Super helpful everyone, thank you!

I have a question for those of you who have used this curric. I know it's scripted, but I'm wondering how imperative it is that you stick to the scripting and what purpose it serves. I love love love all its components, but I hate scripted stuff because it feels inauthentic and artificial (and I don't like being told what to do ;) ). So tell me: did you find the scripting helpful? Did you stick to it faithfully, or use it more as a guide? Is it really that necessary? (And any other comments about the curric are welcome, too!)

If you teach/taught handwriting without a curriculum, how do/did you do it? What is/was your approach?

I really like the idea of doing something less workbook/equation-driven for math and focusing more on learning math concepts through experimentation with manipulatives. I also love Life of Fred (well, the samples, anyway - haven't gotten the books yet) and would love to do that alongside. THose of you who have done the beginning LoF books, do you think I could use the concepts in LoF as a springboard and experiment with those (when it makes sense to)?

Oh mama, that would break my heart too! :( No advice, just wanted to give a hug. {{{momsuz123}}}

You might want to check out the GAPS diet; I just posted about it in another thread about non-pharmaceutical treatments. Another idea would be to check out the ALCAT food sensitivity/allergy test and see if there are other foods that could be contributing to the issue. Also, having worked with a nutritionist and learned a LOT about our food sources, how food is processed, etc., I'm pretty convinced that no one loses anything their body needs by cutting out wheat/gluten, so I seriously doubt your son would get sick from not having gluten. I feel pretty much the same about dairy. When you went gluten free before, how careful were you about trace amounts, etc.? It can take a whole month for gluten to clear from the system, and depending on how sensitive a person's system is, even the slightest bit can foil the whole thing, so if you're not checking ingredient lists for hidden sources you may not have any success.

I'm new around here, so forgive me if this has already been mentioned elsewhere, but I know a lot of people who have done the GAPS diet and seen *amazing* improvements in things like anxiety, allergies, ADHD, and autism/Asperger's. There's a book called The GAPS diet that lays it all out. It's pretty intense and takes a lot of dedication to stick with, but when you see the results it's worth it! A friend of mine did it - her dd and her both were allergic to a LOT of stuff, and my friend was suffering from secondary infertility. Within just two months of starting the diet she was pregnant (baby due next month!), and now her dd's list of food she has to avoid is much, much shorter.

Candida die off can definitely cause that. I'm sorry you have to go through that, but at least it means something good is happening!! :hug My mom has fibro, and it was *really* had until she did the ALCAT food sensitivity test and discovered she was sensitive/allergic to over THIRTY things. Once she got her system clean of those she had *dramatic* improvement. If you haven't looked into food allergies yet, you might want to try that. The ALCAT can be ordered online, and I think you can just send in your samples to have them analyze them, too; you don't have to find a doctor to do it for you. I'm new here, so forgive me if I'm telling you something you already know. :)

It will likely be a joint decision, though I'm steering things since I've been the one who has spent so much time researching. We lean toward a "less is more" philosophy, so we'll likely only use curriculum for math and use literature for everything else for now. We got the entire Hooked on Phonics set from another homeschooler for super cheap and she loves it, so we'll continue with that to help here get reading and then do some copy work and informal spelling/vocab stuff. That's all just off the top of my head, though - who knows what we'll end up with once he finishes reading WTM and has a chance to form his own opinions! ;)

Hey there! :) I just read WTM last week and luuuuurved it. We'll be starting formal schooling with our oldest this fall and reading WTM really made all my ideas click. I'm so excited to have found the forums, too! Our family, in short: We moved here to CO almost three years ago from Orange County, CA. We have two very spirited daughters and hope to add a dog to the mix in e next year or so. My husband and I work from home at the moment - he as the main parenting parent and as the editor of a local church's newsletter, and I as a women's fiction novelist and a distributor for It Works (botanically-based health and wellness products, including the "magic skinny wrap"). However, God has been doing some craaaaazy things in our lives over the last year, and one of the results is that, in the fall, I will be returning to the workforce as a 6th grade language arts teacher and DH will be doing the homeschooling. It's taking some getting used to - I've been dreaming about homeschooling my own children since college, and never wanted to work outside the home again, but God's been pretty darn clear. :) Anyway, time to start the bedtime routine, but I'm looking forward to "meeting" you all and learning from those who have gone before me in this classical education journey!

Testing!