Also, if you're interested in more evolution stuff, we enjoyed the "Walking With Dinosaurs" and "Walking With Beasts" miniseries - streaming on Netflix. There's one on Cavemen that I haven't seen yet.

Anything from NOVA is good. After we watched Your Inner Fish, we enjoyed "What Are Animals Thinking" (hosted by David Pogue, king of nerdy scientist humor) as well as the 3-part series "Inside Animal Minds." Have you watched the Life series from BBC? And I have to put in a plug for MinuteEarth and MinutePhysics (find them on YouTube) - short videos that explain all kinds of interesting phenomena in science, including the life sciences.

I wouldn't necessarily agree that the Elements is only for middle schoolers. We used the program last year with my then-8.5 and 7 year olds. My husband and I are both chemists, so the boys came into it with some familiarity - I'm sure that helped. In the end, it was a little too abstract for my younger son but just about right for the older. It did the job, which was to introduce the basic concepts of chemistry and the periodic table - we certainly made good use of our periodic table poster throughout the course. The bottom line is that there aren't many options out there for elementary level chemistry, and Elements can help to fill that void- sure, if you're working with younger kids, there will be things that they miss, and you may want to revisit the program again in a few years, but it's a fun book that I think is adaptable across a range of ages.

I downloaded and started using KWT with my two boys (7 and 9) two days ago. So far, so great! I ordered Grade 4 for both, and was pleased to find that they really do start with the basics and work up from there. Apparently, by the end of Grade 4, the kids will be typing paragraphs, but in the early lessons, they are still practicing their finger positions. So, if you haven't done much keyboarding yet, but are working with older kids, you can feel confident in placing them at their proper grade level. I will also say that - so far at least - it seems that this is a very well thought out program that works a lot on building muscle memory.

I have no experience with these, but I know Danica McKellar has a bunch of middle school math books geared toward girls. They may be totally inappropriate or too mature for your daughter, but they may also be worth a look: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_11?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=math+danica+mckellar&sprefix=math+danica%2Caps%2C169

Thanks for that WSJ link, MomatHWTK. I have a serious math doodler, and that article convinced me to lay off him about it!

When my kids became fluent readers, we stopped all formal phonics instruction. I like Option 3 - have her read aloud to you from time to time so that you can help fill in the gaps where necessary. Phonics overkill can just destroy the joy of reading.

Galileo's Journal (Pettenati) Galileo's Leaning Tower Experiment (MacDonald) Galileo (Fisher) The Librarian Who Measured the Earth (Lasky) Reaching for the Moon (Aldrin) Moonshot (Floca)

My friend (a former English professor) swears by this book: "The Least You Should Know About English" by Paige Wilson. I've also enjoyed my copy of "The Only Grammar Book You'll Ever Need" by Thurman and Shea.

We bought our wall timelines and timeline figures from Knowledge Quest: http://knowledgequestmaps.com/Wall-Timelines-of-World-History.html What I didn't realize (but maybe should have) is that the accompanying timeline entries take a YE creationist viewpoint. Otherwise, they're pretty nice.

We're finishing up with SM 5B and I'm thinking about moving over to AoPS for Pre-Algebra. If you've used AoPS, what yearly sequence did you follow? Did you use the Number Theory and Probability books or stick to the basics? Has anyone tried out the online class?

We take formal lessons, but we use the Faber series, which I think you could easily teach from if you have a bit of previous experience.

Homeschooling in NYS is really not so bad! Plenty of relaxed hsers and unschoolers do fine with the reporting regs. Definitely join the NYHEN Yahoo group to learn about reporting requirements. Also, NYC has an active homeschool community: join NYCHEA to get on the Yahoo lists (here is the link: https://nychea.org)

I homeschool in NYS. Yes - I believe that homeschoolers with IEPs can continue to get services through the schools. I would recommend that your friend join the NYHEN Yahoo support group - it's a great place to learn the ins and outs of the NYS homeschooling regs. From their website: NYHEN-Support Subscribe by sending a blank email to NYHEN-Support-subscribe@yahoogroups.com If you have questions about homeschooling in New York, and especially if you're a new homeschooler, NYHEN-Support is the place to find out what you need to know. We have made sure that there are various experienced New York homeschoolers available to answer your questions about complying with the state regulations, filling out required paperwork, dealing with school districts, useful homeschooling resources in New York, etc. Once you've subscribed to the list, you can look at samples of the paperwork that families submit to their school districts by looking in the list's Files area at the Yahoo Groups website (requires a free Yahoo Groups ID).

I had come across this website a few weeks ago: http://learn.code.org I was planning to check it out - has anyone had experience with it?

I've been waiting to be promoted from Just Visiting -- how do I change my own title? I don't see that option on my edit profile page...

We've been enjoying this as well ~ Bryson's original full-length version, A Short History of Nearly Everything, is also a great read for adults or older kids.

Do you have a particular time period that you're interested in? Nonfiction: For early American History, Betsy Maestro's books American Story series is terrific. I would also recommend David Adler's Picture Book Biographies. We use the 10-book History of US series, but it's better as a read-aloud at this age. There are so many terrific historical fiction books out there for this age range - if you're looking for chapter books, you could check out the My America series.

I'm also a lefty with truly pathetic scissor skills - but as far as I know, my deficiency in this area has not caused me lasting harm. If you're observing other fine motor skill issues, you might choose to address those, but if the only symptom is that your 6.5 year old DD is mutilating her cutting books, then you may find that it's just not worth the trouble to push this particular issue too far...

I know this is how Singapore presents it, but this method didn't really for my kids either. It makes intuitive sense, but it's just too much number manipulation to keep in your head. Have you tried teaching it to her this way: to solve 12–6.... take away the first 2 to get to 10, then take away 4 more to get to 6. Also, if she's mastered her addition facts, she will eventually become comfortable with flipping them around to get to her subtraction facts (encourage her to think about it this way: 6 plus what equals 12). Since she's in 1B, it might be worth your while to have her just go ahead and memorize her subtraction facts with a few minutes of drill every day, so it doesn't slow her down later on.

What about The Tale of Despereaux?

I've just started having my 7yo check his own multiplication problems using a calculator. He's slightly sensitive about getting things wrong, and I find it takes a little of the pressure off when he can discover and correct his own mistakes.

I think that, for this level, trial-and-error is best. Otherwise, you'd probably have to use the quadratic equation. So, if: a + b = 6.5 a x b = 0.64 then: a = 6.5 – b and: (6.5 – b) x b = 0.64 so: 6.5b – b^2 = 0.64 and b^2 - 6.5b + 0.64 = 0 Using the quadratic equation, you get: a = 6.4 and b = 0.1 As far as I know, the quadratic is not yet part of the SM 4B scope & sequence, so I'd agree with sticking with the intuitive approach!

We also did 100 Easy Lessons. The first time we tried it with my older ds, we stalled out ~1/3 of the way through. Six months later, we started again and made it through without any problems.

Do you have a book drop near you? Your local library may take book donations. Or how about one of these book swap websites - BookMooch or PaperBackSwap?