Thank you to googolplex (my son's favorite math term) and beyond! We actually have the Math For Smarty Pants book and he really liked that one. I envy your math library....lol. All of the LoF books? WHEW!!!!

IMHO, MUS is a terrible supplement for a gifted math student. If Beast Academy is too expensive to ship (and you might want to look into that again, I vaguely remember there being something about a new shipping option for them...), than I would absolutely suggest Singapore. If she is an intuitive math student, you could very likely hand her the HIG and let her teach herself the lesson. I do this pretty often with my 10 yr old DS. He is math-intuitive, though I would hesitate to call him "gifted". Sometimes I just don't have the time to sit down and go through the lesson...so I hand him the HIG, show him which lesson he is to work on and he has at it. I follow up to make sure he's understanding and move on. The reason I say MUS is a poor supplement for a gifted math student is because it is so light. It just does not get deep into conceptual math. It gives the meat of math, but little in the way of sides and interesting stuff. I used MUS for a few years with my dyscalculic (math dyslexic, if you will) DD precisely because it gives baby steps, has a lot of hand-holding and is just the basics. Precisely what she needed...nothing else. I've recently moved her to Singapore math.

He's only 10 and I bought them for him when he was 8 turning 9 sooooo....the content very well may have been a little above him, lol. I still have them (because they were $$$ and they took FOREVER to get here) and will pull them out again some time down the road.

Are we talking for next year? It's WAY too early. I mean, my ears are always open and I'm always looking at and exploring possible curriculum, but we need to finish this year first. Probably in late spring, I'll start to seriously consider which path we're going to take next year. Normally, I wouldn't even do that until the summer, but because I have a kid moving into middle school next year, there will be a switch in quite a few different areas.

Evanthe, Would you kindly list some additional math readers/literature that your kiddos have enjoyed? My mathy son would enjoy these in addition to what he's already done. I purchased Murderous Maths for him some time ago, but he never did seem to get into them. But I'd like to try again with something else.

I also allowed my advanced reader to stay up late reading. In fact, it was kind of necessary. He has always been the kind of kid that did not need much sleep...so he'd head to bed at 8, 8:30 and still be wide awake and bored at 10, 11:00. And while he wasn't quite as turned off to books as OPs DS, he certainly wouldn't just willingly pick up a book and read it. He was, afterall, a 6, 7, 8 yr old boy...and Legos and tree climbing were MUCH more fun. So we bought him a special reading lamp, which we later upgraded to a rope light that changes colors. He can stay up and read as late as he wants unless we have to be up early the next day. Now that he's older, I attach reading requirements to things he and his siblings actually WANT to do. For example, they have to read an hour to earn 30 minutes of tablet time. Works well.

I love Ronit Bird's stuff, but I wish she would go further and I wish her stuff was more user friendly, lol. So for example, my daughter does understand the relationship between the numeral and the quantity. But she does not intuitively understand the relationship between the quantities. Her spatial weaknesses and slower processing make it very difficult for her to understand number sequence. Add in poor reasoning and low critical thinking and it makes for a very difficult math experience. Interestingly, she is not dyslexic. But her dad is. She is actually a pretty good reader and am excellent speller. But then that reasoning piece kicks in and holds her back in that arena.

Have you had her assessed for learning disabilities? Does she struggle in other areas aside from math? So at your daughter's age, I was using MUS to address her significant weaknesses in math (she is diagnosed with dyscalculia). She is 11 now and this year I switched her back to Singapore, Grade 2, to fill in some conceptual gaps that I felt MUS was leaving. MUS was fantastic at giving her the basics of procedural math. But she was not learning conceptual math and I could see that, going forward, that would be a major fault for her. One other thing that I have done with her since she was very young, is to work on her number sense and spatial weaknesses. So she has had A LOT of practice with counting forwards and backwards (especially backwards....so hard for her). We spent a lot of time reviewing place value. I give her additional critical thinking and logic work, in the hopes that it will shore up her weak reasoning. She really seems to have come a long way in many of these things. For the longest time, counting backwards was nearly impossible for her. As was ordering numbers. She has mastered those concepts now. I haven't found anything on the market that really addresses these specific weaknesses for kids like my DD. Curricula for younger kids do teach number order and counting, etc., but not for a 9, 10, 11 yr old. And not specifically targeting those areas. Neither do they cover large numbers such as numbers in the thousands. I've had to target those weaknesses on my own. But it does make a huge difference.

So I'm assuming it was a fluke that you still retained access? I wonder if that generally happens? It would be fantastic if, once purchased, we could retain access to specific modules. That would allow me to purchase the modules and then the kids could choose to learn about what they are interested in, when they are interested in it. How much teacher direction is needed, aside from the original setting up, etc? Overall, it seems as though opinion is pretty high. The reviews on the internet are consistent in that the online access is cumbersome, difficult to orient, etc. But those reviews are also older. If Science Fusion turns out to work well for us, it will remove a HUGE monkey off of my back. I've written my own science curriculum for several years now and it is so much work. So much legwork, planning, researching, etc. I just don't want to anymore, lol.

Awesome! So, can they share the text? Typically, I take our workbooks apart and the kids complete the pages in dry erase pockets with wet erase markers. Is this possible with Science Fusion?

In my continuing quest to find a science curriculum that a) Has topic modules b) Is affordable c) Is either secular or faith-based but well-reasoned I have come across ScienceFusion. It looks pretty good, but what says the Hive Mind about it? I would be using their Earth's Water and Atmosphere and Space Science modules. And I would be using it with all four of my kids, including the younger two, ages 7 and 8. (Obviously, I would need to do some modifying for my younger kids). I'm unclear on what is involved with this program. Is there a physical textbook? Do I need to purchase digital access for all of my children? Or just once and they can share? Is it solid? Thorough? Plenty of labs/experiments/demonstrations? Would it be easy to add in lapbooking?

Yeah, the Process Skills books teach from grade 1, but you definitely do not need to start there. That said, I always teach it a year behind our grade level. The reason for that is because, beginning in grade 3 or so (If I remember correctly now), the variety of math is more difficult. So I wouldn't want my students learning how to work with fractions AND, at the same time, trying to puzzle out the bar models for fractions. That's too frustrating for them, especially if they are new to bar modeling. Even my mathy son, I keep him half a grade level behind. So how it works for him is....he learns the material in his SM book and then, the next semester, he sees it in the bar modeling book, reinforced with the CWP book. I will freely admit, my first two years with bar modeling, I was lost as all get out. Now, I can't see how I was EVER lost...it all makes so much more sense. But back when I was first learning it while teaching it to DS, there were MANY times I was confused and couldn't picture the model. Finally, my mathy kid HATED bar models for a long time. He hated them. And, why wouldn't he? He could figure the problems in his head and/or write them out without needing that visual model. It was a frustrating extra step for him. But I'm so glad I made him stick it out because a couple of years in, he started to see the value of the models. He now, reluctantly tells me, "You know mom, the bar models really do help sometimes..." He doesn't always need them, and now that he knows how to do them, I don't require them (unless he's learning a new strategy in Process Skills). But occasionally, I'll see him utilize a modeling strategy all on his own. Win! P.S. One more thing...my LD kiddo, with significant weaknesses in math reasoning, has really benefited from bar modeling. I didn't really push the issue with her until she was a bit older, for a variety of reasons, but I'm starting to see the light bulb flash on a whole lot more during her problem solving lessons. The bar models give her a framework that she can "see", and they assist her in reasoning out a solution. As long as she remembers what goes where, lol.

Ugh...one of the things I really like about EIW is that they offer the printable pdfs. It saves me the hassle of tearing apart a workbook, using dry erase pockets, refiling completed pages, etc.

Gosh, I think both are appropriate. We mostly focus on bar models but, as DS is getting to the end of his elementary math, he's also done some work with HoE and DragonBox. Surprisingly, he really wasn't that into either one of them, but he definitely understands the scale method and what needs to be done to balance an equation, etc. I'm not really sure why either would be better than the other? Bar models, in our home, serve a different kind of problem solving than balancing equations does. For resources...we use Process Skills in Problem Solving. But because PSPS doesn't have enough practice, we combine it with Challenging Word Problems.

So, for the last couple of years, I've written my own science curriculum. Usually following a similar sequence of topic material, good literature and reading materials, lapbook, and projects/experiments/demonstrations. But it's SO much legwork, and I'm running out of time to even begin for this coming Science semester. Any ideas/thoughts on 6-8 week studies of these specific topics: Oceanography, Meteorology, Astronomy? Anything already packaged and done? Update with ages/grades: I teach one science "class" with all four of my children. The oldest two, ages 11 and 10, have higher expectations than the younger two, turning 8 and 9.

I've used MUS' manipulatives with Singapore, primarily when introducing number bonds, part/wholes, etc. Sometimes I take them out to demonstrate a concept, but we have more or less moved away from MUS, even with our LD kiddo. It was her primary math for the first couple of years, but we got halfway through Gamma and it fell off for us. His method of multi-digit multiplication was way too confusing for her. But again, the manipulatives are very versatile.

In your situation, with that kind of travel time...no. That would be way too much of a chunk of time for us. That said...our community just received grant funding for an after school program very similar to what you are describing. I would have LOVED to have signed up my crew. It would have offered them opportunities that we just cannot afford for them and/or are not otherwise available within a reasonable distance from where we live. Unfortunately, our school board has decided to not allow homeschoolers to participate in ANYTHING, including after school activities. It is incredibly frustrating...but there is not much I can do as it stands.

My oldest son was similar, though a move from RI to NY in the middle of his 4 yr old year interrupted his progress. Like your daughter, he was a fluent reader before he was mature enough to sit through books that were at his actual reading level. We just let him continue to read...I bought the Magic Treehouse books, which were a nice segway to longer chapter books....they were solid enough to hold his attention. After he read through those, he started to branch out into other similar leveled books. In the meantime, I had available harder books such as Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing, Hatchet, etc. By 7, he was ready for Harry Potter and he read the entire series before he turned 8 (I may be fuzzy on his exact ages...but he was young). As for curriculum...I have yet to find a language arts/reading curriculum that I like. So, mostly, we've just done our own thing. But one thing that I DID do for C, was to work through all of the ETC books. We didn't do every page of every book, but we at least reviewed all of the concepts to make sure he was aware of all of the phonograms, etc. On top of that, we have been working through AAS from level 1 (when he was 5) to our current level 6.

He's such a fantastic author...and so versatile! Not already mentioned, but a favorite here...The Mouse with the Question Mark Tail.

Man, USAA has some great stuff...I wish we qualified! Alas...our military connections do not bank with USAA. And our bank does not offer anything for youth. Which is unfortunate!

I have some impulse buyers here, too. Which is part of why I want them to have their OWN debit cards, linked to their OWN accounts. I want them to learn, now, the impact of irresponsible spending, before they become adults and can incur fees. And that's kind of the rub...youth accounts are not supposed to be charged overdraft fees (if I understand correctly...at least, most of the banks' youth accounts that I've learned of, do not). They act like a prepaid debit card. When the money's gone...you get a decline. And that decline, as embarrassing as it can be...is a learning opportunity, kwim? So this kind of precludes just opening an account and then giving them a debit card. If it's not specifically a youth account, they can incur fees. And the bank that we use, does not issue debit cards to children younger than 15. So it seems I'm probably going to have to open a Capital One MONEY card for each kid (as appropriate). I'll have to figure out how to get money in and out of it. But we'll figure it out. Wish they had a branch nearby...while banking is primarily digital nowadays, there's still value in teaching your kids how to actually go to a brick and mortar bank and use it...kwim?

Have any of you used Capital One's MONEY program with your "old enough" child/teen? If so, how did you like it? With four children, helping them manage their little wallets and pocketbooks is proving daunting. When we are at the store, inevitably, somebody will clamor to buy something because they "have 20 dollars!!!" Letting one kid pull out his billfold and scramble through his pennies will lead to another kid doing so, and so on. Plus, we rarely keep cash on hand, and it's proving to be a royal pain in the rear end to make sure I have enough cash to actually dole out allowance. So I'm looking for a money management program for children under the age of 13. Something that will provide a debit card for them, linked to their own account...an account that *I* am also linked to and can shuffle allowance money, etc. when needed. Pre-paid visa cards often have tons of fees, so that's out. But this MONEY program seems to be just about what I'm looking for. The problem is, we don't bank with Capital One and I have no intention of leaving our main financial institution. I'm not crazy about linking my own personal checking account with a different bank, either. So how would I move money around from my account into the kids' various account? And I would want them to have a debit card...that's kind of the whole point, kwim? Thoughts?

I'm planning on reading Hobbit with my soon to be 10 and 11 yr olds in the Spring semester. Can anybody recommend a good lit guide we could use? Bonus if it's free! But not necessary!

Thanks for the input folks! I will try the free trial thing, and go from there...but it sounds like kids prefer Prodigy more...and knowing how much mine love Prodigy, I imagine they will follow suit.

I haven't...the HSBC sell ends in 4 days...I suppose I could use that time to try it out, lol.