:lurk5: I will have 5th and 2nd graders, but I haven't gotten as far as you have! I'm curious to know why you are doing both WWW and the IEW courses. I'm sure I haven't looked closely enough to see the difference, although my dd might fall to pieces if I have her write that much (she has dyslexia and possibly dysgraphia).

Have you looked at Khan Academy videos? Perhaps it would be a good supplement for topics on which she needs a little extra, or even just a different, explanation?

For World and I School: Saw this offered at half-price at Homeschool Buyers Co-op, and wondered if anyone here was familiar with it. I couldn't find any reviews, so I signed up for the free one-week trial (through HBC). Has anyone here used it? If so, what was your impression of the site's offerings?

I love your ideas, and wondered if you could elaborate on this book - perhaps share the title, at least? :)

For my DS: Singapore Math: DS had already spent 3 years in (an excellent...really!) public school, and this math was just too different. We finished the 3rd grade books, but in 4th, it all unraveled. HWOT: Oh...gosh, again, this was just too different from the method ds had learned in school, and yes, really...he cried. I have to say that the letters looked a little weird to me, so I haven't revisited the program for my younger two. SOTW: But ONLY for this kid, because he's a history buff and the first book didn't really have anything new for him. He read the other three books on his own over a two day period sometime later in grade 3 (at home). (Actually, my son seems pretty averse to any curriculum...sigh.) For my older daughter, ETC: I'd read so many positive reviews that I really expected a lot from this one, but was rather disappointed with the product. DD didn't like it either, but I do credit some of the exercises with helping me realize that dd had dyslexia/other reading issues. ...actually, this dd had lots of problems with any type of work that involved reading and writing. Tincture of time has resolved many of them; until now, she's been rather unschooled. ETA: I've considered trying RS4K every year I've homeschooled, but I can't get past the Comic Sans font. And also, we're workbox flunkies. Love the idea, but they were a total flop at my house.

I'll have to look more closely at Singapore. It's possible we could find a way to do some of the experiments - dh is a research chemist/materials engineer*, and may be able to obtain some of the harder-to-find items. I like Singapore, but ds did not like math their way - it was too different from how he'd learned in public school from K-2, and although he likes mental math, he does it "his" way, which doesn't mesh with Singapore's. :) Kristy, I have that Miller/Levine text! I wish I could find a similar book for physical science / chemistry / physics - I do think ds could probably handle a HS text. *Dh has a Ph.D and just doesn't do well with talking about science at the MS/HS level, and ds isn't ready to converse about chemistry at the post-college graduate level...so it's been a problem so far, but I'm hoping it will get better as ds gets older/knows more of the fundamentals.

Thanks for the link to your blog; I've bookmarked it! I've been enjoying seeing yours and other blogs with activities from SOTW. I think I'll do a search to see if anyone else has done SOTW with an older child, and if so, how they modified it. I know there's Pandia Press's History Odyssey; I'll have to give it another look to see if it would be a good fit for her, although if I recall correctly, I'm inclined to think it might not.

I'd never heard of Apples and Pears until last night, but I'm intrigued. Would it be appropriate for a 5th grader? I tried AAS a couple years ago, and she ended up a sobbing mess because it was too babyish. We've not done anything since then, so I'd like to get her back in the game.

I'm game - I'd certainly be willing to check it out! Any suggestions where to find one of these for less than what they're going for on amazon right now (about $45 used)? (Definitely looking for secular - thanks!) I appreciate your reply, and would also welcome input from anyone else who might have a suggestion. :)

Thanks to both of you for your replies! I think I'm leaning toward ES, and I will certainly have to look at their yahoo groups site - that might answer some questions I have (like if I should do grammar stage for both of my younger children, or logic for both [modifying for my grammar kiddo], or buy both). I still want to look more closely at Singapore MPAH, too.

It isn't nearly the same as SOTW, but a friend of mine used The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia as her spine, and supplemented books and activities as needed. You could also use it in combination with SOTW and the Activity Book and just omit (or alter) the religious passages and activities (which is what we'll be doing, except when it is culturally significant). We'll also be adding some pre-human history, starting with the Big Bang. My 2nd grader wasn't especially interested in that, so it'll be brief.

If you are familiar with one or both of NOEO and ES, can you elaborate on what you liked or didn't like about them? What about Singapore science? Or Intellego units? I'm trying to find the right balance between fun and rigor. I have a motivated 2nd grader and a somewhat recalcitrant* (and therefore, "behind") 5th grader; I'm thinking of having them work on the same thing, modifying accordingly. (*She has dyslexia and some visual processing deficits, so it's maybe understandable, but I think we're both ready to have her get back to where she should be.)

Until now, I've not really done a science curriculum, because my son enjoys reading science-y books on his own and because most of the curricula I'd found did not contain new material for him. We've done bits and pieces, of course, but nothing that was sustained over a period of time. I'd love recommendations for a solid science curriculum (even one that's been cobbled together) that would, ideally, be something he could do mostly on his own. *He* says he wants to study nuclear energy, for example, so it would be great if that were part of it, but I happen to believe he probably also needs some of the foundational bits of information before he gets there. Any ideas? Also, his science knowledge probably outpaces mine by quite a lot, although that is, in large part, because I have not studied it. I do happen to have some sort of mental block regarding chemistry - I just can't make it make sense for me. DH's MS is in Chemistry, but he can't seem to come down to ds's level, so we're a bit stuck.

Okay - a lot of help. :) My name is Natalie, and I'm mom to three children: DS12, DD10, and DD7. Although this will be my fifth year homeschooling, I'm new-ish to classical education, if TJEd counts as having a bit of familiarity. That's not to say I adhered to a TJEd philosophy, but there was some appeal. It's been only recently that I've given very much thought to something more formal, and now I'm feeling a little panicky about all the time I've "lost". Here's a bit of a summary of my concerns/questions: DS12 doesn't like to write. Actually, he's pretty averse to working at all (and yes, I'm close to calling uncle with keeping him home), although he's a bright kid. It's his curriculum/schedule that I'm really struggling with, and would welcome some advice on what are some options for ~7th/8th grade for (secular) language arts (grammar - perhaps in conjunction with Latin?, writing, & literature), science, and history. For math, I am debating using my Math on the Level and Math Mammoth resources, plus Living Math....but I'm not fully committed to that choice. DD10 has dyslexia and would certainly benefit from vision therapy, but for several reasons, we're postponing that until we move (which is some nebulous time in the hopefully nearish future). I own a copy of The Writer's Jungle / BraveWriter which I might employ, but I'm debating buying IEW SWI-B for both her and her brother (I would download the alternative sheets for a younger student for B, for my daughter). That's writing, but I'm still considering what to do for literature and grammar, and copy work. For History, I'm strongly considering SOTW (the Ancients) for both my 10yo and my 7yo, but I worry that this will be too simple and easy for my 10yo. Any ideas on how to differentiate this curriculum for an older student? I am also considering using Nebel's Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding curriculum for her - again, along with my younger daughter, but I'm not convinced that's the right choice. What about NOEO or RS4K? Is there some other strong science program? My dh is an engineer/chemist, and he is insisting on more thorough science education for our children. Math will be MOTL/Math Mammoth/Living Math. She has amazing conceptual ability in math, but she frequently reverses not only individual letters and numbers, but also their place, so she might write 47 as 74. She also frequently gets directional work confused: subtracting 47 from 93, she'll subtract the 3 from the 7 instead of remembering to 'borrow'. She doesn't handle mistakes very well, so I'm not sure how to proceed from here. For my DD7, SOTW 1 for history, MOTL/Math Mammoth/Living Math for math, probably simple narration and copy work work for writing, and ...Nebel or something else for science. And that's all well and good, but I think the hardest is staying on task. I've read part of the recent thread, but I'm going to have to re-read. :) If you've gotten this far, thank you! If you have advice you're able to share, then I am even more in your debt! Natalie