My 5th grader is doing Logig stage biology also this year. I bought the core books recommended by wtm, but I also happened to pick up some extras at a homeschool sale last week. DK Animal encyc is a great resource and I know my ds is going to love using. The entire front half of the book gets into cells, habitats, and lots more introductory general info. So you might look around on ebay and such to see if you can find it cheap. I never thought about doing cell models, please let me know if you find any info, that sounds like a lot of fun!

Ellie, Is this available online? Is there a cost involved? I didn't realize there was a placement test for Saxon, duh. TY for the heads up.

Are my kids going to be missing something if we don't do outlining as WTM recommends and instead do notebook pages? I have tried several times to institute outlining and my kids are completely bored by it, so we always go back to the notebooking. I am teaching them to use outling as a valuable prewriting exercise, however. Do I still need to have them do outlines every so often to they still practice that skill, or will they be ok without it?

... who has always struggled in math. Would I be ok to start her in 8/7? Or should I maybe go back a year even? Is 8/7 primarily pre-algebra? Or deoes it contain a lot of basic math review too? I don't want to push her too fast, but I also want to give her a chance to fill in any gaps she may have from struggling in ps math for years.

I was just curious if anyone else has started a child in homeschooling in middle school after many years of ps. I wanted to pick your brains... How long did it take for your child to embrace homeschooling and learning things in a completely different way? Did you have to do any "deprogramming"? Breaking of specific habits, etc? Did you continue to give your child grades? report cards? How have you handled testing? Thanks in advance!

It sounds like you all had a wonderful day! Way to go on finding so many ways to make the day fin and exciting!

Are you talking about the weekly reader mags? I ordered them one year and my kids were never very interested in them. I still have some in the shrink wrap I never even bothered to open.

I completely agree with the previous posters that the Usborne books are better for elementary and the Kingfisher books are more for middle school and up.

Deb ty so much for the link, I have fallen in love with this latin program, totally loving it!! Hope I can order int he next few weeks, then we will be all set! I am doing latin's not so tough with my ds10, i think after he goes through a few levels, i may even switch him to this next year. I am thinking we will do the latin prep series. Maybe we can get through all 3 levels in 2 years? Not sure. She wants to study spanish and i was hoping to do that for 10-12th. Excuse my bad typing, my sleep aid is kicking in, lol.

Songbirdie, I had heard that paces are not very academically strong in the upper grades, so your post is very reassuring. And ty for the heads up on the science, i am sure I have enough resources to supplement with hands-on experiments as needed. After all, the hands-on stuff is often what makes a scientific concept "click" to a student, and they are just plain fun! We are starting school monday - so I'll be sure to come back and share how it went! TY all!

TY all for the suggestions, this is what we have settled on, and we will try things out for a month or so and make changes as needed... Science - ACE Paces Math - ACE Paces English - ACE Paces Writing - TOG Writing Aids History, Geography, Wview, and Lit - tweaked TOG using Streams of Civilization Vol 1 as a spine along with KFisher Hist Encyc Logic - resources fro crit thinking co shared by a friend (no cost to me) Latin - starting this in a month or so, narrowed it down to either BJU Latin 1 or Rosetta Stone Latin Lv 1 Spelling - Spelling Power Art - Projects and such from TOG Quick question - is health important to cover as a seperate sunject in 8th or should it just tie into her high school biology studies? Lemme know what you think of our plans - am I covering all our bases?

Check out Signing Time! We used all the Baby Signing time videos with my 2 yo and he loved it! The Signing Time series is meant for older kids, and I have seen a few songs and such from them. They are very highly recommended by anyone who I have talked to that used them. AND you might be able to find them at your local library!

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Ok, I will try to give you as much infor as I can without writing a book... We have 4 children, our daughter is 13 and has always been ps'ed because we share custody with her mother (she is my stepdd). The two middle boys are 10 and almost 9, and they have both always been hs'ed. The youngest is 2 and he will be hs'ed. We are also expecting our fifth in Feb. Hubby just enlisted and will be in basic and AIT from november thru march, then we will be moving out of state (no bases here in IN). DD has chosen to move with us and wants to hs so that she will have more freedom to choose when she goes for visits with her mom. She will be in 8th grade this year. Time snuck up on me and I am not at all prepared for her! I thought I had at least 6 more years to prepare for high school, but now I have an 8th grader and one more year :willy_nilly:. With so many changes going on, we are treating this year as a transition year for her and trying to ease into all these crazy changes. I have sat down and looked at curriculum options with her, and the ones she likes are workbook/textbook based. So we are going with something very structured for her first year. We looked at ACE and CLE. She likes the CLE and we are going to go to a local christian school that sells ACE to take a look at that option. I use TOG with my boys and tweak it to death, using alot of WTM techniques and rec's. I really need to pick ya'lls brains to figure this out. SHe would be starting back to school Aug 10th, and we have yet to talk to her mother about all this. When we do, I want to have everything all planned and laid out to reassure her that her education will not be neglected (she is not a huge supporter of hs). Also a note to add. I have zero curriculum money left and we are on a very super tight budget. That is one reason I was leaning towards oaces or light units, because i can buy them individually as we need them. I think I have a plan for history. She is going to loosely join in with our tog studies but use the kingfisher history encyc as a spine, so that way I dont have to purchase anything additional for that. But I will need to figure out lit for her too, as I dont have money to buy the tog lit selections for dialectic/logic levels. And unfortunately, we owe a huge fine at the lib so that's not going to help until we move and can get a new lib card. Has anyone done paces/light units? How thorough are they? Thanks for any and all advice!

I use my printer a lot, way too much in fact, and I learned a very important lesson. After going through 3 cheap printers in 3 years and spending ungodly amounts of money on ink (even getting them refilled AND refilling them myself), I have learned that the best bet is to find the best price you can on a mid-priced (100-150) printer that has what you want. You will be much happier in the long run. I went the extra mile and did my research thoroughly in order to find a all-in-one that was wireless and was compatible with a reasonably priced continuous ink system or refillable cartridge system. I ended up getting my Epson nx515 on sale at staples for $69 (normally 129.99) and purchasing a refillable cart kit from SupertoBuy.com for $45. So for a lil over $100, I got a really nice, quality wifi printer that works no matter what room I am in when I print and a seemingly endless supply of ink. FYI, I got the ink system in Jan (comes with 1 bottle of each color) and my bottles are *maybe* 1/5 empty? And did I mention - I print a LOT, inlcuding pictures! I tell as many people as I can about this option, i think many hsers would find that it will save them TONS of money in the long run. It's really nice being able to print anything I want and not even give a second thought to how much ink I'm using!

and SWB will be speaking!! I thought some of you here might be interested... I do a lot of work with Heart of the Matter online and they are holding their annual Fall HS conf I *think* the second week of Aug. I have attended many of these and they are just awesome! You get to sit in your jammies and listen in to some really great speakers! Anyhow, for those of you who might be interested, there is a giveaway, on the HOTM Forums here: Conference Giveaway All the details can be found on that link. You can get more info about the conference sessions and such here: Conference Page I really hope I am not stepping on any toes by posting this here, i just want to make sure every gets a chance to attend that wants to! It has been a huge blessing for me

I have really enjpyed reading all these - gave me some good laughs! My ds10 used to say uhwewah for umbrella. And of c ourse I asked him to say it often :D My now 2 yo has some good ones. He loves to listen to and dance to sekum (music). He says Mommy, gook (look). Milk is guck. And of course there's chalka guck. Hmmm what else.... He says gucky for yucky ( he apparently likes the guh sound)? Out twin neighbors (age 3) are named Travis and Trevor, but he calls them both Travor. Cars are noom nooms. Yogurt is Ogre. Here lately he is referring to himself as baby - as in baby dink, baby paci, baby ni night (I think may e this is his way of reminding us that he is still that bay, regardless of the one that is due in Feb). He can repeat a lot of long words very well, but certain ones just come out funny. Oh, and Isaiah, his brother is saywah and Drew is DooDoo.

When my son started baby food and cereal, he ate pretty much anything you gave him except green veggies. When he moved on to finger foods, he also ate very well. He would at least try anything you sat in front of him. But after about 4 months of finger foods, all that changed. At first, it was aversions to any meals except a select few (chicken nuggests, hot dogs, sweet potato fries, etc). Ity moved on to refusing just about anything that wasn't snack food 95% of the time. At this time he also started climbing out of his high chair and throwing his food when he was done. SO we got rid of the high chair, bought a booster seat for the table (with a small tray), and started placing his food on the tv center so he could graze as he pleased. I thought the answer to the issue was to let him have more control over when and where he ate. Needless to say that didn't make things any better. We are still stuck. So after talking to a few friends, I decided to crack down. All of the snack food is now locked in the cabinet and he will only get the meals and snacks i prepare for him. We started this morning. He is 26mo. I wanted to try the Muffin Tim meals, thinking it would be a good way to get him more interested int he foods i was giving him. So todays bfast time was filled with: half a pop tart cut into strips, half a rice krispie treat, greek yogurt, yogurt covered raisins, kix cereal, and fresh pineapple. I sat him at the table while big brohter ds8 was eating cereal. He ate a few raisons, played in the yogurt a bit with his spoon, then proceeded to try to throw the tray. Thankfully, ds8 grabbed it before it made a huge mess. The only casualties were a few pieces of Kix. SO I scolded him, got him down and decided to sit the tray on the tv stand where he usually eats. Still he hasn't eaten anything but a few raisins. In about an hour, he will lay down for a nap. I was planning of feeding him lunch (which he prob won't touch again). But here still sits the tray of bfast food. Should I make him something new for lunch? Or should I just leave out the bfast food and encourage him to eat more? Am I going about this the right way? I hate that I let things get this bad, but I am determined to get him eating better. Any advice would be appreciated. BTW - i am not allowing him snacks at this time unless they are part of his meals. And bfast may seem like primarily snacks, but bfast i have always done a few lil snacky things for him and it's the only meal he usually eats any of His fav bfast things are pop tarts and rice krispy or granola bars.

Regena, I would LOVE to see your plans if it's not too much trouble! You can e-mail them to me if you like: homeschoolmommaof4@gmail.com TIA!

Ok, thanks for looking it over for me. Right now I am making a list of ALL possible activities for each week's topics. When it comes time to actually schedule each week, I plan on looking at everything else we have planned for the week and selecting which of the actual activities we will do. I am sure we will be skipping the experiemnts some weeks for various reasons. I just need a skeleton on what should be accomplished each week. Want to make sure I am including all the recommended reading and reports etc. This our first time doing science ala WTM, and I want to make sure I get it right!

Ok, I tried this out, and I managed to plan out the first 3 weeks of our study, can anyone tell me if this looks ok for a 5th grader? Is there anything you would change? BTW, when it says to read from Science Ency., I mean the Ubourne IL Science Encyclopedia c2002. :001_smile: 5th Grade Biology - Course of Study ~Weeks 1-3: Looking at Life~ Topics: Cell structures, classification, food chain Week 1: Cell Structures · Read “How Nature Works†Cells p16-17 · Diagram a plant and an animal cell · Experiment: Choose an experiment from “Biology for Every Kid†(1-3: Osmosis) and complete an experiment sheet · Add dates for Theodore Schwann to “Dates†section of notebook · Read from Science Encyclopedia about plant cells (p250-251) and animal cells (p298-299) and explore internet links · Write a brief report on cells Week 2: Classification · Read “How Nature Works†Classifying Living Things p24-25 · Diagram/list the classification scheme · Experiment: Do-it-yourself Classification on p25 of “How Nature Works†· Add dates for Carolus Linnaeus to “Dates†section of notebook · Read from Science Encyclopedia about Classification on p340-343 and explore internet links · Write a brief report on classification Week 3: Food Chain · Read “How Nature Works†Food Chains p34-35 · Experiment: Make a beater tray and a pooter from instructions in “How Nature Works†p34-35 · Read from Science Encyclopedia about Food and Energy p332-333 · Write a brief report on the Food Chain

Ok, so I am doing the wtm 2003 ED rec's for biology in 5th grade. SO far, I have purchased 3 books to use from ebay (super cheap). I have the Reader's Digest - How Nature WOrks, I have the VanCleave Biology for Every Kid experiments book, and I should be receiving the Creepy Crawlies book any day now. We are going to go backwards and do plants/animals first and human body last. BUT in the spring we are going to continue the plants/animals study by incorporating weekly nature walks and journaling. So I got out my WTM and copied the rec schedule into a word doc which I've copied/pasted here: 5th Grade Biology - Course of Study Weeks 1-3: Looking at Life Topics: Cell structures, classification, food chain Weeks 4-7: Plants and Fungi Topics: Flowering plants, trees, simple plants, fungi Weeks 8-11: Life in Water Topics: Freshwater life (amphibians, fish), life on the seashore (shells, coral reefs, seaweed) Weeks 12-15: Insects and Other Invertebrates Topics: Grasshoppers, butterflies and moths, ants and termites, bees and wasps, earthworms Weeks 16-19: Birds Topics: Flight, feathers, eggs, nests Weeks 20-22: Reptiles Topics: Snakes, crocodiles, alligators, lizards, turtles, tortoises Weeks 23-28: Mammals Topics: The mammalian body Weeks 29-38: The Human Body Topics: To be added soon I now want to go through my books and add detailed weekly plans of what is to be read, summarized etc. Which experiments he can choose from etc so we have a flexible plan. We must have this because if I don't have some sort of semi-detailed plan, Science won't get done. Anyone else planned it out like this? I need suggestions on how to best do this! TIA

I was just reading through this thread because I also have an older son (9) who has consistently struggled with spelling. We have tried BJU, Abeka, Sequential Spelling, AAs, etc. We recently switched over to Spelling Power and it is going really well! It only takes me 10 minutes per day, then he does an extra practice activity independedntly for about 5-10 minutes. He no longer complains when it is time to do spelling. He is still very sensitive when he misspells a word and tries to feel sorry for himself, but that is getting better also. I just handle it matter-of-factually and tell him I am sorry, that is not correct. Here is the correct spelling. Pay attention to the sounds in the word and how each is spelled so you don't miss it again tomorrow! This is the first program we have used that we both like and he has done well with. The best part is, you only buy one book and that takes you straight through 12th grade!

We are doing TOG Redesigned DE - Year 1 at half pace with a LG and UG student. We are getting ready to start "week 2" which is actually weeks 3-4 for us!

We are using TOG for the second time this year. We tried to 2 years ago, and circumstances of life kept us from really sticking to it (I was pregnant and very tired). Now we are going through it again with some important changes from the first time we used it: Ive realized just how important it is to use TOG as a loose plan and not feel like we need to do every little suggestion, We are doing this year half pace. Meaning we will complete Year 1 Units 1-2 this year, and units 3-4 next year. this gives us about 2 weeks to complete each Tapestry Week plan, so we can do more without feeling rushed or overwhelmed. We are taking a very relaxed, date-free approach. If it takes us more than 2 weeks to cover a unit because we decide to study one aspect more in depth, or because my kids don't grasp a certain concept, no big deal! We are using the library almost exclusively. I am finding the great majority of either the recommended materials or alternate resources on ILL. If I cant find a certain book, I pull out my WTM and find what they recommend for that topic and sub as needed. Haven't had an issue doing that yet! We are taking advantage of the new Digital Edition. It's cheaper, up-datable, and I don't have to worry about marking up my pages! I can make all the hard copies I need to! We are doing the writing component loosely, but we are not using writing aids. I am starting Writing With Ease next week with my oldest. (Writing Aids is $50) Just some suggestions that might put your options in perspective! Just remember, this is not a one time, one year use curriculum! You will use it at least one more year! It is soooo worth the investment for us. We have tried soooo many other programs, and here we are back with TOG. It's a fun way to learn!