My children's favorite subjects are science and history. We use Elementary Apologia. The first year my children were home schooling was 2nd and 4th. I let them decide which book we were using. They chose Astronomy and they still remember the projects we did. The other book they loved was Story of the World. This past year we started using Institute for Excellence in Writing and now they love writing as well because it is fun. That is what they tell me. We eased into things the first year. I used the Cathy Duffy book so much in the beginning and still go to her website to get another opinion from time to time. I ordered every catalog out there and kept reading reviews to form my own opinions. Good luck to her....

Hello, we have used Prima Latina and are half way through Latina Christiana. I am using it with my 12 year dd and 10 year old sons (at different paces) and was wondering if this is the path I should stick with or can anyone offer something better. I was told to use First Form Latin next year and was also wondering if anyone has had any experience with this. In my area, someone is offering tutoring with Wheelock but have had no experience with this one. Can anyone tell I am thoroughly confused! Help!

I have loved using Institute for Excellence in Writing and also Winston Grammar. These are excellent programs in my opinion...

I was wondering if anyone out there has any good suggestions on the best preparation for reading comprehension questions that are seen on the ITBS. This is our weekness and I want to make them proficient in this area. Thanks so much...

Help! I was wondering what to use after we complete 6B?

I don't know much about HoP except for the old commercials of long ago. I do know that my twin boys were trained primarily in private school with sight words and some Plaid Phonics workbooks. They are now in 4th grade and struggling terribly. I have been using the Phonics Page from Elizabeth Brown and we are making great progress and I am learning alot too. I didn't realize how important phonics were when I brought them home in 2nd grade. Truthfully, I was afraid of it b/c I remember learning from the whole language approach. When I noticed that their reading wasn't improving, I sent out a thread on this forum and that is when I got a reply from Elizabeth. I also, have two younger children that I will be teaching to read from the beginning. Sight words will not be in the equation for us. I see the damage it can do. We will now have to do remedial work for at least a year to retrain and get rid of those bad habits. i would consider checking out the Phonics Page website to learn more about this subject. I know you will find the info invaluable. good luck...erin.

Hi, I just want to second what Elizabeth Brown has said about the importance of phonics. I have twin boys in 4th grade that were taught primarily using the sight word method and they are struggling readers at best. I pulled them out of private school when they were going into 2nd grade and just assumed that they knew how to read b/c they knew so many words and were comfortable with 2nd grade materials. I noticed that they were struggling so much by the end of 3rd grade. I kept waiting for a breaking point but it never came. I sent an s.o.s. out to the WTM Forum and Elizabeth responded to me. We have been using her program and the Blend Phonics now for two weeks and I notice now what my boys were missing. It is amazing all that I have learned in the past few weeks. My boys too. I would encourage you to read her and Don Potter's website's and stay away from sight words. It won't pay off later, I can promise you that. Best of luck to you....erin.

Thank you....

We just took that in May and I am anxiously waiting the results. Thank you...

thank you for this affirmation. It was really what I needed to hear....erin.

What I want to know from other home schooling mom's is simply this....how do I know if my children are getting enough? Sometimes, I have no doubt that they are and then I speak with a friend who's child is in public school and it seems that they do so much of what I don't. We do poetry, Latin, Spanish, ancient history, and even stuff in the house, like cook, clean, take care of baby sister and brothers...life skills...but then I have that tinge of doubt like I am leaving something out. How do I know that they are at the reading level they should be at and that we are doing enough writing projects, etc...? Does it really matter? Am I over reacting? Has anyone else had these similar thoughts? I want to do what is best for them and I believe in my heart that this is what I was called to do. Any feedback would be appreciated... thanks so much for listening....erin.

Hi, after extensive research, I decided to use IEW with my 3 children that I home school. We started it at the end of the school year and they loved it. My weakness is writing too. Check it out on their website. You can actually see sample lessons. It is an awesome program and I can't wait to see the results this year. good luck with your research...

Okay, I have my dd and two ds's read something they want to read for an hour a day. Sometimes, I do 30 minutes, but I aim for an hour. Instead of getting into a good book and wanting to continue, when that timer goes off, they are done...even if they only have a few pages left. I assign other reading for history/literature and that is not a problem as long as they know exactly what to read. What am I doing wrong? since we have started summer vacation they have read absolutely nothing. I gave myself a week off of nagging them to pieces about it, but now I want them to read again. I love reading and have close to 18 books at any given time on my nightstand....please give me some help!

What is ps?

How do you decide what literature for 6th and 4th graders to read? Do you have a list set for the year or by the book? Do you make them finish it if they don't care for something or move on? Do you make them report on the book or just narrate and then write it down on paper? I am weak on assigning literature and want to change that. Help!

I agree about the Astronomy Apologia. Kind of dull. So it turned me off of using Apologia again this past year. We started doing the suggestion for 3rd grade in the WTM book for chemistry. It was way over their heads and kind of boring. A friend of mine loaned me the Apologia Swimming Creatures of the 5th book and my kids went nuts looking at it, begging me to read it to them. So, we dumped the chemistry in late October and we are almost done with Swimming Creatures. It was awesome. We checked out tons of additional books from the library, watched IMAX movies and went on several field trips. The knowledge that we all gained from the Apologia book was extraordinary. i have lived in Florida since I was 11 and didn't know a fourth of this stuff. Anyway, we are going to do Apologia Land Animals of the 6th day this year. I like the way the books have everything broken down. You can go to the yahoo group for elementary Apologia and get tons of ideas for free and notebook pages. We did awesome notebooks this year. They also have full lesson plans on the yahoo group. You should check it out. good luck with your search...

My daughter is beginning 6th grade and we are using Winston Grammar Basic Level and Daily Grams. We have started Winston already and are half way through it. I am using Daily Grams for daily practice. For 7th grade i was considering getting Fix It by IEW. Good luck.

Thank you so much....did you get the books that it recommends to go along with it?

Yes, I did check it. It looked simple to use. He is 2 years and 5 months today. He speaks very well and is seems to grasp things quickly. I was thinking that if I didn't get it soon that he too would be beyond it when I did get it. I just know the time will come quickly and I want to be prepared. Do you think that I should get it?

Does anyone use this? I was considering getting it for my two year old. Thanks for any replies and advice....

I agree. My mom didn't let us out of her sight and I don't let me kids out of mine either. That is so sad about that little girl. I will keep her and her family in my prayers. In my opinion, parents feel they need to give their children too much independence. They need us to protect them, plain and simple...

We did the ITBS test this year for the first time. My kids thought it was fun. I got Scoring High to practice how it works first. I will be curious to see how they did. I had them evaluated too just in case...

Does anyone use Little Hands to Heaven by Heart of Dakota? I was considering getting that. I have two little ones coming up. Thanks for input.

Have you looked at Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization? It is made my IEW. I just got it and am going to use it this year. I heard it was great....your older kids could use it as well as younger. Check it out...

My friend swears by it. I am going to use it this year for my boys even though they are starting by using FLL4. She says it is great. I hope that helps.