Ellie (the WTM Spalding expert) would say there is only one Spalding and that's WRTR. SWR is based on it, but some things are changed. I would encourage you to take another look at your friends WRTR, it takes a bit to wrap your head around, but after you read it several times it begins to click :). It's really worth the effort to learn to teach it, I've seen huge improvements in my dd's spelling and now she's finally willing to try to sound words out for herself. If you do a search on WRTR you'll find a few threads on how to teach it. Also, here's a blog post of mine on how we use WRTR for spelling. Hope something in there helps!

I love the text and give it a 7, but with the workbooks I give the whole program a 10-so easy and I've seen good results with my dd. Worth every penny, we'll be buying level 4 and then continue on with WWS when it comes out.

I make my own tortillas because they are very expensive here, but they also taste better than the store bought ones. I would love to have a press as it would make it a lot easier. We use a recipe very similar to the one linked in krazzy mommy's post, except that we use oil or butter instead because they are easier to get than shortening :).

If you want to go WTM style, Classical House of Learning Literature is secular and free.

If your looking for a reader, how about Soft Rain? I've only read the first few chapters so far, but it seems very good.

Thanks guys! I'm off to check these out, anyone else have any suggestions?

Here's what we have planned... Bible: Grapevine's New Testament Survey Language Arts: WRTR, FLL 4, WWE 4 Math: Singapore Primary Math Latin: Latin Christiana 1 Literature: CHOLL Modern History: SOTW4 with AG Science: ES Physics for the Grammar Stage Electives: Chinese with tutor and hopefully some art, music and PE Most of this is a continuation of what we've settled on this year, so I'm hoping it'll all work, at least in theory it should :). Hope that helps!

My dd know her x1-5,10,11 down cold, but for some reason x6-9 & 12 seem to be harder. I'm looking for a computer game to help her learn them. She doesn't like Timez Attack because of the monsters and she's not a huge fan of flash cards. So is there something similar to Timez Attack, but less scary, that we could use? It needs to be downloadable, as we live overseas, and preferably free. I'm :bigear:.

Here's where we've been so far... Thailand-Bangkok, Ko Samet (best beach I've ever been to!), Chaing Mai, Dolphin Bay Hong Kong-we didn't see much, but I did learn it's quite expensive there Cambodia-Angor Wat-DO NOT miss this while you are on this side of the world, totally worth the effort and Siem Reap is a great place to visit We are planning on going to Vietnam this summer and it looks like I need to add Singapore to the list :).

I'll post here too, I'll take 3:30-4.

I'll take from 3:30-4 est because that's right in the middle of my afternoon and ds will be sleeping :). Looks like she's had a rough go lately, so I'll be thinking about her more than that.

I'm not aware of any chart like this, but it should be rather easy to look at the table of contents from the Kingfisher and match up the topics. It would be nice to have it done for you thought :).

You need to use it in the IP books, but the method is explained in the textbook and in the home instructor's guide.

FWIW, a very dear friend of mine who used to teach math in Singapore gave me a manual that teaches the various ways to solve challenging word problems. One of the methods is to guess the number, then plug it in and see if it works. Your son may have had made a guess, but it did work and Singapore says that's ok. I believe their philosophy is that by guessing, the student will learn about the relationships of the numbers and see what works and what doesn't. I would still make sure he knew the math behind it though by giving him a few more problems that are similar, as I'm sure that Singapore doesn't want the student to guess at every problem :D.

I wouldn't miss Number the Stars-probably for dd9. I'm not familiar with the rest, so I'm not sure what to say for ds11.

I've made a spread sheet with the subjects on the left and the years across the top. Then I've blacked out the years before the subject begins, for instance Latin is blacked out for 1st and 2nd. I have put in what I would like to do and what I'm considering, for instance I knew we were going to continue SOTW for 1st-4th, but for 5th-8th I have several options of things I'm considering for history. It's changed a few times so far, but it is good to have a plan of where we are going and it's a good way of keeping track of options for the future. Hope that helps.

I also have a biochemistry degree and I agree that I didn't use calculus in my biochem classes per se, but calculus did help to train my brain to think analytically, which I did use in my biochem classes. If you student is ready for it, go for it. Many universities would like to see calculus no matter what major they are applying for, so I think it's worth it if you have the time. It's critical to do if you student is hoping to major in the sciences, engineering, architecture or in math :).

I would also agree, take the evaluation test that's available on the website, then you'll know where to place your student.

We are also finishing SOTW3 this year. We've used the coloring pages and maps consistently this year. I've also used some of the questions when I ask her for a narration and book suggestions to help me plan our readers & read-alouds. As for the activities, we haven't done nearly as many as we did for SOTW1. I've already purchased the AG for SOTW4 and I've found it to be worth it for what I use the AG for. I've briefly looked through some of the activities and they seem to be a bit more involved than in past volumes, but then again a 4th grader can follow the directions on their own, which is probably what we will do ;).

Gotta love a good library sale! I voted Lamb's just because that's way we use. I've never seen the Garfield one, but from the Amazon preview, I'd stick with Lamb's.

I collected stories about scientist in the Middle Ages from public domain books for SOTW2 awhile back, you can find them here. Ignore the donation information as I haven't had time to go back and change that :). Hope that helps!

WWE is very easy to teach for someone who is not strong in the LA department, especially if you use the workbooks. It's designed for elementary writers or writers who are struggling. I would suggest that you get the text from the library if you can or download the sample from here. It will explain the philosophy behind it. If you agree with it, download the diagnostic tests from the same place and give them to your student to see where they place. If you don't like what you see there, you can check out IEW (Institute for Excellence in Writing). It's expensive, but there's DVD's to help you out. A friend of mine uses it and finds writing very easy. Hope that helps!

We use both FLL and WWE and I wouldn't drop either.

Totally understand that one! I'm already planning out our logic stage ancient history and we've got SOTW4 still to do :).

It's part of the sample here.