We AAS series for my 1st grader and my spelling challenged 4th grader. Its fine. They are bored. Developmentally I think they are just at different paces for spelling. We do the "Words I use when I write" type of series with EPS. We are changing to EPS SpellWell series next year. They want to be able to do more student led activities. My 1st grader LOVES worksheets, my 4th grader likes how it looks. We are also going to add Vocabulary from Classical Roots for the older dd. I just have come to accept that she struggles with spelling, we will work our rules, spelling families and use tools like keeping their own writing dictionary of words but I am not going to focus and stress on it like I have obsessed over the past two years. We have used Spelling City, Spelling You See, Sequential Spelling, Spelling in programs like TGTB, Touch-type Read and Spell (TTRS). None of it worked out well so we are going to do something what they consider fun like SpellWell and us the AAS books as back up/reminders for a supplement.

I’m a huge Evan Moor fan to supplement. They have great activities. We’ve used lots of books for history,geography, seasonal and science. They have teacherfilebox which is their online subscription library. My first grader thrives when she can pick up a workbook and do it on her own. She could not do that with this series but she never had the maps/ geography. Introducing new terms so often she just didn’t recall the information. If we had turned it into a unit study and used this to help it would have been more successful. It’s laid out very well. However she did enjoy the work but it was more educational busy work for us.

We have their LA for 4 and 2. It’s ok. I feel like it jumps around too much for grade 2 but grade 4 is better for reviews of concepts taught in other programs . We won’t being doing LA with Masterbooks next year and we will likely stop before the program is done. Their math is too much the same way. We are a MUS family that is exploring other programs - Horizons math. We do love their social studies/history and will be continuing on with that subject only

Congratulations on Wrapping up AAR 2! We are almost there with our dd. So my 1st grader is left handed and everything takes her a bit longer to process. She’s a true lefty. Like writes her name fully backwards and daily catches herself writing from right to left. Reading was hard for her. We started with Explode the Code and moved into AAR 1. Last year we started her in EM High Frequency Words because she didn’t think she could read outside of her AAR book and she really couldn’t. She actually finished their whole lists a-d for the EM program this fall (1-3rd grade). She loved it, she learned enough with AAR that most of the words she could read and she had worksheets to practice and a little story each week. I now have her doing Making Connections grade 1 for reading comprehension. Reading was the biggest worry but she actually loves Making Connections because it’s independent. She reads a story and then answers the questions. It’s really only a semester of work at the most but it’s helped boost her confidence a ton and she is now reading graphic novels (by Raina Teglemeire) with her 4th grade sister. I recommend graphic novels when you can find them of interest. Check out getepic - great reading options, audiobooks and read alongs plus your state library should have a digital library plus if you are an amazon prime member. Good luck. I hope you find some suggestions for your kiddo.

We did free writing and comic books and Write about Me type of activities through the first part of 4th grade. Nothing formal considered it with copywork as writing. We are dealing with dysgraphia diagnosis so it was important to build confidence. We started EPS Writing Skills A to get to grade level and pair it with their Just Write book series starting on book 2. It’s going great since we have been in it for 3 months now and confidence just keeps building. I have a reluctant writer and having time to explore and do her own writing projects and then easing into a formal program is working out great. We also do cursive and keyboarding as part of penmanship as this helps with her spacing, random capitalization.

We use Cambridge Primary Science for younger ages but they have an Essential Science for lower secondary. We went with it this year because it’s affordable - if it didn’t work but also has some hands on activities and is really easy paced. We did not want a experiment every week because living in Alaska running out to gather supplies when the nearest box store is a 1.5 hours away and amazon can take weeks to show up was a huge factor. We have tried other programs and this was just a nice way to ease the kids into science without overwhelming me.

I started a Keto diet. I know its so cliche but I would eat carbs, not sugar as much but with my calories I was maintaining my obese lifestyle. I was reading a cookbook sample on Amazon and she stated she started with reddit r/keto forum so I went there. Went to the FAQ, went to the Keto calculator, added the Carb Manager app onto my phone. https://keto-calculator.ankerl.com and the first week I lost 9 pounds. I haven't been under 200 since before my son was born (2017). I do not come close to meeting their recommended fat, but I do eat less than 20 carbs per day, most days I'm at 1000 calories or less and I actually drink water and also eat lots of protein. I weigh all of my food and just cook for the family but just change a few things so I hit my macros. Instead of barley pancakes with the kids I use coconut flour for mine (no syrup or sweeteners), Instead of tuna fish or salmon salad sandwiches I just put mine on a bed of spinach. I eat lots of egg scrambles, we have burgers just no buns for me, I chose vegetables over grains or potatoes and its been a pretty easy transition. I also eat Halo Top Ice cream, when they have a treat and its delicious. Instead of our plethora of asian cuisine on rice I just use veggies or cauliflower rice. I have no gym in my town, I live in rural area in Alaska so walking means moose and bears plus a gravel road and lots of interesting people - I would have to take my kids with me and that isn't safe plus we winter means 5 hours of measurable light and snow... I needed to make a lifestyle change and I think this is it. We have Amazon Prime and started doing some of the fitness videos ( Zumba, yoga, 15 minute work outs) this week. Good luck on your journey!

Math: MUS Beta, (currently in Alpha) LA: Spelling: AAS 1 Phonics: AAR 2 Grammar: ? Handwriting: ?, we have been doing HWOT but thinking of Zaner Bloser switch Science: My Pals are Here 1a/b (November to April), nature journals the rest of the year Art: Currently do art illustration with a read aloud book but may look into something more formal Social Studies: ? Language: Mango Homeschool (otherwise Latin with MP) *We will homeschool part time in the summer covering phonics, spelling, math, science journals, art with read aloud.

Evan Moor has homeschool bundles that you could check out to see what they recommend. It would take a couple of publications to equal a well rounded curriculum. We subscribe to their online library called teacherfilebox because we use history pockets, daily activities, never bored kids books, high frequency words and everyday literacy activities plus seasonal and unit study activities especially to follow up a documentary or interest for kinder and 3rd grade. They do have interactive lessons for some subjects and they have a very thorough sample to review as well as a trial membership to their digital library.

*We homeschool all year and roll into the next curriculum Math - MUS Delta (starts July), Epsilon (January) *fav class LA - WOL 2b, 3a *fav class AAS 3, 4 Editor in Chief 1 (currently in beginning series and used mostly for punctuation) WR 2a/b (does not enjoy fable/narrative 1 but if we can’t come up with a writing program we will continue) Social Studies: ? Currently in History Odyssey and GeoMatters US Geography (dislikes both). Science: My Pals are Here -We decided on exposure vs mastery for bookwork (Nov-April). During months with light we spend time outside learning native plants and wildlife, being able to identify the salmon and fish we catch, identify rocks as we beach comb as well as types of aquatic plants and life. Foreign Language: currently in Latin but has requested Spanish. Sports: Basketball and Native Youth Olympics. Music: needs to choose an instrument

We love AAS it’s very thorough and even for an older child starting at level one was very remedial it created a great cadence of learning and expectations. We also identified that the multi sensory approach was the best as we often tripped over our letters. (Oral spelling: Niece/written: nicec -does not see a difference) After leaving ps in 2nd grade where there was no spelling and trying out Spelling You See, Building Spelling Skills - Evan Moor and a public school hand me down (HMH or Pearson). This was our first kiddo that wasn’t a natural speller but a phenomenal reader. Our oldest competed in spelling bee’s at 3rd grade placing in districts and going to state competitions - he was in A beka curriculum.