My boys finished 1-3 throughly and 4 just the audiobook as a bedtime story. We will cover it with extra reading next year. I will screen the extra reading material. The audiobook was no worse then the war documentaries they watch with daddy on netflix. But we come from a line of veterans that run mini drills with the boys during holiday visits for entertainment. My dad has PTSD so we had to explain at an early age to ignore what grandpa does sometimes.

I'd like to do a math/problem solving club in a coop. The age group is 9-12 yr olds. Max 12 kids. Does either of these options seem doable? Got something better? I was wondering if beast academy level 3, just the guide, could be read and solve the in guide problems in pairs or as a small group? We already have the guides and went through them but my son loves them and would do them again. I want to inspire fun math and teamwork. The other option is Your Business Math, probably the sports or pet one. I don't own this but I've wanted to do it. We meet for about 12 classes. Every other week. Is this enough time? Does each kid need a book or could we do one store together? Parents will not spend more than $10 on a class. The books are $24. Requirement for both classes should be in fourth grade math? Classes could be one hour or hour and a half. Do both in the longer class? I'm hoping to find kids that like math as much as my son. Math friends. Ideas. Thanks.

I used to have that but not anymore. I do miss it.

I didn't use the TE for SSL1 but I did once for SSL2. I mainly got it for the extra activities in the back. For us to be sucessful I wanted to make sure we were really learning the vocab. The activities gave us that extra day or more (review weeks) of practice. I feel confident he can do LfCA in 3rd grade without a huge jump. I have two children to put through Latin. They are 2 years apart so the cost wasn't that much when I divided by two.

Math Mammoth is cheap, easy to teach, and easily adjustable. I bought the 1-6 grade digital download all at once because it was so worth it. Having multiple levels on hand at once lets to adjust to find the right level. I also like to pull out higher level stuff in the younger years if the child is interested in going deeper. Story of the World with audiobooks and activity books. That can cover reading, writing, history, and some science for a bunch of ages. It will give her time to get her feet wet. English Lessons Through Literature does reading, writing, grammar, poems, and art. Spelling Plus k-6 with the dictation book. Again multiple ages with one book saves money and can be adjusted to the children. I like the less is more especially till you see how it is actually going to be. I, just like most new moms, bought too much one level stuff, too many different subjects, and spent way to much money.

We did SSL2 this year, second grade. It was a good jump up from SSL1. I'm happy we spent the time and money on it. I also got the teachers guide this time around just for the extra practice sheets in the back. We do SSL2 two times a week. One chapter a week. It's hefty with all the review of SSL1 thrown in. I separated my younger son out this time because it would have been too much.

When we did level1 in 1st grade we popcorn read every book except one. We used librivox with the one. I think it was Five Little Peppers or Five Children and It. The recording was a lady that did an amazing job. This year we are doing level 2 and he is reading them aloud by himself except Through the Looking Glass. We used librivox with that one last month. We were sick of Alice be then. We are going to start Wonder book for Boys and Girls monday. The plan is to librivox that one. Reason being I ordered a couple different versions from the library and all had too small of print for him. I know he wont enjoy it. He is required to follow along in the book while librivox reads then he reads a history book later and popcorns a chapter history book with his younger brother. As long as your working on reading somewhere, improvement reading and fluency/fun reading, I don't think it matters.

Math: MM3 English: ELTL1 Writing: WWE1 Spelling: Spelling Plus 2-3 Latin: SSL1 History: Sotw4 Science: Physics but I don't have any ideas

I just started thinking about next year this week. I feel behind :lol: Math: MM6 and Beast 5 English: ELTL3 Writing: WWE4 but I would like to find a short story writing curriculum (so I'm watching what others post) maybe CAP Fables? Spelling: Spelling Plus 3-5, he's been working with his younger brother but I read recently to not combine on core subjects so we are splitting off next week Latin: Latin for Children A History: Sotw4 Science: suppose to be Physics but I've no ideas, I bought Knex for Christmas? Goals: improve writing stamina and independent reading time

I'm guessing you have the older MM 1-6 and didn't do the update she offered? or did you? I didn't do the free update and I'm starting to wonder what we will do when he's finished 1-6. I thought the update slowed down 6 and stretched it into 7(preA)? If he needs help in word problems and geometry then Beast is perfect. We do it when he needs a change up. We've done 3 and most of 4. Don't be afraid to go back to 4 in it. It's got some deep problems. We've used Zaccarros (wasn't appealing) and LOF. Khan Academy (free online) was the best cheap reinforcement we've used so far. Congrats to you and your child for finishing! Edit to add: That Numberless word problems link Gil gave you is neat!

My 2nd grader do a one page spread of a all in one curriculm book each day. It was the best thing for teaching confidence in working alone. It's beneath his skill level so that helps. I think of it as review and warmup. I teach all subjects in addition though. I would suggest English Lessons Through Literature (ELTL) with the free Librivox versions. I sit him down with the book and start the audio. He follows along and little brother happens to listen in too. (I make my breakfast). Then I explain the lesson and hand him the book to look back at if necessary. Buy the workbook or (what we do) write out the lesson in a spiral notebook. He does the lesson. Math Mammoth is the same kind of thing. I explain the lesson which is on the top of the first page. He always has it to look back at. Then he does the pages and asks questions.

I love ELTL! My son either reads the stories to me or we popcorn read by page. It's created great memories for us. We rented the books from the library but then started buying them because they are classics and the memories of reading (like Oz and Peter Pan) them are so wonderful. We schedule it five days a week because the library needed them back and we can't wait to read the next chapter. We school four weeks on and one week off so all of the stories except Oz fit before break. Oz we schooled five weeks and then took a break. If the story finishes early in the four weeks I pull out WWE and do a lesson or two a day to fill till break. I started with ELTL 1 last year doing Gutenburg copies on the Kindle but my sons face was turning red while reading so we stopped. We did a couple with Librivox, like Five Children and It because the reader makes it come alive so well. I love the art appreciation, poems, and fables. They lead us into discussing behaviors and the world around us each morning. ELTL 1 is extremely light but ELTL 2 picks up (if you are keeping up with the memory work). I suggest taking a spiral notebook and copying in the memory work as you come to it to have it handy. We don't use the workbooks because I'm cheap. I copy one story worth at a time into a spiral notebook. One lesson per page. I use a highlighter on the lesson that also is the copywork. We find story editions that, obviously are unabridged, have attractive pictures. Public domain editions are usually just the words and sometimes the print was too small to really enjoy it. I can't wait to start ELTL 1 with my next son. The stories are so great.

What about using a smaller amount of the money to do an awesome online class for one of his subjects? You do not need to worry as much about rigor if what your doing got him to pass the test in the first place. If this year is alot of testing and test prep then it's not a good year to try the school. It's an extra stressful year and a review year. Congratulations on teaching your kids so well!

I read my 3rd edition so much that the cover is falling off. It's my hsing bible. I loved: the schedule (days and amount of time) and the curriculum lists. The lists gave me confidence that this curriculum choice will cover what's needed. I wish the "getting started" went something along the lines of "if your itching to buy curriculum try Math Mammoth pdf grades 1-3 or 1-6 package because its cheap and adaptable. You can pick and choose topics, spend only the amount of time you need on each one, and make it spiral if needed. Then use that info on how your child works to buy other math curriculum." I bought Saxon first but it's expensive, not as adaptable for new moms, and my son ended up being accelerated. I still have problems with Language Arts. I tried Spelling Workout but all we learned was how to do crosswords and it didn't teach me what to try next so I'm currently dropping the subject altogether. We tried Climbing to Good English but wasn't sure of it's approach so we switched to English Lessons Through Literature. ELTL is like MM for Math. It is a good getting started, cheap, option till you know what else you need. I'd also encourage buying the WWE level one workbook the first year to see the idea laid out. Then buy the WWE instructors text to guide you through the other years. You might want to use history for wwe or continue wwe wkbks at that point. We used Saxon phonics k-1 but I quit at that point because he was reading everything he wanted to read. I wish we would have done grade 2 and completed the series because I wonder if we are missing something. It was pricey but (I thought) tried and true. In the end, we didn't finish it because of the price vs worth. I would like to see DORA and ADAM tests added for new hsers. It gave me a ton of confidence that I was on the right path. Testing is not required in my state. It's getting harder to hs on one income. More regulations made this new hser feel like I needed actual books on the shelf.

We had mixed problems with Saxon. We did K, 1, and 2. We switched to MM because it was cheaper and easier to move around (slow, fast, interest based) then Saxon. That went well for a year and we were ahead so I decided to take a detour to Beast Academy. I'm so glad we did! They love math. We can buddy style it if needed. My 5 yr old listens to the readings too. I have MM for review still if we need it, but we haven't. I use Khan Academy online for review once in a while. I do not regret this detour. My vote is to take a year and try beast with both kids as a family math time. They can both learn from the same lesson. Get that love of math back. We read on Mondays and then divide the wkbk pages up for the rest of the week. Then reassess Saxon. Maybe a small, fun break is all you need. :thumbup:

actually, they all work synced with a smart phone only....EXCEPT this Samsung S watch. It's the only one on the market that can get a stand alone phone number.

People have stopped inviting us to things because they can't text or fb us. I'm looking into a smart watch instead. Sense I've had a dumb phone for so long I'm not addicted to any apps. The Samsung s watch can be a phone on its own and text. It also works for my running. Perfect small solution. It can pop out of the band to fit in my pocket if I don't want the big band. I can't wait.

We did all of grade 3 last year. I have found that reading the section on Monday and doing one page then divide the rest of the pages up for Tuesday -Friday works best for us. There are some weeks that it's only one page a day and some that it's three pages. It works out to be close to 36 weeks for grade 3. We just started grade 4 and that looks less then 34 weeks. I like the variety of pages each week. It takes like 20 mins to read on Monday with whiteboard work. My youngest likes to sit for it as well. Then the rest of the week he can usually start himself with like a 2 min explanation. The rest of the week I work with my youngest across the table. I am using the placement tests on the website for review this summer. I also have MM1-6 to use for review but it hasn't been necessary. We use Khan Academy for review during vacations. Beast is so complete though that it's just not been a problem.

I print it all except the intros, in color, and stick it in a 3 ring binder. My first son did one or more sections a day. It depends on his mood and what else we had going on that day. I only did reading and math with him that year though. I only do the main topics like + - chapters and leave the money, shapes, measure, and time till the end or when we need a break. They pick up shapes, measure, and time easy enough without a formal lesson. I put grades 1 and 2 together because they are not deep enough for my boys separately. They want the big chunk. So we complete grade 1 chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 and grade 2 chapters 1, 3, 4, 6, 8. Then we do grade 1 and 2 money together. Then grade 1 and 2 clock together. Grades 1 and 2 shapes, measuring, geometry, and fractions. I have a lot of the games saved on my desktop for the kids to play on their own time. They do this without being told. The author tells you in the intro to think of it as an outline of topics for the year. Grade 1 and 2 goal is to + - with a great foundation in place value. This is a great base curriculum. It gave me a lot of confidence. I love all the reviews you can pull out whenever you want. Sometimes they can be used as pretests if your child needs to accelerate. I hope you enjoy it! eta: we don't do the tests because it was unnecessary stress for both of us. I can see in his games that he's got it depending on what level he makes it to. I no longer do every problem on the page either. it's way more practice than then need. For example, the higher chapters have addition that teach a trick. Learn the trick and then go play a game of math facts reminding him of the trick till he doesn't need reminding anymore. We love to sit and play the Tux of Math Command that is recommended in math mammoth. We also use the whiteboard to do some problems on a day that we need a change of pace.

I condensed mm 1 - 2 . My son loves beast. There is no going back. Here's what we did MM grade one pick all the addition and place value chapters. So we do 1, 2, 3, 4, 7. Then move to grade two chapters 1, 3, 4, 6, 8. If the child needs a break or its summer, I do the clock (grades 1-2) chapters together because they like the bigger picture. We also can add in the measuring/shapes/fractions chapters in 1-2 grades together, also works with money. The author says think of it as an outline. I also don't require every problem set anymore. She gives us many ways to learn + - . Sometimes too much just confuses my boys. I can always go back. I should probably add, we use Khan as our only supplement right now. For one son, I'm keeping the clock and money stuff for when he needs a break from BA. We can cover it deeper and faster by putting those together later. I think the piece meal style clock and money confused my oldest a little.

One way to not "step in it" is to stop only blaming the cops. As mentioned above, it's complicated. Another way is to not talk in extremes, like one thing will fix most of the problem. Obviously I don't believe a bad day is an excuse for wrong doing. That's extreme but some of these instances are being handled extremely when they are not. You have brought up many different situations that all have different sets of facts and should all be handled separately. Edited to add: I do think it helps to give officers paid community service days so they can see people when they are not having a bad day. Days off usually are spent at home not wanting to solve peoples problems.

Thank you for asking this question. I think it's a mixer of answers. To not be seen as anti cop, I think it falls on what and how you phrase the question. Tensions are high right now so it makes it even more hard. As a wife of a cop, I see problems with "Hire this number of cops will help... and they need to be this ethnicity". In my state they have raised the number of cops by hiring people that should not be hired. The applicant pool didn't have the right people that they usually hire so they filled the governor's quota by hiring people that are going to cause problems in the future. In one class half the people had to be fired shortly after investing a lot in them to train them. They have a pretty through background investigation and psych testing before they are even aloud to interview. Firing after hiring is so hard with their union, also. Cops have bad days. They are human. Some people naturally are hot heads and shouldn't be hired. Some just need some help in de-escalation tactics. This needs to be a constant annual training like their cpr and shooting training. New cops right out of recruit school sometimes are alittle overly excited also. They want to impress. They put added pressure on themselves to do everything right. They are proud to have completed a grueling academy. They think that deserves respect but the first few encounters proves otherwise too quickly. They can become bitter against a people group without even meaning it just because they have to deal with them so much. The main thing that comes across as anti-cop is pointing out it's a white cop and a black victim in every news story. They are making it racist when sometimes it's not.

It's a summary of the workbook. I have it plus all the workbooks. I bought it first hoping to do copywork across other subjects. I bought the workbooks because I felt like I was not picking the right ones. Haha I'm ridiculous I know. But I like the open and go now. Level 3 is similar to 2. Just longer dictation with, imo, harder words. There is student copies of the story section for him to read himself this time. We will do 3 next year. I'm wishing that I didn't buy level 4 on damage because now I feel obligated to use it. It's just more of 3 it seems. Just a little harder. We will switch to cap writing for a break as soon as 3 is done. Come back to 4 to refresh if needed before wws. The other problem I have with wwe wkbk is the big lines to write on. It makes my son's handwriting worse and slower. We are switching to comp books next year instead. Bottom line, if you feel like your missing out, buy the text used.

So you have (1st grade) some very teacher intensive subjects. This is what I do: Math Mammoth directions for the section (dark black heading) gets read and discussed. We do some samples. I circle the sections in that section that I want done. Hand him his abacus and say yell if you need me. I do check back in every five minutes. After 20 minutes he should be done or I do the rest orally later in the day. If there is dawdling then I let him sit longer, it's not hurting him any. Remember, you do not need to do everything in this curriculum if the child knows it. This is a obvious way that my son learned to stop dawdling. If he was quick then he's done quick and gets something new the next day. [With my oldest, his math involves some days where I have to do the "parent at elbow" asking "hmmm what should we do next". It's funny now though because he asks himself the questions to mock me since we've done it enough. If he's having an off day then I can tell by the second problem. I make him push through the third and then go do Khan Academy. You could have him do Fred.] I made a mistake with my oldest by making him to everything in MM when he didn't need it. I even supplemented. It was too much. I was so worried about holes. It taught him that if he worked faster then mom would add more of the same. We have fixed this with a set amount each day in a planner so he can see it. Song School Latin: My son started the dvd in the computer himself. Both boys watched while the workbook sat on the oldest boys lap. After it ended they knew to go start the wkbk. It's almost the same every lesson so after a few lessons they should be able to get started themselves. We played the songs in the car or during lunch every day. WWE1 is parent intensive on the narrative days. The others are copy after a quick discussion. I discuss spelling, phonics (for refreshing), and punctuation briefly. Sometimes I have told them to mark the original sentence phonically after copying. It buys me a few more minutes to flip by eggs and cook the toast. These are the only curriculum we have used of yours. I've heard FLL and All About curriculums to be parent intensive. Hopefully someone else can help with that. I would make it the 1st grader's priority to entertain the 2 yr old when she's done with each subject. If it helps you can have her listen to Little House on the Prairie series to show how helpful it is when the older entertains the younger for mother. :) When you are at a break with the oldest call her back to start the next thing. Also, she could be set up after the MM discussion to finish the lesson and go straight to SSL without help. Just watch from a distance unless she calls. Lastly, I do laundry at night during commercials. Everyone is responsible for getting their stuff to the laundry room when needed. Dishes are done during quiet hour which is after lunch. We are a team when it comes to picking up things left out. Everyone helps continuously. I dust and deep clean on off days.

We block scheduled level 1. I can't wait that long to hear the end of a story. We do it five days a week till the story is done then switch to WWE for the rest of the month till out week off. We schooled 4 to 5 weeks in a row last year and then took a week off. I love this schedule and I've already scheduled level 2 the same way for next year. They listen to ELTL at bed time and then we discuss and do the lesson the next day. I've looked at the samples for the older levels and I don't see why we can't continue this way.