Yes, I must be misreading the table. I was understanding it that WWE is similar to the grammar program but maybe I'll understand more after I learn more about the program. Thank you for the recommendation for Writing With Ease, The Four Year Guide, I'm going to read that today. I also purchased SWB's audio lecture for elementary nearly 10 years ago and today I'm going to buy the middle and high school lectures as well so I can listen to all three. I'm really looking forward to working through this with my kids, it's definitely a weak area in our homeschool. Due to a move and a major health event, my kids were doing Monarch online the past two years with almost no involvement from me. They did the bare minimum the program had them do and it was all on the computer so nothing was hand written. I hope I can help them become confident writers this late in the game.

Thank you so much, Susan! I'll get level 3 and begin with that. I read HERE that the progressions can go backwards (for example, WWE3 followed by WWE2) so I guess we'll start 3 and see how it goes moving ahead or back as needed. I appreciate your reply!

Can I just jump into level 4 of Writing with Ease? My kids have not done dictation before and I'm not understanding if I need to dial back to WWE 3 or even 2 if this is the case. My kids are age 9-14. From what I'm reading I need to start with at least some WWE before moving to WWS. Also, I'm pretty sure we are going to use Grammar for the Well Trained Mind. I assume this can be used concurrently with WWE? Thanks in advance for any advice!

I would like to buy printable timeline figures to use with Story of the World this year. I was just about to purchase Homeschool in the Woods comprehensive pack with the whole collection when I realized she has a young earth view which is different than my beliefs. I'm wondering if I skip the first few figures, would the rest of the set line up with Story of the World or will I have to cross check all the dates? (I'm not all that familiar with the beliefs of young earth people). Is there a comparable secular or old-earth version available anywhere? Thanks in advance :)

I've been very bad at incorporating writing into our curriculum over the years. My 12 year old balks at even writing a full sentence and feels I've asked him to conquer the world if I ask him to write a paragraph. I've looked at so many writing curriculum choices and I'm intimidated by all of them. What is out there that will hold my hand while at the same time, ease him into writing? I did listen to Susan's audio seminar a few years ago and I'm sure I need to listen again. We tried an online IEW class a couple years ago but he couldn't sit still and focus for that long (I think the class was an hour and a half). I would greatly appreciate any suggestions ?

Thanks for all the info! I didn't realize people had their kids read in bed until 7. I absolutely love that idea! I try and get a few moments to myself in the morning but I've got one and sometimes two kids that get up especially early and talk my ear off while asking for breakfast. I would love to have a designated time that is just mine where I could focus on what I'm doing and that no one wants anything. If you have a rule that school starts at a certain time and you must have breakfast done and be dressed and ready, can you tell me what the consequences are if they aren't ready? We do school downstairs and if one of the kids isn't ready I end up running up and down the stairs a bunch of times, it's really frustrating when I'm trying to work with the other kids.

I'd love to hear how the mornings at your house go. Do the kids get up and dressed before leaving their rooms? Are you up first? Do you start school at a certain time or just whenever the kids get up? Do you have all the kids get up at by a certain time? In our family, the kids used to just bounce out of bed and were ready to begin the day but I've noticed over the past 6 months or so it's gotten to where they just shuffle into the living room and plop on the couch. Somehow our dynamic has changed and I want to fix that. I'm thinking maybe if they got up and get dressed right away that would help. Maybe we need to set an alarm and get up like we did years ago when I had kids in public school? I'm not sure what it is but something needs to change. Any advice?

I didn't know this either! I was going to buy on Amazon, cut the binding, and copy. I love digital versions - so much easier. Thank you!!

Another vote for Singapore Essentials K. I love the simplicity of Essentials and the fact that the instructions are on the bottom of each page so you don't need a teacher's manual. We use that along with c-rods and Miquon. We have used McRuffy as well but that's more time consuming. Lots of pieces and printouts and things.

Lol I didn't know they wrote stuff like that! I'd love to go back and see what they wrote about us. Many times my kids are already outside so they run down to the truck to get the package. Our guy is super nice to them. Which reminds me, I haven't given him a bonus or goodies in a while.

Yes! I feel the same way. CLE is great! I switched my 3rd grader over to Reading and LA and loved it. Then ordered Reading and LA for my 1st grader along with Social Studies for both 1st and 3rd. I've now ordered CLE math for all 3 kids. We also love BFSU which is new to us this year and we continue to enjoy SOTW. I revised my lesson plans and the kids' to-do lists in OneNote from what I was using last year and that's been awesome. Planning our weeks off in advance and looking forward to them instead of waiting until we all felt burnt out and taking a week off has made our homeschool a happier place.

My 3rd grader just started 3rd grade CLE LA yesterday and I feel like it was a good fit. Not that I have a lot of experience yet, but I'm loving it so far :)

I've been reading reviews and it looks like most people think it's worth the cost so I'm considering it. Is it just cartoons though? I'm not sure it would hold my kids' attention if it didn't include real life videos like How It's Made, Popular Mechanics, etc.

I use Adobe InDesign or Microsoft Publisher. We have yearly subscriptions to both. InDesign has a steeper learning curve but it's much more powerful. I don't create many worksheets because it takes me so long to remember how to do things in the software but I like having the options available when I need them.

I got it through HSBC. I saw that it used to be available through g3 and was going to investigate but from what I understand, that was just the standard, not the Plus edition (someone please correct me if I'm wrong). We paid $99 for the year and we absolutely love it. I use it every single day - even on the weekends. I use our ChromeCast to stream it to the TV. Maybe it's the age of the kids but mine get pretty excited about the videos :) I feel like it was well worth the $99.

I'd definitely join a OneNote social group. I use OneNote for pretty much everything in my life :)

My 8 1/2 year son old is still in a high back booster. He's a big kid and possibly doesn't need to be in there any longer. In the van, the middle captains chairs are too big for him to sit without a small gap behind the small of his back but the seat belt sits in the right places. In the back of the van on the bench seat he fits fine. I've been such a fanatic about keeping kids in proper seats, riding backwards for an extended time, etc. that it's hard to think he might actually be safe in a regular belt and regular seat. I've read all the advice at carseatlady.com and other car seat sites and I know the laws but I'm just curious when you all let your kids ride in regular seats. This all came to light when my 22 year old moved back into state and I realized my son is just a couple inches shorter than she is. Plus people have commented that he looks way too big to be in the booster. I won't be pressured into not using the booster just because of their comments but I will at least look to see if really he is too big.

Either I'm not doing it right or it's not on sale anymore :( I downloaded the free version but the only thing I see once I get in there is the buy everything option for $5.99.

We started with AAS and moved to LOE, it's just a better fit for our family - mostly because of all the games in LOE. Both are great programs! Sometimes I use the letter tiles from AAS with LOE. Sometimes I have them write the words out, and sometimes we use Word Wizard available here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/word-wizard-talking-movable/id447312716?mt=8 The kids think it's hilarious to make the computer say the words super slow or really fast :)

Thank you! I'm looking more closely at the scope and sequence to be sure everything I want him to go over is in the review and I'll probably get level 3. If I feel he needs more practice I guess I could always get just a certain LightUnit from level 2, right? I appreciate knowing that CLE is light on writing. I'm looking at either Essentials in Writing or Writing Strands so that will be my next decision I guess :) eta - I'm almost positive we'll be getting the reading course from CLE as well, that looks great!

I have a 4 yo (almost 5) in level A and we are going very slowly. One lesson every 2 or 3 days and spend probably 15-25 minutes each day. It depends on how many games and extras we do. I have a 6 yo who just started level C and is also moving very slowly through the lessons. He flew through A and went pretty fast through B. He's doing one lesson every 3 or 4 days and we spend about 15 minutes unless there are games for the day, that makes it more like 30 minutes. Anyway, I do them separately for the most part but we do play games together when possible. I also have an 8 yo who is in Essentials and joins the games too. We have 3 sets of game cards which I like because I keep the ones they have learned and are working on separate from the ones we haven't gone over yet. This way each kid has his own and I don't have to go through them every day. There is a little juggling around when we play a game that needs 2 sets but it's not that big of a deal. We only have one set of phonogram cards but I rarely use those. I did at first but it's just easier to use the game cards as phonogram cards or to write things on our little whiteboards.

Thanks so much for your reply. Yes, he's had a lot of phonics so maybe I could just skip through that part. I will definitely email or call them for samples. I was wondering why most of the other grades had samples up but I didn't see them for 3rd grade. I see you are going to be using EiW2 along with CLE LA2 with your 8yo. I had considered this but wondered if it would be too much. Are you doing both programs in their entirety or are you using one as more of a supplement? I'd love to hear how you'll be using these together!

I'm going to order CLE Language arts for this coming year. How easy would it be to complete some of the LightUnits and skip others? My son is a rising 3rd grader and when he did the test to see what level he is, he was right on the line for either 200 or 300. I hate to have him miss anything important but I don't want him to have to re-do things that we've already learned and end up bored and dreading his Language Arts work. We had been using LOE Essentials as our sole Language Arts curriculum and there are lots of things that I see on the CLE scope and sequence that weren't in LOE such as dictionary skills, addressing an envelope, caring for books, good study habits, writing a paragraph, and so on. In your opinion, is it easy to pick and choose the topics he needs? Can I just have him do certain lessons or does he really need to go through each of the workbooks? The cost of the LightUnits is so reasonable I don't have a problem paying for each and only using some of the material I just don't know how it will flow if he skips through the workbooks. So I guess my question in a nutshell is: Is it going to be a problem if we skip through the workbooks? Thanks in advance!

We have Home Art Studio K, 1st, and 2nd grade DVD's. My kids really enjoy them. I wish our TV was closer to the table because they like to pause and go do a step or two and then go watch more of the video. Their things have turned out well so far. I use it with my kids ages 3, 4, 6, and 8. We started with the Kindergarten one and it's fine for my 6 and 8 year olds, a little challenging for the 4 year old and too hard for the 3 year old to do the actual project but I just put the supplies in front of her and she does whatever she does :) I'm very glad there is a PDF on the disk with all the info about each lesson on it. It's a great program and I feel like we got a very good price through HSBC. I'm looking forward to ordering the next few DVD's (2nd-4th grade) after we work our way through these.

We tried the classes last November and I was just totally lost lol. I really was excited because my kids are so into Minecraft but I didn't understand what to do or where to go once the class started :( It could be my fault for not figuring things out better. Maybe I'll try again next fall. I think for kids who are a little older this is probably great, the other kids on the server were having a good time. I think mine were just a little too young when we did it ages 7 and 6 at the time.