We just read this one and really enjoyed it. It's kind of sequel because it does pick up where The Last Olympian left off and I think with the next book The Son of Neptune we are going to see Percy again. A book like this with new main characters in Percy Jackon's world could have been a disaster but we were instantly pulled in. I don't think anyone mentioned the Animorphs series but I may have missed it. My son (9 going on 10) just loves these and I find them interesting too. Between this series and Ga'hoole my son has taken quite an interest in birds.

We read SOTW 2 when my son was around 7.5/8 years old and he did not lose his belief in Santa.

I think he should let his sister make the phone calls.

I am eagerly and anxiously awaiting level one of the Barton reading program. I hope it will help my son (9). The dog does a good job of letting me know if anyone's coming up to the porch to leave a package.

Yes it is different. My point was to say that I had heard of a class in France being divided. In this case it had nothing to do with birthdays. I had five kids in the English class and they all turned 6 during the session except for the one designated as being babyish. He was already six when the session began. So obviously not the same deal as in your boys' school, though I do find that interesting--I hadn't heard of classes being automatically divided that way.

I'm late to this thread and don't know if this will even be very helpful, but when I ran a little English course in France one mom told me that her son's Grande Section class was divided. One group of more mature children and one group of children who, like her son, were more "bébé". This was said right in front of her son so I guess it was no secret but it seemed harsh to me, especially using the word baby to describe a 6 year-old. I don't know what the rationale was behind the division.

My son only said a handful of words at that age, fewer than your son. He didn't gain language overnight but he did progress gradually and had occasional bursts of improvement. He started having sessions with a speech therapist at age 8 for articulation issues but has otherwise developed language just fine--in two languages. He actually has quite an ear for expressions, figures of speech and precise vocabulary. He is always coming out with funny sayings and interesting words. ETA: late reader here too.

That's why he's not in charge.

I would try taking his weekly amount of copywork and spread it out over five days (and not increase it no matter how tempting). ETA: I meant to not increase it if you switch to five days. I'd split the longest line between two days before I'd increase the current amount of writing...for now, anyway. If that's not feasible, I might reduce it from two lines to just one, making it a less tiring task, but one that is still done with consistency. There is lots of time to gradually increase the amount as he gets older. Writing fatigue is an issue around here too. I don't give copywork but my son takes a correspondence course for French that has some writing in it. I always spread the pages that require writing full sentences over 2-3 days and give a page with matching or circling with it so the lessons still take about the same amount of time to complete and send in, but are more manageable for him.