We like Pentime then New American Cursive.

One of my kid's is in second grade and the books I planned for her to read aloud got too "easy" much faster than I had anticipated. So I will be saving those for her to read on her own free time reading. I need suggestions for quality books for her to read aloud to me. I'd like for them to be a little challenging to work on her fluency, pronunciation, and vocabulary. She's currently able to read books along the lines of Fantastic Mr. Fox, Nim's Island, etc. Any suggestions for age appropriate, quality books? Also. She loves to read on her own time comics and graphic novels, so any ideas for those types of books would be great as well. She's really into Teen Titans Go, Tiny Titans, Batman '66, etc.

I'm glad you found the schedule! I hope it helps.

We use Singapore and really like it (standards Ed.). I find it very open and go. Every lesson is spelled out for you. How to explain the concept, which problems to go over in the textbook, which pages to do in the workbook, games, etc. I don't find that I ever really need to "prepare" I just open skim over the lesson, get whatever manipulatives I may need, and begin. If it's a longer presentation I just keep the hig open and read each small portion present it, and keep doing that till the presentation part is over. I find it very open and go and user friendly. It even has which lessons should be competed which weeks, etc.

A bear called paddington A house in pooh corner Mr. Popper's penguins The secret garden Those were some 1st grade favorites.

She may like the Dragon Masters series. They are a second grade reading level.

There are a lot of great Dr. Seuss books that make great early readers.

We love OPGTR. Tried other programs, but love that one the best. It's open and go the lessons are quick. Every once in a while there is a game thrown in that my kids thinks are fun. It's cheap and reusable for all your kids.

I've been using it and have not found it too advanced so far vol 1-2 with my younger elem aged kids. They really like it. The assignments at the end for the younger students are fun and engaging for them and age appropriate. We do it about three days a week and it takes about 30 mins for the lesson. We only add picture books once in a while.

We like mystery of history and it has all your needs.

Tiny Titans Treehouse they do not make the comic books anymore but there are many graphic novels, phonics comics book series, DC super pets. The batman '66 are normally kid friendly. There are also beginner chapter books of superman that my daughter loves to read. She's very much into anything that's a comic book, super hero, graphic novel, etc.

I was very close to getting MiF, but ultimately went with Sinngaore PM standards. I really love the hig. It give you great hands on ways to introduce each lesson there are lots of game ideas that my kids love. It has been a great program for us overall.

I'd prefer to just use one program and use our extra time for other fun supplements instead of another full program. Just my personal preference.

We have really been enjoying mystery of history and leading little ones to God.

I'm still stuck as to which would be a better fit. I guess I should just pick one. She really loves the concrete presentation PM offers and the game ideas, but I know she would love the format of BA and the challenge. She gets bored and starts to complain and get distracted with the easier problems of PM, but on the challenging problems her focus is much better and she doesn't whine about them.

Thanks for the input. It's been very helpful.

For those who have switched to BA from Sinngaoore PM did you find your dc missed/needed that hands on aspect of being introduced a topic the way PM introcudes concepts and practices them before going on to pictorial and then independent study practice?

I was wanting the same thing and finally decided just to go with Mystery of History and have been happy with it. Plenty of activities for younger students and I like the assignments for the middle grade students as well. There are also reading lists for the different ages and movie ideas, etc.

That's true we could definitely cover most of something during the summer! She loves science and is always reading science books on her own. Thanks!

I started the classical science rotation a "year off" with one of my kid's. Now, my question is should I skip one of the science topics now in elementary or should I skip one during the middle years instead?? Not sure what to do any advice?

I'd recommend looking into REAL Science Odyssey curriculum. It's very hands on and easy to add lots of living books. It has a great list book suggestions.

This is also the last I heard about it. I hope this is still the case because if it's not I'll have to figure out which version to switch to.

Reading Lessons Through Literature or Writing Road to Reading sounds right up your alley!

I also like New American Cursive, but if it would cost too much then you may want to look into Pentime.

Most people use both because FLL is a grammar program and WWE is a writing program. There is no where near enough writing instruction in FLL to be considered both a writing and grammar program.