We don't do a lot of logic. We worked through Critical Thinking book 1 last year with my 6th and 10th. The kids also have done Building Thinking Skills 1-2 when they were younger, usually in 2-4th. They love Perplexors, Mind Benders, and other logic puzzle books, so we continue with those. This year we are doing American History, so I thought we could work through Critical Thinking in United States History. I have the first 2 volumes, and it we like them we will get the next 2 cds. For us it in 10 mins on the logic puzzles for fun, and then 15 mins discussing our logic book. We don't spend hours working through it. But even doing the tiny bit we do, I have seen an improvement in their thinking skills. Would they be ruined without it...probably not. But it is a skill I would like them to have, so we work on it a little each day, and it adds up over time.

My dd, in a 7-12th coop computer course, needed to do 35 wpm to receive an A for the typing portion. For younger kids, I would definitely be in the 15-20 range to start. My 6th grader struggled because his hands were smaller. We got a netbook that has a 90% keyboard, everything was a little smaller and it was easier for him to stretch his fingers. He was able to do 20-25 wpm on that.

Thanks

Quick question, do you need the teacher books to use with the student books? I do have TWSS. Thanks.

We switched to Earth Science with the Tarbuck book. I just had her skip the chapters that dealt with subjects she had already done with the Physical Science book.

We also tried the Physical Science course and had the same results. I had to read over the answers to the questions, quizzes, and tests. Then rewrite or add to the questions, to help guide my daughter to the correct answer so that she could complete the program. In theory, I love the idea, I just wasn't crazy about the implementation. I had thought about skipping the tests, and just having my son do the research questions to find what he could, we would discuss it, and then do the experiments. Anyways, my dd switched to a textbook approach to finish off the year, and has been much happier with that.

I used CW Aesop and Homer for the Older Beginner with my 6th and 10th graders this year. The 10th grader didn't make it all the way through. She didn't like rewriting, or improving, such great work. She thought it sounded great the way it was and didn't like her own writing as well. We switched her to Write Shop, which teaches similar skills, but she was improving her own writing, not someone else's writing. THe 6th grader really liked it until the end. He enjoyed the stories, I saw big improvements in his style and writing ability across all subjects. But he didn't finish the program either. We got towards the end and he became bored. We flipped through the last several lessons and realized that they were just practicing the same skills without adding in new, for the last several weeks. So we stopped that. I tried to switch him to Write Shop, but by that time he was done with writing, he needed a break. So I had him write short creative stories for the last few weeks of the year with a Silly Story Starter flip book. That has given him the break he needed to jump back into a writing curriculum this fall. This ds had also done CW Aesop the year before. We won't be continuing with CW Diogenes. I had bought them, and looked through them, even tried to teach the first few lessons, and found it just wasn't my style. I do intend for my last child, 4th grade this coming year, to work through the Aesop and Aesop Homer for Older Beginners books. I really do like the skills they teach, I just might modify it some so the last lessons aren't so repetitive..

You want the 1985 miniseries with Patrick Swayzee (?) in it. The other is set in England.

The audio lectures would be great for writing. They give examples of where the student should be at each level, and if they aren't, what you should work on to get them there before moving to the next level. You could try First Language Lessons 4 which gives a very through basic understanding of grammar. Including parts of speech and the beginnings of diagramming. Seems like there are about 90 daily lessons. Then switch to Analytical Grammar, but skip the review book. Just do units 1-3 in a row. It seems like there are 34 lessons that last a week. This covers diagramming. So if you started now, you could work on the FLL4 through the summer. The lessons last about 20-30 mins. So you might be able to double up on them, or skip some of the repetition, you should be close to done with it by the end of the summer. Then start AG in the fall, and finish it in the course of the year.

Personally, I think the goals leading up to and including 5th grade are just to get those muscles working. Teaching them to look at things in a different way. I believe that the terminology comes with whatever program you choose to use after that. I choose a variety of books for puzzles. Each puzzle in a book is usually done in a similar way, even if they become slightly harder as you go along. So once you start to think in that way it becomes simpler to do. For my 6th grader, we did Critical Thinking together. Then for logic puzzles I had him do different puzzles. We did the last book of the Logic Liftoff series, Venn Perplexors, Math Perplexors, regular Perplexors, and I have a game with word puzzles where you have to think through the problem to find a solution (I think it is called 30 second Mysteries). He would do a different type of puzzle daily, so that he wasn't just learning the pattern for one type of puzzle.

We like Logic Liftoff series, Building Thinking Skills, and a variety of Perplexor books. The first Logic Liftoff is very simple but builds the skills for the next levels. Building Thinking Skills, you could probably jump in at level 2, my boys did level 1 in 2-3rd grade. Perplexors are similar to Mind Benders, but you get alot more puzzles for about the same cost. There are about 50 puzzles compared to 15.

I don't know if they are online, but in the Teaching Writing for High School mp3, she gives lists of questions for response papers for history, literature, and science. One suggestion for history was trying to prove that two groups must have known about each other based on similarities seen in the two cultures.

This is the reason that I did the PAC biology and anatomy courses with my dd last year for 9th grade. We did add dissections and microscope labs, also she did a life science class at a coop that reinforced what she was learning at home. But as atozmom said, I would do it in one year, not over two. My dd, even being science hating, could do a lesson in 30 mins or less.

I was able to do a 30 day trail of the program. I was a tester for our enrichment program. I had my dd16 and ds12 try it. We used it online. My dd hated it. It was too busy, too much to be distracted by when she doesn't like math in the first place. She only worked on it one day before saying she wouldn't do anymore. My ds liked it "okay" and he did it for the whole 30 days. It wasn't his favorite way to do math, and the assessments are LONG. He didn't like having to write the assessments on paper, especially when all the daily work was done on the computer in text boxes. My ds was also frustrated that no matter if he made mistakes or needed help, he still got a 100% on all daily work. I didn't like that it only gave the odd answers for the tests, not all answers. And it didn't show the worked out solutions for the test. Not a problem for pre-algebra and most of algebra 1. But I would like step by step solutions for geometry and algebra 2. I am not crazy about computer learning for my children's main work. I feel that it is too easy to "fake" your way through it. With the program giving you 100% for all daily work, you would have to completely fail the tests in order to receive a non-passing grade. Oh, and I used the school online version, about 2 months ago.

I think that he is definitely on the right track. Making the paragraph fuller will come with practice. You can make suggestions, give examples, maybe work on one sentence per assignment. Try to open his eyes to the possibilities. We have tried CW Aesop and Home for Older Beginners. Currently we are working with Write Shop. I was given IEW, but haven't really looked at it yet. CW was great for getting my children to look at synonyms, rearranging the order of words, and saying things differently. Write Shop has been great for getting my dd to see that putting phrases into a sentence adds depth and can change the meaning. My dd has struggled with writing, but finally, in 10th grade, she is finding her voice. Her creative writing, essays, reports... they are all improving. I truly believe that if you give them the tools, like you are doing, and then give them ideas for improvement, that they will get there. The ideas can come from you, or a program if writing is not your thing. I went back and looked at some of my dd's papers from 8th grade, and I can't believe the improvement in her writing in the last 2 years. Patience isn't easy, I know, but if you just keep plugging along, it will come.

We do projects and the kids love them. I think that is the key, if they don't love them don't do them. I have my oldest daughter read the history, note the important facts about it, and then she does "projects". She actually objected to this term because in her mind, a project is this huge thing. But she picks things that interested her, researches them further, she at times does a hands on portion, or she may just write up what she learned, or how it might apply to something else. For example, during Greek and Roman history, mosaics caught her fancy. So she researched ancient and modern ways of making mosaics, their uses, etc. Then she made a small 8x10 mosaic of an eagle. It really cemented the information in her head to include that hands on portion. Next year for American History, her mind is already overflowing with ideas of what she can learn about. For me, this is what learning is about. She is excited and interested. History isn't a drudgery, it has become a favorite part of the day. And on top of that, she is retaining what she is learning. But that is her, as I said at the beginning, if they don't enjoy projects, don't do them.

Does anyone know the copyright date of the original version? Or the 2nd edition? So that I can make sure to get the first.

I would not say my dd enjoyed it, simply because it was science. But I would say that she enjoyed it as well as possible. I just asked her, and she said it was good. She liked that it wasn't written like a textbook, it was more like a summary. And that made it easier to understand for her. Taking the life science course that did use a textbook, in addition to the biology course helped her to understand the textbook better. This last year she moved to just a textbook.

I have used Chalkdust pre algebra for less, but no videos (I had them for Basic Math, Algebra 1 and 2 though). And I have Lials, no videos, for Algebra 1 and 2, but not pre algebra. If you child learns well from videos, I think Chalkdust is great. Unfortunately mine don't. So I stopped using the videos pretty quickly. I do not like the lay out of the Chalkdust Algebra 1-2 books. They were difficult to teach from. The pre algebra book isn't as bad. And we get through it pretty well with me giving brief lessons. I love teaching from the Lials Algebra 1 book though. It is very well laid out and makes teaching very easy. My dd isn't very mathy, so she still needs me to explain the lessons, but I think my son will be able to work through them on his own.

I haven't used the Integrated Physics and Chemistry books, but I have used the Biology and Anatomy and Physiology books. They are light, which we needed. I did add to them. My dd took a life science class at a coop, plus both sets of these books, and experiments in dissection and with microscope work. And I gave her a credit. I disagree heartily that the two sets are worth 1 1/2 to 2 credits if done in a year. My dd struggles with science, reading and comprehension, yet was able to do a lesson in 15-30 mins. We considered using the Integrated Physics and Chemistry books, but we would have called it Physical Science and would have done all 12 books for 1 credit, not 2. But ultimately, my dd wanted to go in a different direction this last year. Just my thoughts.

I used the first K12 book as a jumping off point for my high school dd. We started wtm late and she never learned to outline so I had her read the book, outline, and rewrite outlines. Since it is broken into 4 parts, we did one part per quarter. After she did the reading and outlining, I had her choose areas to explore. She gathered information and then choose some projects to show her learning. Some were just summarizing what she learned, some were opinion essays, some were making things or cooking food and then writing briefly about it. She learned alot and really enjoyed doing history this way. At the end of each section, she also gave a presentation to her brothers about what she learned.

We love the Synonym Finder by Rodale too. We actually have two copies because my two older kids were constantly needing it at the same time. So now they each have one.

I transitioned from Chalkdust pre-algebra to Lial's intro algebra. We didn't have any problems. My dd really prefers the layout and examples in the Lial's book.

We used the physical science course at the beginning of this school year. My dd did not like it and after about 5 weeks, we switched to a different program. I wanted to like it and really did like the idea of researching topics. But, as already stated, the questions were too vague for my dd. I would have to go through and add to the question to guide her where to go. This wasn't terribly difficult to do. I just skimmed the answers given and made some notes on the question sheet. My dd is a bare bones, no extra info, just get it done kind of person when it comes to science. Not her favorite subject. So having to do the extra reading to find the information did not appeal to her. She was convinced there was a "right" answer and that she wasn't finding it. It was very stressful to her. She did like the experiments that we were doing. They were things she could work through on her own. However, I can see this program working for my boys. They love science, and read science encyclopedias and other science books for fun.

I did order these. I emailed before hand and was told just to forward the email confirmation from amazon. It does take a couple of days to get a reply. I actually got the teacher cd before I got the cd from amazon. It was about 2-3 weeks.