Okay - that makes more sense! I know it is no fun to have to spend on safety and unseen things like electrical, but I am sure it was worth it. Ours is a 1959 ranch which is also generally in good condition, but it does need some updates, but I know that there were inevitable be surprises and things that need to be remedied once we start to open things up. Thanks for sharing the details! It helps to know where the money goes.

We already have a range that is still in great condition, maybe 6 years old. An anonymous friend sent us a gift card for a new dishwasher, but our refrigerator will definitely need to be replaced. It will match the stove, and we were thinking one in the $1300 range. But yes, new vent hood because we want to relocate the stove (requiring just a 3 foot extension of the gas pipe - plumber said maybe $300 to do it), a new window, new flooring (luxury vinyl plank), cabinets, and counters. We were hoping to do IKEA cabinets and laminate counters since our kids are still pretty hard on any surface of our home. Also, in this neighborhood I don't know that we would get our money back on something like quartz if we had to move. We are hoping to get a quote on the new window, knocking a small partition wall back a bit, and the gas line. We could install our cabinets and counters on our own, and get a friend to help with the dishwasher if needed. I'm just surprised that they spent 50K and they did most of the work themselves. But maybe I didn't see the full scope of what they did. I also am sure ours will be more expensive than what we originally thought.

50K and you kept your original cabinets? Just out of curiosity, where did most of them money go to? I have been contemplating a minor kitchen remodel but was hoping we could keep it under 10K.

I know that this thread is really old, but thought I would add to it just in case others are thinking about Deep Space Sparkle. She now offers monthly and annual subscriptions to her site and we chose to take the plunge and invest in it, primarily because you get three bundles per month of lesson plans for grades K-6/7 that are yours to keep forever. Most of the lessons we have done so far have been a hit with our kids, but if you don't want to pay for subscriptions, she does have free projects on her site, and has published a book with 24 projects called Draw, Paint, Sparkle. We had our kids go to art lessons this past spring and had to pay $50/child + $15 for supplies each + a facility fee - all said, it added up to almost $300 for 14 weeks of lessons, or $20/lesson, and I was very disappointed with what they did there. When you consider that you can use the lessons for all of your children and download them, many of her lessons are only about $.60/lesson, and you can use them in co-ops, teaching your own classes, etc. She also has an EPIC Curriculum that covers all of the elements of art in 1 year for each grade level and is coming out with a new art history curriculum (Art Through the Ages) that has videos for every single one of the 125 lessons this August. You can't download the videos if you decide to leave but they do make it easier to teach some of the lessons.

We have only used CLE's reading program for 1 year (grades 5, 3, and 1) and while I was concerned that the stories might be too simple, my boys surprisingly have really enjoyed them. I too like that it only takes half of a year to complete - I am planning on adding other books in to supplement but we still get the basic literary analysis that comes with CLE's program.

I know - I didn't realize how much I used this forum until it was down for awhile!

Also, if your son thinks that CLE has too many problems, he will probably think the same of MM - I have found that they have triple the problems of CLE in certain situations. My son had one page where he was supposed to crack two riddle codes and there were about 30 long division problems (with multiple digits) just to find two answers. It was ridiculous.

The last part (MM being a slog) was also true for us coming from CLE. MM just felt like it was too much, in too many different ways, and in a very small font/cluttered layout. I didn't leave CLE for the same reasons you did, but more because I wanted better training in problem solving. Some kids seem to like MM much better when they switch, but for one of my kids it was a total disaster. I tried blending MM and Beast Academy and while they were both challenging and had interesting problems, there was almost too much of a challenge in applying everything and not enough review. What I would say is, you can try a summer break book from Math Mammoth and get it as a digital download. Find your son's grade level and try it out with him to see how it works for him. My older son, after switching, ended up staying with MM but he doesn't love it the way he did CLE, and where he used to feel confident in math he now considers himself not that good at it which is really sad. I may put him back in CLE for grades 7 and 8 because I like their format in explaining the problems so much better.

I heard about this a few months ago here on the boards but can't find out when it will be released or where I could get a sneak peek. I'm in the middle of deciding on language arts curriculums and would love to know if this would be a good fit - anyone else know?

I have never used Singapore Math with my own kids, but I do use Beast Academy. Even though a particular concept (like multiplication) might be on grade level, what they do with that concept is far beyond what I have seen in typical 3rd grade work. I use it as a problem-solving curriculum and love it, even when it makes my son cry on occasion (and that was on a 3rd grade problem after finishing 5th grade math in another curriculum). That said, I am glad he learned his basic facts and algorithms in another separate curriculum because they don't do drills or review. While they might build on previous concepts, I am realizing that I need to pull out the main ideas we have learned in different sections and regularly review them with practice problems so that he can remember what he has learned. I know that they are coming out with an online version in 2018 and am curious to see if they will provide more reinforcement in that area.

I too struggled with the expense of Beast Academy, but decided that I would just try one book at a time (they are broken into four units a year, so investing $25 for the guide and practice book is easier than $100 for all). We do Math Mammoth as our main curriculum and struggled a bit with how to schedule everything, and I ended up having 3 days a week of Math Mammoth and 2 days for Beast Academy. I think that both the guide books as well as the practices are important in understanding the concepts fully. The guide books teach/give examples, and then the practice books flesh out these concepts in a variety of problems and puzzles. The puzzles to me are golden - my son who finished 5th grade math had to start back at 3A because their problems involve a lot of creative thinking, and even though he's doing "multiplication" or area and perimeter, what they do with these concepts in the problems takes it to an entirely different level.

I have a 9 y.o. who had finished 5th grade in his regular math curriculum earlier this year, and then I had originally started him on BA 4D and it was too hard for him. There are two things to think about when you are doing BA - not just content knowledge, but how they are thinking about the problem. My son had a lot of content knowledge (multiplication tables, how to do long division, multiply/divide fractions, etc.) but was very weak on how to think about problems or creatively solve them. We actually went back to 3A so that he could work through all of the books and get a better foundation for how to approach problems and I don't regret it at all, in fact, I am learning new things myself! I would echo others in encouraging you to wait for 2A.

I also really like the looks of the Simply Charlotte Mason Enrichment guides - https://simplycharlottemason.com/store/enrichment-studies-volume-1/

Thank you! I started using Math Mammoth recently but only have purchased a few sections - with 4 kids I will get a lot of value out of this!

I've used CLE 2nd grade twice and never thought to not use the spelling - that's one of the reasons I bought it for, after all! My boys both seem to be natural spellers, so they have done fine with it. I can't vouch for a student who might not naturally learn how to spell things, though.

Doing an internal happy dance right now - I was planning on switching my two youngers over to Language Lessons, but didn't know what to do with my soon-to-be 5th grader. I am looking forward to seeing this book!

These are all so helpful - we did a few more problems today together where I helped him to think about the problems, and he seemed to see a little more than he did a couple of days ago, but I do feel like I need to go back to 3A (and I have three kids younger than him coming down the pipeline, so I'm sure I'll get plenty of use out of it). I'm viewing it more as "problem-solving and logic training" for now, and I agree that lowering the level might help him feel more confident and independent in tackling some of these problems. We've been grateful for the solid grasp of math facts that he's gotten from the traditional curriculum, but I'm trying to be comfortable too with a different way of doing math, where we approach it as an interesting puzzle to solve, even if it is challenging, and counting time that we work on it instead of "finishing a lesson".

That is good to hear. My hope is that he will eventually get a feel for what they are doing in some of these problems. I've been grateful though for the struggles, as they show me what he doesn't understand conceptually about some topics that he seemed to do well on in other curriculums.

A little background: my 9 y.o. son just finished his 5th grade math curriculum which was a traditional-style workbook (CLE) that emphasized solid knowledge of facts and drilling on things like long division, etc. But I noticed that he had a hard time with difficult word problems, particularly in seeing the problem for what it was and what he needed to do. After we finished 5th grade, I started him on Beast Academy 4D, which is a unit on fractions on decimals. But now I am realizing that it is so much more - and he's struggling with the word problems. I have many questions as a result: 1. I don't know how to help him see the problem. I feel like I am doing half of each problem for him, or he wouldn't even know how to solve it. I am sure I am enabling him, but if I say that he just needs to figure it out I don't think he would know what to do. 2. I am wondering if starting on 4D was too advanced. Even though he has a grasp of fractions and decimals, I feel like a lot of Beast Academy is more about problem solving strategies, and maybe this style of problem solving is something they had taught in earlier books. So should I have started him in 3A? 3. I really like the way the problems challenge a child to think, but I also like the traditional and gentle approach and training in facts of CLE (as well as its lessons that have a clear beginning and end, unlike BA). Has anyone ever done both together, and if so, how? My son would like to continue on in CLE's 6th grade, which was what I was planning on doing after a few months of Beast Academy, but I truly feel at a loss as to which curriculum to go with. I feel like he will get a lot of problem solving strategies from Beast Academy, but I'm worried that he will forget a lot of what he's learned of "regular math" in CLE if we take too long of a break. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

I resonate a lot with your feelings of being overwhelmed. I have three boys and a little girl, and often feel like if I am not on top of the older two, then they are into things or fighting. We also have food insensitivity issues. Thankfully I am out of the sleep deprivation/infant stage which is so hard and discouraging that it's kept us from having more kids. I understand the feelings of wanting to leave too - what I think some people don't understand is that some of it is more related to job dissatisfaction and wanting to leave it than not liking your kids. It's harder though when you're a mother and express wishes of "quitting" which is really just related to exhaustion. I know public school is not an option, but you are also saying that you are too exhausted and overwhelmed to educate your kids right now. How could public school be worse? I know it's not the best reason for sending a child to school, but my oldest is ADHD and if I weren't able to handle it, we probably would send him. There are teachers, especially at the lower grades, who really do care about their students, and it would give you a break, even if you only wanted to do it for a year. Some ADHD kids do really well in a school environment because they need structure and predictability. Honestly, if we had the money, I would send our kids to the local private Christian school because I just do better with a break from them, but for now, I'm trying to make it work at home. I also have benefitted from Managers of their Homes, a book about scheduling, even though I'm not using it right now (need to get back on track!). When I did have a schedule, the kids lit up and would adhere to it once they got the hang of it. I generally don't like the idea of having a plan for my day, but have also found it's more exhausting to survive a day without a plan than it is to try to stick to one. If your husband doesn't believe in medication or counseling, part of me wonders why it is about what he believes in when you are the one who is suffering. I have found things like getting more alone time to be more helpful than counseling, but my husband has to help with that as we have no family in town. When I had a nursing baby, I just hung out in the room with the baby and rested while he watched the kids. But if there is no outlet for you to get some help with the kids, something is going to blow and some point. What does he say when you tell him about your struggles?

I've done four levels of CLE language arts, grades 1-4, and even though I've looked into some other programs, we are going to continue to do them. The vowel/reading symbol exercises are heaviest in 1st grade and are annoying, but I still have my kids do them (with my help, and even I forget which symbol means what sometimes). It is tedious, but I have found that sometimes the sheer act of doing something tedious trains you to slow down and be patient and learn to distinguish the differences. It also indirectly teaches you how to read dictionary pronunciations down the line, but really, I have them do it for the mental exercise. If you hate it, though, I would just cross that part out. It disappears by 3rd grade and is probably more of reinforcement for reading skills than anything else. I personally loved diagramming in school, and didn't do it until 7th grade. I was both surprised and delighted to see them introduce it in 2nd grade. I think diagramming is a good way to analyze sentence structure. As for how hard it was or how much time it took, I found that my two sons who have used it so far take maybe 15-20 minutes max to do the whole thing. They never complain that it's too much or too hard, and they are typical boys who love to be into lots of other stuff. Not only that, but they beg to start the next grade the week after they finish the current one because it's become so routine for them. I have found my 4th grade naturally applying things he learned on his own from the CLE LA program to his writing. I started off with First Language Lessons but found it didn't work for us because my son responded better to a workbook teaching him what to do for some reason. I also have peace of mind that the thoroughness of the program covers things like alphabetization, grammar, editing skills, spelling, and handwriting. So I guess I write all of that to say that no program will be perfect, but for the most part, CLE has been worth it for us.

It's good to find this thread, as I am kind of burned out on homeschooling but I know I need to plan. We go year-round, but I am making myself take more frequent 1-week breaks + Fridays off this coming year and writing out a more specific weekly plan so that I stay on track. This year, we are finishing up SOTW 2. My 3rd grader just finished CLE 400, so he'll start on 500 when it arrives in the mail. He still needs to finish up CLE 400 through the summer and next fall will start CLE 500. I may also add in Beast Academy 3A since I've never done any AoPS curricula with him and would like to switch him to that later on when he's ready for pre-algebra. We plan on doing American History starting this summer, as it is so hot and my kids will get into stuff if I don't give them some schoolwork to do. Besides, it doesn't really take much to do an hour or two of academics each morning. I'm hoping to use Sonlight Core D for my spine along with Founders of our Nation, on old American history text. For writing, I'm going to try Maxwell's Elementary Composition after we finish up WWE Level 3. For science, we are doing Abeka's 4th grade science right now and will do 5th grade in the fall once we finish. For music, we will probably continue doing Opal Wheeler books for music appreciation and piano lessons. Art - See the Light Art DVD's, Sewing School 2 in the fall (we are doing Sewing School 1 right now and the boys LOVE it).

Yes, I noticed this as I looked through the readiness tests for Beast Academy. Level 3 seems pretty key to the rest of the material. I think this week I am going to give him some readiness tests for Level 3 to see how he handles the material while we wait for CLE 5 to arrive.

OK, this is good to know. I am aware of Beast Academy, but it was more an issue of finances for us (purchasing two curriculums for one year when you have a child who often works through 1 1/2 grade levels each year). I like CLE because it works for our family right now, but I agree that it would be good to try Beast Academy alongside to prepare him for a different type of mathematical thinking. It might have to be one of those splurges we make given our son's interest in math. He's been bugging me already about when his 5th grade work is going to get here (he finished 4th grade earlier than I thought he would, and I hadn't ordered 5th grade yet). Mom31257, thanks for the information on which year is considered pre-algebra in CLE. I couldn't really tell from looking at the curriculum and have had trouble clarifying what exactly constitutes "pre-algebra." It seems that a lot of curriculums begin introducing algebraic concepts early on.

My son just finished 4th grade Christian Light math (he's 8 1/2) and we're ordering 5th grade math. I'd like to stay with CLE for his main elementary years as he has really done well with it, but because he's working through his levels so quickly, I know that at some point I'd like to transition him over to the Art of Problem solving, starting with pre-algebra. I was wondering if there was anyone else who had done this, and if so, when did they make the switch? Thanks!