:bigear:

:iagree: In PS, the kids identified as "gifted" are the academic high achievers, which are not necessarily the kids with high IQs. love this, great post!

What helps me reign in my perfectionism is to look forward....way, way, way forward, to adulthood. Perfection during the school years has very little to do with being a successful adult. Well, unless you're raising a rocket scientist or something. :D Think about yourself as an adult....Has it ever mattered, in your adult life, whether you learned to read at age 3 or at age 9, or anywhere in between? Has anyone ever cared whether you did algebra in 8th grade or 9th grade (or 3rd, or 12th)? I was always a straight A student, and was valedictorian of my high school class, had great SAT scores, and none of that has absolutely any relevance in my adult life. DH was a horrible student, never cared about school, and was actually held back in 4th grade. None of that has ever mattered in his adult life either. We both graduated from college and have done just fine in life. I have found very little of what I learned in school to be useful in life, and I keep that in mind when I'm working with my kids. While I still get anxious sometimes when I see them counting on their fingers or they spell a fairly simple word wrong, I just remember that they WILL get it, and in the grand scheme of life, it really won't matter that they didn't do long division perfectly on the very first problem.

Another vote for LLATL. We love it!

:iagree: It sounds like you've really thought it out, have great reasons, and a solid plan. You'll find lots of people that will think you're doing the right thing, and just as many who will insist that you're wrong. You really do just have to go with your gut and do what you think is best. I don't really have anything to add that hasn't already been mentioned, just wanted to let you know that you aren't alone (DD8 is finishing up 3rd now, will do a 3/4 year next year, and grade 4 the year after), and it really does sound like you know what you're doing.

Work in progress, but here it is!

I really like this quote from Robert Heinlein. "A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, and die gallantly." So far we've mastered pitching manure and cooking! :lol: For more specific grade level information I also look at the World Book scope and sequence. It gives the big picture of what is typically covered, and breaks it down by year.

Thank you so much! Now I can stop getting mad at my computer!

Hi, has anyone every used the e-learning for kids free videos? I just stumbled across it earlier this week and it seemed well put together (and free :)), but today when I actually wanted the kids to watch one of the videos, we keep getting error messages. Anybody want to try to access it for me and let me know if it's just me or if it's the website? and if there is anybody that uses it frequently, does this happen often? I'd love to use these videos, but if I can't count on it when I need it...... Thanks! here's the link www.e-learningforkids.org

Thanks so much for all your replies. It was great to hear that other people have done something sort of along the same lines of what we're thinking of. Love this idea! Thanks! She has been attending the local ps for art, music, PE, library, so everybody knows what grade she should be in. She also does Girl Scouts and rec. department sports that are split up by grade, so it does become an issue.

This is definitely one of our big concerns right now. We don't know how to explain what we're doing to people, and we don't know what to tell DD to say when people ask what grade she is in. It's very important to her that she's not repeating a grade, so she doesn't want to be third grade next year, nor does she want to be 4th grade for 2 years. She loves the idea of being in a sort of gradeless limbo for a year. I'm certain that she's envisioning her year a bit differently than I am! :lol:

Hi, I've only lurked in here before, but could use some advice from those of you who have btdt. DD is 8, summer birthday, so will be 9 this summer and is just finishing up 3rd. She is able to understand the material but takes FOREVER to do anything. Watching her do her work is like watching grass grow. We were able to get lots of testing done this year with her, and she has dysgraphia, ADHD, CAPD, a problem with short term memory, and a vision tracking problem. She doesn't really need to repeat 3rd, but she probably isn't prepared for the heavier workload of 4th. We're thinking that she can finish up 3rd, and feel good about completing that grade, but instead of moving on to 4th, she can take a year and focus on all her therapies. So for next year, she can do speech, Earobics, some OT, VT, math facts and math games, do lots of free reading, maybe a critical thinking workbook, and learn to type. Then she can start 4th grade the year after, and she will still only be 18 when she graduates. Has anyone ever done anything like this, and can share whether it was successful? Thanks!

This was us at first. I wanted to use materials that were rigorous and accelerated, and I had a daily schedule planned out that crammed in everything that I thought we must do. There was much whining and reluctance about "doing school", and many days ended with some (or all?) work incomplete and me feeling anxious about not being able to count it as a day of school and worrying that they were going to do poorly on their end of year testing. Two years and many tweaked schedules later, we seem to have morphed into unschoolers. How did that happen?! We have a daily routine, and the kids and I know what to expect everyday, but I don't schedule schoolwork into it. They know I expect certain subjects to get done, and some days they'll do work right after breakfast, and some days not until after dinner. We moved to materials that are very open and go, so when they are ready for a lesson, we open the book and do the next lesson. I never would have thought I could be this relaxed. I'm a total control freak! :lol:

We kept it very simple this year with our 3rd grader: LLATL yellow Apples and Pears Spelling Queen's Pictures in Cursive Elson Reader Book Three None of this would probably be considered very rigorous, but she's a voracious reader and just seems to have a knack for LA (except spelling....can't spell at all!)

Being a good speller, and knowing that a word is spelled incorrectly are two different skills. I find the spelling section on standardized tests hilarious. Both of my children are horrific spellers, but they are voracious readers and do great on the spelling section of standardized tests. They can tell that a word "doesn't look right", but they have no idea how to actually spell it.

We use LLATL and love it, but I think when people say it's slow that they are referring to the method, not to the scope and sequence. While it may cover all the same concepts as BJU, the approach is completely different. I'm not even really sure how to explain it, but just because both programs say they cover adjectives (just as a random example), the difference is in how adjectives are presented and what types of exercises the child does with adjectives. Did you look at the samples too? That might give a better idea of how the programs work, instead of just what is covered?

We do LoF a little differently I guess. DS10 loves Fred, and thinks CLE is boring, so we do a light unit and then take a break for a week or so by doing five chapters of Fred. At the bridge, he does a bridge a day until he passes, then we do the next light unit, then back to Fred. We skip the quizzes, and sometimes skip or combine a lesson or two in CLE, so it works out to around two weeks of Fred, two weeks of CLE.

If you want to concentrate on writing, LLATL might not fit the bill for you. It's strength (and for some this is its weakness) is that it includes a little bit of everything. So there is "some" writing, just as there is "some" spelling, grammar, etc. For both of my kids, spelling is very hard, so we use spelling programs for each of them other than what is in LLATL. I've heard people say the same thing about wanting to concentrate on grammar, so they use a specific grammar program to go alongside it. If you are wanting to really focus on writing, than you would probably need to look specifically at a writing program. We have been using the orange level of LLATL this year and writing is addresses through copy work and dictation. There is also some letter writing and the student will do some poetry writing. The purple (5th grade) book is where there starts to be more original writing expected from the student.

We really like llatl here! This year DD8 used yellow, and just moved up to the orange book this week. DS10 used orange this year and just started purple last week. I have never used the lower levels that other posters are mentioning, but your kids are older anyway. We picked and chose what to use for yellow, as some of it seemed to be work just to do work that day. Lessons took 10-20 minutes (we skip the spelling though). We did most of orange as it is intended, though we skipped a few things and use a different spelling program. Both of mine stink at spelling so they need fairly intense and systematic practice and the spelling included in LLATL seemed more for natural spellers. Orange took about 10-20 minutes as well, and purple seems about the same, but we're only on lesson 1, and looking ahead I can see lessons with more writing practice that will take longer. I'd say that yellow and orange were gentle and purple steps it up a notch. I've read tons of reviews that say LLATL stinks and is not nearly rigorous enough, but we like the gentle approach and like that it covers everything. Both kids love to read, and will spend hours reading, so a light program ties together all the things they are picking up through reading. Oh, you don't have to buy the books. We just get them from the library. And I wouldn't try to just use the student book without the teacher guide. You'll miss some instructions or clarifications. Hope this helps! Just wanted to make sure you knew that not everyone dislikes this program.:)

:iagree: We had the same experience here also. Horizons induced tears, CLE does not. Also, while they are both spiral, the methodology is a bit different and I think CLE is just done better. Horizons will have 15 or so problems where every.single.problem. is three digit plus three digit with borrowing from the tens to the ones. (this is grade 3 I'm thinking of). The child can pick up on the pattern after three or four problems and mindlessly solve them all. CLE mixes it up and there is a variety of problems in every lesson.

:iagree: I just got mine yesterday and was waiting for it to be horrible based on what I had read on here. For me, the new layout is great. I love seeing an entire core on one page. I always go to scholastic book wizard for lexile levels anyway, so I can just read a book description on there as well.

That link is for the school versions, but the christianbook website has a new Saxon 3 Intermediate for home schools that you can preorder, so I wonder if that version will be the same as the school version? For anyone that clicked on the link, did you notice it said "different look, different approach"? From the description it sounds more like a remedial program. I'm curious because our school district started using Saxon Intermediate this year for grades 3-5 after floundering for years with Investigations.

I am not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, but we have been using MM this year with ds10, and it has been working for him, but he doesn't absolutely love it so we are toying with the idea of switching for next year. So last week I had him do some placement tests, and with three more chapters to go in MM 4B, he easily tested into CLE 500, and he tested into Saxon 8/7. I don't know if we'll switch or not, but it's interesting to compare the scores. On chapter tests for MM he usually scores in the low 80s, and I know he won't pass the end of year test for MM 4 if he took it right now.

Read the FAQs on the geomatters website and that should give you more info. We haven't used these, but will be using them next year. The Trail Guide is a full geography curriculum, set up by Day 1, Day 2, etc. You can use it with a fairly wide age range, and it gives assignments each day for elementary, middle, and high school ages. The Ultimate Guide is intended to be used with it and is more of a "how to" for the parents. Next year we are using both, along with Galloping the Globe for my DD, who is a little younger.

[quote name= I will be starting my youngest with it when he's a 2nd grader' date=' but he's delayed most children can easily start it in first. This is a good point when answering the "when to start" question. Apples and Pears is intended as a program for older students who are severely dyslexic. Info on their website says it provides enough overlearning to reach the bottom 1% - 2%. I have no idea when an average child could start this, but DD8, who is dysgraphic, is working through level A and can only do one side of a page per day. This means it takes her three days to get through each lesson, rather than one day as it is intended. She is making progress though, and the excessive repetition seems to be making the words stick. Again, I have no idea how a child without learning difficulties would react to this program....the overlearning might make them want to scream. DD sometimes forgets how to spell her own name though, so for us the repetition is necessary! Use the placement tests on the website to see where to start.