I am doing exactly what you said. We used LWW first semester which is for fourth grade I believe (the grade she is in) and this semester I am using Anne of Green Gables which is for sixth grade. I already had the guide from a previous child and knew she could handle the book with no problems. I planned to simply cut out a little vocab or a question here and there if I feel the need to but so far at chapter five and haven't needed to.

I tried a similar question but thought I would ask more specifically here. I am planning 7th while thinking ahead to 8th. I'm pretty sure we will use RRR by Diana Waring and the next vol for 8th. Now I am deciding how to fit in Literary Lessons from LOTR and Starting Points by David Quine. Would one be better to do before the other? Should I spread SP over both years while doing LOTR in 7th or 8th or is that overkill? If one of my main skills to work on for 7th is composition skills, should I leave out these and concentrate more on writing or will these give good opportunities to practice those skills?

Ok, thanks! I'll try that.

I'm working on 7th grade plans for next year (and thinking ahead to 8th) and keep changing my mind but I think I've narrowed it down some. These are what I like: Starting Points (either over 1 or 2 years) Literary Lessons from LOTR Diana Waring's Romans, Reformers, Revolutionaries or TruthQuest Ancient Rome Could someone share the differences or similarities between Diana Waring and TQ? Also what would be a good combo or what might be overkill with the rest? Something like LOTR one year, SP the next or spread SP over 2 years while doing LOTR one of those? Would either of these be too much with the choice of Diana Waring or TQ for history? I appreciate any thoughts others have to offer on this!

We love ours! Only our middle schooler attends. Because he attended a Christian school full time until 4th grade, he really missed "real school". He attends a cottage school on Mondays and takes 4 classes each lasting 1.5-2 hours. He then has assignments for the rest of the week and I teach a couple other subjects at home. It has been great academically and socially to get to have friends his age. The school is a branch of a Latin school so there are certified professional instructors and they use Memoria Press. It has really been the best of both worlds for us. We will consider putting each child in at middle school age if finances allow. I will say the only con is there are times that I miss choosing what he studies but I am working on building around MP for next year. I wasn't sure how it would work this year and we discovered the school only a week before classes began. ETA: The school is currently for 3rd grade up. Didn't want it to sound like it was only for older kids, that's just how we plan to use it.

Oh, wow, that's good to know. It's hard to tell looking at TOC's online. It seemed that the two were maybe more thorough than AG. Thanks for the suggestion, I will check it out!

I'd love to hear thoughts on this from those who have used these!

Thank you for your response!! This helps. Anybody else?

I'm planning for next year, 7th grade. So far he's had aBeka thru 4th, rod and staff 5th-6th. Here is what I am considering: AG 7th-8th 9th R&S 8 if needed or Warriner's for high school I really want to work on writing skills so I thought a change of pace might give a little more time to focus on that. He does pretty well in grammar, the lessons just take us awhile to go through. Any thoughts or suggestions appreciated!

I am curious about how much reading other 6th graders are doing in a day. My 6th grader is very smart but does not like to read at all-for school or fun. He is also a slow reader. He comprehends and retains extremely well, it just takes a long time to read. I want him to be challenged but not over-extended since it does take so long. Sometimes I find an audio version so he can follow along. Sometimes I read aloud as time allows. So, in all, about how many pages do you assign and how much time is spent reading on all subjects total in a day??

I'm looking to work on writing with a 6th grader. I'd like to focus on American history (civil war - present) topics because of his interest in this. He takes classical studies in a cottage school so I'm not looking for a full Am His program. I'd like to be able to choose which books and topics we use and work 3-4 days a week with me doing maybe one of those days as instruction and him working the others. What I hope to find... A resource or guide for me to make sure I am covering the areas of writing that he should know. I don't need something fully scripted as I am pretty comfortable with writing but more something for me to follow as I plan the areas to work on (narrative, summary, outline, etc) that lets me choose what he reads. He has an excellent grammar foundation and a good composition base from using Rod&Staff. Is there something out there like this?

Thank you, ladies! I like the ideas and agree on the sticking with one. He seems to do better with the abeka stuff, maybe because of the reinforcement in the workbook. At first I was overwhelmed with all the lesson plans with it, but I am so fine with using it as I see fit now that I could do it alone comfortably. It's good to hear from those who've had similar situations as well. My middle child was reading at a third grade level by mid year of kindergarten so I was starting to worry I had really messed up! We'll just keep trucking along. :)

I have a 6 year old first grader. We have been using Abeka and Phonics Pathways since kindergarten. He started off slow and mid kindergarten finally picked up short vowel blends and things seemed to click. When we moved into long vowels he continued to read out of the Abeka readers well but when reading lists of words he began guessing a lot. This is about when we started using Phonics Pathways. I thought the review would help and it offered more practice. He loves reading the pyramids. Now he is still confusing sounds and letters when reading lists but reads out of beginner books very well. I am at a loss. My other kids were in school when they learned to read and I feel as though his pace is not matching where he should be at this point. It doesn't bother me that he seems to go a little slower with it, it's that I want to make sure he is progressing appropriately. Do I continue moving along with the work or pause and keep working on these issues? It seems the more I slow down or back up the more confused he gets... At the same time, I am amazed out how he picks up words when reading level 1 and 2 books that we haven't learned the sounds for. I'm assuming he is just guessing them from the context of the sentence. The parts we use of Abeka phonics:handbook for reading, flashcards, and letters & sounds workbook. Also use PP and the Reading Pathway pyramids. I don't use all of these in one day however. Would love to hear from others who have had similar problems.

Yes, chalkboard paint is awesome!!! We painted about a 4x7 foot "board" on our wall and loved it! I did use about 3 coats I think. The cost was under $20 for the paint (still have some left) and a small roller and tray that I used. I have since successfully painted over it since we plan to move. Very budget friendly!

I do not use the montessori method necessarily but here is a website that I do use for the great resources. There are many free montessori style printables for different subjects and a paid version as well. HTH www.montessoriforlearning.com