Thank you for the helpful information! I'm surprised online teaching pays so little, but then again, I have no idea what kind of costs are involved for the host/provider. Regardless, this is good to know so I can set my expectations. Local tutoring is probably the way to go. I'll look into VIPkids too. Looks interesting.

I may need to work part-time next fall or as early as this summer. I have an education degree as well as several years of teaching experience so it seems like a no-brainer to use those skills in some capacity. Wondering if online teaching would be a good fit. Thinking of online academies like WTM, VP, MP, etc not necessarily developing my own online class. Anyone here on the forum teaching online? I like the flexibility and being able to teach from home, but I wonder if the pay is good as compared to teaching at a B&M school. What do I need to know?

The LOE Quick Reference is super helpful, but I'm an LOE user so it all makes sense to me. I would also recommend Denise Eide's book Uncovering the Logic of English. It's a quick, easy read if you like digging into this kind of thing. Another nice little handbook for spelling is The ABCs and all their Tricks.

We are longtime MM users and have used Math Minutes for review. I wanted more spiral review but didn't want to incorporate another workbook that would add to the overall amount of time my kids were spending on math daily. MM is plenty of math by itself. My kids just needed a quick review page to touch on a variety of skills at a simple level. You might want to check them out. At times, the skills didn't overlap perfectly. For example, Math Minutes might assign a kind of fraction problem before we had introduced that particular fraction concept in MM. Not a big deal. A quick scan of the page will alert you to any problems like that.

I assume you completed LOE A-B before C, correct? Book D is a helpful follow up to A-C because it reviews the content from A-C and focuses on reading fluency. It's natural to wonder if all the info will sink in and be useful someday. By the end of book C all phonograms have been introduced and quite a few spelling rules. It's a lot to keep track of. They learn so much in these three books. I think the key to LOE is to not expect mastery or deep understanding at the grammar stage. With spelling, if you are teaching your child to spell with phonograms and spelling rules, there will be logic stage thinking required to synthesize the "what" and the "why." Don't take the "why" too far with your young student. I took the lead of my child and pulled back when it seemed he was getting overwhelmed. I didn't expect my child to remember everything or master all of the concepts. I gave prompts and help as often as needed. Does that make sense? Taking the "why" too far with grammar stage students can lead to overkill or frustration because the student doesn't have the logic level skills necessary to make all of the connections on their own. This takes time, practice, and readiness. The mastery chart in each review section is very helpful in setting right expectations of which concepts should be mastered before moving on to the next lesson. I think where LOE really shines is with the spelling analysis. Most spelling programs don't adequately cover studying words and their spelling. Spelling analysis is where you see all the parts work together as you break down a word by syllable and phonogram, and then study its spelling and apply the rules. Spelling analysis is also a great visual tool as you see phonograms underlined and sounds marked. I liked using tiles with my child so he could see and feel chunks of the words. I catch myself doing spelling analysis in my head on tough words I encounter in my reading. It's such a great tool! In fact, this is what we are working towards -- equipping our kids with skills and tools for a lifetime of reading and writing. If you continue spelling analysis your student won't get to a point where they forget the phonograms and rules because they are consistently using them to analyze words. I think phonics and spelling overkill happens when parents don't meet the needs of their student by slowing down, speeding up, or providing help. Depending on your child, it may be a good time for a break after book C?? You could take time to read together and review the phonograms until you're ready for book D. Or, skip book D and begin spelling dictation. You might want to call the LOE office. They are very helpful and may have some ideas for you. Hope this is helpful!

We have the Cottage Press one too. It's very nice, good quality, and inexpensive. In the past we have used History Through the Ages Record of Time book and timeline figures. They're great too, just a little more work to print the figures, but the end result is a beautiful hardcover book. We have also used Guesthollow's free timeline as a free printable. http://www.guesthollow.com/homeschool/printables/printables.html

I chose LOE for the following reasons: 1) I didn't want to buy multiple levels for both AAR and AAS. 2) I wanted all language arts skills integrated. For some, this is a disadvantage, but for us, it worked great. When my DS needed to slow down in one area and move forward in another area, I just adjusted my expectations, gave him all the help he needed (lots of prompts), and continued moving forward in the curriculum. 3) LOE activities for reinforcing concepts are multi-sensory and include movement. My DS loved this and really enjoyed the lessons in Foundations A-D. 4) I loved the inclusion of real books in LOE D. 5) I appreciated the author using interesting topics for the kids to read about in the Foundations C & D readers. FYI, my DS was not a struggling reader or speller. If he was, I may have chosen AAS and AAR so I could introduce new concepts at a more gradual pace. We did Foundations A-D in K-2nd grade. We're using Essentials right now. His spelling is in great shape, so we will probably continue on without Essentials next year and just do spelling analysis with lists of words from Spelling Plus or something similar. I didn't realize this before I used LOE, but I LOVE the spelling analysis process. It forces you to slow down and really study words using syllabication, phonograms, and spelling rules as tools. Hope this helps!

We'll be finishing up LOE D this year too and my plan is to move right into Essentials. Have you seen the early release Essentials reader? It's only available as an e-book right now since it's not quite finished. If I were you, I'd stick with LOE b/c the phonogrmas and spelling rules will be consistent for your daughter and you know the method. If you were wanting to take a short break to focus more on reading/fluency pick up a reader like the pathway readers mentioned above or the HOD reader set and work on that for a few months. I used the emerging reader set with my oldest a number of years ago. Very nice collection and really helped him with fluency. I also like the Christian Liberty Nature Readers. DS6 is reading Book 1 right now with me while we finish up Foundations book C. Memoria Press and Veritas Press also have literature collections that you could use...First Favorites and Story Time Treasures. Those could work and would be more interesting, though they're not technically "readers".

I need help choosing a curriculum for my son's 7th grade co-op writing class. The class will meet 2x week with a tutor. So far, we've worked through four IEW theme-based books in 3rd-6th grade. In 8th, he'll take an essay writing class, either IEW's EE or LAoW. He'll follow up with LTW in 9th & 10th. I think we have an opportunity to do something fun for a year, but I wonder if we should shore up basic writing skills before beginning essay writing. He's my oldest so I'm a little unsure of what gaps we need to fill, if any. He and the other students are decent writers. I've thought about continuing with another IEW book, but I think we're ready for something new. I've also thought about a year of WWS and The Creative Writer, but we'd only be able to use this for one year and not the whole progression. Help!! Any thoughts?

I don't assign books for my kids to read, but instead institute a quiet reading time every day. I usually have a stack of pre-selected books sitting around. They choose the book and read. No comp questions or worksheets. Nothing against lit guides, but I find there's just not enough time in the day. I also read aloud to my kids, stopping after every couple pages to check on whether they're comprehending, paying attention, or to point out a creative use of language. I think with this method, my 10yo and 12yo probably read 15+ books a year....but I've not actually counted. Just a guess. My guess with MP is that they are delving deeply into those 4 books. With VP, I bet students are expected to be reading quite a bit (knowing the rigor of VP) and also working through lit guides, but maybe not quite as deeply as MP.

I asked an LOE rep this question last year and decided that I would introduce manuscript in 2nd grade. My K'er is finishing Foundations B and will do C & D next year for 1st. I'll use Rhythm of Handwriting Manuscript in 2nd grade to teach manuscript. It should be super easy for him and by that time his cursive handwriting should be well established. As far as continued cursive practice, I plan to have him write across subjects in cursive so hopefully he won't need a cursive handwriting book. If it seems like he needs more practice, I'll make copywork sheets for him using the free handwriting sheet downloads, creating sentences that relate to something we're learning in LOE or another subject. Does that help?

This is exactly what I was talking about. Didn't think to check CC. I may order this for myself AND have my son make his own chart.

Fabulous idea! He would certainly retain the info better if he made the chart. Thanks for the suggestion!!

Thinking ahead to next year, my oldest (6th grade) will have completed Shurley Method. We'll move on to editing practice in 7th grade using IEW Fix it to keep grammar skills sharp. I would love to have a handy grammar reference chart to help him (and me!) to not forget all of the grammar concepts we've learned over the years. Anyone have a recommendation for a good one? Secondly, I'd like to introduce diagramming to him next year. Shurley doesn't cover it, so I'll need a good book to help with this. Any recommendations for just diagramming?

I'm using Foundations with my K'er and we're loving it! I'm planning to continue through D, but now I'm curious to hear what you've been hearing. What's the word on D?