It is mid year and I am trying to reboot history. We just finished TOG year 1 and are starting the middle ages. We just aren't progressing. I need something more streamlined. My DS12 tends to read through the large amount of reading quickly and then can't remember what he read. I think TOG assigns a bit too much. I am hoping to spend about 45 minutes a day on history plus time for lit. I have tried eliminating some of the "in depth" reading but then the discussion and accoutabilty questions don't match with what he read. I have thought of dropping down a level - we are doing dialectic and could do upper grammar - but then there are no discussion questions. We don't need easier - just less. I also considered spreading it out - but I want to complete a four year cylcle by the end of 8th grade and he is in 6th so we need to keep moving. I like that there is literature included but we don't need so much. I like that there is mapwork. I like that there is a schedule. I have a "colicky" 4 month old and I want something ds12 can follow. I like accountabilty and discussion questions. I can't do much in the way of read-alouds. Any suggestions? Thanks, Tammie

Thanks for the suggestions. I am still looking for more. I should add that I can't do much in the way of read alouds - I have TMJ issues and reading aloud makes them worse. Thanks!

I have just finished Tapestry of Grace year one with my 6th grade son (dialectic). I don't love it and I am wondering what else is out there as we move on to the Middle Ages. With TOG we did just the basics and I feel like TOG might be overkill for us. I like that TOG provides a spine to read and then some in depth reading but there is too much when my son really wants to move on to science, math, programming, and his own choice reading. I like that there are literature options but we don't need one for every week or would like a slower pace so there is time for other reading. And I can't say I love the lit sheets included. We don't use the writing assignments, the world view assignments, or most of the arts/activities. We do keep a timeline with History Through the Ages figures. We do the map work/geography in TOG and like that it is included. I like it being scheduled by week for me. I also would like to incorporate videos (like from the History Channel) as I find we can learn a lot by watching but I can add those without needing a curriculum if we had more time. So I guess what I want is 1) a schedule - weekly or daily 2) spine(s) or text 3) Additional books but not an overwhelming amount 4) some literature 5) geography included 6) Discussion questions 7) Not too much writing but a beginning on note taking, answering questions I know that I can stick with Tapestry and just choose to do what we want to do but I am wondering if there is a better fit. Any ideas? Christian or secular that is not anti-Christian. Thanks, Tammie

My DS is 11, 6th grade, doing pre-algebra. He just finished Life of Fred Pre-Algebra 1 with Biology which we started mid-September. While his understanding of the math concepts is good, his computation is not. He also has a tendency to work problems in his head without writing things down. I am an engineer and work through problems very linearly, step by step. He just intuitively does his math. I am torn where to go with him. I want to nurture his mathmatical mind but also want him to learn to write down the steps. I would like him to improve his computational accuracy but also know that in the future, he will be using a calculator. I don't think LOF is doing it for him. He loves it and we will continue it but he needs something else as well. My plan was to move on to AoPS pre-algebra next but I am wondering if that is the right way to go. I am wondering if there is a quick computational review that I can do with him first. Or should I go ahead with AoPS? Thanks, Tammie

Stealth Dyslexia? See the following website: http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10435.aspx You mention many of the symptoms... Not a curriculum recommendation but something to consider as you begin homeschooling. Tammie

I started homeschooling my son for 5th grade this year after pulling him from public school. I agree that teaching him is MUCH easier than doing homework with him was. He is not the easiest, most compliant child - he can be challenging, but he is pretty good about getting his work done. When it was doing homework, it was after school, after being in a place for 6.5 hours that he didn't like, and practicing what he really didn't need to practice. Now we go at his proper pace. He doesn't have to do busy work. If he complains about his work, I ask him to help me research what curriculum he might prefer. I have a schedule of what he needs to do each day. If he doesn't get it done, he will have to work in the evenings. There are consequences for not getting work done like missing scouts or baseball. I do have to redirect him frequently, but he gets back on task. And on the days he really seems out of sorts, I reschedule his work (all of my schedules are in pencil!) letting him know why is is being rescheduled. I love that I am his mom teaching him and I want him to see me as mom, not Mrs. SoandSo. My teacher role is just an extention of the mom role I already play - not something separate.

This looks like a plan. I have seen Killgallon mentioned by MCT users in the past but was afraid to look - and find myself complicating and rethinking our schedule this year - but it does look like a good fit for next year. And why Building Poems over A World of Poetry? Thanks, Tammie

Thanks for the help. I might get sentence Island and Paragraph town and browse through them. How about grammar? Should I move up to the next level? Tammie

I just started homeschooling my 5th grader this year. We used MCT Grammar and Practice Voyage, and Caesar's English I. He has done very well with these and has really enjoyed them. I have all the books from Level 3 - Essay Voyage, Poetry, CE II - but we did not use them this year. As a new homeschooler, we were not as organized as I would have liked. I am trying to plan for next year. I think I should "catch up" to all the same level in all of the MCTLA subjects. That would be using CE II and A World of Poetry but I don't know what do to for grammar. Also, we didn't use Essay Voyage because his writing is really weak (dyslexic dysgraphia). We have been using Writing With Ease level 4, just to get him writing things down but now are ready to move on. Should I try Essay Voyage? He is a verbally gifted child but that doesn't currently show up in the writing. In retrospect, I wish I would have started everything at the Town Level but that does not help me now. In addition, I don't mind buying additional MCT books if needed. I have a younger one who will start MCTLA from the beginning! Thanks so much, Tammie

I am new to HSing this year and am using WWE with my 5th grader. He was in public school before and the writing instuction was horrible. I feel the children were pushed to do too much too early. Bad writing was fine as long as it followed the rubric. My extemely verbal son HATED writing. It was sad. When he would write, he would do the bare minimum possible. The sentences were stilted and boring. And there were a lot of tears. At home this year I started with selections from WWE year 1 and have worked that way through year three. The improvement of his sentences is remarkable. They are complex and interesting. Although I doubted that this was instructing him in writing at the beginning, I see now how it is working to improve his writing.

Thanks for the reassurances. Changing course in 5th grade has been a bit of a leap of faith. My son's friends are applying to private (Catholic) schools for 6th grade (our public middle school is not safe) and I am wondering if my son would be getting a better education there. It is sometimes hard to make the unusual choice. But my son is happier than he ever was at school.

So I am doing okay besides the writing? I am trying to be very gentle with the writing because he had such a bad experience in PS. I know I need to step it up but I wanted to give him time to adjust to homeschooling. Also, I think he is dysgraphic. My other son is dyslexic and the dysgrahia and dyslexia go together. I was going a little out of order in Singapore because it made sense to me to go ahead and teach how to multiply and divide fractions after teaching how to add and subtract them. Also, since he was in PS before, the curriculum doesn't match up with where he was. We are using level 4 to fill in the blanks. Thanks for your responses. I really want to make sure I give him an excellent education, not an adequate education. He is very bright and I want to open doors, not close them. Thanks so much, Tammie

This is my first year homeschooling my ds10 (after public school), 5th grade and I am experiencing some self doubt. I am always thinking we aren't doing enough, he isn't learning enough, etc. Every time I go to a homeschooling friends house and see other curriculum I feel like I should be doing it. When I peruse websites I start thinking "He hasn't memorized state capitals" or whatever it happens to be and I panic. Could you look over what we are doing and tell me your thoughts? I am sorry this is lengthy but I wanted to give an accurate idea of what we do. This is our ideal week - sometimes things get dropped due to illness, my other children's needs, etc. Thanks for any comments. History - TOG Year 1. Completed unit 1 and we are 2/3s done with unit 2. I don't feel we are always using this in full. He does the upper grammer readings and usually the dialectic literature. We go over the dates and put them on a time line but I don't have him memorize. We have a short discussion of what he has read for history and lit but I don't have him write much down and it isn't a deep discussion. Sometimes I have him do guided note-taking. Geography - TOG. We do the mapwork and discuss (looking at maps and pictures) the topography, climate, etc. Again, he doesn't really memorize all of this - I just try to give him an idea of where everything is. Literature - TOG as above, sometimes with a lit sheet that TOG gives. He also does other reading and attends a book discussion group monthly. We do a read aloud daily as well and use that for copywork, dictation and to discuss literary elements. Grammar - MCT Grammar and Practice Voyage. Finished grammar book and now practice about 6 sentences/week. Reading - CLE reading program 2x/week Vocabulary - from CLE Reading and also Caesars English 1x/week Spelling - Apples and Pears 2x/week Writing - not so much. We have been going through the WWE hardcover book doing the samples from all 4 years. We started with year one and just completed year 3. He hates to write (the composing and the physical act) and is behind in writing. Math - Completed Singapore 4A, some 5A and Life of Fred Fractions. Moving on to Singapore 4B and 5B. Latin - Latina Christiana - started this second quarter and have finished about 8 lessons. Science - Middle School Chemistry from ACS. 2x/week. We are halfway through. He also practices typing, programs with scratch, and is on a First Lego League Team which involves robotics and research. Our music study is lacking, though he listens to a lot of music. For art, we look at art while reading the history and sometimes do a project from TOG (once or twice a month). My son assures me he is learning MUCH more than in PS but I am concerned. Thanks, Tammie

Although I don't know how long we will homeschool, I have no plan to end after this year (unless I am bald from pulling my hair out!) Thanks for the help. I continue to research and read. I just got home from the wake of my boy's baseball/football coach and our friend who died suddenly a few days ago. It makes me think I am putting way too much thought and concern into this. That said, I am still lost! tammie

Thanks for the suggestions. I have SOTW here and the activity book so maybe I will check that out again. I will also review The Well Trained Mind. I guess I feel like I need it laid out for me. I am an engineer and feel confident with math, science, logic, but I am a little less confident with history. I will also look at Sonlight core G. Tammie

I think SOTW would be too easy for him. He is a very bright boy and I have removed him from PS because it was too easy for him with no gifted program (among other reasons). I would like his mind to work, just not too much writing. I would like something somewhat laid out for me because I am new to this and need some direction. I am not the best at planning in advance. I do have access to a large library system. Would any of the curricula I have looked at so far work? I don't mind editing out some content that might not fit with our views. Any other suggestions? Thanks for the help so far! Tammie

I am supposed to start school with my 5th grade son next week. We are beginning our first year of homeschooling. I still have not figured out what we are doing for history. I guess we will start with other subjects but I need a History Curriculum. I have spent too much time thinking/reading about this. We want to study ancient history. My son likes to read, fiction and non-, but does not like to write. While I need to work on the wrinting with him, I don't want to kill his interest in history with too much writing at this point. He likes hands on work, building anything, talking about everything. I would like to have some fun with this. We are Christians, believe in an "old earth", and have no problems reconciling that. We do not want Bible history to be the focus of our study, but it may be a part of it. I have looked at TOG and am concerned by the week titles that the focus is mainly Bible history. Winter Promise looked like fun, but again the emphasis seemed to be Bible History. I have browsed History Odyssey but don't really understand if there are activities, supplemental readings, litereature, etc. I also checked out Oak Meadow Year 6 but don't quite understand that one as well. I would love some guidance. Thanks so much for any help, Tammie ETA: I haven't ruled out any of the above, I just don't know which would be a good fit or if something else might work better.

I am homeschooling my son after just finishing 4th grade in public school. He is a bright guy with a tested IQ of about 140. Definitely a math/science kind of kid, always doing experiments, always building things, but also very verbal as well. Strong reader but he struggles with writing. Always analyzing and questioning. I am having a hard time figuring out at what level I am supposed to teach him. His school work at PS has always been easy/useless/boring for him. He needs to be challenged and asked to think but I don't want to skip over material either. I just don't know where he is. How do you jump in? Thanks for any advice- Tammie

I will be there. I am new to homeschooling (will start in September) and I am very excited about attending and meeting homeschoolers. I won't make it there until Friday afternoon about 1pm. I have much to learn.... Tammie

I know nothing about this (my kids are in PS and I will begin homeschooling next year) but Amanda Bennett has a four week American Government Unit Study. It looked interesting and can be used with a range of ages.

Thanks. I will look into those options. I appreciate the suggestions and would love more! Tammie

Sorry I forgot to specify so I added to my post: We will consider both Christian and secular curricula for history and literature but prefer secular or neutral for science (some religious material is fine).

Cross posted on accelerated learners board To begin with, thanks to all of you that have gone before me. This forum is so helpful but my head is still swimming. I am pulling moderately/highly gifted ds 10 out of public school to hs next year. He has not been accelerated at all at school. I was told it wouldn't be fair to the other children. He does have a weakness in writing. I believe he has dyslexic dysgraphia (my younger son is dyslexic - 2E. Dyslexic dysgraphia affects the writing but not the reading). His reading level is very high but his writing is barely grade level. Spelling while writing is horrible but he doesn't have a problem with spelling tests. Hand writing is barely legible. So I am really bad at making decisions and I am having a hard time with making curriculum choices. I have already posted a few questions and read a hundred threads but I am still at a loss. At his current school he breezes through his work easily but I don't have any clue what levels to place him at. For math we will go with Singapore and I know I can do a placement test for that. For LA we will do MCT and I am going to a RFWP convertion so I hope that helps me set that area up. For science, I am at a loss as to what would be appropriate. He is a very math/sciency kid - loves snap circuits, mythbusters, any show on science. I really need help here. I don't know what would be good for him and at what level to start. I want him to be challenged. We will spend some time on whatever interest strikes him at the moment but I also want a formal science program. History I want to be fun but I don't really know what to do here either - there are so many choices and having a gifted child actually makes it more confusing. So I could really use specific curriculum ideas and levels. I will also have a 3 yo dd at home and the carpool for the 7 yo ds so I don't have hours to prep. Also, the 5th grader loves hands on work but also loves to read. Also loves logic. Public School has been a nightmare for him this year as he sits around bored "learning" what he already knows. Please help me help this boy before he loses his love of learning. We are a Christian family and will consider both Christian and secular curricula for history and literature but prefer mostly secular / neutral for science (some religious material is fine).

Cross posted in k-8 curriculum To begin with, thanks to all of you that have gone before me. This forum is so helpful but my head is still swimming. Also, I am new to forums so forgive my mistakes. I am pulling moderately/highly gifted ds 10 out of public school to hs next year. He has not been accelerated at all at school. I was told it wouldn't be fair to the other children. He does have a weakness in writing. I believe he has dyslexic dysgraphia (my younger son is dyslexic - 2E. Dyslexic dysgraphia affects the writing but not the reading). His reading level is very high but his writing is barely grade level. Spelling while writing is horrible but he doesn't have a problem with spelling tests. Hand writing is barely legible. So I am really bad at making decisions and I am having a hard time with making curriculum choices. I have already posted a few questions and read a hundred threads but I am still at a loss. At his current school he breezes through his work easily but I don't have any clue what levels to place him at. For math we will go with Singapore and I know I can do a placement test for that. For LA we will do MCT and I am going to a RFWP convertion so I hope that helps me set that area up. For science, I am at a loss as to what would be appropriate. He is a very math/sciency kid - loves snap circuits, mythbusters, any show on science. I really need help here. I don't know what would be good for him and at what level to start. I want him to be challenged. We will spend some time on whatever interest strikes him at the moment but I also want a formal science program. History I want to be fun but I don't really know what to do here either - there are so many choices and having a gifted child actually makes it more confusing. So I could really use specific curriculum ideas and levels. I will also have a 3 yo dd at home and the carpool for the 7 yo ds so I don't have hours to prep. Also, the 5th grader loves hands on work but also loves to read. Also loves logic. Public School has been a nightmare for him this year as he sits around bored "learning" what he already knows. Please help me help this boy before he loses his love of learning. We are a Christian family. We will consider both Christian and secular curricula for history and literature but prefer mostly secular or neutral for science.

Although this may not be a problem for your children, color blind (color vision deficient) kids can have a hard time seeing colored chalk on a green chalkboard. 7 to 10% of males have some form of color vision deficiency. Having 2 color blind boys, I would go for the black. Even without any color problems, I think there is better contrast and you can use colored chalk without distortion from the green board. Happy Shopping! Tammie