Thanks HiddenJewel!

I know that BJU is considered rigorous, so when is the best time to start it? If you had to choose between 6th grade or 7th grade life science, which would you say is the best to start? I want to use Apologia's elementary science before I move them over to BJU because all of my elementary students can work together (thinking ahead here...not done having kids;)). What I don't want is to wait until it would be too big of a leap from Apologia to BJU. So is 7th an ok starting place or is it best to ease in with 6th??? p.s. I am NOT sciencey by any means, so I plan on using the DVDs for BJU. DH is very sciencey so he will help with Qs in the evening and on weekends. Same goes for math!:D

Thank you Monica... that was most helpful! That is kinda what I was hoping. How many days a week did you do science in order to finish it in that amount of time? Julie- I totally get what you are saying. My thoughts were to just start going through them and when I get to the end, start them over for the younger kids. That way each child will go through each book once. When they are on the young side, they may get a little less out of it, but they will have the fun of doing it with their sibs. I wanted to do an elem level science that all my elem level kids could do together and Apologia fits that bill. I am just starting this out with my oldest child, and we are not yet done having children, so I would like to get my science feet wet before I have several to school.

Thanks! I agree, that would probably be too fast for us too. I was not really thinking that I would want to do this at warp speed, I just looked at the thickness and wondered how it would last a whole year. As I said, I have not started yet! So I guess I just need to decide if I want to use all the Apologia stuff before I start BJUP or not...

How long does it take to get through one of these books? Is is supposed to last the entire year, or do you tend to get through more than one in a year? We are planning on starting in January with Astronomy. My plan was to do apologia until middle school age and then switch to BJUP. I was thinking about starting at 6th grade with BJUP, but then I don't think I could get all the apologia books in (if I include the new ones). So I guess the big Q is...if the Apologia books do take a full year, should I do all of the Apologia and start with BJUP in 7th, or should I skip one of the Apologia books and start BJUP in 6th? :confused: p.s. yes I know I am thinking way in advance, but I like to have a master plan and then tweak it if necessary. :001_smile:

I have one of those too! At 3 we did FIAR, Singapore EBA and then moved on to EB B, Essential Math A, the backyard scientist books, SSRW K, HO Spanish, and Childsize masterpieces in Art. She loved it! Now at 4 we are doing what is in my siggy. She is almost done with it all (except the math which she just started) and then we will move on after her 5th bday. She loves school and we usually spend about 2.5 hours doing it. My almost 3yo DS is totally different. He wants to school, but only has the attention span of about 15-20 min. I think it is best to just follow what they need, they will let you know when they have had enough:001_smile:.

I started out with Mid Jan- Mid Nov school years because my DDs Bday is Dec 30. So it just made sense to switch when she had her birthday and after the holidays settled down and finish before the holidays started up. But now we are involved in more things and many of them do a lot during the summer. I found that it was easier to switch to a more traditional school look because we missed too much school during the summer due to the activities. I call them the grade that they are based on their ages because other people understand that better. As for the curriculum we go to the next level when we complete one. I don't try to keep them on grade level based on the age they are. I just use whatever level they need based on their ability.

I just received my miquon set which of course did not come with the 1st grade diary or the notes to teachers. I went to paperbackswap and they have 3 copies of each book!!! Just ordered mine!

Spelling Power??? My kiddos are young, so I am still looking into it myself.

***Kick!***** There ya go! LOL I am not much help though, I also have recently purchased TOG yr 1, but we wont be starting until Sep 2010!

I answered that way because she didnt specify which edition... I answered your post too though:lol:

I use the text, WB, HIG, testing, and extra practice books (Standards Edition). The Text and WB are kinda a given. I like the HIG because it gives you hands on activities/game ideas to go with the daily work as well as answers to the problems and manipulatives and math fact drill cards in the appendix. Nice to have! My state requires standardized testing, so we use the test book for this reason. I want my kids to feel comfy being tested. I love that the test book has two tests for each unit plus a cumulative test for all units completed. I use the first test...if the score is not good I copy off practice work from the extra practice book (I do not buy the extra practice book for each kid because they wont use it all, I just make copies of what they need). Once they have done the extra practice I give them the 2nd test to see if they get a better score and so on.... I would probably not do this if I didnt have standardized testing though! I am just doing this with my first child though and planning for when my younger children get to this age....

We use Singapore Standard Edition and love them. For the EB level we supplemented with Singapore's Essential Math books. With 1A and 1B we are adding Miquon (have not started this yet) and RS game kit for drill practice. We plan to stick with Singapore through the Primary Series and then move on to Chalk Dust most likely.

Are you going with the Standards edition??? If so, You need the textbook, workbook, and the Home Instructors Guide (that is different than the teacher's guide which is more expensive and made for a classroom situation.) I also use the test books and the extra practice books because our state has required testing, but this is not a must! There are also some manipulatives that you will probably want to purchase to go with it. There is a list on their website...if you cannot find it, I will see if I can dig up the link for you. I get my books and manipulatives from Rainbow Recourse as they seem to have a good price for that kind of thing.

With my 3yo we used Sing Spell Read and Write for Phonics K. It was pretty good. I DD liked it (I also got the age remarks with her). I will warn you though, the amount of writing and the very narrow lines are daunting in the 1st grade level. DD is not doing all of the writing in the 1st grade level and is often writing on wider lined paper instead of in the book. For math we did EB B level. Level A was way too easy. We also added their essential math book. It added another way to think about some of the lessons as well as fractions and even/odd numbers. My DD also gets upset if we do not do school everyday and doesnt have a concept of weekends either.

I don't know that my child/children are gifted, but my oldest is definitely accelerated and my other 2 are too young to tell. I come here for understanding both for myself about having an accelerated child and the understanding of others. All too often I am chastised for doing "formal" curriculum with DD because of her age. (4yo...been doing formal curriculum for 2 years) Here people get that it is not very optional with a child like this. I like being able to come here and I don't worry about gifted/not gifted much...I just want to know I am meeting the needs of my children. I get great support and ideas here. As PP said, I would homeschool anyway so the label is not so important.

You need the text for sure with KA and B, the activity book in that level (WB) is not necessary, but it was a lot of fun. It has games and cut and paste activities that most Kers like.

Personally I like standards the best as they have not taken away from the US version, only added to it. I like that the textbooks are all colorful now (the workbooks are b&W) The pics are better too, which is a help in the younger years. I also like that there is more work to do per concept. I realize extra work is not always needed, but it is nice to have in when it is. We tried the US edition for EB A, but updated to Standards when it came out. I feel it is an improvement. For EB we got the workbooks and activity books as well as Singapore's Essential Math wb. It covers a few different things that EB doesn't and also gives a different angle to the presentation. For 1A and up I get the HIG, the texts and the WB, the tests book, and the extra practice. What I like about this is you do the daily presentation with the text and with games/activities found in the HIG. Then the student does work in the WB. At the end of the unit you give them the unit test in the test book. If you feel they didn't master it based on the score, you give them some extra practice from the extra practice book. Then they can retake the test (there is a second test for each unit so they are not retaking an identical test). I only buy one copy total and make my kids writing on paper (or copy a page) for the extra practice book as each kid will not need it and they wont ever use the whole thing. So I see it as nice to have around. I use the tests books because our state requires benchmark testing so I want my kids to feel comfortable with test taking. I am also supplementing with miquon and rightstart math games. Miquon is a math lab using cuisonaire blocks. I like that it is another way of looking at math problems. It is critical thinking skills. The Rightstart math games kit is used for math facts drill. I use this will Singapore starting in the 1A level. Ok...that was long:001_huh:

Not to hijack, but I had a q about this. We are starting the Phonics Road next fall with my DD. We plan to move on to the Latin road when we finish with PR. My understanding was that those who had a beefy grammar program or who had gone through PR would be set for grammar during the Latin Road. Is this not the case? I am trying to figure out if I would still need to add something (or keep something in mind) for grammar, and would I need to add it for PR as well? Would something like Easy Grammar or Easy grammars Daily Grams work? As for writing we will be using the Writing Aids with our TOG curriculum. That should cover writing well enough, right?

I used Singapore EB with Singapore's Essential Math. This worked really well with my 4yo. We started EB Level B in April and are finishing in October. She was moving at a pretty quick pace too (2-6 pages a day), so you might be able to slow it down more than I did. I liked adding this because EM has fractions and even and odd #s and a few other different ways of approaching concepts than the EB has. Doing this got my 4yo to almost 5yo (Dec). We are now going to start 1A with Rightstart math games and Miquon math labs on the side. This is just what I am doing....I dont know enough about horizons to answer your other q.

I forgot one thing...when I ditched the writing in SSRW I picked up A Reason for Handwriting K. This takes it one letter at a time and the lines are wide. She loves it and really likes that she can color the picture on the other side when she is done.

I am using SSRW 1st level with a 4yo DD. She also is ready for the material, but the writing has not worked quite so well. The first thing I did was nix the writing of the spelling words! Those lines are so narrow there was no way she was going to do it without frustration. We read through them in short chunks. I also have her do the portion where you cross out the silent e or circle the ch or whatever that list is. As for the worksheet portion if she can handle writing the words in the blank, we proceed. If it is becoming too much we split the page in half and come back to it the next day. I do have her complete all of the page in one sitting if it is the type that have draw a line from the word to the picture as that should not be a problem. We spend more time with the games for reinforcement. I use the readers as a good evaluation of how the phonics rules have stuck. If you have the exam book, the circle the words/underline the words page is also a good way to see if they are getting it. If they are truly understanding the material, I have no issue continuing without the written proof. Their writing abilities will eventually catch up.

I am using SM EB Standards and will finish in 1 week.... I took a gander at Horizons scope and sequence. There are a couple of items not addressed in the EB that are addressed in Horizons. In SM EB you do time to the hour-HM you do hour and half hour In SM Eb you do not do fractions. In SM Eb you do not measure with actual measurements. You use your hand or a yardstick, but you do not discuss the actual unit terms. HM does not seem to do # bonds. Everything else seems to be the same. I use singapore with their essential math book. The essential math book adds even and odd numbers as well as fractions. My experience is that EB level A is very easy, and really should be considered preK. EB level B is like K level math. My DD has really enjoyed it. I did compare the two before I decided to go with Singapore...I am happy with my decision! I really like the way Singapore is laid out.

We use new standards, I have not seen the IP books for this edition. We have the HIG, wb, tb, and the extra practice book. Right now I have 1A&B and 2A&B.

I did US edition 1a earlybird with DD. It was boring! We switched to Standards ed. when we hit the B levels of earlybird. What A difference! If it is too easy, but you still want to gear up for singapore primary 1A, I would try the New Standards Edition and start in the B level. B is much more K level as the A level seems more like pre/preK. My Dd is about 2 weeks from finishing Earlybird B. It has addition/subtraction/money/#-100 etc. Much more of a K level program.