Read-alouds: Marco Polo for Kids (this is an activity book with narrative text, but we used it as a read-aloud only) Joan of Arc by Stanley book of King Arthur stories The Sword in the Tree The Apple and the Arrow Leif the Lucky Starry Messenger (about Galileo) Leonardo's Horse Saint George and the Dragon Michelangelo by Stanley Reference books: Usborne I-L Medieval World Castle by Macaulay A Medieval Feast The Viking News Activity books: Days of Knights and Damsels Coat of Arms Other books we liked, but these might be for a later grade level: The Blue Fairy Book by Lang (and other color fairy books)\ The King of Ireland's Son by Colum The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Pyle The Pied Piper of Hamelin The Art of the Catapult Shakespeare Stories by Leon Garfield HTH!

My kids took the Stanford last year and the Iowa the year before. One of the testing centers in our area used to offer both tests, so I asked the administrator about the differences. From what I understand, the main difference is that there's a time limit on Iowa, but none on Stanford. With the Stanford, even when most students are finished with a section, they all have to wait on one or two others for an indefinite amount of time until everyone is finished before moving on. It can make the day very long. This may not be an issue if you're administering the test for your kids only. I didn't notice a huge difference in the scores between the two years and the two different tests for my kids. HTH!

Math-U-See came to my mind, as well. Though I haven't used it, friends of mine have. I think it'll be good to have the video instruction...someone else to introduce the concept. Also, I believe the levels are labeled in a way that won't make her feel behind. SM is also mastery-based, but covers more topics per academic year by spending less time per topic compared to MUS. Both programs use manipulatives (SM: you'll need to do the activities in HIG), and both have review of past topics. But I think MUS sounds like a better match for your situation. HTH!

On this page, below the "Add to Cart" button, there's a link to a sample of the first 13 lessons. This version, however is different from what the one sold at Amazon (here); the text is the same, but the font, page layout and illustrations are different. I've only used LLATL-Orange and some of the poetry lessons in PLL. I also own but have never used ILL. From what I've seen, it seems that PLL has a bit more grammar & language (including usage) instruction than LLATL, but I could be wrong about this (just going on what I remember about The Orange Book). PLL has no book study where you read an entire book like Sign of the Beaver; you'd need to add in literature studies. LLATL has a poetry unit, whereas PLL has poems spread throughout the book. And the whole arrangement of LLATL is in units, whereas PLL has no units, just a variety of lessons that alternate from day to day. PLL has narrations; I don't remember whether LLATL-Orange does or not. Both have copywork & dictation. The PLL lessons seem pretty short, but they get longer as you progress through the book. PLL might require more composition (in the narration lessons and others) than LLATL. I believe PLL was designed to be used over more than one school year; it has 165 lessons. Here are a couple more lessons: Lesson 127: Composition The Cat Family lion tiger panther leopard puma jaguar lynx bobcat domestic cat [a very short passage about features of the members of the cat family -- physical features, diet, etc.] Write a short composition telling what you know about the cat family. Lesson 129: Observation Lesson Tell the names of the trees around your house. Tell the names of the flowers around your house. Describe your favorite tree and favorite flower. For grammar, I found that LLATL-Orange didn't have enough review, so very little was retained. But I loved the lit units in LLATL-Orange, so we used it with the second child. I really like FLL-3 & 4 for grammar; plus it has some poetry work, dictionary skills, letter-writing unit, and copywork/dictation/narration. If you like LLATL, you might want to continue using it and just add in FLL-3 or 4, and feel free to skip things like poetry and copywork if you're already doing it in LLATL. HTH!

This reminds me of our experience when ds was in maybe 3rd through 5th grades (he's used SM PM-1 through 6). He was very reluctant and resistant to learning alternative strategies to solve a problem. If he was proficient with one strategy, he really did not want to learn a different one. Why take the time and energy to learn another strategy when you've already got one that works perfectly, right? And, as you said, the initial mental math strategy only works for so long, and then the student needs to learn another way to do the more difficult problems. And when ds had his mind made up against the seemingly useless alternative strategies, it was difficult to get him to engage and pay attention to me demonstrating any new strategy. Ds doesn't normally have a stubborn personality, but whenever we ran into these issues, he became very, very stubborn! I think I just kept trying, little by little, to convince/persuade him that it worked and that he needed it because he would have to do more complicated problems that couldn't be solved the old way. So we might've spent just a few minutes a day for several days on the new strategy, whatever he could tolerate. And then, after a few days, the steps wouldn't be quite so new and foreign to him. Once things felt a little familiar for him, it was smoother. And after he understood what I was demonstrating (maybe after a few sessions), I'd gradually have him do a part of the strategy with me, something like: I do the first step, he does the second, I do the rest. After awhile (or maybe on another day), we'll take turns with the steps, about half and half; then he'll do more of the steps than me. Finally, he'll do all the steps, still with me sitting there and talking through the process. This might be spread out over several days, maybe just 3-5 minutes of his discomfort per day; I never rushed it, but I never quit either. Eventually, ds would get to where he was comfortable doing the alternative strategies; it was just a much longer, gradual process...like a loooooong ramp. Interestingly, I've had none of these kinds of issues with dd10, who has used SM PM-1 through 4A. Though she says that math is her least favorite subject, she quite willingly, quickly and successfully learns the alternative math strategies (more like a steep ramp, for her), which leads me to think that it might be a personality thing. And with dd, the difficult math issue we run into is dawdling...daydreaming when she should be working on her math exercises. Never had this problem with ds! HTH!

I wouldn't solve it the way the books shows, but rather the way Nick & Zack's mom did. However, I've seen other SM word problems that would use a method similar to the one shown in your text, where you regroup some items. I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for, but here's one that kind of uses that approach (from IP-5A, p.13): Jamal caught 8 more grasshoppers than spiders for his science project. A grasshopper has 6 legs and a spider has 8 legs. He counted a total of 188 legs. How many spiders and grasshoppers did he catch? First, there is a one-to-one correspondence with all the spiders and all but 8 of the grasshoppers. So I mentally pair them up into "bundles" (as if they were being packaged), one spider and one grasshopper per bundle. Thus, each bundle will contain 8 + 6 = 14 legs. I don't know how many bundles there are, but I do know that each bundle has 14 legs. There are 8 extra grasshoppers that don't get to be bundled with a spider. Their legs total up to be 8 x 6 = 48 legs. So: |----48----|--------bundled amount------------------| |-----------------------188-------------------------| And then: |----48----|-------------------140------------------| |-----------------------188-------------------------| So, there are 140 legs in bundles. Each bundle has 14 legs, so to find the number of bundles, divide 140 by 14 to get 10 bundles. Therefore, there are 10 spiders and 10+8=18 grasshopers. (And in this problem, the bar diagrams aren't even necessary.) I think in the table & chair problem, they're bundling up one table with another table to avoid having to first find the cost of the chair. I guess someone thought it was a better solution than what I would've done. And it is better to know more than one way to solve the problems....maybe that's what they're trying to show? HTH!

If you like, you can check out Children of Odin at Gutenberg (here). I prefer the prose of Colum to that of D'Aulaires...comparing Colum's Children's Homer vs. D'Aulaires' Greek Myths, as I've read several D'Aulaire books but not their Norse Myths. But having the illustrations in the D'Aulaire books is great, too. Maybe both? HTH!

Great....thanks a bunch!!!

...how about just using Saxon? If after awhile, you really wanted to add in some color, then purchase something like a Horizons workbook (but not the Horizons TM). Assign some but not all of the Horizons sheets, mostly as review, and use Saxon as the main program. It's always been important for me to click with the TM's for math and grammar. It isn't enough to know what I'm supposed to teach. I need to understand how I'm supposed to teach the concepts. HTH!

...then Great Science Adventures might work, too. You'll probably have to help her with some of the cutting and assembling; a lot of paper-handling tasks are required, compared to most curricula. But the little booklets and flap-things and other paper creations are pretty neat. For us, it was hard to find the time to do it all (the space/astronomy book). So, I really liked it but needed something simpler. I also thought the experiments & hands-on activities were quite good compared to most other curricula I'd seen for astronomy at this level. If you go with Great Science Adventures, you'll probably want to add in a bunch of library books on space, since there aren't any color photographs in the text. HTH!

Rod & Staff-5 Following the Plan We use the student textbook, teacher's manual, worksheets, and tests. But you could easily just use the teacher's manual and student text. For us, R&S has been effective, time-efficient, user-friendly, and easy on the pocketbook.

Abbey, do you remember about how long y'all spent on Key to Algebra? Thanks!

We did sort of a hybrid thing with unit studies. When the kids were young, we did the 3 R's pretty much as recommended in WTM (but no Latin), and then did unit studies for history/literature. Sometimes I made up my own, and other times we used FIAR, Konos, or TOG. To keep costs down, your friend might want to plan her own unit studies, based on whatever topic they're interested in, using book lists & libraries. Some books with lists: WTM, SOTW-AGs, All Through the Ages, Books Children Love, plus some homeschool catalogs. If she's planning a unit study with history & literature, it doesn't have to be too complicated....pick a time period and culture/country, make a list books (nonfiction, historical fiction, biographies) to read aloud and to assign as independent reading, and if desired, plan a few activities and/or field trips related to some of the topics. With some topics, it'll be easy to find resources for lapbooking, etc. E.g., ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, ancient Rome, early American history. I think one year we did ancient Egypt and ancient Israel, and the following year we did ancient Greece and ancient Rome. Also, the SOTW AGs have tons of books listed by chapter topic (e.g., ancient China, Vikings). If she used SOTW as history, some of those listed books could be used for lit. Beyond K-2nd grade, I've found it easier to not combine science, for some reason. HTH!

I'm pretty sure that the teacher would need to know some French for BJU's French. Rosetta Stone would definitely be more student-led than BJU.

Dd finished FLL-3 in January and is now doing FLL-4, which I expect she'll finish around Sept/Oct. Then she'll do R&S-5 and R&S-6 over the next 2-1/2 years. I'm already familiar with R&S-5 & 6 from using them with ds, so I think it will be an easy transition.

...Bible Truths 5 (BJUP). About a year and half ago she started homeschooling her daughter, after attending a private (Protestant) Christian school up to that point. She bought the whole kit, I believe, with the teacher's manual. She was pleasantly surprised with the work required of the student...challenging yet fun. Her daughter has enjoyed doing it, too. I've never used it, but I like the full-color pages. :) ...I'm considering using it with dd next year. Some other friends who've used Bible Truths get the student text only to keep costs down and have been satisfied using it like that. HTH!

This is taken from the Texas Home School Coalition's site: 21. What is required for graduation? Home schools in Texas are private schools and not regulated by the state; therefore home schools, just as with other private schools, set their own graduation standards. There is no minimum age requirement for graduation. 22. How can my child receive a diploma? When a student meets the requirements set by his school for graduation (See question #21.), he may receive a diploma. Diplomas may be ordered from the Texas Home School Coalition Association and other sources. 23. Can my home educated students get into college? There is no reason that a student with a diploma from a home school in Texas could not go to college. Some colleges and universities are more friendly toward home schoolers than others, so some will be easier to work with. In Texas, state colleges are required to accept a home school graduate's diploma and transcript and to treat a home school graduate just as they would any other applicant. Home school graduates are accepted at most colleges and universities around the nation, and even recruited by many. No, the GED is not required for a diploma. Homeschools are regarded as private schools, and therefore are not regulated or required to register with the state, the same as other private schools. HTH!

This reminds me of a photo a friend emailed me....it was taken in our state capitol building during session. Our congressmen/women were reading Facebook, playing solitaire, etc. on their laptops. I accidentally came across this last night while looking at syllabi of some college classes I took (wanted to know which text they were using now)...and many of the accounting courses included this: "Personal Electronic Equipment Policy Due to abuse by those who came before you, I regret to announce you may not use a LAPTOP, CELL PHONE, PDA, DVD player or MP3 (iPod) during class time. All such equipment should be turned off and put away. You are encouraged to bring a calculator to class and have it ready to use." I don't mind laptops in class if people are being responsible. But once they misuse the privilege, I'm all for the ban. :)

Have you tried working with manipulatives? Either base-ten blocks or popsicle sticks would work, as long as it was clear that the bundle of 10 sticks were not to be taken apart. So for a problem like 25-17, she'd start with setting 25 sticks before her, preferably on a base-10 mat (You could make simple base-ten mat on a large sheet of paper...right-side column labeled "ones" and left-side column labeled "tens."): 2 bundles of 10 sticks each in the tens column, and 5 individual sticks in the ones column. First, she'd subtract the ones, and would see that she couldn't take 7 ones from the 5 ones on the mat. And she can't take apart the bundle of 10. So her only option is to remove the bundle of 10 and add back 3 ones. Next, she'll subtract the 1 ten of the 17 from the remaining bundle of ten on the mat. All that's left on the mat now are the 8 ones. I'd have my kids work a bunch of problems with manipulatives like this if they seemed to be stuck on a concept. The concrete-ness seems to help a lot. HTH!

sorry...duplicate post

5th-8th Grammar: R&S-5, R&S-6, Warriner's 3rd Course Writing: waiting on the book after WWE, and in the meantime, trying to write across curriculum Literature: MP's D'Aulaires Greek Myths (plus other lit), various lit w/lit guides, LL7, and ??? for 8th grade

Here's what we did for the 3 R's in 2nd grade (an approximation of what ds & dd did): HWT SWO-B, and maybe part of C ETC FLL extra copywork, nature studies w/nature journal some lit guides...I remember that dd did VP's Milly-Molly-Mandy various read-alouds SM's PM-2

Yes, R&S is still recommended, but with the additional option of starting with R&S-5 in 5th instead of 3rd grade. FLL-3 and FLL-4 are the extra options for 3rd & 4th grade.

You're welcome!

FLL3 & 4 weren't out when ds would've used them. And I didn't think ds was ready to do grammar out of a textbook (R&S-3 & 4) (though I didn't realize at the time that we could've done most of it orally!). Here's what he did: FLL-1+2: A little more than 50% of the book. not much grammar, if any, for a year or so Winston Grammar - Basic (this served as an introduction to the parts of speech; ds did not have the definitions memorized, could not distinguish between subject & predicate, hadn't diagrammed, etc. by the end of this program) R&S-5, started at beginning of 5th grade and finished towards the end of 6th grade It worked fine. We did R&S-5 at a slower speed, camping out and spending a little extra time on things like the predicate, finding the sentence skeleton, memorizing the definition of an adverb. Dd finished FLL3 recently and is now in FLL4. It seems that we covered a lot more grammar content with FLL3 than ds did in Winston Grammar. A student who's finished FLL3 should be better prepared to start R&S-5 IMO than one (like my ds) who's finished Winston. Even if he's forgotten a lot of the definitions, it's fine; it'll be reviewed again. HTH!