Hello, After reading an article in the NYT last week regarding italics and thinking about my own awful script I am considering skipping cursive and teaching italics. I have a 7 yr old left handed boy. We have been doing HWOT tears and I have no issues with it but he is definitely a little behind in this area. What would be a good italics program to try out after we finish HWOT Printing Power? Thank you!

A normal summer day: 7am Wake up before everyone and watch TV 8:30 Play on computer 9am Breakfast and do morning chores (make bed, pjs away, feed dog, etc.) 10am Swimming lesson 11am Play outside 12pm Lunch 12:30 Lessons 3pm Piano lesson or soccer 4:30 TV 5:30 Outside 6pm Dinner 7pm Practice piano 8pm Bed There's a lot more screen time in there then I am happy with but the child has never been one to entertain himself and will only spend time playing if he has friends with him. We're starting over just the last month to have some boys in the neighborhood to play with and that's been great!

Oh, and Dream Box sends you updates about what they are doing. It might be a good fit for your younger son.

My ds did not like math blaster but has liked Reader Rabbit Math and the online program at http://www.dreambox.com. The latter is very very well done but only for K-2.

I did most of Fractions last night. What a great book! Who would have thought a night of doing long division would be fun? I can't wait to get the others.

Yea -- I just received my Rainbow Resource order and LOF Fractions is in it for ME. :) I'll post back once I work through it a bit. I'm looking forward to it.

My kids are a little younger than yours but what has worked is my 3.5 yr old gets to watch TV while the 6.5 yr old does lessons and the little one naps. I've tried play dough, drawing, etc. at the table for the 3.5 but she doesn't get the not to interrupt part.

I think it's just right for my reluctant reader. He knew all the letter sounds so we skipped those beginning twenty some lessons and started off with the vowels. Reading does come easy for him (as compared to math which he just gets) so the short lessons are helping learn the rules without making him dread reading.

My ds is not a strong reader and we just completed our first grade year. I did hold off on grammar, spelling and writing but will be introducing them this year even though he's still not an independent reader. ETC did not work for us as he also does not write easily yet either. We just keep plugging along with OPG and I imagine it will click soon.

I am on a similar quest and came across this list today: http://bringinguplearners.com/mosaic/mosaic-2/resource-list-for-mosaic-2-adventures-in-the-middle-ages/

Oh how funny, I have spent the better part of a month trying to remember this site. Tonight I sat down and searched Mozy (back-up site) and finally found it and now here it is listed here. I did the first chapter with my ds a while back and he loved it. I then managed to lose it when I had to repave my pc but promised him we'd spend all of August doing activities from it. I just looked through the sample chapters for the Earth Sciences program and it looks equally interesting.

We do both TB & WB together. And we do them orally as my son's handwriting ability far out paces his math ability.

I'm glad to hear others have done the same and that it's a good program. I'm going to start with fractions too as I've forgotten a ton and this way I'll be better prepared when my munchkins get there.

My ds will be 7 in September. He is a leftie so we're a bit slower in the writing activities. Math -- Singapore 2a and 2b Reading -- OPGTTR Spelling -- Sequential Spelling I Writing -- WWE I Handwriting -- HWT Printing Power History -- SOTW II Science -- Earth science (haven't decided on materials) Spanish -- Classes with a native speaker Art -- Artistic Pursuits Piano -- Private lessons PE -- Sports

I made it to Calc. in high school but never really liked math until I became a software developer (self taught). Now that I know how much fun math can be I'm thinking of using the Life of Fred series to review everything and learn new stuff. Any other adults worked their way through the program?

Awesome, thank you! I think my kids will love it.

I'm waiting to receive this but would like to place my Rainbow order soon -- can anyone with this book tell me which supplies I would need during the first few months? I'd rather not order the whole list. The suggested items include: ebony pencil modeling clay tissue paper black construction paper colored construction paper crayons oil pastels chalk pastels sketch pad eraser watercolor pad Thank you!