I am looking for a phonics program for my 4 and half year old ds. We tried MFW K for several weeks, and didn't care for it. I loved the Bible lessons, but the math was too easy, the handwriting was too hard, and the phonics instruction wasn't a good fit. So we put it away for a while. Then we tried The Reading Lesson. I had great success teaching my daughter with that book so I thought it might work. He's doing well with it, but he dreads it. His favorite pages are when he gets to circle things or draw lines to connect things. So I'm thinking he needs something more interactive- not manipulative based, but workbook based. Is there anything workbook based that doesn't have a ton of writing? Maybe Explode the Code? I'm open to any suggestions! He's definitely ready to read, but I want it to be fun for him. :)

My very bright 4 year old has flown through the Mathematical Reasoning 2 book over the last few months. He keeps asking for more math!😃 This is new to me. He is my fourth child, and the first one to like math! I want him to continue to enjoy it! I know he's young, but he has been counting, adding,and subtracting for months and months. He loves playing sum swamp, rush hour jr, and Blokus. He has been fascinated with numbers for the last couple years, and seems to understand easily. I want to find something that hopefully we can stick with. I changed programs several times with my oldest kids, and I don't want to make that mistake again. I've looked at the programs that I'm familiar with, and I've narrowed it down to Singapore and Horizons. I think he would do well with color, fun and varied lessons, and not a ton of verbal instruction from me. Would you recommend one over the other? Have you had good or bad experiences with either? Or are there other programs that I should take a look at. I am not overly mathy, but I do feel comfortable teaching elementary math. Thanks!!!!

Thank you everyone. I really appreciate all the opinions and suggestions. I'm going to look into several options over the next few weeks and hopefully something will work out for her. (I deleted part of my original post because I thought I may have shared too much information)

Thank you all for the suggestions.

nm

Ellie, can you expand on why you wouldn't do it? Do you have any suggestions for things in the community to try? I always felt that age segregated activities were silly and not beneficial, but after having teenagers I'm beginning to wonder if I am underestimating the importance of it. From reading your posts over the years, I know you are a big proponent of support groups. I would love to have something like that, but we seem to only have homeschool "classes" in our area( where you pay the teacher and drop your kid off).

Would you consider a 3x week university model school for the high school years for the sole purpose of socializing?

Texas native, I bought Maryellen from AG. She has been admiring her since the doll was released. 😊

Anne in CA, I've found some dolls that I think may be similar to what you suggested, but they're so pricey. And she already has a collection of the AG dolls. She has found several handmade dolls on etsy that she loves. I may look into those for a future purchase.

Thanks everyone.😊 I ordered the doll and am going to return the other stuff! Hopefully she'll be pleased with it.

Thanks for the thoughts. She loves dolls, and has been collecting them for years. She hasn't "played" with them in a couple years, but will occasionally dress them or do their hair. But she has so many! I was trying to think of something different to get her this year (she likes surprises and gave me NO ideas!). So I bought her a faux fur throw and matching slippers from PB teen. It seemed more grown up. Anyway, she told my mother yesterday that she'd really like a new doll. Now I'm wondering if I should return the throw and slippers and buy a doll?

nm

Thank you both! I just sent a request for information to the closest troop. It looks like we have several in our area, but they're all a good 30-45 min drive. Hopefully the closest will be a good fit!

Is this something that a girl can jump into in high school? What kinds of projects do they work on at the high school level? I have a 13 year old dd that has quit dance after several years and is becoming quite bored, so I'm trying to find something that may spark an interest in her. Thanks!

We are long time HOD users. With the exception of a couple of short detours with Notgrass, we have used HOD for almost 10 years. My oldest has used all the guides from Bigger up through US 2 high school, and we've tweaked it almost every year. My kids all use different math (mostly TT),foreign language (RS), and comp/grammar. We have tried most of HOD's suggestions for comp/grammar and they usually don't click with my kids. My 8th grader is currently using MTMM and she reads a chapter from the Bible daily, and works on memory verses instead of the scheduled Bible study workbook. She loves the nature journaling, but we use it in our own way. She reads the storytime books herself. She doesn't do the economics, history projects, or maps. I've also taken The Elements out, it hasn't been a hit here with any of my kids. When my boys used MTMM they did use the economics and maps, but didn't do the projects, and they read through the New Testament instead of the scheduled study. World Geography has been my boys least favorite HOD year. They both used a different Bible study and foreign language. They didn't do any of the artsy projects, but did draw the maps. I changed the science to one lesson a day because two was too much. One read the living library books, and the other chose not to. On e used BJU lit, and the other hated it so we dropped it. One used EIW, the other used IEW. One of my boys used Notgrass World History for the history and Bible for about 2/3 of the year, but used the HOD World History guide for Living Library, Art, Biology, and Literature. He wanted a more streamlined year without reading from so many different books, however, he missed HOD and he went back to using it the following year. The other son used it more as written but without Living Library, and he used LTOW for comp. He aslo used a different Bible study. For US 1, my oldest used it as written, except the living library. We ended up dropping The Noble Experiment about half way through the year, and he used LTOW for comp. My other son is using US 1 this year and he loves it! He chose not to do the Living Library. He loves the scheduled creative writing, which really surprised me. He is using a different Bible study and we decided not to use The Noble Experiment. He also is using Chem 101 dvd's with some extras because he is NOT a science guy. My oldest is using US 2 this year and has been enjoying it. He is not using the Personal Finance, speech, or Living Library. He loves the science this year and the Bible study. We really love HOD, but I have learned to tweak it to fit our family and each of our kids. It does have a lot of reading and writing, but we just figure out every year how to balance it. At first I felt guilty about not using it entirely as written, but the I remind myself that is a benefit of homeschooling. I have tried to put together my own thing, but I always return to HOD. The work is mostly interesting and very nicely balanced. And my two oldest kids have done great with the English and Reading sections of the ACT. Hope this helps a little!

Hi Mellabella. His scores were posted this morning!😃 I did get a response back, but it was a generic reply about how not all scores are released at the same time and to keep checking back every Wednesday and Friday. I hope your daughter gets her scores soon- it can be so frustrating to wait since so much depends on these silly tests!

Ok, thanks. I sent them an email just to ease my mind. It's good to hear that someone else had delayed scores too. Everyone we know that took the test on the 10th has their scores. I guess I just need to be patient.

Has anyone ever had a delay in receiving their student's ACT scores? Two of my sons took the ACT on September 10. The oldest ds scores were in on the 20th- the first day they were released. The younger ds scores still aren't in. I know the ACT site says it can take up until November for them to release all the scores, but we've never had this happen before. The oldest ds has taken it a few times and his scores have always been released on the first day. I'm frustrated, and wondering if younger ds possibly filled out the test sheet incorrectly. :confused1:

Thank you so much for all of the suggestions. I've been looking into all of them- there are a lot more programs out for little ones now than when I first started homeschooling! I think I still want something, just because I am not creative enough to think of fun and enriching activities on my own. I'm just going to be more relaxed about it because we really don't NEED to do anything. We are going to a homeschool convention this weekend, so I'll have a chance to see a lot of things in person. Hopefully that will make my decision easier.😊 Thanks again!!!!!

I've been looking at several preK programs (MFW, HOD, MP, Playing Skillfully, BFIAR) and I can't decide what I want to do with my 4 year old. I would love to take him to the zoo, and aquarium, and children's museum, story time at library,and park all the time, but I have four other kids- three older and one younger- and I can't leave the older ones alone all day to do school by themselves. We already read a lot, do a little art work, work on puzzles, play outside some. He loves his Thomas the train set, and can spend hours playing with it. It would be great to have something that schedules some fun learning activities, art work, and read alouds without a lot of seatwork or worksheets. I know I don't have to do anything, but I would like to do something fun with just him each day. I think he would love the one on one time. And if it's scheduled, it's more likely to get done. Any suggestions? Or what have you used and loved with your 4 year old? Thanks so much!!!!

I think I've decided to outsource writing next year for my upcoming 8th grader. I'm looking at WTMA Expository Writing 3, but I can't find any reviews. Has anyone taken this class? What about any reviews of WWS 3? Thanks!

I think I have decided to outsource writing next year for my upcoming 8th grader. I can't find any reviews of the WTMA Expository Writing 3 class. Has anyone used it? How about any reviews of WWS 3? I found lots of reviews for level 1, but would love to hear about level 3. Thanks!

Thanks! I'm going to order Level 5. Hopefully this will be a good fit.

Thanks everyone. I'm glad to know that not everyone dislikes it! There still seem to be more negative reviews than positive. I may order the green level to look through, but I'm looking at ELTL again too. Thanks again!

Is anyone using this with an older child? 11, 12, 13? I want something similar to LLATL but with more rigor, would this fit?