I love the idea of the veritas press self paced online classes. They seem very popular and fun. Anything similar, but not religious for a 8-ish kiddo. Spanish, history... Thanks

If you like right start but want more drill. You could use Rod and Staff as a supplement. I wouldn't use it as a stand alone program because I think it is too simple in the early years but I really like the drill and the look of it is lovely and simple. It does have Christian content but we just grin and bear that part. We used Horizons as a supplement to Right Start a,b, and c. It is a nice workbook but isn't as drill-y as Rod and Staff.

We school year round but my daughter will be finishing her math curriculum 3 months earlier than her other subjects. I'd like to use a supplement instead of going to the next level just to make sure we have thoroughly covered 3rd grade math. She will have finished Rod and Staff 3 and Horizon 3. I'm thinking about Beast Academy but was wondering if you guys had any inspirations. We did Right Start a,b,c, in the past. I thought about Right Start d, because she always enjoyed that. I've also played with the idea of Singapore. Thoughts?

The walking with dinosaurs/ prehistoric beasts by BBC are awesome and free

If you find it please spread the word! Someone please respond to our market! I'm loosing faith in capitalism!

The mp forum is Great resource. The teacher manual has the tests in it, as well as the answers, of course.

Satan was a spelling word in 3rd grade but not much said about it... Don't mean to imply it was a big deal.

We are atheists and use rod and staff spelling and math(in addition to another math program). It is in no way secular. There have been words like Christ, satan, Jesus... There are occasional fill in the blanks that are christian. I don't mind because it gives us an opportunity to learn about the religion which is so pervasive in our culture. It came with the boxed curriculum we use. I don't love it but it serves it's purpose.

We are about 2/3 through the mp astronomy book. My dd8 really likes it and has retained quite a bit. It isn't flowery but I like its layout. It's clear, easy to teach, and best of all... It gets done! We love looking at the stars together now. It has enhanced our experience of nighttime so much. I highly recommend it.

Wow! My experience has been identical to the op! I was hopeful that the experience would prove worth the time and money. It hasn't. We'll finish the year but no way will I do it again. I could do everything on our own, in a fraction of the time. If you like the idea of it, I recommend buying the curriculum and doing it at home. Maybe even just start with listening to the history timeline song on youtube everyday. The memoria press curriculum we use has plenty of memory work. This is overkill.

Another single hser here. Lucky to be financially supported by dd's father and we live with my mother so, while not my dream life... It works for us. I love not having to argue about parenting or schooling with anyone, it's really quite fabulous.

Is there an app that teaches shapes like trapezoid, rectangular prism, hexagon, cylinder... Thanks!

I watched the entire thing with my whole attention. I thought it was wonderful. I'm an atheist so obviously I fall on Nye's side. I was shocked at how much Ham relied on The Bible for his "evidence". I know he doesn't represent all creationists or especially intelligent design proponents but... I think he has helped put another nail in the coffin of creationism as science to be taught in schools. He kept referring to, "there's this book", for his answers.

Yes, we use it a lot. It does rankle me that it is quite overpriced for what it is. For the price, it should be interactive but is basically just an audio file organized by subject and week. For the price it should have different song helps for the different weeks and etc. They do have the snippet of the song for the timeline section. But no extras. It shouldn't cost more than 99 cents, for what it is... I know, I need to get over it. Errrr arrrr... There!

Geeze, I assumed it could be used at the App Store. I hope so. We have: stack the states/countries Toca boca games Dragon box We'll check out the others. Thanks!

My daughter received a $25 gift card for itunes. It is for her ipad, not music. I'd like the games to be redeaming in some way but pure sweet not brain destroying fun is good too. Educational and fun would be icing. Please help us to spend, spend, spend! We're visiting gift giver next week and I'd like to show up with something to show for ourselves. Thanks,

Thanks, I was leaning in that direction but you know, that voice... Maybe if I could just contact him and show him the invoices and look at the work with him, he'd take the review down... Dreaming, I'm sure. Thanks again!

We have a small repair business. Reviews are our life's blood. 95% are great but every once in a while we get a very angry doozy. We usually respond with our side of the story on the review site and that is that. This last one is really bad and full of things that just aren't true (that we used used parts and charged for new, etc.) the person used their name so we have all their info. We called and left a message offering to fix anything he was unhappy with and show him invoices that prove we used new parts and basically go over the job with a fine toothed comb with him. No response from him. I'm wondering, do you think that texting him would be too intrusive after already calling and leaving a message? Thanks for any thoughts and for making it through my stressed out and worried explanation.

Same thing happened with us! Make the switch!

We use mp 3rd grade. We use a different handwriting (she wasn't fluent enough in cursive for their rec, we use pentime). We also had to go down a grade level in spelling (they use rod and staff 4th grade for 3rd and it was too difficult). We don't use their bible stuff 'cause we're atheist. We also add in Horizon 3 in addition to their rod and staff math, I love all the drill but it is not as advanced as Horizon which we had been using and I didn't want my d to lose ground. We add SOTW twice a week with activity pages I really like it but it is a very full load for my very, very slow moving daughter. I don't know how it would be for a more typical child but it takes her about a week and a half to get through a week of work. No big deal for us but its been a transition. They expect good reading skills. There is quite bit of writing. My daughter loves the Greek myths and astronomy. I really enjoy it too. I think it is weak in history for the 3rd grade. We do classical conversations so memory work and history timeline memorization is covered that way. Hope that helps. Don't judge me for typos please, I'm on my phone...

Thank you so much all for your thoughtful responses! I don't feel as bad now. I have an oppressive fear that one day I will find out my kid knows nothing and I've ruined her life. We'll keep at it and reviews the dictations first. Thanks!

Thanks so much rootann. I pm'd you

I can see why hearing would be a guess but, her hearing has been tested by specialists twice. She can hear perfectly. We use Rod and Staff for spelling. We usually do study the dictation first but her literature guide instructed to do it without review and I thought I'd try and see what happened. I agree it is obviously out of her range. I am wondering how she measures up to others her age. Thanks for your thoughts. I really do appreciate them.

We always do dictation after studying the passage but this one was done without any prior review. What do you think of her ability to write the words on command. Does it seem behind, average??? Thanks for any thoughts and/or comparisons. She is reading the book so had read the excerpt a few days before. She will be 8 next month. Here is the quote from the book "They rode sleepily down to the barns. Almanzo was not quite awake yet, and he was tired and cold and hungry. His hands were clumsy, doing the chores. But most of the corn was saved." Here's her attempt They rod sliply down, to the bons. Almanzo was not qrit arake wet and He was tird and colde and hongery. Hes hands wer clomsy doing the chers but most of the corn was saved. Tell me please, your honest thoughts, don't hold back. She does have speech issues that are still resolving and were at one time extremely severe. We've worked extensively on this and would like to know about where she stands. Thanks,

We always do dictation after studying the passage but this one was done without any prior review. What do you think of her ability to write the words on command. Does it seem behind, average??? Thanks for any thoughts and/or comparisons. She will be 8 next month and had read this passage during her regular reading time a few days before. Here is the quote from the book "They rode sleepily down to the barns. Almanzo was not quite awake yet, and he was tired and cold and hungry. His hands were clumsy, doing the chores. But most of the corn was saved" Here is her attempt They rod sliply down, to the bons Almanzo was not qrit arake wet and He was colde and hongery. Hes hands wer clomsy doing the chers but most of the corn was saved. Any thoughts? Her speech issues obviously come into play here but any thoughts are welcomed. Thanks,