Thank you SO much for posting this. I switched my daughter to TT this year because Math Mammoth (which for the record I DO think is excellent for math-minded individuals) was starting to send her into tears. She is in 2nd grade (but an older 2nd grader) and I put her on TT3 and it has been like night and day. I am actually thinking of putting my youngest child who IS mathy and will be entering 1st grade, on TT3 next year, and wondering if that seems crazy. She has already completed Math Mammoth 1 with no problem but she LOVES being on the computer. I'm wondering if the program would be a good fit for a 'mathy' kid if you did it 1-2 years ahead.

Also a note - I did have my oldest daughter take the SAT test for 2nd graders, and will get the results in early June. Will those results be useful in determining which curriculum to consider?

Next year will be my third year of homeschooling and I need some help on a curriculum choice. I have 2 children, one will be in 3rd grade with minor leaning disabilities (mild dyslexia and speech articulation delays) and the other is an advanced 1st grader. I have never used a formal curriculum except for math. Background: so far, we've been kind of doing a mishmash of whatever. My oldest is finishing up Teaching Textbooks 3, and we did all the American Girl historical character books for social science, supplemented with other books about American History, and a daily writing book with Harcourt Family Press, and we did an introduction to cursive. Since my oldest was struggling with dyslexia issues, I felt it was important to give her the freedom to read whatever and whenever she wanted, so we didn't do formal literature (I did the American Girl books as a read-aloud, as at the beginning of the year she did not have the mental stamina to read at that level, but she has excellent listening comprehension.) The youngest who was in Kindergarten did Math Mammoth 1 and daily writing and reading and some basic social science/language arts (communities, maps, people & places, etc.) They both did science homeschool classes a the local science museum twice a month, social science classes once a month, and twelve weeks of art class. I feel the need to ramp it up next year. My older child is getting to the point where I feel like it's inappropriate to still mess around as much as we have been, and my K child's schooling honestly seemed really half-assed to me - like 90 minutes a day of schooling - but she went from preschool level knowledge to reading at about a 2nd or 3rd grade level, writing proficiently, and completed a 1st grade math curriculum so I just went with it? Go figure. I am looking at Sonlight. Here are my concerns/needs: - We are Jewish. I consider myself religious so some God/Bible themed things are OK, but I don't want to spend a lot of money on something that is completely Jesus'ed up. (I say that playfully, not offensively.) I believe in evolution, old earth, AND God the Creator. - Is there a way to use Sonlight so you can do some of the Core items together with the ages mentioned? There is *also* a chance I will be schooling a friend's 2nd grader, so I may have grade 1, 2, 3. Wondering if I can work these items together so we can discuss things together, but then they each have their own level-appropriate work to use. Theoretically, given that I have a younger advanced child and a slightly delayed older child I could select a curriculum in the middle of them and just do that, but it is important for my older daughter's pride that she has some of her *own* materials that are for big mature third graders, kwim? - Tell me about their science stuff? I'm honestly a bit dubious about the need for much science at these ages - which I say as a science enthusiast and the wife of a physicist. I feel math is the emphasis. They have a *daily* science program - how do they do *daily* science without math? Is it just memorization of scientific terms? - I also want to do daily handwriting, and for my 3rd grader, a typing program, so I need time for that. Any thoughts/insights HIGHLY appreciated!

Does anyone know anything about this program? The BrainSkills web site is particularly vague. I mean, I'd like to know exactly WHAT the program entails, what kind of exercises my child would be doing precisely, ideally I'd love to see samples? I have an 8 (almost 9 yr old) who is mildly dyslexic with speech articulation delays. Is this program appropriate for her? She is not severely delayed, but I do not think she is operating at her potential. She can be slow and gets easily mixed up/confused, continues to switch or reverse letters even when she knows better, etc.

Thanks for the thoughts. That bathroom/word problem story is classic. That is EXACTLY the kind of situation that comes up around here - and it has nothing to do with what kind of books we are using. They are right now doing separate things. Well, they are both using Math Mammoth. The 5 yr old is only doing 1 year behind the 8 yr old even though they are 2 grades apart (thank goodness they are only 2 grades apart. My 8 yr old has a September birthday and in some areas would be considered a 3rd grader, but I had the good sense to wait with her.) But as I said, these social dynamics do not get past my 8 yr old. She knows little sister is catching up to her in math. So far I've chalked it up to the fact that we started homeschooling little sister in K - and that is partially true.. math is sorely neglected in K-1 in our district. One thing about my oldest - she is SO MUCH like her father it is unreal. My husband is a physicist/engineer. He graduated cum laude in physics from a respected university, has had a successful engineering career, and is now pursuing advanced degrees. But as a kid he was dyslexic and confused and he even had some crappy teachers that kept dismissing his abilities. MIL thankfully was on it and researched learning disabilities at a time when not as many educators were "on it" (esp. in Catholic schools.) He thought he was horrible in math until he got to algebra and could start looking at math symbolically. Both DH and I know that performance now (from EITHER kid) is NO indication of their future success. DD#1 has to learn to stay focused and keep trying, and DD#2 has to learn that she's not the cat's meow and that no matter how clever you are hard work WILL ultimately necessary for success, kwim? You can struggle and end up being a star, and you can be a fantastically gifted person who is ultimately a failure. Two different challenges we have with two very different girls.

I guess I am fortunate that I have so far not felt the need to be responsible for 'every moment'. One of the things that has been a pleasant surprise about homeschooling is how much kids can do independently when given the chance. I did feel a little overwhelmed for a few months when I added in my Kindergarten child this year, because until she was reading fluently it involved a lot more of my involvement, but now that she is reading they both can work independently. But I'm sure some kids are more higher needs than that. I've also been fortunate to have a lot of support and opportunities in my hometown. My kids spend between 6-10 hours a week attending classes and activities that are organized by someone else.

I really see science as a bit extracurricular and "fun" at the elementary level. We don't have a formal program. My kids pick nonfiction reading material of interest and sometimes it is science-related. They attend a homeschool science class twice a month at the children's science center. Other than that.. we are very opportunistic about science. We learn as we are curious about things. My DH is a physicist and we do a lot of fun activities related to science, and I am a GS leader and we do many science and engineering related activities in scouts as well. But I don't kid myself - science is not *really* a subject of study until you have the math to back it up. But then, as a science-y family the kinds of things most kids study in "science" is part of our routine family activities and fun. Watching Mythbusters or "How it's Made" as a family, or making a bottle rocket, or having DH bring some dry ice home from work, or going on a nature hike and identifying items in nature, are just a natural part of our lives.

We did PS for a bit over a year before HSing, and I frankly find everything is smoother in our family because of HS. The stress of having to wake up, eat breakfast, catch the bus, sort through the paperwork, make sure the homework was done, the permission slips signed, the mandatory meetings attended, the right paperwork filled out if we wanted to go on a trip - it really drove me to distraction. At the risk of sounding like a crazy libertarian, it made me feel like my family was enslaved by the government. Not as "on it" with the housework now. I hired a cleaning lady to come twice a month to do the deep cleaning. But I am so much happier, calmer, and I feel... liberated, and so are my kids. When we started HSing, I made it clear... I would wear my "teacher hat", and my kids would wear their "student hats". When they start to whine, I ask if this is how they would speak to a teacher? And for my sake, I try to remind myself to use a teacher voice - of course I'm not perfect, but trying to stay in that mentality has worked for us. In our case, I think hs'ing is easier and more liberating.. but, our situation was worse. zoned for an elementary school with more than 1,000 children.

5 days, plus 2 hrs of religious school on Sunday. I don't think 4 days is sufficient, personally. I am pretty flexible and often drop our schedule for other plans or learning opportunities but... certain things, like math, I think slide very quickly if you are away from it for more than a couple days. In fact I do daily math even over the summer.. not as hard core as during the year (too many disruptions), but pleasure reading and some short math drills facilitates the regular school year, I think.

As a fun thing on the side, consider reading the Percy Jackson series if your child hasn't already. And.. then it is fun to point out all the places in literature and elsewhere where the references to Greek mythology are abundant. For example, ask your kids to postulate why they think the planets are named after the gods they are named after? Why is the Ares program called the Ares program? Why do the days of the week have the names they have? Compare in different languages. What about popular appearance such as Venus women's razors, or the winged cherubs on Valentine's Day? Why is music called music? A fun prospect, to search for all the places in everyday language where we can find reference to ancient western mythology!

New member here and I posted about this in my intro post. I have two bright, beautiful girls that I am homeschooling, age 5 and 8. I really don't think I am just being a boastful mom when I say they are both bright and beautiful with many gifts, and I can honestly say I would never say one is "smarter" than the other. But the skinny on it is, it is very clear that my 5 yr old is able to master traditional academics far, far faster than her 8-yr-old sister. I will honestly say I have never made a big effort to teach either of my kids to be an academic superstar. I never pushed early reading, etc, and my 5 yr old is being homeschooled in K, but my Kindergarten philosophy of very old-school. I even think public schools have in wrong with full day K these days. I believe K is a time to build study skills and some very foundational literacy and understanding, but that it is still largely a time for exploration and early child development. Well my 5 yr old is reading almost as well (and in some ways, arguably better), than her big sister. She understands how to solve arithmetic problems naturally and with a speed my 8 yr old doesn't, even though I never taught her. Many times I have asked my older child a question, not even thinking my younger one is listening, only to have the 5 yr old shock me by chiming in with the answer I don't even think she should know. The crushed and frustrated look on my 8-year-old's face is heartbreaking. How do I deal with this? I do not want to hold my 5 yr old back, and I don't want my 8 yr old's confidence getting crushed. My 8-yr-old is also working to overcome various challenges (minor speech articulation delays, mild dyslexia, etc), and she needs to feel confident when she can. And I am NOT someone who buys into this big self-esteem movement for kids. I believe self-esteem should be earned, but a child needs enough confidence to plow forward and keep up their best effort. I have tried to emphasize to my 8-yr-old her many, many gifts. She seems to have a natural gift for music, and her reading comprehension is amazing (even if she struggles with the phonics, decoding, and articulation, she can read or hear a story and understand characters, story arc, etc, incredibly well.) But the areas where I see she can shine, they are hard to quantify, measure, and say "Look at how great you are! We can measure it!" The 8 yr old also has a very high emotional intelligence which makes it work. She is not clueless. She gets it, and I can tell sometimes it makes her feel really crummy. I can only see this issue becoming more obvious to my 8-yr-old (and my 5-yr-old who, is spunky and starting to take obnoxious pride in doing things faster or better than big sister.) What to do? Any tips advice?

Hi All, I'm new to the forum. I don't specifically homeschool based on the "well-trained mind" philosophy or book, but often when I am Googling around for information, I find myself reading threads from this forum, so I figured I'd join. My name is Jennifer and I live in Huntsville, Alabama. I homeschool my two girls, grades K and 2. In basic academic areas, we have a lot of structure, but in other areas, I'm almost like an unschooler (though I kind of hate that term), especially with my K child. We use a hodgepodge of materials and we keep a fairly consistent schedule, but I am always flexible. My kids are both using Math Mammoth daily, although with the 2nd grader she is really struggling to complete those assignments, and I just purchased Teaching Textbooks which I am eagerly awaiting. I think we will take a few steps back with her but my idea is to use Teaching Textbooks and then use MM for supplemental skill practice. Meanwhile my K child is plowing through 1st grade MM with no problem. That is a topic I will probably have to post about at one point - as a mother of course I know both of my children have their gifts but there is no doubt traditional academic material comes FAR easier to my 5-yr-old than it does to my 8-yr-old to the point where they are in some ways operating almost on the same level academically. This is really hard on my 8 yr old as she starts to notice her baby sister meeting or exceeding her in some areas, and I can't hide it. My 8 yr old has mild dyslexia, speech articulation delays, and some other learning challenges, but I'm not just being a boastful mother when I say that she is bright and has so much potential - but she is a dreamer who lives in her own world and has some challenges to overcome. Aside from the math curriculum, I use no formal/boxed curriculum. I am a religious Jew, so a lot of the available materials out there are not a good match for us. I have a variety of writing, phonics, and workbooks we use daily to develop greater fluency with reading and writing. We use a program called Homeschool Advantage to drill math and geography facts. For social studies this year, my 2nd grader and I are reading and doing a variety of materials using the American Girl historical character books as a foundation.. Right now I have been allowing my older girl to do free reading to develop a love of reading, but for the second semester I would like to start doing something formal with literature (don't really want to go there with the AG books, because the AG books, for us, the focus is all on American history.) My K girl I just have do daily out-loud reading, writing, phonics, and math, and then let her freely play and learn or do crafts. To me that is what K is. Both of my girls are enrolled in homeschool PE at the YMCA twice a week, which is fabulous. Once a month they do historical homeschool classes at a local historical landmark here in town. Twice a month they are in homeschool science classes at the science center, and my husband, who is an engineer, has taken it on as his task to engage the girls with most of their science enrichment. I teach them piano and art. Other than that, they are not in any formal homeschooling co-op. I formed my own Jewish cover school here in Alabama because no other one was available and we just serve a couple families of wildly differing ages so we don't do much together. We are involved in Girl Scouts and the girls attend religious school twice a week, and the girls take a recreational dance/gymnastics class. I have been homeschooling for about a year and a half now. My oldest went to K at public and had an unspeakably horrible teacher in 1st grade and I pulled her out and haven't looked back since. I always wanted to homeschool ever since becoming a mom, but my oldest was social and excited about going to public K so I didn't want to hold her back. We always said, as soon as public school started turning learning from a joy to a tedious chore we would pull her out - so we did. Not that it is never a chore at home, of course, but there is always a purpose for everything my kids do, a purpose that is unique to them! Probably more info than anyone here cares to read but I thought I'd offer some background as I care to post!