my daughters are 8 and almost 5..... thanks

I actually think you're wasting your time keeping your child in school. Please let your husband know about my experience. I pulled my daughter out due to cluster migraines. She has gone a solid month without migraines, something that does NOT happen during the school year. She never suffered migraines in summer. Anyway, I pulled her out during the Christmas break and I regret ever having put her in school. She started a strong reader for someone who had only completed kindergarden, and she seems to be gifted in math. I was horrified to see constant finger counting and she knew NO math facts off the top of her head. After schooling through January I can see real gains. I feel the school excelled in teaching good writing skills. My daughter journaled in first grade and had some form of writing almost every day. But aside from that I can say that her year and a half in PS set her back and I'm basically taking the rest of this year to get her caught up. I'm confident she'll be ready for the third grade on time. How is your sons spelling? While my daughter was READING well, there was no phonetic instruction so all I taught her was forgotten the year and a half she was in school. Although she's a very good reader I've back tracked and am doing the second year of our phonics program for her SPELLING ALONE. She thinks it's baby work but since she's already seeing spelling gains, she's agreeing that it's good for her. The longer the time your son spends in school, the more time you're going to have to catch him up to where he needs to be. That's been my experience, and that's the common scenario with public school. My older two boys are in PS and I really regret it. My oldest is in 10th grade and he took the PSAT this year and scored in the 99% which is quite an accomplishment since most taking the PSAT are in 11th grade. His English teacher sought him out to see where he had gotten his English instruction because they knew it didn't come from the public school system. We used Rod & Staff exclusively from 3rd grade on. I'm trying to figure out the math ideas myself right now. I'm not really crazy about Saxon and am thinking of supplementing with MUS or Singapore. I will DEFINITELY switch out of Saxon for Algebra. You can read my other posts to see why. HTH Denise

I pulled her out of school and started with Saxon because that's all I've used before. But after taking a break from it the past year and a half while kids were in school, coming back to it it's just SO dry and SO boring! My daughter says it's 1st grade work, she's in 2nd grade. Any suggestions? I'm questioning about supplementing with MUS but I'd think that would be even easier? I'm considering this because my oldest used Saxon through algebra and he isn't doing as well in math as he is in other subjects. He's very bright but HATES math. I just told him last night that it's not that he's not good at math, it's that the program we used didn't work for him. He feels better but is not wanting to redo algebra at home (he completed Algebra II honors this year along with geometry w/proof and is averaging B's and C's - hiw lowest grades) Now I've lost confidence in the program. Suggestions? I don't want the same issues with my daughter, who seems to be gifted in math. Denise

I shouldn't have joined when so tired! I don't like having my last name out there! :o

Well, I homeschooled my oldest until high school and then (made the mistake of) enrolled him in high school. He's struggled with math in hs. He completed Saxon algebra 1 and was asked to repeat it in hs and aced through the class. This year honors algebra 2 and geometry w/proof were somewhat tricky for him and he had some struggles. He hates math and I'm so sad that I mad the choice I did for math. I used Saxon for all math in every level and only now am I understanding that it doesn't teach you to "think outside the box" and so now he hates math and can't wait to be done with it. I'll be keeping my girls home and will not make the mistake of sending them to school like I did my boys. BUt I'm finding some of what I'm doing a little dull. Math is my biggest issue. I find Saxon so dry, dull and boring. I'm afraid to switch, though. Can someone give me input on other programs? I'm thinking of MUS and using my Saxon to supplement. Thoughts? Thanks, Denise