Michelle, Thanks for the response. I had seen IEW but not really looked at it and I love the idea of matching up writing to history. I'm a little confused about the various programs and which handle grammar, writing, spelling, vocabulary, etc... whatever else or some combination of the above. Currently I have in my hot little hands FLL 1 and 3 (with workbook for 3) and Classical Writing Primer (for 7 year old) and Aesop (for 10 year old). I understand that I don't need a grammar program specifically for my younger son, narration/copywork is a good foundation for him. For my older I'm not sure if I have it covered with these programs or not, I'm still looking through them. Feedback appreciated! :)

Ok - So I also think that I have Biblioplan on order - not sure how that would fit in... and to complicate matters more I have a recommendation from a family friend to check out memoriapress.com and their way of doing classical education (which varies a bit from WTM). Any experience with either of those, oh wise ones? :D Still looking at mosaic and like alot about it - just printer intensive and I would want to remove the literature selections since I think I have better ones lined up. (hehe that English Ed degree should be worth something!)

What is the ID community? I just realized that MoH is definitely not going to work for my christian but not Young Earth family and have already ordered RS4K - boy this curriculum business is exhausting! :tongue_smilie: Nevermind, I figured it out - sorry!

Oh no I didn't think that you were stirring it up, I was hesitant to bring my whole issue here because I don't want to offend and being new to the boards not familiar with any past or present points of contention. I was referring solely to myself as the "stirrer" in question. hehe

The discussions about dinosaurs on the Ark, the idea that the Ice Age began after and as an effect of the Great Flood. The disbelief in any kind of cave men (neanderthals). Undoubtedly these are smallish areas and the kids might not even notice but my oldest is really into dinos and dragons and I think he would dwell on this part alot. Without reading every lesson with a fine toothed comb I don't know where else this kind of issue will crop up later. I'm definitely stressed - thus why I'm up at almost 2am! argh. I'm guessing now from my research that this is pretty common stuff and info can be found at various websites mentioned throughout our forums. I don't mean to stir anything up, we teach our children about the bible and God, but I don't want to try to teach them history that I don't agree with (alongside my Dh).

Oh free sounds good! lol I'm looking at Mosaic now... I like the looks of ToG but even trying to find it on Ebay it's super pricey and I've already allocated alot of my budget to MUS and other parts of the curriculum. Thanks for the great links and suggestions!

Ok, went there and realized that I did check them out initially. I like the structure what I don't like is that they separate the ages into three different books so I would a) have to buy level 1 for the 2nd grader and level 2 for the 5th grader and b) it looks like they wouldn't be aligned and able to study their history (including the wonderful, but time-consuming read alouds) together.

Will do now. :)

Hey ladies - After my initial survey of curriculums I had decided to use MoH 1 along with SotW as my guides. I ordered and received MoH and after looking through it I'm not comfortable with the way some ideas are presented, mostly it's the Young Earth perspective. I hadn't really ever heard this perspective and didn't understand how that would influence vital lessons on the ancient civilizations. After long discussion with my husband (and many others) I need to sell this book and am back to looking for another curriculum guide that would support my 4 year cycle (ala WTM) and teaching a 2nd grader and 5th grader at the same time. Glancing at MFW I suspect that curriculum is also using the Young Earth model. Any other ideas? I still plan to use the SotW and want to integrate bible history into our studies (especially matching the egyptian histories and old testament, etc) but need something that is a little more secular in the discussion of early civilization. Does this exist? TIA!

Two suggestions: check out the Sonlight curriculum and borrow their booklists for science-y stuff, two Magic Schoolbus! MS is perfect for that grade and the books are full of really deep science topics and pictures but related in a friendly drawn way. They have great titles and are pretty easy to find in libraries. Good luck! http://www.sonlight.com/science-1.html

I'm going to consider Flashmaster - still waiting for some curriculum purchases to "hit" the bank account so I can wait and see exactly what I have at the end (this is due to some ebaying and having to replace a few things I didn't win while on vacation! yucko). Your daughter sounds alot like my son, walking encyclopedia, messy and all! Then he gets sooo frustrated with multiplication and trying to count it up on his fingers is ridiculously slow. When I realized what a hindrance it was to his math skills I realized that somehow he has to get these math facts memorized, even if it takes all year and several products/curriculum - it will be worth it!

Thanks for the responses! We have tried Timez Attack, I bought the expansion early last fall/late summer. DS liked it but because the multiplication wasn't explicitly taught (you know it's just those figures kinda bouncing up to each other and they expect you to read into it) he got easily frustrated. I think that once he gets the basics down better he will enjoy that program more. I will check into the other ones mentioned!

Developmentally it is considered normal for children to reverse their letters up through first grade. I would definitely keep an eye on it and most especially if anyone in the family has dyslexia or "handedness" issues. Even if it's normal some basic support (with sandpaper letters for instance or writing over a screen to increase tactile sensation) would help him to lock in the shapes and facing on the letters. My 7 year old is still occasionally having some problems in this area but it seems to be getting better.

My 10 and 7 year olds both have problems with their fine motor skills leading to *really* bad handwriting problems. Especially in ps where you have to do alot of copying and writing from the beginning this leads to deficiencies and frustrations throughout the school curriculum. This past spring I saw a notice from a licensed occupational therapist who was offering handwriting clinics for kids. I called her, chatted and signed both my boys up. She does things to strengthen their hands and increase their hand sensitivity and uses Handwriting Without Tears for both boys. She started my 10 year old with Cursive and honestly I'm amazed at how far his writing has progressed in the past two months. IMO the style is very simple and much more like what most people use on a regular basis than the style that is in most workbooks. According to this OT cursive handwriting is easier on the hand because it doesn't start and stop so much. My 7 year old is working on printing and he is getting there. He actually has been trying to copy his older brothers writing and doing a little cursive on his own. I may start him on cursive at the beginning of next year once he has a chance to work through this workbook and get the basics a little stronger (he still flips letters sometimes). The great thing about cursive (now that I think about it) is that it's really hard to flip the facing on letters and so forth, they all just flow the same way.... hmmmm Best of luck with your decision - I am a fan of HWT!

100EL teaches the sound of each letter then has you lead the child through blending those sounds, it's called direct instruction and is intended to teach the child to not guess based on the first letter. If she knows the sounds already you may find some of it redundant but it still could be a good program for you. Anyway to borrow a book and try it out?

Hi - I have kids the same age as the two you mentioned in your post so I thought I would share what I've decided to *try* this year. After looking at pretty much everything out there I decided that I would attempt to stick closely to the 4 year cycle plan from WTM and got a biology curriculum from RS4K. I ordered the pre-level 1 for my 2nd grader and the level 1 combo (Biology, Chemistry, Physics) for my older son (10.5). I ordered the experiment kit and two additional kits from the site that caught my attention. I plan to start both boys with Biology once or twice a week. After my younger son finishes his curriculum I plan to have him read books on topics that interest him from WTM list or the Biology text and spend more time working on the basic reading and writing (narration/dictation) skills, as well as, math. For my older son we will do the level 1 Biology then probably move into the Chemistry 1 with a handful of outside readings. In the lower grades I think it is more important to expose them to good ideas and a good overview and to make science fun through projects than to really focus on hard science. The later middle school years are early enough for that. I really don't want to get bogged down in a ton of science and lots of workbooks, that just won't work well for my boys. I do plan to do the biology, talk about classification, do some nature walks and trips to our zoo. We will be doing alot of writing and reading and math and even learning Latin this year so I think that this is reasonable. JMHO (PS the two extra kits I bought were a butterfly growing kit and an owl pellet dissection kit. The owl pellets are because I have been reading The Guardians of Ga'Hoole, a fantasy story about owls, to the boys before bedtime and they are fascinated by the details of an owls' digestion. LOL)

My aspie 10 year old has fine motor problems as well, you can hardly read his print writing (he can't even read it), he is slow and it is literally painful. We started Handwriting Without Tears cursive with an OT who is doing handwriting classes weekly and it's amazing how well he is doing in such a short time. According to her, this type of cursive is actually easier than print and he seems to be just "getting it". That rarely happens in his life and it is awesome for me to see. Good luck!

Interesting topic. :D I was just telling my kids today when we were leaving the store, "You can't control situations around you, but you can control your reactions to them. Happiness is a choice. I choose to be happy!" What does that mean in realistic terms? Looking for the silver lining, appreciating whatever blessings I do have, trying to not let life and all that it can/will hold get me down. I chose to be happy. And I kept reminding my morose 10 year old, if you keep telling yourself something (and acting as if) it will eventually become reality. PS I am the mom of two, possibly three, special needs kids so please don't think life here is a bed of roses. hehehe

I kinda was under the impression that I should go with pre-level 1 Biology for my 7year old and level 1 for my 10 year old. Am I wasting money getting both?

Lady Aberlin, Many of the things that you describe sound very familiar to me. I have a son with Sensory Processing Disorder and also a hint of high functioning autism/Asperger's - if you haven't heard anything about either of these I would highly recommend some reading. I'm not saying your son has either of these but the expression of behaviors is definitely familiar. With my oldest son he doesn't *feel* (physically) things the way most other people do and his body craves more sensation (the bouncing off of people, spinning, etc...) I would recommend a reading The Out-of-Sync Child, http://www.out-of-sync-child.com/ you can probably get it at your library. This book describes and explains the different kinds of sensory processing disorders and you can look at the checklists to see if this may fit. If it does then I would ask my ped for a referral to a physical or occupational therapist for an evaluation. What I've found with my son is that when I meet his needs for body pressure, spinning, jumping that he is much calmer, able to focus and more pleasant overall. We are new on this journey as well but it's made a huge difference for me to understand what his individual needs are in this area. http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/ The lack of remorse thing takes me back to thinking about autism/Aspergers. It may be that he feels some remorse but doesn't know how to express himself with facial cues that typical children pick up so quickly. Or there may be some disconnect in his understanding, only you and a doctor or therapist may be able to answer that question. http://www.aspergers.com/ Most children with Asperger's are highly intelligent and can have very rich lives but need some supports to learn social behavior and cues. Again, I'm not an expert, just a mom and a teacher. :) I will check back to read other's input as well. Good luck!

Thank you for the clarification! I've glanced at WWE and am leaning towards the CW because I like the subject matter better. Maybe I should look at WWE again.

I will be homeschooling my 10year old and 7 year old this fall. In my search for a good science curriculum I came across the Real Science 4 Kids (http://gravitaspublications.com/) and I like the format, even for my older son. My question for those familiar with this publication is: Can I teach both students with the Biology/Chemistry/Physics Level 1 or should I consider getting the Pre-Level 1 for my younger son? If I get both the level 1 and pre-level 1 could I use the teachers addition from the higher level for both? I have a 3 year old coming up who could use the pre-level 1 in a few years so I'm not totally adverse to getting both, but trying to figure out what is really needed. The books look great but are a bit pricey... Thanks in advance!

I have both of these books/systems on my wanted list from my research but I'm unsure if they are both needed. Classical Writings (Primer/Aesop) seems to teach narration, dictation and basic writing. Does it discuss grammar and parts of language like FLL? Do they teach the same things overall? Anyone? :confused: ...So much to learn! :D

Well you could say that's what I did...I pulled the oldest out last fall about 8 weeks into the school year. The middle will start homeschooling this year and my youngest is 3.5 but a major handful! I just know that I will regret not at least trying this.

In an effort to not hijack the OP on autism and MUS... On the same note, I'm trying to remediate my 10 year old who just never got the upper multiplication tables. I'm planning to use MUS Gamma this year but also considering trying Times Tales to memorize the math tables facts. He is Asperger's/ADD and I think has dyscalcula - he really struggles with learning orders of operations and remembering how to do something with more than 2 or 3 steps. However, with prompting he can do fairly complex math problems. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Any success with Times Tales for our Asperger's kids?