In my area, the biggest homeschool group requires a SOF that I can't sign as a Catholic. To me it is blatantly Anti-catholic, and I wonder if the person who wrote it did specifically intend to exclude Catholics. For those of you who were interested in what makes a SOF unsignable for a Catholic, here is a perfect example from my local group (bolded lines are problematic): Our Statement of Faith We believe the Bible to be the only God-inspired, infallible, supreme and final authority for all faith and life. We believe that there is one God, eternally in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We believe in the deity of Lord, Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory. We believe that people were created in the image of God, but fell into sin and are therefore lost, and only those who are born of the Holy Spirit are saved from their sins. We believe that salvation is a gift of God's grace and we do not trust in personal works, but only in the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. We believe the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to convict individuals; and to indwell, guide, instruct, and empower the believer for godly living and service. We believe in the bodily resurrection of both the saved and the lost: the saved to everlasting blessedness and joy with God, the lost to judgment and everlasting conscious punishment. We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord, Jesus Christ. The problem with the first statement is the word "only". Catholics do believe all those things about the bible, we just don't believe the bible is the "only" authority - our belief also includes the authority of Sacred Tradition and the Pope. Take out the word only and I could agree with this statement. If the second statement stopped at the word "grace", Catholics could accept this statement. However, we do trust in personal works (the sacraments) when they are accompanied by faith. While, we do believe that Jesus' sacrificial death is paramount to our salvation, we don't believe it is the "only" thing that is important. I'm not saying I don't think this group should exclude me. If their intent is to exclude Catholic, then that is their right. It does make me sad that many people in this group probably don't even realize that they exclude Catholics, or that Catholics join the group without understanding that the SOF is not in accord with our beliefs. Also, I must admit that thier name bothers me: "Christian Home Educators", I would be much more understanding if the called themselves "Protestant Home Educators" :glare:

A large portion of the 4B book is review of earlier concepts - I couldn't believe how many review exercises there were! Was he done with the four operations part (adding, subtracting... of decimals), because beyond that there are the following sections: 3. Multiplying & Dividing measures - very basic stuff 4. Symmetry - very basic 5. Solid figures (figuring out how many cubes are needed to make illustrated shapes), again very basic 6. Volume - this was the only thing that presented a challenge to my dd (still wasn't all that hard), and I'm sure it will be covered again in more depth in level 5... IMO the main thing you will miss out on by not finishing the book is all the review, if you think your ds is doing well then don't worry about it! Last year, we stopped 3b about half-way through and never picked it back up. dd went right into 4A this year with no problems. Hope that helps ;)

I'm one who posted earlier, and I'm chiming back in :001_smile: I do think many kids probably benefit from prolonged phonics. But I stand by my belief that there are children who really don't need it. After 100 EZ lessons my daughter was reading, not a struggling reader, but actually reading. It was quickly apparent that she didn't need any more phonics: She was reading chapter books by the end of kinder, she read the entire Harry Potter series in 2nd grade, at the end of 3rd grade, all of her language scores were averaging a mid-seventh grade level (still waiting on 4th grade scores, but I expect them to be about the same). Not having phonics (beyond 100 EZ lessons) has not harmed her. I'm certainly not saying that advanced phonics are unnecessary, just that they aren't always necessary for every child ;) To the OP, if you feel better continuing with phonics then I say keep it up, if for no other reason than to reassure yourself that you have done all you can! I just wanted to reassure you that what you are seeing in your son could very possibly be (as you suspected) a natural language ability that will flourish with very little interference on your part :thumbup:

I really think some kids just don't need formal phonics beyond the basics. I used 100 EZ lessons with both of my children for basic phonics. My dd was reading half way through the book and once we finished the 100 lessons she never did phonics again, she was reading at a 5th grade level by 1st grade... My DS just finished 100EZ, his reading didn't take off quite as quickly, but he is reading real books on his own already (including PD Eastman books :001_smile:). It never even occurred to me to do more phonics with my DD and I think it would have frustrated her. I just made sure she had lots of books to read! My DS will be in a private K next year, so he will probably do some phonics work and honestly I'm more worried that it will negatively affect his reading than that it will benefit it! If your DS is progressing and loving reading without phonics, I say just keep him reading (and forget the phonics)!

I would highly recommend both! My dd did Science 3 last year for 3rd grade and enjoyed it. Some parts of the experiments were a little tricky (drawings) but she got through it with a little help from me! It would be perfect for a 4th or 5th grader, but totally manageable with a 3rd grader :) We did Core 3 (with advanced readers) this year for 4th. I think 4th grade was perfect for this core content wise. The readers were too easy for my dd, but I was more concerned about her getting the content so I didn't care that she could breeze through most of the books. You could definitely use Core 3 with a 5th or even a 6th grader (I would add in harder readers for a 6th grader though). lovedtodeath - My dd loved the Landmark book! I was actually surprised that she was able to follow it, because a lot of the text is pretty complex and detailed (in other words, sometimes I had a hard time following it, yikes!). It makes a decent spine but I wouldn't use it as a supplement to another text, that would probably be overkill. Also, I wouldn't use it before 3rd grade at the earliest and then only with a very good listener :) It really is an advanced text and would be fine up through middle school as a spine!

LisaTheresa - We did WT this year for 4th grade with my dd, it was ok but I didn't really feel like it moved us along in writing at all. My daughter hated it and it was our biggest battle this school year! I decided to try out WWE this year and I'm hoping this will be the piece of the writing puzzle that we have been missing! Just saying, if WWE is working for you, I wouldn't switch. Since you already have WT, maybe just try it alongside to see if you like it :001_smile:

That is definitely an option if you are willing to do the legwork. Just make sure that your library has the books! I'm doing core 4 next year and my large library system doesn't have a lot of the titles. Also, as a previous poster noted, you may run into problems if you use different versions of the books than Sonlight. Sometimes it won't matter, but sometimes it will make a big difference. I can give you two examples from my year: 1. Our version of Johnny Tremain was different than the version that Sonlight scheduled (different page numbering) so I couldn't follow the schedule and just had to wing it. 2. We had an older version of Incans, Aztecs, Mayans. Since the schedule didn't start at the beginning of the book and my book was numbered differently I was completely off for all of the reading (the reading seemed very disjointed and I didn't notice my mistake until we were almost done with the book!) The first example, wasn't really a big deal, the second was a more significant problem! That being said, as long as you are prepared to deal with some scheduling issues, it is totally doable without buying new (I've always bought used) or by using the library for many of the books. This year I'm finally splurging for new but for my first two years I was hesitant to spend that much money before I knew if I would like the program ;)

Singapore Math is the one program that I have been using since we started homeschooling. I love it, but as the concepts were getting more difficult I felt like my dd needed to be able to see things presented in different ways. I really want to make sure she understands math. I had considered using another complete curriculum alongside, but I just couldn't figure out how to coordinate. Then I found the Key to Series and I haven't looked back :D She works through the books independently, doing at least one page a day. This will be her light math work during the summer, too. She is working through the fraction and english measurement books currently - topics we've already covered in Singapore. Next year, she will start working on the decimals, metric measurement, percents, and geometry books (after we cover those concepts in Singapore). I really think the fact that she can do these books independently helps to make it not seem like "too much math", she gets a sense of accomplishment from doing it herself (and when she finishes a workbook, I bring her to the bookstore and let her pick out a new reading book - we mostly use the library for non-school books, so that is a big treat!)

Mine does up to about 20 hours which includes: 8-10 hrs academics/ assigned reading 5-6 hrs piano practice 1 hr tennis 1.5 hrs CCD 1.5 hrs art class I'm happy with the amount of academics, but I would like her to have more PE! I'm considering adding more tennis and doing swimming 2x/week next year.

I think $10 - $15/half hour is reasonable - I wouldn't pay more than that unless it was with someone who is experienced in teaching piano lessons. FWIW - I don't see anything wrong with taking lessons from a HS Student. I think taking "fun" lessons is a great way to let your dd see if she wants to pursue more formal lessons. My dd took informal fun lessons (learning notes playing simple songs, no scales or theory) for two years, she is now taking very formal lessons, learning classical music, composer history, music theory... Honestly, if she had started out with our current teacher, I'm not sure if she would still be playing. Edited to Add - I pay $20/half hour for our current lessons (actually I paid the same for our "fun" lessons (with an experienced teacher), but we were living in Hawaii then and everything is more expensive there!)

:iagree: We used the 2 Advanced readers last year and they are most definitely more difficult than the core 3 readers we did this year!

Thanks, Colleen, I just ordered the new version of WTM yesterday!

Thanks for the advice, Colleen. It's reassuring to know that we can get through it at a faster pace. I just ordered WWE workbook 3, yesterday, and I'm now hopeful that we can get through #4 next year too. I wish I had the discipline to schedule it out myself with the text, but I know if I don't have it laid out for me it won't get done :001_smile: I've decided to do First Form Latin rather than The Latin Road, but I think the grammar component is about the same... I'm still a little on the fence about our spelling, but, for the most part, I feel like I finally have a good plan for next year - to prepare dd for logic level work :001_smile:

I asked a similar question today about accelerating WWE for a 5th grader :001_smile: My dd has strong LA skills but I really want to work on getting her to organize her thoughts (and I have no idea how to teach outlining)! Have you looked inside the books on Amazon (you can see levels 1-3, no look inside for level 4). I'm pretty sure I'm going to start with level 3 - it is beyond copywork but looks like it includes good general guidance on narration and dictation (which is where I need to start). Sorry I couldn't be more help, hopefully someone with experience will answer your question. I'm especially curious about how quickly one could work through this with an older child.

Just a warning: The problem with doing Core 1 with Readers 2 Advanced is that then you won't have any readers to do with core 2...

Any reason why you're not considering Core 1 with Readers 2 Intermediate? Then you could do Core 2 with Advance Readers next year? That is what I would suggest. I wouldn't recommend doing the Advanced readers with a child who doesn't like to read chapter books yet. But then, I think it is always better to err on the side of having readers be too easy than too hard when you are trying to foster a love of reading. Last year, I did core 2 with Advanced readers with my strong reader (dd grade 3) - she had already read the entire Harry Potter series on her own at that point. The readers were definitely easy for her but she still got a lot out of them. The Advanced Readers are chapter books with few pictures. I also think Core 1/2 with Intermediate Readers might be a good idea for an advanced child who isn't into chapter books yet :) I generally think the combined cores are too much for most kids but it sound like it might be a good fit for your son!

What is your budget for science? If you could spend up to say $100 you could possibly get a used SL Science 3 or Noeo. If you are just having a hard time getting over the idea of spending that kind of money for just science... remember that SL has a very good resale value. It might cost you $150 - 200 for science but you can very likely get 1/2 of that money back at the end of the year. If your budget is really limited and if you really want to use lots of different books rather than a text. Then maybe you could follow the suggestions in TWTM, buy the spines and borrow lots of books from the library.

So far, I've decided on Sequential Spelling, The Latin Road to English Grammar, and SL core 4 readers. I was going to use SL LA 4 for their writing and dictation, but I'm realizing that my dd really needs some structured teaching on narration/dictation/outlining. I've been looking at WWE and it looks like it might be just what we need. DD is very good at telling me about what she has read, but too detailed, she needs to learn how to be more concise. I know I need to focus on doing more narration with her history/science next year and she should be starting to outline. I've been lax because I don't really know how to improve her narration or teach her how to outline. I'm hoping WWE will show me how. So my questions: - Do I need the WWE book, or can I use just the workbooks (I'm not interested in designing my own program, I need something lined up for me!) -Is it possible to work through a 2 or 3 WWE workbooks in a year? (I'm thinking about starting at level 2) -Would WWE with Sequential Spelling, The Latin Road, and SL readers be enough. Am I missing something. I really want to focus on getting her to organize her thoughts this year and maybe start outlining at the end of the year. I want her to master this before I burden her with too much other writing... Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, especially on how to accelerate WWE.

I would really advise against doing 3/4 with a 9 year old - I am just finishing 3 with my just turned 10yo dd and it was plenty challenging (she is very bright and a strong reader). To me it wasn't so much the level of the readers/read alouds that made it challenging, it was the the amount of information we covered. I really don't think she would have gotten as much out of it if we had tried to fit all of Am. History into 1 year (Sonlight's 3/4 is thorough and very challenging). I personally think it would be fine to do core 3 with a 13 yo, but you would definitely want to add some more challenging readers. I really think the Core 3 History reading and the Read Alouds would be fine for a 13yo. Core 100 might be challenging for a 13yo, it really depends on the child. It's always safer to do sonlight at the upper end (or beyond) their suggested age range :001_smile:

I know how you feel. I loved the idea of the 4 year cycle - it is one of the main things that attracted me to homeschooling in the first place! Now that I'm doing Sonlight, I'm loving it and feeling very confident, but it was hard to break away from the idea of the 4 year cycle! The fact that Sonlight has everything all laid out for me is what ultimately sold me. I loved all the extra reading suggestions from the SOTW Activity Guides, but rounding it all up and getting it done was just not working for me. Good luck!

This is why I use Sonlight for history, I like the way they organize History. Core 1 and 2 are a broad introduction to World History, then Core 3 and 4 do an in-depth study of American History. Core 5 studies Eastern Culture, the Core 6 and 7 do an in-depth World History Study. Beyond core 7 are the high school level courses - American History, Christian History, Modern World History, and American Gov't. There are so many ways to organize history, it used to bog me down trying to decide which way was best. Finally, I realized as long as I stuck with any one system my kids would be fine, so I picked one I liked and I'm sticking with it ;)

We will be doing SL 5 Science for 5th grade so I can't really tell you anything specifically about how we liked it, but we did SL Science 3 in 3rd grade and really liked it. In my opinion, SL Science would be a thorough and very easy program to implement during the summer.

Opps, I didn't notice that you had already tried SS. What grade was he in when you started it last time. I would say anything before 3rd would probably be too early and even then if you have a reluctant writer I could see how it might be a struggle. I have a friend using it with her 3rd grader, who isn't a great reader and it is definitely more of a struggle. My 4th grade, strong reader, sloppy writer is doing great with it. If you still have it I would give it a shot again. It is one of the least writing intensive spelling programs around, which is what attracted me to it in the first place.

Just wanted to note that the bible books for Sonlight are actually a separate purchase. The schedule for the books is included in the Core Instructor Guide but you don't pay for the books unless you want to do that portion of the program. So I don't really feel like I am paying for something I'm not using as far as the bible curriculum. I would agree that many of the missionary books are wasted money for a Catholic, especially in the earlier years. However, if you are reselling your curriculum then it helps to have those books :001_smile: Sonlight includes mapping and timeline activities for every core, but that is pretty much the extent of the hands-on stuff (which is another reason I love Sonlight!) WP definitely would definitely be more appealing to someone who likes having lots of activities.

Honestly, as a Catholic, if you go with any Protestant homeschool curriculum, you are going to have to deal with doctrinal issues you don't agree with. I wish someone would develop a Sonlight-like Catholic curriculum, but as far as I know it doesn't exist. I looked into WinterPromise (for a new-homeschooling, Protestant, friend), and, as a Catholic, I would never use it, although it looks like a fabulous program for Protestants! Their protestant doctrine is much more integrated into the entire program. I consider myself a devout Catholic, and I truly believe that Sonlight is one of the most open-minded protestant programs out there :001_smile: Oh, here's the link for the Catholic Sonlight Yahoo Group