Huh. Our homework is always graded as 100% as long as it's turned in on time. (Though we had one time where we were assigned a section that didn't exist, and the kids got marked down for not turning it in even though we sent a note to the teacher before the due date--and they never did adjust the grade, even after they were told in class not to worry about that assignment.) I guess decide if the grade matters enough to ask the central office about it, since I'm not sure whether you will ever get an answer from three different teachers. (I'm assuming that teachers have some system of recording the results of each class, which--theoretically--the central office would be able to access and read notes on.) I'm with you, though--I don't care about the grade, but on principle I would want to know what went wrong.

The problem my kids had with Fix-It Grammar was that it gave them a whole sentence and asked them to identify certain parts of speech before they knew what all the parts of speech were. It's more a whole-to-parts approach, and our brains don't work that way. I LOVE Fix-It, though, for teaching writing conventions, editing, varied sentence structures, etc. I've used two different programs that have both worked well for addressing parts of speech before moving on to everything else. I used MCT (Grammar Island and Practice Island) with my older two. It introduced the parts of speech and had kids gradually work up to identifying them all. (The sentences start with just noun and verb for you to identify, and they only add more words as more parts of speech are introduced.) If you're looking for something faster/more get-er-done, I used Eugene Monteaux's Drawing Sentences this past year for my youngest. It's available from the publisher for $25. It's a pretty hefty book (three books in one), but even the first section will get you all your main parts of speech and start in on different phrases and clauses. Like MCT, it starts with short sentences that have only a noun and verb to identify and builds on from there. Unlike MCT, it doesn't have the story element added onto the workbook portion: it's just a brief explanation and then several sentences to practice. If you're just looking for a grammar foundation, do the first chunk of Drawing Sentences (until you get your main parts of speech) and then switch back to Fix-It for more writing conventions. Keep alternating between practicing identifying parts of speech/diagramming and the writing/editing. Just thought I'd give you one more thing to research and consider. 😁

Well, that's depressing. Was it just with that program that retention was awful, or across the board? I have noticed that a few online programs I've had my kids trial offered multiple choice answers that made it too easy for my kids to figure out the right answer without necessarily remembering or understanding anything, but I didn't end up using those programs (and ended up continuing with physical book/discussion work) for that reason. I wonder if it's how the material is presented, the child's level of engagement, the way a program tests for comprehension, the way our brains work... I do have one kid doing math online right now, and I think he's retaining well, but now you've got me paranoid that three years from now I'll discover a giant crater in his math knowledge that directly corresponds to this time in his education!

Does anyone have enough knowledge of Borenson's Hands-On Equations and Picciotto's Algebra Lab Gear (or Algebra: Themes, Tools, Concepts) to compare the two? I'm researching for my youngest, who learns best with visuals and thrives with hands-on material. He's done Borenson's fractions lessons with great success and I was planning to do the Hands-On Equations, too, but then I ran across something about Picciotto's algebra and that got me wondering. I'm not sure if they cover the same material or if one is more extensive or advanced than the other, so I thought I'd ask here and hope someone has wisdom to share. Any other recommendations or advice re: a very hands-on child as we head into middle and high school?

I used Foerster for my daughter who thrived on the incremental/conceptual aspects of Math Mammoth (similar to Singapore in approach), and I think it was a good fit. She would have been overwhelmed by AoPS. Math Without Borders has videos available to go with the Foerster book if you need instructional help (or want answers to the even problems--the odd answers are in the back), but on the rare occasion she needed more explanation than Foerster had in the book, I found a video on Khan or YouTube if I couldn't explain it well myself, and she found the odd problems provided plenty of practice. The other benefit to Foerster that it sounds like you might appreciate is that it felt like the lessons were better balanced/scheduled than AoPS lessons: in Foerster you do one complete lesson per day (except on the long story-problem review sections), and it takes you more-or-less the same amount of time each day.

Thank you so much for your thorough review! I'm actually considering it for my rising 7th grader, but I figured I would be more likely to encounter folks who had used it in the past few years if I asked over here. I'm gathering that it might be adequate for a 7th grade level, assuming we'll hit the material harder when she's in high school, but it's definitely more enrichment than spine for high school level. I'll have to check if it's still Flash-based.

Has anyone used Adaptive Curriculum for math or science? Someone somewhere once mentioned using and liking it and I jotted it down in my MS/HS resource list, but I can hardly find any mentions of it now that I'm looking. I can find a few mentions of Uzinggo, which (from what I gather) was what they used to call the home-use version of their materials about a decade ago, but no one lately has mentioned AC that I can find. It's reasonably priced and looks engaging and independent, but I'm not sure of the thoroughness or rigor. Any reviews?

My youngest is also a very restless learner. I tend to have a couple resources running and sometimes use them on alternate days. Maybe it's a youngest thing, since I (also a youngest) started doing much of this for my own sanity early on with my older two. I tend to get restless, too, if I feel like I'm doing the same thing all the time. For language arts, I usually have separate curricula for writing and grammar, and we have a family book club for lit. I tend to alternate writing-focused days and grammar-focused days and save book club for Fridays. History and science I alternate days on. Spanish I alternate days spent working on new material with one day each week focusing on building vocabulary and one day focusing on reviewing various conjugations. Math was the one subject where historically I've just had the kids plug along at a single curriculum day after day, but this child required something different. I've tried a few things in the past couple years, but this year's formula seems to work well for him: every day he does one word problem card (Lakeshore Learning), one 5-minute review (Evan Moor workbook), and then one topical resource. Our topical resources have been a book on decimals, Fractions Sense, Advanced Pattern Blocks, On-the-Job Math, and a few others. This has provided enough variety in each day and throughout the year, since each day he can choose the order for his three activities and the more time-consuming one gets rotated every six weeks or so.

My oldest used AoPS Prealgebra, and it worked well for him. He loves math and wants it to be challenging, and AoPS fit the bill. I was definitely glad for the thorough explanations with the answers, since it's been a loooong time since I've thought much about algebra. I thought it would be difficult to transition from BA to a standard textbook, but surprisingly he had no trouble with the switch. I think the math itself was similar enough that it didn't feel different to him even though it looked different. After working through a good portion of AoPS Intro to Alg, he needed a change and switched to Elements of Mathematics, by the Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science (IMACS). Elements of Mathematics is an online program that technically covers prealgebra through precalculus all during middle school, but the prealgebra he's doing now looks almost nothing like AoPS prealgebra. He's loving it: there's a lot of practical application and interesting interactive modeling. For example, he's currently figuring out the amount of taxes that would be collected in a fictional nation using various income tax structures. This is definitely an intense program intended for those who love math and enjoy being challenged. Instruction is done through both text and videos (mostly audio of a teacher and students having a discussion, with static images of each person showing on the screen as they speak). I pretty much can't help at all, since the language and symbols used are generally very different from in traditional math programs, but that's been pretty good for him as far as having to read the question board and re-read instructions to figure out what he's doing wrong. My middle child is good at math, but doesn't love a challenge like her brother. (She did a couple years of BA before saying, "Okay, Mom, I proved to myself that I CAN do this, but I don't like it. Can I switch to something else?") She thrived on Math Mammoth. She enjoyed the independence of having the instructions right in the workbook, and the author did a good job of scaffolding learning, taking it from the concrete to the more abstract in manageable bites. It felt rigorous without stressing her out. She was sad to leave it behind after MM7 (prealgebra). I definitely think it prepared her well for algebra, though, since she cruised through the first half of Foerster's Algebra 1 before encountering much new material. I'm pretty sure I'll choose yet another prealgebra for kid #3, who tends to be very visual/kinesthetic. We'll see!

I had this link saved in my "Resources" document as a possibility for my youngest, when he gets there. Someone on the hive had recommended his books as being a "fun and accessible" way of learning algebra using manipulatives to help you visualize what you're doing. He appears to have geometry publications, as well (at least one of which I remember seeing referenced on here a few times). https://www.mathed.page/my-books/index.html

For a really simple option, you could use the Kids Health "How the Body Works" playlist on YouTube. It has a little bit of potty humor, so pre-watch if that's something that is a big turnoff in your family, but it provides a lot of information in 18 videos, and you could expand on them with activities or library books.

I have no idea what they're having us do. I feel so lost, but I also feel like my options are limited: I'd go to one of the highly-recommended private practices around here, but we don't have unlimited money. This is the psych in the same practice as our developmental ped; I'm hoping the fact that he referred us will benefit us with the insurance--still awaiting a cost estimate. Eek. Hoping for the best... Now off to read up on weighted blankets and browse Walmart and Amazon.

I do standardized tests every year, and I try to treat these the same: "This is to give me helpful information about how you think and learn, so I can be a better teacher for you. There are going to be some simple questions, and some you won't know at all. If you knew it all, it would actually not be a helpful test, so don't worry about getting things wrong." But even though he did really well on the few tasks they had him do with me there (reading a word list, writing a few sentences), I could tell that he was really nervous. Lots of good stuff to think about in your post--thanks! I hadn't even considered what potential message I'd be sending by providing the wiggle cushion for certain activities. I think I'll take your suggestion and figure out a treat for afterwards. The problem is that he holds it together remarkably well in public, but it all comes out afterwards. I was hoping that if I could ease his stress going in or during the process, maybe he'd be less upset later. I suppose I just need to brace myself for this to be a rough process. At least we have an hour+ car ride home each time, so he'll have plenty of time to unwind... He was diagnosed with retained reflexes at age 4, but when he had an OT eval at 7 they said we had successfully integrated them. That OT was not as helpful as everyone here seems to imply that OTs are. She said in her eval (which I had to request from my doc, since she kept saying she was going to sit down and go over it with me and never did over the course of several months) that he likely had sensory issues, given my answers to the survey questions...but she really didn't clarify anything for us. I'm trying not to get my hopes up that this will be any more useful in the long run. I'm going to have to schedule a Walmart trip to look for weighted blankets; I think everyone would love them. (It's funny: since we live in Texas, it doesn't really get cold enough to pile on blankets. After the freeze we had in February, all of my kids discovered that they LOVE having a pile of blankets on them, but they were too hot to do it beyond that one cold week. Maybe the weighted blanket would solve that dilemma: a single layer, but all the glorious weight!)

DS9 and I went in for an initial meeting with the psych this week, and she's scheduled us for two days of testing. I've been trying to handle this like I handle everything else with him: explain exactly what we're doing and why, not make a big deal out of it. He seemed fine before the appointment, but he was SO anxious afterwards. Since he has two (nonconsecutive, for good or ill) days with 4-hour testing blocks coming in a couple weeks, I thought I'd ask if anyone has any advice on helping to reduce his anxiety and make the process more pleasant overall. The psych mentioned that DS might want to take a favorite fidget along because he's very wiggly (swinging his legs for much of the appointment, shifting a lot and fidgeting with his shirt when she was doing some initial evaluations with him)--but we don't have fidget toys around the house because he can just get up and walk around or roll on the floor or whatever if he needs that sensory outlet (input?). (I take that back: we have a TheraBand tied around the legs of his chair at the dinner table because he could NOT sit through a meal otherwise, and it was driving DH nuts.) I'm not sure if I should run out and get something (wiggle cushion?), or if I just hope for the best. Any BTDT advice is welcome. Thanks, all!

At that age, my kids didn't sit for more than a few minutes at a time. Any time I was reading material out loud to them (living books, mostly), they were allowed to draw or play quietly (or roll on the floor...) as long as they listened. (We'd talk about what we'd read afterwards.) If we were working on something out loud together (AAS flash cards, math facts), they usually jumped on the mini trampolines. (We had 1 per kid at that age!) If they were doing seatwork, they were allowed to sit on an exercise ball or wiggle cushion, get up to pace while thinking, etc. And, of course, each lesson at that point was quite brief--mostly 10-15 minutes, unless it was a very hands-on activity like a science lab or art project. If it makes you feel any better, I felt like first grade was a year when my kids were really difficult--distractible, irritable/easily frustrated--but suddenly around age 7 or 7 1/2, they matured and made a lot of progress emotionally and academically.

If you want a grown-up Bible that's written in everyday language, the Contemporary English Version is very approachable. It doesn't have illustrations, but since it uses more modern language, it's not exhausting to read. It was actually translated with the goal of being readable for children and English language learners.

I also found CPO to be reasonably well done. They have middle school books for Earth Science, Life Science, and Physical Science. They also offer high school level materials. Each section has a few questions at the end, and each chapter has a review. There are also some worthwhile extension activities in their Skill Sheets. The Student Pages have two labs for each chapter (and there's usually one or two more lab-type activities in the book). While some of the labs were pretty much impossible to do without the huge supply kit, I was generally able to find one per week that we could manage at home. (For example, we just used an under-bed storage bin--one of the plastic ones--for our stream table and took it and our water cooler to a local park with a sand volleyball pit to experiment.) My complaint with CPO is that I felt like they introduced a fair amount of vocab, but surprisingly little content that we hadn't hit yet. But then again, we were trying to use them for middle school, so it might be perfect for you. (We used BFSU K-2 in pre-K and K and have done interest-led or living book-based science until this year.) CPO materials used to be entirely available online; I'm not sure if that's changed in recent years.

Ugh. I wish we'd been able to go to DC in the off-season. We went in Summer 2019 because we were meeting up with family and not everyone homeschools. What my kids remember most is that it was SO hot and we had to stand in long lines for everything. If you can manage to go in the spring or fall when the weather is pleasant but schools aren't out yet, you'll probably enjoy it way more. The LoC is definitely gorgeous, and I still remember getting to see the Supreme Court in session when I was in high school. (I remember being shocked that the SC justices were twisting in their swivel chairs and whispering to each other just like any other restless human being would do if they had to sit and listen to hours of legal arguments.) We also toured both Mount Vernon and Monticello (when I was in high school and recently), both of which were really interesting. My favorite national park is probably Yosemite (and Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and Sierra are all relatively near there). My family did a very memorable train trip to California when I was 14 (Amtrak through Colorado is awe-inspiring), and we visited the national parks and saw San Francisco. I'd love to do that trip with my kids. I'm not sure what my third trip would be...

Yeah, he reminded me that this is the way RS originally taught it. I had introduced it the other way at the time, showing how I had learned to do the trades, and the other two kids do it the way I do it--but not YDS. He is definitely intuitive; he seems to be able to mentally manipulate numbers and can do what I think are the more difficult, puzzle-y elements of BA, but it's the stuff that I think of as being straightforward/rote that seems to trip him up. We came to a screeching halt in math this year because--despite working on them with SM2, SM3, and BA3--he still hadn't memorized his multiplication facts (which was absolutely necessary at this point because of his very, very slow processing speed); we couldn't master long multiplication or division or a host of other things until he got those down, and that took something like three months of 20 minute-a-day practice. (We're not quite done, but he's around 80% mastery now.) Now I'm busy trying to remind him how we did all these basics while also modeling decimals and long division and... And I'm wishing I didn't have to generate my own, Borenson-style math worksheets. But he loves it when I do, and the method seems to work--and it's less expensive than buying a whole new curriculum. So I guess I read and research and keep plugging.

Alas! I was hoping you'd found some less expensive way of doing it. I may still end up going this route, but I'm going to wait to spend that much until after whatever testing/evaluation they recommend for him this August.