One suggestion I would have if you want to get a fairly objective comparison of Math Curricula is to look for Cathy Duffy's 101 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum at your local library. (Or pick up a copy over Amazon if you have the money.) She will guide you through a set of criteria (child's learning style, parental availability for involvement, planning required, etc.) and then give you a chart listing several solid programs for each subject according to the criteria. We've used MUS for the past 6.5 years or so and it's worked for us. But I hesitate to give you a rave review when your situation is likely to be different from ours. Duffy's book gives you a detailed review of each curriculum as well as the comparison chart. I highly recommend it! HTH! Mama Anna

Dd7 does dictation almost daily. (Think FLL.) I've just started asking her to write her own narrations for history. She still sometimes forgets punctuation and generally misspells a couple words. She's supposed to write 3 sentences. One thing - when she writes them herself, there's very little chance of a run-on happening. Unlike when she's dictating. :) She also does a little cursive practice regularly, writes a letter (about 2-4 sentences) once a week, and sometimes writes stories on her own. Everything else is still done through dictation. HTH! Mama Anna

Thank you all for your input! I think I'll follow the most commonly recurring advice and stay with MUS through Algebra 1 before seeking out another program that will repeat Algebra 1. At least, that's the plan I'll work on at this point . . . :) Thanks again! I love having this Forum as a resource!! Mama Anna

Background: dd10 is accelerated in course work due to beginning early and being somewhat gifted. She's "in 5th grade" for the sake of family politics (the family members live in a different state), but here she misses the age cut-off for 5th grade by 9 days. (So, technically, she'd be in 4th grade in PS here.) She's not particularly mathy, but I've pushed her a bit in it because everything else comes so easily that I've wanted her to have something with which to wrestle. This means that she's presently doing MUS Zeta, supplemented by LoF Decimals and Percents. She's fairly comfortable with the material; not struggling too much, but definitely not zooming through either. Math has always been her least favorite subject, but using LoF the last two years has moderated that somewhat. So then we have next year's plans coming up . . . I assumed we'd be using MUS Pre-Algebra and supplementing it with LoF Pre-Algebra - for which assumption I find predictable results. Three (or even two) LoF books to go along with one MUS book isn't likely to happen. Well, what next? I'm assuming that this dc will be going to college someday and I'm pretty dead certain she's going to need scholarship funds with which to do it. That means her high school transcript needs to look nice, with various AP tests, etc. to make it sparkle. That's not a problem in several areas due to her strengths, but Math . . . I don't know. If we stick with MUS (which is what she's used since Alpha) the progression will be: Pre-Algebra in 6th, Algebra I in 7th, Geometry in 8th, Algebra II in 9th, Pre-Calculus w/ Trig in 10th, and . . . AP Calc in 11th? As a young Junior? If she were mathy, I'd be very comfortable with that. However, I'm not even sure that she'll want/need Calculus, without which she would have only two years of High School math during High School. (Ding!Ding! Transcript worries!!!) Also, can she handle Algebra as a 12-year-old? I know there's a thinking threshold that needs to be crossed first. Is there any way I can figure that out without spending the money for the curriculum and having it bomb? (I'm sure some of you experienced math people can give some insight here!) What about another idea? She loves the narrative style of LoF. Should I switch completely over to LoF then, let her do two years of that Pre-Algebra, and then begin Algebra in 8th? (Oh, no! Math-switching woes!! What if it's not complete enough? Etc. Etc.) How about a compromise? Spend next year doing two books of LoF Pre-Algebra (Biology and Economics), and then do MUS Pre-Algebra in 7th (as an easy review), moving on to MUS Algebra I in 8th. Is that mind-blowing and original or just a typical compromise that makes both sides unhappy? Obviously, I'm talking myself around in circles. Any of it sounds good to dh, poor fellow! Would you wonderful, experienced, knowledgeable people-who-have-BTDT be willing to weigh in with your opinions? Thanks so much! Mama Anna

Does he understand how they work? I mean, when he got them wrong, did you explain them and he said, "Oh, right! I remember now?" If not, I'd say you'd want to spend some time on them. If they're the only thing he struggled with, you may want (instead of going back) to just include a couple of them on each day's worksheet to give him some practice until he's solid with the concept. You don't have to find a worksheet of them - just switch around a couple of his addition or subtraction problems on the page so that he gets the correlation. I do think, since it's a mastery program, that you want to make sure he's got the concept now. HTH! Mama Anna

Do they want to learn Modern Hebrew or Ancient Hebrew (as in the language the Torah or first five books of the Old Testament are written in)? I think probably Rosetta Stone or some such program would be the best for Modern Hebrew. I have a close friend who teaches Hebrew school for children who are preparing for bar- and bat-mitzvahs, and I believe she only teaches Ancient Hebrew. I could be wrong, but you might want to check it out. HTH! Mama Anna

A good reminder - thank you!! Mama Anna

Wow, Emerald Stoker, thanks!! I've been checking out your links and I think there are a couple that could really work for us. I also appreciate the advice to just let her be until she's a bit older. I'm a goal-oriented person so it can be difficult for me to just "let be," but mothering/homeschooling/being a wife is sure teaching me how to go about it. :) I'm wondering if I should encourage her to delve into the possibilities of poetry in the meantime. Not as a required, rigorous subject but as a fun "thought you might like to try it" thing. I'm so glad for all of you who are contributing to this thread! Mama Anna

It's pretty well developed. Her biggest difficulties are an occasional lack of formality (using ellipses, etc.) and a possible tendency to just use terminology from her source without fully understanding what it means. (Her vocabulary is very large, though, so I'm not sure how often that happens. I only catch it occasionally.) Maybe I'm looking more for a writer's workshop or something? I've thought of the One Year Adventure Novel - she'd love it, I'm sure - but I want the clarity on forms, etc. Appreciating the responses! Mama Anna

Thanks for your response, 8FilltheHeart! I wonder if Classical Writing would be a good fit? Mama Anna

I've mentioned dd10 on here before. She's gifted in LA, and I want to stretch her in writing because she enjoys it so much. Right now her writing program consists of reports for science, history, and reading (one page each, per week), R&S 6, and a creative writing prompt once a week that she goes back to and edits whenever I find something wrong. I'm going to type one of her creative writing pieces in - sorry for the length, but I want to show you what she is doing. When Spring is Coming The world is white with snow, and the air is still and icy. It is peaceful and silent. You can hear the snowflakes whispering on the ground, so quietly that you wonder whether the sound is only in your mind. Everything is laden with sparkling frost. It is winter. Slowly, as if just waking up from a white slumber, the days stretch and grow warmer. One day the snow does not seem so deep. The sun is out most of the time now making the heavy snow blanket glimmer like a pearl. You can see the dry grass blades through the snow now. The snow melts, slowly, slowly. Now it is gone. The grass is glistening with melted snow, but it is brown and crisp. The chilly world holds its breath. One day little green spikes poke up from the ground, nearly choked by dead grass. The trees have bronze-green buds. They grow, and the new grass grows too, like a veil of lacy green creeping slowly, very very slowly. A bird calls. Another one answers, and suddenly the air is filled with chuckles and songs, melodies and chirps. Spring is coming! Now the gauzy veil on the ground is speckled with tiny flowers. The redbuds and cherries are covered with cloudy bloom. Bees buzz, and one flower flutters towards you until you see it is a butterfly, and birds twitter, and you just cannot help singing back to them and - and - It is spring! Now, realize that she'd just been reading through McCloskey's Time of Wonder again when she wrote this. :) Here are my questions: 1. WTM says that R& S contains a good writing program. It certainly seems solid in grammatical instruction. Dd10 is working (technically) two years beyond her age level and she's handling the grammar fine. But the writing assignments don't seem to be very challenging. For anyone who has experience with the higher levels of R&S: will it cover everything she needs? Should I just let her be instructed in the formalities as she reaches each new level while encouraging her to keep at the creative writing side? (Will R&S really cover it all eventually?) 2. I'm a pretty good writer in the areas of vocabulary, grammar, and spelling, but I only know a couple of forms well. My fear is that if her instruction is up to me I won't know that she's missing something - and then she'll be slammed in the face in college or some other situation by what she doesn't know. (A common homeschool fear, I know.) Is there a list somewhere of foundational stuff that she needs to cover? 3. Is there another writing curriculum that I reeeeaally need to check out? I'm sort of tempted by IEW (It's expensive - surely it's good!) but some reviews seem to think it's best for supporting struggling writers. Is that correct? Also, it's expensive and we have a limited budget. Do any of you have some solid suggestions? Thanks so much!! Eagerly awaiting your replies, Mama Anna

Maybe Tuck Everlasting? If he really likes the dogs of Fern, maybe he'd enjoy Jim Kjelgaard's dog series, which begins with Big Red. They're mostly boy/dog stories with a heavy outdoors emphasis. HTH! Mama Anna

Dh and I were chatting about this. He told me to post it. :) I hereby declare February 17th to be National Home Educator Appreciation Day! (Hey, I'm not sure how these things get started, but there are so many going around that I figured we could just start our own, right?) It's in February because that's when winter slump so often hits here in the US. It's just after Valentine's Day so that those of us who have frugal husbands can be given chocolate bought on sale after that better-known holiday. Who's with me? Just imagine your dc saying, "Thank you!" . . . . <heartfelt sigh> Mama Anna

I agree - very helpful!! Mama Anna

We use R&S Grammar but not their Reading, so I have experience with the publishers but not the specific text. My suggestion would be that if it overwhelms her, trim it down. After all, your goal is to teach her, not squeeze a certain amount of work out of her each day, right? You could do a big part of it orally (if you have time), select only specific questions for her to answer, or else have her dictate to you (if you need to have proof of work done). Maybe the memory verse at the end could still be copywork. Of course, you'd want to (ever so slowly) ramp up her writing so that by the end of the year she's doing more than however much you decide to have her do now, but even then it doesn't have to be the full assignment. My understanding of R&S is that it's designed for a classroom and therefore contains lots of busywork. My dd10 is doing R&S Grammar and I usually only have her do 1/4 to 1/3 of a written exercise - just enough to know if she's got the concept. When something comes up in review on which I think she's shaky, I ask for more. Would your dd do better with just retelling the story to you in her own words instead of doing the second two pages? Then maybe some of the phonics in the first part could be done orally, too. Whatever keeps her challenged without moving into "overwhelming." HTH! Tweaking curriculum is one of the fun parts of hschooling. :) Mama Anna

Hey! I got an email for this Rosetta Stone offer. We got a deal like this last March, which was why we could manage to buy the full program. I thought someone else might be interested. I don't know how long it'll last, but wanted to give you a head's up if you're interested! (Note: I don't work for Rosetta Stone, nor do I have any agreement to represent them. However, if I were looking for a foreign language program, this was available, and someone didn't mention it to me, I'd be "hacked," as my mom is wont to say.) HTH! Mama Anna

We've got a classical half-time private school nearby, so I know quite a few classical homeschoolers. It's a place where you can send your kids M-W-F to school, and then teach them at home on T-R. The kids get into Latin and all, and the school boasts regularly of ACT scores, etc., so academically, it seems like a pretty cool place. The parents use the same curriculum as the school and just (from what I've heard) follow the assignments for the homeschool part. It would drive me up the wall!! I love talking curriculum. I love choosing it, planning how to use it, investigating the various quirks of whatever I get and tweaking it here and there - love it! I've been pressured a few times to put my girls into this school (because then I could maybe work some and help my husband through his PhD or at least have more time for ministry) and have always been able to wiggle out of it because dd3 is still too young. But seriously! To have to live with someone else's idea of what curriculum best fits my kids? To have to stick with someone else's syllabus regardless of what level my daughter needs in the material? Aaaaaaaaagh! I think one of the many, many reasons I homeschool is in order to have full say in such matters. Yep. Control Freak. That's me! As for other "eclectic" Classical homeschoolers - those who choose their own curriculum and use WTM-recommended stuff for at least part of it - I believe I know one. And I rarely see her. <sniff, sniff, pout> I've made tons of recommendations, loaned out my old copy of WTM 3 or 4 times, and even seemingly developed a reputation as a curriculum guru in our campus community, but I've not seen anyone really grab hold of it as I have. Quite frankly, I'm a bit loth to pump WTM to others too hard. After all, it's demanding. You have to pull it together yourself, and occasional pieces are expensive. Many of the people around me school for primarily religious reasons and they're not so committed to the academic side of things as I am. They want simple (to find), easy (to implement), and out-spokenly Christian. Is it any wonder so many choose A beka? My poor dh gets the brunt of it. He talks to me about Hermenuetics and I talk to him about various World History Encyclopedias. Hey - at least we never lack for subject matter when I'm cutting his hair . . . :)

I haven't done this, but I think you probably could, at that age. We just finished the whole set last year, and I would offer the following recommendations (take them for whatever they're worth to you): You'll probably want to simply skip some stuff rather than try to just gloss over everything faster. If you choose to skip stuff, do it in the earlier years. All the civilizations are interwoven with each other pretty deeply by year 4, so holes left by skipping chapters would be much more noticeable. You'll want to leave out most of the activities in the AG, but it's still invaluable for the map work. As I remember, the first volume really starts out at an early elementary level - your dc might find that it seems pretty young for them. Your idea of keeping it going through summers would probably make it easier to fit it all in. Just as long as it doesn't become drudgery! HTH! Mama Anna

Thanks for posting it! Mama Anna

LOL! Love it!! Mama Anna

I don't know much about math programs other than Math U See, but I have my girls work on math facts using Learning Wrap-ups. They're manipulatives where a dc works on just one set of facts at a time (say, the +3s) and can check him/herself at the end. (Note: minimal parental involvment :) ) I've also heard of an electronic math facts reviewer where a dc can race his/her own best time if your ds is somewhat competitive. HTH! Welcome to the wonderful world of homeschooling! Mama Anna

FWIW, I've got dd6 who worked through ZB1 this last year and was begging to learn cursive. I'd already purchased ZB 2C for next year, so I started her off halfway through where the cursive starts just at the end of the school year. She'll need to continue through the summer, but I figure she doesn't need the review at the beginning of the book since she's moving straight from ZB1 and her post-test looked really good. So, you're not alone at least! :) Mama Anna

Thank you all for your orientation and advice! She hit the wall (99) in 9 different tests/sub-tests, so I think Davidson would be the best option to pursue if we can do it from a distance. Now I need to figure out a way of trying to get her into an Explore test. (Of course, that's probably the simplest part of the fun coming . . . :) ) -Mama Anna

My oldest dd really enjoyed Arthur Ransome books at about that age. Also, Edith Nesbit books were fun for her. Mama Anna

Backstory: Dd9 was teaching herself to read around her fourth birthday. I got sort of excited, read a lot about how early readers even out around 4th grade, and tried to calm down. I juggled her grade number to not show how early she began school or what level she's actually working at in order to not raise too many eyebrows amongst the non-homeschoolers in our extended family. I've known for awhile that she's advanced in language arts, but I've tried to just keep up with her there and challenge her in math where she's not as strong. She's working at least a year ahead of her grade (which is itself a year ahead of where she'd be in public school due to age cut-offs) in all subjects. She tested out of Spelling Power (which is supposed to go through 12th grade) at the beginning of this year. She reads stuff like the Hobbit fast enough that if I want her to really think about it, I have to ration it to a few chapters a week. But dh and I both dealt with some fall-out of being "bright," "advanced," or "gifted" when we were growing up, and I've wanted to shelter her from as much of that as I can, so I've not focused on it. She's also somewhat emotionally immature and a little awkward socially, feeling like there's no one around who really "gets" her. (So much for the sheltering, right?) This year we decided give her a standardized test as a way of preparing her to take them later on. (And also, to satisfy my suppressed curiosity as to exactly where she is.) I gave her the ITBS for 4th grade (the grade that I identify her as being in.) She blew the top off in almost every subject except math, where she was at the top end of average. Now, I know that the ITBS has limitations and doesn't really define exactly where she is - if such a thing is actually important. But I feel I can no longer deny that she is "gifted" to some degree and that I need to challenge her more in her areas of giftedness. She also badly needs a group of kids to whom she can relate - who understand her large vocabulary and lively (sometimes silly) sense of verbal humor. So, what do I do next? I also have a completely different concern. She self-identifies as smart and (unfortunately in my view) bases a lot of her worth on that identity. I've tried to downplay how far ahead of her peers her school-work is so that she doesn't become arrogant about her abilities compared to theirs. (For instance, I haven't gone over her test results with her, just told her that she scored well above average in language arts, and at the top end of average in math.) She's figuring things out by now (as is to be expected), and I don't want to have her doubting whether or not I value her intelligence. But how do you help a gifted kid have a healthy self-esteem that's based on intrinsic worth instead of abilities? Awaiting your wisdom (please serve it gently), Mama Anna