Yes, looking forward to Beast Academy. Hopefully that will keep him interested. Thanks for the input! I explain/present to him the lesson at the beginning of each chapter. After that, he is on his own including answering the word problems. When DS was in Kindergarten, his teacher taught him SM 1A and 1B. At the time, he didn't read well, so she sat with him and read to him the entire book. He became dependent on someone reading to him that when he moved on to 1st grade and had to go to 2nd grade math in a regular classroom setting it became an issue. Since then, we all made a conscientious effort to make him do the workbook independently. I guess I've been a little too concerned with him doing the work independently, I didn't realize 5A would be a big leap for him. I will give your suggestion a try-- work with him more closely on a problem or two then let him do a few similar ones on his own. Not familiar with this at all, will check it out. Thanks! This book look interesting! I'll definitely check it out. I wish DS was as diligent. He tries to rush through his work most of the time. It's definitely another area we're trying to work on. Would like to implement a similar method with him one day. 2nd vote for the hubby. :) Not sure if he's just plugging in though. I can see it with the Saxon problems he gets at school where plugging in could allow him to get by. I think it's harder to do it with SM where some of the math problems are very different from the examples and still require him to understand what he's doing. Some of the questions on the assessments are very different too. I can see it on some, so I do see your point, but I'm not sure he's just plugging in all the time. I think he still understands a lot of it, just not at a very deep, complicated level though. I may have to take a closer look at his work though to be absolutely sure. CWP3?

I've been after schooling ds7. He switched schools this year and found himself bored with Saxon 3 so I continued with Singapore Math at home (which is what he was studying in his former school). In the beginning I was just planning on supplementing and going with the flow with the school and give him Singapore Math 3A-3B. Surprisingly, he breezed through SM 3A and 3B, and eventually through SM 4A and 4B. He loved doing the workbooks so much that even on early Saturday and Sunday mornings when I would go to his bedroom, I'd find him already awake and working on them on his own. I think it took him about 5 months to complete 3rd and 4th grade. Now that we're on to Singapore Math 5A, he seems to slow down a bit and sometimes even a little less interested. Generally, he does well in the beginning of the chapters when it's all numbers, but when it comes time to doing the word problems, this is where he slows down and loses interest. He can do the easy straightforward type of word problems, but has a really tough time with the challenging ones. Although he's always been pretty advanced in math, he is an average reader and he has the comprehension skills of a 2nd grader. To give him a break and keep him interested, I moved on to the next chapter, which in this case is introduction to algebra, and he really loves it and doesn't want to go to back now to doing the word problems on fractions. I think he will also enjoy the next few chapters on multiplication and division of decimals. I think one of the strengths of SM is the word problems so I don't necessarily want to do away with them, but what do I do if the word problems seem to be too much at this point? Do I slow down the math and keep going through the problems over and over and over again until he gets them? Do I skip around in the book? Do I switch math programs ( I did order Beast Academy books recently... still waiting for them to arrive in the mail)? What are your expectations from a young child doing the word problems in SM as they move up? I don't want to turn him off, he seems to still enjoy it (just not so much the challenging word problems) but at the same time I am worried about him having gaps or not getting the most out of SM. My husband, who is a little more tough on him on math, thinks that he shouldn't be advanced if he cannot get the word problems. He thinks it's pretty meaningless to move him up when he hasn't mastered them. Curious to know what some parents here think and have done with their kids.

Wow thanks for the info, AggieMama! I have never heard of Corem Deo or Lucas Christian, they seem like interesting options. I didn't even realize there were these types of schools. I don't think we have them here where we live. I already spent some time checking out their websites and will definitely continue to look at these schools more closely. I think my only concern is that is seems very heavy on religion -- we're Catholics and don't mind going to a Christian school but I'm worried that we might not fit in. Will also check out the GTs you mentioned. I've only looked at Garland and Dallas ISD before. Are there any general reasons why you think the GTs don't have good reputations? I've looked at some websites of the public schools you mentioned but it's difficult to determine how different they are from one another. In my research, however, the Plano, Garland and Highland Park schools seem to set themselves apart, either because they're ranked or have been getting rave reviews online. Just curious, why did you leave off Highland Park from your list? Do you think it's not worthy of its reputation? Out of all the public schools, is there one that stands out for you, if strong academics is the only factor to consider? I'm thinking we'll try out for the GTs (maybe next year since we're probably too late to apply this year) so we'll homeschool for a year or so. If we don't get into the GTs we may continue to homeschool (or look into privates). In case none of that works out, I'd like to make sure we live in a district with a great public school system in place.

My family is thinking of moving to Dallas this summer (or end of the year). We've been searching for a school that would be a good fit for our kids but haven't quite found the right one so I'm wondering if there's anyone out there that might be able to steer us in the right direction. A little bit about my kids... They are currently in Kindergarten and 2nd grade. My kindergarten is an all around A student, he has skipped math grades and currently goes to 2nd grade math at school. He is also advanced in reading, and is currently at end of 2nd grade level right now. My 2nd grader, is generally an average/above average student, but does exceptionally well in math. When he was in Kindergarten, he was lucky to have had a teacher discover his abilities in math. She differentiated her lessons for him and taught him 1st grade math in the classroom and recommended him for 2nd grade math the next year. Since then, we have switched schools and since his new school follows an advanced curriculum, he is able to take 3rd grade math. At home, he is close to finishing up 5th grade math. We're lucky to have found teachers and schools that try to accommodate kids and their levels in math and reading. However, now that I've been searching for new schools, I've found that it's pretty difficult to find a school that would make similar accommodations and differentiate their lessons either within the classroom or by accelerating kids by subject. I don't expect the school to keep up with my kids at all times given that they do more work at home. However, I'm hoping to at least find a school where they wouldn't have to repeat what they've already officially done in school, esp in math. I know, for sure, my 5 year old would probably not do well sitting in a classroom if he had to repeat 1st or 2nd grade math (as it is, he is bored in his 2nd grade math class and the teacher has had to give him extra work to make sure he is occupied). My 2nd grader is well behaved and will probably tolerate it but I would really be sad for both of them if they aren't a bit challenged in their classes. We're open to sending them to private schools but given that the schools are very selective and 1st and 3rd grades aren't entry points, we want a good solid public school backup. I know my question is very specific and not sure if this is even the right place for it but thought I'd give this forum a try anyway. I am contemplating homeschooling the kids but not sure I have the stamina and patience to get through it so a public school as backup would still be nice to have. Thanks in advance!