We are currently using CLE, but are really struggling through 4th grade social studies. It is really dry and boring to both my son and I. Is there another curriculum program out there that a student can use independently like CLE that might be more interesting? I looked at Bob Jones at Mardel's last night but the people there said it was pretty teacher intensive. We don't want a computer based program. Any ideas?

Our second son basically taught himself how to read. He is seven, and reads books such as The Sower Series, Little House on the Prairie, et. I really haven't done very much actual phonics work with him, because he took off reading by himself. If you have had a self taught reader, do you still go through a phonics program? He is excellent at spelling also, doing more like third grade spelling. Thanks!

I was thinking of putting my third and second grader in Bob Jones science and reading. I've never used Bob Jones though, I just went to Mardels and looked through it today. Do you have to buy the teacher's manuals for those grades? What do you use the teacher's guides for exactly? I wasn't able to look at the teacher's books at the bookstore, just the student books and they looked pretty self explanatory.

I was wondering if the Math U See spiral bound version of the teacher's guide, DVD and student test book can go with the new student text book? Are there many changes to the teacher's manuel and DVD? Thanks!

I'm super excited that we are going to switch to HOD this coming school year! It will be the first time we have used it, and I'm trying to make it as easy as possible on myself to do this. I have five children eight and under, plus a home based business, plus a husband working full time and in college full time, so time is an issue. :) My two boys will be 7 and 9 in October. I am hoping to put them both in Bigger Hearts for His glory, and put my younger in the emerging reader list,and my older in the advanced reading list. Do you think that would work? We use CLE for math and will continue to do so, also for Language arts. Both boys are in the same grade math, just different books. At this point I can't imagine putting them in separate books, yet I don't think the Beyond would be challenging enough for my older one. But I'm going off the samples I've seen online. Does this seem like a good idea....?

Hurray! I'm so glad you like your clips! I'm not surprised how well you did with your open house, I have been pleasantly surprised with how many clips I have sold online. I have a lot of repeat customers as well, once you try one you realize how great they work!

I am a consultant for Lilla Rose, and I do that all online so I don't do parties outside of my home-though you can. Lilla Rose sells beautiful hair clips that actually work to keep your hair up! I also started my own business, The Modest Mom where I sell maternity and women's clothes.

I'd love some ideas for those of you who are required to keep track of your school hours. Here in Missouri we are required to keep track of 1000 hours, and I'm struggling with figuring out how to get it all written down each day. Does anyone have a great way they do it that is easy to stay on top of? We have a Mac computer, so a lot of the homeschool programs developed for record keeping don't even work. I'm open to using pencil and paper, or computer, I just need a better system than what I'm doing right now.

Yes I think they are trying to build their google rankings if I had to guess. I didn't ask why, I just jumped at the chance when they offered to let me do it on my blog!

I'm giving away $600 in Vision Forum gift cards on my blog. Wahoo!! I thought some of you might be interested in entering. :) Here is the link: http://www.themodestmomblog.com/2011/11/60000-vision-forum-gift-card-giveaway.html Vision Forum was awesome to sponsor such a great giveaway!!

That looks really neat! I can't figure out one thing though. How do you make your bed each day with a co sleeper firmly attached to your bed?

I'm trying to decide what to do for this baby. Our last bassinet ended up getting thrown away (it was a hand me down and was falling apart) so I'm looking on Craigslist for either a bassinet or an arm's reach mini bassinet co sleeper. I can find a better deal on just a regular bassinet, but I'm wondering if it is worth it to spend the extra money on a co sleeper. We do let our babies sleep in bed with us, but I try and do that about half the night, and have the baby in their bassinet by the bed half the night so I at least get a few hours decent sleep. For those of you who have used the arm's reach mini sleeper, do you feel it works a lot better than a bassinet? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Blessed mama to four and another on the way! Second Generation Homeschooler who is learning all over again. My Blog-The Modest Mom Blog

I'm wanting to switch my 8 year old son from MUS (he has gone through primer and alpha) to first grade CLE math. Has anyone done this and had good results? I feel the way it is laid out will help him a lot better than MUS. I LOVE the concepts of MUS, but it's just not working out for us very well....

Ladies I am SOOO struggling to teach my son math! He will be 8 on Friday. He just can't seem to grasp subtraction. We have made it through the Primer and Alpha MUS books, and I'm just not putting him in Beta until we can learn subtraction better. Even adding is still a struggle, just grasping the whole concepts. My husband thinks he is just being lazy and not applying himself. I honestly don't know what to think. It took him a bit to learn how to read, but now he does really good. I know one of these days math will just make sense to him, but until then....*sigh* Even doing things like 2 + ___ = 2 are hard for him. He wants to add something to it instead of putting 0. We have a flashmaster that he does for drills, we have done some online games. Any other ideas? I have to admit I am losing my patience with him during math time. This is just getting so frustrating for me. He is a very bright child, loves history, science, reading, etc. But he struggles with being diligent in doing things he doesn't want to do, and he doesn't like math. So a big part of me thinks this is just him not applying himself. Any ideas of what to try to get these facts in his head? We are currently doing a supplement to Mammoth Math ( or is it math mammoth? I can never remember) that was supposed to be on adding and subtraction. I *really* wish teaching textbooks had level 2 out, because I think he would like it. There just is no way he is ready for level 3 yet.

Right now on the Raising Homemakers blog there is a fun giveaway going on that I thought some of you ladies might like! You can enter to win a $50 gift certificate to The Modest Mom store (skirts, etc) and win a flexi hair clip! The link is here: http://raisinghomemakers.com/2011/the-modest-mom-giveaway-3/

I just saw that Vision Forum has their annual clearance sale going on to make room for all of their new products coming out in the new catalog. I found some really good deals!

Great! No we don't make these ourselves, most of the items on the website we do custom sew, but I found a fantastic source for these to sell without sewing them. :)

You can use the code: TWOOFF to save $2.00 on your shipping costs. :)

Great! I'll be selling it on my website really soon!

To celebrate hitting 2000 Facebook fans for my business, I'm giving away a modest layering shell on my blog! The entry form is super easy to do. You can enter here: http://www.themodestmomblog.com/2011/09/modest-shell-giveaway.html I've been selling tons of these shells, and ladies are just raving about them! They are wonderful for those low cut shirts that are just about everywhere. :)

I have a seven year old son who has been through Primer and Alpha of MUS, but we are having a lot of problems with him not grasping his math facts, and not liking math in general. Whenever I let him do math games/drills on the computer he LOVES it. I'm wondering if there is anything like Teaching Textbooks for first and second grade math that he could do on the computer? I've tried looking around, but I'm not finding much. Any ideas? Thanks!

:001_smile:

I started using the learn to read program with my *ahem* second grader. He is reading far past the little primer books, but he just doesn't know all the phonics rules. The plan is to get through the LTR program, first and possibly second grade this year. For history we are reading aloud From Sea to Shining Sea, and for science we are doing Apologia. We just don't seem to get through it very well, though they enjoy it. I'm finding the workbooks SO easy to use, and I'm actually considering ordering the social studies and science and just doing every subject in it. Has anyone switched over to using just CLE and been happy with it? I LOVE apologia, and have a Charlotte Mason mindset, but with soon to be five children eight and under I'm just wondering if this would be easier to do.

Some mom's might be excited about this, other's could care less about it! But it's fun for me to splurge on something where I'm paying nothing! I just blogged about how you can get free nail polish with free shipping, a $15 value. Here's the link: http://www.themodestmomblog.com/2011/08/savemorecom-free-nail-polish.html The deal is good for just a few more days. Maybe that will make someone's day. :)

I was homeschooled K-12! I LOVED it, and NEVER wanted to go to public school. I was the youngest child, and so I had a few years of high school alone with my Mom, which was really special. She died last year, and I treasure all our memories. My mom started homeschooling in the 80's when it was still whispered about. :) My sister was in third grade, my brother in first grade of public school when they decided to homeschool.