If you are enjoying BJU and your child is looking forward to moving on with it, I don't know as I would advise switching. Jennie

The teaching is all in the light units. If my child needs help, I read the lesson myself, and try to grasp the concepts. Mainly my older children do CLE independently. My oldest dd is in 7th grade this year. The 700 level is where clauses and phrases are introduced and worked on fairly extensively. At first she was very confused by it all, but as we worked through it, she understood more. She still can't quite understand how to identify a complex and a compound-complex sentence. I found CLE because a real life friend was using it with her children. I looked it over, and it looked like it would work for us as I was worn out with R&S. We have used it for three years now. I have had children in level 200, 300, 500, 600, 700, and 800. Next year will be the first year I will have anyone work through the 400 level. Of all of them I have least liked the 200 level. I didn't want all the syllable rules, phonics markings, how to grade a light unit, etc. I just wanted grammar (and penmanship). Fortunately, I know that the 300 level drops all of that, so we used the 200 level knowing that it would only be a year. I would say that you are still the teacher. No curriculum can anticipate the needs of your child at any given point in the year. If you get to a sticky point, you can stop and work through it. CLE also has those extra practice books that I have used for my students who struggle a bit with language arts. I also use the TM for the alternate tests. There is no real teacher instruction in the TM. As I mentioned at the outset, all the teaching is directly in the lightunits. Oh, I should also mention that the last lesson of each lightunit is a self-check. If the student can do well on that then they will do well on the lightunit test. My children always say that the self-check is more difficult than the actual test. I hope that helps. Jennie

It was good for a time when my son got bogged down in in regular algebra program. It doesn't have enough support for me the teacher to be able to help him if he has trouble. It is great for reinforcement. Jennie

I have not used Pathways or Elson, but I have used CLE from 4th through 8th grade. I agree with Tracy that the full benefit of the program is found in using the readers and the lightunits together. My children have enjoyed using CLE's reading program, and they are all working "at grade level" in them. I think that CLE does ask inferential questions before children are cognatively ready for them which is why some children struggle with answering those questions. Most children aren't ready for those type of questions until about 5th or 6th grade. Since the CLE reading course is only 5 lightunits in the upper grades we alternate between a light unit and a full length piece of literature. This has given us a complete literature program, and I am very pleased with it. Jennie

From my experience, I will agree with the previous posters who said that the first 3 years are very gentle, but it really takes off after that. My oldest dd could do her math completely independently through 3rd grade. However, when we got to 4th grade it seemed as though there was a new concept every day. I had to sit with her and teach her for that whole 4th grade year. She continued on with R&S through 6th grade. This year we made the switch to CLE, and it has been a very good move for our family. I will add a couple of thoughts. My son used R&S through 8th grade. From comparing R&S and CLE in 7th and 8th grade I feel that CLE has a better grounding in algebra than R&S does. CLE has more advanced graphing, etc. Also, I found it easier to complete a year of CLE than R&S, I don't know what our problem is, but we really struggled with completing all of a book in one year. This caused some issues because with a mastery program like R&S, if you can't get those last chapters done, you will never get to the concepts taught in them. It seems that the R&S books always have the graphing and geometry chapters at the back of the book. I like how these concepts are sprinkled in through out all of the CLE books. My dd ended up placing in the 500 level of CLE after completing almost all of the 6th grade book in R&S. Jennie

I found that I had to wear my tops tucked in. I needed a "well-defined" waistline in order to not look pregnant. Jennie

The scope and sequence is available to anyone. You do not need to join the email group, but if you want more indepth discussion of CLE then by all mean join up. :) Jennie

Sheila, You need to look at the Teacher's Guide for the diagnostic tests. This will tell you how to give the test and interpret the results. If you need further help, let us know. Jennie

We have used CLE language arts for the past 3 years. We used R&S for 2 years before that. The children and I both prefer the CLE format to R&S. The content of CLE isvery rigorous. I have not compared them side by side for the grades you are considering because we left R&S before we got that far. The only thing I can think of is that there might be more writing assignments in R&S than in CLE. You can check that out. Here is the diagnostic test for CLE 500 through 800. Test link Jennie ETA: I didn't see that Tracy gave you the link. Sorry.

Well, I used R&S math for all grades up until last year. Then I switched my twins to CLE math. I personally felt that R&S had too many problems per lesson, and we often did just the odd or the even. CLE does fewer of each type of problem per lesson. If you are doing the Skills section, you will have an addition, subtration, a decimal, fraction, division and multiplication problem per lesson. I agree with Michelle. Look at the samples for each lightunit in the grade you are interested in teaching. This should give you a very good view of how the lessons are laid out. I think Saxon has more problems in each lesson. I have not used it, so I can't say for sure about that. We use CLE language arts. Be sure to take the diagnostic test. CLE has a little book called Basics of Diagramming. This will give you all the different types of diagramming covered in CLE. If you have any other questions, let us know. Jennie

Congratulations! Jennie

Here is a link to the elementary scope and sequence of CLE. Jennie

I do not have experience with both of these. I have only used CLE (200, 300, 400 and 500 levels). I am sorry I can't compare the two of them for you. I can tell you that CLE does a great job with pre-algebra concepts. Jennie

I put the fence around the whole garden area. There are 6 raised beds within that area plus a large open spot. My husband made a way for me to roll back the fencing at the "gate", so I can get in. It is not a real gate. It is not my ideal fence, but it does keep the deer out. Jennie

Do you have deer in your area? They would make quick work of anything planted in something like that. If not, I would say that it does look a little small to justify the price. We put in raised beds last year. It was a good investment. We need at least a 7 foot fence around our garden to keep out the deer or I might as well not garden. Jennie

A CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Here is an explanation. CSA Jennie

If you search Auralog on the forums, you will find many threads about it. Jennie

Call your local cooperative extension office. If you can't find them, let us know, and we can search around for you. 4-H can be done independent of a group. Jennie

And to you as well...beware of the pussy willows...

We use Homeschool Tracker Plus. I don't know which version you have, but I have found the Plus version to meet our needs better than the Basic version. Jennie

When I read The Three Stages from the WWE book, then it made better sense. Jennie

Here is another thought. I don't do this, but a friend of mine does. She has a "correction" time each day. Her children do their independent work, and then she mets with them to correct their work and work on corrections. Just a thought. Jennie

Interesting. It is not on the Peace Hill Press site. Jennie

It is entirely possible to be a good reader and not be able to spell. My son and one daughter are like this. I have used SWO, but I would only use this with a completely natural speller. Even for my natural speller we found it to be a bit boring. I have used Sequential Spelling with my oldest struggling speller, but for him there was no retention. I have used Spelling Power for my struggling and natural speller with fairly good results. Now, I use AAS with my twins. One is a natural speller and the other struggles terribly with spelling. AAS has the best retention and application of any of the previous programs that I have used. Also, the use of dictation on their level has done remarkable things for my son's spelling. Jennie

Oh, how awful of him. I am so sorry!:grouphug: Jennie