Our CC group is actually pretty quiet. I know a few people who are in it and they aren't pushy, though of course they love it and do try to sell you on it. But I do the same thing with Bravewriter, so we're even. HAHA I have never attended and I've honestly never understood the draw to CC. Most of the people I know, have read comments from, etc say they love it for the "community"...but it seems like an awful lot of money to pay for friends. I don't know why the people who love CC haven't said, "hey, how about we get together once a week at such and such a place and have coffee and drill memory work ... for free. " I mean, a lot of them are having to tutor to afford it anyways, so if you're doing the teaching anyways... I really don't see how CC is a "full curriculum" but I do know that is how our CC sells itself. I wouldn't put my kids in a CC program and consider it well rounded, personally. But again, I've never attended, so maybe I am missing something vital.

I believe they have placement tests, but you have to purchase them. :( I agree that BJU is on target for grade level. The writing portions would be easy to jump in anywhere, I think. The grammar may be a bit tougher if you've never done any before. It's doable, but I think it moves at a quicker pace as each year goes on and the diagramming is more advanced each year. If you've done formal writing/grammar, I'd say go in at grade level. If you haven't, or your child struggles a bit, it wouldn't hurt to go a grade under either. Depending on your kids, you could easily meet in the middle and combine them with the grade 6 books. Have you checked out the samples on the BJU website? They give a full chapter and the TOC to browse through. (The grade 7 & up books are quite different than the revised 6 and under levels. )

Thank you, Merry! That was very helpful! I wondered how annoying it would be to navigate the 600+ pages that Knowledge Box has.

I googled, as a previous poster mentioned, and it doesn't sound encouraging. The school is 14 million in debt. Not sure how much the school & texts are tied, but I'm doubly glad I just ordered the books I needed and won't have to worry about it. It sounds like there is still a long road to go for the school...

Can anyone compare the notebook journals from Apologia vs the ones from Knowledge Box Central? Are there any others I should be aware of? We're in Canada, so the price of the print journals from Apologia adds up. I'd need 2. I also found that the journals were hit and miss this year (using Zoology 3) so I am undecided if we will find them more useful for General or not...

The writing assignments included in the texts are optional. We use a separate writing and have only done a Mosdos assignment twice this year. I definitely wouldn't get the workbook for a child who struggles with writing. You can view samples at Rainbow Resource. The workbooks are basically fill in the blank, crosswords, etc to aid comprehension and vocabulary. We read just and discuss and I think the kids have gained a lot. The discussion questions are very good at making them think.

We just use the textbooks. *If* they were cheaper, I might have given the TG & Workbook a try...but the textbooks seriously have so much in them, I didn't feel like it was necessary to add more at these grades levels. We did start keeping Literature INB's, which has proven to be a great addition. We got these and I love them. :) https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Reading-Interactive-Notebook-Literature-745824

Good to know! :) I went ahead and ordered the other two levels I wanted, just in case.

No word from RR yet.

How do you currently do corrections? For my perfectionist kiddo, she melts down with immediate correction (like seriously, the TT program made her cry. She hated being told something was wrong and to try again). She does better if she's taught a lesson and then she goes off and works the problems on paper. I correct in the evening and the next morning she goes back and does corrections and then moves on to a new lesson. If she's struggled with a particular concept, I will leave a note for her to watch the lecture again and to ask me for help if she needs to.

I emailed RR quickly to see if they knew if Mosdos was out of business.

This is the email addy I have: mosdospress@moh1.org I found them very quick to respond. I will be so sad if they are closed and I will be quickly buying the other levels through RR! We love Mosdos here!

:iagree: We really like BJU math for the elementary years. (I don't continue into middle/highschool because I prefer TT to take the teaching off my plate.) The TM is a must. It has all the *meat* of the program in it. If you take the time before starting the program to print out pages and get things ready, it will be open and go. A few examples say "have the students stand at the front of the class" but these are easily adjusted for a homeschool setting. The manipulatives packs are very well done and I recommend them. The review and test booklets have never gotten use here and I stopped buying them.

I have some samples (gr. 3-7) that I can email you as well, if you like, just send me a PM with your email addy. :) Edited to add, I can also try to dig up their email addy if you don't have it. If you email and ask for samples they send more than what is on their website. They are very helpful.

We typically finish a level and a half during a regular school year.

We tried it out and I am really not impressed. My older two were doing fact fluency as review, so I didn't think much when it said they had all the facts mastered...but then I put my youngest on it and I know he struggles with fast recall for his facts...they have him at 49% fluent on addition, which he isn't. What they list as "mastery" is flawed. All of my kids really dislike the robot voice, so we've had to turn the sound off. I also found multiple questions that were wrong. One was in regards to shapes. They gave a rectangle and only two multiple choice answers of square or circle, if I remember correctly. I can't think of the others off the top of my head. I am glad we didn't pay for a subscription. I was seriously disappointed in it.

We use the Bravewriter ideas from her blog for "fun" writing add-ins. The kids LOVE the activities and they are free. :)

I wish the sample was larger so I could get a better feel for it. I think I can get ahold of a copy from a friend, so I can hopefully get a better look at it. :)

All the planning threads are scaring some motivation into me. I am at a loss of how to proceed with science for my oldest. Up to this point, we have dabbled in this and that. The kids have done RS4K Physics & Chemistry, Mr.Q's Life Science & part of Earth science, and some A Beka science, way back in the elementary grades. This year we are using, and enjoying Zoology 3. I do own two books from the God's Design series: The Human Body & Properties of Atoms & Molecules. I got them for free though, so I'm not out anything if I choose not to use them. I looked at Apologia General Science and I just don't think she's ready for it... She's dyslexic and if we split science, I need her doing reading on her own, which means that having an audio option would be ideal. I want to be on-track for high school science, so something that would cover a range of topics is probably ideal. So..give me your miracle science curriculum?? lol

Made some changes since I first posted. :) Math: - TT 7 Spelling: AAS Literature: Mosdos Grammar: *probably* Easy Grammar Fix It! Grammar Writing: no idea BJU/Writing Strands (maybe)/Bravewriter combo Vocab: We are going to start using INB's focusing on word roots and also playing Rummy Roots (which is collecting dust at the moment.) Science: no idea. The kids are loving Apologia Zoology 3, so we may move backwards and do Zoology 2 next year... Abeka Science 6 History: thinking some Donna Ward books, but no idea which ones Courage & Conquest - Canadian history study Geography: thinking about Map of the Whole World Bible: Either using what we already own or buying Grapevine. Depends how much I need something new. ;) Guess I needed something new...we ended up going with Apologia Who is God? And Can I Really Know Him?

AGH! I am not ready for planning yet. These threads are freaking me out!! LOL It took awhile, but I think I've sorted it out: I know we'll be continuing with: AAR AAS ETC BJU Math Everything else is undecided. We'll also be doing: history - a study of Canada using Donna Ward resources. science - tagging along with Abeka science 6 art - whatever I put together from pinterest, etc Health - Abeka gr. 3 copwork and possibly Writing Strands

History and science get left so often here too! I started making up experiment kits, and that has helped, but it's still the first thing dropped if we run short on time. :( I think the only change we made was to grammar. We dumped Winston Grammar and are trying Easy Grammar. I have serious grammar issues. About a month ago I added cursive practice back in for both of my oldest kiddos and we also added in Key To books for my oldest who needed some extra practice with fractions, decimals and percents. I've been having a case of the "we aren't doing enough" blues, which is typical for me around this time of year. I usually make a list of what I feel we need to do more of (it's usually very, very long and detailed) and then I set it aside for a bit. In March, when the sun starts shining again and the snow starts melting I pull out the list and end up crossing out most, if not all, of it. :)

My oldest has a November birthday and we "renamed" her grade in 3rd. (Love the word "renamed." It is so hard to explain to non-homeschoolers that there is no "repeating" of a grade.) Anyways, none of our friends/family even noticed and my kiddo didn't care and doesn't even remember. It didn't change a thing in our day-to-day schooling, of course, but it has made a huge difference in outside activities. I don't regret it at all and would consider doing the same for another kiddo if needed. *If* she had suddenly excelled, that would have been fine too, we would have just left the adjusted grade and praised her for being advanced. :)

It's been a long time since we dabbled with Phonics Pathways. AAR has a very different scope and sequence, but if I remember correctly, it moves at a slower pace thank Pathways, so I think it would work ok. Maybe compare the AAR scope & sequence with Phonics Pathways?

Christianbook.com also carries Abeka. Maybe their shipping will be less? We use A Reason For Handwriting for cursive, but we don't start until grade 4...