The first 20 or so lessons of B are major review. So definitely look past those. The later part does multi digit addition and subtraction. I had one child doing B in second and my son did B in first. So it does depend on the child. But you'd need to post your child's age and what they've already covered in math for me to know more. But it is possible to start the program with C.

All that to say that if it was jut my dd, LOE would have probably worked great. For my son, it was too much too soon. After using both I prefer AAR with all of its pieces and papers because it has so many opportunities for review. I should really blog about my decision. A comparison post would probably be helpful. I think I feel like AAR introduces the phonograms in a more logical and incremental way. And it's easy to slow down for a struggling kiddo or accelerate for my dd who is a stronger reader. This upcoming year I think I'm going to even do AAS to see if I can further help my son. (We were doing Phonics Road). I think he needs more help and review. I think I might even out my older dd in AAS too. The method is just working really well at my house so I thought we would try the spelling too.

Hi! I did use both for a time. My son struggles hugely with reading. He did LOE A and part of B. It is colorful and has more active kinesthetic activities. However, it moved a little too quickly for my son. It introduced beginning and ending blends way too fast for him. So we are now back with AAR and making steady progress. He needs the very incremental approach. The fluency pages help him a ton even though they are not fun. The cards are great. We practice about 15 cards each day. I don't try to get him to memorize the card. But he sounds them out when needed. So it's extra practice sounding things out. We just pick the next 15 in the box for each day. I don't stress him out about mastery. We also re-read the stories in the reader a lot. Some of them are long so we read short segments each day. For us AAR was necessary because there is more opportunity for review. I have tried several things to help my son. AAR seems like it is working. He can now read simple things. And he doesn't mind doing the program. I found that with LOE he got too wild with some of the games and he didn't retain things as well. But it is also a good program. I really believe in the phonics-based approach. And in making a full confession-I think I own 4 or 5 phones programs. I just stuck with AAR because it has tons of practice and is easy for me to use. And my son tolerates the review cards and little games. The fluency pages have helped him get to where he can read a full sentence with some comprehension so I really believe in those pages even if they aren't fun. I use the chart provided in the program and we put stickers on it to see our progress. My kids can also earn 1 audiobook for every 5 readers (Frog and Toad and I Can Read type books) that they read to me. This has really motivated them. My dd is struggling less with reading and I'm using AAR with her as well. She is getting a great foundation but she moves through more quickly. The reader stories don't seem too long for her right now. I'm just letting her go at her pace but she's doing well.

Landry My 3rd grader took two classes from them last year. She did well. I did check in with her each week and help her when needed, but she was able to do it herself. She is a strong reader and both classes involved quite a bit of reading. I would not have let her take a class in one of her weaker subjects because I wouldn't want her frustrated. Does the Athena Academy offer classes for 4th grade? My kids also do Veritas Online and love that. Bridgeway Academy has some too I think

Thanks for the info. I'm going to do more reading about the Damon system. I am considering a 3rd opinion to compare the two and see what another one says. I just feel anxious making the decision because it's such a huge investment and I want my daughter to be confident with her smile. She has not had teeth pulled nor will I let them extract any teeth. I had an extremely narrow mouth as well. However, I had headgear and expanders and braces and all of my adult teeth fit perfectly in my mouth and I have zero issues. If I could take my daughter to the ortho who helped me I would. Sadly he is 13 hours away. The Damon system is not new. This one particular ortho has been using it since 2005. So, since it's the greatest thing ever, I don't understand why none of the other ortho's I've seen have presented it as an option. The other orthos don't even use this system. It makes me wonder why it's not more widely used or more well known. If it was such a great option that could fix my daughter's issues, wouldn't everyone do it? We aren't waiting until all permanent teeth come in for several reasons. My daughter has a cross bite and it can start damaging her permanent teeth that are caught in that cross bite. I don't want them chipped or for her to start having pain from this problem. Her mouth is too small and she has crowding so I want them to start making room before more teeth start coming in. But more importantly, my daughter feels self-conscious because her teeth are crooked and very crowded. I don't want her to feel that way for another 4 years until all of her adult teeth have come in. I asked my former dentist for thoughts on the Damon system and he knows nothing about it. So that wasn't helpful. I'm having a hard time trying to find objective information so I can make a decision.

We just moved to a new state and I know my daughter needs orthodontic work. My former dentist had recommended a consult. I got some consults from orthos in TX right before we moved so I have an idea of what work she might need. Now I need to find a new ortho in this state. She has a very narrow mouth, crowding, and a cross bite with one tooth. So, we were looking at doing an expander, some braces, and a retainer and then waiting until her other permanent teeth come in after age 12 and reevaluating to see if she needs braces one more time. So, I set up a consult with two different orthos in my new town that have good reviews. The first one laid out the same plan as above which I expected. The second one had a totally different plan. This ortho said he would expand, straighten, and fix the cross bite with braces alone. He uses a system called the Damon braces system. I have never heard of this and have never had another ortho mention this to me. According to this ortho the technology of this system is just amazing. The wires are high tech and can do everything under the sun. They have memory built in to always go back to the shape that they are supposed to be. With these special braces on for 10 months we can fix all of her problems with fewer visits, less pain,........blah blah blah. (But the price tag is actually more than the other ortho). I'm very leery of his plan because I have never heard of this system before and if it was so absolutely awesome then why doesn't every ortho in the country do it this way - especially since it would cost me more money but I would have fewer visits so theoretically they could see even more patients? I'm not sure I believe that he can expand her mouth and make room for all of her teeth with just these special braces. His plan sounds so much simpler and less painful than the other one. But I'm more worried about long term results. I'm afraid it won't work as effectively as the regular plan (expander, braces, retainer). And I don't want this child to have a narrow mouth with crowded teeth for the rest of her life. Have you heard of this system? Have you heard of doing all the expansion and straightening work with just braces? What would you do in my shoes?

It's 10% off at conventions (if the order is over $100) At least that's what it was the other weekend at the convention. I sometimes work their booth. And RS has been so worth it for us so far. The way my kids understand math...amazing. They have a great foundation.

I missed the last one and got an email about how to access the recording. So you should be able to.

Thank you! I'm going to look into that! My dd has egg allergies and it's so hard to bake without eggs.

Well the painter finished last night so we can finish unpacking. He did great work. However, I was so frustrated that he never showed up before noon. If he had worked full days, my painting project would not have gone over the deadline! Ugh! But at least it's done! Whew! Thanks for the advice. I felt bad complaining and wasn't sure what I should say. I was thankful to turn that one over to my hubby while I handled the electrician. It has been crazy here!

My hubby talked with him today and said it had to be done by 5:30 tonight. I'm so frustrated but trying to work in some other rooms until they are done. It is such a mess right now!

I know he isn't. Because I told him not to come on Tuesday because the movers would be here. I heard his crew talking about how glad they were for a day off. So they obviously were not doing any other jobs. Today one guy arrived early and sat in his car for over 45 minutes in front of my house waiting for the main guy to get here. Because he is his own company it's not like I have someone above him to complain too.

I'm not worried that our mural acquaintance will break off the friendship with me. It's not her fault or mine. It's just so awkward because I know no one up here in this state and I hate to have to complain to the one person I know. No. My house is not giant. I'm glad because then I'd have to clean it! Yuck! He's only doing a few rooms so it's not like he's painting the whole thing anyway. It is making the move miserable! Ahh!

We just bought a house in another state. I flew up to close and met with contractors at the house to walk them through what needed to be done before we moved in. They could begin work on May 28 and needed to be done on June 8. We moved in on the 9th. One contractor is not done. I'm furious! He is the painter. He was to remove some wallpaper, some borders, and some wall mounted mirrors in several rooms and repaint those rooms. There was another room with an accent wall that I wanted him to repaint. We walked through the entire house and talked about the job. He inspected the rooms. He agreed it could be done by the 8th. He's not done. One entire room is nothing but dry wall with no paint yet. This week I've had to unpack around him and his crew. There are two rooms that I can't touch because he's working in one and all the furniture for that room has been shoved into the adjoining room. His crew does not arrive until around noon each day and they leave before 5. He keeps telling me it will take some more time. No! If he arrived at 8 am and worked all day with a break for lunch he would have been done. He was recommended to me by someone up here and I don't know what to do. If I am upset with him I will burn the bridge between myself and one of the few other people I know in this state. I feel so stuck! My kids arrive tomorrow (my parents are driving with them) and we thought we would have things unpacked and somewhat set up before they arrived. What do I do with this painter? My hubby called him this morning at 10 to see where he was and he said he would be here at 11:30. It is 11:30 and he's not here. Who shows up to work at noon? What on earth? What do I say to him? I don't feel I should pay him the entire amount because at no time did he mention that it would take him longer. And maybe if he worked a full day like most other people do he would have completed the job on time as promised. Now that I'm living here and see that he doesn't arrive until noon, I have zero tolerance. And no, he hasn't run into anything unexpected for the job. Remove wall paper and then repaint. Repeat repeat repeat. There have been no problems that might have slowed him down.

We need a new vacuum for our new house. Two levels of this house are all carpet. We have no pets. What vacuum do you love and why?

I use WWE, FLL, and AAR I do WWE Monday through Thursday. FLL we do Monday, Wednesday, and Friday We do AAR every day and usually get through a lesson per week. Some of those days is simply review with fluency pages, review cards, and doing one of the games. WWE takes about 10-15 minutes usually. Or less with the earlier levels. FLL is usually only 10 minutes. AAR is longer. I spend about 20-25 minutes on part of a lesson each day.

Can your DH as the coach set up a rotation schedule for other parents to take turns helping in the dugout? That way parents still have many games to sit in the bleachers and watch and only have volunteer duty on occasion. My kids don't play baseball but I don't think it's fair for one parent to be in the dugout every time and miss most of the game.

Lol! Autocorrect gets me every time!

Lextin Academy My name plus my hubby's name equals Lextin. (Lexi and Justin combined) It sounds official but it has meaning for us. We have no mascot or colors. As the kids get older they might come up with something.

I think you mean Pandia Press, right? Your title says Pandora.

Storms again today in my area. Thankfully not bad but the sky is very dark. We are under a tornado watch. My house is on a hill so we won't have flooding but there are many areas near us with terrible flooding. It's so sad!

I'm in TX. We had funnel clouds above our house and torrential rain. I know there are some road closures near us. We stayed home from church to stay away from the flooded roads. My kids all slept on a pallet downstairs because I was worried about tornadoes. I'm not sure they slept much because they were all very upset. I currently have a preschooler asleep in my bed and I'm rocking the toddler. They are so tired. It was a scary night but we are ok. I have family in Oklahoma and they are having horrible flooding. I worry about them!

(Smile) We just started doing this. I realized that I was stressing way too much and that it was probably making her more anxious. I handed her the crutches and told her to do her best and do what is comfortable for her. I'm going to let her work it out herself. Hopefully if I let her take charge of the situation she will relax and figure it out. Deep breath. I have to step back. I know I'm struggling with anxiety over our move. The broken leg issue has been a huge added stress.

Thank you for this! So helpful! I was not prepared for the amount of swelling that we've had. And yes, the dr thought she would have much more mobility than she actually does. This is a very slow process!

Thank you for sharing your story. It makes me feel better that this is not unusual. I thought she would be doing much better once we got the boot. I was very wrong. I was totally unprepared for her anxiety and all the tears and drama. I'm trying so hard to be patient as I pack our house and prep to move on June 3rd. This is so very hard!