Once again I’m not sure what to do with DD10. She is just about halfway through Zeta and we will finish it. I have her working on Beast Academy 4C (integers and problem solving skills) also. I am now debating putting her in Singapore dimensions 6 after Zeta is done in a few months. Has anyone made the switch from MathUSee to Singapore dimensions for middle school math?

One of the things I need to improve next year is my organization. I want everything to be ready and functional when we start up for the year. I am wondering how you all use language notebooks. Do you keep them running from year to year so that all the information is in one place? DD10 will begin studying Latin this year. She will also be learning French. My goal for French is to attain a level that would allow her to obtain a bilingual job in our country. Should I treat Latin and French in the same manner for notebook set-up? If you don't use a language notebook at all, what system do you use? I am also planning to start informal French for DS6 and DD7. Theirs will be more informal and focus on listening and speaking. Should they start notebooks as well? They don't have much grammar study so maybe we could just have a tab for nouns for their notebooks.

In my local market they do not come up very often on used sites and when they do they seem to hold value and they go quickly.

What are your thoughts on having kids learn to write with fountain pens? My mum had the most beautiful writing as when she went to school in England they used fountain pens. Her writing with a ballpoint pen is not as lovely. I think it might be worthwhile having the kids experience writing this way, but I am not sure it is worth the costs/time. Are there any benefits/drawbacks to spending time doing this with kids? I have been debating it for awhile now. If you have your kids use fountain pens do you have any advice/recommendations? Thanks.

Keep in mind I haven't actually used it yet, but I've spent a lot of time reading threads and reviews. Many people say you can get by with just the teacher's manuals and skip the student books. The teacher's manuals have everything the student books do. They just have extra information and answers in them. The only consumable is the practice book, but you could just use the teacher's manual and copy the sentence on a whiteboard and do the analysis that way. I balked at the price too, but I have four kids that can go through the books and I am planning to use a whiteboard for the sentences.

He has a guide to using the program and explains the components here and placement information here.

As far as I understand, some people pick and choose which parts of the program to do. They might just use the poetry or the vocabulary or the grammar. It all seems very synergistic though. The words in vocabulary are used throughout the other books and the grammar is emphasized in the writing portions. I was totally overwhelmed looking at the program last year but I kept coming across discussions of the snuggle-on-the-couch grammar and the retention from the vocabulary and the love of language the program inspires. Some cons are that there are a lot of books, $, the lesson planning is not as straightforward, and the writing component not working well. I am not sure that we will use the writing component as more than a supplement, but we will see. There are samples on their website for each level and book.

Yes! It has changed the way I see language too. I never thought I would care about grammar. In school I only learned the basic parts of speech and simple mechanics. I was able to do well academically because I was able to use grammar intuitively in my writing. Reading through the MCT materials inspired me to care and I hope it has the same effect on my kids next year.

I absolutely love this idea. I think my girls would love doing this and it would be a beautiful keepsake to look back on. If your daughter was ok with it I would love to see some examples.

Thanks. I'm happy to hear reviews on different versions. I selected Lamb and Nesbit because those seem to be the two most widely recommended on booklists. I would prefer versions that lead into reading Shakespeare in its original wording. I'm kind of swayed by illustrations too. I think when our library reopens I'm going to order in a bunch of versions and see what I like the best.

Just wanted to share something I was excited about this morning. My kids are poetry lovers but have not had any formal lessons in poetry (1st year home). I am using MCT Town and Island with my DD10 and DD7 next year. I was so excited to get the materials a few months ago that I sat and read through parts of the poetry book from MCT Town with my DD10. That was the end of March. My DD hasn't looked at the materials since that day. This morning my DD10 was sitting reading The Night Before Christmas and she figured out that it was written in anapaest meter. She had never even heard of meter in poetry until the day we read about it in MCT.

Thanks for posting examples. I really like how they 'translate' the passages into modern English. I think these might be perfect for my DD10. I'm with you on the enjoyment aspect of reading Shakespeare. She does really want to read some Shakespeare as he wrote so I think these might be a perfect bridge. I will see what she thinks of these options.

I've just been looking around and I found these ones too. I wonder how they compare to the Veritas Press ones. The VP ones have original text (50%) and modern English and these Classical Comics ones have options of original, plain text, or quick text.

Those comic book versions look great. Thanks for the recommendations. Also, the illustrations on the Coville ones look so dreamy.

Yes it is the same E. Nesbit! My DD7 just finished 5 Children and It and loved it too!

Which of these Shakespeare books do you like better and why? Would you choose Tales from Shakespeare by Charles Lamb or Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare by E.Nesbit or, would you choose both? My kids range from 4-10. Also, my oldest DD will be going into grade 6 and I would like to have her start reading Shakespeare directly. Do you have a favourite to start with?

At this age, I would follow the interest. You have plenty of time to cover the other time periods. The same thing kind of happened to me this year. We were using Tapestry of Grace and only made it halfway through the year because my kids found ancient Egypt so fascinating. We ended up spending a lot of extra time studying this. So we will be starting with ancient Greece and covering to the fall of Rome this coming year. I'm not sure if the same thing will happen or if they will work at the TOG pace but I'm willing to go slow if they are really interested in Greece or Rome this coming year. After that, I think I may try and hold the pace or we will never get to the current time period.

I just found a Little Labs for Kids Astronomy book. I was able to flip through it and really like the activities it suggests. They don't seem to be busywork. One of the first things it has you do is use shadows to determine the cardinal directions to help with stargazing. Has anyone used any of these books before? They have quite a few including geology, food science, and math books.

@SusanC We will add this one to the list thanks! My kids adore poetry. I'm going to have a look around and see if there are any astronomy clubs near us. @OkBud I found out that the DK Bee Book is the one recommended widely for new beekeepers so I think it will be perfect for all of us. @dmmetler Thank you! I never would have thought to check 4H out.

@Garga We are definitely going to do this! Thanks for explaining it so thoroughly. This is a great activity to try and grasp the scale of things. I still find it hard to wrap my mind around how big and how far apart things are in space. There are videos on youtube where it starts with earth and zooms out to the sun and then stars until the biggest known star and it really boggles the mind. This activity will be perfect.

What about -sewing: Could just be simple station to sew buttons? -audiobook station: sit and listen with headphones in a quiet spot -money: A station with coins and maybe you could make some cards with items and prices and have them make change? Or some kind of budget activity? -logic Games: There are some great logic games for one player (Cat Crimes, Traffic Jam, Gravity Maze, etc.) -tinker box: collect broken parts, some electronics, empty your junk drawer, screwdriver and other tools in a bin and let them tinker? -Some physical activity cards they have to do like plank for x seconds, sit-ups, jumping jacks, stretches, or maybe a balance board -chore cards: need I say more? -rocks or shells or something else from nature: set out a box with a nature guide and have them identify the different types -story collaboration: some kind of activity where you would start a story and then each kid gets to write a new sentence

I would love any ideas/input on putting together our science studies for the upcoming year. Kids will be DD10, DD8, DS6, DS4. We are fortunate to have honeybees on our property now and a child-sized bee suit. So we will be doing a study on honeybees. My DS6 is fascinated by space and wants to be an astronomer when he grows up (for the moment anyhow). Hence the plan to study astronomy as well. This list following is what I have put together so far. I would love any input on the materials/books I have selected. I want some activities and don't mind a small amount of arts and crafts but I would prefer the activities to serve the purpose of interesting the kids in the subject matter or being educational. Am I missing something major? Are there any must-have resources/kits/books etc.? I would especially love some activity/activity book/website etc suggestions. For the bee unit, should I also include some more general insect books/study? For Astronomy, if I could get a telescope, is it worth doing so? I have some funding so I could potentially get one but I don't want to end up buying a piece of junk so would likely need to invest in an intermediate telescope, I assume. Resources I own * Bees Unit Study General Books/Resources *-DK The Bee Book (Has activities and beekeeping information as well) *-You Wouldn’t Want to Live Without Bees *-Bees: A Honeyed History -The Life and Times of the Honeybee -Acylic Bee Life Cycle block Activity Books -Turn This Book into a Beehive Picture Books -The Honeybee Activities -Extracting honey -beekeeping -making beeswax candles -make home for mason bees -plant wildflowers Astronomy Unit Study General Books/Resources -Scott Kelly: My Journey to the Stars -Along Came Galileo -The Stars: A New Way to See Them H.A. Rey (not sure which H.A. Rey book is better suited for us) *-DK Space Encyclopedia -Trying to find a good YE book (ICR?) Picture Book *-Countdown: 2979 Days to the Moon -A Child’s Introduction to the Night Sky -Planetarium: Welcome to the Museum (Are the Activity Books worth it?) -When Sparks Fly: The True Story of Robert Goddard, the Father of US Rocketry -Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei Activity Books/Resources -Explore Comets and Asteroids!: With 25 Great Projects -Need a book with guide to night sky -Exploring Creation Astronomy Activity guidebook (is it worth it?) -Galileo for Kids: 25 Activities Activities -For Mum: Stencil Winter or Summer Constellations on boys’ bedroom ceiling using Ursa Major stencil kit -Look with binocular and telescope? at planets, moon, galaxies -Spot constellations -Look at night sky during celestial events -Track earth’s movement with a star trail from Polaris (photo or manual paper at window) -Xtronaut board game

We do yearly optometrist exams but haven't this year due to covid. I will take her in to be sure once everything is settled down here. I think the issue with her lining up her numbers is neatness. I've tried graph paper but it is too small for her her. Maybe I should find some larger graph paper? I try not to focus too much on it during math because there are so many other things she needs to concentrate on. Her writing when she is doing Zaner Bloser is top notch. Any time she writes on her own it is a complete mess. I think she has a hard time getting her ideas out while concentrating on neatness at the same time and probably especially so during math when her brain is working hard.

I am going to try this for sure, thank you.

That is awesome that you are able to do this with your DD. Do you have a general idea of how you are going to proceed with math for her or are you just going to go wide, exploring mathematical concepts outside of the traditional scope?