Oh, yes, I forgot to look at TWTM, oops. I'll take a good look at that and go from there. So, sounds like the consensus is that it is not a ridiculous idea. This particular ds is somewhat behind anyway skills-wise (which I am trying to remedy). I have KHE and some of the other books I've seen on lists here and there. Well, I will look into this further. Thanks so much for your thoughts!!! I appreciate it VERY much!!

as our primary history, with some supplements? Is 6th too old to start SOTW? I was planning to start ancients next year and go all the way through history. We've not done that yet, we've done American and geography and some other stuff. For quite some time I've been looking and pondering what to use. This much I've discovered about myself: I don't do well with an all-put-together program. I've done MFW and loved it but didn't use it well, and also done Sonlight and gotten really stuck somehow. My main problem there is my own executive function (lack of) skills!!!! Love the programs but just can't make them work. Argh!! Well, now at least I know that. It's better that I know that about myself. Frustrating, but better, lol. It's much easier for me to have all my subjects separate. But also, for me, simpler is better. I've had trouble learning how to implement things like Shurley English or IEW -- I just cannot get the hang of what to do. It's rather embarrassing to post this here for all to see. But now I know that's the way I am, and it's good to know and realize how my own learning disabilities affect my home schooling. Knowing my limitations will help me avoid some wrong choices down the road. So, I was wondering what it would be like to use SOTW for history. I thought I might try to do two books per year for two years to cover the whole of history in two years, 6th and 7th. It seems SOTW would be super easy to use, and I would think I could supplement more age-appropriate things into it. But is it really too young to do in 6th and 7th? We know a young married couple w/o kids who just found SOTW and are reading it together for fun and an education - they rave about it. I also have BJU history for both 6th and 7th which covers the entirety of history. And I've thought about History Odyssey and TruthQuest. I've read loads of posts and visited lots of websites. I'm wondering what would be easy to use for me and also make a good study of history for ds; thought SOTW might fit the bill, maybe with some supplements such as videos and real books. I don't know.... what do you think? I've braced myself -- I can take it. And THANKS!!!

The ESV is next in line to NAS for literal accuracy, but it reads MUCH more fluently and, not only that but if you buy an ESV Bible you can register it online and get LOADS of online stuff. You can read it online, take your own margin notes online and keep them and add to them, and all the cross references and other study aids such as maps, outlines and background information are there, too. Lots more, but I can't remember. Cross references are in orange print, and you can just click on the cross reference and a little window will come up with that verse in it. Oh my, it's GREAT!!! My dh absolutely loves it. For online ease of use, I don't think there is anything that can even come close.

That sounds like a great plan! I hope you have an excellent journey with it!! Blessings to you all!

Just wanted to add a note to thowell here, I used ABeka up through 4th grade with my youngest, and I'm not sure you absolutely have to do every single problem. That may not be the reason you're not doing well. I think it's more about the teacher manual. The teacher book has the lesson in it. I know that in ABeka they put the new concept on the front side of the student book, but that is not near a complete lesson. The teacher lesson plan book has mental math, drills, and an explanation of the concept along with board practice problems that you can go through together; it's well thought out and comprehensive. My feeling is that the program is incomplete without the curriculum/lesson plans book. By the time the student gets to the workbook, you have already done a lot of work with the concept, drill and reviews. I think it's perfectly fine to assign only some of the problems in the ABeka student book, but I would assign from every section. From the first section where they are practicing the new concept, that's where I assigned a greater percentage of problems. When it comes to the review sections, depending on what they need, you can use your judgment. For us, the back side of the page always had fewer problems to do than the front. If there was an awful lot to do, sometimes I broke it up into two parts so he wouldn't be overwhelmed. Just a thought, hoping that helps but knowing I could be off here, just wanted to give you that perspective.

I do that, too. My 5th grade ds is in 65 this year, I think he could possibly (?) have done 76 but he was mathed out from last year and I wanted him to have some motivation and success so I went with 65. Anyway, before starting Saxon this year I had read about just what the OP was talking about, and I determined that I would do it all, because I want him to GET it. So I divided all the sub-sections up and made a little checklist out of it, sort of like separate math subjects, so that he can check off every portion that he's done and feel some sense of accomplishment instead of "moan/whine, when will this end?". I thought it helped quite a bit, although there was a honeymoon period at the beginning of the year. Anyway we took a super long break and are just returning, so hey, I feel like it'll be sort of like the beginning of the year again. That is a great idea splitting it up like that, good for you. I did Saxon 2 and 3, and for that level I had them jumping up and down during the skip counting and running across the room for fact drills, etc., I had them moving around any way possible. For that age it's important for them to be active, and maybe that might be part of the "kill" part if your ds 7 is sitting too much, because the lesson does take a long time. Just a thought, that certainly was the case for my kids.

Hi, I think your kids can handle whatever is on those pages, even if they are sensitive (how's that for an expert opinion, lol). We have not read those particular editions, but we read a lot of missionary stories as read-alouds as a family when our big kids were little, and it can lead to some pretty awesome discussions. My opinion is that it's good for kids to know about this stuff. Read ahead a bit and do edit a little if you need to. OR, order the basic instead of the deluxe package and try to borrow those titles or find them used, and in that way it would be less of a monetary gamble. I don't know about SL titles to replace with, no experience there. ECC is a wonderful program; I hope you have a great time with it!

To ElizabethB: I've been following the trails of many of the links you have given here, and I must say, this makes a lot of sense! Thank you for providing these links, I look forward to using them to put together some remedial work for my ds11. Remedial spelling, remedial reading, remedial handwriting, the works. You have done a lot of work here (I realize you are not the only one), and others are reaping the benefits. Thanks! And to kwiech: ABeka 2nd grade starts out with manuscript and then transitions to cursive in the same book. You would have to cover up the "Grade 2" on every page and all over the covers, though, if your dd is sensitive about doing "below" her age level. My advice is to pick something and be faithful to do a little every day, every single school day. You do get places that way. I make up my own hw lessons using Cursive First; I chose it for the font style, I don't use the exercises, I just do my own thing with it. I write in my choice of blank composition books what I want him to practice (letters, phonograms, phrases), and it becomes a do-it-yourself workbook page. I decide what he needs to practice or when he starts his upper case letters, or when he needs to re-learn a particular letter that I've noticed he's having trouble with in other writing. Takes me 3 minutes the night before to put it together, and takes him about 5 minutes of independent work in the morning. A little bit every day, and it's tailor-made and no-fuss. I hope you will land on something that is just right for your dd!

I just looked up Cozy Punctuation, it looks like it would be just the ticket. I have a ds who does not use punctuation. Even when he reads. Maybe he feels like it's in the way or something, lol. This may help him realize there IS a reason for all those marks messing up the page. lol. Thanks for posting about this.

I used levels A and B in the past for my youngest. We did a lesson about 4 times a week. I just had him read the passage silently (independently) and answer the questions, then I graded it and we kept a chart of his scores. I didn't time him. I started him off at level A even though he was reading higher than that, because I wanted him to see success early on (he's a bit of a perfectionist too, well, he was at that time, now mistakes don't bother him as much). It helped with fluency and silent independent reading, which is what he needed most. It only took a few minutes a day, quick and painless. We used the books as consumables. I have all the levels in separate paperback books, I bought them in the 90's from Bonnie Dettmer's company. I think my particular edition is not thought of quite as highly as the one-volume hardcover that Wanda Sanseri's company sells. Anyway, they worked fine for me.

Never used their 3 year old materials, but I used ABeka starting at K-4 for my youngest, and he loved it. We used it for fun mostly, and so that he could be doing school with the older kids. For my olders I used the Rod & Staff preschool books, and yes, they are black and white, but that didn't demotivate my kids; they were engaged with them. I also made up a lot of my own kinds of things such as matching, shapes, colors, sorting, etc. That was fun for all of us.

I'm having trouble getting going, too. I don't have any help for you, I'm in the same boat. I'm super distracted and can't get my act together. But I HAVE to! Glad I'm not the only one.

This is a very interesting concept; I'm glad you posted, and I'm happy to see what others are doing. I have a ds who in 5th grade still needs a LOT of help with this area. Glad to have read this thread, thanks!

There has never been a homeschooling year that I have finished a book! I've come close sometimes, and other times I may have gotten only about halfway through. I almost always have started fresh the next year with the following grade's curriculum; the exceptions were when I felt a particular child needed to stay in the same grade the next year. For instance, with my oldest it took us 3 years instead of 2 to do 2nd and 3rd grades, and with my youngest, for his 2nd grade year we only got halfway through, so the following year we finished 2nd. I felt he needed to stay at that level and get that foundation. One daughter progressed every year to the next grade and did well even though we didn't finish the books, and the other daughter needed to do a grade again from the beginning. The only downside is that it's created a laziness in how we do school; never has there been a problem with not being up to par to start the next grade, because I would plan the next year according to the kids' needs. And as I said in an earlier post, this year my youngest will be going into the summer to (almost) finish some of his books so we can start fresh next fall. But you will have to take a look at your materials and assess whether you absolutely have to finish or almost finish to be able to go on to the next level. I was using spiral approach textbooks, and there may be a difference there. My two cents! HTH! Blessings,

Catherine, I just read this quickly and didn't have time to read all your replies. The part that struck me was that he's got a million ideas for businesses -- well, my sister, who reads up a lot on learning disabilities, just recently mentioned to me that it's been said that dyslexics make great entrepreneurs! So, maybe he is dyslexic after all. Don't know if that's common knowledge, or if it's the results of a study, or what, but anyway, I just wanted to share what I heard. Interesting! They can be brilliant in some things and have such a hard time with some academics, that's such a struggle! I have a dyslexic dd. It's definitely a journey of discovery and trial and error. Blessings to you as you figure this all out!

I will add my hearty agreement to all the advice given you so far! Yes, do take a break, take as much as you need. When you jump back in to school, do it gradually, do what you can handle and no more. Then, add things in as you are able. If all you can handle is the 3 R's, then so be it. Find ways during your break to build YOURSELF up, too, strengthen yourself, get lots of rest and eat well. Schooling year round works for some but not all. I live in a neighborhood where there are lots of kids, and when there's no school for them it's REALLY hard for my ds to be in the house doing school. We can hear them and see them, and they keep ringing our bell, etc. I have wanted to just inform them that we are doing school, and have done that, but the temptation is too great for ds, and he can't focus very well. I will need to figure out how to fix that problem, because I took a lot of time off this fall getting an IEP for my daughter, which turned out to be a full-time job, so lots of school days were missed altogether. We will be going into the summer this year to finish, so I will have to be adamant on our school time. But I've always thought schooling year-round is a great idea. I liked the ideas of educational play for your kids, that sounds just right -- they will be learning, so I think you can even count those as school days, really. Lots of read-alouds on the couch, oh yeah, that sounds awesome. You are in good hands on this board; these ladies are AMAZING!! Blessings to you all as you recover!

My sons at that age just needed to move around a lot, and the younger one especially needed movement. And now that I'm reading this thread, I'm reminded that he probably still needs some movement at age 11-1/2! So thanks for the reminders everyone. I never did get the hang of getting my kids to work independently; the older 3 went to school a year or two in the elementary years, and that's what fostered the independent work ability in them. My youngest has never been to school, and I find I need to nudge him to more independent work. He CAN do it, though, I found, because a couple times my husband was handling school with him and ds did it independently for dh! (wascally wabbit!). Ah-ha, so he can do it after all, okay then, we are going in that direction. However, I digress. Sorry. When my younger ds was that age I had him running across the room answering math facts, or jumping while spelling a word aloud, or writing a spelling or vocab word on a whiteboard, etc. He did his work pages also, but some of his work I made oral instead, and he could move around while doing it. The bonus in that for me was that I was able to ascertain immediately where his errors were because I was right there. I had olders doing school also, and they were more independent by that time, and being the youngest kid, this one got my attention more, as I didn't have any more littles running around. I wish you many blessings as you find your solution. Well, it's more of a journey, isn't it, than a problem/solution thing?

Sorry, I can't be on this thread. I have to be on the "what have we NOT done" thread. LOL (well, not really)

Dear Stephanie, I am so sorry for your loss. I've read the loving replies you've received. This crowd has a lot of wisdom, what a blessing. I agree with many, especially christine in al about how to include your kids without burdening them. Sometimes it helps kids to know they are not the problem, or else they might think it has to do with them (self-centered little buggers, kids, they always think it's about them, lol, I love that about them -- sometimes). My kids have thought I was angry with them, when it was really my grief, so it might be a burden off them if you share wisely a little with them. But of course it's your call. My only other comment to you is to just do what you can, and that's all! Some days you won't be able to do anything, and you might not even know it until you start trying. Give yourself permission to punt. It helped me to just stop all of a sudden and say, "Hey, kids, we're going to the museum, let's get your shoes on." My plan was to do school, and once I got in there and started, I just couldn't do it, and the kids knew something was up with me -- somehow they sense it and then they sort of follow suit, they aren't into it either at that point. A complete change of scenery was sometimes helpful for me. And there were other times I wouldn't have even been able to get myself out of the house, let alone them. So it varies from day to day. I will say, though, that my husband has been a help to me by encouraging me to get up and try. So, at least I try, and sometimes I find that I CAN do it, but not all the time. I have had grief going on since about 2004, and honestly, school has been on the back burner off and on for much of that time. It's amazing I've gotten as far as I have with school, in retrospect. Just do what you can, when you can. Make yourself a priority list so that if you all of a sudden find yourself with some energy, you won't have to spend that energy thinking of what to do, just go to your list and pick something and go for it. I would also suggest you think about getting some help for yourself, some sort of counseling. I've found it's really helpful to talk to someone professionally. Many blessings and hugs,

Maybe take a look at Around the World in 180 Days? Or, MFW has Exploring Countries and Cultures. Both of those would probably be okay for that level, I think. Or, how about just find some library books and have a blast with them? Well, just a quick thought. And, oh, how I wish I did less curriculum and more exploring when they were younger. I think we would have had more fun. Hope you find something!! Blessings,

I need hand holding, too, for math. ABeka, Math-U-See, and Saxon would all fit your description, imo. ABeka isn't totally scripted, but it held my hand just enough. In the lower grades, I know enough of the material so that it's not totally foreign to me (lol, I have given away my secret about how bad I stink at math!). So, when the lesson plan book says how to do a certain operation, such as subtraction from a whole row of zeroes on top, I understand how to do it from what they describe, then I'm able to teach it. However, I've found that I've needed to add in some of my own little tricks as well, and there's nothing wrong with that. I ended up settling on ABeka from pre-k through 4th and it worked really great for me, it gave me the most confidence as the teacher. The kids learned quite well from it, too. MUS video lessons taught me how to teach the lesson, so that I was able to turn around and teach it Mr. Demme's way. That was fine. When we got to the part where he says to stop and work on memorizing facts before you proceed, that's where we got stuck and stayed stopped for a long time. I figured later that we could have proceeded and continued working on fact memorization, but I was a new homeschooler and what did I know. So, I got a little stuck w/ MUS. Still love Mr. Demme, though! Saxon is 100% scripted k-3rd (and did I see, or did I just dream, that Saxon now has a 4th grade level?), I liked how they bring the child through the reasoning process methodically, that just rings so right for me. It could get tedious, though, and I ended up skipping some here and there, it felt a bit stifling sometimes. Hope that helps.

Oh, YAAAAAYYYYY!! This is one thing I've done right:thumbup:. I kept it to do logic stage history, oh yay! And we're starting w/ancients next year. Well, this is wonderful news for sure. Have a GREAT time with yours!!!:party: Blessings,

Is that the one with the white cover? The one from several years ago, and then it was out of print? And then it was replaced by a new one that had a red cover? THAT one? I have that one -- I was going to sell mine but decided against it. I have it. Okay, are we all craving that one now? Is there something I don't know? (the answer is definitely yes...). Clue me in. Thanks!!!!!

No, but I'm going to look at their website right now and read about it. Would love to hear what it's like, too, from those who use it.

Dear Calming Tea, I just wanted to chime in here, and say what a great job you are doing with your son. I applaud you for that. My take on your situation, or what I understand of it, is that I would recommend you keeping complete charge of your son's activities while Mom is visiting, and just say no to her if she wants to do a lot of stuff with him and the other kids; i,e., pick and choose a cut-off point for what is okay for your son to do and what isn't. Maybe send her out with the other kids and you and ds stay home once in a while, even if it's just for a walk if she doesn't drive. I admire you for sticking up for your son, that's great. And also, what a blessing it is that you have a mom who can come visit and is active and wanting to do things with your kids. I feel like it's okay if parents don't understand; sometimes they just don't have the capacity to understand things like that, and sometimes they just don't want to deal with it and choose not to understand or accept. Sometimes it just takes a lot of history and over time they get it. In any case, I hope your visit will go SUPER!! Blessings,