I bought the teachers manual for the 6th grade.. It's huge! I've never used it.. I think everything was pretty self explanatory. My friend has one too for her older daughter. She never used it either. But, who knows it may have some beneficial things inside. But, I don't use it. :001_smile:

Thanks.. I'll check them out. Elemental does have biology here.. http://www.elementalscience.com/biogrammarsamples.html I figure too, I can start now gathering things on my weekly shopping trips to make it easier. There really aren't a ton of things we don't have on hand after I looked over their sample pdf and it lists all we'd need. I just hate shopping.

My son will be in 5th grade (and daughter in 1st) so it's the perfect time to combine Life Science (biology, plants, human body).. I was looking at Elemental Science and thought i could combine the logic & grammar.... but I want to do experiments and things they suggest. I HATE shopping around for a bunch of individual things each week. I know someone sold Apologia experiment supplies in a kit, and wondered if anyone found a kit like that for Elemental Science??? If not, do you know of a classical education science curriculum that has all (or most) of the experiment supplies in a box so I won't have to shop all around town for each experiment????? Thanks!

My kids LOVE lapbooking!! I've noticed with my Kindergarten daughter that she would not retain anything if we just read it and did narration. If she was able to make a lapbook, add her narration to that, draw pictures, diagrams, etc... she retained about 90-95% of the information. So we started doing them for science and history. She loves them so much, that she takes them to relatives and friends and shows them what she's learned. I highly recommend them.

I've never used the tm either... Just the student books.. The answers are easy enough...

Thanks! My son can spell pretty much anything too.. I just want to continue to increase his vocabulary (at a faster pace) that's the only reason I'm going to do it. I feel better. I wasn't sure if this is was alright to do. Whew....

This year I am strongly considering taking a different route. My son will be in 5th grade, but is advanced. If I was to buy a traditional book it would probably be a 7th grade one. He did Voyages in English 6 last year. He completed FLL 1-4 already as well. How much traditional grammar does he need. I feel he knows all of that. I was considering nixing the traditional Language Arts book this year, and going rogue. I was thinking of doing 70% Literary analysis & writing (research reports, essays, biographies, etc..), 15% Grammar Review, and 15 % spelling/vocabulary. How does this sound?

You are not alone. Sometimes I think I want a formal school room with charts, etc... But we don't have enough space in our home to do that. And, I don't want to use one of the rooms that we have to look like a school room all the time. What we have instead in our loft is an "edu-tainment" room! We have cabinets that slide open/closed that allow you to see the books during the day time... and when we aren't doing school we slide the cabinet shut which reveals the TV and video games for our relaxation/entertainment time. There is a small desk in there, and a let out couch which is used for reading during the day, and tv at night. It can also be used for guests to sleep.

Thanks!

Do you use a book or specific website to decide which poems your child should memorize. My son is doing FLL 4, but I'm not excited about most of those poems this year, so I've been trying to pick some on my own. What are your favorite poems for this age?

If you've used FLL 4 would you use it again or something else?? Is it just a repeat of FLL 3? Or do you learn a lot of new things in 4?

I am thinking of doing LLATL purple this year. My son has done FFL 1-3. I bought 4, but I like the idea of doing language arts through literature. What are your pros and cons of LLATL (any level). Did you feel like you had to supplement a lot?

What are your 4th grade curriculum plans?? Or, what did you use last year for 4th grade?

My son just turned 7 and is starting Spanish this year. He's at a 3rd/4th grade level in most of his school work. Should I start him on Latin this year, along with Spanish? Or, should I hold off another year and just let the Spanish soak in. One thing I don't want to do is overload him, because though he's advanced, he still is "just seven". What do you recommend. Is there any reason I need to start Latin this year?? :confused:

Hi Everyone- Thanks so much for your help!!! I ended up buying bible study guide. I showed my son the website this morning, and he is fired up to get started! This is how I want our Bible time to be! :grouphug: Thanks for your wonderful suggestions. I'll keep the other ones in mind for my next child, as she is a different one, all together. :)