I had used RLTL for a while and was worried about the fun factor. So I spent crazy money on LOE and didn't really like it?! I mean, it was cutesy and all that but my kiddo was 6.5 and the get er done approach with RLTL was working just fine and crazy easy to teach. So LOE went out the door. I'm about to use it with my 5 yr old and I have the phonogram workbook for the cute "circle the picture" type stuff if she wants to do it. I also bought the LOE game cards used for a good deal and will get the game book one of these days, but we don't really miss the "fun" factor at all. Dictations are kinda fun actually as we make up silly words and sentences to go with the spelling lists just in conversation.

I would say it's a buffet of options for you to select from with a day by day guide. We plan. To use it for fall (can't wait!) but I am not using her science as we've done anatomy already so were doing BFSU. She has Rod & Staff scheduled in there as an alternative to her own programs. I've started a fb group ( barefoot ragamuffin homeschoolers) if you want to ask more questions and Kathy herself is quick to respond on her business page.

Wayfarers :001_tt1: Gosh I just know it'll be great (famous last words right?). It's everything I wanted to do anyway, pulled together for me in a nice scheduled package. I'm trying not to freak out about a newborn, so this has helped me immensely, just from stress standpoint, before I've even begun. I'm also looking forward to starting Latin, morning time, and teaching my Kindy kiddo. After having managed to do this for a year with 7yo, I'm not so afraid of screwing up and can't wait to see how my first completely homeschooled child progresses through her first year. I fully intended to take the summer totally off, but she has other ideas and we've gone ahead and started Miquon and reading from some I See Sam books. We've also connected with some CM inspired mamas and may have a coop going in the fall. A nice relaxed environment, that's main goal is building community is just what we've been looking for.

I have used the print versions of RLTL and ELTL and much prefer the pdf. The kids really don't need to handle the books very much, so I love that I can easily bookmark our last phonogram, spelling list and reader. DD reads her Elson readers just fine from it. We move a lot, and I've just realized over half my curricula for next year is on pdf. So that plus a library card makes its very easy. Math is the only subject with a workbook. I use a simple mead primary journal for RLTL snd ELTL. The physical books I buy are living books.

I reviewed this on Amazon (mama2girls) and you'll see how this has taught my daughter to read. She was reading CVC words only and maybe 10 sight words. Bob books took foreeeeever to get through. We tried AAR and she didn't progress at all. My 5 yr old can sound out CVC words (taught herself really) but she doesnt know the first 26 phonograms cold (that a makes 3 sounds for example) and she had never completed a story on her own, so this will be the first and hopefully only program I use with her. I have the phonogram workbook for the "cute" factor and for her to practice writing easily.

Thanks for these ideas, we'll be done at the end of second grade. Prepared dictation starts in ELTL 3 I think, so we could go right into that. I just took a good look at the spelling journal and love it. And Kathy Jo did put flashcards in there! I think there are free ones on lulu too separately, I've just not needed them yet.

I have no idea. If I feel like she needs to work through more difficult words, maybe I'll look into it. But I honestly love the approach of just learning to spell as you're coming across the words in reading. There's no tests, flash cards, and all the other extraneous things. So, as the author suggests we'll move to prepared dictation and make spelling corrections as we go via a spelling journal. This link is to the sample, I'm not sure if it's what you read. But really, it's the program exactly. You'll see the phonograms (we review one a day) and the spelling lists (I dictate 2-3 a week) and the reader (she reads 1-2 a week). That's it! http://www.lulu.com/shop/kathy-jo-devore/samples-reading-lessons-through-literature-levels-1-4/ebook/product-22110510.html

We are finishing level two soon and I've already purchased level 3 for my upcoming second grader. I'll start my 5 yr old in level 1 in the fall or sooner as she is begging to do lessons and has me dictating words to her all the time. As we transition to it being more of a spelling program as her fluency increases, I'm seeing her utilize the rules in her free writing and it's very reassuring that this method will be enough at least as a start as a spelling program.

To read: - Liping Ma's book on mathematics - 2B / 3A HIG for Singapore - Charlotte Mason's Philosophy of Education To Plan -BFSU planning - 15 or so "busy bags" or other things to stock my toddler distraction arsenal -prepare and box up supplies for any activities for term 1 in Wayfarers To do -at least 15 freezer meals for when baby comes - reorganize my closet to house school things

I spoke with the author of ELTL, and it doesn't really matter if you've read the books already. We actually plan to read all the of the selections over the summer. This will free me up a bit as I'll be doing so much reading with my second grader and kindergartener in other subjects and for pleasure. I would think too, if you didn't like a selection, you could treat the copywork as others do in programs like WWE where it's just an excerpt and you move on or find a different bit to copy from something else you're reading.

Kathy Jo, the author, says it's very rare they discount ebooks. I have not needed the workbooks yet for RLTL 1 & 2. My dd started as a 6 yo that could write fine so a basic mead primary journal for the lists is fine. I have the workbook for my upcoming K kiddo, I think it is perfect for that age. We will use Wayfarers in the fall, all christian content is clearly marked. It would be quite easy to skip IMO but I can't speak from experience of course.

Yes CDs are divided by chapter. Its very easy to navigate as the insert tells you what chapters are on which cd.

How ironic, I just wrote this phrase in another thread. Reading Lessons Through Literature :001_smile:

Start with level 1, so she can learn to mark the words and just go quickly. I wouldn't call RLTL scripted. Perhaps in the way one is to do dictation, but it's just sounding out words phonetically and you read the spelling rules that coincide with that word. It's quite gentle, natural, and has been amazing for us. I purchased LOE last fall, thinking that RLTL wasn't "fun" enough. It's just spelling lists and readers and learning the phonograms. No frills, no color, and I thought perhaps my up and coming K kiddo wouldn't really respond to RLTL's style, so I figured I go ahead and switch both her and my first grader to LOE. I was dead wrong. Dead. The pictures sheets and all that were just not necessary. RLTL is all we need in a cute 25 dollar package. The stories in the Elson readers are adorable. It got my then new 7 yr old who could only do CVC words to begin to read real stories in just a month, greatly improving her confidence. She learned phonograms that AAR wouldn't even have introduced until level 2 (yes we did AAR 1 for six sad months). It's a get-er-done program and is perfect for me right now with two toddlers underfoot. I can do dictations while taking a kid to the potty, loading dishes or what have you. We are in level 2 now, about halfway, and can get an RLTL lesson done in about 20 minutes. We do 2-3 spelling lists a week, and alternate reading a story. We review a phonogram a day. My next worry was whether this little book would be "enough" as a spelling program as now we're just really building fluency. She recently made the leap to things like Frog and Toad.How could the same process that taught her to read, teach her to spell? Encoding and decoding are totally different skills. Well one day we're walking into a store and she and her sister were avoiding stepping on cracks. "Cracks," she says "C R A...CK?" That's right I replied, "Why did you use ck?" "Because crack is one syllable and the a is making it's second sound." I'd told her this rule once..a few days prior. I was floored. The day before, she'd done the same thing with the word "ever", saying that it must need to end in -er because "every syllable needs a vowel." So, I'm convinced that no, I don't need to spend hundreds of dollars to teach reading to my kids. For K, my second is just going to use the RLTL workbook and we'll go through all the phonograms and slowly begin the spelling lists once she's got the first 26 down. She's so used to hearing her sisters lessons, she's already asking me to dictate things when she's playing. We do have the LOE game cards, and I may get the game book for summer fun. But eh, I don't really need to do that. ETA: I will say that a major caveat of the program is that its tied to writing. My girls love to write, so it's not an issue. If I had a new reader that wasn't ready to write 10 words on a given day, I may look for a different approach.

I recently had this debate with myself. Why should I stress about art as a subject? My kids draw all the time and can paint occasionally when we've got all the materials so that should be enough. Plus, I didn't want to stifle their creativity with canned projects. But then I thought about it this way. I'm teaching the mechanics of writing to my children. Of course because it's vitally important to communicate. But they communicate through art as well. How dare I refuse them the tools and means to effectively communicate in a full, rich way? Sure she can draw a mediocre picture, but given just a few minutes of instruction in the uses of color, forms, shadowing etc, what she sees in her mind can truly come out on the page. I've never had such instruction, so I ordered Home Art Studio for us to begin learning techniques together and we'll take it as deeply as they desire.

I looked at the sample pages of MM and wanted to claw my eyes out. The pages are so incredibly busy. Despite the good deal, I just couldn't pass up the fun and pleasant look of SM workbooks and texts.

Aww thank you! I was all set to get the spiral bound version whenever Lulu had a coupon but now Im thinking pdf?! I have a laser printer, so 250 pages won't totally do me in I guess. That would be easier for making notes in and just print it again later for the next cycle through. I'm only subbing science & art so I was just going to print out little sheets and stick it that spot or use post its. Hmmmm...

I hate starting things in the middle so I'm sitting on my hands until fall to start Medieval term 1. I'm so excited, it's exactly what I need with a new baby coming.

I got a very good deal on HIG/textbooks and even a couple test books and EP up through 3b. So for me, it wouldn't be too bad to finish up the rest buying used and then getting fresh workbooks for my next one in K before they are discontinued. For my youngest two (age 2 and in the oven), if it was working for them, I'm thinking of just getting the EP/IP/process skills books later. I'm finding there is plenty of practice for my oldest in just the HIG/TB actually.

Along with this thought then, I'm very very very thankful to the moms that simply told me to chill out. Indeed, with time and methodical, gentle help, reading is finally "clicking" with my child nearing the end of first grade. Goodness, please ladies don't stop that saying that if the situation warrants it. Of course, I have to filter advice, that's my job as a mom. I know my child and so far my gut hasn't been wrong. The OP doesn't say the child's age, but that has a huge amount to do with the advice given. As a new homeschooler, and even more new to teaching a child how to read, the idea that most kids don't learn to read by the end of K was a totally new idea to me. That formal instruction in lots of places doesn't even begin until 8, also news to me. Even reading the WTM, I felt rather pressured and out of place because my child wasn't reading in first grade. While yes, there are issues that make themselves apparent early that are indicative of a problem, I think it's just unfair to fault bystanders that are only given a few sentences about a kid and giving it their best shot to keep a mom from beating her head against the wall any more than necessary. I think if you led with this, I'd have not stated the above. :) Still, I would venture to say the majority of moms making such statements don't feel that kids never ever need help, and that professional intervention is never warranted. Just that, given the odds, yes your child will probably be able to read just fine. Because here it seems that you have given some of that very advice. If we're just having a casual chat and my only advice is what I've seen with my own daughter,if it seems to be similar to our situation (slightly older kid not making the leap from simple blending to reading independently), then all I have to give "chill out, keep at it, it will come". Moms that have had other outcomes, and professionals such as yourself, should certainly pipe in and share the signs and things that indicated issues.

^^^ Wow, wide range of normal indeed! DD is just now becoming anxious to read. She's currently conquering Frog and Toad (second time through). I'm excited about where she could be come fall, this reading thing has been a long hard slog. Though, overall none of the things I have planned really depend on her reading ability. I can tell she wants more subjects and some variation to our days. I would be really happy if she could take over in some areas with a new baby coming, but I'm expecting to be reading aloud for hours a day and *right* there with everything.

You're not kidding, I knew I'd reach a point where I would need a lifeline for math and we're getting there way faster than I imagined! Time to put some late nights in getting the math education I never received.

And really, my daughter only just took off with mental math a good year into Singapore. Since she conceptually understood making 10, I moved on. And boom, a little maturity and now at 7.5 she can handle double digits with ease. We're approaching 3 digits now and she is having a hard time, no doubt because it's a lot of numbers to keep track of. Singapore states in the HIG (another reason I adore it) that it's ok, let them use the standard algorithm and proceed. We still practice a couple times a week, but I'm not going to place any stress in her about it, but I have a feeling that again, as she has more time with the numbers, it'll become easier. Facts practice and memorization is key. But, I've been told here and by other moms that mastery isn't expected until the end of *second* grade. So that's quite a long time for them to mature and get all of it straight. Keep it light and fun. We use apps, card games, yelling them out in the car, etc.

She sounds like a perfect Singapore candidate. I use standards as well. You can use manipulatives she loves, there's review, but not overkill and easily skipped. I can't get past the busy MM pages to even attempt teaching it, so I can imagine the frustration for a kiddo. I imagine you'd need to do a placement test, as the scope and sequence is different.

I read through book 2 and it's so sweet. I have miquon planned my upcoming K'er but once book one is out, I'll see about doing this over the summer as a primer to see if this story style works for her.