We were allowed a calculator in year 9 maths. I very quickly lost all my quick mental arithmetic skills. I started doing even the most basic sums on the calculator (the type, like 7+12, which is actually quicker to do in your head than punch into the calculator) and even though I was at the top of the top group for maths, my Mum (who was middle in maths) is much better at mental arithmetic than me.

Saying that, I can do a lot of sums in my head if I make some effort. More than most - calculating percentages and adding large numbers etc. I have had to re-learn the skill, though, and am not nearly as fast as I'd like.

Is anyone else completely confused why the 11x table was said to be the hardest? I'd put it right up with the 5x for simplicity... 

I got the trial and am shocked and amazed. Nikki has started (in some of the games) recognising whole words! To this point, he has never once read a word without sounding out the letters (barring I/a which are single letters and so don't count). No matter how many times he sees a word, or how fun and silly I make it, he can only read single words by sounding them out.

Until today, apparently! The whole-word games, when he was paying proper attention and listening to instructions, he spotted the words straight away. He even found am in a set of at, as, am which is surprising, because  I'm sure he relies a lot on initial sounds to guess the words.

There were even a few moments where he appeared to read words that had not been sounded/read out in the game (like apple) which I guess means he knows a lot more than he's letting me see and the flashcards weren't all for naught!

We started on map 1 (because of the lack of word-reading - he knows all the phonics) and he completed the map in a day. I expect our progress to get a bit slower - especially as I get bored of being the mouse, which he tires of using very within a few minutes - but hopefully this will be the program that finally makes all his previous reading knowledge make sense to him and get him actually reading!

I would have to say that generally there are a few games that are too busy/fast moving for him to play properly (it is a program designed for older kids) but mostly I think it is great

For intruducing math facts we have addition/subtraction/multiplication/division songs by Kathy Troxel (downloaded from Amazon) which my 3 year old enjoys - he has mastered 1+ and we're almost there on 2+. Just having them on in the background while he plays he is able to instantly answer the questions once mastered. Once he's a little better at listening to instructions, we'll start playing some math-fact games, too.

For your DS, have you tried reading eggs? There is a link in this thread for free 65day trial (thanks Manda!) http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-child-to-read/try-out-reading-eggs-free/msg96010/?topicseen#new

My son has refused to show sight-word recognition at all, despite lots of programs teaching sightwords since around 12m, and in just one day completed the first 10 lessons (he knew all the phonics that were introduced) and has started reading whole words without sounding out! Not all the time, but we got further towards sight reading today than in the last 2 years 

Thanks. Those look fun

It is nice to find some phonics with English pronunciations - we have arguments over Reading Bear, especially with things like the short 'o' which is very different in American pronunciation.

The list of sounds covers seems very comprehensive - 72 videos 

Nikki has been exposed to Russian from birth. His father speaks to him exclusively in Russian (his native language) but since he lives in Russia and only visits every few months and speaks a couple of hours/wk on the phone, this is not enough. Fortunately, I am fairly fluent (though I am nearly 3.5 years in and still struggling with the my-Russian-is-not-good-enough thing) so we are able to have conversations, read books and play games in Russian. He also watches Russian programs most days (for exposure to native fluency/accent).

He is reluctant to speak - at most he volunteers odd words - but will sing along with Russian songs and has memorized a couple of our Russian story books. He will repeat longer phrases back to me if I make him. His fluency is greatly improved after spending a couple of days with his dad. My greatest failing is lack of consistency and fluent conversation. I have yet to find any Russian playmates for him locally - his only Russian friend lives about 2 hours away so they see each other only rarely, but I am hoping to find someone soon!

I read Adina's blog posts on Language learning today and have decided to try reading the same 5 books every day for a week, rather than random selections all the time, to help him get more familiar with new words and grammar.

I won't mention our forays into Chinese (which I don't speak) - they usually last a few weeks and the consistency is horrendous. Needless to say, he hasn't learned much (having to re-learn the same material every time) and neither have I! I'm thinking I will try again with better consistency soon (especially if the 5-books thing works to improve his Russian). 

We love alphablocks We watch them on the bbc iplayer though so I didn't consider checking youtube for them 

Our absolute favourite English program at the moment is Nina and the Neurons (which I just found out is also on youtube) - they break down simple scientific concepts and do experiments to figure things out. After one episode on cable cars, Nikki tried to drag me out the door so I could take him immediately to London to ride on the cable cars

Mostly, we watch Fixiki (something of an obsession in out house) http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0C60546EB06D619A and sometimes Luntik http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF40DD57434E48E66 in Russian.

Fixiki have now done an American translation Fixies which is odd to watch when you have seen the program in Russian 1000 times, but not bad. They are short programs that explain how things are made and other similar science-y ideas. So far there are 3 English language episodes, but I think more are planned soon: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/SPpuGszvxQI&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/SPpuGszvxQI&rel=1</a>

We have 1p 2p 5p 10p 20p 50p £1 and £2 coins and £5 £10 £20 and £50 notes, so much more similar to the Aussie system than American, but that isn't really what's important (since that is what he learns in daily life using money in shops) - what I meant by the maths being the same is for the type of questions like  $215.38 + $138.46 or 'this book usually costs $54 and is on sale with a 30% discount - how much is it now?' where the $ can be changed for £ with no mathematical difference to the  question or answer. Earlier 'how many quarters in a dollar' type questions would have to be changed accordingly, with different answers (since you would have to use 20p or 50p) but I expect that I'll still be sitting close when we are at that level so it shouldn't make much difference.

Typical - I say I can't get a video and he does this

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/m5IjH7FfsDQ&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/m5IjH7FfsDQ&rel=1</a>

You can see what I mean by hitting a note several times to get the right duration

I thought I'd give an update, too

Nikki is 3y4m and we have been doing bits of SM since August. He hasn't progressed as far or as fast as I had hoped, partly because he started getting frustrated with the keyboard and bashing it, so we had to put it away for a couple of months until he was ready to use it gently again. He might not be playing complicated pieces with two hands, but he is still doing very well considering his age. He loves to play the 'Guess Key' game and catch all the notes, which he does with great accuracy. He has a general awareness of where each note is on the keyboard (though he does still check the guide pictures, he looks almost immediately at the right one). He also knows the solfege names for all the notes, and can order do-do and re-re (I haven't actually tested him starting with the other notes, though I expect he probably could do them too) and sings the Music Alphabet Song more-or-less in tune.

He has finally consented to play Gentle Piano, which has frustrated him for a long while. I don't know exactly why he didn't like it, but I suspect it had something to do with having to hold the notes down and getting frustrated when he had to repeat a note several times to make it move on because he didn't want to hold the key down  He is now working on using three fingers to play RH for Hot Cross Buns (he plays it well with one finger). I haven't managed to get him on video yet, but I have one of him playing the Note Alphabet song from a few months back that shows how much he enjoys his music lessons...

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Rsw-Ton5eKs&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/Rsw-Ton5eKs&rel=1</a>

Maybe when you've finished school-work years before you want the kids starting uni is a good time for unschooling 

Perhaps after years of structure and high-level work they will be ready to make good choices about what they want to do 

Or you can always do what Robinson did and pull out the higher level science texts that you can't do until you've finished calculus... they might even CHOOSE to do that 

Is it odd that I *want* to teach imperial? It is barely taught now in the UK but I learned to cook and buy food (and still do) in pounds and ounces, everybody weighs themselves in stones and measures height in feet, and we drive in miles, so I'd rather have an imperial-focused curriculum because metric is so easy to teach and will be learned for science anyway. I learned to measure in inches (because that is what my Mum uses) but can just as easily use cm (because that is what we used in school) or even mm (because my Dad works in the building trade) and I would like for Nikki to have the same flexibility.

For the money I will switch $ for £ and cents for pence, but they are both decimal currencies so there isn't really any difference in the maths. Short term, he will probably learn more about money by helping me pay in the shops or saving to buy a new toy anyway, so I'm not all that bothered

Thanks Wolfwind I am hopeless 

I've been looking over the website and it might just be me, but I can only find the first 30 phonograms. I keep going around in circles and getting redirected to buy things. I don't really have the time to read every single page to figure out whether the information is there or not - do I have to actually buy the phonograms file to implement the program?

Saxon teaches both metric and imperial, though I couldn't tell you which appears most often. MEP is in metric only (as far as I've noticed) and seems to be very comprehensive and FREE. I don't know about any others.

urthemom.com has a series of lectures on self-teaching free this month: http://www.urthemom.com/Freebie_February.html