My ds will be using Beautiful Feet's Middle Ages study next year for his 8th grade year. There is some writing, research and vocabulary involved. Would it be too much to add Language Lessons from Lord of the Rings or IEW's Medieval History for writing? I haven't seen either in person, so I'm not sure what is included. I'm assuming IEW would just be writing. I think LLFLOTR includes writing with literary analysis and vocabulary (?). Would doing one of these with BF be too much? What if we left out BF's writing? How much writing is included with LLFLOTR? My ds hasn't done any literary analysis at all, and he hasn't even read LOTR yet, so I think doing LLFLOTR would be great. But I love the look and step-by-step approach of IEW's lessons. He definitely needs work with writing, but maybe literary analysis can wait. Hmmm.... What do you think?

:iagree: My dd will be 14 in February and is also very mature for her age. She loves to play pretend with her 5yo little sister. They play with Barbies, Legos, dress-up clothes, Polly Pockets, etc. This particular dd has also taken a few drama classes and loves to "act." I think it's very healthy and shows a lot of creativity. My 12yo ds is quite the opposite. He will build with Legos all day, but he doesn't "play" with them. He's not into pretending at all and wasn't much when he was younger either. He's also much less creative, a just the facts type of person. So I think personality and whether one is more creative or analytical has a lot to do with it.

My 8yo ds had 20 weeks of VT last spring. He still struggles with reading. Don't get me wrong, he has improved some since last spring, but not dramatically enough for me to say the VT worked. Now the vision therapist did say my ds's testing showed he is probably dyslexic, so I suppose that could be why VT alone didn't improve his reading much.

Wow! I just saw what this is going for now. Sorry. I don't know of any others.

Alfred the Great by Mary Fitt It's oop though. I got mine at Amazon used.

I also recommend TruthQuest. The younger guides are fantastic! I also like Child's History of the World.

My almost 8yo ds has enjoyed these..... Favorite Medieval Tales by Osborne Viking Adventures by Bulla Leif the Lucky by D'Aulaire The Whipping Boy The Reluctant Dragon Castle Diary Saint George and the Dragon by Hodges The Adventures of Robin Hood by McSpadden Joan of Arc by Stanley Columbus by D'Aulaire HTH!

My oldest two dc have gone all the way through from Cubbies to T&T. My third dc is in his first year of T&T and my youngest is a Sparks Kindy this year even though she isn't officially a K'er yet. She had already done two years of Cubbies and complete both books, so I didn't see a need to put her in Cubbies for another year and have her redo a book. She was getting bored and was definitely ready to move up to Sparks. We may just have her take her time through the first Sparks book and have her do the K'er year twice. That's what we did with her older brother as well, since they both have fall birthdays and started Cubbies as soon as they turned 3yo. All my dc have loved AWANA!

:bigear: I wondered about this too.....

:bigear:

It's good to hear how well AO/CM Help has worked for your ds. My 8yo third grader is dyslexic and still struggles with reading. He's not reading independently yet. He's still reading level 1 and 2 readers aloud to me, but he did just finish his first Magic Tree House Book, so he's coming along. For as slowly and as much as he struggles with reading, he has excellent comprehension. It amazes me how well he can grasp the content of what he's reading when it takes him so long to get through each sentence. Even I start losing track of what is going on. :tongue_smilie: Anyway, I'm thinking of starting him in AO Year 1 after Christmas. I, of course, will be doing all of the reading, but hopefully by next year he will be able to take over a book or two. :001_unsure:

These are awesome! Thanks! I love the books you have chosen.

http://www.robinsoncurriculum.com/ Sounds like Robinson Curriculum to me. It definitely can work, and work well.

Ruth, I'd love to see how you have rearranged Ambleside's books, if you don't mind sharing. :001_smile:

Yup! Me too!

My oldest two dc weren't ready for SOTW in 1st or 2nd grade either. We ended up waiting and doing SOTW 1 and 2 together in one year (dc in 6th and 7th grades) and SOTW 3 and 4 together this year (7th and 8th grades). This is basically a home-made version of SL Cores 6 and 7. Before starting with SOTW we did a geography year with Galloping the Globe, then a couple of years of US History with Truthquest's younger guides. That said, I plan to start SOTW earlier with my younger two dc and give each volume it's own year. I think 4th-7th is perfect, with a solid US History year for 8th, then a complete rotation in high school.

It's by Tiner. Amazon and CBD have it. I'll try to link....... http://www.christianbook.com/exploring-the-history-of-medicine/john-tiner/9780890512487/pd/51248?event=BB&bookbag=1&item_code=WW

If your ds loves workbooks and you have a small budget to work with, I'd just use Explode the Code workbooks, a handwriting workbook and get a math curriculum, especially if he is already reading. If he still needs a reading primer, I recommend Phonics Pathways.

Thanks, Samantha. That helps! It's good to know the new guide is more flexible, as far as the reading and assignments go. I can't wait to take a look at it. I ordered it weeks ago, and finally had to call BF yesterday to find out what the hold-up was. Apparently my order fell through the cracks and was never sent. The lady I spoke to was very nice, apologized, and said she would send it out the fastest shipping possible. However, I emailed them twice in the past week before calling and never received a reply. I didn't mention that when I called though. I think BF is a wonderful company and have never had any problems in the past. I really hope their materials work out for us. Are you using the Medieval guide with your 6th grader or 9th grader? Do you think this guide is beefy enough to use with both my 8th and 9th grader, or should I plan on getting the high school guide for my 9th grader?

With my oldest ds I took the words at the end of each unit (the ones they usually list on the last page of the unit) and put them on index cards. I would go through the cards with him each day before doing that day's reading from the book, retiring the ones that he knew instantly so the deck didn't get too big. It worked well for him. I've used TRL with three of my dc. I love it!

Thanks, Samantha. Yes, I know the BF guides are being updated. I have ordered the Medieval Junior High Guide for my ds for 8th grade next year. My plan is to use the Medieval HS Guide for my dd (9th grade) and for both to do the LLfLOTR together. I thought it might be a nice complement, but I don't want to overwhelm them. From what I understand the BF study counts as a literature credit in and of itself. My ds reads well and quickly but his writing skills are sorely lacking. My dd writes very well but is a sloooow reader. Also, I've never read LOTR or even watched the movies :blush:, so I'm not really familiar with it. Would it be a nice complement to a middle ages study?

:bigear:

I am thinking of doing LLFLOTR next year with my 8th and 9th graders. Would BF's Medieval History work well along side of this? It looks like it would complement the literature studies well, but my dd in particular is a slow reader. Would doing both of these be too overwhelming, especially if we would like to add other literature? Has anyone done these together?

:bigear:

Thanks so much, Janice! I have been leaning towards WWS, and now I feel my decision has been confirmed.