We use the first one, but just as a supplement. The kids like them and it adds something different to our study of biology... it's just not complete. You could probably use the songs alone for any age if you're just singing them in the car or something. The workbooks are aimed at middle schoolers.

I'd start with checking out from the library: The Transitive Vampire and Eats Shoots and Leaves and Words and Rules (Stephen Pinker) It won't help with writing much, but they're all informative and interesting books about grammar (and approach it differently). To work on sentence structure, you might like the Killgallon's Sentence Composing for College (or any of the series...). For organization of writing, you might want to pick up an old edition of a freshman writing text and look through it... check at a thrift store or amazon. I've taught with "Composing with confidence" and "Writing Academic English" series (technically for ESL) and they've been fine. I'm sure others would do the job too. A book like "They say/I say" is also pretty useful for giving tips for good essay construction.

I don't think you *have to* do it if you don't want. I wanted to teach my first grader history and she wanted nothing to do with it. She's only interested now, half-way through second grade. I'd focus instead on playing fun geography games and on just learning some stories from history: like... Greek mythology, stories from the Bible, Beowulf, King Arthur, stories from Shakespeare, maybe some biographies of famous people (kings, queens, saints...), that sort of thing... We also enjoyed the DK book "How children lived". Put up a timeline and every time you read something or hear about something that happened in the past, have your child write it on the timeline. In my mind, the goal in early elementary age is not for your child to learn history (as you know it), but for her to learn that there are other times and places in the world where interesting things have happened. The details can come later.

There are always textbooks for cheap at thrift stores. Your school district may have some old ones to give away too. Or get an old edition of one from amazon.

How about Galore Park? Or CPO? Or Ellen McHenry's materials?

I think... we'll be doing something like this: Math - SM 3a/3b History - SOTW and History Portfolio -- continuing ancients Language arts - SWS, FLL2, Pentime Music, art, science - at alternative PS

Yes - everyone does to some degree... Sometimes I find that when my expectations (for attention span or behavior or interest) don't match with my kids' ability, frustration is more likely to happen. Since it looks like your older kids are 4 and 5 years old and it looks like you've got a full schedule worth of academic subjects, this might be going on for you too. I sometimes have to slow myself down and remind myself that my kids have a lifetime to learn.

I do like Singapore, but it has to be a good fit for you as well as for your kids. If CLE works better for you, I'd go with it. It's a solid program and you already know that you like it. I'd finish off the year with Singapore (because you already have it) and then move to CLE with all your kids next year.

Are you looking for materials for a non-native English speaking child? If so, I used to love using this series with my youngest students: http://elt.oup.com/catalogue/items/global/pre-school/magic_time/?cc=global&selLanguage=en It's for absolute beginners though, so I don't know if that's appropriate. I used it for ages 5-7 yr olds. I used this: http://elt.oup.com/catalogue/items/global/young_learners/english_time/?cc=global&selLanguage=en&mode=hub for the elementary kids.

I bought and sold the teacher's manual for the same price... it was pretty useful.

My older daughter (almost 10) is learning Spencerian, but my younger (almost 8) doesn't yet have the fine motor skills or dedication to pull it off successfully. In my opinion, the closest you can do that is appropriate for younger kids is the "Pentime" series http://rainbowresource.com/pictures/031227/i/1/057ccd6b196b3d64a817b517 . I only wish it wasn't religious... though I've ordered it anyway because I love the font.

I enjoyed using this: http://www.amazon.com/Childs-Introduction-Poetry-Mountains-Battles/dp/1579122825/ref=sr_1_18?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328057466&sr=1-18 There aren't a lot of poems in the book, but they include some of my absolute favorites. Plus, each one is described in a way that really helps kids learn about the poet and the context and how to talk about poetry. I think my kids were K and 2nd grade when we read a poem each evening. They loved it!

Are you looking for high quality literature or fun books for a 4th grader? Also, it's probably not 'easy' or 'difficult' that's the problem... it's probably 'engaging' or 'not engaging'. What types of books does he like?

I think so! Honestly, at second grade, if he's learning how to read and how to do basic math, he's set. Everything else is a bonus!

Our formally book-hating daughter is turning over a new leaf in the past month or two. The two things that have helped are: - Allowing her to read what she wants, even if I think it's the most insipid drivel ever produced. (She's read like 20 of the rainbow magic fairy books in a row) - Setting bedtime to 8:30, but allowing the kids to read in bed until 9 (10 on weekends).

Is there a sample of Lial's anywhere? I've never seen it.

Don't assume the pronunciation is necessarily wrong. When I complained, my native Polish speaking partner tried it and kept getting told that she wasn't pronouncing things correctly either! There's too much variation in human speech and the RS software isn't there yet. A computer can't really make up for a native speaker saying "yes, that's right..."

We ultimately gave up using the pronunciation section. It's just silly.

I had the same problem last year with my older daughter (at age 8 1/2 too). The tears, the drama... Teaching Textbooks was a lifesaver for us. It kept her going and kept me sane and the next year when she was in a better place (emotionally about math), we switched to Singapore and are very happy with it.

Awesome, THanks!

My DD finished MM 2b and went to TT5 and came back in at SM 3b. I'd say it's 1-2 years slower than most other programs. It's not inherently a problem in my mind. There's a place for slower paced math.

We have an unused copy of it too. I had high hopes, but we just didn't really get into it.

How about supplementing the ACS with Ellen McHenry's Elements and Carbon Chemistry? Your fourth grader could likely handle it fine. For your youngest, I wouldn't bother with a full curriculum. Instead, I'd periodically check out interesting science picture books and call on Ms Frizzle to introduce some science topics in a kid-friendly way (that your olders will probably enjoy too).

I'm not unschooling, but if I wanted to head more in that direction, I'd so something like what my kids old montessori school did -- and set limits that the kids could be free within. For instance, each child chose what they were going to work on for each subject in the morning circle and that's what they did. The teacher provided the materials and the kids chose what was important and relevant for them. I really liked that model. Sure, my first grade daughter spent an incredible amount of time on volcanoes and even longer on flags and pin maps, but she was exploring a lot of different concepts as she was working on those topics. And it was okay that she spent months on division and hardly touched the addition works... she surely has those skills now!

There is a lot of overlap between those programs. Sometimes I have to remind myself that there are many more years of education and not everything has to be done at once... If you really want to use everything this year, I'd try and double-up on lessons and finish one program early, allowing time for the next one. I could totally see using MCT over the summer (or whenever you finish FLL) for a light sit-on-the-sofa and read together kind of approach?