He is in 5th grade and loves to read. I prefer literature based curriculum. We tried a textbook approach first semester, but we aren't liking it. His favorite books are the Percy Jackson series and the Heroes of Olympus series. I have thought about Greek History from TQ to go with what he currently loves reading about. I've also considered MFW Creation to the Greeks. I have a high schooler that I'm thinking of changing too. He is currently in a literature class that is working well. So, I only need history for him. TQ combines them well. But MFW, they could be in the same time period too. I could pull him out of the lit class if MFW high school is worth it. Any recommendations?

I have always used MFW or Sonlight for history and lit. I decided to try a textbook this year, and we went with Uncle Sam and You by Notgrass. I'm not liking it. It seems like too many dates, names, and facts and not enough "stories" like we are used to. My child doesn't seem to remember anything we read, and he is usually great with comprehension. He keeps saying that it doesn't make sense. Does anyone have an opinion on this curriculum? I'm considering changing, but I'm wondering if we just need longer to adjust.

We started three weeks ago. I'm so burned out this year. I dread every day. This is the first year (10th year of homeschooling) that I didn't start out excited. I thought being in a co-op would help, but that may actually be worse (other than the fact that I get a morning off. Lol). I'm living for the weekends. Lol

Thanks soooo much for the ideas!!!

Thanks so much ladies! The writing scares me most. My son is a very gifted writer. So much so, that I bet he will go that route for a career. I feel like he really needs to be challenged in that area. When he writes for a co-op teacher, he writes great papers. When he writes for me, it looks like a second grader wrote it. However, everything is grammatically correct, and he gets everything in that is minimally required. He just does the least possible. I'm sure he will enjoy the books, as he loved ancient history a few years ago, and he is an avid reader. I guess my concerns are the curriculum helping them to be prepared for college and enough guidance for me to be able to do a good job teaching him. I've been confident through middle school (except with writing which we have done with a co-op the past 6 years). Highschool scares me! The writing class at the co-op does not go along with this time period.

Yes, he did participate. We are considering AHL for him next year. I'm hoping people will share their opinions of MFW's curriculum for highschool. :-)

We used MFW ECC last year and really liked it. I'm considering buying it for my ninth grader. Any opinions would be appreciated.

Is 9th grade too young?

Is that a good idea or not?

Thanks, Cbollin! Great ideas!

Thanks so much for the ideas! We are using ECC this year. This is our first year with MFW. I'm going to try some different things next week. All of the reading aloud is finished for this week. PTL. Thanks so much for the help. I love to get ideas from others!

They are usually doing something while I read. I've wondered if that was the problem - thinking about what they are doing. Even when I read something super interesting, they neither one know what I said. They will catch a fact or two out of the whole subject reading. It is like they listen to less that a tenth of what I read. Of course, I have a toddler making noises and constantly trying to interrupt us. It is like disaster in the making here.

They have no idea what I read to them every time I read. If they aren't tested in some way, they just don't listen. (They are boys age 13 and 10.). Any ideas of what I could do? I decided today to just have them read silently and write me a paragraph of what get learned. 13 yo is fine with that. 10 yo is not a writer. He takes forever to decide things like whether to use that or which in a sentence. An assignment like summarize the page could take all day. I'm seriously burnt out and can't come up with any ideas. Anything come to mind?

He got a VTech monkey that you dress. It will tell you what color item to put on him, and it recognizes what you put on him. It is so cute! It will say, "I'm cold. Please help me put on my red coat." He will snuggle the monkey next to him and tell the monkey, "I warm." He also loves helping the monkey dress. He just turned two. Also, he loves his brothers' remote control truck and helicopter. He has played more with the truck than the brother that received the gift. It was a $10 Black Friday purchase from Walmart.

I did find it on facebook. Thanks though!