"grade 5 will be available for purchase in a day or two", posted today, May 28, 2013 - http://homeschoolmath.blogspot.com/2013/05/math-mammoth-review-workbooks-for.html No mention of any for grade 6+, though.

Yes, where I live anyway (central US). It is called their "home free" program and certain labeled items ship free to your home when your order total is at least $45, which is easy for me to meet when I place a bulk order every other month or so.

Since you mentioned having lots of Usborne books around, Elemental Science might work for you. ES uses encyclopedias as its spines, and it consists of a schedule with hands-on weekly activities, discussion questions, vocabulary, quizzes, etc., all laid out for you. You can skip the exercises or topics or output that don't appeal to you without missing out on anything. ES is very flexible that way and provides a good foundation. You don't have to use the specific encyclopedias that are recommended if you have an equivalent on hand. I think your 5th grader and 7th grader could even use the same package (intermediate/logic stage), with possibly more output required for the older if you wanted to go that route.

We use Amazon's Subcribe & Save, but since the prices are not locked in and do fluctuate, I comparison shop frequently. FWIW, it is less expensive for me to buy in bulk for certain things like TP from Wal-Mart online with free shipping to my house (not Site to Store) vs. Amazon. So check your prices and don't assume Amazon is always a better deal.

This.

Thank you!

Totally agree. And, OP, a huge benefit to using separate resources such as these is that, unlike with a "complete curriculum", you are free to work at your DD's level in each subject. For example, as she gets older you may see that she is accelerated in reading and spelling but at grade level in math, or whatever. Separate resources for each subject give you more flexibility.

I agree; IMO its fine. Our approach to history is quite streamlined too, with very little written output. History just isn't the focus of our homeschool. My DS transitioned from narrations, to writing a list of important facts, to more "traditional" notetaking from his history reading during 5th grade. Personally, I think informal notetaking in whatever format the student prefers is a more useful skill going forward. You're covering writing skills in other ways. History is a content subject and nothing says you have to use history as the vehicle for teaching tons of skills.

The teacher guide for the 6th grade level includes both comprehension/"check your reading" questions *and* literary analysis exercises. I haven't seen the 7th grade level, but I'd guess it would be safe to assume that the level of analysis is increased in each grade level. The 6th grade guide covers things like character analysis, tone, audience, themes, thematic similarities and differences between the stories covered, and there is one unit (several lessons) on writing a literary analysis essay. Throughout the teacher guide there are questions such as "Why do you think character ____ did ____? Do you think ___ was successful? What do you think ___ learned from the final outcome?" And "Why do you think the author wrote ____? What might the author be trying to suggest about ____?" I would think you should be fine using the K12 guides offline with a 7th grader (especially if she may be slightly reluctant at first, so perhaps a formal outside/online lit class might be too much for now?). There is quite a bit of guidance in the teacher pages, even for offline users, although of course the grading rubrics/evaluating would be entirely up to you. For me, the attraction of the K12 materials was the quality of the stories combined with the laid-out, open and go format. I'm sorry, I don't know if you can purchase the guides new from K12 without enrolling in their course, so hopefully someone else can chime in on that. However, the used ones I bought were actually in new condition with absolutely no writing or markings in them. If the used ones you want are priced high now, just wait a bit and check again. I paid more for shipping than for the guide. FWIW, I've also heard IRL and read here on the HS board that the 8th & 9th grade level lit/English courses through K12 are very good, even better than the lower/elementary levels. I'm keeping them in mind for when that time comes for us.

K12 publishes related student guides and teacher guides. I bought CYR6 and the related teacher guide used, very inexpensively at Amazon. About half of the exercises relate to K12's online lit course, but we still got a *lot* of good from it offline. I recommend them. I'd be happy to answer additional questions if you like.

Thank you for taking the time to post this. I'm taking notes, and glad to hear this from a subject matter expert, since *I* certainly wouldn't have known mistakes were made if I had read it.

That's awesome! Glad to hear this great news! We're MM users as well, so this is very encouraging to me. Thank you for sharing!

Omma, in case you didn't see it already, I've linked another recent thread below on Challenge A. It was interesting for me, especially in regards to doing a different math program besides Saxon, and the feasibility of adding science to a Ch. A workload. Hope it helps. http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/471380-cc-challenge-a/

We didn't do 5th grade history exactly WTM-prescribed, either, but DS does like the white Kingfisher as his spine and timeline source, and we added K12 HO1 as outside reading and Great Courses DVDs as extras. Our library isn't wonderful and this keeps it simple for us. You're right, the white KF is better for outlining (not as blurby/choppy as other encyclopedias), so I'm glad we had the white KF for him to learn that skill. KF is not what I would have chosen for myself, but he likes it and is learning more history than I did in school so I can't argue with that. We tried OUP's WIAT and it was overkill for us on the level of detail but many like it. Anyway, one person's narrative is another's rambling; one person's dry is another's concise. So, to other readers, you won't know unless you try it!

WTM recommends Rod & Staff for grammar after FLL, but R&S is not secular (if that's important to you) and also not self-contained nor independent. Hake Grammar is an often-mentioned secular alternative, independent, written to the student, spiral review format. A lesson takes my DS about 15 minutes per day. There's a link in my sig to the publisher's website and Hake 4 is available from them directly. (Hake levels 5 - 8 are available at all the usual book places.) I can also recommend Easy Grammar for independent work, but it does not include diagramming, although you could add a supplemental diagramming workbook. Easy Grammar does not include much built-in review, but if you pair it with its companion Daily Grams, you'd get review that way.

OUP's WIAT is middle school level. My 5th grader handled the reading just fine, but they were more detailed than he wanted for history, so we use Human Odyssey instead (which is also middle school level). A history encyclopedia geared towards children would work fine, like Usborne or Kingfisher, if your DC enjoys or at least doesn't mind reading from encyclopedias - some people just don't like learning that way. Usborne is an easier reading level but also more choppy/blurby than Kingfisher. Both are recommended in WTM.

Welcome! Perhaps it would be helpful if you read through this 6th grade planning thread to see what some of us are planning, then come back with more specific questions. Once you've narrowed down your choices, and gained an idea of specific programs that appeal to your taste (secular or not; based on a textbook, living books, narrative books, encyclopedias, online, pre-recorded DVD, etc.), its much easier to address pros and cons.

The same issue is what led us to modify the WTM suggestions. We use Kingfisher world history for notetaking and the K12 Human Odyssey text for additional reading. No more juggling library books every week! Maybe you could try that or a similar text. Some people also use OUP's World in Ancient Times series for more detailed reading.

OP, looks like your question has been answered! Great discussion for others as well.

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/415569-intellego-unit-studies-what-do-you-think/ http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/382599-intellego-unit-studies/

Geography Alive: Regions and People as a social/cultural geography (as opposed to physical geography) was highly recommended on this board a while back. It is a secular, high school level text. (Don't know anything about Star Spangled States, so don't know about similarities.) I bought a used student text and really like the looks of it. Here is the publisher's website if you want to see more and learn about resources to go along with the text.

Also, the Director you were speaking to should give you one of their catalogs. It lists the books/resources/curricula used for every level so you can see it in detail. They pass out catalogs at my state's conventions to everyone who walks by so I don't know why he/she couldn't give you one. There's also their online bookstore: http://www.stallionpublishers.com/publication.aspx?pid=1203&pkey=idvoxdeus, but the paper catalog seems easier to navigate and see the big picture, for me.

I don't have much advice, except to say that the quality of the experience seems to vary *a lot* depending on the diligence of the tutors and the particular mix of kids/families. Also CC can be strongly marketed, depending on your location, which can lead to pressured decision-making. I find that if I make rushed decisions, especially when significant money is involved, regret often becomes a factor later. If I were you, I'd slow down and plan to visit each DC's potential class (when they re-convene in the fall) more than once, including at least one surprise visit. Unfortunately, some tutors get over-prepared when they know in advance that they will have visitors. Of course, the tutors mean well, but does that translate into consistent follow-through? Also, they may tell you they only have a few slots left to apply some pressure, but they also build wait-lists, because many families sign up during the spring's heavy recruiting season and then change plans later.

A few of us posted some ideas in this recent thread and there's also a further link there to relevant living books.

OP, you mentioned your DD having trouble with the dictation in WWE4. I wouldn't worry about that and don't see it as a prerequisite for doing well in WWS1. Many here on the board say WWE4's dictation is too challenging and I agree. Here's a YouTube of SWB's son doing dictation from WWE4, and if you watch it, you'll see that SWB herself gives him much more help and support than what is instructed in the book. After seeing this, I had much more realistic expectations with my DS and dictation.