Amazing, Ella!

I'd best not show these to Nikki or he'll be pestering me for a violin again 

That makes me feel better - we definitely have a literature rich environment (I don't have space for any more books) and he loves listening to me read to him, which we do often. We also practice reading daily, despite apparent lack of progress, so I guess that means there is hope

Korrale4kq, I'm glad I'm not the only one I have been trying to keep TV time to after-lunch only (and then a maximum of 2 short programs) but it hasn't stopped the tantrums. Maybe I need a complete ban for a couple of weeks to make him appreciate them as a treat again!

At the very least, it might encourage him to try reading (he is still refusing to recognise whole words, and sounding out CVC words with less and less enthusiasm  ) which I blame at least partially on a preoccupation with television. He is amazingly stubborn, though - yesterday he insisted that he couldn't read the word 'a', despite being able to recognise the letter and sound for at least 12 months. He said it read 'cat'   

Having a very reluctant reader has made me wonder how reading-based curricula (such as CM and the Robinson one) work with children who don't like to read. I know my brother read only when he had to (which means the cheats section of computer gaming websites, not for schoolwork - he once paid my sister to watch and re-tell to him the video of Animal Farm so that he didn't have to read the book for his exam!) though he is very intelligent and a capable reader. Maths has always been his forte.

Do non-bibliophiles learn to like (or even love) reading, or does their whole education become a chore to them? Does anyone have any first-hand experience of this?

If anyone is interested, I've done a more detailed review now that we have covered nearly 1/4 of the book. You can read it here: http://dancingwithdinos.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/saxon-k.html

In short, I am less enamoured than I was in the beginning. I like the thoroughness and repetition, but the slow pace is starting to get to me. I have decided we need to double up lessons, before he gets bored! At this pace, we should get through the rest of the book by Easter! I think we could have easily started 6 or even 12 months ago - the lessons as scripted take only 5-10 minutes, and new ideas are added very, very slowly.

It looks like it gets a bit more challenging towards the end - though the lesson 92 assessment involves a story of three bears are joined by two bears (how many now?) then four go away (how many left?) without ever once mentioning the words 'plus/add' or 'take away/minus' - so not very challenging!

Depending on how Nikki is enjoying it, we may stick with it and speed through Saxon 1-3 (at the very least I will know that he knows everything necessary for starting 5/4) but I am not sure at this point. There is an awful lot of busy work!

In regards to the idea that entertainment was for pacifying the slaves, I've been thinking a lot about TV time. My terrible three year old has started throwing "'I need a DVD!" temper tantrums every five minutes (the rest of the time is "I need sweets!") and although the DVDs he gets are things like Magic School Bus, a few BBC kids shows that teach about animals/science etc. or general natural history programs, or foreign language, they still seem to drain a huge amount of time from the day. I've noticed that as he gets older, the lure of the TV is much stronger and the effect on his temper if I dare say 'no' is not fun.

I think that it is hard to take technology out of our lives now. It would be unfair to refuse our children access to computers since so much of the modern world revolves around them, but I can feel the computer and ipad and TV all distracting my son from wanting to play with cars or read. Don't get me wrong, he does play and we read together but the first thing he wants in the morning is a DVD and I get tantrums when I say no or one finishes and I refuse another, and constant nagging all day for more. He seems to choose his toys first less than half the time. I am thinking of completely banning TV because of all the stress it causes me when I have to say no for the hundredth time!

I really think that even the 'good' DVDs are not as good as we like to think (though they are great when I need to wash the dishes) and TV is probably the biggest reason that the general intelligence level of the population seems to be falling - all those potential professors idling their teenage years in front of a box! I know that the Robinson family had no TV or computer access at all and I'm fairly sure something similar went on in the Swann and Levy families. If you think about it, 2 hours of TV a day over 10 years and you've lost 10000 hours! And most kids end up watching a lot more than that!

Sorry - that went a bit off topic.

I'm also enjoying learning about this curriculum. So far I have been thinking about a CM approach, but I did feel that there wasn't enough emphasis on Maths and Science.

RC has the Maths and Science emphasis I've been looking for, but lacks the narration, which I think that really helps with learning (I would think that otherwise the temptation would be to skim-read the books which is really bad for actually retaining the information). I would therefore change 'write an essay' to CM-style narrations for those books I want them to *really* know. I would probably add in some progym work for writing, too, though I do like the idea of learning vocabulary words.

I would also add Latin and a modern language.

I really hope they can join us for a chat (or should that be grilling)

What a great idea 

I'm sure we all suffer with the "I neeeeeeed ..." around the shops. Never too early to learn

We haven't started saving money, but I have had some success with a sweetie box - I was so fed up with the constant begging for more sweets (at home and every time we entered a shop) that I had to do something! Now we both have our own special 'sweetie box' with a couple of handfuls of little marshmallows/chocolate buttons etc. and one bigger item (ie. a small chocolate bar) to last the week. When the box is empty it is tough and he will have no more sweets until the next Sunday. So far, it has worked really well - he seems much more aware of how much he is taking (asking less often and taking less) and when he emptied the box on Saturday morning he didn't meltdown when I reminded him that he had to wait until it was re-filled. It has been three weeks and I he has made it last 6-7 days every time and I rarely say 'no' when he wants some sweets - he usually takes 3 (because he's 3) a couple of times a day

I think having a visual - whether it is a savings chart like you used or a reducing number of sweets in a box - really helps with their ability to understand

That whiteboard idea is great! I can definitely see myself using one.

I know what you mean - at the moment we are really only working on Maths and reading, but I don't feel like it is enough 

I will be adding things gradually, but when I worked out the total hours I wanted us to build to, I suddenly thought that it was too much and maybe I should aim to spread things differently. It also made me curious what others are doing

I was the same. My son has always had good fine motor skills and I never let him hold a pen or crayon incorrectly. He is 3 now and 90% of the time uses a perfect grip, occasionally needing a reminder when he experiments with other grips.

I've been working on several plans for our EL schedule this year, and it made me wonder how long everyone dedicates to EL on a daily basis?

If I put in everything I wanted to do every day it works out around 6 hours! This seems really extreme, even taking into account around 1/3 of that is read-together time, and there are crafts/experiments/exercises included.

At the moment we do about an hour plus bedtime reading, which I want to increase now that he's interested/able to participate in a lot of more complicated activities/games.
Right now, I've got my planning head on - which means the whiteboard is getting a workout I just can't decide how much of what I *want* to do is really necessary 

So what about you? How many hours do you consider 'enough' in your EL homes?

I have had many requests for 'airplane maths' - we use transport counters and he's got airplanes to make his pattern for Saxon this month

We did have an incident when he was sounding out the letters in the obscene graffiti we had to walk past on the way to playgroup. Fortunately this was before he could blend the letters so it was more and 'f says ffffffffff, u says uh'   

Nikki still doesn't get hide and seek - he hides well but giggles so loudly when anyone comes near that it completely ruins it 

I like a curriculum - it helps me feel secure that I am covering all the 'level appropriate' material . We are using Saxon K as our main maths program.

BUT I also think maths should be fun and explored as much as possible in a physical (ie. real life rather than abstract) way. Once we're familiar with the rods, I'm going to introduce Miquon as a supplement which should help with the understanding of complex maths at a young age essential for an accelerated maths program starting this early.

I found this book to use while introducing the rods: http://nurturedbylove.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/cuisenaire-discovery-book.html

I know that a lot of our kids are mathematically ready to jump in with the problem solving, but this is a really nice way to familiarize them with a new manipulative without taxing their little brains too much 

Very interesting. I just bought some and was wondering how to introduce them - as colours first or immediately as numbers. This has helped