Yes he's seven now, but he will be 8 when we start third grade. Thank you so much....i need to check out writing strands and easy grammar. another one i have heard about is CLE.....any thoughts on that one. why would phonics road and LOE be a bad fit? are they very heavy on the spelling or is it more workbook

I am looking for language arts recommendations for my rising third grader. He is an advanced reader, but his writing mechanics are weak. He is a good speller and he loves grammar. I was looking at LOE-essentials, phonics road, rod and staff and FLL. We did WWE and he hated it (he calls it writing with pain). He also does not do well sitting alone with workbooks (he is very hyperactive and easily distracted). This year we have done MCT-island and he loves it, but he has difficulty with the writing assignments. We also use Spelling Power which is fine, not great. He does happy scribe copy work, memorizes poems, and we do some dictation and narration. The options out there are very overwhelming, so any guidance is greatly appreciated. Thanks so much

thank you Bonnie...that makes perfect sense.

anybody anybody??? is my mike on?

I'm doing MCT island with my 2nd grader and it has been perfect so far. i am worried, however, about doing town in 3rd. It sounds like MCT progresses very quickly. for those MCT users, do you recommend taking a year off and doing town in 4th grade? if so, what would you do for 3rd grade language arts? thanks!

do these programs complement each other well? or is there another writing program that would fit better with MCT (WWE was a total fail)? Thank you!

i have a 2nd grader doing MCT island, spelling power, and happy scribe copywork. We tried WWE 3 and it was too hard ( i would have bought WWE 2, but when i looked at the placement info on the website, it looked like WWE 3 would be better). at any rate, we don't want to go back to WWE. I bought Happy Scribe for hand writing practice, but I am wondering if that would also serve the same purpose as the copy work you find in other writing curriculums such as WWE??? I'm just trying to sort out the writing component right now. If I pick up something like Write from Ancient History, do I bag Happy scribe? or what? I've also considered IEW Bible Heroes, Evan Moor stuff, and write shop. I don't want to overwork the boy but I want to cover all the bases too. Thank you for your thoughts!

After a LOT of research, it looks like i am going to be doing a combo of miquon and math mammoth with my 2nd grader. my question with MM is this: do i have to start from the beginning if he has never done anything like MM or Singapore or MIF? or should he just take a placement test? He is coming from Montessori school, and to be honest, i really don't know or understand much about the math he did last year. Thank you very much. Can I just add that this board has been such an amazing source of support and guidance. I am blown away by how giving all of you are when you share your experience and your thoughtfulness.

started MCT island with my second grader (7 years old) this year and he loves it! its his favorite subject. he even wants to do it on the weekends. today i caught him doing the four level analysis on his copy work! i don't know what we will do next year but i would like to continue with MCT if it won't be too difficult for him.

OK, so i am doing Miquon with my second grader (thanks to the encouragement on this board!) and i have a question. I don't know much about the other math programs but aren't Singapore and Math Mammoth focused on mental math and number bonds and stuff like that? If so, that really appeals to me and I would love to get my son used to doing that sort of math, so my question is this: would be better to go ahead and get him started on one of those programs or should we just continue doing Miquon exclusively? in other words, how well does Miquon translate to the other math programs with mental math and number bonds and all of that? i can't decide if I should buy all of the other Miquon books (right now we just have a couple of them) or if i should buy Singapore or Math Mammoth and just use the online videos and c-rods to help with new concepts. trying to do both programs at one time seems like a bit much to me. Thanks so so so much!

ha ha ha.....I just outed myself as a southerner with "yall"

This is awesome. Yall make me feel so much better about this and more laid back. I really appreciate it

This has been so helpful. thank you to all of you!

My 2nd grade son just started his first year of homeschooling. He came from a montessori school. I thought Miquon math would be a good program to start off with, but it seems to be going poorly. i read somewhere that I should start at the beginning with the miquon, so we have been working through red and orange and he HATES it. He complains everyday about Miquon. It is super super easy for him. I have thought about jumping ahead, but i hesitate b/c it is my understanding that the concepts build on one another. So now, I'm not sure what to do. I just realized that a lot of people do red and orange in kindergarten, so I hate to put him through something that he likely has already mastered. So do i switch gears entirely and get a new curriculum? or do i continue with miquon until we get into the later books? or jump ahead? He also does some math facts drill worksheets/flash cards and Life of Fred. Thank you!

I'm new to homeschooling and I've been following TWTM as a guide. Right now, I feel completely overwhelmed by all of the things suggested in the book for language arts. I know they are only suggestions but I find it confusing and a lot to sort through. So if someone could give me some guidance on my Language Arts daily routine for my 2nd grader, I would be so grateful. This is what we do every day: 10-15 mins of spelling power happyscribe copywork for penmanship WWE level 3 MCT Island Level memorizing one poem per month He reads independently everyday for about 30 mins on a book that I pick and we try to discuss it sometimes His dad reads to him and sister every night from a history or science related piece of literature or just a classic chapter book This feels like A LOT to me (and it takes SO LONG), yet it also feels like we are not doing enough work with literature and reading comprehension. Can someone tell me if I should be doing all of this everyday? should I be adding to this list? is there anything I can do less of? part of the struggle is that my son gets easily distracted, but still.....I'm getting worn out. Thank you so much for your feedback!

Can you make the program work with just buying the instructor's guide and getting the assigned books from the library? or do you really need to buy the whole kit? Thanks so much!

This is wonderful. Thank you for your replies. I have really enjoyed learning about what you are doing

Also....should he be doing any phonics work? this is his first year homeschooling (mine too) and I see that some kids in 2nd grade do phonics. He's a very good reader so I haven't pursued a phonics program with him....but should I? is that something he should also be doing? How do you know when your child no longer needs phonics instruction? thanks so much!

I am using MCT Island with my 2nd grader. We LOVE it and I plan on doing the complete program (including SI/Mud trilogy etc.). We are also doing Spelling Power and Happy scribe copy work. Should we be doing anything else for Language arts? I would love to know what other people with 2nd or 3rd graders using MCT Island level use in conjunction with this program? WWE etc. Right now, I am thinking of adding in WWE b/c with MCT there doesn't seem to be any dictation/narration/etc. But I wasn't sure if that was necessary or if there was something else I should supplement with or If i already have the bases covered? Thanks very much!

Thank you so much for the replies. I think I will go with LOE....I'm very excited. Thanks again!

My daughter is just now learning cursive and she reads/spells short three letter words. I am having a terrible time figuring out which way to go with phonics and handwriting. I have looked at Abeka, Logic of English Foundations, and McRuffy. She likes hands on programs with lots of colors etc. The OPGTR and 100EZ lessons style of reading instruction do not work with her at all. She glazes over. but If she can write out words and do colorful worksheets etc, she is happy. All about reading and Spell to write and read both look good too. but I've also heard that they can be difficult to implement. And AAR doesn't have the cursive component. Is this true? Right now, I'm leaning towards LOE or Abeka. Any thoughts you can share would be greatly appreciated!!!!

My son is in second grade and can write cursive reasonably well (when he wants to). I'm not sure when to introduce manuscript or even if i should bother with it. He likes to print, but he doesn't do it *correctly* and its very hard to read. And if you teach a second grader manuscript, what curriculum should you use that wouldn't be too young for him? Thank so much!

Hive Mind Queen Bee ---> that is so awesome about your son! I would love for my son to find a chess buddy. He LOVES chess. Thank you again to everybody who has responded. This discussion has been so wonderful!

You all have been wonderful!!!! I am new to the forum and I can't believe how supportive and caring everyone is. Thank you very much!!! I should have said in my original post that DS goes to a wonderful Montessori School. His teachers are fantastic! very experienced, very loving and very responsive to parents. His class is a mix of 1st-3rd graders and the students are pretty diverse as reflected by the diversity among the parents as well. I have been very happy with his school and so has he....The issue is just that I really want to home school! Right now I am working part time to pay private school tuition and I feel that our family life suffers a little bit as a consequence. I don't think any of us really thrives on the hectic pace of life these days. As far as testing, he was evaluated and treated for SPD when he was 3, the primary sensory issue for him being toe-walking. Because he was such an early reader (2) and has some sensory issues, it has been suggested before that we consider an aspergers diagnosis. So we took him to a highly recommended child psychologist for a time and she did not believe the markers for aspergers were there. We have also been very fortunate to have an open dialogue with all of his teachers regarding this, and so far, it has generally been agreed that at this point, an evaluation would not be appropriate or needed. The doctor describes him as "just a really really bright, slightly awkward kid". all of this is just to say that I have not ruled out the need for an additional evaluation, but right now, we are just sitting tight. It might be something that we revisit soon. i don't really know. He is very charming and very happy, he just can't relate well to his peers. While everyone on the playground is pretending to be Jedi's, he wants to talk about geography or the electoral college or anatomy. So as a consequence, he gets very frustrated b/c he doesn't know how to just pretend to run around and fight or whatever. anyways, i hope that gives a better understanding of our situation. Any other thoughts in light of this would, of course, be very much appreciated.

I want to say upfront that I know it's a myth that home school kids don't have social skills. I just need a little feedback from some experienced home schoolers. Right now my kids go to school and next year I want very badly to home school them. However, I am having some reservations about homeschooling my son. He is seven years old, and while he likes his school very much, he has a hard time making friends. I have always anticipated that this would be a problem for him. He is very precocious and his interests are quite unusual for a little boy. He can be very intense and rigid and impatient, especially when trying to play. Anyway, my concern with homeschooling is that if he wasn't in school, his social awkwardness would get worse. It seems that by staying in school, he would be forced to face those challenges on a daily basis and I don't want to deprive him of the opportunity to work these things out. But again, I know that home school kids do just fine socially. I just worry b/c my son is already so unique and already struggles wit this. Its like he's behind the ball. I hope that makes sense. any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!