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My DS loved "The Never-Bored Kid Book, Ages 4-5." It has plenty of cutting, pasting, coloring, matching, etc. He also loved Kumon's "My Book of Easy Crafts" and "My Book of Pasting: Jigsaw Puzzles," both of which also involve cutting and pasting.

You might really like R&S. We are just finishing R&S Phonics 1 and were extremely pleased with all DS learned. As I look forward to using R&S Phonics 2, I'm excited because it will review what I want DS to know, yet it looks like it will go much more quickly than R&S 1, so it won't be too time consuming. My son, too, is an excellent reader, but I've seen too many cases where children who read well in the younger years hit a brick wall come 4th grade because they lack the solid phonics background. I also have loved how DS is learning the dictionary marks, as I always struggled with pronouncing words I looked up in the dictionary, because I didn't know what the marks represented. Lastly, the solid phonics background DS is gaining from R&S has naturally resulted in him becoming a terrific speller.

A month after DS turned 5. At that time, we did Saxon 1, Zaner-Bloser handwriting and OPGTR. We've always read for several hours a day, but formal schooling didn't begin until he was 5.

I know what you mean about the content subjects. I struggled quite a bit with that, as well. What I ended up doing was utilizing a lot of "eating times" and strategically planning read alouds to coincide with breakfast, morning snacktime, lunch and afternoon teatime. I find I am able to cover a lot, with minimal distractions, when the children are busy eating. :001_smile: I use the various times to read history, science and geography books, as well as literature and Bible stories. Since my children are 4 1/2 years apart, they're on quite different levels, but the eating seems to keep my DD3 content while I read DS7's materials and vice versa. For things I need to do 1:1 with DS, such as A Beka's history, I wait until DD naps.

The guidebook gives list after list of books to read that relate to each country. For me, that alone was worth the price of the guide.

I just responded to another of your posts and here I am on this one! :) We're using R&S and we actually take longer than you, if that makes you feel better! Our total time for the Bible and Nurture series is about 2 1/2 hours. The reading lesson and activities take about 1/2 hour, the reading workbook takes DS about 1/2 hour, the phonics lesson and activities, speed drill and spelling practice take about 1/2 hour, the phonics workbook takes DS about 1/2 hour and then the worksheets take about 1/2 hour. Now that we are all done with the worksheets and reading workbooks and a few lessons short of being done with the phonics workbooks, I look back and am immensely pleased with all my son learned this year. There were days when I questioned the amount of time we were spending, but DH encouraged me to continue, as he could see the progress and he felt the emphasis in first grade should be learning to read. I'm so glad he did!

Actually, stretching the lessons over two days might be the perfect answer for you. Our son is 7.5 and the difference in him now and when he was 6.5 is unbelievable! We started the program when he was 6 and ended up alternating days on the phonics and reading until he was able to handle both in one day. It took us a lot longer to get done, but it was well worth it. Whereas in the beginning, the sight of the two workbook pages brought him to tears, he now excitedly grabs the workbook and states, "I love doing this phonics!" and whips right through his work. It was amazing to me to see the difference in maturity from September until now.

Shall I confuse things even more for you and say we do both? This year, we did R&S Reading 1 and recently started HOD's Emerging Readers set. We'll soon be starting R&S Reading 2 and will continue with HOD's Emerging Readers set. Although I thoroughly enjoy the Emerging Readers books and DS loves reading them, I am not convinced the type of questions cover all I want DS to learn. R&S is so thorough and I've seen such immense progress in DS from using the program, that I don't want to give it up. Since the Emerging Readers program takes such little time (for us, about 15 minutes), it hasn't been a problem for us to do both, plus, from looking through the teacher's manual, it looks like R&S grade 2 reading will be less teacher intensive.

I schedule an hour for breakfast so that no one is rushed and so I can do a lot of read aloud during that time. I'm a fast eater, so as soon as I am done, I start reading and the children finish eating. Often, my youngest (DD3) finishes sooner than her brother, so I stop to clean her up and then let her down to play while I keep reading to her brother. After breakfast, we have a half hour of chore time before we start hunkering down with the school books, so I have a chance to clean the table before using it for homeschooling.

Another good place to shop is www.cbd.com. They have them for $26.13 with free shipping if you have a coupon. (I've noticed that free shipping coupon codes appear frequently on this forum. :))

Take a look at Simply Charlotte Mason: http://simplycharlottemason.com/planning/scmguide/picture/ http://simplycharlottemason.com/planning/scmguide/music/

My husband always reminds me of this, as well as how Teri's bout with depression (discussed in their "Corners") occurred when she had just three little ones. I find it's so easy to read how someone else is doing things and then to compare myself, thinking I'm not doing a good job, when in reality there are so many factors involved.

We actually use R&S as our core program and then supplement with about 15 minutes of Singapore a day (more if R&S takes less time). So far its been working really well using R&S 2 with Singapore 1.

We are currently using R&S Arithmetic 2 and it usually takes about 45-50 minutes a day. The lesson and speed drill take about 20-25 minutes. After that, it takes my son between 15-30 minutes to complete the worksheets. (We don't skip anything, either in the TM or on the worksheets.)

We are currently using Singapore 1 with R&S 2. I have found them to complement each other very well. We do a complete lesson of R&S every day, along with whatever of Singapore we can fit in. We don't try to match them; instead, we proceed through Singapore section by section. We'll go through a section of the Singapore textbook orally, then do the corresponding workbook pages. Once we're done with the workbook section, then we'll do the IP pages that relate to that section. Over the summer, I'm planning on doing CWP 1 and whatever part of Singapore 1 we haven't finished. In the fall, we'll do R&S 3, along with Singapore 2. I love how R&S is providing such a solid foundation and I appreciate how Singapore "stretches" DS's thinking and improves his problem solving skills. As a side note, although I like the explanations and examples in the text/workbooks, if I find, down the road, that both programs together are too much, then we'll keep with R&S and just use the IP & CWP workbooks.

I echo the recommendation for the R&S Preschool series. I also would recommend simply going with the suggestions in the WTM book: reading aloud a lot, doing math around the house (counting, measuring, etc.) and simple science experiments, as well as basic handwriting and other fine motor work. There is a lot of writing in the R&S 1st grade, so if a child already has good fine motor skills before beginning, it would be helpful.

We have not found this to be the case. When my 3-year draws, it's almost all straight lines and circles, just like the stick and ball lines of manuscript printing, rather than the curves and curlicues of cursive writing. I find it interesting how proponents of "cursive first" assert that cursive is more developmentally appropriate, whereas proponents of "manuscript first" assert manuscript is more developmentally appropriate. If you are interested in the research supporting "manuscript first," here's a few links: http://www.zaner-bloser.com/about/newsandresearch/research/detail.aspx?id=94&terms=cursive+first http://www.zaner-bloser.com/about/newsandresearch/research/detail.aspx?id=76

I should have been clearer. When I said "read aloud," I meant when I read aloud to my children, rather when they read aloud to me.

For some reason, I thought there would be a lot more time devoted to reading aloud to a first grader. Maybe it's part of the "free reading" time? We've always striven for two hours of read aloud, over and above the normal reading instruction and where my 1st grader reads to me. Does anyone else do this?

This article is the one A Beka uses to support starting with cursive. Interestingly, Susan Wise Bauer just wrote a blog entry discussing the early introduction of cursive and how it's usually not a good thing. The whole of the article is about introducing material when the child is ready, as opposed to pushing skills backwards. It was very thought provoking for me. Here it is: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/blog/

For us, the reading and phonics each took about an hour. I planned for 1/2 hour for the reading lesson (doing everything, including extra activities) and 1/2 hour for the phonics lesson (including the spelling & sentence dictation). Then, each of the workbooks took DS about 1/2 hour. The worksheets took between 10-30 minutes, depending on what they contained. I can't say enough good about the R&S language arts. We've only done grade 1, but I'm hooked!! Yes, the program is very teacher intensive, but the results are well worth it in my opinion.

We usually do the spelling at a different time than the phonics. Unless I'm playing catch up, we do just one lesson's words at a time, although I will occasionally throw in a few from past lessons, if he struggled a bit spelling them. I do 10-15 words or so, depending on how he's doing. Some lessons are trickier for him, such as when a word is spelled with tch vs. ch. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the dictation and am pleased with how it's helping DS. He gets to work on punctuation, capitalization, spellling in context and handwriting all at once. He loves the challenge, too! Yes, I found the same thing about the time involved, but I also found the foundation that is laid is so good that there is payback down the road. I am amazed at what DS has learned and am thrilled we chose R&S. I do find grade 1 is the most intensive. We're ahead in math and the 2nd grade math lesson takes us less time than the 1st grade. I've also already purchased grade 2 reading and phonics and can tell it's a lot less teacher intensive, as well. So, hold in there and you'll reap the benefits soon! :) Another thing that has worked for us is to alternate my time with DD3. I'll do the reading lesson with DS while DD sits at the table with us, doing coloring, puzzles, etc. Then DS will work in his workbook while I work 1:1 with DD. When he's done with his workbook, I do the phonics lesson with him and then when he does that workbook, I again work with DD. I usually do the math lesson, spelling and speed drills during DD's naptime, as he does better with those not being interrupted by a little cutie! :) It took awhile to find a system that works, but so far this has been going well for us. P.S. Do you do the worksheets also? We do those and have especially loved unit 5, which is making a dictionary. Doing the dictionary has been an excellent tool for pulling together everything he's learned this year - nouns, verbs & adjectives (using the words "names," "acts" or "describes"), spelling, phonetic spelling and sentence writing. For the most part, DS does the dictionary independently, so it doesn't take up more of my time. I hope this is helpful. Feel free to ask more questions! :)

We, too, use R&S and like you, found it hard to get the spelling in on a regular basis. What I finally did was set aside a 15 minute period in our schedule that we solely devoted to spelling. It was well worth it, in my opinion. We just finished the R&S grade 1 reading and are near to completing the phonics. As I look back, the spelling definitely solidified the phonics skills being taught and greatly aided in the transition to sentence dictation in unit 4. Is it absolutely necessary for reading? Probably not, but looking back, it has been a huge benefit for us and I think it will make the grade 2 spelling go much more smoothly, since he'll have the rules well practiced. (P.S. We do the spelling practice orally.)

This is our experience as well! We absolutely love R&S! We tried a year of OPGTR and although DS did okay with it, it wasn't until we switched to R&S that his reading started soaring. We use both the phonics and reading, as well as the worksheets, and find they work extremely well together. The sight words gave my son the confidence to read before he had mastered phonics. That confidence, in turn, was a great motivation for him to learn more and more phonics. The worksheets have helped solidify the skills learned in the phonics and reading workbooks, while being very enjoyable at the same time. Just today, we finished the last lesson in R&S's grade 1 reading. (We have a few more to go in the phonics.) Looking back over the last year, I can say I am tremendously pleased with both the thoroughness of R&S's language arts program and the excellent progress DS has made as a result.