HI, Has anyone successfully combined any of the Apologia Zoology series...Flying, Swimming, and Land in 1 school year? Or is there another curriculum choice?

If you belong to Scribd, they have all the fairy books under documents that you can download.

DS10 will move up to 5th Math: GoMath 5, Singapore based Teaching Textbooks Grade 5 Science: Apologia Physics and Chemistry History: US History using Time Travelers from Homeschool in the Woods, including geography, state study and president study; Living Book based history with projects and some lapbooking Spelling: Spelling Workout E Literature: The Sign of the Beaver, The Last of the Mohicans, The Matchlock Gun, Thumbelina (fairy book), 20,000 Leagues, Let It Begin Here, Johnny Tremain, Treasure Island, Little House in the Big Woods, By the Dawn's Early Light, The Amazing Impossible Erie Canal, Desperate Journey, Poems Battle Hymn of the Republic, Hatchet, Call of the Wild and Tuck Everlasting. More Poems and stories from the blue, yellow and green fairy books. Grammar: The Nose Tree Writing: IEW A with CDs Vocabulary: Greek & Latin Stem, Affixes--from TPT Foreign Language: Duolingo German, self paced DS changed mind to Spanish, using YouTube and an Elementary Spanish Workbook--not investing a lot of money bc DS has already started German and French and well is dry. Art: Class with Art Teacher from local co-op

I used Homeart Studio for 3rd grade. The cd was very reasonable. However, the supplies ran about 150 bucks. My son is very picky and enjoyed some of the assignments and others he hated. I also would have like to see more of an art lesson vs a craft how to. I tried a co-op class for art but its mainly a social time. I am trying Meet the Masters and the Kitchen Table Classroom. The Meet the Masters is 34.95 and the other Kitchen Table Classroom is 24.95 with 40% off. Meet the Masters is for 5 lessons and the Kitchen Table Classroom is for the year. Both curricula cover art instruction and the artists. I purchased Meet the Masters before I found Kitchen Table Classroom. I will use both bc i bought both, but I am leaning toward Kitchen Table Mama. 1. Written by a former art teacher now homeschool mama 2. Supplies needed are basic and reasonable in cost. 3. Lots of freebies that she describes how to use to extend lessons. 4. Lessons are laid out logically and appear easy to follow. 5. Lessons appear to teach art techniques vs only fun art projects. I can see learning perspective, lines, color theory, etc Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

I think at this age you need to explain to your children how and why this is inappropriate and learn that this is not a behavior we want to imitate. The teachers behavior speaks volumes of hos insecurity and inability to articulate his expectations. As far as you saying something, it will only come back on your child. been there done that. AND hell hath no fury than a challenged teacher. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Yes, I have had that problem with Math Mammoth. Honestly, it gave my DS9 fits. However, I used modules last year to shore up math learning. DS scored 5th level in 3rd grade and his level of understanding math is excellent. To help with the mental math issue, I teach it as another method of solving problems. We are in 4th grade and pretty hands on. I continue to model how I would solve it mentally out loud. Slowly, DS has come around. It will take time but I find that if you look ahead to the test (even if you dont give) you can see how much emphasis the author is requiring and adjust accordingly. I have used 2 other math programs and had issues with the 1st chapter or so, then clear sailing. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Thanks for the reassurance. I do not want to turn this into a hate but i want him prepared enough for life. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Yes, his eyes have been checked. His older brother had tracking issues so I was all about making sure this one was checked too![emoji1] Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Do check out Pandia Press, they came out with Astronomy 2. We are doing their Chemistry this year and love it. DS9 is thrilled.

DS9 is between 3rd and 4th. His spelling is superb. He is able to read very well. His comprehension of reading material is good but I think he could do better. Our state requires a test and he scored 5th-grade level in math and 3rd-grade level in language arts. On the language arts portion, he played a guessing game and finished the entire test very quickly because he did not think it was worth his time. His words. HE ABSOLUTELY HATES READING. Yes, I have done ALL the hacks, tricks, and traps to raise his interest/love of reading. But this boy will not be a bibliophile. I am at the point of making reading required for a length of time each day. What is a minimum he should be reading to build his stamina and skills for a 3rd or 4th grader? Hopefully, I stated that correctly. Right now he reads 30 minutes per day 5 days a week and that is pushing the envelope. He refuses chapter books (I read those to him), I have him reading leveled readers that I got from a school or other such books from the library. He is reading end-of-year 4th grade, 5th grade and 6th grade leveled nonfiction type readers. (Also, he hates fiction). Where possible, I have him read for one of his subjects, when not possible the leveled reader or something, anything off the book shelf. It has been so bad getting him to read that I have sat through a video game or two having him read everything out loud to get his reading accomplished. This reading issue has also made selecting language arts curriculum very difficult. I switched to using Reed Novel Studies and stand alone grammar, poetry, reading lesson books so I could use books that he is somewhat interested in. We do have some learning issues, DS9 has Dysgraphia, needs to move and is a typical boy. I have addressed this with recess and a mini trampoline. The dysgraphia is slowly being addressed. I also think he is borderline ADD with anxiety issues. I have worked on this for 2 years and this year the anxiety has not appeared. Fingers are crossed! To wrap up, how much reading time would you suggest?

Pandia Press offers level 2 history that corresponds with SOTW, you could purchase the same time frame for your 7th grader, say Ancients that you are doing for your youngers. This will give your 7th grader the workload he needs but he will be on the same topics as the youngers. Go to the Pandia Press website they have a lovely try before you buy sample that goes through the first 18 lessons I think.

We are using Bitsbox, DS8 almost 9. He likes it. It is structured and builds upon itself, he can go at his own pace. I believe it is Javascript. I would like to check out Udemy for Python, since for his birthday he is getting a Cozmo and it can be programmed with Python.

My DS8 almost 9 is a natural speller. I do not spend a lot of time on spelling. I chose to let this be a more self-guided class for DS. We use http://spellingclassroom.com/ The tricky 450 words by grade. Each list is broken in weeks. There are word introduction flashcards, games, puzzles, quizzes, and of course the test. This is his one and only online class. My rules go at your pace, min of 3 modules before a test, the test must be passed with 90% and above before going to next week's list. As a teacher, I can monitor his progress on the games and tests. The cost is $24.95 for monitoring. Free if you don't want to monitor. They offer spelling, vocabulary, sight words, holiday, US presidents, summer school. A couple of things happened, I got a little 15-30 minute break, DS had fun working on his own, he took ownership/pride in accomplishing his goals and he saw a reward for his hard work in terms of a very quick, minute-long video game.

Treasures. You can buy the grade level anthologies very inexpensively on Amazon. Then, google treasures and you should see all the workbooks for free or try here http://readingspecialist-ihm.weebly.com/treasures-reading-resources.html . They include On level workbook, grammar, spelling. There will also be spelling lists that differentiate between below, on level and above level. These programs do a really good job teaching skills such as main idea, supporting details, inference, cause and effect, problem solution. However, the reading material is substantially lower than most homeschool selected material for the same grade level. I found that though my DS8 did very well with the basal method and scored near perfect on his annual test (required by state) he fell very short when I switched him the following year to WWE 2. I did some reading about why America's test scores fall low to the rest of the world. K-4 we do a bang up job, all our ELA is geared toward skill development using the basal method. However, by 5th grade we start to lose points because our students know skills but not history, science, difficult words, etc, so their lack of depth of knowledge and quality literature hinders them and test scores fall. The writing element of this basal program leaves a lot to be desired, so I would go with something different. So, If you feel a basal will help in the short term I would go for it, but plan to add in quality reading, history and science so that your student is prepared for the now and future years. The Treasures program has 6 units that are covered over 5 weeks each, the 6th week for each unit is a benchmark unit that the public schools use for testing, projects. Overall the program is 36 weeks long.

I have been very dissatisfied with homeschool science curriculum and based on the boards so have many. I have also seen where it is the one area homeschool falls short. So, I have taken to making my own science programs. For Earth Science I picked a main book for each topic as a spine, supplemented with projects and worksheets from enchanted learning or made my own. Sometimes I used freebies from TeachersPayTeachers. The subjects I covered for Earth Science where Astronomy, Geosphere, Hydrosphere, Atmosphere and some Biosphere. Yes, it was a bit of work putting it all together but the result was engaging, quality learning that met my child's needs (DS8). The books we liked best were the National Geographic books. The pictures are fabulous, the content is current and not dry. The not so fun parts were when I based our learning on an encyclopedia, wow even I fell asleep. I also added books about people or places that DS could read. If he was really interested in something we would investigate and if it didn't hold his interest we covered the basics and moved forward. One of the fun things we did after studying a set of rocks (found on Amazon) was to go gem mining. A visit to the Planetarium was also a big hit. When I covered the Hydrosphere I found a lot of free lap books, others I made from a book at the library. I could have easily made worksheets or had DS write but it was more fun this way. We covered Swamps, Rivers, Lakes, and the Ocean. Projects included a model solar system, playdough model of earth's layers (big hit) all labeled, editable soil layers, scale representation in the yard of the solar system, showed how currents work with colored water (diff. temps), wind experiments, weather charting, using hot air to fill a balloon. There is an older set of middle school science books that are easily purchased on Amazon or Abebooks for cheap. They are by Glencoe Science and there are 12+ books in the whole set. Red = Earth Sciences, Blue = Physical Sciences, Green = Life Sciences. I purchased many of them for $3.5 a piece. Each book has lab exercises, written exercises, test prep (or could be used as test), projects, etc.

This is a touchy subject based on all the comments. I feel brave tonight, so I will throw my 2 cents in. So, since this is my opinion, please be kind. Based on my DS's learning style and a few other things we are foregoing Latin as a language. We will study Greek and Latin Vocabulary this year and begin with French next year. Since most of Latin comes to English via French, I think this will work. Most of the world studies French as a 2nd language so this will work for that too. Learning any foreign language in itself is a lesson in logic, organization, and attention to detail. DS learns logic and such through mathematics, which also requires organization and attention to detail. His interests in the sciences, while Latin would be helpful (but vocabulary will help), will also require discipline, attention to detail and logic. At the same time, I as his teacher will not be driven insane teaching Latin because he is frustrated, crying or otherwise hating me for putting him through it. Yep, I tried it already and sent the Latin program to the consignment store mid-year. Sorry, Mrs. Lowe but some kids and teachers are just not cut out for Latin and that is okay because there is more than one way to achieve results. I have nothing against Latin or the learning of it, I am choosing to pick my battles and reduce anxiety, frustration, and turmoil in my life. Now as far as Latin to English, sure it would help, maybe, if you did well in Latin, what happens if you just don't get it? How many successful authors out there are fluent in Latin? That would be the question to ask. My advice if asked would be, do what is right for your family and don't try to measure against someone else because they do not have the same dynamics you do. For example, WTM is an excellent well thought out education plan, but I have a child with some major LDs, the education plan as written is a nightmare for him, but I use the recommendations and outline with significant modifications because I want a classical education for my son.

DS9 MM4 Novel Studies (Reed Novel Study): Fantastic Mr. Fox; Mr. Popper's Penguins, Danny the Champion of the World, Because of Winn Dixie, The Cricket in Times Square Grammar, Poetry Greek & Latin Vocabulary Art: Home Art School 4 SOTW Early Modern, Time Travelers RSO Chemistry Spelling Classroom: Tricky 450 words Coding: Bitsbox Penmanship: Printing/Cursive Independent Reading Music: probably appreciation--we are tone deaf! Physical Ed: haven't figured it out

Math Mammoth. If you have questions you can email her and get a response. There are free placement tests online to print. If you need to spot fix areas, then there are separate units available. A good solid mastery program. There are also cumulative review packets that are optional but good to keep skills sharp. Tests are also included though I rarely use those.

It's so true, 3rd grade, especially for boys, may be too early for writing. My DS8 will be a 3/4th grader in August. I pushed last year (because all his public school buddies were writing) and the result was a failure, anxiety, and frustration. I am not pushing writing this year. As I was checking out different writing programs, such as the Write Foundation, they started with entry level sentences for ages 9-11, then sentences to paragraphs 12-14; paragraphs 14-16, and essay writing 16-18. I have raised this topic before and received answers that boys don't really begin writing till age 11. Many other writing programs begin at 4th grade which is 9-10yrs I am not going to worry, but keep my focus on the foundation of good writing and on modeling good writing. To do this I do what a lot of homeschoolers do, learn grammar from a rule perspective and a fix it perspective. Practice making sentences orally or by dictation, copy work, etc. I also do writing assignments with DS like friendly letters, narratives, and such by modeling or acting as scribe and coach on a white board. We first do a brainstorm, take a picture. Begin writing our draft. Then we edit. Sometimes we write a clean copy and other times we say "get the idea." My goal is to build his confidence for putting sentences together, brainstorming and paragraph organization to the point where he is doing more than I am.

Sunshine Math http://sunshinemathblog.blogspot.com/

We school 4 days per week. 3 days are on math instruction from our spine, Saxon 5/4. The 4th day is for review, Sunshine Math, skill building, or for games. If he does need intense remedial help I have slowed ongoing lessons down and added remedial work from Math Mammoth blue series by topic. If we do have remedial work to do, then I plan for 10-20 minutes per day. I keep total math lessons to no more than 1 hour per day. That includes problem-solving. It has worked pretty well and creates mastery.

Sunshine Math for free by grade with answers https://www.lcps.org/site/Default.aspx?PageID=96814

Thanks for the reply. It is just what I needed. I was going by TWM rec of 90 minutes but when I was reading RSO Chemistry it didn't seem like it would take that long. We spend 30-45 now depending upon the day.

Bad handwriting here too. DS8 is in 3rd and I can't read it. He does have dysgraphia. I have learned to be patient, to reinforce good penmanship using HWT cursive daily for 10 to 15 min. I am also introducing keyboarding and MS Word. Last month, I started him on an online spelling program called spellingclassroom tricky 450 words and now he does not complain about his hands during spelling anymore.

I did SOTW with AG for Ancients. I did not like the activities and found better ones on the net. I have the guides for the later books too and it seems that I will be typing out the questions so my DS can write the answers, more like me scribe the answers. I am intrigued by the build the library method bc I was not satisfied with reading a history dialogue, write a narration, and supplemental books. For my DS this was BORING. Some days SOTW was long in the tooth and we skipped and read something on the net or just did the activity. Right now we are using SOTW with Pandia Press Middle Ages. I like the layout better. I substituted the SOTW test pack for the activity book. This way my DS can use the test pack as reading comprehension questions (combo of MC and short answer) instead of me doing all that typing. We found activities on the net that look "boy" cool. I have also used parts of Core Knowledge free curriculum for my history. Medieval Europe was fairly comprehensive we did the LA and HG modules. I made up a lapbook for it all and lots of projects, you can say I have my own armory (foamboard, of course!) My advice, find what works for your students, I found that my son loves the projects and short meaningful history lessons.