We used CLE up until last year as my daughter....HATED school because of math. She finally LOVES school since we switched to CTC, but I think she would benefit from more review. When we used CLE I did cross some problems off as the amount overwhelmed her too. She also scored 90% or higher and still does, but math does not come naturally for her.

I have been using CTC math for over a year with 3 of my kids. It will be time to renew in a couple of months and I wanted to see if anyone can give me feedback if you have used both programs and the pros and cons of both. My oldest (going into 6th grade next year) is not bad in math, but it is not her strongest, and she is not confident in it. She needs more review that what CTC gives, but I do have her redo lessons and skip around so she is getting some review that way. Thank you!

I would love any advice that you may be able to give me. We are a very loving Christian homeschooling family. My first child (10) is very strong willed, but when she turned 8 she really started to not fight us on everything, and has complied with our requests and does her schoolwork, chores, etc with a much better attitude. Our second child. This is where my concern is. He also is strong willed (but I would say not to the extent as his sister, or dad is). He has had anger issues since he was 3. He would hit me, charge at me, kick at me, etc. His anger was directed at me, and not his siblings. We did see his episodes grew in number when dad was in a busy season at work and not home as much. We would then try and make sure he had some good, physical play with daddy (sports, riding bikes, wrestling, etc). This has helped, but he is now almost 8, and still has some anger issues. He has been my most anxious child (will not do any classes/sports/ etc since he is nervous about who the teacher/coach might be. He will have anxious thoughts at bed, and other times during the day. He worries we will be late when driving places, etc. Out of my 4 kids, he is the one to worry the most. He says that he does not sleep well. He does not look tired and I do not see signs of droopy eyes, yawning. He is not reading past beginning levels. We have tried many different programs, and he has not been able to get past a certain level with any program. So there is something that is not clicking. His vision and tracking are great. We only encourage in his reading lessons, but he hates doing reading for school. I try to keep the lessons short for this reason. Mondays seem to be very hard for him...he does not want to do his chores (only 2 small ones) school work, or go to bed. He will fight about doing all of those things. Some days, he does not put up a fight. But many days he does. He refused to go to bed the other night and received a punishment (could not watch a movie he wanted the next day) and he was so upset...he was wriggling, scratching himself, and finally choking himself. He gets very upset with punishments and then starts to self hate himself, and wants to know why he cannot do what is right. I have seen improvement from a year ago as far as the physically out of control, but he still gets out of control, where I sometimes have to restrain him so he does not damage the house. We pray over him constantly and have never told him he is a bad boy. Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I would love any suggestions on which ripstic to buy first...thanks!

My 7 and 9 year old want to buy a ripstick, but we are not sure which one is best for their age, size, and beginners. Any suggestions? The 9 year old is average height and weight and the 7 year old is taller than average. A ton of boys at our church ride them, but I was told there are different ones to buy and start with. Thanks for any suggestions. Tiffany

If you still are looking for a pen pail for your daughter...my 6 year old would love to do that. We live in Michigan, but we go to St. Louis once a year to visit our friends :)

We live in Livingston County. :)

I am just starting to "officially" start Kindergarten with my daughter. I wanted to see if anyone uses an art curriculum that you like for K-3 or so? Thanks so much! Tiffany

Thanks everyone for the suggestions! I am eager to get started and organizing our room!

I am officially setting up my homeschooling classroom and wanted to know what makes your space/room successful? I would like a sling bookshelf to display my books that we are working on. I am not sure about a child's size table/chairs or if a regular kitchen style table and chairs is better. Also I am looking at getting cubbie/square storage containers to put my games/curriculum/materials etc. I want the materials to be easy to access, but also out of the way of babies/toddlers. Any ideas? Thanks so much! Tiffany

WOW...thanks for all the responses. Now I am off to look at each curriculum you suggested! Thanks everyone! Tiffany

I am just starting out HSing and am looking into different creation based science curriculums for grades k and up. If you use a creation approach to science and can tell me what you like/dislike about the specific curriculum that would be great. Thanks so much! Tiffany