Can someone recommend a French curriculum for my rising 4th grade ds? Something besides Rosetta Stone. We liked MP Prima Latina for Latin but First Start French is recommended for 6-8th graders. Thanks for your help!!

These look wonderful! Thanks for posting!!

We did SL Core B for his first grade year. Loved the read alouds!! He didn't really retain the history we covered from that Core- I think it was over his head because he's very distractable and wiggly (ADHD). He complained about doing the science from SL Science B- even though now he fondly recalls how much he "loved SL science" lol. We tried HOD Beyond for 2nd and ds moaned and groaned constantly about how boring it was so I shelved it and ordered Core C for the rest of 2nd. BUT, I started feeling uncomfortable with some of the content so we ended up taking advantage of the SL guarantee and shipped Core C back at the end of the year. I asked him tonight what he thought of MFW ECC and HOD Preparing. I've gone back and forth a million times about what to use but I've been afraid to go by what he likes better because he seems to complain about most everything we do at some point anyway. He thought they both looked great, but likes MFW ECC better. We were trying to finish up some HOD science tonight and he was complaining about it being boring and wanted to listen in on the Magic School Bus book I was reading to the littles (it was actually about the same topic he was studying anyway- electricity). I ended up just letting him make a narration page and drawing from the Magic School Bus book which he thought was so much more fun and exciting. Oy!! Part of me feels like we have so much structure in our life with our daily schedule, house rules, etc.... that maybe I need to let the reigns go a little when it comes to letting him choose things for history and science. And then the other part thinks that he doesn't know what is best and I should be choosing for him. Thanks for your help and ideas.... I'm checking out the Science Saurus books on Amazon and Wild Kratts is free on my Amazon Prime (I had never even heard of it cuz we don't watch cable TV). I'll look into the CHOW planner and workbook too. :-)

Thank you all so much for sharing what has/hasn't worked for you! I have a third grader that's really grouchy about doing school most days and I'm trying to figure out how much "say" I should give him in picking out things for his fourth grade year. Thanks again!

At what age - if ever - do you allow your dc to give you input on what they'd like to use (especially for science and history)? Thanks!

We love it!!

I'm planning to use Telling God's Story year 1 for Bible this year. Would you recommend getting the PDF version to make printing coloring pages and activity pages easier (I have 3 small children that will be coloring) or just buy the bound book and make copies? Did you buy the book and then wish you would've bought the PDF version instead? Thanks!

Thanks for the suggestions! CGC looks really good!! :-)

We are using HOD Bigger right now which includes some notebooking and experiments. My ds is complaning that he prefers his old Sonlight science which has coloring, cutting, & pasting activities on the student pages (I don't know if all the Sonlight science is like that though- we only used Science B. I thought about looking for lapbooks to go with things we're studying in Bigger's science OR do you have suggestions for other science programs that include more of this type of work? He wants "fun" stuff (& apparently that is what he considers fun). We're finishing up our 2nd grade year right now. We're only on week 6 of Bigger since we started it late in the year after deciding Beyond wasn't working for us.

We are going to be starting "Long Story Short" (Old Testament) for '12-'13. I found it in the Timberdoodle catalog. It looks like it's going to be good. It stretches out over 2yrs. They have a sample chapter to checkout on the link. HTH! http://www.timberdoodle.com/Long_Story_Short_Ten_Minute_Devotions_p/536-536.htm ETA: It looks like it's cheaper at Amazon...(I just like supporting Timberdoodle 'cuz I think they're awesome!)

We love it for all the reasons already mentioned. Easy to teach, gentle yet thorough, student can do independent work even in the early grades, and inexpensive. Love, love, love CLE math!!! :D

CLE Math!! :001_smile:

We are hsing our ds5 with Down syndrome. I found an awesome resource that has helped w/goal setting I'll share: http://www.rodandstaffbooks.com/item/1-19031/?list=Rod_and_Staff_Special_Education it has great ideas to work on various areas of development for younger children!

:iagree: We just purchased the Middle Ages for next year. It looks perfect for us!!! And, I'd call it "do the next thing" since it is just laid out by lessons and your subjects wouldn't be all tied together like w/HOD. Sometime ds is in a "history mood" or "LA mood" and we would get behind on days when he doesn't feel like doing everything the way it is laid out in the guide if we were using HOD.

I "get" what you are saying- but we love it anyway! I think it's a fun introduction and you can play other cd's too. Unless, your dc starts whining that they ONLY will listen to the silly stuff- it's probably okay (IMO).