We go to VA for a week but are then home from June 21-July 18. I'll search for her posts, is it a special test? We've wondered if she has a hearing issue (even without a processing problem).

We're starting our 6th year of hsing and she did the most with Singapore which I thought was going well overall (we did try TT4 when she was 9) until we stopped for a while because we moved to China. When we started back up, she was hopelessly lost. Everything looked like Greek to her and she ended up simply guessing at the operations in word problem. She could not tell me if the answer should be bigger (+,*) or smaller (-,/) and was simply picking one of the four to do with every problem. That's when out great hunt began. Obviously Singapore wasn't working the way I thought it was and we tried out the other programs, some concurrently. She also began to really want to do math by herself, probably because she finds my explanations incomprehensible. I can think of 4-5 ways to show/demonstrate/explain a given topic but none seem to make the slightest bit of sense to her. She may have auditory processing problems, but only for math. We do Sonlight for history and she's fine with read-alouds. She does often mishear us generally but Sonlight seems to be fine. I may try to have her hearing tested here, if I can get her in. She's convinced it's only for old people and won't go. If I make her and she's upset she won't be able to test adiquately, so I need to convince her. I have found a place in China to have her evaluated once I hear from the insurance how much they'll cover (the testing alone is $2200). I'm here in the US now, so getting materials now would be best because shipping is insane. TT was terrific as long as it was review, but she started bombing the tests once the material was new (40-60% scores). It didn't last long and we went back to Singapore. LoF was something I already had from her sister. I did buy her most of the Elementary series and she loved them! Did well on the questions, so we started Fractions. Hoo boy. Not so great, but less tears and frustration than Singapore. We started pulling out Singapore to do practices. I thought that a computer program (Math-Whizz and Aleks) might be better since it wouldn't get impatient and would just keep trying new ways of presenting the material. She just didn't progress with them very well. She's always had a multiplication table that she could use, but it can take her quite a bit of time to locate the correct information. Not sure why because she's had this same table for at least 4 years, so it isn't new and she used to be much faster. One of the weird ways she uses math is spelling. She counts the number of letters in each word and doesn't like prime numbers.

Hmm, I think the Keys to... will be good for her, I think she really needs that step-by-step how-to manual. LoF might give her enough why's to satisfy her. Though, right now, I can't say she seems to care why - just did she get the right answer. I was looking at the Jacobs Algebra text on Google books and am thinking it might be a good fit since it starts with basic math and has cartoons. I still think she'll need something else, like Keys to... to cement things and all. I need to read more in the Algebra book because I know his 'lower' level book would NOT work at all for either of my dc. My oldest is going to try Foerster Algebra 1 this fall with the DVD explanations. Maria Miller reviewed both and said Foerster had clearer explanations and, even though it's harder, my 13yo decided that was the better choice. Neither are very good at the discovery method. I will have to look at Learn Math Fast because 12yo really wants to be as independent as possible. 13yo wants me more involved even though her math ability is closer to average.

I've been wondering about the Keys to... series. She's doing LoF Fractions and we had to stop and work on 'doing the SAME thing to the top and bottom of a fraction' because she kept insisting that I was telling her something else. Yes, I also use the proper terms, but my focus is more on getting the concept over learning the terminology. That can be learned after the concept, if need be. We tried MM a little and she really didn't like it. She has a Flashmaster that I can have her practice math facts with because flash cards were yet another bust. She learned them for the card and could spout them off only when she saw the card. On a worksheet, a blank stare. Same with Timez Attack. She's slowly getting better, but man, it's sloow. I'll get some Keys to... books and see if those will be good for her - a single focus. I do actually think she might be good at mathematics but arithmetic is NOT her thing. I know that the two skills seem to be different parts of the brain or something (some people find Algebra and beyond much easier and others, who were whizzes in arithmetic hit a wall in Algebra). I'm the first group - Calculus and beyond were MUCH easier than, say, 4th grade math. Way less work and effort. I never did learn all the times tables but got a degree in math/statistics anyhow :lol:. THANK YOU for taking the time, and letting me know about your son. It sometimes seems like most hsed kids are math whizzes and are doing Algebra by 6th grade. I am constantly wondering if I did her a disservice by bringing her home.

We are (nominally) in CO and belong to a huge all-inclusive group who would be glad to have your 2yo come to park days or have you set up toddler playdates, etc. It's a great group and we have everyone in it - pagan, atheist, baptist, catholic, jewish, lds, agnostic, unschoolers, part-time b&m, boxed curriculum, online curriculum, classical, online, online ps, eclectic, etc. We have people homeschooling for all sorts of reasons, from special needs to giftedness, from religion to bad school experiences. However, we don't have a convention that many of our group go to - the largest is CHEC (yep, that infamous one) and there's a smaller, more inclusive but still religious one up north. I have never been to a convention for hsing. My other home is Shanghai, where I also belong to an inclusive group who adds another reason for hsing - being unable to afford the international schools and not wanting the pressure of the local schools (or having children who are likely too old to be successful). What I don't see IRL is any single focus, be that academics, religion, or something else. I like that. It adds to the diversity.

Anyone?

We've gotten behind, so it's 4-5 days a week for GWG here. My 13yo has decided to do just the Chapter reviews since she so rarely makes true errors (mostly omission errors). She'll go back and do any parts that she thinks are difficult but so far is breezing through GWG7. Dd12 is doing GWG6.

We did the separate SL Cores, but I still remember reading Gladys Aylward and Little Riders together (WWII from the Pacific and European theaters). it was so cool :). Don't miss Gladys, it has been our favorite missy book so far (we are starting Core G). I've never used HOD, so I can't comment on the comparisons. We've loved SL from Core B-G. The new IGs have a lot of notes on Bible this time around, so you might look at that and see if it's what you want there. I also like the LA better, at least in Core G. There is more of an emphaisis on rewriting and the directions are clearer to me. In LA G, they are written to the student on the worksheets, which I also like for the older students.

For Sonlight, you could get 70%+ of the books from the library, many are Newbery and other award winners. We read the Core A books at bedtime and weekends because my dc were still in school at the time. No guide, no schedule. We *loved* the books, so we started with Core B when we started hsing (2nd and 3rd grades). That's when I started using the schedule and guide. You can add in whatever books from SL that look good at this age. Many of them in Cores B and C are just good literature and not tied to the history - and the readers are the same (we did Grade 3 and Grades 4-5 only until Core D). It would be a way of seeing if you thought SL would work for you without any $$ outlay. If you and your dc love the books, you could try an IG (new or used) next year to see if the schedule and guides are helpful or not. Also from the library, there are lots of fun history and bio books. We read the You Wouldn't Want to... series, some Horrible Histories, Linda Bailey's Time Travel Agency series, lots of Mike Venezia bios, etc. We like humor here :D.

We've used Sonlight for Cores 1-6 (currently) - aka Cores B-G, so I've never used Core K/A. We did read most of the books from K while my dc were still in school, to 'test' SL and to see if it would work for us. No IG, just the books. We loved it. Once I did order Core 1, I have always used the schedule and the questions/vocab. We don't do narrations here, they just never worked for us. We can apparently only spontaneously discuss books when we really dislike them, so we'd have no discussion about most of the SL books :lol:. Maybe someone will chime in about K/A in particular - if the schedule and/or questions were good. If not, you could just read the books that sound good and try a later IG. 6yo is pretty young still, so a schedule is probably not needed at all. If *you* need one, however, then get one. Do whatever will stress you the least.

I'm pretty sure my 12yo has some form of dyscalculia. She has such a hard time getting concepts and then forgets them much too easily. She's a rising 7th grader with a math ability about 4th grade. She prefers to learn independently and isn't keen on manipulatives (not even in K). We've done TT, Singapore, MUS, LoF, MM, Aleks and Math-Whizz. None seem to hit the way she thinks. She did much better a couple of years ago on the multi-step part of ITBS than single step. She finds long division easier than addition. She is often, ummm, creative in how she thinks about things and 'hears' something different than what I say quite often. Any curriculum ideas? I've thought about Right Start, but I keep putting it off because it's neither independent nor manipulative-free. I think she might be able to do manipulatives if necessary, but on her own after a bit of coaching. Is there a tutor-like program with real people giving feedback and assignments? We could possibly do Skype. We're in China and I have been unable to find a tutor that can accommodate her off-center brain. The only other area I've found that she has problems in academically is alphabetizing. She can do the first letter and sometimes the second but it all comes apart by the third letter. Spelling, reading, comprehension, grammar, etc are all at or above average. I don't think it applies, but she is OCD too.

It's been a few years, but the dc scored 98 and 99 percentile overall which was amazing for dd (now 12yo) because she is abysmal in math. I don't know how ITBS is weighted but her low, low, low computation scores did not keep her from a 99 overall :glare:. I was surprised that she scored much higher in multi-step problem solving than single step.

We also use GWG and have not used anything else. I had some Easy Grammar, but GWG was easier for me to implement and I never really used the EG. I like that my dc can be independent and they like the short lessons. Is it the best? I have no idea, but it seems to be fine for my dc.

I don't know, but I'm getting (or trying to, Pearson has not approved me yet:glare:) Alg 1 because my dd13 and I read that it has better explanations than Jacobs. She is not a mathy kid, so clear explanations is a must. Even it means a harder curriculum. I go the review from Maria Miller of Math Mammoth and am buying the DVD set also.

Oh, you will SOOOO be able to add lots of books to Core B or C. We added in all of the You Wouldn't Want to... series that had been published, what Horrible Histories were in the library, Linda Bailey's time travel agency series and more. I wouldn't sell *any* book until your dc get too old for it. Even if you run out of read-aloud time, there's always extra readers :D. My oldest has read or has has read to her over 1900 books in the last 5 years, when we started hsing. Trust me, *I* did not read that many aloud! And, that number does not include books that I do not count as school (I only count historical fiction, nonfiction, cultural books and classics - especially if they are in Rainbow Resources or some curriculum). Oh, since you are also a bookoholic, have you looked at any online book library programs? I use LibraryThing and have books that we own, got from the library, one child or the other has read, etc. I also have tags for Noeo, SL, TOG, etc. It really helps because I simply can not keep all of those books in my memory. I *even* use it for my books, including trashy novels :lol:.

We like Fix-It here. It's not too much writing in a day, just a few sentences after correcting the errors in the worksheet that you print out. My dc like that every day is more of a continuous story. It only takes about 15 minutes including the rewriting in their best handwriting each day. Several of the stories are humorous, too, which they like. If you do IEW, Fix-It will reinforce several concepts like sentence openers and dress ups. IEW didn't work well for my dc, but we still do Fix-It :). We do also use another grammar program (Growing with Grammar) to get things like sentence diagramming in.

Well, I'm on overkill (cough, cough) for science for my 7th and 8th graders. We've got Noeo Physics III and Chem III, Advanced Chemistry and I've ordered both years of Rainbow Science. We won't be doing the dissection part of RS, so that will save some time. RS looks to be very independent, so I'll have them do that mostly on their own. We do Noeo like Sonlight, where I read the books and often help with the experiments - but they don't notebook since that made them dread science when we started hsing. Advanced Chemistry will be our 'as we have time' chem. I think - unless the dc really get into it. I *love* the tasty experiments :D.

Well, I bought the complete Year 1 and Year 2 sets, which includes everything but I haven't gotten them yet. I want to not have to find "stuff" since most experiments that I need to find stuff for usually do not get done. So, I can't really tell you anything about how important those sets are. I would think the consumable supply kit, at least, would be very helpful. You may be able to fudge some of the durable equipment kit.

Both of my dds really disliked WW and then they did Vocab from Classical Roots number books and liked those (books 4-6). My oldest transitioned successfully to the letter books (A-F, I think) but my younger did not. She then went to Vocabulit and does ok with it, but I'm on the search for something else for her. Oldest is doing 2 Classical Roots books per year, approx, so she'll run out early. I'm toying with the idea of having her do ACT/SAT practices instead of a dedicated vocab program once she finishes up. So, I guess I would try the number books and see if she likes those and, if so, use them until the letter books and see if she transitions well.

Sorry about the scamming, but wanted to say my oldest is also 8th this coming year and youngest 7th. We can start a 'My baby is WAY too old' pity party:grouphug:. Add the fact that hsing isn't as fun in the higher grades as it was in the elementary years - at least for me. Lots more scary and work and serious and less play and laughs and fun. Boo. It's just insult to injury. Because even without hsing, there's the hormones, attitude and pulling away. Bah.:glare:

Thank you so much! I would rather have the worked problems because I tend to make lots of arithmetic mistakes and get the wrong answer - though the algebra is correct...:glare: Oh, I didn't know if Pearson revised the old text - good to know that they didn't and that the graphing is manual! I was a bit worried when I saw the graphing calculator lab under Alg 1. OK, it looks like all I'll need is the solutions manual and textbook from Pearson and the DVD that I've already ordered. Oh, do I need any special graphing paper or anything else special? I don't know how easy it would be to find certain things here (China), but I can get anything particular when I'm home this summer.

My dd13 and I have decided on Foerster and have ordered the DVD and applied to get the solutions manual or teacher manual from Pearson. Which is better? Does the solutions manual have all the problems worked out? The Pearson site has a graphing calculator 'lab' - does my dd need a graphing calculator for the latest edition of Foerster? I don't want her to use one yet, but to do manual graphing until she understands it, at least. Does Foerster teach manual graphing for functions? Thanks!:)

I agree, my now 13yo would play by herself at recess in K-2 because by then she was tired of the other kids in the class. Sometimes she would play with others, but only very small groups. She just doesn't do well with large groups, she likely never will. Staying in school would not change that, just as it doesn't change that for many other kids that are in school K-12 or longer. They just go off by themselves or find small groups to be part of. My dd has several friends, more then she had in school because now she can concentrate on just socializing, not dealing with being overwhelmed from classes.

I've had this come with my 2 girls, last year when they were 12 and 11. I had told them that they had a right to refuse *anyone* and both were shocked. I am sorry that I didn't make that clear earlier but they seemed to be ok with the exams earlier. We go to a p-doc group so we see new docs all the time. One dr just smiled and nodded and said it was perfectly natural to refuse while another had to get a form for me to sign and sighed and fussed. So, even in one office, you can have all sorts of opinions on this. I side with the child because if that trust is violated, good luck getting her into the dr after 18yo. I know, because I've only had exams in relation to my children being born. I have *zero* trust of doctors and would honestly rather see a computer. I like my dr, but I can't trust her. Poor thing, she can't even earn the trust because it's so gone.

As far as I can tell, SL doesn't stick to either viewpoint, as many Christians are on both sides of the age of Earth/evolution fence. So, they offer both sides and leave it to the parents to teach their particular viewpoint. So, Christians who believe in Old Earth and/or Evolution can teach their pov and Creation Christians can teach theirs. If you are looking for only one viewpoint, then SL may not be the best solution for you. Many people find the selections wonderful SO that they can explain their own thoughts and reasons instead of someone else's. However, that can be more challenging and possibly time consuming, so it isn't an approach for everyone. We loved the SL Science books, but not the worksheets and the amount of materials I had to find, even with the kits (ok, we only tried Science 1 that went with Core 1:glare:). We ended up with Noeo which simply does not address religion at all. Rainbow Science is another one I am going to try for my 7th and 8th graders this year.