I am afraid it is going to take too much time. I am adding several new subjects this upcoming year: latin, logic, spanish and writing. We are also going to be out of the house one day a week doing a co-op. I am afraid of the cost. Is there a frugal way to use TOG? Can anyone help me with my fears???? TIA, Jenn

I got a lot out of Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum. It has a questionaire about your learning/teaching style, your goals and your children's learning styles. Then it has a chart of curriculum recommendations according to your results. Jenn

Here is an example of a day with right start. (dd7 is in RS B) We have been learning basic facts. After a few minutes of mental math (count by 5's to 100. What is 40+10? ect) we began the actual lesson. For this lesson we used the balance. I placed a tile on the 10 on the left side of the balance. I place a tile on the number 9 on the right side of the balance and my dd had to find where to place the second tile. She tried everyone until she got to 1. Placing a tile on 9 and 1 balanced! She then wrote that in her math journal. 9+1b10 (b stands for balance.) She continued on finding all the facts for 10 and recording them in her journal. After the second try, her face lit up and knew right away how to place all the tiles. The activity went quickly, with her finding what balances and entering it into her math journal. After that we played a bead game with the abacus that teaches place value. After that we played a card game to learn basic facts. All this took 45 minutes and was fun! HTH Jenn

The co-op I am thinking about is a little pricey, but it would be a way for me to farm out math and science and get in art and drama. My dd10 is very social, but my dd12 is not. They have a accreditation program for high school which is somewhat appealing for down the road.I have two little ones i would like to spend more time with while the older two are gone, but i don't know.... i tend to like my time at home. We stay so busy anyway. Any more opinions?

I would like to know your opinions on co-ops. Do you feel they are worth the money and time out of the house? I know coops differ but would like to hear your experiences. Thanks! jenn

Thanks Heather! FLL is so easy to use and makes sense to me. I figure WWE would be the same way. I guess I wouldn't even order Writing Aids at first. Thanks!! Jenn

I am planning on using TOG next year. I am loving FLL and was planning on starting WWE along with it next year. However, TOG uses Writing Aids with its curriculum so I was wondering if I should just use that or use both? We have never used a writing curriculum although we do copy work and dictation. I will have children in 7th, 5th, 3rd and K, all are very reluctant writers. Any advice?

Lisa, that's what I was thinking, that my dd7 is just that...more. More scared, more particular, more sensitive, more impatient ect... Thanks for all your input. I know these are also character issues. It just takes more energy to deal with it all. Add in the dynamics of 4 children and sometimes I just don't have that energy. :)

When I was a PS teacher we filled out an evaluation each year on students we thought should be tested for the gifted program. Besides the obvious academic questions, we had to also evaluate some of their behaviors. I remember reading that some children are "smart" academically while others are gifted intellectually. I have a dd10 that is very smart but the difference is that she is easy going. My dd7 is on a 5th grade level in all subjects except Math and Writing. She is not at all easy-going! Has anyone noticed certain behaviors in their children they would credit to being gifted? Or am i just grasping at straws because my dd's personality is very strong and sometimes difficult to deal with. The behaviors I am concerned about: 1. Very particular about how words are used. Corrects the family if we mis-use a word. 2.. Gets very angry at her younger brother when he does something against the routine. (she sees rules and procedures in black and white.)This is causing the most problems. A 5 yr old boy just isn't always going to "play by the rules." 3. has had night terrors since 3. She is terrified of sleeping by herself. (I attribute this to reading so far ahead of her grade level, but not being able to deal with the material emotionally.) 4. Is very impatient with others, when they cannot do something. Also very impatient with herself when she can't do something. I would like to know if you have noticed any challenging behaviors in your gifted children. TIA, Jenn4

I used the Bob books, Dr. Seuss, and Step into Reading books with my children to reinforce the phonics. I am using 100EZ for the 3rd time and I love it. I take it slow though. For my 5 year boy, I do maybe one lesson a week. He likes to do more writing than reading. He loves Explode the Code. One thing to remember about 100EZ is that when you are through, your child is reading on a 2nd grade level. My children took way more than 100 days to complete the book, but they were still ahead of their peers when they finished. After some beginning readers and easy chapter books, their reading skills just took off. I'm glad you are enjoying it more!

We have used Sonlight Core K,Core 1, Core 3 and Core 4. Core K was excellent! We love, love, love the read alouds and readers, the lay-out, the great customer service ect. What I haven't liked is that we missed doing hands-on projects. We did not like the history spine for Core 3 and 4 (The Landmark History of the American People). I also did 2 seperate cores this year and don't want to do that again! Sonlight is easy to tweak to fit your family's needs. After I changed our Core 4 history spine, we have enjoyed our history again. I would definately recommend Sonlight. Be sure to check out their 27 Reasons Not To Buy Sonlight though and see if it fits your family.

Thank you for everyone's help! To clarify, I have used MUS for 3 years now. I have watched the videos. I understand the idea behind the videos and blocks. Steve Demme does a great job of explaining. The problem is me. I watch a video and I just don't understand it enough to explain it with blocks to my dd. I end up teaching her the old-fashioned way. So, why use a program I don't like to use. What I am thinking now is trying Saxon. I looked at 7/6 text and I think my daughter could handle it. I will try to get her up to speed on decimals and fractions using the Key To series. Thank you everyone. Sometimes even if a curriculum is great, we get to a point where we just need to try something new.:001_smile:

How much time do you want to invest in a school day? How much hands-on do you want to do? Do you want to include your little ones? Is money a factor? I have used both FIAR and Sonlight. When I had 2 little ones and 2 school aged childen I used FIAR. It was inexpensive and very easy to use. You take one picture book, read it every day and each day do a different activity with that book. So you are doing literature, math, art, some history, and science each week that coorelates to that book. You need to add in only a formal math and grammar program. Sonlight Core K is fun and easy to implement also. I agree with the other posters that if you like Abeka, keep what you like and just add in Sonlight for history and literature. We would do our 3Rs and then Core K and be done in less than 2 hours. My daughter (and 3 yr son at the time) would beg for more school work because they loved the Sonlight books! HTH Jenn4

Thanks for the input so far. I printed a copy of the placement test for Saxon. I looked at Life of Fred and Chalkdust. I was mistaken about RightStart ending at multiplication. Sorry about that. My problem is that my 2 girls have had no exposure to decimals or fractions or geometry (well minimal geometry) because MUS is mastery. Next year would be all fractions for dd12 and all division for dd10. I am about to cry. Can I not change from a mastery program? My dd12 tested at the 5/4 level in Saxon and dd10 would be even lower. DD 12 was sooo upset taking that placement test. Switching them to RightStart seems like a major change. We would have to start at a lower level and then do transition lessons. Big sigh!!! Jenn4:confused:

I am a newbie on this forum. I recently read TWTM and it changed the way I think about educating my children. It was just what I have been loooking for. Anyway, my question: Can anyone recommend a Math Curriculum other than MUS? We have been using MUS for 4 years now and need a change. This is what I don't like about it: 1. I don't "get" the blocks. Using them makes me and my daughter more confused. 2. We never watch the video. Like I said, I don't understand the blocks. 3. I never use the TM. I know this is my fault. I just don't like it. 4. It takes only 5 minutes for my girls to complete the page. TWTM suggests 45 minutes for math. So, I have been supplementing with other math workbooks which is working. Okay, obviously I am not a math person. I had planned to switch to TT so I wouldn't have to do the teaching, but I recently read not-so-good reviews. I think I need something scripted, so that when I have to teach a concept I don't mess it up, being the math-phobic person I am. I love Rightstart Math even though it takes a long time. I love using the abacus and the math games. I love that it tells me exactly what to say and do. I love that it skips around so that we don't get so frustrated. But, it only goes up to multiplication. I appreciate any feedback! Jenn4