Maybe it would help to think about the phrase to the boys in terms of its function in the sentence. In Latin, there is often not a one-to-one correspondence between the English words and the Latin words you use to translate the idea into good Latin. The prepositional phrase "to the boys" is functioning in the sentence "The teacher gave the books to the boys" as an indirect object, secondarily receiving the action of the verb. We can express this in English either as "the Teacher gave the boys the books" or as "the teacher gave the books to the boys". In Latin you can only express that relationship using the dative case. There is no prepositional phrase in Latin that expresses the relationship of indirectly receiving the action of the verb. HTH!

I own and read the 3rd edition. I first read TWTM when I was thinking of pulling my kids out of school, and loved having such a clear model. I think it also appeals to me as I trained as a Classicist. We follow many specific recommendations from the 3rd ed. I started out two years ago with big plans...and encountered the reality of my dds...what do you mean you don't want to learn Greek and Latin?! Wah! I found the forums through online searches for curricula reviews. I don't post much, but I come here almost daily for the interesting discussions. There is a good IRL community here for homeschoolers, but my closer homeschooling friends are unschoolers, so not interested in discussing curriculum.

Thanks for the tip, Jean. I am so squeaky-new round here, it will be my first PM. Hmmm, what does it mean Resistance is futile...you will be assimilated... wait a minute... :-) Sorry for the hijack, OP. Hope you hear about Bangor soon.

We are also looking at a move to Maine - Portland area for us. I too would love to hear about local resources nad life in Maine. Here's a link I found to Homeschoolers of Maine http://www.homeschoolersofmaine.org/ . It would be a big change for us as we're coming from the West Coast. Any advice, Mainers?

Dd 9 votes for other - breathing lightning. Dd 11 and Dh vote for mind-reading. I vote for breathing fire.

Yes, they are part of a series called "Tools of Discovery." This is the Greek one http://www.amazon.com/Tools-Ancient-Greeks-History-Discovery/dp/0974934461/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375657153&sr=1-1&keywords=tools+of+the+ancient+greeks. There is also one on Native Americans and one on Navigation, amongst others.

I covered ancient Greece this Spring with dd9 and dd11. One of our favorite spine books was Tools of the Ancient Greeks. It has thematic chapters, and was especially good on Greek inventions and discoveries. It also has a craft/hands-on project with each chapter. Dd11 liked making a dramatic mask; dd9 liked baking baklava. For the Iliad and the Odyssey, the girls loved Rosemary Sutcliff's beautifully illustrated retellings, especially Black Ships Before Troy. For mythology, they enjoyed D'Aulaire's Greek Myths. The girls read these three works a chapter a day (they're really short chapters) for 10-15 minutes. The bite-sized peices worked well, and we got through everything in 4 weeks. Dd11 also recommends Esther Friesner's Nobody's Princess, a novel about Helen of Troy's childhood. She warns that the sequel Nobody's Prize is definately more teen in its themes. HTH!

I started homeschooling my oldest at the beginning of 4th grade, and like you used our former school's program - for us Envision math. We both disliked the curriculum. For 5th (this past year) I put her in Singapore Primary Mathematics Stds ed 5A and 5B. She has done well and we both like it. I've found the Home Instructor's Guides particularly helpful in teaching the Singapore way, We'll use 6A/B this coming year. My experience was even with a not-so-mathy student we didn't need to go back to earlier levels. My younger dd is doing very well with SIngapore too. My one problem with SM is working out what to do for 7th grade and beyond, since I would prefer the typical US sequence, rather than Singapore's integrated approach. But I am glad I switched even though dd was already in 5th grade. Hope this helps.

I used REAL Science Odyssey Chemistry with my daughters for at 7 and 10 yrs. They loved it. good balance of activities and inforamtion; very open and go for me. I did find I had to be on top of what was required for the week (eg oops I need Borax and white glue asap). Then for 8 and 11 yrs old we did Elemental Science Logic Stage Biology. I wanted to love it, but none of us did. I didn't find it as open and go as I'd hoped, and my younger one struggled even with the adjusted readings. Reading from an encyclopedia or DK book isn't fun for my two - they find the pages too busy and seem to prefer the information in a more narrative or hands-on mode rather than lots of short segments. I do like how faithfully ES follows SWB's model for science for each year. We are heading back to REAL SO for this year. Hope this helps!

Another vote for not weird. When my then 5 yr old dd was evaluated by the school psychologist, they made a home visit and a visit to observe her at her private preschool. The school psychologist stayed for under an hour, and really was there to observe dd in her usual environment. For some disorders like autism (my dd's diagnosis) or ADD it absolutely helps them to observe the child at home. Good luck!

That does sound like mature themes for books shelved right with the children's books. I might ask your children's librarian what the recommended ages are for young adult books in your library. You may want to avoid that section if you don't know the book well. If I am unsure about a book and the flap/back cover isn't helpful I sometimes read the amazon reviews to get a feel for the appropriateness. Good luck finding better reading.

My dd liked the American Girl Kaya series http://www.amazon.com/Meet-American-Girls-Collection-ebook/dp/B00AKF6KA4/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369858659&sr=1-1&keywords=meet+kaya and loved the book Dolls and Toys of Native America http://www.amazon.com/Dolls-Toys-Native-America-McQuiston/dp/0811805700/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369858779&sr=1-1&keywords=mcquiston+dolls+and+toys I would second the recommendation for local field trips too.

D'oh! I missed that memo too - and my kids hate LOF. They're probably past the elementary series now... maybe I'll try reading it to my 3rd grader.

What about Pandia Press History Odyssey Timeline stickers? $6.95 at Rainbow Resource http://www.rainbowresource.com/proddtl.php?id=042770

Bump!

Have you looked at Pandia Press Real Science Odyssey Level 2? It is just out, so we haven't done it yet, but I liked their Chemistry a lot. It is secular. It covers your life science topics, including learning to use a microscope. The Units are: 1 Organisms, 2 Cells, 3 Genetics, 4 Anatomy and Physiology, 5 Evolution, 6 Ecology, 7 Classification.

We liked them too. The CD has bible-themed skip counting songs from 2 to 9, a making tens addition song, and secular themed skip counting songs from 2 to 9. The production is very simple - piano and a very small group of children singing. We listened to it in the car on short drives, and it taught my then second grader how to skip count up to 10. This has been very helpful for her when she learned muliplication this year.

MCT Town level all parts including the Literature SM Stds Ed 4A, 4B CWP 3 SOTW 2 with AG State studies via field trip and Beautiful Feet RSO 1 Earth and Space Latin for Children A maybe Galore Park French

lol Wow, OP, I can't believe your dh agreed to listen to it. Mine gets this deer in the headlights look as soon as I mention curricula. The homeschooling parents at park day are the ones for discussing curricula.

Woohoo! We love DragonBox Plus. Off to buy 12 for the kindle asap. Thanks for the heads-up.

My local co-op is enrichment rather than academic too, so I really liked one of the nearby Classical Conversations groups; but I couldn't get past the Young Earth focus of the logic materials. I'm thinking of starting my own languages co-op... I hope you find a good option for your family.

Seconding the recommendation for Reading Greek. I had the 1978 version in college, and its a great course. This new edition sounds good for independent learning. And maybe you could hire a Classics grad student to answer any questions your son had - they could skype for an hour once a month or something like that.

I jumped into R&S 5 with my 5th grader this year. It has gone very well. It is a really thorough course; totally open and go for me and since it reviewed everything she has had no problems with the level of the work in spite of having next to no grammar background. I think you can skip 4.

We've just started with MCT LA, and are in our first year of Latin. Like Alice, I'm not finding the two programs are covering the same things, and plan to do both. Studying Latin doesn't replace vocabulary, especially in the early stages imo.

Glad you figured it out. We got the Teacher's Guide and the Student book, the experiment kit, the recommended books, the microscope and also some prepared slides. The level of work required has been fine for my 5th grader, but abit challenging for my 3rd grader even using the recommended alternate readings.