This would be similar to Logic Stage Elemental Science so we are talking through 8th grade if possible Thank you.

How about Doctor Who on BBC America, the one that started in 2005. The only thing is that it is probably best to start in the beginning with season one. And the first season is kind of slow since they are still developing characters. It gets very good starting about 1/3 way into season 2. Right now they are entering season 8.

If anyone did either one, the book report or book review, especially at 5th grade level (I will take anything), would you mind sharing just so that I have an idea. Maybe I am just asking for way too much. There is really not much in a way of full reports or reviews on the internet, just bits and pieces and the rest is paid content. Ds is writing about it but hitting many road blocks. I have a good mind having him reread the book again just so that he gets the details out of it and be able to connect the dots. The last few chapters confuse him meaning he gets the big picture but not how little things paint that big picture. Thank you very much.

Thank you ladies for the ideas and advice. We are going through the new edition(yellow cover) of BJU Pre-Algebra. I will probably just slow him down a bit so there is no more than 45-60 minutes of math in one sitting and do some fun math like Life of Fred or similar in between and just keep going until it is done and when we are done, we'll just move on to algebra 1 and call it that.

Thank you ladies for the ideas and advice. We are going through the new edition(yellow cover) of BJU Pre-Algebra. I will probably just slow him down a bit so there is no more than 45-60 minutes of math in one sitting and do some fun math like Life of Fred or similar in between and just keep going until it is done and when we are done, we'll just move on to algebra 1 and call it that.

To start with, we are doing math at half speed which means it would have take us little over a year and a half to do year of Prea-Aglebra by the time we afe finished. Even with doing half the lesson a day, ds still takes 1-2 hours to get it done. Some days he daydreams, but others it is just the material itself that he has to think and get it done and it is a slow progress. Then, there is the fact that he tends to do silly mistakes like not paying attention to directions, or assuming that the next problem will have instructions same as previous and do it wrong; not paying attention to his positive and negative signs and solving wrong. Of course, he haas to redo them just on the account that those are careless mistakes since I know that he knows how to do it. I am assuming this is just the age thing and he just needs to grow into it. I don't want to rush into Algebra 1 and then taking 3 years to do it just because we has to break the lessons into half, or thirrds and taking 2 hours every single day just for math. At that rate he will learn to dread and hate math very fast instead of liking it as he does now.

Ds will be finishing pre-algebra in a few months but he is not way ready for algebra 1. Keeping in mind also that he is only 11. What do I do for those 6 months to a year before he will be starting Algebra sometime next year? Thank you.

Ds will be finishing pre-algebra in a few months but he is not way ready for algebra 1. Keeping in mind also that he is only 11. What do I do for those 6 months to a year before he will be starting Algebra sometime next year? Thank you.

Well, ds added in a few things and rearranged sentences to be more on topic as has been suggested. It has been submitted for an evaluation and he got a B+ with some comments on things missing and what can be improved.

This is what ds wrote for the informative essay assignment. It needs a closing paragraph (conclusion), a much better introduction both of which are not ds strong points. In any case, please comment on the writing. How it can be improved? Would this be ok for 6th grade level and if not, what can we do better next time. Thank you. Oysters The oyster is a mollusk which is an animal with a two piece shell. They are invertebrates which means they do not have a backbone. The oyster has a mouth, digestive system, heart and shell. They can grow to 60mm by 50mm. The shell color is gray. There are 2 kinds of oysters that live in the ocean: pearl oysters and true oysters. The true oysters live in colonies in shallow water and pearl oyster lives in the deep water and can attach itself to the bottom of the ocean. Pearl oysters are called that because they can make pearls. A pearl is made when a grain of sand gets into the oyster which irritates it and oyster puts out a liquid of protein and calcium that hardens around the grain of sand. If it has enough years it can turn into a pearl. Some people take the pearls out of the oysters and sell them. The oysters have gills and can breathe like a fish. The oyster has many predators such as oyster catchers, star fish and crabs, but some predators don’t have to be animals, some are parasites. One of them is a drill. It can penetrate outer shell and puts its digestive fluid under the oyster’s shell and it turns into a soupy mixture and the drill eats the oyster. The QX disease if one of the many diseases that are dangerous to the oyster once the disease gets into oyster’s digestive system it kills it. The way you can tell if is infected or not is when the stomach is light-brown. It is not curable. Oysters eat plankton and algae but some may eat pollutants that are in water surrounding the oyster. The oysters have a life span of 20 years. Most oysters when they are less than 1 year old they are male but when they are more than 1 year old they turn female.

"How can you stand being with your kids all the time everyday? I could never do that. It would drive me crazy." This came from a cashier as we were checking out. Turns out she was a mother of two in public school and studying to be a school teacher. I felt like saying that my three are nothing compared to the 30 you will have to deal with every day once you start teaching. Do parents actually see their kids as a bother and sending them to school only because they could not handle being together everyday? Totally agree with the bus statement. I would never ever want my kids on school bus. In my time, it was a mess and drivers did not do a thing to get it under control.

When I say "hibernation" for the winter, I mean limit contact with outside world unless it is church (Sunday sevices only, Christmas service but not every single activity at the church) and food shopping and doctor visits if needed. It seems like every year from October to March we are lamost always sick, and some days schoolwork does not get done at all, other days it would be half day. Last year we ended up being sick 7 times from September to May and ended up taking until July to make up for all sick days. This year we are only entering January and we are sick again 4th time from September. As careful as I am being about washing hands and keeping everyone home if the are sick, sneazing and coughing, there are many others who do not stay home if they are sick. At the end, someone else gets sick. So, back to the original question, does anyone "hibernates" for the winter months for sake of health, schoolwork and sanity??

Since you have younger kids, how about keeping it simple. When ds was 8, we did a semester of physics. He is 11 now and still remembers most of it. We used Science Wiz Physics kit as a starting point. (you can find them at Michaels' stores if there is one near by and with 40% off coupon it will cost you less than $10) K'nex kits for simple machines concepts Videos and books on anything physics from the library Specials on TV (we have Comcast on demand with tons of science specials on) That was enough to last almost a whole semester. We did simple narrations, nothing fancy- ds talked and I wrote it down or typed it up and we called it done. Sometimes he added illustrations to his narrations, or we took pictures or videos of the experiment and that was added in also. We did science 1-2 times a week and kept it short for the most part.

I want to choose one that will do the job and keep it through highschool with best results possible. We have tried BJU in 3rd and part of 4th for just the writing portion and it was ok, but did not seem enough from what I remember. The best part was that the writing was stretched out and broken down for me so I did not have to think much how to break it up. We did CTGE for part of 4th and then in 5th, and it was hard (ds hates writing), but I think it was better than BJU. More grammar, more writing and he did not do well on his tests. Maybe I should forgo the tests next time round. Ds asked for a change for 6th so I chose IEW level A and it bombed within a month it became a drudgery. Don't get me wrong, he can watch the videos and laugh and enjoy them, but then, when it came to actual writing, it was a no go. Now, I am wondering if I should continue with it for the rest of the year, or should I go back to one of the other 2 (BJU or CTGE) and give it another try. I am looking for suggestion. Curriculum hunting mid year gets me frazzled. Thank you.

Not math, but history and science books this year.

Actually, we have done SOTW Middle Ages about 3 years ago and ds liked it enough, not sure about him LOVING it. We also did Activity guide as well with extra reading. He still remembers many parts of what we read and learned. I keep going between TOG and HOD, mostly TOG year 2 but I am very leery I can pull it off with 3rd, 1st, and 3yo in addition to 6th grader.

What is the most exciting, keep you on the edge of your seat, can’t wait to find out what is next history curriculum that covers Middle Ages that you know of? This would be for ds 6th-8th grade level. Thank you.

What is the most exciting, keep you on the edge of your seat, can’t wait to find out what is next history curriculum that covers Middle Ages that you know of? This would be for ds 6th-8th grade level. Thank you.

Thank you for all the replies. In terms of legal requirements/obligations. There are many lawyer happy people and all it takes is one "right" person to get lawyer happy and the person they go after gets ruined. That would be my biggest fear. That is why I have been doing so much reading on the topic and trying to make up my mind if I want to do this in the spring or try to make it the best I can with what I have. Many of the members in the group are very involved in other things (many have something they attend almost on a daily basis) like 4H, girl/boy scouts, church related activities, sports so the homeschool group is not very high on the priority list of things to attend or to help plan/organize. We limit what we do and when we go to the group planned activities, and the are flops, you walk away wondering why you even bothered to come and wasted 2-3 hours of your time. Thank you again and please keep on commenting.

I do hope it is ok to post this on this particular board. We've been a part of a large group (70 families at the last count which is about 160 kids plus the parents). The groups is growing by leaps and bounds and I think the head ladies are having trouble keeping it organized and under control. Many of the activities look and feel like there were thrown together 5 minutes before the said activity, mothers do not want to participate with the kids, wrong addresses for fieldtrips get sent out and we end up going to the wrong place and missing the field trip. At the end, no one ever says anything about the mishaps, like it never happened. The biggest problem I see is that every time we go, 98% of the people are new so you have to reintroduce everyone all over again and then, the next activity it is the same thing. I don't think there were more than 2 same families on any 2 given activities in the last 6 months. It makes it very hard to form any meaningful relationship or friendship with anyone. Since I do not do moms night out, or moms meetings, or join their facebook chats, I am in the dark and many outside the group get togethers they plan are done through those 3 venues. My only other option is another 150 member group but it has many mandatory requirements (teaching, volunteering, planning, organizing, meetings, etc.) which makes it very hard to nearly impossible with toddler plus 3 students and dh schedule. Many others in bordering cities are the same way, very large 100+ families, some close to 500. Many require time commitment that is not possible at this time in our lives. Some we tried and they are just too scattered and not organized. There is not one group that is small group with the same or almost same faces just about every week, so you do get to make those connections and friendships and you learn about who the people are to a certain extent and not to have to reintroduce yourself every week, every activity, never knowing how it will turn out. I was thinking of maybe trying to organize something small myself that is primarily focused on social aspect: friendships, relationships, maybe some fieldtrips here and there, some park day, or game days at the library on a rainy day, or a art trip to the local art school. Small, no more than 10- 20 families to start and work from there but never let it get out of hand. I don't think I would want it to go above 20 families ( which could easily be 70+ people). My question would be how to get it done and what are the legal ramifications to getting a group together, like liability and need for insurance. What would happen if a child got hurt at the park or on a field trip, am I in any way legally responsible for medical and other things. The more I read on the web on how the groups get set up, the more confusing and complicated it seems. This would be for age group grades 1-7. Thank you very much for any ideas and suggestions.

Thank you for all of the ideas. Some of the books your mentioned he has read already. Right now he is going through Tiner books. I will be checking the library for the other books on the list. As for problems with vision, there is non according to the eye doctor he saw few months back. Ds is very science minded and history is just not his cup of tea so to speak just like history stuff. That's just how he is wired. He never complains about not liking reading, or having trouble reading, especially if it is something that has his interest.

Mine learned while swinging on a swing. I call it out, they repeat and we do it over and over. 10 minutes a day works wonders. Did not matter if it was counting to a hundred, addition, multiplication, etc.

Ds just turned 11. **He dreads anything fiction. **Loves anything science as long as it is non fiction. **Will read some non fiction history as long as it is wars, battles, invations, weapons used at that time, etc. We read most of the material available at the library based on his interests at the time. He reads encyclopedias for fun but I would like to get him into some literature reading, not just science encyclopedias. In terms of good literature for higher elementary and middle school age kids, our library stinks. There is just way too much junk to weed through. I would appreciate any suggestions on this (suggestions do not have to be limited just to literature). It's all new territory for me once I get over age 10. Thank you.

Ds just turned 11. **He dreads anything fiction. **Loves anything science as long as it is non fiction. **Will read some non fiction history as long as it is wars, battles, invations, weapons used at that time, etc. We read most of the material available at the library based on his interests at the time. He reads encyclopedias for fun but I would like to get him into some literature reading, not just science encyclopedias. In terms of good literature for higher elementary and middle school age kids, our library stinks. There is just way too much junk to weed through. I would appreciate any suggestions on this (which does not need to be limited to literature suggestions only). It's all new territory for me once I get over age 10. Thank you.

This is what was the final summary from my 10 yo after working on it for a week. I try to give him pointers and he had books, videos and acces to computer for other research if he wanted. He is my "I hate writing" boy but he does not want any help from me. I need pointers to get this better.. Thank you. King Tut Introduction Birth and childhood Accomplishments Becomes pharaoh Death Conclusion King Tut was born in 1321 B.C. in Tell El-Amarna. He became pharaoh at the age of after his father’s death. When he became pharaoh at the age of 15, he had very littlepower and most Egyptians were poor. Tut was married to his half -sister Ankhesenamun. King Tut brought the traditional gods back to the temples that his father banned. He led an army that defeated the Syrians and Nubians. King Tut died suddenly at the age 25. Ay, Tut's chief minister and advisor, took the throne and married Tuts half- sister after his death. After King Tut's funeral, his mummy was brought to the Valley of the Kings. The tomb was robbed by the wokers who built it. In 1922 a man named Lord Carnarvon discovored the tomb of Tut. Many men tried to find out how he died. They thought he was killed on his chariot, was shot with an arrow, or was murdered.