Would you help me think of all the choices? So far, I've got Story of the Word, Diana Waring, Mystery of History and Rush Revere.

I'm wondering if anyone with multiple children who taught one or more cursive first and the other children manuscript first, or vice versa, would be willing to share some of the pros and cons you discovered. If you were teaching another child, which way would you choose, now that you have tried it both ways? I taught my oldest cursive first but am considering teaching his sisters to print first, followed by a quick intro to cursive for composition once the manuscript is mastered. I would be using LOE manuscript style.

HI. I just wanted to share that the Nessy computer program has been working very well for my 7 yr old son. I saw some negative reviews here about the American voice being British. They seemed to have improved the American voice, and I really love the program and it's systematic approach with mneumonics. There is just the right kind of repetition for my son. Just thought I would share in case it might help someone else. A lot of their spelling/reading videos are also free on YouTube.

I know this is an old thread but I wanted to chime in and say that we are using Nessy now and love it. Perhaps they have improved the American voice.

For my oldest, who I believe has dyslexia, it has taken 3 years and he's almost there. The free "I See Sam" books online helped tremendously. The online reading program for dyslexia, Nessy, has been very helpful as well. My middle child is five and is progressing much faster. It is becoming more clear to me that my son has a reading disability the more I work with the middle child and see how effortless it can be.

Do I need Critical Thinking Company's Building Thinking Skills book or their Visual-Perception book if we are doing MEP already? We do the worksheet only - not the full program.

I just remembered we also liked to do the Critical THinking Co workbooks and the Brain Quest 300 questions and answers thing orally

Also, for those who don't want to teach cursive first and really want to do a workbook, I like CLE's Kindergarten II Series and also Rod and Staff Going on Eagerly and the others in the series.

Right Start and/or something with c-rods (Miquon, educationunboxed.com videos or Mathematics Made Meaningful cards) for math. Fun projects for holidays and basic history. A few hands on science projects. Teaching how to write and say letter sounds in cursive with very large motor movements (sidewalk chalk, etc.) Plenty of read alouds, including lots of Bible. Learning to read the syllabary and blends fluently via homemade sliders.

Right Start and/or something with c-rods (Miquon, educationunboxed.com videos or Mathematics Made Meaningful cards) for math. Fun projects for holidays and basic history. A few hands on science projects. Teaching how to write and say letter sounds in cursive with very large motor movements (sidewalk chalk, etc.)

I taught my first child cursive first and don't regret it one bit :)

MEP?

The simple thing that helped me the most was to use the language of "groups of..." That's all it is. 10 is 2 groups of 5. 10 is also 5 groups of 2. You can show this with any manipulative or small household objects. I felt it was important for my child to see concretely that 5+5 equals the same thing as 5x2, etc. Make sure she understands the communicative property of addition first (5+2 equals same as 2+5)

No ideas. Just wanted to say congratulations. It's not easy to get that far in homeschooling. Everybody doesn't do it.

Just food for thought/discussion: For any given subject, can that subject be taught more efficiently without a workbook than with one, especiAlly a workbook that has the answers already there on the page to choose from (as opposed to child having to come up with answer with no hints). Are workbooks inherently full of busywork or can they really be better than other methods for some kids? What are the benefits to workbooks for the child? How can they benefit the teacher in ways that benefit the child?