:grouphug: I don't post much on this forum, but your post caught my eye because I had this problem with my last two pregnancies and feel for you! The best thing for you is to stay off your feet as much as possible and rest on your left side. If this doesn't work focus on what your midwife tells you to do. There is treatment out there for this that will not hurt your baby and keep your blood pressure under control. I will be praying for you and your little baby!

Thank you for the encouragement. This has been a great thread for learning the ins and outs of Singapore Math! We will be continuing and completing Book A. I haven't even ordered Book B yet :)

Wow thank you for that bit of advice! I was just letting my dd complete the page and move on. I did look through the activities but like I said earlier, she just wants to do the workbook pages as quickly as she can. I think now I will keep the book to myself, read and complete the activities and then hand her the workbook! I figured there was something I was "missing" but just hadn't discovered it. Thanks again!

I should clarify that I am using Essentials K-A and looking at it she could easily complete this no problem. She has already done 4 units and won't even stop long enough for me to read the extra activities at the bottom of the page. I should probably just move her up to something else and save this for her little sister. I guess I don't want to kill her excitement and joy for learning if I push her too much!

Amen to #1!! This was one of my biggest problems. I really wanted to be at these things, but God reminded me my children are my most important ministry at this season of my life! My Top 5: 1. HOD 2. Having my 3 and 4 year old dc attend preschool 2-4 half days per week. 3. Outsourcing my ds math!! No more Algebra wars!! 4. Realizing and accepting my children aren't academic geniuses. 5. Joining a science co-op..a lot of work, but a lot of fun for the kids!

I am switching maths also from Horizons to Singapore. I just wasn't happy with my 10 year old dd retention and understanding of math :( She was just going through the motions without understanding the why. I guess I could have come up with some kind of supplement to encourage more mental math, but I lack creativity when it comes to schooling and am more of the open and go, get it done kind of mom. Also, I was constantly crossing out problems in her workbook because the review approach was almost too much. As far as placement goes my dd also placed in 3B when she just completed 3/4's of Horizons 4. I have been studying the HIG and books so I will be able to start teaching her next week. Already just looking at makes me smile and believe that I am making the right decision. I will continue to use a drill type program like Quarter Mile math and lots of hands on math games for practicing learned skills. My 5 year old dd has started Earlybird Math and I can see that she will be flying through these books quickly.

This thread caught my eye only because I am a previous ATI Wisdom book user. For character training I have found Marilyn and Rick Boyer's books and resources on character training to be excellent in Biblical character training. They even have a sale going on right now. Besides curriculum they have books for the parents to read that are very helpful. Here is a link to their site: http://www.thelearningparent.com/default.asp

This is a great thread that I will be watching closely as I try to pick a writing literature/writing curriculum for my 9th grade dd. Has anyone tried SMARR Introduction to literature? How would this compare to LL or EIL? I have looked endless times at these along with IEW's high school level programs and just can't decide! She will be studying American History using HOD but I need to add in a literature study and writing component to make it high school worthy. Any suggestions? Thanks!

I'm sorry you had a bad experience with the flvs Spanish. My kids are both taking HS Spanish 1 right now and seem to be doing well in it. It did take a while for them to get familiar with the new blackboard system. If you could ask him if this is a good college prep Physics for a possible engineer major that would be great!! Thank you

Yes, we are blessed to have this service available to us as homeschoolers. Unfortunately the classes have not all been a great experience for us, but overall we feel they are getting at least what the public schools are getting and use them only in special circumstances.

Does anyone have experience with FLVS Physics and how it would compare to the Physics Derek Owens offers? I am looking at this for my ds who will be in 10th grade next year. He is currently interested in some type of engineering field, but that could change. I want him to have a solid course and the only reason I am considering FLVS is because it is free! WWYD? Any opinions or advice would be great. Thanks!

Katrina, :grouphug: I really feel for you mostly because I did a lot of curriculum hopping my first years of homeschool when my kids were little, and you know what? My kids have turned out fine! So relax, it will be okay! When my mine were those ages I always tried to combine wherever I could in history, bible, science,writing, art, foreign language, etc. This way we could real aloud together and discuss. To me this is what makes homeschooling special. If everyone is doing their own program they might as well be in "real school." Think about it, even a typical school teacher isn't assigned to teach multiple ages or levels all in one day or even in a year with a toddler in the mix! I would combine your three school age children in the subjects I mentioned above and then separate them out in English and Math. Keep it simple and have fun. They will be learning! A stressed out mommy isn't fun for anyone! Believe me, been there done that! I didn't start separating out mine until this year and I really miss the togetherness we used to have. Continue what you are doing until your stop date for the school year and pick up fresh with everyone! Start your oldest in R&S 4, and the other two where they belong in English and math. Pick a history program, science program and go with it! As I have said before, I have loved, MFW or Sonlight for combining, but then again I have never used SOTW so that would be another option. Worry less about the history cycle and more about what looks fun for you to teach and learn right along side your kiddos. As much as I love HOD I wouldn't want to do more than one level at a time from Preparing on down (too time intensive). It is so much easier to just combine them in something created for combining kids. Keep smiling! and have a great remainder of the year.

Katrina, Sorry it took me all weekend to answer...gymnastics and more gymnastics! I will be holding off on CTC for 2 reasons. First of all this dd did not get as much American history as I would have liked due to me and my jumping around and trying new programs way too much!! Secondly, I would like her to be in the same place as my older dd when she hits HS. I think RTR as a 7th or 8th grader is just perfect. This way I can use the same HS plans with both of them. Lastly, my two oldest girls will both be studying American history next year which will be perfect for read a louds which I miss so much. Also, I have a big field trip planned to VA next year. Yes, she probably could use CTC at some point next year, but for us holding off at least until she is in 6th or 7th grade will work better for us. HTH :001_smile:

Hi, I initially bought everything, SWI-B and the TWSS. We used the SWI-B together and really found it a great stand alone program. I only watched the first lesson in the TWSS and found it a repetion of the SWI. So I sold it and have used other IEW programs without any problem. I think the TWSS is for people who are willing to write their own lesson plans and don't want to invest in all the individual programs IEW sells. It can get expensive! I hope this helps.

Katrina, Yes, my dd has been using Preparing full speed for about 8 weeks now and she is doing very well with it. She turned 10 right before that (end of December) so age did play a factor in her abilities to handle more work. Preparing is very challenging in the amount of work these little guys have to complete in just one day! Now that she can truly do the independent boxes alone and most of the S research and vocabulary boxes with minimal supervision we are getting it all done on most days. She is very busy with her gymnastics so finishing by 2:00 is a must! Now as much as I am going to miss HOD next year I am going to use MFW for 1 or 2 years to hold off on CTC until she is in at least 6th grade or 11/12 years old. I will just continue to use the techniques (dictation from my dd RTR, narration, vocab, and poetry) I have learned in Preparing with the books in MFW. However, I will still get to use HOD with two of my other dc. Good luck! :001_smile:

Katrina, I will try to answer all your questions, but we are only in Unit 18 of Preparing and this is our first HOD year. I will say that it is our most successful year in that we are completing the guide mostly as is and we are loving it! 1. What is the purpose in writing out answers to the science questions (this is done once each unit)? Can't it be done orally? You could answer the questions orally but I think the logic behind having them write the answers out is to have them independently think and put their thoughts into writing that is not prompted or assisted by "Mom." The science box in Preparing is marked independent and I have seen great improvements over the year in how my dd answers the questions. 2. How would you critique the writing in the guide? Is the writing more "explicit" instruction or is it mainly still copywork or notebooking stuff? From my preview of everything it seems to be a continuation of the copywork and notebooking with the addition of written narration 1x a week and creative writing with poetry. Is there more to it than that? Does it develop into something more over the course of the school year? I really appreciate the approach to writing in Preparing. It is a more natural approach and is not necessarily scripted but does develop in difficulty as the Units progress. For example, in the written narration you start the year with a basic 3-5 sentence narration and as the units progress they are encouraged to increase that to 5 sentences while working on various parts of the paragraph; conclusion or the main idea. There are not specific instructions on this, but enough to assist you as the teacher. Also, my dd doesn't even realize that she is doing a "writing assignment." They are more of a fun way for her to write about what she just read. The poetry writing also progresses in a similar way where they are initially "walked through" the process and slowly gaining independence in producing a beautiful paragraph or poem of their own creation. My dd loves personalizing this to make it her "own work." Now comparing this to a more structured program like IEW which I have used with older dc I like this gentle approach better for this age. I know my older dd in RTR is using IEW which is included in the HOD lesson plans and is learning to write with more specific instructions. So I do see and appreciate the writing progression Carrie is getting at. 3. Is there any writing that you would consider superfluous? I'd like my son to use something with more explicit writing instruction (versus just copywork). I don't think R&S English will work for us in this area. We are using R&S 4 with Preparing and find there to be just enough writing to balance out what she is getting in the Preparing guide. I love the short simple grammar/writing lessons and find my dd to be retaining just as much as she did with the long drawn out Phonics Road lessons we used the previous two years. She no longer dreads English!:001_smile: Perhaps if you want to add a separate writing program you could do that on the 5th day since Preparing is only a 4 day program? Just a thought. 4. Did you modify or tweak this guide in any way that you felt worked better for you? No, not really. I really have tried for the first time ever to do things as is and it is turning out to be our best year ever! Things are getting done around here that never did before. We do use Apologia science in addition to HOD science, but I would be comfortable just using HOD science if the co-op wasn't available. We love it that much! 5. If we eliminate DITHOR does this open up time and hand strength for writing? We don't use DITHOR so this isn't factored into the work of the guide (time wise or writing wise). Again we are using DITHOR but I suppose you could use that time to add a writing program if you wanted to. There is a bit of writing in DITHOR so not doing that would give you more time and hand strength that we are using up with DITHOR. I hope you find the right balance to make Preparing right for you, it is a great Program!

Here is our plan for 10th grade starting in the fall: MFW- Hisotry, Bible, Literature Physics (maybe with Derek Owens) Geometry -not sure yet with which curriculum. Maybe FLVS or Jann in Tx Spanish - FlVS or dual enrolled at local SC Health/PE- for .5 credit Music theory (mainly guitar). Still looking at curriculum possibilities I love reading about what everyone is planning! :001_smile:

I just wanted to chime in hear and give another vote for MFW AHL. My son is in week 17 and really enjoys it. I was a little worried at the start of the year because he does not like to read. However, he completes his assignments and says he actually enjoys the books he is reading. It is a joy to my heart to see my son reading and enjoying the OT. We have had some great discussions that may have never happened had we chosen a more text book route! Good luck with whatever you choose.

I am in a similar situation with my 4th grade dd who is in Preparing right now. My older dd is in RTR and there is no way I see my younger dd using RTR in 6th grade. I have slowed down Preparing to half speed and plan to stretch it out over at least 11/2 years. Each day we do either the read a loud or history reading box together along with Bible. Then she picks two of the independent boxes to do each day. We do LA R&S each day along with either the poetry box or any dictation she needs to complete. This has worked great for us. However, if you are looking for something to do next year I would try MFW ECC or one of their other years, perhaps American History. We loved ECC and it would be a perfect introduction to all the countries we will start to look at more closely with CTC. I love HOD but I do see where you are coming from. I want my dc to get the most out of their programs and I see where doing a level two young they would not enjoy or appreciate them as much. I hope this helps. Keep us posted on what you are thinking.

We used ECC last year and my youngest homeschooler was in 3rd grade. She got the most out of the book basket books and Window on the World. My older two really thrived and love the program. I would not use ECC if I didn't have older kids, say 5th grade and up. Just my opinion though. For HOD we are loving it!! This is the first year I separated my kids and they are doing so well. My 13y/o dd is mostly independent using RTR along with HOD science, extensions and DITHOR. She uses Saxon math. Preparing is wonderful!! My 9 year old dd is really excelling in narration and dictation. We love cuddling up in the morning together to do Bible, Storytime and Read alouds. Currently we are only doing Preparing half speed with LA and Math every day. I think trying to do it all in one day would take the fun out of it. This way she can take her time in the independent boxes and really expand her skills. She also is using DITHOR 4/5 which I have been very impressed with. She loves to pick from the list of books for each genre. We are also involved in a science co-op using Aplogia A&P which keeps her busy. I am still not sure what I will use for my youngest two. The younger HOD programs don't appeal to me as much and I definitely want to combine them as much as possible. But that is a few years away. My older daughter wants to use HOD for HS so we will be continuing with RevToRev next year with her. My 4th grader will still be finishing up Preparing next year in 5th and that is fine with me. I think CtC is a perfect program for 6th grade or even 7th. RtR has been very challenging for my 8th grader with plenty to do and learn. In all we are loving HOD and plan to use is as much as possible in the future. Thanks everyone for sharing!! :001_smile:

I can honestly say I am 100% happy with our curriculum thus far. We are just finishing our second week and usually by now I can see where I am unhappy and need to change something. Not a thing I want to change! :001_smile: However, I do need to come up with some more new activities to keep the little one's busy during school time.

We started HOD Preparing and RTR last week and are loving it. My dd 9 in Preparing is moving a little slower but that is okay because I want her to learn how to complete each box correctly. My 13 y/o dd loves RTR and has done almost everything independently. I am a little nervous about using just dictation for spelling but we will try it and see how it goes. I bought R&S spelling just in case. I am also a bit worried that the vocabulary won't be enough for either of them. Preparing only has them learning 3 new words per week. I hate to add more to the program like Wordly Wise though because they both have full days. Maybe I will just work on the Latin and Greek roots as a game on Fridays? But then we have co-op from 9-12 and that doesn't leave much time. Anyways, HOD is almost everything I could dream of in one curriculum which is really just open and go!

It's great to hear that everyone is off to a great start with HOD. We have started very slowly this week between new sports and music schedules. My 13y/o dd loves RTR and is just flying pretty independently with it...exactly what I pictured. My 9 y/o dd has started Preparing and we have made it through day 2 so far. She is finding it challenging but really enjoys the special time alone with Mom and the drawings in History and Science. BTW we have been using a lot of tracing paper to start off with! I love all the questions written in about what we are reading, they have been helping us both think so much more about what we are reading. Today she even illustrated her poem as an extra, which I consider a blessing with this non artsy kid! Both girls begged me to start DITHOR this week also so they could start reading their books. I skipped the kick off activities because they both picked realistic fiction books and I wasn't prepared to start with that genre.:001_smile: I am also getting started with MFW K and MFW AHL. Loving HOD!!

We used this a couple of years ago with a 6th and 7th grader as an extra with unit studies. I thought it was a great program, well laid out and just perfect for what we were looking for in science at the time. They ended up with a nice notebook and still remember a lot about the inventors they read about. HTH

Hi, I just wanted to encourage you because I have been in almost the same place as you with my 15 y/o ds and algebra 1. We started last fall with Saxon and it just moved too quickly and my son also did not have the patience to sit and watch the teaching DVD's. So about half way through the text I finally realized he just wasn't getting it, so we backed up to the beginning and started over. Well, by April same thing, he just wasn't understanding their teaching style and I also found their approach somewhat confusing. After reading and reading the WTM posts I ordered Lial's and worked side by side him spending around an hour per day on going over problems he was not understanding. My son is the type who likes to figure things out for himself, but also tends to cut corners whenever possible. Well, during Section 4 (about 2 months into it) he hit another road block and really wasn't grasping the concepts well enough in my opinion. At that point we slowed down and did more problems together. I was beginning to feel like I had failed him as a teacher because he had always done so well in Math using Saxon. I really think that some kids just take longer to grasp concepts and really get it. We just finished Section 5 and he scored a 67% on his test. However, I didn't panic because when I looked carefully at the problems he misssed they were almost all careless mistakes. But just to be sure he met with an Algebra tutor who happens to be our neighbor and found him to be very helpful. So hang in there and if you need to take it slowly that is okay :001_smile: That is the beauty of homeschooling, we can move at a pace that fits our child best. :001_smile: