Looking for Jr. & High School Science curriculum recommendations for a gifted child who wants to either become a scientist or mathematician. Would like curriculum to be biblically sound and heavy on the math. Any recommendations?

Hello all, We are home schooling our children. I am not too familiar with home school curriculum. I am looking for a secular home school curriculum that is good and also reasonably priced. I have a kid that will be going to Kindergarten, 2nd, 3rd and 7th grade. Any information will be greatly appreciated.

I'm overthinking handwriting curriculum. DD, my oldest, is almost 5 and reading proficiently. Overall she picks things up at a normal to slightly fast pace. I wouldn't stress about teaching her handwriting but she's a leftie. I've read so much on yes & no & contradicting rules on leftie modifications that it's made my head spin. Goals are for her to have decent if not beautiful handwriting and for it to become easy and painless. Personally I prefer a zaner-bloser type look, and want something that will not lift the pencil in the middle of letter formation as much as possible. Even though she's reading & spelling well, she has no training on letter formation whatsoever. She wants to start writing, but does not regularly attempt to draw letters. I've been so afraid of ingraining bad habits that I've not encouraged it at all. So, here are the curriculum I've been contemplating and questions about each. Peterson Directed Handwriting - I like the idea of ingraining the movements with rhythm, and they seem so passionate about handwriting. I wonder if it's overkill for most. Also, they say there are lefty skills, is this beyond paper slant? Do they actually recommend some different stroke directions? I downloaded a PDF from their site about teaching lefties, but I didn't see in it any directions about which letters should/shouldn't have modifications. Can anyone speak to this from a lefty perspective? Handwriting without tears - I know so many love it, I kinda wonder if it's overrated. Yes, the letters are a little ugly/weird. Should I just suck that up and go with the program everybody and their dog does? Zaner Bloser workbook - Again, not clear that it has lefty modifications. I'm also confused on what I'd need to order to teach (just the workbook? Teacher manual?). Does the current set of workbooks teach the old style, or the 'simplified' ZB that limits pencil lifts (e.g. for 'b' go down then trace partway back up and go around)? Do they group letters based on common formation? Simply Charlotte Mason's Delightful Handwriting - I like the simple aspect of this, but I've seen it mentioned that aside from a top bound coil, it doesn't address lefty quirks.

I'm looking for some good online sources to use for teaching our kids (dd-11, ds-14, ds-15). Usually my wife posts on here, but I'm the geek who loves computers and what a fantastic learning tool they are. Of course, I could quite happily get lost in a rabbit-warren of related subjects, and will obviously dig deeper at High school level. (Maybe some of my objectives below need to be moved to high-school level?) I would love any inputs of what other homeschooling parents have found works for them and their growing kids. Here's some things I'd be looking for in a middle-school computers course: Project based where there are outcomes that assess how well child has learned that week's lessons, but lets the child's creative juices flow There are lots of coding resources out there - I think Scratch has some good resources in this regard, especially given my intent to focus on creativity. Really need to develop other ways we use the computer as a tool including: Parts of a computer system (Storage, memory, processor, peripherals) Operating System, File Management Internet, staying safe online Multimedia editing - what creative doesn't want to get lost editing photos, video and audio? MS Word or similar - I use these for reports and user manuals, but would appreciate some ideas for creative projects that leverage Word processing skills MS Excel or similar for organizing data (Yes, I know it's not a database!) "cheating" at math homework with those fantastic formulas! Using charts to convey numerical relationships, trends (I think database-y things like Access is best held off for a later level) Crafty stuff - either with help of a printer or services like Shutterfly Real-life application exercises and example, even they are somewhat simplified There are a lot of resources, but I'm hoping to stitch stuff together into a relatively cohesive course and get the kids excited about what they can do. I'd appreciate whatever you can offer, free or otherwise. -- dh to Paradox5

We are considering changing to Story of the World from Bookshark. I do not see a readers list (books for the kids to read in addition to read aloud volumes). Does anyone know if there is a readers list that accompanies this curriculum? Thank you.

Y'all. I'm feeling utterly lost. ODS is 10.5, YDS is 7 and we've always homeschooled. The boys refuse to public school because they want to be together and with me, even cranky me. I have ADHD and fairly certain ODS does too but we've never had him tested. I also suspect he's somewhere on the gifted scale (not profound). We're debating having him tested just to see where he's strengths lie and where we can better meet his needs. I struggle with pulling together all the subjects and curriculum choices. I'm not trying to be a Pinterest mom but I want to engage my kids, let them do interesting stuff and get them prepared for 2ndary education and life while not going insane. We're a military family and we move in a year to ??? so this limits us on outside lessons, groups, etc. They both do sports and love it. Given our struggles with sticking to a schedule and having a good rhythm we're going to implement a Block Schedule with some looping. As in, doing an hour of math and for 30 minutes he's going to work through his spine (Singapore). For 10 minutes work on multiplication & division memorization. Then 20 minutes of fun or practical math like board games, budgeting, read some of our fun math books. Repeat for other subjects. We've really been lacking the structure and expanded learning that drew us to homeschooling. While he's doing his independent work I'll be working with YDS on his stuff. We'll do some of the fun stuff together. ODS - 10.5 years old. 5th grade Math Singapore 4/5. We've gotten a little behind in the curriculum but have done a LOT of practical stuff and math is one of his favorites. He'll be breezing through or skipping several sections in 4 because he's already done it elsewhere. He's going to start working through LOF Fractions in a couple weeks. I'm thinking that we'll be heading to AOPS for PreA for 6th grade. Should I transition or supplement with Beast Academy? Is Singapore, with IP enough? Language Arts Grammar - Finishing Grammar and Writing 4, just the grammar portion. Will move to Fix It Grammar when done. Writing - Starting IEW. Spelling - Running through AAS to make sure we haven't missed anything. Reading/Literature - Total Language Plus for guided novel study. Plus choosing books from various lists (Mensa, Newberry, NEH). ODS is an avid reader so we'll just be guiding him to good books for free reading. YDS - 7 years old, 2nd grade Math Singapore Life of Fred (reading together, more for fun than main curriculum) Language Arts All About Reading IEW Reading/Literature with Total Language Plus & his own reading lists for free reading. He LOVES listening to Audible books & being read to. He'll spend HOURS listening to books so this is very appropriate to him. ***They'll be doing science, social studies, most extracurriculars together just on age appropriate levels. Science We've got a couple of Apologia texts & journals but we haven't been super formal with curriculum to this point. We want to work in a lot more experiments and hands on stuff. I really need to do some backwards planning to figure out what we need to do to get ready for middle and high school. Social Studies Notgrass Uncle Sam & I for an extended study on government as a lead up to the 2020 election. Jr. Ranger Programs. We like to camp & road trip so we'll be hitting a few of these. Geography - ??? We'll talk about specific locations as they come up in our studies but we do want a more structured something to really reinforce geo. Extras Some art with youtube, typing, coding & cryptography for ODS. Dinosaur stuff for YDS. This is open to whatever the kids are interested in. Plus practical life skills like cooking, budgeting, calculating prices while shopping, domestic chores, etc. I don't know if its FOMO or my guy saying something's off or self-doubt or what but I feel like I'm not doing right by my kids. The journey to today has not been very easy. We've had 2 international and 1 cross town moves in the past 5 years. There's another move in a year; possibly international. Given my ADHD and other (minor) health issues we've REALLY lacked structure that ODS needs. I know I've said structure multiple times but it has become clear that its VERY important for our family. Please give me ALL your thoughts and recommendations. I'm 100% open to whatever you have to say!

Hey all! So I’m trying to make a decision for 2nd Grade Math and I need some help! Do you feel that Saxon or CLE teaches the facts better? I really like both of these programs (we’ve used some CLE in the past) but I can’t seem to decide which one I want to do. Anyone have any thoughts and opinions on which program they prefer?!

I need some ideas for grammar for this next year. We've been using FLL all the way through (DS levels 1-3; DD levels 1-4 and then Rod and Staff this year), and I'm having to acknowledge to myself that I just don't think it's working. Both kids can rattle off definitions and lists like nobody's business, but ask them to actually identify parts of speech in a sentence when we HAVEN'T just spent five minutes talking about that part of speech, and they look at me like deer in headlights. My son can easily tell you that "A sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought" and "All sentences begin with a capital letter and end with a punctuation mark" - and yet he routinely begins his sentences with lowercase letters. 🙄 The memorization just isn't making its way into practical use. I'm looking for something that, ideally, would cover grammar in a thorough but incremental manner, in about 15 minutes a day, with CLEAR explanations, plenty of practice, and in a format/presentation that's attractive and interesting to my kids. DD11 is an artistic, dreamy soul who'd love to spend her whole day drawing and listening to audiobooks; DS9 is a budding engineer who's preoccupied with Legos, pistons, gears, and the like. I don't even know where to begin looking. We've never used (nor really looked at) anything but FLL, and I've kind of been waiting to see if all the memorization would begin to pay off in practical application...but I'm just not seeing it, and I think I'm facing the fact that we need to try something else. Thank you so much for your help!!! Eta: I realized I accidentally posted this in the wrong topic...and as I can't find a way to delete it, please pardon me! 😳 I'll go post in the K-8 curriculum board where it was meant to be.

I need some ideas for grammar for this next year. We've been using FLL all the way through (DS levels 1-3; DD levels 1-4 and then Rod and Staff this year), and I'm having to acknowledge to myself that I just don't think it's working. Both kids can rattle off definitions and lists like nobody's business, but ask them to actually identify parts of speech in a sentence when we HAVEN'T just spent five minutes talking about that part of speech, and they look at me like deer in headlights. My son can easily tell you that "A sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought" and "All sentences begin with a capital letter and end with a punctuation mark" - and yet he routinely begins his sentences with lowercase letters. 🙄 The memorization just isn't making its way into practical use. I'm looking for something that, ideally, would cover grammar in a thorough but incremental manner, in about 15 minutes a day, with CLEAR explanations, plenty of practice, and in a format/presentation that's attractive and interesting to my kids. DD11 is an artistic, dreamy soul who'd love to spend her whole day drawing and listening to audiobooks; DS9 is a budding engineer who's preoccupied with Legos, pistons, gears, and the like. They both blanch at the sight of densely-packed or tiny text on a page, and each has a tendency to get lost in their own thoughts if something doesn't hold their attention. I don't even know where to begin looking. We've never used (nor really looked at) anything but FLL, and I've kind of been waiting to see if all the memorization would begin to pay off in practical application...but I'm just not seeing it, and I think I'm facing the fact that we need to try something else. Thank you so much for your help!!!

Does anyone have any good ideas on some really good science curriculum or living books or even, heaven forbid, a boring text book with which my 17 can peruse in order to prepare for the ACT? We have already done all of the Master Books and we have apologia books as well. Still, the practice ACT tests are throwing her off. We would really appreciate any and all suggestions as she is getting frustrated in the area of science. Thanks, momto12

Hi there! There are already threads that list free curriculum, but they focus more on the older kids, so I thought it would be a good idea to start a thread with free curriculum for preschoolers and kindergartners. These are some of the resources I used as a teacher and now as a mom. Please add on and list any free curriculum or resources you are using or that you know of. I taught 4 year old Kindergarten before homeschooling, and I worked closely with the 5K teacher to mesh our programs. For my son, we just have fun doing phonics, handwriting together, math games, and take lots of field trips around your area! Also, read, read, read! At least 3 read alouds a day, more if you can. Kids at this age really need hands on play with materials like blocks, play dough, ect. to develop their cognitive and motor skills. We also do monthly themes based on the seasons, holidays, etc. I don’t use a boxed curriculum, just tons of good books and free printables and ideas from the internet. www.starfall.com Starfall is wonderful and free online, it has an ABC section for early phonics and reading going all the way up to 4th or 5th grade. They also sell a complete Kindergarten curriculum, but you can just use the ree activities and alphabet printables on the website for phonics and handwriting. Here is a program with lesson plans for presenting Nursery rhymes to work on phonics and literacy skills, it is called Rhyme a Week: http://www.teach.virginia.edu/go/wil...and_rhymes.htm Just to let you know, it is a program that was developed for Head Start. Some homeschool families might not approve of the source, but I used it in the Catholic school I worked in and I didn't find anything objectionable about it. The also have a program called "Book a Week" that has lesson plans for activities to go along with a children's book. It is also used to increase literacy and reading skills, and expose kids to picture books. http://www.teach.virginia.edu/go/wil...#A_Book_A_Week I don't use these faithfully, but if you wanted to it could constitute a complete language arts curriculum, I would just add in a bit more formal handwriting and/or phonics. Don Potter’s website has a phonics program called Blend Phonics that I think would work well at this age, as long as the child knows the alphabet. http://www.donpotter.net/Blend%20Phonics.htm www.littlegiraffes.com This is a website that was maintained by a Kindergarten teacher until she retired, it has great ideas for hands on activities and projects in language arts, math, science, reading, etc. The monthly themes section has great ideas units you could use as an integrated curriculum, also it has great ideas for hands on projects and centers that relate to science, social studies, as well as math and reading. Lots of fun crafts too! Again, you could use the themes to plan your activities for the whole year. www.jmeacham.com This is another public school teacher who still maintains her site. Although she teaches older kids now, she started out in Kindergarten. I really like her “roll a games” for math, which you can find here:http://www.jmeacham.com/roll.a.games.htm http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/abc_centers.html This website is from a former teacher who is now a homeschooling mom. She has tons of resources for preschool and Kindergarten. These are her ABC centers, which have some great games. She also has printable reading books that coordinate with great Children's lit: http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/printable_booklets.html This site also includes a link on the left for Christian resources and printables, and there are plenty of ideas for math games and language arts games if you follow the links. http://www.first-school.ws/ This is a preschool site with tons of free printables, but they are also great for the Kindergarten level. They have handwriting worksheets in either Zaner-Bloser or D'Nelian. They also have some great flashcards, coloring pages, and they have lesson plans for various children's books and themes. Their site can be a little hard to navigate, but their free printables really are great. Their alphabet handwriting sheets also include pages with Christian and biblical themes if you wanted to incorporate religion, though most of their resources are secular. Here is the link to their handwriting printable section: http://www.first-school.ws/theme/handwriting.htm This site has a handwriting worksheet generator you can use to print out your child’s name in dot letters for them to practice. You can use Zaner-Bloser or D’Nelian, or cursive. www.handwritingworksheets.com Here is a page with free learning activity sheets for math, writing, reading, etc. You need to register at www.learningpage.com, but it is free. They also have lesson plans and printables to go with themes units, such as ocean animals, that integrate all the different subjects around a science topic with resources for grades prek-4. Here is a lin k for the activity sheets they have by month in an archive: http://www.learningpage.com/member/p...thly-sets.html Here is a link for their themes units: http://www.learningpage.com/pages/me...ct_oceans.html And here are the basic sheets that have great math and letter practice: http://www.learningpage.com/pages/me..._dnealian.html Here is a site with fun ideas for theme units, they also have songs and fingerplays listed by theme that you can incorporate into whatever you are studying. This is the section with recipes for things like playdough, paint, etc. http://www.preschooleducation.com/recipe.shtml They also have great ideas for games and activities to go along with phonics and math. These are all hands on activities and games, not worksheets. If you wanted a more traditional math program, I know that MEP math has a kindergarten program. I haven't used it, but it is free online and a lot of families on this board really like it. It is a British site so the Kindergarten year is called "Reception." Here is a link: http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/proje...ry/default.htm If you are looking for a CM approach, Ambleside Online has free Kindergarten suggestions and reading lists as does Tanglewood Academy, and Mater Amabilis (Catholic CM approach). You could also look at the booklists on the Living Books curriculum website or Memoria press for more literature ideas, and then just use your library card to check out the books. I know there are a lot more out there, let's keep em coming!

Just starting to lay out our high school plan and wondering if there are current thoughts or ideas on the online or software packages available. Is Edu-Track still a useful program? What about Donna Young and her planners/programs? are they still relevant and applicable? any new programs or products that folks have tried and liked? Thanks in Advance!! Pam

I have 3 kids, all strong personalities. A 7 year old who is a young 3rd grader this year, a 5 year old who is an old kindergartener this year, and a very active 2.5 year old who is very disruptive during schooltime. My 5 and 7 year olds are only 2 years and a few months apart but are 4 grade levels apart because they're each on the other side of the Sept 1 deadline for school. I am an engineer who didn't plan to homeschool but was not happy with the available school choices and I felt my daughter was too young (just turning 5) to start kindergarten. I wish she was in 2nd grade instead of 1st. Even though she does well with her schoolwork, I feel like she's doing too much for her age and that her peer group is too old for her when in activities. I grew up in private Christian school which was nearly exclusively Abeka with upper level Saxon math, and I had 2 years of correspondence Latin in highschool, and there was a lot of poetry memorization and Scripture verse memorization throughout K-12. I was nearly always bored in school, and I thought history was especial drudgery, but I think it was the presentation from Abeka. My children are part of a public correspondence school so we can get funding to cover some of our expenses if the curriculum is secular. So our curriculum... Both kids do Suzuki music, my daughter in violin for 4 years, and my son on cello for 2 years. Both kids take Spanish lessons weekly, and I review lesson content at home when I have time, and read them Spanish books and try to make at least half of our limited TV time in Spanish. I don't have a Spanish curriculum, and while I don't want them to be writing in Spanish yet, I would like a more structured plan. I began my daughter with Logic of English and did too much in the K year, level A, B, and C for my young kindergartener. Also in K, she did Rightstart Math A, and Bookshark Science. We liked Bookshark Science so much that we did Bookshark Science and History in grade 1, switched to Abeka math, which works well for my daughter, and repeated level C and did D for Logic of English. This past year (grade 2), I used Bookshark for Science, History, and Language Arts. I did this because I felt LOE Essentials was too far beyond my daughter with no graphics in the workbooks and the lessons just looked heavy. I also felt that we would save time on the reading since the LA reading was part of the history curriculum. We did continue to use the LOE flashcards and I had her do spelling with the letter tiles. I also got her a level D book to use through the year, but we actually just began D with her summer school and she was so happy to see it again and is actually asking to work in it. It's only about 50 lessons, so we'll probably finish before the main school year season and I was planning to begin LOE Essentials then. BTW, we hated the Bookshark language arts. My daughter hated the weekly writing assignments and could never think of anything to write. For Pre-K, my son was attentive to most of the history and science when graphics were involved. He only occasionally listened to A Child's History of the World. He was/is usually reluctant working through LOE book A (still not done!) but he's more interested now that he and his sister both have similar looking books as she's working in part D. Bookshark history reading was excellent, and my daughter really loved the reading and asks me to read to her. I also enjoyed the reading content, but my voice was usually hoarse every night with so much reading and talking all day long. I want good literature, but I just feel like I can't do the volume/schedule in Bookshark. I also know that I can't do two grade levels of Bookshark. My son won't be ready for level 3 (ages 8-11) and I don't really want to restart my daughter at level 1, though I've considered it. Bookshark science was good, had science kits with everything for experiements and a DVD to demonstrate. The reading was mostly good, I just didn't like one of the recent sections of the Usborne Book of Knowledge spine which had some pretty detailed machine workings which often were too wordy for my daughter. I really like the 4 day week schedule, which gave me some freedom on our lesson day. Abeka math is working well now that I know how to trim the classroom schedule. I also use some Rightstart manipulatives. We did not like Rightstart in K, but I've thought about trying Rightstart D to use with Abeka. A friend told me the early Rightstart was not as good as the later books. Abeka is good for us because I think my daughter needs to have worksheets to complete. She says she doesn't like math, but she does well with it. I also like to feel that she's doing real work and able to see progress. I'm planning to do year round school. I need to complete the regular year of courses on schedule for ease with our correspondence school's required progress reports. However, my kids need structured days, and I don't want them to forget what they've learned, so we're still doing school through the summer. It is fun school though, with days off for activities and art every day we do our light schoolwork. I'm not an art person but love Artistic Pursuits for the art history, but haven't had time in the past year, so we've restarted it. I would also like to start our regular school subjects earlier (maybe August 1) so that I can have some freedom throughout the year to take time off when needed. I've already ordered Abeka math 3 for my daughter and K for my son (I'll also add some Rightstart projects for him). I'm still debating getting Rightstart D for my daughter. My son may repeat LOE A. I haven't decided yet. He's only starting to read short vowel words and his handwriting could use some extra practice. My daughter will do what's left of D over the summer, and then I think we'll be getting Essentials for our Grammar. I don't like the LOE Essentials add-on Readers and writing program. It looks boring and writing isn't from real literature. I have looked at IEW, Blackbird and am now looking at Cottage Press. IEW looks too time consuming with having to watch DVDs, and may be too much work for my daughter who hates to write. Blackbird looks much simpler, and we can buy one unit at a time to go at our own pace. Cottage Press Fable and Song looks like my daughter would enjoy it. We read through all the Aesop's Fables with Bookshark and always loved to hear them. I'm just worried that it's too much to do with LOE Essentials also. I've tried to keep with secular materials because our homeschool will not pay for faith based materials and I have to purchase them on my own. I would however like to establish more Biblical influence in their daily lives. I really want to try Science in the Beginning. It's structure appeals to me that it's chronological science series, has short lessons, and daily demonstrations. I think it might help to shorten our workload. It is also faith based, but only $40 for the year so not a budget problem. I'm having a problem with the classical writing programs being faith based so they will not be reimbursible. IEW would be reimbursible, but I'm just not convinced that it's right for us. I have been strongly recommended to use Story of the World for history. I like the sound of the program, but am kind of worried about delaying American history for my daughter for 4 more years. However, I guess we could supplement American History in the summer time. I was also thinking of supplementing Story of the World with Mystery of History CD (purchased myself) Someone loaned me a Book 2 to review and I disliked parts of it, although the Level 1 Old Testament history would probably be better for us, so I am still considering it. I'm now reading more about "classical" education and am thinking about including Latin next year. I've had my daughter in Spanish lessons for 3 years, and my son for 2 years. In school, I had Spanish, French, German, and Latin and cannot speak anything. I put my children into Spanish because I want them to speak well in a practical 2nd language. I now am reading all the classical method essays that Latin is better for children to understand grammar and I wonder if I had an advantage that I didn't realize because I had a bit of Latin in my education. Now, I'm thinking of adding it in, but where? Could I do Latin just 2 days a week? I don't really like to schedule that way, but I don't see how I can add another thing to do everything every day. I feel like I cannot stop Spanish before they've mastered it. I was really planning to add in Russian in 3 years so they have a different language type. I just feel that it broadens their minds. I'm also pretty passionate that music broadens the mind in the same way. Anyway, I'm sorry for the lengthy post but I was trying to present a full history. I posted a week ago, but didn't have all the info there and didn't respond because I didn't have a working computer and didn't want to type it up on my phone. I'm an engineer, not a teacher. I'm not even really a kid person, though I like my kids:) I'm a bit of a perfectionist and get stressed if things are not done the right way. I am reading online about Charlotte Mason, WTM, and classical education. I haven't read the books. I really feel lost in what to do. I guess I'm more classically minded. I think structure and memorization are good. I would like to do more poetry and Bible memorization. I feel guilty that we haven't done much at all, even though it was a big part of my childhood. We do memorize math facts and phonics. I like the idea of memorizing a history timeline, but I don't know how to do this or if it's included in Story of the World. I've read a lot about Classical Conversations, and though I like some things about it, other things won't work for us. I also seem kind of Mason minded in that I really want more literature to be used. I am even feeling like I should do bird studies. We do a bit of nature studies based on what we're doing outside. I love what I read on Ambleside that the CM method uses folk music! I love folk music and teach it to my kids, trying to teach them something new every month or so, and sing them at bedtime. With what I know of Waldorf, I am not inclined toward that method as it's not practical enough for me. I feel guilty that I do so much with my daughter and not enough with my K son. I really want to combine their history, science, and read alouds. Spanish is combined, and we could combine Latin if I'm brave enough. My other problem is that I'm really striving for a sense of balance. I realized this with music. It's consuming our life, and I don't want that for our kids. We practice daily, have weekly private lessons, weekly group lessons, monthly performance classes, semester recitals, more special performances, a yearly Suzuki insitute for 1 week, and a separate fiddle class for a week later in the summer. Our teacher is wonderful and so are her students, and my daughter plays beautifully. While I want her to do her best, I don't want to funnel her into being a music major in college. Yes, if that's what she wants, but I don't want her to feel that it's her only option. I'm a pianist, and music is important to me, and I want my kids to be competent musicians to be able to have fun playing with others and in church. I want them to love folk music, not just classical music. I also do not want them to be burned out and dislike music. Anyway, I'm seeking balance because of this awareness from music, but also in other areas. I'm trying to cut back a little on activities. They were in swimming lessons Saturdays until February, when I quit and it's been so nice to have free Saturdays. They ski on Monday nights, and I just hate Mondays, because it's violin lesson, Spanish lesson, and ski lesson. Such a long day. Speaking of balance, where do the mothers make time for themselves? I have no idea. I don't know. I'm trying to figure myself out. I know I can obsess with anything and go extreme on anything. So I'm trying to cut back and do less, but now I'm trying to add more in with Latin. Maybe it will be less if kids are working together with some subjects. I don't feel confident enough to build my own curriculum by collecting books and teaching my own lesson plans, though Ambleside will be a great resource for extras for us. Every new curriculum I hear about seems like the best and the one, until I read about the next one. I feel truly lost and out of my element nearly all the time. I feel like we are doing too much and need to cut back and then sometimes I panic that I'm not doing enough, and that I should have been doing things since K that I hadn't thought of until now, like Latin. So for next school year: Math - Abeka K and 3, and some Rightstart Grammar and Phonics - LOE Foundations and Essentials Grade 3 writing - Blackbird, Cottage Press or something else?? Story of the World Literature Read Alouds ?? Does Story of the World have a good literature reading list? I really wish it was packaged like Bookshark. I hate shopping. And I can't even see the list until buying the curriculum. Science in the Beginning Spanish - want to add more formal oral curriculum ? Latin - Song School 2 days a week? Artistic Pursuits - 1 day a week, also considered Atlier art, but it will probably be beyond our budget since we use all our extracurricular money on music. Suzuki Music I also just got a computer and tablet for my kids do some learning apps / games. We really limit screen time for kids, so this is a big deal for them. I do have Spanish Rosetta Stone from our school library (looking forward to trying this) but would really like any recommendations for any learning games or apps. Well, even if no one reads this very long post, it has at least been a form of therapy for me to type it out. Any suggestions would be wonderful!

Hi, I was wondering if anyone had a Spanish curriculum they would recommend to get my soon-to-be fifth grader started? Thanks so much?

Hello! We tried a montessori this year and it did not work for my dau with dyslexia/processing issues (long story). I just pulled my 9 year old dau, 7 year old son, and 4 year old son out and quit my full time job..... My daughter struggles to learn unless she experiences what she is learning, so I'm searching for a curriculum that is specific to 'experiential learning'. My first grader is advanced, and my 3rd grader is behind, so I'm thinking about doing a second grade curriculum and modifying it as needed for each individual student. What do you use? Any suggestions? I started to do the online public school but it was so stuffy and boring, with too many rules. If there is already a thread about this (I've searched), would you direct me to it? I'm also searching for experiences people have had with neuropsychologist for testing their kiddos for processing issues, memory issues, etc. Something beyond dyslexia is going on and I just wish it was easier to find it out- I'm researching like a crazy woman but I feel like I'm reinventing the wheel when some parent out there may be able to point me in the right direction. Our dyslexia remediation therapist is helping us find someone to test, but it's taking a while and then what do we do with the results? I wish there were somewhere we could type in all of her symptoms and then it gave us an answer about what is wrong, how to help strengthen her brain, if it is something that can even be remediated, and where we should seek help? Has anyone done Brain Balancing for their processing disorders? Thank you!!!!!!! I'm so needy at this phase and the professionals in my community don't seem to get it or have any ideas for me.

I'm looking for a Spanish 1 curriculum for a younger sibling. We need books that are more suited towards self-teaching, and we'd like DVDs/CDs to help with pronunciation. We're also under a budget (We were going to get the ACE PACE Spanish 1 Set but the DVDs alone cost almost $300). Under $200 dollars is ideal, but if there is a very good curriculum, we'd consider going higher. What would you recommend as a good curriculum? Thank you so much!

Hi, I'm new here. Right now I'm looking for a Spanish language arts curriculum or guide for 2nd grade. It is as a first language, English is our second language. I can't believe it's so hard to find something good! Is anyone in the same situation? Thanks!

Anyone want to share what they have planned for each of their kids during this coming school year? And maybe what they're keeping/ditching from the previous year? I thought I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do, and now I'm swimming around in a sea of curriculum options for now and the distant future, and feeling confused. Nailing down what works for us as a family seems like it will be a multi year adventure. As of now, the things I *think* I'm settled on (ha. Might change by this afternoon) 2nd grader Math mammoth (finish 1st level, start 2) Story book of science Mystery of history ancients plus read alouds IEW poetry memorization Bravewriter jot it down projects Bible reading from the Message Prima Latina Lots of read aloud time I'm going back and forth on what to do with the rest of language arts. She's a very advanced reader, and likes writing her own stories and poems. I'd like to help her spelling and writing skills catch up to her interest level. Considering starting michael clay Thompson island level, but I'm not sure. I'm also looking at rod and staff spelling. I'd also considered bravewriter partnership writing, but will probably hold off on that. We did a variety of things this past year, including first language lessons and copywork from simply Charlotte mason. For art and artist studies, I haven't really decided on doing anything in particular. She loves to draw. We do art hub sometimes, and are using meet the masters over the summer for free. 1st grader (turns 6 in the end of August) My younger daughter tends to tag along disruptively during whatever I'm doing with her older sister. She learns through osmosis a lot of the time, and has a hard time staying still for anything. Tends towards adhd type behavior, but is very bright. So I don't want to saddle her with too much to do that will turn her off of learning. im pretty much planning to have her join in on all of her sister's stuff as she's interested. She loves poetry, and I'm mostly doing jot it down for her. She's already doing 1st grade math mammoth. And I'll give her her own copywork selections. Please share your plans too!

I've got a high schooler who enjoys math as long as he can see the real life application. Can anyone suggest a curriculum/workbook series for me? If not, another approach that I can be sure I'm covering all of the necessities with. Thanks! Debbie

We are starting our second week in Wayfarers Ancients. It’s way too soon to give a proper review, but we are enjoying it so much that I just had to say something. J ELTL – I had considered this before and wish I had started it then. My dd and I are both happy with this approach of using literature for English. Dd says she likes doing dictation, which surprised me. She’s paying attention…recently she informed me that she did not agree with one part of the author’s condensed summary. J (I am still using BJU English some; dd and I are both writing papers. She is writing about Rachel Carson; I am writing about Charles Dickens. She likes when we do things together like that, which is one of many reasons why I really want to incorporate more BraveWriter into our plan next year.) We are enjoying the science. Dd loves McHenry’s Botany and always likes the Tiner books. Quark Chronicles looks good. The Hakim book should be excellent. Various books are listed as optional for science and history, and we will read some of those too. History is going well. Ancient Egypt is not our favorite, but the books are engaging. I love that she includes real books for geography. We have not done the mapping yet. Wayfarers has great literature choices. One suggested read-aloud right now is The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Since we read that recently, I am reading aloud Wizard of Oz (and other eclectic personal choices like Jan Karon’s books and Wind in the Willows). Music; Timeline; Book of Centuries; Art; Narration – I love the visual reminder to include these things. We are enjoying Vivaldi and dd is narrating. Since we have been dealing with things like sick cats (they are doing much better since the $$$ vet visit!), we have not started the art program. I may start doing it on the weekend. A daily Bible reading and some book choices relating to Bible are listed. We are doing the Bible reading (currently Genesis) and one of the books. Yes, I will tweak. I tweak, therefore I am. J I have used Heart of Dakota twice (Bigger and Preparing) and we liked a lot of it. But I really like that the Wayfarers layout has more white space (to write notes and substitutions) and less wordiness. With Wayfarers, I have finally decided to WRITE IN THE GUIDES! In pen! I no longer see the guide as something to give away or sell later; I now see it as a record of all the great reading and learning we are doing together. In the bottom right-hand corner of each two-page spread, I am jotting down the date we completed that day. I love that you can buy one-third (one term) of the year at a time. It keeps the guides a great size and lets you try Wayfarers for about $32. I think the guides are well-priced and completely worth it. One big reason I chose Wayfarers was the daily plan. I have many ideas, lists, etc. but have trouble pulling those together into a coherent plan. Speaking of tweaking and trying to do too much…We may join friends who are starting TOG Ancients this fall. J There are several reasons; one big one is that dd is a fairly social only child and we NEED to see our hs friends regularly. If we do TOG with friends, I would either drop the History part of Wayfarers or merge it together (there is some overlap). The books in Wayfarers are a great mix of older and newer, Christian and secular. I found a lot of the books at Half-Price. Congratulations to Kathy Jo DeVore for this amazing achievement!

Does anyone have a recommendation for business math? Thanks so much! :bigear:

Wondering if any of you seasoned mamas can help me out? I am trying to find a new language arts curriculum for Gr2 next year, and Gr1 next year for my 2 kids. I tried Before-5 in a Row for preschool LA and found it boring, the books were simpler than what I would have chosen to read, and I didn't like all the extra "fluff" chat. I tried LLATL blue book for Gr1 this year and found the extra activities boring, the books they chose boring for the most part... Just ended up using the phonics readers and scrapping all the extra work. I am using HWT for writing this year as my daughter has CP and has fine motor difficulty, so we do a lot of oral work. I scrapped the book list from LLATL, and we just choose more challenging books and I get them to do narrations afterwards (like mini book reports, orally). I alternate that with having them retell the story in their own words. For pleasure we read chapter books out loud. I am thinking of trying Spelling Workout for spelling, continuing with choosing stories of my own and doing narrations for comprehension. We have lots of phonics books and early readers that will cover Gr1-2. I am at a loss for what to do for just simply grammar. That is not too "fluffy", nor too boring, nor move too quickly... Haven't tried FLL or R&S but have read mixed reviews of both, so not sure what to do.