We're using Essentials. My kids who turned 4 and 5 last month are flying through it. It doesn't seem necessary since they understand the concepts so far, but we're just going to move through it fast to make sure there are no holes in their knowledge.

Pretty sure that's just as high as the test goes, and that everyone starts on map 8 no matter what.

Lots of people use Miquon as a primary math. Its just fine on its own. And quite gentle.

I was all set to go with Singapore next year.... but RightStart looks so fun! I know it's teacher-intensive, but is it really that overwhelming?

We have pretty regular family debates over this issue on holidays. I use it. I think it provides clarity and continuity, especially when reading outloud. However, my brother would argue that it is old-fashioned, cluttered, and there is a natural break between words so the comma isn't needed.

Gastroparesis?

BOB books go up through complex words (set 4) and long vowels (set 5). Usborne also has phonetically decodable readers.

Ours were generally inactive.

What about the Catholic National Readers book 3? I know Adoremus books sells them. Our Lady of Victory uses the Catholic National Readers in their gradeschool. The books are a collection of stories, essays, poetry, etc.

I think it depends on how it's being used. To me, the practical application for research is as a "jumping off" point - it's a fast and easy method of developing any number of ideas to research about a specific topic. I would not, probably, accept a quote from wikipedia as a direct primary source in a formal paper, just because it isn't always guarenteed to be accurate.

My DD5 does tge same thing. We're just overteaching the letters/numbers she regularly has a problem with (ie, d and b) and gently correcting the other mistakes.

Maybe if you got the audio cds and let her listen to the chapters a few times before reading it, it would help her retention?

We do a lot of sorting by color, shape, size. I generally just go to the local dollar store and pick items to be sorted and various containers to sort into. We use small balls and icecube trays (one item per square of the tray) for one-to-one correspondence. I have a small set of utility drawers (plastic, with little tiny drawers desinged for screws, nuts, etc. Each drawer has a letter on it, and whatever small objects or pictures I can find to start with that letter inside. Great for exploring the letter sounds, sorting by first letter, etc. We have various numerals (1-10) and counters. We have card sets from Montessori Print Shop that we printed and laminated (sorting objects by land, air, or sea; color matching cards; animals and silhouette matching; object and silhouette matching; alphabet cards; shape cards). We have a set of geometric shapes to practice shape identification. We have tons of wooden puzzles, ranging from peg puzzles through 48 piece puzzles. For Christmas, we got the Guidecraft Sort & Match Flower Patch (they have a train one, too), which comes with various magnetic flower pieces, cards with examples of flower patches, and a magnetic board - kiddo has to exactly copy the flower patch examples with the magnetic flower pieces. Educational Insight's Castle Logic game, which has 6 castle pieces and a book of examples - kid has to make the castle pieces look like the example. Montessori binomial cube, pink tower, color box 3 (identifying and sorting colors by shades), and sandpaper alphabet. Lacing, tracing, tweezing and spooning activites (fine motor skills). Practice pouring (we use beans in cups), table setting (plastic), and folding...

My DH has type 1 bipolar. I know that pedi bipolar is a whole different animal, but for him an overwhelming lack of motivation is a bp depression symptom? While I understand that you want to get more done, it looks like you did get a lot done. Math, children's Homer, lots of reading - all good things. I think that slow & steady is the ticket here... try to use this week as a baseline and sneak in a bit more each week. My mom really struggled with.motivating my youngest brother... he always has been a "march to his own drummer" type of person. He did a lot of building projects, making pumpkin pies, "helping" mom write letters, throughout school. She tried everything to slip learning into his day. All his spelling (literally all of it) was done on the fridge with magnet letters. He played silly math games on the computer.because it was the only thing he'd do. He was in college before we ever saw him read without hanging upside down off the sofa. And he turned out fine... he learned plenty, just in his own way (he's now mostly done his Masters of Divinity degree, with wonderful grades).

Despite the developmentalist, neuro-psych, OT, and SLP (plus mom & dad) all recommending minor accomidations to help him cope in a school setting, the local schoolboard gave us a total denial. He has severe SID, an anxiety disorder, and OCD. The sensory issues of a school room alone (never mind the anxiety and OCD) aare more than he can possibly cope with. But since he, academically, functions at well above expexted age range, he cannot have any help. If I put him in a regular VPK or K, and he can't function, the woman said that as long as he is academically at or above grade level, his sensory and anxiety symptoms will be treated as behavorial, with no accomidations or help provided for the SID or OCD. I will obviously be keeping him at home rather than deal with that... I'd planned to homeschool anyway. I went through with the schoolboard evaluation because the developmentalist wanted a "back up plan" in place in case homeschooling falls through for whatever reason. But honestly... SID and anxiety symptoms as "behavorial"? Gah.

We told DS4 (he was not quite 4 at the time) that the doctor was going to try to help us find ways to help him stop getting so worried (anxiety disorder/OCD) and to help us find ways for loud noises, clothes, etc to bother him less (SID).

Maybe ask if chloral hydrate sedation would be an option? If its indicated, its much less invasive. We've used it for MRIs without an issue.

No, but I keep meaning to talk to DH about getting the scale. It does look neat, and I bet we'd use it in science, too (BFSU vol1).

We plan on doing Miquon and Singapore 1 for my DD5 and DS4 next year, too. For Miquon we're just planning on the c-rods. Not sure what we're getting from the chart of suggested manipulatives for Singapore, exactly. For sure whiteboards (which we have/use anyway, hundred board and counting disks. Waiting to see about everything else.

I'd start him in 2b to keep it new and interesting for him, but review concepts he missed with the blue series through the year.

My brother used an online public school years ago. Wasn't terrible. They did track his log in and assignments.

Just looked at the samples of A Reason for Handwriting, and I love it!

We've been slowly working through K of HWOT with DD5 who will start K in the fall. I liked the concept, but the double lines drive her crazy. She draws herself a third line on top of the double line when she needs to write an "l", "f", "t", etc. Do we push through it and it will get better? She's not complaining about the whole program, just says she needs the top line to know where tall letters go. Finish this year and change it to something else? Drop it and change it now?

Thanks for the breakdown!

50/50... or 60/40 (60 books)..... maybe 70/30, if Ilived in an area with good second-hand stores.