The Andrew Lost series is similar to MTH except it's about science. The reading level is about the same.

For RSO, you can purchase the Student Pages separately instead buying a whole book again. It's the same as the student workbook but only has the pages that the student would write on or cut up. I don't think the Student Pages are bound. http://www.rainbowresource.com/prodlist.php?subject=11&category=2724

I'm considering this program for my younger child. However, I am leaning toward not starting writing until 2nd grade. How would you recommend handling that? (Still start with the 1st grade level at the regular pace?) Or is there a need to start writing in 1st grade? (If you want to share, I'd also be curious what you feel the strengths/weaknesses of EIW are.) TIA!

Honestly, I would seek 2nd and 3rd opinions from drs who specialize in pelvic prolapse (not just a typical ob-gyn). Previous surgeries can reduce the chances of positive surgical outcome. As others have mentioned, I've never heard of medication as an option before. PT has helped some women I know, and it might be worth considering. It's even possible that something as simple as pessary would help greatly. But it's very hard to weigh your options without talking with multiple people who are knowledgeable and can describe advantages/disadvantages of each treatment option given your particular circumstances. The right decision may become very obvious with more information.

As far as whether a child is ready, I think that a child who can read independently and has basic writing skills would do fine with Intermediate level. My son is 8 and does his Intermediate pages just fine without any assistance from me. I do read the Bible passage aloud, while he reads the instructions and fills in his student page. A motivated child with these skills could do the entire thing independently, though it would take longer that way. Our lessons take about 20 minutes. We only do the student pages and not some of the other components of the program.

Homeschoolshare has a free chemistry unit with a lapbook that we did along with Ellen McHenry's chemistry. They dovetail nicely.

I *love* FLL starting at level 3. Levels 1 and 2 felt so repetitive, even when we did some major skipping. When I started looking at 3rd grade grammar programs, I found that the vast majority of them (including FLL) assume no prior grammar knowledge. I felt like the time we spent doing FLL 1 and 2 would have been better used as playtime. With my younger child, we'll just hold off on grammar until 3rd grade and then use FLL.

I don't prefer the gel recipe. I have a powder recipe that works well (washing soda, baking soda, grated soap--Zote seems to leave a stronger scent than Fels Naptha, and borax). I also have a liquid detergent made with Dawn and washing soda. Both work well. I use the Dawn one for towels with no issues.

Oh, this looks promising! I'm going to see if I can find some of the recommended books at the library to make sure it wouldn't be too much for my little guy. Thanks for the recommendation!

I'm trying to find something simple for science next year for my rising 1st grader. He can't handle a lot of reading/verbage, and I'm rather inconsistent with experiments. I'd like to find something that includes lapbooks because he adores them. Perhaps a series of *short* picture books/units around a theme and then a lapbook. (I'm not a DIY lapbook-maker.) Something like the history pockets would be ideal. Is there something like that for science?

Oh, I saw a Youtube clip about the Real Refreshments Retreat. It looks amazing!

Just curious whether anyone attends a non-homeschooling conference. I've attended the national Hearts at Home Conference for moms, and it's been amazing. I also typically get sessions from the D6 Conference and plan to attend in the future. At some point, I would love to go to She Speaks also. All of those are Christian, but I'm curious about both Christian and secular conferences. There seem to be more and more smaller conferences popping up about mothering, parenting, life in general, etc. Which do you attend and do you love it?

We really enjoyed Ellen McHenry's botany. Each lesson has two levels--a more basic level and one that's more advanced. You can just do the first level or use both, depending on what fits for your dc. There is a lapbook and a Youtube channel with related video clips. Here is a page with links to sample pages from the program.

It's the reader that he dislikes? When we hit AAR level 2, my ds also started dreading the reader. The stories are a little too long for him, and I think he gets tired of the level of concentration required after a while. I considered breaking the stories up into 2 days, and maybe I should do that. His dislike surprises me because I adore the reader. So many early readers (including the sentences in OPGTR) have strange wording just to demonstrate phonetic rules, but these stories are so "normal." One positive is that he is now able to read very easy readers from the library, and he enjoys that. They tend to have color pictures, huge font, and fewer words on a page. Many libraries also have OPGTR if you want to try it out. We are using that along with AAR. ETA: Another thought--if the amount of text on the page is overwhelming, you could cover up some of it. I did this with my older child who didn't like more than 1-2 sentences on a page. We turned the page, examined the illustrations together, then I had another sheet of paper or a card that I used to cover everything below the line he was reading so he could only see that line (and whatever else he had already read on the page). That "little" thing made a big difference!

We use Latin For Children from Classical Academic Press. I could learn alongside ds, but we've chosen to make it an independent subject.

Finding a psychologist who specializes in giftedness would be ideal. They understand the perfectionism and tendency to over-think that can affect a gifted person in a testing situation, and they will be familiar with how/when to use extended norms if those are needed for an accurate score. We went through a rather lengthy assessment process with ds1 that included WISC-IV, a couple of other standardized assessments, and hours of interviews. It was *incredibly* helpful both in terms of educational decisions and parenting.

My oldest was/is above grade level in science. Ellen McHenry's programs or BFSU are great resources.

I am friends with two families in Indianapolis who use The Master's Study. Both say very positive things about it. http://www.themastersstudy.org/Home.aspx

It generally takes our family 20 minutes or so. I do the reading, and the kids do their student pages. (We aren't utilizing other pieces of the program.) I stop occasionally to read/help my youngest with his pages or ask questions to make sure he's understanding. For an independent reader, it could be an independent program, but it might take a little longer to complete a lesson. I switched to reading from a children's Bible translation for clarity, and it works just fine with BSGFAA. If BSGFAA appeals to you, it would be an easy thing to try out. A packet of student pages just has 25 lessons or so in it--just right for seeing whether it's going to work for your family or not.

A little different scenario, but my oldest associated eating with pain. Because he always had it, we didn't realize it was a problem. He also had difficulty swallowing. He never ate baby food, and by age 2 would go up to 5 days without eating--even after drs had us cut his liquid calories by 90% so that he would eat. He just dropped weight at a frightening rate. This went on for months until I was truly terrified for his health. Occasionally, he would have a good day and eat like a normal kid. It was up and down, up and down, but he never ate more than 2 days in a row. We were told that it was sensory, but it turned out to be a medical issue (mostly likely eosinophilic esophagitis, though he improved before we went through the final stage of testing). EoE can present *very* differently in different kids, but frequent refusal to eat when hungry is one red flag.

We tried a few math programs. Here are some thoughts. -MUS has a very different scope and sequence, and you'll need to be comfortable with that if you choose it. I thought I would be but ended up switching because it was just too different from what I expected in a math program. -MM has rather small font for young kids. For some, font size doesn't matter. My son was so frustrated with the small font and teeny tiny space for his huge little boy scrawl. There are a lot of problems in MM. If he gets math intuitively, you may want to skip some of the problems to avoid needless busywork. -Education Unboxed is free online and provides fabulous ideas for teaching math to kids who are visual or kinesthetic learners. It can be used as a supplement or as a primary math program in the early years. -Singapore Math is really fabulous for kids who don't need tons of review and need the challenge of going a little deeper with the concepts. It's very easy to customize if your child needs more/less review or needs more challenge. So many choices!

Two programs that I really love are God's Great Covenant and Bible Study Guide for All Ages. I think either would fit your needs.

Has he been exposed to non-fiction very much? I recently read that elementary school boys prefer nonfiction over fiction, and that's certainly true for my oldest. I've tried so many fiction books. He enjoys them as read alouds, but he spends hours on his own reading nonfiction. I don't know whether he will ever voluntarily pick up a fiction book.

Hi, Jen! I enjoy this forum so much! It's a great source of information, encouragement, and wisdom. Welcome!

We do every other problem in the regular WB and then approx 2/3 of the problems in CWP and IP. (We had a big issue with careless errors for a while, and when there are careless errors it means going back for more "practice" by completing all the problems.) If your child is mastering the concepts, then doing everything in the TB and WB may be adding unnecessary busywork. Some of that time may be better spent going deeper into those concepts by incorporating more of the CWP and IP. Like everything else in homeschooling/parenting, it seems to be a constant process of re-evaluation and adjustments.