Aesop is generally too young for a 7th grader. However, there is an Older Beginners book that combines Aesop and Homer. Others use Homer for wider age ranges. Also, they have another book out, Diogenes, which is for 7th or 8th grade. I can't remember which. They plan to have a book for each level of the progymnasmata.

I'm fond of All About Spelling. Others have liked Spell to Write and Read and/or The Writing Road to Reading.

I started with Level 1, but we've run through it pretty quickly. Level 2 begins with a review of everything in Level 1, though. It's the first lesson. It's feasible to take a week or 4 to go through the first lesson in Level 2 prior to going ahead with Level 2. You might also want to email the author. She responds nicely to questions. More than likely, she will recommend that you begin with the first Level, though. My dd was not excited about going through all of Level 1, but it's what she got to do. ;)

I started my then 9 yo with All About Spelling and she's doing much better with her spelling. We are on book 2 now, and she's learning new rules all of the time.

My 12 yo is working through WT2 at a pretty quick pace. There are weeks when we do two weeks of work in one. I certainly think you could do that if you wanted.

I have owned Aesop for quite a while. I just could not figure out how to implement Homer, even after looking at the samples. And, the grammar scared me to death. I purchased WT1 and WT2 for my girls. After working through both of these programs, I picked up a used copy of Homer. Suddenly, Homer started to make more sense to me. Recently, I went through parts of the Homer Core again, trying to find a way to implement the first 5 skill levels into the last 5 lessons of WT2. I think it's possible, but I don't think I'm going to do it. ;) However, every time I read through the Homer Core book, it looks more and more manageable. WT2 has given me confidence in my ability to teach Homer. I, too, would like for Amy to come out with more versions of WT. I will buy them. In the meantime, I will very happily use Homer. Or so I hope. FWIW, the grammar still scares me. My oldest hasn't done a lot of grammar and she doesn't seem to memorize the parts of speech. She has an intuitive sense as to what goes where and how it all works together. I'm not sure how that is going to play out once we get to Homer.

You've mentioned this progression before, Laura, and it gives me hope. My dd is 12 and in her second year of Hebrew study. She just began Latin. She also desires to learn at least one Modern language and Greek. She seems to have an affinity for languages, though she says she wants to become an author as an adult.

I have a schedule, but I consider it a work in progress. Right now, we have a pretty loose schedule, but it's based on concrete subjects. Every day, we do math. My oldest does math first. I fold in the other girls. Then, we do language arts. If my second is bored, I have her do some free reading or piano practice in the morning. If my oldest needs additional work, then she does Torah reading and/or Hebrew. I also try to get either Latin or Outlining or Lightning Lit in for my oldest before lunch. After lunch is history time. It is at this time that I read to the youngers, do FLL and/or narrations. I do discussion for lit and history with my oldest and second dd's. Sometimes, if I am busy with my oldest, my second will do Writing Tales. Other things they will do are music practice and typing. On Fridays, we do history experiments in the morning after math. The girls also like to do Draw Squad on Fridays. I try to do more "fun" things if we have a five day week. If we don't have a five day week, then we often move things forward into the next week. I have a kind of rhythm that is working right now. I have a checklist of subjects for each girl that I want to touch on for the week. Some things have five boxes to check while others have two or three. There are weeks when there are no boxes checked, even though they are on the list. For most subjects, we just do the next thing. For history and geography, we are using TOG, so I make up a master plan for the TOG week and then the girls put their assignments into their planners or notebooks. I check with them every day to ensure that they have done the things I want them to do. Eventually, I will check with them once a week to ensure that they have completed their work. This probably only makes sense to me. LOL

When I was using SL, I planned about 6 weeks in advance. It took me several hours on the weekend. I would spread all of the books I planned to use around me and pick and choose. Once I chose, I would create a spreadsheet. Then, each week, I would use another 1-2 hours to review what we had done and make minor adjustments. Sometimes, it wouldn't take as long. Other times, it took a bit longer. With TOG, I am planning a little differently. I am looking ahead 2 - 3 weeks and ordering books from the library I don't have. Then, each week, I am making a plan for that week. It's taking about an hour or two. I do plan to start my 6 week planning again. I think that will just about eliminate my weekly planning. TOG seems much easier than combing Cores for SL.

Sure. I can send it in the morning when I'm on my other computer.

I've downloaded the Appendix for WT1 and WT2 onto my Mac. What kind of trouble are you having?

I wouldn't do WT without the TM. I find it an invaluable resource.

I feel like I am very fortunate because I have three homeschool bookstores to visit. I tend to spend quite a bit of time perusing them before I buy something. However, there are some things that I just have to see that they don't have. I'll buy those. I've found that having the entire thing in my hands, and not just the samples, helps me to get a better feel for the product. I can see the entire scope and sequence, how each portion or lesson in the book builds on the lesson before, etc. I can feel the pages, see if the binding is going to hold up, etc. Sometimes, I need to have something in my hands for a while before I decide if I am or am not going to use it. It's terrible, this addiction. I try to buy used, but that doesn't always happen. I also have a lot of stuff that I haven't sold that I will probably never use. OTOH, I've recently been culling, and I like most of what I have. I just need MORE. LOL

Thank you! I am terrible at Greek and Latin names. This will be a huge help.

Ray at Horrible books does bulk orders pretty regularly. I've purchased from him. I've also purchased from the book depository. It's based in the UK, but they offer free shipping to the US. I don't know if many of the GP books are hitting the resale arena yet, but you might want to check on the swap boards as well.

Which one did you buy? I've got several here. ;)

The link will take you to the textbook portion of the GP website. From there, you can click on the books you are interested in, on the left hand side of the page. Then, you can download the samples of the books you would like to see.

You could try Latin Prep for the latin. I don't have any good suggestions for the writing.

I bought the TM and student workbook only. I've found most of the books elsewhere, at my library, or online (poems).

The explanations looked good on amazon. I was not a strong math student in hs or college. I thought I would go over this first, before I taught it, to ensure that I knew what I was doing. It's been more years than I care to count since I've had any math instruction. This was very helpful. Thanks.

What do I need to teach this? Is the text enough or would the DVT and/or the student solutions manual be helpful for a math phobic parent? Thanks.

Thanks Karen. I like the LP a lot because it's self teaching, but she may want to switch to something like this... Hmm...

My almost 13 yo just started Latin Prep. She's reading In Search of a Homeland right now and is asking to read Livy. Would LP prepare a student for this type of program? She'll surpass me soon in Latin, too. I don't know how I'm going to keep up with her...

Yep. They aren't in Year 1, but they are in Year 2. I can't remember off the top of my head what they are, though. We add in Read-Alouds no matter what. My girls learned to love them with Sonlight. And, I got used to doing them. LOL I do add in poetry reading to our TOG. I like reading poetry to my girlies.

I honestly think you have to have it in your hands in order to figure it out. Even then, it's tough. I printed out the 3 week Egypt study last summer, and it was too overwhelming for me. I couldn't figure out how the tables worked, what went with what, etc. After spending 20+ weeks combining 2+ SL cores, I was ready for TOG. My planning time has been cut way down. I had more of an impetus to figure out the tables and how TOG works. Even then, it's taken a while to see how it all works together. In fact, I'm still figuring it out. (This is our second week of using TOG).