My son just started using TT a few weeks ago and he loves it. He is learning and really likes being able to follow the lesson and do the questions on his own. The downside for him is that he sees immediately when he gets a question wrong. From a teaching standpoint it's great because he can then view the tutorial on how to do the problem correctly (which I insist he does). But for my perfectionist kid, he gets upset when he gets even one problem wrong. Aside from that, he really likes the software and doesn't want to do math "the old fashioned way" ever again. :lol: As for placement, their website has placement tests that you can print out to help determine what level to buy. I used the one for 3rd grade for my son (in 2nd grade) to see if he could even manage 3rd grade math. So far, all is well.

What about The Complete Book of US History? I'm not sure if that's in-depth enough for you but maybe she could do that workbook and supplement with some other reading on her own (as opposed to read alouds).

I really like it and use it on a regular basis. In fact, I just renewed my subscription today for another two years. My kiddos aren't as old as yours but there is a lot of good material on that site. Well worth it, IMO.

Thank you!!!

I'm looking for a good reading list for my DD, who just turned 9 last week. She is in 3rd grade but can read on about a 6th grade reading level. However, she does not really enjoy reading so up until now, I've let her read just about whatever she wanted (Goosebumps were a favorite :tongue_smilie:) just to try and instill of a love of reading. She liked Percy Jackson and the first Guardians of Ga'Hoole book and she's just finished Wolves of the Beyond. She'll be starting Hoot this week. I'd like to start choosing a little better for her "school" reading (rather than letting her choose) but I don't really know what to give her. She tried Anne of Green Gables and liked the beginning but it's too long a book for her at this point. We'll have to try that one again later. She read Little House in the Big Woods and Little House on the Prairie but was a little bored by them. Can anyone recommend a reading list that is appropriate for both her age and her advanced reading level?

I've been trying to figure this out, too. I think what I'm going to do is Ancients this year followed by Medieval (400 - 1500 AD) next year. Then I'll take a year to do American History. The kiddos will be in 4th and 5th then. After that, I'll go back to world history and do Early Modern and then a year of Modern. So this is the (ever tentative!) plan: Grades 2/3- Ancients Grades 3/4- Medieval Grades 4/5- US History Grades 5/6- Early Modern Grades 6/7- Modern Grades 7/8- Ancient/ Medieval Grades 8/9- Early Modern Grades 9/10- Modern Grades 10/11- US History Grades 11/12- Civics and Government Grade 12- Student’s Choice

We do most of our schooling in the kitchen at either the table or the breakfast counter (just that much choice keeps it interesting for the kiddos some days! LOL). However, DS also has some schoolwork to do on the computer (which is between the kitchen and family room) and he likes to do his read-alouds on the couch. When they do independent reading or memory work, I let them sit wherever they like (the screened porch is popular now that the weather is cooler). Also, DD is supposed to do some school work in the car due to her schedule. That used to work well but I'm finding now that she has become more distractible and doesn't get much done that way anymore. :-(

I read a quote, I believe by Albert Einstein, that was something like 'I never memorize anything I can simply look up.' :tongue_smilie:

Why do you think I needed instruction on how to do it? :lol:

Ya'll are awesome!!! Thanks so much!

Thanks! I'm actually trying to make a point with my oldest son. LOL I'm thinking if we take it back to his early childhood training, he'll remember why it's important to wash his hands. I was able to find a couple of good ones on Ed Helper, though.

I need some worksheets about washing hands, germs, and/or illness prevention, preferably for young kids and preferably free. Any type of workbook, coloring book, little read-and-answer type thing would be great. Please help!

I dropped formal writing for DD8 in favor of copywork and journaling. I also combined vocabulary and spelling into one, rather than having her work on two separate word lists.

So are you just stopping world history in order to do US or are you teaching both at the same time?

When does everybody teach US history? I am doing World History- Ancient with my DD8 and DS7 right now. I was planning on Medieval next year, then Early Modern followed by Modern for a four-year history cycle. But, I also wanted to dedicate a year to US History. My current plan is to do that after the four-year world history cycle but that means no US history until they're in about 6th and 7th grades. However, trying to cover one world history time period as well as US history at the same time seems like it would be confusing for them. What do ya'll do? :confused:

Thank you! I LOVE the freebies! :-)

Teaching Textbooks math

Thank you! There's some good stuff in there!

Ugh! I am not terribly experienced with homeschooling yet and this is my first year to really try to plan out our curriculum. I've not done too well. :blink: We tried Horizons Math (grades 2 and 3, both workbooks and the teacher's manual for EACH!). I like how advanced it is but both my kids hate the repetition and doing tons and tons of the same types of problems over and over again. My 7yo would take one look at the day's assignment and start crying. And he LIKES math! Then there was Sequential Spelling (plus TWO student books). I thought this would be fabulous for my "builder" 7yo as well as my stellar speller 8yo. Not so much. DD8 was bored. DS7 was confused. So, we ditched that and went back to traditional spelling lists (thankfully the ZB Connections lists were FREE and work well). Let's see.... we tried Writing Strands 3 for DD8. She was confused by it. She could never quite figure out exactly what she was supposed to be doing for each day. Then I would look at it and I wasn't sure what she was supposed to be doing either. And when I did understand the assignment, I couldn't understand the point. We were both exasperated and gave it up in favor of narrations, copywork and journal writing. And there was Science Odyssey (teacher's manual and extra student pages). I bought that thinking we'd have such fun with all the experiments and everyone would love science. Not so much. Discovered that we didn't have time for that many experiments. And I found the course to be lacking in the actual information for each lesson. Too much doing, not enough teaching/ explaining. Thankfully I've been able to return my other blunders but these seem to be the ones I'm stuck with. And I can't even list them for sale here as I haven't posted enough yet. :glare:

I include the date the book was finished and (for my youngest) the reading level of the book.

I got mine a couple of days ago. I just started the four-year history rotation so we're doing Ancients right now. I wasn't planning on doing dedicated US History until we finish the first four-year rotation but I wanna use the DVD now! LOL

I just ordered this program for my DS (7; 2nd grade) today and I can't wait to start it. We were doing Horizons math and he was able to do it just fine but he, too, was overwhelmed by the sheer number of problems for each lesson. He likes math but he'd see the page and start to cry that he couldn't do it. I did the placement test for the 3rd grade TT with him today and he passed it easily. Then I let him do a sample lesson online. He was so happy with it, he begged to continue with the assignment after the lecture part was done! Unfortunately, we were out of time and couldn't keep going but I'll take that as a "yes, mom, I'd LOVE that program!" :lol:

Thanks. That does look like what I'm wanting. Any suggestions for something secular?

I really like the look of Teaching Textbooks for math and I'm wondering if there is some similar program out there for language arts. Right now my DS7 and DD8 are doing separate grammar workbooks, copywork (for handwriting), and spelling. DD is also doing Writing Strands and vocabulary. (DS is still working on phonics and does ETC so he's not doing separate writing and vocab yet.) I'd really like to find a language arts program that includes everything in one daily lesson and preferably something that DD can do on her own (she is very independent and reads at a 6th grade level). Any suggestions?

Wow! You guys are wonderful! You've definitely given me some ideas for how to make this work. I got out DD's Animal book from last year and DS wanted to know if he could take it and finish it "just for fun!" Then DD, of course, said no, that SHE wants to finish it. (We only homeschooled for half of last year so there is quite a bit left of the book.) HA! Maybe I've found my science solution after all. I'm thinking I'll let DD finish her book and then start on The Complete Book of Science Grades 3-4. Meanwhile, DS can get his own Complete Book of Animals for this year. I can follow that up with The Complete Book of Dinosaurs or The Complete Book of Our Solar System (of course, DD is really interested in the Solar System so she may want that book; lol). Oh, and I was able to speak with the speech therapist and change DS's schedule from TTh to MW after swimming. That gets us home earlier on TTh so we have time to still do history and religion together. Yay! I think I may have this mess figured out! Woo hoo! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!!!