We could never get the experiments to work, and ds didn't like the texts that much--preferred books with pictures. OTOH, I think I'm really horrible at teaching science, so maybe you should discount my opinion! However, I've become a real convert to e-books--so much easier to print up copies, and in my house, hard copies of books get so trashed it's hard to reuse them for the next kid. And the e-book doesn't get lost under the couch...

A slightly different approach is to study all of the different names for God, using it as an opportunity to explore different cultures. For example, SOTW, especially when used with the literature suggested in the activity guide, has given my children a broader view of God than they would have had if I had been their sole reference.

The rest will come naturally in the course of the day...

I went way overboard with my oldest son in kindergarten. With my second son, we focussed on learning to read (difficult for him), writing letters, and Singapore Earlybird math. Everything else--science, history, art, etc.--was just incorporated into the day's play and read-aloud's. Interestingly, my older son is now, at 13, a much better student and reader than his 11 brother. I think that's genetic though, not related to their kindergarten years!

I was all set to use Henle for my ds, 13, with its study guides, quizzes, and tests, then made a last minute curriculum switch to Galore Park So You Want to Learn Latin, year 1. I've searched the boards and the Galore Park group, and can't find much info. on how to use it. It looks like people just do the exercises in the book and study the vocabulary. Is that it? Any quizzing needed? TIA, Mary

Thanks everyone...these suggestions will keep her happy for a long while.

There's got to be something out there that's not total twaddle. Or are unicorns just twaddly creatures?:001_smile: The poster hanging in her room that we found at a yard sale would suggest that they are...

We used Rod and Staff, but skipped redundant writing assignments (kept letter writing, book reports, etc.)

Thanks for this book link! The earlier exercises are just what I need for dictation.

We only used the coloring pages and maps in 1-3 (well, and the reading lists. And the narration questions...), but I LOVED the outline starters in SOTW4. They taught him how to outline a text with very little help from Mama.

We've done R&S before simply by using the workbook that goes along with the textbook (very inexpensive), using the textbook for reference and to fill in any missing exercises. However, this works best with a child who's already strong in grammar.

My ds turns 14 mid-August. He's in his 10th year ("9th" grade) homeschooling, but when he started taking some classes at the local school in 6th grade, we placed him in the earlier class. So, currently he's a rising 8th grader at the junior high school (band and either science or Algebra next year) and a ninth grader at home. We're mostly happy with this decision. However, he's gone through puberty much earlier than other boys his age, and he towers over both the seventh and eighth graders, so he does tend to stick out a bit. He has always looked older than his actual age. Bottom line, for us, is that we don't want him going to college as a young 18 yo.

I thought Sequential Spelling was a great program, and it helped my poor speller. However, we dropped it after a year because it was such a time suck. I have a limited amount of time to spend with each kid, and spending 20-30 mins. a day on spelling felt like too much, especially in the early years, when you're spending so much time one-on-one teaching reading, reading out loud, hearing narrations, working on math, etc. However, that's just us--I freely admit that I lean toward "lazy" homeschooling; I like curricula that my kids can work on independently. That said, I've never found a satisfactory workbook approach to spelling.

and get way more mileage out of the cartridges by setting my print settings as light as possible. I also by my ink from lasermonks, which sells refilled cartridges at about half the cost of regular cartridges.

Sorry to hear that, but I have to say that I loved all 4 of those books when I read them in high school. All Creatures is our family's current favorite car book--everyone from adults to 10yo love it, and it's easy to stop and start without losing track of where you were. My 13yo goes back to that series over and over.

I wish for a version of Education for Ministry for kids! I'm in my third year now, but remember feeling really angry somewhere in the middle of the OT year that no one had ever taught me that stuff before in all my years of churchgoing and studying. I've been searching for this same thing for years, and I've finally decided that no program can beat sitting down with kids and reading the Bible out loud, talking as we go. I really liked the DK Bible illustrated by Selina Hastings for my grammar aged kids--good history mixed in with straightforward paraphrase of the biblical stories. My 13 yo now has a copy of The Message. Both my (older) boys like Steven Ross's graphic novels Marked and Blinded -- they're modern reworkings of the Gospel of Mark and Paul's life and letters--darkly illuminating is how I'd describe them--created some interesting discussions. When my ds was very young (5 or 6?), we used the activity book/text Old Testament Days, which was a great introduction to the OT. I taught in an ecumenical after school program that used the Gather Round Curriculum. http://www.gatherround.org/ I think it could be adapted to homeschool use. I'm Episcopalian and taught with Lutherans, Presbyterians, Methodists and Baptists, and we all liked it (an amazing feat!) That was a scattered response!

I have a rising 6th grader who still struggles with spelling. We've abandoned Spelling Workout (not effective), Sequential Spelling (effective by way too time consuming), and Spelling Power (seemed okay, but after a year, his diagnostic testing level hasn't changed). I'm really hoping for a program that he can work on independently--better for both of us and more likely to get done each day. I've been reading posts and see All About Spelling recommended, but it doesn't look like the levels go high enough for 5th/6th grade. Any ideas? Mary

But for us it was the sixth grade test--he scored in the 90 plus percentilefor everything except math computation which was--gulp--30th percentile. I must admit, though, that I've never been super vigilant about math drill. That low score was enough incentive for my son to get his facts down. Our school system spends, IMO, an inordinate time on fact mastery at the expense of other more complex mathematical thinking skills. The percentages, I think, reflect our different emphases. That said, if I had to do it again, I think I'd skip all the computer games, worksheets, etc., and, around age 8, just do math flashcards until those darn facts were mastered.

I have an independent 13 yo, and we could not get LRtEG to work for him--just too many steps--I really think it's set up to work best with more direct involvement from the teacher than either of us wanted. I posted a similar question a week ago, and people suggested Henle Latin (which has curriculum guides that can be used by students who want to study independently) and Cambridge Latin. I'm leaning toward Henle.

I agree with Heather that it's easy to switch math programs after completing 6B (not easy to figure out what to switch to, but that's another post). Wanted to share, though, that my ds, who's not very mathematically inclined, performed very unevenly on the math sections of the ITBS until sixth grade when he did very well (90+%) across the board. The ITBS breaks down skills very specifically, so I knew that some of the uneveness came from what Singapore covered when. Didn't matter...he got it all in the end, but it was a bit unnerving when I got that first ITBS back!

My ds, 13, has done band at the school for two years now, and enrolled in science this year. I agree with the above post--it gave him a great way to evaluate the pros and cons of school--and he came away with much more respect for what we've been doing all these years. He's been mightily disgusted by all the behavior of the average classroom student (and I'm far from a strict disciplinarian!). He doesn't want to take science next year, but I think we'll try algebra. The one positive I noticed was that having other students to test himself against and a teacher other than his mother made him push himself harder in science than he would have otherwise. I'm not sure if that will last--I'm hoping it will work for math!

I have such a sweet memory of reading Pooh to my son when he was in the bathtub--age 3 or 4--and listening to him laugh and laugh about Pooh bomping aroung with a honey pot on his head in the heffalump hole (or was it a hole for some other silly beast?). My other son didn't much like Pooh at that age, but just told me recently that he read it front to cover at the library when he was 8. (He used to go over to visit his librarian friend after lunch for an hour or so, and I never knew what he read.) Pooh's the best.

Specific experience to relate...my 7th grader who has never liked math is doing TT Algebra 1 this year, and likes TT better than any math he's ever done before. It's a good challenge for him, he gets to work independently, and he has learned a lot without much help from me. When I looked at his friend's 8th grade Algebra 1 book from public school, I notice that there are things that TT doesn't cover yet. However, for us, TT Algebra 1 is just right for 7th grade math. After years of homeschooling, I think what I like best is how little labels matter. If it's not "really" Algebra 1, but it works well for my child this year, then what it's called doesn't ultimately make a difference to me.

When my husband teaches American Lit at community college, he always uses the Heath Anthology. I just checked with him and he says it has the best support materials. I do think I'd use a college level textbook to supplement 11th grade, especially to prepare for the AP. Check a used book store--ours always has older anthologies cheap. Or with a college English teacher--our offices are overflowing with slightly out of date textbooks!

I teach English at a community college, and, at my school at least, I really believe students often get a better education than they would at most 4 year schools. The first two years of school are mostly spent fulufilling general ed requirement which are often taught in large lectures or by graduate students. We have many students come back to visit our college who tell us that, in terms of personal attention and teaching, their years at community college were better than their final two years. The college will administer placement tests to make sure he's college ready--so no, you don't need any particular prerequisites. Our college considers anyone ready to take algebra to be college ready. And no one who has been educated with TWTM should have any trouble passing the writing and reading placement tests! My seventh grader can write better than many (though not all) of my cc students. At the same time, I've known many students at our college who have excelled at cc and transferred to the school of their choice without any trouble, and often with generous scholarships. OTOH, I won't be sending my oldest son to cc. Why? First, I think it can sometimes be difficult to forge friendships at a 4 year school after the first year. Second, since we plan on doing lots of AP's and SAT subject tests, so I expect he'll be able to place out of many required courses and take more upper level classes his first two years of college, as I did. But my oldest son sounds more like your second son. And we may well send our second son (who sounds more like your oldest son) to cc--right now he wants to work for the forest service, and our college offers excellent programs in natural resources. So all in all...if it feels right, it probably is right. Good luck!