Homeschool World Forum

[lydiavj]

Hello,

My name is Lilly and I'm new to this forum.
I have two beautiful children - a 7 year old girl and a 3 year old boy.

My little girl is in the second grade right now.

I was wondering what curriculum or material you use that is very easy to teach and grasp.

Anyone know of a grammar book or curriculum that explains the WHY's of the spelling of words and phonetic exceptions? ex. ph vs. f sound
why ght is silent (eight)

My little girls' spelling needs help and I'm not sure how to go about showing her how and why so she can understand other than for her to memorize certain words.

Also, any of you use any good math material? My little girl seems to 'get' the math better if we play games and if I explain it through stories.

Thanks,

Lilly
www.naturalcandlebiz.net
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[elliemaejune]

There are so many materials available for hsers that it's hard to make recommendations You'll probably find more answers on other forums which are not about homeschool law

I can tell you this:

ph is not an exception. You will find it in words that are Greek in origin, such as "telephone." The root words are "tele," which means distant/distance, and "phono," which means sound. See? Sound from a distance.

"eigh" is what the Spalding Method calls "A the four letter." There is no reason that the g and the h are silent. They just are.

[RUAGORECKI2]

I have 2 boys 7 and 4 years old. My oldest we used Alpha Phonics and he seemed to fly right through learning phonics. ( I also learned a lot ) We are using Rod and Staff english and spelling now. They are working great. My son is understanding it very well. And his spelling is very good. ( both my husband and I were awful in spelling) So I have to say these are working for us. (I tried many others before these) With all that said you do have to find what will work best with your child. Children learn differently and some will find things easy while others will find it hard. I hope this will help you out some.

Jamie
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[Mark]

We shifted to Shurley English for our daughter, it seems to work out
better for her than Abeka did..
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[Calla_Dragon]

Here is what I use:

Spelling - www.spellingtime.com
Reading/Language arts - Time4learning.com and Explode the Code
Math - Time4learning.com and Singapore Math
Social studies - Time4learning.com and a classical, unit studies approach with mini units of civics/poli sci thrown in. For geography, I use Time4learning.com and a couple different workbooks focusing on map skills.
Science - Time4learning.com and i-Science from Singapore Math.com
Spanish - use throughout our day and a workbook along with spanish music, videos and books.
Sign Language - use throughout our day with the help of a few sign language dictionaries
French - same as spanish, only in French
Art - Kindergarten Art from Singapore Math.com
Music - exposure to a wide variety of poems, nursery rhymes and chants, and classical music. I'll have to go to an actual curriculum at some point but they're still so young that we can get away with just sheer exposure at this point.

[Dolly-VA]

Calla, I also use Time4Learning with my two kids! Anyway, here's what I'm using atm...

Math: Time4Learning (algebra-7th grader); Math-U-See (3rd grader)
Science: Time4Learning (7th & 3rd); Discovery Channel and NOVA documentaries (both)
History: Time4Learning (3rd); History Channel, Historical Fiction (both)
Language Arts: Time4Learning (both); Analytical Grammar (7th); Handwriting Without Tears (3rd); IEW (both); Reading Detective (both)
Spelling: http://www.splashesfromtheriver.com/spelling/ (7th); Sequential Spelling (3rd)
Geography: http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/Geography.htm (both)
Spanish: Rosetta Stone Spanish (just got it) (both)
Music: Drum lessons (7th); Guitar lessons (3rd)
Art: among various... http://www.adobe.com/education/digkids/lessons/

I've had to warn my kids that they will soon have to do 29 hours of school a day because of all the cool things I want them to do. Strangely enough, they weren't amused...

[Mark]

I can't imagine why not....
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[Ramona]

[Annie]

[quote="lydiavj"]Hello,

My name is Lilly and I'm new to this forum.
My little girl is in the second grade right now.

I was wondering what curriculum or material you use that is very easy to teach and grasp.

Also, any of you use any good math material?

Sounds like you are doing well so far with what you are using! I like BJU (Bob Jones University Press) for math and Explode the Code for phonics. I like Learning Language Arts Through Literature for all LA. Take care and have fun with homeschool! I would not worry too much about second grade spelling. I have found this comes, in time, with reading much. Look at How to Teach Any Child to Spell and Tricks of the Trade both by Gale Graham- if you are really concerned about it. Annie

[jrb434]

I have 2 girls that are homeschooled, grades 1 and 3. I use Alpha Omega Publications for everything but math, which I use Saxon math for. Although next year we will go with Alpha Omega Pub for math as well.

Right now we are using Life-pacs, and my 1st grader will use them again next year, but my older daughter for 4th grade will probably switch to their Switched on Schoolhouse system. When my youngest hits 3rd grade, we'll swtich to that for her also I believe. (SOS is their computer based curriculum.)

I love Saxon but for my girls, math comes very easily (runs in the family) and Saxon tends to be overkill for them. For a kids that struggles with math I would recommend saxon because it does a lot of manipulation.
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[keptwoman]

I looked for a secular curriculum. I don't mind if it's published by a Christian company or created by a Christian, but I didn't want bible passages littered throughout the text.
So I have chosen:

Maths: Math U See
Grammar: First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind
Writing: Getty Dubay Italic
Spelling: Spell to write and read (this is has the odd bible reference but it's pretty easy to leave them out)
History: Story of the World

Science and art: we are doing interest led unit studies, sometimes we base these on the history lessons and lapbook them, other times we do seperate things, in the next few months we will be looking at Airplanes with help from Hands of a Child lapbooks and Germs....I haven't planned that one yet though We also do nature journalling and I'm lusting after the Winter Promise options.
Music: DS is learning to play the cornet and he is doing a creative/performing arts homeschool class.