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NicA

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Everything posted by NicA

  1. :iagree: We are almost done with my dd's Kindergarten year right now, but we are doing Abeka 1 reading. We had started OPG, and while I loved it my dd definitely did not. She always complained about reading, but now she says it is her favorite subject. I plan to go back to OPG after we finish Abeka 1, and I think it will be a lot easier for her after the Abeka reading foundation. I don't do everything in the phonics lesson though. I just quickly go over the new sounds, and then we read the assigned book and the Handbook for Reading. I did buy the Letters & Sounds and so far she hasn't had any trouble at all. If we get to a point where it seems more difficult for her, then I will spend more time on the phonics lesson.
  2. I know, they have so many optional items. I did Math K with my dd last year, and I definitely did not buy everything. You won't need to. I bought... Number Skills K Homeschool K5 Numbers Curriculum Homeschool Charts & Games (8.5 x 11) The charts and games you could do without, but they do get used quite often. I also bought number flashcards from Lakeshore, but you could make these or buy them pretty much anywhere these days for a lot cheaper than Abeka. There were other things that the curriculum said to use during the year that I just skipped like the learning games. I believe at the very end of the year I needed the addition flashcards. I actually found the Abeka version at a used curriculum sale for a great price, but I never would have paid full price for them. I will be doing this program again with my ds next year, and I am not planning on buying anything else. I hope that helps!
  3. I will be doing year 1 LG with my dd6 and ds4 next year. We will be starting in September, and I am so excited to finally get started. I bought it 2 years ago, so I have been waiting quite awhile.
  4. My dd sounds just like yours! Everything we do seems really easy for her...except reading. We just started a reading chart that has been helping immensely. She is so much more motivated now that she gets a sticker on her chart when she does a good job (which basically translates to staying focused, she reads pretty well when she actually tries). This is what we use and our schedule... These are all 4 days/week, since my dd goes to a homeschool enrichment program 1 day/week. Handwriting - Abeka cursive 1 (10 min) Math - Abeka Arithmetic 1 & Singapore 1A (20 min) Phonics - Explode the Code 3 (5 min) Spelling - Spelling Workout A (10 min) Writing - Writing with Ease 1 (10 min) History - Adventures in America (15 min) Science - Elemental Science: Intro to Science (15 min) Reading - Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading (anywhere from 10 to 30 min :tongue_smilie:) Read Alouds - (30 min) 2 days/week Grammar - First Language Lessons 1 (5 min) Art - Artistic Pursuits & Abeka Art 2 (30 min) She has 3 chores that she has to do everyday, and then there are extras that she can do as well. I let her do them whenever she wants throughout the day. At this point I'm not too hard on her about the chores, but she doesn't get to check them off for the day unless all 3 are done. With school work, she is not allowed to do anything else until she is done. It only takes about 2 hours most days to finish everything so she still has plenty of free time.
  5. I agree that the borders are kind of annoying! In Acrobat you can just choose the area that you want to print, so I never printed anything with the borders. Maybe that is why the ink didn't seem like a problem for me. I also agree it would be nice if the level of difficulty increased as the program progressed. When my ds3 started with letter A, I only chose a few of the easier items and then started adding different things every couple of weeks. Now I have added in some of the K4 pages as well, so the level of difficulty has increased since the beginning but it did take extra time to go look for more on her website. If you buy the program, there is a review section as well that has a bunch of good stuff!
  6. I am using Letter of the Week with my ds3, and he loves it! It does take some time to get everything printed and organized, but it has been worth it. We are on letter t this week, and I am kind of sad that it will be finished soon. There are a lot of activities every week, so I mix them up and add in some other things as well so it doesn't get monotonous. I have a color ink jet printer, but I don't feel like my ink spending has gone up that much at all. I also don't laminate most of it since he is my last preschooler, but I definitely would if I had another child who was going to use it.
  7. We have been using this for about 4 months now, and it has been great. My dd is in K, and I think it has been a perfect intro to studying history. She really loves learning about the states too! We are doing the whole program (states, narr, etc.), except we don't get to the projects all the time. :tongue_smilie:
  8. I wrote and asked her about a month ago, and she said it is closed for this academic year. She didn't say exactly when it would be available again, but I'm hoping it will be early summer. I don't want to wait until August either!
  9. I am using Elemental History with my dd5, and we are really enjoying it. We are starting Week 12 tomorrow, and so far so good! We haven't done all of the projects, but the weeks we have done them they have been simple and fun. My dd loves maps, so learning about 1 or 2 states each week has also been a plus. I have been meaning to blog about this program for awhile, but I am seriously bad at updating my blog. Maybe this will inspire me!
  10. I was planning on starting the 4 year history cycle with my dd5 this year, but it just seemed like too much for her. I wanted something lighter to start out with, and I found Adventures in America by Elemental History. It is US history, so if you were wanting world history then this wouldn't work for you. We are loving it so far! It is a great intro to studying history, and it is so easy to get done.
  11. We are really enjoying it! It's perfect for a child that has never done history before. I am planning on using TOG with SOTW eventually, but I just felt like that might be too much for my DD5. I wanted to start teaching history though, and I am so glad this program came along. It is a perfect fit for my DD. She loves coloring, writing, crafts and maps, and you do those every week. The first day you read the text and then do a coloring page and narration. The second day you read the text, do copywork and there is a craft project to do (we have done 5 of the 6 weeks, so that's pretty good)! The third day you learn about 1 or 2 states, fill out a worksheet about each state, and then color in the state(s) on a blackline map of the US. It is very simple and easy to get done, but my DD is learning a lot and actually remembering what we have read!
  12. My dd liked them, but I don't think they were really necessary. I was able to get them really, really cheap at a used curriculum sale, so it was worth it. I probably would have felt a bit ripped off if I had paid full price for them.
  13. I forgot to answer the pages question. :D The student workbook is 180 pages, and the teacher's guide is 151. Plus 2 cover pages. I won't print it all out, but it might be cheaper to buy the print version. I just didn't want to wait though!
  14. I downloaded this yesterday, but I haven't had a chance to really look through it. I think it is going to be perfect for us, since I just wasn't sure my dd was ready for SOTW or TOG yet. I believe the program is secular. Of course, God and religion are mentioned since it is a US history curriculum. I can't wait to start using it in a couple of weeks!
  15. My dd5 also hated this book. I couldn't even get it out without her having a meltdown. We took a little break, and then I started writing out the lessons on our whiteboard. I couldn't believe how much better she did after this little change. There is just something about that book, I guess! We now get through most lessons in about 10 or 15 minutes, and I will break up some of the longer ones into two days. I am glad we went back to it, because she is reading better and faster every week. I doubt I will ever be able to stop writing the lessons out myself, but that's ok. :001_smile:
  16. I am planning on doing the read alouds for Sonlight K this year with my 5.5dd. I would actually love to find an IG for cheap, because it would be great to have the questions for the read alouds. I have decided Sonlight isn't for us, but I do love their read aloud selections and I have already started to buy them so that we can start in July.
  17. I started AAS a few months ago with my dd5. When we started she was actually struggling with reading. She seems to have turned the corner now with reading, and AAS has not been too hard for her at all. For her it has been great to do along side of reading and phonics, because it offers even more practice and reinforcement.
  18. I know exactly how you feel. It is so nice when all of your friends just already know! :001_smile:
  19. I read this whole post, and didn't realize this was you until I read your sig! :D I'm sorry this has become stressful. You know I have no idea about ballet or gymnastics, but I don't think other sports are much different. From my experience if the kid loves what they are doing then it doesn't matter how much time they put into it. We have coached some kids who were extremely talented that are burned out by the time they are 16, because they didn't love what they were doing. (And they only start vb when they are 12 or so.) Then we have coached kids who are just so in love with the game that they can't get enough, and do whatever it takes to get to the next level. And I definitely wouldn't feel bad about the gym. If they have her in the class for the right reasons, then they will want you to do what is best for her...even if that means taking her out.
  20. We have used Abeka and Zaner-Bloser for Kindergarten. If your child struggles with handwriting then I would go with Abeka. There is a lot of review, and the program provides a ton of practice. My dd has been writing for quite awhile now, and it gets to be a bit much. We will be switching back to Zaner-Bloser for 1st grade, but then I may use Abeka again for cursive in 2nd grade.
  21. I bought this to do with my 3 year old ds. We are going to start it in a few months. I've been looking through it and printing and laminating for the last few weeks. I'm excited to start this with him, and he is looking forward to it as well. He is always asking to do his own school!
  22. :iagree: I should have mentioned we use AAS too! I think that has been a huge help with my dd's reading as well. With OPG I write what she needs to read on our big white board, because she hated seeing the book too.
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