Yes! Same experience here. Started WWS1 in 6th grade, worked on it slowly and took breaks to do other things, now finishing it in 7th grade. With a little more maturity and growth this year, DS is getting so much more out of it now (7th grade).

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Thank you! This is great! Thank you for this linking this! I'm looking forward to seeing your list too. Thank you!

Thank you for addressing my question. This is very helpful. Good luck with your move!

Yes! I would love to see this happen too. :)

Thank you!!! We'll be needing this in a couple of chapters too.

Happycc, I've checked out the website and it looks good. I have a question, though, if you wouldn't mind sharing your thoughts. I noticed that the Bible is listed as one of the two required texts for both the Time Capsule and the Essay Practitioner. Could you please elaborate on how the Bible is used in these classes?

Have you looked at Walch Power Basics? No personal experience, but I've read here that they're intended for remedial high school and could easily work for on-level middle school as well. They have student worktexts, workbooks, and teacher guides for both Chemistry and Physics (and other subjects). You can see samples here: http://walch.com/power-basics-text-books/

I'm using HO3 with a 7th grader. It is definitely not too hard for him. It's not really that different from 1 and 2, just a steady increase in reading level from 1 to 2, and from 2 to 3. There's not a sudden huge drastic step up in 3. The font is smaller but the book is thinner, same clean page layout that 1 and 2 have. Especially since you want to read it aloud with your 5th grader, I think it will be fine. :001_smile:

For 8th grade, we're planning: * Updated May 2015 * Writing With Skill 2 (currently following SWB's "second progression" ), Killgallon for style, Mosdos Gold, continue working slowly through Hake Grammar 7, then find something for grammar review to continue into high school DS requested a new approach to writing, so we're planning a high-school-ish Intro to Literature and Composition course. We'll focus on improving essay-writing skills, writing mostly about literature and adding a few history-related essays. We'll build this around skills learned from The Lively Art of Writing, Writing With a Thesis, and The Elements of Style. continue Foerster Algebra I with Math Without Borders videos Hewitt's Conceptual Physical Science Physical Science: Concepts in Action K12's American Odyssey with Luckymama's schedule/supplements: http://nowisthebesttimeofourlives.blogspot.com/p/american-history-with-the.html (Luckymama, thank you so much for sharing!) finish Art of Argument and World Religions (finished World Religions sooner than expected) continue outsourced piano and art lessons, HS PE class, YMCA membership

Thank you for sharing!

How did they manage doing CAP W&R Narrative 2? It's broken up into similar daily lessons.

There's also Learner.org With our iPad, we use the BrainPop app to watch 5 videos per day for $1.99 per month. (You don't get to choose the 5 videos though - they are pre-selected and typically all somewhat relate to each other.) Cheaper than the regular unlimited subscription and DS says 5 videos a day is enough anyway. : ) Even at 13, he still learns a lot of things from them, in an efficient/quick manner, that I wouldn't normally think of covering, especially in "social studies" areas. It's just a month-to-month deal, no contract. So that's another way to try out BrainPop without a big commitment.

Have you looked at Ellen McHenry's The Elements? My DS enjoyed it as an interesting and fun intro to chemistry. We've used all of her materials except Botany - which is next on our plate at the end of 7th grade - and I think they are all meaty enough for middle school, yet light-hearted enough to appeal to elementary too. Scroll down this page and you can download a two chapter sample: http://store.ellenjmchenry.com/?product=the-elements-digital-download We also used and liked Elemental Science for the Logic Stage. It consists of classical-style lesson plans that use widely available mainstream science encyclopedias (not textbooks). It's flexible and you can use as many of the pieces or as few as you want (vocab, outlining, memory work, tests, hands-on demonstrations, etc.). They also offer supply kits for the demos. Here's a link to the middle school biology: http://www.elementalscience.com/biology-for-the-logic-stage/ Encyclopedia-based learning isn't for everyone, but my no-fluff, no-nonsense kid liked ES a lot. Check the samples to see if it might work for yours. I think both of these are flexible enough that you could use them with both kids/grades, just possibly adjusting your expectations of each student accordingly.

I have a kid like that too. Your DD sounds like my DS. We've used the K12 Human Odyssey series, one book per year (there are three books in the series). So we're doing a three-year chronological cycle instead of four. (We got a late start anyway since he didn't start HS-ing until 4th grade.) They read more like a narrative than a textbook, but are not as deep and detailed as other series like Oxford University Press - which is a fantastic series, just not a good fit for us. HO is not visually cluttered like a typical textbook but there are well-done maps, photos of art, snippets of biographies and source documents sprinkled throughout. He reads, we discuss. When he was younger - before he learned outlining well - he wrote a list of important facts from his reading. Now, he outlines what he read. Per TWTM. That's it. Maybe 30 pages per week in the HO book, spread over three days, and it takes him less than 45 minutes each time for the reading and outlining. No tests, no essays, no worksheets, no assigned historical fiction (he vastly prefers nonfiction), no memorizing lists of dates, and he really dislikes mapwork and timelines, so we ditched that too. We do geography separately and have a pre-printed timeline on the wall for reference, but he doesn't create his own. No crafts, no preparing recipes from the time period, etc. I've encouraged rabbit trails but he's not interested. He'd rather spend his extra time on science! Very little visible output for history, just a brief outline in his history "notebook" in OneNote. Low key, no pressure. If I can find them, we'll watch related video clips or documentaries (Education-Portal.com, YouTube, Netflix, Amazon) at lunchtime maybe three days per week. Bottom line, history for us has been for exposure to content only, not much "skill" practice. That is, we intentionally do not use history to practice skills such as writing. We do that in other subjects which he enjoys more and where it doesn't seem burdensome to him. I can tell his retention is still great. Sometimes he chooses to read Human Odyssey at bedtime. :laugh: Now that we've reached modern times (esp. WWII), and history seems more recent/relatable/relevant to him, he lists history as one of his favorite subjects, so I consider this approach a success.

SWB's Writing With Skill

That's almost exactly the same progression my DS has followed for getting familiar with informal logic and critical thinking principles. It has worked really well for us so far. Logic Countdown and Logic Liftoff in 5th, Fallacy Detective and Thinking Toolbox in 6th, and now Art of Argument in 7th. He's enjoyed all of them and I felt the level was just right for him at each stage/grade. No, not too much overlap. (FD teaches the "tools" and TT teaches *how* to apply them, for example. Then A of A takes the concepts even further.) He also uses Perplexors, because he just likes doing them. He can pick apart any fallacy or flawed propaganda he comes across - using the correct terminology - in advertising, billboards, articles, etc., better than many adults I know. We're saving formal logic study for high school - not many kids are ready for formal logic in middle school, I don't think - but I'm not too worried about it at this point due to how far he's come already. So I think your plan looks good. :)

Just wanted to bump this resource for others. Came across it while researching for next year. Thank you, Murrayshire, for sharing your find!

Thank you for the heads up!

How old are they?

Bump

Watch SWB do WWE4 dictation with her son. Here's part 1 of her video series on it: Basically, make it easier than the instructions say. Break it into smaller chunks, repeat more often, provide more support.

Bump. Thanks!

I've also ordered from Carolina, Home Science Tools, and TOPS, but my favorite is Quality Science Labs.

Thanks for taking the time to share this!