Yeah, waiting for it to regulate back down is very frustrating for players. Especially if your kiddo is a bit on the competitive side and hates losing. (Which kid doesn't, kwim). I haven't had time to do so over the past school year, but last year it worked really well for me to go in and assign specific topics for spiral review. I'd just go right down a list of topics the kids had covered and set assignments. Unfortunately, that was a bit time consuming with four kids to assign, and the interface is still not the most intuitive. A search feature would go a long way. (Then again, I haven't logged into the dashboard in some time...they may have updated that by now).

Honestly? This is second half first grade work. These kinds of problems would be presented with bar models or some kind of visual representation.

It shouldn't continue to give him problems at such a higher grade...unless he consistently answers, say...grade 3 and 4, correctly. Then the game's algorithm might assume the student is capable of harder problems. It should self-adjust. Should being the key-word here though. If it continues to be a problem, I'd reach out to customer service and see if there's a glitch in his profile.

I saw that you have made your plans but wanted to throw an idea out there that you may or may not find helpful. There's no way our family can afford workbooks for all four of our kids. I buy one set of workbooks for each curriculum, remove the binding (box cutter!), three hole punch the entire workbook and then I place it into a 3-ring binder. I pull out a page, give it to the kid in a dry erase pocket, he completes it with a Vis-A-Vis wet erase marker, I correct it, clean off the pocket, write the kid's initial in the upper corner, and refile it back in the binder. All four of my kids have used the same workbook for each level of Singapore.

We just finished SoTW 4 this past spring and I'm planning on taking my 11 and 10 yr olds off-sequence for the next two years. The plan is to launch back into Ancients in 8th grade, Middle Ages in 9th grade, US 1/Civics in 10th grade, Early Modern in 11th and Modern/US 2 in 12th grade. Specifically, I want them to be much older when we next pass through modern history, so that they will have a better appreciation for how historical events play out and impact our world/culture/etc. Anyways, so that leaves us with 6th and 7th. I've decided to go off-sequence and just study something topical or....? Suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Maybe some geography? Local history? Explorers? Science history? I don't know. ETA: Thus far, I've decided to focus on NY State history as well as US Geography for 7th grade. Which leaves 6th grade. For that, I'm kicking around the idea of interest-led unit studies. Maybe I'll give them a list of topics to choose from...one a month or so. Require a report or some kind of something to demonstrate what they've learned. To answer a specific question...so far neither of the Bigs has any particular interest. I asked DS10 what he would choose if he could study anything from history and his response was "dinosaurs". Yeah...that's science. DD11 answered, "horses". *sigh* Back to the drawing board...lol.

I did SOTW4 this current school year with my 7 yr old, 8 yr old, 9 yr old and 10 yr old. You cannot escape the fact that the content is difficult. But I do not understand why this particular volume is considered "more difficult" in content than previous volumes? History is violent. It's full of battles and atrocities that humans commit against each other. The history that is being made today is STILL full of such atrocities. Whether we're talking about the Egyptians and their slaves, the nomadic tribes that traveled throughout Eurasia, conquering and pillaging, the bloody kings and queens, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, etc...it's all violent. IMO, SOTW4 did not present the information any more graphically than they needed to. The one knock I will give against it is that the Workbook is definitely geared more towards older students. The maps were more difficult and my kids missed the "coloring maps". But otherwise, the content is what it is.

Yes, exactly. Beast is great but it assumes an accelerated understanding of the process of math and does not necessarily teach it explicitly. It's great for kids that just intrinsically know math concepts, as it doesn't really waste much time there, instead choosing to expand breadth and depth. Some of it is "gimmicky" parlor math, but the intention is to challenge. Like you, I could not use it as a stand-alone. Don't discount Beast for your others! My eldest son is my mathy kid and he just gets math. He enjoys the challenge, and NEEDS that challenge to keep him interested. He adores Beast and is sad they don't have it for Pre-Alg. My other three are less mathy to varying degrees. With one of them having significant math-related learning disabilities. All three enjoy Beast. I do not assign it to them, and I have not given them any of the work pages. They just enjoy reading the book. Eventually, as they get a bit older, I'll probably start assigning some of it, just to see how they do and if they like it. No pressure...just for fun. If it works, great. If not, no big deal. They are plenty challenged with Singapore.

Both. They complement each other well. Just be aware that Beast is accelerated. I use it behind Singapore with my mathy kid...though sometimes I use it concurrently.

I never studied Latin myself, but I would like my children to learn. I'm planning on starting DS this coming fall, for his 6th grade year. Can anybody suggest some options for us? He is a solid student and I do not foresee any difficulties for him. I would also like my DD to learn Latin as well, however she has some LDs and I'm not sure she will be able to keep up. Also...Bonus Question! We used Wordly Wise this past year to develop vocabulary a bit. Would you continue with a vocabulary program on top of Latin? Or forego the vocabulary altogether?

Personally, I really like to have a print book in hand...something to work on that does not involve a screen. But, I like the features of the online book, particularly the community forum and it looks like there may be some video clip demonstrations, etc. Is the online book worth it for those features?

I use it over the summer for review. I alternate it with Prodigy. Before Prodigy, Khan was engaging enough to hold my oldest son's interest but since Prodigy, it's more of a chore. I pull Khan out from time to time when I want a video on a topic. But otherwise, it's mostly summer review.

First thing... I first noticed something was "off" with my oldest child when she was 15 months old. She just seemed so much more...I don't even know how to word it...limited? than other 15 month olds. She could not problem solve, at all. And of course, at 15 months old...when you mention something like that to a pediatrician, they WILL look at you as if you have four heads. But that pattern persisted and, long story longer, she has some LDs. I have some very specific reasons for pursuing official diagnoses for my DD. For one, we live in a highly regulated state where she is required to maintain certain testing standards (which, for that matter, are HIGHER than they are for the PS kids). I wanted documentation to protect our homeschool, should she not achieve required standards. Then, for DD herself, I wanted a documented history so that when the time comes for her to take a GED exam, or a college admissions exam, or whatever she may need as a young adult, there was an established history of her LDs. From what I understand, it makes it easier to obtain accommodations. And finally, I wanted to know exactly what we were dealing with. I wanted to know the specific nature of her LDs so that I, as her teacher, could best meet her needs. She had those assessments a few years ago and now, as she enters puberty, we're arranging to have a follow up done. The "labels" only have to be a negative if we tell our kids they are, kwim?

That's good to know. I'm going to assign the extra practice assignments over the summer, with additional scaffolding, and see how she does.

Definitely Prodigy as a fun review. But also, Singapore's Process Skills in Problem Solving alongside their Challenging Word Problems.

Storygirl, those are great suggestions, thank you. I couldn't figure out how to scaffold her better but I like your question and answer format. That may be the ticket for her. kb, I'm going to look into the resource you posted, thanks for sharing it!

Listen, if your insurance company will not pay for it, request an evaluation through your school district. Then, dispute the results and request an Independent Educational Evaluation at their expense. Assuming they do not fight it, they will pay for a private evaluation. Now here's the thing. Sometimes, those private IEEs are not "as good as" ones you can get by paying for it on your own. It depends on the school district and the evaluator. I did this in 2012 for my then almost 7 yr old and she received her official ADHD and dyscalculia diagnoses, along with some other co-morbid minor issues. We just had her IESP review and I asked for a follow-up IEE to determine progress. In discussing things with the IESP team, however, we decided that a full developmental evaluation was more appropriate. And they will pay for it at their expense. The downside is that there's a waiting list if we go through the school. I don't mind, personally, as I'm not in any rush, and have a pretty good idea of her issues. But waiting might not be an option for you.

I don't have much time to get into details but most of you are aware of my DD and her learning struggles. So real quickly, her primary issues are in math but the underlying reason is her weak reasoning skills. She does have poor receptive language skills as well, and some spatial motor integration issues, etc. Anyways, this year she and her brother (one year younger) worked through Essentials in Writing Grade 4 for composition. She did "ok" in the grammar portion but has really fallen off the wagon in composition. Putting aside the poorly structured mechanics, and looking solely at quality of her sentences relating to her topic, she is completely missing the mark. Often, her sentences are so poorly structured they just don't make sense at all. They are often off-topic. She really seems to be struggling with putting her thoughts on paper, and to add to that, I'm not convinced she really has much in the way of good solid thoughts on her topics. So...her brother is doing just fine. I like to keep them together for language arts because it helps HER to feel like she is not so far behind. She is with her younger brothers for math. Up until recently, she's done ok with keeping up to grade level in LA. Obviously, my 10 yr old son needs to move on to grade 5 EIW in the fall. I really don't think she's ready. Any thoughts? Move her on and just soften the requirements? Have her repeat EIW 4? Use something different? ETA: This child CAN write good sentences. When she completes LA work that requires complete sentences, she can give exactly what I'm looking for. The difficulty seems to be in stringing together coherent, strong sentences that stay on topic. Honestly, I'd even be happy with simple sentences, as long as they stayed on topic and were coherent. I could at least help her revise those. She's at a point, though, where her sentences are not on topic and are not coherent.

There are a lot of things I disliked about Apologia, most of which are not pertaining to this discussion and instead revolve around my opinion of poorly reasoned apologetics arguments. That said...I used Apologia for a couple of years and found the reading content to be too high for 1-4th grade. More appropriate, IMO, for 5th and 6th. When I used it, I often supplemented the reading assignments with more age-appropriate living science books.

I just wrote my own. Tons of legwork but, having that framework allowed me to stay on track. It was "guided interest-led" in that I made sure we stayed on a particular path, while exploring areas of interest to the kids. Now, as they approach middle school, we are using Science Fusion and so far so good. It gives me a good spine to work off of.

So basically, I may be breeding hamsters for this corn snake after my son leaves for college? Awesome.

It's pretty awful but...I feel this way about my son's corn snake, lol. A few months ago she escaped and I was all, "Awwwwww, I'm...just...SO SAD!" But then we found her so....back to breeding hamsters.

Also don't make the mistake of promising a nearly 7 yr old boy, "Sure, I don't see why not" when he asks for a corn snake for his birthday. At least never make such a promise without first understanding that corn snakes do not, in fact, eat crickets. Because if you DO make that mistake, you may find yourself with a corn snake who does NOT eat crickets, but instead eats pinky mice (at $2 a stupid pinky)...which will thus necessitate you deciding, "Well, I have a hamster...pinky hamsters are the same thing as pinky mice, right?" This, of course, will then lead to you having a female hamster, a male hamster, and a whole HOST of other interesting issues such as, 'What to do when your pregnant female escapes and IS NEVER FOUND'. And the wonderful, 'How to explain to your kids that sometimes the female eats the babies.' And also, 'Ways of keeping a cat from terrorizing the hamsters'. Can't forget, 'How to explain to your kids' friends' horrified parents that you have so many hamsters and babies because, well....the snake has to eat.' Also, 'Explaining to your children that an older hamster does not like to be startled and doing so can actually cause it to have a heart attack'. (Good times on that one). I will say this for the corn snake...she is kind of cute. I drew the line with snakes though. The youngest boy wanted a tarantula. There's a CountryMax store near us that sells them. We went, 'just to take a look' and the employee took a look at us, and said to me sympathetically, "Um...well...a tarantula really isn't a great pet for kids anyways sooo...." Thank you, CountryMax man. Thank you.

Does anybody know of any planned group buys? Ours expires this month and my kids are asking, may pleading, for me to find another one.

Everybody else has already covered your Beast question so I'll just throw this in the ring... Prodigy Math sounds as if it would be exactly what you're looking for. It reviews math concepts, while engaging the player in a fun game that they want to play (and play and play). And it's free. You can choose specific topics to review and assign, or you can let the game do it.

You may like what we do for literature. I assign a novel for the semester. We read 1-2 chapters per week, depending on the length of the book. My goal is to make the book last for the semester. Every Friday (which is our off day), we have a lit circle, where we analyze the chapter with good open-ended discussion questions. I like to pair that discussion with tea, if time allows. During the week, I incorporate discussions of literature elements, etc. I also occasionally assign writing assignments that match up with what we are doing or have done recently in EIW. We cover two novels a school year, plus I'll assign a shorter Christmas novel for Nov/Dec. They do other reading on their own, as well.