It depends on your goals. My D loved it. She enjoyed the exercises. I appreciated her learning some basic stem words and more importantly why they should be learned. We also happened to be learning about Rome when we started it. She's looking forward to the next level.

The tongue is a barometer for the GI tract. Check your diet.

Wild China Nova Science Now The Story of India

We started with level 4, it was challenging for the 7 year old and held the interest of the 9 year old, just enough. With your age spread, I would also consider starting with 4 or 5, though I have never tried the earlier levels. Best of luck to you.

I would not skip level 4. Color wheel, drawing without looking at your paper and other great stuff.

Melissa, the Atelier Art website has an easy graphic to help you decide which level to use. I'm using level 4 with a very artsy 9 year old, this is our first year with it. 29 left to go to get 40% off!!

Our four favorites in the last year are; The Hobbit Lord of the Rings The City of Ember Gregor the Overlander They are all well read And very adventurous

I started home schooling my D in second grade, we started with level 1 in Singapore, just to solidify the style of math they encourage. We completed 1A and 1B in four months. We skipped where needed and lingered when necesary. I don't regret stating at the beginning. That being said, there is review in level 2, but the basic concepts of mental math, grouping, and word problem constructs are expected to be known. Sorry, don't think I'm helping much. I guess you just need to decide how much time you want to spend on it. Good luck.

I didn't really study the older copy well, but the one thing that really stands out is the change in chapter names. If you're just using it for reading ideas and activities, that shouldn't matter. SotW is our spine.

I just sold an older copy of the activity guide, but only because I have a new copy of the book and I read somewhere that there were some changes between the two. The layout, font and illustrations are nicer in the newer, but I think that's all. If you're not using the updated book, I don't think it matters.

Thanks. We're using SotW and reading all the extras, but not doing any specific map skills stuff. I like your way, I'm going to look into it more next year.

Is a specialized geography course needed and if so, what grade should it be started and what programs are good? Thanks!

I'm working with a 3rd grader, we just started BFSU a few months ago. We're using both books together. We start a topic in the first book, doing multiple lessons each day, and then continue it seamlessly into book two. We only do science one or two days a week. When a topic is more challenging, we slow down as needed. Some of the recommended reading books also have experiment ideas in them. We also just started using a few TOPS lessons on the side, Int. Lentils is our first. I wanted something she could pick up and do completely on her own, we'll see how that goes.

Thank you, I hadn't even looked at corns and beans or radishes! Electricity is near the top of my too long want list.

Does anyone even use TOPS?