Thanks, Julie, this is helpful. I wish there were a few more samples, but the video clip I saw looked great. So understandable! I haven't heard any negative reviews so I think I am going to give it a try.

I am looking at Math Relief and like what I see, but I had a few questions. 1. My daughter is in 8th grade this year taking Algebra 1. She is going to a small Christian school and they are using a McGraw Hill Alg. 1 book. Will she have any trouble transitioning? My daughter is not strong in math, but she studies very hard and got an A last semester. My son is in 7th taking pre-algebra. He has a B in math this year. Neither of my kids enjoy math. So I am just wondering about the transition if anyone has experience with that. 2. Is this a spiral program or mastery? How much review is there? We had used MUS years ago and there was just not enough review for us. What is this like? Thanks in advance! Cindy

I use GWG but I researched both before I bought GWG. They are both very similiar in approach with R&S maybe being a little more rigourous. If you use R&S you will have to write the answers in a notebook. It is a non-consumable book. GWG you use a workbook and fill the answers in the blanks. I liked having the problems and answers all on one sheet like GWG does so that is why I chose it. For some they might like that R&S is non-consumable. GWG is a little bit more expensive, but I like having the workbook to write in and I liked that the instruction book was taught directly to the student. The student reads the two or three short pages and then works out of the workbook. With R&S, it is a bit more teacher intensive maybe because you go over the information with the students instead of an instruction book. Either way, I don't think you can go wrong. They are both really great programs.

www.handleonthearts.com It is a complete fine arts program and a little pricey, but it looks good.

We ditched MUS. It worked well when dc were younger, but there was just not enough review as they got older. We switched to Horizons and I like it much better.

Another vote for Writing Tales. I switched to it and my very reluctant writer (ds9) is actually writing without arguing with me this year. I am thrilled. It is the best choice we made for our homeschool. I highly recommend it.

I want to cover some music theory this year and found this online. They look pretty good. Here is the link if anyone is interested. http://www.gmajormusictheory.org/Fundamentals/workbooks.html

Well, everybody's different. :) If you have already looked at some of the design series and it appealed to you, then I would say go with that. I personally have never looked at it, just relaying what my friend mentioned. I hope you can find something that works well for you guys. I hate spending money and then finding it is not a good fit. Ugh! I have done that so many times!

Sorry to put a damper on your plans, but I don't think I would go with the books you are planning. I have both the Tiner books and although good, they are a little bit over the heads of my 4th and 5th graders. I think they would be better for 6-8 grade. We are half way through the Chemistry book and I know dc are not picking everything up. As far as the God's Design series, my friend started out with them this year and she said they are so boring! She could not stand them and dropped them. I have heard that same review about the God's design series from others as well. If your kids have never studied Chemistry before, I would highly recommend RS4K. I am using that this year and really liking it. The experiments are fantastic and really help the reading to "click". I bought the Tiner books to supplement, but I am going to set them aside for a year, plus I did not think they were a real good complement to RS4K content wise. I am going to add in instead The Mysteries and Marvels of Science and just pick and choose through that book what we are covering that week as a supplement. Anyway, I hope you can find something you like. Just given your kids ages and first eposure to Chemistry and Physics, I think the curriculum you are thinking about may not be a good fit.

You are not the first one to have this problem with MUS. I have used MUS for two or three years and this year I realized that my kids just were not getting enough review. I realized for us we needed more of a spiral approach than a mastery one. So we have switched to Horizons and it has much more review which is what we needed. We still use Flashmaster for drill, but there were concepts my kids were forgetting that were not drill related (how to find areas of different objects) just because there was not enough review. You might want to consider a spiral based program for math such as Saxon or Horizons.

I am using it this year with my 4th and 5th grader and I really like it. It isn't just your typical read the verse and fill in the blank - it requires them to think critically. Sometimes the answer isn't spelled out word for word in the verse, but it is in there. They introduce how to use a Bible dictionary and concordance and there is some teaching on how things were in Bible times. This is one of the few Bible programs that I feel is very meaty and informative and yet has good application. We normally do one chapter a week. At the end of the week when they have competed all the sections for that chapter, we discuss it and I use the discussion helps in the teacher book. I have even learned some things I had not realized before by using this program. I highly recommend it!

Here is what we are doing: Language Arts: Writing Tales 1 Growing with Grammar 4 Sequential Spelling English from the roots up flashcards Math: Math U See Delta History: Sonlight Core 4 Science: RS4K Chemistry and Physics w/ some Tiner books to supplement Electives: Typing Instructor for kids Music Ace Drawing Textbook Critical Thinking Activites

We used to use Abeka for our language arts. LA 3 was our last year with A Beka. The grammar portion I found to be adequate. Writing instruction was abysmal. Dd hated them and so did I and we normally ended up skipping them.

I can see that this is the case with WT. Most of the grammar is the first semester. I was finding it hard to get them to line up. I think I will just go through both books in the order they were written. Thanks for the responses.

Someone graciously shared with me a WT1 and GWG 4 Schedule they made up. I was wondering if anyone has made up a schedule for GWG 5 and WT2 they wouldn't mind sharing. Just thought I would ask before I go to all the work myself. Thanks!

Yes, Edu-Track allows you to do this. I just tried it out. I have never used this feature before, but I can see how helpful it is. I will have to use this more next year.

Thanks! I am always on the lookout for great resources like this!

I picked other. I sell a lot of used curriculum and that helps to fund the next year. What that does not cover, I usually use a portion of our tax refund to buy the rest.

Congrats! We finish our Sonlight materials on Tuesday, but we are going to continue school till the first week of May. Like yours, my kids complain about being bored too easily, so I checked out some fun read aloud books from the library and are doing some other light LA and Science as well. Congratultaions at finishing another year. What a great accomplishment! :)

Thanks, ladies. I don't like rote fill in the blank answers. I think this is what I have been looking for - something to make them think!

Ooh, I wish I would have had this when we were studying Apologia Botany. We just sold the book. Thanks for sharing!

I'm a white yellow kinda girl here! I didn't used to like the white gold when I got married, but now I do like it. Still, I'm happy with my yellow gold ring set.

Thanks so much. My kids might not go for the barley, but I bet I could substitute with some beans!

I am using Sequential Spelling along with Apples Spelling. SS presents the words in word families. Appples Spelling covers spelling rules. Both are painless! :D

These books definitley are young earth creation so that is probably why your friend was turned off by them.