My daughter has gotten into historical fiction adventure books by Jennifer Nielsen. She loved Words on Fire, which is about a girl who starts working with the Lithuanian resistance fighters against the Russian occupation at the end of the 19th century. She also liked Resistance, about a girl Jewish Polish resistance teenager during WWII who helps smuggle weapons in for the Warsaw Uprising. Books are well researched and accurate, the second one especially has some very sad parts but they are also inspiring. Nielsen also has a few others we haven't read yet, but they are on birthday lists 🙂I personally really like how the books show girls that they really can make a difference without ringing false, if that makes sense.

Thank you all so much for these suggestions! The Logic Liftoff looks like a good place to start for logic. For the future, however -- I can't help but notice that the Art of Argument has several components that get pricey together. Are they all needed to complete it successfully? I am also looking closely at figuratively speaking which looks like it might be great. I am also having her try out a Lantern English class to help improve writing and I'm feeling good about how we're taking English to the next level :yay:. LOve the two coding suggestions. I am thinking about asking for one of them for her for Christmas. If anyone nhas any other suggestions to throw into the mix, I'd really appreciate it!

Hello everyone. I am doing some planning for my rising 6th grader and was hoping to find some curriculum suggestions. 1. I wanted to start doing some logic with her but really just wanted something simple, not an intense curriculum. Do you know of any good workbooks, etc? Affordable and not too time consuming are key. Looking for an intro. 2. I also wanted to start working through some basic literature examinations. She is an advanced reader but we haven't gone too in depth on this yet. She has assigned reading every school year and I am hoping to find some type of workbook that corresponds to a few of her books. Something that maybe explores character and plot development, asks for some critical thinking about plot lines... Of course, I haven't actually made her book list for the school year yet, so hopefully you will know of one comes for a variety of different books... 3. Coding. We have done Scratch and Code.org type exercises. We tried Codecademy last year (free version) but she had to hit the 'help' button more than I wanted and I don't think we're quite ready for that. Does anyone know of anything in between-- ie actually teaches HTML, CSS, or Java (versus just placing blocks a la scratch) but is more geared towards kids than codecademy? Thanks for any/all suggestions you might have!

You guys gave me some wonderful ideas when I asked a few months ago about science curriculum and I thought I might try to tap into the hive mind again as I start to think about history for next year. The past two years we have used Pandia Press for Modern History 1 and now we are working through Ancients Level 2. It has been a big jump this year for my kids to go from more project-based work to a *lot* of outlining and answering open ended questions and they aren't really enjoying it. They prefer more hands-on activities etc and I am trying to incorporate that more in separately, particularly for my younger one (don't worry the curriculum is adjusted for her to make it more age-appropriate), and they do enjoy those activities. Pure enjoyment is not, of course, my main criteria for evaluating curriculum, but I do want them to enjoy it enough. I am not completely certain I want to switch curriculum for next year, because there are definitely some aspects I really like about the Ancients 2, but I am seriously considering it if I can find something that meets my criteria. If I don't, I will probably supplement the curriculum with more hands-on projects. Things I really like about the curriculum: - The map work. This is a big one. I LOVE that they include blank maps for all the regions studied. My kids actually really enjoy maps/geography as well so this is a plus for them, too. - The outlining. Although it is the aspect my kids grumble about the most, I can already see improvements in their ability to understand the process of outlining and picking out supporting details, etc. I also know this is a critical skill as my older one moves into middle school years. I would not mind if they didn't have quite *as much* outlining, though. - The balanced approach. I also appreciate that the curriculum strives to make a more balanced world approach. I am not a fan of overly Euro-centric curriculum. One thing we really like that is not actually attached to the curriculum-- We are *not* using The Story of Mankind and instead we are using the Oxford Press Ancient History Series for my older one and Story of the World Ancient Times for the younger. My older daughter esp. is really enjoying the Oxford books and I am looking into similar options for the Middle Ages. Basically, if I could find something that includes all of these factors, but maybe with some more project-like activities so I do not have to separately supplement, that would be great. Does such a thing exist? Or am I too picky?

This sounds amazing. Did you have any resources you used to guide you?

So we have been using Real Science Odyssey for the past few years (chem 1, physics 1, and now in the middle of bio 2). However, as I start to formulate plans for next year I have gotten stuck because RSO only has a semester long astronomy 2 course and I would need a companion earth science to go along with it to make it a full year course (as I understand it). I am a bit disappointed because we have really enjoyed the RSO courses. Parts in particular we have enjoyed: - the very hands-on approach that has provided great discovery and reinforcement for my kids - the rigor. I don't think I learned some of the material my kids are covering in bio 2 until 9th grade bio. - the built-in quizzes and tests in the level 2 curriculum. It has been great for my kids to get an introduction to test-taking skills and want to continue building on what they have learned. -the fact-based approach. We are Catholics, not creationists. Does anyone have any recommendations for an earth science course that would go along with astronomy course from RSO? I cannot find any-- everything seems to be combined earth science and astronomy together. If such a thing does not exist, does anyone have any recommendations for a different curriculum for this level that would be a good fit based on what we really liked about RSO? I do want to make sure I find a great astronomy course as one of my children in particular loves everything about space and is very excited that astronomy is the target course for next year. Grateful for any and all suggestions people might have!

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.16.21257255v1 I found this study which I found very reassuring. It's a preprint, sure, but it actually has a control group for looking at long covid symptoms in kids, rather than just administering a survey after diagnosis, which does nothing to parse out kids with unrelated symptoms such as reacting to the stress of the lockdown and a global pandemic. @Not_a_Number i have kids similar ages and also find that long covid is my biggest concern. My state has similarly high vax rates, was down to minimal cases for a while and has recently gone back up with Delta. Right now, we are sticking to exclusively outdoor things (don't even let the kids go into the changing rooms after swimming outdoors). Even though cases are going up, they are still below the spikes seen earlier. Our gov. Has actually been pretty balanced, so I'm watching state regulations and following news about kids. If I see bad developments or large local outbreaks we will go back to more strict distancing and masking. I know my kids, even thought we kept them busy with hiking, seeing family who were similarly cautious, etc, were definitely struggling mentally. Now that they are seeing their friends it's been like night and day.

My dd wrote her first essay for a literature and intro to writing class through her co-op (9 y/o). I'm copying and pasting it below (she typed out the final version so it is exactly as she wrote it). the class did discuss the ideas covered in the essay (Ma and Ba's influence on Minli's journey in Where the Mountain Meets the Moon). I'm hoping to get some feedback regarding how to help her further make the transition into more essay-type writing for next year and any other suggestions or feedback you can offer. _______ In the Valley of the Fruitless Mountain, there was a small, poor village. Everyone who lived there had to harvest rice if they wanted to survive. The muddy fields would stain their simple clothes, and so the village was the color of mud and gray. The only person who didn’t go mud-colored was a young girl named Minli. She and her family weren’t any richer than the other villagers, but instead her father, Ba, was telling her stories. These stories were the reason that she didn’t turn gray. Ba and Minli’s mother, Ma, both made Minli decide to go on a journey --- to go and find the Old Man of the Moon, a wise person who was in one of Ba’s stories. Also, Ma and Ba had a large impact on why Minli went away. In this essay, I will discuss in the following paragraphs about how Ma and Ba made Minli decide to go and search for better fortune. Let’s start with Ma. She always worried about Minli and Ba, and always kept sighing and saying that they had a bad fortune. When Minli brought the goldfish home, Ma complained about how Minli had spent half their money on it, and made a big deal about how they then had another mouth to feed. She therefore, with all her complaints, made Minli decide to set the goldfish free. The goldfish told Minli about how to get to the Old Man of the Moon. Ma, therefore, made Minli decide to go forth and try to find him. Ba, on the other hand, told Minli those many stories, and thus introduced Minli to the Old Man of the Moon. If Ma had been the only parent to raise her, Minli would have also sighed a lot. Ba made it so that she’d instead think about the future. His stories were, as I said before, the reason that Minli did not turn gray like the rest of her village. It also gave her the inspiration to go on this trip in the first place [other than Ma saying that they had a bad fortune]. Ba’s stories were the things that kept Minli going --- until she found what she was looking for: The Old Man of the Moon. The two parents of Minli, although did different things, received the same result, which was Minli setting off alone, to find the Old Man of the Moon.

At least for me, I get concerned seeing reports like this https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.03.21256520v1. Yes, I know it is preprint, but in general I feel that since this first time an mrna vaccine is given to such a huge number of people, it is possible unforeseen issues like this will occur. I am actually fully vaccinated with an mrna option, but keep oscillating about what to do with my two elementary schoolers when the time comes. I would like to see some follow up reports re: the system damage reported in children even after asymptomatic cases. I have also heard some discussion about the 1889-1890 pandemic having been potentially caused by a different coronavirus, resulting in a similar situation to today, but that coronavirus is now just responsible for a common cold as humanity adjusted. With recent reports about this becoming simply endemic eventually, and that herd immunity likely will not occur but that vaccines will simply get the public health emergency under control, it seems as though most of us will likely get it eventually-- vaccine or no (variants, break through infections, immunity wearing off in between boosters as the public becomes more relaxed about this 3, 4, 10 years into the future, etc-- we will just likely get minor infections) so the threat of body system damage is not really mitigated in the long term... it all comes together to make me wonder if vaccination is a suitable risk for my children. Sorry that came out as a bit more stream of consciousness than I intended. Let me know if anything doesn't make sense, and I hope no one minds me jumping in 6 months into the discussion 🙂

I am a loooong time lurker on this thread, as I find it one of the more intelligent and less dramatic (for lack of a better term) online discussions out there. Question : does anyone know if they have studied if the vaccines prevent against long covid symptoms/damage in breakthrough cases? It is my understanding that they have great data on drastically reduced hospitalization and death, but like with any vaccine, there are some breakthrough cases, though most of these cases are mild. However, there have also been reports of system damage even after mild/asymptomatic cases. Are we seeing the same thing in the vaccine breakthrough cases? Second question: have any studies been released about the long-term study of system damage in children? I remember the case reports about children who had been asymptomatic having signs of damage. Have any follow up reports been released about how those children have fared over time? Do they show signs of healing?

I DIY my children's literature lists. For middle school, some I have ear-marked that you might like are: Esperanza Rising (Mexican-American perspective) Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry (and sequels) (African-American, Jim Crow South) Reaching for the Moon, autobiography of Katherine Johnson (African American perspective of brilliant NASA mathematician) In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse (Lakota perspective, retracting path of Crazy Horse in modern times with his grandfather) Geronimo By Joseph Bruchac (story retelling of Geronimo's life by an indigenous (but not Apache) author Code Talker By Joseph Bruchac (about Navajo code-talkers in WWII) Internationally, I really enjoyed When My Name was Keoko-- Korean perspective on Japanese occupation and WWII

Weird duplicate post!

Weird duplicate post again! Sorry!

I am browsing curriculum for next year and was looking at History Odyssey Level 2 Ancients-- and for the required reading it lists this book as 'polarizing' and therefore optional. Can anyone tell me why? Has anyone who has completed this curriculum know if it is do-able with a different reference spine, like SOTW Ancients (I know that is more of a grammar stage book and might not work)?

For historical fiction my similarly aged daughter enjoyed Saba Under the Hyena's Foot by Jane Kurtz about life in Ethiopia in the mid 19th century. We also read African Princess: The Amazing Lives of Africa's Royal Women, which covers royal women across the continent. It spans a few centuries and is more of an overview of each rather than an in-depth bio, but several would fall into the 'early modern' period.