared for when they return to school. Also, the 7-9 level and above are designed for increasing amounts of independent work.
FIAR is very gentle, but DD has really learned and retained a lot of the information we have covered, plus she gets guaranteed story and snuggle time every day while we read the book. You can also get their nature study guide which those who use it rave about. The art lessons are so much more than the schools here have. (I don't know of any 1st graders that get to paint with watercolors or use charcoal.)
With both MBTP and FIAR, the TM tells you/gives you options about what to do for the day, which is helpful for me. I am not a pre-planner, so I need something I can spend 5 minutes or less on lesson prep. These are great. With either of these, you don't need to add history or more science unless you truly want to. Enchantedlearning.com is a great resource, but I don't think I would use it for a curriculum.
You're dead on about Calvert. It is boring, but well laid out and thorough. We used it last year. If you don't want to be yawning through the lessons, find something else.
If I were you, I'd let them finish out their year in school and take them out next year so you will have more time to prepare unless they were having some major problems with their teacher or something.
I wouldn't start formal grammar at their ages (personal preference), and probably not until 6th or 7th grade. I'd rather my child learn writing by writing and not just focusing on the parts of speech. Your children will pick it up much faster if you wait awhile.
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You will probably get a faster response if you email them. I did that because I wasn't too sure DD was ready for level B even though that was where the questionnaire said to place her. I think for kids of 5.5 or more who are beginning to read are generally placed in B, but every child is different.
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Although I don't use McRuffy, I bought the program, but went with HWT for handwriting. The ball and stick is basically the same style as HWT. McRuffy modern is in between ball and stick and cursive.
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You could probably get a used one from ebay or one of the used curriculum websites. The new manuals are only sold through the website.
What subjects do you do
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
Math
Reading/Phonics
Handwriting
Science
Social Studies
Art
Spanish
Science, social studies and art are through FIAR, so it's very gentle. We do it partially because it's educational and partially because it's fun.