We have done CLE LA with my son since first grade (he is now in 4th). It has been such a lifesaver. I don't do spelling with him because it is included in the curriculum, and I can see from his writing that he is applying grammar rules properly that I know I haven't taught him myself. I also use WWE alongside it - I get the full student workbook because again, it saves me the time to have to pick out a passage, get the paper ready, etc. He views WWE as his "writing" time, and CLE as his "language arts" time. It is not overkill - WWE only takes maybe 10-15 minutes, and that only when it's a narration day.

We have a Mac Powerbook OS 10.9.5, and from what I've been reading of reviews of typing software downloads like Typing Instructor for Kids or Mavis Beacon Keyboarding Kidz, it seems that the downloads rarely work for newer Macs. What do you use to teach your kids typing? I would like to start my almost 8 year-old on lessons this year and possibly my 6 year-old as well.

I am feeling this a bit with teaching reading to my 3rd son as he is only 18 months behind my 2nd son. This may be considered cheating, but one thing I have done with my 2nd was to start him on Starfall when he was 4 (I would just let him poke around and play on it while his oldest brother was doing school), and then he learned how to sound out words, do the basic stuff all on his own. I still did Alpha-Phonics with him as a main curriculum but it wasn't anywhere near as hard because he already had a lot of the exposure from Starfall (they do a lot of the sounding out of words, etc.) Same thing goes for games like Reading Raven on the iPad. I have done this with my 3rd as well, and he's not yet 4 so I'm not pressuring him to read, but he already has the concept of combining sounds of letters to make words (i.e. he can read CVC words). I'm glad to hear of others liking CLE. I have used it with my oldest but was itching to do something different with my 2nd, but I think I will go ahead and stay with it.

This. I am 40 years old, and am glad that I still have good books left to read. I really can't imagine being 17 and feeling like you'd read all the good books in the world there are to read anyway. While I think it's good to try to plan so that you can do the most you can with the time you have with your children, you also have to remember that you are raising readers, and once you set them loose, they will continue to read and grow. I think giving them a taste for good literature and an ability to read it is just as important as the content of the literature itself. I appreciate the thoughts on teaching to your own style as well. A key question I ask now is not just if it would be great to do xyz curriculum, but if it actually works for both my kids and I in the season of life that we are in at the time. I just have young ones right now - my oldest is 7, but my youngest is 3 months old, and right now I need things that are pre-planned and ready to go for the fundamentals, and less scheduled for the other subjects.

I don't regret buying the TM's for lower-level language arts and math - to me, $7 per manual is a GREAT deal for what they cover. I appreciate the tips, etc. and scope and sequence, and feel like they are good to refer to when I hit a topic that I want to explain more in depth but need better ideas for examples to give, etc. They are so well-organized - highly recommended!

We haven't really "stopped," as I'm due with our 4th in 5 weeks and plan on giving myself a break then. We finished up 1st grade with our 6 year-old and have moved on to 2nd grade math and language arts with him and basic reading/writing instruction with our 4 year-old, but with history and science we've pretty much stopped until the fall. I'm hoping to be halfway done with 2nd grade math by the time baby comes. At this point I don't know that I would have stopped these subjects either way, and I may have my two oldest continue math and language arts even after the baby is here, because we use CLE which makes it very easy to get their lessons done in less than 45 minutes a day. With the baby here, they will probably want some one-on-one time with me anyway, and I like having something for them to do. But my husband is taking the bar 2 weeks after my due date, and we may have to move a few weeks after that if he gets a job offer out of town, so I will not feel like a failure if we have to drop everything for a couple of months :).

My two thoughts on his response are : 1) Does it really require 12 years of sitting for 6-7 hours a day in a building with large class-sizes for my son to experience the "benefit" of learning how to get cut from a team or work with others? Why can't there be another way to pursue these opportunities? 2) I would also point out that there are opportunities that other kids are missing out on because they are in public/private school. Every choice requires a sacrifice, it's just a matter of what your priorities are. I wouldn't let it get to you, but I also think it's significant that he was upset enough to text you about it. I think it deserves a good conversation, not an argument that will emerge with a winner and a loser.

We use Christian Light for Math and Language Arts, and their workbook system which includes tests and quizzes is very easy to keep. I keep the completed workbooks on hand during the year, but file the quizzes/tests separately in a folder. At the end of the year I will probably get rid of the workbooks, but it is nice to show my son how far he has progressed by looking through old workbooks (he's in 1st grade).

We are using CLE Language Arts for our 1st grader, and I really like it. I didn't use Learning to Read with him because he had already learned to read with another program (Alpha-Phonics) and it felt like it would be too much writing with that and the CLE Math we were doing with him as well. I think the reading program is very solid, however. I would have used it with my 2nd son but he is already interested in learning to read at age 4 1/2, but his handwriting is not quite there yet to keep pace with his reading, and I know the reading workbooks do require a decent amount of handwriting. For my son, he likes the workbook format. CLE Language Arts is very organized with checkboxes for each activity, and he likes the routine of it. For some strange reason, it also helps that there is a workbook in front of us that says "x" needs to be done instead of me saying it. And I've definitely seen it get more independent in terms of what he can do on his own, though I do still sit there with him to make sure he stays on task. What I really like is that they integrate spelling and penmanship into language arts, so I don't have to worry about it. Some of the exercises seem unnecessary but there is a lot of stuff built in, like recognizing suffixes, discerning between a phrase and a sentence, gently introducing spelling rules, etc. We will be doing CLE Language Arts and Math for 2nd grade as well.

I used Sonlight Cores for 5 years at the elementary level (grade 4-8) with two families that I homeschooled overseas, and I loved the curriculum and the IG's. I thought their American History curriculum was absolutely wonderful, and will use it with our own. I also think that the other cores we used were good, but they definitely got heavy in terms of reading quantity and we had to stretch some of them out over a year and a half at times. However, we have not been able to afford the full curriculum since we had our own. I have been working off of the book lists from the catalog, using our local library, and am kind of glad I don't have the full curriculum for the younger ages. I think our oldest son was young for his age and some books have not been a hit with him, but now at 6 1/2 he is really getting into chapter book read-alouds.

Does your child already know her letter sounds? Consider Alpha-Phonics as well. I taught someone else's kids for awhile and they had 100 EZ Lessons and it was awful for me. Their oldest had learned through Alpha-Phonics, but it didn't work for the child I was teaching. I thought it was just me, but now I'm on my 2nd child with Alpha-Phonics and it works really really well. Very straightforward, no frills, and within 120 lessons they are reading at a very decent level.

I can totally empathize with you on the breastfeeding front - that's probably my main concern too. I'm the type that likes to be by herself with no pressure or noise in order to breastfeed - it's been a struggle with each child. I am keeping the pressure low on myself this time if I start to have problems (i.e. if I need to supplement early, I will)- there is just no way I can "be with the baby" the whole day to nurse on demand when I have three little boys running around cooking up their own schemes. Have you read the book Mother Food, by Hilary Jacobson? It was written by someone who researched all of the different types of dietary and supplemental solutions that different cultures have used to support breastfeeding. I found it very helpful, and one of my hopes this time around is to prepare in advance some basic lactogenic foods and drinks to have on hand so that I can support myself as much as possible.

I'm due with my 4th in July - my other three will be 7, 5, and 3 (doing 2nd and K for the oldest 2). I'm trying to train them to get more on a routine, including "blanket stations" where they get out a manipulative and play with it for 10 minutes and then rotate. That only works for 30 minutes, but I've been surprised at how quickly they got into the "playing by a timer" routine. In fact, they pull out the timer to time themselves playing now :). I also switched to some curriculums that require much less from me. I LOVE Christian Light for Math and language arts because there's just about 5-10 minutes at the beginning where you explain things to them, and then mostly review. My 5 Y.O. is already learning to read with Alpha-Phonics and does workbook work for handwriting/math/etc. but it doesn't take too long 15 minutes a day, maybe? Again, they've gotten used to taking turns working with me and then playing with the others or doing Starfall when it's not their turn. I'm hoping to hand off history read-alouds to my husband or Jim Weiss ;), because my husband likes history and reading books aloud, and we can do it in the evenings. I don't plan on doing much in terms of hands-on activities during those first few months. I might move science to the evening as well so that we can do it as an activity where my husband is either there to help with experiments or get some quality time with baby. Also, we are working through the summer, so that in the event that I have to stop everything mid-July when the baby comes, I won't feel bad about it. I think my kids like their work enough that it would be harder not to have some workbook work to do, and at the age they're at taking too much of a break can lead to forgetting what they learned. Easier meals for lunch and dinner, of course, will be a priority, and we may even do things like paper plates just to save labor for awhile.

My son is 6 1/2 and I was just asking this very same question to a retired reading specialist. She recommended this method called ReQuest, short for reciprocal questioning, and I think you can google it to find out more. Basically, you start with just a sentence at a time, and have your student read it, and then have them ask you a question about the sentence. If they need help, you can model by asking them a question. I think you take turns asking questions too. In a gentle way (i.e. not requiring them to recall an entire chapter) it encourages students to pay attention more to the meaning of the sentence once they've decoded it. Eventually, you can add on more sentences, then a paragraph or two, etc. You can also just talk about what the sentence means if they don't know to determine where their understanding is faltering - it might be a question of vocabulary, or even phrasing. I know that some books I have read aloud have been more difficult for the kids to follow not because they don't know what individual words mean, but because phrasing is used that can be drawn out, complex, etc. and it's hard to keep track of it all when you're simply listening. I experienced this in a similar way when I was learning a new language in an immersion context, and could easily understand some native speakers, but others would lose me because they used different ways to say things. I do believe that some of it may not happen until my son reaches a higher grade, but in the meantime, I like having something I can try with him. I don't plan on making it high pressure, though - just a simple exercise where we see if we can get better at something.

We are using CLE for both math and LA and love it. I am due with my 4th in July and am so glad that we have a program that is as thorough and yet manageable as CLE. When the baby arrives, I know that we will be able to get these subjects done, and done well. My oldest is six and is doing 1st grade right now - he is a natural speller, so I don't know if their spelling would help a struggling speller, but they do introduce very basic phonetic rules for spelling and give them maybe six words to practice each lesson that relate to the rule, and there is a lot of reinforcement in subsequent lessons.

What are your thoughts on the Common Core Standards? I'm particularly interested in the standards they have for writing - they seem to be attempting too much too soon, but I would love to hear your perspective on it.

I'm so behind on technology, so I had to look up Rdio, but that's good to know that he's on other free streaming services as well. :)

I was just poking around on my husband's Spotify account this morning and found over 28 full albums of Jim Weiss's story audiobooks available for free streaming. I'm kind of surprised they were there, but thought I'd share. I'm assuming it's legal since it's Spotify.

I would return one of the mini's and keep the other, but definitely put restrictions on when they can use it, and even what games you put on it. My boys have one and still spend lots of time building, listening to classical music, and coloring. However, if you really don't have the money, or it would create more fighting than learning in your home, return both. Last Christmas, my very generous brother-in-law got our three boys an iPad mini for Christmas. I wasn't sure what the experience would be like, but we LOVE it now. I am, however, very picky about which apps make it on there for our kids. Honestly, there are so many bad apps out there that are "twaddle" and very few that are useful, but the ones we like for the 2-5 yr range are from the Bugs and Buttons/Numbers/etc. series. In terms of pre-K skills, I've watched them do numerous increasingly challenging variations of sorting/learning colors/numbers/etc. that replace a lot of clutter-inducing "learning toys" in our home. I also like the fact that if you want to buy a game that will teach them a skill, it will only cost you .99-2.99 instead of $15.99. There is also a Peterson bird guide that we really like that's free where the kids can click on the different birds and learn their calls, etc. It's really beautiful and classic-looking. We use a space app to talk about the constellations in the sky, and even the weather.com app to talk about storm systems and weather. There are great collections of art you can download from the Louvre, National Gallery of Art, etc. to do picture study with. It really all depends in how you use it. The other thing I like the iPad for is Google books, and using it for Kindle. I have been able to download countless "vintage books" from Google that are great readers for kids. Recently I read "My Father's Dragon" off of the iPad, and I know there will be more classics to come from there. As for limits, you could designate a certain "ipad" time for them to play, and of course, they take turns. I have three boys close in age who share almost all of their toys, and while there are fights, they understand that people have to take turns - it's a part of life. My sister also homeschools and has her 3rd grade son finish his assignments in order to earn time on the iPad.

My son likes tests, but he tenses up sometimes if he hasn't done his speed drills in Math in awhile, like how many problems you can do in 1 minute. I changed the challenge to how long does it take you to finish your entire drill, and then had him aim to lower his time each day. It actually turned into a positive coaching moment because it was easier to improve on an initially bad time, and also it provided an opportunity to talk about how it feels to not do well at something in the beginning, and compare it to how it feels when you get a little faster the next time. I think failure and hurdles are necessary to growth, and teaching my son to work through them rather than avoid them is just as important as learning to read/add/etc.

I don't have an opinion on either program that was mentioned, but I do have an "active little boy" and wanted to throw in my two cents. I'm wondering if some of the issues you are having are not of finding the right curriculum, but of timing and development. Your son is 4 and a 1/2? My son hated coloring at that age too, which is why I chose a fast, simple (some would call "boring") program over a long program with lots of activities. I did Alpha-Phonics for about 5 minutes a day, a few days a week, and that was it. I didn't really work on handwriting then either - he just wasn't ready for it. He also didn't like cutting with scissors. Fast-forward to him now at 6 years old. He's still active, but is reading well, working on writing his own book on Pompeii, and LOVES to cut and color for an hour at a time. I can't print off enough coloring pages a day to keep him satisfied. Very little of it had to do with the curriculum, I think - there was just a time when he was ready to start doing those things, and I didn't push it.

Thanks for the suggestions/thoughts - I didn't know about the Eureka mop, and am going to throw it into my consideration. My husband thinks it's a "wait" item, so I'm going to give it a little thought, but if I had the money I think I would have gotten it yesterday. I am not convinced yet that it sanitizes the floors better, because most steam mops say they work "with 15 seconds of exposure" which makes it sound like I'd have to stand there for awhile steaming, which is not what I want to do, but it certainly makes it feel easier to clean the floors . . ,

Thinking about this as a Christmas gift for myself, but not sure if it's worth it - any suggestions?

I haven't had any problems so far. I did all downloads, though. I am now eying the mp3 lectures - does anyone have an opinion on what's worth buying?