Saxon math I did a combo of Saxon/Singapore for years, but a couple of years ago as I was adding my third student I decided it was too time consuming and went with just Singapore instead. I wish I had just kept going with the pair of them. Now I am in the process of rebuying :glare: and reintegrating Saxon into our math program.

Now cross-posted, as I accidentally put this on the high school board. :tongue_smilie: For my dd just entering 6th grade: We need to leave Singapore math. She is finishing up level 4 over the summer. This is a child that loves creative writing and music. She has been writing as long as I can remember and submits stories to magazines, participates every year in Nanowrimo, etc. Her free time is spent writing and playing music (guitar, keyboard, recorder, harmonica.) She doesn't enjoy math. She doesn't want the why or the whole picture. She wants it to be clear, functional and done. So I am thinking incremental might work better for her. She is very bright and I don't want a light math sequence, just one more suited to her abilities. She also likes the story aspect of LOF (which her sister has done.) I'm not sure how well she will do with the actual math? But I was thinking Saxon is solid enough that we could leave off the LOF if it becomes too much. Would this work? Key to Fractions, Decimals, Percents - supp. LOF Fractions and LOF Decimals Saxon Algebra 1/2 - supp. LOF Pre-Algebra Saxon Algebra 1 - supp. LOF Algebra Saxon Algebra 2 - supp. LOF Advanced Algebra Saxon Advanced Math - supp. LOF Geometry two math classes at comm. college senior year (or jr/sr years)

Sorry, meant to put this on the K-8 board!

For my dd just entering 6th grade: We need to leave Singapore math. She is finishing up level 4 over the summer. This is a child that loves creative writing and music. She has been writing as long as I can remember and submits stories to magazines, participates every year in Nanowrimo, etc. Her free time is spent writing and playing music (guitar, keyboard, recorder, harmonica.) She doesn't enjoy math. She doesn't want the why or the whole picture. She wants it to be clear, functional and done. So I am thinking incremental might work better for her. She is very bright and I don't want a light math sequence, just one more suited to her abilities. She also likes the story aspect of LOF (which her sister has done.) I'm not sure how well she will do with the actual math? But I was thinking Saxon is solid enough that we could leave off the LOF if it becomes too much. Would this work? Key to Fractions, Decimals, Percents - supp. LOF Fractions and LOF Decimals Saxon Algebra 1/2 - supp. LOF Pre-Algebra Saxon Algebra 1 - supp. LOF Algebra Saxon Algebra 2 - supp. LOF Advanced Algebra Saxon Advanced Math - supp. LOF Geometry two math classes at comm. college senior year (or jr/sr years)

We generally go chapter by chapter doing the TB/WB, then the CWP and then the IP.

My dd thought the science was definitely the hardest as well. She said it felt as if she guessed on 3/4 of the questions. :ohmy:

Thanks for the suggestions to report a complaint. I didn't even realize there was a complaint form. I'll have my dd sit down with me and we'll fill one out this evening.

No. All of my girls are accelerated readers, yet none of them are gifted. However, I do have two siblings that are gifted and they were both early/accelerated readers. :)

My dd just arrived home from the ACT. She said everything was fine except for the fact that they were in the classroom adjoining the band room - and there was band practice going on!! :confused::confused: During most of the language arts tests and about half of science they got to listen to the band practicing and then all of the students leaving the school, shouting to each other down the halls, etc. For my dd it doesn't really matter - this was only a base test and a chance to become familiar with standardized testing. But most of the students in there today were rising seniors planning to use these scores for their college applications. Honestly, I would be irrate. How does a school make an error as large as scheduling band practice and the ACT at the same time in adjoining classrooms?! At least I hope it was an error.:banghead:

We outline the history selection and then write a precis from the outline. For clarification, I had my daughter refer back to the book Study is Hard Work (Armstrong) specifically Chapter 6 - Putting Ideas in Order and Chapter 13 - Getting the Most Out of History. And I use Adler's How to Read a Book, specifically Chapter 7 - X-Raying a Book. Armstrong does a great job of taking information very similar to what is written in books like WTM and HTRAB and making it very accessible to jr. high/high school students. I think most of my notes on precis writing date back to the old board and discussions including Tina in Ouray. Unfortunately my computer crashed a couple of years ago so I no longer have the actual discussions, just random notes. I don't know if the old board can still be searched, but I found she did a great job of explaning logic and writing clearly and completely.

I've spent the last two weeks working on this myself. I didn't find much new since I went through American History with my older two girls. Memoria Press does have some new materials that look pretty good. I may order the States & Capitals books to do with the kids next year. I will likely use the Pearson (Core Knowledge) history books I used last time. Pearson has American history for grades 3-6, but we will use them in grades 2-5. I only have the teacher's guides for grade 3. I found they weren't worth the price and would only pick up the others if they were at a greatly reduced price. :) Here is the Pearson American history sequence: 3rd - The Earliest Americans, Exploration of North America, The Thirteen Colonies 4th - The American Revolution, U.S. Constitution, Early Presidents, American Reformers 5th - Westward Expansion, The Civil War, Expansion after the Civil War 6th - Immigration, Industrialization, Reform in America We will use the WTM guidelines for narration and add in some biographies and historical fiction that we already have at home. I just purchased Writing Trails through American History to add as well. With the States & Capitals book, that is likely all we will do. However, I do plan for all of my kids to have a year of American History/Civics in 8th grade.

Colleen, I only have the 2nd edition of WTM and none of the other writing lectures, etc. so YMMV. I think there are two primary goals in 8th grade history writing: 3 level outlines of entire chapters (quickly and easily) and precis writing. So really the shorter and clearer the summary the better. The only summary work my dd will do for history this year is precis writing. We will be working on shifting from simpler chronological outlines of a chapter to outlines of an argument (claim) within a chapter/piece of writing and then preparing a precis of the argument.

My kids were taught criss-cross applesauce at the YMCA. I hadn't heard it before then.

We school year-round, however, we are on Week 5 of the new school year (May - April.)

Any at all? :bigear:

Could we make a list of skill-based curriculum that includes American history? For example: IEW theme-based writing - US History Writing Trails in American History Critical Thinking in American History Any others?

My kids get between $50-$100 per year as Christmas and birthday gifts from various relatives. (We also purchase baby teeth for $1 per tooth.) They now have bunches of money floating around their rooms. They don't really have anything to spend it on, so it just grows over the years. We did open them each a savings account earlier this year so now they can keep better track of their money. My dh has also been known to give money every now and then when he needs something done he wouldn't normally ask the kids to do. If he loses his keys or the TV remote he will give the child that finds that item $1. This happens once every couple of months. :D He recently paid the older girls $5 each to deep clean his truck so he could post it for sale. But we don't often pay the children for anything. Honestly, they aren't interested in the money. At 15, they can look for part time jobs if they really want more money.

This is only the summer reading list though. Perhaps the books read during the year are more challenging and classical in nature? The summer reading list may be intentionally light since the students are on break.

I had dd 11 try it after finishing Singapore 3 but felt there were things in the book she hadn't addressed yet making the book much more difficult than it had to be. I don't remember what things anymore. Sorry I can't be more specific. I have her scheduled to start it soon - as soon as she wraps up Singapore 4. I had dd 13 work through it after finishing Singapore 5 and I remember her thinking it was pretty easy and she could easily get through a bridge a week using LOF as a supplemental math book.

It looks as if they don't plan to have a 2nd or 3rd grade next year, so you have at least one more year to think about it and see how the school progresses. :)

I think TRISMs DAW encourages a Christian worldview. Most of their extra/bonus work is Christian: Lesson 1 - Watch the movie Abraham (with writing assignment) Lesson 2 - Watch the movie Jacob (with writing assignment) Lesson 5 - Read Ezekiel (with writing assigment) Lesson 7 - paper comparing Confucius to Solomon Lesson 8 - essay on Biblical wisdom etc.

Skoldo - Grades K-4 SYRWTL French - Grades 5+

My dd7 uses this series and really enjoys it. It does cover quite a bit of material quickly. Book 1 goes back over what was learned in the elementary book with a bit more depth which has been nice. It works great as a quick second foreign language, as Latin is our focus. And she has retained the information well.

I have a non-mathy child going into sixth grade as well and our hope is that she can get all of her college math out of the way in high school and never hit calculus. Her plan looks like this: 6th: fractions/decimals 7th: pre-algebra 8th: algebra I 9th: algebra II 10th: geometry 11th: cc dual enroll - 1st sem. Inter. Algebra, 2nd sem. College Algebra 12th: cc dual enroll - pre-calc This child really doesn't like math and it is her current intent that she will go to a college that accepts her dual enrollment math classes and does not require any additional math in earning her college degree. :) She may change her mind and find that she enjoys math more as she gets older, but I won't hold my breath. :tongue_smilie:

Questions for everyone that simply makes their own - Is it sticky? Is it clear or can you see it? It seems like it would be a white paste-like substance. How do you apply it? Sorry, if this sounds completely moronic, I'm just having a hard time visualizing what I would do with a bowl of this mixture. Does it solidify? Thanks!