http://www.christianbook.com/ they have some good samples to glance at if you search out the book you want to see and then click the "additional views" link under the picture of the book cover. I bought the first two books and really like the looks of them, just unsure how best to use them for my oldest!

I just got Spellwell books A and AA for my kids ages 6 1/2 and almost 8. the 8 yo would be a second grader at PS this year and the 6 yo would be first. I have pretty much decided to not worry too much about spelling with the younger at the moment but he will do it later on, he does explode the code book 2 right now and I kind of count that as no pressure spelling practice. The older doesnt use explode the code or any phonics b/c she reads at about a 4th grade level and I figure she's all set with phonics instruction. My question is would it be OK to start her with the AA book even though she hasn't used the A book? The spelling words in A seem like she would breeze through and be a waste but I'm worried about not following the program as suggested. Does anyone have experience using these books who could give me some direction? Than you!

My 6 yo is VERY high energy and doing any seat work is hard for him. A lot of times he has to stand up to do his work or take frequent breaks to go do some somersaults or flips on the couch so he can focus again. His work time is all at once but with these breaks between subjects that help him get out some energy so he can focus and loose some of his wiggly-ness! I'd say we do about 15-20 minutes and then have a quick break if needed. If he is having a good space of time though were he is able to focus I take advantage and push through all our subjects. A typical day- He does 1-2 pages of ETC book 2, 1 page of MM1A, a page of HWT cursive (he loves this so this is a good thing to suggest when he is loosing interest in school work), usually also does some other kind of copywork that is writing or spelling based and reads out loud to me. Every other day-ish he also sits with his older sister to do science and history but I ask less of him during these lesson then I do his 8 yo sister. Side note- I'm really finding that HS is the best choice for this boy, I can't imagine how he would sit in a classroom all day!

Yes those replies both help me grasp this a little better, thank you for taking the time to help me :) What we are getting stuck on the most is that the exercises in KISS give sentences that sometimes don't have complements according to the answer key and I guess when you are out looking specifically for a complement in a sentence and are still learning what they are your mind is more apt to find them when they aren't there. For example the sentence: "So they both hopped out of their warm house." no complement there but my daughter circled "house" as the complement and it took me some good thinking to see why it was wrong!

I am using KISS grammar for my 8 year old (the second grade level 1) and am stuck on explaining complements! I don't understand it so I can't teach her to understand it :/ Does anyone have any other material on complements they could share that could explain this part of a sentence a little better? I never learned grammar in school so it is all new to me and proving difficult :/ Maybe KISS is too hard for me!? Thanks in advance :)

OK this makes more sense. Also I went back and looked through the book more carefully and am grasping the idea and method of this program a little better now. I tend to rush into new things and need to remember to slow down and "read the directions"! I was having my daughter do her own narrations- asking her something she remembered about the passage and write it down. I thought this seemed simple enough but am understanding now that it is actually hard for her (she gets super frustrated over this exercise) and the way they have the teacher write it first and then have the student copy it sounds like a better place for us to start out. I thought the copywork looked so easy but I am understanding now more about the process of learning to write that comes out of this repetition and learning writing by seeing how writers write!

I have an 8 year old who would be in 2nd grade this year if in public school. This is our first year at home and I picked up WWE for her and went with level 1 since I didn't want her missing anything before going on to level 2. Well it seems easy for her and I am wondering if it's OK to breeze through this book at a faster pace and skip some things that she already seems to get? I feel like maybe I am missing something though and don't want to skip anything vital towards the overall goal of the program that is in this level. She is a good writer and also does poetry copywork and memorization, HWT cursive and KISS grammar.

Do/did you use anything else with it? My almost 8 year old is using it now and loves doing grammar! Don't know where she gets that from but I'm excited she's excited and want to know if there are any other good workbooks we could use that might go along good with the KISS program. We do the exercises that go with each lesson but I think she'd like even more and I'm happy to give her more practice on the different subjects we are learning about. And yes I mean it when I say "we". I never learned grammar in elementary school b/c my teacher didn't think it was essential so I am learning right along with her! She's better then me at it though....

Makes me think of the log flume rides at either Santa's Village or Storyland but those are both on a water track

I'm not sure where in VT you are traveling from but sounds like maybe it would be less backtracking if you do the Cog Sunday and the Storyland trip Monday. Also I'll add one more possible stop to your NH journey- If you happen to travel through the town of Littleton, NH while on your way through from VT to the Cog/Conway it's worth stopping in this town for a minute or two. There is a candy store (Chutters) there with the longest candy counter in the world! whole lot of candy and some neat NH souvenirs too! Just thought I'd throw that suggestion out too as it's a visitor favorite in this area :) Also on that same main street just a few stores down is a great little bookstore that keeps lots of educational toys and workbooks stocked up for the local homeschoolers :) I have found some good things there for our school! Also one more thing to add- your drive from the Cog to Conway is really pretty with lots of sites to see right on the side of the road as you drive by. There are a couple of flume cascades, Webster Cliffs, the Willey house historic site, the Saco river follows the road and is really pretty, and watch for moose on this road! I have always seen a lot on this route.

This is my neighborhood so I guess I'll add some input :) I've actually never been on the Cog or to the top of Mt. Wash despite living in the area and within sight of the mountain my whole life! I hike with my kids a lot (we are working on the 4000 footer list) but haven't done Mt. Wash yet. I've heard its a zoo up there in the summer and there is even a line to take an official summit photo but it is def. a peak I need to climb sooner then later! Anyway, if you do go ahead with the train ride I'd second the advice to dress in layers. By this time next month there could very well be a few inches of snow up there even if it's still in the 50s down here. Also plan for lots of other visitors around that time (Columbus day weekend) peak leaf peeper time for the area! Storyland is a cool spot but it closes Columbus Day and as of Labor Day is only open Sat and Sun (same with lots of attractions around here, just a heads up). The Conway Railroad would be something I'd also suggest, I've never done it but it looks cool. Some other things I'd recommend in the area (all really close to the Cog) are the AMC center which has a cool play area and lots of info on hikes nearby, a visit to the Mt. Washington Hotel which is on the same road and a historic hotel of America, has a lot of old pictures around inside and they give hotel tours everyday at 10 and 3. Also the nearby ski mountain (which is also owned by the same company as the hotel, Cog etc) has free chairlift rides to the top of the small mt. and a restaurant at the top. As far as lessons leading up to your visit the book Cat in the Clouds we have read and I'd recommend. Just as a heads up though the book was written a few years ago so the cat in the book isn't a resident of the Observatory anymore. Another thing to study might be the different plants you can find up there in the alpine zone. It's good to teach kids to respect the foot paths and not step on any vegetation, they have a hard enough job just trying to live up there :) Have fun on your trip and enjoy the area whatever you decide to do!

Does anyone have a good resource for sight words for a 1st grader? I'm not doing a real formal spelling program with my 6 year old this year but would like him to get to know some simple sight words better. I can do a google search for resources but wanted to check in here and see if there might be some recommendations, thanks :)

I use it with my 6 and almost 8 yo. My younger (boy) gets through only a page at a time with me helping him b/c he has trouble staying focused and doesn't really get math as well as my older who does it all independently and is on 2a right now. She can do 3 pages in 20-30 minutes usually.

Thank you for all the suggestions, this is what I needed, more ideas :) checking all these out!

I've been using Spelling Workout with my daughter and am not really loving it. I'd like something with a little more to it I guess? I know I don't want AAS or anything similar to that. I like a workbook style that she can do somewhat independently. She is 7 but almost 8 and according to PS would be 2nd grade but works at a 3rd grade level. what else should I look into?

Cool. thanks for the confirmation :) My guy does read fairly well and is around a mid-1st grade level if I had to guess. He also does a daily one-two sentence journal entry and gets some spelling practice in there as well. He also adores writing on the dry erase board so he sometimes likes me "quizzing" him on some of his ETC words so he can try writing them on the board by himself.

I have a first grade boy who is currently in book 2 of ETC and has also been using Spelling Workout book A. I found today that his spelling lesson wasn't matching up with the words and rules he was learning in ETC and he was a bit confused. It also dawned on me that he actually gets a bit of spelling practice out of his ETC lessons. So it got me wondering if this was enough for a first grader? Can we just count ETC as spelling too? Has anyone else used this approach at this age?

I'm using MM this year for my kids and last year they went to public school for K and 1st grade. It really seemed like my daughter, then in 1st grade, didn't even do math. she would sometimes come home with a worksheet she had done that seemed to be mostly counting and finding the ways to make 5 through 10. My son who was in K last year and for homeschool is right now doing MM 1A (a couple weeks into it) seems to already be ahead of what my daughter covered in PS grade 1 last year. my daughter got bored with her school work in PS last year and I supplemented at home a little with some math and so now she is getting through MM2A without any issues. So by my PS experience my kids are already ahead of what they would probably get out of the same whole grade year in PS and they haven't even gotten to the B part of their MM year! But again this is just my one year experience with PS and other schools could be different, I just found the math my kids were getting at school to be really slow paced and also just not as nicely taught and explained as MM.

Well I have been having the kids do some lessons through the summer but nothing that I felt was official. So I tried to make yesterday our "first day" and told them that from now on we are doing school everyday because school is back in session. They both went to PS last year and know what that is like but they are giving me such a hard time about doing anything! whining, pouting, acting like total off the wall nut balls! I have a feeling they are not taking me as serious as they did their teachers last year and am not sure how to remedy this and I find myself just getting frustrated and loosing my temper! Hoping this will pass with time :/

I just remembered we also had silent reading time once we got to about 6th grade and they called it U.S.S.R which somehow stood for silent reading time? And I remember our 7th grade homeroom teacher reading us Prozac Nation and all of us being sufficiently enthralled and disturbed at the same time! I'm not sure we got to the end of it before a parent complained... This would have been 1994, I think she was a new teacher that year and only was there a year or two

Yes I can recall being read too in the early years in the classroom and in the library every time we went. My aunt was the librarian when I was in elementary school and loved Bill Peet books so I heard all of those and learned to love his books so much I even read his autobiography when I was a bit older and loved that too! My 3rd grade teacher I remember very vividly reading us lots of Rahl Dahl and she was also the teacher that had us sing Beatles songs in the classroom and preform them at open house :) I also remember doing the round robin style starting around 4th grade but still also getting read to by the teacher all the way through to high school I think. It's funny how I can remember so many of the books and experiences of being read to over the years from K-12 grade, goes to show how important reading to and with kids can really be!

this is an interesting topic. My kids are only 6 and 7 and play everyday of course so I can't really share in experiences in the parenting of tweens yet! But I do have one of my own experiences to share in the conversation that I think relates to the public school vs. homeschooled kids point. I was never homeschooled but we lived (still live) in a very rural area and didnt have cable TV or even lots of store bought toys so much of my playtime was in the woods making up games and adventures, really a pretty great place to grow up! Anyway, I can distinctly remember as a 5th grader, in public school, talking with peers about what our morning rituals were like. I mentioned that I got up and got ready for school and if I had time would play before leaving for school. Another kid proceeded to tease me and act disgusted that I still "played"! I remember feeling badly and thinking I was a baby for wanting to still play and make up games. I don't think it stopped me but it def. made me doubt myself and feel pretty bad. I was a super sensitive kid though and can remember a lot about public school and the teasing and bullying that goes with it! So I do thikn a lot of kids shying away from "playing" can be related to peer pressure and unfortunately now a days kids grow up too quickly and find things that are "cool" are things that make them small adults and less child-like.

My son is also 6 and HSing in 1st grade right now. He did HWT in his K public school last year and his handwriting is really good now. I have decided the 1st grade HWT book is redundant and not necessary if he is practicing his print in journal work and other everyday lessons. My daughter is a year older then him and did K and 1st grade in PS where she also did HWT so I have seen the 1st grade workbook and it is basically a review of the first. I've also looked over the second grade print book and have skipped that too and am moving on to cursive with my daughter (now in 2nd grade HSing). If either of my kids printing had been shaky looking I might have done another year in the print books but they actually look better then mine so we are moving on to cursive. My son also says he wants to try cursive now but I'm stalling on it slightly b/c he gets easily frustrated when something is hard for him and math is already giving him enough troubles right now so I'm going to wait until maybe mid-year to look at it with him again. I like the idea of special writing tools to make handwriting and writing in general practice more fun, I might have to use that since my kids sometimes pout when I say they have to write anything!

I was in the same boat a few weeks ago! My kids are 1st and 2nd graders and in the end I just picked one and am trying it out. I picked a less expensive one so that if it is a flop I didnt waste too much on it! So far we really like it though and it fits well into our homeschool. I went with Math Mammoth the digital copy so I can use it for both kids. Good luck choosing, it isn't an easy thing!

Thank you! These are all great ideas and just what I needed to get my mind moving in the scheduling direction :) Going to work on it today. We already started into some HSing shortly after they finished K and 1st grade in PS this past Spring but it's mostly been my chance to test the waters and find curriculum. so the real fun starts probably in the next week or so as soon as I get this scheudle under control! :)