I've been strongly considering hs'ing my rising K'er next year, but I haven't been able to find hs'ing families around here (we're in a very rural location) or opportunities for her to socialize. She's an only and somewhat shy around kids, and hasn't made friends in the few classes (dance/swimming/yoga) that we've taken, and I'm worried about being able to give her the exposure to other kids she needs. Have any of you been able to get your school to agree to have you come in every day to teach your kids math? She's now breezing through RSA, we'll be in B by this summer, and I'm pretty sure she won't learn anything at ps. She's also reading quite well, and I don't know that they're able to provide the differentiation she'll need. (Visiting K last month, they were still sounding out CVC words.) So now I'm torn...Do I have her waste the time in K and then afterschool? Afterschooling after hours of seat work seems like too much for a 5yo! K is only half-day, and seems to be mostly academic with little play and no recess, which just feels awful to me. But I know around here there's no way I can provide the socialization she needs...I'm so torn.

That's right, it's all manipulative based (attribute blocks, linking cubes and pattern blocks.) And yes, it's all black and white...but really fun for the younger set (up to 6 or 7 I'd say), like a book full of geometry-based puzzles teaching logic and spatial reasoning.

I'm so glad this post was bumped. Now have several new books on my library hold list, and a "for later" list started in Excel. This also reminded me of some of my favorites from childhood...Ballet Shoes was one favorite I'd thought of many times over the years, but couldn't remember the title of! I'm going to buy it just for me. :) I've started reading books that I know are somewhat over my DD's head (partly because they're more fun for me, haha.) But she enjoys them too, even though I'm sure she isn't getting everything out of them that there is to be gotten. I'm hoping that once she's older and reads them herself (or we read them again together), they'll feel like old friends. Plus the language is so beautiful, and it's never too soon to introduce children to beautiful language. One thing I've noticed since starting to read the more advanced books to my 4yo is that the way she uses language in everyday speech has changed...She'll randomly throw in 10th grade vocabulary words in 4yo simple speech, it's hysterical, and she's started using similes. Last month she told me the sunset looked like an erupting volcano, and last week when I interrupted her, she told me to "be as silent as a blade of grass bending in the breeze.") :lol:

I'll second (third? fourth?) Mind Benders. We also like Hands On Thinking Skills (which is different from Building Thinking Skills) and Analogies...ETA, we also like the Can You Find Me series!

We're just starting with RS, about a third of the way through the 2e of RSA, and we're having a lot of fun with it, my DD absolutely loves the lessons and would "play math" for hours a day if I let her, but there are times I find myself scratching my head at the sequence. I wanted a spiral program, it's one of the reasons I was drawn to RS, but some of the topics introduced just seem so random, sometimes thrown in briefly and even several lessons later those topics still haven't been brought up again or built upon. So my questions: Should I just trust the process and go through the whole program as scripted, or will it hurt in the long run if, for example, we don't do fractals or random work on the geoboard? Will the sequence all make sense to me at some point? My DD is only 4, so I haven't wanted to go too quickly through the program, because even if RSA seems easy at this point I'm sure she'll eventually hit a wall. Should I just follow her lead and continue at the pace she seems to want? Slow down and just play games? Supplement with another program to slow her down? (We also have Miquon.) Also, similar to the Miquon questions posted today, how well do kids who use the early levels of RS transition to a different program? I was thinking of stopping after RS B and moving on to BA since 2 should be out by then. Do you think RS gives enough of a foundation that transition is reasonably easy, or should I be supplementing with a more traditional program?

Have any of your young (4-6 yo) kids gotten anything out of Snap Circuits? Are they fun/exciting long term, or something that gets put away and rarely used? Are they educational in any kind of lasting way, or do kids just mindlessly follow directions? (I realize I'd have to work with her for her to learn anything, but wonder if at this age that teaching would even mean much.)

I have such a strong opinion on this issue, it really bothers me to see parents leaning on computers to provide their teaching, read alouds, puzzles, coloring pages...Computer "learning" games do more harm than good for younger children. In a computer game, for the most part there's only ONE correct solution for every problem, no room for experimentation and creativity. Give a child an interactive book and they'll focus on the interactivity rather than the story and words...Really I think with any online teaching attention is scattered in so many places I don't see how the learning can be as effective. Sure the games are engaging, but I'm sure you've heard of the long-term effects of technology on children's brains, decreasing attention span and focusing development on a very limited set of skills. I know technology can be very useful to kids on the spectrum, but I think it only has very limited use for a normally developing child. Give a child the choice between a tablet/laptop and a pile of sticks/mud/rocks, of course they're going to choose the technology, and in time they'll lose the appreciation for the infinite worlds that can be created from the sticks, mud and rocks. (As a caveat, I've used our iPad for waiting in doctor's offices, etc., for long car rides, and for 15 minutes or so a day so I can shower without worrying what she's getting into. We don't do TV at all, though.)

Do they show what's inside the Moon Dance box somewhere, or give a description? I've searched the site but can't find anything. Does it look as good as the single boxes you can buy separately?

B includes several lessons in the beginning that are review of A, and can be used for kids who are new to RS. I don't think it would be difficult to transition at all, he'd just have to get used to using the Alabacus to do equations, without counting. And yes, after you buy the manipulatives and games all you'd need to buy are the books for each level. (I found all the manipulatives as off-name brands for much cheaper through RR, I got everything including manuals and a used set of game cards/game manual for around $125. If you went with the 1st edition you could save even more.)

I've recently started RS A with my mathy DD, and we're just loving it, she asks to do "math school" every day. There's very little writing required (although teaching number formation is part of the lessons, most of the concepts are taught through manipulatives.) It's a bit pricey, but after looking at countless curricula I feel like it's worth the investment, truly one of the best out there for developing a strong foundational understanding. (We're using it with Miquon, and the two compliment each other very well.)

At what age did your children start? My DD4 is a beginning reader (currently reading Level 1 ER's) and desperately wants to write her own stories (she now makes me dictate 3 or 4 stories a day for her) but her letter writing skills aren't quite up to it yet, and she gets easily frustrated with herself. She's been doing some hunting and pecking on the keyboard, but it's actually even slower than her writing, so I've been wondering whether it's too soon to begin to teach typing. Do you think it's too early to start? How did your kids like the program? (Edited, because after reading more I'm realizing Read, Write & Type might be a better choice...Any other good, fun programs for teaching typing to young kids?)

Oh yes!! I'll second Tiptoes Lightly, it was one of our favorites at that age as well!

Can you please link the followup? I'm interested as well, and have been drawn to Circe ever since I first read the original thread. It feels like I've known all along I wanted to hs that way even though I'd never been able to put it into words.

I use the e-version, and it hasn't been a problem, although it's a little difficult navigating. (I wish it was an epub so that chapter headers were linked.) I end up using bookmarks and the search feature a lot. Someone recently mentioned they annotate the PDF on their tablet using Adobe...I'm planning to try that next time I feel notes would help. In the long run, I'd actually rather have e-books for resources like this, it makes them much easier to keep track of, and much handier to review during a lesson rather than trying to flip through pages. I do sometimes take notes on a separate tablet though, just to remind myself of chapters I'll need to buy or prep for. I'd do that even with a hard copy, though.

@lamppost, I've written 4 books, this is my website: http://main.elizabethjoyarnold.com/Welcome.html (I'm not sure if I'm supposed to link, so I hope someone will let me know if I should remove it.)

So to summarize...memorizing spelling lists is the most productive method? It's probably how most of us learned (through spelling lists and picking spellings up naturally through reading.) I have such a hard time understanding how kids can possibly memorize tens of rules and be able to apply them while writing, without it taking forever.

Is that what they're doing by, in the beginning levels, asking the teacher to write the word first for the child to copy, rather than expecting the child to figure out the spelling on his own? So they're basically learning both to read and spell the words at the same time, rather than solely figuring out through rules how they should be spelled? (Although, I'm not sure why they'd be spelling CVC words since there are simpler ways for kids to learn how to read them.)

I guess it's true, to a point. Authors can only write genuinely about emotions they've had, their view of the world probably infuses into everything, so when you read their books you're getting a glimpse inside their head. But IMO the important thing isn't even to understand how an author's past weaves into his books, I think it's more important to look at how the books affect you and weave into your own experiences, and help you interpret your own life. And even more important, especially for children's lit, to just enjoy the story. I've been through hard things in my life, and I know some of that pain comes through in my stories. If readers knew my past I'm sure they'd see things I don't even realize are there. But I don't write them with the intention of having readers see those things specifically, it's just the place my stories and voice come from. The most important thing to me is to write an engaging, absorbing story, and if it affects readers in some way that I can't even imagine, that's fine. But not if it takes away from enjoyment of and immersion in the story.

I think that's the most important part of it all, to teach kids that they CAN learn things from reading, take things away from books that might be more meaningful than just the story. It's great if they can develop the skill now, and then continue throughout their lives reading good books and digging deeper to learn about themselves and the world. (ETA: That sounds sappy re-reading it, but I really feel like I've learned more from reading than from anything I've ever studied.)

I love that, and it's so true. I get mail from people who find meaning and symbolism in my books that I never actually put there. Sometimes I try to convince myself that my subconscious put it there, but the truth is everybody's going to take different things from books based on their own experiences that, in most cases, weren't intended by the author. My publisher also writes reading group guides with questions like, "What is Arnold saying to us about loyalty and forgiveness?" And I always want to answer, "I have no idea." I think especially for children's books, for the most part the author is really just writing a story. They may have a moral they want to teach, but if so it's usually spelled out pretty clearly, as the morals are in Wizard of Oz. If you want to read more into every story, that's great, there are good lessons that can be learned from discussions of every book. But really you can make up your own lessons and themes and they'll be every bit as valid. (With that said, I've put DP on hold at the library because you've gotten me curious...I'll come back to this after reading it.)

I've been informally working with my DD4 for the past couple of years, she was very strongly motivated to teach herself to read and loved fooling around with Miquon workbooks and basic math concepts and the experiments we did from BFSU. We've never done much, maybe 10 minutes of math a day and 20-30 minutes reading (not formal phonics instruction, just reading easy readers.) One of the main reasons I wanted to homeschool K was because she's been working on a K level for the past year, and she seemed to have so much fun in the time we spent together. Recently though, over the past couple of months, things seem to have changed. She used to ask to do "math school" and read to me, but now when I suggest it she refuses. She hasn't even wanted to do art projects, which we used to do together all the time, and hasn't wanted me to read to her, when she used to sit with me for readalouds an hour or two a day. It seems like all she wants to do is imaginary play, which is fine, she's only 4 and I'm not about to push her to do school at this age if she's not internally driven. I know play is so important, and I love seeing her have fun. But now I'm wondering how we're going to hs next year (or the following years) if she doesn't have that internal drive. How have you gotten young kids to sit for school if they refuse? (The idea of unschooling appeals to me, but I don't know if it will work for her because she doesn't seem curious about or drawn to specific topics, just has absorbed whatever I throw at her, has a day or two of fun and then moves on. And even unschooled kids need to do some level of LA and math.)

Just reading some of these titles reminds me of some of my favorites when I was that age. Favorite all-time books were The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles and Mandy by (of all people) Julie Andrews. I also loved Joan Aiken...especially Wolves of Willoughby Chase and Necklace of Raindrops.

Kumon has handwriting books that are excellent, each is under $10 on Amazon, if you wait they sometimes dip under $5. If you want a more comprehensive LA program, 100EZ is cheap, around $13 on Amazon, and includes a writing component (although I think it just asks the teacher to show the student letters on a white board and have them copy.) HWOT is also pretty inexpensive, get the workbook and a small chalkboard (I got mine from RR for $4) and dollar store chalk. You could also go free, at least to start, in teaching reading...We've used Progressive Phonics (online), it's not really a reading program so much as phonogram instruction and a set of readers, but once she has the idea of blending down it's great, fun reading practice. Reading Bears (also online) is also free. I haven't used it, but it looks like a decent program. And I'm just remembering...There's also a free reading program that someone here suggested a week or two ago. I'll try to find the link... ETA: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/510281-free-and-fairly-comprehensive-phonics-program/?hl=%2Bfree+%2Bphonics

They became popular because children wanted to read them, and it's the popularity that made them classics. Regardless of whether the stories are tasteful, he's such an imaginative storyteller. I loved his books as a kid, I'd bet most children do (and it's probably in part because of some of the cruelty, and bad things happening to bad people.) We read James a few months ago and I found myself editing pretty heavily as well, but there were enough amazingly fun things in the story that I wanted to take my daughter along for the ride. (She loved it.)

This is all so fascinating to me. I'm still pretty early in the process, my DD is just a beginning reader, so I haven't worried about spelling at all. But I was planning on adding an O-G program in the next year or so, as her handwriting becomes more automatic and I begin to feel like she's ready for it. In the meantime, she's good at spelling things out phonetically BUT I was really surprised at how reading and writing the same words seem so disconnected for her. For example, she's been able to read the word "is" and "ball" for well over a year, but she still writes them as "iz" and "bol." Would O-G rules help that? Probably not...Will it just come with reading practice or will she eventually need specific spelling lists, even for words that simple? It seems crazy that there's such a disconnect, at least for her, between reading and writing.