Well, I'm guessing there's an issue with the download. We have the little icon, but when I click to go into it, I just get a bunch of scrolling text saying it has an exception, then it tries that 10 times and ends with a fatal error message. I have no idea what to do.

So I was reading a night or two ago and found some info on these boards about Minecraft Homeschool. I thought it was neat, and decided to give it a go. Well, we bought two accounts for our sons, only to have no luck at all getting it on the computer. The one account went through...by this I mean he got his screen name and it said it was accepted after we put the number on our card in. But that's as far as we get. I don't know how to get ON THE GAME itself. We continue getting some sort of error message. I am feeling really bummed, as 50 dollars is down the tubes if this doesn't work. :cry, literally: Can anyone help me? Or any of your brilliant children who know about computers? It says Unrecognized Windows Socket error. Also Fatal bootstrap error, whatever that means. ::sigh:: Please help if you have any ideas for me!

Thanks! Looking forward to starting this combo soon.

Do they need to be the same level or can I have a higher level reader with a lower level of CTGE?

My ds always loved Apologia Elementary, but is losing his love of science time with Apologia. The experiments he enjoys, but the reading gets tedious. He is 12, in 7th grade, if that matters. Any ideas that are not too expensive to finish the year? Or maybe I'll have him finish this one but not have him move on to Physical. But I have no idea what anyone uses for upper level sciences (with Christian worldview) besides Apologia. Help! Thanks!

One of the best for me is Apples and Pears for my dyslexic son. A great purchase!

We have a little mess to clean up here as well. :closedeyes: But I really like what's happening right now with Singapore. I've been rushing him a bit, which hasn't made math very pleasant. I am going to plan on starting NEM or DM freshman year. Then I can relax his math schedule a little and let him breath. If he gets ahead and starts it sooner, great! But I'm going to be done being so worried about it. Thanks everyone.

Thanks for this. I was in fact joking a little about actually being doomed. BUT, I have been stressed about his math. I love your reply. It settled me just reading it. Our plan/hopes for our kids right now include going to a Bible college for a year of Biblical study, then doing whatever they want. If they want to continue there to earn a degree they can. Or they can go to technical college, or go to a different college. I know it's not extremely difficult to get into this college, and I know it's a small campus where the studen professor ratio is very good, so if they need help it really is there. I officially don't know why I've been worrying so much about this. After today's terrible events in Connecticut, I think I will try very hard to relax, enjoy my children and go give my son a hug. Thanks again everyone.

What did your other daughter do? I know a lot of the mainstream programs that are out there, and none of them excite me a whole lot. Since Singapore has been going well I figured we'd just continue. But he isn't mathy, so I don't want him breaking down either! I know I have time, but I can't help but think about what to do. As well as SM is going for him right now, I'd say he may be able to do both levels 5 and 6 in 2013.

Oh I see. I didn't know what it was equivalent to. Hmmm...

Oh, he doesn't do the LOF books in between. I figured it would be in addition to. In other words, 7th grade he'd do 5A, 5B, at the same time LOF. 8th grade would be 6A, 6B, at the same time LOF Pre-Algebra. We love LOF, and while he is doing fine with it, I don't think he'd do as fine if he didn't have the other curriculum backing him up.

Ds is 12 right now and behind where we should be in math. He's doing Primary mathematics now, going to start 5A very soon, and is also half way through LOF Decimals. If I take his 7th and 8th grade years (we change grades in January, so he'll be starting 5A at the beginning of his 7th grade year) to do Singapore 5A, 5B, 6A, 6B, and the LOF books Decimals, Physics, and the two pre-Algebra books, would he be ok to start DM freshman year? Does that make him "behind?" I've read about most doing the first in DM by 7th grade. Are we doomed? =P I can just hear the dodo birds from the first Ice Age movie chanting, "Doom on YOU! Doom on You!" Thanks! P.S. I'll probably have him continue with LOF Algebra if it works for him, but I don't know if there would be enough practice by itself. He is not a mathy kid.

I am really, really liking A&P. I think it will/is helping him. He has severe spelling issues, and I think it's building his confidence. There is a lot of repetition, but the way it's set up I don't think it feels* like too much. He never complains about it. Even if he did I'd still make him do it, because I think it's really good. The variety of activities that enforce, the gray boxes that draw his mind to the different sounds (morphemes), the spelling tests with sentence dictation using those words...all these things are helping him I believe. I've regretted plenty of purchases in my time, but not this.

So I was looking at CE today and just wondering your experiences as well as which edition I should purchase. There's the original and the two part updated version. Thanks!

I'd like to know the answer, too. I've never tested. Not required to. But sometimes I think I may test my oldest to see where he is on such a test.

I had my son do Core E when he was 11. He's a strong reader and writer. It was perfect for him and we both enjoyed it very much. My opinion is that while he may be ok with the reading level, the topic is advanced. I have had three at that age range (7-8) and I know not one of them would have been able to understand all the conflicts going on during the pre-Civil War, Civil War, and Reconstruction periods of our history. It's just too complex. It is such an interesting time to study, especially with all of those great books! I'd hate for him to miss out on what an awesome study it is because he's a few years too young. Plus, when they're older you can add in more movies, etc, that go along with it that I would never show a child of 7. Best wishes.

You should go directly to the WP board and ask your questions. Or just read though the American Story forums, to hear how it has worked for people. I ordered from them many moons ago and while I ended up not liking their US history program as well as SL's, my sister and her daughter had a fabulous year with American Story 1. Back when I ordered shipping was a nighmare, but I'd hope they'd have improved by now.

I don't know that I can choose just one, but my current crush is MCT language arts. We are really enjoying it. It's one of my favorite parts of the day.

The website says "Intermediate Series" for these three. Not elementary. A new little series of their own it sounds like. I would be interested, as my son will not be ready for fractions when he finishes the elementary series.

So my sons are behind in math. I don't know why it seems we are never where we are supposed to be. Curriculum jumping was a problem, but it wasn't on purpose. It was that NOTHING seems to go well. Now my dd7 is doing fine and just doesn't have the issues her brothers have with math and critical thinking. So I don't think it's entirely my fault, but probably partly. I feel incredibly guilty. To my point: We have been using CLE for a while now and they are doing fine with it. But I know that they would struggle with anything deeper at all. And I don't want that for them. What I mean by deeper is any kind of problem that is slightly outside the box, they would have no clue what to do with. They don't really 'get' numbers and why they work. My ds's are 12 and 10. Would you, if these were your children to tutor, continue with a traditional memorization math where they are closer to grade level? Or would you do Singapore math (which I have younger grades in because we tried them when they were younger.) Sadly to say, they would be in the SAME levels of Singapore as when we left it before. My ds10 would be in 2B. My ds12 would be in 4B. In CLE they are about grade 4 and grade 6. I've seen the knowledge of CLE not transferring from their workbooks and it scares the heck out of me. My ds12 knows the formula for the area of a triangle like no body's business, but give him a problem where a triangle was within a rectangle and he had to find the area of the triangle by subtracting that area from the total of the rectangle, he had no idea what to do with it. I was never into math as a kid, but now I find it fascinating. I would LOVE to get a better math education, and I would LOVE my children to understand it better than I did. But I don't know how to keep them at grade level and do that. I clearly can't do that. I just don't know what to do and I feel a little like the rotten pumpkin still out in front of my house that needs to be thrown out over the hill. Should I do one or the other or both? Is it overkill or more confusing to do different kinds of math like that? Should I not worry and just let them do CLE? After seeing how he did on the Singapore placement I don't think I can do that in good conscience. ::sigh:: Advice please. Edited: One more thing. My ds12 is also through half of LOF decimals which he seems to do well with.

I don't have a good printer. What I would really love to do is just buy the texts. But I feel almost guilty doing that. I just like the simplicity of NOT having to mess with printing it out myself. But with 5 kiddos...I dunno.

I'm just wondering about this. I know ink is expensive, and honestly I like the ease of just having the texts. On the other hand, I do have 5 children, so if it really saves that much... Anyone buy the download and then wish they'd bought the texts already printed? Vice versa? Thanks!

I've decided to have my children's grade levels and our official year be from Jan-Dec, but then I chicken out and wonder if I should. Do most of you live somewhere that everyone does Jan-Dec? Or do you just choose to do it because it works best for your family? We actually just recently started some new curriculum that will carry right over through January. I LOVE our new stuff!!! New items added for various children are MCT LA, Apples & Pears spelling, and Dancing Bears phonics. We are very much enjoying our Simply Charlotte Mason Mod.2 study (Ancient Greece) and throwing in some culture study from SL Core F. Uh oh, forgot some water on the stove. Gotta go. =P

I thought Phonetic Zoo looked really good, but then I saw the word list and there is no way he is ready for those words. He needs to crawl before he can walk. I'm not familiar with Spalding, but I'll look at it sometime out of curiousity. =) Of course right now I think* we're fine for a while. We did another lesson today and it went pretty well. He is on level 42 of book A. He actually did test higher than I thought he would. =) He's working on words like dark, spy, growl, shack, brave, shave, etc. He did have one error on his test, but the rest went well. It was a 'ck' error at the end of the word shack. But I can already see him thinking about the sounds he hears more because A&P has so much repitition and the way the pages are laid out. He's doing Dancing Bears Fast Track also, to help him up his decoding skills. The two of them together, I think, may do well for him. Time will tell.

So I've received Apples and Pears and even though we've only done a couple of lessons, I really* like it. I wish I had found it sooner and am so thankful that we have it now. I actually want to use it with my dd7 and ds5, too, even though they don't have learning issues that I know of. I've not done any formal spelling with dd7 and she's not picking it up quickly on her own like my oldest, so I did a lesson of A&P today with her and she loved it. My ds10, who I actually bought it for, probably won't love it, but he doesn't seem to mind it either.