We were using DITHOR and my DD loved it, but I've since sold everything and would really prefer something secular. Is there anything out there much like DITHOR for a middle schooler (6th grade)?

Thank you for this list. It is very helpful. I didn't realize there were different editions. What is the "concise" edition?

I'm bringing my daughter who is 12 back home this year to homeschool her after being in public school for almost 2 years. She just completed 5th grade in the public school and needs to do some catching up. I want to concentrate on Math (where she really struggles) and Grammar (since she learned virtually NONE in the public school..so disappointing). I am looking for a list of all curriculums that are written to the child. I will have time to work with her, but less time than I ever had before (I've always been very hands-on with my children and homeschooling). I homeschooled previously for thirteen years and have even graduated one child who is now 21. These are the things I've looked at so far. Math - Teaching Textbooks 6 Art - Artistic Pursuits Writing - contemplating CAP (although I know it will take a lot of time from me and not sure what level to purchase) Spelling - Havent even looked yet (I've always used R&S or SWS which I didn't care for) Grammar - Easy Grammar or GWG (I've used both in the past). Science - I'm still not sure. I'm thinking of just a lot of reading so we can take the first year to concentrate where she really needs to be caught up. History - She wants to study the Middle Ages, and I Love SOTW, but I think this is below her level now. I'm not sure how I would study this with just books. She basically wants to learn about people like Queen Elizabeth and just read books of her choice. I'm thinking maybe she can set up a notebook and just do informal History this year. I'm basically lost here. She studied not an ounce of History in public school in two years. :( We had completed SOTW before going to public school. She also started HOD Bigger and she LOVED LOVED LOVED the book selections. This is all she remembers. I think if I would had continued, this would had been her best year ever, but I'm not sure HOD is very child led. I would love ideas. I'm lost at this point and my brain is about to explode! :cursing:

I think I've decided to use Hakim's History of the US as a spine for the upcoming year for my DD12/6th grade. We are coming home from pubilc school after a year and a half. I need to work on catching her up with Math and Grammar so I'm looking to just find some good reading for History and Science. I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions for literature to go along with Hakim's History of the US.

I'm looking at both of these and I'm really liking them. I'm now thinking of going with Hakim's US History books and using them as a spine. I'm looking at RR and wondering if the set I'm looking at comes with everything I need. I'm seeing that I need an additional student book or teacher's book?

I had forgotten about Noeo! I'm going to check that out now. Thanks for the reminder. I haven't heard of Tiner so I'll check that out too. :)

She has not taken a Saxon placement test. I only started contemplating Saxon today while I was at the used book store. She took one look at it and freaked just a bit. Ahhh!! I know that there is not too much writing with Saxon and I know that it's not really overwhelming, but this is what she sees when she looks at it. The last thing I want to do is frustrate her.

Thank you Merry! This has helped greatly. I'm really still not sure exactly what I want to do, but have a scattered idea in my head. I just want her to be able to enjoy learning and not have to follow anything specifically for these two subjects. I really need her to focus on her Math and Grammar so we can get back to where we need to be. I can't believe how much these children don't learn in public school. My ideas are very scattered and I just really need some guidance as how to put them together. Your response helped a lot. I love the idea for Science. I may give her a Science notebook, choose some books and do the same thing you have done. Where did you get your ideas for Science readers? Did you also use Sonlight?

She did sit down to do it on her own, but I went over it with her so she would have a better understanding on the problems where she was confused. Then, she totally understood it (as she may have forgotten one step). She is the type of child that can do it, but needs a bit of extra help. They are all concepts she did while in public school and needed repeated help with. She struggles to remember concepts, no matter what they are. She still, at times, needs me to remind her how to subtract and borrow at almost 12 years old. If she is just reminded one time, it's as if a light bulb went off and she all of a sudden knows it again. Putting her in TT5 because she needed a bit of guidance after finishing the test is probably not going to help as I looked at the TT5 samples and the placement test and she knows and has learned everything on it when she was homeschooled prior to going to public school. She really just needs review, review, and more review of the same concepts. This is why I was looking at Saxon, but she looked at Saxon today at the used bookstore and was overwhelmed by everything on one page and all the writing alone. :(

I have always followed a complete curriculum when it comes to history and have always followed TWTM. I'm comtemplating doing something different this year after bringing my daughter back home to homeschool (she was in public school for close to two years, but is now coming back home). She absolutely loves to read and loves Historical Fiction. I'm thinking about purchasing some of the books from Sonlight's list or other lists (possibly HOD) and just letting her read for History while we concentrate on getting her caught up on Math and Grammar (they don't learn Grammar in public school and she has forgotten EVERYTHING). :( I would love some ideas on how to do this. I'm trying to find a way to incorporate both literature study and History study at the same time. Before we stopped homeschooling, we were using HOD's Drawn into the Heart of Reading and she absolutely loved it. I don't want to go with all of HOD again though and was wondering if maybe I can utilize that program in some way and just choose my own books. I'm just typing as I think here and really not sure exactly how I want this to work. I've also looked at peony press literature guides and thought of going that route. I've looked at Memoria Press Literature, but don't really want an entire program like that. I'd like to piece together the books that she would be interested in reading. I want to stay geared towards books like maybe Mara Daughter of the Nile or others that may be geared towards girls. I know HOD has a girls list with some of their lists. Anyway, I would love any ideas you may have on how I could do this! I would also love to do the same thing for Science and maybe do a Science Reader one week and Historical Fiction the followng week.

I showed her the TT because we sat together to look at it on the computer while she did the interactive lessons. I wanted to see how she did with it. We did some more tonight. She also took the placement test awhile back and place into TT6. I had only started thinking about Saxon today after reading some posts here and knowing how well my oldest did when using it. Although, my oldest didn't like it either because there were so many problems. Being that she struggled, I would need to have her do only the odd numbers or only the even numbers each day otherwise she would had been doing math for 3 hours. I don't want my DD12 to dislike math. I want her to feel confident knowing she is able to do it. I also need something that is going to be independent for the most part because I won't be able to be as hands-on with her as I used to be since I have since started working since putting my children in public school. I wasn't expecting to be homeschooling again, but we had a redistricting of schools and being that she is going to middle school she is the only one out of three affected by it. Not having researched homeschool curriculum in so long, I'm going stir crazy! LOL

Thank you for responding! this makes me feel so much better. My daughter just spent a year and a half in public school and I'm sad to say that she looked at the TT7 placement test tonight and was completely lost. She was able to complete the TT6 placement test for the most part, but needed my help with some of it. I will need to put her in TT on grade level. She really struggles with math and this is where most of my concern lies. Is TT a spiral approach?

I think I'm going to drive myself nuts trying to decide over which curriculum to use. I homeschooled for thirteen years prior, but am bringing my DD12 home after being in public school for a year and a half. She struggles with math and I'm thinking Saxon will be better due to the spiral approach. She looked at both programs and she wants to do Teaching Textbooks. I worry about TT because my oldest daughter (now 21) used it and half way through the year was not retaining anything. She is much like her older sister when it comes to retention. I have used both programs with my oldest daughter and Saxon always seemed to work best. Of course, this is a different child and so I'm really not sure where to go with this. I looked at the DIVE dvds that go along with Saxon 76 and I'm thinking the reason she likes TT better is because it is more interactive and she says, "It looks fun". I worry about the fact that TT is a bit behind on scope a sequence (from the reviews I've read here and on other boards). Are there any wonderful reviews of children who have tested well after doing TT? Any ideas?

Hi all! I homeschooled for thirteen years and even graduated my oldest who is now 21. A couple years ago, I put my three little ones in the public school so that I could spend time working on me. Well, I now work from homes and am extremely busy, but I need to bring my 12 yr old daughter home again due to a redistricting of the public school system. There is no way I will allow her to go to the school we were redistricted to. Anyway, being that I'm working now, I need a to go with a curriculum that is going to be something she can do the majority of it on her own. I need something that talks to the child. Shel oves to read and would do wonderful with a literature based curriculum, but most of them seem as though they are very hands-on for the parent as well. I'm looking at Teaching Textbooks for math since it doesn't require a lot of monitoring from me. As far as the other subjects, I'm really not sure what to look at. I am thinking about Easy Grammar or Growing with Grammar (we used this previously, but I'm not so sure I want to go back to it). She is a pretty good speller and so I'm not sure she needs an actual curriculum instead of spelling being combined along with another subject. I'm totally lost for History and Science as everything I've looked at would require a lot of guidance from me. I'm looking at History Odyssey as well as Pandia Press Science. I am thinking these wouldn't work (this is what we used previously as well). I would love any suggestions you may have. I'm really not sure I want her in a bunch of outside classes that would require me driving all over town and having to be somewhere at certain times as I don't know how many clients I will have and my schedule is crazy. Everyone here has always been so helpful and so I know I've come to the right place. I've homeschooled for so long, but have always had the time to be very hands-on. If that was the case, I know exactly what curriculum I'd be using. Considering the circumstances, I'm totally lost this time around. She also loves art so I'll be needing an art curriculum that is pretty much child led. Thank you!! :)

This will definitely get me started. Thank you!

Hi all. I had homeschooled for thirteen years and had frequented this site for years. I stopped homeschooling last year when I decided to put my children in public school for the first time, change my life (I dropped 150 pounds), and have pursued a career and started my own business in fitness/nutrition. Anyway, I'm glad to be back! I may be taking my rising 6th grader out of school after this year because my county went through a redistricting, and there is no way I will allow her to go to the new school. Right now, I'm in the research phase. I am looking for a curriculum that requires little assistance on my part. I have never homeschooled like this and have always been very hands on with my children so this will be very new to me. I am thinking about using Teaching Textbooks this go round. I have always used CLE, but thinking of making the switch. I am really not sure what to do for the other subjects though. I would love to find a homeschool program that will keep her accountable on it's own while retaining all her grades just in case things change and she gets accepted to the local magnet school. Anyway, I would love any suggestions you may have. I have been out of the loop for a year and a half now with homeschool curriculum and not sure if there is anything new out there. I haven't even taken a few minutes to read through the boards again before posting. Thanks all!

Thanks for all the responses. I had ordered FLL 3 some time ago, but was going to use R&S 2 because that is what was suggested to me by Julie when I went to the homeschool convention. I assumed if I had used FLL that my DS would be getting too much dictation and/or copywork. Now that I sat and looked over FLL 3 tonight, it looks much more on level with where my DS is and I now see that (at least in the first few lessons), the dictation is optional. I'm not really concerned that my son doesn't have a formal writing curriculum this year as long as he is getting more informal writing from somewhere so that we can work on his spelling and punctuation. I think I'm going to try the HOD spelling lists for now and add in more spelling activities like having him put the words in sentences. If I don't see an improvement in his spelling over the next 3 weeks, then I'll get a formal spelling curriculum. I'm hoping the fact that he is struggling is from our summer break.

We're using Bigger.

I would love to see some more responses.

I went with R&S 2 because that's what HOD suggested I use at the homeschool convention. Wayyyyy too easy! I got it for my 3rd grade DS and my K DS is in the background doing the activities and yelling out answers as I dO it orally with DS8. :glare: Needless to say, I need another grammar curriculum. I would love suggestions for one that goes well with HOD. Also, I don't think the spelling with HOD is enough for DS8. Everytime he has to write something he is asking me how to spell it or wants me to write things on the board so he can copy. He apparently needs some spelling help. I would love selling suggestions other then AAS. I have it already and it never seemed to get done. He can memorize a spelling list but then forgets as time goes on. My other problem is that I thought there was writing involved with R&S grammar and so far this first week, there wasn't. My DS isn't getting enough writing. I though there would at least be more copywork. Again, I've only done one week so maybe it will pick up?

Do most of you that use HOD (Bigger, specifically) use the scheduled spelling and dictation or do you supplement with something like R&S or AAS?

Are you using it for a 5 year old ? What is the phonics like? Are you having to add to it or does it include enough math and phonics?

So what I'm gathering from the few responses is that maybe I should just get some read alouds, get him a library card, pick a phonics program or keep going along with The Reading Lesson like we have been, continue with Singapore Math Essentials B, keep playing with Cuisinare Rods, and save my money! :lol:

I didn't go with Little Hearts because I'm assuming it would be a bittoo much for him. I have heard that its better to start after they turn 6. I think it would be more at his level in first grade. I have been using The Reading Lesson which HOD has as one of their choices for phonics. My DS loves it, but I'm not sure how much I love it for different reasons.