Yes Thanks.- I haven't used it yet but I did download it a couple of days ago. It looks like a great resource for a buck ;)

Thanks. I'll check out TC and Paragraph Writing Made Easy. I really like the looks of CAP but my fear is that it isn't open ended enough - it's good to know I can make it through a level in a couple of months though. Does TC leave more room for creative writing than CAP?

If you can afford the time, it's worth making the trip to Cappadoccia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cappadocia It's quite far from Istanbul (maybe 8-10 hrs by car/ bus) but a once in a lifetime experience for kids. Also, it's very affordable. You can sleep in a hotel that is literally carved out of a cliff. Other than that I can say Turkey is a very modern, easy-travel country. You can easily rent a car and drive around (though not in Istanbul proper) and shouldn't have any major safety or cleanliness issue (more than any big city.) I lived in Ankara for a time - so I don't have any specific recs for places to stay in Istanbul but I'm sure you'll have a blast.

So as we begin to finish up some curricula this spring, I'd like to focus on writing with my 4th grdr. I'm thinking that we can do a kind of summer writing intensive. Can anybody recommend a writing program/ book/ idea that we could use? I think it would be best to focus on narrative but would be open to other ideas. My goal is to have him writing multi-paragraph stories/ opinion pieces with ease. At the moment he has a lot of difficulty coming up with topics, writing clear topic sentences for every paragraph and knowing where and why to transition into a new paragraph. His sentences are fairly strong, spelling is good and reading is excellent. Any suggestions? Would it be too much to tackle CAP Narrative in 3-4 months? Would it be beneficial?

MP Storytime Treasures. Best reading ever.

CLE is gentle but provides a very solid base. That said programs like BA teach a different skill set (problem solving vs computational/ procedural skill.) (of course both programs teach bits and pieces of both skills but each focuses more on one.) I would argue that both are extremely important skills for the Logic stage student to master but not all grammar students are prepared for the complex problem solving in BA/ SM. In terms of comparing difficulty of CLE and BA, I would call it comparing apples and oranges. CLE does what it does really well and IMO provides the foundational knowledge that necessary to solve complex, multi-step problems. I think if you want to compare BA to something it should be SM. I've used CLE successfully for years but not without adding a lot of extra problem solving material including SM CWP, Developmental, TT, and EPGY. Currently I'm using it (1 yr ahead) with BJU and EPGY for my mathy dd and with BJU and TT and SM CWP for my less mathy ds. CLE has always been kind of a spine for us though - because my dc are young and I have a firm belief that grammar students need the drill/ repetition/ review/ computational mastery that CLE provides. Next year I'm thinking of adding BA to our regime. My 6.5 yo dd who is in CLE 206 and about 1/2 finished with BJU 2 did the placement test for BA 3A. She needed a little help deciphering the word problems (I had to rephrase almost all of them) but was able to get the answers on her own. I'm feel pretty comfortable with that. OTOH, my ds never would have been able to approach BA at her age even though he is very strong in computation/ procedure.

Yes you can buy 2 courses. I'm assuming you could defer the start of one of them. It *could be* enough for 7th if you do all the assigned reading (logic level) and maybe add in some writing about topics. OTAE will definitely be easy/ light for a 7th grdr. For materials, there are the books that are assigned as reading and the timeline cards. You could also get the TM if you wanted it for extra activities.

It should be fine as long as you do all the reading assignments and maybe add a few extension activities. Maybe use the TM for the paper course. There are 2 book lists that go along with each course. 1 is beginner (grammar) and the other is "advanced" (logic.) I used books from both lists for my 4th grdr. Assignments are given at the end of each lesson. NB- If you wanted to finish all 4 courses, I think it's possible to do in 2yrs with older, motivated kids and some flexibility on the reading. Basically it would mean doing 2 lessons/ day (about 1hr or a bit more in the upper level courses.) Anyway, not that you'd need to finish them all. They each stand nicely on their own IMO.

Yeah! bumping.

I started a similar thread a few months ago and got some great info about creating a kind of reading journal. It has been working well for us as an alternative to "book reports." I'm not sure if there's a more sophisticated way to link the thread ... but here it is. http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/526063-what-do-you-use-for-literature/

I think CLE is a great choice except that the stories may be a bit dry. Also keep in mind that the Gr. 1 and 2 are VERY phonics heavy. We are using BJU reading this year and it's been the surprise hit of the year. We're using gr. 2 and 4 which I think are appropriately on grade level though an advanced student could work a year ahead. The good thing about it is that there are a lot of extension activities and explanation of literary devices and real analysis of the stories. The downside would be that it's much more teacher intensive than CLE - however if you can afford the video instruction, it's great. I have always had my dc's working in Lit guides. BJU reading was a real afterthought that I came to because I needed to free myself up a bit (we're using the videos.) Anyway my dc's ended up really loving it.

So glad somebody asked this! Would I be right in assuming that CAP Narrative and Fable would be more appropriate for a younger student than MP? Could you do MP comp after CAP without it being too repetitious?

I'd like to see that too.... you know.... when you have time ;)

One other math thing you might look at is EPGY - now called giftedandtalented.com. It's the math program out of Stanford U. I am using it as a supplement with my younger mathy one. She likes it well enough and it teaches the conceptual thinking that a program like SM or BA would. It's adaptive so it works w/ your kid's ability and there are some cool games as extras. It's a bit pricey, but cheaper than it used to be ($60/ quarter for independent study.) They also have English but I have not used it. The math can be done on computer or tablet and makes a great "i'm done" activity.

OTAE has shorter lessons overall than NTGR. That said, the length of many of the lessons will depend on how quickly students make it through the challenges (games.) I think it's totally possible to do OTAE and finish it up around August if that's your goal but I would schedule at least 1/2 hour per lesson (though not every one will take that long.) If you're not too rigid about a time frame than there is no doubt in my mind that you can do OTAE and NTGR between now and July 2016. Just keep in mind that the NTGR lessons are a bit more challenging and longer. Anyway, much of the Biblical material in OTAE will be stuff your kids have covered (Creation, Fall from Eden, Cain and Abel etc...) so they will likely fly through it. Just FYI the courses go on sale periodically. I bought ours at the beginning of the school year 50% off. I *think* they often run a spring sale too. You might post asking about it or somebody who knows better can chime in. Good Luck!

Mr. Q has some experiments/ investigations that are mentioned in the TM along with examples of how to record data. I downloaded everything and put it on the ipad then just printed the activity pages. The kids and I read from the ipad. You could try out one unit. You could also incorporate the activity pages into a notebook. I'm pretty sure RS4K also has good samples on their website. We are using the old pre level 1 chemistry which is great and totally appropriate for grades 1-3. They're not on the website anymore but are easy to find used (I paid a fraction of the price.)

I would second Real science 4 kids. Elemental was a little bit (a lot) boring - though easy to implement. It is very repetitious and doesn't give much in the way of content - it's just a framework. We used it for Bio. RS4K is great. We are using chemistry now (in addition to BJU sci.) and it's very simple and fun. You can see samples on their website and keep in mind that they just re-did the editions. The old editions are cheap to buy on HS classifieds. Another option might be Mr. Q. I know you used to be able to download the bio for free and it was excellent. We switched to that when Elemental got too boring. BJU science is excellent but it is a survey course (doesn't follow TWTM) and it is very heavy on YE. We are not YE - I even stopped to do a unit on evolution - but I still consider the content excellent. I do make sure to gloss over the "God designed ....." language though and stick to the content. Both Elemental and RS4K are neutral in terms of YE/ evolution (if that is a consideration to you.) Apologia (does follow TWTM) and BJU are both very strong programs that follow creationist/ YE perspective. We chose BJU for the video instruction which is excellent. As for your question, I'd think ancients would be the easiest to relate to multiple disciplines. Those Greeks postulated about everything ;) ETA - I just checked Mr. Q - It seems like Life Science (biology) is still Free this is the link http://www.eequalsmcq.com/ClassicScienceLife.htm

Yes - you can see the upcoming lesson topics online - and (more importantly) the timeline cards lay out all the events that should be memorized by the end of the course. We basically do 1-2 pages per card some topics (like Theseus and the founding of Rome) got more pages because there was a lot of material and the kids were really into it.

No - They're each doing one program (though they do enjoy watching each other's lessons.) It would be possible to do more than one lesson in a day but I think it would be confusing to try to memorize 2 timelines at the same time. For the notebooking I usually just google the topic to find some coloring/ activity pages or an extension activity like a map or photos of artifacts that can be colored and captioned. The most important thing for me is that they have a chronological record of the topics that they studied. - They write the title/ topic on the top of each page along with the dates (just copied from the card.)

Love MP K and pre K but also Calvert's pre K (K4) might be worth looking at. We did K5 (at 4yrs) and it was great. Lots of read alouds, lots of phonics, singapory math stuff, lots of cutting and colouring and some fun projects.

If he's into games he may like TT for math - starting back at gr. 3 or 4. There are samples on their site and it would be a good/ semi-fun way to review and remediate. Also fairly quick. He can plough through a bunch of lessons in one day if he knows the material. Also Times Attack and Prodigy math might help him get the facts down. I love CLE too and use it w/ my littles but have been helping my 19yr old step ds remediate w/ teaching textbooks and kahn academy both of which are great b/c they're independent and easy to use. He can do TT at 3AM eating potato chips - and that makes it so much more appealing.

Used Origin of Species as scrap paper :) http://kinja.amnh.org/darwins-kids-doodled-all-over-his-origin-of-species-m-1685423397/+kcampbelldollaghan http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/slide-show-darwin-children-doodles

Just to add - while it may be difficult to have all 3 complete 1 course for credit (grades,) having them all do the games/ worksheets/ tests should not be a problem as you can redo lessons as many times as you like. The only thing is that only the FIRST grade that is recorded will count. I think you would be able to manually record the grades of 2 of the children and allow the computer to record the grades for 1. We are using Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece this year and both are great. The kids love to do history and are learning a lot. We also added a notebooking aspect where for each lesson I have them make a page in a notebook - either a coloring page/ puzzle/ drawing or copy out some of the information from the timeline card.

Also check out lively latin - it might be a really good value with 3 kiddos (you get unlimited web access and can print unlimited student pages) http://www.livelylatin.com/

I don't know if CLE is *more* rigorous than FLL overall but it does seem to move a bit faster and is very independent. I tried FLL 3 after CLE LA 2 and found myself skipping the first half (almost) of the book. FLL's memory work is really nice though and sorely missing from CLE IMO. As I understand it you are looking to accelerate your ds but still have to work w/ your dds - so having something like CLE for him to work on might fit. Also you can pick up at whichever LU you think is appropriate. CLE LA 2 teaches Cursive, beginning diagramming and walks the student through writing a book report in addition to basic grammar and punctuation. The great thing about CLE is that you could always try out one LU for 4$ ;) Another good resource for programming is Hourofcode.com which is free. - Though I will say that we have found the Youth Digital course worth it's cost. (I bought it through homeschool buyers coop 40% off -)