Those of you that have used it to teach reading, how did you do it? Did you do it exactly how SWR tells you to do it? Start with the spelling lists etc? Did you have your child just read from the lists in the WG or did you have them write them? Ds is 4 and we are working on learning the phonograms and writing them. We are going very slow. I am thinking by 5 (July) he will be ready to start learning to read. He is very interested. I used SWR with dd but I did it my own way. Not at all by the book. We mainly learned the phonograms and some rules and then sat down with readers and progressed through them with me by her side helping her. We would notice multi-letter phonograms and even underline them sometimes as we went along. We then started the spelling lists in 1st grade. By this time she was already reading above grade level. The thing is, I have no idea if it was because of the instruction she received or if she was just a natural. KWIM? If you used SWR the way the book describes, how did it work for you? I can't imagine ds will be ready to sit down to the log at 5. I know my dd wasn't although she was definitely ready to learn to read. If you used SWR materials in your own way, I'd love to hear about that too. Thanks, Sandy

Sure! I just took a pan that I rarely use. I guess it's maybe 9x13. Pour some salt in the bottom and that's it. I show ds how to form the letter and he copies it or at least tries to. lol I like it because he can just shake it to clear the letter and start over. He loves to do this. Just put in enough salt to cover the bottom with a thin layer. He also uses the chalkboard a lot. Sandy

We are starting with lowercase here for my 4yo. We are using a salt box and he loves it! We use SWR and that's what they recommend. With dd7 I did uppercase and it did take forever for her to stop writing in caps. To this day she will still sometimes write a capital T in her name (Samantha). Just my 2 cents:001_smile: Sandy

I just bought these http://rainbowresource.com/product/Tactile+Letters+Kit/025348/1232485960-1128663 I don't have them yet but they look pretty good. Sandy

Thanks so much!! Sandy

Looking at Building Thinking Skills by Critical Thinking Co or Critical Thinking Activities by Dale Seymour. Is one better than the other? Any other recommendations for a 7yo? Thanks, Sandy

Thanks so much! I have some time to decide. It's just so hard! Sandy

Just wondering what your experience has been using this program. Do you find the pace at which phonograms are introduced to be too slow? Just right? I was noticing for instance that the ir of first wasn't introduced until level 3. So words like bird or first wouldn't be taught until level 3?? That seems a tad slow to me. I am used to SWR that teaches them all from the start. Just wondering since I may use this with my ds when he starts K. Thanks, Sandy

Thank You! That was very helpful. Sounds like you have a great system. Sandy

How exactly does that work? Do you give dc the list of words for the week in the SPD book? How do you handle words dc does not know before dictating a sentence? My dd is 7. I do want her to learn all of the rules. I am not confident enough to know all the rules for a word on the fly. That's why SWR is so appealing to me. The other thing I love about SWR is how it teaches to break words in syllables. This really helps dd when writing a word into her log. It forces her to think of how the word should be spelled rather than just doing it from memory. On the other hand, I do need more in terms of spelling words in everyday writing. IMO, SWR lacks in that department. If SWR had spiraling dictation sentences it would be perfect. We are on list K and dd always gets a 100 on her test. I do notice in her free writing she will spell some easy words incorrectly. But if I ask her to spell the word in isolation when she has to think about it, she gets it right. Thanks, Sandy

Thanks so much! I just pm'd you. Sandy

How do you do that when the word list don't match up? I can't seem to figure this out. For instance, if you are on list J, where would you pull the sentence dictation from SP? Or do you not worry about that and just start from the beginning dictating sentences? I am seriously thinking of switching to AAS for this reason alone. I want more than the dictation sentences in the Wise Guide. I have a hard time trying to dream up my own sentences. I hope this makes sense? I currently use SWR but want more sentences using current and past words for review. I know some of you use SP along with SWR but I just don't get how it works. If someone could give me a typical day example using both SWR and SP that would be great. Thanks, Sandy

Thanks for the suggestions! These are great ideas. Today was a little crazy trying to coordinate the two at the same time but we made it work. Thanks, Sandy

I have posted many times about my dd's attitude towards school. Well, after both kids decided to smear gum (I have no idea what got into them) on our flat screen tv, I grounded them both for the first time. I took everything away, including the TV to prevent dh from possibly killing them. This in turn forced me to find something for ds (4) to do at the homeschool table since he had nothing else to do. Don't get me wrong, he was still playing but way more involved than he normally is. He usually will watch an educational show and play in the living room. Having the tv off and having ds sitting with us at the table (or in the same room) proved to be a good thing. He loves being included and dd feels like she is not missing out. I had no idea she had felt this way. She was jealous of her brothers free time. That coupled with no tv, has been a miracle in this house. Dd just walked in the room. When I told her we were about to get started, she said "ok". What? She usually rolls her eyes and starts telling me how much she hates school etc. I am a happy camper. I hope this lasts. I need some ideas as to what to do with ds though. I noticed yesterday that I was spending a lot of time trying help him with his puzzle where he would match up numbers and pictures etc. This in turn caused school to last a lot longer. It was no big deal, nobody complained :lol: but I was thinking I need to find some more educational type things for ds to do that don't need too much parent envolvement. Maybe some self corrected actvities. We have done absolutely nothing in terms of school related activities with him other than reading and I am fine with that. We are doing SL with both kids. Dd core 1 and ds core A (which is just reading). I'm really just looking for some fun stuff for him to do by himself with little help from me. We do have Singapore K math and those Rod and Staff preschool workbooks that we will start with him but he'll need constant guidence on those. I am looking for things he can do at the table that won't distract dd. So maybe fun stuff for a 4yo and not so fun for a 7yo. lol Any ideas? Thanks, Sandy

Ok, first of all, my name is sandy..not Snasy. LOL OhElizabeth, I couldn't figure out why you wrote that until I went back and looked at my post. I must have been really tired when I signed that post. lol Thanks everyone. I don't want to push her. I will back off somewhat and let her read things that are more age appropriate no matter what her reading level. What I had started doing before our break was having her help me read the SL read alouds. The books I was to read to her. I was asking her to read a page and she seemed fine with that. I was just afraid reading at her age level would not allow her to progress. For what it's worth, I wasn't asking her to read books on a 6th grade level. I knew that was too much for her maturity wise. She does do a lot of extra reading. magazines, books, internet, labels on food, etc. I just need to chill out. lol Thanks, Sandy

My 7yo dd can easily read on a 5th-6th grade level. She has no desire to read on that level though which I can understand. What do you do in this situation? Just let them read what interests them? I want her to keep going but also don't want to bore her to tears. At the same time, when I ask her to pick a book to read, she selects books way below her ability. For instance, she would choose a Magic Treehouse or Rainbow Fairy or something along those lines. Is this ok or should I find some interesting books on her level? If so, what? She is starting to choose books based on the length of the chapters. If the chapers look long, she'll put it down. The last book I made her read was Socks by Beverly Cleary. I say made because it was one of her readers in SL. She resisted me every day but as she got further into the book, she loved it! She was so glad she had listened to me and read the whole thing. She is real bad about reading a few chapters of a book and then never touching the book again. She doesn't give the book a chance. Should I be pressing on and making her stick with it? Or should I let her read whatever she wants? Thanks, Snasy

Is there a program you use? We use SWR. My 7yo dd always gets the tests right but when writing stories, she frequently spells words wrong. I know that's normal. Just curious about copywork and spelling. Would love to simplify our day. Thanks, Sandy

Well, I wasn't going to get up but I naturally woke up at 3:15 thinking about that globe. :glare: I headed over to Kohl's and could not believe the line. :001_huh: Anyway, waited in line for a few minutesfor the doors to open, got the globe, and came home. Here's hoping the darn thing doesn't break. There were quite a few people on Amazon that had problems. Sandy

Just curious what you think. I am a mom that will need help with writing. I am guessing I will need something like IEW in either 3rd ot 4th grade for dd. I have always been really curious about the Writer's Jungle. Is it something you found helped you? Dd is 7 and in 2nd. I would love to encourage her writing in the best possible way. Would buying and reading WJ help? Or do you find there is still not enough instruction to put it into place? It's a good deal with the $25 black friday discount. Thanks, Sandy

lol I see Kohl's has this for $59.99 in the am. Is that a good price? Worth it to get up that early? Thanks, Sandy

We hired a spanish tutor that was recommended by a friend of mine. She provides all material as well as homework that needs to be done during the week. She starts next week! It's $30 for 1/2 hour for both kids. I can't wait to see how this goes. Good luck, Sandy

My 7yo dd does this. She doesn't throw a fit but she gives me lip like you wouldn't believe! She says she would rather play. I would love tips on how to curb this. I am to the point, I can't take it anymore. This is not what I expected. She did say the other day that she was jealous of her brother because he didn't have to do school. Sandy

No, I have not. I'll go check it out! Thanks everyone! Sandy

Dd wants to learn cursive. What is the best cursive program? HWT? I have Cursive First but I am really thinking I might want more of a workbook for more practice. Anything to go along with CF? Is there any reason to choose one program over another? For instance, CF starts the letter c at the baseline. It makes sense to do this. Do all programs do this? If not, which way is better? Thanks, Sandy

Is there a program out there that does this? I want to get my 4yo started. I like HWT but the whole first book is all capitals. My plan now is to just teach lower case letters the way SWR does it. I was thinking though, it would be nice to have a program where he did a page or so a day similar to HWT. Thanks, Sandy