Wow! Thanks, Arcadia!

I agree, I think TOPS Radishes is a great one. IME, some of the TOPS kits are better than others. I think Radishes, Corn and Beans, and Electricity (with supply kit) are some of the great ones. Just a word of advice: For us, TOPS Light wasn't as good. There were several times we couldn't get it to work or it seemed kinda pointless for the amount of effort. We've also done a couple of Science Wiz kits over the past couple of years and those were pretty good. There's also Snap Circuits, but those seem more open-ended, so maybe not what you're looking for. I'll be listening in for more ideas!

Exactly. This has been our experience as well. I initially resisted IEW, due to negative feedback on this board, but found it was exactly what DS needed. No writing snobbery here, LOL. IEW completely turned him around, gave him the confidence and tools to try, whereas before he just shut down and cried. We don't use only IEW. We started with WWE. I'm planning to use WWS next year. WWS would have never been possible without getting past the earlier issues. I believe in using more than one writing program and whatever gets your DC writing, adverbs or not. ETA: I feel very confident and satisfied with my choice of IEW for my DS. I really don't feel like I'm defending it. I don't know any of you IRL, anyway, LOL. My purpose in posting at all is to encourage any future thread-readers who might have otherwise felt like they were settling for a sub-par product if they chose IEW. IEW works great for many students, especially those who start out as reluctant writers. (This feels like one of those threads attacking Teaching Textbooks users. Yikes.)

Yeah, we've never used it either. I was cleaning bookshelves just last night and literally almost tossed that one. Good thing it only cost a couple of dollars b/c I would have really regretted purchasing it otherwise. :coolgleamA:

I don't have Hake 8, but in Hake 5, the more practice pages are in the back of the smaller, separate "student workbook", behind the actual writing lessons/exercises. Not in the larger grammar text.

Skimerinkydo, totally off-topic, but I love your user ID! Brings back memories!!! :001_smile:

If I were in your shoes, I would definitely request the revised versions from the author. Keeps it open and go for you. She said she has moved some topics and also improved some of the exercises and word problems. She has posted on her blog that she would provide them to anyone who already purchased the older versions. Revised levels 3 and 4 are available now, grade 5 soon, grade 6 later this year. The way to contact her is via this contact form on her blog: http://www.mathmammoth.com/contact.php

Ah, thanks. I've been HS'ing several years and know lots of acronyms, but never heard that one. Since you didn't post the ages of your DC, I couldn't even make a guess. Sorry, no helpful tips - mine is past that stage, but hopefully bumping you and your changing your thread title will help! :coolgleamA:

Hmmm. I see your point. What about IEW isn't working for your DD? Hake (secular) and R&S (non secular) both combine grammar and writing. I can't think of others right now, but I'm sure there are some. Hopefully others will chime in.

What is SSRW?

I agree. Using multiple resources does not have to be the same as supplementing. LA covers so many different skills, and I like to choose individual skill-specific programs that are a good fit for DS AND well-regarded in each skill area. It's hard to find an all in one program that does that. :coolgleamA:

OP, could you elaborate on why you want all in one LA? Are you frustrated with having different books to juggle or is it something else? What are you using now? For us, it would be very, very difficult to implement all in one LA, because LA covers so many skill areas (spelling, vocab, grammar, composition, reading) and DS is at different levels in all of them, plus having different levels of input vs. output ability.

I agree, I think your criteria match up exactly with Elemental Science. : )

Very well-said.

I don't know much about MP's lit, but isn't it based on reading complete books? It seems that MP and Mosdos take quite different approaches. Mosdos uses quality anthologies compiled into one book, not complete written works. Deciding which approach you prefer might help you decide which way to go. There are pros and cons to both approaches. Mosdos books are anthologies of stories by well-known writers. Mosdos selections are from stories that present strong values/morals but they're labeled secular. They also advertise that their pages are not visually overdone or full of distractions, so that might be a consideration for some. Mosdos is pricey, but I just bought a brand-new Mosdos student text from B&N for over half off the list price, so there are deals if you look and can be a little patient. Like the prior poster, I chose Mosdos in order to expose DS to many different genres without forcing him to read an entire work of something that he might not enjoy. For the ones he enjoys, he'll read the complete work on his own. CyndiLJ here on the boards says her kids LOVE Mosdos. She's posted quite a bit about them. I hope she doesn't mind if I quote one of her posts: "Teaching several ages myself, many with learning challenges or behind the traditional schedule due to learning English, I found that one easy way for me to keep track of what is being read and to be able to ask intelligent questions about comprehension was to use an anthology with a teachers edition that briefly summarizes the story without me having to read it all myself, and then provides me with many in depth questions to ask. Some are terrible...anthologies are not really my favorite because I find typical public school ones to be quite lacking in decent content. However, I am 100% sold on both Mosdos Press for 4-8th, and TextWord for 9-12. Both companies (their products are VERY similar...enough so that you'd think it was the same publisher, but it is not) put together a truly wonderful anthology with worthwhile content that has introduced all my kids to the best authors. Also, they feel very moved by the character based stories (these are secular in nature, by Jewish publishers who put character/morals first in story selection). You might find these helpful." (from this thread's post #12)

OP, have you shared with your son exactly what you shared with us in your original post? I would approach it as telling him how you were un-educated about it before and your regrets. When I change my mind about something that affects my DS, I find being honest with him and explaining my position as a fallible human who has made a mistake opens up his mind so he can hear me. I imagine a 14 year old would appreciate hearing that as well, especially on an issue this important to you.

What topics is she interested in? Not sure if this is the type of thing you're looking for, but my DS really loves CNN Student News. I signed up through iTunes and he watches it on his iPod. Each day's episode is about 10 minutes. "CNN Student News is a daily commercial-free, ten-minute broadcast of the day's news geared for middle- and high-school students." It says middle and high school, but we haven't encountered anything that I viewed as inappropriate for, or over the head of, my DS10.

Here are some more websites for typing programs or typing practice games: http://www.learninggamesforkids.com/keyboarding_games.html http://www.freetypinggame.net/ http://www.typingweb.com/ http://rapidtyping.com/

We tried a few, but my DS liked Dance Mat typing the most. It is free and fun for most kids. After that, he just practiced by typing his writing assignments until he built up his speed and accuracy. Worked great here!

You might also consider cross-posting on the high school board. The ladies there have more BTDT experience than us here in logic stage, LOL!

Bumping, because it was so nice of you to share this, and hopefully others who might use it just missed it earlier in the week!

You might want to look at Math Mammoth. It teaches conceptually, like Singapore, but MM is "less different" (from mainstream math) than Singapore. MM's teaching is all written in the worktext, no separate teacher's manual. But if you switch, do the placement tests, don't assume you can switch straight from one level in SM to the same level in MM. The scope and sequence might be different, I don't know.

Thanks for this. It sounds like, for us, Art's books would be ideal. We did ancient Egypt with WIAT and it was just too much! Too much detail, too many distracting bits.

This thread might help you some, especially post #2 by Lori D. It's awesome and so is she! http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/454165-can-someone-educate-me-on-logic/

I'm sorry, that is disappointing. Did you request actual books to sample, or electronic excerpts? I guess homeschoolers aren't profitable enough for them. At least they responded . . . two weeks ago I emailed Royal Fireworks Press, asking a question about an MCT product (not even a sample, just a question), and never got a response. I had better luck seeing samples or chapter excerpts of Suzanne Strauss Art's books at the Exodus Books website. But not all the books have them. Here are "selected passages" of The Story of the Renaissance. Rainbow Resource also has some of her page previews.