LOL I'm a girl who loves workbooks and hated coloring until I was an adult (I still don't love craft glitter or arts in general) but my son loves all things crafty and creative.

We like the Dover Children's Science Books series, there's one for Human Anatomy. It does have a spread on the reproductive organs, which I know some parent's aren't into at the elementary level.

We tried using Vol 1, what turned me off was the heavy YEC perspective and the very conversational writing style, nothing in particular was anti-catholic in that volume but it didn't make me want to continue on and edit the later ones that would have that issue. We decided to go with Connecting with History, which is a bit more DIY but I don't have to worry about the recommended reading being in conflict. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Have you looked into Dave Ramsey? He has several resources for kids, including a homeschool course (http://www.daveramsey.com/store/financial-peace-university/foundations-in-personal-finance/foundations-home-school/-i-foundations-in-personal-finance-middle-school-edition-for-homeschool-i-teacher-student-pack/prodD0143.html) He's not everyone's cup of tea as far as financial strategy and lots of Christian talk. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Amen. I *hated* being pressured to do door-to-door fundraising as a kid (no one wanted that crap and wouldn't have been allowed to go around town and knock on random people's doors anyhow) and I don't approve of it as an adult. TBH I feel the same way about things like Tupperware parties and selling Avon: ick.

Loves R&S phonics/reading: I made it to almost 30 before finding anything that really explained phonics and spelling rules, there are no doubt other programs out there that do as well but this one is perfect for us. Saxon Math: DS loves the worksheets, I love the script (even though I don't use it exactly) and materials list for each lesson in the front. Not as much love: Connecting with History. Better than Mystery of History by a landslide, but not as user friendly as I'd hoped. It's growing on me though, and part of the problem is my tiny local library so we spend a lot of time waiting for inter-library loan books to come in and it messes up the schedule. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Maybe a metronome? I dunno, my husband is 25 and still cant clap in rhythm or keep tempo singing with a group, some people aren't very musical that way. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This exactly. Unless you're also using their phonics/reading which teaches those things beginning in the second half of first grade, most kids that age will not know what they're supposed to do in the exercises. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Every single thing I was warned about being a possible issue with homeschooling was also possible with public schooling, people just seem to want to ignore it or pretend it's some kind of initiation experience. PS also didn't cure anyone I know of being a weird kid (something I was told homeschool causes) or having poor social skills by forcing them to assimilate, they just stayed alone or, if they were really lucky, found other ostracized weird kids to be friends with. This was my exact experience with PS, and a reason I refused to rely on it for my DS. There's no guarantee it'll go perfectly, but at least with homeschooling he isn't forced to deal with those kinds of situations daily should it go poorly. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We use the Seton Religion for Young Catholics series, a Loyola Press book of saints stories, and the Baltimore catechism. Our Holy Faith sounds more meaty but DS seems to retain well with Seton so far without the activities. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Vancouver is covered in political signs right now, but they're all local rather than presidential. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Maybe he likes you reading to him, not just books being read aloud. Does he like to talk to you about the book, asking questions between paragraphs or chapters? You can't really have that experience with an audiobook. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'd say it depends on her sensitivity level (characters attempting suicide, oppressive police state style governments and such can be a lot to handle for some kids) and how much she'll understand the message about censorship. It was read in 8th grade when I was in PS, most of the kids got hung up on why anyone cared about old art being destroyed and didn't "get it". I'd recommend skimming a summary at least before assigning it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Modern and American history don't worry me as much as far as faith conflicts in texts about earlier periods (reformation et al) and are something I see heavily covered and less expensively (Seton for example has tons of American history). My philosophy is tuned more to understanding relationships between countries and governments over time gives a greater understanding of American history once you do get there. I sympathize about the world vs western history issue though, and there not being any perfect curricula out there. I'm relying on the history/geography section at our library to fill in the eastern hemisphere gaps right now. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Fellow mid-conversion family here, I weighed these options as well and decided to stick with CWH simply to cut down on the stress of trying to research any faith conflicts in the curriculum or explain author bias to my 7yo. I'm sure it can be done with time and pre-reading the BP and SOTW materials, but I felt more comfortable choosing a Catholic company. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Edit: absolutely don't recommend we hide away from the issues, I just prefer to do my own research when I'm not trying to teach it at the same time.

I'm starting to hate the conversational tone of Mystery of History. It's getting to the point where the "storytelling" approach is making me feel like it's the author's opinion on how history happened or a historical fiction book rather than one supported by actual sources. I really wanted to love it since my other options (ToG and Biblioplan) are so much more expensive and seem to require much more gathering of separate spines and supplements.

DS and I have loved Rod and Staff. I didn't buy the first grade phonics workbooks, I read the lesson from the teachers manual (combined for the phonics and reading programs) and use a white board to model the rules. OPGTR was a massive fail for us, DS was so bored reading word lists and sentences with no real story. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

DS went to a preschool from age 3-5 because I was working at the time. I hated him having such long days at that age but the school did a lot of play-based activities and combined age classes at the end of the day. He misses his friends (they would've all gone to different schools anyway, we lived in another district and moved to another state when he was 6) but it isn't an issue. The only carryover to hs'ing is when he would occasionally rebel against my teaching style or scheduling with "that's not how (Pre-K teacher) did it!" But that's a teachable moment about different teaching styles. I had always planned to homeschool. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My son has one of the blue plastic ikea tables (not sure of the name) but mostly uses a lap desk while sitting on the couch or floor. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Rod and Staff Reading and phonics. It's heavy on sight reading in about the first quarter of the book and I was adamant that I would *never* teach sight reading when a pure phonics approach is available. HA! My DS could not stand OPGTR, slogging through sentences and lists of words that had no story he cared about led to zero retention. R&S changed his attitude about reading completely.

It would depend on *why* he disliked art. I personally hated art until high school because of the extreme emphasis on creativity and imagination, lack of support for the technical skills needed to actually produce (no explicit instruction was given in my elementary/middle school levels, just "draw something, paint something") and bullying. Finding a class with explicit instruction and a non-competitive environment changed my whole outlook on art as a subject. If he doesn't have a reason you're able to directly address, it's up to your educational philosophy whether or not it's worth trying different types of art or artistic subjects (drafting, wood/metalworking, art appreciation rather than creation). Edit: I just saw that your DS is only 7, some boys break late in artistic pursuits. My DS wouldn't even color or scribble with pencils until he was 5 and now at 7 he's grown into it on his own. I make the supplies available, but don't treat it as a subject at this level. Too much pressure IMO.

Sorry! I meant the Phonics Practice Readers!

I used primarily the BOB books and supplemented with Phonics Practice Readers (our library has each set bound into one book: short vowels, long vowels, blends, and digraphs) so I just browsed ahead to which one corresponded to the lesson. Beyond those, I haven't found any young readers available at our library that are arranged in any order of progression, even some of the Level 1 labelled readers have complicated vocabulary (DK Star Wars themed ones were notorious for this which frustrated me). DS *hated* the sentences in OPGTR, he would do the word lists but thought the practice sentences were so boring he couldn't focus. Edit: I originally confused "Pathways" with "Practice"

I don't. Enforced sitting for long periods of time for my DS7 means he's focusing more on trying to remember to be seated and still than listening to what is being read. He doesn't spend *all* of his time bouncing around, but we've done many history lessons and read-alouds with him coloring, standing on his head, quietly playing Lego, etc. I tend to schedule things where I'm reading to him around times we naturally are sitting, such as wake up cuddles, meals and pre-nap/bedtime or bring them out when he is in a particularly quiet mood. I can't imagine trying to get him, a toddler with a similar temperament, and an infant to all be still together and would probably schedule those reading intensive subjects around the baby's nap.

Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading *hides* I wanted to love it so much. We've made several attempts to utilize this book over the past 2 years including taking "maybe he's just not ready" breaks, writing out on a white/chalkboard, flashcards, etc. Nothing made this work for DS. Switched to a combo of Starfall and R&S reading (which I was prepared to hate because it uses A LOT of sight reading and was very much made for classroom use) and in 3 weeks he's done a complete 180 from hating the thought of reading to begging to do a reading lesson. Seton "Science 1 for Young Catholics" Should've known better from the online samples. Starts with the outdated Food Pyramid, "eat bread at every meal, drink milk at least 3x a day" the next few chapters have been better but deeply needs supplementation, which I was not expecting. Switched to using DK Human Body Encyclopedia for that unit.