We aren't Christian (Unitarian) and we love SOTW. I treat the Bible stories like any other myth. IMHO, I truly believe there is great value in my kids knowing some of the major Bible stories. For me, it's helping them to be culturally literate. And, honestly, we supplement with SO many other books, my kids are getting lots of different explanations. The chapters in SOTW are very short. If you do it the way SWB recommends, most of your time is actually spent with other sources. I wouldn't not use them based on religion. They are that good.

I don't have time to read the other posts, but I'll offer you our experience. Our girls are adopted through foster care. They have an amazing extended bio family. I had a very deep conversation with their bio aunt one day about why the family didn't step forward to take them. One of her daughters can't have children, so I always wondered why she didn't adopt them. This aunt told me that as much as they would have loved the girls, they knew it would not only be in the best interest of the children, but it wouldn't be in the best interest of their bio mom. They didn't feel that the bio mom would have been able to heal and move forward, nor did they think the kids would be able to attach to a new family and move on. All of the family lives close together. That was her explanation. Just food for thought. Every situation is different.

It sounds like a seizure to me. Although, was she on a leash? If she was making the choking sounds (my dog does this sometimes when she pulls on the leash), is it possible that your daughter was yanking too hard on the leash and deprived her of oxygen? That's the only other thing I can think of, although the diarrhea doesn't really fit. I'd be taking her to the vet, pronto.

Hi, We just completed a move across the country. We are renting out our 4 bedroom house that we'd been in for 5 years and we downsizes to a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom rental. I think we romanticized the small house thing... Anyhow, we got rid of SOOOO much stuff, got here, and guess what? We are getting rid of about half of what we moved across the country! It feels good, but I wish I could have just ripped off the bandaid before paying to move it all. As far as homeschooling goes, I first packed everything I wanted the girls to work on everyday- math, a journal, a few books, etc. I put in in a backpack and it stayed with us in the car. Everything else went into boxes, organized by where we store it, clearly labeled. Those were the first boxes I unpacked after the kitchen. I would assume, though, you don't have any curriculum yet, so that might not even be a consideration for you. While going through a charter is definitely not my thing, and presents a whole host of issues for you, the blessing might be that you will know exactly what materials you need and you'll have someone keeping you on track. It might be easy to slack off with all the moving (I'm saying this from my own experience). Whether you are traveling or staying with family, just make school your #1 priority everyday. Don't unpack, go to the store, turn on the TV, etc, until school is done. I *think* you'll be surprised just how quickly the school day goes when you are homeschooling. Good luck!

We just moved (this month!) from Utah to Virginia. All of our family is in Utah and California. We didn't know anyone here and we just picked it off the map. We could choose anywhere from VA to Maine. We did not have ANY support. Our friends and family were just too sad to see us go, but this was an adventure we wanted to take, and here we are. :) Once we chose a city, I joined the Yahoo group for the local homeschoolers. I also became very familiar with all of the state homeschooling resources, which led me to even more groups to join. We had many virtual contacts before we ever even moved. It was helpful because they were able to give us advice on doctors, therapists (we have special needs, too), etc. I also became very familiar with the available homeschool activities, so we were able to jump right in when we got here. That really helped my girls since they were missing their friends. Good luck. It's a huge leap of faith, but for us, it was better than always wondering, "What if?" We figure we can always move closer to family when the girls go to college and we can't afford to travel anymore. ;)

FLL 3 Reading WTM style, my girls love to read so I usually don't assign books, I just gently persuade :) WWE 3 Writing Strands (I didn't like this last year, but we are going to try it out again) SOTW 2 w/A.G. CLE Math 400s Dreambox online for extra math practice Science....undecided That's the spine, anyhow.

Type to Learn is on Homeschool Buyers Co-op right now, FYI

I only watched the 4th grade because that's all we need.

This may sound petty to most, but it's a big deal for me... We won't be purchasing Essentials in Writing. I watched the sample video for fourth grade after getting really excited about this possibility. I had to turn the video off after only a minute because I couldn't stand how many times the teacher said, "Um." If my kids are going to watch someone everyday, I want that person to be a good model for language. I am sure this guy is awesome, and maybe everyone will end up loving his program, but you have to start weeding things out somewhere and that did it for me. I was much more impressed with the IEW videos I saw online. We haven't purchased IEW because it is just too expensive. I like what I see in WWW and written typos are easy to correct. After teaching in the classroom and now being spoiled by SWB's level of language, I just have some pet peeves...

We are in a 2 bedroom rental house right now. We use the dining table to do our school work and I have a small IKEA bookcase that houses all of things we use on a daily basis. In the living room I have a huge IKEA bookcases with doors on it (obviously invented by a mom :) ) where I store all of the things we don't use everyday, plus math manipulatives, games, etc. Our school books are in our bookcases in the living room and hallway. Luckily we have a screened in porch where I was able to throw all their art supplies and a table. I only have two kids and they are 9, so I feel like we don't have as much "stuff" as we used to. If all else fails, just simplify and pare down. It's nice to have all the fancy stuff, but they really don't *need* it. I've trained myself to be better about utilizing the library, etc and not buying all of the wonderful things I see (a problem for me). What about some shelving that goes up on the wall? My only hesitation about converting your entire living room would be that, especially in a small space, I think it's important for you and your hubby to have a place to relax and have friends over that isn't totally dominated by kids. That's just my feeling though... I know I need to be able to tuck it all away at the end of the day or I go nuts. Good luck!

My twins will be in 4th grade. This is our second year homeschooling. We used CLE last year and I really like it. They came from PS using SRA Real Math- a lot of abstract teaching, but not enough review and almost no fact practice. I love CLE because it is incremental, it spirals, and it challenges without frustrating my girls, especially my daughter with some developmental delays who really struggles in math. Plus, CLE is amazing for mastering math facts. I want to keep CLE. I love it as a skeleton. We do supplement though with hands on activities (I used to be a first grade teacher so I have a lot of "stuff" :) ), and Dreambox online. However, I printed off the pretests for Singapore and while my girls can do all the math, they can't do the mental math. I've been drooling over Singapore for quite a while. You don't have to convince me that it's a good program. I didn't choose it last year, though, because I really needed my daughter, who struggles, to have a very "clean," simple, gentle math program, with me supplementing as needed. Now I think she is ready for a push and my other daughter could definitely use a bit of a challenge with regards to problem solving. While they are going into 4th grade, they won't even be 9 until next month and they had a rough start in life, so they are making up for lost time developmentally. If we add Singapore, I'm totally ok with starting back a bit. Here's my question... Minus the mental math sections, they would test into 3B and 2B, however, I really want them to have those mental strategies. ***So, I'm thinking I might buy JUST the HIG's for 2A and 3A, and work through the strategies with them over the next several weeks (power through, without adding a lot of paperwork, remembering that they can do the work on paper). Then, I'd start them in 2B and 3B in late fall with all the books. This would all be along with CLE 400's, which only takes 15-20 minutes a day and would still give them grade level exposure to new material and constant fact review. Has anyone else started Singapore in the later grades? Should I take it slow? Is there a certain level that is harder to start with? Thanks!

Mmmm, think of it this way, if it helps... Narrations are where you (or a piece of text) are feeding the child the content and all they are doing is summarizing. Original writing is where you may give a prompt, but it's the child's responsibility to provide the content. That's how I think of it.

Here's my take, someone please correct me if I'm wrong. I've read this section a gazillion times because it goes against what I was taught as a teacher, but resonates with everything I KNOW as a teacher... She goes on to explain that with all the narrations the kids are supposed to do in reading, history, and science, plus their grammar study, they should have a firm foundation in sentence structure and conventions. You are guiding and teaching as you correct and coach their narrations. She suggests using WWE, Writing Strands, or IEW (can't remember more) only if the parent is uncomfortable teaching writing or feels like they need more structure. My take is that she doesn't believe it is necessary for kids to be forced to produce original pieces until they have developed their basic writing skills to the point that skill doesn't hinder creativity. There is no reason children should be frustrated by writing due to their lack of ability to spell or form complete sentences. That said, I have two very different children in 3rd grade. I have one who will probably spend two more years, at least, in WWE, narrations, and letters, but nothing else (no stories, etc.). I have another child who is very gifted in writing and I've been toying with adding IEW to her 4th grade schedule. She's ready for more structure and style instruction. That's my take! Kind of like math....master the concrete, give exposure to the concepts, but save the abstract until they have a solid foundation. Hope that helps.

Because I taught public school for 6 years.

FASTT MATH!!!!!!!! Hands down, the best! I used this in my classroom and with my own kids. It's ONLY facts. It's an individualized computer program that adjusts to each child's mastery. You can track progress and print out worksheets (again, specific to each child) through the teacher's login, OR you can just set it up and do nothing. In my first grade classroom I had some kids working on addition and some already mastering multiplication. I 100%, without reservation, recommend this program. I had a parent buy it to use at home, but it was $300 (for all of your kids). Worth it, in her opinion, since she had 4 kids she could cycle through it.

We are listening to Mary Pope Osborne's right now. I liked the book, but I'm disappointed the reading isn't by her- it's some man. He talks too fast. When will these storytellers learn that kids can't process that fast?!?!

Misty- Yes, yes, and yes! My 8 yo dd sounds JUST like yours and AAS has been a life saver for us. She was technically in 3rd grade this year but couldn't spell anything past a CVC word after three years of a great PS. I cannot say enough good things about AAS. We do 15 minutes, maybe 3 times a week and I started her in Level 1, which I'd definitely recommend doing. We are almost done with Level 2 and I hope to be well into Level 3 by fall. She loves the tiles and hates to write, so we start with a few minutes of dictation from the previous lesson, then do the lesson with tiles, then the dictation from that lesson. Mamatohhaleybug- I don't have any great advice, but we hate CLE's LA, too. I'm so bummed because I love their math. We've tried multiple times to do the LA and it just doesn't do it for us. My NT daughter, OTOH, loves it and excels in LA. We've really enjoyed FLL and it seems to be plenty meaty enough with AAS, WWE, and the narration and dictation from reading and history. Wish I could help with reading, but my girls didn't struggle with learning to read. I do love the I See Sam books, though.

We've been using The Listening Program for over a year and we love it. My daughter starts the day with it while she plays in a rice bucket. We HAVE to start our day this way or it is a nightmare. We've seen great results, but it is only effective while you are doing the program. It's not like it permanently improves anything. At least, that's what I've read and been told by the therapists. We'll just continue to use it until I feel like it's a waste of time. We are on the 30 min a day cycle. I got it on sale for like $200. Our OT stopped me in the hallway when we were there for speech to let me know about the sale. It might help that we are in Utah though, where TLP is made.

Do you need to do School Song Latin before doing Latin for Children? My girls will be in 4th grade and have never had Latin.

THANK YOU!!! I've been stressing about this for weeks. I so appreciate your feedback. We love CLE and it works so well for my daughter with learning delays, so I think we'll stick with it. They also do Dreambox online, so at least they are having to apply their knowledge in other ways, which I guess would be the point of doubling up.

Oooh! Oooooh! OK, not to hijack the thread...but, why did you drop CLE math?? We are using CLE right now (3rd grade) and I really like it. However...when I look at the placement tests for Singapore, they seem SO hard!!! It has me nervous that CLE isn't preparing them well, even though they have come sooooo far in their math this year! They finally know all of their facts!

I taught it in first grade for 5 years and, because my girls went to school with me, they had it for three years. If you reallllly do the whole program, it CAN work really well. But, just like any spelling program, it's not for all kids. It worked really well for my daughter who is a visual learner. It did not work AT ALL for my other daughter who needs lots of word building and writing practice. If you are using it as a supplement to a rule based program like AAS, I think it would be fine. Perhaps unnecessary, depending on the kid, but fine. If nothing else, it will improve their reading skills. FYI when it gets into the third and fourth book, it begins to include a lot of words the kids don't know and can end up being very confusing. I know the 5th grade teachers at our school hated it because the kids who did well in the program were learning to spell words they didn't understand and would rarely ever use. Also, there is something funky with the sorting when it gets that high, but I can't remember what. They just hated it.

AAS is essential and wonderful for my 8 year old who struggles with spelling. Love it. It is imperative that you only move on when there is mastery though. You can't just march through the program. However, my daughter who excels in spelling doesn't need this program. I think it's all about choosing what is right for your child. AAS is definitely a program geared for kids who need a very systematic, thorough approach to spelling. I can't say enough good about it! If we ever have more kids, I'll start this program with them in kindergarten and move at their pace. I've never used a program with better results for struggling kids than AAS.

It just means she needs to do it in her head, without pencil and paper. Those are important strategies, so I wouldn't give her too much help.

I have one advanced 3rd grader and another 3rd grader who struggles. I chose WWE 2 this year because I wasn't sure my daughter who struggles could keep up with WWE 3. Well, even though the writing is easy for my advanced daughter, she reallllly struggled with narration and dictation (remembering), so it's been a perfect fit for both of them! I'm planning on continuing with WWE 3 next year. Every time I read WTM I have a different opinion on whether or not I need another writing program. We used Writing Strands a bit, and I suppose we could go back to that. I just don't like the format very much. My daughter who struggles needs a program that's heavy on formatting and rules. So, do I spend all that money and buy IEW for next year, or is WWE 3 enough for 4th grade? Thoughts? Thanks!