Itch was really good. My kids were 8 and 11 when we read it. The 8yo liked it, but the 11yo went on to read the sequel on his own. He loved it! We were doing chemistry earlier this year and I found a few other books, but after I previewed, they were too old for my kids. Napoleon's Buttons or something like that, and I can't remember the other book. For earth science, I'll be following this thread because we'll be doing that next year. Maybe Along Came Galileo?? Starry Messenger I *think* is a board book, but may be good. I haven't looked at it. Also, I know Guesthollow has a "weather" unit. She covers volcanos, magnetic poles, oceans, etc., so you could browse her site to see if she has something that would interest them.

I've heard good things about Pandia Press for that age. I think it's called Real Science Odyssey.

Thanks! I forgot about Ben and Me!

I should add that my usual "go to" source for books is the sonlight list, so I've looked there. There are just so many!! So, I'm trying to figure out which ones are the best for that time period.

Next year, I'll be doing SOTW 3 (Early Modern) with my 4th and 7th graders. What were your favorite "don't miss" books for this time period? Any level is good b/c I will do some as read alouds and then assign some to each as readers. They are both boys if that makes a difference in your suggestions! Thanks!

hmmm...mixed reviews! LOL! I wonder if there is a better quality option out there...of course, that price tag would likely be even higher! Thank you for relaying your experiences.

I'm looking for something to mix up science for the kids a bit. Are these kits worth the money? I was thinking about something like "Eco-Battery Vehicles" or anything else the kids can mess around with and learn something from. I'd love to hear some feedback if you've used these kits before. Here's the link to the one I mentioned above: http://www.hometrainingtools.com/eco-battery-vehicles

I think I'm in denial that my "baby" is going to be in 4th grade!!! It just cannot be! I've been wishy-washy about planning for this, but this is what I *think* will happen next year: Math: CLE 400 Grammar: R&S 4 Spelling: Building Spelling Skills Spelling Workout E Writing: ??? He's doing WWE 3 now. I don't want to do WWE4, so considered W&R, but don't think that's a good fit. ??? Thinking EIW4 now...we'll see! Handwriting: A Reason for Handwriting History: SOTW 3 with American History thrown in (Guesthollow's schedule will be my guide) Reading: Mostly Sonlight readers from core D and some WTM suggestions WTM reading Latin: Not sure (doing LC1 now, but I don't know if he's ready for FFL, which is the current rec) FFL Science: ??????????? Elemental Science Earth Science/Astronomy Grammar Stage PE: Plays soccer, tennis, baseball seasonally Music: IDK...he wants to take guitar lessons, but I need to find someone Art: ???? SOTW activity guide things....??? Artistic Pursuits

My son's co-op is also "fun/supplemental" and they are doing Mystery Book Club this semester. They read The Westing Game and they're about to start Sherlock Holmes. They discuss the book, but also add in fun detective-types of activities. Forensic Science is offered and a babysitting class and 5K training. Backyard Ballistics was done last semester and that sounded like a fun class.

I'm sure this isn't set in stone, but right now, I think the plan is: Grammar: Rod & Staff 6 Writing: WWS 2 combined with Sentence Composing from Kilgallon History: SOTW 3 with several Sonlight readers and adding in History of US (following Guesthollow's schedule) Science: No idea, but thinking about Holt Earth Science Latin: Second Form Latin Literature: Sonlight readers mentioned above and some WTM suggestions Math: if the rest of the year goes well, Algebra II Saxon. If he needs to slow down, well, we'll see. Geography: I want to cover world geography, but I can't seem to fit it in anywhere, so I'm thinking of adding BYL 7th grade geography and spreading it over his last 2 years of middle school. Still trying to decide, so we'll see. I thought I had edited this before, but since I've changed practically everything, I'll just repost when I finally get it all figured out. I'm enjoying a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th read of TWTM and aligning heavily with that. :)

Nevermind...I'll come back...

I feel very much the same way about MOH. I know people love it, but it is just not working for us. For my kids (12, 8), the lessons are just too long for the 8yo. (we are doing vol 2) The 12yo does fine with it, but I have him to it independently now and I just read aloud to the 8yo. This way, I can pull out more important parts and skip things as needed. I also stopped the quizzes and tests because it was just too much. This is what I'm doing for the 2nd half of this year: I'm using Guesthollow's History Bookshelf. I went through the rest of our MOH vol and picked out the main things I wanted to cover and looked over the guesthollow list for additional resources (movies, literature, etc.) I made a big list for the rest of the year and I check things off as we go. I feel much less stressed about finishing each "week" in the volume and the we are enjoying the lessons we are completing. Now, my kids don't like hands on stuff, so I can't advise you on that. I definitely preferred SOTW more, though!

My 6th grader is doing WWS1 this year. The work is scheduled for 4 days/week and the weeks have a rhythm to them that changes a bit as the course moves forward, so the time per day changes. For the first few weeks, day one would be a narration, day 2 an outline, day 3 learning the topos (usually they read a lesson and examples and copy a chart for their notebook), and day 4 is practicing the topos which includes a longer writing session (200-300 words or so). The "heaviest" day is day 4 and I let my kiddo spread that over 2 days using Thursday for a rough draft and Friday for revisions/final draft. The time it takes to do those things would vary by child. My son has not done any WWE in the past (this is only our 2nd year homeschooling, so his 2nd year with any writing instruction at all) and he is doing ok with the pace. We are not at full speed since we slow down and work on the day 4 assignments longer if we need to do so, but we are not moving as slow as half speed. (We are in week 22 of our school year and he's on week 19 in WWS).

This is really helpful. I have a 6th grader and I'm constantly worried about the looming HS! It's nice to put middle school in perspective this way, so I can prioritize our time. Thank you!

Have you used this? I just came across it. It looks like a lot of work, but I like how everything is planned out. I'm wondering if it might be too much for my 7th grader, though! Just wondering what your experience was if you have used it. Thanks!

Thank you for your response. It is very helpful. It sounds like even if I do the grammar book that I'll need additional grammar instruction, and I would really love to streamline where I can. I like the idea of just using the Sentence Composing as a supplement to their current writing. Older DS is doing "fine" in WWS, but I would like his writing to be more interesting and it sounds like this may help in that area. The Grammar Made Easy link didn't work for me. I searched the website and didn't see it either. ??Maybe they are not selling it anymore? Again, thank you for your input.

Anyone?

I've heard Kilgallon mentioned on these boards before, but never really looked into the books. I noticed on TWTM Academy courses that they use Sentence Composing and Paragraph Composing for middle school in their introductory writing class. Sooo....I gave it a look, but I'm a bit confused. I see books on Grammar for Middle School and also Sentence Composing and Paragraph Composing. When I looked at the samples, they are VERY similar. Same type of thing for the elementary level books. Do you use both? or continue the usual grammar you use, but use Kilgallon for writing? Right now, I have 3rd and 6th grade boys doing WWE3 and WWS1. They are both using R&S English for grammar only. I want to take a break from the writing programs next year and try something different. I was thinking of using Sentence Composing at their levels, but now, I'm confused about the grammar...is that helpful or overkill if you use both. I'd love to hear your experiences. Thanks!

I'm following this to see what all of you are doing, but I'm trying REALLY hard to focus on the "now" and not worry about planning yet! I've been looking at options, but I don't want to make any final decisions yet. :)

Yes, they are impossible to find!! You have to click on the bookstore and then on the notebooking pages. Under the picture, it will say "preview." Took me forever to figure that out!

For those who are already using Quark, do you also use Ellen McHenry's Botany as suggested in the reading? or do you use one of the other options?

My kids LOVED Itch!! My oldest read the sequel, too. Awesome!

When we first started homeschooling, we used the placement test from Saxon. My son blew through the 8/7 section, but started struggling in the Algebra 1/2, so he started in that book. To me, knowing the way the placement test is set up, I would think that those books are not the same. That being said, I don't know what advice to give someone who has been using Saxon up to this point. We came into at that level, so no experience prior.

Does Quark have samples of their notebooking pages anywhere? Maybe I'm crazy, but I thought I read that notebooking pages came with it, but I didn't see them in the samples. Honestly, I'm a little unclear how the book works. With Sassafras, we read the chapter and the additional reading that was suggested. The IG told me which experiments, notebook pages, dictation, etc. to do each day. I don't see that in the samples for Quark, so I'm a little nervous about it...I'm not good making things up on my own!

Interested to hear responses, too. I've used Sassafrass, but only the 1st book (Zoology).