Thank you, for the advice, countryman and PeterPan. I hadn't thought about asking the RS people, or placement tests either. Those may be helpful. As to my oldest, we'll see where things end up in the coming year as to whether we'll consider her 4th grade, 5th grade or be happily in between for a bit. I'm open to having her graduate at 17 or 18, either one is fine, we'll play it by ear and see how things pan out in the next few years. But it is nice to have that option, and I'm certainly not going to push her towards a more accelerated math side. She has a literary mind and love, so we'd rather focus more efforts on that side of education. As to my son, we've used Kumon books for drill, but they have way too much drill for him, and not enough topics in one book... I know I can skip, but I'd just love to find some sort of review drill resource that has just a few pages on each topic. There may not be something like that out there, I guess I could piece together something on my own from the right start worksheets. I"ll check out more Cathy Duffy reviews about Horizons - I'd love some personal info but if anyone has personal feedback, I'd love to hear it.

I'd love some advice from seasoned math curriculum users! I have three kids, 9, 6, and 6, (about to turn ages though..) who will be 4th/5th grade and 2nd grade next year. We've been using Right Start and Life of Fred from the beginning with all three. They all adore Life of Fred as a supplement, as do I, and so that is not a problem at all. The question is Right Start. My oldest is not a math lover, though she's competent and does ok. But it's so SLOW. We struggle to get through all the lessons and I feel we are falling behind. It just doesn't seem to be a curriculum that is easy to move through more rapidly, and I fear we will be bogged down in doing all the things and be more behind. She's very bright but math is not her strong point. She's also had some health issues that have set her back, affecting her concentration and work habits. I feel we've not made as much progress as we should have and that we're behind where we need to be. She has trouble getting things done independently too and she's still working on finishing level D. I love the approach, but wonder if we should continue with this program down the road. Advice? I don't want to have her get too far behind grade level and still feel like we're forever plugging away. It would make us feel better to have something achievable on a schedule front, where the amount of time spent seemed manageable. I know it may be considered a "mastery based curriculum" but I still feel like there is pressure to get through. I don't want her to be in 6th grade and still working on 4th grade math. We also have a part time tutor to help us implement some of the math, and I don't think she is too comfortable "skipping things" and I don't know exactly how to advise her. When we started with Right Start, the lessons in the old edition were three a week, and that was easier to accomplish, but the five a week plan isn't working schedule wise, especially since one lesson often seems to take her two days, sometimes three. Do we jump ship after this level and try something else? If we do, what? I have heard good things about Horizons Math, but don't know how it works and haven't seen it. Does anyone have experience with this? My twins are using different things and we separate for math due to different levels of instruction. For my son (6) who is naturally proficient in math, Right Start is way too slow and has too much repetition. He just gets math without effort. He does Life of Fred also, but also works in Beast Academy. He's worked through most of BA level 3 and is about to move into BA 4 and it has seemed the right level for him. But, as we jumped into BA at a higher level to give him something that would challenge him, we've been trying to spot check through R.S. quickly to make sure there were no holes, and do things we needed to work on. But I feel it's not easy to skip through RS quickly. I looked at Singapore, but didn't care for it. Any other suggestions? Should we abandon R.S with him and just keep going with BA and LOF alone? Or add something else as a supplement? Even though he can do the multiplication, division and pre-algebra things in BA 3 without much difficulty, I want to make sure he is super solid on the basics. He is unusually gifted in math, - he just gets numbers and relationships. He can do it all in his head, but I want to make sure he has more work on writing it down in the traditional way. Or do I need to worry so much about that? Is there a curriculum that goes at a really quick pace without much busy work to just spot check? For my twin daughter (6), R.S. works perfectly for. Suits her to a T. So I want to keep going with it - She adores the games, begs to play it, and it's really working for her. So no questions here. Do I invest in more math curriculum? Any suggestions that might be a good fit for my oldest daughter? At what point is a good point to move to something else? I have heard that in the older levels, Life of Fred can be used as the only curriculum, instead of a supplement. Does anyone do that? Or is it better as a supplement? Does it incorporate enough drills and repetition? I feel we'd have much more joy in our house with my oldest if Life of Fred was every day:) But we don't want to compromise a solid foundation. Any thoughts? So much for my plans of using the same curriculum with everyone, but that is the blessing of homeschooling anyway. Even if buying extra curriculum is not economically efficient, I don't mind spending to find the right fit for each child. I'd like to decide before I have to buy any more R.S. levels! Thank you for reading this long winded inquiry - I value your time and opinions and appreciate this community of fellow homeschooling parents!

I was wondering the same thing - anyone out there used these?

Thanks, everyone, for taking the time to share your experience and opinions- this is all very helpful! I ordered BA to try and am trying to decide whether to speed through Right Start for the moment since we already have multiple levels for my other kids, or add Singapore for him. Do people ever use the Singapore Intensive practice as a supplement? Would it work without doing the program? Or are there specific processes that are unique to the method that would make it not make sense otherwise?

I really loved the idea of this program and was really excited to try it - I really agree with the philosophy behind it - but I can't say I've been nearly as pleased with it as I thought I would be. Some elements are great; the creativity, the top-quality writing and vocabulary used, etc. But I really don't think his alternate four level system of analysis works well. It is tedious, and doesn't really give you a good picture of function nearly as well as traditional diagramming. Most of it consists of countless repetitions of labeling parts of speech, parts of the sentence etc. only by name. Traditional diagramming gives you a visual of how each part of speech is functioning and connects to the sentence as a whole, while this system does not. It's just naming things, which really doesn't give you that much clarity, in my opinion. I think students, especially ones who aren't technical, would find this very frustrating. I will continue with the Caesar's English portion and the Music of the Hemispheres (poetry) looks very good. However, I won't be continuing the parts using his analysis system. We're going with regular diagramming for that. The first book introducing parts of speech is interesting, though I'm not sure it did an especially good job in really mastering the material, even for a gifted child. In whole, I don't think this would be a particularly good system for a struggling student. Perhaps you could pull out particular elements like the poetry portion (Music of the Hemispheres) and use that independently? I would think that would work for all learners. Or read the first book introducing parts of speech as a supplement to another program (that's what we've switched to doing now). They're all separate books and sold independantly. I love RFP's ideas and mentality though and I do think parts of the MCT program are still really good.

I second the DVD rom version of the program - it does the colors for you:)

We're in the same boat (and Catholic) and having trouble finding things for early elementary. Novare looks great, but they don't have anything earlier than 5/6 grade level last I checked. Has anyone heard if they're coming out with an elementary series? Is CHC the same as Catholic Heritage? Do they have things for 1-4 grade?

Sequential Spelling has a great DVD version of their program for independent work.

I second the many wonderful suggestions made above, but here are some not already mentioned that might be enjoyable for your daughter and your whole family: All are on Audible. Edith Nesbit's Dragon Tales are wonderful (adults will like them too - the writing is so clever!) Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazon's series would be good for all the kids too There is a Katherine Kellgren narrated version of Beatrix Potter on Audible that is fabulous Nurse Matilda Librivox has a great free version of Just So Stories narrated by Tim Bukeley. Many librivox narraters are not so good, but he's fantastic. The Freddie series of books by Walter Brooks The Happy Little Family/Fairchild Family Stories by R. Caudill All of a Kind Family Series (Love these!) One or two are on Audible, though the narrater isn't great. The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series. Maybe for older age, but my daughter loved these at age 6: Narration is amazing. Ms. Rapscott's Girls is hilarious and well written. Whole family got a kick out of it, including my husband. The Moffats

We use tracing along with Getty-Dubay Italic and love it. If you purchase the font for your computer, they have all kinds of different styles you can type and bring whatever content you want. We use the style with hollow letters for tracing - that font also includes the arrows for direction and starting dots. It's been great for my kindergartners to learn the correct shapes and formation from tracing these, and they can do it without me, which is even better. I just print up books of things for them to trace, and they love it. The tracing has really helped with their handwriting. I also use tracing with my older daughter who is transitioning to cursive. I print out her spelling words, history facts, etc. and she traces them using the skinniest G-D cursive font. It's made learning the handwriting joins in cursive much easier, and she likes it, and reinforces things she's working on in other subjects. Win win in my book:)

All about Spelling has been a lifesaver for us! My daughter would be in tears over spelling and it was a fight to get anything done, but their system makes it much more enjoyable for her. She never complains about doing it. She has some visual issues that make staring at a page and writing very tedious, and the multi-sensory hands on aspect of it works so much better for her and for those who find spelling frustrating. (Lot of spelling with special color-coded letter tiles and phonogram tiles). In fact, I think it has boosted her confidence in spelling so much that it is getting her over her phobia and now she does her other spelling (Sequential Spelling) without nearly as much hassle. We also love Sequential Spelling as others mentioned, and do a combination of the two for extra practice. The DVD version of Sequential spelling is great because they can do it independently, so she does that for outside work.

Naxos puts out some great poetry collections for kids that are really well done (there are some on Audible and Amazon) Favourite Poems for Children, Selected Poetry by Lewis Carroll, Classic Poems for Boys... IEW (Institute for Excellence in Writing) has a graded poetry memory program that comes with a CD of poems. The recitation is fine, but isn't the most dramatic "actor quality," but the selections are good. For witty classic poetry for children, try Hillaire Belloc. "Cautionary Tales for Children" has some great ones that are quite amusing, including "Rebecca who Slammed Doors for Fun and Perished Miserably," His short poems are wonderful too, The Frog, The Vulture, etc.... iTunes has some well done recordings of these. My kids also like the Julie Andrews collection on audible previously mentioned.

Thanks, everyone! I will look into BA more - and try to get over the monsters:) Looking at the content samples I could see on line, it looks really good. Thanks for the Tiger math suggestion too- I hadn't heard of it, but I think that is exactly what my oldest daughter needs. RS doesn't have enough drills for her to be quick and solid. She hates Kumon workbooks and they have too much repetition, and getting her to do extra math is like pulling teeth. This looks like it would be really manageable for her get done to supplement, and might be good extra for the others at some point too. I hadn't heard of the CSMP - thanks for the suggestion, Rosie. For those of you who have used Singapore - what level would you think of as a good starting point? 2? And any opinions on which edition?

I'm hoping someone will have some suggestions for what to do with my five year old. He is showing himself to have a natural bent for math and loves it. He is always mentally calculating, and with little instruction is able to do mental math, knows multiplication up to 12's, division is coming along, basic addition and subtraction are easy for him. He needs a more accelerated curriculum and I'm not sure the best way to keep him going. If it's too easy, he's very bored, and starts making up ways to make the problems more difficult. That or starts making chicken sounds, arg! We started out with Right Start A, but quickly skipped halfway into B, but much of that is too easy. I don't want to skip too many steps and make sure all the bases are covered, but he doesn't need lengthy explanations or activities to help him understand the concepts, he just gets numbers and relationships. Any advice? Move to Right Start C? I feel that getting through all of the Right Start lessons can be so very slow. The explanations of concepts and games are great, and work really well for my other children, but I'm not sure if sticking with the curriculum is a good fit for him, or if it will be at the right level or accelerated pace. Some have said Singapore math is quicker in pace - any experience with that? We also do Life of Fred as a supplement (which we love!) Is it advisable to skip levels? Or just try to go through faster? Are there any curriculum choices out there that would work better? Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Thanks, Susan, for the thekidshouldseethis.com link, that is fantastic! I think I will definitely buy the book. It's pretty inexpensive, so I'm convinced it's definitely worth $25 to try. Thanks, all, for the advice.

For those of you who have used the Classical Catholic Memory program, how is the music to their memory songs? I'm a professional classical musician, and it really drives me crazy to listen to bad electronic synthesizer-filled pseudo-pop kids songs:) Since they don't have any samples, I was hoping someone can provide an opinion so I'd have a clue before I bought it. I love the look of their program, so I really hope it will be something I'd enjoy using. I really hate the Classical Conversations updated music "Timeline, This is my timeline...." song, and I was hoping their music may be better. I can handle simple, and I don't expect a grand production, but didn't want to waste my money on audio I can't stand to hear in the car like I did on Classical Conversations CD's. I'm looking for songs that are not modern/pop in style. For a Classical Education program, I'd hope they'd choose some more traditional music that is easy to remember (which isn't the case with CC, in my humble opinion). Thanks in advance for helping this old-fashioned curmudgeon!

Thanks, everyone. That is most helpful! It sounds like it may be a program we would really like. For those of you who added memory work (This is very important to me - I'd love to have a sequential list of assignments so I don't have to create on my own) - where did you get your lists/resources? How much time did you find it took to prepare each week? I have twin two year olds and work part time, so my prep time is in short supply! Will I be having to spend an overwhelming amount of time gathering and planning in order to implement each lesson? Does it rely on many external books/library resources? Unfortunately, our library we have access to is to a nice library, but it is VERY small, and rarely has anything I am looking for.

I'm looking for a new science curriculum, and wondered what thoughts were to be had on "Building Foundations for a Scientific Understanding" for those of you who have used it? Pro's - cons? Would be used with a first grader. I want a secular science curriculum that is challenging, rigorous, and uses real scientific terms and concepts from the beginning. This is what I have tried so far and didn't want to continue for various reasons... R.E.A.L. Science 4 kids. Biology for the Grammar Stage R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey (This one I did like, and will go back to if I don''t find something I like better....) Thanks for any advice!

We really like Sequential Spelling. I particularly like the DVD version (CD/Rom computer only). Even little ones can do it fairly independently (and self correct). This eases up on the direct instruction required by me, and my daughter really loves doing it that way. We started using it (slowly) at the end of kindergarden as she was reading fairly well at that point. I really think adding the spelling this way (in our experience, at least, all kids are different!) helped her move along in reading and writing, instead of being frustrating. Because of the sequence of the words, they are spelling "difficult" words from the beginning, by using the patterns of other words in the set (like: in, inn, begin, beginning, inning, spinning, etc...) I like that it teaches the rules in a more organic, unspoken way, without memorizing and stating them, but by selecting word sets based in patterns that instead illustrate the spelling rules. The rules seem to be absorbed naturally.

Thanks so much for the suggestions! I will have to check them out. I'm wondering if it's better to start reading in Spanish a little later after she has a solid base in reading in English? Or if she could handle them at the same time. Though I know they can separate languages and do each simultaneously with speaking and comprehension, it seems like it might be a little confusing for a beginning reader to work on both. What did you do with your kids? I wonder if I'd be better off starting her reading in Spanish in 1st grade. Any thoughts?

Can anyone recommend a Spanish curriculum for a child (kindergarden age) that's being raised with both Spanish and English in the home? English is by far my daughter's preferred language, but her father, grandparents and babysitter speak to her only in Spanish. She understands everything in Spanish perfectly and speaks some Spanish (although is reluctant at times and doesn't have near the vocabulary or fluency as in English). All the curriculums I see are geared towards having kids learn simple words and phrases that would not be appropriate or useful to her. We do want her to study Spanish in a structured way though. Any suggestions? Thanks for any advice!