I think it depends on your confidence with teaching math. Horizons is a get'r done type of curriculum, in my opinion. Meaning: go over the lesson, do the three workbook pages and be done. It doesn't go particularly deep into word problems, but focuses more on HOW to do the problems, and not so much why. Horizons has a spiral approach, too, which is good for kids who need a lot of repetition. Math Mammoth asks the kids to go a little deeper in their understanding. You may have to be more confident with math in order to teach it. I would pick math mammoth if these were my choices, but I'm a math person. Everytime we've tried Horizons, I've dropped it after a month or two because it's just so boring for me to teach. But it does get the job done. Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

Can you give me more info about these resources? I'm seriously considering Barton, but I really like the sound of free resources better. Plus Megawords is working . . . And I'd just like to add something to it. Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

I'm pretty sure she's dyslexic (slow reading, struggles to decode new words, still sometimes reverses b and d), but I don't have the resources to provide special tutoring. I had considered giving her more phonics instruction, but she has such a good visual memory and she sight reads everything, so how do you force phonics/decoding study on someone who is already reading rather well (if slowly and lacking comprehension)? I mean, she wouldn't be decoding the words in a standard phonics lesson anymore, she can already read them all. . . I have always homeschooled her so any of her weaknesses are my fault, you know? I've never taught spalding, etc. Would it be useful for a student who already reads? Megawords is providing sylabication/decoding practice right now, but it seems rather easy for her (she's working in level 1). Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

My 11 yo daughter is in the 6th grade and is struggling with reading comprehension. She reads at about a 4th/5th grade level, but not always with understanding. She always wants to read with me because I help her stop and go over words she misreads and I ask her comprehension questions along the way or clarify points that I know she missed. How can I encourage her to develop her own comprehension skills? There are lots of comprehension passages/books out there, but they seem to test/question if the student has a skill and don't actually teach the student how to develop the skill. Do you know what I mean? I'm looking for something I can do to move her reading forward. We are already doing Megawords to help with her decoding of unknown words. She practices fluency passages 1 or 2 times a week and we read together for 20 min or so a day. She reads on her own what she is assigned, as well, but doesn't always understand all of what she reads, so I keep it to short passages and high interest books (Dork Diaries)

I have a box with a padlock where we keep the snacks that get eaten too fast. Some of my kids are snacky and sneaky, others have more control. This cuts down on the fight for me. We went about a year with basically no snacks in the house because of the sneaky ones Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

Super cool! Thanks. I have a free year now, too! Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

Singapore math 6A and 6B was not a review year. Nonetheless, we moved on to a different math program--to prepare for algebra. We used Lial's Pre-Algebra. I had to teach it--I didn't buy a teacher's manual, but I didn't find it too hard. It wasn't puzzle like or game like or even common core like, just a good prep for Algebra.

We're using AIMS this year. It's focused toward public schools, but it's got great hands-on projects. I'm collecting materials right now. I chose the simple machines (grades 3-5) book for my 2, 4, and 6th graders.

We stop singapore math at 5B and have switched the last 3 kids to Lial's prealgebra in the 6th or 7th grade, depending on the kid. Here's the link to that book which I will use again for my next kiddo Margaret Lial's Prealgebra

We're using rocketmath.com this year! The kids in the neighborhood use it at the local public school and I checked it out. I love it! All my kids practice and drill at the same time and to their individual goals. We're drilling addition, multiplication, multiplication and division all at the same time. Plus it's almost hands free for me! Anything I can do to get less off my plate so that I can focus on other subjects is great! We've tried flashcards, calculadder, timez attack, flashmaster, xtramath. . . this is hands down my favorite find of the year!

I can't eat gluten free foods--really any of them. I really wish I could, but I just can't. They all make me sick. I cook mostly paleo recipes for times when I want a substitute for grains--they use almond flour and coconut flour usually and I do fine with those. I'm eating Paleo chocolate chip cookies right now!

Not exactly what you were looking for, but we used Safety Kids at the K-2 grade range. There's a CD that you can play and learn the catchy songs and a little workbook/coloring book that goes along. We just loved the songs and still sing them. Lots of good safety info--my phone number, what to do when you're lost, what to do if a strange approaches you, things like that. Might be worth adding to a curriculum as a fun (and very useful) thing.

Nick of Time was a hit around here--higher reading level The Mysterious Benedict Society Key to the Treasure is an easier book that we have that all my kids have enjoyed. I guess I'm picking mysteries today! My kids got into fiction after a period where they only read non-fiction as well. They seemed particularly frustrated with the format of fiction books. Like starting in the middle of a story and there being a lot of confusion about who said what and what was going on. They weren't tolerant of waiting for the story to be revealed. It's just not like that in non-fiction. Stories are told from the beginning and details are revealed one at a time in a very linear order. I helped them read fiction by comparing it to drawing a picture. We listed what we know/what we don't know when we read a chapter. It helped a bit. Just an idea! Happy book shopping! Becky

I taught it for about 4 months once a week I think I remember covering most of it. I supplemented with mr. Q, but not a whole lot.

Maybe this one would work? It looks really fun. There are a few others on the TPT website as well.

This is a concept all my kids have struggled with. I teach it, we draw pictures, I help them through each instance if they need it. Not all of my kids "get it". Eventually, they've gotten it, but not necessarily at age 8.

We've used parts of the planets one, all the electricity and magnetism. All the Radishes and Corn and Beans, also We've done both ages of Lentil Science. Mostly they are for middle grade kids. My youngers had fun, but the older kids were the ones doing the thinking. I really liked them, but it took a lot of planning and supplies (doesn't science always take planning and supplies?)

I taught it to 10-13 year olds. It was really fun! At the same time, my kids were studying chemistry at home using Mr. Q, but the rest of the group wasn't. It was still really fun! Becky

Crazy amount of teacher prep. Mom writes the worksheets every day. It's a good idea if you like to create your own assignments for your kids and if you are often frustrated trying to find where to place your kiddo in a math workbook. Would be a great, snuggly way to do math for a math phobic kid. Only pick problems and games they can do, introduce new topic VERY slowly, etc. It's WAY too much time required for me, though. Becky

I completely feel your pain! This year my schedule includes ages 12, 10, 8, 6 year old kids (oldest 2 are in a charter high school). I have schooled 5 at a time, but that was insane. Small pieces of wisom: Think one room school house: Short lesson (10-15 min) with similar aged/skilled kids working together--send kids to work on assignment alone, move onto next kid. Mom stays in one location, kids come to her with books--saves time getting "set up" I check work the next day, with the kid sitting beside me. I schedule my Youngest kid to work on a specific subject with a specific older sibling--busy work for olders, helpful for keeping younger on task! Focus on the 3 rs. Extras after lunch.We are lucky if we get both history reading and a read aloud done in the same day! Or, I put the thing that is most often forgotten at the first of my day--for example, history reading and activities or Writing projects. If we start the day with that, it will get done. And then I don't let the kids go until the rest (easier for me to get motivated to do) is completed. Preschoolers don't NEED to learn to read--if they aren't interested, don't waste my time. They will learn to read in half the time at an older age! If we all worked on Math, Reading and Writing, we done good! Everyone on the same language arts lessons--pick something in the middle grades or maybe two groups. Work on writing, capitalizing, sentences, etc. I use Bravewriter for this purpose. We do a lesson from the Arrow, or something I picked, sometimes dictation for the older kids and copywork for the youngers. Our writing comes from the Partnership writing lessons and I help more for the younger kids Embrace Busy Work--I use things like: Spelling City, Reading Eggs, Coloring Pages, SOTW on CD, online math games, hands on math games I prepare in the summer, calculadders, book basket reading, personal study (Lego robotics, stop motion animation, artpacs--anything they like, as long as it's independent) Busy work is good because it helps my kids stay engaged and keep them from checking out of school mode. They work on something on their own and then are less distracting to the other kids. This is why worksheets and textbooks were invented--can you use them anywhere? Pick a "special" focus: history or art or science--never all three at once! I'm using Dictation Day by Day--a really old one room schoolhouse book I saw mentioned here. There are sentences and spelling words and memory work all in the same book. I give the kids those spelling words to study (spelling city, writing on paper, quiz each other, etc.) then they come do dictation with me (over sentences with same words) They must do this work in their best handwriting! We go over mechanics rules afterward and bang! Spelling, handwriting and mechanics done in one fell swoop! Anything there you could use?

I have used Editor in Chief before. It was ho-hum. We read through the rules together and then tried to apply them by finding mistakes in the passages. We never actually used the part where you were supposed to reference which rule applied to which correction in the passage. My kids were only mildly successful at finding the errors themselves. We are actually going to try IEW Fix it Nose Tree for this school year, but I had not planned on using it with my 3rd grader. It has too much writing for him, I think. I was only planning on my 5th and 7th graders using this program (not a huge amount of grammar under their belts!) Once I get my own copy in my hot little hands, I will decide if there is a way I can modify it for my third grader's use. I have only looked through it at an IEW presentation with my local Homeschool group. We will see!

We handle the math lesson problem by including it in a "mom meeting" every day. I rotate from the oldest to youngest in a meeting that covers their math lesson, their dictation and their reading lesson (or practice) and their daily assignments. All other work is done as a group (writing, history, read aloud, language arts lesson) or independently (math facts/games, phonics workbook, spelling on computer, quiet reading, math workbook). The kids interrupt me when they have questions (it's annoying) and I have the older kids assigned to work with my K'er to help him know what to do in phonics pages, etc. My oldest (12) has two mom meetings a day and a math lesson with dad in the evenings. He is starting pre-algebra and that is when I hand off the math lessons to dad so I can focus on the younger kids. His first mom meeting is an assignment meeting (quick) and the second one is at the end of the day during quiet hour and is an accountability meeting (longer, check his work). I have spent a lot of time and money switching math curriculums and I really think the solution was to learn to work with the curriculum that speaks to me. I really like Singapore and although it is not a perfect fit in every way for each of my children, we massage the workbook, textbook, math facts programs, etc until it works!

I'm all about simplifying! Spelling/Copywork/Handwriting all coming from Dictation Day by Day for each of my kiddos. We will use spelling city/writing them down to practice the spelling words three days a week (that's all I do school!) Writing will be done as a group--I've picked projects from Bravewriter's partnership writing and we will beef up or ease up as needed per kid. Not teaching Science--letting enrichment school do that--2 days per week. History is reading from massive collection of history picture books or from hakim's condensed us history--I've already scheduled it out. We will also do history pockets with the little ones because my kids like to color. Older child will do narrations.

Meh I'm trying.

Yep. When we put our son in school, we gave him the choice between 7th and 8th grade. He has an August birthday and always worked a year "behind" in our home school, but he would have been fine either way when he went to public school. Now that he will be a junior next year, I'm getting concerned that he will be 18 his entire senior year. That's a very independent age, and he still needs to be dependent and finish high school. Luckily he still seems pretty focused on school. . . I hope that doesn't change!