Your boys are a bit older than mine, but looking through what you have planned, I don't see any gaps or holes. I haven't used any of the programs you've tentatively chosen, either, but we are planning to start WWS next year in 6th grade. FWIW, I agree with you about middle school lit programs. This post by SWB has been helpful to me in deciding how to handle lit analysis with my son. http://www.welltrainedmind.com/what-is-literary-analysis-and-when-to-teach-it/ ETA: I know you said you weren't planning to cover diagramming in grammar, but if you want to take a look at another grammar program that does include diagramming, I highly recommend Hake Grammar. I think you could easily skip the diagramming in it as well if you choose to. (Hake also includes a writing component, but it is minor and we just skip it in favor of another writing program). I think my visual learner will be helped a lot by diagramming. I never learned it in school either, but I see the benefit of it now. Link to Hake Grammar: http://grammar.cc/?content=products You can also buy it from Rainbow Resource, Christian Book, etc. Hope that helps!

If you don't want to spend a lot, you could also try putting a regular lamp on a timer next to his bed. I do that.

Oh, I agree with you. My post wasn't about vax or no vax, at all. My point was that some people I've known have sought intentional exposure to actual chicken pox, thinking that there is some benefit to having chicken pox at a certain, known time, getting it "over with", etc. In my experience, some people are unaware of the risk of shingles and/or mistakenly believe that if they have chicken pox, then they can't get shingles later. That's all. :) IMHO, perhaps his situation is ideal? If he hasn't had chicken pox nor the vax, then he has no potential for shingles??? (which would be much worse than chicken pox as an adult)? We can hope so!

Sorry, I have no idea about the stats on developing shingles after actual CP vs. after vax . . . I was just trying to say (not very clearly) that having actual CP as a youngster does NOT protect against shingles later in life. Since I hadn't seen that mentioned yet I was just chiming in. Some people seem to mistakenly believe that having actual CP prevents shingles later on, i.e., they say that their kid is "immune" after having CP, but that is untrue.

It bothers me that there seems to be a misconception that once you've had chicken pox, you are suddenly "immune" and "protected". This is untrue. **ETA: This has nothing to do with vax or no vax. The misconception I've witnessed is when people intentionally seek exposure to actual chicken pox, in the belief that it will "protect" them in the future. I'm not sure what they're "protecting" against, because then the door is open to shingles. People may develop shingles (which can be much more serious and long-lasting than chicken pox) after they've had chicken pox. Shingles is when the chicken pox virus gets "reactivated" in your body. Having chicken pox does not protect you from shingles, but some people believe that it does. The opposite is actually true. Having chicken pox "allows" the potential for shingles later on. We were told by our doctor that if you are never exposed to varicella zoster/chicken pox (either through actual CP or vax), then you cannot get shingles. So why expose on purpose (when you may never get CP on your own) and take the risk of shingles?** My dad developed shingles recently, and it left him blind in one eye after the virus attacked his optic nerve. Many people he has talked to about it have the impression that if you've had chicken pox then you can't get shingles, but it's actually the opposite - if you had chicken pox as a kid, you CAN get shingles later.

Have you looked at the DVD series "America: The Story of Us"? Below is an Amazon link. We watched them via streaming on Netflix and our library also has them, so you might check those viewing options as well. They've been discussed here not too long ago if you want to search for more reviews. http://www.amazon.com/America-The-Story-Liev-Schreiber/dp/B003C27X44/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1350753989&sr=8-1&keywords=america+the+story+of+us+dvd+set

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

Can he summarize orally with no problem? Is it the actual writing that he finds meaningless? Written summaries can be quite tedious and boring, especially if the kid is smart and he finds it "beneath his level". I highly recommend IEW for actual writing, getting pencil to paper, instead of just re-telling what someone else wrote, which my DS strongly disliked. We're doing IEW this year (5th grade) and will pick up with WWS later.

Our kitchen granite is called New Venetian Gold. Relatively common color, so it is much less expensive than some that are more rare. It is a lighter color. The main color can range from light tan-ish to yellow/gold-ish, with flecks of burgundy, black, silver, pearl, so shop around and choose your specific slab(s). Slabs can vary a lot even in the same "color" name. I really like ours, never see any smears, extremely low-maintenance.

As young as your kids are, I think your idea of touching on health topics using MSB videos & then discussing would be just fine. This website might also be helpful if you want more ideas for things to talk about.

:bigear: Would like to hear any suggestions also.

Is this it? http://www.instantwatchdb.com/

:bigear: Thank you to the OP and all those who have posted responses. I am taking notes here and learning much from this thread!

:bigear: I'm curious too.

:iagree: Totally agree with the above suggestion of IEW - Institute for Excellence in Writing. After doing WWE, and writing being the most dreaded subject around here, we decided to try IEW's Student Writing Intensive for 5th grade, before jumping in to WWS. I'm now a believer in the IEW process. Writing gets done easily now with no fuss. We watch the DVD lessons together and then DS happily works independently on the assignments and then brings me the drafts. Quite a turnaround for my DS. He no longer hates writing and believes he is good at it, which is really saying something, and I'm very pleased with the output.

:iagree: Here is the link.

Are you asking about streaming Amazon videos on a smartphone? I could be wrong, but as far as I know, you can't stream them on a smartphone. The most "mobile" way to stream them is with a Kindle Fire (won't work on a regular Kindle either). I could be wrong, though, so hopefully if someone knows how to do it on a smartphone, they'll chime in. Sorry, not what you wanted to hear.

Thank you for this link! Haven't seen that one before. :lurk5:

We've used PDFs for Math Mammoth and Getting Started With Spanish on our Kindle.

Yeah, I really wanted to like the Egypt one, and I thought it was great initially. But as I dug in and actually read one chapter at a time over several days, I found myself thinking, yes, that's great information and very detailed, but what did it have to do with the topic of this chapter? LOL. My son felt the same, but he's not a history-lover, just wants to get it done. I wish our first exposure to OUP had gone better for us. As I said, we might try another later, we'll see. Another kid with a passion for history likely will love the series. YMMV, of course!

:iagree: Same here, my DS really likes reading HO. We're also using certain selections from the Student Pages book, ignoring the things that seem like just busy work. As I mentioned in the World in Ancient Times thread, we've tried both HO and WIAT-Egypt, but HO is the clear winner here. I've already bought volume 2 for next year and I usually don't buy that far ahead.

I'm relieved to see that someone more experienced than me doesn't care for OUP's book on Ancient Egypt. We tried it - stuck with it for about half the book - but really didn't like it. I had tracked down a copy of OUP's Egypt book because, although we're mainly using K-12's Human Odyssey this year, I thought HO didn't spend enough time on Egypt. However, DS and I both ended up disliking the OUP Ancient Egypt. Although it is chock-full of info, it felt disorganized. I thought it was just me because so many others seem to love the OUP series. Anyway, for now we're back to HO exclusively, but maybe later we'll try another OUP World in Ancient Times with a different time period/different author.

So is your DS just having trouble remembering the order of the steps? This doesn't teach the concept of long division, but it really helped my DS remember the steps in order. It is a prepared & detailed graphic that illustrates the steps with a mnemonic device: "Dad, Mom, Sister, Brother, Rover". After he got comfortable with the process, the concept clicked much more easily for him. (Just click "open" after you click the link.)

You wouldn't NEED a separate writing program if you just want basic, traditional writing instruction. IMHO, though, Hake's writing lessons are pretty dry and I think there are better options for writing programs. Here are links to the table of contents for the level 5 writing workbook: Hake Writing TOC p1 and TOC p2. We REALLY like the grammar portion though! The sentences used in the grammar instruction have variety, retention seems great, and DS doesn't grumble like he did last year using a different program.

You might want to check out Hake Grammar. It doesn't start until 5th grade, though, but I think a 4th grader could easily do level 5. It has levels 5 - 8. You can find info & see samples here. "Affordable" is relative - you can get the student textbook, teacher book, and writing workbook in a package for less than $45. (We don't use the writing workbook portion here, but it is just a minor component of this program. The bulk of the program is in the student textbook.) On the review portions of each lesson, I usually assign only the odds or only the evens, or else it would be overkill most days. I also let my writing-phobic DS write in the book, but you wouldn't have to do it that way. I'd say Hake meets all your other requirements and also includes the diagramming you want, so you might find it worth looking at. Good luck!