My daughter loves American Girl, Nancy Drew, Spiderwick Chronicles, anything by Roald Dahl, and the Rainbow Magic series by Daisy Meadows.

I've just done a complete curriculum change (MBTP did not work out for us). We are now doing Spelling Workout (the only thing I've kept from my original plan for the year), Writing Tales, Growing With Grammar and All About Spelling. We're only 1 - 2 lessons into this new plan and my kids are loving it (as am I).

It never even occurred to me that I wasn't supposed to finish all of the transition lessons before starting on C. You might be on to something there! I haven't even cracked open any of the C materials yet because I just assumed I had to get through all the transition lessons first. I'm going to spend some time going through my materials for C tonight and maybe we'll just jump right into it tomorrow. Thank you!

I just bought Writing Tales I last week and we did the first lesson over the weekend. My kids both loved it and said it didn't even feel like "work." We are combining it with Growing With Grammar and so far both programs show a lot of promise for my kids. Hope this helps.

Ruh roh. That was me who used the term "loosey goosey." I feel like I should just point out that what is loosey goosey for my admittedly anal-retentive personality may not be loosey goosey for anyone else. I'm a "follow a schedule" type of person and the unit study philosophy of MBTP left me feeling as though we weren't accomplishing anything. My guess is that other homeschooling families who embrace the unit study approach might find MBTP to their liking. I used one full concept and part of a second concept of the 7 - 9 curriculum and found the books to be wonderful but the assignments were just sort of "meh" for us. I think it is stronger as a language arts program than it is for social studies and science. A full year of MBTP and I'm sure my kids would be sorely lacking in social studies and science. Needless to say I'm in the process of changing everything at the moment. We may still work on a few of the language arts lessons in MBTP, but we're going back to the basics of grammar and writing lessons (GWG and Writing Tales) -- anything we do in MBTP will be "extra" rather than the core of our studies this year. Just wanted to clarify!

We did Calvert Math in first and second grade and both kids did very well with it. We found Calvert to be very dry overall, however, so in third grade I went with a packaged curriculum from Curriculum Services, and the math they included was a workbook from Houghton-Mifflin. It was a spiral approach and moved way too quickly for my kids to grasp anything and, as a result, they really fell behind. I went to a homeschool conference in May and fell in love with the idea of Right Start Math. We've been working through the transition lessons slowly, however, I really don't think it's going to work for us in the long run. They still don't seem to be mastering ANYTHING and I really think we need to find something else. Right now I'm leaning toward either MUS or Saxon. My kids need drillwork and I need better guidance as to *how* to teach the concepts.

what program would you choose? My kids have not managed to master anything in math beyond basic addition and subtraction. They can do higher level math, but it takes them longer than it should and I still sometimes see them counting on their fingers. So I want to backtrack and find a program that works toward mastery before moving on to the next thing. I have Right Start level C (we're working through the transition lessons currently) but I'm having a hard time teaching some of the concepts (like mental math) and don't know whether this curriculum is going to work for us over the long haul. Would Math-U-See be a better bet since both the kids and I will have the benefit of the DVD to actually see how to do the problems? Or would Saxon be better? I want a really solid program that will allow us to get the basics down relatively quickly and then move on so that I can hopefully get them up to grade level by the end of fourth grade. My kids do not mind worksheets, and truth be told I actually prefer them because I can see how well they're learning and retaining the information. Thank you! (And sorry for asking so many questions -- I'm really kicking myself for some bad curriculum decisions over the past six months.)

Thanks to all who have responded. I really appreciate the help. I am fairly certain I am going to go with Noeo Biology II. In looking at the books they list for the program, I think I can get some of the books cheaper on Amazon. Will it matter if I use a different edition of a book than what Noeo sells on its website? I want to save money if I can but want to make sure my kids have exactly what they'll need for the program. Thanks again!

Thanks for the info. Noeo is what I'm leaning toward at this point. How did you decide to start with Chemistry? There are aspects of Biology, Chemistry and Physics that I think my kids would enjoy, so it's difficult to choose where to start. Does it make a difference, or are all three completely separate and distinct (i.e., don't build upon one another)?

I'm still struggling to decide on a science curriculum for my fourth graders. I need help with organization so a teacher's guide (and very little planning ahead) is very important to me. And while I don't mind doing experiments, if we end up with a curriculum that is almost all "hands on" we will end up forgoing science more often than not. Any suggestions? Thanks! ETA: Secular preferred.

I just recently received a catalog from The Discovery Channel Store http://shopping.discovery.com/ and they have some nice things at reasonable prices. I will definitely be shopping there for my kids for Christmas.

I have just purchased WT1 for my 9 year old boy/girl twins. My daughter could have gone with Level 2 but my son was not ready for it, so with Amy's advice I decided to go with Level 1. We are also adding Growing With Grammar and All About Spelling to round out our LA curriculum. Good luck!

For those using Saxon, where is the cheapest place to buy it?

Thank you all so much for responding. I feel really good about these choices and am really anxious to get started on our new materials. I'm going to email the author of AAS to get her recommendation as to which level to start on. Now that I have language arts out of the way I just have to decide on math, science and social studies! :D

I hope you don't mind a newbie asking all these questions, but I've spent the better part of the last three days poring over this website and I'm so thankful for the depth of knowledge you're all so willing to share. I am trying to complete our language arts choices and have already ordered Writing Tales I and Growing With Grammar. As a reminder, I have nine year old boy/girl twins. My daughter is advanced in LA so I'm actually gearing our materials more for my son, who I would say is an "average" reader and a "so-so" speller. I figure I can tweak the materials to make them more challenging for my DD much more easily than I can tweak them to make them easier for my son, hence the first level of Writing Tales. I'm now trying to decide where to start with AAS. We used Spelling Workout last year (Level C) and are currently using Level D. Both kids enjoy it and my son does very well with his spelling words each week. The problem is that he doesn't seem to retain some of the more challenging words or remember things such as like when to use "w" or "wh" at the beginning of a word. So clearly we need to backtrack a bit and I think AAS will help him in terms of walking him through the rules so to speak. What level of AAS would be the best place to start? My kids just turned 9 in September so they are young fourth graders. Both kids are very bright, but my son is ALL boy and has a hard time focusing. He enjoys Spelling Workout and I don't want to squelch that, but I know he needs more work in spelling development rather than just rote memorization. And now my last question: will AAS, WT and GWG be a complete language arts program? I plan to continue having my kids do 20 - 30 minutes of independent reading every day as well as complete weekly written book reports. Do I need more, and if so, what secular materials would you recommend to round things out? I don't want to make it too writing intensive for my son because I fear he'll just shut down. Thanks again for all the help I've received over the past few days. I really do appreciate it.

I did email Amy through the website and she just responded. She is going to get the books to me. Thank you!

I just tried to order Writing Tales through their website, and even with selecting Priority Mail as the shipping option it still says the order should arrive by December 25th. Will it really take five weeks to receive my order? If so I'm going to have to consider going with a different program. We're already so behind this year and I can't let them fall even further behind. Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks!

I didn't introduce cursive to my kids (twins) until this year (fourth grade). My daughter would have done well with it earlier but I knew my son would be very resistant. Waiting until they were both ready for it was the right decision for us. They are working through HWOT with great success.

Have you looked at www.curriculumservices.com? They will put together an entire curriculum for you (complete with teacher guides) and you do have options with some subjects in terms of level of difficulty. I used Calvert for two years and then switched to Curriculum Services last year. I liked most of it (although the math was completely wrong for my kids). Curriculum Services has two options -- a charter school for those who live in Florida, or "school in a box." They will send you everything you need, complete with a plastic bin, hanging folders and labels for every subject. The only downside for me was that almost everything was consumable so it could not be re-sold, whereas with Calvert I was able to sell a lot of it after my kids were done with it. Hope this helps!

Thank you so much for posting this link. What a great tool for assessing spelling ability! I just printed the scale and lists and I'll definitely be using this with my kids. Thanks again!

I'm new here so I hope you all don't mind if I just jump right in! How long and for what grades have you homeschooled? I began homeschooling my kids mid-way through their kindergarten year; they are currently in fourth grade. Did you know from the start you would homeschool or did some event point you down this road? Never in a million years did I ever think I would homeschool my kids. But their kindergarten year was a source of incredible frustration and disappointment for our family and about a third of the way into the year I realized that if my kids didn't receive a more solid foundation in learning from the very beginning that it would adversely affect their entire education. It was at that point we dedided to make the leap and bring them home. Were you homeschooled? No. Does anyone in your extended family homeschool? No. No one in our family or circle of friends homeschools. What method and materials did you use your first year of homeschooling? Since they were only in K when we started I used an eclectic mix of workbooks, Hooked on Phonics, lots of field trips and reading. What method and materials are you currently using? I am currently starting all over again looking for curriculum for this year. We have used Calvert, Curriculum Services and MBTP in the past and none have been a good fit. After receiving some great advice from the ladies here and doing lots of research, I have decided to piece together my own curriculum. Right now I'm leaning toward Writing Tales, Growing with Grammar, AAS, most likely NOEO science and the rest is up in the air! What books, ideas, etc. have helped shape your homeschool? Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks is my best friend at the moment. :thumbup: What has been the most challenging aspect for you? Balancing homeschool, my three-day-a-week WOHM job and the household. It's a work in progress that I still have not mastered. What aspect has come naturally for you? My DH tells me I'm a very good teacher. I never would have thought that was possible. What are your favorite homeschool memories thus far? Teaching my kids to read was a huge and very rewarding milestone for us. What is the best advice you've been given? Let it go. I'm still working on that one! What advice do you give others just starting this journey? Hmmmm, that's a tough one. I guess my best suggestion at the moment would be to hold off on buying an entire year's worth of curriculum until you're absolutely certain it's going to work for your family.

Thanks for the additional info. I agree that from your description Singapore would not work for me. I think we are going to continue to plow through Right Start and see if we can't just move things along more quickly. My kids are enjoying it, so I think that's one of the things we're currently doing that we may just stick with.

No -- sorry for the misunderstanding! Right Start Math is new to us this year. I discovered it at our local homeschool conference in May and thought it would be a great way for my kids to go back to the basics. We've worked through the transition lessons very slowly and my kids really do enjoy the program. The rep I purchased it from (the daughter of the woman who wrote the curriculum) advised that I start my kids on level C after the transition lessons, and my only concern is that they'll really only get through addition, subtraction and basic multiplication this year. If I were to put them back in school next year (which is not the plan, but who knows what can happen??) they would be behind their peers. So that's really my only concern with this program. My hope is that we can move through level C quickly once we really get the hang of the abacus and other manipulatives and get into Level D before the end of this school year.

K12 is another "all in one" I have considered. How long have you been using it?

How long have you used SOTW? I bought it last year and have yet to even open the book or activity workbooks. I'm just not sure if adding it to the mix would help or hurt at this point. Thanks for your post.