For those ages, I loved Real Science 4 Kids. They have both geology and astronomy texts now, along with labs. Each book is designed to take 10-12 weeks, but a lot of people stretch it out over a semester. I used the chemistry book - and found what was covered at the elementary level to be impressive. It's great advice to consider what will work for you as the teacher - and to realize it may change over time. Some people thrive on having set lesson plans, knowing what to do each day. Others need a little more flexibility. With my older elementary children, I do science only twice a week. Some programs are set up that way, but I feel constrained by the 36-week, box-checking programs. Also, even though you already recognize you prefer reading for most of your science, do include some hands-on activities and experiments. For me, kits have been the way to go - the everything-is-included kind of kits. When I had a lot of little ones running around I didn't have time to go shopping for all the odds and ends. Now its a different story. The reason I love kits now is that we live overseas, in a very rural area. Our local market doesn't necessarily boast a lot of those "common, household items". A few of them might be available in grocery stores, but those are a 12-hour drive away. Walmart? :smilielol5: Not going to happen. It's 8 hours away by plane once I get to the area where grocery stores are. Blessings to you as you continue on your homeschooling journey, Laura

I have three children with learning differences - 1 with a math ld and 2 with dyslexia. We use MathUSee, with Teaching Textbooks as a supplement. I like MathUSee because of how it teaches one thing at a time, and builds step by step. It is also multisensory, which is really good for kids who learn differently. With the video lessons (short, once per week) and the rods you get experiences built into the program that engage all the senses. I like the video lessons also because 1) the concept might be presented in a slightly different way, so if a child doesn't "get it" when I explain it, the lesson might make it clear (or vice versa) and 2) it adds even more repetition to the lesson, since they hear the lesson at least twice. Repetition and review are a strong suit of MathUSee, because each lesson is followed by 6 worksheets - 3 that drill the new concept, and 3 that review previous concepts along with some drill of the new concept. Teaching Textbooks has made a great supplement because it's engaging, with just the right amount of new material in each lesson, and has lots of review. I see it as extra repetition in math - and that extra repetition is crucial for kids who learn differently. But because it is a different scope and sequence, what happens is that my children are either 1) reviewing a concept taught in MathUSee or 2) being introduced to something not yet taught. It is only my younger children who use both programs. At those levels, lessons in each are short and sweet, so it is not a burden. My older children only use 1 math program. My oldest, who struggles with math, never understood algebra with Teaching Textbooks. We finally ditched it and went with MathUSee Algebra 1, which she has found works much better. The fact that she has 5 or 6 worksheets to reinforce each lesson is making a difference for her. My second dd is also studying Algebra 1, but she is using Teaching Textbooks, and it is working well for her. I also would encourage beginning the Barton Program. It has been quite effective, especially with my child who was older (4th grade) when he started. Blessings, Laura

I have used Five in a Row and Sonlight. Both were wonderful programs and could fit your needs. Another one you might want to consider is Winterpromise. I've not used any of their younger levels, but I'm looking at Journeys into Imagination for next year. Blessings, Laura

I tried to drill sounds in a variety of ways when I had a dc stuck at that stage - Alphabet Bingo, Go Fish (alphabet version), etc. Another thing you can work on is phonemic awareness with her. What is the first sound you hear, the middle sound, the last sound, etc. A good resource is Phonemic Awareness in Young Children. It has a variety of activities which develop phonemic awareness, and a suggested schedule for doing them in K and 1st grades. You could use the schedule if you wanted, but slow it down. The activities tend to be fun and engaging. Anyway, that might give you some variety while still doing the lessons your dd wants and is able to do. Blessings, Laura

Winterpromise science can be done pretty independently. Or you could try an online science, such as Plato or Simple Homeschooling. You can often get Plato through the Homeschool Buyers Co-op. https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/plato-middle-science/ . The Simple Homeschooling website is http://simpleschoolingclassroom.com/

Truthquest.

I use Sequential Spelling for Adults with my older elementary dd. It streamlines the regular program into 2 years, and it seems to be working well with her. She's more of a natural speller, though. I also used it with my dd who is now in 8th grade. We stopped about a sixth of the way through with her (end of the school year) and didn't go back. She, too, is a natural speller and didn't need any more.

MathUSee. If Horizons is working, though, I wouldn't change.

This year my second grader is doing: Math: MathUSee Beta and Teaching Textbooks 3 Language Arts: Recipe for Reading (this includes handwriting and light grammar instruction. Because he is dyslexic, we are focusing on reading, and not doing a lot of grammar or writing at this point). Bible: CLE Bible 2 Five in Row: It's been several years since I did this with any of my children, so this is his first year with it. He's loving it. He also tags along when we do Home Science Adventures with his older siblings.

A really great resource is Phonemic Awareness in Young Children. We used this with my ds. This book is full of a variety of different exercises/games to do with 5-7 year olds, and has sample schedules for both K and 1st grades. We also played games in identifying medial (short-vowel) sounds in CVC words, as well as games identifying first and last sounds. You might also try changing the first letter of a word to make a rhyming word (example - tell them to change the "c" in cat to "h". Use letter sounds, not their names, when doing this). For a lot of children there seems to be a bit of a hump in moving from single sounds to blending. My oldest dd, for example, took 6 months to get there (knew all her letter sounds by 5 1/2 but didn't blend until her 6th birthday). However, I will encourage you that if your child continues to be unable to blend after 9-12 months of work, start looking for an underlying cause. My ds, who I mentioned above, is dyslexic, and it has been such a relief to find the curricula and tools to help him in his area of weakness. Blessings, Laura

We live overseas, too. Typically, the state you have the closest ties with is considered the state of residency. The more ties you have, the easier it will be to show you are a resident. You should check to find out what things are considered evidence of residency. We didn't find that information on school websites, but rather had to check a state government website to find what is needed to be considered a resident. We are still considered residents of Alabama because we have Alabama-issued driver's licenses, our permanent stateside address is there, and this was the last state we lived in before moving overseas. Our daughter will be getting her learner's permit there, too. Other evidences of residency can include, but are not limited to, ownership of property in the state, paying state income tax (laws vary from state to state for their residents who are expat and/or military), voter registration still in that state, etc. Hope this helps. Blessings, Laura Williams

First, here's another link: http://www.oldearth.org/homeschool.htm - great website with 3 online courses for high school. There's a link on this page to recommended books (supplementary things, not curricula) For junior high we've used Rainbow Science. It addresses evolution very briefly, and I didn't see anything at all on the age of the earth. Here are some individual books we've used and liked that clearly teach OEC and/or TE books by Michael Carroll - they are for elementary aged children God Said It and "Bang" It Happened My high schooler is reading Case for a Creator by Lee Stroebel. I believe there are also young adult and children's versions of this book. (There is one chapter on evolution, which you would want to address if you are TE) I look forward to seeing if anything else gets suggested here. Blessings, Laura Williams

I have boy-girl twins who will be 9 in October. Something I always thought was really cute. I joined the local moms-of-multiples group in our city when I was pregnant with my twins. Every 2-3 years they came out with a t-shirt members could buy. The last one I bought had 9 (cartoonish) babies on the front - arranged to represent twins, triplets, and quads. The quote below said, "Who said I'm bad at math? Look how I multiplied." Blessings, Laura

Congratulations! Congratulations! I was in almost the exact same spot as you are 9 years ago. My oldest was 5 and about to start K, and I also had a 2 1/2 year old and 12 month old. Then we got the news that we were expecting twins. I think the key to sucessfully homeschooling this year will be do do as much as you can through the summer and up until the babies are born. Then take a 2 1/2 or 3-month break. Start back slowly - 3 days a week for the first few weeks (or couple of months) before going back to a 5-day-a-week schedule. That's basically what I did, and we ended the school year having done about 190 days of school (we were in a state that required keeping attendance records). Also, arrange whatever help you can for those early months (relatives, friends, church, teenage mother's helper are some ideas). My mother helped me out 3 days a week from the time our second twin came home until they were about 4 months old. That helped me be able to have a little more uninterrupted time for doing school. I agree with others who have posted to consider how much extra driving public school will mean. It is a hard job to load/unload your twins plus the 2 other younger children. I also agree that you need to consider the risk of viruses, etc. that might get brought home from school. If your babies are born early (and there's a higher risk of that with twins) you'll need to be careful about what they're exposed to. Our pediatrician warned us to be very careful, because if our babies got RSV they would likely end up in the hospital. I'm sure homeschooling was one factor that helped protect our babies, because neither of them got sick during those early months at home. One other consideration - if your babies are born early and spend time in the NICU, balancing hospital visits with public school schedules is going to be difficult. Also, having babies in the NICU is just more stressful for everyone in the family, and may affect how your oldest handles school at that time. I hope everything goes well, and your babies do not need to spend time in the NICU (or very little time), but if your experience ends up being similar to mine (one twin in NICU for 4 weeks; the other there for 6 1/2) it's going to be hard to juggle everything during those weeks. If you homeschool, you can already be planning for those to be weeks off, but you won't be able to take off from public school. Praying everything goes well for you. Blessings, Laura

I'll have my 6th K'er next year. Here are our plans. Get Ready, Get Set, Go for the Code Books Handwriting Without Tears K MathUSee - primer, then begin Alpha Galloping the Globe with older siblings CLE Bible with older siblings Blessings, Laura

I've used Biblioplan years 2 and 3, and have purchased year 4 for next year. The answer to your question depends on which year you are using. Year 1: Ancients program integrates a significant amount of Biblical history, so you probably would be skipping a lot of things. (I haven't used this yet, but I have looked over it) Year 2: Medieval, Renaissance, and Reformation covers some church history. I think you might wish to skip books, but probably not whole weeks worth of material. Years 3 and 4, which are American and World History, would require you to do the least amount of tweaking if you wanted a secular program. There are books here and there which you might choose not to use, but I haven't found as many as in Year 2. Hope this helps. Blessings, Laura

This is a great site. I bought most of my cloth diapers there. I really like the Flip diaper system that's available. The covers are very nice and work with other diapers. The Flip stay-dry insert is wonderful! I've also used some of the Econobum prefolds. If you want to get a good inexpensive starter kit, Cottonbabies has a couple. The Flip Day Pack has 2 diaper covers and 6 inserts. The Econobum Full Kit has 3 diaper covers, 12 prefolds, and 1 wet bag. The price for either kit is $50. Blessings, Laura

I'm planning to use Galloping the Globe next year with a 5th grader, 3rd grade twins, and a K-5er. I'll use parts of the Trail Guide to World Geography for the oldest, and some Trip Around the World ideas for the younger ones. GTG looks like a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to it. Blessings, Laura

We also do this. We try to get all the "everything else" done by Thursday so I can do lesson plans on Friday afternoons. Blessings, Laura

I'm so glad those days are behind me.:001_smile: It does get easier. My twins are 8 now. Blessings, Laura

My 8th grader this year is using: Bible: 4 short studies for teen girls Math: Teaching Textbooks 7 Language Arts: Literary Lessons from Lord of the Rings, IEW Medieval History Themed Writing, Sequential Spelling for Adults History: Biblioplan Year 3 supplemented with some Great Courses lectures Science: Rainbow Science Year 1 Greek: Hey, Andrew, Teach me Some Greek (currently on level 3) She's doing some keyboarding, art, and guitar on her own. Blessings, Laura

We're using theme books (Fun and Fascinating, Medieval History) this year. I'm watching the TWSS dvds, though. I know there would be gaps in my ability to teach if I didn't. I would highly recommend using them along with the theme books. Blessings, Laura

Here's what I'm leaning toward. My rising 5th grader was diagnosed with ADHD and a mild LD (math) last year, so we're still working on getting him caught up. Language Arts: Barton Reading and Spelling Program, WWE2, HWOT Math: Teaching Textbooks 4 Galloping the Globe with Considering God's Creation - for Bible, history, geography, science, art French - leaning towards Power Glide Elementary Computer Science - leaning toward this one - http://www.motherboardbooks.com/products/logo-adventures/ Blessings, Laura

Yes, we're happy here with our choices (but that was after some significant changes this past summer). The only thing we're looking at changing is the schedule. Some of the lower-priority subjects are not getting done as often as I would like. Blessings, Laura

I have 7 children - 5 school age this year (8th, 5th, 4th, 2nd, 2nd), with a new kindergartener to be added next year. Like the others, I use independent study and grouping where possible. I have a couple of dc with "learning differences", so some of their things have to be done one-on-one. Bible - 8th - separate, done independently, Bible studies she picked out from CBD; 5th (CLE) - separate - done with me; 4th and 2nd (CLE) - grouped together - done with me LA - Everyone on their own level - 8th grader mainly independent; elementary students 25-50% independent - we use a combination of IEW, TLP, Sequential Spelling, ETC, FLL, WWE, HWT, Cheerful Cursive, and Barton program Math - TT for 4 of them; MUS for the other Science - Same groupings as with Bible. Oldest using Rainbow Science, elementary children using RS4K History - I group the 8th and 5th grader (Biblioplan year 3), then the 4th and 2nd graders (American History). Next year the olders will do BP year 4, and the youngers, including the K'er, will use Galloping the Globe. Blessings, Laura