I think many states do state history in 4th grade. We used Studies Weekly for that purpose, and it was ok. It got the job done. DD was fine with the reading, but it wasn't anything either of us were super impressed with or excited about. My DD wasn't ready for modern history at that age. I created my own US history for 3rd-4th, but stopped at the Industrial Age (and also skipped the Civil War). I'm deferring it until we swing back to that time probably in 9th. Then, I plan to use Hakim, Zinn and a bunch of other things.

I made DD an elementary diploma on the computer and got her a few special gifts for completing 5th grade this year; things she needed anyway but will surprise her. I told her we could go out to eat anywhere of her choosing. She chose a favorite little cafe for lunch. We are celebrating next weekend after her testing next week. It will mean a lot to her that we are doing this.

Yes, definitely pre-read both. My upcoming 6th grader wouldn't be ready for either in 8th, but kids are so different!

Is she ready for the Handmaid's Tale by Atwood? I read when it came out... I was in 10th. I think it meets some of your criteria.

I was a bit obsessed with Bradbury for a while in middle school, but the Sound of Thunder impacted me far more than anything. Time travel story, but so much more. Has a difficult ending so pre-read.

No suggestions for fantasy because DD has never been interested in that genre. But here are some with girl protagonists the top of my head: Keeker, sneaky pony series (lovely series about a young girl, who ages with each book in series and her beloved pony) Cobblestreet Cousins, Lighthouse Family, and many others by Cynthia Rylant Fancy Nancy (chapter books) Amelia Bedelia Higher level reading: Clementine Ivy and Bean

We have a few video ones but we too vastly prefer the audio only ones.

We have to for our state. Ours is the same as my name here. We live in the forest, surrounded by deer. Pure genius inspiration, clearly.

I personally think doing the workbooks is pretty critical to the real value of Beast Academy. There is so much content and critical thinking happening with the problems.

Several weeks of advanced circus camps, 2 weeks of which are sleepover camps. We live in NC and are traveling to Maine and VT to make this happen. DH and I are working remotely while she's in camps. She's also doing local culinary, photography, and Photoshop camps. Plus, swimming when she's home. It's all about her interests and passions for the summer! We are doing minimal writing and math through the summer when we have time.

Oxford University Press (OUP) has a series "World in Ancient Times" that has a volume per civilization. We used it this year and loved it.

DD watched it with me just because she loves Richard, and I think it was perhaps even more powerful for her to hear many of the things that I try to emphasize. It was a great launching point for some excellent discussions with us about the importance of not getting everything right but pushing through it, challenging problems, mom not being helpful, why I think free time is important for her, etc. She's also the type of kid who is good at math but she doesn't particularly like it. She visibly shuddered when he mentioned going to math camp for 4-5 weeks. She looked at me and said that she'd run away. She is also horrified by competitive math programs, and I actually participated in them when I was in high school.

We have really enjoyed these courses from Great Courses/Teaching Company (which I got from Audible), but I should warn you that there are several very explicit references to $ex. We're very open about the topic here, but there were a few lectures in the first two series (especially during the Greeks) that I had to define terms for DD that I hadn't expected. So, they definitely cover all aspects of ancient life, but we have really gotten a lot out of them. The Other Side of History: Daily Life in the Ancient World History of the Ancient World: A Global Perspective Food: A Cultural Culinary History

Your DD sounds very much like my DD, age 10.5. We've actually have had her evaluated last year, and her results were not too surprising. She's 2e, and we are still trying to pull apart whether the source of her issues is working memory, auditory processing, or ADD inattentive. I mention this because she is also extremely bright, a perfectionist, and very hard on herself. Her conceptual understanding about everything doesn't always match her output. We put a lot of emphasis on improving output in math, and now that those are more in sync, I'm focusing on writing output. We finally got her spelling and grammar skills to a point where she has some confidence. But, it takes so long to just write a paragraph. So. so. long. Last week it took her 30 minutes to write a 7 sentence paragraph, and that was one of her best times! She doesn't like any classical writing approach. Anything that is obviously too simple for her now just fails too. Here's what I've realized, though. She really knows this stuff; it's her output that is the problem. She does ALL the editing in her head. She lies on the floor, hangs upside down, and just as I'm about to jump out the window, she utters this beautifully crafted complex sentence and then writes it down. I can't get her to jot down ideas or brainstorm, but her work also doesn't need any editing because once it's out there, it's good! But, she freaks out if I'm not sitting in the room watching this all take place. It's making me absolutely nuts because this isn't scalable. She cannot write essays like this. I've tried so many things, but the Paragraph Book mentioned above helped her a lot. It was really simplistic, though. We used the series last year. I'm taking her through another series from EPS right now--Writing Skills. I'm using book 2 for her which is supposedly grades 7-8 but it's the right pace. It's actually easy through the grammar parts. But, she needs those successes. It's bite-size chunks. For fun she starts dozens of stories, and she doesn't share them with me. Those she does on the computer (but she doesn't want to do her school writing on the computer--I have no idea why!). She has really enjoyed the book "Spilling Ink" as ideas for her creative writing. She told me she was writing an outline for one the other day. :confused1: Apparently she really does listen when we talk about these things. Good to know! I haven't yet required writing as part of her work in other subjects. I refuse to hold back her skill development in other subjects because of these issues we're resolving with writing. I also know how she learns, and I know one day she's just going to sit down, write this well-thought out essay and move on. I tentatively also have her signed up for the Expository Writing Prep class with WTM Academy in the fall. She keeps complaining to me about it, but I think it will help her be more successful.

We school year-round so I don't have a concept of finished. When we finish something, I just move us on to another thing. We're taking a lot of time off this summer when DD is at sleepaway camps and family vacation, but we take breaks as we need them throughout the year and add stuff as we need them. But, I guess we're over 100% because we've done much more in every subject than I originally thought we would, but it's an organic process for us.

We never printed the books. DD just read them on the iPad.

My daughter loved them. I didn't do anything other than let her have access to the supplements on the website. She read all the books, etc. on her own as I downloaded them for her. We also have the Wildcraft game which she loves and she's taken a few local herb classes. I think she was about your daughter's age when we did it. The Herbal Roots zine supplement is quite nice too. We had gotten it on its own a couple of years prior so she was familiar with it already too. We also had several herbal books for kids. I think her favorite was A Kid's Herb Book: For Children of All Ages.

My daughter is also extremely empathetic and kind-hearted. There are many books that she cannot handle. We read "Bound for Oregon" by Van Leeuwen when she was 8 or 9. There were some losses because that's hard to miss on this journey, but they weren't the primary focus. She enjoyed it, but we took turns reading it together because I knew some parts would be difficult. To put it in perspective, she does not like the Little House books at all, but she adored Caddie Woodlawn.

I wanted to buy it as a fun supplement but $18 shipping for an unknown $25 curriculum that was just a fun review was too much for me. Would love to hear what people think, but it hasn't been out very long.

We switched to AoPS pre-algebra after 4C. We did a bunch of other stuff too because we were always waiting for the next BA so she was ready skillwise. We completed the first chapter, and it went well, but she was frustrated that none of her friends were doing pre-algebra yet (in 5th) so I heard that she wasn't emotionally ready so we switched back to a bunch of living math like Ko's Journey and other things. We are going to do BA 4D for fun and then do more fun math over the summer and swing back to AoPS in the fall. She really likes it, which surprised me. Several folks started AoPS much sooner than we did. I think you're really the only one who can judge what's right for your child.

If I recall, grade 2 wasn't in the original plans. But, I think so many people requested it that they added it but are sticking with the planned order first.

We have out-paced it, but we are still getting it.

Absolutely. We had a full neuropsych/educational evaluation done with 2e diagnosis a year ago. We are still teasing apart whether it's really ADD inattentive, working memory, or auditory processing issues.

I'm totally obsessed with this now that you've posted it. I'm going to contact them and see what they recommend and see if there are any package discounts for homeschoolers.

How do you figure out what you need to order? Looks like a lot of pieces that are expensive, butI think this would work well for DD. I'm fluent in Spanish, and we started off strong in grades 1-3, but then I dropped the ball, and she's forgotten most everything. I have been dissatisfied with everything else I've found. We'd need the grade 6 program.