We have used Saxon for many years, I had one child hit a wall and we had to switch programs and that was after backtracking about 50 lessons and trying them over again- but my older child is still thriving with Saxon. I am not sure what I would do mid-year, other than reassess and see where the problem lies. Go back and redo lessons. Do EVERY problem. Are they watching a DVD with the lessons? I would do that if they aren't currently. I will say that I have not met anyone that has had success with Saxon when skipping problems. Every problem is meant to be completed. Whenever I hear someone say their child skips problems, or does evens/odds, I wonder how long it will be until Saxon doesn't work for them. I am sure there are exceptions to this rule, but I have not encountered any. Overall, we found Alg. 1 to be a lot easier than Alg. 2.

Thank you for the input! My daughter did 87 last year, and was not breezing through every test with 100%, but was consistently scoring 85% or better, and many times her mistakes were careless, not because she didn't understand the content. I went with Alg. 1 this year and feel she is doing better than she did with 87- mostly scoring 90% or better. I almost wish I would have had her do Alg. 1/2 to buy some time. I guess if she struggles with Alg. 2 we could slow that down as well. I do think Saxon works for her so I am nervous to go a different route, but don't want her getting in over her head (or mine, lol) and having a failure because we moved too fast.

I'm also searching old threads. My 8th grader is almost done with Saxon Algebra 1 (3rd edition). She is an average math student and has done well in this Algebra course, and scores well on the tests. She also uses the Saxon teacher DVD. My question is what path we should choose for high school. She has been doing Saxon since 4th grade and it has been a good fit. I'm reading that while the 3rd editions of Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 include geometry, it isn't necessarily a strong amount of geometry. She is on a music/vocal/theatre track for what she wants to pursue, but I still want her to be strong in math and science in case she changes her mind. Kids in the public school near us typically take geometry as a 9th grader and Algebra 2 in 10th. Should I switch her over to Saxon Geometry (4th edition) and then continue on with the 4th edition of Algebra 2 when she is in 10th? Would that be a hard jump for her? While I want a strong math track for her- I don't necessarily see her in Calculus in 11th. I've kind of just sailed along with Saxon figuring it was getting us where we need to be- but seeing there is no 3rd edition geometry and I am having some hesitation. Is the 3rd edition Algebra courses less strong than the 4th? I had heard somewhere that the newer editions were losing some of the feel that people like about Saxon. ETA- I guess she could take Algebra 2 next year and spend 2 years with Advanced Math with the 3rd editions? Would she have received enough geometry? Thank you!

I have a K'er right now and we have absolutely loved Memoria Press kindergarten. After 9 years of homeschooling- I have no desire to try something else next year! Such a great fit for my son!

This is exactly what we did. My dd did the 3rd edition of 87 as a 7th grader and is now doing Alg. 1 in 8th, and is doing really well with it. I know the old recommendation was that Alg. 1/2 was stronger than 87. I believe that to be the case if using the 2nd edition books. But that in the 3rd edition, 87 is the stronger text, and you would use Alg. 1/2 on a slower track.

We have done Hake 5, 6 and 7. I think it is a good, solid grammar curriculum. I don't love the writing portion, other than the journal prompts. We use something different for writing.

My older dd has done level 5, 6 and now 7. My younger dd is doing level 5 this year. We don't do the writing at all (but we do do the journaling) Other than the journaling- they write everything in the big book.

We went to Apologia for science, a much better fit. We also went to Veritas Press self paced history which has been a HUGE hit. Bible has been harder for us- I know Veritas Press has a new Bible curriculum (self paced as well) that I am going to look into. I stuck with Sonlight for longer than I should have.

We used it 2 years ago, and then went to Saxon 54 and now are doing Saxon 65. It worked well for us and is set up like the 54 and up. We did use the tests.

I received an e-mail with the info- we are previous VP self paced users. I am so excited, though! I was hoping they would have a sale this fall!

We just started this with my 5th grader (weak writer) but want to take it at a bit faster pace. We finished lesson 2 today, on day 6 of school. I'm hoping we can keep up with 1 lesson per 3 days.

My DS just turned 4.5 but started reading (on his own) a year ago. He is still doing BOB book type books, but solidly knows all his letters and letter sounds. I am still planning on using OPG. We are going to start with Saxon K and we will do Sonlight P 4/5 since I used it with my older girls and still have it.

Bummer- thank you! Last year when I ordered (April 2013), I got the sibling discount and another $50 off- so it was $250 for both kids. This year I am only having one do it and it is tough to pay the $199 (and compounded knowing they had it for $99 in April 2014) I was hoping they would have something at the start of this school year, oh well. I agree the "rewards" program doesn't seem too great!

I know they had a big sale in April, but we did not need it at that time since we were in the middle of a course already. Does anyone know if they tend to have a sale in August or September? Thanks!

I have found the most new material to happen in those final lessons as well. I have also found it to be covered in the spiral method in the next level books. Every new level spends a lot of time going over what was taught in the previous level.

Since I am so close to figuring everything out I thought I would jump in :) Math- Saxon 87 Grammar- Hake 7 Writing- finish WWS1 and then move to WWS2 Geography- North Star Geography (taking the year off from history- will start Omnibus 1 next year), and some state history Science- Apologia General Logic- Art of Argument Latin- First Form Latin French- Galore Park So You Think You Want To Learn French Vocab- Vocab from Classical Roots Literature- this is the only thing i have left to figure out Music- piano lessons, theater and voice No plans for art this year

Ditto- FLL and WWE are completely teacher dependent- they are not independent at all.

Does anyone know anything about North Star Geography? It says can be used for 7-12th and can be a high school credit. Do you think that it would be too much for a 7th grader? I like the looks of it but don't know if it would be too much for my 7th grader. https://www.brightideaspress.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2_82

This is our first year using it and she is doing 1815-present. She is not ready to move to the self paced Omnibus (I have watched the sample lessons more than once, hoping it would be a fit, but she really just isn't ready for it). Anyway- I really want her middle school years to be a solid foundation for a college prep high school experience. I purchased the k12 Human Odyssey book on the Amazon Marketplace, thinking that would be good to use and she is completely uninterested. Going back to a "textbook" after doing the self paced seems completely boring to her, and I know when she is uninterested it will not be a fun experience for either of us. I am also interested in doing a geography course and have thought about doing no history and just focusing on geography instead. I have also thought about putting her in the VP self paced ancients, just to do along with the Human Odyssey, but that kind of seems like overkill? I worry that we would just be "wasting" a year if I put her in the self paced with no other history, since it is an elementary history program. Have any of you used the self paced history for middle school? Are there any good supplemental materials that could beef it up a bit? Should I be focusing on completing an entire history cycle (condensed) instead of just ancients? Thank you!

either a course on Eastern Hemisphere OR 1 year World History that isn't Sonlight? Just curious if anyone else does a course similar to either of these. I'm looking to use with a 7th grader. Thanks!

My girls are both doing 1815-present as 4th and 6th graders. We went to this from Sonlight Core D. I like having them on the same cycle and they enjoy singing the songs together. I have my 6th grader doing the level 2 readers and my 4th grader (weaker reader) in level 1. Some are a bit easy for her, but overall both levels have been a good fit. They read them independently and the computer lesson tells them what to read when. We have REALLY enjoyed the program this year. It has not been too difficult for my 9 year old. I do not have the teacher manual and haven't felt like I needed it, or that we needed any more history :)

We are about 3/4 done with our first year, and my 4th and 6th graders are both doing 1815-present. We are coming from a Sonlight background and I have been very impressed with the retention vs. that program. I will definitely be using it again next year with my younger daughter. Not sure what to do with my 6th grader- I don't think she will be ready for self paced Omnibus and she really loves this program.

Castle Rock, CO is the location of the homeschool enrichment (1 day a week) public school program, that last year was offering full Sonlight, and this year must have used Book Shark. I know there was controversy last year with the public school program offering religious material and I posted last year about Sonlight using a secular version for the homeschool program in Castle Rock. There was a lot of controversy surrounding it then, but I think it is nice they are offering a different branch (Book Shark) for everyone to purchase if they choose to. (Just caught up that BrightFlash changed its name to Book Shark. So yes, that testimonial came from someone that has used it as Book Shark, which they receive from the public school system since they attend a 1 day a week program through them)

Sadly, it was Sonlight for us. I loved the idea of it. I kept going back to it. We used it from P 3/4 through Core D. I dropped the LA a couple years in, and I am still paying for the damage 5 years later. LA continues to be the biggest struggle with my 6th and 4th graders. I loved the books, and I do miss the read alouds. We switched to VP self paced history and I cannot get over how much better the retention is- plus they love it. I really think the years of reading 2 pages out of this book, 8 pages out of the next took a toll and the retention of both of my girls was awful. I still love the idea of it, but have to admit it is so freeing not to be tied down to that schedule. I still have all the books from all of those cores, and have 2 more boys that are not school age yet. I am not thinking I will reuse it- at least not in its entirety.

Thank you! I will look at the National History Day, and yes, it does sound like something they would enjoy. I do not need to have them combined in the same writing, and wasn't planning on it. I have combined for a lot of things (history/science/many electives) but really believe they need their own levels of LA. Thanks for the info on the SWB writing convention speech download- I will likely get that regardless of what we end up choosing!