Help! We haven’t been having success with Biology for the Logic Stage from elemental Science. I need something that is not so teacher intensive. I have a young sixth grader and the text for Biology for the logic stage is bare bones. The lessons are very teacher intensive. She is doing the readings and I’m having to carefully explain the material each and every week. I need her to be able to complete a chapter even if I’m not able to give a full, detailed lesson. So I need to jump ship. Any ideas for a curriculum that is a better fit? Thanks!

I've found wonderful reading lists for history, but has anyone compiled a fiction/non-fiction reading list for science. I'm looking for one that is geared for grades k-4. Thanks!

Thanks everyone! I appreciate all of the thoughtful replies. ? I think I will start slow and begin with the level A. I'm excited to be learning along with my daughter; I need a refresher course myself!

I have let my Dd 10 writing instruction fall to the side. She's very bright and loves to read, and has kept a journal from a young age. I had 5 kids in five years, was a bit shell shocked, and needed time to recover. Then, we had a bout of medical issues to take care. I feel awful that I let her writing instruction fall to the way-side. ? So there's my sob story. ? She's about to complete 5th grade and has finished FLL 4 and AAS 5. She has never had any formal writing instruction. I know I need to get her up to speed on her writing and plan to focus on that this coming school year. I am very interested in IEW Student Writing Intensive B. My DS 9 will be in 4th grade next year, he loves to read and has completed FLL 3 and AAS 3, but he doesn't naturally enjoy writing. Would it be a good idea to combine them? From what I've read, I could get the SWI-B and download the pdf's of the SWI-A pages and they could work together. Is it a full year program for those ages? It says 15-30 weeks, and at that price I would want to know *now* if I needed to purchase another level in the spring! But the year after, where would that leave me? DD would move on to SWI-B Continuation and could use that for 7th and 8th grades, correct? And DS would move on to the theme based books for 5th grade, and then he could use SWI-B Continuation plus Level B theme books for 6th, 7th, and 8th grade? Also, after they have finished FLL 4, do they need additional grammar instruction along with SWI? I saw that IEW has the Fix It! series and SWB now has Grammar for the Well Trained Mind. I have a Ds 7 finishing first grade and twin Dd's who are 5 and will be in kindergarten next year. I'm hoping to re-use this curriculum for all of them. It's expensive but my writing instruction suffered when I was homeschooled and I don't want that for my children. However, we have a tight budget. I don't want to purchase unnecessary levels and also want to stretch my dollar (and instruction time!) as far as possible. I have thoroughly enjoyed SWB's other books but I need more student independent work in this upcoming year as the twins will be in kindergarten. I am stretched thin with homeschooling and work responsibilities, and like the guided DVD lessons where the older two could be doing writing while I am helping the younger three. Thanks so much for any advice! I feel overwhelmed with my oldest starting middle school!

Thanks for all the replies! This gives me a lot to think about and incorporate during the upcoming school year. My Dd and I butt heads over math so I'm having one of my younger sisters, the Fun Aunt, help with math homework once a week. I'm hoping she can help wrap up any workbook pages we haven't gotten to by the end of the week. I'm trying to find a manageable pace.

I'm looking through the 3B HIG and the sample schedule seems to fluctuate between 3-5 days of math each week. How has this worked in other people's experience? Do you give extra assignments on the empty days, move ahead, or let them have the time off?

There is also this free resource. http://www.sonicfit.com/

I don't know of any MOOC's, but my husband teaches out of Tonal Harmony by Payne and Kostkas. There is no need to get the most recent edition. We both used it in our college music theory classes, and it hasn't changed much. :) My DH's high school students use the text and did well this year, six got a 5 on the AP exam and one got a 4. A large portion of the Freshman and Sophomore theory classes also is built upon the dictation and ear-training component. Do you have someone who can teach/administer those concepts? Those would be very, very difficult to self-teach and grade.

My 9yo daughter is wanting to study machines this year; planes, trains, and gadgets. Does anyone have any book recommendations, maybe cross sections or explanations? She is a very good reader. I know there are a lot of applicable field trip options in our area but am clueless regarding the book options.

We had this exact problem with SOTW 3 and my daughter is also 8. I have to say, reading about the Defenestration of Prague just isn't as much fun as learning about Greek mythology! :) Originally, I read our selection over lunch and then afterwards asked the questions from the chapter. I kept getting blank looks and had a table full of restless children. So in November I ordered the pdf version of the questions, had a cover laminated and comb-bound the whole deal. Now, I still read aloud the selection over lunch, but my 8yo has to go and answer the questions on her own. A lot of times, she needs the textbook to search out the answers because she doesn't remember it all. There is a lot of detailed information in there! She writes a small sentence in response to each question. I continue to supplement with fun read alouds and clips from netflix that highlight the more enjoyable aspects of the reading. This $9 purchase made history SO MUCH easier for everyone! https://peacehillpress.com/p/written-comprehension-responses-for-sotw-3/

My kids have really enjoyed Science in the Beginning by Jay Wile. The third grader keeps a journal, the 1st and K'er just answer the verbal questions. They love the experiments!

I watched a few episodes of this show over Chrostmas break on our roku and now I can't find it! I thought the name was Discover Science and that it was on amazon prime, but I can't find any trace of it on google or amazon. It had a British man speaking off screen while a group japanese scientists dressed in odd costumes performed the experiments. I remember one was seeing if the water pressure from a glass was powerful enough to support the weight of a sumo wrestler and another was seeing if the friction from overlaid pages of two books could resist a sumo wrestler trying to pull them apart. Any ideas? It was really fun! TIA!

I don't want the kids to be using the laptop to watch videos and lessons on Discovery Streaming. Can I access them on a Roku or Fire? I have not used either and am not sure if that would be available. Thanks!

Does Mt Vernon offer discounted tickets or coupons? I have been looking online with no luck, and wondered if they had any fliers or mailers that had discounts on them. Thanks!

Thanks so much! I really appreciate all the feedback. I hope to get started on things after the holidays.