I'd like to know about that Ipad app too! What is the name of it and is it ONLY on Ipad. I love AAS but I hate pulling everything out. I should have known there was an App for that LOL :D

Thanks everyone! I completely forgot about Drive Through History and I have those sitting on my DVR already waiting to be used in our own history studies. I think these are just what I am looking for. I only have 4 more weeks of teaching and I can get several of the Drive Through's during those 4 weeks. I also forgot about the redshift website. I'm keeping that saved this time. It's a great source for all kinds of things :thumbup1:

My 6th grader is using BJU 6th Science and it has a lot of earth science and astronomy in it. Also as someone else said you could look at the 7th grade book too. I feel like BJU is very rigorous though so I would be cautious about moving up a level unless the child is strong. We use the Distance Learning classes too and maybe that is what makes it more rigorous though. HTH, Paige

Bumping this because I'm interested in hearing from actual users too. :bigear:

We are covering the Revolutionary War in my Tutorial class for 6th - 8th graders. I need some good DVD's to use. This is a Christian tutorial so video's from a Christian perspective are appreciated but not a must. I've seen that the History Channel has some but I'm not familiar with them to know if I can use them or not. Thanks for any help!

I recommend All About Reading. I've used or looked at so many phonics programs on the road to getting my older son reading and I love All About Reading the best. I wish it had been out when my older son was 5/6.

We are using BJU Science 6th and we've used other years too. I always use the Distance Learning classes. I plan on using it with both my boys for the long haul.

I'm with Brownie on this one. I never seem to get anything done during summer but we are planning to do math (MUS), Composition during our 11 weeks of Review and Reinforce with Analytical Grammar using Meaningful Composition, and Spelling. I also plan to do a lot of reading during the summer too. This is for the 6th grader. For the K going into 1st grader we will be doing math, hwt, and All About Reading over the summer. We also have MFW K that we will be using lightly for science stuff as we want this summer with him.

I posted this on the SN board too but I know some might now go to both boards so I wanted to post it here too. I started out looking into Apples and Pears Spelling for my son and started looking at Dancing Bears Fast Track for him too. He easily read the test sentence that tells whether he should start with FT or DB A and in looking over the book he can easily read the first 3/4 of the books Decoding Power Pages and he might only struggle with a few words from the last 1/4 of the book. What he does need is help with automaticity and fluency. He does need spelling help too. I think if I do need Fast Track I would also do Apples and Pears at the same time. This would replace AAS for us. So should I bother with Fast Track at all? Will it help with any decoding holes he has and also help his automaticity and fluency? I'm not sure what to do. Thanks for any help!

For the upcoming 1st grader we will be using AAR. For the older one we use Analytical Grammar, Meaningful Composition and BJU Reading. Not sure what we will use for Literature next year. I know Lit is not exactly LA but thought I'd throw that in for you just in case.

I started out looking into Apples and Pears Spelling for my son and started looking at Dancing Bears Fast Track for him too. He easily read the test sentence that tells whether he should start with FT or DB A and in looking over the book he can easily read the first 3/4 of the books Decoding Power Pages and he might only struggle with a few words from the last 1/4 of the book. What he does need is help with automaticity and fluency. He does need spelling help too. I think if I do need Fast Track I would also do Apples and Pears at the same time. This would replace AAS for us. So should I bother with Fast Track at all? Will it help with any decoding holes he has and also help his automaticity and fluency? I'm not sure what to do. Thanks for any help!

Unless I'm missing it somewhere there aren't really placement tests for Dancing Bears. There is one for Apples and Pears Spelling though. I've also been looking into Dancing Bears. Here at this link if you click on Where to start with Reading it will give some starting points on where to start with your son. For a 9 year old I would look at Fast Track which you will see at the link I gave you after you click on where to start. He may or may not be ready for Fast Track. Depends on where your son places for what you buy. I'm looking into this myself. Hope that helps!

We've had some of the same issues with grammar that you have. My son just wasn't retaining anything we did. He actually chose AG with the DVD after watching the sample videos at their website. Here is what the AG TM says to do with the lessons. Each unit of AG is set up with a page of notes, 3 exercises, and a test. There is an optional writing assignment in each of the first 10 units. Monday-Go over the unit notes together. Have student do Ex. 1 They suggest doing the first 2 sentences together then assign the remainder to be done independently. This process should take no more that 20 minutes. Tuesday-Go over completed Ex. 1. This should take no more than 20 mins. Have your student do Ex. 2 Wed-Do same thing for Ex. 2 as you did for Ex. 1. Have student do Ex. 3 Thur-Repeat process. You can assign the writing assignment at this time should you choose to do it. Friday-Read the writing assignment and score it as you see fit. Have student take the test. Monday-It is extremely important that you and your student grade the tests together. After the test is graded introduce the next unit and start the process over again. I also asked on the AG yahoo group about time each day to do Season 1 of AG and Erin responded with about 30 minutes. I hope this helps you figure out if it might work for you. We won't be doing their writing assignments as I have a composition curriculum I plan to use in the Review and Reinforce weeks. So I might try doing the test on Th after we go over Ex. 3. I'll have to see if he needs another night to let it sink in or not.

Katie we were posting at the same time so ignore this LOL. I would look at Junior Analytical Grammar Mechanics. It might be better suited to the age of your child. HTH!

Analytical Grammar has a punctuation section. It might be JAG that has a separate punctuation though. I also seem to remember (but could be wrong) that Jensen had a punctuation curriculum. I'm not sure what else right now. Hope this might help.

I am using AAS with my 12 year old horrible speller. It's helped him a great deal. I might look at A&P and LOE since sometimes getting AAS done is a challenge. I haven't looked at either of those yet so I don't know if they are a bit more independent or not. I'm hesitant to fix what isn't broken if you know what I mean. Blessings,

I would look into Heart of Dakota. I don't know if it's specifically Arminian but I personally feel it's definitely NOT Calvanist. As someone else also mentioned Abeka or BJU would probably not conflict with your views either. I'm Arminian myself and feel that HOD falls in line with my beliefs the most closely. HTH!

I am in need of some way to keep our books organized too. I actually have a free LibraryThing account. I would consider upgrading since it's not too expensive. For those that used a bar code scanner on the iPhone to enter books into LibraryThing can you tell me which one you used and how you did it? I have an iPhone and it would be great to use that instead of having to type each book in. I've only got a few of our books in LT right now for that reason. TIA!

I've got to remember to check the free stuff on Amazon each day. So many cool things can slip by if I don't. Thanks for the heads up!

OH! I see a 4 weeks on, 1 week read aloud, 4 weeks on, 1 read aloud. :thumbup: Now why didn't I think of this??!!!?

I've never had a problem with their shipping time or any of my orders. There is a thread here about RR that has very positive reviews of RR's shipping and CS you might want to read. I'm actually waffling now about ordering it :001_huh: I've got Bible with MFW K for the youngest one and I've got several things I can use for the older too that are top notch. I was just REALLY wanting to get us all together for Bible every day......:banghead:

I haven't read through the other responses so forgive me if you've already talked about this. For beginning phonics you could do All About Reading Pre-1. It is so so fun and very open and go. Any of your choices are good but I have MFW K in front of me right now doing some planning and it's such a great curriculum for K5. I'm not saying you couldn't spread it out over 2 years either. In hindsight here is what I wished I'd done with my youngest that is turning 6 in April when he was 4. AAR Pre-1 HWT Get Ready for School MUS Primer or really any early math would work. Just don't stress and have fun. LOTS and LOTS of reading together on the couch! Great book lists can be found online if you need help with that. For K I wish I'd started with MFW K (Bible, science,and awesome reading), HWT K, AAR 1 and MUS Alpha. Again lots and lots of books. I'm still trying to recover our K year. These years slip by so fast and I just want to make our early years as fun as possible while I still can. I hope what I've said doesn't go against what you wanted. I just wish I could skip back to 4 yo and do it again differently ;) Hope it helps in some way!

Those that have used the Advanced pages would you say they are beneath a 13 year old 7th/8th grader? I'm not sure if I should get the TM, Beginner pages for my 5 almost 6 year old, and Timeline stuff OR just get Beginner and Advanced pages for both boys without the TM. Decisions, decisions :tongue_smilie: Not to mention how much money if I do the Timeline. I feel like I need the Timeline for the little guy since his pages don't have that on it. If I get Advanced pages for the older he has it on his. Any opinions?

Laura, try Rainbow Resource. I've been looking there since I've got other things to order and I can get free shipping. RR looks to have the same thing BSGFAA has at their website. BSGFAA has always been high on shipping in my opinion. HTH!

I'd like to know the same thing :lurk5: I want something for Bible that I can do with both boys. Their age difference makes it a bit hard. BSGFAA is the only thing I've found so far. :bigear: