Oh Hollybee, you made me smile and made my day! WAR EAGLE, right back at cha! I graduated in '93, and you?:001_smile:

We used the Hake Grammar for 5th grade and honestly, we just used the grammar part mainly. My daughter took a virtual class offered by a woman close to us and she used Excellence In Writing. Of course, we started out the year doing the Hake writing, but it just didn't get finished. My reason for switching to Writing with Skill is due to what I've learned on this forum. Aside from that, I didn't know it existed. I've been used to using Writing with Ease and First Language Lessons, and we've liked those. However, until just recently, I didn't think Peace Hill Press had Language Arts for the middle school kids. That's why we had switched my older daughter to Hake. Anyhow, I think you responded to my question regarding writing/grammar for the logic stage. So for my kids, I will still use the Hake grammar, but will use WWS I and WWE 4 for the writing, I think. But after getting all my curricula together, and looking through it, it may just be that we do both writing sections from each of those. We'll see how it goes. I certainly don't want to overdo the writing and have reluctant writers due to the heavy load.

Thank you so much for your thoughts. It gives me that boost of confidence to go ahead and implement that plan. I just love this forum! It is extremely helpful! The only thing I struggle with is learning all the abbreviations that are typed in for the various curricula. There's a LOT out there. :-)

OK, so I have a DD going into 5th grade and another DD going into 7th grade. My older DD has done the Hake Grammar, which I liked because it was pretty meaty and covered lots in each lesson. And I liked that each lesson would incorporate previous concepts into the next lessons. Just like Saxon Math, the repetition helped with retention. The Hake Grammar also includes writing. Here's where I struggle though. I was thinking of a separate writing program for each and then have them do the Hake Grammar. So here's what that would look like..... Hake Grammar 5 AND Writing with Ease 4 (for my 5th grader) And Hake Grammar 6 AND Writing with Skill I (for my 7th grader) Just to be clear, we got a little behind this past year, which is why my 5th grader will do Writing with Ease 4, and my 7th grader will do Hake Grammar 6. We like to stick with a secular curriculum so any thoughts or suggestions on strong Grammar programs that might not double up on the writing assignments (assuming I go ahead with the above mentioned writing programs), would be appreciated. Or, I guess I could just omit the writing portion of the Hake program and go with the other writing programs. Maybe I just solved my dilemma but I'm still curious if anyone already uses these? Suggestions? Thoughts?

We are in Charles Co. Any others here too?

OK, I see some on Amazon and I did check the link you provided to see it all online. That's very helpful, however, as I was looking at the Investigation Book, I checked out the experiments. Only got to the second one to see that I already don't have that car and ramp and physics stand and a photogate to hook up to that fancy timer. Are you planning to modify these experiments or just skip them? I have had such terrible luck even getting science experiments to work for us, (and wasting a HUGE amount of time) not to mention if I were to "substitute" items for what they show. I'm finding I'm one of those people that is not good at winging it and I really need all the supplies. Bottom line, it's added to the frustration I get with science and then their attention is lost.:confused1:

OK Jean, I am really considering using this same science program for my dd who'll be in 6th grade. Trying to get my hands on the appropriate materials that will carry us through the year and will leave the guess work out. I'm guessing a student text, workbook, maybe a teacher's manual or even a lab notebook? I think I understand there to be quizzes/tests in the student text? And I guess the answers would be in the teacher's manual? What all did you use? And are you able to let your child work on this independently, for the most part? Thanks.

Hi Mallory, I see you're going with CPO Earth Science this year. Just wondering how you were able to get the materials and what materials did you end up purchasing. I get to the website and I've called them and they give me the number to my state's rep, whom I've left two messages for but have I've gotten no return phone call. Very frustrating as I'd like to know more about this program before I make a decision between PH Science Explorer Earth Science or this CPO Earth Science program. Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

OK, I see the teacher's text now. Wow - I will need to look around since those prices are rather steep. I'm glad I wasn't the only one who was very confused with their website. Is it mainly for a school or do you know if they have lower prices, since I'm teaching it to one student? I hope to be able to find a workbook too.

Thank you, Sue. I went to the Science Explorer website to check it out. Couldn't find if it had a teacher's manual and maybe a test/quiz booklet. Do you know anything about that? The content in the student's book looks great. And with regard to the Oak Meadow, it seems I researched that one a few months back and read poor reviews so I didn't give it a second thought. And I've tried calling the CPO rep for my state but never heard back. I just left another message. Fingers crossed. What would be ideal is to thumb through a science program first to see if that's what I'm looking for. Perhaps the CPO rep would be able to do that? On others, I just have to see if there's a "Look Inside" option, like on Amazon. I appreciate your help!

Hi there. I have a soon-to-be 6th grader who will be studying earth and astronomy for science this year. I prefer to have a fairly easy (and inexpensive) program that is not religious based. It would be nice to have something where she could have a student text, and I could have a teacher's manual. I'd also like to have experiments incorporated into the lessons, from time to time. And something where I could give her tests/quizzes would be very ideal. I've tried the Reader's Digest books but their experiments frustrated me since the materials were VERY hard to find. I also didn't feel like it flowed like a chapter in a text book would. And of course, we had to totally let go of trying to do all that was recommended in The Well Trained Mind for last year's science (notebook with dates, reports, sketches, experiments, memory work, and extra activities). I ended up buying 2 other science books during the year and ending up with one from McGraw-Hill. It was pretty good but really no experiments and I didn't have a teacher's manual and I started trying to make up my own tests from her chapter readings - ugh! Finding a good, non-religious science program is so frustrating and exhausting for me. :bored:Any help would be greatly appreciated.