I loved it...my oldest would cry every single time I pulled out the materials. It was a nightmare. I had to modify how we used it which is considered a huge "no no" on the yahoo group. I switched to something else and my dd reads and spells just fine without having to mark words. Penny

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I forgot about the daily grams books. Do they have sentences where the child has to pick out prepositional phrases? That is really her problem area. She knows all of the prepositions for this level but if it has been a while since she had to pick them out in a sentence..she draws a blank and has to refresh her memory for a day or two. Thanks, Penny

I teach my girls with unit studies and while I did purchase the workbook I think the CW book would have been better. Everything in our studies ties together but, the WWE passage is like an oddball thrown in.:D I may just make our own passages for the next few weeks and then move to the CW book. But....isn't wwe3 comprised mostly of poetry? If so, I may have to stick with the workbooks cause I don't think I will find much poetry to go with our unit studies.:) Thanks, Penny

Hi, I am looking at the third grade material. I just want opinions from those whe have used it or currently using it. Did your children like using it...was it complete? Thanks, Penny

Hi, My dd is currently working through Easy Grammar 3 and while we both like it she constantly forgets the material. Is there something similar? Penny

That's me...must be the moon or something. I am pretty sick of planning and my dd's whining when I say it's time for school is driving me nuts. Penny

Hi, We are suffering from major burnout. I am about to pull out my hair. I need a change of pace and so does my dd. I am looking for something with plenty of hands on activities, lots of experiments that won't have me driving all over town for weird supplies. Something ready-to-go...no huge planning involved. My dd loves history and science. I was looking at: K12(purchasing the history and science) Sonlight(I used them before but they really had hardly any activities:tongue_smilie: ) Any suggestions? Penny

Hi, I would like opinions on k12 curriculum. I may later join the VA but, for now I will be purchasing the materials outright. I read bad things about the math but the samples look ok...Is it that bad? I plan to use the math, LA, Science, and French. Thank You, Penny

It is 386 +9=395 and the 91 gets bumped up to 100 Both numbers in the original problem are bumped up by 9 leaving the 395 - 100 which gives you the same answer but much easier to get to mentally. In the past we used CLE. I am not being snarky but from what I recall, All of the workbook problems were borrowing and carrying(and the TM's called it borrowing and carrying). Now I only used the 100's and part of the 200 level so that might be why I don't remember anything else. It's been a while since we used it also, so I may be mistaken. I did like how it covered such a wide range of topics and the spiral. Penny

My hero....:D Within ten minutes it all came together. I almost started this thread last week. I wish I would have. It would have saved our sanity. Live long and prosper.....

Well I have Miquon planned for my youngest. I suppose I could have them do it together. She just can't visualize the numbers in her head. On paper...quick as can be. Example: 386 - 91 = / \ (286+100) - 91 100-91=9 so 286 + 9 = 295 This is basicly how she works the problem on paper. When she is looking at 386 - 91 and not allowed to write it she shuts down and says, "OMG, I hate this math. It is just too hard." I try to ease her into it and help her but it is like she has a big bowl of numbers in her head and can't sort it all out. Thanks, Penny

Hi, I am trying to understand what needs to come next. My 9 year old has gone between MM and SM for a while because she gets very frustrated. We have tried traditional textbooks but I would really prefer that we use material that promotes understanding. Maybe I am a bad teacher... Anyway, she is a visual learner and is having a very difficult time doing math "in her head." She can fly through the math problems if she is allowed to write out the process on paper(the singapore way..I don't promote the traditional way of lining up the problem and carrying etc...)but when I try to stretch her by having her look at the problem on paper and try to figure it out in her head, she crashes. It turns into tears. Does it all need to be done in her head? This is my impression..I mean it is called mental math for a reason. I hope this doesn't sound like a stupid question. I just want to know if I am overdoing it or not doing this correctly. We are going over the mental math in the back of the 2b hig and she has to figure most of it out on paper or she explodes. Advice please, Penny

I purchased the kindle version and have no problems with it so far. I did go to the yahoo group files section and printed the outlines/lessons which have come in handy.

All I really ever purchased for Fiar was Childrens First Atlas Wall map(world) Phonics(Explode the Code) Math Fiar Manuals That combined with my library card was all I needed. Fiar is not a craft kinda curriculum. The print outs from homeschoolshare and some I found for free at enchanted learning took care of that for us. HTH, Penny

Five in a row. I tried stuff in between units and always went running back.:D

I used Fiar Volumes 1-4 and part of Beyond Fiar and loved it. It was perfect for us. I read over the unit and ordered library books to cover the science portion, printed out what I wanted to use from homeschoolshare, printed out handwriting pages from http://www.janbrett.com/coloring_alphabet/alphabet_coloring_tracers_main.htm and added in math and phonics.(super long sentence there...:D) I purchased my volumes used and saved atleast half the price. I have absolutely never had any problems getting Fiar books from the library. Only one that I couldn't find out of all those book titles. That is pretty good. The author created the curriculum just to give to a few friends and more and more people wanted to use it. The bible portion came after the original volumes were made as a help to people who(like me)can't just think this stuff up.:001_smile: I have the bible supplement and used it regularly. Volume 4 and the large super volume that has 1-3 should contain the bible in the manual. If someone does not want to cover Fiar bible they can just use the volumes without the supplement. I do like flexable, tweakable unit studies that can be used for both my girls. If you have kids in prek-3rd you don't need a separate curriculum for each kid. You can read straight from the manual or you can plan and really get into it. My dd still talks about the Fiar books we read.:) I have never used MFW. I did look at the K materials when my oldest was younger but didn't use it because my dd already knew half of the material. I figured it would be a waste cause I would only use bits of it. I never liked fully open and go curriculum cause my dd would always fit in between two levels/manuals. I did receive Adventures in MFW manual recently for free and found it to be well put together. If you want open and go and like bible material in each subject area..this could be for you. HTH, Penny

I was thinking about using it also but decided against it because I read entirely too many posts showing how time consuming it was to plan. I don't understand how it can have full lesson plans and people still planning.:confused: Also, people say that you buy it once and all you have to worry about is the books..but people say that they spend $1,200 per year on books!!!:001_huh: That is a very large sum of money. I spend about $200 a year on all subject right now and my husband's jaw dropped when I told him the cost of a year of TOG. Next, I am catholic so I was told to skip volume 1...I was most interested in teaching ancient egypt as it is my dd's favorite time period so why bother? I was also told that it is better to teach TOG to 4th graders on up...both my girls are younger. I have weaver volumes 1 and 2 which I plan on using because I love how it is organized by grade. It seems to be a better fit for us. Penny

I needed the guides because I am not the kind of creative person who can read a chapter of a book and just think of lessons to go with it. :tongue_smilie: I have to have something to guide me. Some days were "fuller" than others. I aquired my Beyond Volumes used and at a really good price.($7 for all three of the older spiral bound editions) This is not the kind of curriculum that will teach chronological history. Topics are studied as they come up in the chapters. Example: One day you will study nutrition and the next day may be weather. That can be a bad thing as most people don't like studying things kind of "all over the place." Some days I read the material in the manual aloud as a time saver. She(the author of Beyond) worded things in a way that my oldest understood well. I read straight from the bible supplement and felt it was very well written and thought out. HTH, Penny

I used it the same way I used Fiar Volumes 1-4. I would read the manual and order library books that go with the lesson. I didn't use encyclopedias. We would not have enjoyed it if I would have used encyclopedias with no planning ahead. Library books an online printouts were enough for me. The book titles were great. It was very easy for me to use. I found some printouts from http://www.homeschoolshare.com The bible lessons were nice...I just read them aloud directly from the book. My dd is a huge history buff so we had to put it aside for studying ancient egypt. Hth, Penny

Hi, I am curious about this. I see many here use several writing programs while I only use WWE for my 9 year old. If you have only used WWE, do you have regrets? Penny

I have package 2. I got mine for $40.00 on ebay and we are so happy with it. I don't feel the need to purchase any other objectives for it as of now. Maybe the higher objectives would come into play at higher grades. I inquired about microscopes two months ago and some of the replies that I received were telling me to buy something from home science tools instead. I am so glad I followed my gut on this. My aunt is a highschool biology teacher and was very impressed with our Brock. My girls take it outside and have absolutely no trouble focusing and I don't have to worry about them cracking it to bits. I purchased some premade slides and my girls also make their own. I love that I don't need to buy batteries or plug it in. Even when we have to switch objectives while we are looking at something..it is still not a problem. Can you tell we really like our Brock.:D Penny

Hi, My youngest wants to have her own preshcool materials and I am a cursive first kinda teacher. There are some really cute things out there that I would love to purchase but all of the letter tracing pages are in manuscript. My oldest used Abeka cursive but I was hoping to find something like this.. http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/blog/2010/02/letter-of-week.html but with cursive materials instead. I wouldn't mind creating my own tracer pages to go with whatever curriculum we choose, but then why should I buy something if I end up skipping half of the materials??? Anyone know of a pre K program that uses cursive that doesn't cost $200 or more? Penny

Hi, I am thinking about using this with my 4 year old. Can someone give me some feedback on it? What does your day look like and so on? Thanks, Penny

I just purchased the sixth..it is about 1/2 the thickness of the fifth. I will be reading through it. I remember loving the fifth when I got it from the library. I hope nothing was left out. :glare: Just thought I'd pass that along. Penny