I would add that he just finished the Level 200 placement test and got 65 correct. Instructions say he is ready for level 300 if he gets more than 55 correct. He missed all of the measures questions (we haven’t covered that for a long time). He surprised me with how much he could do. The test for 200 is significantly easier than the one for 300. I still like your idea for getting the TM for 200 in case we run into things he doesn’t know in 300.

I don’t think he has dyscalculia - I just read about it and it doesn’t describe him for the most part. I do think he probably has ADHD. And he is generally a bit spacey and easily distracted with school work. He is able to add up to 3 digits and mostly subtract the same. When he doesn’t know a multiplication fact he adds in his head. He still makes mistakes in calculation even if he gets the concept and the algorithm. So some of what he needs is more practice with everything than he has been getting. He catches on to new concepts fairly quickly but then forgets. And some of the alternative strategies in MM go over his head (mine too!). He does need to back up and relearn things, just probably not all of what is in 200. Your suggestions are really helpful - I hadn’t thought of buying the TM for 200 and just doing those two light units to start.

I think I want to switch from Math Mammoth to CLE math for my 4th grader, but I have questions for experienced CLE users. I gave him the placement test to jump into CLE 400, but he did not get enough correct (it wasn't close). I looked at the placement test for starting 300, and there are lots of things I know that he knows, but other things he will not know like the geometry and fractions. I can't decide whether to start him in 200 and just skip things he knows or start with 301 and use it to teach the sections he does not know, adding outside sources when needed. Or should we start somewhere in the mid-200s? What do others suggest? I am hesitant to just buy all of 200 and try to accelerate because I don't want him to get any farther behind than he already is. We follow the regular school year and are part of a PSP that requires standardized testing. Last year, he did not score well on the math sections. I have seen that he is struggling with math since last year. We were originally using BJU from kindergarten through 3rd, but switched to MM halfway through 3rd grade last year, hoping it would help him grasp the concepts better. This worked for some topics but not others. Then I noticed he would seem to master a topic only to forget it and not be able to do it when it came up later. And he really has a hard time memorizing his math facts. I think for this child, a spiral program is needed. And CLE looks like one that I can actually teach. But if we have to go all the way back to 200, I just don't think we can do it. I think he is probably a grade level behind overall. Not because we didn't do the work - he just doesn't seem to be able to retain/grasp enough to work at the 4th grade level. This is true for other subjects as well. But going back to 200 would probably be too far back. I could really use guidance from others who have made the switch, especially from math mammoth. Thank you!

Has anyone used the Great Courses Photography classes for high school? We are planning to do this for one semester to follow a basic photography class we took in person. How do you handle homework and grades? For the portfolio, what types of photos did you require? Did you add a photo editing software requirement? I’m curious to hear what others have done.

Ignore this post - ended up going a different direction so my question doesn’t need to be answered.

I have used BJU DLO for science for different levels for 2 of my kids. My older child loved it and excelled with it. My younger one has had issues with accountability (6th grade). So a less motivated student like mine will still need you to supervise to be sure the work is getting done. You'll want to check in periodically to see what your child is doing. I learned this the hard way so I thought I would share. :) And I agree you don't have to do everything. We have skipped chapters. THe quizzes and tests are graded for you but you ultimately decide the final grade. You can also go in to reset tests if you want your child to retake one, which is useful if they bomb because they didn't study. You can guess how I know. lol

Also check out What the Old Testament Authors Cared About by Jason DeRouchie and What the New Testament Authors Cared About (forget the author). Helpful guides to both OT and NT with pictures and graphics. Might not be exactly on point but could be helpful.

Was it easy to line up the Schaum's book with the Thinkwell lessons?

Thanks!

Just wanted to let everyone know there's a deal on Thinkwell Math on the Homeschool Buyers Co-op that ends tonight. So if you were thinking of ordering now is a good time. I am signing two of my kids up so I have selfish motivations for sharing this deal. 😬 If 6 more people buy, then we will hit the lowest price. I haven't used this program before so I can't add a review - so do your own research before buying. 😊 Here is the link to the deal: https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/thinkwell/?source=117911

We are starting Thinkwell Geometry in a few weeks. I've seen some posts on the forum that suggest it needs supplementation, while others say it doesn't. Would I need to supplement for a mathy student on an engineering/computer path? Would it be helpful to buy the Holt textbook to use as extra practice? If so, are there any solutions in the book or is there a solutions manual available? Are those in the One Stop Planner?

It can be done independently but you will need to keep an eye out to be sure your student is completing the work and actually doing the review assignments before the test. My 6th grader wasn't staying on track and I didn't realize it for a couple of weeks until he failed a test. (If that happens you can clear the test and have the student retake it, btw.) So you're mostly an administrator.

I'm late to this party, but did you look into vascular causes? I have a vascular disease called fibromuscular dysplasia, and that can cause stokes in young people (foot drop can be caused by stroke). I had two carotid artery dissections (no strokes) that caused what I thought at the time were migraines. My migraines come with stroke symptoms (numbness on one side of the body, in the throat, etc). When I had the dissections I thought they were just migraines until I ended up in the ER for the pain. They did an MRI and found the vascular disease at that point. I was 37 at the time. Have you ever had a droopy eyelid? Or any other possible signs of stroke? Your MRI would show this, especially if they did one with contrast. Don't let this one scare you - I've lived with it for 5 years without any more events, and I had it for a long time without even knowing about it. People who have it and have strokes can do well for a long time with it. So don't google it and freak out. :) It often causes high blood pressure, but not everyone has that (I don't). I don't know whether it would cause a foot drop that starts out mild and gets worse - but I know there can be vascular causes for foot drop, so I thought I would mention it.

Thanks! I will look into these. I have not heard of either of those, 8FillTheHeart. I did use EIW for a couple of my kids for a year, and I felt like the instruction wasn't explicit enough for my kids. I think I need something in between the two. More explicit suggestions for improving style and word choice than EIW offers, but not as formulaic as IEW. And in video format. And not overly expensive. A girl can dream right? :tongue_smilie:

Thank you!!

I have my oldest check his own work but he has to tell me how many he missed, then I decide whether to assign more for practice or redo them. We have been doing this since 7th grade. I do keep the solutions manuals where they aren't easy to access while he is working. I check my other kids' work, but not everyday. I check it every couple of days or so. When I have gone longer than that, I have run into trouble with kids not understanding something so then we have to go back and figure out where they went wrong.

I remember seeing a website at some point that allowed students to pay for a writing teacher to help with writing assignments. So it's not a writing class, but it's basically instruction tailored to an assignment the student got elsewhere (school or homeschool). But I can't remember what it was now! Anyone know of something like what I'm describing?

I need help with writing for 3 of my kids. My 8th grader is a decent writer and has experience with writing essays. He understands the basic structure of a five paragraph essay. What he needs is help learning style. He needs to learn how to improve his writing with more detail, better word choice, etc. Over the years, I have avoided using IEW for various reasons, so we have used a hodgepodge of various resources. Nothing ever really seemed to be a good fit. So now he is in 8th grade and has not had solid, consistent writing instruction. The same thing happened with grammar. Should I just throw in the towel and buy IEW? If so, where should he start? He is smart, so I don't want to bore him. But he needs help getting ready for high school level writing. We do have Lively Art of Writing - it might not be independent or thorough enough, though. I want to avoid making this same mistake with my other kids. I would like to find something that works and stick with it. I purchased Writing and Rhetoric for my 3rd and 6th graders this year, but again I am not sure they are the right fit. My 3rd grader has been in tears from frustration because he does not understand the instructions (and trust me I am holding his hand which I really don't have time to do!). Plus I am not sure that I have time to go through a book like this with my 6th grader. I have 5 kids all in school now, so I just need something easier for me to implement. I guess my question is whether anyone out there who just was not a fan of IEW bit the bullet and just used it? Did it produce good writers for you? We used the ancients theme book for one semester last year and I just did not care for the way it taught kids to add so much flowery language (like adding -ly words just for the sake of adding them). And the key word outlines made me crazy. Or should I just push through with Writing and Rhetoric for the 3rd and 6th graders and only do something different with my 8th grader? I just need something that is simple to use and works. I'm so tired of doing this every year! Help. :crying:

Thank you for all of these great suggestions! Some of them are new to me so I will be doing more research. :thumbup1:

I just bought a new copy of the Omnibus II with the Teacher CD - has anyone else had trouble opening it on a Mac? I get an error saying the application is a PowerPC application and is no longer supported. I emailed VP but wanted to see if anyone else has had this problem and already solved it. Anyone?

Starting this fall, I will be adding my 5th child to the school rotation as she starts kindergarten. My oldest will be in 8th grade and working through some rigorous curricula, including Omnibus II. I am looking for history/science suggestions for my other 4 kids. I would love to simplify my school day wherever I can. History and science seem to be the most difficult subjects for me to get through consistently. My second oldest will be in 5th grade, then my other 3 will be in 3rd, 2nd, and K. It seems hard to combine all 4 and still challenge my 5th grader. In the past, we have used both living books and textbooks, so I am open to both. I do think I prefer textbooks for science past maybe 4th grade or so. I would love suggestions for curricula for history and/or science for the younger 3 especially. We have used lots of different things over the years, but nothing that we have loved so much we want to stick with it. And our stage in life has changed enough that I'm re-evaluating some things we used in the past. So I would love to hear what has worked for other people! Basically I want something that will (1) get done, (2) not bore us to tears, and (3) not cost a small fortune. :)

I have a hard time with t because the teacher's guide assumes you are a math teacher. I am not! So it's hard to teach my 5th grader. My second grader is also struggling because he needs more review. Plus it introduces stuff that's fairly advanced for second grade, especially in the word problems. My 1st grader seems to do ok though. It is probably different for everyone.

We were using BJU for math, but decided to switch to Math in Focus this year to get some more Singapore style instruction. Well, it's not going super well for us. Any suggestions for next year? I will have kids in K, 2, 3, and 6. I would like something with a little more mental math practice and more word problems than BJU, but easier to teach than MIF. I need lots of review, too. Is there something similar in style to BJU but not BJU?

Oh oops! Not sure how I managed to get into this subforum. :huh: Thanks for pointing that out!

We were using BJU for math, but decided to switch to Math in Focus this year to get some more Singapore style instruction. Well, it's not going super well for us. Any suggestions for next year? I will have kids in K, 2, 3, and 6. I would like something with a little more mental math practice and more word problems than BJU, but easier to teach than MIF. I need lots of review, too. Is there something similar in style to BJU but not BJU?