Thank you. That's a great discount.

This is for an advanced early elementary boy who writes about one or two paragraphs in a sitting. I am not familiar with Brave Writer, Spelling Power or Hexco products, so I want to make sure that I won't be double-covering or missing anything. Brave Writer routines for writing and literature (Do I need Arrow for literature?) EPGY self-paced online for mechanics (already use this and are happy with it) Spelling Power or Hexco products for spelling Wordly Wise online for vocabulary (already use this and are happy with it) If I need Arrow for literature, is that what Brave Writer users would recommend? I have another book I like called Suppose the Wolf Were an Octopus that I've used a bit and really like. http://www.rfwp.com/series/suppose-the-wolf-were-an-octopus-guides-to-creative-questioning Does that sound like it covers literature thoroughly enough on its own? Another question: Will Brave Writer teach me how to go over my son's writing with him? I don't know how to do that. I don't want to correct it like I would for an adult.

Thanks! This is great. Same flexibility, half the price. I wonder how many people on this forum know that K12 history in first through fourth grade is Story of the World. Not that it's similar to Story of the World, but that it uses the actual text from Story of the World.

If you sign up for a 12 month course and finish it early, can you switch to the next course without paying an additional 12-month tuition? I was just told on the phone that I could do this, but I wanted to confirm before switching our contracts from month to month to a 12 month commitment.

Thanks so much for the replies. I have a much better understanding now. Appreciate you all.

Okay, he must be doing it during the review time then.

This is our first year for AWANA, and I don't think that I yet fully understand how it works. A week ago, I prepared my son for the S and P Sparks verses, but when I picked him up, he was signed off on S, P, A, R, K, and S. He said he learned the others in class. I quizzed him, and he did know them. I thought they might have pushed him through because we missed a class while on vacation. Today I had him prepared for three verses because I assumed they had the whole class going at that pace, and he did seven, excluding the Return Flights. He now has his wings and two jewels. I paid attention when picking him up to see if they were moving all of the kids along this pace, but only one other child had wings, and some did not yet have vests. My son is now halfway through his book. How is he doing this? What happens when he finishes it? (At this rate, he's going to be done in two or three weeks because he already knows the books of the New Testament.) Do I need to tell him to slow down? Is there something I should be asking his teachers? (Side note: With all of the AWANA specific terminology, I bet this post sounds insane to people who have never done AWANA.) Somebody who knows AWANA well, please explain this to me. EDIT: Corrected. I put "Two weeks ago" when I meant last week,

Earlier this week I was reading my sons a Berenstain Bears book, "'How am I supposed to sweep with your dumb dinosaur toys all over the floor?' argued Sister. 'They're not toys--they're models! And don't move them! I'm working on a set-up of the Pleistocene Age!' Brother protested." My six year old interrupted, "There weren't dinosaurs in the Pleistocene Age!"

I tried several things. Plain old Hey Andrew worked best for us. We started with Level 2 at age five. Then we used a tutor for several months to master pronunciation and change things up. Now we're doing Hey Andrew Level 3 at age six. My son finds the look of Hey Andrew the most inviting of all the Greek programs.

I'm late to this thread, but I have some relevant experience, so I want to post. I think that when they talk about evening out, they mean that everyone will have learned the skill of reading by third grade, so it is easier to tell who is ahead or behind because you don't have the confounding indicator of reading skill that may make a child look more or less cognitively advanced than he is. I didn't read until I was seven, and I'd been exposed to an enormous volume of literature since birth. I went from not reading to being in the highest reading group in the space of one day! By third grade, I was the best reader in my school and hit the ceiling of our standardized tests in reading. By fourth grade, my teacher, who read aloud for extended periods every day, would often have me do the reading in her place if she needed to work on something. Reading clicks with different kids at different ages. Early reading is fun. I have one child who's been reading since he was a year old. But early or late reading isn't a destiny. I think people stress about it too much.

I think it depends on the person. My husband writes stories professionally, and he outlines extensively. He likes everything to fit together precisely, and he does not begin writing until he knows exactly how the story is going to go and exactly where the beats are and whatnot. I write as a hobby, and I don't outline. I only write short stories and essays though.

We skipped it. Age-wise, the son I'm talking about is in K. I gave him the DORA test not long ago, and he topped out the reading, so I'd say it didn't hurt him at all. We don't do spelling yet, but he spells on a fourth grade level. You might find that she starts figuring out spelling on her own, so you may not even need to do that. We weren't sure what to do for the reading portion of K since our son could already read. He wanted to learn Greek, so we had him learn to read Greek this year. Worked out great! Just another option.

Our experience has been the exact opposite. When they find out what he can do, the questions never stop and often become ridiculous.

Someone recommended the ADAM test to me at Let's Go Learn, and it was enormously helpful. It will tell you what grade level she's working at in specific areas. Then you could move her up knowing exactly where to backfill some concepts she might have missed.

I've told my son that he may ignore quizzing, and he does. He acts as though he wasn't even asked and starts talking about something else. If someone does it habitually, I tactfully ask the person not to do it anymore. Usually something like, "Man, he really hates being put on the spot. It's better not to quiz him."

I have a family member who gives us the same workbooks. I held onto them for a couple years and tossed them a few months ago. They are not missed!

Can he read well? I second kiwik's recommendation. If he can read well, he'll also be able to read a lot of MM on his own, and MM is very Singapore in teaching style.

One of my sons was like this. He, like others, started doing it when his younger brother, who pretend plays nearly every second of his life, harassed him into it. It also used to make him angry when his brother would say something like, "I am Spiderman!" "[Little brother] says he's Spiderman, but he's NOT!" He got over it. It's a couple years later, and he pretends all the time. He is also profoundly gifted. (I mention this because others have mentioned the same of their kids with similar behavior. Maybe this attitude comes up more often in that population.)

This was our K year, so we didn't have a history curriculum. However, I put timeline cards in a binder and made a separate, blank timeline notebook. Both got a lot of use. Whenever my son encountered a date he found interesting, he added it to both binders on his own. He's particularly enjoyed the cards.

We're new, so I can't mention a decade of experience. I just laugh.

How is History Odyssey? ETA: I ask because the sample I looked at appeared to be a schedule that included many of the books people were recommending.

Sure, but we're up early.

And others have written over and over that they do the same, incorporating many Sonlight books. Someone might find it strange that others will pay for whole programs and only use parts of them, but it's a pretty common practice. However, now that I've looked at the Little House, Long Shadow book, I've had a realization, and I'm guessing this thread is more about teams, as in who's on what team, than it is about curriculum. I'm not much of a joiner, so I'll bow out of the teams thing.

Funny you should mention this; I actually tried working with a children's librarian, but it wasn't helpful. I would never call Sonlight, or anything else, the end all, be all of history. Sonlight is one of many sources for finding excellent books. I like to draw from them all. In our house, the Sonlight books are most often the ones the kids love and go back to over and over. Sonlight's book list, if used with discrimination, is especially good for selecting books kids like, books that build their enthusiasm for reading. Goofy notes or charts in an IG don't change that.

I like Sonlight because they pick some great books, and I buy directly from them to reward the time they've spent finding those books for me. I leave out the books I don't like. Same with the notes. A note like this would not be incorporated into our school day unless I wanted to make a point about the need to be skeptical and verify what one reads. A guiding principle of my homeschool is "Question everything." I do not teach, "Find an authority you think you can trust and believe whatever it says."