Unfortunately my kids are the opposite. My oldest is the good listener . My youngest on the other hand is not. It is hard to get her to sit and listen. That is one of my concerns if I try to combine the history - volume 3 might be harder for her to follow than volume 1.

Thank you so much everyone for the helpful advice! The text seems a bit more difficult for SOTW3 and my 6 year old is way less apt to sit and listen than my older child ever was, but I think we may combine and see how it goes for the first few weeks. It seems that it would be way too challenging for me to do both. I haven't really considered SOTW4 yet and have not previewed its contents. I suppose we will cross that bridge when we come to it One year at a time is about all I can handle!! :) Appreciate all your input!

Hello! Trying to determine what we can combine this coming school year. I have a 8 year old 3rd grader who has done SOTW1 and SOTW2. Little sister has "listened" and been involved in some of our projects, but I doubt she has absorbed much of the information. It is hard for her to sit and listen! Little sister is now a 6 year old, 1st grader. Any recommendations of how to handle history with SOTW? Should I combine both with SOTW3? Do SOTW3 with the oldest and start SOTW1 with the youngest? I am afraid that SOTW3 will be too difficult for the 6 year old, but I don't know how I can do both either. Thanks in advance for any advice!

I thought I would do that, but I had a friend say that SOTW 3 is much more difficult than SOTW 1. Do you think the SOTW 3 can easily be done for a 1st grader? We are combining science!

Hello! Looking for advice or suggestions on how to manage our time and get everything done using Peace Hill Press and WTM as a guide. This year I will have a 3rd grader and a 1st grader. In the past 2 years for the youngest we covered the basics- reading/math/writing and for the oldest we did SOTW, WWE, FLL amongst all the other basics math, science, Bible, spelling, penmenship, etc. Most of the time I felt my youngest getting sidelined so I could accomplish our goals with the oldest. Now with my youngest being in 1st grade our work load will increase quite a bit. I am worried it is going to be really hard to get all the work done with both kids. I think it is important for my eldest to learn some independence, which would help, but all the WTM and Peace Hill Press curriculum seem so teacher dependent. Also she struggles in math so I really have to help her a lot with that too. Any advice or recommendations on how to get it all done?! Really feeling overwhelmed when I think about all that needs accomplished. Thanks in advance for any advice you might have!

I am sure this is posted somewhere, but do not want to search for days. What is needed for Sequential Spelling Level 1? I have heard some have bought the student workbook and not the teachers guide and some have done the opposite and bought the teachers guide and not the student workbook. There is also a CD that supposedy just reads the word, allows the student to write the word and then types it on the screen so that the student can check their work. I just want to try this program and have already invested in one program and do not want to invest more money than I need. Any advice of what would be best to buy for this curriculum? I am leaning towards just the teacher guide. Samples of the workbook are only showing blank lines for answers. Thanks!

Do you know if the Teachers Guide is needed for 2nd Grade Voyages? I looked at the samples given and it all seems self explanatory. Thanks!

I will see if I can find the thread. That would be helpful. I looked at the site last night and read some of the massive amounts of text. It is confusing. I think I see what level we would use and see the links to the workbook pages and answers. But where is the teaching element? The more I look into serious grammar the more terrified I become of teaching it. I am not a grammar person. Some people are terrified of math. That doesn't concern me. Grammar does! The KISS looks way too overwhelming for me. Voyages in English and Rod and Staff look simple enough maybe MCT for third grade. Voyages also appears to be something my DD could do on her own which would be really helpful. Thanks!

I have not heard of KISS or GrammarLand. I will check them out. Thanks!

Looking for some advice on grammar for 2nd grader DD. She has declared FLL as awful. I have looked at the WTM book and it suggests doing Rod and Staff or Voyages in English, but it seems to recomend them starting in 3rd grade. What are some alternatives to doing FLL? We have completed level 1 and are on to level 2. I briefly looked at Rod and Staff. Any suggestions on other curriculums for this subject and age? We are doing WWE2 Thanks!

Thank you so much everyone! It sounds like spending the extra money might be worth it! I saw a couple of additional links to more discussions on this issue that were also very helpful. Thank you!!!

Hello! So thankful for this board with the great information and advice! I am trying to make a decision on art for next year. DH wants to make sure it is included. I seriously think we are going to have some time constraints with the all of the other things that we have planned. I am looking at both Atelier Art and Artistic Pursuits. Since I am wondering how much time we will actually have to pursue art I am leaning towards Artistic Pursuits because of cost; however, if Atelier Art is better I would be willing to buy it. Would anyone be able to tell me more about what I am paying for with these 2 programs? How do they compare? Are they similar or not at all alike? ( I do know that Atelier comes with DVDs and the other doesn't) I have done some searches and have read that a lot of people like this or that program, but not really details on what these programs provide in comparision to each other. Thank you so much in advance!!

My experience probably isn't worth much. I am a new HSer with a 5yo dd. we have been using McRuffy K and have liked it. I was also debating and researching what to do for next year and ended up sticking with McRuffy. It is colorful and fun and my daughter seems to be doing well. My daughter seems to enjoy it and doesn't drag her feet while doing math. I am hoping I made a good decision. I have heard so much good things about Teaching Textbooks. We are planning on using it starting in 3rd grade. I looked at Saxon, Math Mammoth, BJU, Horizons and Singapore.

Thanks everyone! This has all been very helpful to me. I appreciate you taking the time to respond and for the great advice!

I have heard a lot of good things about the program 'All About Spelling.' While I was going to purchase this book for my first-grader I saw their reading program 'All About Reading.' I am having trouble finding reviews on this curriculum. Does anyone have any experience with this curriculum? If so, what are your thoughts? I have been thinking about getting SSRW, but this is a little less expensive and I really like the look of the 'All about Reading' Prereader curriculum. Thanks in advance!

Thank you! If anyone else has any experience with this I would love to know more.

Hello. Love all the good advice on this forum! I am considering SSRW for my preschooler next year. I am trying to determine if the preschool version of SSRW will be worth the money. Can someone clarify for me what all the preschool version covers? My concern is that it will basically be shapes, colors and letter recognition. My DD already knows these things and I hate to waste my money on a curriculum that will teach her something she already knows. That being said I doubt that she will be ready to tackle the SSRW-K curriculum at 4, especially with the HWing component of the program. Anyone with any advice on this matter? Thanks in advance!!

Thank you both. Those were some of the things I was looking at, but wasn't sure if they were all meant to work together and if they were all age appropriate or not. I finally ordered the WTM book and it is being shipped to me. I will be looking to this to help as a guide. When we started I just thought we would go mostly with Sonlight. I wasn't as happy with the K curriculum as I thought I would be. I have heard good things about WWE and AAS. We do have and ETC book too that is fun for her.

Hello! It has been a long time since I have been on the forum. I am starting to look at first grade material and wondering if anyone has any advice for me. My 5.5 DD has gone through 100EZ lessons a while back and is now reading at a "2nd grade" level. I am looking at language arts and ways to improve her reading for our first grade curriculum. I already have First Language Lessons that looks like it might be a good fit. My original plan was to work with Sonlight, but I am not sure that is a good fit for her. Any advice on what might work good for spelling and reading improvement for a first grader at that reading level? Thanks in advance!

Thank you SO much for the wonderful idea. I was frustrated the day I wrote my original post. I have kept add it and added a professor puppy and she is very excited about the whole thing. We are at the point where she is reading the small 'stories'. I think the initial lessons were all too easy for her and completely boring. We might make it through this book after all. Yeah!!

No worries! I didn't take it too harshly. I remember having to type one handed! :) I didn't know about the Funnix website. I might have to download that. It says it is free, but takes 2 GB of space. I wonder if it would be fun for her. Thanks!

I love the professor puppy idea. She might get into that.. maybe! We do have a rewards chart and she does earn smiley's and is very effective for everything. It hasn't worked so well with the reading lesson though.. Even the lollipop that I offered her today didn't quite cut it. So much good advice here. I forgot about Starfall.com and will see how she likes it.

The advice is appreciated from everyone. My DD is a wonderful child and very well behaved. I stick by the stubborness.. it has nothing to do with the reading lessons though. Many other things have drawn me to that conclusion... :lol: Anyhow I was a very lazy child and didn't want to do anything in school. I am fearful that I will be pulling teeth for her to do school and this experience is playing on my fears. I might have to check out some computer based lessons. She loves playing games on the computer. You are all very right that she is young and I need to be patient!

Thank you all for the encouragement and advice. A lot of this is fear that HSing isn't going to work. My mantra when I started the book was.. "If I can teach her to read, then I can manage to HS her." But we are already not doing well.. I don't want to spend lots of money on figuring out what curriculum works and what doesn't. I just want it to work! :) I will have to learn patience even more. Perhaps putting it aside and doing more fun things would be best for now. I appreciate all the help and links. We will try a different approach and see how it goes. I also fear about what I am letting her get away with... is she being lazy and disobedient or is she really not ready... I have a hard time telling the difference. I know she can do it if she would just try.

I need help and advice! I have wanted to HS for a long time, before I even had kids. My DD is 4.5 and is scheduled to start K in the Fall. She is very smart and has been attending preschool. My plan was to start Sonlight curriculum K in the fall. She has an amazing attention span for her age and all of her preschool teachers have been amazed at her. I really wanted to teach her to read prior to starting K. She knows all her letters and the sounds they make and she can read phonetic words if she tries.. So since she is smart enough and has started to indicate that she wants to learn to read I have picked up the book the Teach your child to read in 100 Easy Lessons. The first few lessons went fine, but now she complains and drags her feet and is very uncooperative. We are only on lesson 8. These lessons are so short and easy and if I can't get her to do these simple lessons how can I possibly HS her? My daughter is stubborn and if she doesn't want to do something and it isn't her idea then it becomes a fight... I don't want to fight her on doing school every day. So maybe I just need to give up my HS dream. Then I think maybe I am pushing her too early and she is just too young...but then I think she is just being lazy .. and how long do you use that excuse that she is too young. And I think maybe I just need to do a different reading program instead of this book. But then I go back to how easy these lessons are and how I can't get her to focus for 5 mins on it.. So what do I do.. Do I continue to encourage her to do this lesson book and try and get through it? Do I try a different type of reading curriculum? Do I wait until she is older to do reading? Sorry about the rambling message.. I am frustrated at the moment and really want the HSing to work but having doubts that I can get my daughter to comply! Thank you!!