Letterland. My DS loved this program.

I teach it all, the good, the bad, the ugly. I agree that finding a text is very difficult as most have been rewritten to exaggerate certain topics and avoid others. Much like science, I have come to realize that I will have to cobble together multiple sources to put together a history of the United States that is more in balance with historical events. I kind of have a plan for the coming years... Elementary Years using SOTW/CHOTW --concerned about the quantity of US history in this series. Middle School Years probably the History of US or stick with SOTW for 6th and History of US for 7/8 High School Years leaning toward preparing for AP/CLEP so Western Civ 1&2, Government, U.S. History 1 & 2 Much like some of the posters here, my husband and I have a genealogies that have pilgrims, penal colony survivalists, indentured servants, runaway convicts, traders, explorers, war veterans, pioneers, no slavers, colonial farmers, immigrants, religious persecution survivors, ranchers, retailers, dairymen, one-room school teachers, etc.. My plan is to use this information to further those topics that are lacking in the textbooks where I can. One of the big problems is that all the books are being rewritten from textbooks to kids books under the pretense of the common core. I picked up a children's reading book on Egypt the other day and the back gave a short description then went on to a longer description on how it was aligned to the common core. Nope, it wasn't a textbook just a little paperback you would buy for extra reading.

I am also struggling with this topic. I started out with a textbook but found the quality lacking. I switched to the Usborne and Kingfisher and oh my, as dry as any text I have ever read. For 3rd grade Space and Earth Science, I wrote my own. We are doing some reading, making a solar system and have watched a few short YouTube videos. DS is not into writing (dysgraphia) so no notebooking or worksheets. I do quiz orally at the end of each lesson. At the beginning of each lesson I do a recap or have DS do the recap. As he comes up with questions we search them out either on the web or in one of our books. In the Elementary years, I have taken the approach in science that it is all about exposure. I am loosely following these guidelines for k-8 instruction. I am leaning toward a couple of topics per year vs. little bits of each per year. https://www.georgiastandards.org/standards/Georgia%20Performance%20Standards/Physical_Science_Revised_06.pdf For grades 3-4, DS is enjoying the short little books such as The Shocking Truth About Electricity, The Solid Truth About Matter, The Gripping Truth About Forces and Motion, and The Attractive Truth About Magnetism. Each booklet covers a topic (Matter, Electricity, Forces & Motion, Magnets etc) in easy to read language for my 3rd-5th-grade student, the Lexile score is around 640. He can read this independently which builds his science confidence. I was able to borrow one from my library, then purchased all of them on Amazon. Each book is about 32 pages long, includes web safe sites to view, additional reading lists, and a glossary. All you have to do is preview the suggested reading selections & websites, maybe add a few more like Usborne or Kingfisher, a biography or two, and write a lesson plan. They are written with humor and pictures which my DS really likes, he is 8. I could see using the Max Axiom series also, I am just not sold on the graphic novel just yet but as an additional read, okay. I plan on using the above with some kits from snap circuits, and Engino, magnets and kitchen fun. Each book is 3 chapters. So 1 chapter every other week, plus additional reading, websites, vocabulary, and kits. I would expect us to do 1 book every 6 weeks. I am in pursuit of a good chemistry program for elementary years. I was looking at Real Science Odyssey Chemistry. I used TPT for the human body... The Magic School Bus Inside the Human Body by Joanna Cole: A Teaching Guide by Amy Mezni Human Body Unit and Interactive Notebookhttps://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Human-Body-Unit-and-Interactive-Notebook-1906219 My DS still talks about the brain hat 1 year later. Five Senses https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Five-Senses-129053 Loads of fun, especially for a group, but I did it with my DS8. I paced this with the Magic School Bus 5 senses book. I also used Discovery Kids Human Body, text for older but the pictures were awesom. Time for Kids Five Senses, some great pictures and graphics on how the senses work. When we revisit in a couple of years I want the full-size interactive body printout. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Human-Body-Systems-Human-Body-Unit-Human-Body-Project-2170465

I would use the free online, printable placement tests for Saxon Math and use Saxon based on her testing score. I find Saxon's introduction of 1 concept at a time with a review of previous concepts a wonderful way to keep reviewing every day vs saving review time for a specific date. I use manipulatives with Saxon 5/4 for my 3rd grader all the time. See a picture of money or want to emphasize a concept, I pull the ten rods and cubes, clocks, etc. I find that the ongoing review means I am not spending a lot of time on review or quizzing to prepare for exams. At 120 lessons per a year, if a lesson is terribly complex or hard for DS, I can slow it down and review it before going on. Saxon recommends that an 80% rule be followed. If a student passes a quiz or test with 80% or higher then move forward otherwise review and reassess. The first lessons with Saxon I thought were some of the longest in my life and I was skeptical of whether the change was good for DS. Now that we are further into the book, his speed has picked up and math is becoming less of a chore. I don't see it becoming favorite (could be wrong) but definitely not a subject to be dreaded. I attribute this to his growth in math confidence.

I have a 20-year-old who has eye tracking issues. We went through VT. Did all the exercises. I retaught him how to read, spell etc. Spelling is still a problem. At some point, you may have to say it is as good as it gets and go forward. By the way, he made it to college, writes beautifully, and is highly intelligent. He just can't spell cardboard box. Hopefully, he won't have to spell his way out of it!

Short Hand, enVision Math Everyday Math Go Math Math U See are considered conceptual. Everyday Math on Pro Teacher is deemed not worthy because the students do not learn enough math for high school. I used Go Math in 2nd and 3rd and it is a solid program. However, you need the teacher books to really make it work plus it is intense with multiple ways to manipulate the numbers. My DS did learn math very well and scored in the 99 percentile on his CAT. As a homeschooler you can buy Go Math on Amazon. We switched to Saxon because Go Math gets bogged down in showing 6 ways to add numbers and becomes frustrating for elementary students who are just beginning to grasp concepts. Also, Go Math only goes to 8th grade and I wanted to be with a program that would take us all the way through high school.

Here is a link to a site that describes all the popular math available today. http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/what-to-expect-grade/what-parents-need-to-know-about-changes-mathematics-education

Thank you for your reply. There is some degree of dysgraphia at play and I have been addressing it. I watched for the perfectionist tendencies after reading your post. The perfectionist angle was in play today and after today's episode, I will pursue that angle. I started by having him do his copy work and told him to compare his writing between days to check for improvement and not to use the printed examples to compare too. I also showed him that I could not write as well as the printed version. The goal is to improve his printing, spacing etc. We do a lot of dry erase board currently. He loves it but does not want to write on it. I didn't think it was a big deal to rewrite 1 problem, but evidently until his confidence grows I will have to modify the math workbook. I like the idea of joke copy work. He loves to tell me silly jokes. So this could be a big hit.

He hates physical output in general. This year I was able to get him to try some art projects. Coloring is a no go. Drawing is somewhat acceptable but he will not attempt on his own. Notebooking is out for obvious reasons. He literally just sits there. I watched him sit for 30 minutes because he had to rewrite 1 stinking math problem. 243 + 506 = _____ so that the numbers line up on top of each other as 243 + 506 ______ We were learning to round, yep he can round. He thinks its stupid so he is not going to do it. Explained it, 20-year-old brother explained, Grandfather explained. Nope, he has decided that rounding is stupid, not going to round. I bring math up because it is the same arguments with writing. I ask for an oral narration, I would say he is 80% there. I ask for a written narration, and we sit. Reading is very good for short chapter books; science paragraphs or sections, but novels are a no go because he thinks its stupid that it needs to be that long and he is not going to be bothered. I am so frustrated. Do I let physical writing slip till later or do I press the matter?

I pulled my DS from PS at the beginning of 2nd grade. His teachers were dumbfounded about how to get him to work. Obviously, their yelling fits did not work. Now we are beginning 3rd grade and he refuses to write. He will just sit there and stare at the paper till the cows come home. No amount of prodding, discipline I tried simple sentence copy work that pertains to science and history, nope not going to do it. He often refuses to work on a math problem if he has to rewrite the question. Yes, he can form all his letters and number beautifully. We did writing without tears last year. He reads at an upper 5th-grade level and most likely quite a bit higher. He is like a dictionary at spelling and rarely makes a mistake. He knows and understands grammar quite well. On the sentences I am able to get out of him, they are formed well. I ordered the WWE2 thinking he could start there but after reading some of the entries on the forum, I don't know.