We have used codeacademy.com with success for programming languages. Also, you may look at Unity (free version) or RPG Maker (VX Ace Lite) to get started. My son (7th grader) uses all of these along with youtube tutorials to learn for free. HTH!

We have downloaded several of the free levels for LA and have been using level 1 for the past few weeks. I agree with the pp as we focus on spelling via dictation in the lessons rather than via the spelling lists provided. I will probably use the lists as review/practice further along in the level. I have noticed lessons such as "Spelling Rule #1," so maybe they teach specific rules at various times. I am using level 1 for my 2 & 3rd graders and plan to work through each level for reinforcement. They both read well beyond their grade level, but spelling is an issue. For whatever reason, the way the material is presented (i.e. booth shown as b-oo-th) just makes sense to my boys when it comes to spelling. It's going really well so far so I'm planning to purchase K, 2, 4 & 7 for the fall.

I am in exactly the same boat with my rising 5th grader (who is also gifted in Lang. Arts). We are transitioning her from Horizons to TT next year. I am a huge Horizons fan & her older brother has done really well with it, but her...not so much. Older brother is more of a natural with math & required very little instruction. She, on the other hand, needs more step-by-step instruction and practice/repetition. You may try the TT samples online to see if it would be a good fit? My daughter really loved the samples and the fact that she could review topics easily if she wasn't 100% the first go-round. We will be using TT 5 as I think it will review some of the topics she was a little less confident on this year. Fwiw - she will most likely be my only TT kid. My oldest (now graduated) was the same way - gifted in LA and struggled with math. We had a really rough time all throughout high school. Tried a zillion different programs & still never found a good fit for her.

Just wanted to mention that this seems pretty normal for the age regardless of gender. Both my son, and daughter have been exactly the same in the 8-10 yr. old range as far as losing focus & allowing anything (and everything) to distract them. My now 11 yo boy is totally the opposite this year. It's like a total transformation now that he understands how much better it is for him to just get his work done so he can move on to free time. My 9 yo daughter is still in this phase, but she does really well with a timer & my attention. I stagger all of my elementary one-on-one time if necessary and read history to everyone at lunch. It's what's working for now - but I have to be fluid. :001_smile:

My older two are successfully using Horizons with very little explanation - but they are both math-inclined. For my rising (not-so-mathy) 2nd grader I am planning to move him to CLE. I've already moved him to CLE for LA and it has been a good fit. Spiral, but not too overwhelming with clear instruction. That said, I love Horizons and my other children have been really successful with it. If you'd like to stick with it, maybe your could just take a break and focus on fact learning before moving on.

If you like the Mudpies to Magnets book, you may like Elemental Science for that age. It has the weekly topics laid out in a 2x per week or 5x per week format. We didn't use The Handbook of Nature Study as a resource because we already had a sufficient nature encyclopedia. And, quite frankly, it was a little in-depth for me! If you prefer to purchase the supply kit, it's pretty much open-and-go...at least it was for us. Really for this age (prek-k) I have found it best to stick to the 3 R's in an open & go style - so it's not too much for you or the child. There is plenty of time to explore other interests & just life skills in general. That said, having a curriculum for science (like the one I mentioned) isn't necessarily a bad thing either, I have just always made one of those "if we get to it" things. My main focus hands-down is reading!

We've never done any formal lesson plans for kindergarten here. When I tried (because I thought I was supposed to) I was an utter failure. Even when using a pre-made lesson plan with everything laid out for me. Here's what has worked for best for us at that level for the basics... Horizons Math (Alpha Omega Pub) Explode the Code Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading Everything else is more interest-led. Books, puzzles, Legos, etc... For 1st grade you could begin to incorporate more of the classical education/well trained mind model. Also, maybe look into a Classical Conversations group near you?

It looks like the online sample is from unit 3 (out of 34 units), so it is more in line with what was covered in FLL. It does look more in-depth, as in, more complex sentences, etc... From what I recall, the author's perspective of teaching grammar is that there is only a certain "body" of grammar to be taught. Once taught sufficiently, the student really just needs periodic practice and application through writing. I'm totally paraphrasing, but that was the gist I got from the video. It makes sense and is, probably, why you feel like it may be covering what was already taught in FLL. To a certain extent, it is. There are additional, more in-depth topics as the program is geared towards 6th-8th graders. I, personally, think it will be good for my son to have grammar in a different context than FLL since he is so used to it. I hope to really gauge his strengths/weaknesses. All that said, I did have someone recommend to use something like Daily Grams for 5th and begin AG in 6th. HTH!

We are starting with Analytical Grammar after completing FLL 1-4. Their website has some videos from the author(s) explaining the how's & why's of their methodology. My son is pretty strong in the grammar arena after FLL so it seems like a good fit - without being overkill.

We are using fable for our 4th grade son this semester & he really likes it. He is already familiar with many of the fables, but the discussions & rewriting activities have been a big hit.

We have enjoyed Sally Michael's series. The first book is God's Names.

I would recommend All About Spelling (for spelling) & FLL (for Grammar). Both are short scripted lessons that are done with you rather than via a workbook. Also, both are deceptively effective considering the length of the lessons!

I agree. The lessons in FLL4 do seem longer than the ones we had in FLL3, depending on the lesson. Some take us in the 20-30 minute range. We are following the suggested plan in the back of the book & doing 3 lessons per week. Hope that helps!

Totally food for thought! And perfect timing for planning. I was just thinking about how much time I spent planning our history this year (Middle Ages-Reformation), only to have my 4th grader delve into Lincoln, Kennedy & WWII on his own accord. Random, I know, but he retained so much because he was so engaged. I finally gave up pushing for him to do *my* history and it has been fantastic!

skimomma - I, also, wanted to thank you for your comment. This was actually my original concern with being too redundant. He doesn't really need more practice of the same level without new material being primary. If that makes sense?!? Since my last post, I have also talked with someone at our local homeschool store about our situation. She is familiar with both FLL & AG and advised me to consider waiting until 6th for AG and use something like Daily Grams for 5th. Basically, to give a break from heavy-duty grammar, while still maintaining a little practice. Either way, JAG seems to not be the route to go with someone who is strong in grammar coming out of FLL4. Honestly, I hadn't planned to spend this much brain-power on this...what I need to do is just make a decision and stick with it!! :D

The AG/JAG author's website is really helpful in explaining the layout and intent of each book. I was planning to use both mainly because my son is weaker in the areas that JAG Mechanics covers. It sounds like everything is covered again in more depth in AG, so if you want to skip the Mechanics book and use only JAG you could probably do that. I'm not sure how it would work if you were going from JAG to a different program for 6th+ though.

Yes, this makes total sense. I may do both the JAG & JAG Mechanics for the year. Grammar isn't a weak area for him so I have other subjects that need more focus/effort anyway. Thanks for the encouragement!

Thanks so much for the replies! I am so glad to hear that he won't be bored. He's sort of a "let's keep it moving" kid so if we redo most of what he's already done in FLL it could get old...fast... I totally understand the format issue with R&S. I planned to try it for 3rd grade and once I looked through the book I knew it wouldn't work. We went with FLL 3 instead and now, seeing the results, & how efficient it is I just couldn't use anything else for 1st-4th. It's been easy to just move up each level but this 5th grade is seriously throwing me for a loop - just like the OP. I don't mind review & definitely think it's vital, but I don't want be too redundant without new material. And the fact that the author (from what I could tell) recommended AG for 6th and up is throwing me a bit also. I guess that's why I'm questioning the need for JAG or not in our case.

I am in the same boat as the OP. For those who have used JAG/AG would JAG be overkill after FLL4? We are doing a lot of diagramming and I think my son has a pretty good grasp on parts of speech so far. (love FLL!) I don't want to bore him to death! Thanks for your insight!!

I just wanted to second the Horizons recommendation. We have used it with our youngers from K-4th now. My oldest (who is not a math person at all) used Saxon for 4th-6th and was really overwhelmed by it. Horizons seems to have a "reasonable" spiral if that makes sense?? With Saxon my daughter felt too all over the place to keep up. I don't think she ever felt like she sufficiently understood a particular topic before it disappeared and reappeared as practice. But again, she isn't a math person so that may have had something to do with it. With Horizons, the main lessons cover a basic topic for a series of lessons (i.e. division, into long division, into division with decimals/money), but not for a long period of time. For 4th grade my son just finished the series I mentioned in the previous example and has now moved into a geometry "series" for about 10 lessons with fractions coming after that. I don't feel like the writing or workload is unreasonable at all. One thing that I am not a huge fan of with Horizons is that for K-3rd, there is no lesson instruction in the student workbook. Thankfully, 4th grade has the instruction directly on the student pages, so my son can work somewhat independently on it.

Not sure if this is exactly what you are looking for, but it's a recent TOG thread for the LG level: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/478639-toganyone-using-for-lg/

I was just wondering the same thing!!

I have to agree with you on this. If I were solely planning to use it for LG, it would definitely be too much. Sometimes when we needed to just get through history I would pull out a different resource -thus my fluctuating! If your bigger picture goal is to reuse TOG at higher levels, I believe, it's a good idea to begin at the lower levels and get a really good feel for it. Also, I have to consider my other subjects. This year my other planning is pretty straight-forward so the TOG planning doesn't seem as hefty. If that makes sense??

I have heard this frequently as a "perk" to using TOG at the LG level. Our first year with TOG was with our H.S. Freshman and I was really overwhelmed. The learning curve at the R-level was steep and I didn't want to get it "wrong" during the high school years. I ended up using something else that year, but I definitely feel much more comfortable now after going through it at the LG level for several units. For my youngers, I have fluctuated between TOG, MOH, and SOTW - all great curriculums! MOH & SOTW are nice in the straightforward read-the-next lesson sense. TOG takes a bit more planning, but it was the only curriculum we have used that sparked really good discussion...even with my 1st grader. One perk at the LG level is that it is much easier to substutite resources from the library. I do have MapAids. but have found that my children prefer to just use a wall map and discuss aloud - which is fine for me at this age. We will definitely use it for our UG/D go-round. Our week will look something like this: Day 1: introduce week, core history reading Day 2: geography, in-depth history reading Day 3: literature/read-aloud (possibly go over vocabulary) Day 4: hands-on activity I would recommend buying one unit to try (the 3- week sample just doesn't seem like enough time to really get a good feel IMHO), and reading through the intro & week plans to get a good feel for the flow of topics. I would definitely survey the upper levels, but if you focus on the LG sections for now, it will really help the "fog". :)

How exciting!!! We started homeschooling in my oldest daughter's 4th grade year too. She is going to be a senior in HS this year...I can't believe it! Our 4th grade year that go-round looked vastly different from the plans I have for my next rising 4th grader. I feel like I am still learning so much after all this time! I hope you all have a great first year :)