Has anyone ever heard of or used the grammar program called Standards Based Grammar on CurrClick. I went to the website of the author http://www.createbetterwriters.com/ and looked it up a bit more and they have writing programs as well. It looks interesting, but a little pricey. Just wondering if anyone tried it. I am looking for something a little different this year.

Check out these at Rainbow Resource: GUM Drops The Straight Forward Series Great Editing Adventure Daily Grams (you really only need the teacher's book) The Only Grammar Book You'll Ever Need "]Our Mother Tongue: Guide to English Grammar Step-By-Step Grammar Here is a free grammar website: http://www.dailygrammar.com/

Maybe try Mastering Mathematics. It has topics in separate books (addition, multiplication, etc) so you really master the topic you are working on and there is plenty of drill plus a very detailed parent manual to help you out. It also has simple black and white pages (no color or pictures to distract) and I like the way they present addition and subtraction problems with vertical lines in the problem so the student can easily see what column they are working on. Check it out at http://www.masterypublications.com/Math.htm Rainbow Resource carries it and I think Lampost Publishing does as well.

Winter Promise McHenry's Elements Oak Meadow Lively Latin Wordsmith Chalkdust Basic Math (I know it is weird to be excited about math, but just looked over the book after buying it on ebay and it looks like it will work really well...finally something that works)

I am in Texas (Austin) and I lived in the DFW area for 5 years. We saw several tornadoes while we lived up there. The scary thing to me was always the fact that a lot of the bad storms would happen in the middle of the night. Hailstorms and wind, all kinds of fun stuff. Once when my mom and I were shopping in the Flower Mound area, while we were in the store, all the sudden the lights went out and the wind picked up...it turns out that on that day there were several reports of tornadoes in the area. I felt like a dummy out shopping in the middle of that kind of weather, but that is what Texas weather is like...it can change in a second. I am living in Austin now, the Round Rock area actually and a couple of days ago when the tropical storm was coming through we received over 11 inches of rain. It kind of felt like it was the end of the world. Luckily we didn't flood, but a little bit more and we might have. A lot of roads were closed and it was difficult to get out to go to work or the store and a lot of schools were closed as well (of course our homeschool was still open!). Anyway, we have bad weather in Austin, but don't know if I could handle going back to DFW unless I had a tornado shelter.

We have too many computers around here and that is probably a result of dh being in the IT field. My dd who is 12 has her own computer and a laptop. She has had her own computer since she was about 5 or so (back then it was just a leftover slower computer). I have my own computer and netbook. My husband has two computers at his desk, plus a laptop, and he even put a computer in the gameroom to use for movie storage (he records them on there instead of using the DVR). I think everything is so electronically oriented now that it is wise to give kids their own computer at least for schoolwork. We have had some issues with computer use though. We have the computer setup so that it logs my daughter out at a certain time everyday and she cannot get back on the next day until we log her in after she does schoolwork. If you are going to give them their own computer you need to keep a close eye on what they are doing with the computer, websites visited, etc.

Where oh where do I start. Sometimes it seems like every subject has been a flop. First there was my quest for the perfect phonics program...tried them all...thought I was helping dd, probably was just confusing her when switching programs. Then there was spelling...the thorn in my side. Tried Sequential Spelling, Spelling Power, Natural Speller, Calvert spelling and many others (I cannot remember them all). Each time I thought the new program would be the one and then we never seemed to accomplish anything. My dd still couldn't spell. Although, looking back on it she may have learned how to spell a few words so all was not lost. I think in the future we will just correct her spelling in her writing and use spellcheck a lot. Math should have been an easy subject to teach, but every time someone mentioned a new math program I had to go check it out. My daughter now has gaps in her math knowledge because of all the curriculum hopping. The bottom line is there is no perfect math program. You just have to stick with something at some point. Right now we are filling the gaps with Key To books and the Chalkdust Basic Math textbook. I feel like I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel as far as basic math, but don't even get me started on Prealgebra and Algebra, etc...more stuff to research and this time I am not changing programs I promise! One grammar program we used but did not seem to be very effective was Growing With Grammar. That was kind of disappointing because I was excited that I had finally found a secular grammar program and then it just turned into drudgery that never stuck. This year I am doing things completely different. I am trying not to choose curriculum based on what everyone else says is amazing. I think that is where I went wrong in the past. By the way, if I told you all the programs I have tried and ditched I would probably run out of room. I should have joined a curriculum buying junkie support group years ago!

I am the queen of collecting weird homeschooling or learning websites and decided to start sorting through them today. I found a couple I forgot about until today and thought someone else might find them helpful. http://www.textkit.com/ This is a Latin and Greek website with free Latin/Greek texts and a message board and not sure what else, but might be useful to all of those studying Latin or Greek this year. http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/ Has a lot of interesting games, but also a lot of learning quizzes and tools. I thought the chemistry section looked interesting for learning the periodic table. There is a lot of other interesting stuff on there as well, geography, art, you name it. http://kasmana.people.cofc.edu/MATHFICT/default.html Mathematical Fiction - a website where you can search for different types of math related books by category (humorous, science fiction, novels, algebra, etc) and has descriptions of the books, etc. I will have to browse it a little more, but looks good if you are going for the living math book approach. I will post a few more websites later if I find any others buried in my favorites. If anyone else has any cool learning sites they want to share go ahead and add them to this thread.

I have no experience with Noeo or Elemental Science, but have used the REAL Science program before. If you are looking for really hands on experiments then REAL Science is the way to go. There is a lot of meat to the curriculum. Noeo and Elemental Science come across to me as a more literature approach to science with a little notebooking thrown in. Not a bad approach, just depends on what you are looking for. Since REAL Science is mostly a grammar program at this time I would definitely not miss using this program if you have younger kids. There is always time to do Noeo or Elemental Science later, however, I do like the Elemental Science Intro to Science for the younger ages.

A couple of grammar programs I like for that age: Growing With Grammar and Winston Grammar.

We have used so many math programs I cannot even remember the name of all of them. I feel the same way about Rightstart Math. We got stuck somewhere in level C and by that time my dd was tired of using the abacus. I would still consider using it in the future for my other daughter especially in younger years. If Rightstart had continued on into Algebra, etc. then I definitely would have stuck around throughout the program. Singapore was too hard for me to implement with all the different books and the fact that my dd had skipped around in math made it difficult to change over to Singapore later in the game. Math Mammoth - we may use a few of the books as supplements this year and wish I had used this one earlier on. I would strongly consider using this for my next dd. I think the only thing lacking for the younger years is the use of manipulatives and games within the program, however, that could be done separately just as well using any kind of math games, cards, etc. Mastering Mathematics - we used in the past for addition, subtraction, and multiplication which worked really well. We still go back to these books from time to time when we need to practice a certain math skill. Key to Math books - we are currently using and love these. I would love these even more if they add elementary topics like addition and multiplication. I am just not sure where we want to go next in math because these do not go all the way through high school level math. K12 math - we used a little and it was not too bad of a choice, but I had a hard time teaching it and my hubby had to end up teaching math. I liked the online component, but it just seemed a little hard to coordinate with the worksheets and textbook, somewhat overkill with the math problems. MathUSee - we never used and I did consider it for a while, however, my dd hates any kind of video taught math program. The worksheets also seemed kind of dry and boring compared to other programs we have used. In the future, I am going to have a tough time finding a high school level math curriculum that works for my dd since she really would rather do more of a workbook style rather than textbooks with hundreds of problems or videos. I wish Math Mammoth would create high school level books!

We haven't started everything yet, but excited about starting WP QMA program, Lightning Lit 7, Wordsmith, and Elements Chemistry program. From what we have started, we are loving English From the Roots Up and Phonetic Zoo spelling.

We do about 3-4 hours a day tops. If we did 7 hours a day my dd would want to go ahead and go to public school. Right now we have only started math, spelling, grammar, and word roots and that is taking us about 10 hours a week. I expect science, history, and writing to add in another 10-12 hours a week. I don't really count reading in our school time since it happens whenever and I definitely wouldn't worry about what TWTM schedules look like...everyone is different in their approach to classical education and homeschooling in general.

My main reasons for not using Sonlight: expensive and lack of activities. I am drawn more to Winter Promise because of the types of books and activities that they schedule, however, their lack of customer service has left me dreaming of the perfect homeschool curriculum...something like the combination of TOG (love the online component), Sonlight (like that they have a lot of literature and have good customer service), and WP (love the activities and themes for each year). I will just have to keep dreaming!

I have had the same problem with my 12 1/2 year old daughter this year. All the sudden she is getting sloppy in her answers, forgets to reduce fractions, etc. We are working through Key To books in Fractions, Decimals, and Percents and I am hoping that the repetition will be enough so that we can move on to the next math program. I think you should put your child wherever they need to be and review if needed. I was hesitant to do the same with my dd, but in the long run I would rather she know math than rush through and have problems later. I have also skipped around between a lot of math programs and if my dd tested in TT right now she might not do well either. That is what I am trying to do this year. Fill in all the holes that we have missed along the way. I also don't think you have to do Prealgebra or Algebra in a certain grade. When I was in school I actually did not take Prealgebra until 9th grade and I did well in it because I was prepared for it. I am not worried about how much math my dd completes by graduation because learning does not stop in 12th grade.

I like planning in theory, but we always end up flying by the seat of our pants. I am trying to do more planning this year so my dd can become more independent, but we will have to see how that goes. Here are a few more links that pertain to that book mentioned earlier, Real Learning by Elizabeth Foss: A Blog http://ebeth.typepad.com/reallearning/ 4 Real Forums http://4real.thenetsmith.com/ Suggested Book List That is Suggested in the Book http://charlottemason.tripod.com/4real_learning_booklist.htm (also mentioned on the blog) I think I may have to go read the book again...have not read it in years!

I cannot imagine getting up at 7 or 8 in the morning to do school! Call me a wimp, but I have a 6th grader and we don't even start school until around noon because she is a night owl. I also have a 4-month-old in the house so I spend mornings playing/taking care of her and then when she goes down for a nap around noon we start our school. Since we have a little one in the house this year, we have cut down our school subjects to just the basics and we only do work three days out of the week. On those days we spend whatever time is necessary to get the work done so it could be 2 hours one day or 5 hours the next. I also have a rule that if my dd does not finish her work by Wednesday evening she still has to work on it for the rest of the week and cannot play video games, etc. I have her doing some independent work so that helps lessen the amount of time that I have to spend actively teaching her, however, we still enjoy reading together and doing fun projects, etc. Next year, I may just hand her a weekly schedule at the beginning of the week and tell her that when she is done with all of her work for the week then she can get access to her video games. I don't think the amount of time spent doing school will be the same for all families. I know that if I had more kids to teach then I would be doing school all day.

You could try Discount School Supply. They have a lot of the same stuff as Lakeshore only a lot cheaper. http://www.discountschoolsupply.com/

Okay...I feel dumb today. I just looked on the Little Giant Steps website again and they changed the name of the Math N More program to Rapid Recall System. It looks like you will need to contact them to see how much each individual program is. They have addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Hope this helps.

I bought that Math N More multiplication program from Little Giant Steps at a homeschool convention a couple of years ago. I just looked on their website and I am not even sure if they make it anymore. I noticed they still have another Math N More program on their website but it is more basic intro math like counting, etc. I would contact them and see if they are still making the multiplication one. The author was Jan Bedell. Here is an old review of it on The Old Schoolhouse Magazine http://thehomeschoolmagazine.com/Homeschool_Reviews/reviews.php?rid=1447 Just to explain the program more, basically the program came with a CD to listen to audio tracks for each lesson. The student would listen to the multiplication facts, you would initially show the flash cards with the answers, and you would have the student write the answers on a worksheet as they listened to the answer on the CD. You would also drill with the flashcards without showing the answer to further cement the facts. Once one track or worksheet was mastered then you would move on to the next one. What I liked about it was that the multiplication facts were mixed up rather than in families of everything (for example 1x3, 2x3, 3x3). On one sheet you might have 4x3, 5x6, and 7x2. Whenever I would try to teach my dd multiplication facts by fact family she would just try to do fast addition in her head, but then never really learn the harder facts. I also like that this has a kinesthetic component where the student is writing down the answers, the audio component of listening to the facts, and the visual of seeing the flashcard with the answer. Anyway, hopefully they didn't stop making the program, because it really was a well-designed and efficient program.

We had the same problem with RS. We hit a wall or just plain got bored with using the abacus around the midpoint of level C. At that point, my dd learned subtraction better by using a Mastering Mathematics book (if I had known about Math Mammoth at the time, would have used that instead). Then we used a multiplication program called Math N More Math Facts in a Flash and it teaches multiplication facts in a multisensory method which works well for all types of learners. Wish I would have found it earlier because it worked so well. After that we went back to Mastering Mathematics books along with K12 Math. This year, I needed to make things simple since I have a 4 month old in the house. We are doing a combination of Key To math books and Math Mammoth (mainly using MM for those topics not covered in Key To books). If I could start teaching math over again I might just go with MM all the way through or maybe combine it with RS games and other manipulatives. I tend to like MM better than Singapore for reasons others have stated...MM is an all in one book and easier for child to self teach. Just wish MM had more high school topics! I will have to start deciding on what math to use for Algebra and Geometry soon.

There is an art program/schedule that I found recently that sounds similar to what you are looking for called Harmony Fine Arts. It uses Artistic Pursuits and the Getting To know The World's Greatest Artists books. They just recently came out with a schedule that I am thinking of trying called Medieval and Renaissance Art and Music Appreciation. We were going to be studying the middle ages this year anyway, and I love how everything is so neatly organized and scheduled. http://www.harmonyfinearts.com/ Atelier Art http://www.homeschoolart.com/ Visual Manna Art http://www.visualmanna.com/ Handle on the Arts http://www.handleonthearts.com/

I noticed that Thinkwell Math is on sale on http://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/ Has anyone used this math for 6th grade math? I have never heard of it before and was wondering how good it would be for reviewing basic math concepts before going into prealgebra or algebra. It looks pretty good from the sample videos. I am just not sure how good it is at hitting all the concepts that would be needed for algebra. Is it considered a complete math program or more of a supplemental program? The other programs I am considering for reviewing basic math concepts are Chalkdust's Basic Math program, K12 Grade 5 Math, or Key To books in fractions, decimals, percents, etc. Anyone with experience with any of these, which program would you choose and why?

I am trying to decide what Latin program to use and am thoroughly confused. There are so many good programs and I do not want to waste money on one that ends up not working. I am considering Latin Prep, Lively Latin, Latin For Children, Latin Road to English Grammar, Latina Christiana, Latin's Not So Tough, Latin Primer, and Matin Latin. My dd is around a 4th/5th grade level and has no previous Latin exposure. I am looking for something that is easy for the teacher (me). I do not want something that is geared only to the student because that is not the way my dd learns best (so heavy amounts of workbook work would be out). Ideally I would like to find a program that has more of a whole to parts approach or at least explains the concepts of Latin really well. I have no previous experience with Latin so I need something that completely explains the grammar part of Latin. Whenever I read about Latin grammar terminology it makes my head spin. So, what is the easiest Latin program of the ones I mentioned for the teacher with good explanations and not too much workbook time?