We just finished ITBS and I can honestly say it didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. I was disappointed on some aspects, like some of the social studies questions that had to do with things like how tax money was spent and pollution. I wouldn't really say the results were very informative since I already knew what my son's strengths and weakness are. I think it was a good experience for him to start standardized testing, but I think I will look into Stanford next year- it is supposed to be more challenging than ITBS.

McRuffy math Grammarland All About Spelling Song School Latin These are all curricula that both my children and I enjoy:) Forgot to add PAL reading and writing!

We are using PAL writing and loving it! If your daughter is reading she is probably beyond PAL reading. The writing program also includes AAS, which we love too!

Welcome:) One of the best places I found to figure out learning styles is http://www.homeedexpert.com . It is a free service from Cathy Duffy, and not only do they give the learning styles but the will also help direct you to which curricula may work best for you. It is free too :) For spelling, we use All About Spelling and love it! I am looking for some more independence so after AAS 3 we will use IEW Phonetic Zoo. But really it depends on what you want from spelling. If workbooks work better Rod &Staff could be an option for you. For cursive my older son uses Cheerful Cursive and my younger daughter is using New American cursive (meant for younger children). You could also use Donna Young's website and print out your own for free. Best of luck on all of your decisions! Feel free to ask lots if questions:)

If you have the money I would get the first three levels of All About Spelling. I am amazed at how this program helped my children break apart works while they are reading and really help them sound the words out. I would also read to him- a lot! My ds8 is listening to me read the Chronicles of Narnia right now and loves them! If you could read to him an hour a day I think that would help tremendously. You could also find audio books for him to listen to and get the book for him to follow along. Exposure to all of those new words should really help him. So just find some good books he is interested in and just read, read, read:)

It sounds like IEW Phonetic Zoo might be a good fit. If you get the CDs he can do it all on his own! There is a placement test on IEW's website, but I would think he would start in level A. If you want a workbook type of program R&S may be another option.

Thanks for listing these! We just got an iPad and I love free apps!

Although my children are a little younger than yours, we are using American History Stories (vol. 1-4) by Mara Pratt. They are just nice stories that we can easily read, about one a day. My children are really enjoying these stories! My only problem is that they stop at WWI since they were written a long time ago, so I'll have to find something else when we get to that point. But for now they are great!

Thank you all so much- you are super helpful!!! I'll have to write these all down now so I don't lose them again!

That is it!! Thank you so much!!!! Off to the library now:)

Awhile back there was a posting about a set of books (maybe 8-10) that had to deal with parts of speech and grammar. For the life of me, I can't find them, or remember the name! It is not Grammarland or anything like that. They were story books. Does anyone remember these? I am going to the library today and wanted to see if they had any. Thanks for helping me during my memory loss!:lol:

All About Spelling has worked for my non natural speller who always tried to spell things phonetically. Truth be told, I have learned a lot about spelling from it too! I never knew the why to spelling rules but just memorized words. I am beginning to understand enough about spelling that I can actually answer my children when they ask why something is spelled the way it is:)

Primary Art of Language , by Institute of Excellence in Writing.

There is also http://www.homeedexpert.com where you can input info about you and your children (learning and teaching styles) and they will help direct you to curriculum that may be a good fit. It is a great starting place, and it is free!

We just started last month but didn't substitute because some of the sounds that are introduced are found in the poem (like "ee", "ay", "th", "oa", "er"). Some I guess you could substitute in a different poem if it you found one that had those sounds, but that seems like a lot of work:) we don't memorize the poems from PAL since we do other poem memorization anyway.

We usually read to the youngest and then work our way up to the oldest. I read to ds1 out in the family room because ds3 loves to listen also. Then I put him to bed. The other 3 share a room, so I read to ds3, then dd6, then ds8 in their room. They are all listening, but as a get to the older children, the youngest has usually fallen asleep. I think it has been great practice for ds3 to be a good listener! And they all fall asleep very easily this way. The days that we don't read they take much longer to fall asleep!

I would buy every curriculum I could -just so I could see them! That is my biggest problem. Things sound good but may not be that way once I actually get them! Online samples are great, but it would be so much better seeing the whole thing.

If you want an easy intro to American History, we are reading through American History Stories by Mara Platt. We just read a story in the evening before we start our other read aloud. There are pretty quick stories and easy to read.

I haven't used Adventures, but once you get into the 5 year cycle it is very easy to add in your own LA- we are doing just that. As far as science, I would probably suggest just trying it first as written, and then add in later if you feel the need. But I really feel that there schedule is pretty easy to adjust and use other materials if you want to do that.

I use homemade soap, the liquid type, made from ivory, borax, and washing soda. I use a splash of vinegar in the rinse cycle and try to dry in the sun when possible. I have the pocket diapers (fuzzibunz) but I think this would work for prefolds too.

Definitely the Vitamix! If I could only have one appliance in my kitchen- it would be my blender!!! Forgot to add- I use the recipes that came with the Vitamix for smoothies. There is also a list of all kinds of recipes on the Vitamix website http://www.vitamix.com/recipes/.

Definitely try the Letter Factory. We checked it out from the library and within a week my 3 year old knew his letters and sounds- I was amazed! We are also using PAL reading and all of the letters have a story that go with them (and a cute picture!). For example "o" says "aww" and he is the sad letter because he is a cookie that no one took a bite out of. Thekids stories seem to have really cemented the letter sounds for my son.

We do a lot of fruit smoothies. Add a few chia seeds and they can be pretty filling. We also make coconut milk smoothies. One of our favorites is coconut milk, almond butter, cocoa powder, ice, some dates or bananas, and a few chia seeds- this keep me full for hours! Also, websites like Lexie's Kitchen and Spunky Coconut should have some recipes you can use. There is an egg free bagel recipe on Spunky Coconut that we use a lot (it is also gluten/casein/refined sugar free).

We tried repeating R&S 3 and I think it was a waste of time. Every five minutes (or more) I was hearing "we already did this lesson"! If I were you I would move on to 4 but just slow down if you get to something that doesn't seem to be sinking in. We are also supplementing with Grammarland and the kids love it!

We are using PAL reading with ds3.5 and he loves it! He has so much fun with the games and has even been known to cry when we are done! It is working very well for him and I would highly recommend it!