My DS does *not* like change either. Funny! Thanks for the response... that encourages me that even if he dislikes the rods (or whatever it is they call them) it could still help him understand the numbers.

My 9 year old son has major problems with sequencing numbers and alphabetizing words. He just cannot make sense of it. He does great with visual math problems but ordering numbers is so amazingly difficult for him. We're halfway done with Saxon 3 and have done Saxon 1 and Saxon 2 completely. We've taken breaks along the way and did some Math Mammoth units, some Singapore (he loathed it), some R&S, just focusing on math facts, etc. Basically, just trying other things for a few weeks here and there when it seemed his brain was full. I'm thinking we may just need a different program and that Saxon is not going to work for us. I thought that the incremental nature would help him and it has helped us to a degree, but it really seems like he needs to solidify how he thinks about numbers before we move too much further. I know he was turned off by the idea of MUS because of the manipulatives but I'm wondering if he just really really needs to use something like that to understand what he's doing better. Someone with a child like this? What program did you find worked? He does awesome with all his other schooling but math is a nightmare for us right now.

This is the only book that I remember falling asleep while reading aloud. Over and over. I would only read one chapter at a time to my eldest son when he was little and it was all that I could do to stay awake through it. Literally. He thought they were hilarious (he was only 2.5 or 3) so I found a CD book version and let him listen. We only have a few criteria for ditching a book (assuming I didn't pre-read which eliminates a bunch) -- if the reading scares the child too much or if Mama or children fall asleep. I've eliminated tons of books before reading them out loud, though, by reading the first couple of chapters myself to see if it will work for us. Sometimes it will but not for another couple of years, if that makes sense... so I just try to remember them for later. If you think the kids like Uncle Wiggly look for it on CD book at the library. They can listen and you can get other things done. ;)

We loved Minimus and Secundus. :) We've gone all around... we did Prima Latina, then Song School Latin alongside Minimus, then Latin's Not So Tough 1-3 with Secundus, and then Lively Latin 1 and now 2. The plan is to move on to Latin Prep from Galore Park with Cambridge alongside. It will slow it down but that's fine... we're not in a hurry at this age. Plus, I'm not sure what we'll do after we've finished all that. HTH a little!

Each lesson/chapter seems to take 3-4 weeks right now to go through for us. There is a new vocab list in every chapter in LL2 (it was every other mostly in LL1) which can add time. My plan is for it to last all of next year at least. My DS loves the variety in the program and is doing fantastic with the translations. It has done what I wanted it to do (keep the love of Latin alive) while giving us a clear understanding of the grammar. I was torn between LfC and LL a year ago and we went with LL at the time... but every now and then I feel like maybe I should have gone with LfC. The grass is greener syndrome perhaps?

We've stripped all the carpet out and eliminated stuffed animals a while ago. Bedding washed weekly, etc. So the next step is to replace living room furniture with something that doesn't make him sick. Definitely seems like leather is the way to go! I was apprehensive about the micro-fiber... it just didn't seem like it would be that much better but who argues with the Mayo Clinic?! But wow, leather can be expensive! We sold all of our living room furniture since we are moving and now I'm thinking we'll be sitting on the floor for a year or two. LOL

I actually thought it was done when I bought it. If it were me doing it, I would not have put it online for purchase with only a few chapters done... yikes. It looks like through Lesson/Chapter 7 is done with history and derivatives and all now. Chapter 8 through 15 are online with the grammar worksheets and so forth but without history and the extras. (Actually looks like Ch. 8 has some of the extras but not all... so it's half finished.) I'm not sure how many chapters are expected total; there are slots for 16 & 17 with nothing in them. There is a big jump in expectations from LL1 to LL2. It's hard to pinpoint but it almost seems like we're racing now. Perhaps LL2 should have been slowed down and turned into 2 more levels instead of just one. LL1 had errors which bugged us but the pace was excellent. I'm slowing LL2 down as needed but it was so much better at LL1. I did see on the CAP website that they do recommend going through LfC A for a month or two as review (and I suppose to make sure you have the same vocab) before jumping into LfC B. That's one of the biggest reasons we're not jumping ship on LL right now... I just don't want to spend that much money when we've already learned so much. Plus of course the LL courses don't resell so I'd be out the money for LL2...

Thanks!!

I've considered this as well... but haven't done it! LOL We're in Chapter 3 of LL2 and I'm disappointed in the number of errors we've noticed already but we love the long translation passages. The stories are pretty funny!

Our son reacts strongly to dust mites (well, their byproducts...) and we've found he has a ton of problems with the upholstered living room furniture. We'd like to get something that he doesn't react to. I've read to change to leather or micro-fiber cloth or wood/plastic. But since we've decided it's too risky to buy used (problems with pets, perfumes, dust mites, etc.) I would like to get something that we can use for a long time without him being bothered by it. Anybody choose to go this way for the allergy? Did it work well? I've read that some of the "leathers" are so full of chemicals it may not help on that front, so we're leaning towards micro-fiber. The other thing that was mentioned was to use one of those light wands (I'm forgetting their names...) that kills bacteria and dust mites... but then, if the problem is that the allergic reaction is to the dust mite byproducts that doesn't seem like it would help. But maybe it would? We saw that CostCo is selling one so we could get one if it would help. Any suggestions to help?

We've done these books as read-alouds reading the first five back to back a few months ago and now the new one made it to the library ("Summer According to Humphrey") and we're in the middle of it. The boys, especially the five year old, love them. BUT... Humphrey has referred a couple of times to a hamster named "Winky" and also has mentioned a doctor/vet. We've never read anything about that! Are we missing a book somewhere? This it the sixth book according to the lists I've found and we know we've read all the previous five; I reviewed the basic summary on Amazon for each one and don't find Winky in any of them and definitely confirmed we read the stories as we remember them. So what gives? Are we just dimwits??

English: - All About Spelling 4 (and part of 5) - Rod and Staff English 3 - IEW All Things Fun & Fascinating - cursive copywork Math: - Saxon 5/4 Languages: - Lively Latin Big Book 2, finish (we've started already) - Hey Andrew, Teach Me Some Greek, levels 4 - 6 - adding in Spanish per DH's request; no program picked yet History/Bible/Geography/Literature: - Heart of Dakota: Preparing Hearts Science: - HOD Preparing - adding in Apologia Botany Other: - memory work (poems mostly) - he's asked for guitar lessons - maybe some sort of co-op for art/P.E. this year (and if HOD Preparing bombs by mid-September we'll switch to something else... I'm iffy on if it's going to work for him or not)

I gave it two days and then emailed and got it from her very quickly. No idea where the first email went... into the internet ether. I've read others had to email/call in order to be activated as well.

We're wrapping up second grade now and here's what went over great for us: - Rod & Staff English 2 -- loved this - All About Spelling, levels 1-3 -- we flew through the first two; this includes dictation - Writing With Ease 2 -- just the narration days which are 1st and 4th; we don't do her dictation - cursive copywork -- if he doesn't use cursive in his spelling or grammar that day we have him practice it It's worked very well for us and we'll probably do the same lineup for my younger son. Next year for 3rd grade we'll be continuing with R & S English 3 and All About Spelling 4 (and perhaps 5... we just move through it at his pace). We're changing to IEW for writing. We'll continue copywork in cursive for another year or two or until he switches to it on his own for all his work. At some point I'm going to insist all his work be in cursive.

I've not seen any updates either... we're in Chapter 2 of LL2 so I'd like to know if it's going to be done before we get there too! As far as I can tell, Chapters 14-17 have nothing and from Chapter 8 on there is the lesson and answers but none of the extras like pronunciation audio. Is that what you're seeing too? Frustrating isn't it? Something that works well for my son but...!

We did just that. In our state you *have* to indicate grade as well as age since the tests are done by grade (3rd grade, 5th grade, 7th grade, etc) and not by age. My son is at the end of 2nd grade officially but is ahead in everything "academically". We're still very happy with our decision and will be doing exactly the same thing with our younger son who we have to register this year. We have a good friend who is a child psychologist who says boys shouldn't start any academics until they are 7 if you can help it. And certainly not formal schooling. So, we take that (with a grain of salt) into consideration as well.

You could look at Sonlight Core 1 and Core 2 for extra go along books. Or perhaps even to use if it's a good fit. Heart of Dakota also has a program, Preparing Hearts, that uses CHOW as a spine. So that might have some ideas for you as well.

For us, it has been so worth it! We started spelling with DS this year at age 8.5. He was a late reader due to vision problems which we resolved the summer he was 7.5. He spent a year reading voraciously but his spelling was atrocious. He asked me for spelling since he was frustrated at his own lack. We blew through Levels 1 and 2 this year and are around lesson 10 of Level 3. I've slowed it way down but retention has been fabulous. The dictation has really cemented things. He's not thrilled with the letter tiles but he tolerates them. His spelling has improved across the board -- he's actually paying attention to how words are spelled now that he knows that there is a right way and a reason for it. I know it's pricey but Spelling Workout and similar methods were a failure for him. This works. I have another son coming up who looks likely to be a natural at spelling but he'll have fun at this. And then I'll sell the books since they stay in great shape and call it good.

but usually forget to post here. So I actually have one today. I think the dog would rather the Boy was outside running with him! http://tigerandpanda.blogspot.com/

My eldest son was 6.5 when he decided he really really wanted to learn. He's done just fine and has nice handwriting. He'll defer to printing if he's tired or working on another skill (like tough spelling words). Our younger son has no interest and struggles even with print. He'll probably be around 7 or 8. We're playing it by ear.

Thanks so much! I lost this thread (wow this forum does move quickly). We're still considering Saxon 54 with my copying the problems but the thought of doing that every night or during our lesson time makes my eyes glaze over. Doable but at what cost to sanity? I didn't realize that there might be room enough in the book to just write there. But the pages are definitely busier from what I can see and the cleaner pages is one reason we went with Saxon orginally (he had/has vision issues). CLE is high on the list. I'm pretty sure we'd be somewhere in the CLE 2 level. The 200 workbook looks easy for him; the 210 workbook has things we haven't yet covered but then we aren't finished fully with Saxon 3 so maybe we'd get there. It wouldn't hurt to have the review at this point. We are running into a hiccup with the Saxon beyond the copying. He isn't getting enough practice on a new concept. There's so much review on the worksheets (which is wonderful) but he really needs a page or two of a new concept right at first to cement it. Plus the review. So we're learning adding things like 35+40 right now. Should be super simple and he caught onto the pattern the first day. But there was only 3 problems on the worksheet the first day. And the second day after learning it there was just one tucked in amongst other review type problems. And he totally froze... and swore to me up and down he'd never seen such a problem before. LOL Maybe we need something like Math Mammoth that focuses on particular subjects AND something like Saxon done behind to keep the review going. Or, as DH suggested, maybe we just need to take a math break for a while. Play some games, read some math books, and let it all settle.

One more idea: Math Mammoth. They have workbooks that focus on just a few topics per workbook. Here's the link directly to that page: http://www.mathmammoth.com/blue-series.php I was just looking at these tonight for my own son with special needs.

We've used Saxon 1 - 3 with our son and it's worked very well. We had previously tried Singapore and it was a disaster for him. He just could not get it. He does well with continued review of material. I'm looking ahead for next year and am not sure that Saxon 54 is going to be a good fit at all. He just cannot transfer problems from a textbook to another sheet of paper. He already switches numbers in his answers ("21" becomes "12" by mistake). We definitely need a workbook/worksheet approach where he can focus on getting his answers right without worrying he's copied the problem wrong. Any suggestions for what would be a good fit?

We use All About Spelling as well. We're in the middle of Level 3 and it's going wonderfully. The part I love the best is the dictation sentences at the end of each lesson. They have really cemented the spelling for my son. (But straight dictation sentences never transferred into spelling... he needs to know how the words are spelled before he puts it together in a sentence. If that makes any sense at all.)

Heart of Dakota's Beyond program would work well probably. http://www.heartofdakota.com/byd-little-hearts.php And their packages show what books they schedule, etc: http://www.heartofdakota.com/byd-little-hearts-packages.php I used TruthQuest with my eldest and it worked okay for him but I'm definitely going to use Beyond with my youngest when he hits that age.