For my 9 yr old, I use a writing textbook originally intended for ESL students called "First Steps in Academic Writing". It's actually a series, so we'll probably continue with it. I also have been using the Usborne World History Sticker Book as a spine - along with a timeline, some mapwork, and some library books to teach history to my wiggly first grader.

TT5 seems to correspond well to 5/4, so I'd guess that TT6 (or maybe 7) would fit with Saxon 6/5. Besides MM, Keys to Fractions or Decimals etc... might be a good choice too, since they're open-and-go, written to the student, and self-contained (not part of a larger multi-year curriculum). So you wouldn't need to invest a great deal in a program, but could just focus on strengthening up some skills your daughter needs before pre-algebra/middle school math.

For my oldest, we've combined history with Hakim's Story of Science, but it's really aimed at middle schoolers and would be way over my 7 yr old's head. I don't know of any resources for younger kids.

MadLibs can be a fun and useful grammar lesson!

For that age, we like "It's not the stork" by Robie Harris. http://www.amazon.com/Its-Not-Stork-Families-Friends/dp/0763600474

We have TT5 and I think the problems are not very hard - maybe a little bit harder than those that you showed -- at the end of the year.... I notice that they'll repeat the same type of problem over and over for 10 lessons, but then I wonder if they're really understood in a different context. For TT5, I supplemented with Singapore's FanMath Level 3. I think this summer, I'll add in Zaccaro's book on problem solving

I teach Sunday School at a small Episcopal church. We have maybe 6 or 7 kids between age 3-10 in the same class. We use an awesome Montessori inspired curriculum called "Godly Play" which I highly recommend. It is gentle, thoughtful, and perfect for multi-age groups. If you can find a church which uses it, you might want to give it a try.

My daughter enjoyed Minimus in 2nd grade. I thought it was a pretty awesome choice. We like Lively Latin too, but I think my daughter preferred having a story line and being able to translate, which doesn't happen really in Lively Latin 1.

I think this wikipedia entry is really useful and interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_comma

I actually think "grade level" of reading is kind of artificial... Readability indexes are usually formulas involving how many words per sentence or how many letters per word there are. A lot of times they're completely off. I suspect readability/grade level depend a lot more on the child and their background and interests, their tolerance for unknown words and their motivation to read something. I've found that once reading "clicks" and kids become fluent readers, "grade level" becomes arbitrary. I actually don't think it's particularly impressive when a third grader reads a high school text on a subject they're passionate about.

I haven't read all the responses, so forgive me if I'm just repeating what everyone else has said... I have heard that and figured that what was really meant was this: "Preschoolers who are good readers are noticeably ahead of their peers because there is a big difference between literacy and illiteracy. By third grade, when everybody is reading, the difference is not as noticeable."

Base 10 blocks! We've used them regularly at every level... At some point, you'll need money, and a little practice clock... I have fraction manipulatives that get used a lot too.

This is all pretty tentative: Math: Not sure... trying out Singapore this summer. Otherwise MM. English: Excavating English -- I'll attempt to align this with history/literature as much as I can. Writing -- Mixture of my own materials and other stuff... Focus will be on outlining, summarizing and paragraph writing. Literature -- Authentic texts from the middle ages; Historical fiction about the middle ages. May add in some literary analysis terms from "Figuratively Speaking" History: OUP European World, Age of Empires Science: Continue Story of Science -- Aristotle Leads the way, move to Newton at the Center Latin: Will probably continue on to LL2 or may enjoy some Minimus again before starting Latin Prep in a year. Logic: Continue with Balance Benders/Mind Benders and Logic Liftoff (really just for fun) PE -- Ballet (4x/week) For now, spelling, vocabulary, and handwriting are all really good, so we'll leave that alone.

Ironically, due to some weird board posting problem, I spoke my thoughts four times! Perhaps that makes up for your stifled ones?

Do other people notice it? If not, it's really just not a big deal. I had a similar panic a few years ago -- did I have a brain tumor? early onset dementia? alzheimers? Turns out... no. And, it's not an issue any longer. A friend of mine had the same problem. Or non-problem.

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Your, my, their, his, and her are determiners. That is, they are modifiers of a noun or noun phrase, but not adjectives -- just like articles and quantifiers. Yours, mine, theirs, his and hers are possessive pronouns.

:iagree:

At the school my kids used to go to, the gifted talented program was all on paper and did not exist in real life. The state of Oregon mandates Talented and Gifted education, but provides no funding for it. So the school was able to have the district school psychologist give her the WISC, label her as gifted, have a nice meeting, and provide no services at all until AP classes in high school. :001_huh:

In the 1980's in California, I took Pre-Algebra in 7th grade and Algebra 1 in 8th, which was the honors track. Most students took Pre-Algebra in 8th and some in 9th grade. In the 1980's in Poland, my partner reports it was all just math. About 10 years ago, also in California, I taught middle school math in a low-income underperforming school. It was untracked, so all of the kids were in the same class. The new NCLB testing extravaganza in California had just started and we were told that we had to teach the kids the pre-algebra syllabus. It was actually a good challenge for about a third of the kids and just out of reach for a third of them and absurd for the rest of them. A few of the kids were working at about a first grade level. Here in our more affluent "educationally progressive" district, all kids are placed in an untracked 6th grade math with "Connected Math". Then in 7th grade, there are three tracks called Transition Math 1, 1.5 and 2. It's a two-year pre-algebra program. The top tier moves out some of its kids into Algebra in 8th grade, otherwise, all kids start Algebra in 9th grade (either as a one or two year sequence). Keeping in mind that all of the kids came from using TERC Investigations in elementary, it does make sense to prolong the pre-algebra... since they presumably have some deficits in math fluency.

Not a large family.... I refuse to do laundry more than one day a week. Some of things that help this happen are: -we have a laundry chute -we all have enough socks and undies and ballet tights to last 1-2 weeks -we only wash towels and bedsheets when they're actually dirty -the kids know to put dirty undies and socks down the chute, but to assume jeans and dresses are probably clean unless they have stains. -I don't let laundry linger half-way done. But I try to get it done in one go.

I'd skip the CLE reading program if I were you. Reading comprehension can be focused on in regular books (you could get a literature guide for questions and activities) or in the context of history or science. My only other thought would be Galore Park Jr. English 1 since it has authentic texts, comprehension and vocabulary exercises and also some focus on writing mechanics. http://www.galorepark.co.uk/product/parents/111/junior-english-book-1.html

There are some other historical fiction produced by American Girl -- I think they're called "Girls of many lands". I haven't read them, but I'd imagine they would be pretty mild for a younger reader. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girls_of_Many_Lands They're not really appropriate for a 6 yr old... but when she's older, have her try the Roman Mysteries -- my daughter loves them!