I tried with 2 different kiddos to do LHTH and LHFHG. Just not a good fit with my kids I guess, b/c I got through less than half of each and gave up. Great programs, just didn't work for us. Perhaps it was b/c I just didn't devote the time to it that I wanted to, perhaps it was just the wrong timing with my kids. Who knows. I love MFW K and am doing that with my ds4 (almost 5) right now. We are speeding it up a bit b/c he already knows his letters and numbers, can add and subtract and is reading short words. BUT...I just love the program so much that I want to do it all the way through, lol. He's my last baby. :( We are moving on to FIAR next b/c I have the books and again...he's my last baby. :( I don't want to start Beyond until 2nd so that the Guides line up for him. All that to say...I like your #2! ;)

My 10yo was reading 2 grade levels behind at the end of last school year. He just turned 10 at the end of Jan. and is in 4th grade. He was having difficulty with books like Frog and Toad. I was beside myself trying to figure out how to help him. His math is a grade level behind as well. Some days it "clicks" and others I wonder if he left his brain in bed. :glare: As for reading, he was making progress and I was happy. This year I stumbled upon Read Live/ Read Naturally online. I used the free 30 day trial and it has been the single most effective thing I have tried with him! I did an informal reading level test with him a couple weeks ago and he score a 4.1 (4th grade, 1st month!). I was beyond shocked and thrilled! He is now tackling books like Magic Treehouse with some ease and asking to read harder books. He has a long way to go but this is real progress. His writing? Ugh. Let's not even go there. :glare:

Funny, but that was my FB status tonight. I spent the majority of my afternoon and evening cleaning out our school room, dusting bookshelves, organizing, etc. I discovered I likely have enough material/curricula to be able to teach all 7 of my children through high school...with a few trips to the library and some online classes. And what am I planning to do in the next week or so? BUY NEW CURRICULA!!!! I am beyond help. My excuse? We are part of a co-op and need specific books for those classes. Other than that...I can easily make do with what I have.

Thank you! This is just what we needed to shake things up a bit around here! Bored with our current "plan" and my son really needed something practical. :)

I've been a long time user of SM US Ed. I never even considered Standards. I have all the textbooks and really don't want to spend the $$ to switch over However...I get the feeling that Standards covers more? I'm not concerned about "aligning" with standardized tests and public school and such...I just want my kids to get the most out of Singapore that they can, kwim? Tell me...are they really missing something by using the US Ed. instead of Standards? And now I see there might be a new CCS to replace Standards? I want nothing to do with Common Core. :/ Last question...The middle school DM is now aligning with Common Core. Is the program still the same in rigor and topics covered or should I be looking for a used DM? Thanks!

Thanks for all the inspiration! These plans sound fabulous. I need to start thinking outside the box. Using what I have. We belong to a co-op that has many classes planned for us already...that curriculum will need to be purchased. Other than that...I really want to do my own thing sort of. I have a ton of R&S English levels...prob 2-7...that will take is through high school. Lots of books. Tons of books. Writer's Jungle for writing. WWE2. Copywork and dictation from our reading. History is planned with co-op. I need science for high school. Lots of great ideas here!

What would you do? How would you teach? What would you use? I feel like I've been letting curriculum rule my school. And as good as I think ours is (we mainly use HOD and MFW for high school), I almost feel suffocated by it. I'm a "box checker" and if I have a teacher guide like HOD or MFW I feel like I MUST finish it by year's end of I get very stressed, lol. I have issues. So...just for kicks...I started thinking about what I would do if I couldn't afford to buy any more curriculum. If I only had our library, the books I already have here at home, the internet, my printer and my own creativity...what would I do? So...tell me...if you couldn't use curriculum (or you don't use it by choice)...how do you "school"? I feel like I need to be freed! Thanks!

Books are not clutter. Repeat after me...Books are not clutter. ;) Line the top of your walls with shelving units and put the books up there. You know...up and out of the way, but still accessible if you ever need them again.

I'm not sure what to do. My ds10 just finished up Horizons 3 Book 1 (yes, he is a bit behind). We only used Horizons b/c I got the 3rd grade set for free at a yard sale. Well, we plodded along but I HATE Horizons. :/ I'm selling the 2nd book and want to go back to Singapore. I looked at the placement test for 3A and he has some of the skills down, but not others (long division, measurements, etc). I don't want to purchase the entire 3A workbook for just a few problem areas. What are my options? I could go through the textbook and just do those problems, I could purchase a few MM Blue books for those problem areas, we could work on multiplication and division facts (necessary) or skip it all together and just do 3B...supplementing the areas we "missed". What do you all think? Any other options I've not considered? Thanks!

No. The books are random. :)

Well, a little update...I read through most of The Writer's Jungle (phew...what a read!) and have decided to use suggestions in there for now and use the WWE2 for dd8, ds10 and ds11. Starting back at easy really resonated with me, too, and this kid really needs a large dose of confidence. Not sure if any of you read my post about needed to resuscitate our "coding" homeschool, but today we are ditching nearly everything we've been using (for a time...not forever) and shaking things up. It's the first really warm spring day here in PA and we will be planting our garden, going to a park, purchasing some nice notebooks for our copy work, and just having fun. Oh...that's all after our "family meeting" where I discuss the new "normal" ;)

We've used World History and Government here. Both were very "readable" and my high schoolers didn't complain. We used World in conjunction with MFW WHL so we only used it for History. Next year our co-op is using Exploring America for high school US History and America the Beautiful for middle school US History. I like how the books are already scheduled for the middle school and that there are Map and Timeline activities. For high school, we will use it for History but only my ds15 will use it for Lit and Bible as well. I can't see counting it as a full English credit w/out adding in something else like grammar and the Bible credit looked a bit "simplified" to me as well. I'm going to add in more for Bible (just not sure what yet, lol).

My go-to line is usually something like, "Homeschool works best with our lifestyle and for our family as a whole." I leave it at that and leave this door open if they want to ask questions about homeschooling in general. Which most do. :)

All American History would actually be a perfect fit, but I tried 2 months of AAH 1 this past year and hated it. :/ I wanted to like it. I wanted to love it. I love most things BIP puts out. But this was an epic fail here. :(

I honestly don't know what part of WWE would be most beneficial. I'm not sure what I'm even looking for to help him. I felt like I should start at square one with him b/c he doesn't write at.all. I am planning to start the freewrite with all my kids, as well as copywork. Some already do dictation...and we will continue. My brain hurts right now, lol. So I'm not sure where to begin now.

Gretchen, we decided to use Notgrass America the Beautiful with the middle schoolers. The children are only required to purchase the Maps and Timeline book but encouraged to purchase the whole curriculum. I'm not sure how this will work with some students having the book and some not, but I suppose the ones who don't can simply follow the Table of Contents and research the info. in another source. :/ High school will be using Notgrass Exploring America. We just couldn't find an appropriate spine to fit both middle and high that was cost effective. As for filling 3 hours...I don't know. Our classes are only 1 1/2 hours tops. We are trying to make it more project based, using activities that are more group oriented. I'll be teaching the 3rd-5th American History using A Child's History of America as our spine (can I just tell you how much I hate that book? Talk about bias. Wow). I'm researching alternatives b/c many families are not happy with it. :( Thanks, everyone, for your recommendations, btw. I am looking into Hakim's more concise 4 vol. set as well.

Yet another post in my search for the "perfect" writing program for my children. ;) By program, I mean a sort of pieced together, must use what I have, on a budget, yet we MUST focus on honing our writing skills. :) Okay, so I am reading The Writers Jungle (finally...have had the download for over a year...sigh). I LOVE it! It really resonates with me. I love this approach to writing. WWE fits b/c of the copy work/dictation, narration aspect/focus in the early years. I have WWE2 to use with my dd8 (who loves to write) and ds10 (who hasn't done much writing period b/c of our focus to get him to read). Now, there is my ds11 (almost 12). Loathes writing...everything from the mechanical act of moving the pen across a page to the process of thinking about what to write and putting it on the page. He has done copy work (hates it). He has done simple dictation with HOD for 2 years now (hates it). I'm not really interested in whether or not he will "like" it. He hates everything except legos, Club Penguin, Batman, basketball and Minecraft. I want to know if it will HELP him or if it is too easy. I have WWS 4 (well, the sample download that goes to Week 10). Way above his head. Trust me. I'm not sure if I want to buy WWE3 just in case he hates it. I am considering other programs but wanted to know if I could use what I have...WWE2. Thanks for your advice!

Well, I can say for sure that my 11yo is NOT getting enough sleep, adequate nutrition or hydration. :/ It's not that we neglect him, quite the contrary. I practically have to force feed/hydrate him. He sees a chiro/naturopath now and we are making some very slow progress in this area. Very slow. My other children get enough sleep and eat well and drink water throughout the day. Sure, there are nights they might not get to sleep right away (we do not keep caffeinated drinks/food in the house) or there might be times they don't get enough sleep...but this is the exception, not the rule. I'm going to message my evaluator for some ideas for my high schoolers. Thanks!

We have 6 more weeks of co-op. I was thinking about ditching ALL subjects except those we do for co-op. Do some fun math puzzles, plant our garden, find some new recipes to try out, pick a new read aloud that is fun, check out the new science "experiment packs" that our library just got in, go on a hike, do some nature study, etc. But what about my high school kids? My evaluator is very laid back (an unschooler herself) but our school district is getting cranky (and very particular) toward homeschoolers. I've been reading The Writer's Jungle and would like to just focus a bit more on developing a love for writing, start a family newspaper/letter, etc. Fun stuff. Thanks for the feedback. Anyone else? :)

What would you do? Would you do something radical like become a hard-core (gasp!) unschooler for a short period of time? o.O Would you switch curriculum...or DITCH curriculum? Part of this is the last remnants of the winter "blahs". I know. Spring is already here, but apparently mother nature didn't get the memo. :/ I know with warmer weather there will be renewed motivation, but....I just can't put my finger on it. Something is "missing" in our homeschool. Fun? Excitement? A real desire to learn? I mean, I get it. I have teenagers. They're really not excited about anything except friends, playing guitar and sleeping. ;) But even my little ones have lost that certain "spark". I need to do some serious CPR on my homeschool before my children (and I) "expire". Any thoughts? Suggestions? Adivce? Commiseration? Thanks. :)

I wish I knew more details! LOL. They are a family in our co-op, Her husband is a chemical engineer (they've got science down!). She has described her day before and it makes my eyes glaze over b/c I just know I'd never be able to sustain such stamina! Lots of exploratory learning, library books, reading, experimentation, following rabbit trails, real life learning situations. It helps that they live on a farm, raise goats and other animals (lots of real life happening there!). I'm actually going to meet with her sometime in the near future to pick her brain. I seriously need to revamp our homeschool and give it a fresh infusion of energy and excitement. I feel like it's dead. No interest in anything. No passion. No fun. No desire to learn anything. Very disheartening. This is when unschooling seems like a good option...when everything else has tanked and your kids have lost that "spark" for learning. Can the video games, TV, electronics (except for writing) and only allow them books, science equipment, board games, puzzles, writing equipment, paper, art supplies, etc. (you get my idea) and have them create, explore, discover, get lost in a book...or 8, cook, bake, build, etc. Ah...sounds heavenly doesn't it? :) My utopian homeschool. Where all my children (and I) wake up chomping at the bit to LEARN and discover and experiment and create. Sigh. Tis only a dream. But one day... ;)

I hesitate to advise, b/c we are in the same boat trying to figure out what to use. :/ BUT, I second Bravewriter based on your description of your daughter. She sounds much like my own dd7. That being said, I am starting her on WWE2 (seeing how it goes, might move to 1) once it arrives. I don't feel that her creativity will be squelched at all b/c this will simply be part of her LA studies and she can continue to write her stories. I need her to learn proper sentence/paragraph structure and since I don't "edit" her stories (for fear that I will cause her to stop writing), I feel like I need something else that will address issues such as capitalization, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraph structure, etc.

This is my plan for my rising 10th grader. We are starting Monday with WWS 1 (for him and his 7th grade brother). Ds14 has written a variety of essays this year and the one theme I've noticed is his poor sentence structure and lack of "flow". He isn't afraid to put his thoughts on paper, but her writes like he thinks. He needs some of the basic building blocks that WWS will give him. I might also get EIW for him. He will be reading and writing about American Lit next year using Notgrass Exploring America with our co-op and I am hopeful that WWS and EIW will help him with his essays and research. I started a thread about writing curriculum and somebody actually suggested using WWS with him...that it was certainly appropriate for high school.

Like many, we fall into periods or unschooling during certain seasons of life or even times of the year. Right now, I feel like besides the 3Rs and our co-op classes, we are sort of unschooling. For my ds11, my challenge (as many of you know from my plethora of "HELP ME" posts ;) ), is the one who is mostly unschooled. I force him to do math each day (and yes I do mean force), handwriting, grammar a couple times each week and now, b/c I am terrified I have damaged him beyond repair, I will be starting him on a writing program. He is unschooled b/c it is the only way I can survive and the only way that we can co-exist in the same house w/out killing each other (not really, but you get my drift). His video game/tv/electronics time is limited unless it is truly an educational game or program. But this really isn't what you were asking. ;) I do know an unschooler irl. She is amazing. It is unschooling, interest led, family learning at its finest. And it is a TON of work on her part. She loathes "curriculum". She actually cringes at the sound of the word. LOL. She doesn't count "credits" for high school. Her boys will get their GED when they are ready. One will likely be ready at age 14. o.O She doesn't follow traditional sequence in ANY subject, couldn't care less about state or national "norms" and let me tell you...her boys are all smart as whips and all around wonderful kids. I'm insanely jealous. :/ Anyway, it really works for some families and some kids...it wouldn't work for most of mine except my ds4 and dd7 who are very self-motivated and curious about everything.

http://www.currclick.com/product/24476/Foundations-1:--Creation-to-Christ?affiliate_id=122076 I downloaded the 3 Volumes of this curriculum when they were free (a trial offer or something). I figured if I hated them, I was out nothing. ;) Quite the contrary however...I really do like them. I think for $14.95 it is still a good deal for a Bible study your whole family can do together. :) There is also the new Apologia series "Who is God and Can I Really Know Him" and the sequel, "Who Am I and What Am I Doing Here?". Have only used the first and it is really good. There is frankly so much out there that is just plain fabulous. Pray and let God lead you to the perfect one for your family!