Is there a link to the Human Odyssey? And do Joy Hakim's books have workbooks or anything I can use as "product" to show the Charter school?

Hi all! I am looking for curriculum next year and have a pretty good handle on math and science (not sure about LA). History has always stumped me. We tried SOTW1 this year, but it was a lot more religious than we are wanting and had to discontinue using it. We are looking for a secular history program. For my 2nd grader, we can use Adventures in America, if that's any good? I'm stumped what to use for my 3rd and 4th graders though. We use a homeschool charter (with parent choice for curriculum), so we have to choose something. I really dislike history in general and find it boring. I am leaning toward giving up and getting the PS books just to make it easy to meet "standards", but I know it won't be engaging for any of us. Isn't there anything interesting out there that will keep us all interested? Help?

My 2nd grader is just about done with his cursive book (LOE). He enjoyed it. Can anyone recommend a good cursive handwriting program that a 2nd grader would enjoy? He is ready for sentences and paragraphs. Thanks!

Thank you for posting this. I got it for .99c right after you posted it. :)

I have 2 kids, 18 months apart - a 1st and a 2nd grader. We use a public homeschool charter that advertises parent choice curriculum, and after painstaking research, I decided on Nancy Larson Science to be shared between the 2 boys, with extra student pages. I submitted our choices and got a message from the facilitator that the librarian says that Science in a Nutshell is the same thing, but cheaper. That is just ridiculous, and I let the facilitator know that SIANS is an experiment kit, but NL is a full curriculum. Today, I received a call from the director of the school letting me know that they didn't want to pay for NL, and that it seems too expensive for what you get. She mentioned that if I "wanted a curriculum that's never been ordered before then every parent will want new curriculum". I'm not sure what she meant, as the school advertises parent choice and doesn't state it has to be certain curriculum only. So my question is, what can I get instead, even though it frustrates me after diligently choosing what I think would work for us and being turned down, that will work for 2 children, and is a full program? I also have a 4th grader who has some learning challenges (2E) whom I need to focus on as well. The school will only pay for secular programs.

My 9 year old has Dyslexia, but he is catching up fast. However, he gets tired really quickly when decoding words, and I would like to find some interesting short story books for him at the 4th/5th grade levels. I don't care if these are textbooks or literature. Any ideas?

We are using Essentials and are halfway through it. I used it after reading the book, Uncovering the Logic of English, and saw they have a curriculum. I ordered it because my 9 year old has Dyslexia, and he really needed the rules. We tried All About Spelling, but it was way too slow and not his style of learning at all. With Logic of English, he has made dramatic improvement. SO much so that the Reading Specialist we are seeing couldn't stop remarking on it. The program really "speaks" to his way of learning, without all of the distracting bells and whistles other programs try to pile on to keep kids interested. I also use it with my 7 year old and he is doing well, and he doesn't have Dyslexia, but he needs more time to complete the exercises, while my older son is absorbing the information at a very fast pace. I am quite impressed. So impressed, that I am ordering the Foundations series for my youngest son for 1st grade.

I'm trying to figure out where my 7 year old stands. He tested into beginning 3rd grade math, and he's finishing 1st grade. We don't homeschool very rigorously, and he only has to be shown once or twice before grasps the concept. I'm going to look up ADAM, because I have no idea what that is! I don't know if he is gifted or just a quick learner, but sometimes, aren't those one in the same?

I didn't realize that IEW was recommended by Susan Barton. Good to know!! He is good at math, but it's still a slow,painful process. Memorizing the times tables is becoming painful. Dividing leaves him in tears.

I thought this might garner more attention here than in the special needs forum. My 9 year old has Dyslexia and he has struggled for the last 2 years we've been schooling. In January, I found the Logic of English and started using it for him and his 7 year old brother. His brother doesn't appear to have Dyslexia. My 9 year old has progressed very rapidly using LOE!! We use a Charter School for homeschooling, and the reading specialist, who does not believe in using the term 'Dyslexia', is astounded by his progress. He still struggles though and it's especially apparent in math, even though he was accepted into the EPGY math program at Stanford (we won't be doing that because of the cost, mainly). I would say he is a 2E child. We are halfway through LoE and I'm having to add a writing program to that. Any suggestion for a writing program? I have 2 programs I'm looking at: Writing Strands and Step-up to Writing. And what happens after LoE is done? I have no clue what grammar/spelling program to turn to after that. What do other parents use with their Dyslexic kids after LoE or other such program? My son loves audio books and I have had to ask him to take a break from his iPod (he has Learning Ally and Audible), so that he starts to read books. Books are like air to him and necessary for sustaining life, but he'd rather listen to them rather than read them at this point. ;) As far as math, I've decided to do Teaching Textbooks 5 with him, with supplements from BA and LOF and SM EP. I was thinking of MUS, but it seems too compartmentalized, although maybe he needs the drill? I suspect his reading and writing will fall into line and he will excel in those areas, and that math will become his real struggle even though he is conceptually gifted at it. I think this because his much older sister struggled to read and write and then one day it all clicked, and she was way ahead of her peers, but her math suffers to this day. She can't even get through basic college classes in math. I don't want this for him. I see it happening, and he is getting frustrated with some basic stuff, and still uses dashes on paper and fingers to count. TIA!

I had no idea these existed, and we are using the LoE. Thank you!