My seventh graders each read it separately and then we discuss it one on one where I have the book and they have their notes. Not everyone needs a book. I'm not sure about discussing it with more than one child at a time, but it may work with other families.

How about simply using the SOTW4 TOC as your spine and direction for library reading/discussions (literature), timeline additions, continued outlining and mapping through TOG resources? There are many corresponding topics for both TOG3&4 with SOTW4. Let TOG give your student the mapping goals if you've not done that map before (LG or UG or Dialectic). That's what we're doing. http://expeditionswithg3.blogspot.com/2014/06/half-way-through-summer.html

So psyched to see this thread and more driven to use the SOTW4 TOC spine with lots of on-topic, corresponding readings while studying Modern History this year with my 7th and 8th graders. THanks http://expeditionswithg3.blogspot.com/2014/06/half-way-through-summer.html

I worked thru grammar stage Elemental Science Chemistry with my kids several years ago and this year have been using ACS, eclectic sources (TINER, DK Chem etc), and by reinforcing the Elemental Chemistry binder, we've reviewed much of their chemistry. I then went to CK12 for middle school physical science text to put on their kindle fires. This is what will help us finish out the year in hopes of preparing for physics next year (hopefully with Elemental Science Logic Stage Physics if it is done before the end of July 2014), but if not, we'll continue a more Charlotte Mason effort to cover this stage of science. It works for us b/c we do science thru every subject. I'm a recovering science classroom teacher and my DH is recovering nuclear engineer. High school will be here soon enough to get these 3Gs ready for college. BTW, still haven't nailed down what I'll use for that level either.

lots-o-rice, I completely understand your perspective on Apg bks. We tried Swimmy, flying AND astronomy when G3 were younger. We found Elemental Science and loved it (open and go was wonderful). I'm looking forward to the middle grade level physics that should be coming out this year. BTW, Barb @harmonyartsmom http://harmonyfinearts.org/2010/03/making-apologia-science-texts-work-for-our-family/ wrote about making the Apologia texts work for her non-textbook family at the above url. Noeo science thru Logos School has great resources (http://www.logospressonline.com/physics-iii/), but I've not used their teacher guide. more power to ya!

I use timers everywhere so there is lots of breaks for Lego time. They MUST OWN THEIR SCHEDULES. They will be tax-payers someday (I hope), and they must be in charge of their lives, b/c I'm downsizing soon after they graduate. We also did a big "no-no" and scheduled all of one subject to be done in one day. IE. Spelling Workout lesson 16 pretest, practice pages and final spelling test in one day. With my kids, this takes all day to complete along with one of their maths, Bible study and household duties. Another day is set aside to accomplish all the science tasks, Bible study and a math along with household stuff. Their productivity is higher, and they still remember how to spell the words along with the science vocabulary for the week when we do the review in successive weeks. We tweak and tweak and tweak our schedules, and finally they work (7th year of homeschooling). I take lots of hints from Donnayoung.org

DS 7th grader is finishing Saxon Math 87 laboring over an hour on average each lesson. We often use a youtube teacher's 10" lesson (Erica Johnson) to get him better acquainted with the topic.

All of the above worked well for us with the addition of the Roman Mystery series by Caroline Lawrence (not difficult reading for my 4th & 5th graders that year). I also followed along with many of Regina's suggestions here at http://greenapplesblush.blogspot.com/2010/12/fifth-grade-ancient-historyliterature.html. Have you looked at any GA Henty books? We used the kindle to listen/read along with the Young Carthaginian (http://expeditionswithg3.blogspot.com/2012/01/our-iliad-and-odyssey-reading-along.html) and the Golden Goblet was somewhat difficult for them to read.

Adding the extra reading (Guerber from Heritage History for e-readers), fiction period stories and notebook pages along with an outline I prepare (http://expeditionswithg3.blogspot.com/2013/09/history-chapter-outline.html) with more or less detail for completion while we drive 30 minutes and listen to each chapter, makes SOTW3 doable for us. I try to add more detailed map work too. I hope to do a period type literature course for history in high school and add the timeline component that they do completely on their own. Timelines just did not got done in grammar and logic stage, and I know it's important.

We raided the library section about do at home experiments. Authors like Cobb, VanCleave, Tiner and a DK Chemistry book. We have a solid base from Grammar Stage Chemistry with Elemental Science to build off of. And, I found the Hands of a Child Chemistry for younger kids as well as the HOAC Metals lapbook to work through. There are videos from Harvard about kitchen science chemistry and a guy at http://www.bozemanscience.com/scientific-method does videos like the Khan academy stuff, but more for middle school chemistry students. The ACS website is good, but it doesn't last long. We're making soap this week from water, lye and lard (the old fashioned way). I also used many of the book suggestions from Regina at greenapplesblush.blogspot.com. If all else fails, we'll jump back on the Elemental Science wagon with their new Logic Stage Chemistry materials. Cheers

One other source of information is how to schedule these lessons. I found help from Course Outline Course Outline http://narrowgateacademy.blogspot.com/ She scheduled out many of the books with the worksheets and tests. Sorry for the omission.

I love the open and go aspect of ES. AND it's thorough! We've used the Grammar stage Chemistry and Physics, Logic stage Biology and Earth Science/Astronomy with a 2 day schedule. Check out this link to blog posts regarding science http://expeditionswithg3.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_10.html

This is what we've been doing with history http://expeditionswithg3.blogspot.com/search/label/Logic%20Stage%20History Kids about same age, although mine will "read" lots along with the used kindles.

We tried color coding the notebook pages, but there was never enough time! Here are my blog posts on how we did much of 5th grade, 6th grade and are now doing 7th grade history (logic stage first three years). http://expeditionswithg3.blogspot.com/search/label/Logic%20Stage%20History

It's All good. And relatively cheap, open and go grammar!

?BUMP? Same question here for SOTW3 spine

We take turns outlining from Science for a few weeks and then for history a few weeks. It's less intense and helps everyone get stuff covered.

My DS11 has finished R&S5 with your schedules and now is beginning R&S6 this week! Thank you! The twins (DD10 & DS10) are 2/3 finished R&S5 using your schedules. Your assistance in this matter was absolutely necessary! And I enjoy using R&S where FLL nearly killed me.

I used this science curriculum last year with my oldest in 5th grade and my twins in 4th grade. They've completed the ES Grammar stage Chemistry and Physics the two years previous. Science is very important in our house. This curriculum (I bought the download & printed the student pages that I wanted to use, but used the teacher guide on my kindle) allowed me to set each child on their own speed with mostly individual time where science didn't get lost in all the other stuff we had to do. The materials are organized to follow along with the Well Trained Mind Logic Stage format. Notebooking was a key factor in with a little outlining. We used the 2 day format. The sketches were a fun part that helped them move throughout the DK book and silver Kingfisher book. http://expeditionswithg3.blogspot.com/2012/01/coral-reef-replication-experiment-w.html My 4th grade girl didn't like the disecting, but the 2 boys loved it. The quizzes were well-written. This was an excellent way to transition into Earth Science and Astronomy for this year with more work on outlines and more thorough individual study on definitions & with experiments. http://expeditionswithg3.blogspot.com/2012/06/elemental-science-prep-for-this-fall.html Also, the yahoo group is very helpful. The authors quickly respond to all questions. BTW, I've paid for all 4 years of this curriculum and did in no way receive anything to say good things about ES. It just works for us in our family.

http://expeditionswithg3.blogspot.com/2012/05/more-ideas-for-curriculum-but-this-time.html Maybe it'll work, maybe it won't. But, we'll give it a try.

I have a 5th grade ds and 4th grade twins ds&dd who have completed Elemental Science Grammar Stage Chemistry and again ES Grammar Stage Physics. These kids are 16 months apart, but do have different reading levels. They must do the same science and history curriculum concurrently, b/c I wouldn't be able to manage otherwise. The twins do less writing than their older brother in labs or encyclopedia reports, but enjoy the dissections and discussions. They seem to have a better grasp on the concepts when asked to recall in narrations. Have you joined the yahoo group that Paige offers for Elemental Science? That may offer you more detailed information. Each child is so very different. Have you checked the website or blog? It really is a WTM format.

I wonder if anyone has the magic answer...