How about this program; videovocab? I haven't used it but someone else suggested it and I think it looks neat! http://www.vocabvideos.com/how-it-works.html

GEMS guides and TOPS science are fun too.

There are several chemistry related GEMS guides that are great (and hands-on) for this age group.

I agree with Rose above. It would be good to be able to do both CE programs.

We've used both and love them! We use them like scrapbooks or interactive notebooks, adding in everything else we've done that relates. They are a lot of fun and I don't think they are geared to the classroom at all.

Why are you nervous about the quest guides?

Neok12 has tons of videos on all subjects listed in categories. Watchknowlearn is great too.

What in the World from Les Plan is excellent!

GEMS science/math guides are fun! Horrible Histories, cooking for history or math or geography, scavenger hunts for any subject. Games for math.

GEMS has an activity guide http://lhsgems.org/gemslifethroughtime.html called Life through Time. I haven't used it, but I love all the GEMS guides that I have used.

Excellent article. Thanks for passing it on.

We mixed it up, doing all the data analysis videos and sheets and then my dd decided she didn't like it anymore. :-)

GEMS science.

We have used it (complete with videos) and I think it is a great site!

You could also check out Adaptive curriculum (8.00 at Learning.com) as they have a lot of physics simulations. I find them really good.

We watch docs every day during our hour lunch break. Every day!

I agree; start with Town!

TOPS Rocks and Minerals looks good, though I can't vouch for it since I haven't done it yet.

My dd did WWS 1 last year when she was in grade 7 and hated it, but she still did it. We were Beta testing WWS 2, but she refrused to do it; too much multiple note taking she said. It was just too tedious. I think WWS 2 has way more for the student to do per day than WWS 1 did, and my dd balked at that too. So we switched to some lit discussion (no writing at all) for awhile and now she is doing Essentials in Writing grade 8 without a fuss.

We love, love, love the Student Guides! I find the TG very useful too. We started Aristotle in grade 5 and used it in tandem with some of the Stop Faking it books, GEMS guides and an AIMS guide as well as lots of documentaries and Brainpop. We are almost finished with Newton and while I had every intention of using the Stop Faking It books again, we don't have time and instead use Adaptive Curriculum, docs and Brainpop. We also took a side trip back in time to the Renaissance using an Interact Guide and Google Earth.I think a lot more is retained when you do the actvities and experiments in the SG. We use the SG as a scrapbook, putting all we have done related to the chapter in it. We just pulled the Aristole SG out yesterday because we were watching something where Hero was mentioned and we remembered that he was featured in our book. I think there is a lot of science in Aristotle; astronomy, scientific method, simple machines, density and buoyancy. Lots of math too!

Check out the GEMS Guides. There are several for Ocean studies.

These books by Marilyn Burns Teaching Arithmetic: Lessons for Introducing Fractions, Teaching Arithmetic: Lessons for Extending Fractions, Teaching Arithmetic: Lessons for Multiplying and Dividing Fractions found on this website http://store.mathsolutions.com/product-list.php?Fractions-pg1-cid63.html are amazing for helping kids really understand fractions. They contain lessons, manipulatives and games. We've used all 3 with great success.

You could try Adaptive Curriculum Middle School Science (online at Learning.com for 8.00/ year). This could take place of the lab component of CPO. We use both the MS and HS science.

Lot's of great Horrible Histories on the Middle Ages as well!

http://www.corndancer.com/tunes/tunes_db.html This web site has a list of "Suggestions for Pairing Contemporary Music and Canonical Literature"