I thought some field trips might spice it up. You don't need to go places all that often to create great memories. We've visted battle sites, historic homes, science centers, museums, toured plants/stores, farms, and we're going to visit a mine later this month. You can also bring a friend on these adventures when the timing works. Also, my kids take karate and we hung a heavy bag in the basement for them to practice. Lots of fun!

I don't think AG would work as well w/such a young child. We used it in upper elementary and it worked well, but I think much of it would be lost on a younger child. There are several "bigger picture" exercises that I think most young kids would not be able to appreciate. Maybe Jr. AG would be a better fit. We love MC. We use the full LA program Character Quality Language Arts. The writing portion (MC) truly taught my son to write beautifully. Both programs work with the same type of learner--linear, sequential, rule-oriented. Both were great choices for my ds.

My children have all enjoyed them. A few of the activities I/we didn't find interesting or not worth the copying/cutting/coloring/pasting so we just skipped them (maybe 1 or 2 per book). Each book has about 8+ pockets w/multiple activities in each one so we still think these books are a bargain! The upper grades gr 4-6 have quite a bit of information, too. If you like them, try Literature Pockets. We particularly liked the Tall Tales book.

I am most comfortable using a curriculum and supplementing. For 9 yr old we use Horizons and Life of Fred supplemented with Challenge Math (by Zaccarro), Murderous Maths (Horrible Histories series), and other "living math" books we find. While some answers on this board may sound like a lot, most of us don't use everything every day or even every week. By using different approaches I've seen that my kids completely understand math, not just when it's presented the same way it was in the book. HTH,

We loved the computer game, too. One thing that was remarkably helpful was a world map shower curtain. Just looking at it every day helped a great deal w/retention. He liked Challenging World Geography as a workbook. You have to use other sources to find the info and he enjoyed surfing the net and using our atlases. Good luck!

It seems as though one could complete books such as Intro to Counting and Prob and Intro to Number Theory in about half a year. Has that been your experience? This is for a math dude who has completed Alg I, Alg II and Geometry. Advice and experiences appreciated. Thanks!

I wrote a review about Analytical Grammar years ago at http://www.homeschoolreviews.com which will give you some detail. I also recommend you watching the video on the AG site because it shows quite a bit about the program. I think AG works very well w/a linear learner. AG explains it all step by step with enough reinforcement to make it stick.

Analytical Grammar worked very well here!

I looked at that, too. We went with Joy Hakim's Story of Science and the student guide. I'm adding in some biographies. This seems as though it would be a good fit for middle school, but my 9yo is also quite interested in it. Just a thought!

Don't over-commit either of you! Don't buy too many programs. You can follow the child's lead. You may find that by the time you get around to doing that cute science program, dc has surpassed the material via library books and the Discovery channel. I'd suggest sticking w/some reading, writing and math on a regular basis. Then you can add in some science or history as you'd like. When my ds was young we did science 2 days/week and history 2 days. Another way is to spend a couple of weeks on a topic like plants (read, sketch, grow, nature walk) and put history/social studies aside for that time so it's not too much. When you're done w/plants, you might study a people group or geographic region.

I have not used SL 6 or G World History Part I, but I own it and plan to start soon. I, too, was concerned about Story of the World. I purchased Susan Wise Bauer's high school history book as well and might just combine some readings (The History of the Ancient World). I believe the idea is to have an easy read in SOTW, partly because SL G moves pretty fast. The other books look great and I am optimistic that we will have a wonderful year. HTH,

We use MCT and it's mostly reading with some workbook application. However, I've found it works best when dd and I read together. There is a workbook for practicing parsing sentences, but most of it is reading or writing on their own. RFWP has homeschool packages which only include the required books (TMs mostly) or a deluxe package that has TMs and SMs for every subject (grammar, vocab, etc.) We enjoy the program, but I'd look elsewhere if you want an all inclusive workbook curric.

I've found some Fred chapters have several yttp and others don't so you really can't jus assign one chapter/session. I, too, leave it up to ds as to how much he is going to do. A lot of the time it's fun so he'll keep trucking through a lot of material (and retain it).

I wanted to add that many of these classics are available on YouTube (if you know what to search for....) We watched some of the Animaniacs songs, but found they went wayyy to fast for us. We love School House Rock (DVD was about $20...a great bang for the buck!) and enjoy Liberty's Kids. I don't remember the one you're talking about, but hopefully someone else will.

I was having a lot of frustration...I mean difficulty when I ordered last week. I kept refreshing the page and FINALLY I *think I ordered the right stuff.

We did read all of POE, but I did not have my 9 yr old do most of the activity sheets. We completed some of the suggested activities. In general I'd describe it as "fine." It works, it's not painful, it's not terribly time consuming, we didn't find it boring. I liked that it went along w/the regions we were studying (for the most part.) Even though we completed other science programs, I took the time to read about the ecosystems in POE. I think it's worthwhile. ETA: My girls enjoyed The Complete Book of Animals which is an easy, colorful read. It divides the animals by continent so it works very well w/ECC. Just another easy way to add in something fun that would go along w/ECC if you wanted to scrap POE.

Hello, I just had to offer a caution once I began reading the lists of what everyone is using next year. It may look like a lot or even a TON. The families may not be schooling 10 hours per day. There are several other reasons the lists are so long. **They are using only part of each of the books listed **They are completing one set then moving on to the other **The books/workbooks are not a full year curric. Some learning tools may only have 30 lessons and we might do one/day instead of one/week or something like that. ***They don't work on every subject every day. We have done some subjects a couple of days/week and others on the off days. We've worked on some things for 10 or 12 weeks, then focused on some other skill or topic (like vocabulary or spelling or reading comprehension) ***Not every child completes everything on the list (I have one doing all of SL 6, one doing SOTW + Activity book and one child doing a little of both--she's NOT going to read every SL 6 book and complete every SOTW activity!) **The student loves that subject so they might complete 3 science currics for fun (did that last year!) I'm sure there are other reasons, but these are the first ones off the top of my head. PLEASE do not feel as though you need to add to your because of what you've read on the boards. Start your year and see if the work load is right for your dc and you. Make sure you don't add in a bunch of teacher intensive projects that seem like they might be worthwhile or "fun" but are really challenging to fit into your day. Just breathe.

We enjoyed AP and I'm going to do it again in the fall w/younger kids. The ONE thing that I feel is important is to acquire some quality art supplies. I believe Blick sells AP sets or you can just purchase what you don't have. Having great art supplies improved the quality of dc's work and having them on hand made life easier for ME. Otherwise, I think you all will have a blast with it!

THis is not what you asked, but I had to pipe in about AG. LOVED IT! It really worked and ds liked learning sequentially and not re-hashing concepts as other programs do. It's a little intense at certain points, but you can always slow down that lesson if dc isn't getting it. DS also loves having the student book turned reference book. He rarely uses it, but tells me it's great to be able to look things up in the same book he learned the material. I hope you find info about Jensen's.

I've used it four times and I was surprised that the kids did NOT get confused by the funny letters. The odd font served as a cue to remind the child that the sounds go together (eg, sh) or that the letter in silent (eg, k, e.) For each child we got to the middle of the book then dropped it because s/he was reading so well on her/his own. Obviously, I don't see that as a flaw in the book since I used it for each child, but they could re-name it to Teach Your Child to Read in 50 Easy Lessons. :D I did not use the writing portion as my kids were young when we used the book. I didn't feel writing is nearly as important as reading for a young child. I used it w/three year olds and four year olds so it works w/little ones who are ready. I think it's a great book!

I don't think it's shocking, but many folks are never able to do that well. It's a true gift. I'm glad he's going to use it as an engineer! :) My dh can't imagine anything as 3D.

I don't have the anwer for your, but I had to comment on your book list question. Even the books that "everyone" loves don't always thrill us. Usually they are well written, but they might not draw us in as some less popular choices. So, don't worry about getting "the right' books. Use some booklists and choose the ones that are popular, appealing (topic, style, setting), are written by an author you enjoy, etc. I've gotten a bunch and let the kids read the pile! I often will set a time for how long we spend on something. It can be flexible, but if we spend a good 45 minutes on history that is often enough for us (not counting projects or readers). If we spend x weeks on the Romans, it might be time to move on. I enjoy having a schedule laid out for me. Even if I tweak it I find it keeps me on track. Good luck,

I think reading and learning Latin/Greek roots and prefixes/suffixes are great. I took four years of Latin and a semester of Greek which continue to help me today! We use a workbook for my younger dc that only has a word or a handful on a page. I don't think long lists are helpful. The key for her is for me to keep a list (mental or physical) of those words so we can use them in our daily lives. THAT is what helps them to stick, imo. HTH,

We really enjoyed them w/a cut/color/paste kid and one who was not as fond of those tasks. I used them as part of a literature history program. They are easy to add in and easy to pick and choose what parts you want to use. Some of the projects and more interesting/elaborate while others are simply making a booklet of facts. The Gr 4-6 pockets have quite a bit of interesting info. Worth using, imo!

This describes my husband and son vs my daughter and me. My husband describes it as "feeling" the answer. My son sees it in colors. :confused: My dd and I need a pencil and paper then we can do anything! lol The guys need to go further, wider, deeper where I am happy learning what I can apply. The position of the student should guide the direction of the subject matter.