No problem! Thanks so much for checking!

AttachedMama, I know this is an old thread, but if you are still active here and don’t mind, could you also send me a copy of your plans incorporating Experiencing Biology with the Miller Levine text? dawnegger at gmail.com Thank you so much!

Clover Creek was an incredible experience for my daughter in ninth grade. The instructor, Jetta Seboly, provided her with a very solid foundation in physics. Also, this was the first subject my daughter found to be very challenging, and Jetta helped her to grow tremendously in regard to study skills. She is a fantastic teacher who really cares about her students and fosters community within the class. My daughter will tell you that while physics is not her favorite subject, this was her favorite online class experience.

Language Arts--Cottage Press Fable & Song Math--CLE 5 History/Bible--Story of the World 3 and MP Introduction to Classical Studies Science--Behold and See 5; local physics class Logic--??? Latin--Visual Latin ETA: Literature--One of my main goals for this child next year is that he will learn to love reading. To that end, I am not going to have a ton of school reading. He'll read Lassie, Where the Red Fern Grows, and a few others. I plan to read aloud a great deal and to provide the time and resources for free reading. We're also doing Prairie Primer and reading through the Little House books again. (I apologize for the highlighting. I copied and pasted from my google docs page where I had highlighted curriculum once purchased. I have no idea how to turn it off here. :) )

I cannot speak highly enough of Clover Creek Physics and Jetta. My daughter made drastic improvements in her study habits thanks to this class and Jetta's advice. Up until this class, she was able to skate through classes with minimal effort and still do really well. Physics is not something you can skate through, even as a bright child. I am so proud of her for working so hard and finishing with an A even though that did not seem likely at the beginning. Jetta is a fabulous teacher and she really gets to know the kids and cares for them. She also encourages them to get to know each other. My daughter made more friendships in this online class than any other. I highly recommend it, but, as Tsutsie said, the classes fill up fast so you need to get on the waitlist well before classes start.

My dd is in Geometry with Leslie Smith, and we both can attest to the fact that she has great control of the class. There has been no nonsense. However, do keep in mind that the pre-algebra class itself is likely much less mature than Algebra 2 and even Algebra 1. The teacher is of course a big part of it, but class maturity also plays a factor.

In regards to math: Fourth grade is the time that all they have learned to that point goes into hyperdrive. One problem contains so many steps and parts (such as long division--divide, multiply, subtract...). It's hard enough to work towards remembering all the steps. If there is any struggle within the steps it compounds everything. You know your student best, and perhaps a new approach is needed. However, we have continued CLE 4 while adding in Math-It to build speed and fluency. ETA-we did not do the speed drills or flash card portions of CLE. Had we followed the program completely, fluency would have been much improved (hindsight 20/20 and all that). I'm adding this to say we didn't supplement CLE because the program itself is lacking. However, some children may need extra help with fluency even so.

Not yet. We are doing the physics-first order, so she's currently in Physics with Clover Creek Science, and next year she'll be taking Chemistry at Wilson Hill. Biology will follow in her junior year.

Sorry, I'm just seeing your question to me. I do have the program, but my daughter did not use it in full. She read the text, but we did not complete the labs. There are 7 formal labs, many microscope studies (optional), and two research papers. Science has always been a challenge for me to implement, but that issue is about me and not the program. CHC's Behold and See 6 was the first program I found that we both loved and that was done regularly. Because I was so pleased with it we moved into this as it is the next level. My daughter is bright and a quick learner. She loves textbooks, for whatever reason, and this program has particularly beautiful and well-formatted ones. I did ask her a lot of the workbook questions orally and we discussed the answers together more often than her just writing the answers down. .

Catholic Heritage Curricula has a beautiful life science program.

Mapping the Body with Art looks like it would be a wonderful supplement for biology or human anatomy.

My dd takes Greek and Latin at CLRC with Mrs. Van Fossen. I have nothing but positive things to say about the experience. The instruction is solid and well-taught. The classes are managed well and the assignments are clearly laid out and easily submitted/managed through Canvas. My dd recently sat in on a sample class from a prospective high school history class and loved it. I would expect high quality from all of their classes.

My dd moved into Derek Owen's prealgebra after CLE 6.

At least two online programs--Lukeion and Classical Resource Learning Center (CLRC)--use Athenaze for high school Greek. I used Athenaze when I studied Greek in college. My dd takes it through CLRC and loves it. She is also taking Latin but prefers Greek. That may be due in large part to Mrs. Van Fossen, her teacher.

CLE math has provided a very firm foundation for both of my children. I switched my older child from BJU to CLE when she was in BJU 4. We were a year ahead in math, so I just started her at the beginning of CLE 400 although it was a mid-year switch. She is able to grasp math concepts very quickly, but, even so, a mastery program was not providing the review and practice that she needed. Many people warned that CLE would be overkill for a kid that didn't struggle with math. We did not find that to be the case. My husband majored in engineering in undergrad. He is a big proponent of lots and lots of practice in math, so we never shortened lessons or skipped problems. Some days it did seem like a lot, but I am grateful for it now and my only regret is that we didn't start with CLE from the beginning. My daughter moved into Derek Owens' pre-algebra after finishing CLE 600, and she continues to do well in his Algebra 1 class. My son is in CLE 300 and doing very well with it. I especially love how CLE cements basic math facts and metric conversions. I have been and continue to be very pleased with this program.

Michael Clay Thompson said something during a seminar that has stuck with me. I wish I could remember verbatim, but his point was that children should not just write papers about what they know and love. They know and love those things because they discovered and studied them. Research papers give them an opportunity to discover and love something else. That being said, I don't think him writing only about bunnies in the context of learning to imitate sentences is a big deal. If he is grasping the lesson and producing sentences that show that, I don't think I would make the subject matter a hill to die upon. Truthfully, he will likely tire of it after a while. If not, it means that he will have to become increasingly more creative and clever with his topic of choice.

Thank you SO much for sharing this!

Bumping this to see if anyone has a review.

I don't think they are very similar. The LA programs are more similar. R&S math is mastery where CLE is spiral. My ds used R&S 1st grade math and then moved into CLE 2. We had to move slowly through the first lightunit of CLE (which is supposed to be a review of the previous year) because more concepts were covered in CLE 1 than R&S 1. You can see samples of each lightunit at clp.org as well as search for and view the scope and sequence. I love CLE, but if R&S is working except for the copying, I would let her write in the book as was already suggested. You really want to pick a program and stick with it because although most get to the same place by the end of elementary, they often take very different paths to get there.

CHC holds a Theistic Evolution/Old Earth belief. However, when I asked if evolution was presented in the Life Science materials, I was told it was not included because there were so many other important topics to cover. Their 6th grade book does have discussion about the Big Bang (chapter 17, I think), but it is easily skipped or made into a discussion point. The materials are beautiful and magnify the Creator. My daughter misplaced her book early in the year and we found it much later, so we are still working on Life Science and will be for a while. :)

CHC's Life Science https://www.chcweb.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=5_191&products_id=4232

I switched from BJU to CLE for math for my dd when she was at the fourth grade level. Although she grasped math concepts very quickly and thought about math on that level, the mastery program did not provide the practice she needed. The spiral format of CLE was a great fit, and we used it through level 6. She moved over to Derek Owens' prealgebra after that level. I love the program so much that I'm using it with my son now.

I loved it and felt like it was a very gentle yet effective introduction to reading. My son was writing his letters before we started, so the combination of reading instruction with writing was not too much. He was reading before he even realized...without much struggle or stress. Every child is different, so it won't be the perfect fit for everyone. However, it was just right for us.

I'm so very sorry for your loss, Melinda.

You haven't listed the one we transitioned into, but dd has had no problem going from CLE 600 to Derek Owens' Pre-algebra. It is also an affordable option since the Pre-algebra class is available for purchase at lucideducation.com. You purchase the workbooks and solutions cd and the videos are there online. I am extremely happy with it. We plan to pay for his online classes ($58/mo) starting with Algebra next year.