Can you check the library for a copy and see for yourself? It was too hard for me, but SWR was just what I needed. I've heard the opposite from other hs'ers. Part of my problem was that I was trying to figure it out before I had started hs'ing and didn't have any experience. SWR filled in the gaps. You have so much experience with teaching your dc already, WRTR may be enough (and not too much). I think if I were just now switching over to Spalding-type instruction after 3 yrs under my belt, I could figure out WRTR.

I would say we're on the high end with social activities. We do several sports year around, Cub Scouts, Bible study, and church. I can handle it because we don't have to drive far. Golf is the furthest away at 3 miles and it takes less than 10 mins in the car. Yes, my little one suffers a bit. He naps at golf and is exhausted by the time we get home from soccer practice at 9pm on Firday night. I make up for that by being consistent about naps and bedtime when we're home. Dh helps me a lot in the evenings by taking the bigs to one soccer practice per week and going to Cub Scout activities. As far as social activities, Cub Souts and church are our two social successes. Sports aren't as good in that regard. We are also close to several families in our neighborhood. The kids play outside often and we meet up at the neighborhood pool all summer. Those are the perks for us of living in a suburban neighborhood. We do things with a few friends that homeschool: zoo, museum, etc. we don't have time to add a hs group or coop. Maybe I'll need that when the boys get older.

Not really. The SL labels just come with the IGs and assign a particular color to each core (arbitrarily). I use different ones for my Noeo science because I ran out of SL colors. I wouldn't go out of my way to use SL labels.

My dc are allowed to use rods whenever they want. Ds8 using Sing. PM 4B doesn't ever use them anymore. He has gotten pretty good at drawing his own bar diagrams for word problems. Ds6 uses them often with both Singapore PM 1A and Miquon. He's still getting the hang of making tens. He can do it in his head but prefers to see it. I also teach with them most of the time.

I do. It makes it easy to keep doing three cores at a time straight. I also like recognizing a book in one of my boys' rooms as a schoolbook. They pull them off the shelf and reread them constantly, but they know labeled books need to make it back to the schoolroom eventually. I put a piece of clear binding tape over the labels and they stay. I also cover my books with Reddi-Roll to keep them looking new despite the heavy use. I love all this rain!! Reminds me of home (Oregon) :)

In June, I'll start my 4th year with SL and I've never used the LA. I have used all of the reader packages through Grade 4-5. They are great and I'd recommend them no matter what LA you use. Once you get you get to Core D, the readers are part of the history so you'd be missing quite a bit by cutting them out. I attribute my ds's love of good books to SL's selections. I doubt I'll ever use SL LA because I like my SWR/FLL/WWE combo too much. However, since I'll be getting it with Core D, I may use some of the assignments as enrichments. BTW, I think your placement will work out fine. Core B was a fun and very full core. One of my good friends is using it for her 3rd grader next year as well on my recommendation. The short attention span is a factor. She is also coming out of PS and hasn't had reading aloud be a major component of learning. We (her parents and I) decided to go with a core on the easier side so that she wouldn't be frustrated. Alos, my ds was reading the Grade 3 readers when he could have easily read the Grade 4-5 package. I never heard a complaint and he learned a lot from them. HTH,

:iagree: EB wasn't worth the color or price for me and I didn't feel it adequately prepared my ds for PM. He was mathy enough to handle it, but my next son would have been starting over in PM had we used EB. We were much happier doing EM and then moving on to Miquon with my 2nd ds. I just showed a 9yog who is struggling in math how to use C Rods to do her work in Horizons 2 and it was very helpful and enjoyable for her. She prefers colorful materials and the rods were the perfect fit.

See my siggy...This is my 2nd time around using pretty much the same stuff for K and I can't wait to do it again in a year. Both of my older boys are pretty advanced and we had such a fun year. I did customize it depending on their strengths. Ds1 was advanced in math so he did a lot of it that year from Horizons K through Horizons 2/Singapore 2A. Ds2 is more language-oriented so I've added FLL1,SL Readers 2, and he's tagging along with SSL. Ds3 doesn't seem advanced so far but tends more toward mathy stuff. We'll see what happens next year (Summer 2013). I do LOVE SWR for K but it's not everyone's cuppa.

I've found Story of the World, Phonics Pathways, Alpha Phonics, and The Writing Road to Reading at our library. It was nice to compare phonics materials before deciding what to use. I check Story of the World out every few months to read along with CHOW. There are also many great books that you can use to teach certain subjects like Ruth Heller and Brian Cleary for grammar and Stuart Murphy for math. Happy hunting...

The world cultures comes from the Children's Encyclopedia, People and Places, Houses and Homes, Living Long Ago, and I Heard the Good News Today. My ds also learned quite a bit of geography last year because of the mapping activities ties to the literature. The spine of the program, the Children's Encyclopedia, wasn't my favorite, but the read alouds more than made up for it. Real history starts in Core B (old Core 1).

You're welcome! I almost didn't buy it because of the reviews either. I still miss some of my Excel functions, but I can live without them. You can't drag in between spreadsheets. It works more like pages in that way. The best you can do is cut and paste. I do wish they had a cross-referencing function. That would be nice. I'll still be on the lookout for a dedicated hs program to replace Numbers, but I'll be pretty picky as I don't need much more than Numbers has to offer for now. I do wish someone would create the perfect program that creates a SL-style schedule for me. An automatically updated SL-style schedule including all my subjects that would be customizable by day, yet isn't too fussy... Any programmers out there?

Totally OT but...I love Numbers on my iPad. I use it more than Pages for hs scheduling. I love having folder inside Numbers for each of my boys which contains their scheduling and progress for different subjects. I also created a spreadsheet with check boxes to keep track of our weekly process. I'm very dependent on weekly checklists too. I think most of the bad reviews are from people looking for something as robust as Excel on a PC. It isn't close to that and I do wish it had a few more features, but it gets the job done for now. Now off to check Olly. I'm not sure I need an in-depth scheduler yet but I would like something that's specific for school with a few dedicated features.

I agree that the multi-subject packages are strange... I had a hard time explaining them when helping my friend place her two dc coming out of a bad ps experience. Thankfully, it was easy for them to get out of the "grade" mindset, moreso because their dc are behind in reading and math after this year and her first year will be mostly remediation. I like the idea of a multi-subject package for newbies but I wish that you could pick a core to go with it. I will say that I have another good friend who combined her gifted 9yo and 6yo in B+C this year and it was fabulous for them. Then again, they are a literature-obsessed family and the 9yo loved all of the books. She's one who will read her sister's books and then discuss them with my ds. I think it's just different strokes for different folks. SL isn't for everyone, but it can be great for some.

Dh and I divide and conquer... We have two kid rooms. Ds8 and ds6 share one, ds3 and ds1 share the other. The baby gets read to by himself (older boys sometimes join in voluntarily or do the reading themselves) at his bedtime (7:00-7:30). He gets all of the fun board books. I love Sandra Boynton! He is a good sleeper and is asleep within 5 mins after I leave the room. Then the big boys get read to at 7:30. Ideally, ds3 gets his own with dh and I read to ds6 and ds8. Often ds3 wants to be with his brothers, so I just take turns reading at each boys' level. In that case, dh will usually handle the baby. If ds3 get too distracting, I'll finish his stories and send him off to his own room before doing the olders. I would like to start earlier but it doesn't work for our schedule. Sometimes I don't finish reading until after 9. Then, the boys still want to read on their own. It's not surprising that we are late risers :D. I try to give them only 30 mins to read to themselves but usually cave to the "one more chapter?" pleading. I like the idea of a full-family read aloud time but my littles have such different needs than their older brothers. As they mature, that will be more likely. My boys love sharing a room and we haven't had any trouble with bedtime beyond the typical messing around after lights out. I could see rearranging the pairings later based on sleeping habits but the boys are learning to be considerate of their differences (ds8 is a night owl, ds6 and ds3 are early(er) risers). The bonding of sharing rooms is our biggest reason for doing it and so far we are very pleased with the results.

I just started limiting my ds8 to 2 fiction books per library visit plus a limited number of non-fiction books (determined by me). He does finish books but I'm tired of the library fines and returning books he didn't have time to read before they were due. I'd rather him focus on fewer books at a time and increase our library trips. Now, our neighborhood is across the street from the library so he can have unlimited trips. I told him that when he is finished with one book, we'll immediately order the next one on his list. This is a big departure from our old "check out 50 books at a time" lifestyle but that was when the library was far away and we'd get there once a month. With the new library, that isn't the case and we need to make some adjustments.

I hope you all have a good time!

Please?? :thumbup1:

Dh and I read aloud to all 4 of ours everyday (together and separately). My oldest devours books but still loves the time that I read to him. I was reading to my boys before they could read and didn't really think about continuing it until we started using SL. I also read Jim Trelease's Read Aloud Handbook and was impressed with his reasoning. I have seen a lot of benefits personally to read aloud even though my older two can both read very well. Here are some I can think of off the top of my head: We have a great time experiencing the books together. It is a good bonding experience. The majority of our read alouds come from SL, and even though I use a different core for each boy, they sit in on each other's books voluntarily. My oldest gets a little nostalgic listening to his brothers' stories and it's fun to see how much he's retained over the last few years. My 6yo just likes being with us no matter what is being read but has enjoyed many of his older brother's books on a shallower level. It's fun to share. Even though my oldest is a great reader, he isn't perfect. Hearing me reading aloud gives him more exposure hearing proper expression and pronunciation of less used words. He also practices this when he reads aloud to me which he does everyday. Now, both my 8 and 6yos are modelling reading for their brothers since they have their own reading sessions without me on occasion. We read books aloud that they might not have the motivation to read by himself. He does have a pretty deep appetite for literature (which I attribute to our read alouds) but we often attack books that seem boring. These days, I'll read the first few chapters and then he'll read the next few by himself because he is too impatient to wait until the next day. I doubt he would have made it all the way through Strawberry Girl if it hadn't been a read aloud but in the end, he loved it. I am SO excited start A Little Princess soon. It's another one I doubt he'd read on his own. On a different note, my 5yo can read at around a 2nd-3rd grade level and I wouldn't want to limit his literature to that level. Books just start getting good around that reading level. Most of what I read him is well above that. With all of that said, I don't think I'd force it on an older child. The point is for them to love literature not think of it as another thing mom makes sit through that I hate. In that case, I'd let them read it on their own.

I don't have the answers but just wanted to commiserate with you. My boys can be really funny and creative during school. Sometimes, it can make spelling, FLL, and WWE excruciating for me...CWP too. I understand not wanting to crush that creative spirit, but there's also a time to be serious about work. I haven't found the 8yo and 6yo balance for that yet. Most of the time, I'll let them enjoy the hilarity for a short period of time and laugh along with them before we get back to business. I've started limiting the number of sentences they can come up with during spelling. They could keep besting each other all day and I don't have time for that.

Thank you so much for this! I don't like to see that you do school til 3 or 4 either, but I can see how that might work better when I add my next student in a year. I do like the break/work balance. My boys can get so distracted when I try to bounce in between them and it doesn't seem efficient. I'm only combining them for fun subjects like Latin and geography. I think I'll keep that the same and try out a schedule like yours. Maybe by the time I have three and four at the table, I'll have the routine down. I was also reassured that your 4th grader is getting more independent. My 2nd grader does fine but he's still only 8 and I don't expect much of that yet. However, I'll need him to work more on his own as I add more students. My head knows that he'll be very different by the time he's in 4th but it's hard to imagine at this point. This has been a great thread!

I also use that method for myself and my lefty. I hate backwards slants. It wasn't hard for me to learn to slant my letters properly; it's all about muscle memory. I'm focusing on proper letter formation and neatness with my boys for now (both the lefty and righty). We'll reform the style and slant later. I was fortunate to have a lefty 4th grade teacher who had high expectations for me and didn't allow me to use left-handedness as an excuse for poor handwriting.

Hmmm. Dh and I are both lefties as is ds6. None of us write with a hook. I was very strict with ds6 on hand position so that he wouldn't have one. I have very nice cursive handwriting and ds6's is great (we do cursive first) for his age. All of that to say, I think the hook is why cursive is so hard for him. The flowing motion of cursive actually makes it easier for me to write. I don't think it's too late to remediate handwriting, but it seems to get harder and take longer as dc get older. Maybe the work ahead is worth it for him since he's motivated.

:iagree: I've used P3/4-Core C with two advanced boys and highly recommend it. SL is the best part of school for us. It is the time when we learn and discuss history, literature, and the Bible together. It has been so much fun sharing that time with them. My boys are thriving with it and are understanding so much more than I remember learning. Like LisaTheresa said, it is only part of our day. I buy math (Singapore, Horizons, and Miquon) from them and some supplemental science books but never plan on using their LA. You can see what else we use in my siggy. I just received my new Core C IG in the mail and am off to look at the new discussion questions. :auto:

Mine think she's very funny!

I use it as a supplement. Since I have a K'er, I started with Apples. I told ds8 that he could tag along until he was ready for Fractions. He loves them even though the math is super easy. He did the first 4 by himself and is begging for the rest and Fractions. I doubt he's learned much math, but it makes math more fun for him and that is worth it to me. He is ready for Fractions now so I'm getting that for him soon and he will probably go through the other elementary books as I buy them for his brother. It will still be a supplement. In fact, it will be something he can do in his own time since we are pretty full on other curricula during school as you can see in my siggy.