Favorites I've used in the past: Favorite Poems Old and New, Lives of the Musicians (Also Artists and Scientists), A Child’s Introduction to Poetry (also Orchestra), Draw the USA (and others), Maps: Getting from Here to There, D'Aulaire's books, You Wouldn't Want to be... books, Renaissance Artists who Inspired the World, Tales for Shakespeare, Usborne Famous Composers Reference Book, Handbook of Nature Study, Trial and Triumph, Childcraft Encyclopedias, The Book of Virtues, plus we usually have a joke book going from the library. Not a book but we love the Simply Charlotte Mason Artists Portfolios and IEW Poetry Memorization. I also have Living Memory on the shelf that I pull memory work from.

We are continuing with much of the same things next year. I'm still undecided on how to tackle science though. Math: Singapore 4A/4B and Beast Academy 4 Spelling: All About Spelling 4 Grammar: Rod & Staff 4 History/Literature/Geography: Tapestry of Grace Year 3 Upper Grammar Science: Undecided, maybe Real Science Odyssey for Earth Science and Astronomy, maybe just let co-op handle it He will be doing interest led science following along with his brother Latin: Continue Latin for Children A We have decided to move to MP First Form Co-op for Gym, Art, Tae Kwon Do, and anything else that strikes his fancy No co-op due to Covid and a new baby on the way. Instead, he will do a homemade chef's course. He has wanted to be a chef for a few years now. Continue piano lessons

We will be continuing what has worked in the past for almost everything except science and a few others. History/Literature/Geography: Tapestry of Grace Year 3 Dialectic -- I am considering using Walking with Wisdom Literature Guides for a unit or two but haven't decided. Reviews appreciated! Math: Singapore Dimensions 7 Writing: Writing with Skill 1 -- He has been using Writing and Rhetoric and will have just finished book 6 but I'm not seeing enough skill development in building paragraphs and transitions. I'm hoping a year of Writing with Skill will help with that. Grammar: Rod & Staff 7 Spelling/Vocabulary: ?? He will be finishing AAS 7. I may drop this as a subject or pick up a latin roots/vocabulary course. Vocabulary from Classical Roots A & B Latin: Latin Alive 1 Switching to MP Forms, we will do a few weeks from First Form and then jump into Second Form Science: Leaning towards Novare Physical Science Letting him do a year of interest led science. He's picked some astronomy topics, rocks, robots, and microbiology Logic: He completed The Art of Argument this year. Not sure where to go next? Fallacy Detective He'll also attend a co-op one day a week with art, gym, maybe creative writing, and other courses just for fun. He wants to drop piano after this year and I suppose I'll let him after 3 years of lessons. No co-op this year due to Covid.

Thanks for all the great ideas! I'll run these by him and look to see what we have locally.

I tried them with my oldest and it was an epic failure. That turned me off for many years but I'm breaking one out again to try with my second son. He loves cutting, pasting, and all that jazz so I think it might be a good fit. We shall see.

This little guy is half way between many of his levels so it's hard to tell where he will be next year but he will be continuing on with most of what he is doing this year. Math: Singapore 3 and Beast Academy 3 Language Arts: FLL 3, AAS 3-4, Probably W&R Fable although I have IEW Intensive A that we might use - We need a break from WWE History/Literature: Tapestry of Grace Year 2 - Upper Grammar Latin: ?? He's finishing Song School 2 this year. I'm not sure he's ready for LFC A so I'm looking for a filler. Any ideas?? Science: We will be ready for an Astronomy and Earth Science year. Probably following WTM recommendations and notebooking with lots of field trips and star gazing. Arts: Home Art Studio and Piano lessons Continue building typing skills, we may start cursive or give his manuscript more time to mature

So much of what we are currently doing is working so we'll be doing much of the same. I'm still working out logic, science and extracurriculars. Math: AOPS Pre-Algebra Language Arts: GWTM Red Book, AAS Level 7, Continue WWS 1 half speed (My son has requested more creative writing. I'm looking into The Creative Writer for him to do half pace with WWS. Opinions welcome!) Latin: Latin for Children C (We may spend some time shoring up on skills from A and B before we move on) Logic: ?? We did Basics of Critical Thinking which was a hit and we'll complete the Blast Off with Logic series this year. Maybe The Art of Argument or Fallacy Detective. Opinions welcome on these. History: Tapestry of Grace Year 2 - Dialectic Level Literature: Pulling half of this from Tapestry to coincide with history and will choose other fiction for the rest of the year. We will probably do some Teaching the Classics with these. Science: ?? We're up for an Astronomy and Earth Science year. Right now, I'm considering RSO for this or following WTM recommendations for logic stage and picking some resources from there. What have you used? Art: Probably continuing Home Art Studio. I'll also be looking for local classes to attend live throughout the year. We will continue building typing skills by typing a paragraph in a Word doc every other day or so. He can't think what to write and type at the some time yet. We will also continue Morning Time but I haven't planned any resources yet. Piano Lessons

What are some outside the box activities or clubs that your middle grade children are doing? I'm looking for something new for my 11 year old boy. Help me brainstorm a list of ideas to investigate in my area. Thanks!!

I'm part of one but we will be in year 2 next year. Heres a link to the year 3 TOG Facebook group. You might have luck posting there or in year 2. https://www.facebook.com/groups/415575488493388/?ref=share

What year plan are you looking for?

When you have a distributor, please let us know. I'm leaning towards purchasing this before trying Writing with Skill. Thanks!!

I bought it for my 5th grader this year, started it, and he felt very unsure so we put it on the shelf to try again next year. I really didn't want him to see writing as a burden and he was just so unsettled and losing confidence that I shelved it for now.

I had mine cut and then had the covers and the teacher pages bound. I hole punched the student pages for their binder.

I've heard of many using these programs together. I intended to at one point but have decided to go a different direction with writing. There are many source texts and other resources for matching IEW with TOG on the TOGLooseThreads yahoo group. Here is a link although I think you have to be a member to access the files. https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/TOGLooseThreads/info

What are you planning to use instead?

Grammar up to this point has been a 5-10 minute lesson so I was surprised by the 45 minute recommendation. Are you using Grammar for the WTM and keeping it at 15 minute lessons?

...how long on average do you spend daily? I'm trying to plan a time budget for next year. The 4th edition recommends 45 minutes for grammar lessons. (I know this is just a recommendation.) Does it take you 45 minutes a lesson for this program? That seems like a lot of time to spend on grammar daily.

I was shopping at our recent homeschool convention and asked about LFC B. They are redoing it and the updated one will be available in May. I was told the videos will be updated with more "fun" content and side stories. The activity books, readers, and clash cards should still work but the primer and answer book will need to be repurchased to go with the videos.

We are continuing with almost everything from first. He is a pretty easy going kiddo and likes everything! Math: Singapore 2B/3A, Beast Academy 2 Writing: WWE 2 Grammar: FLL 2 Spelling: AAS 3 History: Tapestry of Grace Year 1 Ancients Science: Life Science Year probably following WTM recommendations Latin: Song School Latin 2 Art: ?? I would like big brother who is in 5th to do an online drawing class but I'm not sure that will work for my 2nd grader. I might pull Artistic Pursuits off the shelf. I might purchase something online or video based for him. Music: Piano lessons Morning Time as a family but I haven't planned it yet.

First time with a 5th grader here. We are mostly continuing previous wins with a few adjustments. Math: Singapore 5 and Beast Academy 5 Grammar: Trying out Grammar for the Well Trained Mind Spelling: AAS 5 Writing: Following WTM recommendations and writing across the curriculum History/Literature/Geography/Worldview: Tapestry of Grace Year 1 (This is our 2nd time through the cycle.) Science: Life Science year using WTM recommendations - Probably Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia, Animalium, The Way We Work, The Life of Plants Series Latin: Latin for Children B Keyboarding: ?? Logic: CTC's Basics of Critical Thinking Art: Looking for an online drawing class?? Plus Morning Time as a family. I haven't planned this yet but we always include at least memory work, artist study, and a Shakespeare play.

Geography is important to me so I have the maps aids for all 4 years. It saves me a lot of time from hunting down the map that coordinates with that weeks teaching. I have evaluations for 2 of the years in upper grammar as I was playing around with some different outputs for my oldest. I like them but they are not at all necessary. You may have kiddos who don't need that level of output. I've never done the lapbooks from TOG. I have done some lapbooks on my own and matched them up to what we are learning. I found some for free or cheap on pinterest that met our needs. Neither of my boys (who are the only ones doing TOG yet) are lapbook kids so we will see if I get them later for my girls. I also have pop quiz for the first time this year that I bought used and I haven't put it in the cd player yet! :blushing: By the way (you may have already seen this), there are 2 trial downloads for 3 full weeks with all the add ons that you can get for free to explore TOG more fully. It might be worth downloading both trials (so 6 weeks total) and seeing how everything works and what you might want. There is absolutely no harm in just getting the main curriculum and adding as you go and your needs expand.

:iagree: If you are already buying for the 9 year old, I'd bypass Primer too and just do Lower Grammar lite with your 4 year old.

I have used it from the beginning starting in K and still love it now that we are approaching 5th grade. It can be overwhelming at first without a doubt but I used it mainly as an idea book when I first got it. I pulled books from the library that matched the reading list and did some of the activities. Pretty simple. Now that my first kiddo is older, we are using the program more fully. I love the discussions. I am not that well versed in history myself so TOG is great for me in that it has in depth teacher's notes and great discussion outlines. Like the poster above, I don't use the writing component. I do like to pull some of the writing ideas out now and again but I don't use it as a whole. I love the Bible/Church history threads. Most everything we've read in the history threads has been great as has the literature. I love that I can add more when we have more time and scale back in busier weeks and focus just on the reading. And I totally agree that it creates a family culture, everyone learning and discussing the same topics.

I know this is an old thread but any chance you have the name of the seller on Ebay so I can check them out?

Anybody else have some input now that the 4th edition has been out for a bit? What resources did you choose for your spines? How is it working out?