Bible - Bible Study Guide for All Ages Reading - Morning (WTM Ancients list) and evening fun book list Math - Saxon Math 7/6 Grammar - Our Mother's Tongue; Rod and Staff English Writing - Killgallon Sentence Composing & Paragraphs for Middle School; Writing and Rhetoric 3; Writing Strands 4 (original edition) Comprehension - WWE3 & Abeka Read & Think Skill Sheets 5 Spelling - Spelling Workout G & H Vocabulary - Wordly Wise (original edition); Roots of English Latin - Latina Christiana; Ludere Latine; Latin Cursive Copybook Greek - Elementary Greek I Science - Master Books Life & Elementary Anatomy & Living Healthy & The Good and the Beautiful Kingdoms and Classification History - Human Odyssey & The Good and the Beautiful & Story of the World Logic - Building Thinking Skills CD game Typing - Typing Instructor Platinum CD Art - Home Art Studio Piano - Hoffman Piano Academy In history, we're currently at ancient Greece and we go by topic with The Human Odyssey as our spine and add in corresponding chapters from SOTW, maps and questions and TGAB as well. For science, we've already done plants in the MB Life book, so we just have animals and human body for this year. DS is very interested in anatomy, so we are adding in Elementary Anatomy books to combine with the MB Life along with MB's health book, Living Healthy. DS has already almost finished SWO G, so I think he will also finish up H this year. He wanted to add in vocabulary 2 years ago but we struggled to do it in 4th grade but I'm going to try and wedge it in somehow but if not, when he finishes spelling, we will have that available time to dedicate to vocabulary.

We are doing The Human Odyssey Volume 1 and I'm wondering if anyone has any (or has links to) corresponding worksheets, Q&A, book lists, projects, videos or anything that would go along with it. I'm using some things from SOTW activity guide (books, maps and crafts/projects) but I'm looking for more for the 5th-8th grade child. I'm also adding in TGAB history lessons fitted into each time period.

My DS9's least favorite subject is history and I have been trying so hard to find something he likes every year. SOTW didn't work for him but he liked Abeka's history in 2nd grade, then A Child's History of the World in 3rd grade and Usborne's A Short History of the World. This year for 4th grade, we are doing All American History Vol. 1 and I'm adding in videos for each lesson and extra hands-on projects and even plays - it's going well so far. My daughter loved Notgrass' history for late middle and high school! She still talks about how great it was and she wasn't a history lover either.

A Short History of the World by Usborne is working perfectly for our brief overview of all of world history! I actually decided to do it at the end of this year (3rd grade) because we had time to finish it all by summer. It is everything I had been wanting - gives us the ability to flesh out wherever his interests fall as we read along. We do 3 pages a day, then look in various encyclopedias we have and things he really interested in, we find videos on. We split world history up into the 4 parts that the book does and it has really helped my son "get" the different times as we go along.

We found Grammar for the Well Trained Mind (GWTM) a bit difficult after lesson 41, so I'm probably going to be using Rod and Staff English 5 for my son when he finishes First Language Lessons 4. We plan on doing GWTM probably around 7th-8th grade. My daughter used GWTM in high school. Here is a quote of what Susan Wise Bauer said about her curriculum in the link that Noreen shared:

If you are talking about (the original version of) Writing Strands, you just need one book and then, each child can write on their own paper. The Evaluating Writing book helps you know what some assignments from each of the Writing Strands books should look like, and it gives tips.

Changing a few things: Math - Finish Saxon Math 6/5 & start part of 7/6 Grammar - First Language Lessons 4 *Writing - Writing With Ease 3; Writing Strands; Writing and Rhetoric Spelling - Spelling Workout G & H Vocabulary - Wordly Wise Book 1 and 2 Latin - Latina Christiana I with Roots of English; Ludere Latine; Latin Cursive Copybook Greek - Memoria Press' Greek Alphabet Science - Christian Kids Explore Physics *History - All American History Volume 1 Other: Piano, Home Art Studio, chess, archery, woodworking *I decided on history finally, we're doing AAH 1 and possibly leftover from world history overview we are starting here soon (Usborne's A Short History of the World) if I can't finish it all before summer. I'm using the student activity book for AAH and adding in some things we own. *With writing, we are using WWE 3 just for the stories and narration practice but also may do some of the dictation. I started Writing Strands 3 (original) with him recently and it is exactly what I was looking for, so I bought every level and the teaching help books. Thankfully, I found them on Amazon and eBay. Then, we are also mixing in Writing and Rhetoric - we have the Fable one and we'll see if we get through that before summer and then go on to the Narrative book by fall.

After agonizing hours and days, I finally made a decision and I feel VERY good about it! I researched, looked at samples and watched videos on a lot of curriculum. While I was watching a video on Sonlight world history, I had a recommended video on YT below it - a book I've never seen before and HOW in the world could I have not seen this book!? It's called, A Short History of the World by Usborne books. It is absolutely perfect for me to have a brief overview of world history and make our own timeline with! I feel that's all we'll need for world history until we do Human Odyssey in 6-8th. So, I'm going to do a few months, maybe 2-3, going over the world history. Then, we are doing All American History! I've read a lot of blog reviews, looked at samples, watched two videos (hard to find any) and I read comments - one being from a historian and he said it was a very good and accurate. This seems like a gem and I don't know why I've never heard about it until I saw it on Cathy Duffy's top picks. I don't think a lot maybe even know about it and seems like the publisher, Bright Ideas Press' website is down. I was able to buy it from Rainbow Resource thankfully. I'm also going to use some American history books and things we own and the things Lori D. just left! I'm excited!! 😁 I actually have planned out what we are doing from now until high school tentatively: 4th grade - All American History Volume 1 5th grade - All American History Volume 2 6th-8th grades - Human Odyssey High School - Notgrass' US History and World History

WOW! What a treasure trove you have left me! Thanks for all that, definitely going to use a lot. 😍

We don't allow any "electronics" during the school week, only on weekends. This has dramatically helped my DS9 do better work, stay focused and use his school evenings reading or doing a hobby. Weekends is currently a free-for-all but he will take breaks from Minecraft, videos, etc. periodically lol.

I've spent hours going over my options, here is what I have so far for a 1-year overview for World History of which most I'm not really happy about: Notgrass' Adam to US - I just feel it is missing too much in what it covers and covers things that I don't care for CLE's Across the Ages - 7th grade level may be too advanced right now Abeka's History of the World - 7th grade level and may be too advanced right now Sonlight's Intro to World History - can be done in a condensed 1yr but made to be done in 2yr; utilizes Usborne World History book, would take out the planning part for me! I could just make my perfect curriculum for world history this summer just like I imagine it, but I kinda want a more relaxed summer this year. So, Sonlight is looking good for world history. Then there's always just doing SOTW 3, followed by SOTW 4 in 5th grade, but we've tried twice in the past using SOTW with my DS. My son also chimed in today that he wants to learn about American history again. So, even though I don't want to go through that again just yet, I'm considering it. I found some that can be done in 1 year: A Child's Story of America from Christian Liberty or Abeka's The History of Our United States, and then I came across All American History, which I fell in love with, but it is a 2-year program. I would like to use my Human Odyssey books for grades 6-8, so what to do for grades 4 and 5 is the question. I could fill those 2 years easily with All American History or I could do one of year world history and the other American history, using one-year books. If I did that, maybe he'd be able to handle the CLE or Abeka world histories in 5th grade more than in 4th.

I was just looking at your signature and saw you had a workbook for CHOW! I wish I knew that in October, we are over halfway through the book now. Thanks for the Church History one too, never even thought they had a church history supplement for children. I have 2 but both are high school level.

Yes, where I am middle school is 6th-8th grades, so 5th grade is still elementary. I just did a long post on another post about writing, so I thought I would just copy and paste it for you too below. With both my kids, we did WWE, just the first 3 levels, then WWS after 6th grade, but with my DD18, she did WWS in high school and it worked fine for her. My problem was finding something that filled in the gap between WWE and WWS, but I found that recently with Writing Strands. Here's my copied and pasted reply to the other post that you might find helpful: I recommend Writing Strands, the original books, which you can find used (maybe new) on Amazon or eBay. The Evaluating Writing book will help you understand and know what you are looking for when you grade their papers. Then there are levels 2-7 and Writing Exposition, (I don't think anyone needs Level 2). Level 3 is basic instruction on forming sentences and paragraphs in an easy manner and you could go through the books fast. They even have a Reading Strands book for fiction writing: Understanding Fiction and then Writing Strands: Creating Fiction. Then there are some extra books I also bought: Essays on Writing and Communication and Interpersonal Relationships. My DD18 did WWE in elementary and then nothing in middle school for writing, and did WWS in high school and she writes great! However, I didn't want my son to go without a writing program through middle school, so we started him recently with Writing Strands 3 and I loved it so much, I bought all the rest of the levels and books. I'm a natural writer and was in Honors English courses in high school but I have no idea how to teach writing. I think for people like me who need that EASY, step-by-step approach, it can't be beat. IEW was too much for me, I had borrowed the materials from a friend years ago and my brain still hurts thinking about it lol but everyone is different. Writing Strands is independent, you just have to grade the work, which the Evaluating Writing book will help you do. Here's some excerpts from SWB from the WTM 3rd edition about Writing Strands, on pg. 69: "Books 3 and 4 deal with paragraph construction, composition organization, and other elements of style - voice, tense, person, descriptive technique, dialogue, and so on. Book 5 begins dealing with the logical development of arguments." There's a great chart on pg. 360 of the WTM that shows what grade to what level depending upon if you have a reluctant writer vs. an average writer. Basically Level 3 is around 3rd grade-5th grade, Level 4 is around 4th grade-6th grade, Level 5 is around 5th grade-7th grade, Level 6 is around 7th-8th grade and Level 7 is after that, followed by the Writing Exposition book. Although, the author of the series says you just go on to the next level when you finish the one before. For the Writing Exposition book, quote from pg. 360: "...the final book, Writing Exposition, which contains thirteen lessons that prepare the student for college-writing assignments (story analysis, reaction papers, term papers, evaluations). Writing Exposition also reviews logic in writing (propaganda technique), library use, comparison and contrast, use of the first person in formal writing, and the SAT II writing test. This is a course that can be used any time from eighth grade to senior high. The assignments are demanding, and the student can take three or four weeks per lesson to complete each one of the lessons."

I recommend Writing Strands, the original books, which you can find used (maybe new) on Amazon or eBay. The Evaluating Writing book will help you understand and know what you are looking for when you grade their papers. Then there are levels 2-7 and Writing Exposition, (I don't think anyone needs Level 2). Level 3 is basic instruction on forming sentences and paragraphs in an easy manner and you could go through the books fast. They even have a Reading Strands book for fiction writing: Understanding Fiction and then Writing Strands: Creating Fiction. Then there are some extra books I also bought: Essays on Writing and Communication and Interpersonal Relationships. My DD18 did WWE in elementary and then nothing in middle school for writing, and did WWS in high school and she writes great! However, I didn't want my son to go without a writing program through middle school, so we started him recently with Writing Strands 3 and I loved it so much, I bought all the rest of the levels and books. I'm a natural writer and was in Honors English courses in high school but I have no idea how to teach writing. I think for people like me who need that EASY, step-by-step approach, it can't be beat. IEW was too much for me, I had borrowed the materials from a friend years ago and my brain still hurts thinking about it lol but everyone is different. Writing Strands is independent, you just have to grade the work, which the Evaluating Writing book will help you do. Here's some excerpts from SWB from the WTM 3rd edition about Writing Strands, on pg. 69: "Books 3 and 4 deal with paragraph construction, composition organization, and other elements of style - voice, tense, person, descriptive technique, dialogue, and so on. Book 5 begins dealing with the logical development of arguments." There's a great chart on pg. 360 of the WTM that shows what grade to what level depending upon if you have a reluctant writer vs. an average writer. Basically Level 3 is around 3rd grade-5th grade, Level 4 is around 4th grade-6th grade, Level 5 is around 5th grade-7th grade, Level 6 is around 7th-8th grade and Level 7 is after that, followed by the Writing Exposition book. Although, the author of the series says you just go on to the next level when you finish the one before. For the Writing Exposition book, quote from pg. 360: "...the final book, Writing Exposition, which contains thirteen lessons that prepare the student for college-writing assignments (story analysis, reaction papers, term papers, evaluations). Writing Exposition also reviews logic in writing (propaganda technique), library use, comparison and contrast, use of the first person in formal writing, and the SAT II writing test. This is a course that can be used any time from eighth grade to senior high. The assignments are demanding, and the student can take three or four weeks per lesson to complete each one of the lessons."

Never seen this one before and it looks almost perfect for what I was looking for! I would have to make a wall timeline myself. It reminded me of Notgrass' Adam to US, which I had forgotten about, which also doesn't come with a timeline. I wish I had hard copies of both of these to compare. I'm wanting more world history than whole chapters or sections of Biblical history because we already have a separate Bible we do that covers that with wall maps and timeline. Is the CLE textbook heavy on Biblical history or does it just add it in briefly?

I do have all 3 but too advanced for what I need right now, we may use them in a couple of years when my DS9's attention span is a bit longer lol. I also don't think I could do them in one or two years at his age - 2-3 years from now probably.

Never heard of either, I will check them out, thanks!

Does anyone know of a curriculum or plan that has what I'm looking for? I'm wanting to cover world history in 1 year, or maybe even 2 years, just a general overview and something that utilizes a wall timeline. My DS9 has loved A Child's History of the World as a gentle introduction with stories but now I'm wanting more, but I don't want to dissect the world history into 4 years, and I also don't want to do American history right now. Not even sure if what I'm envisioning exists, I could probably make it myself this summer but I'm hoping someone has already made it.

Here are what we used for 1st grade science, I have pictures of all the books we used: Animals - https://www.cambridgeshireacademy.com/2020/02/1st-grade-animal-study.html Insects - https://www.cambridgeshireacademy.com/2020/04/1st-grade-insects-and-bugs.html Plants - https://www.cambridgeshireacademy.com/2020/05/1st-grade-plants.html For human body (anatomy), we used the Kingfisher First Human Body Encyclopedia and here is my old outline that we still followed the book lists from but some of the links may not work: https://www.cambridgeshireacademy.com/2010/10/1st-grade-science-human-body-outline.html

Do you use the original or the new version? How are you liking it?

We did Memoria Press' Christian Studies all four levels with my DD and she loved it. We used the Golden Children's Bible with the first book but after that she read from the stories from the KJV on her own. Not sure if that is something you would be looking for but they have samples on their site you can look through. I'm enjoying BSGFAA with my DS right now, we are in the second group of lessons and plan on doing all 412 lessons, I think it is. We read from the KJV for each lesson and do the wall maps and timeline and Bible book cards, takes about 30 minutes. He is going to do MP's Christian Studies after we finish BSG4AA.

I've laid out several books we used along with our studies in life science, plants, human body, astronomy, earth science and chemistry. Which one are you looking for book suggestions for? I can send you links to all the posts on each topic or just a particular one you are wanting. We followed the WTM way (sort of lol) using a "spine" like an encyclopedia or like with chemistry, we used Christian Kids Explore Chemistry as our spine - then, I fleshed it out with lots of books, activities, videos, games, etc. It's become my DS9 favorite subject!

My dd enjoyed Ellen McHenry's Botany in 8 Lessons. The book has Level 1 and Level 2, so it can be done with kids as young as 8 and also older. It has a lot of activities and you can also download more in the plants section under "free downloads" on her website. You can also use Green Thumbs for some easy plant activities. With my ds, we loved Smithsonian's Trees, Leaves, Flowers and Seeds visual encyclopedia!! Also, The Tree Book for Kids and Their Grown-Ups is another favorite of ours.

I've never heard of Anki so I looked it up and seems like a flashcard program. We currently use a free version of Quizlet but is Anki any different?

Math - Saxon Math 6/5 & 7/6 Grammar - First Language Lessons 4 Writing - Writing With Ease 3 Spelling - Spelling Workout G & H Vocabulary - Wordly Wise Book 1, 2 and possibly 3 Latin - Latina Christiana I with Roots of English; Ludere Latine; Latin Cursive Copybook Greek - Memoria Press' Greek Alphabet Science - Christian Kids Explore Physics History - Story of the World DS9 wants more vocabulary and to start Greek, so we are adding those in as they will not take a lot of time. I'm going to give Story of the World another try with him, I may use book 2 or 3. He also does the WTM reading book list and Bible daily with BSGFAA. We do Home Art Studio once a week, along with some extras he is interested in like archery, chess, woodworking and architecture.