And you're not alone... my husband and I couldn't figure this out today either!

You are probably seeing gaps because of MUS. Since it only focuses on one single operation a year, it makes it difficult to switch over to other programs. I would not say your children are behind. They are only ahead or behind depending what publisher you're looking at! We use both Singapore and Saxon. My two children are very different thinkers. Personally, I like Singapore better. Saxon feels way too scattered to me, and to my younger daughter. But the constant change and review/variety keeps it interesting for my eldest. It all depends on how their brains work! With Singapore we use the HIG, TB, WB - always. And we do the mental math activities in the HIG. We periodically also use the IP or CWP. It does feel like a lot of separate pieces. But, they are all pretty small and thin. So yes, you do need to purchase a lot of pieces, but the size keeps them kid friendly. We don't give tests at this point.

I can hardly believe I'm treading into these waters already! I will be starting 6th grade with my eldest in the fall. I'm approaching this as a transition year with her. She is not academic by nature, is extremely social, plenty smart and LOVES to argue! Her entire elementary journey was an experience in learning to settle down to think. 6th grade is definitely time to kick things up a notch for her. My plans are still a bit fluid, but here's where I'm at right now. Math: Saxon 76 (I think we've finally settled on a math she likes. All the jumping around makes my head spin, but she thinks it keeps it interesting.) Lang Arts: Bravewriter/Arrow (LOVE the reading list for 15/16)/Partnership Writing? Not sure on the last part. She's struggled a bit with writing, but she is doing much better since I threw out the formal plans this spring and started following my instincts. Bravewriter will be new for us and I think it will be a great fit. She really needs to focus on writing this year. I will also be doing this with my "4th" grader who loves to write. History: Early Modern - SOTW 3 audio as "spine" with plenty of real books as the "meat". I have, All Through the Ages, that I use to choose a variety of living books from. Science: CM approach with Madam How and Lady Why, Storybook of Science and The Mystery of the Periodic Table on my list right now. Foreign Lang: 2nd half of Getting Started with Spanish and a bit of DuoLingo Logic: The Basis of Critical Thinking (maybe). Looking for a gentle introduction to logic that could possibly be turned into a co-op class. Undecided areas: Art, Music, Geography - these are things we typically will pick up through our co-op. I am considering leading an art class and a literature discussion course in the fall. We have yet to do much by way of formal geography. I haven't found the right fit for us yet. Would love suggestions!

I am curious about this too! I've had some trouble getting AAS done this year and was looking at perhaps switching over to something else... I was looking at Spelling Workout. For those who have made a switch, what did you switch to? R&S?

I only dictate half of the sentences. I believe it says to choose several, not to do all of them. That would be a huge chore! I generally do six sentences, even in the lower levels. When there were phrases I would do half phrases and half sentences. In levels 1-2 we have always just done a whole lesson at a sitting. It wasn't a problem and my kids breezed through. This would depend on the age of your child though. Level 3, we are definitely struggling to do the same. It does take longer. We haven't really figured out our happy medium yet.

We have been using AAS. It is very effective... when we actually do it. But this year I've had some health struggles, so subjects needing mom we are lagging behind in. I am thinking of switching from AAS to Spelling Workout. Has anyone done this? Is it a good transition? My kids will be completing levels 2 and 3. What book would you start in for each? Or, if you have found something else that is a little less mom hands on, I'd love to hear about that too!

I think AG would be perfect for your situation. I would not bother with JAG. JAG was designed for people who want to introduce grammar before 6th grade. Since AG does not take the entire year you have a little time to save up before you purchase it. We used LLATL for a few months last year and then I dropped it. The grammar portion is quite weak IMO.

You can broaden your horizons if you cross the border just a little. :) I belong to a co-op that meets in Newman Lake. We have families from Rathdrum and CDA.

Oh... I have one of those 4th graders! lol! Although sometimes I think she can turn her spelling skills on and off! Grr... A little over a year ago, she had a little meltdown because her little sister can spell better than she can. So I looked into spelling programs and I decided to try All About Spelling based on her learning style. It worked. It has improved her spelling a tremendous amount! However, she still can't spell the dictation in WWE. But, AAS has dictation in every lesson. So she's doing it there, but it's not as challenging. I'm kind of playing around with it still, but for WWE, I am not correcting spelling as she writes. I will correct it after. That way she can get it all down. I have also found that getting it all down puts stress on her, and actually causes her to spell worse. So it's a bit of a conundrum. But we muddle through. Some people certainly have a gift for spelling and others do not. My kids are one of each.

That is a lot. The fact is, LA is the bulk of grammar school learning. However, if you and he are struggling, it's time to lighten up the load. I have a second grader as well. She is a fluent reader, so no phonics. She is doing FLL2, WWE2, AAS 2-3, A Reason for Handwriting, and she has assigned reading for 30 min per day, plus whatever free reading she does. She does either WWE or FLL, but not both on the same day. Spelling is generally with FLL, and for WWE, I combine days 1/2 and 3/4 to do it on two days. So 4 days of lang arts, 20 minutes doing FLL/WWE/AAS plus her reading time. She does handwriting whenever it fits into our day. I also have a 4th grader who is a sloooooow worker so there is always at least one break for her to fit this in. I wouldn't do both WWE and a separate copywork. There is copywork/dictation in that already. I don't know exactly what's involved in MCT but there is a writing portion to that as well. So you're doubling up on both copywork/dictation and writing. He's a year ahead on WWE, so you could drop that until next year and spend that time doing more reading and informal narration. Are you also doing Latin? There is a strong argument for not doing grammar in the early elementary grades, especially if you are studying Latin. So that's something to consider as well. I think you could safely lighten up his load right now, by quite a bit. He should be enjoying reading and getting hooked on it! The second grader I have now is NOTHING like the second grader I had two years ago. She had very little Lang arts outside of reading and narration. Sitting at seat work was pure torture to her... and me too of course! I tried, but most of it was a battle that wasn't worth it. In the end I backed way off (out of frustration) and she is now in 4th grade and FINE. 8 seems to be a magic age. She still fights too much seat work or working alone, but she is leaps and bounds better than she was two years ago. And despite not doing "formal" lessons, she does very well in LA's. It didn't hurt her not to be doing all that much at that age.

We are using Singapore and really like it quite a lot. It works for both of my children. I tried Math-U-See, twice. (That darn teaching video just makes it look like it would be more time efficient, but it just didn't work for us.) We have done a bit of Math Mammoth. I like it, but don't love it. Mainly because we are a very visual family, and it's just not visually appealing. For us, that's a bit of a distraction. So, where we've landed is using Singapore (Primary Mathematics) for our main curriculum. And I have the Math Mammoth Blue series (digital) that I can pull from to add in extra practice on topics we might be struggling with. They have a similar approach, but are a little bit different. Sometimes that helps with understanding a concept. Another thing that's nice with Primary Mathematics is that it's been around a long time. Used versions of HIG's, and textbooks are easy to find for great prices. While it's not the first thing I consider, it is important that something be both high quality and affordable for us.

Yes, there is. ;)

I used to think that too. But here's the deal. YOU are in charge of your homeschool. Just you. No one, nothing else. The curriculum is a TOOL. It is a tool for you to use however you decide. It is not a contract that you must fulfill! At 5&7 I would think of this as exposure to history. Show them what's out there, don't do anything that you think is boring or tedious. Just get them excited to hear the story. My kids are now 7&9 so we are doing maps and notebooking. I check out library books and they will read 1-2 on the subject per week on their own and then come tell me something interesting about what they read. However, since there are more than 36 chapters, I fully intend on skimping on some of the shorter or more "boring" chapters. And if we have a busy week, then I'm not going to worry much about it. Two years ago I really wouldn't have worried about it!

Are you doing the mental math practice in the HIG? If not, do that first. It sounds like they can both keep going to me. Sometimes fluency just comes with time. Make sure you are doing the mental math, and/or add in something like xtramath.com for drill. I was having a hard time being consistent with drill last year so we went to xtramath. It helped a lot. It is bare bones drill, not a fun game. They will keep working on addition and subtraction until about halfway through 2a, then they'll be introduced to multiplication. So there is time before you need to worry about stopping before moving on. I like using Math Mammoth Blue Series to add in extra practice where needed. Intensive Practice takes things a little deeper. It's not just more practice, it's more intensive. And it isn't arranged to easily fit in with the workbook. CWP is completely different. I don't think either are just "more practice".

I think for the first few years you can do it on your own. K-1 math is pretty simple. If you have a curriculum in mind to jump into later, you could look at the scope and sequence and just make sure you cover each year on your own. Or even just buy the teachers guide to use as an outline and skip the workbook. I personally really like Singapore. I think it would be something that could work well for you and your son. My eldest couldn't handle much seatwork, so for K-1 I ended up taking the lessons out of her book and adapting them to more hands on active work. Doing work on the whiteboard also helped. But a worksheet was torture for us both. In second grade we started sitting down and doing work on paper (after the teaching and hands on manipulatives to help her learn it). By sometime in 3rd grade most of the manipulatives are gone because they're working more complex problems. But most kids at that age can make that transition.