I have just recently discovered Michael Clay Thompson materials and really love the looks of them. We will be starting 9th grade in the fall and I am thinking about the level 4 vocab & grammar. The Word Within the Word is the main thing that started me looking into MCT, and I am almost sure I am going to get that. The Magic Lens also looks great, and if we do WWW & ML, then I am thinking we should probably do the 4Practice also... My question is how much time do you spend on each of these? It looks like some great curriculum - but a LOT of it. Can all 3 items be done in about 15-20 minutes a day? Can just WWW be done in less? Thanks so much! Kathy

We haven't used this yet, but I bought it and it looks really wonderful!

Does anyone else have concerns about multiple choice questions at this level of math? Perhaps I am being overly-worrisome about this. I do like the updated scope & sequence...:001_unsure:

We used (and loved) Rainbow for 7th & 8th grade. For 9th we will be using Shepherd Science Biology. For 10th Spectrum Chemistry. Not sure what to use in 11th for Physics yet, or which advanced course we'll use in 12th.

We used the PDF version of Computer Science for Kids (also from HSBC) this year, and it really was a pain to use it. I finally put the manuals on my Nook and that helped, but still would not do it again. For next year I purchased the books for Teen Coder and I think it will be much better!

The Albegra 1 book also shows all the multiple choice options, so I am guessing that the Alg 2 does also. Ds is actually really good at math, but I think if there is an easy way out (like guessing or partially figuring it out) he will do that. It would be great if at least in the book they don't offer the choices.

Planning for next year, and I can't decide between the old or new version of Algebra 2. We used the new Algebra 1 for this year, but I don't really like that so many of the questions are multiple choice. I think a lot of times ds looks over the answers and narrows them down, or partially solves the problem and chooses from there, rather than completely sovling it and then clicking on the answer. I am assuming the Alg 2 is set up the same way - I wish they would do something like ALEKS, where the answer could be entered. I REALLY like that it is automatically graded, and that there are more lessons in the 2.0, but not sure it is as effective as solving on paper. Price of used vs. new is also a factor, but not so much as getting the "right" program. Anyone else have this problem? Any input? Thanks! Kathy

I bought this (the Gombrich book), thinking is was going to be an interesting "story" of art. I kept pulling it off the shelf, thinking we would use it some day, but now it's on my for sale list. There are some beautiful pictures in it - the printing is very crisp - but it was just way more than what I wanted. If you & your dc are really interested in art history, this would probably be a wonderful resource.

This is very helpful - Thank you!

Does anyone have a schedule for The Blue Book of Grammar to get it done in a year? With the quizzes & tests it seems like it would be a pretty complete grammar program, but do I just divide up the pages evenly for the number of days it will be scheduled? I am thinking some pages may take longer than others, but thought I'd see if someone else already did a schedule before trying to make my own. Do most people use this just book as more of a reference source than a workbook? Thanks! Kathy

The activity guides will map work they could all use (you may want extra copies of the student pages). There are suggested reading lists for every chapter. If you have acces to a good library loan system, there should be plenty of ideas to fill out for a 7th grader. You could also expect more writing/narration from the older child. The volume 4 guide is different from the other 3 - it has fewer crafty projects and more writing & map work.

Same here - I thought they were a wonderful idea, but they were probably more of a distraction for my ds than a help. He loves them, I'm just not sure how much he actually learned from them...

We have used the whole series of Tiner books - they are all excellent!

:thumbup: Thank you - I had not seen this before!

Is this "A History of US Junior High Syllabus & Tests" from Hewitt? There are no discussion questions in it. There is a schedule (by week only - not by day), some general ideas for projects, and a test for each book. The tests are all short answer & matching - rarely multiple choice questions. We use Sonlight 100 which has the books scheduled by day and a lot of discussion questions etc... to go with the series. That may be kind of expensive if this is the only thing you used it for, but maybe you could find a used copy? We also are using the "History of US Assessment Book" from Oxford. It has a test for every 3-5 chapters of each book. These each have 15 multiple choice questions. I use these as "quizzes", and then as review sheets before taking the "test" (from Hewitt) at the end of each book.

Do you need to put a summary of what you will cover? Check your state regulations to see if you can just list the audio books under curriculum materials. In NY it says the IHIP shall contain "a list of the sylllabi, curriculum materials, textbooks, OR plan of instruction".

Does the year subscription allow you to do as many as you want? It's hard to tell from their web site. Thanks!

This may be a good choice for you. I did this for several years. I teach grade 3&4 Faith Formation at my church, so I was able to get them for free - very economical indeed. For my class we are not able to get through the whole book, but I found that using them at home was great. We had more time to go into as much detail as we wanted. Also check to see if your parish uses the Living Faith booklets: http://www.livingfaithkids.com/ You can get an individual subscription, but they do offer a quantity discount. These are similar to the adult version of Living Faith, but are directed to children. They list the liturgical readings for each day and then a have a short devotion reflecting on one of the readings. This is also great practice in using the Bible to find the readings each day.

We used & loved Rainbow for 7th & 8th grades. I haven't used Apologia, but looked at review & samples before choosing. I think there is a lot more to Apologia, but to me it seemed like a lot more pages & more words - not necessarily more actual science. That said however, I didn't feel that Rainbow on its own was enough for my science-minded son. Plus in New York we need to report 180 minutes per week for science, and it wouldn't take nearly that long. Each week you only read 2-4 pages & do 1 lab. I used Rainbow as a jump-off to add other materials into as we progressed. It is a fun & informative program.

Is this not a popular program? Maybe just stick with the free version?:bigear:

We have used Professor Teaches Office 2010 7 Windows 7. They are great programs for someone who really want to learn how to use Office. However they can just watch the videos to get it done without actually learning from it. It tells you exactly what to click on & you can't move on until each step is done, so if you have a child (like my ds sometimes...) who just wants to click around on the screen until they happen to hit it right so they can move on, this may not be the best option. There are just a few multiple choice questions after each section, but so far no "project" assignments to test what knowledge is being retained.

It absolutely makes the time "fly" by! You don't even need to pull it out separately going through security. My dd took a laptop & she had to take it out of its case and place it in a separate bin, but my nooks were fine!

Thank you for this reminder. It's easy to get so caught up in details of "what" to use because you think you are supposed to do something, and forget to focus on the real purpose behind it.:001_unsure:

This is a wonderful resouce - Thank you!

No - I actually did as well, and so did my daughter! Maybe this is actually a "guy thing" :tongue_smilie: I'm not too surprised about my ds with this though, when we did plant experiments a few year ago, like depriving them of light or water he had a hard time doing that too because he knew they would die...