The K12 History Odyssey is one of the most high interest history curriculum that has been very highly recommended on the WTM forums for middle school grades. The text is very readable and the art work in the text is fabulous. There is a separate Teacher's guide with lesson plans and the answers to the student pages. The student pages give the student their classwork as well as writing help for how to write a quality research report for history. I definitely think that it helps prepare students for high school level work. Check it out here: http://www.k12.com/courses/textbooks-products#.UsvssMIo7IU Annette

Ds 14 is having trouble with WWS Week 12 Day 4. This involves organizing your material from several references as well as picking what things you are going to talk about from the diagram. In a confused fog here, please help! How did you get started? Thanks! Annette

:hurray:My WWS arrived via UPS yesterday! I live in NC so shipping from VA isn't too far. These are thick, heavy books -7lbs. I can't wait to start using these after the Holidays! Good-bye PDF's. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2012 :party: Joy and Peace, Annette

Susan and Moderator, I just want to say what an awesome job your executive assistant, Patricia Kirkland, has been doing with catching up with the requests for both the extra weeks for WWS and the ALL. I am thankful for her very thorough efforts to make sure that no one gets missed. My e-mail address had apparently filtered her out initially but she managed to succeed in the end by getting my request to me. This is a truly awesome program. I wish it would have been possible for it to have been published years ago and save me from years of stumbling around and working with products that cost a lot and took up a lot of time. Thanks so much and hope you have a wonderful weekend! Annette

Is it possible to get the Derek Owens Physical Science course used? $172 is quite a bit but I like the look of the course. He teaches it in such an approachable way. Thanks

I still haven't had time to use my demo, but I wanted to mention K12 had indidvual class discounts of 10% through August 29 for those interested.

I just wanted to report that K12 was more than happy to set up a Demo account for me yesterday. Not sure what it'll have in it but I'm glad to have it.

Thanks, Sue for your xpost. Is there History Odyssey components you would add to K12 to strengthen It? Can anyone tell me what type of writing skills K12 develops in their assignments? It seems to me (please correct me if I am mistaken), that History Odyssesy develops outlining, narration and some essay writing. All of which I believe would be usfull in developing/or continuing to develop especially during the logic stage . I do like the oral discussion component of K12. But I think the WTM skills listed above would be really helpful to do as well even if it meant cutting out some of the other activities from the K12 curriculum. Would anyone be willing to share what K12 activities they might consider non-essential or expendable?

Thank-you for everyones' thoughtful answers. I'm amazed by how well other people can summarize opinions and list pros and cons. They are truly helpful. I am really impressed by both the K12 and the HO programs. I will most likely start with the K12 and use that with the sample HO pages to start as I really want to do the outlining, mapwork and notebook. (My poor 13 (soon to be 14) yo son). To make matters worse, I really like the Literature selections as well as the literary helps from The Classical House of Learning http://www.classicalhouseoflearning.com/logic.htm#Middle_Ages These literature selections look awesome. I love how it can tie in with the K12 approach of starting with the 4(?) major river valley cilizations and then progressing into the major religions. There is just too many awesome choices out there. But my main goal is to use great materials and let them inspire my son.

I am trying to decide between these 2 programs, but I can't really get a good feel for the difference between them. I can't see samples of the student and teacher pages for the K12 program. I want to combine History, Literature (including beginning literary analysis) and writing. I liked the mapwork in The Story of the World AG as well as the outlining , narration, and comprehension questions that made my job as a teacher much easier. Can anyone give me an idea of what the K12 program using the TG and Student pages would be like? Also, does the online component of K12 really add a lot to the curriculum to be worth the extra $30/month? I just don't know what to do.:confused:

Thanks, ladies, for all your help!

Which edition of Foerster's Algebra 1 is everyone getting or does it matter?

Has anyone had experience using the K12 Grade 8 Literary Analysis ? I'm actually considering using it because so much is covered. I was considering Rod and Staff Grammar, IEW Writing, and mish-mash literature. My biggest challenge is tying it all together in a reasonable schedule. Please comment if you'd like. Annette

Does anyone have a website that would let me look at samples of the Foerster's Algebra 1 or any other of his maths. I can't seem to find any samples. Also, is a teacher's edition necessary to teach the course? Thank-you, Annette

Sorry, I left out the time period. Level 2 Middle Ages

Does anyone have a schedule for History Odyssey Level 2 Middle Ages that uses the Oxford University Press readings instead of Loon's The Story of Mankind? Would you still need to use the Kingfisher History Encylopedia? Thank-you, Annette

Does anyone have a link that lets you look at Foerster's Algebra 1? Also, how helpful would a teacher's manual be?

Dawn, That's probably what we might should have done. It's just hard not to finish a problem set. Maybe we should have used the WB for more practice on the basic material and let go of the rest.

Thank's for the suggestion about Foerster's. I forgot to mention that I don't like the spiral approach of Saxon or an online course like Kinetic (which I had already purchased). Also, Jacob's and MUS are not considerations. I would have stuck with the DM if it hadn't gotten into more advanced topics at each problem set. Maybe I should have stopped sooner into the problem set but I wasn't sure how far to make him go and still consider it Pre-Algebra. We really loved the Singapore Math mainly because of how it develops mathematical thinking.

Hello, I'm needing some more math programs to check out. Last year, we started with Discovering Mathematics 1 (Singapore Math type program.) We had to switch because of how much more in depth the program was than most Pre-Algebra programs. We switched to Lial's Pre-Algebra which he sped through quickly and found annoying because of all the explanations. Can anyone recommend a program that might be in between? I'm looking forward to hearing what others might have to suggest. Thank-you, Annette

What does NCCS stand for? It sounds like a good course. I'd like something lanned out for me.

Thank-you, Matroyshka. I was actually wondering how challenging the DM was. It seemed like the algebra was getting very involved in the problem solving and the geometry was also, with what almost looked like proofs. It was easy for me since I've had math up through differentials in college, but it is causing daily meltdowns for my son which I don't feel is healthy. Much as I hate the thought of giving up on the DM (I loved the Singapore Primary Math), I probably should switch. I do have the Lial's Pre-Algebra and BCM (I agree with you on the BCM). One of the things that my son likes about the DM program is DM's simple, clean presentation. The Lial's is much busier in its presentation. I'm also not sure where to start him in the Lial's. Any suggestions? My other thought was Saxon 1/2. Do you have any thoughts with the Saxon? Thank you so much for taking the time to help me, Annette

Hello, I am having a hard time trying to figure out what to do. My son is doing the singapore Math series Discovering Mathematics 1A and struggles with having to put all the parts together to do the pre-algebra parts, i.e. Units 5 and 6. We skipped Unit 6 and did Unit 7 and got stuck in Unit 8 when you had to be able to solve algebraic equations to find the solutions for the geometry problems. When we went back to Unit 6, but he still struggles. He can do the simplier ones and the individual skills but has trouble as the problems get longer and there are more skills needed to solve the equation. (By skills, I mean simplifying equations by combining terms, multiplying by LCMs to get rid of your demoninator, expanding the equation, and on top of that just the simple algebraic manipulations of figuring out what to do to both sides of the equation). I am questioning if this is the right program for him since the problems can get somewhat challenging. He would be considered an average seventh grader. Part of the problem is his lack of being able to organize the problem into steps, but he is improving on that with more experience. What bothers me is his frustration level is so high. I don't know if I should switch programs or try to review more as we go along. Could anyone weigh in with their thoughts? Thank-you, Annette

Laura, R&S 5 is more thorough than JAG. The JAG is basically grammar definitions and then diagramming. The R&S cover the parts of speech in more detail. Look at the TOC for R&S 5 and you'll see what I mean. (I forget the TOC for the JAG) Also, the R&S does have a review at the end of each chapter.The JAG does not. The R&S has 119 lessons, JAG has 11 Units. My son got tired of just diagramming all the time in the JAG. The R&S worked better for us. On the positive side, the JAG can be a 11 week program. HTH, Annette

I am very grateful to all for taking the time to weigh in on this topic. You have really given me a lot to think about. I'm not sure if I'll start with E5 or E6, but I definitely won't start with E7. I'll just have to drive the 25 miles to our local homeschool curriculum store and take a good look. Thanks again! Annette