We also love RS4K at our house. I think it's the best science program out there for that age (and science is my thing!) We did the prelevel chem in grade 3 as well as the prelevel bio. We supplemented with several GEMS guides because as people have mentioned, the books are only 10 weeks each. In grade 4 we did the level one books, again doing some GEMS guides in between. RS4K + GEMS is a great combo.

We use cm graph paper note books for math. I buy them by the dozens at Staples. Also page protectors, page dividers, our small white board and dry erase markers.

Oh good, someone mentioned Mythbusters. Any of Jeff Corwin's shows are great too.

I don't see them either, but I downloaded them at some point....so...In any case, if they really aren't there, you can send me a message and I'll send them to you.

We are doing sotw 4 this year (6th grade) and I am in the process of finding websites and more hands-on activities to go along with it, plus whatever books and movies my library has. I can share with you when I'm done if you like. Although we will only get up to chapter 16 this year (we are doing some Canadian history intermixed with it).

oops, I have that game! And it is a lot of fun. But I never heard about a recall.Can someone point me in the right direction for the recall info? Thanks!

I ran a science club for 4 years for that age group and I wrote all my own labs. I wish had know about GEMS guides and TOPS learning systems at that time; I would have used those.

You should check out TOPS Learning systems (http://topscience.org/), GEMS guides (http://www.lhsgems.org/gemsguides.html) and Ellen McHenry's website (http://www.ellenjmchenry.com/) I have used many of these resources and they remain my all time favourite for being hands-on and interesting. I plan on using several of the guides in each next year for grade 6. I should also mention that I have used both RS4K pre-level (grades 2-3) and level 1 (grade 4). I think RS4K is brilliant in its simplicity of use and not too in-depth content. Yet it doesn't talk down.

My dd enjoyed the bbc typing mat program (mentioned above in other posts) but it drove her crazy because if she didn't have time to finish a certain level, the next time she came to it, she'd have to do it ALL again.

I too borrow heavily from our library system. For say,sotw, I go through each chapter and find out what books my library has on the topic, put them on a list through the library website and then email the list to myself. I'll put a hold on the books a few weeks before I actually need them. But I like a previous poster's idea of putting all the books on hold and suspending them. Great idea!

For sotw, I also look up what books might be pertinent for each chapter at the library and I also can make lists, which I email to myself. A couple of weeks before I get to that chapter, I put the books on hold.

I have noticed some wrong answers in the 4A answer key. I'm not too concerned, because MM is an excellent program in all other ways.

Modern History thorugh Canadian Eyes by Heather Penner http://www.solidoakpublishing.com/index.htm is a great resource for Canadian history. She has many ideas for books to use as "spines" as well as the Canada: A People's History dvds. Also, the Disocovering Canada series of books by Robert Livesey will give you a few ideas for activities and pictures for lapbooks. Another idea is the Dear Canada books http://www.scholastic.ca/dearcanada/index2.htm with their accompanying teacher's guides.

:iagree:

I can attest to The Elements being excellent as we did it last year. This year I am ordering The Brain to go along with our human body study, Excavating English to do after CE II (that's part of MCT!) and Carbon Chemistry. I may as well buy "Mapping" as well, eh? We aren't planning to do it for a couple of years, but it looks so excellent. This way I can save on the shipping, right?

Have you looked at Bite-size physics? It looks great!

My dd was in grade 4 when we started WWE 1. We did one week/day. We started the copy work as that, but soon changed it to dictation in WWE 2 and 3.

It's taken us two years to finish each of the sotw volumes because there is so much interesting stuff to do! We read lots of extra books and do a lot of the projects plus other projects as well. We will start sotw 4 next year and I have it planned to take 3 years as we are combining it with a Canadian History study (started when we finished sotw 3). This will take us to grade 8 and then in grades 9-12, after an quick overview, dd can figure out what part(s) of history she is most interested in and we'll study that in more detail.

Drat, I was about to order, but now I see this offer is only available to U.S. addresses. I'm in Canada. Too bad for me!

I'm presently using MM 4 with my daughter and it's completely a stand alone program.

Just what I was going to suggest!

I never bought any books for any of our studies of sotw (we're on sotw 4 next year). If my library system didn't have a particular title, I'd just substitute what they did have.

I have both and my daughter reports that the books are better for kids who like to read more; as in more length and more information. She says the mags are great for kids who like more colour and a shorter, comic book or graphic novel like format.

You can watch most (if not all) of the shows on You Tube as well.

Have you checked out Mosdos? http://www.mosdospress.com/