My daughter at 8 sounded exactly like that. It didn't matter which math program we tried, my daughter just got frustrated and tearful about it. What helped was consistency and an extra year. At 9, things are much more stable and my daughter isn't nearly so emotional about math. Also, for both of my kids, being absolutely consistent about math helps. We do one SM lesson (until the pencil indicating the workbook pages) together at a certain time every weekday. And then they do the workbook on their own. I don't add in extras, I don't negotiate... If it's an easy and short lesson, that's okay... If it's a long and tedious lesson that they already understand, I might skip it or combine it, but I make certain that I keep up my side of the agreement of one lesson and workbook section per day. It really helps them to know that no amount of complaining will change the fact that we do math. And it helps them to know that I won't surprise them with extra work. And so they don't complain. I have tried the IP and CWP, but it got to be too much. My girls are smart kids, but they are perfectionists with a low tolerance for frustration.

I do that too... feeling like if we spend extra time on one subject, we'll finish it later than I'd wanted. But then I have to remind myself that it doesn't matter whether my kids finish a given book this month or in two years, as long as they're learning. So... I wouldn't worry about being 'on track'. I don't think there is a track... You get to make your own. That said, we started SM with 3b this past summer and are now in 4a. My daughter was getting tired of that long fraction chapter and I was sensing a potential math-hating-breakdown, so we went through "Fractions as a set", moved over to the angles section and are going to go back and finish up the fractions in a week or so. I anticipate finishing 4a in a month or so. We'll move on to 4b after that.

I believe the author is Christian. I find her books are very good at showing the interactions of science and religion and politics. I think it's too easy to say it's "anti-Christian". But I think you could fairly say it's anti-"religion-informing-or-influencing-scientific-thought".

My older daughter was like this too... at 5 or 6 she was bold and did her own thing, regardless of the outcome. She happily lacked much awareness of what other people thought of her. By 7 or 8 she cared deeply about 'getting things right' or 'doing things the way other people did them'. She's become perfectionistic and wants to be perceived as smart and cool and if she is unable to get things right the first time, she gets frustrated.

I had the Sunshine Family too!!! My girls seemed to really like the "Only Hearts Club" dolls from Target.

Story of Science

I trained as a linguist and am half-way through "Excavating English" with my older daughter and I'm definitely impressed. The linguistics is sound.

When we first used MM, I bought the Lulu printed version. The next semester, I tried printing them myself (fast draft -- cheaper!) and put them in a notebook. Most recently, I printed them on my printer and then took to a print shop and had it spiral bound for $1.75 All of those ways work pretty well. I'd imagine Kinko's is probably considerably more expensive.

Last year, when my younger daughter was a 6 yr old (of the immature variety) she enjoyed this: http://www.amazon.com/World-History-Sticker-Stickers-Atlases/dp/0794512445/ref=pd_sim_b39 Every evening, we'd do one or two stickers. She'd write a sentence in her notebook. I'd ask her questions about the other stickers she'd put in the book. Sometimes, she'd do some coloring of maps or we'd watch a brainpop on the topic. She loved it. Does she understand much about history? Nope... but she at least has a reference for what a mosque or a pyramid or a cathedral or a continent is. She can recognize the Eiffel Tower and the Colliseum and the Great Wall of China. I figured it was a gentle introduction to the idea that interesting things happened in the past in other places and it's worth learning about them. I'm hoping that next year she'll be ready to dig a bit deeper.

Our local school district does support us with a homeschool support program. There's an option in which the students are registered with the alternative school and a homeschooling option where parents just pick and choose classes. We have a borrowing library of curriculum materials. One district over, there is a charter school in which families get $500 to use for materials. Of course, the price of using the school district programs is giving up a bit of autonomy... testing or other requirements come into play...

I have used Minimus with 2nd and 3rd graders and Lively Latin with 4th and 5th graders.

We used HWOT and I have two kids who can print very neatly when they try. They can also be very sloppy when they don't try... but at least they know how to have good handwriting. My 7 yr old is learning cursive and I should have stuck with HWOT. Instead, I was lured by the idea and early reviews of Pictures in Cursive. I regret that, but we're plowing onwards anyway. I'll switch back to HWOT when we finish. My 9 yr old didn't like HWOT cursive and asked if I could find her something fancier. I chose the reproduction Spencerian books. I got 2 sets because I wanted to improve my handwriting too. I'm on book 4 and I get compliments on my writing all the time (before my scrawl looked childish). She's still on book 1, but already I can see some improvement. That said, the books can be tedious and old fashioned, so I'd only go with Spencerian if you have the sort of child who thinks that sort of thing is cool.

I was also going to suggest Killgallon. The nice thing about those books is the connection between the grammar and the writing. Kids can see real authors creating interesting sentences by using prepositional phrases or gerunds or appositives or whatever is sending him to sleep with Rod and Staff.

This shows some studies using singapore math programs. They weren't apparently eligible to be included in the "What Works Clearinghouse", but you might find some interesting data if you check out the references. http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/pdf/intervention_reports/wwc_singaporemath_042809.pdf

:iagree: The band on that particular bandwagon may sound really pretty... but if your daughter doesn't care for it and is learning well with something else, don't change! She's awfully young. She may want to give it a try in 3 or 4 years. Or maybe not. There are a lot of good choices out there.

I totally understand. It's like asking kids to draw fractals instead of teaching arithmetic skills. It's cool... it's just not going to get your child where you want him to go. It might be a little advanced right now, but you might consider Killgallon's "Sentence Composing for Elementary School". It focuses on improving sentence construction by having kids imitate sentences. It might just relieve your child from needing to 'create' language from scratch. For paragraph level writing, you could try EPS "The Paragraph Book" which is a formulaic approach to paragraph organization. Again, it's very tightly organized and supported...

I like the WWS idea. You can try the download. Another thought would be Galore Park, though you'd want to add in a writing component. http://www.galorepark.com/product/home_schoolers/109/junior-english-book-3.html

I've begun to dislike "Pictures in Cursive". I also regret buying a science workbook (Evan Moore Daily Science) for my 2nd grader. I've outsourced science with some fun local classes. Luckily we didn't actually use it... Otherwise, everything ranges from Okay to Wonderful.

The OUP series called "The Medieval and Early Modern World" has a number of books in the series -- The European World 400 to 1450, The Asian World 600-1500, The Age of Empires 1200-1700, etc... The OUP book entitled "Medieval and Early Modern World" are primary sources for the entire series. There are other publishers of middle school textbooks with similar titles. But Steck Vaughn isn't the publisher for the book series which includes this one: http://www.amazon.com/European-World-400-1450-Medieval-Modern/dp/0195178440/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318168625&sr=8-1 .

We use the New Revised Standard Version... I grew up with the RSV or NRSV at home and the NIV at the Christian school I attended. They took a very dim view of the NRSV, if I recall. It made me like it all the more.

:iagree: Exactly. It seems kind of absurd to me. I know it wasn't done that way by my parents... I doubt my grandmother and grandfather did either. I also think the idea of a woman waiting for a man to ask her to marry him rather than discussing the idea together it is kind of weird. And frankly, the idea that two people wouldn't live together before making such a big decision is also a little strange, though maybe more understandable...

I went to high school at the end of the 1980's, but in the early 80's, our high school had a smoking room for students. :glare:

Anyone? I want to submit this order form for the exam for my 4th grader (and 5th grade buddy). But I'm just not sure if the review activity packet or thematic teaaching packets on the 7 wonders are worth the extra money...

They did some algebra in 4a too. Look at the order of operations section... p. 41

1. What would you say are the best things about this program vs. other ones? LL integrates history and geography and poetry and word study into it very nicely. 2. What are the biggest negatives? It introduces verb paradigms or noun declensions with no context. My daughter has trouble understanding why she must memorize something if she can't use it. Also, there is very little translation. I'm okay with a part to whole approach, but there has to be a little bit of context to understand where that "part" that the child is learning is going to eventually fit into the "whole". 3. Would you use this program again with subsequent children? If no, which would you use instead? Probably not. I like it for my older daughter, but I'll go with Minimus for my second grader... in a year or two. She wouldn't understand the point. 4. After LL2, what program did your child go into? Did you feel they were adequately prepared? I anticipate starting her in Latin Prep 1 next year. I think she'll do fine. 5. Can I use this with a 2nd grader and 5th grader? If your 2nd grader is a run-of-the-mill typical 7 yr old, I'd suggest doing Song School Latin or maybe Minimus. Or just waiting. If your 2nd grader is a fluent reader, gung-ho about academics and ready to focus on details and memorize, maybe. But I'd probably wait a year. 6. Does your child have a good understanding of Latin after using this program? Actually... she's doing better than I expected considering we only do Latin twice a week. 7. Any regrets using LL? Not really. I think it's a pretty good choice for older elementary kids.