Thanks everyone for your replies.... you confirmed in my mind what to expect. I am hopeful that my dd 12 can finish TT5 quickly since she is behind and move on to TT6 before the end of next year. Bless you all for replying!

Hello all! We just switched over to TT from MUS for my kids. My 2 oldest are doing TT5 and my ds is doing TT4. My question is this.... how long did it take you to complete one "grade" level of TT? My 8 yo is really excited about TT and is doing 2 sections per day. I realize that he will probably slow down after the initial excitement wears off and he starts getting into new material. We did skip TT3 for him based on his assessment. But how long did it take for your students to complete a level? I have tried to find the answer on this board but couldn't find any. So forgive me for posting yet another TT thread! Thanks!

In a previous life, I redesigned rooms! Now I just sit around thinking of new ways of creating storage in our home.... When you have little square footage, you need to think how to go up - Ikea has these Expedit units - cubby bookshelves. What I love about these is that they are so versatile. You can put them up a wall, stack them, use them as a room divider, put baskets/bins in them to keep lego pieces out of site when not in use or put cabinet drawers/drawers in them to organize. I have the tall, narrow unit on it's side and baskets there to keep all my kids shoes (I have 5 kiddos). There is also an Expedit with a large space in the middle for a tv and cubbies all around for storage. Definately I would clean out the fireplace and place a large basket (or small woven hamper) there to hold toys, blankets or whatever. Small spaces are a challenge but so rewarding when you feel you have brought them to their potential! Blessings!

I have a 6th, 4th, 2nd and 2 prek. I know how you feel! We have used the workbox system which has really worked for my kids. I just fill up their boxes and they know exactly what needs to be done. I usually don't schedule a "work with mom" box until I think I will be done with the prek. If they get stuck on something, they are instructed to move on to the next thing until I am available. Workboxes are great for my prek too. I just fill up their boxes with puzzles, sorting, coloring, matching, folder game, etc. They just work their way through their boxes and they feel involved with school. My oldest is really working independently now and she really feels in charge of her school. Next year, I will have one in K and the other still in prek. Should be interesting....

Rod & Staff 2.... the workbook gives them vocab words and some pre-reading work... then they read. Afterward, they answer questions to check comprehension. My boys love this program!

Jennifer Steward does a unit study with a notebooking approach that looks really good and takes only a few weeks. Check it out here: http://www.unitstudies.com/

Just finishing our 3rd year of HS. Took my kids out for 4th/2nd/K grades. Both my older kids had IEPs for math and reading respectively. It was frustrating because when I started noticing the math issues and crying with dd I contacted the teacher who never called me back. Should have seen the sign. Took me 2 more years to finally pull them. I wish I had homeschooled from the beginning or at least pulled them mid-year when we finally made the choice to HS.

Spelling City.... it's online and free or upgrade for $30. My kids are spelling!

I also am planning on starting MOH because of the ability to combine grades. I will have a 5th, 3rd, 1st, toddler and infant. I like MOH because it seems to me that everyone can be doing things on the own level and you can dive deeper into a certain subject with extra reading or projects. Just curious... which level are you thinking of?

So you both use MOH with SOTW? Why not just one or the other? What are the benefits?

IMHO I believe that reading is the most important subject that a child can learn. I too have a second grader that is behind in reading. He hits the ball out of the park phonetically but when it comes to retention, it's just not there. I plan to use the AAS program and the Seeing Stars to help him. It's important to me to get him at least in the ballpark when it comes to reading because that translates to all other subjects. And if he enjoys reading, then he will be more open to the incredible world of living books and all that they offer. My advice (and you don't have to take it) is to meet her at her level and not push more at her than she is able to do (my mistake earlier this year!) It may cause her to become frustrated and shut down. Good luck!

Can I ask how old your son is?

My ds is now 31 months and we started him in EI 2 months ago... it has been amazing! We contacted the Infant Program which should also be in your area. They have run a barrage of tests on him and not just for speech. Has he had a hearing test? Has he had a lot of ear infections? Sometimes if there is fluid on the ear, they will not hear the sounds correctly. Turns out that for my ds, the phone call was the best of my life! After making the initial call, he started saying more and more words. One thing you can try is to label everything for him. Fx, point to his shoe and say "shoe". When he brings you a book say "book". Don't ask that he repeat it, just label it and repeat it yourself. Someone else suggested giving him choices, fx "Do you want milk or juice?" (I would hold up each container in my hand). Even if he just points to the one he wants, he is communicating. The Infant Program can assist until age 3 then they will have to go the school district (if he qualifies) where they will set him up with an IEP (Individual Education Plan??) After all the calls, my son did not qualify for the speech therapy portion since he did not have a 50% delay (required on ages 2+). But he is getting some wonderful fine motor and oral motor work thru the Infant Prog. I also purchased a speech curriculum called "small talk" through FIAR. It has some wonderful excercises in it for making certain speech sounds. It is pricey at $150 but if you have to pay for speech therapy, this could save quite a bit. One more idea is to contact your local Elks club chapter. Each of those clubs supports a different program and the Elks' program is speech and can probably direct you to a speech therapist that would be sponsored through the Elks - no cost to you! My feeling is that he will be fine. I do wish I had called for intervetion earlier though as I am seeing great strides being made but he probably will not be caught up by his next bday but may not qualify for the IEP. Cross that bridge when we come to it! Good luck!

OK - now I have to know .... what is HST???

I am considering MOH 1 for next year for my 1st, 3rd and 5th grader. Has anyone used this program for multilevels? How did it work for you and what specifically did you do? I am really wanting to combine all 3 dc for history next year... Thanks!

You can also check out the Answers in Genesis website. There are many great books that you can look at and decide for yourself what he should read. I do really like the Answers series for kids over 11. Both evolutionists and creationists have the same evidence but it is how that evidence is interpreted that distiguishes us. The Answers books look at that evidence with a creation standpoint. Easy reading. I think mrsjamiesouth mentioned the Young Earth which is by John Morris. This one reads a little more like a textbook with lots of pictures but again it does look at the evidence from a creation standpoint. Hope this helps! Good luck!

I do love the Rod and Staff english - very thorough but easy to understand and to teach.

You may have answered this already but I couldn't find it (I'm new here!) - what does WP stand for?

4th, 2nd and K: MUS - love all 3 levels - dd had major issues with math until this year Total Language Plus (TLP) - Not so much Pippi but Shiloh! Sing Spell Read Write Explode the Code/Beyond the Code lapbooking I really wanted to love Beautiful Feet but didn't really work well with my boys - looking at MOH for next year - any feedback?

Hey Heather - I also have the AAS and am considering the Seeing Stars program for my 8 yo ds. My ds can sound out most words but he has problems retaining those words after he has sounded them out. I have been told that he has an auditory processing issue as well. He is reading at about a K level now. We started homeschooling this year and I have been quite overwhelmed with this issue. I was considering going to one of the Seeing Stars workshops but at $600 it is a little rich for my blood. The kit at $400 is a better deal but if I already have the AAS do I need all the other 'stuff'? How do you implement SS with AAS? Thanks for your help!