Have you tried the Aussie Homeschool website http://aussiehomeschool.com.au/ and look in their classifieds section. I have seen some Saxon books for sale and maybe some as freebies - just go through the ads and see what's available.

Can someone please help. I've tried to log out of the forum everyday for the last week and the computer won't let me. A message at the top says, "Oops, an error occurred. Please try again later."

Thanks

Hi, I have been doing research on soroban, using the free resources on the internet.  What is the most commonly accepted use of fingering?

I've seen in most places only the use of the thumb and forefinger but have also seen in the samples of Learning Mathematics with the Abacus http://www.mathabacus.com/ that they teach using the thumb, forefinger and middle finger.

Which is best and which is the most efficient? I tried using both fingering and found the use of the 3 fingers easiest.

how do you insert pictures of your family etc in between LM slides?

I also like listening to music being played when the 3rd slide is shown. Since it is a music program, I think you should incorporate as much musical pieces into the curriculum as possible. My son listens very intently during the instrument section, especially with the short music clips.

I read somewhere that in the Schichida/Herguru class the kids learn a rhyme/song to remember the Peg Number Memory System. Does anyone know what tune they use?

Hi,  I am looking for a used set of Tweedlewink DVDs. I am in Australia, but willing to buy from other countries.

Please PM me with price and condition.

Thanks.

Hi, Just started the Day 1 curriculum with my son. He loves the program!

Just a few suggestions - I don't know if I'm being pedantic - but colour scheme during the chord progression and solfege - can it be a bit more pleasing to the eye? i think I'm quite visual but maybe you use complementary colour schemes for the session. Icons are very cute though.

Suggestion for the playing of popular classics. Maybe do some photo eye play pictures rather than a white screen, get the right brain training on at the same time!!

With the first chord progression, I don't know whether it is important, but should you mention the note names do, mi, so or maybe name of the key or is it just to familiarise the child with the sound before the later segment with the solfege names?

I used OpenOffice.org which is the free equivalent program to MS Office but you can do the same in Word.

When you open up a new document go to View - Toolbars - Click on Drawing - and on the bottom of the screen a drawing toolbar should appear.  Run your mouse over the little icons and you'll see an icon for basic shapes, basic arrows, stars, callouts etc. Select which shape you want to draw and you can click and drag to adjust the size of your shape.

I think you then right click on the shape once it's on the page, a menu will pop up and then select area (it's a picture of a jug with paint pouring out) and select what colour you want the shape to be and then you're done. You can overlap several shapes to create your own mandala.

Once you've finished your shape, go to Insert - Page Break - and you can copy and paste the image to the next page. You will need to group the individual shapes (select all the shapes you have drawn - right click on mouse - select Group - Group)

To create the black and white version, just don't fill the shape or have a white shape with a black outline. (right click on shape, select line - you'll see a picture of a pen - and click on black). You may have to ungroup the shape (right click - select Group - Ungroup)

It's very easy to do.

The only thing I want to know about mandalas is I remember reading somewhere that the Schicida methods exposes the students to all the different mandala patterns that are available so that kids learn all the patterns of nature. Is this necessary for mandala practice or can you make up any shape at all. I was thinking you could also do a mandala practice with flags of the world.

Hope this helps.

Here's a few 2 and 3 colour mandala patterns I made myself. I've saved four pictures per page to save using too much ink. Hope this helps.

I think the closest thing you can do to make your own curriculum is to create your own playlists (this is the tab next to categories) which allow you to select words from different categories you've made. I never got around to doing this - I only ended up playing each category for 5-7 days before retiring.

Click on tab PLAYLIST
then NEW. Name your new playlist
Click on EDIT will come up with all the categories you have created/downloaded on Little Reader.
Select a category you wish to take words from.
Click the word you want to put into your playlist. Use the right arrow to copy the word into your playlist. Use the left arrow to remove word from playlist.
You can select words from any category.

By creating a playlist you don't change anything in the category itself.  When you retire a word, you'll have to manually remove the word from the playlist. I know some people have used an excel spreadsheet to track which words they retire and when, you'll have to search it in the forum. (not sure what keywords to use - maybe Doman spreadsheet??)

Hi, to translate files you'll first need to export the file you want to change

go to Tools - Import/Export Content - then select the files you want to use
Click on EXPORT and save file to your hard drive.

Then to import the file back to LR
Go to Tools - Import/Export Content
Click on IMPORT and select file from your hard drive
Click YES to IMPORT
Click on Advanced Options if you want to make sure file is renamed.

And now you can translate the new file!
Hope this helps.

I have found this website which has free sheet music and colour keyboard tabs which you can use as an alternative to the Rainbow Piano book.

http://colourmuse.com/index.php

Hi, I would like to be considered for the beta testing.

I have 15 years in piano training, 6 years in flute training, plus have been in various choirs as a child, and bands.

My daughter loves music and I currently teach her solfege, rhythms, singing and piano. I also flash music notes using LR and physical flash cards. We also do the Kinderbach program.

My husband is thinking of teaching my daughter to sail and ride motorbikes asap but as these two activities involve certain levels of stress, we want to be sure that we do not inhibit her right brain function and development. When do you think is the best time to introduce these type of sports?