Also bumping for an update, hoping to sign the older girls up for the Grammar classes but I'm wary that the materials may not be out in time...

DD7 & DD9 do a couple of pages of BA every day. DD9 additionally does a couple of problems from SM IP. When we run out of BA (drumming fingers for the next in the series) we fill in with more SM IP and/or CWP and/or LOF (maybe JA here soon).

That is exactly what we did. We have the tb/wb/ip/cwp/answer keys and the Parker and Baldridge books. We're in 5A now (started from K), and while I've modified our usage (e.g., we actually don't even use the tb/wb/AK anymore, instead focusing on the IP/CWP) I've never stumbled across a problematic question or issue that I couldn't explain using any of those resources or this board. BTW, you may get folks pointing out that the HIGs will have mental math activities in them, but those are so easy to supplement for free, or you can simply do some of the wb questions aloud for mental math review. Good luck!

How about Story of Western Civilization? They have an American history counterpart as well.

Thanks, I will probably go about it that way. I didn't remember that the answers weren't sent. I was hoping that there'd be one page of correct letters that could be easily scanned. I certainly didn't intend for any of the posters to manually enter the letters by hand. I have the materials so I'll probably sit them down afterwards and grade them as a group (then they can answer disputes themselves :). Thanks for the response!

I totally spaced on the National Mythology Exam (and other contests!) this year and missed the mailing deadline in March. Seeing that I already have the materials, I am going to go ahead and give the girls their exam this week, but I won't be able to have ETC grade it. I can't remember from previous years, do they send out the key when they release the results? If so (and assuming it's not against the rules), I would super appreciate it if someone would let me know what the correct answers are so I can score their scantrons manually myself. I have the questions, so I'm not asking for the booklet or anything, I'd just like to know the A/B/C/D breakdown for the various questions. Or is that available online anywhere? Perhaps I should contact ETC directly... Thanks for your time :)

And it makes it even worse when I admit that these were seniors... Sometimes I just want to announce in class, "This folks, is why we homeschool." Sigh...

Having just encountered 3 classes of undergraduate students over the past few days who couldn't understand a simple Venn diagram, I would suggest these.

Thanks for sharing your experience! I read a few threads and it seemed to be kid-friendly so I was hoping an arrangement like the one you outlined would be possible. I think this conference sounds great, and the girls have voiced that they're definitely up for a road trip, so hopefully we'll make it there :)

Is anyone planning on attending this May's Family Homeschool Conference by Royal Fireworks Press in Valley Forge, PA? I am considering going, but as I would have 3 children with me (ages 9, 7, and 3 by then) I was wondering what most people do with their children. Do they attend the sessions with you? Children's sessions are mentioned, but I don't know if a parent must attend with the children or not (my husband would stay home, so he wouldn't be available). Any thoughts or experiences would be much appreciated, thanks!

Why not both? LoF and BA approach math from different angles. LoF is more algorithm-based (not my preference, but I want my children to know this approach because it does confer benefits) and is set up as a zany story with math (and other random content) thrown in at the end of each very short chapter. We use it as a bedtime story a few nights a week, and my children beg for it. BA, otoh, is conceptual, and really tries to teach the underlying mathematical relationships. (I have a total crush on AoPS and I could gush about them for days!) The girls love reading the guide books (full color comic book) for fun and we do the workbooks each day as seat work. Altogether, each girl does maybe 6-8 pages of a BA wb each week, 6-8 pages of SM IP or CWP each week, a chapter or two of LoF, and then random math pages from CTC or CML.

I second these recommendations. We have all of his illustrated classics, plus a few of his other works. I wish he'd continue with the classics line ... :(

This the scanner we have. I scan everything, every. single. workbook. I use a razor blade and a ruler, cut off the edges, put on a movie on the computer, and then periodically reload the machine as it scans file after file. Love it!

We use both. DH will read from BFSU and have lengthy discussions with the kids during the day, throwing in some of the activities. Then, periodically at night, I'll read a chapter from RS4K (but no activities or Kogs or anything like that). I agree that it comes down to your teaching style and constraints. I simply don't have time for the commitment that BFSU requires, so something shorter and to the point is more my speed. However, like others have said, I'm still not 100% satisfied with either. DH also uses Hakim's Story of Science for longer discussions and loves that, so there's a thought.

Funny timing, I'm giving an exam today to my undergraduate students (who have already had a college stats class) that, in part, includes standard deviation. Even after seeing the concept and computation in high school, in a previous college course (and apparently now in elementary, who knew?) some still didn't get it. And these are kids that have self-selected into math-based disciplines. My point is that these statistics are more advanced than 6th grade math so please don't worry about them. I would never have guessed they were being introduced so early, because it's certainly not sticking!

Evan Moor's Daily Language is on Amazon.

No, you are correct. We have both, and while I really liked the idea of Caught Ya!, it kind of fell by the wayside, didn't stick. This could have more to do with how we've set up our HS, though, and perhaps isn't a good reflection of the material. GWG, OTOH, is an outright curriculum which teaches step by step directly to the student. However, it's not amusing like Caught Ya! Both have fallen out of favor here, but they still can fit in nicely in other HS's.

In addition to MCT, we use KISS grammar (think of it like the Practice books, minus a few levels of analysis but plus a few others), Getty Dubay for handwriting, and then we alternate between Logos Imitations in Writing and CAP's Writing and Rhetoric.

Wow, I don't know if I'm counting correctly, but does your 5th grader have 16 books/workbooks facing him when he sits down? That seems like an awful lot. For comparison, my 4th grader typically has 9. Her stack is outlined below... (And for a bit of background, I'm a university professor in a STEM related field, so I'm all about those subjects, especially math.) Logic/Critical Thinking: 1 wb page, something fun from Critical Thinking Co/Prufrock Press/Mindware Math: 2 pages ea from 2 wbs, rotating between SM IP, SM CWP, BA, and MM Handwriting: 1 page from Getty Dubay or Character Italics Grammar: 1 page from KISS (sometimes only 1/2 page, if they analyze 1/2 of the sentences correctly we move on) Writing: length varies, but we rotate between Logos' Imitations in Writing and CAP's W&R Latin: 2 pages from SSL2 Spanish: 2 pages from The Fun Spanish History or Science: 1 lesson from either Story of Western Civilization or McHenry's The Elements We also do outside clubs/lessons and fill in with additional curricula in the evening/car (e.g., SOTW audiobooks, LOF and MCT Town and literature selections at bedtime, math games whenever, extra stuff on computers if they're interested, etc.). But when they sit down, their stacks aren't overwhelming (at least from my perspective, if you ask them their answers may vary!).

I'm not really sure how to answer this. Right now, it's pretty much the only Spanish the girls are doing. Before this, they did Salsa, First Step, a year or Elementary Spanish, Whistlefritz, , El Perro y el Gato, a random Spanish class, and Song School Spanish. They're doing The Fun Spanish and Song School Latin 2 concurrently. When they're finished, they have GSWL and GSWS lined up ready to go. After that, I'm still uncertain where we'll go (although Spanish for Children is definitely one of the contenders!).

Are you talking about the distributive property?

The Fun Spanish!

An alternative is a razor blade and a ruler. I unbound my copies (and most of my other books) this way.

We have CW1, and while I drooled over the hard copy, I ended up buying the pdf download. The reason I remember using was how the student and teacher pages were interspersed. I wanted to be able to give my daughter just the student pages and not the teacher sections. Now I checked CW1 and CW2 out of the library at the same time, and I seem to recall they were set up a bit differently. Please forgive my memory, but one of them had the teacher pages after each section and the other had them all in the back. I can't recall which book had which setup. CBD has inside previews (and an excellent price for the hard copies). Good luck!

I thought I had heard that SSS2 was in the works (or at least planned for). We finished SSS1/SSL1 a few weeks ago and started SSL2 and The Fun Spanish 1 (which my girls have seemed to really like!). Links to ebook, print book, free sample.