I'm going to revive this thread and ask if anyone went ahead with any of the Novare or Centripetal texts this year and, if so, what are your thoughts? We used Apologia for elementary school, but it's become very apparent that the upper level Apologia books and the author's obvious disdain for anything other than YEC, simply will not fit our needs/beliefs going forward. I'm looking for a solid, rigorous science curriculum and hoping this will fit the bill.....

It's been quite a while since I've visited here regularly. If there are older threads covering this, please feel free to link here and I'm happy to read them all! We used Apologia for elementary science and loved it. However, as we make our way through General Science (first text in upper years) it's becoming quite clear that it's not going to work for us. My son loves science and wants to take AP science his senior year and follow that up into college. I *need* a solid science curriculum that's homeschool friendly. I found Centripetal Press and it looks promising. Does anyone have any experience with them? Thanks!

There are chapters all over the country. We're members of our local chapter and we *love* it.

She and her husband are also the director of First Class Ministries Homeschool Co-op.

I was given a huge box of books from a friend that is a teacher as well as a former homeschooler. As I finally dug my way through the box I discovered I now had a copy of Words Their Way. As I'm reading through the book I think I may have just stumbled upon the final piece of the puzzle for my younger son. I started doing some research online and I see there are supplemental books for each stage. My question is do I need these books or can I do the word sorts on my own? Is there more info in the book beyond the word sorts? Would having these books make the program significantly less parent intensive? Anymore info you can give me on this program? Thanks!

Thank you all for your replies. I'm familiar with the higher levels of WW because I use them with my older son. You've confirmed for me what I already thought - I don't need the Level 1. You just saved me sixty bucks, HA! :-)

My 1st grader (getting ready to go into 2nd grade) is a late reader. He loves to write, doesn't have a vocabulary problem and can spell like nobody's business, but he simply refuses to read. I'm trying to immerse him in as much language stuff as possible next year to help his fluency and was considering Wordly Wise Book 1 (and the Teacher's Resource Pack), but after reading some reviews, I'm not sure it's necessary. Thoughts? I plan to continue using ETC with him (he loves it) along with AAS (introducing the rules and lessons as he encounters them in ETC) and also using Beyond the Code. Is Wordly Wise overkill? Or simply unnecessary? Thanks!

I read through that whole thread last night and I put that book on hold at our local library :) Thanks!

I'm going to try something new today ~ I'm going to ask him to find the tile that says /b/. Then find the tile that says /a/, then the one that says /t/. After he's pulled them all down, we'll say the sounds as we put them in order: /b//a//t/ and then we'll read it together and then I'll ask him to read it to me (as opposed to how we have been doing it "spell the word "bat" Good, now can you read this word (ham) to me? Blank stare). I think handing him a whole list of words right now (or an entire book) is still too overwhelming for him, so I'm going to break it down to one word at a time and use some of the to/with/by techniques and see how he responds to that. Thank you again, everyone!

WOW. My husband thinks in pictures and is mildly dyslexic and for some reason I never put 2 and 2 together. I'll have to have DH observe him a bit and see if he thinks there are some of the same issues in play (my DH is a HUGE reader, too). Thank you all for your advice. My older son basically taught himself to read and needed very little prompting from me, so I was at a loss with DS #2. Last night after reading some threads here, I placed a hold on Reading Rescue 1-2-3 and OPGTR at the local library. I should have them by the end of the week and I plan to incorporate some of those ideas as well. Thank you all, again.

Check out "Go Kaleo" on Facebook (she has a blog, too but her FB page is much more active). She is vegan (with the exception of the occasional egg) and she's a weightlifter, so her protein needs are fairly high. I don't know if by "carbs" you mean all carbs or just grains. All fruits & veggies are carbs, but our bodies *need* them. We do eat meat (grass fed, pasture raised only), but the majority of our calories come from fruits & veggies and we eat little to no grains. There are some vegan protein powders out there that you can add to green smoothies or just mix with some juice to help with your protein intake..... Good luck!

My 6 yo DS was diagnosed with Speech Apraxia when he was 4 years old. He has made tremendous strides and even graduated from speech therapy at the beginning of this school year. While his speech will never be "perfect" he now has all of the sounds for his age and development and strangers can understand him almost 100% of the time. This, however, has left him with little confidence when it comes to phonetically reading. We never pushed reading and waited until he showed interest in learning how. He really wants to read, but whenever we work on it, his body language completely changes and he becomes defeated almost immediately. He then starts acting up and goofing off, because he has convinced himself that he simply can't read. The thing is, he CAN read and I think once he gains the confidence his reading will EXPLODE. I'm currently using AAS with him and not even using a reading curriculum (he seems less stressed when I tell him it's time for a spelling lesson rather than time for a reading lesson) and after we're finished spelling the first list of words, I have him read to me the supplemental words. He can spell all of the words immediately ~ even faster than his fingers can find the tiles, but as soon as I show him the list and ask him to read, his shoulders sag, his eyes dart towards the floor and he starts to fidget. It's breaking my heart. Can anyone offer any advice to help boost my little guy's confidence in himself? (this is the only area where he lacks confidence, in all other areas of life he's even maybe a little over confident in his abilities and scares the bejoogles out of me on a daily basis! LOL!)

It's challenging, yes. That is for sure. Have you tried ghee? You can make your own and it's much much cheaper than buying it. I often use that for cooking if coconut oil doesn't work. I also have on my list of things to try (but haven't done so yet): High oleic safflower oil & High oleic sunflower oil and Avocado oil. I'm still learning about using less refined fats in my cooking. Good luck!

I find mine jokes and goofs around when he's bored with his activities. Like a PP, he is fine during our school hours, but it's during the extra curricular activities that I often cringe over his antics.

We *have* a Reformed Baptist Church, but I've never gone, so I can't speak to whether or not it's a great one. But the West Puget Sound area of Seattle fits the bill perfectly.