Hello folks, Forgive me if this has already been covered. I did a brief search for this question and didn't find it. I have a quite-bright rising 8th grade son, and I'm trying to decide on a logic curriculum for him. He's already done Critical Thinking 1 & 2 and he enjoyed them. It looks like WTM recommends for the next step either Traditional Logic I by Martin Cothran or Discovery of Deduction by Classical Academic Press. I like the idea of DVDs, as found in Cothran, but I've read mixed reviews on the quality of these. (I've never used DVD instruction before, but I am getting increasingly busy, and worried about fitting everything in). I'm wondering if anyone out there has an opinion about how these two curricula compare. My son is a great reader and super-advanced. I'm also hoping to use the same curriculum (at a slower pace, if necessary), for my second son the following year, who is also bright but not as advanced (also not as old within the school year). Any feedback is appreciated, thanks!

Thanks, everyone.

Hi folks, I am starting to plan for next year. My oldest will be in 6th grade. I looked through WTM in the logic chapter, and it looks like SWB recommends using "Critical Thinking" Books 1 & 2 by The Critical Thinking Company. I found a used copy from 1998 on Amazon (only Book 1) and a 2002 Book 1 and a 2005 Book 2 on Rainbow Resource, but when I went to the website for The Critical Thinking Company, I couldn't find those titles anywhere. Are they out of print? Do people still use them, or is there a different recommendation? We used "Building Thinking Skills" this past year. I appreciate any help you can offer. Erin

Thanks, everyone!

Hello all, My oldest son is in 5th grade & we're back on biology. He was excited about doing more "real" science, but so far it's been a bust. I've been trying to follow the recommendations in WTM but I'm running into roadblocks. I'd appreciate any help. I couldn't find the right Bio Dome that was mentioned, so I bought a similar one. Smithsonian brand, but slightly different. It came with triops eggs. Only 2 things hatched, and I don't think they were triops. A bit of a dud. We bought Carnivorous Creations. So far, nothing has sprouted even though it's been 2 months. I know it's not a warm time of year (we're in Pennsylvania), but I have it underneath a lamp that I turn on every day. Any ideas? My son's getting discouraged. I tried to buy Basic 5 Animals Dissection Kit. It was hard to find the right one, but I think I found it (from Carolina Supply, right?) I put it in my cart, but then it asked me where I was having it sent. When I entered "home," it said this product could only be shipped to a school. I filled out a "Contact Us" form explaining that I'm a homeschooler, but I didn't get any reply. Does anyone know about this? Have you successfully received this product, or did you go with a different one? I know there are other kits out there. I would appreciate any advice. So far this year my son has had almost no science and I'm feeling like I'm failing him. Thanks. Erin

I have homeschooled for 4 years. We never did public school. Each of my kids did Montessori preschool before starting school at home in 1st grade.

Hi folks, Well, we had a long, boring summer, and now we're gearing up for the school year. Unfortunately, it's hard getting started. I was hoping for a "soft opening" of doing a few subjects last week, and we did do a little, although less than I had planned. They're already complaining. Even my oldest, who usually doesn't complain as much as the next two, is talking about how he thinks traditional school would be better. This has been a grueling year for me in my personal life, in many ways. There are things I really like about homeschooling (mostly the teaching/subject matter) but dealing with their behaviors is really tough, and I don't know how much I can hold out. I'm also having problems with our co-op community. I'm wondering, at what point do you throw in the towel? We're about to meet with a psychologist to see if we can get any help with our second child who just turned 9. This is the third time we've tried to get help. He's so difficult. I'm feeling really alone and exhausted. What can I do? Homeschooling takes a lot of energy, and I wonder if I'm just making myself crazy for nothing. How do I decide? How do I deal with not knowing if school would be better for them? Would appreciate some advice and encouragement.

Thanks, everyone.

Thanks for your help, everyone. I'm not disappointed with MM and BA, I just wanted to know about this other curriculum.

Hello folks, My oldest is entering 5th grade, so we'll be in the logic stage for the first time. I'm trying to adjust to the changes. I read in WTM about SWB's recommendations for history, and I'm going to try to follow them closely at the beginning. I saw how she recommended having my son color maps from The Geography Coloring Book by Wynn Kapit as we go through history. I'm wondering, for any of you who have used this, how did you do it? It looks like each area of the world is covered once (with a few variations), but some areas are discussed multiple times in the history encyclopedia (Babylon, Greece, Rome, etc.), so did you just have your child do each area once, or did you photocopy and have them do it every time it came up? Is there another way I should use the book? Just a little confused since the book wasn't written explicitly to accompany WTM. Previously I leaned heavily on the SOTW Activity Book for mapwork. Any advice you have is appreciated, thanks. Erin

Hello all, I'm preparing for my fifth year of homeschooling. My oldest son is entering 5th grade, and this past year we completed the SOTW cycle. I'm a big fan of WTM, so I was planning on going with her recommendations for the logic stage for history- not having a basic text but using a history encyclopedia as a spine and then outside reading, etc. I just stumbled upon The History of the Ancient World and realized that she has written a textbook and a study guide. It says grades 6-12. I'm wondering, have any of you used this? Is it for middle school, or more for high school? What are the pros and cons of using this book rather than following her previous recommendations? I appreciate any input you have, thanks. Erin

Cornerstone

Hello all, My oldest is 10 1/2 yo, entering 5th grade. He's bright and I'm wanting to keep him challenged/interested in math. I have tried multiple curricula. Right now I'm doing a combination of Beast Academy and Math Mammoth, which is fine. I just heard about Making Math Meaningful, and it sounded interesting. I'm wondering, should I look into it? What are the pros and cons of this curriculum? Do you know about how it does with 5th and 6th grade? Thanks. Erin

I had the same question, and this reply was helpful. Thanks for the Duolingo suggestion. It looks good, and the price is perfect!!!

Thanks, everyone. I like the idea of doing U.S. history. I already had some materials about the states that I was going to try to incorporate. My rising 3rd grader is definitely on the sensitive side. I think what he liked so much about SOTW was listening to me read the chapters. He liked the story format. Do any of you have recommendations for something that's similar to SOTW 1-3 in story style, but focusing on U.S. history and/or info about the states? Thanks. Erin

Thank you thank you. Can you tell me what AG and VP are?

Hello all, I'm just starting to get ready for the coming school year, and I read the Foreword for Story of the World 4. Susan Wise Bauer says that she does not recommend using this book for kids below grade 4 because of the serious and violent nature of the history of the 20th century. My oldest is entering 4th grade, and I have a 3rd grader (on the young side, just turned 8) and a 1st grader (6 yrs old). What am I supposed to do? I'm frustrated because I practically killed myself last year doing 2 years of SOTW in one so that my 2nd grader could catch up with his older brother (he was out of sync), and now I'm not supposed to do SOTW 4 with him or his younger sister? I thought I was doing what I was supposed to, keeping kids on the same year of history and letting the oldest determine the time period we study. I know SWB didn't talk a lot about this, but I know I read somewhere that she thought we'd make ourselves crazy if our kids were all in different time periods. So, what should I do? Still do activities but not read the text? SOTW is actually my rising 3rd graders favorite curriculum. Ugh. I'd appreciate any advice you can offer, thanks. Erin

Hi everyone, I'm trying to decide which math curricula to buy. I've gone through some of Saxon and Singapore with my 2 boys before trying out RightStart this year (levels B & D). My oldest (ds9) was getting bored with level D, so I'm considering switching again to maybe Beast Academy or Mammoth Math. He is liking the geometry drawing at the very end of D, though. I'm wondering, can someone give me an idea of what is covered in RS Level E? And how does it compare to Level G? What grade level would you recommend for G? Just trying to figure out what the best way to go is. I need a math curriculum that doesn't take a lot of my time (so far RS has, but maybe it's less for E?) and is challenging for a bright 9 1/2-yr-old. I'd appreciate any input for those of you who have E. Thanks! Erin

Hello all, Thanks again to all of you who chimed in with suggestions for math curriculum decisions. I'm sorting through all of it now. As a quick recap, my oldest (DS9.5) is accelerated in all areas, and I haven't succeeded in challenging him with math. This year he hasn't learned much that is new. I usually take the summer off and don't do much school at all, but I'm wondering if it would make sense to do a little bit of math this time, to try out some other curricula and see what challenges him and what doesn't, and to see if I can squeeze in a little new material since he didn't get much this school year. I'm wondering, what do you guys do over the summer? I can't do anything too heavy, or I'll have a revolt on my hands. =) But something light and fun would probably work, as long as it takes VERY little prep time on my side. Do you guys have any websites with math games that you like? Any fun math books that you can pick and choose from? I welcome any ideas. Thanks! Erin

Thank you so much!

He did CWP for level 1 & 2 with no problem. We'll work on CWP 3. I'm interested in online classes. I don't know anything about Stanford's epgy program, but I'll check it out. Do you know what course your friend does, or are there other online courses you'd recommend? Thanks.

Thanks for all the suggestions. It's rather overwhelming looking at all the options out there for math. There's a lot more out there than the 4 or 5 mentioned in WTM! I would appreciate it if someone could briefly summarize some of these newer programs and compare them. (difficulty level, what they cover, supplement or full program, where to start) Could someone comment on the following programs? I would really appreciate it. Thanks. Jousting Armadillos Beast Academy Art of Problem Solving Mammoth Math Hands on Equations

Yeah, I basically did that because I didn't know what I was doing! Oh well, live and learn. I should have done more research. Thanks for the input.

Hello all, I wish I had taken advantage of this forum sooner. This is my third year homeschooling, and I've been swamped ever since I started. I quit my part-time job which will hopefully help me to not merely survive but actually plan ahead and see the big picture (at least now and then). =) My oldest is 9 and 1/2 years old and reads at a very high level. He reads 900-page sci-fi books for fun. I can't keep up with him! He scored 12th-grade level on spelling when we did our first standardized test this year. But my question is about math. He's been complaining that it's "too easy." We started in 1st grade with a combo of Saxon and Singapore. We started on first grade materials even though I knew he already knew a lot of it, because I wanted to reinforce facts for him. By the end of 2nd grade, he had gone through 3 years of both curricula. This year I decided to switch to RightStart Math, hoping that would help with my second son, who didn't like Saxon at all. I started my oldest at Level D, based on the brief placement test, but now I realize that level was too low. I like the Montessori thinking behind RightStart (we're a Montessori family), but it seems like it's not challenging enough. I'm really running out of steam for this school year, so I'm not going to make any major changes until next school year, but I'll try to supplement with some leftover Challenging Word Problems books from Singapore I have lying around. I have two questions, however, with regard to the future. 1) What do I do for next year? It will be 4th grade for him. Do I continue with RightStart E and skip over stuff, so we get through it faster? Does anyone know anything about Level G (it looks like there's no F), in terms of how challenging it is? Do you have other curriculum recommendations? I don't want him to miss important skills, but it would be better to be able to move faster. Also, my time is getting more and more limited, so it would be nice to have a curriculum that he could basically do on his own, rather than depending on me (RS is teacher-heavy). Other question... 2) What should be my goal over the next few years? i.e., when should we start Algebra? My husband says, "if he's bored, start Algebra." I know Susan Wise Bauer says that most students aren't ready for the abstract thinking involved in Algebra until at least 7th or 8th grade. Is this true for all kids, or is it different with accelerated learners? How can I know when he's ready? I want him to be engaged and challenged, but not push him before he's ready. If he's not ready for Algebra, what kind of math can keep him engaged for 5th and 6th (and 7th?) grade in the meantime? I wish I had more time to better craft each curriculum choice, but I'm really swamped. We're adding child #3 to the homeschooling mix in the fall, and child #2 still needs a lot of time with me. Plus, I need to potty-train my toddler at some point, and every once in awhile do laundry. =) I posted the math curriculum question to the K-8 board, but no one replied. I'd appreciate any input any of you have to offer. Thanks, Erin

This is a great idea, thanks! My precocious 9-year-old reads on a junior high level, and I can't keep up with him. Many good suggestions. I've already read 27 of them! I will check out others and add ideas if I think of them.