We have the Usborne "Sticker Atlas" of world history that could be used for a timeline too... http://www.homeschooldiscountproducts.com/servlet/Detail?no=7843

I'd definitely look at the Paragraph book series by EPS. http://eps.schoolspecialty.com/products/details.cfm?series=2671M It's workbooky and intended for a developmental middle school audience, so everything is specific and straightforward and progresses gradually.

The other two you might try are Galore Park Jr. Science and Mr Q's Science (the pdfs are free for one of them, so it's easy to check it out!)

Why weren't you given anesthesia? If they didn't have time for an epidural or spinal, general anesthesia takes only seconds to administer and it's right there ready to go in an OR.

I'm surprised at the result... not because of the lack of knowledge of high school students, but because it is statistically weird to have only 2% of students identify a correct answer. I'm assuming this is multiple choice with three distractors? I'd like to see the test and see how the question was written.

Minimus for younger Elementary Lively Latin for mid/older Elementary Latin Prep for middle school Lots of options for high school (SYRWL, Cambridge, Wheelocks, Latin for the New Millennium etc...)

Christian Light Education is about as open-and-go as you can get. I have some issues with the religiousness of it, but if it works for your family, the LA and math is solid.

My 9 yr old said it was okay... she says "It got slow in the middle and overall it's kind of romantic and so boys might not like it."

I've been toying with buying the LBC guide, so I'm really curious what it's like. I'm curious what else is in it... for instance, in the sample, it says things like "Draw the paths of the viking ships on a map" - a fine activity. But do they supply a map to or do kids draw it or do we have to find one ourselves? Thanks!

Some that my daughter has both read and seen and liked: Tale of Desperaux My side of the mountain Freaky Friday Anne of Green Gables James and the Giant Peach The Witches Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Holes Coraline Ballet Shoes The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (and other Narnia) Harry Potter Lord of the Rings Little princess Oliver (we like the musical version...) How to eat fried worms Little women Treasure Island (we like the muppet version ;-) Escape to witch mountain Secret Garden Here are a few we either haven't read or haven't seen, but have been made into movies The Secret of Nimh Princess Bride Stuart Little Spiderwick Mulan Babe Eragon The Black Cauldron Harriet the Spy Hotel for dogs

Sounds intriguing!

I've been looking at Living Books Curriculum book choices... It's particularly aimed at older elementary and covers the middle ages in Europe. http://www.livingbookscurriculum.com/mm5/pdf/MiddleAges-Sample.pdf

I'd look into an Orton-Gillingham approach... I've used a few of the reading intervention programs at EPS http://eps.schoolspecialty.com/products/?subject=62S, though it's been years...

Since in many states, the cutoff is in December... and because she's working above grade level, and she's very close to the cutoff age, I'd probably call her kindergarten instead of pre-K. But... you'd need to be consistant with it... are you okay with her joining brownies or a sunday school class as the youngeset kid? how do you feel about needing to register or do standardized testing a year earlier than you'd otherwise need to? if you end up switching to public schools - are you okay with her being the youngest in the class? how do you feel about the idea that she would go off to college at 17 instead of 18?

I feel like I could have written that same post about my 9 year old. She's started puberty and I know it's all about the hormones... and I know it's as confusing and worrying to her as it is to us. She readily admits she has no idea why she's crying or why she's angry or sullen or whatever... I don't have any answers. I keep trying to remind myself that it's not permanent.

I'd start by having your son draw a map of the world as he knows it now. Then work on geography: For games, Geopuzzles for each of the continents are great. A good computer resource is Sheppard Software website http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/ Evan-Moor workbooks can be useful... I've been intrigued by this: http://www.ellenjmchenry.com/id151.html In a month or so, have him re-draw a map of the world and see how many more locations he's able to recall.

Both my older daughter and I have been identified as gifted, and I don't think that in a homeschooling context it makes any sense to bother with the term. I understand in public schools, that educators have needed a way to catch kids who aren't thriving in regular classrooms; so identifications like 'remedial' or 'gifted' are created. And publishers of tests happily design tests to sift out the 'gifted' and the 'remedial' kids. Cut scores are established at the 97th percentile or 90th percentile or 10th percentile or whatever... And that kind of makes sense for an industrial sort of system where educators do not really know their students strengths and weaknesses. The problem I have is that it's all artificial and there's no reason to bother with it outside of the public educational system. The wonderful part of homeschooling is that we are meeting our children's needs wherever they are. It doesn't matter a bit how they compare with other children. People often use the phrase 'gifted' as if it's a black and white non-scalar sort of diagnosis, not a comparison with a norm. If you are meeting your children's educational needs and know where they are and what their strengths and weaknesses are, there is no need to have them take a test to compare them with other children. The only reason to do so is if they will receive services in a public school or if they want to attend a summer program that requires it.

I've always figured ETC 1-3 is a solid first grade phonics program and 4-6 does well for second grade. 7 and 8 could be used in third.

I wouldn't worry -- the overall SAI is not known to be particularly accurate. It's supposed to be like an IQ, so either 118 or 127 are above average scores and I wouldn't take it very seriously. Your daughter hasn't gotten less smart! As for the verbal score -- in first grade, she probably was not yet a fluent reader and scored lower in relation to other kids -- or she didn't understand the test directions or what was being asked of her. Now in third grade, she's got the hang of reading and test taking and scored higher in relation to other kids. Either way, the results don't really tell you much other than she's a bright kid and performs fine on standardized tests.

How old is he? Can you give some examples of problems? Has he been evaluated by a speech/language pathologist? Does he have SLI (Specific Language Impairment)?

We are done-ish, but will continue Math and Latin for my older daughter and Math and LA for my younger. We shouldn't need to work more than an hour or so.

:iagree:Great post!

I'm not sure if it's a better or worse option that the "alternative oversight" from the Nigerian bishop...

We like math tappers

I think you'll need to do the placement test. The two series just have a very different scope and sequence. My daughter did TT5 this year. When I switched over to SM a month ago, I placed her in 3b because she didn't have a very good grasp of measurement, which is a focus in 3b. But... she has encountered everything in the 4a and 4b books already, so we'll probably whip through those quickly... I don't think they correspond particularly well, so you might need to pick and choose...