A lot of the concerns you mentioned are addressed in the book, including the first day going a lot like you described - not much academics done because of "teaching the schedule." Last year, when my son was 6, I would teach him his math, phonics, reading and handwriting lessons during our 1:1 time and then, for the most part, he did his math worksheets, his handwriting or copywork, his phonics workbook and most of his reading workbook indendendently. I know each child is different, but I would work on your 6 year old being able to do some of his work independently. You might also want to evaluate your curriculum if it is too teacher intensive. Some curriculi lend themselves to more independent work, while others make it difficult for a child to proceed without a lot of help from mom.

I remember reading in the WTM that some children do better with narrower spaced paper. I'm glad I read it, because my son struggled with the 1" paper, but did much better with the 3/4" and after awhile, the 1/2" paper.

Each year's handwriting book is only about $10. (I've used K & 1 and have never felt the need to buy the TM. I figure it was designed for classroom use, which is why it is so expensive.) Also, if you mention you are a homeschooler, you get the school prices, rather than retail, plus they only charge actual shipping and not the minimum of $5.

I originally started with Saxon, with Singapore as a supplement. Last school year, we went to R&S, starting with the 1st grade book. At first, I continued to try to supplement with all of Singapore, but found 1) it was too much and 2) it was unnecessary, as R&S is so thorough. What I finally came up with that seems to work is to do R&S (along with some parts of Saxon) during the school year and Singapore IP & CWP during the summer, as enrichment.

We do things similarly to you, in that we have alternated academic time with break time. We finish at 3:30, although we have more read alouds before bed. Though our day goes longer, DS does much better with a schedule that allows for breaks and a variety of activities.

My husband started reading them to DS when he was around 5. My son loved them so much, my husband even got online to download some that are now out of print. I haven't read them, myself, but I know they were a big hit with DS.

I'm glad I could be of help! I thought I'd also mention that we skipped the first few lessons in R&S, as they were just learning the numbers 1-10. I started with the "fact houses" and went from there. I went ahead and had my son start with the 1 houses, even though it was obviously way beneath him. I explained to him that it was just to get him used to the new book and how to do the houses. Surprisingly, he didn't seem to mind and soon we were on more challenging work. At first, he didn't understand why he needed to fill in the same fact houses day after day, but I explained to him that it was like road construction ... the repetition made the facts stick like concrete, rather than sand. He liked that and when he started getting faster and faster with the houses, he really enjoyed them.

Excuse my ignorance, but what is PC? :bigear:

It took me awhile to find the perfect system (and it's still not completely perfect!), but what works for us is to allow an hour a day for math. One of the half hours is simply my working with my son, going through the activities in the TE, doing flash cards, doing speed drills and having DS do any blacklines I think are important for that day. I'll also do a little of the Saxon meeting, if time permits. The other half hour is him working independently on the worksheets. He is able to complete the R&S in about 15 minutes, so that gives him 15 more for Saxon. Basically, I'll cross off anything on the Saxon worksheet that is a repetition of R&S, such as practice with math facts, adding two digit numbers, money, etc., and he'll do the rest. (He rarely does the back side of Saxon - only if he missed something on the front or if there is something completely different on the back.) Part of why I do both is I wasn't quite ready to completely give up Saxon. Doing it the way we do allows DS to get in calendar skills, drawing line segments, working with a hundred number board, sequences, Venn Diagrams, etc., while not overkilling math. DS looks at the extra skills we do on Saxon as "fun math," so it has worked well for us. I don't try to match up R&S and Saxon, we just do whatever lesson is next in either. Since I was partway through Saxon 2 when we started with R&S 1, after an adjustment period of getting acquainted with R&S, I simply used the two together. Since R&S is our core program, I always make sure that is done and then if we don't get to Saxon on a given day, that is fine, we just do it the next day. Currently, we're doing R&S 2, while finishing up Saxon 2. We school year round (lighter in the summer), so we supplement with Singapore (and some R&S blacklines) when we're taking breaks from R&S or Saxon. At one point I tried to do an exercise a day of Singapore, on top of the other, but it was way too much. Doing it at alternate times has worked much better. I'm not sure I'm going to continue using Singapore as a supplement, but for now, DS likes it and I have it. As a side note, I have had the Miquon Annotations and the Red and Orange books for several years and have never cracked them! I'm much more a R&S type of gal! :-) If you have any more questions, please ask!

We were in a very similar boat to yours, with my son also struggling with the +1 or -1 facts, despite being very bright in math. Though we had gone through all of Saxon 1 and almost 1/2 of Saxon 2, we switched to R&S, starting with the beginning of the 1st grade book. My son had tested several grades above level in math, but I knew he didn't know the facts the way I felt he should. I'm so glad we found R&S! It definitely solidifies the facts and is very thorough. I did, however, find that it is very important to do all of the activities in the TE. For us, the combination of the worksheets, blacklines, flash cards and TE activities provided just the amount of drill DS needed. I do supplement with Saxon, mainly by having DS do any problems that are different than R&S. I also supplement with Singapore, for the extra thinking skills. (My son loves math, so he eats this all up. Not all children would, however.)

The academic part of Saxon 1 was fine; in fact, it often seemed below his level. The writing part of it, however, caused some struggles in the beginning. If I could do things over, I would have done more fine motor skill work before we started Saxon. We did all the lessons, all the fact sheets and all the assessments, averaging about 3 lessons or assessments a week. There is a lesson and an assessment for each of the "5" lessons (i.e., 25, 35, 45, ...), so we split those over two days. I did not make our son do both sides of each worksheet. Basically, he did the entire front and then if he struggled with anything, I had him do that part on the back, as well as any problems that were different than the front. It took us longer than a normal school year, but for us, it was better to have lighter weeks as we went along.

:iagree: It's an ongoing process, but I am finally starting to feel free to take what works for our family and let the other go, without guilt. Thanks for the reminder.

Here's a snippet from their last corner, the theme of which was also stressed in their MOTS book: "In these articles, I encouraged those who were satisfied with their method of homeschooling to skip reading the rest of the Mom's Corner. Truly, if you are content with how you homeschool and it is successful for you, we don't want to dissuade you from what you are doing ... It is not our desire to put down other homeschooling methods, but to see families successful."

Have you seen their new book, "Managers of Their Schools"? In it, they describe in detail which textbooks they use for each of their subjects. If I remember correctly, they use A Beka for math, English, history & science and Rod & Staff for reading and spelling.

I'm wondering if the reason it seems so "off" to you is that you are jumping into the 2nd grade book, without having done the 1st. We have been using the 1st grade series and have found the phonics and reading to correlate extremely well. On the surface, the phonics may seem easier than the reading, but I found there was actually a lot covered, between the workbook and the TM. I don't know what age your son is, but when we were in a similar boat to yours, having used OPGTR before starting Rod and Staff, we went ahead and started with the 1st grade book, even though a lot was review. I'm so glad I did! I love the foundation it has given my son and the way he has become such a better reader and an "excited" reader. If your son is a reluctant reader, perhaps starting with the 1st grade book would give him the boost and confidence he needs and then, by the time he's in the 2nd grade book, he might find the reading more at his level. Another possibility is to simply have your son go through the 1st grade readers this summer, starting at the beginning, thus teaching him the sight words, key words and sound words that were taught during the 1st grade. That alone might give him the foundation he needs to tackle the 2nd grade books. I'll also add that we, too, sometimes do a reading lesson one day and a phonics the next, if I feel my son needs the extra time.

I just love their products and their customer service. I always order through Rod and Staff, themselves, in Crockett, KY, and have never been disappointed. I always receive my shipment on a very timely basis, sometimes just three days later! My son has been thriving with their curriculum and my little 2 year old just loves the Little Jewel books that they have available. Plus, you can't beat their prices!

This sounds just like my son! Before his first "official" kindergarten year, he was already testing near 3rd grade level in math and yet he has never found R&S math too slow. He enjoys the repetition and the feeling of success when he masters a set of facts and can do them quickly. Like your dd, he is thrilled with the challenge of beating the speed drills and just loves the bees theme in Math 2.

We started with Saxon, but were so impressed with the other R&S materials (Bible Nurture & Reader Series), that we decided to try out the math. Although there is a lot of repetition, my son, who is very bright in math, doesn't find it boring at all. It has cemented the math facts in his mind better than anything else we tried. He liked Saxon, too, but he just wasn't learning his facts they way I desired. We saw a huge difference with R&S. It's true that R&S doesn't cover as much as other programs, but that is fine with me. I'd rather have my son very, very solid in his facts. The extras can come later. (I used to be a middle/high school math teacher. The students who struggled were the ones who never mastered the basics. Algebra, especially, is very difficult if one is not "automatic" with arithmetic, fractions and decimals.) We finished Math 1 and are now in Math 2. The "triplets" have been an amazing tool in learning the upper addition/subtraction facts. I will add that the teacher's manual is essential to make R&S a complete math program. If one only does the worksheets, a lot will be missing.

My son really enjoys reading the stories and poems. Plus, his reading ability has soared by using the complete Bible Nurture and Reader Series (readers, reading workbooks, phonics workbooks & worksheets).

Should a child be close to 4 before starting the workbooks? Would a "young 3" be much too young? Also, how many weeks/months does it take to get through one workbook? :bigear:

I recently read a book by Rod and Staff, entitled "Preparing Children for School and Life." In the book, they mentioned how, in the early years, boys are 6 months behind girls in maturity and readiness for school. They strongly recommend a girl be a full 6 years old before starting first grade and a boy, a full 6 1/2 years old. That's quite different than normal cut-offs in public school, and yet I definitely see their reasoning. If your son would rather play and have fun, perhaps he just needs another year. They're only young once, why rush it? As my husband said to me when I was agonizing just like you ... "What is the hurry? What will it hurt to wait a year?" My personal experience has been that if you push your son before he is ready to sit, focus, be diligent, etc., you'll end up with a lot of tears and frustration; however, if you give him the time he needs, I think you'll both find your homeschooling experience to be much more pleasant and productive. (I'll also add that I am delighted to have an extra year with my son on the other end. I want him a full 18 years old before he graduates. I had an October birthday and started kindergarten at 4, thus I went to college at 17. I know it would have been much better for me all around, if my parents had waited a year for me to start.)

A year ago, my son had just turned 6 in August. We, too, were about half-way through OPGTR and my son, too, was not "breezing through" and was not a strong reader. We opted to delay first grade and instead registered our son as a kindergartener. I am so, so very happy we did. I knew I wouldn't be able to do the science and history justice if I were still needing a large chunk of time to work on reading. We still did some science and history by snuggling on the couch with some living books, based on our son's interest and whenever time permitted, but nothing formal. We dropped OPGTR and moved to Rod and Staff phonics and reading. Everything fell into place for him and after an extra year, he now is a strong reader and this fall, will be much more ready for first grade work.

www.zaner-bloser.com. If you mention you are a homeschooler, you get their school rates, rather than their retail rates, plus the shipping is very reasonable. (Their website states a minimum shipping of $5, but in actuality, I've only been charged the exact shipping, which has been significantly less.) You can also see and print out samples from each grade's book from the website, as well.

We're using the Rod & Staff Nurture and Bible Reader series, so my 6 year old son does two pages of the reading workbook and two pages of the phonics workbook each day. Usually each of them has about one page that involves writing words or sentences, so that's two pages total. He does one page of his handwriting workbook (either practice writing individual letters or writing several words and an original sentence) or else a sentence or two of copywork. We do the front and back of his math, an additional math blackline practice sheet or two and one page of his spelling workbook (about six written words). Occasionally, the R&S Reader Series has additional activities that encompass using complete sentences to answer a few questions, alphabetizing words, etc. The only thing I adjust is that occasionally I'll let him do some of the Reading Workbook orally, if I feel it won't affect his learning, such as when the words he is to write just involve vocabulary, as opposed to learning to spell them correctly.) I will add that it is important to "know" your child. Right now what we're doing is working really well, but had I tried this last year, my son wouldn't have been ready at all and there would have been many tears. I think there is a difference between not wanting to do work and truly nearing a frustration level. My son independently likes to write page long stories, so if he balks at writing six spelling words, I know he's just trying to get out of work; however, if he was still developing his handwriting skills and I asked him to write a paragraph, I would expect him to be frustrated. HTH

I called Rainbow last night and was told that they expected to get more CWP in "sometime this summer," except for the 3rd one. I asked again, for clarification, and the employee confirmed that their company would not be getting any more of the level 3. I remember singaporemath.com saying the 3rd would be the first to go completely out of stock, so I quickly placed my order with christianbook.com. (Christianbook.com is awaiting their shipment of levels 4-6, but they did have a couple of 2 & 3 left, as of last night.)