We LOVE both melatonin and Valerian root in our house. My DH does not sleep unless he's had a dose of both about 20 minutes before bed time. Our first night married was horrible. Then he wondered why I took a 3 hour nap the next day. That's when he finally admitted that he did not pack his usual "sleeping meds". So we ran to the store right then and got them. I don't know how people can live for more than a few days on the little bit of sleep he normally got before the miracle combo we have now.

Julie, I'm glad to hear that it's not just my DD. My DD sounds exactly like your DD. She knows how to figure the problem out, it just takes her awhile since she has to use her fingers or something to count out the answer.

Mariann, If you don't mind me asking, if you taught A Beka and are so familiar with it, why did you choose Singapore instead?

I say that Singapore is a way to streamline because HOD has it written into their guides with a hands on activity to teach which matches the workbook page(s) for the day. Where Abeka if followed as intended, is give a speed drill page, then do some oral work, give the 1st part of workbook page which reviews concepts, teach the lesson, do last half of workbook page, give a challenge problem. Admittedly, I usually skip the oral work since DD takes so long to do the "speed drill" which is anything but speedy. I'm just thinking that maybe DD is more of a hands on kid rather than a workbook kid.

While I do think Abeka is working ok, I'm just not sure it's a good fit for the long haul. At first, when it was mostly review, DD did fabulous and loved it. Now, I find she is not learning her facts and still uses her fingers a lot. The speed drills are killers since she can't ever do the problems in the 1 minute that you're supposed to do them in. She seems to need little tricks like in MUS, Mr. Demme tells the kids that 9 wants to be a ten so 9 acts like a vacuum and sucks 1 from the other number to make the problem be 10 plus something. Though I'm not sure MUS is the answer either because DD got so bored with doing the same thing over and over which is why Abeka was so appealing to her. Each day in Abeka has variety. But maybe the variety isn't helping her cement the facts. (I'm just trying to think this through before we get too far into any one curriculum that it makes it painful to switch.) I've also heard that Abeka is great for K-2 but that people don't like 3 and above. Why is that?

We have been using A Beka 1 for math this year. But now we are looking to use Heart of Dakota and stream line as much as possible for next year since I will be teaching 2 kids. Heart of Dakota uses Singapore U.S. edition in their manuals. Can someone help me understand the difference and why I might shoose one over the other. I've heard people say that A Beka is good for grades K -2 but then they switch after that. Why would that be?

My mom asks her farmer neighbor to come check on the animals. And whatever eggs they collect are theirs to take for free (as payment). They normally just load up the feeders and watering tubs (sometimes adding an extra tub if they think it's needed) If it's more than just a long day trip or a quick overnight, I normally go up and stay at the house to care for the sheep, dogs, goat, and chickens.

If you are using the LA in the Beyond manual, you will not need to add Rod and Staff English to it. HOD starts using Rod and Staff English in the Bigger manual. Beyond has grammar written in once a week. I would personally spend more time on learning to read rather than add extra grammar. For my DD, we backed up on the level of her readers to help build fluency. Since the books were a little easier, she didn't have to work so hard on each word therefore allowing her to gain confidence and fluency. Then we slowly worked our way up through to harder books. Her reading has certainly improved with the extra practice. So maybe you just need to stop where you are and use the time to have more practice rather than continuing to add new lessons.

You could try looking at Winter Promise's American Story for some picture books or their LA for readers to match the time period. Are you looking for books for youngers to tag along, or for your main student doing the program?

Carmen, I seem drawn to the same programs you are. I've followed some of your pondering both here and now at the HOD boards. I'd love to use the Phonics Road, but I can't get around the price.

Yes it is WP and HOD. I really love Bigger, but can't help but love the great picture books in AS1. I was so sure that Bigger was the final choice till my younger child decided to sit in on a version of AW we're using for the summer and he learned a lot just tagging along with DD. So now I'm wondering how I can combine them and still teach each child what they need. WP makes that easier for us, but I hate to give up the Christ-centered HOD.

I would say that for an average 5 and 6 year old using Bigger as written would be too tough. If you are willing to modify the writing/noteboking assignments, then I'm sure they could tag along. But I would not buy it as a guide just for them.

I guess I'm the only odd ball here that actually went to Lowes and put rain gutters on my walls. I think it cost my a total of $30 to get 20 feet of shelving space (that included the hardware). For the record, everyone who has seen them, loves them! The kids were quite excited to have a place to store book in their rooms. (I had the man at Lowes cut them into 5 foot sections for me.)

Add me to this club too! I'm mainly torn between 2 providers and just can't seem to make up my mind. They each have such great things to love about them.

R&S Phonics can be used alone without the readers. We are working through it now to help cement things or fill in any gaps after using 100 Easy Lessons. I have noticed DD's reading becoming more fluent. Though that could just be from the continued practice everyday.

Phonics: Alphabet Island Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons The Reading Lesson Reading Made Easy The Writing Road to Reading and Spelling Handwriting: Handwriting Without Tears A Reason for Handwriting Science: Considering God's Creation Elemental Science History: Heart of Dakota (can also be an all in one) I hope I didn't repeat any, but I was trying to remember what was already listed.

You may not get a lot of answers since the program has changed it's spine resource this year. In previous years, SOTW was the spine. Now it is a WP exclusive used as a spine. I agree that I don't like the picture books offered. I believe the guide had the "You Wouldn't Want To Be..." series listed for optional reading. Though I wasn't really happy with those either so our older HIH sits on a shelve for possible use later.

I did not find this to be true with HOD. But then again, we have not used DITHOR since my kids are too young for that. I found that we just open the guide and pull the correct books to read or do for the day. Very open and go.

You could always pull some ideas from homeschoolshare.com and use books that interest your family. If you are looking for something schedules that is light, you could try WP science programs. They are scheuled for days a week, but you could easlity just spread the activities over 4 days for a very light day each day. Or you could keep it at 2 days a week with the other days being free days to enjoy summer.

Funny, what works for some doesn't for others. We love A Beka math. The rest does get to be a little too much so we don't use them for other subjects only math.

We love A Beka math.

We do this too. I will usually have things narrowed down to two or three choices and then I'll let DD take a look to see what interests here for things like history, science, art and music. For the basics, DH and I pick those according to our goals and our kids learning styles. Thankfully, DD loves her math and we're still looking for a good fit in the LA department.

Wow! Thanks for the info. Now I need to get DH on board.

Welcome to the world of homeschooling! I'm not sure I can be much help, but will be interested in hearing the replies. For spelling, you might want to take a look at All About Spelling. I believe that program goes over the rules. I'm sure others will be able to help you out better with your questions.

My DD tells me that when trying to read, her eye quickly jumps to one letter than back to the one she is supposed to be reading which confuses her. If she is not using her finger (or ours) while he is reading, she loses her place and will repeat lines or skip lines. I noticed that she also inserts letters that aren't there. Example: Yesterday she was trying to read "planes" and came up with "planets" instead. Then today when trying to read "tiny" she started it correctly by using a short "i" sound" once she realized that wasn't a word she tried again but the second try she replaced the "t" with an "f". She just had an eye exam and received new glasses 3 weeks ago. When she first puts on her glasses, she rubs her eyes and blinks a lot for the first 2 minutes. She is otherwise a healthy, well behaved 6 (almost 7) year old girl. Though when it comes time to read, she struggles so much. At first I thought dyslexia, but I don't know if that is the only problem or if it is something completely different. What do you suggest my next step should be?