Thanks for the help. I am putting the order on hold that I was going to purchase. After spending 8+ hrs on the internet madly scouring curriculum, my dh and I sat down and talked. We are first and foremost doing this to allow our kids (who have been in school since day 1) a chance to do things "outside the box" so to speak. We are going to try planning the curriculum WITH them. If he or I feel there are gaps not being met, we will make a decision then to buy something. Otherwise we are going to do things day by day, week by week, and let an outline/plan/curriculum evolve with the kids input. Much more unschooly than WTM I'm aware, but I still want to thank you all for your help. I feel as if I can confidently buy some things if we need to take that step. In the meantime, in case anyone is curious, this is what we have planned. We are going ahead with Khan academy for all math for the older boys (they have spent hours and hours on it already, which is so amazing I just can't tell you!) My oldest wants to focus on technology, and learning to take apart and build his own radios and computers. We have purchased a build your own crystal radio kit and I'm getting someone's old computer for him to work on. My husband is doing some project-based learning with him on geography. We are also going to do SOTW which all the boys love for history. Oldest son also wants to do science experiments, I will need to look into that as well. And he wants to do some creative writing, so I'd like to find something to use as a guide for that. In the meantime we are going to continue reading our classical books and I'm going to work on spelling either from one of his interest areas or from the classical novels. Second son wants to focus on dinosaurs/paleontology. I have some awesome online resources to start with, some great resource books, and of course museums. DH will do project based learning with second son in geography too. SOTW, classical books, spelling along with it, etc. My K child will use OPGTR, and I want to get something of a workbook for math to do with him. Otherwise I'm not going to stress about K, since he's a young K student anyway, and my heart says to let him play as much as possible and think harder about more academics for him next year. Unless he starts asking! Oh and the older 2 boys will be attending an awesome outdoor school one full day per week, learning everything from survival skills to animal tracking to environmental science etc. I am SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!! :)

Heidi, I love your confidence and ease with the choice to just show them yourself. That is exactly what I am trying to accomplish in our homeschool. I'm trying hard not overthink things or assume we can't find a cheap/easy/less stressful way to do it. I will have to look into R&S, so thank you for that info!

boscopup, Thank You, that is what I meant!! Since I am new to this though I wasn't sure if all grammar programs were as parent involved as FLL. I am now looking into those you mentioned. Hake seems really interesting. ETA: Hake (saxon) grammar doesn't have 3rd and 4th grades?

Oh, I'm sorry please don't read into my post too much, I didn't mean totally independently! :) Hunter, thank you for that link! I'm doing my best to keep things as cheap or free as possible. I think I'll just stick with FLL, only b/c I'm the most familiar with it. Thank you!!!!!!

Hi again, I'd love some more advice. My oldest 2 are doing 4th grade and 3rd grade work; they already read a ton, we read classics together, and they can write well. Writing is not a struggle, and we plan to have them do most of their writing via their interest-driven subjects. I don't think I will buy a specific writing curriculum, other than my 3rd grader wants to learn cursive. Suggestions? I would also like a good grammar book, one that is easy for the boys to do independently (they enjoy and can work well independently). Do you feel that FLL is too teacher dependent? Know of a cursive book my 3rd grader can use? Thanks!

Thanks for the responses!

Hi again! I posted earlier about using saxon for math for my 4th grader and 2nd grader (who does 3rd grade math). Well, I forgot about khan academy as another (AND FREE) option. My older 2 boys got on yesterday and today, and simply, completely LOVE it. They love using the computer, doing any kind of math (instead of only sequential math), earning badges, practicing things to mastery, and I can already see lots of benefits to it. My 8 yr old said to me, "Mom, this is really FUN!" :) Have any of you used khan academy as your main math curriculum? If you did, did you "unschool" it in the way that they can do any math they want at any time? Or did you set it up to follow a typical year of curriculum? (I can't figure out how to do that yet, so any suggestions would be helpful). I know that lots of people use it as a supplement/tutoring/etc, and while thats a great idea, I'm specifically looking for responses from people who used it as their main curriculum, and their thoughts on it. Thank you so much!!!!

Hi again! Just wanted to follow up. For those of you who emailed asking why I gave the placement tests to my kids when they were already students of saxon math--I did it based on the recommendation of the Saxon homeschool coordinator Dr. Phillips, when I called and emailed him telling him I needed to buy curriculum. He did not mention anything about inflated scores... Also, I asked this coordinator (Dr. Bruce Phillips, his email is Bruce.Phillips@hmhco.com ), what the difference between intermediate 4 and saxon 5/4 was, and this was his response: You can order either Math 5/4 (3rd) or Math Intermediate 4 (Both are adapted for Homeschool use). They’re virtually identical and either one will work for your student. I'm going to ask him about saxon 3 or intermediate 3, but I'm guessing his answer will be the same. Why they have done things like that (have 2 curriculum that are the same but with different names) is curious... In the meantime, my 4th grader came home with his half completed workbook!, so that to me is my sign to just stick with what he was doing and continue on, plus I don't have to buy a workbook for him. Thanks so much everyone, for your replies and support! I've always wanted to homeschool, and I agree tackling 3 students at once (did I mention I also have a 4 month old baby??) is brave! I hope I can handle it!

Hi there, Thanks so much for the quick responses. My 4th grader was using "saxon intermediate 4" (thats what his papers say at the bottom). Is that math 5/4? My 2nd grader was doing saxon math 2 in school, supplemented with scott foresman 3rd grade math. I knew he'd test into saxon math 3, as we had discussions over the fall with his teacher about him skipping ahead to 3rd grade. Part of the reason for pulling the boys out was that my 2nd grader is very advanced. Which would be recommended, the intermediate 3 or saxon 3? I had thought the intermediate 3 was for students new to saxon? I'm surprised about the rec to start with math 1 for my child in K. He doesn't know any money yet, and even had trouble putting numbers in order from larger to smaller...he's a young K, his birthday is mid-May. Isn't the math 1 placement on part B of the placement tests? He didn't do well at all on part A. But I'm open to suggestion!! Is there anyone who would buy math 6/5 for my 4th grader? Just trying to hear all opinions. My husbands instinct was to buy 5/4 too.

Hi there! My 3 boys won't be returning to their school after Christmas break. At school they were using Saxon math. I used the placement tests on them and my K and 2nd grader were very easy--the K student will stay with K math (he does not work above grade level which I knew), the 2nd grader easily can do math 3 (I also already knew he was very advanced in school), however my 4th grader didn't give us a clear answer based on his placement test (also something I had a feeling would happen!). I gave him the placement test (my first time ever giving one of my kids any homeschool tests!) and he scored a 15 on math 5/4. If he had scored a 16, he would have been considered for math 6/5. I went over his mistakes, and noticed 1 of the questions he simply didn't read the problem thoroughly enough, and on another, he didn't do the addition correctly. Meaning, I know he knows the material, but he just didn't take his time with the test. I did pick up that he has holes with some adding of decimals (he'll add numbers with decimals correctly when its money, but doesn't add them up with the decimal in the right place when they are numbers such as 3.23, or 5.1), and he also doesn't do time that well (such as its 2:45, what time will it be in 2 1/2 hours?) However he's always been good at math, and I really feel he's just gotten a tad lazy. So just to see what he could do, I gave him the placement test for math 6/5, and he scored a 50%. What would you do, give this child saxon math 5/4, or buy math 6/5 but work on the holes first you know are there? And if I did work on the holes I know are there, do I just wing it, or is there some online supplementation (that may be free, such as the khan academy or something?) I'm asking this b/c cost is an issue, and I'm brand spanking new at this. I want him to be challenged, but don't want to start off on a foot that is too steep. I want us to be successful from the start. Thanks for any advice!

abba12--what you are talking about is exactly what I'm worried about with yet another change. For the record, so far we've only officially changed anything once--the eldest went from public to private. And that was a very good change. We said we were hs'ing over the summer (before he switched schools) and we started some curriculum but that was it. Its not like we were hs'ing after september and then put the kids back in school. I completely agree too much switching can be detrimental to the child, though all kids do respond to things differently, and yes most kids are very resilient. My eldest did well in the transition from public to private. Thanks to everyone else who's weighed in, its really helpful. TaraJo29, its really nice to hear similar thoughts from the other side of the education fence :) Much appreciated.

Pen, thank you so much for your reply. Yes, I did/do worry about the b&m school curriculum. I already can tell that my 1st grader could (and should) be doing 2nd grade work. In K last year the teacher had him doing 1st grade work, but the 2nd grade teacher wanted to start him off with the other kids to see how things went. I have a conference with his teacher today though to go over it with her. But overall, he is not complaining too much, and he loves other parts about school. My 3rd grader could (and should) be doing more advanced math. I think the b&m history and science are terrible, but I'm happy with the lit, spelling, grammar, music, art and religion. Neither son has asked to hs but they are pretty good kids; they sort of go with what we encourage them to do. When we told them last summer we were hs'ing, they were ALL for it and really excited. When we started doing curriculum work with them, it was a mess, in that the youngest was always in the way (he was 3 then), the older two were either competing/fighting or goofing off together. They are only 19 months apart with totally different personalities--they either get along fabulously or are at eachothers throats (more of the latter unfortunately). My oldest dragged his feet doing the work, too. But retrospectively, now that he is at the private school, I actually believe he was still overwhelmed from the public school experience. he needed decompressing, not jumpstarting into homeschooling, first. It was mad crazy pushing at his first school the public school, to do everything and everything, with no free time and little recess/play time. He was in the GT track too so his workload was tremendous, it took him almost an hour in 1st grade to complete his hw every night. Not because he couldn't do it, b/c he resented having to sit still yet again after being in school all day long. Snickerdoodle, right now we juggle a lot yes, but overall our lives are not as chaotic as those homeschool day descriptions. Who knows maybe our hs life would not be like those either anyway, I'm disappointed in myself for not sticking it out and giving it a try. At this point our family and friends think I'm crazy for overanalyzing this decision and changing directions. I just think its such an important one.

Hi there, I am a wannabe homeschooler. Honestly, I tried twice to do it and chickened out both times. The second time I went so far as to fill out the paperwork taking them out of school over the summer (last summer) and bought curriculum. Only to sell most of it to friends and take the larger financial leap of private school tuition. Oldest son went to public school for K and 1st, now private school for 2nd and this year, and I think even if I decided next year to hs, it would be way too much change for the poor kid--back and forth, back and forth!! Overall their school is great but I still honestly miss my kids. I still wish I was learning with them. Did any of you go back and forth between b&m school (including different b&m schools!) and back to hs'ing again? I am so good with the other decisions in my life, but not this one--is anyone else as indecisive as I have been??? I also wanted to say, the posts of most homeschoolers day in and day out lives honestly worried me, including Susan's "day in the life of a homeschooler" page on the WTM website. It seem like so much chaos, sleep deprivation, juggling, multitasking, indecision (is the curricula I bought good enough?, am I able to really individualize to the kids?, how am I really individualizing to the kids anyway if I am buying all prepackaged curricula???), sibling rivalry, etc etc etc. Sigh. Anyway, we have managed to afford sending the kids (three, ages 8, 6, 4) last year and this year to a tiny little school that is pretty great. When I say small, I mean my 3rd grader is one of 6 kids in the entire class, and my 1st grader is one of 12. Overall I like the curriculum, and it is somewhat similar to a classical education--memory work, very little homework, dictation, emphasis on reading; plus they get multiple recesses per day (3 for kindergarten through 2nd, 2 recesses for 3rd), etc. Back the second time I thought we were going to hs, I started SOTW over the summer. The kids STILL love it, so I was planning on doing it with them on the weekends and in the summer. Also, the kids and I are really into good literature. Together just this year we've read the Little House series; Charlottes Web; Where the Red Fern Grows; and we're finishing up The Hobbit right now, but I don't know if I should just dive right into all the Lord of the Ring books with them or not. So after most of this post being a vent!, I'm wondering if any of you have suggestions on something I can do with them that would match up with good literature. The kids already write a good amt in school, but I'd like to enhance their curriculum, since they positively LOVE classic books, and I feel like I'm missing a golden opportunity to work with them using these books. Something along these lines: http://www.design-your-homeschool.com/language-arts-lesson-plans-the-hobbit.html. Has anyone here used this or taken an approach like this? Thank you!! Aim

Sorry to jump in here, but we're also starting cursive and wondering about which curriculum to choose. I have 2 kids (a rising 2nd grader and a child between K/1st grade work), so b/c of their levels is there one curriculum I can use for both (like Cursive First?) In terms of writing they both do well with WWE. Thanks!

This is very helpful, thanks!