Wow, thank you so much! I will be consulting this as I choose our reading lists for next year!!

OK, thank you for the input. That is good to know about BA. I do think I'll do both Miquon and Singapore for DD. I think she can work through them at a quick pace, it will give her a thorough foundation and it gives us a chance to try a couple of approaches to see if anything works better or worse for her. Thanks!

We just made the final decision to homeschool next year and I'm all excited and want to start ordering curriculum but I'm also trying to make sure I take my time and make good choices, etc. For those of you who were already homeschooling, have you already ordered everything? Do you do it over the summer? Wait for sales? We're going away for a good chunk of the summer and I want to have everything in place before we leave (in about a month) so I'm not scrambling in August. Do you order most materials from the publishers themselves? Are there places to get better deals? Amazon? Thanks! :)

I have a general idea of what to do for my kids for math next year but I'm ready to narrow down my picks and would love your input. DS11, going into 6th grade. He is gifted in math and has applied to a local accelerated math program offered through our state university. if he gets in, he'll do that, our only outsourced class. The class meets once a week and he's expected to have about an hour of work a day at home. Otherwise, he'll do AoPS Algebra with me. DS 8, going into 3rd grade. He is also advanced/gifted in math but the school didn't really do anything for him because they didn't want to end up in the same situation as my older son (who was double accelerated for math but then they didn't know what to do with him in 4th and 5th grade). We have done Beast Academy 3A and 3B during school breaks and he really likes it so I plan to continue with that but I'm wondering if it's a complete program or if should do it in addition to Singapore. If I add in Singapore, do the placement tests give a good idea of where to start? I'm thinking he could probably skip a grade level as long as I make sure we don't miss any topics (he's solid in his multiplication facts already). UPDATE - I'm leaning towards just Beast Academy as a main curriculum but maybe adding some Singapore CWP or Zaccarro or something else for occasional review/just making sure we're covering all bases. DD6, going into 1st. I think she is probably on grade level, but she picks things up pretty quickly so I wouldn't be surprised if she advances quickly through a 1st grade curriculum. I and thinking about Miquon and/or Singapore. I like the discovery approach of Miquon. I think she will like the pretty/colorful pages of Singapore better. She reads fluently so I don't worry about the extra text of Singapore. I was thinking of alternating books? (go through a Miquon book, then a Singapore book, etc.) or is that overkill? I think I just don't want to choose between them because they both look great. LOL UPDATE - pretty sure I'm going to combine Miquon and Singapore for now. Singapore question - are the Standards editions and US editions that different? It would be nice to buy the cheaper set (US). Any other fun supplements that you think are must-haves? My kids generally like math, logic, puzzles, etc. and I love to have extra games, etc. strewn about. Thanks in advance! :)

Thank you everyone! Fair warning - I have lots of questions. :)

Thanks! I have read enough on here to "know" that but I am sure I'll need reminders once we get going. :)

Sept - May DS 11 - piano and Scouts DS 8 - piano Scouts, TKD DD 6 - a ballet class summer - all three are doing baseball and 2 weeks of swimming lessons

I finally got the OK from DH to homeschool next year! I've been wanting this for years. Each year I get a little closer to convincing him but this spring it finally clicked for him. He really struggles with change so making the decision was tough for him but last night he said we should do it! Yay! We haven't told the kids officially but they have been wanting to do it too so I'm excited to see their reactions. I'll have a 6th grader, a 3rd grader, a 1st grader, and a toddler (almost 3) in the fall. I already had a basic plan but I will be asking for lots of advice on curriculum choices and reading up on all your scheduling threads. I've been on the boards for a while but I'm excited to finally be on the homeschooling side of things!! :)

No peanut butter due to allergies but we like almond butter and I LOVE cashew butter (as in, I can rarely have it in the house because I will just eat it out of the jar with a spoon.)

Thanks so much for the input everyone! I'm looking pretty closely at both IEW and EIW. They both look great. Now the hard part is making a decision! :)

So if I use Essentials in Writing, I do not need a separate grammar program, correct? Is this the case with any of the other programs mentioned?

Thanks, I will look at Essentials in Writing too!

Thank you everyone! There are some great ideas here. I love, LOVE the idea of BraveWriter but I am trying to remember to teach the student in front of me, not just get sucked into the curriculum that *I* love the most. I need to spend some time researching the other programs listed but at least we have some different methods to try. The article about autism and writing was very helpful too, with tips to help a writer regardless of the program used. I'm printing it out as reference. Thanks!

What writing program would you recommend for an 11 year old high functioning ASD kid who struggles greatly with written output? He is highly gifted in math, sciences, etc. but writing anything is SOOOO hard for him. The more open ended the writing, the harder it is for him to get anything out. He does read very well and has an advanced vocabulary. Sometimes once he gets started he can produce some nice writing. Other times he just can't do it at all. What would you suggest?

Last night I had coffee and a bacon, egg, and cheese bagel for dinner. And then I wondered why I couldn't sleep. :/

My 2.5 year old loves Mr. Putter and Tabby books by Cynthia Rylant.

Ooh, thank you! My oldest is reading (and loving) The Green Ember right now. I ordered the other one for him.

This sounds a lot like my son at this age and he was formally diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder a few years later. Not saying that's what it is, but maybe worth considering.

I have a pair of prescription sunglasses that I mainly keep in the car for when I'm driving.

Thanks everyone. I will keep an eye on it for now and talk to her teacher at her conference next month. If she's still doing this by the end of the year, I may pursue further. My gut says she just progressed really quickly and needs extra practice and maturity.

She is in public school. I support at home by reading with her a lot, but I don't use anything formal.

She doesn't always notice if the sentence doesn't make sense. Sometimes her errors are so minor that it doesn't really change the meaning of the story. I'm going to keep a closer eye on comprehension. Thanks.

Yay!!! So excited to check it out!

My daughter is 5 (6 in May). When she started kindergarten last summer, she knew letters and sounds and was just starting to sound out CVC words. She has picked up reading very easily and is reading at least a year ahead of grade level by now. She does well with easy readers and was even able to read words like "vegetation" and "delicious" in a story last week. BUT she skips lots of little words (such as a, for, the, etc.) adds similar words when they're not there, skips or adds endings to words, basically makes lots of little mistakes. For example, in tonight's book, a sentence was "A child reads a book today." She read "A children read books today." She didn't notice the errors until I pointed them out. This occurs in most sentences, not just occasionally. What I'm wondering is, Is it possible that she just progressed so quickly and simply needs lots more practice to improve her fluency? Or should I be looking into a possibly reading issue? Also, she's very wiggly and fidgety and has a short attention span. Maybe just needs more time to mature? TIA

Tanaqui, thank you for sharing your perspective. Do you think schooling at home vs public schools would make a difference in navigating those years?