My 12yo loves military history and the colonial period is good for pursuing that interest, assuming your child is the same as mine. We joined Ancestry.com and traced back our family roots to the VA Colony. That fact made history more real for us.

You can always look at the book/supply list for Level 2 & 3 of History Odyssey Ancients.

Yes, I use C-rods with my 6th grader. They are great for demonstrating integer math and the distributive property of multiplication.

:grouphug:

There's a book I always recommend called How the Brain Learns Mathematics by Sousa. This book has revolutionized the way I view and teach math to my son.

Here's a link to the Microscope Unit Study. I can't tell whether the lab sheets come with the study.

Here are some ratio worksheets.

Reading--6-8 texts that coincide with Ancient History History- History Odyssey Level 2 Ancients, with Oxford Press books, and K12Vol1 for back up Science -- CPO Life Science with a ton of supplementation and labs Math-- Math Mammoth supplement with Dolciani Pre-Algebra Writing- WWE3, Killgallon Sentence Composing for Middle School Grammar-Analytical Grammar (never tried diagramming before; hoping this works) Logic- Mind Benders Vocabulary - Vocab from Classical Root Tutoring---Wilson tutor twice per week Music- Trumpet lessons and hopefully performance band once per week. Bible- Memoria Press Vol 2

That is totally brilliant! Thank-you..

Thank-you so much for your input. I just purchased a National Optical LED microscope from HST. I saw The World of the Microscope book and was wondering if I could get by with that and the unit study. Did you use the Microscope Lab Sheets Manual?

Dear Hive, Came across this microscope unit study by Kym Wright. Is the unit study any good and would you recommend it? I've looked at various microscope how-to books. Would anyone care to make a specific recommendation? I need something that covers microscope basics, like how to properly focus and clean, and something that tells how to prepare slides. We are total N00Bs. Thank-you, Heather

Awesome!!! I'll look these up. Thank-you...

I love the Meade book. Also, Memoria Press has good materials.

I've been looking at HO level 2 Ancients schedule and comparing it to the k12 Human Odyssey Vol1 text. History Odyssey uses King Fisher History and The Story of Mankind. From what I can tell, you may swap TSOM with the k12 text no problems. HO level 2 Ancients relies heavily on KFH and I would not go without that book. I will be using the following World in Ancient Times books to supplement for sure: Near Eastern World, Chinese World, South Asian World, Roman World, and Greek World. I do not have a schedule written out. Did I answer the original question?

:bigear:

SWB has posted youtube videos and about 3 of those videos are of her answering questions. As I recall, she recommends reading two sentences at a time and having the child narrate back after those sentences...Review the videos.

Is it me, or are many people looking to replace The Story of Mankind by Van Loon in their history curriculum? Why would anyone want to replace this book? I'm curious about what others think... Thank-you, Heather

I suppose you need to decide how long you plan to homeschool. If you plan on sticking her back in the public school system, you can take a look at your state's Dept of Ed website and base your studies upon that. Perhaps acquire next years text and use that as a spine. Tie in map studies and bring in primary and secondary sources. Pollution can be studied in science. Rosa Parks can be pursued during language arts. You asked about MOH. MOH is YE. Vol 1 starts at Ancients. Many love it... I returned my copy for a refund.

Was speaking with DH about STEM last night. He's never heard of STEM which is funny, as DH is in a STEM field and so am I. Neither of us pulled electronics equipment apart as children. I took all advanced classes in school. DH is brilliant, but performed poorly in school. We met and married while attending an 8 month, intensive basic electronics school in the USN. DH left the USN after his service and entered cc. I literally taught DH algebra at home. Like I stated previously, the man is brilliant and his first encounter with any math was sitting in the college classroom. As a teenager, DH built houses with his father over the summer. He can swing a hammer, fire up the skill saw, and read house plans. DH confidently works with wood and is rebuilding a 1986 Corvette. He reads and teaches himself to do these things. I grew up watching my mother sew. From a very early age, I taught myself to sew, and I also spent a great deal of time outdoors and learned to shoot shotguns and rifles. Anyho... I see patterns everywhere. Both of our parents have an incredible, can-do spirit. They don't quit and that can-do spirit has influenced us. I used to pull apart vintage sewing machines, clean them up, repair, and use them. I personally believe that problem solving with a positive attitude is one of the keys to raising a child who will be interested in STEM. I don't feel it's absolutely necessary to submerge our kids in electronics to peek their interests. Not certain that this is relevant, but wanted to put this out there.

For 7th grade, we are using CPO Life Science with labs and supplements. A PDF version is available for free on-line. I'm excited because we purchased a microscope, and I expect we will perform at least one dissection.

We are not doing this yet; however, DH and I discussed teaching DS Pascal as an introductory language.

I use a huge school planner that is spiral bound and purchased from the teacher supply store, a basic memo journal, and Excel spreadsheet on the computer. Planning in advance, I try to determine my overall goal. I ask myself exactly what will be covered throughout the school year and when. I then figure out vacations and days off and align that info with any tutors (trumpet, Wilson). The beginning of my huge school planner is broken down by months, so I write my curriculum goals there, further breaking down subject areas by quarter. The planner is not dated, so I go through the planner adding the dates. I mark out holidays and vacations. Once I know the days we absolutely won't be working, I fill in the schedule starting with tutor times. I only plan out two-three weeks in advance. I mark in pencil. Assignments are written according to must-dos and then alternate between pleasant and most difficult subjects. We must do Bible first followed by math, everyday. Our stated goal is to start at 8am and finish by 2pm, so if we start late we finish late. Tutors are generally scheduled after 3pm. As we work and go over subjects, I mark it on the planner and in the journal. A full day for us is three hours. If we complete three subjects, I'm good and consider that a full day, though this rarely happens. (Last year, an f4 tornado blew through and we were without power Thursday afternoon to the following Wednesday. We hs'd that Friday and Monday. We drove to a neighboring town with electricity and I printed up notes for lessons at Staples. ) The journal is where I keep what specifically we covered down to chapter and page numbers read. This info is dated and generally takes up one journal page. I don't keep a log of hours and mark any extras there as well. I feel best knowing that I can pick that memo journal up and tell exactly what was covered. Excel is where I record grades. A couple of comments. We never work ahead, even if DS is on a roll and feeling fine. Somehow, that feeling fine with the work goes south and takes away from another subject, so no working ahead. We also don't do extra work to make-up for time lost. Time lost is time lost. I adjust the schedule. I try to pad Fridays a little. Fridays are good reading and lab days. I don't count doing dishes or chores either. That's a personal matter that we all have to decide upon within our own families. Can't think of anything else. I feel absolutely no anxiety doing this as I give myself permission to adjust. Most anxiety comes from chasing down my DD and stuffing her in the car to go to a tutor.

Thank-you both. I will now go check out the Essential Math...Blessings, Heather

Well I'm looking at Singapore for kindergarten math...I see the following: Earlybird Kindergarten Math STD ED Textbook A, Earlybird Kindergarten Math STD ED Activity Bk A, and the EB Kindergarten Math STD ED Tcher's Guide A. Is the EB Kindergarten Math STD ED Tcher's Guide A really necessary or can I get by without it? Please advise me. Thank-you, Heather

The USN used to train and test sailors with booklets called NEETS modules. NEETS modules cover many topics pertaining to electricity. PDF downloads are available, so check them out. ETA: Free links, because free is good.