I used a couple of the Developmental Math books last summer to give my DD some extra practice in addition and subtraction between levels C & D of RightStart. I can't exactly say that they approach math the same way, but it accomplished exactly what I wanted it to. Developmental Math is inexpensive, gives lots of practice, and my DD could work through the books mostly independently. It definitely increased her confidence. SBP :)

One suggestion I would make is that you have your kids learn to type, if they haven't already. I can't tell you how much more willing my kids are to write - and most importantly, to edit - now that they're typing their assignments rather than hand writing them! You mentioned that you'd tried some "samples" of various writing programs with your children, but I'm not sure what that means exactly. With writing, you really do have to do it for a while to get better at it. Just doing one exercise or two really isn't going to be enough to see progress or to grow comfortable with the program. We've been using IEW for a year now, and there were some frustrations early on - for me and for them - but it gets easier with every assignment. I'm not sure what you're looking for in a writing program, but I would suggest picking one that looks like it would meet your goals for your kids' writing, and then sticking with it for at least a school year, no matter how much the kids complained. For a while, you might all feel like you're spinning your wheels, but at the end of that year, I'm willing to bet you'll see improvement :). And while I'm here, I have to put in a plug for IEW! I teach IEW in a co-op setting, and I've seen my students find so much success with the program. The checklist is really helpful for so many kids because it takes a fairly abstract, subjective assignment like "writing" and gives them very clear, concrete objectives to meet. I tend to write more intuitively, so I was suspicious of the whole checklist thing at first, but now that I've seen my students' progress, I've become a believer in the IEW approach. Hope something here helps :). SBP

Switched-on-Schoolhouse was my solution. We've used it for third and fourth grade. I'm switching back to more hands-on science next year, but for exposure to a lot of different science topics during the grammar stage, SOS has been fine. The kids like it well enough, or at least don't complain about it, and best of all, it gets done. Good luck with your search! SBP

This is an awesome thread! I forgot another site I use and really like, though I don't use it as often as the Sheppard Software site. Classics for Kids - great when you're studying composers :). SBP

I love, love, love the geography at Sheppard Software! SBP

If your son has allergies, he might be allergic to guinea pigs. Some people do have significant allergic reactions to guinea pigs. Guinea pig lovers try to work around this, but that would be a deal-breaker for me. Guinea pig web sites do recommend that you get two, so that they can keep each other company. They also usually recommend that you give each guinea pig what I thought was a HUGE amount of space. When we looked into it, I decided that I didn't have the space for two guinea pigs, but I did try to get a nice-sized cage for our one so that she'd have plenty of room. They absolutely cannot be kept outside, so whatever cage you have has to fit somewhere inside your house. We bought hay and feed and supplies from a little local pet store, or from Wal-Mart, Target, etc. You also have to buy them vitamin C supplements, which I can't remember if Wal-Mart carries, but if you got a big bottle, you wouldn't have to buy it very often. Monthly cost was probably somewhere around $25. The bedding/litter was the most expensive thing, and since the guinea pig is in the house, you'll really want to keep it changed often. Our girl was litter trained, which helped, but even that is kind of expensive - they can't use cat litter, or any litter which generates a lot of dust, so you're limited in the kinds you can buy. Also, I'd recommend getting a good cage - one that's sturdy and most of all, easy to clean. It's worth the up-front expense IMO not to have to wrestle with it every time you clean it. We've really liked the Marchioro Cage we bought for our guinea pig. We've had it in constant use for three years now and it's still in great shape. Our guinea pig was very tame easily handled. We got her as a baby, and I think that helps. However, I wouldn't say she was "friendly." I always had the impression that she'd rather have been left alone. She never bit or scratched, but she was kind of shy and seemed relieved to be put back in her cage. Sweet, but not a lot of personality is how I'd describe her. However, my sister had a guinea pig when we were growing up who had TONS of personality, loved to be held and played with, and was like a member of the family. So I think it just depends on the one you get. We got a pet store guinea pig for my DD, and even though we researched it thoroughly and the guinea pig had absolutely everything she was supposed to have, she died suddenly before the first year was out. It was kind of traumatic for my kids, frankly, and it put me off having another guinea pig. We got a rabbit next - a mini-Rex - and his breeder told me that guinea pigs are very, very fragile, regardless of where you get them from. Rabbits are much hardier, and IMO much easier to care for. Ours has the run of our screened-in porch. His cage is out there (the same one the guinea pig used) and he hops in for food, water, or litterbox, as needed, and then hops out again. He has infinitely more personality than the guinea pig had and seems to genuinely like us. He doesn't especially love to be "cuddled" (even though he's the softest, most cuddly thing imaginable and you wish you could just carry him around all day) but he tolerates it in doses and has certainly never bit, kicked, etc. He'll chase a ball, try to untie our shoelaces, and just generally is cute and fun to watch. Don't know if you've considered a rabbit at all, but we've enjoyed ours thoroughly! Hope something here helps :) SBP

We began with Level B, too, and have really enjoyed RightStart - and right now, Level E is going fine. He's delayed by about a semester (the result of switching around in the early days looking for the right math curriculum!) so he just started Level E in January, and lately he's been working a lot on fractions and seeming to understand everything without any frustrations. That said, I'm considering finishing out this school year with RightStart and then switching him to something else with a more traditional scope and sequence for fifth grade (i.e., not finishing Level E). I think he might benefit from a program with more of a mastery approach, and knowing that I'm going to change programs next year anyway (since we don't really want to do RS Geometry at this point) makes me think I'll probably just start fresh in fifth grade with whatever I decide on. But so far, anyway, I don't have any complaints about Level E, and I continue to recommend RightStart to anyone who asks :). I think about it all the time, I just don't seem to get it done :D! No, we actually tried to do Latin for Children last year, and I went into it with such high hopes, but we all wound up completely confused and frustrated. I have a lot of trouble teaching a subject I understand so little myself, and my kids didn't get nearly enough reinforcement with LfC. We probably didn't spend enough time doing the chants, etc. either, but we have Classical Conversations memory work to do, too, and that got the priority at the time. This year we've done EFRU, and that's been fun, and I do still want to do at least Latin with my kids (6th grade, maybe), and then have them pursue a modern language when they're a little older and can do it without as much help from me. SBP

Seatwork (This includes Daily Grams, Reading or Math Detective, Mindbenders, typing, and Classical Conversations memory work - basically, anything they can do on their own while I'm doing housework!) (30-45 min) Devotion/Read-aloud time (30 min) RightStart Math, Level E (30-45 min) Shurley English, Level 4 (20-30 min) SOTW v. 4 (30 min) SWR (30 min) Lunch Break SOS Science (20 min) Silent Reading (30 min) IEW (30 min) - usually only 3 - 4 days per week right now That puts us finishing up at around 2:30 or 3:00 most days, and then things like piano practice and art classes happen in the evenings, along with at least another half hour or so of reading time before bed. :) SBP

My kids are 16 months apart, and we've always combined them in the older child's grade, which is fourth this year. The one exception to this is math; initially, my DD wasn't quite ready to work a grade ahead in math, so I separated them for that. And math lessons still seem to work best one-on-one, so I'll probably keep them that way. But that's my advice, I guess - try combining them as much as you can, and if something doesn't work, you'll know it doesn't work, and you can try something else. I've really enjoyed having my kids in the same "grade", and they seem to enjoy it, too. It definitely makes life simpler, and I'm all for doing that when I can :). SBP

Nope, not crazy! My DD learned to read as a very young 3 yo, as did two of my nephews, so it's certainly possible that your DS is ready - and maybe both of them are, though I have no personal experience of one as young as your baby learning to read. We used "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons," and I still say it's the best $15 I ever spent as a homeschooler :). However, in my DD's case, her older brother (4.5 at the time) was getting reading lessons, and she insisted on getting them, too. I tried just having "reading time" with her and cuddling her in my lap with a story book, and she would put the story book away and thrust 100EL into my hands. Had to be the SAME book DS was using, or it didn't count! It would have never occurred to me to teach her otherwise, and if it hadn't gone well, I certainly wouldn't have continued it. There are so many wonderful, fun things to do with toddlers that I definitely wouldn't force reading lessons on one who isn't ready. If you think your DS is ready, though, by all means give it a go. OPGTR wasn't out when mine were toddlers, but I'm sure it's a great choice, and like I said, we're big fans of 100EL here. If you start and stall, you might find you have to camp out in one spot for a while while the concepts sink in. I think my DD did the first 20 lessons or so in 100EL twice before we moved on, and that was fine. If you start the lessons and sense resistance or frustration, you might just decide to put it away for a while and try again later. In the meantime, of course, keep reading to them as much as you can :). Enjoy your little people! SBP

Yes, this is what I did, even though I didn't plan it that way on purpose. I taught my kids to read as preschoolers using 100EL, and then we started SWR when they were 5 and 6, after they were already reading pretty well. No transition issues whatsoever that I recall, other than the normal learning curve with SWR, which I think we'd have had anyway. Would I do it that way again? I probably would if I had another young preschooler who wanted to learn to read. SWR requires way more writing than my DD, especially, would have been capable of when I used 100EL with her, but she was able to follow my finger under those funny 100EL letters just fine. And I think 100EL does an awesome job of teaching blending. I'm a big, big fan of SWR as a spelling program - I'm in my fourth year of using it - but I have never thought my kids "missed" anything by learning to read using 100EL. I think both programs are worth every penny I paid for them. SBP

We use QMM and have for years. I think you can create files for as many users as you want. The thing about QMM is that it's not really a "game." It's math drill. Computerized math drill, but still just math drill. If you're looking for something your kids are going to think is "fun" and beg to do, QMM probably isn't it. If you're looking for a quick way to drill specific facts without printing out/grading a bunch of worksheets or buying workbooks, QMM is a great program. The other possible down-side to QMM is that it's tied to a computer. If you want something portable or something that won't tie up a computer, you might prefer a hand-held like MathShark or FlashMaster, which the kids can do in the car or at big brother's basketball practice or whatever. Some kids have problems with QMM, I think, because timed drills in general freak them out. We've never had an issue with this, but if you have a child you know is panicked by timed drills, QMM might not be a good fit. We use QMM in addition to pencil and paper drill, just to give the kids extra practice with facts. They can do a lot more problems in a lot less time using QMM, which I like. They don't love it and beg to do it, but they don't seem to hate it either. Hope something here helps you in your decision :) SBP

Thank you! I guess we just haven't gotten to the estimation in Level E yet - he just started it in January, so we're not too far into it yet. I've considered doing RS Geometry, but the geometry portions of RS are the only parts that my son really, really hates. The thought of doing a whole year of it right now is pretty painful. I know we'll have to do it one day, but I'm not sure I want to go that route next year. I hadn't heard of Challenge Math, though - I'll give that a look, along with BJU6, which seems like it might be a good fit for us. Thanks for your advice :). SBP

I've used Levels B-E of RightStart. Right now DD8 is in Level D, and DS10 is in Level E. Both are doing well, but I do supplement a little, mostly because I don't find/make time for the games as often as I should. I think if you play the games, RightStart probably has more than enough drill, but I don't, so I use QuarterMile to supplement in that area. They still do the pencil-and-paper drills that are part of the daily RightStart lessons as well, but my son, especially, needs more work to cement his facts. Ten minutes a day with QuarterMile seems to be doing the trick. My sister is also a RS user, and she uses the Math Shark with her son and has seen good results with that. For word problems, I've just begun supplementing with Critical Thinking Co.'s "Math Detective" book. It's probably too soon to say how effective this is, but I think the problems are interesting and very different from what they see in RS. I'm sure Singapore's CWP books would be an excellent choice as well; unfortunately, my dismal failure at teaching Singapore years ago has left me intimidated by all of SM's materials, so I'm afraid to go there. Finally, I'm going to spend a little time before standardized testing this year working with my kids on rounding and estimation, which they scored poorly on last year. Normally, I'm no fan of "teaching to the test", but as best I can tell, RS doesn't teach this at all, ever, and I figure it can't hurt to give them some exposure to it. So I haven't switched from RS, but I will be switching next year when DS is finished with Level E. I'm already feeling a little traumatized by the idea of leaving a program that has, in my opinion, made me a much better math teacher than I ever deserved to be. SBP

In the past, I've used the Spectrum books, and they've been fine. This year, I elected to have them do a little "test prep" every day, however, rather than doing it right before the test. I've used Daily Grams and the Reading/Math Detective books from Critical Thinking Co. to give them daily practice in the types of questions they'll see on a standardized test. I won't know until May if this approach worked, though :). SBP ETA: My kids tell me that the Spectrum books are considerably harder than the Stanford test, which is the only one they've ever taken. They always sweat over the practice tests and then take the real thing and come out beaming and feeling brilliant because it was so much easier than they expected it to be! Don't know if this helps you or not, but I thought I'd mention it.

I'm wrestling with this same question right now as I'm doing some planning for fifth grade next year. I think I'm going to wind up taking it on a case-by-case basis and using whatever resource seems to work best for what we're studying and is least likely to overwhelm my kids, who will be new to outlining. Sometimes it will be SOTW, sometimes it will be KHE, and sometimes it will be VP cards. I probably won't use library books much for outlining just because I don't trust myself to do the advance preparation that would require. I'm going to try to stick with what's on my shelves :). SBP

Most of our memory work is for Classical Conversations, but over the summers and whenever CC isn't meeting, we're working our way through Andrew Pudewa's poetry memorization program. We really enjoy it :). SBP

I'm a big fan of Shurley, so that would get my vote. In fairness, though, I've only seen the first FLL and wasn't even aware that there were sequel(s) out. We switched to Shurley in second grade and have used Levels 2-4. Next year I plan to skip Level 5 and go to 6, since there is a lot of repetition from one level to the next. However, I've never regretted starting Shurley in second grade and didn't feel that it was overkill at all. One of my children is working a grade ahead, so she did Shurley 2 as a six year old and did just fine with it. Shurley is also incredibly easy to teach, even for moms who are intimidated by grammar. And my kids don't turn cartwheels over it, but they don't complain about it either. It's been a wonderful program for us :). SBP