Hello, I apologize in advance if this should have been posted in a different place. I couldn't decide. My nearly 13 year old son seems to have the mind of an inventor. Many people have expressed this. He honestly drives me a little crazy. LOL He does impress me with the way his mind works, his determination, and lack of fear of failure. I have often said he is at his best when he has his next great idea and is focused on it; otherwise, he tends to bother his siblings and get in trouble. :D I am wondering how best to support him as he gets older. I am not sure if there are things I should have on hand or specific courses or books that should be available to him. Do I just continue to follow his lead? He doesn't come across as an exceptional student, and he doesn't always apply himself to bookwork. (He is easily distracted by his great ideas.) Any thoughts? Thank you.

She did test into CLE 3. I wish I had done like you with my oldest. I think because he has struggled so much (having him checked for LDs soon) I want to try to prevent that for my others. I wish I had stayed with Rod & Staff for him. He needed mastery.

Thank you! I forgot about the CT books! I am looking at Beast Academy now, too.

Thank you for your input. I am not needing it to line up. Mostly, I have just been giving her extra written practice on facts from the Complete Book of Math. I also use The Verbal Math Lesson as a mental math warm-up. I took a look at CLE and may buy that and then just pick and choose what I want her to do. Although, I was also looking at CBOM grades 3=4 last night and think that would be a cheap solution to picking and choosing what we need or want to add in. I have used TT for several years with my other kids, and I don't see the need to use a TT workbook at level 3. They use scratch paper when they need to write a problem until level 5 or higher. She is doing fine using TT3 this way. It is fun and easy for her. Thanks again!

My 7.5 year old daughter has been using TT 3, and I have been supplementing with some pages I had from Complete Book of Math (1-2.) TT 3 seems easy for her, but I want to be sure things are cemented on paper as well. She doesn't use the TT book and I want to e sure she is writing numbers. Does anyone else supplement TT in the lower levels? What complements it well?

Thanks. I have looked at both, but I have a difficult time getting a feel or understanding programs from the computer screen. I appreciate the input here and plan to try A&P.

Yes, pieces and pace!!

It's not that AAS didn't help. I didn't like the program. My 11 yr. old is okay with grammar. It escapes my 13 yr. old. Thank you. I appreciate the input.

I need a spelling program for 11 and 13 year old boys with terrible spelling. I have it narrowed down to these two. I'm a little concerned about LoE because I didn't like AAS and I'm afraid they are very similar. I don't like pieces/cards. Is Apples & Pears less teacher intensive? Would we cover things more quickly with LoE? Any insight to either program would be much appreciated. Thank you.

http://butterfliesandbarefootlasses.blogspot.com/p/preschool.html

We have been using Visits to Africa this year and I'm very pleased with how many countries my boys can now label. I have decided, though, that I will only purchase the book for 6th or 7th grade and up in the future. My 8 yr. old has learned many countries, but it is difficult for him to label the map. He just tells me the names. They also like to work the Geopuzzle, so in the future I will just have the 5th or 6th grade and under crowd work the Geopuzzle, do an occasional map drill, and orally discuss the Meet the Family questions.

Anybody have anything they've been really happy with? I'm looking at My First Super Science Kit.

Thanks for the tip!! I was planning to use LHFHG after MFW K, but I may take a second look at MFW 1st. I used it with one of my older boys in the past and didn't think I would ever use it again, but they have revamped it a bit. I love the changes in MFW K and so I may also like what they have done with MFW 1st. I may also use parts of both MFW 1st and LHFHG together, or use one and then the other. So hard to decide. She has a September bday so I don't mind lingering in this stage a bit.

I used it with 5 and 7 yr. old boys, and they loved the readings. Some of the activities may have been a little young for my 7 yr. old but we made it work. For my young 5 yo daughter I am using MFW K this year, and undecided when or if we will use LHFHG.

Maybe I should look at Living Books.

I know the original intent of HOD, and I love the curriculum. However, it is not a great fit for my son as is. I don't want all the busywork of history that HOD includes (even if she has wonderful intentions and they learn from it.) I was thinking of something like Truthquest, something more read and discuss. I don't want to plan it myself like TQ. I have considered Sonlight many times, but I prefer HOD's book choices. Has anyone else used HOD's history components in a read and discuss format and left out a lot of the activities and writing? This would be for a 12 yr. old in RTR next year.

Thank you for all the tips!!

Would you recommend having the children work on their own pellets or sharing with a partner?

That is helpful. Thank you. anyone else?

If you have dissected owl pellets in a group setting, how much time did you allot for the activity? Children are ages 6-12. Would you do it with 5 yr. olds? (if they were working with a partner?)

Heart of Dakota!!

Truthquest?

Thank you! You have an important perspective.

I need some guidance. I'm sure if I posted on HOD, the advice would be to go to Preparing and that is why I'm posting here. I need some think outside the box answers. Background: My 11 yr. old son used Bigger two years ago, then last year we tried something else, and this year I purchased CTC for him. I thought we might have to do some tweaking but I wanted to make it work because I feel like we are always behind and I didn't want to take the year to do Preparing. I am seeing, though, that he would fit better and be more successful in Preparing. (I think. I don't have the manual.) I have many of the Preparing books, but don't really have the money to get the rest of the books or even the manual. It is too late to send CTC back. The other issue comes in that he really dislikes the One Small Square books. (He used them in Bigger.) He likes the science book he is using in CTC but I don't want to work out of two manuals. So I'm not really sure what to do. Should I keep on with CTC? and how can I tweak it? We are 4 units in. The amount of writing is too much for him. I've cut back how much he has to write in cursive. I feel badly for skipping Preparing because he hasn't had basic instruction in composition/written narrations, and me winging it is not working so well. Is that really covered well in Preparing? More than just the page in the appendix about written narrations? The work in general takes too long. I have told him to just do 4 boxes/day now plus math, and just keeping plugging along. We are not using DITHOR. Grammar is another issue. I can barely stomach R&S so I put off doing it. Some things are very frustrating to him...like subject and predicate. I'm also not sure that I buy into the whole repeat grammar for years way of thinking. I am thinking about getting Jr. Analytical Grammar for him. Finally, if I really should go back to Preparing, how can I stop worrying about "being behind?" ETA: I guess one reason I want to hang onto CTC is because we have jumped around and not finished things a lot through the years, and I would like to have success and stick to something once!!

We have an active homeschool group in Marquette County. If anyone would like more information, please message me.