We did our first year with Singapore without the HIG, then the next year WITH the HIG and I could not believe how much content I/we had missed.

I'm really linear. I like my History in chronological order, and I like reading the Bible front to back. So that colors my answer here, but we've used God's Great Covenant and I really like it. We usually read the lesson in the book, then the relevant chapters from the Bible, then do an activity if we have one, answer the quiz questions, and then there's always a deeper, "how does this relate to your life" question. A friend's kids thought it was horribly boring. *shrug*

Has anyone tried this? I've got a 6th grader and a 1st grader this year. 6th is doing Apologia's Gen Science (which I know is for 7th, but I think he can do it). I'm considering adapting the lessons for my 1st, as well, to a certain extent. So they can do the experiments together - or she can watch - but her lessons are more on her level. Before I reinvent the wheel here (or dive in only to discover that it doesn't work), has anyone tried this? I don't anticipate my 1st grader actually using the Apologia text at all - rather, we'd find materials aimed at HER level, but covering the same general topics.

Any chance you'll be done using the Teacher guide for A by fall? I'd be happy to buy it from you and reduce your and my costs a little...

Thanks for the info!

We use Singapore Math Standards Edition, but just found out that the level 6 books don't have a home instructor guide. Ack! So what do I do? Buy the regular teacher's guide (holy expensive, but also possibly not relevant?), or switch to the US Edition?

Can The Story of Science be easily tied in with Story of the World? Anyone used them both together?

We've followed First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind since 1st. We're in 4th. My son does well with memorization (though we don't memorize the poems in the book, we do our own thing there), but he's TERRIBLE at dictation. Today's was "They cover bridges just as much to keep the sun out. A dry bridge will loosen its joints and sag. That is the worst thing a wooden bridge can do." My question is - does everyone else's kids really listen to those three sentences, repeat them perfectly, and then remember them long enough to write all three in one go?

We do our own thing. I use SOTW as a reference book, as well as books from the library and our massive personal library. I look at lesson plans online for ideas if I run dry, and we use a lot of history.com videos, brainpop, biography.com, etc. For second grade (which is this current year for us), we spent the first semester in ancient history, picking up where we left off last year (and I don't honestly remember where that was) and ending with the fall of the Roman Empire. (So, 2nd semester of 1st grade and 1st semester of 2nd grade, we covered ancient history from the beginning of time through the end of the Romans.) Now second semester, we are focusing on American History, starting with a review of the Constitution and covering the War of 1812 and probably continuing through Reconstruction. I like SOTW, but I don't personally find it to be enough on its own, and plus I prefer a strong American history content, so we spend half of every year on the US, and half of every year on the rest of the world.