If you are talking about Where the Brook and River Meet, my oldest took it and really enjoyed it.

I'm not sure if this would fit your needs, but I'll put it out there just in case. http://bfbooks.com/Teaching-Character-Intermediate-Reading-Pack

I never, ever, never rely on the library for scheduled books. Ever. Tried it and was burned. I cannot count on our library to have the book on hand, and ILL is about 10% successful for books with substance. Now if I wanted to check out garbage I would be assured to have the book the next day. (NOTE: this is not a reflection on our librarians as they are wonderful people. We just have crumbs for choices.) I am looking at a BF guide book list where I have penciled in book numbers (ex: J973 KJE) where I found the books about 10 years ago. They are now gone to make room for crud. Not in the system AT ALL. GONE

Well, I personally love LLATL Blue, however I discontinued using it. I was very sad about that, because it has such merit and can be very fun while being effective. So my reasons for putting it aside: My dd was not into cut and paste and was allergic to crayons. Today she would love it! How funny is that. She is 10 yo and made a 180 with all things hands on. Number 2 reason was that it moved slower than she did. I now see that it really did not matter one iota if she could read past the program, but at that time I felt like I was holding her back. So we moved to boring, to the point, get it over with Phonics Pathways. And readers that I found at the thrift store for a quarter each. The next year she loved LLATL Red and was sad for it to be over.

There is also The PT of Elements coloring book which looks awesome. The price sticker is a bit of a shocker for me, but it may work for you.

I haven't seen the other two Silver Moon mentioned, but adding Christian Kids Explore Chemistry I know would be great. I am actually considering this for my dd depending on all of our other curricula and being able to "fit" it in. If you want to google Susan Evans Christian Kids Explore Chemistry, you can see on her blog where she and her children did the experiments and demos. Really good. We have enjoyed the other CKE science we have used.

I don't know if this would work well with their situation but the cheapest I know of that is open and go would be Strayer Upton Practical Arithmetic book 3 covers grades 7-8, book 2 covers 5-6. http://www.christianbook.com/practical-arthimetics-book-3/george-strayer/pd/545011?event=CFCB All test and answers are contained within the one book. Intermediate Language Lessons is good for grades 4-6 and may even help the 8th grader depending on what he has covered already. Another cheap option are Climbing to Good English workbooks for each grade level.

True, but high school chem scares the living daylights out of me. The Elements is cool, fun, and easy to understand. If I would have had this in elem, I may have actually attempted high school chem beyond looking at the Greek-ish looking text. I am hoping to give all of the kids in my co-op an upper edge that I didn't have.

I agree with the other lady to simply do some of the games and vids every now and then. But also reading thru the book just before going into highschool chem would not be hard to do. It is not long, and is not a hard read. So a quick run-thru would be easy to do.

We will be starting our co-op tomorrow. The families have not gotten their books yet to go over the lessons. I would like to do some sort of kick off, but I am at a loss. Something that doesn't require previous knowledge, but relates to the elements. Anyone had any ideas? Ages 7yo - 10th grader.

Thank you both, Ladies! I haven't tried Firefox or Internet Explorer because he has removed the both. When he gets up I'll have him look into these things. He is way more tech savvy than I am. Thank you so much! ETA I just went to the link for checking Java and it told me that it doesn't work with Chrome either (my only other browser besides Edge he left on here).

I am seriously thinking of moving to Beautiful Feet after we finish up Preparing and a few units of other material we have been using. www.bfbooks.com I am using The Elements for science co-op, but if we were not using it there I would be using it at home. There are other books like Botany, etc. These are not living books, but they have a very different approach to text books. You can check out samples at http://www.ellenjmchenry.com/. If you are interested in the down load version there is a coupon for 50% off till the 20th. Search for it here as someone posted it a few days ago.

I have only checked out two interactive sites so far and neither will work on my puter. My dh just installed Windows 10 a few days ago and something is amiss. He said Java and Flash Player are installed and updated, so these are not the issues according to him. Can you tell me what I need for these two sites? http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/import/PopSciArticles/anchors/periodic_popup.html http://www.colorado.edu/physics/2000/applets/a2.html The second one says: "This site uses a plugin, Java TM, that is unsupported." Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I, too, am very interested in any websites with activities you may have used to supplement. I have downloaded and printed the pdf and so far I am extremely impressed! I would, however, like more options for the younger children. If our group agrees with this we will have about 4 littles that could use some fun they can relate to better.

Our co-op is just supplementary and not really a class. ~~Could this be used with kids from 1st grade to high school with minor adjustments for the littles? ~~ If so what sort of items are usually needed? Are they costly? Or just common household stuff? ~~Would each family need a book? I need to decide, by tomorrow, if I am going to lead this co-op, and much depends on how much time it would take for me to plan (I have to work as well) and what sort of cost this would be to me (my income is >extremely< limited.

My dd didn't do well with the cut and paste of LLATL Blue, but for those who enjoy it this would be a great program. The use of cute little readers and picture books was wonderful for my dd. The hands on way it uses letter tiles , word wheels, and flip books for learning sounds and words is fun and effective. I don't have experience with the other program you are asking about. I have seen it and it looks good, just very different. It depends on what you want.

For my dd it didn't make her anxiety worse as all. It basically helped her see that math doesn't have to be hard. Now I agree that if a child doesn't know some math it CAN be cuz mom didn't teach it, or teach it well. However it can also be because the child simply was not mature enough to handle it, at that time, no matter how well it was taught. I told my dd that every single person on this planet--- without exception--- has strengths and weaknesses. She is able to soar with grammar and other subjects, so I make sure to show her that. And she is as creative as all get out, loves to cook, and can come up with the coolest ideas. I show that to her too. Then I tell her that many people who are math whizzes often times stink in handwriting, or grammar. We all just have strengths and weaknesses. I also tell her that it is a blessing to be able to just re-do math in hs, instead of a whole grade level in ps, and to progress at the speed that she needs so that math is not hard. Maybe reading Understood Betsy would help your child if there are any struggles with anxiety in this area. In one chapter she moves from the city school to the one room school house. There she is placed, in each subject, according to her abilities instead of grade level.

I did have a recommendation, but I read that you are concerned with "gaps" of which there will always be, no matter what. If you want a rigorous math like CLE, may I humbly suggest you set her further back than she places. Go to where it is easy for her. Help her to like math as much as she is going to. I don't think she will ever love it, but this method has helped my math hating dd a good deal. She doesn't grab traditional math sheets with gusto and sing of butterflies and unicorns :lol: , but she isn't crying either. :thumbup1: I think some kids just need more time to develop. Once they get it in their heads that math is hard (due to it being too hard for them at some point) they need their opinions changed. Once that happens they can just go step by step without a mental block. :party:

I don't know if this sort of math will fit, but it has been a blessed answer for my math phob dd. Math Lessons for a Living Education. There are only 5 levels, but what I am hoping is that by the time dd is finished with level 5 she will see the need for math and loose her fear and hate for the subject no matter the program used. So far this has been wonderful for her. She understands the way math is presented and enjoys the lessons. http://jellybeanjar.org/product-category/math/

My dd would shut down like that, at the sight of a page of numbers. For her the answer has been Math Lessons for a Living Education. There is a story line in the math book to keep interest, and only a few math problems on the page and per lesson. There are days when the child will do things in real life for math. Such as measure things around the house. There are simple manipulative s to print out in the back of the book. In Book 1 I remember liking the Place Value Village. And there was a scavenger hunt. Dd is almost done with Bk 4 and she has done math with cooking and measuring the floor plan of the house. Samples the self published ones at this site include answer keys. Full description at RR. These, published by Queen's, do not include ak.

I have a very flip-floppy non-scheduled life. Well, it gets scheduled and then rescheduled depending on how many elderly I sit with and clean for, and how many pass on. So while for several months I may have a very loose schedule, the next few I may be working 6-7 days per week. What ever curriculum we are using I just "do the next thing next". Forget M-F. It works.

I agree with this. In my post in the "I don't like school" thread it may seem like I think school can be ALL fun. That is not the case. But I don't feel it needs to be all dull either. However, I do agree there are times when we have to just keep putting one foot in front of the other, yes.

No school doesn't have to be fun. Neither does life. We could just make it all work and no play. Personally, when I have a choice between getting something done in a more pleasurable fashion or more like pulling teeth, I will choose the first. If we skip more than 2 days (out of necessity) with no school, my dd starts begging to do school. Yes, there are things in life we will have to do that are not fun, and they will learn that naturally, but why make something boring when there is a choice to do otherwise? When something is enjoyed it is learned more easily and more thoroughly.

With that many options , you'd think that would cover them all! Goes to show just how blessed we are with curricula. I am and will be using Math Lessons for a Living Education with my now 5th grader. We are sad that it only goes to the 5th grade and are hoping Angela Odell decides to write a Year 6.

Here is info on Ink vs Toner to help you decide which is best for you.