You know, I wondered about this. We've never used any IEW products before, and when looking through it I thought of these concerns that you expressed. For that reason I thought it might be better suited as a supplement (it looks quick enough to complete) but I have a hard time imagining letting go of another program. Thank you for your feedback!

Thank you! The Abeka Skill Sheets are basically timed reading comprehension worksheets. You read a passage on the front and flip it over and answer questions on the back. I appreciate your feedback. That definitely sounds doable.

...please. 🙂 This year for 4th we are doing TGTB LA 3 (he likes it), CLE 400s (he retains it), Pentime 4, Abeka Skill Sheets 4, homespun spelling using various 4th grade lists, some fun creative writing on Nightzookeeper. Next year I'm starting IEW to introduce some formal writing. On my shelf for next year I have: IEW SSS 1A, Fix-It Grammar The Nose Tree, CLE 500s, TGTB 4, Abeka Skill Sheets 5, Pentime 5 and a spelling workbook (180 days of spelling 5). Now, I don't plan on doing all of that. IEW SSS and Fix-It are the only things I'm set on. Is Fix-It strong enough that I can drop the other grammar programs? He likes TGTB, but his retention isn't great with it, so...ugh. Also, I don't have much planned for literature, as far as formal literature teaching goes. Can anyone give this poor, ADHD-plagued momma some direction? I need it. 😅

I opted to go with the SSS computer based DVD lessons for this kiddo. I've heard Andrew Pudewa has a silly, dry sense of humor that I think my son will like. Hopefully that will make it more palatable. We use Saxon for math, too. This kiddo is creative, artsy, yet still very concrete in his thinking. I think he wants no-frills math so he he can get-it-done and get back to drawing and creating things. I'll keep you posted on how this writing approach works!

My son loves TGTB LA but doesn't retain squat. We do it for fun, or 'fluff'. (Isn't this artwork lovely? etc.) He is waaaay beyond what they consider geography, but again, it's nice fluff. He dislikes, but retains, CLE. I suppose he needs a much tighter spiral than what TGTB offers. I use them both, one lesson from each per day.

For what it's worth, which is likely not much, I have done absolutely no formal writing instruction whatsoever with my fourth grader. Zero. He loves to creatively write, so he does that for fun on the computer. We go over grammatical errors in his stories when he writes them. I'm introducing formal writing next year with IEW in 5th. I guess we'll see what this chilled-out, better-late-than-early approach does for us down the road. 🤷‍♀️😆

MFW Creation to the Greeks Science in the Beginning (with MFW) Saxon 6/5 IEW SSS 1A and Fix-It Grammar, CLE LA 500 OR TGTB LA 4 (He likes TGTB, but he retains CLE... since I'm adding Fix-It, I'll drop one or the other) Spelling - not sure. I have Spelling Power, but prefer workbooks for him Abeka Read & Think Skill Sheets 5 Pentime 5 typing.com Piano lessons, track Also, he goes to a homeschool enrichment program that includes art, music, PE and Spanish.

*look 🙄

You gave me plenty to loom into! I didn't know where to start. Thank you!

Oops...wrong forum. If I figure out how to move it I'll repost in K-8 Curriculum Board.

Hi, all. I will be using MFW CtG for my 5th grader next year. In 2nd we used Adventures, in 3rd ECC. By 4th grade I was so tired of book juggling (MFW style) that I backed off and am using Notgrass' Our Star Spangled Story. I already own CtG (found it for a great price used) and so I will go back to it next year for 5th. That being said, I don't think I want to keep with it and do RtR. Is there a good program that covers the Rome to Reformation time period, within one year, that doesn't have that much book juggling and is a little more streamlined? Thanks!

My eight year old son is working on Horizons Math 3 this year and doing okay with it. Unfortunately I don't know that he is really grasping the concepts the way he should be. I do feel like this program is quite advanced (I don't remember solving for 'n' in third grade, but I digress). I'd like to move to a DVD/online teaching for him next year. He gets irritated when I try to teach him concepts, and I just think he'd do better with an 'instructor', so to speak. I had pretty much settled on BJU DLO Math 4 for next year, (he is a VERY visual learner, and it looks visually appealing) but I see that Saxon 5/4 has DIVE CDs too. Also, I've heard Art Reed makes some Saxon instructional DVDs (are those available for 5/4? I'm not finding them online?) I think Saxon seems dull, but I do think the spiral might be a better fit for him than mastery. Anyway, I'd love to hear about your experience with these programs and if you have any advice to share. Thanks!

Does anyone have experience going from Abeka LA to CLE? My third grader is doing Abeka this year, and it is going pretty well. I'm wanting to switch to something more affordable and with fewer components to juggle. We have done CLE Math in the past, so I am pretty familiar with the format. As for content, does anyone have any insight as to whether moving from Abeka 3 LA to CLE 400 next year would be problematic? Thanks!

Whoa! That is advanced! Algebra? We're just trying not to drown with multiplication around here! Ha!

I used LoE Foundations A-C with my oldest child in K and 1st. I am nearly 100% sure that it was taught that vowels are sounds you can sing with an OPEN mouth. That definition also helped us decipher when 'Y' is considered a vowel. I loaned out my LoE teacher manuals to a friend for her kindergartner this year or I would look up the exact lessons and language used to teach this. But, again, I'm just about positive this is taught by explaining that vowel sounds can be sung with the mouth open. HTH!! ETA: In fact, I remember time spent during the lessons where the student would try to 'sing' sounds (with the mouth open) to determine if they were a vowel or not.

Good question. I never had a problem skip counting 2s, 5s, 10s, 20s, 100s, etc. But 3s, 4s, 6s, 7s, 8s, 9s? Nope. At least not as far as I can recall. I will say that I thought I was HORRIBLE in math all through school until sometime in late high school. I remember just flat out giving up in 2nd grade because of what we called "Timed Tests" (timed math speed drills). I had the worst anxiety over those tests, because I couldn't do them as quickly as I thought I should have (perfectionist here). And after that I just decided I was bad at math and didn't really put in any effort. I nearly failed math in 7th grade. Fast forward a little bit. I went to college at a large university with good quality teachers. As it turns out, I wasn't bad at math at all. I wasn't necessarily a math whiz, but I certainly had become competent. Clear back in second grade, my anxiety took root and I just believed that I couldn't do math. That is why I don't 'time' my kids on drills. I just remember it as being so traumatic! I managed to graduate from a rigorous nursing program at said university, without missing a SINGLE math problem on our nursing school math tests. We had to pass our math tests with 100% or we failed and had to retake it (which we could only do twice). So with time, maturity, and desire I became good at something that I never thought I was good at. (No thanks to my public school experience.) That personal experience is one of the many reasons I homeschool in the first place. :)

Does anyone else having planning for 3rd grade underway? I'm pretty much finished and have everything purchased and on the shelves. Bible/Geography/Science : MFW ECC along with Journey Into Africa Language Arts: Rod & Staff English 3, Spelling Power, Pentime 3, IEW's All Things Fun and Fascinating Math: Horizons 3, Singapore CWP 2 Foreign Language: Prima Latina (we'll try again, he wasn't ready in 2nd) Typing: Mavis Beacon's Keyboarding for kids Extras: Baseball in the spring, beginning piano, looking into tae-kwon-do Anyone else care to share what you're planning for your third grader?

How far does a child need to be able to skip count in 2nd/3rd grade? This may seem like a dumb question, but as someone who never learned to skip count a day in her life, I'm learning this along side my 7 year old son. :) The skip counting songs we've memorized take us up to 39 with the 3s, and 40 with 4s. (He's got 2s, 5s, 10s, & 100s, etc. down pat.) I'm curious if I should take it a little farther? FWIW, we're using Horizons Math 2 with success (finally found something that doesn't make him shut down) and he's doing really well with it. I don't see anywhere in my TM that encourages me to skip count any further than what we're doing. Maybe that'll come later? Is it not necessary? Genuinely curious. Thanks!

Thank you, everyone for your help. I've read through all of the responses and am grateful for all of the advice and encouragement. A couple of questions... I own Rightstart A and B, 2nd edition. He hated it in K, that's why we used Singapore Essentials instead. He preferred a workbook. But now I'm wondering if it's worth a revisit? I am not sure where Level B falls in regard to 2nd grade math. Also, I glanced at Ronit Bird, but am a little confused by it. Is it a curriculum? A book or series of books that the parent fleshes out? Is there a manipulative kit that goes with it or do you supply your own? I'm trying to decide if it would be a better investment opposed to revisiting Rightstart B, which I already have.

Sorry, my sig is old. He wasn't grabbing the abstract concepts in level 1 and I hated the book juggling, so we opted for the CLE 100s for first grade instead. I tried Singapore 1 after using Singapore Essentials in Kindergarten successfully. But Singapore Essentials and Singapore Level 1 were two different beasts. We needed more simplicity and straightforward material.

Hello, all. I need some advice on math for my 7 year old 2nd grader. We have always homeschooled and are currently finishing up CLE LU 110, getting ready to move into CLE math 200s. CLE started out amazing for him, he liked how it was straightforward, didn't look 'babyish' and he found it fairly easy. Well, as CLE has ramped up a bit, caused him to think harder, and increased problem load, he is getting irritable and frustrated as soon as the math book comes out. He gets aggravated when I try to teach or help him. Often he just takes the math book and wants to do it on his own, yet I still keep close tabs on what he's doing. He understands the concepts just fine, but something about it is overwhelming him. Crossing out problems helps a bit, but just getting started is becoming a nightmare in our homeschool. About him...he's a VERY visual learner and quite artistic in terms of drawing and creating things. He memorized all the states and capitals at 4, and then moved on to every country on every continent in the world. He draws them ALL from memory, free-handed, complete with every little crevice and detail. Ask him to draw Andorra, Equatorial Guinea, New Zealand, ANY country or island, and he can do it, from memory, freehand. But ask him 9 + 6 and he goes bananas. He knows it after thinking for a bit, but still goes berserk at having to even 'deal' with such nonsense. ;-) All morning he's been going through a flag book and drawing all the flags of the countries of the world. He's also a great reader, definitely on second or third grade level, but doesn't care much about reading unless it is something nonfiction or that interests him. Oh, and he'd play Minecraft all day if I'd let him. Ha! He also exhibits symptoms of ADHD when it comes time to do school work. He is inattentive during schooling and quite fidgety. He has incredible reading comprehension, even when he's drawing or wiggling the whole time I'm reading to him. Any ideas for a math curriculum that might work for a kid like this? I'd appreciate any input. Thanks!

Thank you for your reply! These are some great ideas, I think spicing it up a bit would help a ton!

Thank you for this advice. I thought about doing that, but I was so awful with math facts that I am terrified of skipping ahead! I should probably get over it, especially if he is getting frustrated!

Nope. I had the TM next to me on the countertop. His LU was on the kitchen island. It was the only book that disappeared. ;) But good thought!

I could use some math advice from homeschoolers more seasoned than myself. My almost 7 year old son has been doing CLE 100s this entire school year. It started out awesome. He did math easily and without complaint. However, as the year has gone on, he has become more and more irritable regarding math. Today, he sat there and literally cried (legit tears) for at least 20 minutes over math. I had had enough, and quitely got up and started cleaning the kitchen. While I was doing so, this kid took his light unit up to his bedroom, finished the whole thing in under 10 minutes, and brought it down to show me. Almost all of his answers were correct. When he is sitting with me, however, he just agonizes over having to do math. So, when I asked him why he did it so quickly in his room but threw a fit for me, his response was simply that he didn't want to go through every single thing. He wants me to read the story problem (because it is in the TM) and then he just wants to "be alone". Um, okay. Apparently crying at the table is his way of saying he wants more independence in his math work. Got it. Does anyone else have experience with this? I don't want to 'set him free' because, you know, he's not-quite-7 years old. Yet apparently math with me is torture. Could this be that CLE is too easy for him? He is okay with math facts, but still needs LOTS of fact practice. That's why I see CLE as a good, solid program. But apparently he knows his facts better than he lets on, because he completed it alone in his room quite quickly. Thoughts appreciated! FWIW - Speed drill completed with no errors as well. Alone. In his room.