At what point should a student be expected to "translate" printed copy work into his own cursive? And when should he write his own compositions in cursive? DS9 is doing 3rd grade Language Arts and in his second year of cursive instruction. We are using Abeka Cursive workbook and he is copying paragraphs already in cursive, with the addition of one sentence of his own in cursive. But whenever he does copy work from a printed source, or writes a dictation or composition on his own, he prints.

What about Grammar Ace? Would it be lighter than CLE but still thorough enough for a 4th grader? We have used Abeka for LA this year so he has had exposure to basic grammar.

Basically the way Sonlight does- pointing out capitalization, punctuation, etc as she dictates and copies her own writing.

We will continue AAR and AAS for 2nd grade, plus some sort of handwriting curriculum. What would you add to complete our language arts? Anything for grammar? Copywork? Composition? I am considering adding Writing Strands and using that for gentle grammar instruction… Thoughts? Edited to add: it needs to be fairly independent. AAR and AAS are both parent intensive and I will have a 4th grader and a newborn next year.

Thanks all for the feedback. I really, really want to like Sonlight Language Arts but we have used it in the past and I agree with the criticisms- lack of retention, feels scattered, etc. What I need is a simple, straightforward curriculum that offers concrete (but not too intense) grammar instruction and composition skills. Right now I am leaning towards CLE (it is so user friendly!) and Writing Strands.

Does CLE have diagramming? I also don't think it's necessary. I will have to look at Easy Grammar also. As for Writing Strands, is it pretty independent? I will have a newborn next year and that is part of what I am needing in a language arts program

Looking for some comparisons and reviews of these two curriculums. What do you like, what do you feel is lacking? We would do Phonetic Zoo for spelling with either. My DS is an advanced reader but needs more instruction in grammar and composition.

Thanks for the suggestion, just ordered!! She loves games so this will be great

She despises I See Sam books, they are kind of tongue-twisterish. We've been supplementing with BOB books and Sonlight I Can Read It books because we already own them. I may add in ETC. It's pretty independent and she's enjoyed it in the past. I believe that its more that she's doing it slowly and needs more time. Sometimes she switches sounds or guesses but I think that's just because she's trying to hurry.

I've asked this question before but it's been awhile and so I'm coming back to it... My dd6's reading fluency concerns me. Her older brother was such an advanced reader that I know it's not fair to compare but I feel like she needs some help. We finished AAR1 a few weeks ago and took some time to just review review review. We did lots of readers and word cards. She is slowly improving as long as we are super consistent. We are going to have to go very slow with AAR2 and in the meantime, I'd like to find some supplemental activities she can do on her own... workbooks and/or worksheets that are not just busy work but will actually help to increase her reading ability. I'm open to games, videos, online materials too as long as they are not too "gamey" or easy. I feel like so many of the online games she just guesses until she gets it right and it's not actually teaching her much.

I'm looking at Spelling 1 now- my only concern is if we started this January, would we be able to get it done by December 2016 (that's when the class expires according to the website)?

I love love love Phonetic Zoo. My older DS9 just finished AAS3 and started PZ Level A and we love it. The headphone format works great for him and I love that it's extremely independent. Spelling has always been the subject that suffers in our house and now he's begging to do another lesson. I am working through AAR with my DD6 and dread adding AAS to our plate but do plan to start formal spelling with her in January. Is there anything out there that is DVD, CD or online based for the early spelling years?

I don't really have an issue with him believing in fairy tales (although he doesn't believe dragons are real and also informed me this year that he doesn't believe in the tooth fairy, Santa or any of the princesses at Disney World :mellow: ). I just worry about an obsession that seems so… isolated I guess? Obsessions with horses or sports or ballet or whatever involve an activity and other living beings, so it seems to be a healthier outlet… I think I would feel the same concern if his obsession was with Minecraft or Legos or similarly isolating interests.

My oldest child is extremely bright and has always had a tendency to become "obsessed" with whatever interests him. He's gone through phases with trains, monster trucks, dinosaurs, sea creatures, arctic animals, etc. When he is into something, he craves every bit of information / activity / product he can get his hands on. Books, TV shows, pretend play, drawing, etc all revolve around his current interest. I understand this is a normal part of his gifted nature but my concern is that his latest obsession- How to Train Your Dragon- seems to be especially intense and has been going on for close to 2 years (all previous obsessions would last about 4-6 months and then take turns with the others). He constantly has his nose in one of the Cressida Cowell books, draws pictures of dragons all day long, begs to listen to audiobooks and movie soundtracks and always chooses the movies or TV shows to watch. My question is, is there any harm in these obsessions? When I was little, I was obsessed with horses and that eventually grew into a lifelong passion and career for me, but somehow this seems different, maybe because horses exist… I don't know if I should just wait it out or how to encourage him to "balance" his interests. I know that he has inherited some addictive tendencies from my side of the family and so that worries me. Even though this is a relatively innocent addiction, is he setting himself up for more serious addictions down the road? We already don't allow any gaming in our house and we have started limiting his "Dragon TV time" to 1 hour on Saturday mornings, the main reason for that being the characters often speak sarcastically to each other and that was affecting his behavior. He also plays soccer and he does well with his chores and his school work, but pretty much any free time is devoted to dragons. Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of options for playmates in our neighborhood so I think loneliness might be a contributing factor. Just looking for any advice or wisdom from other parents who have dealt with this issue. TIA!

Thanks guys! I would not say that he is a struggling speller but he seems to be thriving on the AAS method. Just this week I started typing the lists into Spelling City and so we do a lesson one day and then for a couple days he reviews and tests on Spelling City. I do need to start researching where to go next. I had planned on doing Phonetic Zoo but maybe I should look at Rod and Staff?

Thank you everyone for the advice!! We have been drilling the cards more, getting creative with how we read the fluency sentences (hello whiteboard!) and doing a lot of rereading of the same stories to help her build confidence and fluency. She is blending correctly, just S-L-O-W-L-Y but I am starting to see light at the end of the tunnel :)

Spelling is the thing my 3rd grader never seems to get to on his list of school work- because it depends on me! I am trying to figure out a way to make it more independent... maybe I teach one lesson a week and then he has some independent work the other days? Seems like at one point someone had posted some workbook type pages to go along with AAS. Any ideas appreciated!

We are on lesson 36 of AAR 1. My daughter quickly grasps new phonograms and phonics concepts. But her fluency is terrible. She sounds out every single word, even CVC words. The only words she doesn't sound out are rule-breakers/sight words like the, and, said, for, etc. We've quit moving forward with lessons even though she understands them because when we read the actual stories, it is so slooooooow and painful. I can tell it's hard for her. Other than practicing the fluency sentences (which she hates), what are some ways to increase her fluency? Should I be teaching her to memorize some of the more common words or does that hinder the phonics process? This is my first time teaching a child to read. My older child taught himself and is just a natural reader (awful speller though).

I had a math professor tell me that number lines were actually created as a tool for students that don't conceptualize math well. My child has a strong conceptual understanding of numbers and value but the number line has never made sense to him. The only time he seems to see its purpose (and I tend to agree with him) is when he's using a ruler or graph. I do see how it would be useful in negative numbers but we have not reached that concept yet.

Oh I definitely wouldn't skip ahead. Just trying to be ok with not pushing to finish sooner if its not necessary

We started AAR 1 with my kindergartener in January. We will not be done with it by the end of May and maybe not even by the end of summer. I know everybody goes at a different pace and I shouldn't compare but I'm just curious as to how many 1st graders are still in AAR 1. My DD is bright and capable but I walk a thin line between not pushing her enough and pushing her too hard. Just trying to get a feel for whether I should worry that we are not ready for AAR 2 at the beginning of 1st grade. **I should add my older DS taught himself to read and was pretty fluent by this age, which I know is not the norm, but it's hard not to compare the two and think she might should be further along.

We started AAR 1 with my kindergartener in January. We will not be done with it by the end of May and maybe not even by the end of summer. I know everybody goes at a different pace and I shouldn't compare but I'm just curious as to how many 1st graders are still in AAR 1. My DD is bright and capable but I walk a thin line between not pushing her enough and pushing her too hard. Just trying to get a feel for whether I should worry that we are not ready for AAR 2 at the beginning of 1st grade. **I should add my older DS taught himself to read and was pretty fluent by this age, which I know is not the norm, but it's hard not to compare the two and think she might should be further along.

I have been mulling this over the past few weeks as well as I'm sensing some burnout in me and the kids. Not so much in the amount of information or subjects we are studying but in the need to stay so constantly on task just to check off ALL THE THINGS… it's sucking the joy right out of our days. I have been thinking about the idea of 'Bare Minimum School' and plan on experimenting with it this summer… doing the bare minimum of essential subjects and then leaving the rest of their 'education' to flesh itself out in creative play, curiosity, library visits, strewing, field trips, good books, etc. So these bare minimum subjects for my 3rd grader (who is a fluent reader) would be: Bible (Vos Storybook or Devotional, Scripture Memory Box) Math (3-4x a week) Daily Reading (done independently, books of my choosing once a day, books or magazines of his choosing at bedtime) Spelling (AAS 2x a week) Writing (3x a week, some form of copy work, dictation, journaling, letter writing or creative writing. This is one of the things I struggle to implement on my own and combining multiple resources stresses me out so next year we are using Abeka LA3 which includes writing, cursive, reading comprehension and spelling, although I don't think we will use their spelling) We currently do a lot (A LOT) more than this and like I said, I'm feeling burnt out with the scheduling and juggling of it all. My son is very naturally interested in history and science, and does a lot of studying and investigating on his own when he has the time. We also do Classical Conversations.

I am trying to decide what math to use with DD for 1st grade. This year we just played around with blocks and some Kumon workbooks, and she appears to really grasp math concepts well. She is currently able to add and subtract single digit problems. I used MUS Alpha-Gamma with my oldest DS and assumed I would do the same with DD, however she is a different kind of learner and I don't think the DVD format will work for her. I am switching my oldest to CLE Math this year and am wondering if I should just go ahead and start my 1st grader with CLE Math as well. If you've used CLE Math 100, can you tell me what you like and/or dislike about it? How teacher intensive is it and how long are the lessons typically?

This is where we definitely need to focus our energies over the next few weeks. Any suggested methods? I ordered the Times Tales DVD that everybody raved about and DS said it was just telling a bunch of stories and not actually helping him memorize (I have to admit I did not watch it with him). We've got a set of flash cards that I have him study and then we flip through them. He has all the skip counting songs memorized but not times tables. He is a very visual learner so if I could find a good youtube video or DVD of them set to music or chants, I think that would do it.