I had the same dilemma at one point. I decided to do both. It was fun. 🙂

We are trying a 2-week trial to Wondrium and wondering if you had any recommendations? So far dd11 has been enjoying "The Children's Guide to Folklore and Wonder Tales." I see a whole lot that I will enjoy, but I'm wondering which courses you have found to be more engaging for children/tweens/teens?

We did this too. We didn't tell them that their bedtime was earlier than it would be if we didn't do this. 😁 My older kids (even my 17-year-old) still all go to bed at 8pm and stay up an hour or 2 reading each night.

Thanks! So many great options! We'll have fun exploring these together. 🙂

Thanks! Exploration Education does look like a good possible option. Have you done many of its levels? I worry that the Standard (4th-6th grade) Level might be a little too slow for her, if it's made for 4th graders to use as well. But she doesn't have a strong background in physics, so she'd probably need to start there, right? Does the Advanced (7th-10th grade) Level require a lot of the background foundational knowledge of the Standard Level? Is it the sort of program where if she were capable she could go through the Standard Level quickly, then move along and do the Advanced Level in the same year? Or am I underestimating the Standard Level, and it'd be a great, rigorous program for an advanced 6th grader all on its own? I had no idea 4H made educational materials. Those look like fun! Thanks for pointing me to them. 🙂

I've been posting lots of questions to get a last-minute 6th grade year set up. Thanks for all the responses so far. DD and I talked about what science she wants to learn this year. After she explained all sorts of things she's interested in, it basically all boils down to getting into some real (yet age-appropriate) engineering. My rough plan is to go through "The New Way Things Work" by David Macaulay with her and have her go off on all sorts of rabbit trails based on what we read about. Once we're through that, probably go through the Snap Circuits curriculum, and maybe some of the Lego technic things if she's interested. I did something similar with a younger child once and it worked well. We lived near a better library system at the time though, so I'll need to do a little planning ahead for books to help with the rabbit trails. But are there any good engineering-type science curriculums I should look into? It'd be nice to have open-and-go science-in-a-box if we could get something rigorous enough. Either a full curriculum or just supplemental materials would be welcome. I'd love for her to get to sink her teeth into something challenging, but still age-appropriate for a bright 6th grader. Thanks.

Thank you so much for all this detail! I just signed dd up for an 8-week course and this helps me have a better idea of what to expect.

Thanks! I looked into all of these last night and Lantern English looks like a good fit so we signed up for an 8 week course. 🙂

Thanks! Looking into these now. 😀

I'm throwing together a last minute 6th grade year. Through previous years of homeschooling, I have realized that I am not a great writing teacher. I've acquired loads of materials, but matetials only work as far as the teacher can take them. What are some good online options for 6th grade writing? I'd love if she had a good mix of both creative and academic writing. It seems most curricula I've found have a heavy focus on only one or the other. She'll need good feedback from a real person. I'm terrible at correcting writing and giving useful comments for the next draft. Some fun is good, of course, to keep things engaging, but nothing super fluffy. DD is pretty smart and up for a real challenge. I'm not looking for something that overly pushes grammar. Not because grammar isn't important, but because I can teach her that. She'll be getting plenty of grammar instruction already. We need help with crafting a good argument or a compelling story. I looked through other threads and I am a bit overwhelmed at the shear number of online resources now. It's a bit daunting. Can you help me narrow it down? Thanks

Skyward by Brandon Sanderson is excellent in audio book format. The same narrator also does The Mystwick School of Musicraft which is also excellent.

It's been a few years since I homeschooled but I'll be keeping my 6th grader with me this year. Our usual first day of homeschooling tradition was breakfast at a restaurant, then planning activities and fun schoolish crafts like bookmark making and planner decorating. But I just looked at the calendar and realized I have 2 teens with orthodontist appointments on the morning of the first day of school. (It's always so hard to get the early appointments; I should have realized there was a reason they were avaliable.) So orthodontics for her brothers, then out to eat for brunch instead of breakfast? I'll have to let brothers know they'll be missing the first hour of their first day of school now. 🤦‍♀️

I also just saw my signature. Wow that's old. The dd(4) mentioned is the child currently going into 6th grade. I have no idea how to edit that anymore. 🤦‍♀️I'll have to figure it out!

Is there a 6th grade planning thread yet? I did a search and one didn't come up. If there is already one, please link me to it. If there isn't one, can we start one please? It has been a few years since I last homeschooled, but I've got a 6th grade year to work out now, so I came here to see what's new, and also what's old that I had forgotten about. 🙂 This year I plan to use: Michael Clay Thompson English - probably Island and Town levels even though they're for younger grades. They have such a nice foundation that I want daughter to have. If she breezes through them we'll move on to Voyage. Singapore 6th grade math as a review (just to make sure she really knows it - she supposedly finished 6th grade math in 5th grade), then on to Jousting Armadillos and Crocodiles and Coconuts Spelling Power And that's all I'm positive about so far. For science maybe Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding? I've got the books, and they're great, but I'm open to other things. We'll probably do some stuff from Critical Thinking Press We'll read a lot of great books - she wants to start with Pride and Prejudice. I'd love suggestions of other books. Preferably not tween drama. She's very tired of those being assigned at school, and I don't blame her. For History - maybe Story of the World or The Human Odyssey? Those are what I have. Are there other great resources around? And beyond that, I'm stumped. I've never found a writing program I like, and I'm not a great writing teacher. I'd love to outsource this. And we'll need some extracurriculars like art or foreign language. What are all of you doing with your 6th graders? I need the ideas. 🙂

Thanks for al the replies! Funny thing was I was thinking I should look into MM or JA. Now it looks like I should look at both. And the online book looks promising too. Now to decide. Or make her decide since she is the one who will be using it.

At this school they give it the first week of 7th grade, so what she learns over the summer will affect how she does on the test. I know, it's kind of different.

My oldest is in public school this year, and will continue in ps next year. She is finishing 6th grade, and wants to learn pre-algebra over the summer so when she takes the 7th grade placement test she'll go right into algebra. Her math teacher suggested this as she is at the top of her class. We've gone through all the Singapore elementary books, and they are a great fit for her (which is one reason why I think she's so far ahead of most of her public school peers). If I was homeschooling her next year I'd use AoPS, but I think it would be too much for just a summer course. What is your favorite solid, but not too rigorous (so it can be finished in just a few months of hard work) pre-algebra program? Is there something very similar to Singapore? Thanks!

Aren’t ears and brains fascinating? Sometimes our brain will detect a sound wave, but not quite have all the information, so it will fill in the blanks with what it already knows and we will hear something that isn’t there. For example, once I was sitting in my room and I distinctly heard squirrels in the attic. I had had squirrels in a previous house so I knew exactly what it sounded like. I could follow their movement across the ceiling. But we lived in an area without squirrels when I heard it this time. I figured it must be some other critter up there, maybe bats. We checked the attic and there was no sign. I heard it again another day and KNEW we must have some infestation. But a little later I noticed a cable cord chewed up by the puppy outside the room where I kept hearing squirrels. The next time I heard the noise I could tell it was really the sound of the puppy chewing up the cord, and the cord jiggling in the walls. After another time of hearing it, it sounded barley like critters, and I wondered how I had ever mistaken the sound. Our brains make mistakes with sound all the time. Here is a cool video that explains it a bit. (I love Vi Hart videos, so I couldn’t resist posting). So for the OP, and all you others with unexplainable experiences, I second the advice to investigate! You could find out (most likely) that it was caused by something completely different and your brain interpreted it the only way it knew how from the experience it had. You could find out that you need to call the police about intruders (less likely, but still possible, and something very necessary if this is the problem). Or if you manage to prove paranormal existence, I bet these folks would give you a million dollars, so it’s totally worth conquering your fears to find out. (It looks like the rules for the Million Dollar Challenge recently changed, but it's still worth a shot.) So there is every reason to figure out what the sound is. And no reason (except possible entertainment value if you like a mystery) to not find out.

Thanks!

I've heard of Yowie eggs, but I've never seen them. I can easily get Kinder Eggs because I live on the Canadian border. We eat them before we cross back. I know other people who sneak them across. It's sort of the principle of the thing. In my mind there is really no good reason to ban them here, and any resources dedicated to the enforcement of this law are resources wasted. But mainly, I don't want to give my address to a website I'm not sure about, and would like to know if anyone here is familiar with it.

I just saw a post from a friend on Facebook asking to sign a petition from change.org. I can fully get behind the cause - to remove the ban on Kinder Surprise Eggs in the USA. But I don't know if change.org is legit. I hesitate to give my address to an unfamiliar website. A google search came up with mixed opinions. I thought I'd ask here.

I can't stand the suspense anymore! Someone - find that book!

Just putting this out there - the family's specific religion isn't necessarily an indicator of how they would react. For instance, I'm LDS, and if one of my children came out I would absolutely show them love and compassion and help them through their hurt and vulnerability, rather than causing more. Some religious parents would be abusive, but many would not. And some non-religious parents would be abusive while many would not. I understand the thinking behind using caution with members of specific churches, but I respectfully don't think it's an accurate litmus test. Ravin, I am truly sorry that you had such a terrible experience. And to the OP, I tend to be non-confrontational. I don't know if it's the right thing to do, but If I were in your shoes, I'd probably focus on teaching my kids how to deal with this kindly and respectfully, and figure that in a tight-knit group, this boy's mom will find out soon enough, if she doesn't know already. If we were talking and it came up, I wouldn't shy away from the subject, but I don't think I'd make a specific phone call for this. But that's just my personality. Do whatever you think you will not regret. Whatever choice won't keep you up at night is IMO the right choice for you.

It didn't seem too complicated, but maybe I was just not trying to look deeply. There were many references to the original books, including the death of Moriarty at the falls. John showed up because he's Sherlock's friend, so Sherlock doesn't have to do things alone, so he can beat someone like Moriarty who doesn't have a friend like that. Didn't he jump at the end just to wake up? I thought John asked him how he was going to wake up, and since you can't die in a dream, jumping off a waterfall seemed like a good way to wake up.

We did go. It was nice. 30 minutes early was not quite early enough. It looked like everything was full, but an usher led us to a front balcony that I couldn’t even see until we got there. We ended up sitting in front of some friends of ours who were very helpful with our two smallest kids who were a bit loud and squirmy. It was serendipitous. Some children put on a cute nativity and the priest gave a nice message, then continued with Mass. We couldn’t see the program very well from our seats, but the kids loved seeing their piano teacher play the piano and organ. Afterward we all agreed that the music was beautiful, and it was nice to spend Christmas Eve with others who love Jesus. We are considering making it an annual tradition. Thanks for all your help. It made navigating the experience much easier. My only regret was that we didn’t know they’d pass a donation basket around. We didn’t have any money with us and would have liked to contribute. But we’ll remember that if we go again. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too!