Material World and Hungry Planet are awesome books for World Geography. They fascinated my kids to no end.

If you are moving from abeka to AAS you should he fine. My problem was I was trying to do both at the same time. Their terms are different as are their descriptions of vowels, syllables etc (open door, closed door etc). The way they segment words is neat but again, after having alot of lessons in abeka 1 on the rules of where to segment words based on double consonants, vowels, suffixes/prefixes and the like my kids were frustrated. I much prefer abeka ' s way of handling the rules for using C and K as well as ck at the end of words. AAS treats "ng" as a special sound as opposed to abeka teaching in a chunk with the vowel (same with nk). Compound words get taught at the end of AAS 1 and as you know, compounds are taught early in abeka 1. AAS treats adding "es" at the end as a syllable as opposed to abeka 1 introducing suffixes and hammering them home early. Abeka 1 really covers all of AAS 1 and pretty much AAS 2 as well. Step 7 in AAS 2 introduces silent e if that gives you any indication of what I mean. The special sounds er, ar, or and ou are not taught until step 12 of AAS 2. Abeka 1 teaches those early and combines ou and ow in the teaching like they do with oi and oy. Soft "G" is taught at the end of AAS 2. What I have found is if you follow the abeka 1 lessons and do all of the main teaching points, the workbook pages and the dictation words at the end of each lesson then you are doing the first two AAS books. I feel abeka 1 does a solid job inadvertently teaching spelling. If your child had a hard time retaining those lessons then AAS will reinforce those lessons but you may need to explain the new terminology. This is just a few examples and I don't have AAS 3 to see what it introduces and when. I do plan on using AAS 2 with one of my kids when they are finished with abeka 1. He just needs more repetition than my other kids. My other kids do/will do abeka 2 because they think AAS is too slow and grueling. Sorry for this wordy response! I was flipping through my AAS books as I typed so hopefully this made sense!

Prayers for you and Jenny. I am so sorry.

My 7 year old daughter and I have been spending some quality mom/daughter time watching the first 2 seasons of Punky Brewster. Totally cheesy but ao much fun and a nostalgic!

It's anatomy sometimes, unfortunately. I have had 4 pregnancies and 3 were posterior. Of those, one was the most horrendous labor I have ever experienced.

I have a theory based on working in a Montessori school for 3 years (which RS is based on)...I completely believe that RS/Montessori method is the superior way to teach math and I saw the most amazing things during my tenure there (3 year olds working on place value! 5 year olds adding multi digit numbers with ease! Amazing stuff). Going from concrete to abstract works. However, the most amazing thing I saw was when older kids from public school would transfer in having never had concrete math in this way. They came in able to do math but maybe not understanding the why behind it. As soon as they started using the materials you would see this light bulb moment. The dawning of a deeper understanding. I often felt like those kids actually got to a better place of understanding because they had a brain of facts and then could see the "why". The same thing happens with parents who teach RS or see Montessori and finally get why math works a certain way. So with all of that rambling I guess I feel like it is never too late. I would definitely modify the lessons a bit because some would feel way too easy but I think it could be enriching for sure.

Basher Science Chemistry and Basher Science Periodic Table are both great! Also ETA Hand2mind Periodic Table blocks. They can be found on amazon. I also really like Thames and Kosmos Happy Atoms but they can be spendy.

I have never seen those Cottage Press LA curriculums before. Where have they been all my life! I thought I had fall nailed down and now I am seriously reconsidering. Those look fantastic!

I still play with legos :) My oldest is now 23 but he played with legos until around 13yo and then at 17yo took a job at the Lego Store until he stated college. There is something timeless and thoroughly enjoyable about Lego

I would definitely schedule with an audiologist and go from there. My daughter has bilateral sensorineural hearing loss and has been aided since 2 years old. My husband is currently going through exactly what you are describing and he just had his evaluation and came back with hearing loss that will require hearing aids. There is so much amazing technology now in the world of hearing loss I would not let it go any longer. My husband tried to ignore it for 2 years and increasingly kept struggling. I could see how worried he was. His confirmation was such a relief and now he can be treated. He is also dealing with ear ringing and some vertigo as well.

Did you use Abeka for phonics in your student's earlier years? What I have found is that AAS really does what abeka phonics does (breaks down words, gives spelling rules, special sounds etc) but sometimes the way abeka does it is different from AAS which confused my little guy so we dropped it. Abeka phonics has been his golden answer. If you didn't use Abeka phonics then AAS may be a great option because you get all of the great rules that give kids the foundation to confidently spell from. I really like it but just not both. I REALLY dislike Abeka spelling for the reasons you said. It is just memorize a list, do some worksheets take a test, repeat. Not my favorite way to do spelling. I find AAS to be incredibly user friendly. Don't be overwhelmed by the magnets. They are used in steps depending upon what level you plan to begin with. The spelling I have found the most beneficial for us (and other homeschool moms have mentioned it really improving their kids' test scores) is Spelling You See. I love it so much that I cannot forsee ever not having it in our curriculum in the elementary years. My daughter's spelling wasn't great at the beginning of the year and as soon as she moved to SYS it is amazing. People at her co-op actually comment on how well she spells all of the time. I know it has everything to do with this switch to SYS.

This is still a pretty controversial topic and definitely the verdict is still out. Both my husband and I work in scientific research and have a 6 year old on the spectrum. Socially he is quirky, he leans more on the sensory processing side of things. He doesn't stim now but did a touch as a toddler. He has a dual diagnosis of gifted and ASD with a pinch of ADHD thrown in. Poor buddy is sporadic in his attention. I am in the camp though that often times focus can be part of an ASD diagnosis. It is a spectrum and with treatment (and age), those children who are verbal and hsve ASD do tend to make significant progress. They can adapt and learn to control some of the more overt symptoms but I do believe if the diagnosis was accurate then a child with ASD will be an adult with ASD. I personally don't believe it ever goes away. Although I have seen plenty of individuals with ASD who look pretty NT day to day. Often times symptoms resurface when big life changes occur. Again, just my opinion based on what I see. We compartmentalize brain disorders into nice neat packages (OCD, ASD, ADHD etc) but often times the difference is just a matter of amount of neurotransmitter and a slight shift in the cells being affected. Our sensory system is so integrated throughout which makes ASD tricky. The old saying "if you have met one person with ASD then you have met one person with ASD" holds.

How much time would you say it took you to flesh out the topics? I have had this book on my shelf all year. In theory I LOVE the idea of this book as my husband and I are both scientists but it felt verbose and I decided to go easy this year. However, I keep eyeing it and thinking I need to incorporate it because it is brilliant and covers theory and interconnectedness the way I believe it should be taught.

We did this with Geology. I used RS4K textbook along with an activity guide called Geology Rocks! We did each section over 2 to 3 weeks. When we studied Earthquakes for example, we read the chapter, did a graham cracker activity, made a seismigraph, went to our museum to do more hands on activities, checked out a few books from our library on earthquakes and then finished it off with The Magic Tree House that pertained to earthquakes. We followed this general formula for each topic. For archeology we even read some out of SOTW1, dug up a plaster dinosaur, excavated chocolate chips, read Bernstein Bears etc. Pretty much anyway to immerse ourselves in the topic from all potential avenues. We watched a few documentaries as well. So much fun! The kids have learned more than I have ever seen previously. My favorite part was when my 6 year old went and grabbed our world Montessori puzzle and traced and laminated the continents and then discovered all on his own that they fit together. Nothing like a 6 year old discovering the theory of pangaea :)

I started FLL 1 in first grade along with SYS B at the same time. No issues at all. My daughter has learned so much from FLL and believe me, kids will never forget what a noun or pronoun is after this curriculum!

I think BJU is a solid program so you would probably be just fine going with that. I am a HUGE RS fan. My kindergartener is doing RS B this year and I am floored by what he can do. My understanding is that RS isn't designated by grade per se so I know that some people have had their 2nd graders in it. With that said, I have never seen C so I cannot speak to how challenging that would be for her. I do love it though. I also have a kindergartener in MUS and a 1st grader in Horizons/Singapore combo. I say this because I think learning math is really personal. Some kids really need one that speaks to them. Knowing your student needs something concrete either of those would probably be solid. Saxon is another one that is scripted and has manipulatives in the K-3 years.

I am going to have two first graders this year (and a second grader!) Phonics: finish Abeka language 1 (started this year and then Abeka 2 Math: one will be in Rightstart C and the other in MUS beta Spelling: Spelling you see B History: we are trying a combination of Adventures in America curriculum with alot of living books and a sprinkling of SOTW3. (I am an eclectic history mama. Nothing ever feels perfect so I mesh up my own) Geography: Draw the USA with Cantering the Country Science: Elemental Grammar Stage Chemistry with some ROS Chemistry experiments thrown in. Grammar: First Language Lessons 1 Handwriting/Writing: doing a combo of WWE and Draw Write Now plus their is copy work on the science and history curriculum. Art: Meet the Masters B and C (my kids LOVED track A this year!) Music: continuing on with our recorder study and piano wizard. Then of course reading reading reading :)

I could have written this myself! My daughter is also bouncing between Horizons and Singapore and it is working perfect for her. She wouldn't have it any other way. She did horizon book 1 then singapore and now is finishing horizon book 2. They both speak to her but she likes variety. Her story problem comprehension shot up after completing singapore this year and made some areas of Horizons where she struggled a bit a smooth sail.

My kindergartener is excelling in math thanks to RS B. We skipped A because B reviewed the A content pretty well and he hasn't had any trouble at all. The best part is that he loves math and begs to do it. It is so simple to execute once you get the hang of how the lessons are structured. I am using two different math programs with my other two kids and have considered moving all of them over because I believe it is a superior way to teach math. So far we haven't run into any issue with not understanding it. I did pull out some of my Montessori golden beads to do some place value supplementing at the very beginning just to give a strong decimal system base but it was probably overkill.

Oh whoops, now I see where you said you don't want to ignore the rest of the World ;) sorry about that! I love SOTW for that. I think at the age your girls are I would also supplement with more literature though.

Are you interested in doing World Hisotry or just American History? SOTW3 covers more than US History. Trail Guide to Learning is a great curriculum for US History. Another fun way to do it is to print a timeline of US history from a reputable site and choose a few great books for each event. I find that to be so fun and liberating. There is an amazing array of fantastic American History books for every event imaginable. I also love American History Stories. There are four volumes and they are great. Also American History Stories you Never Read in School volumes 1 and 2 are great too as a supplement.

I do a combination of what others have already mentioned. I will let them write their sentence and if they don't ask me how to spell something (sometimes they ask and sometimes they don't) then after they are done and they are showing it to me I will be purposeful with my response. I will read it and say something like "I see you spelled "like" correctly and are really using your "e makes the vowel say it's name rule" well!" Then I might say "oh I was able to read this as "mermaid" you are using your phonics sounds which helped me to read your word. Mermaid is tricky...it has some sounds you haven't seen yet. Would you like to see it?" If they say yes I show them and might say something about "er" and "ai" etc. For their fun writing I usually leave it at that. For history, science etc I have them do their sentences usinf copy work. I write down first what they say to me and then let them copy it. An aside but I loved these so I thought I would mention them. There is a great notebook that has a space for drawing and lined sections for writing that my kids absolutely love. They are called draw and write journals by draw write design. They are on amazon but they also have their own website.

You would probably love rightstart because not only does it may out exactly how to teach it, you will learn math concepts along the way that you probably never got that will be a ton of fun :) Many parents I know have felt that way. Math u see is also great because you have videos you can watch that lay it all out simply. Singapore is good but if you feel math phobic it might be a bit more challenging. They have a good teaching manual but there is a ton of story problems and math analysis that might make it grueling for you over time. Still a solid program. Saxon might be good too. It moves slower and in the first 3 years is a bit behind other programs but gives kids a solid understanding and things kick up at 5/4. It is scripted like rightstart and pretty easy to teach.

Science in the Beginning is great and the experiments are the right amount and purposeful. I also love Elemental but because it is craft heavy, I tend to do all of the weekly experiments and omit most crafts unless they seem relevant (i.e. habitat diorama was fun). You could also consider Real Science 4 Kids. I REALLY like this one because it doesn't take a ton of time and their is some meat to it. The textbooks are slim enough could complete in a cycle or go slower and stretch it out. We did Geology this year and I would read a chapter a week and then check out books from the library on that topic. We would either do the recommended experiment or I would find one I liked better or I had supplies for from pinterest or our Geology Rocks! supplement. The kids adored science this year and I felt like it didn't run our week. It was easy to implement. The author is a Christian but writes from a neutral point of view.

I cannot speak to E-M but mystery science is giving away free memberships through June of 2018. It might be worth signing up and looking it over either way. Even if you go with E-M you could use Mystery Science as an extra or supplement. Lots of good stuff there :)