What!? How can anyone not like Ginger Pye? :P We really enjoyed it as well as Pinky Pye and the Moffats. Maybe you will find Moffats more to your liking as it really is a bit different.

My dd loved matching the bees to the right blossom.

KONOS or Five in a Row.

Make sure you give Wordsmith a try. We really liked that series.

They have sheets of duct tape now. I wonder if they would cover an entire folder surface? I may need to check that out. Your books look great! I love my Pro-click.

Hunter, you mentioned two of the writing lessons: write for state info and the newspaper project. My dd sent off for the state info a few weeks ago, and was very excited to receive her packets. We are now ready for the research unit when we get to it. This was not only educational, but fun. We sent to two different tourism offices. One via snail mail, and the other via internet request. This way she got experience with both methods of request. She also got two diff packets. Like you, I like the way they placed the newspaper unit with Ben Franklin. I think it helps a child to connect with the project when they have a character to relate to from the story they have read. Now it is my turn to ask: What is LoL? :) As always, I enjoy hearing your thoughts on curricula.

Total Language Plus.

I don' t know anything about Hake to be able to compare, but have you looked at Climbing to Good English samples? I'm not sure which grade level would be the right amt of challenge so I just linked them all. If you like it. Rainbow has better prices. I paid only $11 for the wkbk and TG set.

In my experience there is no perfect curricula; all in one or otherwise.

There are several positive reviews at cbd, amazon and rainbowresource. If you are looking for extreme rigor this will not be the program for you. But if you are looking for age friendly, more natural method of learning this might just fit the bill for you.

Oh man, do I only have to pick one? I LOVE the blue level, but it didn't fit my dd. She did great with Red and Yellow though. I really enjoyed the Tan and especially Gold American with my olders. We are working on the Orange (which I have not used with my olders). So far so good. I have not used the Purple with any of my kiddlets, so I can't speak of this one at all. I have found every level we have used to be very effective.

I used http://www.starfall.com/ to supplement PP. My dd really enjoyed this. I did try the Leap Frog vids, and while she very sweetly obeyed and watched, she didn't enjoy them. I didn't use them very much. Personally, though, I would suggest LF vids as well. They are very good.

Whoops! :Let me make a correction. When I spoke of doing dictation in HOD I was thinking about Preparing (we did a trial run to see where dd was in maturity of skills). With Bigger I found the dictation, like the spelling, to be extremely weak until you get toward the end. I have almost completely ignored the Bigger dictation, and blew through the spelling. Which level of LLATL are you using? We used the Yellow and are now on the Orange.

I don't use Rod and Staff English. I use LLATL for that. I do dictation in both as long as they don't overlap days. If they do then I choose between the two the one that I feel addresses more words I want dd to work on, or grammar I want addressed. I go thru the spelling list in HOD just calling out words without dd studying them. If my dd gets any wrong I add it/them to her LLATL list. She does the spelling lessons in LLATL then. We do the writing and book studies with LLATL.

Phonics Pathways worked for us.

We tried skip counting and regular flash cards and we were getting no where. She understood the concept of what was happening, but could never memorize. In walks Times Tales and a miracle happened. My dd is a visual learner and the picture stories worked wonders. There are matching flash cards in the flip book. I laminated those and we alternate days of her studying the book and then me flashing the cards. There is an optional cd, but I have not gotten that.

I realize your child is going to be in 6th......is this a girl or boy? Portraits of American Girlhood is designed for 2nd-5th, though I feel better suited for 5th due to the writing and can be used for 6th. It covers Colonies to WW2 (skips WW1) using the American Girl books and the Welcome to (________'s) World books. There are several bios assigned throughout. You chose ones based on your child's maturity level. There are 7 - 6 week units making it last a bit longer than a year. Samples here and here. Assignments increase in difficulty as the year goes on. One thing the samples don't show are the unit long projects. For instance in the Addy unit where slavery and War Between the States is covered they also cover constellations. The child works on a black constellation book for the entire 6 weeks. If following the authors suggestion they would also add the Hebrew interpretations of the constellations and compare it to the common interpretations. Vastly different. Of course the science can be totally left off if that is not what you are going for. I know you asked about history.

Did I respond in that thread? If I did, I have probably changed something. That is my nature.

In fact, just yesterday my mouse wandered over to the simplycharlottemason.com site of it's own free will - LOL! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oh my word!! :lol: You are much too funny! OP, I just wanted to say that you are not alone in your struggle. I only have 1 to hs right now, but I did (and would again) combine all of my other older kids when it was possible. I have read all of the reasons why some feel you should not combine, and never did agree with them for kids under 9th grade.Still with only 1 child left to school I often times considering dropping any and all guides, but then doubt sets in just like it is for you. I am absolutely no help to you, but wanted you to know you are not alone.

FIAR is simply awesome! My dd and I loved it some much, I have saved my books for my grandkids. :)

Jan, I would die!

My 4th grader is finishing up Bigger and may do more matching POAG units that line up time period wise. But then we are moving to Preparing. Although Preparing is a jump in skills, and our 2 week trial was tiring out my dd and I, we both loved the content and notebooking. HOD activities are hit and miss with us no matter which level we have used, but over all we give it 2 thumbs up.

Hunter, the SCM pdf link you posted in post #8 goes to some weird site. I wonder if the pdf is gone.

Trying to not repeat the great suggestions above: Heidi Pollyanna Mary Poppins Wind in the Willows

Another CM inspired boxed curriculum is Heart of Dakota. http://www.heartofdakota.com/