Congratulations!

Saw this today. Tragic and frightening. If 80% is the number for those going into community college, the rate must be much higher. What is the dropout rate I wonder? We spend $18,000-$20,000 per child for this. What could you do with $20,000 a year for your child? It is also disgusting. There are more adjectives I'd like to pull out but you should read it and list your own.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/03/07/officials-most-nyc-high-school-grads-need-remedial-help-before-entering-cuny-community-colleges/2/

Tamsyn & Mela,

I agree with you. You can only do so much. We spend a LOT of time on music but I have a house of kids music obsessed. We aren't learning any foreign languages but my haphazard attempt at Latin right now. So, you can't do it all, nor should you. While I believe EL is good for kids, I don't believe that it is the only thing they should be doing. Far from it. So, you have to pick. I chose music not languages. Or rather, my son and Miss C, chose music and I just follow along.

Korrale - I loved that quote. So cute!


Diagramming - my son said this was the most helpful thing he'd done as far as grammer studies went. It may not be good for every child, but 1 year of diagramming sentences is particularly if you want to write longer sentences and have them make sense. I do think grammar is helpful, I'm not sure you need 9 years of it. I can be done late middle school and then again high school as a semester course.

@ Wolfwind - I wasn't thinking of using it with your 2 year old. But that is funny. My comment was directed at the fact that you can wait two years and order the book and still be fine. There is no hurry here. The physical act of learning to write takes precedence over coming up with stuff to write about at this age.  Probably until age 6 or so. If your child is a late writer probably even until age 7.  We teach cursive from the beginning so we don't have to take time out to teach it later. And I think cursive from the start is easier. We don't use the computer for papers until high school. The physical act of making that hand go across the paper is good for the brain.

Getting kids to tell you about the stories they read now is not so much about writing later, but about getting them to think about what they are reading and incorporating it into their lives. For early reader books, don't bother. But when you read them real books you can ask, We read a book about "Berlioz the Bear" a bear who plays in an orchestra. The important thing my little guys remembers is that there was an "Aaaangerrry bee. Mommy the bee was really angry."   That is enough.

You need to be careful here as reading stories is not a means to an end. Reading stories is the end in itself. They are used to get to another location, but their primary purpose is for enjoyment. Not vocabulary building, or moral platitudes, or becoming a writer. I don't have time to go into here, but the importance of telling stories and being a story telling family makes in huge difference in a child's life. When you get together with family rarely does any family sit around and discuss math (there are some, I'm sure). You retell the stories of your family, the stories that connect you together and who you are as a "tribe".

One of our favorite activities when my son was little, because he loved stories, was telling them is parts. This is part of education but it is so much fun, it is going to create lasting memories, and your children will not be the wiser. It makes long car trips almost enjoyable. So, I start a story, "Once upon a time there was a little boy named Philip, and he had a dog named Niko, and they were in a forest. Then they saw a big hole.....then what happened." Then pass of the next child - who will probably tell something from a story s/he's read. That is great. Right now we do this with Philip and he supplies the names, and locations, and things like that. When he decides he's ready he will likely just jump in and take his turn. We have wonderful family memories of this. When my oldest was three we went on a hiking trip. We had to hike 3 miles to catch a ferry off an island. We started out very early in the morning, walked along the beach while my son told 1 story for 2 straight hours. He remembers that. i wanted to bleed from the gums, but that has stuck with him. These kinds of things will translate into being better writers later, but for now, just enjoy this part. It is one of the things that probably doesn't accelerate well. 

Tamsyn, I am pretty sure these updates are for making improvements immediately. I would look for a completely updated interface and other changes to come in the next couple years. I am really excited about Hellene plans for the future.

In kindergarten, don't worry.

She needs a bigger storehouse of words and sentences to be a better writer. I'd just ask her if she can tell you about the story she just read. Can she tell it in her own words? What does she leave out? What does she include? These are things to take a mental note of. When she is really good at retelling a story or a piece from a non-fiction book, she is ready to start writing. I agree with what Manda said earlier. You need to read. Right now, she needs to be reading good books - not twaddle. What the school is doing is probably just fine.

Wolfwind,

You have time. Don't worry. Most of the time  you spend on this should be when your kids are older. End of elementary - heading into high school. Unless you plan on accelerating rapidly, in which case I'd give them what they need to survive: a semester course.

I read to book primarily to figure out "How to do it." and then I used it as a reference. The exercises in the book can be used for Jr. High kids easily. I would get the book and just read it.

You can stick with narration in the early years and having them retell stories they read. Change it up a bit and make it fun. You can do this until later middle school years. Take ideas from the book and just make it simple for little kids.

go to this thread: http://forum.brillkids.com/homeschooling/which-homeschooling-method-are-you-thinking-of-or-are-currently-using/15/
second page. I wrote what we did for writing. It is one of the things I did right.

Yes, it was a college textbook. And you can use it as a one semester course. However, this is going to fall under "what is your goal". One semester of this is not enough. I am thinking of Rhetoric here. If you do not intend to take the subject of rhetoric and logical argumentation  seriously, then it is good for a semester. If you want your child to understand the times, understand the ways in which the social engineers and politicians shape language to change patterns of habit including voting habits, be able to detect fallacies in reasoning and be able to figure out when he is being scammed, I'd spend a little more time on it. Plus, one semester is not enough to be able to wield the word sword. But that depends on what your goals are. We spent a lot of time on this subject. I have not regretted it at all.

Amanda,

Rules to be good writer: Rule one: be a good reader in whatever genre you want to write in. Rule two - see rule one.

I will also put out an third camp for you to consider. Writing by Imitating. It is how most educated people learned to write for close to 3,000 years.

You can follow the progymnasmata or not. But it is effective and works well. It is probably a combination of the two above approaches. It is more focused than narration, the child can't simply retell what she/he takes from it. And you must read good works to imitate.

My favorite book on writing by imitating is not a curriculum but really a book suited for parents or teens on the subject: http://www.amazon.com/The-Writers-Workshop-Imitating-Writing/dp/1933859334/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362659572&sr=8-1&keywords=writing+imitating+writers+workshop

Written by a college professor, it gives a parent the tools to implement writing by imitating.

One cannot write unless they have a mental storehouse of sentences to choose from. My oldedest is an excellent writer. This book is pretty much all we used and some internet resources on the progym.

We did some grammar work - basic punctuation and things. However, we love diagramming sentences. It is the best tool for helping a child understand grammar.

BTW-

You can use Little Reader as a tachistoscope. You can set up your own files the autoforward can be set as low as 0 seconds. But I've found the most usable fast speed is .2. with a -.2 delay.

Manda, I was suspicious of the squash-it-in method. Last year, we had a major drought. I have 5 4'x10 beds. 4 rounds barrels, a 15'x15' berry patch, and 4 4x4 beds and the 4 smaller beds. I did an experiment with 1/2 the beds way I used to plant and 1/2 the squash-in method. I had almost no weeds, very little watering and few pests and only a little bit of time invested and 3x and much produce. The other boxes were pest ridden, I had to water them all the time, and I was forever pulling weeds. Production was also low.All my beds will be the squash-it-in method this year.  My tomatoes that were planted nicely in rows the birds got into and pecked holes in almost 1/2 of them to get water. The squash-it-in beds with the tomatoes rambling way more tomatoes, no holes and no bottom end rot.

Sorry, forgot to add the Little Musician Files. If you click it will tell you to download. Download and click - it should automatically open in Little Musician.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/60668524/Suzuki%20Rhythm%20Patterns%20A-E.lmsp

My son, now 2 1/2 started Suzuki at 26 months. We spent 4 months on a foam-a-lin learning to hold the violin, a proper bow hold, the 1st three rhythm patterns. I will attach those files here for you - I put them in Little Musician. We just started with the real violin. Make sure it is sized right. You probably need a 1/32.

Once he can bow on the E and A string, stay on the road you can probably start lessons. If I had known what I needed to do with him, I would have waited. It is pretty expensive and very slow going for 2 year old. There are 9 suzuki teachers within an hour from me. Only 1 would take him most said he was too young.

http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Step---Step-First-Gardening/dp/0754819655/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1362428149&sr=1-2&keywords=gardening+kids

If you have a decent library I'd get books from there.

We have raised beds in our garden. I made 4 4'x2.5' beds for the kids. They are long enough and 2 feet wide is about right so the kids can get to the center of the box without having to get into it. I let them pick what to put in them. We use a layered gardening technique with lots of compost and then we pack our beds pretty tight. Keeps watering and weeds down. I don't worry about companion planting we just put it in. We give eggplant, tomatoes extra room, everything else is 4 inches. Vining plants just meander through the beds and come out the other side. Or you can grow them up or train them out the box from the beginning. If you are tomato eaters, make sure you have a sweet tasting cherry where they can just pick and eat right there.

I have a lot of reading to do. Y'all  make my head hurt.