mo2 - I just wanted to encourage you. My son was not ready at 5 either. Many of his same age friends could write so much better. I was frustrated and wondered what I was doing wrong. We just kept working on it. a little here and a little there and doing all the things prevous posters mentioned. I did also invest in some pencil grips to help correct his grip. Now half way through his 1st grade year (at 6.5) he is finally stringing some nice letters into words for copywork. It will come and I just wanted to encourage you! We continued doing phonics, math, narration from science, history and stories which I wrote for him.

I have loved RightStart math. I agree that is is time intensive; it would be so much easier to give my kiddos a worksheet. However, I can see those lightbulb moments of when they are getting the mental math and why it works. I truly feel this will make future math go so much easier for them bc they "get it".

Given her background you might want to consider First Language Lessons. It is 1 book for 1st and 2nd grade. I started it mid year with my 1st graders and lots of days we do 2 lessons but it's gentle and I'm pleased with it!

Mine is boring but it's done! Week 21 complete!

I see Lamplighter sells this series and lists it as 12+. Timberdoodle sells it as a part of their 8th grade curriculum package. I've looked at samples of the pages and they are beautiful but what makes it a curriculum? I need more to teach science...such as questions, tests, recommended extra reading, a lesson plan, something. Am I missing something? Is there more that I'm not seeing. Reading beautiful books somehow doesn't seem enough for an 8th grader for science!

I posted! www.chantelleg.blogspot.com

I've got my son using the National Geographic Almanac of American History and then 3-5 chapters from Hakim's History of US. Each week I have him outline a page, take notes from a chapter, summarize a chapter, make a map and add important dates to his timeline. (Trying to follow recs from TWTM.) Then I write up a few questions for each chapter and then we discuss. I think it's been good for him and his notetaking, summarizing and outlining have all improved. However, it's a lot of work for me to pre-read and come up with the questions. We are adopting a 3 year old from China in March and I'm planning to shift him to Notgrass America The Beautiful to finish off 8th grade to lighten my workload. THen we will be ready to do one final run through the history cycle for highschool, and I'm planning to use MFW for that. Now if I just had a concrete plan for science!

I'd love to have this info, as well!

:bigear: I'm listening in on this conversation. My son is 7th now and we are using some AIG materials this year. I would like a strong plan for him for science and he is leaning towards engineering. What would be a great plan for 8th-12th?

mom2jjka - what course have you selected (or are you considering) to follow this up with? More PAC courses? or switching to something different?

braymelana - we must have been typing simultaneously! Your info is very helpful. I follwed the link and read the info provided by HOD. I've never used HOD - just can't get my mind around an all-in-boxed curriculum with multiple ages- but this is more confirmation that this could be a nice intro for an 8th grader if I add in the labs. He is science minded but I need something that is going to be mostly independent for him. He is an auditory learner so I'm also considering Apologia with the audio CD for him to listen to while he follows along with the text books.

Melinda S this is very helpful. I'm wondering if I could use the Integrated Physics and Chemistry for my rising 8th grader before we segway into harder sciences like Apologia or BJU. I'm also anticipating a challenging school year next year because we are bringing home a toddler from China in March. So I was hoping for something he could do independently, but still learn and enjoy.

Anyone familiar with this company? I'm looking at their highschool sciences such as Integrated Chemistry and Physics. I'd love to hear any feedback.

Has anyone used the 5th grade level of Mathematical Reasoning? My son will be finishing up RightStart E this spring and I'm looking to next year. We will start RightStart Geometry but will only do 1-2 lessons a week. For the other days I was thinking of something like Mathematical Reasoning. I'm just wondering if it's going to be too easy for him? Maybe I should do the 6th grade Mathematical Reasoning.

Thank you all! I have worked with him on all these steps and either he doesn't get it or is just lazy. He also has a bad attitude when I try discuss/help him with possible improvements that could be made. We'll just keep working on it......

OHhh, I see there is an audio of the course. My son is an audiotory learner and that might be enough to boost him along. By having it to read to him while he follows along in the text book. The Red Wagon Tutorials look neat but at a $100 probably out of my price range by the time I purchase the book!

For those of us who have children who will be doing this at home and don't have the inclination to work hard to develop extra labs would this be the best science course for an 8th grader? Is there a DVD that I could purchase with a teacher to supplement?

I just can't find a science I'm happy with. I like the tone of Apologia but not studying on one topic all year. We tried AIG God's Design for series and I didn't love it either. I don't think I have the patience to do science the TWTM way providing a science kit and letting the 5th grader lose. So for next year I'm thinking of doing several unit studies from AJTL. They like the little mini-books and seem to retain info from answering questions and writing the answers down. I can supplement with library books. Do you think this is enough science for a 5th grader. We would use the ones geared for 2nd - 7th grade.

Has anyone used the Grammar offered by Critical Thinking Company. I got their catalog in the mail this week and saw it in there. I'd love to hear any opinions on it!

Does your student do this independently or do you "teach" it. If you teach it what do you do exactly? Just read it with them? I need something that is not too much time for me. I'm trying to pick something for him to do next year...he will be 8th.

Jean, I agree! How do I get him from this level of writing to something better? I'm just at my wits end with it. He wants to do something with computers or engineering so I know that writing will not be a huge part of his chosen field but I think he still needs to be able to write a decent paragraph.

My son hates writing and everything to do with it. We have worked through IEW for 2 years and I've worked diligently with him to model narration by crafting sentences orally and then writing them. We've done this over and over and over and over. We've done dictation also. Everything he turns in has multiple issues including spelling, punctuation, grammar usage, lack of "dress-ups" (interesting word use, etc.). Following is a sample of his work. This is the 2nd attempt at a narration from a chapter of Hakim's History of US. I will spare you the spelling errors by correcting those; everything else is his writing exactly. England made factories to make products easier. Then America did so too. Just about anyone physically able could work in a factory but it was bad for your health. After they started some people became deaf. Some got cancer because of cotton particles in the air. You could get your hand cut off by a machine. It made products cheaper. Soon there were no craftsmen left, only factories. Here are the issues I see: 1. Should not use "you" or "your" in a summar/narration. 2. Sentence 1: should not use made and make in same sentence. "made" should be replaced with a stronger word such as built or developed. 3. Sentence7: "It" is not clear...should replace with "factories" or "Industrial Revolution" 4. Punctuation - commas What else? I think he is simply lazy and not applying himself but I'm so tired of doing this every single day for every single assignment. We did lesson 3 of WWS today and it was pathetic - I don't even think he fully read the story and what he turned in made no sense! What level of writing should a 7th grade boy be able to do? I'm talking at a minimum here...I'm not expecting a scholar or novelist as I realize he doesn't enjoy it.

Thanks jazzermom! I just ordered the Essentials in word processing course for only $20 plus $5 in shipping! I think my oldest will enjoy doing that!

Thank you for the encouragement. I'm going to try Black Beauty...I've never read it and then I might just do Anne of Green Gables. I LOVED that series as a child but was hesitant to read it with boys.

I have 7th, 4th and 1st grade sons. I have let read alouds rest for the last few months (other than our Advent read aloud) bc I couldn't find something that everyone was enjoying. It's mainly the youngest who doesn't like some of the "harder" books we've read. Can anyone suggest any that their sons along these ages have all enjoyed? or should I just give up and do somethign separately with the youngest? He still enjoys Boxcar Children, Magic Treehouse, etc!