Rod and Staff A-K series (or even the last few books if you think it is too easy) Singapore Essentials Math (followed by CLE math 1 if they are done with Singapore early) CLE Learn to Read (this is really designed for 1st grade but if your K is ready to read it can easily be for K) Ordinary Parents Guide to Reading would also be open and go The above will be what we are doing next year (already most of the way through the Rod and Staff series) along with some FIAR and science experiments with big sister (because she loves to work with her big sister sometimes). If you don't think they are quite ready for a full reading curriculum I would stick with Rod and Staff series followed by CLE KII

Another recommendation for CLE. It is the first thing that popped in my head reading your initial post and laughed as I read everyone else's responses.

We went to R&S 3 after finishing AAS3 (for a 3rd grader). R&S was definitely on the easy side and in hindsight I wish i would have gone directly to R&S 4 as I don't feel like R&S 3 deals with spelling rules nearly as much as R&S 4 does. In the end, midway through this year, we took a few weeks to just quiz the words lists only stopping to do a full lesson if she had too many words gone and then we moved onto R&S 4 which is a much better challenge for her. The biggest reasons I chose R&S 3 initially were 1) I didn't want to completely overwhelm her and felt like one "easy" subject would be ok and 2) in R&S 4 the word lists are only in cursive. At the beginning of this year I didn't feel like she was strong enough with reading cursive to assure she was getting the correct spelling of words.

Both Math Mammoth and CLE are designed to be independent in the long run but I think anything at the 1st grade level is going to need teacher support.

Keyboarding Without Tears is working well for us. I do love Mavis Beacon though and used it when I worked in a school district. It is a very solid program.

Keyboarding Without Tears is working well for us. I do love Mavis Beacon though and used it when I worked in a school district. It is a very solid program.

Rod and Staff has been really pretty independent for us this year. We are actually switching to CLE next year though because I want things wrapped together more and need the spiral approach. Rod and Staff is mastery based but has a lot of built in review.

I agree Math Mammoth might be a good option. It is designed to be independent. If you think they need a more spiral and traditional approach like Saxon I would give CLE a try. Also designed to be very independent. It has more built in fact practice than Math Mammoth.

We had similar issues with MM. Math become a complete stress. I finally started really scrutinizing what was going on - looked at time of day, assistance versus independent, reducing the number of problems, comparing it to the Saxon that we used before (but needed to get away from the scripted nature of it), etc. Even thought it was a very difficult decision after I exhausted my list of things to try we switched curriculum and math is suddenly a subject my DD1 enjoys.

We just switched from MM3 to CLE300 and it has been the best thing ever. I was so very hesitant to switch mid-year but it was well worth it. We did start back at 301 but I don't think it was necessary. Do take the placement test for sure! They are free on CLE's website. It will not only help you place him correctly but also let you see where any gaps may be. You could start by only ordering the teacher manual for the level he places in. In the back of the manual there are alternative tests. You could have him take the alternative test for each light unit until he reaches one he does not pass then start at that light unit. You might be surprised and he may place mid-year and you will be right on track. Part of the reason for us switching from MM to CLE (besides mastery versus spiral) was I wanted DD1 to have daily fact practice and daily speed drills. That is the biggest reason I chose to start right at 301. I want her to spend as much time as possible re-drilling addition and subtraction facts so moving onto 4th grade faster was not a priority for me.

It isn't Lexile levels but I use http://www.arbookfind.com and find it user friendly. There are only a handful of books I have tried searching that were not part of the database. I have also found it useful for finding ideas for other books at certain levels.

Extensive experience…no, but I have been running a business out of my home (fully licensed in-home daycare) for 7 years and my oldest is in 3rd grade this year. Balance is certainly not easy but sticking to a schedule is huge as is finding the right curriculum matches. I run a full preschool program with the daycare (using FIAR) and try to combine all ages (at least through 1st grade) together as much as possible and as long as possible. Now that I have a few years of HSing under my belt I am finding I am better at prioritizing and letting some things go. In the beginning I tried to do too much and just added too much stress to our lives (thankfully my oldest is a great kid and took it all with grace). I am still working on finding the "just right" curriculum and the "just right" amount but we're getting there. At the end of the day and I weekends I need to find at least a little me time even if it is staring at the computer screen on forums or Facebook for an hour.

:lurk5:

We are in lesson 5 right now and so far prefer writing in a separate notebook and parts we do orally. I think 1 student book would work.

I must say I am glad there are actually other children who don't love SOTW. It is a brilliant book/curriculum IMO and I know many many students love it but I guess like everything one size doesn't fit all….great thing about homeschooling. I agree Ellie- a textbook isn't necessary at her age I just know for certain I need something to follow. With running an in-home daycare with a full preschool curriculum (BFIAR/FIAR) and next year having 1 in kindergarten I will need something easy and open and go. A textbook like A Beka might not be the answer but it is something that will meet our needs and the 4th grade curriculum looks like it is delivered in a method that DD1 would actually be able to understand. A fellow homeschooler mentioned Beautiful Feet History of Horses and History of Science curriculums. I am looking into those a little closer. They might provide us with a break from what we are doing but give us the structure I so need. We are enjoying Beautiful Feet geography right now. Just another option I am investigating for next year.

Thank you everyone for all the great suggestions. With all of the excellent living book history series out there I am sure there is something she will find she likes. I am hoping we can spend the next several months exploring and enjoying history. We picked up the American Girl Kaya series at the library for somewhere to start. We'll see what she thinks and go from there. I am hoping the American Girl books are a hit because they are an easy place to start. Hopefully they will hook her enough to at least start going through the "Meet _____" books. If she enjoys reading about a certain time period she can read more of the series and I can find great books from all the other different series to add in more. I have been investigating A Beka more for next year. I think might work for us but not sure yet. I would love to keep up just reading various history book series for longer but I am not sure if I will. I want to have a back-up plan in place for next year if needed.

Would you recommend reading all of the books in each AG series or did you just focus on the 1st one? I guess maybe it depends on how fast she ends up reading them and how long we want to spend on each time period.

Thank you so much for this! It would be great if you can post your notes when you have the time. BTW my 3 daughters are Samantha, Felicity, and Adelaide (Addie) so it really seems appropriate that we do some AG studies. And yes, DH cringes every time someone tells him his girls are named after AG dolls (this wasn't planned).

I just want to say thank you to you all for your ideas and input. It is SO very helpful for me to bounce things off of others who have been there done that. Another persons perspective is so valuable to me. You don't know how much I appreciate this discussion.

This sounds exactly like my DD1. She really enjoyed reading Sarah Noble (twice). She enjoyed reading Pedro's Journal a couple of months ago. I think she would enjoy reading about "very important people" as well if it were more of a story approach not just historical details, dates, etc.

Even the Jim Weiss CD's make her gloss over….so very sad!! We did do Adventures in America (end of K beginning of 1st grade). We started SOTW after that. She did enjoy it but I think she was too young to get much out of it. I should pull out some of the chapter books we read aloud and have her read them again! Thanks for reminding me. Ellie- thank you for the other book recommendations.

Ellie- I think you are exactly right. I can't say she hates history but the method yes! We have been through 2 time periods and are starting our 3rd I don't think it is necessarily the time period (but maybe). I think SOTW doesn't work for her :sad: Since History Odyssey still uses SOTW as a spine I probably shouldn't have picked it in the first place but I thought maybe the variety that HO uses would make it ok/better. We aren't very far but so far I am still getting that glazed look. She does LOVE to read but it is really hard to find history related books that spark interest in her. She likes Magic Treehouse but really is starting to outgrow them (she can read one easily in an afternoon) and I would like to find something slightly "meatier". I am wondering if American Girl history book series would be a hit. I need SOMETHING to break this block she has with history. Farrar- thank you. Sometimes I think I need to hear someone else say…take a break. Try something different. I want to love WTM recommendations but the bottom line is it doesn't work for every child. I am going to try to brainstorm some ideas for books she might love that would "hook" her on something history related. KrissiK- thank you for mentioning A Beka. I am certainly going to look into that closer for 4th grade! My initial glance at it tells me it looks like something she would like. She loves the CLE LightUnits for other things and really really needs more drill with all subjects (certainly not a part of SOTW or HO).

I need some ideas as to how to approach history with my oldest (3rd grade). She tolerates it but certainly in no way loves history. I was never in love with history either but now find it fascinating. We did SOTW Ancients and Middle Ages. Eventually the activity book went to the side as it caused more frustrations than it was worth. We supplemented with some various chapter books instead. This went ok for a while but as soon as she hit a book she didn't love caused lots of frustrations to get it done. We just started History Odyssey Early Modern. We are trying it for a good while but I have no faith that it is going to be any better. As soon as I start to read from SOTW she kind of glazes over but at least she seems to be more engaged in the notebooking aspect of HO. I bring home plenty of library books to go along with our topics but she almost never picks them up unless she doesn't have any other choice. I even brought home one of The Royal Diaries books thinking it might spark some interest but she has hardly even glanced at the cover. I don't want to assign the extra reading materials as I think it will just add more stress into our already busy days. I would rather not buy another curriculum but am willing to if that is going to make her motivated. Things I have thought of to try: - having her do something with her hands while I am reading (drawing, finger knitting, legos etc.) she didn't love doing this with the SOTW coloring pages though - trying a big Friday morning history block….just dive in and enjoy for a couple hours and see what happens (we could easily do this with our schedule) - throwing in the towel and trying a "social studies" curriculum instead of the 4 year history cycle (pains me to even think about going this route) - taking a break from history and only focus on geography (we are currently working on Beautiful Feet geography right now)

I wouldn't say it is fast shipping and like others have said they don't send shipping notifications. We just started math 300 a few weeks ago and it was very much worth the switch. My daughter loves it so far and in the few short weeks we have been using it her math confidence has skyrocketed. So great to see. I am awaiting the rest of the math 300 light units that I ordered at the end of last week. We are also are going to try the bible curriculum. Next year we are switching to CLE LA and I am considering their reading as well.

Have you looked at CLE? I would consider it for LA and Bible. They are pretty popular for LA, math, Bible, and reading. Not so much for their social studies and science but I don't know much at all about them for those subjects and why they aren't used much other than their LightUnits format for those subject are not the updated versions all the way through all grades yet.