There are many reasons that I love RightStart. I love how it approaches math. It teaches the child how to think about numbers and manipulate the numbers in his/her head. My first dd is not math oriented and I had trouble teaching her Singapore math. RightStart gave me the handholding that we both needed. Now that my girls have been through several levels (we are in Level D), I don't need as much handholding. And, my girls have a great grasp on numbers and place value. An added benefit, is that I finally learned how to manipulate numbers in MY head. I don't know how the kits work when purchasing. I bought ours back when you bought all the manipulatives for all the levels together. I would highly suggest calling Rightstart. They will help you in any way that you need help. One think I don't like is small errors in the manuals. Every so often, there will be an error in the teacher manual. For some reason, when measuring with a ruler, the measurements are not always exactly as is indicated in the teacher's manual. This is frustrating for me. Also, when I first started, I would sometimes have a hard time understanding the lesson. This was my problem because I just didn't think the way they do at Rightstart. Now, I'm usually better about it. However, when I get stumped, I just call. We don't play a lot of the games, though I try to. I've supplemented with Calculadders and a brief stint with CLE. There is a spot in Level C where the games need to be played or the child will have difficulty moving forward, at least for most kids. One of mine needed extra practice and another did not.

I received a reply to this post in my inbox, but I don't see it here. Hmm. Anyway, I'm going to respond. The OP was stating that she had used quite a few supplements and was really looking for some other options and might be considering looking at the seizure angle or the salicylates. This got me to thinking. When the dd I mentioned above eats cherries, she gets almost immediate brain fog. It's like she cannot function. She can barely speak. We had cherries for lunch one day and tried to do math afterwards. It wasn't even an option. She could barely string two words together. Math was out of the question. I don't recall all of her IGG allergies off the top of my head, but I do know that tree nuts (almonds) are an issue for her. Tree nuts and cherries are in the same food family IIRC. So, it makes sense for her to have an issue with cherries. We don't eat nuts in our home. Seeds, beans and fruit with a seed (peaches, cherries, etc) are all used very sporadically in our home. Maybe this will provide further food for thought.

Where do you all purchase the Science Explorer books? Also, is there a place to view these online? Thanks.

It's not loading for me, Steph.

I have a recent SL core here as well. The TOG paper is most definitely easier to rip than the SL paper.

I haven't seen the Classic, or felt it, either. The Redesign pages are kind of strange. Sometimes, they feel like 24 lb. paper. Other times, they are flimsy and thin. They will also have some type of sticky substance on them, on the long edges. It's like they had a bunch of paper stuck together like back in the 80's and they just rip the pages off. I don't think I'm describing it well. Anyway, it's thinner than 20 lb paper, IMHO. I am hopeful that in future printings, and with the addition of the updated price, they will upgrade the paper in the Redesign. Overall, though, the paper wouldn't turn me off from purchasing the product. I'm certain that I would have had to recopy all the pages in order to keep the holes in them, had I not purchased page protectors.

My oldest has had brain fog for years. She says that she feels like the fog won't let her think straight. There were times that I felt like she wasn't "with us" for weeks and weeks on end. We were on a gluten free diet for years. We also eliminated many IGG allergies. I think it helped. I was also using a lot of dietary supplements at the time, so maybe it was the supplement. I dunno. A good multi and fish oil were just the beginning of the supplementation. She took a lot of fish oil. One of the turning points for us was adding in a b12 supplement. We used a nasal version as she didn't want to stick a needle in herself two or three times a week. The b12 was amazing. I could tell an almost instant change in her. She was focused, paid attention, and had a ton of energy. After a while, the change in her didn't happen after she took the b12, so we discontinued it. Yeast has been an issue here, though I don't know that it's related to the brain fog. She was recently treated with diflucan due to a nasty bacterium in her digestive tract. We (her doctor and I) decided to treat with a round of antibiotics and diflucan. Now, she's taking a lot of acidophilus. She's had some brain fog before and after the yeast treatment, but the bacterium is gone. ;) At this point, I would say that trial and error seems to be the best thing for trying to figure out this kind of stuff. Growing physically and mentally also seems to affect the brain fog around here as well.

I found that the paper was super thin, and I knew that I was going to pull the pages out of the binder, so I put them in page protectors. Others use the page protectors so that they can write on the curriculum and not have to worry about erasing or wrecking the curriculum pages.

I've tried several boxed programs. One lasted 9 weeks. By the time I threw it out, I had revamped the entire thing. The second lasted 20 weeks. By the time I decided to switch things up again, I was reorganizing that one until it was unrecognizable as well. I don't mind doing that so much, but if my kids aren't learning what I want them to learn, even with my tweaking, then it's not working. I'm trying yet another boxish program. We'll see how it goes. I'm hopeful that it does what I was already doing with program number 2. There isn't a program out there that fits everyone 100%. It's nice to have many options and truly be able to make our curriculum fit our children and family style.

I picked up CLE and my dd worked through several of the units. It was almost all review, but it helped her to gain confidence. The units are inexpensive. You might want to pick up one to try. I picked up the entire year and didn't use over half of the units.

How often do you play the games? IMHO, if funds are an issue, I'd get the games out and start playing every day. The games are designed to be the drill for this program. OTOH, I had a dd that needed a lot of reinforcement and I didn't play the games with her, so I purchased a program that had a lot of review in it. She needed it for a season and is doing fine now, just going through the program. We just started Level D.

My 4 yo and 6 yo watch a lot of Magic School Bus. I also pick up Bill Nye videos/DVDs from the library for them to watch. My 9 yo watches tons of shows on the science channel. She loves science and picks up books from the library that I consider to be science. In addition, she reads a lot of nature books. I also have a 12 yo that I haven't done a lot of science with. It's not something she's incredibly interested in. However, we have been working through RS4Kids Chemistry. It's a slow going process. I'm not fond of doing any crafts/hands on things, but the girls love it. <sigh> I have Galore Park's So You Really Want to Learn Science and have an idea that I might start that pretty soon. However, I'm not so sure... Frankly, I'm glad to see this thread show up. :)

If you do happen to get Rikki Tikki Tavi from the library or another source, make sure you get the correct version. I did not and my dd had a difficult time answering the comprehension questions. I downloaded the correct version off the net and haven't had any other trouble. I've found most of the poems online, for free.

Level 3 just came out this month and I received it yesterday. I've just scanned it, but I love what I see in it. Actually, there is very little in any of the levels that I don't like. The author responds personally to emails and is very receptive to helping parents with their children. The current plan, from the website, is to have a new level out every 6 months until completion. I can't remember where I heard it from, but I thought I read/heard that after the spelling program is completed the author plans to write a learn to read program. This will be fantastic and I hope it's done in time to reach my 4 yo. Though, I doubt it. :(

My eldest rarely spells anything wrong. She never has. I thought about using natural speller with her, but realized that I really didn't need to. She almost always spells their incorrectly. If she happens to misspell a word in her writing, I have her write it correctly twice. My 9 yo has a lot of trouble spelling. She learned to read on her own, and I think that not learning phonics is a big reason that she's not a great speller. She also mispronounces many words when she is reading out loud. I have her working through All About Spelling. I had originally planned to use SWR, but I just can't get it together to use it on a consistent basis. AAS is much more pick up and go and it accomplishes the goals I have for spelling. My 6 yo is also using AAS. We're loosely using it as a reading program, along with Bob books and an Abeka 1 Reader I found at half price books.

Mine is up, as well.