Thanks for all the help! My next question would be if you lived 11 hours away would you spend the money and time to make the trip? Is it that cool? Also what is the weather like at that time in Virginia? It's still going to be winter where we live and I'd be so much more inclined to drive 11 hours with two kids if it meant I was driving towards a real springtime! :)

I'm also thinking of circling around and visiting Chincoteague, anyone been there? I know they bring the ponies over in July and that must be neat but is it worth the drive over other times of the year?

Thanks! That's right around that area so I was looking into that site as well, good to know which places are going to be most fun for the kids. Thanks again :)

I'm thinking about taking my two kids on a road trip to Virginia this late April, specifically Williamsburg but am open to suggestions of stops along the way. Obviously we would be visiting the historic sites but I have never been anywhere near this area and am looking for tips and suggestions on what we should not miss while here. My kids are 7 and 8 and we have been studying some early American history so I feel like we could get a lot out of this trip. We also have never been on a vacation, and probably won't be able to again right off, so I want to make sure we get the most of it and the kids have a blast! We won't have a huge budget so if anyone has moderately priced lodging they would recommend that would be a help too :) Thanks!

I have recently gone over to Sequential Spelling for both my 7yo and 8yo. The 7 yo is about at a late first grade level and the 8 yo is around early 3rd grade. They do it together and so far it has worked. The older of course gets more of the spelling words right on the first try but the younger is keeping up and I think the process of this program makes it possible to teach two different age kids at once b/c it isnt about getting the spelling right on the first try, it's learning from mistakes. Also as a busy single parent it's awesome to be able to get two kids spelling covered in one lesson! :)

I use it only with my youngest b/c he is still learning to read but I don't think it alone is teaching him to read. I like it b/c he can do it alone mostly and it's extra practice. He also does CTGE, WWE, and Pathway readers so it isn't his only LA but is a nice, easy, go to for him to start the schooling part of the day. I agree the pictures leave a lot to be desired and if we come across one we don't get we just skip it. I do like that they are black and white though, my son likes coloring in the pictures after he finishes a page :)

This is our first year homeschooling (started in August) and I'm still figuring it out but I think we will be school-all-year types with less work in the summer b/c we will be outside a lot more. So I think my 6 yo (almost 7yo) will just kind of gel into a second grade level eventually in the next few months. Right now he does- ETC book 4, we will keep going with these books until I think he has learned all he can from them. He likes them and I like them so they get a thumbs up! WWE 1- we started just a month ago on this b/c we are still discovering homeschooling and hadn't discovered these great books yet! We will continue these into at least book 2 b/c I have that one for my older child now and I like them. Math-a tricky subject for my boy and we are still learning what works best for him. We just got MiF 1a and LOF Apples and will see how these two things together work out along with a tiny bit of MM1. Climbing To Good English book 1- LOVE these books, they cover so much! We will keep going with these for sure. He is about half way through book 1. Reading-Just bought some Pathway readers along with the workbook (Days go By) and am excited to try these. Spelling- doing Sequential Spelling with his big sister and it seems to be going well so far! He also gets a lot of spelling practice through ETC and Climbing to Good English so I think we have this covered well. History- We are into early American history right now with a couple different resources but keeping it light, at this age I'm just happy with him getting exposed to some history Science- Same deal as history, we are covering plants right now but keeping it light. Using lapbooking a lot in this subject.

Just looked at that one and liked the looks of it! Seems like she would start right at the 3a books and learn some stuff about shapes which we haven't really explored in depth yet so this would be a nice break for her. And the fact that it's a comic book about beasts would go over well with her I'm sure :)

My daughter is in MM3a right now and we are alternating between the regrouping sections and multiplication sections. She's doing really well with this and getting everything really well but has more days now when she just looks bored and gets a bit whinny about math. I'm not too worried and don't think a switch of curriculum is in order but thought maybe of getting a supplement so she could have a small break from the MM workbooks but still be doing math. Just wondering what others have used as supplements that go well with MM3?

Thank you for all the helpful replies! I like the idea of changing to another math subject for awhile that might be a good shift for him. He is slightly ADD but being home schooled has really made it manageable for him because we only do math (and other subjects) for about 20 minutes at a time which works well for him. I think math is just harder for him so therefore he decides it is the most evil time of the day and gets discouraged and checks out faster then other subjects. Just for fun I ordered a Math In Focus book last night thinking maybe there were some fresh ideas and just a different look that might help get us out of the lull.

Yes we use the abacus and he seems to do well with it, he also does well with c-rods and any type of manipulative if I'm right there explaining it each time but when I try to set him free and do something independently he looses most or all of what we just covered. He can count by tens and ones but still a little shaky on the whole ten ones equals a 10 and then you can count by tens. We are using a little MUS right now and today we worked on adding numbers like 9+8. I would have him make groups with his one blocks of the two numbers and then show him how he could rearrange these groups to make one group 10 and then it is easier to add. He wasn't really staying with me on that and this is when I started to worry that my methods are not working and I need to reevaluate and get some fresh ideas. I'm not too hung up on following a certain curricula (right now I'm using a mixture of MM, MUS and Ronit Bird) with him as long as I can find some method or idea that gets this boy to have an "uh huh! I get it!" moment and be able to hold on to it and use it without me right there re-explaining. Maybe I'm just expecting too much and should keep plugging but i worry that if I'm teaching in a way his mind doesn't grasp then I'm wasting time and making us both hate math time!

My almost 7 yo is struggling with math. I started out with MM for him which was going OK but he seems stuck right now and I feel like I need to find another program that will help him "get" math and break through where he seems to be stuck right now. He is able to do single addition and trying to move on from here has been a struggle. I just feel like I haven't found the right way of teaching this kid math and need some different program suggestions for something that is simple (really breaks down each math concept), repetitive and easy to teach. Any suggestions are welcome!

Are the blocks they sell different from other base 10 blocks? I've see base ten block sets that include ones, tens, hundreds for way cheaper then the set MUS sells on their website. Do we really need the MUS set or can we use something different?

If i'm going to try out the Math-U-see program with my son what do I absolutely need to get. I know the student book is a definite but do I really need the manual? Also I already have a few one blocks and some tens should I just buy some hundreds from another store or are the manipulatives they sell in the MUS store the only ones that will work with the program? Thank you!

What about Miquon? I have looked at it a couple times but can't really figure out if it would be a good fit for my kid or totally throw him for a loop! He does OK with c-rods but we have just done the basics with them so far.

Just checked out that site and it seems great! Thank you for the helpful suggestion, just what I think he needs. I don't have an Apple device so unfortunately I can't get the ebooks but I printed off a lot of the games that are on the site and will play those with him. I will also look into Rightstart. He has been playing this game http://shop.nationalgeographic.com/ngs/browse/productDetail.jsp?productId=1074695a lot recently that I got for Xmas and it seems to be helping him a lot too. I bend the rules a little so he can keep rolling until he is able to shut the box :)

My son sees a therapist and has been diagnosed with ADHD. He isn't currently taking any meds but we are talking about it. He does OK with me homeschooling him as far as keeping focused and getting work done in short spurts but I am starting to realize, mostly in the subject of math, that he doesn't seem to be "getting it". Since this summer we have been working on adding and subtracting numbers within ten and he still uses his fingers and acts like he doesn't understand the idea of addition or even number values. For example today I asked him what two numbers can make 8 and after he was thinking for awhile and clearly needed a clue I said OK what plus 7 would make 8? "5??" he guessed. And this is what it's like almost everyday. I am starting to worry and wonder if there is a different math we could try that would help him understand better or maybe he just needs medication to help him learn?? Right now he uses MM 1 and I also have him using c-rods, abicus, ten blocks, counting bears, basically any math manipulative you can think of! He seems to understand all these things but it just isn't sticking and I'm worried at this point. Any advice would be appreciated oh forgot to mention he is a first grader who will be 7 in March

I want to try (try the key word here!) to start doing some music lessons with my two and am wondering if anyone has a good resource they use as a spine for general music instruction. I did band all through middle and high school so I know how to read music and all about notes and stuff but am looking for a good way to teach all this to a 1st and 2nd grader! Any ideas are appreciated :)

I am teaching plants to my kids now too and am using lapbooking as a starting point/spine. I took some from the Hands of a Child Plants lapbook and modified it slightly and added some of my own stuff to fit my kids ages and interests better and it's working great. I studied Horticulture in college and work in the field now so it's important to me that my kids get as much plant knowledge as they can handle :) I am having the kids make a lapbook based on what I think are the basics of horticultural knowledge (and keeping it simple and within their age range) and plan to branch out from there. At this age I think knowing basic plant parts and functions, the idea of photosynthesis, the difference between a herbaceous and woody, annual/perennial, basic reproduction and maybe throwing in monocot vs. dicot is about what I can expect my kids to retain being this young. From there I want to expand on some plant identification by doing fact sheets and keeping a log of native plants and species that can grow in our region and asking them what plants they want to know about. I still have my plant notebooks from college that I made and plan to use those as a model for what I'll do with the kids. We also will grow our usually garden in the spring and hopefully I'll be able to see them put some of their new plant knowledge to use and keep expanding on it!

Well we were going to start up on the 5th but my work schedule this week gave me 10am-10pm days on Monday and Tuesday :/ So I guess we would start Wednesday but that's the first day of the kids ski program which takes up the whole day so realistically I don't see any school happening that day-or any Wednesday for the next 6 weeks for that matter! But we live in the mountains so skiing is an important life skill for these kids ;) Guess we will try and start Thursday...

The Courage of Sarah Noble http://www.amazon.com/Courage-Sarah-Noble-Alice-Dalgliesh/dp/0689715404 I just got this for my 8yo girl for Xmas so we dont have a review on it yet but I read the back and a couple pages and it looks like a good story. Currently she is reading The Birchbark House along with White Fang and a bunch of other horse books (she likes to be reading lots of things at the same time for some reason?) Also Sarah Plain and Tall might be a good one, thinking of giving that one to my daughter once she catches up on all the books she's reading now and getting for Xmas!

I just got Climbing to Good English books 1-3 and haven't found them preachy. There is a sentence in book 1 that says something along the lines of "dad will get the belt"....but maybe his pants were just too loose? Lots of farm references and there have been a couple pictures I couldn't identify but overall I really like these books! they cover so much of language arts in one workbook.

Great, thanks for the reassurance :) that's what I was thinking but this is my first time using MM, or teaching math altogether, so wanted to make sure it wasn't a huge no-no to skip around.

My daughter just finished MM2b and we are moving on to 3a. She was getting really into the multiplication at the end of 2b and was disappointed to find that 3a started with more addition and subtraction and multiplying didn't start until chapter 2. My question is would it be OK to do chapter 2 first and then go back and do 1? I looked through the chapters and there didn't seem to be anything covered in 1 that would make it impossible to do chapter 2 first but I'm not much of a math person so I wanted to check in here first and make sure I wasn't going to mess things up too bad! :) Thanks

I guess I don't mean a placement test as in the CAT. Just looking for a little something to test their level in math and reading so I can make sure I'm doing this right :) My daughter would be in second grade in public school but would be bored (one reason I HS her) she is older for her "grade level" and is a great learner so was always a little ahead in PS. She loves HS because she can go at her own speed and so far that speed has been fast with all the second grade level work I give her. I'd just like to see where she tests at as it might help me feel more confident about skipping over some second grade things and moving forward more.