For those of you who had a B vitamin def., how did it take for your numbness/tingling sensations to go away? I've been taking 5,000 mcg B12 and a B vitamin complex coming up on 2 weeks now but haven't had a change in symptoms yet. My more bothersome symptoms are blurry vision, fatigue, and the nerve stuff. :confused1:

My younger kids learned their letter sounds from the Leap Frog DVDs. When it came to time for reading lessons, the kids who had a steady diet of Leap Frog flew through their lessons and had less struggle. We have all of the DVDs. http://www.amazon.com/LeapFrog-Letter-Factory-Ginny-Westcott/dp/B001TKUXUC/ref=pd_bxgy_mov_img_y http://www.amazon.com/LeapFrog-Talking-Roy-Allen-Smith/dp/B001U7NW20/ref=pd_cp_mov_1

I know one mom who has her older children rotate taking care of the toddler while she schooled. She also changed the activity every time a sibling had their turn playing/hanging out with him. That made all the difference in the world in her homeschool/sanity. Personally, I'm not that organized. We just do the majority of our homeschooling when the toddler naps. :)

Same bow at Walmart: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Barnett-Vortex-Bow-Package-24-45-lbs-21-27/20999242

http://www.amazon.com/Barnett-Vortex-45-Pounds-Youth-Archery/dp/B003RXOOQI/ref=sr_1_7?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1400365849&sr=1-7&keywords=youth+bow - This will grow with your child, as well, and can be used for deer hunting.

No! We have almost about 100 books checked out right now. :p I have lists on my online library account of suggested books for history periods, science topics, literature by reading level and more. I delete books we didn't like and always make new lists when a child has a topic of interest (comic books were all the rage for a time, especially Tintin) so that we can easily find what we liked if that topic comes up again. I do lots of renewing online.

TFUTH is one of our all time favorite read alouds! :P

We've never done dictation, but my children's spelling and sentence structure are very good. What's made the difference is maturity (many on the board say 9 or so is an age when spelling finally clicks for some) and incorporating formal writing (my oldest two are 10 and 9) into our day. At your son's age letter writing (to grandma, etc.), editing, and revising with you will put spelling and grammar skills to practical use and help cement the abstract knowledge he's gained through formal curricula.

If the parent knows grammar well and feels comfortable teaching it then AG could be great. I have a weak grammar background (public schooled and my kids are leaps and bound ahead of my education) and have learned that I need a lot of hand holding teaching it. AG was a miserable failure for us, and I even bought and used the DVDs.

After reading the GWG reviews at homeschoolreviews.com, I noticed a pattern. Often it wasn't until 3rd grade or so that grammar clicked for the reviewers children. It may just be a maturity thing.

How does the 2 hours a day of reading great literature work? Is is done independently or through reading aloud or both? I'm so curious.

OP, we use similar curriculum. After a time of doing both GWG and WWW during our school year, I've decided to drop WWW. GWG actually has a decent amount of writing instruction in it and writing assignments. For instance, my fourth grader's GWG has him writing a book report, narrative and descriptive paragraphs, friendly and business letters, a paragraph on giving directions, and many sentences and paragraphs here and there throughout the book. I think what I'll be doing with them is camping on a specific topic such as narrative writing when we get to it in GWG. So, maybe we'll spend a week or two writing a narrative story when that topic comes up if I feel it's age appropriate. There is so much inspiration free online, including step by step instructions and literary.examples. I think I'll compare the WWW (or perhaps Rod and Staff) and GWG scope and sequence to squeeze whatever I feel is important in that may not be covered in GWG. This will be for elementary and middle school writing. ETA. I'm seriously considering Brave Writer, as well. WWW is quite formulaic and uninspiring. I think GWG will provide enough mechanics and BW will awaken the joy of writing and inspire creativity.

We do this in our home! I pick the first read aloud and each of my children pick one for the year from a huge list of literature I've compiled.

I can't speak for the OP, but it is for our family. Well, for my husband at least! I totally on board because I know that fluency in a language (especially Spanish) will be a huge asset to our children in the job market.

Our kids have already taken keyboarding courses (and rock the number pad!) and will be taking a formal Microsoft Word and Excel tutorial this summer, as well. We'll be using the Techno Kids software for Excel. It's cool because they create fun kid projects like a game, word search puzzle, and mad libs. I'm excited about the mad libs thing and am going to have them put more grammar categories than the typical nouns, verbs, and adjectives for parts of speech practice. :closedeyes: DH is in the tech field and they also dabble in Auto-Cad and similar programs. Our non-negotiable is an Outdoor Hour focused on exercise and nature study. We do this almost every day, and it usually involves some sort of sport, rollerblading, bicycling, skateboarding, scooting, hunting (or shooting a bow or rifle for practice) or fishing. We also like to hike and mountain climb. Well, my husband does the mountain climbing with the children. I watch the baby. :p Fluency in a foreign language is our also non-optional. My husband speaks Spanish very well (he's not native though) and lived in Mexico before we met in order to fine tune his skills. He wants to take our family to Mexico to live for a year or so (his job is something that he can do anywhere with internet availability) that our children can have the cultural experience and further language studies. It hasn't been the right time before, but it is something we have started talking seriously about recently. It may happen next spring.

:iagree: :hurray:

All I can say is my kids LOVE math and are good at it, and I'm a happier, less stressed mom since using TT. Gone are the tears and math battles. Homeschooling is fun again. We get all our homeschooling done in a day now, but it isn't all consuming IYKWIM. No falling behind in various subjects. Spelling gets done! I've seen so many moms get burned out or fall so behind over the years. Or, mom and child's relationship is strained over school for one reason or another. Mom and child are no longer just enjoying the relationship. It isn't pretty. Implementing TT was a very strategic move on our part. One that I do not regret. Do I want my kids to have the most rigorous, elite math education at the cost of many things we value? Some can have it all. We've had to "compromise" in some peoples minds here on TWTM forum, but we feel that our kids are getting a great math education. We expect them to get into a good college with no problems and graduate ready for whatever career path they chose. Most importantly we feel that for us we've chosen the "better part". Think Mary and Matha if you're familiar with Bible. :p Every circumstance is so unique and every homeschooling family will look different. I'm just sharing what works for us.

Oops! I fixed that link. Thanks!

Totally agree. Working around it was no biggie here. What really opened my eyes to how the try again feature just wasn't working out here though was that I misplaced CDS for a bit after a move and everyone had to do their math without them. I was shocked at how many they were getting wrong! I knew they knew this stuff! Again, they were just being careless because they knew they could try again. I do not pay attention to grades either. What I want is them trying them best and always asking me if they don't get something so that we can figure it out together. What I do not want to develop is hurrying and carelessness. With one of my children this is especially a hill to die on.

Knowing that they could make a second attempt (on some of the problems) and that it wouldn't affect their assignment grade is what was the problem here. Once I did not allow my children to try again so that the problem showed that it was solved incorrectly, low and behold they started trying to get it right the first time/hardly getting any wrong comparatively and only taking one attempt to solve a problem correctly most of the time. Obviously not all children have this problem though.

Why I think TT is working for us (as in my kids use math constantly and correctly in their every day lives and they score well on tests). 1. We use it a year ahead. Recently, I'm considering having my children use it 2 years ahead. This is partly because of where I want my children to be their Junior year of high school because of dual enrollment. 2. They do a math facts memorization program every year until they have them mastered. I pick a different, independent program each year. This year they're using Xtramath. 3. I don't check out of their math education. Here is a recent TT thread about this. Teaching Textbooks and the Second Chance 4. We use the workbook as intended and expected by Teaching Textbooks. 5. We encourage manipulatives. Important note: I read that someone up thread has their child do the workbook and then do the problems on the computer. Am I reading that right? I actually had a friend who was (is not now) making her children do the assignment twice this way, because she didn't understand that only the answers from the workbook need to entered into the computer for grading. The child does not need to do the assignment twice. Another thread to help in your decision making, OP. Is Teaching Textbooks all through high school acceptable for good SAT scores and college prep?

I downloaded it, and it does look great. THanks!

I'm using TT3 for the third time with my third child! We use TT a year ahead (we did at grade level for awhile until realizing it's behind what they need to know for standardized testing), so I'm using it with my 2nd grader. Def. do the placement test. I would be surprised it your son placed in TT3. By the way I pair TT with Cuisenaire Rods (tutorials can be found at Education Unboxed). Also, we don't even use the CD ROM for TT3, but I read the lectures with my chilld incorporating the rods. I also have dc use the rods as manipalatives doing their workbook (I sit with them for this) until I'm sure they understand the concepts and they don't feel they need them anymore. Usually it becomes quicker to do the problems without them and they're done. My older children us it much more independently. I love TT for that. :hurray:

There is a place you can still do the 1970 CAT. http://www.shopchristianliberty.com/testing-service/ Here's a thread I started with several test options and there may be more CAT testers still that I'm not remembering. http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/513211-online-andor-at-home-standardized-testing/ :grouphug: :grouphug:

Sorry OP to hijack!! Margaret, would you share a bit more about how you transition you children to college by 9th and then to full time in 12th? I'm trying to figure out my options and getting the kids in college even sooner than 11th (dual enrollment) is very intriguing.