How long ago were you in the highschool subjects, because most adults cannot pass level 7 of the Ace English diagnostic test, and I'm not kidding. Ace has changed a lot in their highschool subjects and I've compared them side by side with Abeka, and even some BJU, and Ace does not disappoint in the highschool years. We just ordered the Ace English 2 for highschool, and I'm so impressed with the level of thinking, grammar, editing, literature studies, and overall, the continuity of this program.

For a core subject it would have to be math. 85 (on used boards) for Teaching Textbooks, and 200 for Math Relief Algebra 2 for my highschooler(still saving up to purchase this one). (But I did just spend 368 on Rosetta Stone Spanish and I have NEVER spent this much on any one subject--good thing this is for 2 years and for a few children.) Dee

I know many people do not like Powerglide, but we used it in highschool for two girls and one of them remembers so much of it. The other was more interested in Japanese and so that is her passion. We are now using Rosetta Stone, but just received it and are so excited. It looks to be so complete. I also just got the Powerglide Elementary this year at a thrift shop for 4 dollars with everything included so am going to be starting that with my 4rth grader this year. Can you share what you have used up until now? Dee :) ps I could have used the FLVS, but I wanted the whole family to be able to use it.

School of Tomorrow math Alpha Omega math Saxon Math BJU math Miquon Math Mastering Mathematics Math Modern Curriculum Press Math Teaching Textbooks Math Christian Light old and new versions math Holt Math--one year a free text Scott Foresman Math--one year...given to me as well Key to series Liberty K math Math Made Easy series for kindergarten (the one from Amazon) Rod and Staff Life of Fred This is with 4 different students throughout our years. I voted 7, but then remembered a bunch more. :) Dee :) Favorites have been Mastering Mathematics, School of Tomorrow 5th and 6th grade revised math, and CLE so far. This year we are trying TT with my soon to be 4rth grader and if that doesn't work, we'll go back to SOT for 5th and 6th with reinforcement from Mastering Mathematics that I've used from the very beginning and am presently teaching my last child his multiplication tables with.

My son read them and enjoyed them, but by the time he reached the last book, he started to have nightmares of someone chasing him to murder him. I decided right then and there that I would skip them with my youngest son who is way more impressionable. That being said, he was in the 6th grade when he read them and until he started having the nightmares, he really enjoyed them. I don't consider them a great piece of literary work, but they are okay. JMHO, Dee (who has much more stringent standards now about what my children read)

Let's See, Understanding Writing-sold it 3 times! Writing Strands 2,3,4, and 5--still own these Wordsmith Apprentice, Wordsmith, and Wordsmith Craftsman-used the first two, no luck with the last one Writing For 100 Days-liked this one, still own it. Igniting Your Writing 1 and 2--son loved the first one...still own it WIN 7 sentence story, WIN Essays, WIN Reasearch papers-own all of these still Write with the best book 1 and 2 (didn't give this one a real chance before selling) Learn to Write the Novel Way--sold it, seemed to involved at the time Does Writing With Ease and Strong Fundamentals count? If so, then that, too! And there's a few I know I have forgotten in about 11 years!:lol: I'm still curious about IEW, the Essay and Research paper from Analytical Grammar, and a new writing program I found at a place called, My Father's Books, oh and I was just given Jump In! :lol::lol::lol:

Will there be a Middle Grade writing program??? I would love to know!

May I suggest Pacworks.com The American History is wonderful and they are about to put out a World History and a World Geography. Blessings, Dee

This year I scheduled 38 to give us extra time to finish anything that needed finishing and to just take it slow. We are officially done, but one son is still doing Algebra with about 30 more lessons to go, and the other is practicing his time tables. There is no schedule, though. They can get up at any time and do what they have to do at any time of the day. Ah...the lazy days of summer! Dee :)

anyone???

Also recommend the audio on Literary analysis. It is sooooo good! Totally worth the 4 dollars and she says that she can't find one single reason to do literary analysis with elementary students. She goes on to explain the simple questions to begin to ask to teach children how to get the most out of what they are reading, but no terms until much older, practically highschool. HTH, Dee

I'm interested in this for my highschooler, soon to the tenth grade, but would like to hear from someone that's used this for a while. Would love the pros and cons of any users, though... Thanks, Dee

You could try some sort of spelling dictation where you could place her more to her capabilities. I was thinking something like Spelling Wisdom, Spelling Plus Dictation, or just one of the free spelling dictation programs on the internet. (at google books) HTH, Dee

Lovedtodeath, We used Spelling Plus Dictation book. This is all you need. It has the lists of words by grade level, and then the spelling sentences which start out very easy as in, "I have a mat," to progressively more challenging sentences. (I wanted to write one down, but I don't have the book in front of me at the moment) We did two levels this year, the first and second, and will complete two more levels next year. I saw a tremendous improvement in spelling and writing after just one year of dictating only four sentences a day, and this of course was after introducing the word list and making sure that they were words he learned to spell first. This served as both double duty for us, spelling, and writing. And at the end of this school year, when we did a practice lesson from the Strong Fundamentals Text, he rose to the occasion and actually enjoyed it and was able to do it. Two things were lacking last year...the maturity, and the familiarity with sentence dictation. For us, it paid off. HTH, Dee

I haven't read the rest of the replies, but we started WWE 1 in the 2nd grade and in the 3rd grade tried WWE 2, but he was not ready for it. After a whole year of sentence dictation, he is now ready for WWE 2 and we will be going into the 4rth grade when we start this. For us, it's about a set of skills. He may fly through the WWE 2, but I don't want him to miss anything and I'd rather go slow and get it done through 4 before the 6th grade, than have a remedial writer in middle school to highschool. After listening to the audios at peacehill press, I'm even more convinced that this is the way to go with writing. Dee by the way, My son is one of those children who can write and write and write about anything and everything and it's just a full paper of blah. I now see the need in learning to summarize and finding the right words to reach your audience. (he gives great narrations, though, but narrations won't take him through college if it can't translate into good writing)

You can see some of it at http://www.susancanthony.com/Books/sp.html I would like to also recommend the Spelling Plus Dictation book which puts all the words from grade 1 through grade 6 to in dictation lists for the student, already prepared for you! I love it. And we also use the Homophone book. I haven't found a better homophone resource than this. This will be about 60 dollars worth of curriculum that will last you 6 years and has way more direction and dictation than Spelling Power. (though SP is for k-12 and Spelling Plus is only from k-6, but it also uses the 1000 most used words) I have seen such an improvement in detail and spelling since I started using Spelling Plus Dictation. (if you only get one, get this one!) HTH, Dee ps You could probably wait on the homophone book for another year or two if money was tight, especially since most grammar programs address the homophones. So get the Spelling Plus and the Spelling Plus Dictation book. :lol:

Does Writing With Ease take the place of other writing throughout the curriculum, or is a child still expected to write 2 (or three, still don't know which one I am going to need) or three summaries from other subjects during the week, plus the WWE? I'm a bit confused about this? Dee Thank you!

Thanks for this one! I really like it, and I noticed after two years of doing spelling dictation that nothing beats it! It really cements proper spelling into the child's brain. :) Dee

How about Easy Grammar, or something like Time for Learning so that it will seem like "fun" and not schoolish...:)

I'm looking at our line-up of things to do next year and I've noticed from some posts that some seem to love these, while others didn't find them very useful or shall I say, necessary. I would love opinions or experiences! Thank you, Dee

okay, there's the 8 parts of speech cards. 4 green adverb cards 4 blue verb cards 7 black plain cards 1 gray interjection card 4 orange adjective cards 4 red article cards 3 light blue helping verb cards 3 yellow preposition cards 4 gray personal pronoun cards 5 white noun cards 3 beige conjunction cards making it 42 small cards in all aligning perfectly with what it says at CBD: This Basic-Level Winston Grammar Program Kit Includes: •1 Teacher's Manual, 69 pages, plus worksheet answers, softcover. •Student's Workbook, 30 worksheets plus post and pre tests, perforated, non-reproducible pages. •8 big noun function cards and 42 smaller cue cards, all color-coded. •All elements come in a Velcro-closure, clear vinyl case. Hope this helps!!! Dee

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PM me. I have the 2nd grade TM's and will send them to you for free. (I've been getting rid of a lot lately, hence the giving away of stuff!) They were given to me and the tests have writing, but are still 100 percent usable if you can wait a few days for me to get to the p.o. again. I just sent my husband a few minutes ago. Dee ps Love CLE math 1rst and 2nd grade. I'm switching up this next year to TT, but only because my son is just having a hard time with all math, but to me, CLE is the perfect balance of conceptual, spiral, mastery, and incremental! I've seen nothing like it so far.

how about Word Roots by Critical Thinking co. You can see them at CBD. :) Dee ps or English From the Roots Up cards...

I was saving all of my TM in pristine condition and now I read that they have revamped the book and the TM's on CBD are completely different! Bummer! This is why I no longer believe in saving anything and just sell after I'm done using! I guess I'll throw them in the garbage because they are pretty much useless...huh? Dee :(