I agree with the others. My kids read the abridged versions of stories, but I read aloud the original.

What about Tiger Math? I think it's technically a supplement, but it seems to cover all the bases and might help you run through to find the point where he'll really be challenged.

What a bummer! I would suggest if you haven't already, take the time to write a nice email to the materials department head for your local library. I am sure whoever selects online resources would love the feedback to know that you don't like the current offering and that you would really like Mango back. I'm not kidding when I say the squeaky wheel gets the grease in most cases when it comes to the public library. :)

Yet another WA person here. As the others said, under grade 8 they seem to just place by age. My son went straight into the end of 2nd grade with his peers when he wanted to give PS a try, even though he'd been doing 3rd grade work.

For elementary kids late morning would be okay for me so we could accomplishing something else that day. Early afternoon would be ideal. Edit to fix my contradiction. :closedeyes:

I decided to sit down and spend time reading the instructor text and student workbook. What concerns me most is that the wall of text could be intimating, as my son looks for reasons to say something is too hard. The actual content is gold. I wish I'd had this program 25 years ago! I do think he'll be able to handle it, even if we only make it to chapter 22 in a single year. Thank you all for the encouragement and support.

Thank you all so much for the comments and suggestions. It has given me a lot to think about. I am going to go through and highlight (excellent suggestion!) because I do think that would help make it more manageable for both of us. The good news is we do have flexibility and can start/stop as needed. He has been in public school for almost 3 years and I am having a hard time figuring out what he knows and does not know. He says he has never outlined, but he does have memories of us doing narrations together in early elementary. He recently wrote a 3 paragraph essay using notes he took from an article as part of a school assignment. I love the idea of starting with something like that before jumping head first into WWS.

Thanks for your comments. I also think my son will need me by his side for most of it. He has a very hard time staying on task. Thumbing through it again, I do think we could aim for 2 lessons per week making it a 2 year program. He has a bit of give-it-up-itis and will try to stop when things get hard, so I think making it manageable for him will be key. It is also possible that as much as *I* love the look of this program, it might not be the right fit for him.

Is there any harm in taking 2+ years to do one level of WWS? Will that make the program less solid if I stretch it out so much? Full story: My plan for 6th grade has been to use WWS1 for my 11 year old DS. It looks intense, but I see so much value in the skills he will learn through the program. I'm afraid if we take the program even at half pace he might freak out and try to quit it all. I've searched the forums and now I am a bit scared at how challenging this could be for him. He is a lover of non-fiction, a dabbler in all things, and he very creative person who typically doesn't care for reading fiction. He goes for breadth over depth in life. I'm thinking to to alternate WWS1 and Mosdos Literature writing prompts (or something else?) to make it all more bearable for my middle schooler.

I used it previously on a short term basis (I think I planned 10 weeks?) back when my oldest was in 1st/2nd grade and he had a lot of worksheets for things like logic, spelling, handwriting, etc. It actually worked pretty well for that and I could just pull the folder and do whatever was in it in addition to our math and reading. I ended up just pulling out what we were doing each week over the weekend and working through it all week. I would say that now that would absolutely not work for me because we do the next thing and work through scheduled time amounts for each subject. (We are currently afterschooling and I plan to do this when we go back to FT homeschooling in the fall). I also would say that it is important to do a test run as others have mentioned rather than planning all 36 weeks and risking crashing and burning. That could really discourage a new homeschooler.

Thanks to you both! Very helpful.

Can those of you using it share about how long a lesson takes to complete? Thanks!

I love 3rd grade! I'm thinking... Mosdos Opal WWE 2 Fix-It Grammar Vocabulary from Classical Roots Beast Academy History Odyssey: Early Modern History of US RSO Physics It feels like too much. He'll be in a science/social studies/literature coop 2 days a week.

I had never read this book, but after reading this thread I downloaded the ebook from my library and read it aloud within two days to my 6 and 7 year old boys. I don't think my 6 year old really got it, but my 7 year old surely did. He's a sensitive kid who has been bullied, and unfortunately has started being a bit mean to his younger brother - which is why I wanted to read it to him. We talked about how Maddie felt badly and really wanted to make up for her behavior, but worried that she'd never get a chance to make it right. I think this is an excellent book for teaching a child both empathy and to speak up!

My son read it this year (age 10 1/2). He's obsessed with flight and really got a lot out of the story. There is some violence in it, including beatings, that could be disturbing for sensitive children. I haven't read either, but my DH read both. He felt it the YA version would be okay for our son who is mature and has some knowledge of atrocities in the world. He and his dad had some good talks about it after. We have not let him view the film, but will preview it to make a decision in the next few weeks.

I sometimes accumulate credits and then spend them on more expensive books. I think you can have up to 6? At a time. I believe the Song of Ice and Fire series books were about $30 to $40 each, so I used my credits for those. Same with Joy of Science. But it is correct that you unlock the cheaper price as a member thus it isn't smart to use credits for books that are $10.

We don't own a CD player anymore, either! Hmm unless there is one in my car. I don't actually know! Tangent: We also don't have a DVD player other than the Xbox, so for example this morning we watched They Might Be Giants ABC and Science DVDs using the Xbox. I wish those and the Studio Ghibli movies were available to purchase via Amazon Video. I never buy DVDs anymore, so a lot of curricula don't appeal to me if they include DVDs.

My son has an ipod that he can listen to Overdrive books on. He downloads them through the app from the library and can listen to them offline (we turn the internet off at night for his device). I do the same on my kindle fire. For audible, we listen on computers, on a Kindle Fire, through the Echo, and on my phone. You just need the audible app and you can download a book to listen to on the go. I like to listen through the bluetooth in my car using my phone.

There are books that we just love to listen to, such as The Hobbit, and the Harry Potter books. Because we listen to them over and over it has definitely been worth it. My 10 year old listens to audible books via his echo when he's falling asleep at night, so that's another benefit. :)

I'm really glad I posted and appreciate the feedback. I ended up buying it because I have a 5, 7, and 10 year old and it will get used, and after looking through it I think it will be perfect for the 3rd grader. After speaking with my oldest I know that it will not work for him next year. He has been in public school for 3 years and I really misjudged the level of science he has been learning. I have a copy of CPO Physical Science that I think might work better as a spine and I could maybe find a way to pair it with RSO for the demonstrations and labs. Exploration Education sounds fantastic though, so I am going to investigate that one more. ETA: After looking at RSO Physics more closely, I actually do think I can make it work. It's a very solid looking program for elementary, IMO. I am knowledgeable enough to be able to add depth for my oldest and there's plenty of material I can pull from online and through the CPO text. We'll be going deep and doing science 3 days a week because that's what my boys love. I think Exploration Education is what I will go with when my kids are in 8th and 5th, so thank you for the rec TheAttachedMama.

This is very helpful, thank you! I could possibly work extra with him using additional materials following his interests. Do you feel like your 3rd grader is retaining or understanding what is being discussed? It looks like so much fun so really I just want my 3rd grader to build a love of science at this point, but bonus if he's getting more out of it.

This is a good point. He is very good at math and will be starting AoPS prealgebra, so he can easily handle w=mg, but I know he's not ready for high school level physics yet. He's not in love with doing math, but I think once he sees the fun math in chemistry and physics he will really take off. Looking at the table of contents it covers the topics I want. My goal is to place pegs with these basic ideas in his head and fill in gaps from his own reading, so that he is prepared for a more rigorous physical science course in 8th. So... maybe I could go deeper if he's enjoying it? Watch video demonstration of science teachers on YouTube and see what he absorbs?

Is RSO Physics I light? Should I supplement? I want to use it next year with my 3rd and 6th graders. My concern is that it might be too light for my science loving 6th grader, but he has requested physics as his primary science topic for the year. His dream is to be a pilot or an aerospace engineer, so he reads about these topics on his own already.

I'd also like to read a good planning thread for sixth grade. We're returning to homeschool next year after 3 years in public school. My oldest will be a sixth grader, so this is my first go around with this age. Here's what I'm thinking: WWS1 Grammar for WTM (is there an accepted acronym for this?) Mosdos Pearl Vocabulary from Classical Roots HO 2: Middle Ages (heavily modified, so just mapping, reading KFH, and creating a timeline) AoPS Prealgebra Science the WTM way RSO Physics I (follow along with brother) and CPO Life Science The Basics of Critical Thinking Hmm we will take things slow, but my goal for this year is to teach him HOW to learn, HOW to study. I'm going to show him how to properly take notes and review them.

The China Study? https://www.amazon.com/China-Study-Comprehensive-Nutrition-Implications/dp/1932100660