Thank you. I guess workbook 4 won't be out in time for us to use next year.

I just noticed a thread referring to Susan's new writing program, so quickly checked out Peace Hill Press, but I still have a couple of questions. Hope someone knows the answers! 1) It looks as though the first volume, Writing With Ease, is for gr 1-4 , and the forthcoming vol 2 will be for gr 5-8. My youngest will be gr 5 next year, and hasn't done much in the way of writing yet besides narrations, some note-taking/ rewriting a la IEW--oh, yes, and his ongoing saga about unicorns :) If we were to try this new program, would he use vol 1, but only the "year 4" part of the program ? Or should we wait for vol 2? 2) The workbooks--are two needed per volume in the series? 3) Do all the lit excerpts in vol 1 come from American history/ lit? I would have thought that SWB would coordinate the volumes with a 4-yr history cycle--or maybe I'm missing something? Thanks for any answers.

Hmmm--you know, I can't recall where I bought mine! I know you can order directly from Amscopub.com online (I think that's the address). Other hs suppliers may carry it; I know Rainbow Resource did years ago, where I first saw it (though I first heard of it in a book by educator Marva Collins).

I do feel capable of managing ancient history one last time at this level--but as Momyfaithe said, this is my Last Big Chance to Do It Right! :001_smile: Actually, what I'm more interested in finding is something that would work in a once-a-week co-op setting, as I mentioned. Some programs, such as HO (which I own, but have never used) schedule work somewhat randomly so that one week does not necessarily look like another. What I'd pefer is a program where various elements--reading, mapwork, timeline, whatever--are scheduled very regularly week after week, which would make such a program easily translatable into a co-op setting. I'm also interested in a spine appropriate for gr 4-7 which the children could read at home on their own so that everyone would be "on the same page" re basic info, then have the freedom to explore in other supplemental books for notebooking, projects, etc. As I mentioned, I had previously used The Pageant of World History--quite a good elementary-level history text, but out of print (I believe) so that we had to track down assorted used copies of the same edition. It would be helpful not to have to do that again.... So, any suggestions re a specific spine for the kids to read? I think SOTW might be a little on the young side, no?, given that it's geared for gr 1-4? What about MOH? Or anything else? Thanks for all the input!

...how do *you* choose? We're in our 14th year of hs'ing here, so I suppose I'm a "veteran of the trenches" :) Next year, my youngest will be 10/ gr 5, and I'm thinking of reviving the former co-op I taught when my older boys were his age. Way back in them good ol' days, there wasn't nearly as much selection to wade through for history programs--Sonlight, a WTM approach, History Odyssey from Pandia Press (based on the classical 4 -yr rotation)... Now it seems there's been an explosion of new prepared programs out there and I'm wondering if I'll be missing something "ideal" for my youngest when we begin ancient history next year (so far, I've focused on word geography and Canadian history with him while getting my older sons through world history cycles). When I covered ancients a few years back in co-op with a gr 5-8 group, I used The Pageant of World History as a common "spine", then had the kids all use any reference books at hand to work on assignments which they wrote up on Book of the Century pages from Ambleside online. Another teacher covered related historical fiction with them. It worked very well and we had a great year, but I made up all the assignments myself.... Now I'm once again looking for something that would also potentially work well in a co-op setting. Although we are Christians, I am not keen on aggressively Evangelical approaches, especially those with a strong YE slant. Any thoughts on what might be adapted for us? Given the profusion of programs out there, how do you choose whether to use MFW or HoD or Sonlight or WTM or....? Thanks for your thoughts.

...Vocabulary for the High School Student (which we start in gr 7-8), followed by Vocab for the College-Bound Students, from Amsco. I find them more engaging than the Vocab from Classical Roots books,and I appreciate that they cover not only Greek and Latin-based vocab, but also Old English roots and borrowed words form other languages (Italian , Spanish, etc). My favourite exercise is the "Say it on four words or less" one--great for practising concise writing! I know others on the WTM boards have also used and recommend these books.

nn

Thanks for the thoughts; after glancing at some of the sample pages of RS4K, I too thought it looked awfully dry for the age group. Along with the expense, it seems as though it's likely not the best choice for us. BTW, I noticed in your tag-line that your son is using the Teaching Co's Masterpieces of the Imaginative Mind. This is one of my favourite TC courses--in fact, I've listened to it twice (even with his somewhat dismissive view of Christianity). Maybe I'm just a literature nerd, as it received fairly low reviews on the TC site--some people found it "too cerebral" ( a rather odd remark, considering the general intellectual level of TC courses). Anyhow, hope he's enjoying it.

mm

Each book has 10 chapters, so if you did science 3 times a week, and did the reading on the firs day, the lab on the second and the lab worksheet on the third you would have 30 weeks of material. I'm not clear--even if you broke a lesson into three days a week, wouldn't you still end up with only ten weeks of work for ten lessons? Or did you mean to say that you would spread one lesson out over three weeks (reading one week, lab the second, worksheet the third)? Still trying to decide what to do for next year! TIA.

...this: "Currently there are two books available in the R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey series - Life (level one) and Earth and Space (level one). While we do have plans to complete the level one series and to create level two and level three books in the future, there are no definite release dates available for new R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey books at this time. Chemistry (level one), Physics (level one), and Biology (level two) are all in the works and planned for 2009. When a book is within 3 months of completion, an estimated release date will be posted on this Web site. Until that time, for legal reasons we cannot give any information regarding new R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey books. Please sign our mailing list for notification of release dates." I guess all we can do is wait!

...if we were to cover more than one book for the year. Each student text is around $25, and then there's the student lab book too. I can't see parents shelling out $100 per child for the year of science. This may be something we will just end up doing on our own, instead of in a co-op. Are you familiar with the Kogs books at all?

...that you would cover more than one book per year, as there are only 10 lessons per book?

I'm currently using REAL Science: Life with my 9 yr old son, and used the Earth and Space volume previously. Unfortunately, REAL Science doesn't offer any more books in the series. Thinking ahead to next year, and possibly for a co-op class, I'm deliberating.... Any thoughts on either Real Science 4 Kids or Noeo? It looks as though: --RS4K covers ten lessons per text, and one lesson per week, so that you would need to use at least two, if not three, texts per year...? which would become quite expensive, especially for a co-op class (not all parents would be able/ willing to spend so much on just science). Students read the lessons and do a lab per week. --Also, not sure how the Kogs books fit in with RS4K. --Noeo uses "living books" (well, if Usborne can be called such) and again, students read the material (alone or with parents). They narrate back the info, then do labs/ experiments from kits. I don't recall the prices, but they seem pretty high too, given all the books. Does anyone recommend either of these programs, or perhaps something else? I'm looking for something that would require no more than two days per week, with perhaps one day devoted to reading the lesson/ material, and another for lab/ experiment work. Thanks.

mm

mm

I may revive my former co-op next year for my youngest who will be 10/ gr 5; classes would be for grades 4-7 or so. One class I'm considering is art--but what to use? Don't want to reinvent the wheel! Any recommendations for any of the above progrmas, or would you suggest something else? TIA.

I had inquired a couple of years back and the author apologized but said he had too many difficulties when trying to ship to Canada. : (

...We did try VideoText way back (with my oldest son) and did not care for it due to its lack of review, so we will not go that route. However, I will look over the RS Geometry again. Part of the reason I wanted to avoid it is because my son finds it a bit challenging to use all the tools accurately, and it can become frustrating. If we spread it out over 2 yrs, though, he may well "grow into" the tools :)

Still looking for ideas! Thanks.

mm

mm

My youngest son (gr 4) will finish RightStart Math E this year after having done the earlier levels. For various reason, I's rather not do the RS geometry program.. What to use next? My older sons all bounced around from Math U See and Singapore and other programs before settling into the Lial's books from abut gr 7 onwards (Lial's BCM followed by Introductory Algebra, a geometry program (for one) and then Intermediate Algebra). My youngest won't be ready for the format of Lial's BCM in gr 5. Any suggestions re what to use for the next year or two? If he switched ino the Singapore program at this point, what level would he be at? Thanks.

A couple of years ago, I did have a tutor, and they somehow ended up knowing less after a year of that than previously :tongue_smilie: I've looked at the French in Action videos a couple of times in the past, but for some reason, most of the time they will not open/ download properly for me. And then there's the time factor--the days are just eaten up by math, science, English. Because of their lack of enthusiasm for any foreign language, and the fact that we *just have to make it through this one year of French*, it doesn't seem worth beating my head against a wall for this. Odd,though-- I always loved studying languages. And grammar. And math. Were all of these boys switched at birth?