We alternate weeks between IEW and WWE or WWS. We alternate weeks with most of our subjects (ie science and history; my kids hate bopping back and forth every other day, and they want more time than doing everything every day allows). Why use both? I think good arguments could be made for using them sequentially just as well as using them simultaneously. In our case, we did not begin homeschooling until they were halfway through 2nd and 4th grades, and did not start with any writing program out of the gate, so they were into the following year before we started looking at writing very seriously, as I was still trying to assess where they truly were in ability vs willingness. In our house, we also deal with dysgraphia issues, and I believe WWE is uniquely well suited to addressing dysgraphia as well as writing, as dysgraphia is more than a simple physical problem; it is a neurological issue that affects the ability to hold a sentence in your brain as you get it onto the paper, as well as the issues with forming the letters-- which pretty much sums up the early description of WWE! Although we did the earliest levels at an accelerated pace, both of my boys began WWE right at level 1 and worked right on through until reaching ability level. We saw very good results. Once they hit their respective ability levels, we slowed to the expected pace, and began alternating with IEW. By this time, they had the great exposure to copying and studying the words, style, and punctuation of professional writers (we are now also incorporating Bravewriter for this similar approach, though Bravewriter goes into some more depth in certain areas). We added IEW for more attention to the craft of writing itself, in a very technical sense. WWE builds writing in a very . . . organic manner, while IEW focuses on helping the student to build a toolbox of writer's skills to be able to call upon at will when needed; one at a time, in IEW, they focus upon how to change a sentence out of passive voice; how to make a sentence more precise by choosing the correct verb instead of a nondescript verb; how to brainstorm a list of useful adjectives or adverbs and attach them to the most important words in the paragraph, rather than sticking them in just anywhere. IEW deliberately overbuilds these skills, much as a martial artist overbuilds his reverse punch or a pianist practices his scales to the point of automaticity, not because he expect to do nothing but a reverse punch or because the pianist expect to give a concert of scales, but because this technique and these sounds underpin the skills used in a more fluid manner later in combination with other skills the artist needs to call upon without having to sweat over them. We are actually now adding in Kilgallon to the mix-- starting with the sentence building books, which focus on learning how sentence "chunks" are assembled and manipulated by published authors. Together with the exposure and neurologic training from WWE, the technical toolbox from IEW, the vocabulary and grammar from MCT, and now the awareness of manipulating those phrases and clauses learned in MCT as we work through Kilgallon, I am excited as we look forward to this year of writing with the kids (we are making time for this extra writing focus my lightening up on the formal grammar instruction for a year-- we will just use the practice books from MCT). We started with kids pretty damaged by the public school ("Here are your journals. Now write. No, do NOT stop to think or plan. Writing does not involve thinking. It just means write as much as possible until the bell rings. Spelling, grammar, thought, logic, and content do not count, only quantity." I cannot believe I let my bright, sensitive, older child suffer through that for nearly five years . . . he was actually punished for planning what he wanted to write one year, accused of daydreaming instead of working . . .). They are starting to be able to write again, about 2 1/2 years later. I hope that helps!

I never thought of putting the AV files into OneNote! You guys are awesome! They already use OneNote for completing the Maps in History Odyssey, so they know how to use it.

This week was a week for some serious love for IEW SWI-A (Institute for Excellence in Writing). My younger has formally Dx'd dysgraphia, and though we have noted much improvement over the past couple of years (thank you WWE and HWT and much hard work) it still exists, and when he is concentrating on new material, I still have to scribe for him frequently, if he must write more than a sentence or two and is not using the computer. This week, we were starting SWI-A's story sequence model, where students really pay attention to character, setting, plot, climax, and denouement, rather than a line-by-line outline, brainstorm, and then use their notes to recast the story in their own words. I was so surprised when DS sat himself down with his outline, set to work, and eventually handed me a full sheet of hand-written paper, written in one sitting in a reasonable period of time... and his story was very well-written, for his ability level! Given the difficulty just writing itself poses for him even with copy work, I was really proud of the effort he put into his story. Clearly, IEW is working as a confidence-builder for this kid. He even said he can understand how a writer might sit down and describe his characters, setting, major problem, resolution, how the character changed at the end, and different descriptors before actually starting to write a story, so now he gets why I asked him to start keeping a journal (Bravewriter) of ideas "for someday." At age 9, we have a long road ahead still, and clearly, we can also credit WWE, Bravewriter, MCT, and a few other programs for getting him here (I'd like to thank the Academy, and my Mom, and ...). But tonight, I'm really feeling the love for IEW for helping it all click together!

FYI, I am not ignoring your questions! I had the poor judgement to stand on a spider's nest the other night when bringing in my wash-- short story is that I was bitten at least 21 times! Sadly, I don't react well to Benadryl, but I decided it was better than the ER, so I've been swimming back up from those reactions. Not sure what kind of spider it was, other than they were small, brown, furry, and lived in the ground in mind-blowing numbers-- I couldn't even see my legs from the knee down there were so many of them all over me ::::::shudder::::: Even sadder, even after all those bites, I still cannot spin a web on my own-- bummer. I was hoping for some super powers or something. Anyway, I will get back to you when I'm firing on all cylinders again!

Alison, that is awesome!

I second NOEO Chem II. My son did it for logic stage chemistry, and we were very happy. There is a ton of hands-on, and you can adjust the number of experiments (there are many, many experiments in the books, in addition to the kits; most just use household supplies-- you will wish to be well-stocked with baking soda, vinegar, borax, and at some point, a red cabbage). The coverage of the topic for grade level was also quite good, and he could complete it largely independently, yet if we wanted to discuss it together, we could do that too. NOEO Chem was a great experience. RS4K will only last you about 10 weeks-- you could do all of their sciences in one year without breaking a sweat.

We'll see how this year goes. Older guy used Life of Fred for all of his PreA needs (looked at and ditched AoPS) and did great in Algebra I this year, continuing to do geometry/trig/dabble in calc in his own time for fun (none of that counts for 'credit;' he'll do it for real later). Younger guy (9) loves Fred and is working through Fractions this summer, but I am a fan of "if it isn't broken, don't fix it," and he has just thrived in Singapore so far, so as much as we have loved Fred as a primary program, I am going to have younger try to stick with Singapore as a primary program, starting DM7 this fall, using Fred on the side (still daily, but probably at a slower pace than older brother used it). I really like the integrated approach of Singapore DM, not chopping math up into discrete chunks. We'll see how it goes. I actually own Tobey and Slater, Dolciani, Foerster, Lial, AoPS, and of course Fred Fred Fred, so we have plenty to fall back on if something doesn't click . . . and he's 9, so there's plenty of time :). Who knows, maybe I'll even have this one take a lick at AoPS, though I am not convinced the preA book is a great place to start-- I really do feel they made a pretty basic math level way too complicated. I like the looks of the algebra book a bit more.

Hmmm. I think you did just answer your own question. You said you rushed through Singapore, then mentioned that your son was having trouble retaining information and that the program seemed to be too quick. I think, with respect, that this is a Mom problem, not a kid problem, with Singapore. Remember, the Singapore presentation is concrete-pictorial-abstract; it is that way because it works, and it works very well (I come at this from the perspective of the parent of a pair of highly gifted kids-- my 9YO will be starting the upper level Singapore series this summer, and has already been doing some algebra on his own. He has been through Singapore levels 2--5, and they have been very effective). At the minimum, I hope you are using the text and the workbooks for each level; for an advanced kid, the intensive practice books are a good idea. The other books are good for kids who really need the additional practice, but before you decide that, *slow down* and make sure you are really presenting the information correctly and not racing through-- if your son is not retaining the information, you are moving too quickly. Here is a suggested presentation: *Introduce the material using the concrete, hands-on lessons. *Segue into working on paper or the white board or whatever works for you and get out the textbook, going through the examples and problems in the text together. *Do the related workbook problems either later in the day or the next day, as independent work. This gives the information time to gel before he tries to tackle it on his own, and will provide a better metric of whether or not he really digested it or just did the nod and "Yes I get it" because the presentation of the material in Singapore is so logical and appears so easy-- at first. *Assign any practices and reviews as independent work, helping him with any problems he is stuck on as needed. These are not tests. Make sure your assistance is helping him to store the information in memory though, and isn't just doing the assignment for him. Let him use the manipulatives if needed. I like to only assign some of the workbook exercises, so that if the reviews show any gaps, he can go back and do the workbook pages again on his own another day. If you're using the IP book, you can do this step with the IP book instead-- assign the IP book a week or two behind the main lessons. Neurologically, we need to see material a few times before we build permanent connections. *Don't move on until he has achieved the lesson goal. Do remember that Singapore will repeat the lesson again in the next year (though going into more detail). If it isn't *perfect* that's probably okay. I used to freak out about that in the younger levels, then I realized that with the repetition, he got better. I had to set realistic goals for his accomplishment, that were age-appropriate. Perfect mastery each exposure was not appropriate, even for a highly gifted kid. However, by the time he finished level 5B, he had the information nailed down. So understand the lesson goals, what they are, and what they aren't. Number bonds early on are pretty important. Understanding the relationships between the numerator and denominator is important. Understanding the number line is important. Perfect recall of area and volumetric formulae in the third level book is not essential; it will be repeated. Perfection of all fraction operations in the 3rd level book is not essential; it will be repeated. Measurement will be practiced continuously throughout the books (at least, in the US Edition) in all the word problems after being introduced, and reviewed in each level, and you can reinforce by having him cook with you. *Go at your son's pace. Remember those test scores? Remember that a grade equivalency does not mean your son is working at that grade level. Slow down. If he likes Singapore, give it another shot; it's an excellent program. **A note about Math Mammoth: Yes, all the information needed for instruction is right on those pages. The pages are written directly to the student, and presented in a very logical, incremental fashion. MM is another excellent program. Good luck to you! It can be a shaky feeling to try to find a good match-up for both you and your kiddo! It doesn't help when everyone has an opinion, but in the end yours is the one that counts :)

Try reading any of the many other Fred threads... There is much more to Apples than just things that add to 7, but then you have to do more with it then just sit down and read the book. Pay attention to what you are reading and be prepared to have some serious fun playing the games he shows you how to play with each of Fred's actions and in the photos. Surely if you get the idea for things that add to 7, you can apply the same idea to other numbers. Make a game out of it! This is one reason why these books are "Read in a parent's lap" style. There is also stuff on set theory and little introductory hints to introduce algebra in there as well as time and measures... all stuff you can quite easily play games with and expand along the lines the author demonstrates for you as you read. So, if you want them to, even the earliest books go way beyond 5+2, because the information is right there leaping out of the pages waiting to be noticed. But, it is also just a fun read if you like to move faster and skip the good parts. Or you can start part way through the series, too. Fred is pretty flexible that way-- people here use it many different ways. If you want it to be detailed, the information is there on the pages for the asking. If you want a light supplement... Just read faster :)

I'm unlikely to find much problematic, other than a dogmatic statement that there is no God or that Christians are illogical idiots incapable of intelligent thought. Even those statements I will usually just discuss with my kids rather than hide them-- they live in the real world, so we discuss the world views held by others, and even listen to the people who feel that way to find out how they got there. I have found that my kids have a strong enough foundation that such conversations do not shake their faith, and they become more informed about the real world by understanding its diversity . . . but it's nice to have a heads-up so we can discuss :)

I have not seen any of the word problems in the app. I agree with Bill; HOE is just . . . very different from Dragonbox. Dragonbox is almost "stealth math" in that you can play it and it takes a while before you must acknowledge that you are doing math. Hands on Equations (the actual physical set) takes you from the Pachisi piece manipulatives and dice and translates them directly to writing the equations on paper pretty quickly. In level 3 of HOE, the student gets to discover a proof of why subtracting a negative number is the same as adding a positive number; the set has the student resolve the dilemma with the pieces by making the 'legal move' of adding zero first-- so in the case of 8 - (-3), he would have one #8 die, then in order to have a -3 to remove, he must stick in a zero-- a #3 and a #(-3) together (since you are adding zero, you have not changed anything). Then in order to subtract the (-3) you remove the (-3) die, and you are left with 8 + 3. Watching the lightbulb go off is just brilliant. The app is still fun for on-the-go learning, but you do lose the verbal problems book, and if you have a kiddo who learns from hands-on, you lose that aspect. I bought the set from Homeschool Buyer's Coop, and it came with the pawns and dice, the laminated balance (yes, cheesy!), the books 1--3, the practice book for 1--3, the word problem book, and the DVD. We have not actually watched the DVD yet, just going through the book lessons together instead. Then he can just play with the the practice book and word problem book on his own, with me sitting in now and then to see that he's getting it. Both Dragonbox and Hands On Equations helped him keep his sanity when Mean Mom was making him go back and do a few more drill workbook exercises in Singapore before moving on-- this was something fun, and not just more arithmetic and geometry (though he loves geometry too).

Yes, the stages of learning do not arrive nicely in gift-wrapped packages, precisely on schedule. In gifted kids, the schedule can be a real mess, particularly if you try to stick with "designed for homeschoolers" materials that follow a classical model-- what to do if your child is mentally rhetoric stage ready in some aspects of development, but not necessarily in his writing ability? Or pose the same question, crossing the grammar/logic border? Creating some custom materials becomes necessary. What if the child is ready in terms of depth, but maturity of the material is an issue? Again, this problem can be solved, but will require some work (and you can thank your lucky stars that you ARE homeschooling and can custom-craft a program that will challenge this child). One pitfall to avoid . . . sometimes our gifted kids try to race ahead before they have really gotten what they needed from the prior stage-- it can be a bit like working through the stages of grief at times, where you want the progression to be linear, but it is really a bit of bouncing back and forth across a rather sinuous, curvy line for a year or so. Child-led education does not imply that we abdicate our role as the adults, and make sure they still get what they need, even if they don't agree all the time! My kids are awesome (naturally :D ) but they usually overestimate their mastery of a skill or topic at this age-- they don't distinguish between the "a-ha!" moment and long-term storage. They might remember 2-3 weeks later, but six months later? Probably not if I don't exert some control over what mastery means (and how much mastery is necessary for a given subject-- I don't really care if a 7YO doesn't have perfect recall of the pharoahs of Egypt).

Hmmmm... Should I go re-read these? I missed something... If you have any page numbers or chapters to point me to it might save me some time... I won't censor from DS, but might discuss if it is problematic.

You could always do something like buying all three strands of level 1 NOEO, and just monster them together-- do a week of bio, then a week of chem, and a week of physics, then back to bio again (or a month of each, or whatever works for you). In grammar stage, the chunking of it together isn't nearly as important as it will be in logic stage; it's the having fun part. BFSU drives me crazy. I had a problem with it when I read that you shouldn't cover the periodic table with young children because it would be too confusing for them :(. That guy never met my kids, obviously.

Have you looked at Pandia Press' History Odyssey Level 2 Modern Times? It offers a schedule, notebook directions papers to write, timeline analysis assignments, literature to read and assistance learning to analyze the literature and write about it, map work and geography analysis, and pretty much zero busy work. You can easily add in literature or modify the assignments as you see fit. /you can download a generous free sample on the Pandia Press website.

Just pick the correct size spine for the number of pages you are using! I linked the one I have in another post in this thread; in the drawer is a guide that let's you measure your stack of pages against the different comb sizes so you can tell in a sec, even if you lost the boxes (the boxes also tell you how many pages are good for a particular spine). If you avoid using a spine too large, the book easily lies flat when folded over.

This one: http://www.amazon.com/Fellowes-Manual-Binding-Machine-5006501/dp/B008WJYMTQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373163291&sr=8-1&keywords=fellows+comb+binding+machine

I don't use any of those programs, but I have been using Olly for a while now, after giving up on some other popular planners, and I love it. I also love the responsiveness of the developer to suggestions and problems. The drag and drop works well, it s easy to set up categories of information such as resources by drag and drop for easier access, rescheduling is easy, making backups is a snap, attendance is simple, lesson plans can be reused at will without messing with anything, auto-generating multiple assignments works well, and there are no complicated steps to learn-- I can just do my planning and get back to my life, instead of spending my life learning my planner.

After the first year of using MCT (DS9 used Town level; DS12 used The Magic Lens 1) my kids have no difficulty looking at a sentence and explaining subject vs object pronoun usage, distinguishing active vs linking verbs, locating direct and indirect objects and subject complements (important to correctly use those pronouns!) spot prepositional phrases, identify gerunds and participial phrases, u dear stand clauses, explain the utility of appositive phrases (and start to use them where appropriate in their own writing). Because they can do that, they make few errors in matching subject/verb number when they speak and write, and if they err, they can see the error and fix it. They have the vocabulary to discuss the issue. They appreciate the poetics found in good writing, and are not lost by the vocabulary found in titles such as Crane's "The Red Badge of Courage." No, I would not call it light. We used: The main grammar book (5-6 weeks-- the main source of grammar instruction) The practice book (necessary to finish grasping and practicing the grammar across the year; start about 3-4 weeks after starting the main grammar book, cover 1 sentence per day). Poetry book Vocabulary book I did not find the writing books all that important in terms of nailing down the grammar; the grammar books and practice books really did a rather complete job of it, so we skipped the grammar parts of the writing book and just enjoyed the story in the writing book. I would not spend money on it. The literature books are nice, but also incidental to the grammar program. Do pay attention to the clauses; that is where most of the punctuation is discussed! However, you can also cover that in WWE or Bravewriter or another good writing program, since punctuation and writing are quite inextricably linked. Have some fun with it; MCT is a great program!

I adore my comb-binder!! * the books lie completely flat if we want them to. *the books fold over into one layer if we want them to, just like being spiral bound, and lie completely flat. *they zip right open to any page I need them to if I need to add pages for some reason, and close right back up again. *the spines can be cut down to any size with a pair of scissors, to make any height book. *my $60 Fellowes comb-binder can bind anything up to 150 pages and punch up to 12 pages at a time, making pretty fast work of even fairly large books *the nice stiff spines mean the books stand up nicely on a shelf *So far the durability has been great. For really long-lasting books (like Lively Latin) I will laminate the covers before punching. My kids were death on 3-ring binders, but we have yet to have a comb-bound book come apart. *I can stick a label on the spine of a comb-bound book. I price-shopped the comb-binder and its capabilities vs the pro-click of the same price and said, eh, why would I buy a pro-click? I've been very happy. I love the folder as a cover idea though-- that is awesome!

I have two very different sons; both are quite math talented, but one is (very) slow and meticulous, the other is bunny-quick and prone to sloppy errors. The second guy always gets the "hard" part of the problems correct, and then falls on his face on the easy stuff just because he lets his guard down and doesn't watch what he's doing. For him, I made up the following chart, and when he finishes an assignment or takes a test, he is required to complete the following checklist before turning anything in to me, or even before self-grading (he uses Life of Fred). You have my permission to copy and use it for your son. The idea is that with much repetition, the habit will become ingrained and he will eventually do these things automatically. Sorry about the grammar . . . I really should get around to cleaning up this list :). It was late when I first wrote it, and it is after 2am now, so I'm not cleaning it up now either! Math Work Checklist Did you answer the question that was asked? If they ask how many snakes got loose in the zoo, don’t tell me how many reptiles there are total! Does your answer make sense? You cannot have 20.6 people in the hospital unless you are a statistician! Does it have the correct units? If the question asks for feet, do not answer in gallons! Is it on the correct scale? A person should not be 30 feet tall unless they are in a fairy tale! Did you answer all parts of the question? If it is a three-part question, you will not get credit for only answering the first part! Did you check for correct signs (pos/neg) and operations (not add when you should subtract etc) Don’t forget to check for subtracting negative numbers and other sign errors! Did you spot check a few problems for careless computation errors? Rework a few problems backwards! Did you show your work? If you show your work, I can often give you partial credit, or at least understand where you need more help, or maybe even learn a new way to approach the problem from you! © Jennette D.T. Driscoll 2012

Yes. It may still be in beta, but it works pretty well. Wander over to the support forum and ask if you can get a copy still.

Singapore and Life of Fred teach correct vocabulary, but married to a mathematician, I would agree that a few of them-- including minuend and subtrahend-- are used so infrequently that they don't really matter. I have been there for many "back of the napkin" conversations with mathematicians, and those terms really don't come up with any frequency-- they usually just write out the equation and point, or say to subtract a from b. Numerator, denominator, sum, difference, quotient, and product I would include in my important vocabulary list. These terms are used pretty much all the time, in texts and in conversation.

We used Fallacy Detective at age 10-11 and then Art of Argument at age 11-12 and my son loved both. AofA is definitely more thorough and develops the critical thinking process more deeply, but Fallacy Detective was a great introduction and a bit more fun. I would not call it entirely secular though. We have Discovery of Deduction slated next, followed by James Madison formal logic to finish out logic stage logic studies (along with computer programming and of course excellent mathematical studies, which is essentially logic).

Yes, you can drag and drop.