Does anyone own the new middle school curriculum they have called Interactive Science? We are looking at the Life, Earth and Physical Series. Which of the resources do you need for homeschooling? Are the lab kits just out of this world expensive? Is it good for independent study? Any info you have would be greatly appreciated.

Lisa, Core 5 is really interesting and I like the fact that she is learning about the 10/40 window. Unfortunately, the read alouds are dry, the EHE (Eastern Hemisphere Explorer - research pages for all the different countries being studied) is unbearable and she doesn't seem to be retaining lots of it like I was hoping. She is just frustrated. My dd started F in 5th grade and is now 11. She did D+E the year before in her first year of homeschooling as a newcomer package. Core F was next in line. On the SL forums, people recommend that kids are in 6th grade or around 12 when starting. HTH, Jen

We are in Sonlight right now (F & B) and are seriously considering something else. I don't like how it is set up. Sometimes the kids have 5 books going at once, e.g. a history spine, historical fiction, missions, reader, and read-aloud. My younger in Core B is struggling with reading comprehension. I think he has a hard time holding all that info and then discussing it with me. I am very ill and cannot do the read alouds. They are just reading them and discussing them with me before and after each chapter or section. We do like having the four day schedule. It just feels to me that I could streamline or simplify history and reading. I have already dropped Sonlight language arts and science. We have had a much better time using other curricula. I do feel a sense of loyalty to Sonlight, which is a little silly, and am nervous about striking out on my own. I am thinking of starting SOTW and Kingfisher next year. As pp said, if reading out loud and having a very literature heavy curriculum is not up your alley, then Sonlight might not work for you. Reading the 27 reasons not to do it is worthwhile. I do like the idea of doing all four SOTW in 2 years and could maybe just get the 4 day IG for Core G & H and use some of their ideas for readers but get them from the library. We will have to see. HTH! Jen

We use the four day now after using the five day. I really love the flexibility it gives me. I have a day now for co-op and friends to come over. It just works so much better for us. I don't feel like I am getting less of an education or missing out on books because there is so much even in the four day program. Good luck!

I haven't used RSO but have the other two. I think it depends on how young earth you are. We did SL D and hated it. We jumped around from topic to topic, filling in questions. The experiments had nothing to do with what we were reading and they were very cumbersome. I decided to switch to Apologia because I thought that although they were young earth, they would give a very prejudicial view of evolution and I could work with that. Unfortunately, they don't do that in the elementary series. We have loved doing Human Anatomy and Physiology with the lapbooks. It doesn't have any young earth things, just some paragraphs about early Hebrew laws and how God made it that way and about how important it is to think about how Jesus shed his blood for us in the blood vessel lesson. We aren't finished with the book yet. Unfortunately, I bought the Astronomy book and kit from CBD last year on deep sale and it is very young earth and I just don't want to teach that way. I think I found a buyer though. I am looking for something to do with my kids that will be in 6th and 4th grade next year. I have been looking at Real Science 4 Kids, RSO, etc. So, as I said, it depends on what you want to teach your kids and what worldview you want them to learn. It also depends on if you want to be more focused on a subject or have a lot of variety. I just found with my dd that jumping around didn't teach to her style of learning. HTH

Artistic Pursuits, Critical Thinking, TT Workbooks (only need the disks), The Body Book (but am planning to use that after human anatomy and physiology is completed as a review). So much money sitting on my shelves!

Last August, my 10 yo dd started in Level 1. She has dyslexia and dysgraphia and we needed to just start over. Learning all the phonograms, the rules of spelling and going through it in a very structured way until she has it mastered it has been great. We do about 3 steps a week and are finishing Level 2. We love the tiles and a huge whiteboard for spelling sentences. She is now 11 and getting a little self conscious about being in a lower level, but we will catch up. I am thinking of switching my 9 yo dd to AAS starting from the beginning. He is doing sequential spelling and it stinks. HTH

We are using Trail Guide with my 3rd and 5th grader. We print from Uncle Josh's Outline maps. Not too much printing. We use the primary sections and just the mapping, not all of the other activities. It is going well.

Real Science 4 Kids by Gravitas: http://www.gravitaspublications.com/products Kits can be found by searching online.