I have used the Apologia Elementary series for the past 6 years for grades 2 - 6. We are young earth Christians and it has worked well. We also both happen to have science degrees and have liked its level of coverage and introduction to science in the elementary years. The only thing I have ever mixed in with it at times is a few months of daily experiments on a topic or living science history books to read for fun. The Apologia Elementary though has worked well. I have bought the lab kits and notebooks from Christian books to have things on hand. We have used the Astronomy, Swimming Creatures, Land Animals, and Physics / Chemistry. My oldest was well prepared this year for 7th grade science from the program. I hope this information is helpful.

When I was at the point you are at I used the Saxon placement test to find out if he was ready for Pre-Algebra. He was so he did Pre-Algebra this year for 7th and did well. I am using the IOWA Algebra Aptitude this month to make sure he is fully Algebra ready. I think he is, but I thought it would be helpful to go through an Algebra readiness test. If he passes I'm planning on Algebra for 8th. The Saxon placement helped immensely. He had done some Singapore, MUS, Saxon BJU, and R&S for grades 1-6. The Saxon placement helped me gain an understanding of where he was really at with math.

I think it depends on the child. My oldest, avid reader, read all of the BF Intermediate books and core D readers the winter he was 10 1/2. It took him around 3 months. He though is my fast reader, who loves history, and remembers and talks about what he reads unprompted. The read aloud books for core D do have some titles I let him read and many that needed to be read aloud and discussion; I didn't use all of them. I would save the Hakim for later. On the other hand, my current 9 & 11 year olds still love to be read aloud to for history and wouldn't enjoy that much independent history reading. They read 1 1/2 - 2 hours a day, but they aren't reading history for it. I hope that helps.

The written narrations in WWS 1 are review of previously learned skills. The book then goes into new skills around week 4 or 5 with longer written narrations, outlining, etc. She sounds really young for WWS 1 and not quite ready for it. I would try some samples from Writing With Ease 3 & 4 off line to get an idea of where she is at and could work best at. When kids are well placed you should see growth without a struggle. The recommendations changed for WWS 1 from anywhere between 5th and 9th. I would back up to WWE 3 or 4 and build her narration skills. They take time. I hope that helps.

I really liked, and my kids liked, the Sonlight DVD / lab kit / Usborne experiment book at that age. I ended up not using their worksheets or all of their books for science for that age. Many of the science books though they did like. The DVD shows the experiments, which makes it easy to get done. The Usborne books gave the lab directions written. The lab kit includes essentially everything needed for the experiments. My kids loved the hands on, reading aloud, and learned a lot. I really liked it for early elementary. At that age the more hands on science the better for understanding science for later on.

The science is intertwined as part of the unit study in MFWK, ADV, ECC, & CTG. I believe that unit study theme continues. We did though swap the science, so yes it can be done. When I did MFW1 I was finishing Sonlight Core A & B science. With Adventures I used Apologia Astronomy. With ECC I used Apologia Land Animals which includes world mapping and was a fabulous combination! It is very easy to pull the history and Bible out if it is what you prefer.

My Father's World is a history / science / literature unit study. The language arts assignments though are from separate recommended materials. I have not used FAIR, but many moms who use MFW started with FAIR. They do go for a fun appeal with hands on activities. You might like it.

Rod and Staff is a very solid grammar program, and I have been very pleased with it. All 3 of mine started grade 2 R&S English in 2nd grade. They really know what a complete sentence is and how to structure a paragraph from R&S composition lessons. They also have had the benefits in their writing from years of doing diagramming. I highly recommend it. I am currently using WWE and WWS with Rod and Staff. My children love Susan's program, and it contains all of the elements of composition and literature study that I am wanting in their education. The two together are a fabulous combination. You won't need Rod and Staff for first grade and WWE will be plenty for that age. I did start oral narration with all 3 of mine in first grade. I did oral narrations at that age in both Bible history and science. They were not as focused as WWE at that age and were more of a telling back. I hope that helps.

Elliot Neff is a Master Chess Player. He happened to be home schooled and started a chess school. I think there are some on-line options. These DVDs though are excellent and taught my children to play chess beyond my level. We went to their competitions, without classes, from these DVDs and my kids did well: Elliott's Chess School on DVD, Chess Training Volumes 1-4 Here is their academy web-site that I think has some online options. It says play online at the top: Chess for Kids | Chess Academy - Chess4Life

How did he do on the placement test? Did he almost pass out of 8/7? If he had 70% on the placement to almost pass out of 8/7, for example, then 30% of the book is what he does not know and 70% is what he does know. You might want to look at the table of contents to see what he needs from 8/7, based on what he didn't know on the placement test, and focus on those parts. He may not need the entire book. If though he only scored 30% on the placement test to go out of 8/7 I would do the whole book. If they can score 80% or higher in 8/7 on the tests and assignments the Saxon web-site says they can skip Algebra 1/2 and go into Algebra I (this is assuming you are doing the current 8/7 edition with Pre-Algebra in it; this is not true if you are using an early edition). Is he getting at least 80% correct? You said he was making some computation mistakes. If he is scoring below 80% with computation mistakes he actually needs the practice to learn how to do the problems without computation mistakes. (In my house it is below 90% that I assume kids need the practice). In Saxon the mixed practice matters as much as the new lesson practice since it is the spiral method. If he is getting the new lesson, but missing a lot in the spiral review then he just needs more practice in learning how to do 30 problems. 30 problems doesn't seem like too many to me to master math, but I enjoyed math in school and college so maybe that is an odd perspective. We did at least 30 problems, and if I remember correctly far more then 30. I agree with the others he could test up. Give the tests until he reaches one where he doesn't know any of the material. If I remember correctly the first 20 lessons or so in 8/7 were easier. The only thing to watch for is the tests tend to be easier then the lessons. Pay attention to what he doesn't know and focus on what he needs to learn. You may not actually need the entire book.

Christian Books sells great supply kits for Apologia labs. We have used them for some of General and the Elementary series. They put the supplies in labeled lesson / Module bags. It helps so much to have it all right there, and then the labs get done. My son did the labs for General Apologia on his own. The lab write ups I helped a little bit with, but not much. The notebook was helpful.

Hi Katrina! I thought this link might help you. Susan re-did the grade recommendations. One of the writing plans lists WWS 1 for 8th, and a second writing plan lists WWS 2 for 8th. http://downloads.peacehillpress.com/samples/pdf/WWEandWWSexplanation.pdf I had my son do one lesson last spring of WWS1 to make sure he was placed correctly and he loved it! It looks very solid for composition. He just turned 13 and will be in 7th grade. I know MFW is stretching WWS1 over 7th and 8th grade. I think your son will be fine.

I didn't read all of your answers, but I have a few things for you to think about based on your original post. The Horizon scope and sequence is advanced and one year ahead of an older more traditional sequence. In my day it would have been a honors sequence. 7th grade is Pre-Algebra and 8th grade is Algebra 1. By comparison BJU has a very traditional math sequence that would have been non-honors in my days in school. 7th grade is a review of elementary math, 8th grade is Pre-Algebra, and 9th grade is Algebra 1. When you transferred your child that is strong in math did you use the Horizon placement test? A grade up would have been going from BJU 3 to Horizon 3. I did use Horizon K at one point and it was a first grade level book. It would have been very comparable to BJU 1, which I have also used. I am sure you have found many gaps in knowledge going to book 4. BJU has a TM, Student workbook, and review book. In the TM are daily flash card drills. The review workbook reviews previous skills daily. Are you using all of those resources? As for a child with ADHD who hates math. I would first say do some placement tests, forget grade levels in your mind, and find out where she is really at in math. Then let her work at her level no matter how far above or below her age it is. My experience as a teacher and now as a homeschool mom of 8 years is that children become very frustrated when they can't do the work being asked of them. So their response is to give up or hate the subject. Any child can learn math. It is a foundational building though that works up from that foundation. Sometimes the foundation doesn't stick under age 8 so they need to rebuild it around 9 or 10. I would get her to where she can truly succeed. As for math programs (with 4 kids I have used too many out of my own love for math): Bob Jones - highly teacher intensive. Uses both review (in the review book) and conceptual learning. More problems in the problem sets. Math U See - very short lessons, which may in fact benefit your dd. They have placement tests. Pre- Algebra in 7th. Review built in on the systematic pages. Horizon - one year ahead of programs like BJU. Singapore - strong in conceptual math. Basic arthimatic practice must be added. Saxon- I like it starting in 7/6. Lots of practice. My son who likes doing math problems loves it. Rod & Staff - drills basic arthimatic 1st - 3rd. Then starts upper elementary math in 4th. Slow and steady. I had one child learn their math facts from their grade 3 book and another learn nothing. It depends on the child and how they do with repetitive. I wouldn't think ADHD would do well with it, but I don't know. I think MUS at her level might really help her. Make sure she really places into the level you start with since he expects mastery and 20 math facts in one minute to move beyond Alpha. I hope something I wrote helps.

I highly recommend listening to Susan Bauer's talks on writing. She has one on Writing With Ease and a second talk on Writing With Skill. I would listen to both. I think even hearing the early elementary talk will help you identify the challenges he is having and obtain some ideas to solving them. Learning to write is a long process. Susan talks about how most children have to go through the process of learning to put words on paper. It is the minority that pick up a pencil and can find the words to put down. I have had to teach my boys to write. Copywork, dictation, Rod and Staff grammar, and going through the process has taken time. Yes, the literature helps them have adverbs and adjectives in writing, but it is the basic understanding of sentence structure that I think helps them in using those words on paper. My son who will be in 7th this coming year will be doing R&S English 6 and Writing With Skill book one. They both will be helpful in continuing what he has done so far. I would listen to her talk first. It is on peace hill press and is a very inexpensive download. I think it is under parent resources. There is an elementary Writing With Ease talk and middle grades Writing With Skill audio. I would listen to both. The first will make the second make sense. Honestly, it sounds like he just needs more copywork and dictation and basic grammar to lay more of a foundation of written skills. Those skills will then allow him to put what could be in his head on paper. Better now, then later, so he can move forward. I am sure you have done a great job. Teaching boys to write is hard, and in my experience is a process over many years. It takes time, but when they get those writing doors unlocked it is fun to watch them use the skills they have learned.

My second born blended easily and spelled and wrote and drew long before his reading launched like the other two. His reading did hit some sort of dead end in progress for a year or two after being able to blend easily. He is highly imaginative, kinesthetic, and detailed. Yes, the learning journey has been different with him then with my natural readers. Spelling and writing came more easily for him then my natural readers, and reading took longer to fully launch. At age 4 you have absolutely nothing to worry about.