I'm so glad I'm not the only one! So many people rave about Notgrass, and we're making it work for us, but I had a vision of using all three middle grade programs and that's definitely not happening.

Hits: All About Spelling: we flew through level 1, but it was great for shoring up some rules that DS had let slip to the back of his mind since he did Barton and now Level 2 is actually teaching him a few things he didn't know. I'm sure we'll go fast through it as well. Cottage Press Fable and Song: Well, DS doesn't love it, but he does mostly like it and I love it. Copywork is hard for him and we're not even attempting full dictation yet, but I've already seen a lot of progress in his attention detail because of the copywork. Morning Time with devotion, Bible reading, and a variety of readalouds. If I could just read aloud great books - both classic literature a historical fiction- all day long we'd both love school all day long :). DS loves every minute of it and it's amazing how much he's learning. I'm so glad I heard about this idea on this board. HWOT cursive: DS is thrilled to finally be learning cursive and this program is super easy to use and works really well for him Getting Started with Latin: I don't actually love this as written, but I took Latin in high school and have been able to use it as a spine for teaching a relaxed introduction to Latin that we're both enjoying. Just Okay: Notgrass From Adam to Us: It's so Christian sometimes it makes me want to bang my head against the wall - or maybe bang the book against the wall. The author takes pains to point out, for instance, that the gods worshipped in ancient Babylon were false gods - you know, in case Christians couldn't figure that our on their own. I often skip the Bible verses at the end of each lesson because they don't always seem to apply. That said, the actual history overview has been really informative, the timeline is great for understanding history that was happening all over the world at the same time, and the mapwork has taught DS a lot. Also, the literature component has gone over really well, though we're using the books as readalouds as part of morning time instead of independent reading as part of history. Math Mammoth 6: Now that I'm adjusting my teaching strategies I think this one will turn out well, but Math in general is just a tough subject and I don't love all the mental math that this book expects. Misses: Saxon 8/7 - we only lasted three days with this one. The format had us both in tears Artistic Pursuits - This is a good program but DS just wasn't ready for a full art program after coming out of a school experience in which he learned to hate art (mainly due to a personality conflict with the art teacher, whom many students and parents absolutely love. She rubs me the wrong way too). I switched to having him do free drawing during readalouds and he's learning to enjoy art again. Novare Earth Science - this miss makes me really sad. I was so excited to find an Old Earth Creationist textbook. The book is lovely and I'm reading it myself to self educate, but there were two main problems - 1, it's written for school use and I, as a nonscientist and first year homeschooler, was having a really hard time adjusting it to our context. 2, more importantly, much of the info was simply over my 6th grader's head. It's intended for 7th or 8th grade, and it turns out I should not have blown that off. Dyslexia Games:This is the one miss I wouldn't recommend to anyone else. I'm glad I only gave one book a try. I see absolutely no value in it for helping remediate dyslexia (I didn't really expect it, and DS's dyslexia is pretty well remediated anyway, but I was curious). DS has enjoyed coloring some of the pictures, so I guess it wasn't a complete waste of money :).

Thanks for additional thoughts and resources, everyone! Today went well too. Math is the only thing we do on Wednesdays before coop, and we both left the house happy. We even managed to finish 2 1/2 pages of Math Mammoth! Another thing I'm making sure of now is to ask whether he understands a concept and explaining it a new way on the board if he doesn't. He has a habit (possibly picked up from school, possibly just personality) of nodding and appearing to follow along but not actually understanding. I told him that he should feel free to stop me anytime and ask me to unpack something I just tried to explain.

I implemented some of the suggestions today - doing some direct teaching on the whiteboard, working out some problems orally using the whiteboard, doing some scribing, and having him run around the yard as a break when his brain seemed to stop working. It wasn't absolutely perfect but, as compared to yesterday, it was like teaching a whole new kid. I'll check out the videos referenced with him as well.

Thanks for the additional advice. I do agree that part of it is probably getting used to homeschooling, though he's adjusted well to everything else (well, everything except science, for which I managed to choose a curriculum that is both above his level and difficult (for me at least) to tailor to a homeschooling environment. I think we've finally found something new, however). I like the idea of him doing physical activities to break up the math. I may try that today in addition to sitting by him and doing some of the work together on the whiteboard.

Thanks for the tips so far. We used Saxon before Math Mammoth, and what drove us both crazy with that was that the problems jumped all over the place with concepts. We decided we needed a mastery program. This is our first year homeschooling, and we only used Saxon for a few days before throwing in the towel. I have no intention of throwing in the towel with Math Mammoth, but I know I need to change some things. I don't THINK it's the busyness of the pages that is getting to him. He doesn't seem to miss problems or anything. He may, however, be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of problems. In answer to the questions I remember: I've been "teaching,' but only to the extent of going over the info in the worktext with him and asking if he has any questions. I think I may need to give some more examples on the whiteboard and work through some sample problems together. I also like the idea of highlighting just a sample of the problems instead of having them do all of them. I can always have him do more if he's not getting the concept. By "leaving him alone for 5 minutes" I mean staying in the room (we most often to school in the kitchen, that's where the bookshelf and the whiteboard are) washing dishes but letting him work on his own. I feel like he should be able to do at least some independent work at his age, but it's quite possible I'm expecting too much at this stage. That's probably something we need to work up to gradually. While I still think some weak foundational skills may be at play, it's definitely mostly anxiety. He's a tricky kid to work with. He's dreamy and easily distracted but not to the extent that he qualifies for an ADD diagnosis. He's more anxious than average, especially about math but also about random other things on occasion, but not to the extent that it qualifies as an anxiety disorder. We had a talk about our math problems during his sister's speech therapy today. I asked him if it was the program in particular that was causing anxiety or just math in general. He said math in general and he liked the ideas of me sitting beside him in case he has questions, not doing all the problems unless he clearly needs a lot of practice, and working some problems together on the white board first. We'll try out those things tomorrow and see if it's better.

Switching math curriculum with DS worked well for a grand total of about 2 days. We're using Math Mammoth 6. He took the placement test and got 90%, though he did work through it super slowly. We worked through a sample. He liked it and understood it. Three days into using the actual curriculum, though, he was back to saying he's horrible at math, he'll never understand it, and he should just give up. The thing is, though, when he's not busy crying and hyperventilating about math he is, in fact, pretty good at it. He's not a math star or anything, but he's completely capable of doing 6th grade math well when he actually calms himself down, works steadily, and takes time to think. Part of the anxiety is my fault. When I leave him for five minutes and return to find that he's spent those five minutes starting at the problem and doing nothing I get really frustrated with him. Today we didn't even finish the page we started with because we were so frustrated with each other. I suspect that part of his problem may be that his foundation skills aren't as strong as they should be. He really struggled with math in the primary grades in school and then suddenly made a big leap partway through third grade. I wonder, though, if the things taught up until that point were never really learned to the extent they should have been. I really don't want to switch to another 6th grade curriculum. I don't think it would be any better. I'm willing to take a break to go back and shore up foundational skills, but I don't know what I should use to do that, if so. Another option would be to have someone else teach him math. I also wonder if it's just a personality conflict that's causing our problem. Maybe if DH used the exact same program he could make it work. Any thoughts?

It all depends on what your DH likes, but our whole family loved Epcot when we were there last year (me, DH, 10 year old boy, 4 year old girl). The rest of the family prefers FutureWorld to the World Showcase whereas I prefer the World showcase, but we all enjoy both areas. If what you DH loves is thrill rides and nothing else then he'd hate Epcot, but if he could enjoy a fairly relaxing day just seeing entertaining and educational exhibits and going on the occasional ride, then I highly recommend it. My DH and DS went on Test Track through the single rider line half a dozen times with almost no wait. I'm not sure if your 7 year old would qualify to go through the single rider line, but he might. Don't count on being able to do the Frozen ride unless you want to do only that, but you don't have a little girl, so that will probably be okay. Our whole family enjoyed the boat ride inside the Mexico pyramid. DD and I went on it three times in a row. There's usually no line to speak of. Oh, and I disagree with those who don't recommend splitting the day between MK and AK. It's definitely not essential, but AK has two rides that I think make the park worth visiting - Everest and Kali River Rapids. There are also some characters you can only meet there, if you're into that. I think your idea of splitting the day between Epcot and Hollywood Studios is also a good one. We actually didn't stay at Epcot long enough on either of our trips to see the evening fireworks show, but Fantasmic is absolutely amazing, so it's definitely worth going over there in the afternoon and staying for it. Plus, Hollywood Studios has the only rides at Disney that even mildly qualify as thrill rides. If there are any reservations still available for the Fantasmic dinner package during your trip, snap one up. You get wonderful seating.

I want to put another vote in for a public baptism during a worship service unless there are extenuating circumstances such as a compromised immune system that would prohibit the baby or a really close family member from attending a service. In my tradition (UMC), Baptism welcomes the baby into the church family and the congregation promises to help raise up the child spiritually. This is also true with older children an adults who are baptized. Our particular church does separate the profession of faith from the actual dunking in immersion baptisms because our baptismal pool is just outside the sanctuary. So the baptisand (older child or adult) makes his or her profession of faith, the congregation pledges to support him or her, and then the congregation is invited to witness the actual baptism immediately following the service. Both of my kids were baptized during a service and it was really meaningful to have the congregation also promising to help us raise up our children to know and love God. In the congregation we belong to now, the pastor walks around with the sanctuary with the baby after the baptism so everyone can coo at him or her and officially welcome the baby. The pianist plays "Jesus loves the little children" during this time. I was sure my daughter, who pretty much hated everyone but me when she was an infant, would scream like crazy when I handed her to the pastor, but she actually smiled and reached up to touch her cheek. I've heard of private baptisms done just as a matter of preference and it always seemed weird to me. My niece and nephew (Roman Catholic) were both baptized in private ceremonies on Sunday afternoon. The family hadn't even attended Mass beforehand, which seemed really weird to me. My son's best friend (their family attends and independent Christian church) was baptized by immersion and profession of faith in a private ceremony on a Wednesday evening. The only people present were his family, the pastor, and my husband and son (my daughter and I were invited, but we had another obligation that evening). My husband commented that it seemed really weird for baptism not to be a public event. I myself was baptized by immersion in the swimming pool of a family who lived near the church I grew up in. The church doesn't have a baptismal pool, so they arrange to use another location but highly encourage the congregation to consider it an extension of the worship service and make the short tip over to witness the baptism. So, yes, if there's no extenuating circumstance, I encourage you to have the baby baptized during Mass. Don't worry about not particularly religious family members. They'll come just because they want to support you and show love for the baby. My Atheist father attended the baptisms of both of my children, and my parents live out of state.

Update: I showed Squirrelboy samples of several programs I've been looking at today, and the only one that was the least be interesting to him was History of Science. I still need to talk it over with DH, but this is probably the one we'll go with, despite me having some doubts about it. I'd rather have a somewhat flawed science program that my kid really likes than a "perfect in theory" program that makes my kid glassy eyed.

Thanks for the tips so far! All my RC friends are OEC, so I just presumed this was the official stance. It's interesting that there's disagreement even among Catholics, who are generally seen as monolithic in belief by protestants. I'm glad to hear of another protestant using Behold and See successfully.

I'm still on a quest for the right science for us. After looking more at BF History of Science I don't think it's what we want. I'm not excited about RS4K because the "worldview neutrality" means it leaves things out. For instance, there's simply no mention of historical geology in the geology book and "astronomical units" are used instead of light years in the astronomy book. I think that would drive me crazy. Christian Kids Explore isn't as heavily YEC as some others I've seen, but it's still YEC. Since official Catholic doctrine, as I understand it, is OEC, I'm now looking at Catholic material even though I'm a protestant. Has anyone used Behold and See 6 or another year? Did you like it? Is the science sound? How Catholic is it? Can I just ignore a few sidebars and reword a few sentences here and there and be fine as a protestant, or is Catholic doctrine so interwoven that it won't work for a non-Catholic Christian? Thanks for any help you can give me!

Pop Tarts - it's like eating cardboard with artificial flavoring. I can't imagine why I liked them.

I'm still trying to figure out a new science plan and I came across this program. It appeals to me because my son's real passion is history, not science, and he might be more interested in science if it's tied into history. However, I do want him to learn actual science and not just have another world history survey with a different name. Any reviews on this? Apparently it has been revised fairly recently, so it would be most helpful if you've used the new guide. Thanks!

So, after pushing through with our science for just over a month now, I've realized we need to do something different. We've been using Novare middle school Earth Science. It's a lovely textbook and I absolutely love that it's Christian and old earth creationist, which is just about unheard of, but it's simply over my son's head. I learned after I bought it that it's aimed at 7th and 8th grade and he's in 6th but I thought, oh, surely we can make it work. Well, we mostly made it work for the 1st chapter, but he started getting a blank look regularly during the second chapter. When we tried to do the first experimental investigation last Friday and he was in tears I knew we had to set it aside. I've read ahead in the book and it just gets more complicated. If I were an excellent science teacher I could probably adjust it for his level, but I'm not. So now I'm looking into other programs, and I'm not sure what direction I want to go in. These are the programs I've looked at. I'd love some reviews of them and/or other suggestions. Summary information for my son is as follows: He's a 6th grader, homeschooling for the first time after public school. He enjoys science and says he wants to be an engineer, but he doesn't like math, so that may not go anywhere. He's had very little science instruction in school. He got bits and pieces K-3rd, then a whole bunch in 4th because that's the year it's on the state test. He got no science instruction last year in 5th because that's the year American History is on the state test and they have to concentrate on that. He's dyslexic. He reads on grade level thanks to Barton but doesn't really enjoy reading. I've looked at: Elemental Science logic stage Earth Science: This would have the advantage of sticking with the same topic but I'm not super excited about the format. RSO Biology: This has the advantage of being geared for homeschoolers but we'd have to switch topics completely. Nancy Larson: I know it's elementary, but I really like how scripted it is and, with my son's minimal science instruction, I think there's a lot he could learn from level 4 and even level 3. Bookshark: This looks pretty good, but, as with Elemental Science, I'm not sure about the idea of jumping from book to book. Since the one OEC program I found isn't working out, I think I'm interested only in secular material. All the other Christian material that I know of is going to be young earth creationist and I just don't have to patience to try to edit that to my satisfaction. I can work God into a secular curriculum much more easily than I can work generally accepted science into a YEC curriculum.

You may remember my thread from a few weeks ago about how Saxon was making both me and my son cry.... After some reflection, more research, and actually trying out some samples with him, we switched to Math Mammoth. I wanted a hard copy and it was backordered at Rainbow Resource, so I had to order it from Lulu, which meant it had to be printed and took awhile to get here. Our first day actually using it (we did some review with Beast Academy in the meantime) was yesterday, and the change in math attitude has been amazing. Squirrelboy has hugged me and thanked me for changing math programs multiple times. I'm sure there will come a time when he doesn't love Math Mammoth, because Math is challenging for him and he also often has a bad attitude about it, but I love that he's started off so positively. This post isn't meant to bash Saxon per se or praise the glories of Math Mammoth per se, but rather to encourage those who are struggling with curriculum that isn't working well that it's really okay to change.

It's never too early to talk about Halloween costumes. I think my DD is going to have multiple costumes because we always go to multiple events. We'll be at Legoland on October 2nd and there will be a Halloween event, Brick or Treat, going on, so we need to figure out Florida appropriate, simple costumes for at least the kids for that day, maybe all of us. Last year we went to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party dressed in costumes designed for actual fall weather, and we roasted. We will not be wearing fall Halloween costumes in Florida again this year. Kittygirl (5) is talking about being butterfly girl at Legoland. She has a pair of cloth monarch butterfly wings in her dress up box, and we'd pair it with an orange shirt and black shorts. At home, she's talking about being Little Red Riding Hood. She already has a red cloak, which my mom made her for Christmas last year. I found an adorable dress at Target that's printed with a Little Red Riding Hood motif, so she'll probably pair that with the cloak. The dress is sleeveless and fairly short, so I'll probably have to add a shirt and leggings. Both ideas are pretty simple and easy, so I hope she doesn't come up with some other crazy idea. If she's Little Red Riding Hood she wants me to be the grandma. I can probably just use the dress I used to be Caroline Ingalls last year and add a grey wig. Squirrelboy (11) is really undecided this year. I'm trying to convince him to just wear a Camp Half Blood t shirt along with something to indicate which god or goddess he's associated with. I may be able to convince him to do that at Legoland, but I don't think he'll go for it for home. The other day he talked about being Indiana Jones. I'm not sure how I'd pull that one together.

My dyslexic 6th grader, who reads on level but gets overwhelmed by books with lots of text on the page, really loves graphic novels. I'm not sure how well that would work with your son's vision symptoms, since the text does tend to be small, but, if graphic novels are an option, I highly recommend the Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales series by Nathan Hale. My son is also super picky about books and his interests are somewhat similar to your son's interests. The premise is that Nathan Hale, the revolutionary war spy, speaks his famous last words on the gallows and thus inserts himself into the history book, literally. The gallows turns into a big book of American history, which swallows him up. He reemerges knowing all future American history and is telling stories to his executioner to delay his hanging. Each book is a new episode from American history. They're amazing informative but also really funny. My son has read every book in the series many, many times. Another favorite graphic novel series is TinTin. Since your son likes animals and adventure he might also get into this series because TinTin travels around the world having adventures with his dog, Snowy.

No experience with both, but we're using Cottage Press Fable and Song for 6th, and really like it so far. I looked seriously at ELTL and decided that Cottage Press looked easier to implement. I also personally prefer the use of short works (fables, poems, and parables) as opposed to sections from larger books. I haven't look thoroughly at both. It's quite possible that ELTL provides an equally strong LA education in the end, but Cottage Press definitely holds your hand more.

We have mixed feelings about the curriculum, but, if you haven't yet, take a look at the Notgrass middle school programs. There's a one year world history program (From Adam to Us), a one year American History (America the Beautiful) and a one year Government and Civics (Uncle Sam and Me). If you like the format, it could fit your middle school plan well, you'd just have to add in your own state study in 8th grade. We're using From Adam to Us for 6th grade, our first year homeschooling. As an old earth creationist I wasn't a fan of the first two units, which are very focused on a literal interpretation of creation and the flood, but, starting with unit 3, we're so far enjoying the survey of world history. It jumps around the globe during different time periods, giving you an idea of things that were happening in different places at the same time. This would drive some people crazy, but my son really likes it. There's literature that goes along with the (huge, two volume) textbook. We're adding in even more literature, which you could easily do if you still have all the books from the other programs you've used.

My son was diagnosed at six, so I say, no, it's definitely not too young. If you know what to look for, you can start seeing signs of probable dyslexia in toddlers. I also put a lot of stock in a parent's intuition. My son's K teacher was sure he just needed more time to mature and would pick up reading eventually. She was also sure dyslexia couldn't be diagnosed until at least 3rd grade. She was wrong on both counts. He wouldn't have picked up reading without specialized instruction and he could be diagnosed with dyslexia. Even though it was frustrating that the teacher wouldn't listen to me, I felt vindicated as a parent that my intuition was right. If an evaluation is beyond your means at this point, I recommend saving up for one and in the meantime starting reading instruction with Barton Reading and Spelling or another program designed for dyslexics.

As part of my quest to add more literature to history survey, I'm looking for a version of the Iliad and the Odyssey (either combined or separate) to use are our readaloud once we finish The Golden Goblet. It will be a readaloud, so reading level doesn't matter, but what does matter is interest level to a 6th grade boy. I've found several versions on Amazon that might be good and I could just pick one, but first I'd love to know what your favorite version is and why.

We started on the 10th and then took off the following Friday, following little sis's public school calendar. I think this means we're on day 16. Most things are going really well, but there have definitely been bumps. Math imploded from the very start. I made a rookie mistake and went with a curriculum my veteran homeschooling cousin recommended (Saxon) instead of the one my gut told me would be the best fit (Math Mammoth). We've now put Saxon away and have ordered Math Mammoth. While we wait, we're doing some challenging review with Beast Academy 3A. We've also discovered Prodigy Math online, which Squirrelboy absolutely adores. Language Arts is going swimmingly, which is amazing since it's Squirrelboy's worst subject. It's my favorite, though, so that might have something to do with it. We've already breezed through AAS one and are reviewing the few phonograms he doesn't have down 100% while waiting for book 2. HWOT cursive is great and he's super excited to finally be learning cursive. His cursive is also remarkably neater than his printing. Cottage Press Fable and Song seems to be a great fit so far. It has enough to be challenging for a dyslexic coming out of public school but not so much that it's overwhelming. Copywork is a totally new thing for him and it's hard, but I'm already seeing improvements in his attention to detail. Elson 5th reader is just okay, because there's been a lot of poetry so far and he's not a fan, but he's really enjoyed some of the stories. I'm still trying to figure out how to get him to love poetry. Science dragged a bit at first because I couldn't figure out how to teach it well, but now we're in a groove. I'm absolutely loving the content of the Novare middle school Earth Science book. Week 2 DH started teaching Robotics with Lego Mindstorms Tuesdays and Thursdays for an hour, and that's also going well. I love that DH is also really invested in this endeavor. History has had some bumps. We didn't love From Adam to Us at first, and would never love using it precisely as intended, but, after looking at some other resources and talking through it, I think we're figuring out how to make it work for us. DS is especially loving The Golden Goblet, the current literature book. He's supposed to read it himself, but I'm doing it as a readaloud, both because he reads slowly and because I want to know the story too. The idea of doing both Latin and Spanish failed on day 2. It was just too difficult for my dyslexic to try to keep two new languages in his head. However, now that we're concentrating on Latin, it's going well and he's enjoying it. I'm not following the exact format of GSWL, but it's nice to have as a jumping off point. Yesterday we went to an Open House for Coop and it starts next week. We'll see how the weeks got after we add that to our routine, but I think we've made a good start.

Glad I'm not the only one!

Wow! I'm super impressed by the Notgrass return policy and also the personal reply. They really stand behind their products! That said, I had a talk with Squirrelboy this afternoon, and we've decided to stick with Notgrass as our spine. He said that, now that we're into periods of history that are reliably dated, he's enjoying the varied overview the lessons provide. We're ditching the Notgrass timeline in favor of our own Book of Centuries (I was having him fill out both, feeling obligated to use the one that came with the curriculum, but I really prefer making our own). We'll use the map book as a resource and do some of the map work. We'll use the workbook for oral review. We'll add more historical fiction, using the lists from Sonlight G and H as inspiration. Once every couple months, Squirrelboy will choose something we've learned about and complete a project of his choice about it. I'll also look around for field trip opportunities, although it seems to me that world history field trips are harder than American history field trips (or the history of whatever country you happen to live in). It's not as if we can go to Egypt and see the pyramids. eta: I really liked the idea of the Reading Like a Historian lessons, but the lesson I tried today was a total flop with Squirrelboy. It was just too much like the kinds of things they did to prepare for standardized testing in school. I think those skills are valuable and I want to reintroduce them at some point, but now is not the right time.