StartWrite has it! BTW, I noticed the website doesn't say one word about that. I have a copy of the software though, and my copy does HWT font. Here's a site that does show it as being in Startwrite.

Hang in there!! (((Hugs))))

I always used 2 math programs with Bear. He would work out of one book and then go directly to the next and work out of it. If we didn't do it that way, it took too long to get through each program. With Otter though, I work from our main program and then when he gets stuck or just needs some variety, I switch to my other program(s).

The songs are cheesy. One of my kids liked them, the other didn't. They got old really fast and none of the kids retained anything from them.

The curriculum I wrote for my son uses some of those materials. You can use everything you have because it's so adaptable. It's linked via my signature if you want to take a look. :001_smile:

I have a bunch listed here: http://www.ourlosbanos.com/homeschool/history/worldstudies.html Just scroll through the different weeks or pick a specific country. :001_smile:

Here are some I like: North American Indians (Marie and Douglas Gorsline) Leif the Lucky (Ingri & Edgar D’Aulaire) Columbus (Ingri & Edgar Parin D’Aulaire) Pocahontas (Ingri & Edgar Parin d’ Aulaire) Sarah Morton’s Day (Kate Waters) Samuel Eaton's Day : a Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Boy (by Kate Waters) Thanksgiving on Plymouth Plantation (Time-Traveling Twins) (by Diane Stanley) Three Young Pilgrims (Cheryl Harness) Benjamin Franklin (Edgar D’Aulaire) George Washington (by D’ Aulaire) George Washington’s Breakfast (by Jean Fritz) Joining the Boston Tea Party (Time-Traveling Twins) (by Diane Stanley) Sam, the Minuteman (I Can Read Book 3) (by Nathaniel Benchley) We, The People (by Peter Spier) Johnny Appleseed (by Steven Kellogg) Lewis and Clark : A Prairie Dog for the President (Step into Reading 3) (by Shirley Raye Redmond) The Star Spangled Banner by Francis Scott Key (Author), Edgar Parin D'Aulaire Buffalo Bill (by D’ Aulaire) Roughing It on the Oregon Trail (The Time-Traveling Twins) (by Diane Stanley) Abraham Lincoln (by D’Aulaire) Abe Lincoln's Hat (Step into Reading 3) (by Martha Brenner) Up the Learning Tree (by Marcia K. Vaughan) I was lazy and copied these from my site. ;) I also agree with the other posters and their suggestions! :D

I stink at the breathing portion of swimming too, so you have my sympathy! I never got it down, even after quite a few swimming lessons and years of swimming. Just hang in there! Try to get through it as best as you can and I'll root for ya!

Neat! Thanks for sharing!

I liked Apologia's Botany. I also liked Real Science 4 Kids (although not as much). Besides that I like Otter's Science, which is what I made for my son to use this year. You can see the link in my sig. I also like how Noeo homeschool science looks. If I wasn't using my own curriculum, I'd probably go with Noeo this fall. I really like all of the variety and bunches of books/kits. That's more my style than a text book.

Here's a link to what I made and use: http://www.ourlosbanos.com/homeschool/history/timeline.html I have it in a PDF so you can take a look and print it out, if it's the kind you like/want. I've tried several different timeline methods and the one that worked best for my family was for us to each have our own timeline book. The pages are 3 hold punched and put into a binder. When we fill up a page, I insert a half page in the same section. When we read a book that is set in a specific time period, we paste in a picture of the cover (just use google images or whatever). That is a great review for all of the books we've read and it makes it more clear when they happened. Otherwise we paste in figures from google images or draw in pictures or write in text. I've also used timeline figures in the past.

I used it for my 3rd grader for science and he loved it. (We used the 2nd grade + resources.) If I had beefed it up with the extra reading suggestions for older students and added in some lapbooks or something for the habitats, it would have been enough for a core curriculum for him at that age.

I used WP last school year: AS2 for our history/core and Animals & Their Worlds for science. We had an awesome year. Otter LOVED nearly all of the books. I loved the IG, activities, user friendliness, etc. The materials were very age appropriate, engaging, colorful, fun, interesting, etc. Because of this and because of the activities and optional crafts (we didn't do all of them, but picked some out to do based on time available and interest), Otter really retained what he was learning so much better than when we've used other programs. Now we have Children Around the World sitting on the shelf and I've had to keep the kids away from the books because they are so great. I'm just very happy with WP. We had one of our best years last year thanks to them! Let me know if you have any specific questions.

These are some things that have worked for Otter: History: WinterPromise - plenty of activities, a better balance of non fiction books & visual books, etc. Sequential Spelling - the only spelling program I've found that works Shurley English - The repetition of the jingles every day has helped him with grammar concepts. It's a very predictable program and has really drilled concepts into his head. We don't use the writing portion as it's just too much for him right now. I'm also going to be using First Language Lessons with him. Currently he's working with LLATL, but it's only good for him as review. He wouldn't do well if he was having to learn grammar concepts from it. RightStart math Miquon Math Singapore Math All 3 of the above have worked well for him. He hates MUS for some odd reason. Handwriting Without Tears - if it wasn't for this program, he'd have illegible writing. Science: Apologia, Real Science 4 Kids, WinterPromise's Animals & Their Worlds, lots of kits, etc. He'll be using a program I designed for him this fall (in my sig.) He LOVES science. Reading: Usborne readers - He loves them and they are some of the only chapter books that he will actually get through. He has such a hard time with retention otherwise. He totally can NOT read books that are about modern social situations - like a story of a kid out with a bunch of friends solving a mystery or something like that. He does much better if the story is about an animal, or is history based (think Little House series), etc. He also reads lots of non fiction books from the library, etc. He's also worked with Latin for Children and did very well with it, but I'm holding off on continuing with it to give him more time to work on his reading and writing skills.

Thank you! :D

Thanks!

I'm glad it went great for you! We always school in the afternoons through the evening year round. I like it so much better that way and so do the kids. :001_smile:

Don't be sorry for asking more questions! I love to help out, when I can! Here is a page that explains the differences between the two pretty well: http://www.squidoo.com/WPvsSL WP does have many more hands on activities. The IG's are very similar but WP has the "working on my own pages" for kids to do some things independently. WP also does not have all the comprehension questions, IG notes, etc. They rely on narration questions instead and have little squares you can cut out and have your child "draw" from for variety. They also have some games you get with your IG to play and reinforce what you are learning. They don't have vocabulary either (unless you get their LA - but it's NOT tied to the materials). I like this because I just cover any unfamiliar words on the fly with my kids. In the fall I'm going to be using Children Around the World. I created a complimentary program for my older kids so that I could combine all 3 with harder materials to work from for the big kids. It's on my site and in my sig, if you want to take a look. Yes, OurLosBanos.com is my site. :001_smile: Thanks for the compliment! As for WP's American history materials, I used American Story 2 this last school year and had a wonderful time with it. I'm going to use the new American Crossing program in the future for 8th and 9th grade. Also, some other posters mentioned Tapestry of Grace as an option. I actually used that this past school year with my oldest two since they needed to do 20th century history. I liked it and it's very thorough, but it's NOT as easy to use as I'd have liked it to be. It wasn't an open and go curriculum in the sense that it required much more work/planning, etc. on my part. I also did not like the book selections and activities as much as I like everything at WP. I think TOG is better than Sonlight because of the extensive notes and how you can combine ages better, plus there are some activities. I liked the flexibility and my kids learned a lot better from TOG than SL because there was a better foundation of non fiction materials. I don't think it's as user friendly though or as well suited for my family as WP. I guess I just really got spoiled with WP and the great books, kits, ease of use, etc. Good luck with your choosing and please, if you have any more questions, don't be shy! Hopefully Karen can help make some things clear for you too.

I used Spelling Power in the past and it didn't work for my kids. I didn't like bothering with the activities, etc. I've also tried lots of other spelling programs and the only one I've found that works for us is Sequential Spelling. Not only does it work, but it's quick and super easy. There are no activities, no busy work, etc. It takes us 5-10 minutes a day and surprisingly it sticks! They have a free trial on their site: http://www.avko.org/sequentialspelling.html

I have a timeline download here: http://www.ourlosbanos.com/homeschool/history/timeline.html You can print it onto card stock and only print out the part for the ancients.

Well you have a 3rd, 6th and 8th grader, so I would recommend getting WP's All American set. More info about it is on this page. This is a set that was designed so families could mix the best from the 2 American history programs WP has (that are designed for different ages) and keep siblings working together in one program. I would give Karen at WP a call, if you have specific questions about the program. I have heard that she is very willing to personally help you out in discovering what would be best for your family. If you were to purchase a package like this, you would get your instructor's guide, materials and books all in one package. Then all you would have to do is pull out the instructor's guide and follow along what it says to do for each day. Here's an example of one of the IG's. Your kids could work on the activities together. I've found that it's SO much easier when I can combine my kids. That's why next year I'm combining all 3 for the main core, even though I have a very big age spread. It's just so much more fun learning together as a family. :001_smile: Let me know if you have any more questions!

I really like biology, zoology, botany, and anatomy & physiology. Emily likes anatomy & physiology (emphasis on nursing), Bear likes chemistry and biology, Otter likes anything and everything that is even associated with science. If it has a cool experiment to do...even better....;)

I made a free science program for my son that goes up to (and beyond) 6th grade: http://www.ourlosbanos.com/homeschool/otters_science_main.html It's a literature based (as opposed to a text book) science program with lots of optional experiments, activities, etc. :)

Ack I double posted! I thought the other post didn't go through!

I've used SL - I've used K, 1, 2, 3+4, 5, alt 7, 100 and 200. I like a lot of things about SL, but I found myself always tweaking it way too much to get my kids to actually retain what they were reading. Finally, after seeing my oldest daughter go through 100 and 200 and see the joy about homeschooling slip away (because I was no longer tweaking and adding in all of the cool stuff, PLUS seeing that my kids didn't retain a darn thing from other years *I'm overstating...) I had to rethink SL. I wrote my own curriculum and then....I discovered WinterPromise. I actually discovered WP on the SL boards where people were talking disparagingly about it. I investigated and found that WP was like what *I*had been doing all this time with SL - It had the activities, the better (in my opinion) mix of books (more color, pictures, non fiction, etc.), the websites, the movie suggestions, and notebooking....all that work I had been doing for so long to make SL work better for my family was done for me. I made the switch and I've never been happier. My youngest did WP's American history 2 last year along with their Animals & Their World program for science. He has retained so much of what he learned and we had one of our best years "core curriculum" wise. Another thing about WP is that their schedule is not overwhelming. In contrast, when I was doing SL, I felt very tied to a burdening amount of things to do. It's not that we don't still do that amount of work, but a lot now is "extras" that we have time to pursue because WP takes a more Charlotte Mason approach with small chunks split up leaving plenty of time for bunny trails, or just enjoying the outdoors, a hobby - whatever. SL sometimes literally made my throat sore from all the read alouds! I'm still reading out loud and I'm still doing a LOT, but.....it's just a lot more manageable. A lot of it is extra stuff that we actually have time for because WP is so reasonable schedule wise. It's not that I don't like SL. I do. They were my "first love" curriculum wise, so to speak. But....they have a tendency to choose books that are above kids (at least my kids). Yes, my kids listened. Yes, they even enjoyed a lot...but because the books were more beyond their level they didn't retain it. There were very few if any activities to tie things together and I always felt like we were missing a more firm foundation. The kids would read about the revolution or whatever with all these great fiction stories, but they didn't understand the thread of history during and even after reading these. There was no framework for them. I was always having to try to fill it in. WP is so much more age appropriate. Because of that, my son really got sucked into what we were doing. With WP this year we were learning about the gold rush and reading a great book with fun pictures and activities and had a real gold panning kit to do (with real gold!), etc. It made history more alive for us. With SL it was like: read this book with no pictures. And while your at that, read this other one that is for much older kids. And oh while you're doing that, read this other one that also has no pictures. It's a terrific story but you won't understand what the heck is going on unless you go through the pages of notes. Don't get me wrong, the books ARE great with SL. But oh almost everyone is so heavy or a tear jerker or emotional or..... where is the fun? Where are the pictures and photographs? Where is all the great age appropriate non fiction foundation type books that are just as much a visual treat as they are to read? I also never "got" their L.A. It just didn't work for my kids. I know they've changed it though so maybe the new version is better. Anyway, SL still makes me drool. They are like "gods" when it comes to advertising. They KNOW how to sell their product. But...it doesn't work for my family. We are much more happy now that we've moved on. I hope this helps a little. Let me know if you have specific questions. I hope I don't come across as bashing SL. They do have a wonderful product, but it just doesn't mesh my family's learning style and just doesn't excite us like a box of WinterPromise. Oh, also...you mentioned you like to have things scheduled....WP's schedule is so easy to use that Otter did it himself a few times when big sister babysat and I had errands to run. I just pulled it out, opened it to the correct day and he checked the boxes off as he did his work. Another cool thing WP has is a "working on my own schedule" that helps to train your kids to be responsible for their own learning for part of their items. I love it.