My son (11) completed Beast Academy 3-5. He tried AOPS pre-al. It was too hard. He tried Armadillos. He didn't hate it, but he didn't love it. He's not a writer so it's just not a great fit. We've done quite a bit of Khan review but he honestly doesn't need it. I hate juggling multiple programs and he honestly hates the lack of focus. I wonder if we should just start Algebra. So. Jacobs. Is this a good first algebra program? Do you think Beast is enough prep for it? Is there an entry test I'm not finding? What do you really need to be Algebra ready? All the same questions for Key To. I'm not necessarily needing an Algebra 1 check off. We will do Algebra 1 later most likely. Right now I need a bridge.

I just want to reiterate this. My 11yo son did Beast Academy 3-5, and then tested well into Pre-Al. Despite being obviously familiar with the AOPS method, it was way too much. We've been floundering, tbh, with Khan and Armadillos and Key To's. He's not quite ready for Algebra. Yet past elementary math.

I have a child with severe ADHD and disabilities that affect executive functioning. She uses a mix of teaching textbooks and Math Mammoth (especially the subject series and online sources). TT works really well for her and I feel confident suggesting it with the caveat that OF COURSE a child with executive functioning struggles is not ever left alone and/or expected to use any math program independantly. The parent should also be aware that TT is significantly behind other programs, and does not require deeper level understanding or develop critical thinking. For us that's perfect, as she is incapable of the deeper problem solving in other maths and she is not college bound. But "executive functioning difficulty" can mean a lot of things and I don't want to presume. Honestly I'm a firm believer that any math program could be potentially used with ADHD children, approached the correct way.

Looks good to me. My 6th grader (likely going into programming) is doing: Science- 6th Science History, 7th Geology/Astronomy, 8th Biology, 9th Physics, 10th Chemistry, 11th and 12th dual enrollment computer sciences Math- 6th Pre Algebra (armadillos), 7th Algebra (?), 8th Geometry (?), 9th Algebra 2 (?), 10th Pre Calculus, 11th and 12th dual enrollment. As you can see I have no idea what to use for math yet. He did AOPS's Beast Academy very happy through 5. But their Algebra levels were plain too much. :/.

I'm another "no calculator until algebra" person. It's a hill I'll die on, and yes, several of my 5th graders have learning disorders that make math harder than average. They still do it on paper. I see three possibilities on why your daughter is having issues. One- She doesn't have her facts memorized. This is absolutely essential. It's hard. Almost all kids can do it though. Sing them, chant them, use visuals. Two- Sloppiness. Long division and multiplication take neatness. So does algebra, so learn it now. Some of my kids prefer graph paper. Three- she doesn't know it as well as you think she does.

I have kids with disabiliries that make transitions especially difficult. And so I really try to make our breaks no longer than a week. But it definitely happens once or twice a year and I too, just took 2 weeks off...so... I make an attempt to keep a similar rythm to our days, even on break. So meals at the same time, bedtime consistent. We won't have morning reading but we still meet for a few minutes after breakfast to go over our day. We don't have lessons but we still keep a general schedule of being home in the morning, with outings in the afternoon. This eases the transition back in greatly. As for easing in, I've never found it useful. After years and years they are USED to the school schedule. So doing a half week and then a full week ends up just feeling like two transitions. Doing a day by day easing in just ends up being confusing. Ymmv. What I have done, to make things a bit easier, is make sure we don't start off with something new or difficult. Those first two or even three days I focus on review. And the day before we not only talk at length about tomorrow being the big day, but we clean the school room, sharpen pencils, make sure fresh paper is out, make sure we know where our books are, ect.

I did time over content as well with young kids, but within reason. I generally tell my younger kids I want 15 (or 5 or 20) good focused minutes so if they aren't focused I'll definitely tack on. I think bagging a lesson when a kid isn't is the right frame is definitely a benefit to homeschooling. I don't think it should be done often. So if I find my kid is rarely in the right frame of mind I start thinking...do I have a parenting issue (laziness, bad attitude, disobedience) or do I have a curriculum issue (bad fit).

When I still had tiny ones in the house I focused the morning on reading out loud, nature study, and bigger projects like art, science, ect. The littles joined us or sat in the same room doing their own thing, or (often!) got tied to my back in a carrier to get them out of mischief. We began with prayer, but you could also behind with singing. Then, during nap time/quiet time I'd do the table work stuff that really needed my one on one focus with the child, like math or phonics. I didn't have a school room until this year. Before there were 8 of us in a teeny tiny house and school was done EVERYWHERE. But mostly morning meeting was in the living room and table work at the kitchen table.

Thanks all. I made it through that entire Fence Straddlers thread and the more I think about it the more I think I'll just start Algebra with Jacobs. He's honestly pretty good at math, and beast had given him an amazing foundation- its just that he's spending so much time on his music and theatre that AOPS is too much. Armadillos looks great but he's definitely writing averse. I may use it with his sister though, to supplement TT. So, the question is now, for you Jacobs folks...do you call Jacobs Pre-Algebra and then move into a different algebra program? Or do you call it Algebra 1, and use something else for Algebra 2? He would be in 7th grade and I'm getting dangerously close to transcript time ?.

So my son is doing Beast Academy 5 this year. The question is, where do I go from here for Pre-Algebra? AOPS is a natural answer but to be honest, I don't believe he's up for it. His same-age, not-as-mathy, sister will be going into Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra. But I dont think T.T. will be enough for him. Surely there's something between TT and AOPS. Maybe even something at least partially self-teaching in the ways that TT and Beast are? And hopefully not an $$ online course? Doing searches I'm seeing Jousting Amadillos but I can't get a clear idea what this is. A stand alone? A supplement?

Most of my kids use a combination of two Math programs; be it Math Mammoth or Beast or Teaching Textbooks or Khan or Fred or Miquon, lol. Trying to allign is crazy-making though, and since you are doing it for the spiral in the first place a bit counter to your goal. Ive only looked at Saxon, never used it. But I'll mention that most spiral programs seem behind their mastery counterpart at first glance. So look closely (and at the end) before you decide to bump up a grade. When mixing a mastery with a spiral it's best for the spiral programs to lag anyways, so that the mastery can be the first introduction to new subjects and the spiral serve as the review. Doing both every day may seem a bit much to your child unless you cut the lessons in half. Maybe you could alternate? Or do one once a week?

Can I ask what year the simple charlotte mason one began with? Or maybe more importantly, what page you actually started writing in?

I'm so interested in this topic. And also in need of "middle grade" level sources.

I'd like my upcoming 5th graders to start their own Book of Centuries. And because of finances (and perfectionism that may require reprints) I'm going to make them myself. Problem is, I am having a hard time knowing what year to begin with! In the dozens of examples I've seen of BOC's, none really mentioned where they started. I could potentially print off pages going back thousands of thousands of years, but would we have anything to write down? So what date does your B.O.C. begin with? Or if you've never done a Book of Centuries but still want to play, what date kicks off knowable, record-able, (human) history? We will be using Story of the World as our main history spine, if that helps.

I haven't been on WTM in a very, very long time as I needed to step back from watching how other people homeschool (and trying to keep up). But I'm stepping back in for a bit to ask if anyone here has ever gone to a St Emmelia homeschool conference? And, if anyone is considering going to the upcoming St Emmelia West conference in November? Airfare being what it is, I'll be going by myself as a momma retreat. But stepping out and doing something I've never done before (!!), alone (!!), and far away from home (!!) is pretty big. Having a friendly name, even if its just a tag-name, would be nice.

I've used LOE Foundations with 5 kids now :). I adore the program so this is not an unbiased opinion, lol. One of my boys was very hard to understand. Many people asked what his accent was. LOE helped somewhat with diction and clear speaking. Not to the extent that speech therapy would. And no, you don't need to use their handwriting. It would be really easy to sub out HWOT.

My 2nd grader does 15-30 minutes, basically coming to the first natural stopping point we reach during that time. Sometimes that's 1 page and sometimes it's 3-4. With my 4th grader I divided it up, as he's VERY goal and deadline oriented. My goal for him was finishing Beast 5 at the end of 6th grade. So he needed to do 3 books a year, which is 1 per trimester, which is 1 section a month. Sometimes a section is longer or harder or a month is shorter (like December!) so he will slow down or speed up or end up ahead or behind. But he knows when that 3rd book is done, it's summer break and Life of Fred 😎 It looked like this: 3rd- 3A, 3B, 3C 4th- 3D, 4A, 4B 5th- 4C, 4D, 5A 6th- 5B, 5C, 5D

I'm doing three levels of ELTL this year :) I use audio books heavily, so they all come to the lesson having listened to the selection. The older kids read the Fable and poem solo too, so I just jump in at the end for grammar. That being said, yes it's a lot!! And I actually decided to pull my oldest out of ELTL for 5th grade next year partly because it's so much and partly because I'm supplementing the writing portion so heavily it's not worth it anymore. I think it's an **amazing** program through 3rd or 4th grade (ELTL 3 or C if you have the new ones) and then it's an easy transition to more advanced writing instruction and a new diagramming based grammar program.

As an adoptive family most of my kids are under a year apart. Right now between ages 5-10 my kids are in grades PK,K,2,3,and 4. I teach everyone together in History, Science, and Art with different output expectations. We do literature reads and comprehension together, trying to alternate old favorites for the olders with books that maybe stretch (or bore) the youngers. The upper 4 all do Latin together, with the 2nd grader just participating orally. I have 3 levels of grammar/writing- PK/K, 2/3rd, and 4th. 3 levels of spelling- PK/K, 2/3/4th, and another 4th by herself. And everyone on their own level of math except the PK/K pair. But next year even they will have to break up as the younger is wildly outpacing the order. 😢 I find most anything but math can be combined. I cannot for my life combine math successfully.

Thanks. I'm also concerned about my 3rd grader. He's paced well so far with Song School but I know this will be a jump. He wants to keep up with the big kids so we will see... Unfortunately for him it's keep up or start over Song School with my first graders.

I'm getting my ducks in a row for next year and getting confused by Latin for Children. There's a lot of parts!! Which parts do I need? And which parts do I need for each student (I'll have 4- a third grader, a 4th grader, and two 5th graders). Primer A - This looks like a workbook, so I need one per student, right? Primer A Answer Key- Is this worth buying? Do I really need it? I mean, I don't know Latin but so far in Song School I've been fine without a key. DVD/CD- Obviously I only need one :) History Reader- This is consumable too? So I need one each? Primer A Activity book- Is this necessary? helpful? overkill? Headventureland account- Is this worth it? Helpful? If I get this, should I skip the activity book? Also, how many days a week should I expect this to take and what will those days look like? We've completed both years of Song School by doing Latin 3 days a week- one for the DVD, and two for the workbook. Along with randomly listening to the CD in the car. Will I have to increase to every day in Latin for Children, or is it still accomplish-able in 3 days?

I have two 4th graders that did Fable earlier this year and are in Narrative now. We have loved it. I think a 3rd grader that isn't pencil phobic and has a good grip on what a sentence is would do fine.

We've been really happily doing English Lessons Through Literature for years. But this year we wanted more writing and added Writing and Rhetoric. Well, W&R and ELTL are too similar to make keeping up with both make sense. BUT I really enjoy the diagramming in ELTL. SO is there a book JUST for diagramming? Or do I purchase ELTL 5 just for the diagramming and skip the rest? Or, just for curiosities sake, what is everyone else using to go along with Writing and Rhetoric? Because Fables and Narrative 1, at least didn't seem to make up a full year of language arts...

We've been really happily doing English Lessons Through Literature for years. But this year we wanted more writing and added Writing and Rhetoric. Well, W&R and ELTL are too similar to make keeping up with both make sense. BUT I really enjoy the diagramming in ELTL. SO is there a book JUST for diagramming? I feel like that's what I REALLY want. Or do I purchase ELTL 5 just for the diagramming and skip the rest? (Seems a waste, but if its the easiest way to get that diagramming in...) Or, just for curiosities sake, what is everyone else using to go along with Writing and Rhetoric? Because Fables and Narrative 1, at least didn't seem to make up a full year of language arts...

We are moving in the next couple months too. It's our first move since having kids so I don't have any advice but plenty of sympathy. Our realtor (also a homeschooler) advised getting a storage unit and moving all non-necessities early. Stuff like holiday decorations, seasonal toys like the trampoline, extra furniture, ect. Not only is it helping the actual move day but its a huge part of staging as well. Other than that I'm just trying to plug away faithfully NOW while I can. And hoping it sells fast so we dont have to live weeks "show ready". I'm guessing I'll have to take at least 2 weeks off, one to pack and one to unpack. It's my kids first move so I dont want to overwhelm them with trying to adjust and do school on top of it all.