I have a 9yo 3rd grader (with ADHD, if it makes a difference) using Singapore. For actual "Math" (the Primary math textbook and/or workbook for the day), he does one lesson. If he the assignment for the day is unusually long (especially for the occasional review sections), I will split it over 2-3 days. Including time spent dropping pencils, hanging upside down, complaining that the assignment is too long and that he will die (if it is over 2 pages, even if those pages only contain 2-3 problems each), etc, he usually takes about 20-30 minutes for this. Some days he is done in 15 minutes, if the lesson is short. He also does either CWP or IP at a different time each day. I plan 15-20 minutes for this, and don't think of it as math for some reason. At a 3rd time in the day he practices math facts. He does flashcards for 2 times tables each day (such as, all the 8's and 3's on Wednesday, all the 4's and 9's on Thursday, etc.). Normally this only takes 5-10 minutes. I also don't think of this as math. So, my first thought was 20-30 minutes per day. When I read everyone else's posts suggesting 45 min-1 hr, I thought, "He would die if I asked him to do that." Then, I realized that he actually does 40-60 minutes a day total on math. I just don't think of it that way, and since I list it on his schedule as 3 different classes, he doesn't think of it that way, either.

When you picture the cover of the book and read it in your head, do you read it "aloud" in your head, or do you visualize the name written on the cover? If you are reading it aloud to yourself, it is more auditory recall than visual. Also, as you write it, you may silently think the word to yourself, thus making it auditory rather than visual/kinesthetic.

It could mean she is a visual learner. I am primarily a visual learner, and weakest in auditory learning, and I often write things down to remember them, just to have the visual record of them. It could also mean she is somewhat of a kinesthetic learner. Is it the action/motion of writing that helps her remember, or the visual process of seeing the words in print? Or, perhaps, it is the act of focusing in order to write it down that helps.

We do oral narrations for everything we read/read aloud for school, every day. We do 2-3 written narrations per week in the elementary years (2nd-6th grade), moving into one written narration/essay per day starting in 7th grade. (We build from simple summaries into short essays, and then to longer essays and research papers.) I have occasionally tried having my children write a 1-3 sentence summary of everything they read, but always drop it quickly. It turns into a chore/busy work very quickly. It would be especially painful for my current two non-high school students, one with mild dyslexia and one with ADHD.

In your situation, I would just create my own schedule for the Calvert materials and finish them at the pace I wanted to, using them in the way I wanted to. Assuming you didn't sign up for one of the programs where they assign the grades, these are your materials, to use the way you want to use them. I always take any lesson plan book as a suggestion, anyway.

My oldest struggled greatly in math (the easy Algebra I level mentioned here for one of the Chemistry programs was extremely difficult for him--he started Algebra I in 9th grade, backed up all the way to MUS Epsilon and Zeta, moved through those and some of PreAlgebra in 9th, finished PreAlgebra and started Algebra I in 10th, restarted Algebra I in 11th because he forgot it all, and painfully struggled to finish Algebra I with a low C average by December of 12th, while simultaneously doing Geometry for all of 12th). So, for this son chemistry was not going to happen. (In addition to his math struggles, he didn't have much interest in that kind of science.) He took Biology, Geology, and a simple Zoology course for his 3 sciences. I don't know what level of trouble your student has with math (and 7th grade may be too soon to say), but there are other options if her math doesn't reach that level in time.

It's Apologia Physical Science that has a few chapters on geology/astronomy, not General Science. BJU Science 5 & 6 have several chapters each on geology and astronomy. Their 8th grade science is entirely geology and astronomy from a young earth point of view, also.

I don't use a formal writing program with R&S English. I do use written narrations (3x week) and outlining (2x week) in addition. For my soon to be 6th grader, I will also continue alternating copywork and dictation, because she is mildly dyslexic and needs the extra practice with spelling/capitalization/punctuation.

My daughter will be in 6th grade next school year (we start in late June, for various reasons). She will be using a modified form of AO year 6, with a unit on Egypt/Sumeria/Israel/etc for the first term instead of the 12 weeks of modern history.

I use AO (years 6 and up--the lower grade history books just don't seem to work for us, though I use much of the literature for years 1-5). For lower grades history I have used an assortment of things. As far as methods/approach go, I use a blend of CM & WTM with a few ideas of my own. I marked WTM and other.

The newer edition of the Usborne Book of World History is the Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History (or a similar name). The other book you mention is different. (The newer versions of TWTM also suggest adding SOTW in addition to the Usborne Book of World History.)

I tried the same thing with my 2 youngest, with the same result. CHOW and SOTW overlap too much to make it worthwhile to read both.

As far as I have been able to tell, the only difference in the revised edition is better pictures and a timeline in the back. I will be using the revised version of the activity guide with my original version of SOTW 1 next year for my then 4th grader, and I haven't seen any differences in contents (sample narrations and questions fit fine with my book, table of contents is the same, etc).

It depends on the child. My older two were naturally good spellers, and never needed anything more than dictation (and that only sporadically after 2nd/3rd grade) for spelling. My youngest is much the same. For any of them, I would definitely choose/ would have chosen vocabulary, especially a Latin/Greek roots based program. My 3rd child is mildly dyslexic, and struggles greatly with spelling, though she is improving. She also picks up new words easily through read alouds and reading. (She needs help learning to pronounce words she learns from reading, though, since she often gets the sounds in the wrong order and/or adds/omits letters.) Although she loves Caesar's English and has learned a lot from it, I have actually moved it to just once in a while to save time. I focus on spelling over vocabulary for her.

The idea is that on Monday you would do dictation from science, on Tuesday from literature, on Wednesday from history, on Thursday from Bible/other religion, and on Friday from reading. (For example, of course. The same subject could be done twice a week, the order could change, you could spend a month doing dictation on one subject and then switch, or thousands of other variations.) In our house we don't usually do both copywork and dictation on the same day either. We do either copywork or dictation, and then do some other form of writing later in the day (written narrations, notebook pages, outlines, a writing program, etc.). We use a mix of CM and WTM, with a few variations all my own. I'm not sure if CM or SWB would do both copywork and dictation the same day or not, but my youngest would think he was going to die if I did. He thinks it's bad enough that he has to write for dictation and written narration and also math (and sometimes grammar and/or Spanish). Any more written work would send him over the edge.

For right now, occasionally play games with sounds. The two that I played with my children at that age were : "I'm going to say the sounds, and you guess the word they make. /c/, /a/, /t/. " and "I'm going to say a word, and you try to break it into its sounds. Cat." My 3 boys (non-dyslexic) enjoyed these games and had very little trouble with them starting between 3-5 yo. They couldn't really rhyme until nearly 6, though. My daughter (mild dyslexia) couldn't do either of these games very well until around 7. Even now (10.5yo, reads very well) she struggles with the advanced versions-- "Say frog. Now take off the /r/. What do you have?" She will say /og/ or /rog/ or "I don't know" as often as she says /fog/. She especially struggles with breaking words into sounds in order to spell them. She often has no idea what sounds there are, and especially what order they go in. However, my daughter and the boys all benefited from these word games.

A lot depends on what you have already. My older two were homeschooled through high school (second son graduating this year), so I have everything I need for history, and enough to squeak by with for science (I didn't like what I used for late elementary for them, and sold it years ago.) My husband hasn't had much work the last few years (self employed in construction), so we don't have much money for next year. I will be buying math workbooks to go with the Singapore textbooks I already have. If we can afford it, I will also get Rod and Staff English 6. If not, she will use RS 5, which I already have. (She used MCT Town this year, so it would at least not be repeating what she already did, even if much of it reviews concepts/skills she covered this year.) We have everything we need for history/reading/literature, and a fair number of science books. If need be, we can use library books to fill in the rest of science. So, our bare bones budget is $63 for math, and maybe another $40 for Rod and Staff English 6 (a little less if I decide to get only the student textbook). This will be for 2 children, 4th and 6th grades. So, while your husband's planning is not ideal, it can be done if you have enough other books on hand. In good years we typically spent around $300-500 when everyone was K-7, and $500-1000 some years when we needed to get some high school science/math materials. Since we already have all the high school history/literature, plus chemistry and physics books I am satisfied with, we will need less money for high school now. I would like a different program for high school biology and for 7th/8th grade science, if possible. We also will need something different for prealgebra and for trig/precalc and beyond. (And of course materials for labs. Dissection animals and lab chemicals are not exactly re-usable.) But, it should be cheaper now.

AO Middle Ages books are years 2 and 7. If you want to include the Renaissance/Reformation periods, also look at years 3 and 8.

Hendrik van Loon is writing from the perspective of someone who believes evolution. I could overlook that (while we do not believe in evolution, we use a lot of secular resources), but what bothers me most as a Christian is his chapter on Jesus, which he titles "Joshua of Nazareth". He writes about Jesus rather disrespectfully. In other chapters he is also rather disrespectful of Christians in general, so the book does not work for our family.

My 10dd did MCT Town this year, and really enjoyed it. She also will not be ready for Voyage in 6th next year. I plan to use Rod and Staff 6th grade for next year (and possibly also RS 7 the next year) to give her time to mature before starting Voyage.

My 4th grader will be using: Bible: Read together, discuss. Monthly memory passage in English and verse in Spanish Math: Singapore PM 4A/4B with IP, oldest version of CWP (TPS). Math facts drill English: selected reading and read aloud books from AO 1-6. daily poem. MCT Town (or maybe R&S English 4, I have both). Alternate copywork and dictation daily. Written narrations 4x week. Spanish: Read alouds with oral narration. Reading practice with oral narration. Probably some kind of grammar--undecided. Copywork or dictation once a week. History: SOTW 1 with Usbourne Book of World History. selected activities from activity book. Science: Apologia Zoology 1. some Bill Nye videos from the internet. experiments as often as we can afford/find materials. Art/Music: Picture study. Monthly composer, hymn, folk song, Spanish song. Free access to crayons and art supplies.

It depends. My husband (a native Spanish speaker) will sometimes correct me when I am emotional (excited/angry/unhappy) and trying to tell him how I feel or why. At that time I do NOT want to interrupt the flow of what I am saying to correct my grammar (especially when it is a grammar point I know, and I just misspoke). [The grammar mistake he corrects most frequently in these situations is the use of y/o when I should say e/u--such as saying "y ingles" when I should say "e ingles". I know perfectly well I should say that, but sometimes don't do it in conversation if I get involved in the topic. However, I DO want to improve my grammar, and I appreciate it when he corrects me after I finish, instead of in the middle of my sentence--if, of course, he acknowledges and responds to what I was saying also, and doesn't ignore what I said to focus on how I said it.

Math: Miquon Reading: Alphaphonics or Reading Reflex, with real books to read English/Language Arts: probably copywork, dictation, and Mad Libs. I like Rod and Staff for 4th grade and up (with a little MCT mixed in for the joy of language, but you said only one program), but I don't really like RS English 2 and 3 that much. I have read that a veteran is someone who has homeschooled for 5 years. My older two graduated/will graduate in 2010 and 2011, and were homeschooled all the way through, so I guess I'm a veteran--though there are still a few subjects (especially writing) that I'm still not sure I've found a good approach to teaching.

Miquon actually covers negative numbers quite a bit, starting in the Orange book. They are primarily taught using number lines and problems like 2-3=? There is much more on negative numbers if you use the First Grade Diary than if you use only the workbooks, though. I used Miquon (including the negative number games from the First Grade Diary) with all of my children before moving into Singapore 3rd Edition/US Edition, and they have all been comfortable with negative numbers--even the son who didn't do well in Singapore.

I have similar problems---my children and I love MCT, but they need different levels and there just isn't time in the day to do 2 levels of MCT. Also, there are things that RS covers that MCT doesn't that I think they need. What I have decided to do is alternate years--using RS some years, and MCT other years. This gives the best of both options, and also allows me to try to stagger it so I don't have 2 in MCT at the same time.