Thanks for the reminder! I think I'm part of that group, but not certain. I'll have to check after tea. :D I did email them, & I did specify that not only are there errors in the typed font in regards to being mislabeled BUT I'm clearly missing figures that the IG claims I should have. Thankfully I won't need the figures for a while as I purchased ahead, but...

Yes, I absolutely agree with that! It drives me a whole lotta bonkers. I always wondered if it was because: A. They had a price/figure limit from HSITW which is who makes their figures. B. They didn't include everything because they knew over time you'd hit it in another core. However, if that were the case a note would suffice to let you know, kwim?

This our second year with Bookshark & the second or third order we've had with them, but my this one has certainly had it's issues. I'm a little frustrated by it to be honest. First off they included 2 colour maps. Now I'm not going to fuss about that, all though it worries me that prices could go up if they make that mistake often, kwim? One was included, shrink wrapped, inside the stack of Instructor Guide pages, the second was laying inside the box with all our books. I honestly though, at first, one of the kids had thrown the map from another pack in there because the package arrived in the middle of our daily lessons. The big issue I'm having is that the timeline pieces that came with Bookshark 7 say upon them: History 3. Across the base of each page of them in the footnote area are the words: Intro To American History, Year 1 of 2 3-1. Okay, so I get it perhaps they did some cutting & pasting to save time. BTDT, & I understand that as a newer company they may not have all the kinks & errors worked out. BUT.. why do I have a timeline piece for Justin Morgan, whom we're not reading about, but my child doing SL D is. Yet, I can't find a timeline piece for The First Persian Gulf War. Half the timeline figured indicated in the IG {man & time icon} are missing! Talk about frustrated! Has anyone else ordered History 7 & had the issue?? ETA: I have all ready emailed them about the problematic timeline figures. Hopefully they'll be quick to send out the appropriate ones, but I'm wondering if they have the appropriate ones to send out or if someone is going to have to "fix" the problem prior to mailing.

Well.. normally I'd say FIAR until 2nd or 3rd grade, but you mentioned your boy prefers chapter books. Having said that you could pick a chapter book that lines up with anything you're doing from FIAR & we always did more science because my boys loved it too.

There are no samples for General Science. They also seem REALLY expensive. I'm curious how this will differ from the Audio, except that one can "see"....

Ha, I thought this was an old thread someone dragged up because of the origional start date on it. We are in the S. Heimpshere so we also school February - December. Which means we're close to gearing up. On the table we have: Oldest: Bookshark 6 & 7 {he's halfway through 6 due to starting it midyear; he'll wrap it up & then move into 7} MUS {he's halfway through one book & will wrap that up before jumping into the next} WP LA Sequential Spelling {finish off the book we're in & move right into the next} WWS Book 1 for Terms 3-4 Writing Rhetoric for Terms 1-2 General Science Discover 4 Yourself Bible Study French 1 Hoffman Academy Cont. Middle Sonlight Core D MUS {he's nearly done with Delta & will slip right into Epsilon} WP LA 4 & 5 {he started it late in the year so we'll finish 4 & slip into 5} Sequential Spelling {same story as before} Writing Rhetoric Book 1 {terms 1-2} Scout's Guide To Good Paragraphs {terms 3-4 or we'll obtain the next W&R book} Noeo Chem 2 Discover 4 Yourself Bible Studies Latin 1

I'm a bit slow on the uptake sometimes & realised that via Google Docs I can make quizzes that I could, in essence, email to my older child{ren} & have them take. That might sound a bit crazy, but the idea appeals to me. I had a play & created an upcoming quiz my child can take to show his knowledge on a current topic of study. I can't quite seem to figure out how to create the "answer key". I saw several "suggestions" one of which was dated 2008 & I'm not even sure Google Docs is set up the same, what I see when I bring it up certainly isn't. What I'd like to be able to do is have my student take the test & then be able to see what he got right vs what he got wrong. Is that possible? Maybe it's an unwise idea for fear of poor spelling, but I thought I'd ask on the off-chance that someone might have created something & know how?!

I can't say, for that exact level, but we've really enjoyed the Timeline pieces because they are nifty stickers. My kids loved the science videos. :)

Quick Question for anyone who might own one.. How thin are the pages? I'm curious about this & can't seem to find the information I'm after. I'd prefer to get the lovely soft covered green one, but I can't find info on how "thick" the pages are.. I wish I could compare the hardcover & softcover in regards to page thickness. Ha! Anyway, thought I'd put out an SOS to see if anyone had one & could offer up any information. :D

Here's the thing.. when I purchase from WP I only get WP exclusives. I don't purchase my books from them as I can get them quicker & cheaper through Book Depository who will ship to me for free. We LOVED CAW & I obtained the digital things so that I could, legally, copy as much as I needed for each child. We loved it & the amount of craft or activity was up to the kids. The only thing we added in was Material World {We used it more as an I Spy, but it gave the kids an idea of what some people have vs others..}, Hungry Planet {it was fun seeing how others eat}. I did own the Prayer Journal & had a love-hate relationship with it. I loved what it was meant to do, but I think if you tried to do too many of the charity things inside you'll overwhelm yourself. Rather focusing on ONE charitable act, & using the prayer calendars inside for praying for Children Around The World would be wiser. There were also heartfelt stories about children in war torn or 3rd world type countries that were eye opening for my guys. All Up, you'd pay more for it at Spirited Autumn's Hope, BUT you could purchase a unit & see how you liked it. it would also include all the readings you'd need & such from the WP books. You'd also obtain your digital download immediately where as it can take a bit over at WP. You'd also end up with a password on your digital documents over at WP where as Spirited Autumn Hope there is no PWd. I'm not a fan of having to enter a PWd each time I open a document so I generally remove it once I own the document which I don't see as a problem considering they don't have them locked like that if purchased through SAH. :D

Have you checked out the programme Children Around The World? HEAPS of hands on stuff mixed with good literature & some fantastic spines. We had a full year or crafts & craziness, but my hands on learner adored every minute of it & still talks about the various things we did.

You're not alone. I rarely read homeschooling blogs, & while I do read here now & again I'm not a daily check-inner {is that a word?} I refuse to put myself in positions that will leave me flattened or overwhelmed. We've been homeschooling for such a long time that I only tend to surface when I need specific helps for something or I'm just roaming looking for information. Yep, it's easy to get overwhelmed with TOO much information without doubt.

We have Chemistry. I'm not sure about 8th grade with it unless it was beefed up with the Kingfisher Encyclopedia & all the extra books they have as "suggested" reading. However it's very open & go as is. :)

SL 3 Readers bounce around in regards to ease & difficulty. The link provided means you can obtain the schedule el-cheap-o. I think it's even cheaper if you use the BookShark version, but I'm not positive on that.

He doesn't need the overlay too. His glasses will work just fine, but the specialist encouraged us to put everything possible on blue paper. I presumed this was JUST for the time frame in which we didn't have our glasses. However, after rereading her letter {we needed one for the state} it's in the helps for "all the time". So, we picked up a packet of what's called "ocean blue paper", & i ran his current math lesson out on it. He said that while he can see the math lesson on the white pages he can see it even better on the blue paper. My son's IS is pretty severe. He can't work in a room with natural or artificial light directly on him without getting visual interference. For instance, today we had the lights off & the curtains drawn. There was still a little light, but nothing major. I was able to take my glasses off because I couldn't see with them on, but he was able to see perfectly fine. When, without thinking, I pulled a curtain open, he lost all concentration & told me he was having trouble. I pulled the curtain closed & he was fine. This isn't "new" to us as the specialist has all ready pinpointed that problem & encouraged us to let him work in dark{er} rooms. Use the blue paper, no writing or copying at all because it's causing too much stress & strain on his brain. He needs to use something like Dragon Speak instead. I'm curious if when Irlen releases their overlay app if that would mean it would turn backgrounds on the ipad blue or not. Good idea to write to Apple about it. His ipad has helped him along so so much, but getting things BLUE would be better. :D

He has his glasses, but the coloured pages would help even more.

Our boy was diagnosed a few years back with Irlen, but it's only recently been discovered just how deep his problems are. We've been given a list of extra helps as well as a new prescription for his special tinted lenses. One of the helps is copying any seat work onto blue paper. After settling in for a math lesson today & being so amazed at how much the blue paper & new lenses helped him my boy looked up & said, "I need a Bible with blue pages!" So, I'm on the hunt.. Anyone heard of Bibles with fully coloured pages & normal blank font? I've seen them with the edges tinted here or there, but not the whole page, kwim? I've seen books designed for people who struggle with Dyslexia that are black pages with white larger font, but I've never seen anything specifically designed for a child with Irlens. Am I missing anything?!

Yep, but mine normally lets me know, so if he doesn't I tend to get panicky.

I own both curriculums. We used Sequential Spelling first with our eldest who has Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome {aka Irlen Syndrome}. We used it prior to a diagnosis & prior to the helps he know has. While it did work any time off meant knowledge lost. We switched to AAS because memorising the rules helped him greatly. I could tell him what rule to apply when he was worried about spelling things wrong. We could brush over rules before doing a spelling lesson, etc. I love the "box" system in regards to reviewing the rules/words as it's just like our Memory Box system. However, after getting him a diagnosis & helps I found that his progress was very very slow with AAS due to the mastery approach. I have no problems with that he needs to know, so while he was memorising rules & learning to apply them to words I pulled back out Sequential Spelling. He has been able to fly through a good percentage of Book 1 simply by applying rules from AAS. We're nearly at the end of our school year & I'm working on outlines for next year. What I'd love to do is apply the rules aspect of AAS with the lists from Sequential Spelling. Has anyone ever gone through & matched this up? Im not opposed to doing it myself, but I figured if someone else has all ready done the work I'd be grateful to cash in on that. :)

Christian Kids Explore -- Christian {Chemistry & Physics seem to not have a stand for Ye or Oe} Pros: Quick open & go. Not horrifyingly expensive, & there's a cd with the extras on it meaning one book per family makes it very very affordable. Cons: The lessons are super short unless you add in the Kingfisher Encyclopedia. I've felt the need to really beef it up with other sources which was simplistic enough to do, but would have been better if we could have had it all ready done, kwim? Note: I only have experience with Chemistry & Physics thus far; I did hear their Creation Science does have some mention of YE in it. Apologia {Christian.. YE all though Astronomy & Anatomy seem okay in regards to YE OE} Pros: open & go, for the most part. Easy to obtain. Can be used as an audio as well making the lectures even easier to use. Cons: Many books are too YE if you're not into that. Some are equally boring. Lots of hands on experiments if you're not wanting that. Noeo Science {Christian Company, Secular Curriculum.. which is explained in their samples on their website} Pros: Uses a variety of books that are prescheduled mixed with experiments. Pretty open & go & suppose to be directed directly to the student. Cons: If your child isn't on grade level for reading, & even if they are, some of the books are full & dry while others are below. We found that Level 1 & 2 seemed too young where as Level 3 was all most too much. I presented level 2 to my husband, very sciency, & he ranked the book as a 9th grade book that we were attempting to use with someone as young as 5th. If you live overseas shipping is pretty full on & for their Chemistry unit, for instance, you'll need to source the chem kit. Note: I don't own a Level I, my observation was obviously from the samples. I do have some Level 2, but for 6-9 it seems a little young. Winter Promise Science {Christian, YE, all though their Biology is not YE} Pros: Pretty open & go. One price covers all your students within your own home. Incorporates living books, notebooking, experiments, all tied into a main spine generally. Can cover many grades. Cons: Some spines are a bit much if you don't go with the higher end of their grade level which makes covering all the grades stated a bit difficult. Some of their science themes are heavy YE which can be a turn-off if you're not into that kinda thing. In the end, I've found that picking & choosing what is okay with one or another & mixing it together makes for something that works perfectly for us. I just wish something open & go was very perfect for us!

Another thought in regards to placement.. Animal Worlds is pretty much a big science year, no history. So it would depend on what you wanted for them. Do you want them to have history? Do you have a plan for that subject?

We've used WP for going on 4 years now & never had an issue with their customer service. I never order anything other then WP Exclusives from them which may be why, but I've honestly never had an issue. I've ordered hard copy of stuff x2 while in the USA & it was all to me within 2 weeks time. I know do e-book stuff. I will admit their ebooks threw me at first because I expected instant downloads. That's not the case, but now that I know that it doesn't bother me as much. They've redone the website so you do get things much quicker now. Watch for an email, create your own pwd & walla. Easy Peasy. Have you checked out Spirited Autumn's Hope? It's their sister site & things are an instant download over there. You can buy each portion of Animals separate over there so you could try a section, see how you like it & then buy the next one, etc. I don't know that it would be cheaper, but it would mean you'd pay less at a go, kwim?They also have a MAJOR freebie {Rome I think} for Hideaways on their blog. Have you spotted that? There's a FB group for WP users you could seek out if you wanted. It's private so you'd have to join it, but you could gather information there as well. :) Just to clarify I do know people have had issues with WP, I'm not denying that it's happened. I'm just stating that I've never had an issue. I've been able to call, email, or just order & have knowledge of what's going on. If an e-order got hung up & I didn't have it in a reasonable amount of time a quick email sorted it out. When I first made the WP plunge I heard that the biggest problem was GETTING the books that WP didn't make/publish/write themselves, so I've always just purchased their exclusives & not had problems. :D I know others have complained about the lack of being able to resell curriculum. FWIW, that changed this year so long as you didn't purchase digitally.. Just throwing that one out there because it often creeps up in WP conversations. ;)

I'd suspect another math curriculum would place her differently MM is a bit difficult unless you've been doing it from the start.

THIS book will guide you through. :)

What about Landmark History? It's a bit dry, but for the grade you are working with it might work..