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dessertbloom

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Everything posted by dessertbloom

  1. I know TT isn't well loved here, but for those who have been happy with it, do you use it on level or ahead? And what math do you use before TT3? Dd7 has finished MM 1 and seems ready for TT3. Dd6 is starting 1st grade in August. Not sure what I should start her with. We already own MM, Miquon, and R&S Math Grades 1 and 2. With 5 kids ages 7 and under, I'm looking to simplify. 😉 Thanks!
  2. Is Math Seeds alone enough for 1st grade? We have lots of littles and I'm trying to simplify things for next year. Ideally, we'll also try to do some MM1 and maybe a bit of Miquon. I'm feeling guilty with the idea of not going through all of MM 1 with her, but for sanity's sake, we may not find the time.
  3. In the fall, we will have a second grader, a first grader, a PreK/K'er, a toddler, and a baby. :willy_nilly: The oldest 2 are in private school this year, but we did K and PreK at home before that. I'm planning to keep our choices super simple so we can get in the groove of homeschooling again and work on building routine, chores, behavior, etc. Here's what we have planned so far: Bible: the stories with the Millers series, memory work, a family collection of hymns (and maybe Leading Little Ones to God, we'll see) (keeping this simple, read a story, memorize a verse, sing a hymn, done) LA: LOE Foundations (right now we're finishing level A after school, will move into B this summer, I think I can keep both girls together in this, but my PreK/K'er (Dec. bday) is chomping at the bit and has gotten to lesson 15 in A) Math: MM Grades 2, 1; MEP Reception (and maybe Miquon since we have it already) Science: Apologia Astronomy (they've been begging to do this for over a year now), and a bunch of Usborne books on various nature topics Lit: lots of books from FIAR, Sonlight, MFW K, etc. Art: Home Art Studio, a handful of drawing books, and maybe a SCM composer study or two or A Child's First Look Music: piano lessons, and maybe SQUILT We have no state requirements to fill and I really want to leave time in our week for park days, cooking together, play dates, random handicrafts, etc., My oldest really wants to do history, too. I'm planning to do US history the following year and I already have the curriculum for this. We really need to focus on the basics this coming year and history just seems unnecessary to me at these ages. I don't want to start with Ancients and then follow on to US history the next year. If we had a simple read aloud, fun non-text-booky type overview of world history that was appropriate for these ages, I'd be willing to read it if we find the time. We live overseas and don't have access to a good library. Experienced moms of many, how does this plan look to you? I have a tendency to overextend and I really want to avoid that next year. I think that will be key to our success. Any suggestions, recommendations? Thanks in advance!
  4. Thanks, Ellie, we're definitely going to look into it more. DH seems willing to go back to homeschooling as long as we keep all options open for the future. Clonlara might make that possible. 😀
  5. Searching older posts, I didn't find much. Has anyone used Clonlara and can share your experiences? We're looking at it for 2nd grade, 1st grade, and possibly Kindergarten for next year. We live overseas, so I'm not sure if that would make a difference. How does it work for choosing curriculum? How would you describe the balance of parents' freedom vs. their oversight? I would prefer to just do our own thing, but we would need to provide records that are accepted here if the kids need to go into private school at some point in the future. The only options here are K12 and Clonlara. (Those are the only ones accepted by the local educational council that makes all the rules.) Thanks!
  6. Thanks everyone, this was helpful. If anyone is interested, this was the most useful thread I found when first looking into the topic: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/527884-help-me-understand-conceptual-vs-traditional-math/ I guess I'm just so indecisive when it comes to choosing math! I have R&S grades 1 and 2, and all of Math Mammoth, and Miquon, and of course MEP is free online... I keep looking at Singapore. I guess I have to wrap my brain around the more conceptual Asian style teaching of math before I'm comfortable teaching it. I keep seeing in different posts that MM teaches itself, that it is written to the student. Am I missing something? I read the Introduction for each chapter, but within the Worktext I don't really see how it's teaching the student. I only see one or two examples, and then lots of problems to solve. I saw that she has added videos online, that could help I guess. Am I going to be more confused by Singapore switching books and workbooks every 10 minutes, or would it help that it has a Teacher's Manual? Is MEP more or less the same thing, in that it's scripted (and free?) Or should I just stick with old fashioned, tried and true R&S? Ahh... sorry for the stream of consciousness!
  7. Thanks everyone, this was helpful. I think we'll try Reception and just see how it goes. We already have a couple other math curricula that we can branch off to if we don't want to continue after Reception.
  8. I'm trying to learn more about the pros and cons of each. Having grown up with traditional math, I'm so much more comfortable with it. How do you see these two approaches in terms of classical education and the ages and stages of children's development? I have a couple STEM loving kids and want to give them a great start. My oldest did MM 1A at home, then went to private school where she had already learned all of her first grade math before the get-go. I'm trying to decide how to work with her over the summer. My other STEM loving kiddo is just 4, so we have time with him, but he's teaching himself and wants to do school so I'm looking at MEP Reception. I'd love to hear thoughts on this topic! THanks
  9. Most of the reviews I have found are pretty old. I am wondering how it has gone for families who have used it through elementary. It's more conceptual than traditional, right? How does it line up with the ideas in Ruth Beechick's An Easy Start in Arithmetic K-3? I hear it's similar to Singapore? Has anyone done Reception and then switched to something else? General thoughts? Pros and cons? Looking at starting with Reception in the fall for ds who will be 4 turning 5 in December. (I understand it is/was used in the UK for ages 4/5) Thanks!
  10. I've been looking into Foundations and it's really tempting... How teacher intensive do you find it compared to other phonics programs? It seems to me that phonics takes a fair amount of teacher involvement, no matter what program it is, but does Foundations take much in the way of preparation? Have you combined kiddos in the same level? I'm looking at combining my struggling 1st grader and my happy-to-read KG'er. What resources do you really need to start level A? I assume the Phonogram Cards, the Teachers Manual, and the Workbook are essential. Do you use the game cards a lot? If you have kiddos who don't care for games, is there enough practice without them? Can everything else wait until level B? Has anyone used only the downloadable products? A big draw for me is that we live overseas and travel for 2-3 months every summer. Printing off pages of the workbook as needed and using the TM pdf would definitely simplify our luggage situation. We also have 5 kids that are pretty close in age, so saving the cost of buying and shipping workbook after workbook would be great. And lastly, do you find Foundations A-D to really be enough for a thorough phonics program? Are they usually reading well by the end of it? How do you find the pacing? Can anyone compare the content and/or methodology to Rod and Staff Phonics? Thanks so much for any insight! :)
  11. Thanks,Ellie. Would you say LOE is more teacher intensive than R & S for phonics, spelling, and HW? (Foundations vs. R & S 1st and 2nd grade?)
  12. I want a phonics/complete LA program that unifies the different elements of LA and that presents pure phonics in a logical way. I also need something I can use easily in a bigger and busy family. We have 5 kids now that are just 7 years apart in age. We tried AAR and are one of the few families that it just didn't click with. We have started R & S phonics and I was planning to use R & S for all of our LA in the future. But now I'm reading The Logic of English and really love her ideas! So... has anyone tried both and can compare and contrast for me? Which is easier to use in a bigger family? Is one more thorough than the other? Thanks for any advice!
  13. Thanks, everyone, I am hoping to see these two in person at our up coming convention. Hopefully that will help. It is definitely a good point about only having to buy the textbooks once, (and minimal workbooks in the early years) with R&S. I think mine would like the feeling of accomplishing the LU's, but it would add up over time. I remember once reading around here that someone said they use Singapore and just have the bindings removed, punch the pages, put them in a binder, and pull out the pages to be used with a page protector. Nice money saving idea, but is there a benefit in being to go back through their work later? Would that work with LU's, or maybe not so much...?
  14. Sorry, I should have clarified.. I don't plan to be hands off at all in the early years. I'm just thinking down the road. I'd rather not curriculum hop, if possible, and I'd like to stick with a curriculum that will help them develop more confidence and independence in their learning as they get older and more capable. And even later, of course I wouldn't be totally hands off. In the early years, definitely they need to be taught, but some curricula are still more teacher intensive than others in what regards prep work, bells and whistles, etc. I meant more in comparing curricula as a whole (over the span of the different ages and stages). Thanks!
  15. After searching the forums extensively, here is what I've come up with: -both are Mennonite -both are generally solid academic programs, especially for English and math, -both are more get'er done, traditional schoolish, written for 1 room school houses -Both seem to work well for bigger families and encourage independence in the kids from fairly early on (ie, less teacher intensive). -CLE is workbook based, whereas R&S is more textbook based after a certain grade level -CLE is generally spiral in approach, whereas R&S is mastery -CLE Learn to Read may be more phonics based, whereas R&S Phonics and Reading has more sight words (It looks like you may need to do both the phonics and reading programs together for both curricula as they are kind of tied together) -Lots of people seem to not use the spelling that is incorporated in CLE's English, whereas R&S's SSS seems to be pretty popular even for otherwise non-R&S users -CLE goes through grade 12 (with the oldest grades in the first edition?), whereas R&S goes through grade 10 (but what they cover in those 10 years is more equivalent to PS grades 1-12?) Do I have all this right so far? What other differences are there? Any pros or cons to either program? Has anyone used both and really preferred one over the other? (I guess this depends a lot on kids responding better to spiral or mastery, text or workbook...) I'm particularly looking at LA and Math, and we'll probably stick with MFW for everything else (or something that will keep the whole family on the same page for content subjects.) We really need less teacher intensive, open and go, get it done with our team of close-in-age littles. (Just found out we're expecting number 5 in December!) :)
  16. Can anyone compare the scope and sequence of AAR and CLE LTR? If I understand right, AAR takes the student to a 4th grade reading level once they have covered all 4 levels of the program. I'm not as familiar with CLE's scope and sequence. If I understand right, it teaches letter sounds in KII (like AAR Pre-Reading), and then basically covers everything else in what they call 1st grade, right? Beyond that they have the "Reading" program, which is more practice reading and comprehension, etc., right? Is AAR more thorough, or do they end up covering the same amount of phonics? Another consideration is that from the samples I've seen, I think CLE would involve more writing, whereas AAR involves no writing (at least in the levels I've seen).
  17. My first dd now age 6.5 started blending a year ago and is stalling out, too. Her sister, now age 5, started learning along with her (I hadn't planned to start her blending at age 4, but she wanted to and could do it.) They are both now stalling out, too. We're almost through AAR 1, having done all short vowels, consonant blends, and digraphs. I am suspecting the older girl may have a vision problem that's holding her back and I'm trying to arrange an evaluation for her. The younger may just be fatiguing due to her age. Every child is definitely different. Everyone keeps telling me one day it will just happen for them. It definitely helps to change up the way you approach teaching reading, but developmental stages just can't be rushed, either.
  18. Actually, thinking about this post, I think it's not the curriculum, it's the kid! lol She's just going through a phase of being really resistant to reading. I love AAR, but she will only do the word cards. She runs screaming when she sees the readers or the activity book pages or games. But she doesn't want to read anything else, either. I don't think it's just AAR, if I'm honest with myself. She probably needs to be able to read many more words automatically, without sounding them out. Right now we're just going back over the word cards and trying to learn them by sight. I'd like to try AAS with her, but we should probably finish AAR level 1 first, right? Maybe I'll just start also asking her to write the words she learns by sight, then go back over the readers, then try to finish level 1.... Arg, I so much want her to like reading! As far as All About being teacher intensive, it kind of is, and kind of isn't. I love how open and go it is. It has taken me hours and hours of prep in the beginning because I colored, laminated, cut, and filed all the activity book (and Ziggy game supplement) pieces to use for all my littles. But I love how structured and easy to teach it is.
  19. I know AAR and AAS are hugely popular, but has anyone decided that AAR just isn't the best fit for their dc? What did you switch to? How did it go? I'm thinking about switching to CLE's Learning to Read. My dds like workbooks and don't like phonics games or the lengthy stories. I need open and go but didn't really click with the OPG / Phonics Pathways / The Reading Lesson type of all-in-one-book kind. Starting AAS could be a possiblity, but only if we drop AAR. (We finished lesson 38 in AAR). Please tell me I'm not alone in AAR not working for us. Going back and reworking through segments of AAR level 1 just isn't an option. I feel like we need a real change of pace, more writing involved...
  20. Have any of you Math Mammoth moms added Miquon or Life of Fred just for fun or a change of pace, say, once a week? How has it worked for you?
  21. Hmm... for those of you who use Phonics Pathways, do you do the games or the spelling notebook recommendation (recommended on p. 243)? I just sat down to get ready for our phonics lesson today with OPG and realized that the way I was planning to do it really won't accomplish my goal of having something that is no-prep-sit-on-the-couch-and-get-'er-done. Reconsidering Phonics Pathway.
  22. Wow, I was just looking at Progressive Phonics, and it seems like it would be easy to match up the topics with OPG. And they also have a few handwriting, flash card, and activity pages to go with. And very nice that it's all free. :) Thanks, ladies, for all the insight. I think I'm going to try using OPG as a guide because I really feel comfortable with the scope and sequence, not going with the script, doing everything with our letter magnets, white boards, having her write words out, etc, and add reading practice with Progressive Phonics and our Bob Books collections on the side. We'll see how it goes. :)
  23. This is what dissuades me from PP and attracts me to The Reading Lesson! We have the whole Bob Books collection and have been going through those. I like OPG because it is just so logical to me, as far as the order of what skill is introduced when. I like that it has no added markings, and that it is complete. But the sentences in the lessons...well, wow, the vocabulary used! The Reading Lesson is so visually simple. Lots of white space, plenty of practice with cute stories. We've almost finished AAR 1 at this point and I love it, but my oldest dd has started to hyperventilate and run away when she sees the readers or anything from the activity book. And I really want something all-in-one-book at this point. She likes Bob Books because she says they are simpler and shorter. What is holding me back from The Reading Lesson is that it doesn't cover everything and doesn't always explain the phonics rules that are happening. Ahhh, indecision...
  24. Sorry, OPG = The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading by Jessie Wise and Sara Buffington
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