We are reading The Young Naturalist's Guide to Florida. Some things are kind of boring, but you do learn a lot about the different habitats and areas of Florida. http://www.amazon.com/The-Young-Naturalists-Guide-Florida/dp/1561643777/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337008611&sr=8-1 Good luck,

It seems many of you are using this for younger children. How do you think it would work for older struggling kids? My DS15 is using Barton but HATES it and HATES how slow it is. Thanks,

I emailed her and asked if a "part 2" to the American History was being worked on but she said it was not being planned but she may consider it for the future. She didn't mention if any others were being planned/worked on. She was timely emailing me back though.

I'd love to hear reviews. I may use it with my 7th grader and 9th grader. Thanks,

For our family, I like to choose one mastery type program and one spiral type program. Then we choose one to be our "main" math and the other to be a backup/review type math. This can depend on the child and I recommend choosing the type that works best to be the main math. We currently are using CLE Math as our main math and Singapore as our supplementary math. We do CLE Days 1-4 and Day 5 we work on Singapore. This is just where we are now though and we've changed how we've done it throughout the years. Good luck,

Thanks for all the great information. This is exactly what I needed. I'll definitely compare the TOC for both Writing Skills and The Paragraph Books and then we might move on to Writing with the Best after that. Writing with the Best sounds similar to the Kilgallon books - or am I off base here? I had considered moving to those at some point too. It's hard when you have these high goals (going all the way through Classical Writing) but have to pull them back in order to accommodate special needs.

Thank you everyone. It sounds like the Paragraph Books might be what he needs. He can write pretty good sentences but he has no organization or skills with paragraphs. I like the idea of Write with the Best, but I think that might be better saved until after the Paragraph Books? Does that sound right? Does anyone know how the Paragraph Books would stack up to the Writing Skills books? I hate to buy new books if Writing Skills does the same thing. My goal for him is to get through as much of Classical Writing or Writing with Skill as we can but he needs some basics first. Thanks,

Thank you Momathwtk. Anyone else? I could use some opinions on these three books.

My DS14 needs some help with writing. We are working through WWE and its going ok, but he needs more. I'm looking at these three options to help him along a bit. I have Writing Skills Book 1 and I was looking at The Paragraph Books 1-4 and Write with the Best. Would these all compliment each other or would they all be overkill? He needs to be overtaught skills in order to own them and he needs variety when doing so. I'd appreciate any and all opinions.

We do just the opposite. We use CLE as our main program with Singapore as our supplement. It works well though.

Sorry to hijack, but just wondering if you think WWW would be good for a special needs teen? Writing is not his strong suit at all. We're in Classical Writing Aesop with some WWE thrown in also, but I'm just not sure how far he'll go with those. Would WWW throw in some nice easy basics to get him by? Thanks,

I have one who definitely learns best with me reading everything aloud. Even simple directions. (Yes, he does have some issues but I think even without those, he'd be this way.) My daughter though, she zones out when I read. She can handle a little bit (ie. 10-15 mins), but that's it. So she reads most to herself. I have no idea how she'll do in college in a lecture hall (hopefully that will come with time). She doesn't even like learning from tv or movies or computer. I do make both of them still read aloud to me (for practice) and I make both of them listen to me read at least once daily (for practice).

We are getting ready to start Notgrass America the Beautiful. I don't see it talked about too much here. It looks perfect for us.

You only need it if you are trying to do a timeline notebook, then I think it's useful. :)

We read a lot of books and did math. :blushing:

http://www.hopeforhomeschool.blogspot.com/2011/11/aas-letter-tiles-mini-office.html I think this is a great idea. Good luck,

I honestly don't know how challenging it is (maybe someone else here could let us know), but Mr. Q's new Advanced Chemistry looks like a lot of fun. All of the labs are food related and done in the kitchen. It says it is from ages 12-18 . http://eequalsmcq.com/CSAdvChemChapterDwnld.htm Just a thought...

Does she like any hands-on? How about Homeschool in the Woods' Time Travelers series? It would take you just through WWII and then you could just add in a few modern books. Oh, and you can just add in any book she might like during it's time period. There are tons of lists. Just a thought... :) Good luck,

After having a newborn last year and a toddler now this year, my guess is that biblioplan or Sonlight would be best for you. Unless you can allow yourself to do TOG "lite". All three are fantastic, but you need to use what will work easiest for you. Good luck,

They are coming out with a new project this summer/fall also. I forgot the name but it will be for world history. The first one coming out will be for the middle ages. We've loved Time Travelers.

I thought in another thread she was reconsidering it again: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3465546#post3465546 Though she really didn't promise anything. :) I'm still hoping too.

Thank you so much ladies. I'm feeling a time crunch here with him and I'm afraid I'll run out of time. I am already worried that his highschool is not going to be anywhere near what I thought it would be (even though I've already lowered my expectations due to his abilities). I do have all of Dancing Bears and all of Apples and Pears and I think I will be utilizing it more to see if it helps. I will also contact Susan. I did not have the rules out during the test as I didn't think we were supposed to have them out then. He has them out at all other times though. What are the flashcards with pictures? Can you purchase them or do you make them? I wish I could make the whole program work like a commercial or jingle on tv - he seems to remember every single commercial or jingle he's ever seen or heard. :)

My son is 15 next month and is still on Barton level 3. We don't have any dx yet as we are waiting for our testing date - I'm sure dyslexia, OCD, maybe something on the spectrum and other things. We've done level 3 twice already and he just failed the post test again so here we go for a third time. It's helped his reading tremendously, but just can't remember all of the spelling rules. It's a memory issue. He and I are both frustrated. What should we do?

Two possible options: http://www.harmonyfinearts.com/index.php Or http://www.creekedgepress.com/ Good luck,

It will work with any curriculum though you may need to go over a few things with them. I use it alongside CLE math. We use it a grade level behind for two reasons: 1) they can do it more independently that way and 2) it's still challenging even a grade behind.