We buddy-read here too. DD just finished the Coral set from Mosdos. She's 5th grade/average student/came late to reading. I wanted something quasi-analytical (exploring plot, themes, etc., in a not-heavy handed way) and it was awesome: couldn't wait to read the next assignment and do the corresponding work. She finished the whole thing between late Oct. and now! And...she understands characters, plot, etc. without my having to really reinforce it :) I do like the idea finding the themes of a novel or novella though: I read recently about a woman whose 7th grade English teacher made all the kids take different-colored highlighters to their paperback novels to find the big analytical themes within. Might do that next year with dd.

It's my understanding that Dr Gallagher's topics are being translated from collaborative, classroom-based learning down to single-child learning done with an adult teacher. Plague and her ferret study are the only two that have been changed so far. To teach one child, you'll need the teacher manual, the student problem log, and the resource book. I think this as a package is $45. Initially I had an interest in doing her Hull House study (we aren't far from Chicago and I grew up not too far from Hull House) but it seemed it would be hard to translate to teaching it to one or two students. about how to implement the Plague study though.