My just turned 9 year old 3rd grader has just finished up CLE Math 405. He's good at math and learns new topics easily - multidigit multiplication and long division were not a problem. He does need plenty of review to keep things in his head long term, which is why we've been using CLE. But he's getting a bit bored with the review now. He needs daily review, but not THAT much review. I've been cutting out about half the problems and letting him accelerate. He found Singapore in the closet and wanted to switch back to that (he used it for K and 1st). I have the grade 4 and 5 books from my oldest using them. I'm just not sure if Singapore is going to be the right choice though. I think he needs a little more drill and more review. I don't want to combine programs with this child. He hates school as it is and just wants to get it over with. Another issue with him and math is his writing. He cannot write that small. A lot of grade 4 and 5 workbooks start to have small writing spaces. I am not writing for him or doing stickers, stamps, or other workarounds. He needs practice to write properly, and I don't have time to write for him (4 kids, mobile baby). I haven't followed new math curricula lately, so what's out there now? Ideas, new or old? I need to buy something regardless, since I am out of CLE light units and don't have the workbooks for Singapore yet. I like the fact that CLE is written to the student and is independent. I go over new stuff with him if he needs it (especially major topics like long division). And why on earth did I wait until today to start looking at this? We start school back up next week. :lol:

I can go either way (was taught 2), but T and F are what kill me. I don't like most versions of them, especially the version I was taught.

My math adept kids use CLE quite happily (and understand the "why" just as much as the one that used Singapore did). When things get slow, we just speed up - do new parts of two lessons and review from one. Or circle certain problems on the review section. Much of the 100 light unit is learning addition and subtraction facts, so glossing through that and getting to the addition with regrouping (they use the term "carrying", which I know drives some people mad :) ) might be a good idea. It's ok to move up a grade level of needed. My 6 year old is in 207 now. He is getting a solid math foundation. :)

I don't use any flash cards with my kid doing CLE 400. He has all his facts down pretty well, and he gets daily practice in his lessons. If your child needs to work on them still, the speed drills will probably be plenty. I would think multiplication and division would be more important to work at that stage.

We had to make some changes when I realized he was skimming instead of reading, so he's backed up a bit in LA for the moment... Math: Jacobs Algebra LA: CLE LA 500, CLE Reading 400/500, R&S Spelling 5 Science: Aplogia General Science (outlines every section to get him to read instead of skim) History: Just finished MOH1 from last year, planning to start Creek Edge Press Task cards next week, with MOH2, SOTW2, and K12 Human Odyssey as spines, plus extra reading (he loves history) I may try Writing With Skill 1 next semester.

I don't use R&S English now, but their Spelling, Phonics, and Reading have a certain number of points available, usually one per question/blank. So if there are 50 possible points and you miss 3, the score is 47/50 (94%), not 97/100. I always put the fraction and the percentage on the paper. The front of your R&S teacher's manual should explain the grading.

It sounds like AAS would be overkill for her. Maybe just grab a Writing Road to Reading book used (Spalding) to go over some spelling rules. Or do the spelling rules videos on thephonicspage.org?

I have a system now that usually works for us, so my fines are few and far between. I did owe a quarter recently. ;) I take short breaks now and then, but my library is a 25 minute drive. I'd love a library 2 miles away!

My oldest is doing Algebra 1 in 6th right now. We're nearing the end of chapter 8 in Jacobs Algebra, and so far, so good. We have multiple options for what to follow this with, and I haven't decided yet which route to go. I'm leaning toward running through AoPS Intro to Algebra next year. He did the Prealgebra book for 4th-5th grades. Our other options include moving on to Geometry or doing the AoPS Counting & Probability/Number Theory books. I'm not concerned about going too far. When I was in school, the most advanced kids (all two of them) went to the local university for calc 3 and differential equations. The regular advanced kids did AP Calculus, learning mostly AB material in class, with the option of doing BC material on our own (which I did). My school also didn't start the regular advanced kids in algebra until 9th, so we did algebra 2/trig as one year before calculus. Now, many schools spread those things out, so that's certainly an option. There are a million ways to do things.

What has changed between last year and this year? My kids are the same ages as your younger 3. I do find that my 6th grader sometimes gets done before my 3rd grader, despite having more work. My 3rd grader is a dawdler though. Some days, even with me sitting there with him, I still have to remind him to go to the next problem or even write the next number in the problem he's on. :p My first grader is pretty good at getting things done and is surprisingly independent (which I don't expect at that age), but he gets in occasional moods where he just melts down over a simple problem. That's my cue to have him change subjects or go eat lunch or take a quick cleaning break. I've had some moments this year where I just want to put my 3rd grader on the yellow bus. :tongue_smilie: That's not really a real option though, so we're plugging along. Sometimes the solution for him is to give him more challenge. He has said at times that he wasn't learning anything new in a particular subject, and I bumped him up a level and things went better. My kids' lives have been changed by new baby this year, and they're having to do school a bit differently because of that, though we're doing loads better this year than last year. Next year will be my 7th year. I've definitely had more "can I do this" moments with my oldest as I think ahead, though he's doing fine. It's just the self-doubt that sometimes pops up. This week, we started opening our day with a morning walk. I don't know that it's changed much with the kids, but it has helped my attitude to get some exercise first thing. And the walk gives us some chat time about nature, life, and any questions my 3rd grader comes up with (usually hard questions that make my brain hurt). So just think about what changes have taken place that could be affecting your homeschool and what changes you could make that might help. Sometimes it's as simple as changing the order you do things or splitting up a longer subject into shorter chunks. Sometimes a curriculum change can be helpful (I change curriculum periodically just to fight my own boredom). Sometimes you need to look at your outside activities and see if something is tugging you the wrong direction. Sometimes you need an outside activity that isn't school. Sometimes you need to just drop everything for the day and go to the playground. :)

My oldest was like this... reading well at 4, doing math in his head easily, etc. He didn't have the fine motor skills for writing, but everything else was there, ready for input. I tried doing "preschool" with him (we were planning to send him to private K, and my husband didn't think sending him to preschool was necessary - homeschooling wasn't really on our radar yet). My son resisted anything resembling school, so I backed off. Guess what? He learned MORE when I didn't try to teach him. He asked questions, and I answered them. We read books. We talked about stuff as we did housework, cooking, walks outside, long drives in the van (math in the van is one of my favorite memories). It's amazing how much a preschool age child will learn without you doing anything to actively try to teach! This son did go to private K, where he was well ahead of his peers, about half of which had attended preschool. I brought him home halfway through first grade, and he had no problem with formal school at that point. My other kids have been homeschooled from the beginning. My philosophy for preschool... If they ASK for school, I'll provide them with K level materials (preschool level stuff is taught via living life). They can do them when they want. If they don't ask for school, we don't do school. My second son asked for school on occasion, mostly math. He wasn't ready for reading and writing until later. My third son asked to do school just about every day. He's precocious in all subjects and is still happily plugging along in first grade now. I just gave him limited amounts of work, combining things where possible. Right now, he has math, LA (one workbook that includes phonics, spelling, grammar, and handwriting), then history and science. His day is pretty short. When they are officially "K", I do require a small amount of reading, writing, and math, but it doesn't have to be every day. My kid that was slower with reading and writing turned 6 shortly after starting "K", and even then, I didn't have him do handwriting until the second half of the school year. He just wasn't ready at all until then. Anyway, it's pretty common with our first kid to think we need to push, push, push... especially if they are precocious in one or more areas. In reality, pushing can backfire and actually cause you to lose ground. Really, you have 13 years of formal school (if you start formal school at K). There is plenty of time to learn! And these early readers don't lose their reading ability. They keep improving, especially if you hit the library often. ;) Think about it... He taught himself to read. You didn't have to get out a phonics book and actively teach it. So why wouldn't he continue to improve in reading on his own? :)

R&S Spelling is deceptive. It looks easy when you look at the word list, but the actual exercises make the kid think. Two of mine are using it alongside CLE LA. Third kid is just using CLE LA's spelling for now, since he is a natural speller. The other two are not. The main differences between R&S English and CLE LA are: - R&S is a textbook, CLE a workbook - R&S takes a more mastery approach - learning about sentences, then nouns, then verbs, etc. You might have several lessons in a row on nouns. Plenty of review is included throughout, of course. CLE is spiral like the math is - learning small bits at a time from different topics. So one lesson might be about nouns, then the next is capitalization, then the next is using a comma in a series, then you might come back around to something else about nouns. Meanwhile, most of the lesson is reviewing previous topics. - R&S puts spelling and handwriting in separate workbooks. CLE has them built in, though that can be an issue if your kid isn't on the same level in all LA subjects. My 3rd grade is mainly using CLE LA for grammar and writing. The spelling is a bit too much for him, so he uses R&S Spelling a grade behind. And hens not ready for the cursive handwriting in CLE grade 3 (we tried... I've ordered a separate workbook that will include more practice with individual strokes). My first grader, otoh, is doing fine with CLE LA spelling and handwriting. He'll start beginning cursive soon (he's in 203 now). I don't expect any problems for him.

My oldest did AoPS Prealgebra after Singapore 5. He spent two years, 4th and 5th grades. There were a few times that I had to pull out Dolciani Prealgebra for some basic drill and kill on a topic, particularly in the early chapters. But that wasn't a big deal.

Oh, and we skip the quizzes. They do well on the light unit tests.

Two of mine are using CLE Math, currently grade 4 and 2. The one using grade 4 has used CLE since level 2. Grade 3 took him about half an hour when he was focused. My kids are mathy, so sometimes they don't need quite as much review, but it's easy to cut problems out if needed. Toward the end of the grade 3 books, my son indicated that he wanted to go faster through the material. I had him do two new parts and one review part to speed up. I slowed back down in the grade 4 books, and I sometimes circle certain problems to do if my son doesn't need to review a topic as much. At this level, I purchased the TM, since it is cheaper than the answer keys. I find the TM easier to grade with. I use the LA and Reading also, and the upper levels of those don't have answers in the TMs, and I really miss that in those subjects. CLE is very independent for both my kids. I usually help out with the new part, then let them go. They should be able to do the "We Remember" section on their own. Sometimes they do the new part on their own also. I make sure to step in is it's a topic like regrouping, multi-digit multiplication, or long division. No manipulatives are necessary, but they can be useful in first grade. My youngest son used chocolate chips as a manipulative. ;)

Sonlight focuses more on historical fiction rather than non-fiction. TOG has mostly non-fiction with a historical fiction book thrown in each week. So as far as depth goes, you get more from the non-fiction. That said... I agree with the poster that asked how much depth a 9 year old needs. We loved Core D and got a lot out of it. I didn't use the discussion questions though. We just read the books. The following year, I was burnt out on historical fiction, so I switched to TOG year 4 and really liked it also. I'm not using it now because baby kind of caused a life upheaval. I will likely use TOG again later though. It's especially a good fit for my history loving quick reader. We currently use Mystery of History, and my kids all have to notebook about each lesson. My 6th grader does a map (traces it) pertaining to the lesson, draws a picture about something interesting, and writes a summary. My 1st and 3rd graders do the same, except they write a sentence instead of a paragraph summary. This method will really work for any curriculum, and I've noticed that my 3rd grader is remembering previous lessons much better.

When we switched to textbook work, I sat with my son and helped him place his problems correctly, showed him how to do it, how to circle answers, etc. You may just need to sit and hold your son's hand for a bit as he learns the new method. I also have a piece of lined paper on our school room wall showing which is the front side of the paper. He's starting to get that one... slowly but surely. :tongue_smilie:

One of mine struggled with printing. I tried cursive with him, and it was even worse. So we went back to print until this year (3rd grade), and it's going better. I doubt he'll be a long term cursive user, but he'll at least be able to read it and sign his name, which are my main goals with cursive. My oldest didn't find print easy either, and he has learned cursive (I think also in 3rd), and we had to go back to print for composition purposes. His cursive was ridiculously slow. He has beautiful cursive x and y in algebra this year. :) My current first grader will start learning cursive this year. He has excellent fine motor control and finds writing easy, so I think he'll do fine in cursive this year.

My now first grader mostly used chocolate chips when he was K age. Now he doesn't need manipulatives (halfway through 2nd grade math). My now 3rd grader used C-rods a lot when he was k-1st grade. My now 6th grader never needed manipulatives. He was an abstract thinker from a young age. I still have the Right Start manipulatives and never use any of them.

My oldest played soccer at 4, hockey at 5. Hockey went a lot better than soccer. That year made a difference. Next kid did hockey at 6, because he wasn't ready for a team at 5. He still wasn't ready... and still isn't at 8. He's doing karate now. He is quirky in general and struggles with following rules and working with others. He turned 7 shortly after the hockey season started, and at games, he'd be skating figure 8's on one side of the ice while the rest of the team was on the other side going after the puck. Next kid did hockey at 5 (starting the age 6-8 team early because the 4-5 team was in another city), and he did fabulous. I agree with others that how he does at home isn't necessarily how he'll be on a real team. Other kids making fun probably won't be an issue. No one ever made fun of my middle son, and he was on the age 6-8 team. The kids were all friendly with him, despite his inattention during games.

I would totally count housework, cooking, and play time at that age. I aim for roughly one hour per grade level of academic work, and I would have no problem listing daily life items as "school" if my state required reporting hours like that. What takes 4.5 hours to teach a class of 30 wiggly first graders takes an hour or two with an individual first grader. Also, public schools are able to count a full day even if they're watching (non-educational) movies or having parties all day - the hours are just the time spent at school. So in homeschool, the hours spent at your home and on field trips all should count, right?

My first grader uses CLE LA independently. My third grader is also using it, though that being his weaker subject, he still needs me to be nearby during it. With unpredictable baby who will get mobile sometime this fall, independent is good!

My oldest son started out with Math Mammoth, then Singapore, followed by AoPS. When the next kid came along, he used Singapore for K and grade 1, but then I realized that he needed more daily review of certain topics (like time and money), plus he needed more math fact drill. So I switched him to CLE 200. He's just starting the 400 level and doing great with it. We are at a point where I am having to cut out some review problems, as a PP mentioned, but I just see where he is and what he needs. Sometimes he needs more practice, and sometimes he needs less. He is a mathy kid, but has attention issues. CLE has been a great fit for him, and he now knows his math facts forward and backward. I cut out the speed drills recently, as he had demonstrated that he didn't need them right now. Third kid is Mr. Independent, so I let him do Singapore Essential Math K when he was 4, and he used CLE 100 in K. He's now in 1st grade and about halfway through CLE 200. He loves that he can do math without Mama. :tongue_smilie: The only issue we had with it was that the word problems were in the TM only for the first half of 100 level. He was so happy when the word problems moved to the student text and he didn't have to wait for me to get the TM out. ;) In general, I've seen my kids use the same mental math techniques that Singapore teaches. CLE teaches it too! My kids can handle word problems without issue, even ones outside of CLE. And in general, they know math. It's been a great program for them. I plan to continue to use it until they're ready for Prealgebra, at which point they'll likely use AoPS like big brother did. All three are mathy kids.

Take a look at the TOG year 4 LG book list. You don't have to use TOG itself. The books they recommend focus more on inventors and such, with an age appropriate look at the Holocaust. That way they get the general overview of things without focusing the whole year on awful topics.

My first grader is doing Creek Edge Press Life Science task cards. It's been perfect for him and his 3rd grade brother. It has different tasks that include reading about different animals (you can help with this if the child isn't reading well yet), sketching, observing, etc. I just let them go at it, and they may just do a little bit or they may do a lot more if the subject is interesting to them. I've been very happy with this set. It's $20, plus I bought some science encyclopedia type books to go with it. I wrote on the back of each card which books my library has that would work well for that task card, and I put those on hold a week or two before we need them. I really think "library book science" is excellent for elementary.