Spelling has been a challenge at our house. No approach to spelling - spelling by sound, spelling by sight, spelling by morphographs - came naturally or automatically. (Threw me off, as I'm a natural speller.) So I hit each area in turn: I started with phonetic-pattern-based spelling by sound, using our phonics book, followed by SYS for spelling by sight, followed by Spelling Through Morphographs for, well, spelling by morphographs ;). (Spelling by morphographs means spelling by breaking words into chunks of meaning; e.g. "spelling = spell + ing", "refreshing" = "re + fresh + ing", "inconceivable" = "in + con + ceive + able".) IOW, first we work on breaking words into phonemes and building words from phonemes (analyzing words by sound, plus applying phonics knowledge to spelling), then we work on visually breaking words into phonograms and learning which phonetically-correct phonogram to choose, and then we work on breaking words into morphographs, into chunks of meaning, and building up words from morphographs. ~*~ What kinds of mistakes is he making? Mistakes in spelling by sound, such as dropping sounds, adding sounds, mixing up the order of sounds, mistaking one sound for another? Mistakes in applying phonics knowledge, so that he can correctly break the words into phonemes, but then chooses a spelling that is never used with that phoneme? Mistakes in spelling by sight, namely choosing a phonogram that *does* spell that sound in general, but isn't the phonogram used in this word, such as "braik" for break/brake. Mistakes in long, multi-syllable words? Different programs target different areas of spelling. (Learning from copying tends to hit the visual areas of spelling, and the later levels of SYS (Level C and up) also focus on spelling by sight, but do touch a bit on morphographs.) So it helps to consider what sorts of problems he's having, so you can match the program to your specific needs.

Fwiw, though the cursive program we used slanted (Smithhand), my dds naturally didn't slant and I didn't make a thing of it (cursive was hard enough) and it wasn't a problem - they ended up with a nice-looking, legible and practical cursive hand. I mean, if you otherwise like the program and it is otherwise going well - your dc's non-slanted cursive looks legible enough and they aren't having difficulties with learning a non-slanted cursive from slanted teaching - I'd think you could just ignore the slant but otherwise go on with the program you have.

I keep a full bookcase shelf reserved for library books - it's our "library shelf". (Actually, we have two library shelves, one for kid books and one for my books.) All library books live on the library shelf. When the kids were littler, I was really strict about making sure all library books were put back immediately after use, but now that they are older (and unattended books don't tend to get lost under furniture anymore), we have a daily clean-up time and any library books laying around get put away then. I've found that having a dedicated library shelf works so much better than any other kind of library book spot - it's easier and more convenient get books out and put them back, and the books stay neater, plus it piggybacks on the same "book picking up and storing" habits they have for all other books. Eta: At your kids' ages, I picked up any unattended library book I saw and put it away immediately (or called for the relevant child to put it away while I watched). Waiting till evening clean-up time was too late. Whenever I saw them get up from reading library books, I reminded them to go put those books right away. But there was a lot of me just constantly grabbing unattended library books throughout the day, every time I saw one out.

Yeah, PL is *way* too easy for someone who's done a year of VL - it's for absolute beginners, and young beginners at that, early elementary. I was wondering why you didn't just go onto the next year of VL, not wanting video-based Latin makes sense. Did you complete all 30 lessons in VL1? How well would you say she's mastered the material? Specifically, how well did she do on the translations, the part C worksheets? Because FFL would be mostly review after finishing VL1, albeit review from a different perspective, but if she did well on the part B grammar worksheets, but not well on the part C translations, then hitting it again in FFL might be a good thing. (As I recall, the grading for younger-than-high-school students in VL is based off part B and the quizzes, not the translations. I'm doing VL with my middle schooler, and ime the translations in part C are by far the most difficult part.) Also, if she's shaky on her accuracy - she gets the gist, but she isn't precise - FFL hits precision hard. Likewise, if she's shaky on her memory of endings and grammar, FFL hits memory work hard. (In doing VL, I'd say that it focuses more on comprehension than memorization - I've added a lot of FFL-style memory work into it, and FFL-style grammar analysis, while keeping the comprehension-first (grammar analysis second) focus of VL.) But if she did well on the part C translations, especially if you made it all the way through lesson 30, then FFL might be too easy. (VL 1&2 are roughly equivalent to all four levels of the Form series, in that you've more or less covered all the grammar at the end.) Certainly FFL doesn't have anything like the sheer amount of translation work that VL part C has - it's mostly sentence-level translations, maybe a paragraph toward the end - nothing like the 1-2 pages/lesson that VL has. If she likes having a ton of Latin to read and work through, she might find FFL frustrating. But if she was overwhelmed or not enthused with the translation work in part C of VL, if she was far more comfortable with the part B worksheets, if she prefers a word and sentence level focus - then FFL might be right up her alley. You could print out the samples and see what she thinks. (I don't know about the logistics of doing FFL without the video. I think it goes fine, so long as you the teacher feel decently confident teaching from the book, but I've only looked at FFL, never done it.)

Is it this Visual Latin: https://compassclassroom.com/shop/product/visual-latin-1/ The one from Compass Classroom, with Dwayne Thomas? And how old is your dd?

Tbh, I'd teach the 7th grader and just not worry about science for the 1st grader, other than maybe some science-y read-alouds.

Is this Wikipedia article on the Five Articles of Remonstrance better? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Articles_of_Remonstrance I'm Lutheran, I don't really have a dog in this fight, but fwiw I agreed with more of the Arminian points in my original link than the Calvinist ones. I take your word for it the link was inaccurate wrt Arminians, but from an outside perspective the link's description of Arminians nevertheless seemed like something reasonable people might believe, not strawman-ish.

It is entirely possible to be neither. Arminian-v-Calvinism only really applies to churches that came out of the Reformed branch of the Reformation (such as Presbyterian, Baptist, etc.; churches that came into being from formerly Reformed people rejecting some/all of Reformed theology (such as Arminians) nevertheless count as part of the Reformed branch of the Reformation.) But if general you came out of one of the other three branches of the Reformation (Lutheran, Church of England, or Anabaptist (Anabaptist meaning Mennonites/Amish/etc, not Baptist)), or are Catholic/Orthodox, the Arminian/Calvinist division doesn't apply. The Calvinist/Arminian debate is an intra-Reformed debate, and is meaningless as a way to characterise non-Reformed theology. This link has a quick comparison of the five points of Calvinism versus the five points of Arminianism. ETA: As far as it goes, I think AoG is more on the Arminian side, while Episcopalians are mostly "does not apply" (separate branch of the Reformation).

Two thoughts: As far as one volume readers go, Let's Read: A Linguistic Approach has a *ton* of reading material, at all levels from CVC to multi-syllable words. It's actually meant as a learn-to-read program - it's based on intuitively absorbing phonic patterns instead of explicitly learning rules - so the bulk of the book is practice reading material, arranged in a sensible phonetic progression (by an actual linguist, who pays attention to even the smallest issues), which means it works well as a reader, too. The lessons are just words and sentences and stories - pretty much *exactly* like a reader. I( use it as my primary phonics program - it has the best progression with the most reading practice of any I've seen - but I use phonics methods for teaching instead the program's more whole-word methods.) It's a big book, though, and no color/pictures. I also really like SRA's Basic Reading Series. There's seven volumes in all, but there's quite a bit in each volume (especially in the later volumes), so you could just get the one that was at the level your dd is at. I got mine used - they suffer from educational pricing 😉 - and some are easier to find than others. But they have the cutest pictures while also have a lot of good practice material (in a similar progression to Let's Read). Here's the list of titles and levels: Level 1A: A Pig Can Jig, part 1 (short A CVC words) Level 1B, A Pig Can Jig, part 2 (short A and short I CVC words) Level B: A Hen in a Fox's Den (all five short vowel CVC words) Level C : Six Ducks in a Pond (consonant blends) Level D : A King Can Swing (consonant digraphs, and some two syllable words) Level E: Kittens and Children (vowel digraphs and more two syllable words) Level F: The Purple Turtle (irregular sounds and second sounds - at the end of this kids should be reading fluently, at around a 3rd grade level)

We have a Yamaha P-115, got it two years ago, and I've been pleased with it. It doesn't have that "digital" sound - they used good recordings of a grand piano - and the keys are weighted nicely. It doesn't take as much force to play as their teacher's grand piano, but uprights are the same way, and they don't have any problems moving back and forth.

"If you're not hungry enough for a fruit or veggie, you're not that hungry." When they are particularly whiny about "but I don't waaaaaaaaaant to", I pull out "Mom Petunia" (aka Aunt Petunia from Harry Potter, but how she treats her son Dudley). In the most over-the-top dramatic, histrionic voice I can manage: "Oh, my poor little Diddy-darling! Of course you can't do something you don't want! You'd *die*, having to do something you don't want!" (The kids super hate this - dh says I do sound quite condescending - but it replaces me blowing my top over persistent "I don't wanna", so I consider it a step up. But I reserve it for extra-persistent cases.) When kids ask what's for dinner, dh will say, "Fried ice and pickled eel's feet" (two impossible things).

This.

Working through lots of carrying problems with base-10 blocks (I used Cuisenaire rods for 1s and 10s, with large 'jewels' for 100s). With both girls, I needed to pause our main math program to do more work on regrouping (carrying and borrowing). I made up problems and we worked through them with our improvised base-10 blocks. I'd have them do a step with the blocks and then do the exact same step with the standard algorithm (it felt like 'recording' the block result on paper), making sure they saw the connection between what we did with the blocks and what we did on paper. Here's the basic steps: 1) make each number in blocks, 2) combine the ones blocks and find the total, 3) exchange groups of 10 ones for 1 ten, 4) write down the ones total in the ones place and write the number of carried tens over the tens place. 5) Do the same with the tens: combine the tens blocks (including the carried tens) and find the total, exchange groups of 10 tens for 1 hundred, and write down the tens total in the tens place and write the number of carried hundreds over the hundreds place. 6) Do it again for the hundreds. I would work problems together, blocks+writing, with me prompting each step. Then once the kids started getting it, they would work the problems themselves with both blocks and writing, recording each step as they went. I let them use the blocks as long as they wanted, and they eventually dropped them once they were solid.

Bumping this. I bought it to do with my rising 8th grader in the fall; I haven't watched beyond the sample videos yet, but I downloaded the written materials today and read through all of the first module, doing about half the exercises. I quite like it so far - it's doing what I hoped it would do, and doing it well - but I'm having the worst time trying to organize my impressions into worthy words. What sorts of questions did you have?

My top extra room would be a library (instead having bookshelves on every available wall in every room and hallway, plus a place to read in peace and quiet that's not a bedroom). Second would be a storeroom (instead of putting things in the non-climate controlled garage/attic). Third would be an exercise room (instead of putting the exercise equipment in the non climate-controlled garage). Fourth would be a hobby room (a place for dh's trains and such that's not the non-climate-controlled garage, and a place for kid creations that's not the dinner table or the floor of their bedrooms). Really, except for the library, what I want is a basement. Our previous house had a finished basement with a storeroom and plenty of room for exercise equipment and kid/adult hobbies. But there's no basements here, and the size of house to match having a full basement is ridiculously huge and expensive.

In general I've found aloe vera gel (the clear stuff, with just aloe, no added "medicated for sunburn relief" stuff) to work well for preventing flyaways when hair is pulled back. I appreciate it both because aloe is good for hair and because I don't have to shampoo it out - I can just comb or brush my hair out and let it absorb. So there's no build-up, no worries about having to clarify occasionally to get it all out.

FWIW, at 8yo I wouldn't worry about teaching or facilitating creative writing beyond giving him plenty of time and materials to do his own thing and being an appreciative audience whenever he shares something with you (all of which you probably do already). I'd just keep working on the mechanics like you are doing, and I would personally do WWE with him as well. It's lit-centric, gentle, and quick, and ime the results give a lot of bang for your buck. Since he likes creative writing, he'd probably like the stories, and ime it's gentle and quick enough it shouldn't suck the life out of him and should leave him with plenty of time and energy for his own creative writing. One thing you could do to encourage his self-expression and creativity is to let him talk your ear off about his writing and really kind of engage with him as he does: ask questions to clarify his thinking, ask questions that encourage elaboration, brainstorm with him. I mean, kind of a joyful, engaged interest: like how people who are into a fandom engage with it. Paying really close attention and really thinking through all the logic and the implications and such, but in a "because I love it so much" way, along with just squeeing over the good bits because you enjoy them. Just kind of entering into his creative writing world with him and giving him the gift of an engaged, thoughtful audience to interact and brainstorm with (if/when he wants it). Not just being an appreciative audience, but a thoughtful, interacting one as well.

By "sin" I just mean "something morally wrong", not specifically a wrong against God (although my tradition does hold that all wrongs against fellow humans, against creation, against ourselves, etc., are also wrongs against God). The point I was trying to make was that forgiveness is for wrongdoing; if there was no wrong, then there is nothing to forgive. (And in fact people often are offended at the idea of either offering an apology or receiving forgiveness for that very reason: they don't believe what they did was wrong, and therefore they have no obligation to apologize and no need to receive forgiveness - because you only need to be forgiven if you did *wrong*. No wrong, no forgiveness needed - or wanted.) I completely agree that human forgiveness has tremendous power. "Forgive others as you have been forgiven." Forgiveness is central to human relationships. And so it can be very hard on people who feel they have done wrong, but the people they wronged, instead of forgiving, instead insist there is nothing to forgive in the first place. It's well-meant - would it not be offensively wrong to forgive them when they did nothing wrong, did nothing that needs forgiveness? But it denies them that tremendous power of human forgiveness.

FWIW, there's a dark side to insisting that her mistakes aren't moral failings - it denies her grace and forgiveness. Forgiveness is for sins, and if her mistakes aren't sins, then they can't be forgiven. So how is she to deal with them, if there is no forgiveness for them? As well, there's such a thing as sins against conscience, things that aren't inherently sinful, but if a person who mistakenly believes they *are* sinful does them despite believing they are sins, then that person *does* genuinely sin, even though the action itself is fine. It sounds like that's where she is: regardless of whether her mistakes are inherently sinful, she believes that she *has* sinned. But no one will offer her forgiveness, but instead, with the best of motives, everyone just tells her it doesn't matter, it doesn't make her any less of a good person. But rightly or wrongly, she's convinced that what she's done *is* morally wrong, and *does* make her less of a person - aka she's sinned against her own conscience. My tradition, Lutheran, is very big on grace and forgiveness, and with sins against conscience, we tend to forgive first and educate the conscience second. Learning that what you thought was wrong is actually good doesn't erase the guilt from having done something you genuinely believed to wrong at the time, and in fact the guilt can prevent you from moving on. Only forgiveness can remove the guilt - and that's why we don't deny forgiveness to anyone who is repentant. Even if the action itself isn't something that needs to be repented of, their guilt for doing something they (erroneously) *thought* was wrong still needs to be dealt with - and only forgiveness can do it.

My youngest is similar - strong-willed with phonemic awareness weaknesses - so teaching him to read has been like pulling teeth. I actually red-shirted him (he's a summer b-day); we sent him to the church's pre-K during what would have been his K year, and then hs'ed K the next year. He's finishing up 1st grade now, as a 7.5yo. We're still on CVC words, actually, though he's finally overcome most of his phonemic awareness issues; I ended up restarting the phonics primer from the beginning at least three times, if not four, as he hit walls. Based on his older siblings, there's only one more major hurdle to go, blending consonants (both my girls needed a *ton* of focused work to learn to hear the separate sounds in blends and to actually blend the separate sounds together). I've had success incorporating sound tiles and phonogram tiles (AAS has phonogram tiles, I think AAR does as well) - they both help with the weaknesses plus ds likes them. In your shoes, I think I'd either start AAR back from the beginning, doing it as written; or else follow EKS's advice and start with a dyslexia program. (I ended up using our phonics primer as a base ("Let's Read: A Linguistic Approach")- it has a really excellent word list, very thorough and incremental and logically arranged by phonics pattern, along with a ton of phonetically-controlled connected text - while heavily modifying how I teach it, incorporating ideas and techniques and such from other programs.) If you have an iPad, you could try Dekodiphukan (Decode-if-you-can). It's a really neat approach to phonics that starts with 44 sound pictures that visually represent the sound (such as a hissing snake for /s/ and a buzzing bee for /z/). It teaches the sounds through a neat rhyming story; most are very intuitive, and the rest make perfect sense within the story. We all had them memorized within a few times through. All the sound picture work helps prevent and remediate reading-by-sight, and also really emphasizes reading and spelling by sound. It's a lot of fun, and it's free for the iPad. (If you don't have an iPad, all the print materials are also free to download.) I use the apps as a supplement, but I've incorporated the sound pictures into the core of my reading/spelling approach.

Two of my kids are lefties. It was pretty apparent by the time they were four or so - they defaulted to their left hands for most things. (And ds also defaulted to doing cartwheels and such left-handed.) But so far they haven't had a problem using the mouse right-handed - my oldest even games that way. I thought about left-handed scissors and teaching them to write left-handed (I can write with my left, which was a big help in figuring out how to teach them), and the pros and cons of knitting/crocheting left-handed (you have to transpose the patterns mirror image), but mouse positioning didn't occur to me for years and years. And by that point both of my lefties had been using the mouse right-handed for years without issue.

2500-3000mi/month for dh and me combined. Dh's work commute is 180mi/wk, church is 60mi/wk (2 round trips), and kid activities are 270mi/wk, so a little over 500mi/wk of regularly scheduled activities. Then dh has fluctuating additional work-related driving, and we go into town once a month (~140mi), plus other one-off trips, so I'm guesstimating 2500-3000mi/mo. We live rurally, so it's a long way to everywhere.

And, see, to me the SM workbooks *have* gone up in price. It used to be $25 for the wb and IP together on RR, but the past few years each book has gone up a dollar or two each year - with three kids in SM, it's probably $30/yr more than it was when I started. That was an increase of 20-25%, and I kind of grumbled each year to see the new higher price. But that's still nothing like the 200-300% increase you're talking about <jawdrop>.

He is risen indeed! Alleluia! "Jesus lives! The vict'ry's won! Death no longer can appall me; Jesus lives! Death's reign is done! From the grave Christ will recall me. Brighter scenes will then commence; This shall be my confidence."

I did not. Probably because I read them fast, but also, I think, because the absence of religion seems to be the dominant feature of most "set in real life" movies, books, and stories (not to say that HG is set in real life). I'm surprised by the *presence* of actual religious influence, not its absence. Growing up, all the twaddle series I read had the same absence of religion as HG: all the Sweet Valley series, Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, the Baby-sitters' Club, Thoroughbreds, plus a dozen others - all religion-free. The twaddle-y TV shows likewise had no mention of religion: Full House, Home Improvement, Step by Step. For more contemporary examples: the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Arrow TV show, Psych, Monk, Chuck, Leverage, Sherlock, White Collar. Shows willing to be controversial or shows that tried to explore important topics would have occasional episodes that involved religion, but your fluffy, feel-good books and shows? As starkly religion-free as HG. I only tend to see plot-relevant religion in speculative fiction and fantasy; and even then, I'd say more sci-fi than not is religion-free, and in more fantasy than not the religion is window dressing - there to add atmosphere, but it doesn't impact how characters actually live or the direction of the plot. (Even Harry Potter, which has so many Christian themes, still doesn't have any overt religion - no overt religious beliefs or practices appear anywhere, no character is a devout believer in anything religious). And even stories where religion is pertinently present - a real force in the world and in the characters' lives - too often the religion is either the enemy or something to overcome.