Oh my, I wouldn't say your 7 year old is average then. I'm pretty sure my ds10 would struggle with 5/4.

Do you know what the differences are between the intermediate and traditional saxon? Are they written by the same author?

I'm having a problem understanding how it works. MM doesn't really teach why it works this way, it just teaches to tag on the zeros, which surprised me because MM almost always teaches the why, not just the how. I'm struggling with helping him to understand it because I really don't understand it myself.

It's seems I've opened a can of worms! Thanks everyone for your opinions on Saxon, it's really help me in determining if it would be the right fit for my dc. I know for a couple of my dc it would not. I have a friend who might have 5/4, if she can find it I'm going to take a good look at it. I don't think the early grades would work for me, too much scripting, it would probably drive me nuts, even though it may work for my dd6. My ds13 seems to struggle with being taught too many methods. For examples, in MM multi-digit multiplication, it taught "the easy way" to multiply, then it taught the standard way, now it's teaching a the trick of multipyling a larger number with zero, ie. 20X386, it teaches that you just place a zero in the ones place then continue multiplying the rest, this completely confused him. If really prefers doing the long way. Too many different ways of doing one thing is really confusing him. Does Saxon do this? I think part of the problem is, even though there are practice problems before moving on to the next method he hasn't really mastered the one being taught then he gets confused. So if Saxon just teaches a little bit of a new method, then spirals, that might confuse him as well.

It's been so long that I don't really even remember! Could you give me an example of how it teaches concepts differently? I'm really considering BJU for the early years. We used R&S back when my older 2 when in early elementary, I didn't think it was very concept driven.

In all my years of homeschooling I've never seen a Saxon book. After hearing so many reviews saying it was a lot of drill and kill I never gave it a second look. Now that my dc have strugged with math for years, I'm wondering if we should give it a try. Questions: How easy/hard is it for dc to use independently? I know I will still do some teaching but it would help if from time to time they could work on it on there own. Does it teach math conceptually or does it just teach formulas? On average, how much time does your dc spend on it each day. I have a wide age range of children. I would have two somewhere in 5/4 level and up and 1 possibly in whatever level would be equivalent to 3rd grade, and then a kindergarten/1st. I was looking at Bob Jones for the younger 2 but haven't decided yet.

We tried what the manual suggests and copied the root onto an index card etc. It was just too much work for my ds13 who struggles with writing, and I didn't feel like it was really worth it. I thought maybe I should just buy the premade cards but then I wonder, what do we do? We don't have time to do the extra activities, they are too time consuming. How can I turn this into something that teach my kids vocabulary?

We are using PAF, (Preventing Academic Failure), and I am seeing some improvement with my ds10, but there Merrill Readers are so dry and boring! It's a struggle for both of us to get through them. I like how the curriculum is laid out, we do fine with the spelling and dictation put it's the reading that I just can't take another day of. I picked PAF because I thought my son needed the repetition that the Merrill Readers has but it's really beginning to be over kill. Any suggestions to adding some excitement to our reading time? I don't want my son to hate reading!

Yes, I know wanting a secular book that doesn't teach evolution as fact is a lot to ask! the thing I don't like about elemental science is it seems to have a lot of writing. This wouldn't work for my ds13 or ds10. Does the curriculum work okay without doing all the writing?

Thanks!

We've barely done science because I can't seem to find a curriculum or method that works for us. We've tried Apologia's Swimming Creatures, it was ok. We were going to try Exploring Creation with Physical Science next year but after reading some reviews that it seems too opinionated I don't think that would work for us. I want something that is secular, I'm ok if it includes evolution as long as taught that it is a theory and not a fact. My dd14 and ds10 love volcanoes. They've done some self study on them but I feel like we need to do more. They also love studying Pompeii. I bought Ring of Fire Volcanoes but so far I'm not that impressed. My ds13 loves space but I'm having the same problem with him. We check out books from the library and watch a lot of science tv, but is that enough for science? My ds10 also loves sharks, but I can't seem to make any of this into an actual curriculum. Thoughts on how to pull this together are very appreciated!

thanks for your review! I'm a little confused at to what The Wand actually covers. Does it teach your child to read or is it more like teaching spelling through copywork/dictation? I primarily need something for reading instruction. Jot-it-Down sounds found like fun but i'm not sure if it's worth the price if it's just ideas for once a month writing projects.

I'm considering these for my dd6. She is still learning letter sounds so I was thinking of starting these once she knows all 26. I did a search on the forum and had trouble finding anything. If you've used these with your children, what are your thoughts?

I came across this curriculum looking for volcano resource for my dd14. She wants to study volcanoes. Anyone use it? What do you think?

We wouldn't make able to make those field trips, but I would love see what resources your recommend! We live in Ohio, not sure if there are any close enough for us to see, probably not. ;)

Thanks for all the suggestions! We would like to go in depth enough to have at least 1/2 a credit for high school science. That my be hard to pull off though.

My dd14 wants to study volcanoes but I'm having trouble finding resources. Any suggestions for books, videos, experiments, etc.?

Here is an older thread comparing them.

How about Five in a Row?

I want to get some math cd's for my littles ones to listen to, any suggestions?

I just don't know if I have it in me to give SWR a second chance. I'm already overwhelmed with life in general, adding in something like SWR would probably push me over the cliff! OhElizabeth, could you explain to me how you did dictation?

Thanks for typing all of this out. I don't have time to respond right now (baby is screaming). However I did want to say that I *tried* to use SWR a few years ago and was completely overwhelmed by it.

We used AAS levels 1 and 2 during her early elementary years. I didn't see a lot of carry-over to her writing, so I didn't think it was worth the price. We didn't do any formal spelling for a couple of year. When she would ask me how to spell a word I would tell her, I would also point out misspellings in her writing. However after reading somewhere that doing that could discourage her writing I stopped doing that. I think that was a bad idea. We did LOE last year. She could memorize the rules and phonograms but couldn't always use that knowledge to spell unknown words. Sometimes she will apply rules wrong. One example is the other day she spelled coming with 2 m's, which maybe is understandable since come is irregular. This year we are using Apples Daily Spelling drills and it's the same outcome as all the others. She actually says it's too easy. I like the idea of using her own misspelled words as a spelling list. I'm not sure if she wants to learn to spell or not. She seems very discourage,and embarrassed by it.

We are joining a co-op next year that will be studying SOTW 3. We really haven't study a lot of world history so I would like to cover SOTW 1&2 before next Sept. Is it feasible to cover all that in about 3 months?

My dd14 is a terrible speller. We've tried everything, LOE, AAS, Apples Daily Spelling Drills, Megawords. She can do the work, but it rarely transfers over to her writing. I'm about ready to say, forget it, she is just a bad speller and move on.