Have you looked into Rod and Staff? I don't know if that's your style or not, but it is a complete curriculum at least.

I don't have SYRWTLS but I am certain you would need to start on book 1, unless he got very far in Duolingo. GSWS is extremely slow and the whole book covers what most Spanish textbooks cover in one chapter. Also, judging from the excerpt available on the GP website, it looks like the CD is essential as it has listening exercises on it. One thing to be aware of...since GP is from the UK, I'm assuming it is geared towards Spanish from Spain, if that matters to you. Good luck :)

I don't know what the book was for sure but it sounds like it might have been Kids Stuff Spanish, which I highly recommend: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/kids-stuff-spanish-pirz/1014050884?ean=9780960614028 It is full of phrases and sentences that come up throughout the day, and really helps with speaking at home.

Thanks for your reply! He has finished MEP 4. I had a baby this year and we got kind of burnt out so since then he's been doing Khan videos. He's pretty quick with fractions and decimals. He's never had any formal teaching on negatives although MEP introduces the concept at a young age. So when I asked him what 5 plus -3 was, he didn't hesitate to say 2, but when I asked what he thought -6 divided by -3 was, he answered -2. I'll do some more work on Khan Academy, fractions, decimals, percentages, and introducing negative numbers and see how that goes. I think from reading other reviews I can see that he would be the type of student who might succeed in AoPS if he was already somewhat familiar with the material. From what I've seen so far Khan Ac. does not go deep at all but it seems to be working at least as an introduction to topics.

My almost 11 year old is able to do all the problems on the AOPS preA pre-test except for multiplying and dividing negatives (he gets the signs wrong.) Would you all say that test is an accurate indication of readiness? We haven't done 5th grade math yet but I was hoping to skip to pre-a, even if its a slow pace. Also how long us the preA book meant to take?

Oops I meant to post this on another thread. Sorry :) will re-post

My almost 11 year old is able to do all the problems on the AOPS preA pre-test except for multiplying and dividing negatives (he gets the signs wrong.) Would you all say that test is an accurate indication of readiness? We haven't done 5th grade math yet but I was hoping to skip to pre-a, even if its a slow pace. Also how long us the preA book meant to take?

Thanks everyone! I'll check out all those resources :)

Anyone know of any spelling programs that are online, preferably free? I've seen sites for extra help with spelling but haven't found anything that could actually replace instruction at home. My kids are 9 and almost 11 and have done almost nothing formally for spelling. I would consider a paid site if it was really good. TIA! Elena

Thanks! We are gong to try to make it. I'll PM you when it gets closer if we are able to go. :)

Thank you. Do you do anything throughout the week with the words you are working on, pre-test/post-test? Sentences (scribed by me)--anything like that? Or do you just follow the lessons?

This is a crosspost from the K-8 forum... If you use Barton, do you use something different for spelling? Or do you do anything extra for spelling? Or do you just go through the script and do spelling as it is addressed in the curriculum? FYI I am using it for one dyslexic 9 year old in Level 4, and one NT 7 year old in Level 3 (speeding through it...will probably overtake brother due to her neurtypicalness :) )

I am going to xpost this on the LD forum, but I am wondering, if you use Barton, do you use something different for spelling? Or do you do anything extra for spelling? Or do you just go through the script and do spelling as it is addressed in the curriculum? FYU I am using it for one dyslexic 9 year old in Level 4, and one NT 7 year old in Level 3 (speeding through it...will probably overtake brother due to her neurtypicalness :) )

Honestly i think it would work with almost any age. My kids are 2nd and 3rd grade and its been awesome for them, but would work for a highschooler or grownup too. My daughter used it last year in 1st and just went at a slower pace, repeating some lessons. She still (at age 7) sometimes does a lesson more than once, but the pace is fine for my son (9 y.o.) It is great for non-readers too, unlike duolingo and some other websites which use reading heavily. Visual Link has some games that require typing, but my kids just call me over when they get to one of those and I type for them. The rest they can do on there own. (My son is dyslexic and cannot use programs that require reading.) I should warn you that the first VL lesson introduces a LOT of new words, and it seems like it will be way to hard for kids. I almost gave up. But after that they reinforce those same words over and over--they don't keep introducing tons of new stuff, and with the repetition my kids were fine with it. I've been really, really impressed with it. Do you stick with one tutor, and have formal lessons, or do you just use it to practice conversation? I've really liked the tutors we've used, but not sure how to use it to its fullest potential...

We have used 121spanish.com, and have had a very positive experience. The tutors have been great--very friendly and very professional. But nothing we've done has been as effective as Visual Link. Its not a tutor or teacher, but it is formatted kind of like a class in the sense that you do Lesson 1, Lesson 2, etc. Now that my kids have been doing Visual Link for a few months they are able to communicate SO MUCH more than before, so I'm thinking of scheduling some more 121spanish time.

I just googled "Mona Brookes Drawing With Children Lesson Plans" and hit on this old thread. Thank you so much Barb!!! I have had the book for years and just don't 'get it'...This will be such a help to us, especially with the page number references. I have one child who lives and breathes art, and another who really wants to improve but can barely draw a square. This will really be a blessing to us this year as they have both requested 'more art' and I was lost... Thank you so much! :hurray:

My daughter had IXL assigned as homework each night for first grade last year. After a few months I stopped making her do it. It was b-o-r-i-n-g, as in 20 of the exact same problem in a row. "Which object is on the right?" "Which object is on the right?" "Which object is on the left?" On top of being boring, it was also very frustrating for her because if she started getting problems wrong, it would take points away and she would start getting farther and farther from being able to complete a level. She did like getting a token at the end, but I just didn't see the point in making her do it every night so we stopped. The teacher never mentioned it. :) Every now and then it was useful for drilling a specific topic, but I would never have paid for it.

I agree to look into LOF and also Miquon...its more self-directed so you'd be able to take a step back.

I realize this is a bit old, so perhaps you've already had this answered on another thread, but.... I have the My First Chinese Words set of 36 books, the CD Rom, and the Workbooks. The workbooks are helpful, but not really essential. I could take or leave them. But I do wish I had ordered the CD or DVD with the songs on it. They put each of the 36 story books to music, and have really helped me and my kids remember the stories. I think flash cards are necessary too, but I'm not sure yet if I'm going to make my own or order the ones from Better Chinese. I have also just discovered they have a My First Chinese Dictionary which looks very useful and I plan on getting. Really though, the My First Chinese Words 36 Books with Audio CD ($50) is the only things that is necessary, and everything else just supports learning the characters in those stories.

Oh, ok. That actually makes a big difference. If it has parts of the lessons built in, such as the words for each lesson, then I can understand that they wouldn't want to 'give that away.' Thanks for the clarification. I take back part of my rant. ;)

When you click on the story on the CD Rom there is an option for English translation. However once you get the hang of it, each story only introduces a few new words and they try to make them easy to guess what the words mean so that the child (or us parents) can pick up on the meaning by context/picture. ETA: Oops. I have My Firs Chinese Words. Not sure if it is the same for Reader, but maybe?

Exactly...and same with Wilson, Recipe for Reading, or any other OG products I've seen. If you want to order just one part of any of those programs, you can. I think Barton's argument is that it has to be sold together because you have to do the whole program in order to be effective, but I don't buy that. I think its a business decision. And I wondered the same thing about the tiles. By setting the price so high, they are basically guaranteeing very few will buy it. I honestly was expecting the app to cost $14.99 and to include all the tiles. I think many, many people would buy it at that price (like you said, whether Barton users or not) and they'd end up making more money. I just don't get why they are being so proprietary and possessive over THE ALPHABET. My biggest fear with Barton is that I am sitting on all these completely overpriced materials and then the bubble will burst and I won't be able to get my money out of it. All it will take is someone from Wilson to write some lesson plans...

Another thing to try since you don't have much experience yourself is the Elementary Spanish program through Discovery Streaming. There is currently a free trial at HSBC, so its a great time to try it out. Personally I like the 3-5 program more than the Grade 1-2, but they have a teacher delivering all the lessons which might be a big bonus for you. Although he isn't a native speaker his accent is great and he is very comfortable speaking in Spanish. BJU Spanish is another program that i'm using this year. It comes with lesson plans, CDs, stories, etc. I think the newer version has DVD instruction as well. It is scripted so if you could at least read Spanish you could use it. (It is very religious though.)

Just saw that there is a supply list on the yahoo group website. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/K5science/files/

I'm totally inspired now...going to get my materials together too!