Ok. The investigations start after lesson ten and then you have one every ten lessons (after every other test). The first investigation is number lines. That one actually wasn't that bad. It gives a bunch of examples and solutions but no actual problems. The second investigation is units of length and perimeter. This is just a paragraph of info at the top and then about 24 problems to work through. I say that the investigations are annoying because some of the questions are for a classroom. For example, number 3 asks you to estimate the length of your classroom. I suppose you could just measure the room you to school in, but we just skip ones like that. I am confident that it is the same as the homeschool version because these questions are in the homeschool solution manual. My daughter works through 5/4 independently, but I try to look over the investigations first to see if there is I need to go over with her. The rest of the investigations that I have flipped through follow the pattern of the second one. When I was looking into starting with Saxon, I actually found a pdf file where I could download the whole 5/4 book for free and look through it. Im not sure of the site I just searched for Saxon 54. That might help you out. In the 2nd edition covers number lines in lesson 13 instead of having an investigation for it. It is the same for the other topics of the investigations. The just changed them from lessons and made them more annoying (for me personally). lol There are 12 investigations and 120 lessons.

Sure, let me grab my book. I am putting off making dinner as long as possible :). The solutions to the hard cover are the same as the homeschool edition. You can look at christianbook.com to see what the cover looks like. I also ordered mine off of ebay for about half price. The workbook and test book that they sell is super annoying. It is basically 100 plus pages of math fact practice, the tests and then a few pages that you can copy. I have my dd9 and ds8 do their work in a notebook. I wish they sold just a test book for $5 or so.

Definitely Saxon 3. If he is a good reader and knows his facts you could actually start with 5/4. That was originally the first book. Im not a big fan of the earlier grades. I love 5/4 and up though. Just in case you hate 3rd grade give 5/4 a chance.

The soft textbooks (3rd edition for homeschoolers) aren't going to last long at all. You can get a hard cover 3rd edition off ebay for a pretty decent price. These are the same as the homeschool edition. The 3rd edition has fewer lessons, but has the investigations. The investigations are annoying, but I like the 3rd edition the best. The hard 2nd edition Saxon will not match up with the 3rd edition solutions manual. Unfortunately I have found this out. You would need to get the solutions for that edition. It does cover the same topics in pretty much the same order so I would think you could still use the 3rd edition tests. I am a big fan of the 3rd edition hard cover because everything is more spread out, and easier to read than the 2nd edition. I forgot to add that the 1st edition will not have the little numbers by the problems. These numbers show what lesson the problem was first introduced in so if the student has trouble they can go back and look.

Thank you! This gives me a lot to think on and research along with getting to know what exactly is available in our area. She has other issues, but really everything can be trace back to language and her possibly not understanding what we are asking as far as behavior. She does obsess about things. I will get asked 100 times a day about when I am buying her a pet cat or bunny or mouse. She has issues to see an OT about as she is still doing a full fist grasp on her pencil. We are working on it at home with what I have found on the OT pages online. She has sensory issues, which all my kids have to some extent. She doesn't like loud noises, gets overwhelmed easily. You cannot reason with her in anyway, but again that can be connected back to the language thing. I will make an appt for this week and go with a list of referrals etc

Thank you both! I am thinking that I should have renamed my thread, "What is the first step". Lol. I feel so lost about how to even get her help that she needs. That is really the only reason I am considering getting an IEP and try to get a diagnosis. The professionals I have spoken with so far also seem to not know the ins and outs of testing and how to really proceed. I guess I need better professionals :). Is there some sort of across the board testing that can pinpoint a more specific area to look in and more specific tests in that area. I know there was someone recommended to me before we moved for an overall evaluation but they did not accept our insurance and it would have been $1500. She has always had problems with abstract things but has been very smart and ahead and where her older brother and sister were doing the concrete things. For example, when she was in prek she scored highest in the class with shapes, letters etc. whatever was on their little test. At 6 though, if I ask her what she had for breakfast she wont be able to tell me. She might name five things and what she had for breakfast might happen to be in there or it might not. A lot of times when you are talking to her or asking her a question she will respond with something completely out there, like how she wants you to buy her a pet bunny. There is definitely a major disconnect there and the majority of it is her inability to have a conversation. It took her until just a couple weeks ago to be able to use the correct pronouns for gender and ive been gently correcting her and working with her for years. She still sometimes uses the wrong ones. Ugh. We were at a pediatrician before we moved that just refused to give referrals as though you would think it she was paying out of pocket. Her only response was to put her in the public school system and they would tell me if she needed anything. We are now at a drs office who will do anything I want as far as referrals but I cant seem to figure out what she needs. All I keep getting is speech therapy. Maybe she needs to be in speech for a few months and then once they see her not improving etc she will get different referrals.

Hi! This is my first time posting to this particular board and I am pretty new to this site in general. My dd6 has some issues going on. I have not been able to get anything diagnosed though besides severe language delays. I suspect auditory processing disorder, for sure. Our pediatrician was convinced she would be diagnosed with autism as well and I agree it is likely she is somewhere on the spectrum. I had her "tested" and they felt that they couldn't give that diagnosis at this point. I'm not sure how this is usually tested, but basically the lady just asked me some questions and watched her play while asking them. I'm not sure how it is normally done. I suppose that is another post. She has been on a waiting list for speech for the last few months. I am trying to get her in somewhere else for testing for asd to get a second opinion. Should I pursue getting an IEP (we homeschool) or would she need a formal diagnosis first? Would an IEP be helpful in working towards a diagnosis? Is there a downside to having one or a risk in going through the public school system to try to get one?

Hi, I have not read the other posts so I'm sorry if this is repetitive. We are a family of 7 and we do Disney very, very cheap :). Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays are always the best days to go. You can check out their black out days for the weekday select pass (even if you are not a FL resident). If the day is blacked out chances are that you do not want to go, because it will be crowded! Make sure you check the park hours for the days that you want to go, because they all vary by the day. Sometimes Magic Kingdom will close early. Feel free to bring your own food, drinks and snacks. The bag checkers always laugh at us. We cannot afford to eat at Disney! We usually bring a whole cooler into the park. We sometimes leave around dinner time between parks and get a cheap pizza or fast food. The Orlando hotels that we love for our budget are Celebration Suites (full kitchen, sleeps 6-8, $49 a night), Seralago, and Bahama Bay (great for longer stays but they do require a deposit and cleaning fee when you leave). I just saw that you won accomadations, but maybe that will help someone else out. We buy souvenirs at Target :). I would definitely make time for the parade. If you are able to do one or more parks, then do the character spot at epcot and knock out all the characters. You will probably want to do the princess hall at magic kingdom for the princess autographs. I wanted to add that my kids ages are 9,8,6,2 and 1. I usually go with my dh...but you know how that is ;). It is def possible. We always walk to the park from the parking lot. Do Not take the tram. Oh, my. I was so cranky by the time that we folded up the double stroller, loaded everyone on and got up to the gate and then unloaded everyone, packed up the stroller again....shoot me. People look at me like I am crazy for walking and I look at them like they are crazy to take the tram. Lol. There is a baby station at all parks. I always make sure I go when we pass by it so I don't have to stop for changes. They also have free complimentary meds at first aid. Unfortunately nothing that good, but I did have to get Benadryl and Tylenol on the last trip. The rides would be totally doable as long as your older children are good riding by themselves. You could sit with the 2 and 1 year old. The only time it might be a problem is on the rides like Thunder Mountain etc where you couldn't take the younger two. If your main focus is on seeing the princesses though, it wouldn't be big deal to skip those rides.

I pull from Veritas Press' and Sonlights book list as well as other literature based curriculums.

Ugh, I just planned all this out for my 5 and now it looks like I never saved it in my phone. My older two's history has/will look like this- Younger elementary was spent just doing Abeka's readers and a year of Our Christian Heritage. 3rd/2nd grade (I combined them)-VPs Old Testament and Ancient Egypt 4th/3rd- VPs New Testament, Greece and Rome Summer of 4th/3rd-VPs middle ages (whatev er it's called lol) 5th/4th- Year round early and modern US history, my own curriculum pulled mostly from Sonlight and VP readers 6th/5th- Trail Guide to World Geography I will then split them up and my 6th graded will prob do VPs extra year to prepare to omnibus or it will be interest led. My 7th grader would start Omnibus. I am now leaning towards maybe doing something else in 7th and 8th and started Omnibus in the 9th. I'm not sure how Omnibus cycles through. I need to take a look :) ETA- I just looked up Omnibus' schedule, and kind of boring. 3 years of ancient, medieval, modern US followed by the same. I think I may do something different for 7th, 8th, and 9th. Or maybe 7th, 8th and 12th.

Thank you! We started German today and the kids are loving it. I am doing it myself and was having way too much fun. Could you tell me how I can make sure our profiles aren't public? I looked at the settings and didn't see anything that was public or private etc.

Thank you for that review!

I've heard about this for a while and since it is easier for my kids to do things independently on the computer with my crazy 1 and 2 year old I would like to set then up on it. I've been searching for reviews on content and found a couple threads on here, but I dont have time to sort through every comment. Could anyone that has used it tell me if it is safe/appropriate for older elementary age? I saw a few comments about a profile being public and users typing inappropriate things that show up at the bottom of the screen. Has anyone had any of these problems? Are they able to talk to other users etc. Are the things they are asked to translate appropriate?

Thank you for all the great responses! Everytime I try to use the quote thing I usually end up messing it up, lol. I am looking at ordering 1A for my 1st grader, 2B for my 3rd grader and either 3B or 4A for my 4th grader depending how she does on the placements tests.

I am going to be ordering Singapore math books. I've always been interested in them, but I guess with all the editions and things it was just confusing and I never ordered them. I have decided on the US editions. I'm looking at possibly ordering 1A, 2B, and 3B. Would I need the teachers edition or just the textbook and workbook? What about all these other workbooks? I read there was one for word problems and then an extra practice book. Are there any manipulatives I would need to order to have on hand? Also, I want to make sure I have this correct. If they pass the placement test for 3B, that means I would order 4A, right?

That's great. I'm glad the baby is here. I will pray they keep a close eye on her.

Prayers for her. If I had heart issues with my last pregnancy, I'd demand a csection. I went through things with my last pregnancy and a Dr that swore he'd do my csection before he went out of town (I was due at Christmas, of course). Well, of course when the time came he went out of town and I basically had an on call Dr do my high risk csection at a hospital I was sure I'd never deliver at. Her situation seems more serious. I hope the drs/hospital gets their act together.

Ah, thank you! I should have done a search first :).

I will have a 5th and 4th grader next year and we will do American history. I am pulling books mainly from Sonlight and Veritas Press and a little of what I already have on hand from Winterpromise. I am just piecing it together myself, which I am not thrilled with, but there are too many things I want to cover and customize. Another curriculum I was looking into was Truthquest. It is really just a booklist though so I decided against it. I think they have some notebook in things though. I was planning on spending two years on American history. We may just spend one year. I haven't decided. We school year round though, so I could prob do two years worth of work in one calendar year.

Here is what I have so far- Math- Saxon 6/5 Language Arts- Abeka Language B Handwriting- a cursive workbook that hasn't been picked yet. Vocabulary from Classical Roots A Spelling- This one is a natural speller so I haven't decided if I'm going to use a curriculum or not. If I do, either Abeka or I will pull from How to Teach Spelling. History- Early American literature based that I'm piecing together myself. Literature-books that haven't been picked yet. Writing- Writing and Rhetoric Foreign Language- Hebrew Science- Whatever Apologia text she chooses. She may still be on Land Animals since I haven't ordered it yet for this year. Oops. Bible- Missionaries, memory verses, and still thinking..

Language Arts- Phonics Pathways Abeka's Language 1 workbook Readers Handwriting-HWOT Math-Meet the Math Facts, a clock, money and History- Bedes US history Bible- Old Testament Science- a little of everything

Hmm...when I'm outside, I put a sandwich bag or plastic wrap over my drink because I don't want bugs or crap from trees falling in it. I also always squeeze some toothpaste out of the tube before I use it because I can't think of someone else rubbing their brush against it before me. Even if it's my kids *gasp* I also can't eat out of a box of cereal or a bag of chips if I know someone has stuck their hands on there instead of pouring some out into a bowl.

Me too! We already have a Benjamin, that is the only reason it is out. :) I thought that might be why. :) We have a Benjamin as well.

Aw, I like Benjamin ;) Joseph Brent Joseph Brett Joseph Bradley Joseph Bryce Joseph Brayden Joseph Brogen Joseph Barrett

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