My daughter has completed all the Apologia elementary series books with many added hands on experiements. When she was little we did a lot with the handbook of nature study and added sheets. She turns 11 this summer and will be "6th" grade. I don't feel with her day program ballet program she is quite ready for apologia general scince this coming year. I would like to hold off on it for a year due to her maturity and age. While I know she could do it I want her love of science to remain. I need a very strong filler science program for this coming year. Does anyone have suggestions or maybe a junior high level science that maybe isn't as hardcore as apologia but still very solid that I may have overlooked?

Where can you find used Barton materials? They seem to go so fast. My 10 year old is still struggling with everything.

Do I have to buy it for more than one child or can they go back and do the lesson again?

The reason my children love the units probably has to do with all the farm connections. My father in law will go over math with my oldest son at times and he will tell him how lucky his is that his word problems are about things that they actually enjoy. Today was one on tomatoes and the varities listed my son knew, when they talk about canning it makes sense because we do that all the time. Same with livestock, maple syrup, measuring logs, etc. I think for us that is why it helps motivate them. My father in law was laughing at how he would have done better in math if they had problems like those rather than abstract ones that would never be encountered in real life. It made my son excited.

We did CC last year as well. We didn't this year due to cost. And me tutoring zapped me the rest of the week. No way 2 days a week. I'm finding that I can do much more by not doing CC than what we did last year. If we decide to do CC next year I will not tutor.

CLE is very easy. It can be scripted according to the teacher's guide or very independent with you helping in new information. It may be the answer to you not getting much done with your younger chiildren. Just buy the math, reading, and LA and you will be set with CC :)

Oh yes if she is a workbook girl then no way would TOG work. It would result in mommy tears first ;) I am die hard planner, that loves to do all the planning leg work and it was still very overwhealming. My kids are antiworkbook so I know that they will love it. We did 4 lessons in first grade with my now 4th grade son. He thrived and keeps begging to use it again, but with 4 kids I had to give myself a sanity break. We will be doing it next year and I am already breaking out the books to start planning for next fall! I will have a 5th, 3rd, 1st, and K doing it so hopefully without babies/toddlers we can make it through :) We also love hands on projects and lapbooks/mapping/timelines.

I have started doing them with my boys on a few books. Not so much to see if they understand because I know they do, but for practice writing. I know that they understand the book, so it is a fairly easy assignement to work on writing skills. Nothing more than 5-6 sentences and then we go over grammar rules. I see it the same as a writing naration over a historical even/person.

We love CLE math and the Reading program. I am considering add in LA and music. I've used the art here and there as a supplement with other art projects. I am not sure how long we will use CLE, but for now I love the cost and simplicity of it and how the light units give just enough encouragement to my kids.

How is this going for those that are using both? We are going to try them, without lining them up. Year 1 TOG next year with UG level science nerd :)

TOG is very very overwhealming. I LOVE history and geography and I had to shelf it. I also love to plan. It was still so much I needed something easier to implement at first. I wouldn't recomend it for that reason. However, I am planning for year 1 next year and love the program and am excited to bring it out again. What ages do you have?

Yes with Apologia!! My 4 year old listened and helped a ton! I do prefer the lapbooks over the jr. notebooks hands down. We also met with a family to complete the fun activites and she has learned a ton about birds so far! Starting back this year with the insect portion :) Yesterday she even told her great grandma what kind of nest the birds had built!

Do they last a while?

Yes we are doing power up too, I think it helps with confidence for my son :) I am putting both boys in it after looking through it as soon as we finish up our last few lesons from "last year" I also ordered the book so he will not have to write out the problems. I feel like we've made him complete the basics of add/sub so much that really I am not going to have to adapt anything for him thankfully!! :) I think we will fly through the first half of the year and maybe make it to 4/5 this year too!! I'm excited because I thought he was behind more than he really is. (shows I worry too much!)

What are the best markers for art? We invested in prismacolor colored pencils and they were worth it! I feel like crayola is great to leave out for everyday use and I don't feel bad if one dries up- but I am looking for something to keep put up for the nice art project to use.

It sounds like maybe mastery math isn't for her (it wasn't for my son) I would suggest trying a spiral program and putting her back in grade 1 or 2, this is what we did with my son. It was the best move for us, my 9 year old now enjoys math and feels like he's great at it. Math is so important and used all the time, even if you don't think it is. If nothing else I would even drop another subject to make up that time to get them up on level. I tell my children that some things we don't like doing, but they must be done.

Thanks! I just ordered the set and will look through before ordering more. In 4/5 do they have to copy all the problems down? They no longer need manipulatives so we are good. Very solid in add/sub we made sure of that.

I'm wanting to transition my children to Saxon at some point, so I was thinking of doing it now. My oldest has dyslexia so math has been a struggle for us up to this year. He is 9 and I pushed him back last year to just work on his addition/sub facts (which helped sooo much!) He worked on math, time, shapes, etc. as well, but that solid math fact base really gave him a boost in other areas! My younger son played a lot of the games and is more mental math and catches on fast. My oldester completed CLE 1 last year and the other one did Horizions 1 (I used different math because the color didn't do well with my oldest and my youngest gets math no mater what and the horizions was bought new at a book sale). So I am thinking of putting them both in Saxon intermediate 3 next year. I am not so concerned with grade levels as getting it and I know that my oldest will not graduate at 18 because of his dyslexia and some set backs (isn't that the best part of homeschool? :) ) So... what exactly do I need to order? I'm hoping that having them together we can have some great math discussions. They love working on math facts together so I know being in the same book will not be a problem- they are 17 months apart and very close and love doing every other subject together. How much writing is entailed? He does fine with copywork, as long as the colors aren't visually distracting. And yes I do want to switch to Saxon earlier than later.

please don't do k12. They do not addapt of slow down if your child is struggling at all. You are expected to do more than what they do in PS. If she's struggling and you do something on your own you can take her back to whatever grade needed. I moved my son down a year in math this year to make sure it was solid, I don't regreat it at all!! It's just a number, no point in being in algebra and being lost because you were pushed ahead in 2nd grade... Ambleside online has a great reading list, go to the library for the books. Orally go over them chapter by chapter. I would add in writing and grammar for sure at that age. Make your history revolved around what you are reading Science pick a few topics and go to the libarary. They also have experiment books usually, pick them out and go over the scientific method orally each time. My son has dyslexia and we do a lot of thing orally. If the writing is too much, have her go over copywork. Have her dictate to you and you write it for her to copy down, or buy a typing program. But I would at least make sure you save up to buy a math program.

I have the TM and the cd only and plan on just using those two things. Making my own flashcards and worksheets if I feel they are needed. Most can be completed orally.

I have 9,7,5,4 year olds. I am doing the US history core next year and combining all of them together. The 4 year old will still have some of the preK core books read to her by her big brother in the evening. I do all reading later in the day as well, they love those bedtime readings. We combine a lot. My 9 year old struggled in math for a while so I just combined his younger brother in so they are now learning all new math concepts together. If they are close on anything I combine to help save my sanity. Also for a few years we stepped away from a lot of the very hands on mom curriculums. We will add a few back in, but for a few years we were in only the essentials mode and nothing that was too time intensive.

Which ones are better, Memoria press or Veritas Press? I know it depends on which books, but generally speaking which are more fun/better? Any others that are fun? I would need them for my 2nd grade son and 3/4 grade son.

Finish MFW first phonics (I'd like to say we will be done, but maybe not) Horizons 2 Scribbles handwriting CC foundations Shurley grammar 2 Together as a family: HITW hands on US history read a louds & SOTW art (undecided) School song latin composer study Apologia Anatomy/chemistry (with another family) Extras: Wrestling tumbling

I would be upset too. I will say that I enjoy photography and I always ask other moms if it is ok to put up a picture if their child is in it. If they say no I will often still take the picture and email it to the mom so she can have a copy. If I had been told that I would have taken some with and without so you could still have one, honestly I never print them, but would have sent it to you. I think it is very important as a hobby photographer to respect these wishes, but also to keep in mind that doesn't mean you don't want any pictures of her!! Maybe in the future have her take any picture and ask her to blob out your daughter's face? It honestly takes a few mins to smudge her out before posting if it is a big group shot... I'm not sure if you are comfortable with that as well, but may be a solution so she's not left out?

You can request to have what levels he's reading at given to you from the school :) Take those and go to scholastic.com and find books at that level. After a little while move up to the next level, etc. I would ask the teacher what they had worked on. If they did mostly sight words you may want to begin more at the beggining of OPGTR and make sure he has a solid foundation.