We are listening to The Sea of Trolls right now. Viking times, kidnapping, so far it's really good. I don't know how it ends though or how scary it gets yet. It's historical fiction/ fantasy. Not sure if that's what you want though. You should check out the lists of chapter books that people have made to go along with history. I recently posted asking for American history book suggestions and one reply contained a link to amazing list of books, many of which come in audio versions. That's where I got the Sea of Trolls idea. I am in a phone and can't search or link right now, but it should be easy to find.

We are listening to The Sea of Trolls right now. Viking times, kidnapping, so far it's really good. I don't know how it ends though or how scary it gets yet. It's historical fiction/ fantasy. Not sure if that's what you want though. You should check out the lists of chapter books that people have made to go along with history. I recently posted asking for American history book suggestions and one reply contained a link to amazing list of books, many of which come in audio versions. That's where I got the Sea of Trolls idea. I am in a phone and can't search or link right now, but it should be easy to find.

I'm only a first year home schooler, and we are only about 15 chapters through SOTW 1, but this is what we are doing... I found that there wasn't much at all about American history in SOTW1. There is one chapter, I think. So we are taking a little break around that time that we would get to that one chapter and doing more. I am branching off and doing some Viking / Leif the Lucky/ early explorer stuff. We will cover Maya/Inca/ Aztec civilizations. Chances are we will continue with American history from there because my kids are excited about it. They are kind of obsessed with Native American studies, and although we have done a lot on this in the past, they have asked to do more. And then ds keeps asking to cover the beginning of the US. Anyways, that's where I am headed. I may continue with SOTW on the side. We have the audio book, and will will probably just read a chapter a week but not get into it too much unless the kids want. They are young, and I"m ok with that. There are several downloads on Scholastic dollar days right now that might be helpful. I got one on important Americans, and I saw a few others.

Dazzling Math Line Designs looks like fun. We will use it as fun review. I think my dd will like it. 2-3 grade or so.

Personally we like REAL science odyssey life mixed with Mr Q for human body. It's fun enough, easy to put together, and they are learning. I also add in a lot of library books. My background is in nursing. So I'm sciencey but not a scientist. ;) I haven't tried anything else.

I should have mentioned that I'm not computer savvy! Ones I have liked and used for 1 and 2 nd grade- Mini books habitats. I just bought the mini book amer hx and it looks good. The body book is great. I own the hard copy, but I'd rather have the ebook. The human body mini books look promising but I just bought them tonight. A riddle a day is cute for little kids.

Thanks. I think I need to make it more fun. They like the stories and don't mind the questions or narration. DS maybe can skip the writing for now and dd can do cursive.

Anyone know if I can email a book that I buy? My step mom wants a human body book but it's too complicated for her to buy it. I already own a hard copy. Can I buy a dollar days one for her any email the file? The make and learn human body books are great. There are two listed and I already own them both. I can't wait to go through all the pages later today. Last night I bought the American history timeline and an American revolution pack. :)

Anyone know if I can email a book that I buy? My step mom wants a human body book but it's too complicated for her to buy it. I already own a hard copy. Can I buy a dollar days one for her any email the file? The make and learn human body books are great. There are two listed and I already own them both. I can't wait to go through all the pages later today. Last night I bought the American history timeline and an American revolution pack. :)

I chose level 1 of WWE for dd 8 and ds 6 for a few reasons. I wanted the kids using the same book. This way we can read the whole stories when they show interest instead of just the excerpts. Also it is our first year and I didn't know if we would like wwe and didn't want to buy two workbooks. I wanted the workbooks because it's premade. And it's their first year with the grammar. Turns out it is way too easy for dd. the writing is way too hard for ds. He has fine motor and handwriting issues and hates writing. He does fine with the grammar and narration. It's easy for him. Dd is learning cursive. She wanted to and enjoys it. What level WWE does cursive? Can I just have her do her copy work in cursive? I can write it first for her to copy I suppose. I would have to practice the HWOT font though! Is it a waste of time if it is too easy? I'm. It sure what they are getting out of it. Thoughts? Thanks, chelsea

I can't decide between earth science and chemistry. My son will be 7 when we use it. Dd will be almost 9. That's on the young side for this but I think they'd like it more than earth. Any opinions on what I should choose?

We get a few magazines that I would recommend- Ranger Rick and Rick Jr Discover Kids Click Spider (literature, not science, but highly recommended) Ask Zoobooks When we get the magazines we take a few days and read them cover to cover. Often they lead us to a week long study of something that I wouldn't have chosen without the magazine. Click especially does this! I found great deals on Zuiliy and Living Social for most of them.

I have a friend who only watches tv/ movies while on the treadmill. :) That might get some more steps in, if you happen to be someone who likes tv in the evening.

My kids enjoy SOTW on audiobook.

Where The Mountain Meets the Moon was our favorite this year so far. A+ definitely. We also just finished listening to The Wolves of Willoughby Chase and all loved that too. Have you read the Narnia series? Those are so much fun. We tent to lean towards fantasy, I guess, for read alouds.

How about Roald Dahl? My kids enjoyed The Witches, Matilda, Charlie and The Choc. Factory, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, The Fantastic Mr. Fox...

Thanks for all the ideas and for sharing your plans! Nicole, your plan is exactly what I was hoping to create :) yay! I'm looking forward to getting started. :)

Ok, so after a few hours of thinking (I'm a night shift worker, that's why I"m posting at 3am) I've come up with an outline for the summer. Native people Explorers Colonists American Revolution Constitution Westward Expansion CIvil War I think my kids will enjoy these topics. My goal is really just exposure and enjoyment (loved that thread about history). I have some ideas for books, but I'd love to hear any favorites for the 7-9 year old crowd. I'd be reading aloud, so reading level isn't important. Also, we live in New England, so we have tons of opportunities for field trips. That may be why I'm so excited to start American hx. thanks. :)

We are currently doing SOTW Ancients for first and second grade- mostly we are just reading with a few projects and very little of anything else. :) My kids hate the mapwork, abhor the narrations, and don't really like to color in pictures. But they enjoy history, so that's really all I want. This summer I thought we might do American history. I'm going to use LIberty Kids because I have it and they haven't seen it yet. We will re read the Felicity books for the American Revolution. We did a pretty in depth coverage of Native American history, Plimoth and the Mayflower (because we visited), and Columbus this year just because. I'm wondering if there is a list of books out there already that I can draw from. I know I can put it together myself, but I also don't want to miss any great books. We will most likely just read a lot. That seems to be how my kids like to learn- listening to me read, listening to audiobooks, and watching the occasional show. I did see Adventures in America mentioned here, but I don't think it would be a good fit. I'm really just looking for a spine. Hmmm, I suppose a big encyclopedia might work. We love the Usborne World History one... thoughts? Thanks! Chelsea

It was 30 here today, and my kids refused coats and hats and mittens for our errands. They did wear coats for playing outside. You just get use to the cold, I guess.

It was 30 here today, and my kids refused coats and hats and mittens for our errands. They did wear coats for playing outside. You just get use to the cold, I guess.

Mine just do whatever they want at that moment. Rainbow loom, finger knit, random arts and crafts, blocks, color, wiki stix, origami...

I already told them it's a series! :) So is Blackhearts in Batter Sea the next book? I am having a hard time figuring that out on my phone tonight. We are listening to the audiobooks. The kids could never read them, and I don't want to. I enjoyed the language though but not to read aloud. We are almost finished with The Last Battle, and then we have Harry Potter 6 up next for audio books. We are in the car quite a bit, and so I need books that we will all enjoy. :) Thanks, chelsea

We just finished "The Wolves of Willoughby Chase", and we all loved it. Are the others in the series good? Are they appropriate for 6-8 year olds? They seem like they might be too complicated. Thanks, Chelsea

I love this thread! My kids are constantly cracking me up with their choices of words. DS (6) recently said "mom, you gave me such a start!" when I entered the room. They call each other "idiot" a lot which is from Harry Potter and/or Peter and the Star Catchers. That one I'd like to see disappear. Ds narrates all of his playmobil play. That is just hysterical. :)