Gratefulmom just posted somethings about LanguageSmarts, which I hadn't heard of. I am trying to bring together a more comprehensive, and not so piecemeal language arts curriculum together now that we are really starting school. All of myDS5's friends (but one) are going to K; and we are staying home. DS5 is doing Time4Learning online for most of his language arts, adding some workbook in from My Father's World because it was a first-glance, good piecemeal fit with T4L. He still really likes T4L because it is on the computer, of course; but my DS is also a wholethinker and can't deal with long-drawn out curriculum, once and got-it. But, he also has to tie in one more thing to just seeing it to help him remember it for some things. Can you tell me more about LanguageSmarts? Thank you!!!

More info...he is almost done with the 1st grade in T4L - we are not consistent at this point whatsoever....but that will be changing next week. I am looking forward to see how fast he will learn now, once we have a REAL school schedule at home. We just discussed that "next week, we start real school at home" with details of what we need to do every day. And he said happily "ok.":) He is reading at 2nd grade because he doesn't like to practice. He is a perfectionist to some degree and does not like it when he comes upon a new word. He guesses a bunch before actually trying to sound it out. He strongly dislikes phonics because his prefers to memorize words. He makes me under(finger)line [is there a word made up for this yet?] every word as I read to him at night. He does have over 700 sight words though. If he sees the same new word in two places, he has it.

We use RightStart Math for Math, which is great for now.

Any other ideas would be great. He is very VSL; and he doesn't mind writing. He however will not write, or type something unless he spells it correctly. He likes to type stories on the computer, or write them on paper (for fun); but is constantly yelling to me in the other room "how do you spell...?" Guessing, with later correcting is out of the question....phonics again!(argh)

Thank you!

Hi! We haven't tried LanguageSmarts yet, but I've become a fan of the Critical Thinking resources in general because they are very logic-driven. Many of the teachers in our family have suggested these materials for GT children, and I know another gifted child at our charter uses a lot of them, too.

Here's the link to LanguageSmarts C, which is for 2nd grade. http://www.criticalthinking.com/getProductDetails.do?code=p&id=01002 My son is 1 year older than yours (turned 6 in June), and we're going to try D when it comes out b/c he's already met 2nd grade proficiencies. (If we don't leap to MCT first! I'm *still* on the fence! LOL)

We are also using Mindbenders, Word Roots, and Reading Detective from this catalog. My 2 year old has been using Mathematical Resaoning and Beginning Thinking Skills (sporadically and just for fun). If you look around the site, you'll find that there are lots of great sample pages to give you a feel for the materials.

For what it's worth, last year we tried and discarded First Language Lessons (too simple and redundant for us, 'though we used a few of the poems for memorization work), Spectrum 2 and 3(dry and too much writing!), WriteSource 2 (the teaching style didn't give me a lot to work with), and Four Square (MCT would probably have something to say about the narrow structure and prompts!).

As you saw from my other post, I'm thinking about doing Language Smarts D this semester, then moving to MCT. We'll also likely use the grammar piece in EPGY, and we have other specific materials for poetry, latin, vocab/spelling, reading comp., handwriting, and literature. I think the way we'll do this is that "Mondays/Wednesdays are vocab/poetry, Tuesdays/Thursdays are grammar/reading comp.", or something like that. I know, it sounds crazy to list everything, doesn't it?!?

Ha, it does sound crazy; but you have to!!!;) Isn't it so complicated to piecemeal everything together for vocab/reading/poetry/handwriting... It was literally making me crazy trying to organize it. I went to a hs expo this past weekend and looked at the MCT curriculum, because I was waivering on my previous language arts selection. It looked a lot like the curriculum that I decided on - Moving Beyond the Page. They are in unit studies and recommend RightStart Math, which I am using anyway, and like. It helped that the curriculum used most books in our library as well. I will probably use MCT later. I really liked it too.

More questions...

I wanted to ask you about Latin. What do you use? And is everything just separate? Do you use Rosetta Stone for any other languages?

How much time do you spend on every topic/subject. I would also like to know in which order do you do your lessons. I was told to do the least favorite one first. Do all your lessons go into binders, etc. How does everyone do this? My disorganization is really bothering me (and my hubby); and I am unsure how to organize books, papers, art, etc.???

Please help!

We're using RightStart, too! DS has now decided that math is his favorite subject, and I give all credit to Rightstart for making it fun. We're going very fast through it, at a pace of about 3 levels per year (1 1/2 per semester), but it makes it very easy to do without requiring a lot of busywork. I did find that C was pretty redundant for fast learners, focusing almost exclusively on subtraction and multiplication, so we skipped a lot when he quickly memorized his facts, but I also like her geometry lessons that she sprinkles in.

Latin: We're just starting Word Roots, which is a workbook. I also really like the look of English From the Roots Up, which uses an "index card" type system, but we'll probably move into that later. DS is very interested in etymology, so I think we'll study latin stems from that standpoint rather than the language itself.

We're also adding in a little Spanish. We have a bi-weekly class through our co-op, weekly classes through our charter, and I hear our charter is getting RS. I tend to follow the priniciples in WTM, so I think we'll mainly focus on Latin before we get really serious about other languages. You may want to ask Kriston about RS. I think it was she who just tried that with her children and didn't find it ideal.

As for timing and organization, I'm looking forward to hearing words of wisdom from HSers who've been doing this for awhile! We're only 1 semester into it, but I'll share what's working for us so far.

We're just moving into 1st grade, which requires the "4.75 hours per day." (This doesn't count lunch or breaks, so it's definitely as much as they'd be getting in a school.) Through May, we were just at 3.25 hours. You'll find, though, that you can do more in half an hour with a homeschooled independent learner than they do in a day of school!

I may not have the best advice for scheduling because we are always way too overbooked. My ideal will be to have 3 "home days" each week:

Our schedule 3 days/week will be:
1 hour on Math (w/ RS and EPGY; it's not all about worksheets so it's fun)
1 hour on LA, including HW and creative writing
1 hour on "social studies" (usually SOTW and the literature and crafts that go with it, plus geography)
1 hour on science x 1-2 days
1 hour plus of PE (soccer/taekwondo count), music, art, etc.

Our Mondays will be in co-op, where they will do:
1 hour of science lab
1 hour of spanish/music appreciation (alternating weeks)
1 hour of geography/share time (they're getting penpals and will compare writings)
1 hour of fine arts (taught by local artist using the Monet method)
1 1/2 hours of musical theater/LEGO robotics (alternating schedules)

Our Friday co-op this semester will be:
1/2 hour of group
1 hour of PE standards
1 hour of human body science

At charter, we also have Spanish, AIMS math/science and writing workshops bi-weekly. They also have other art-type workshops, but I don't know how much we'll get to those.

Oh, and he's in a weekly religion class and Tiger scouts too.

When we're at home:
I usually start the day at the kitchen table right after breakfast with handwriting and grammar, since these are his least favorite. After that, it's usually a nice switch to get into SS and science (which we usually take outside for a more casual environment). After lunch is a great time for us to do math, esp. since my DS2 naps then. The afternoon is then a great time to let him go write, do his online math, read on his own, etc. If he gets all his work done within 4 hours, I'm also going to let him play half an hour of "educational games" on the computer or his DS for his remaining "school time."

With our charter, we have to turn in 2 work samples in every subject every other week, so I've given up on work binders. We keep everything in folders that connect in a binder, and then let our certified teacher pick out what she wants.

Are you HSing on your own? If so, and you want to see what records we use for our 2 week planning and daily logs, feel free to PM me. Some people hate the paperwork, but I find these really useful, and I'll like to look back at what we did since I have a little one coming through some day, too.

Wow, you are busy. Yes, I am hs-ing on my own...no charter, no other outside classes right now, except for speech and swimming class. I will PM you. I will ask Kriston as well about the RS. I have PM'd her often. I think that your schedule may work well for my DS. I haven't really tried anything after lunch because he is usually spent; but if he just ate, he may have a little extended energy for a bit. Thank you!