My son is 10 and we're just wrapping up chapter 3 in Jacobs. I think it's a good choice for my son. So far, it's been a good review of Pre-A with the exception of the functions/graphing.

Thank you so much! Such great information in here. My ds will eat up non-fiction and historical books as well, so perhaps I should delve more into that type of thing.

Finishing up our first year homeschooling and feeling good about some things and questioning others! Looking forward to next year, here's what I'm looking at: World History (Notgrass) continue Algebra I (Jacobs) continue World Geography (Geo Matters) Easy Grammar First Form Latin We are ending spelling, and I'm still working out the science part. This year I've done both Apologia and Elemental Science and neither are winners in my house! We're looking for something else. My question is more toward Writing and Literature. I have a huge list of writing curriculum that I'm trying to figure out. Notgrass history has a literature aspect that goes along with it--we used it this year for America the Beautiful--but is it enough? We tried Total Language Plus and Veritas Press literature "analysis" workbooks and neither of those was a winner. DS is a huge reader. Reads anything all the time--non-fiction, novels, etc. Do I need to add a separate literature aspect? And if so, where do I start? Thanks!

Thanks, Wildiris... He hates writing because he doesn't want to physically write anything and/or take the time/spend the time to get his thoughts down. He knows the process--he's been taught the process--but I can't gage what all he knows since this is our first year homeschooling. I know he did all those graphic organizers, some writing, letters, etc in private school, but I don't know how much they covered as far as topic sentence, supporting sentences, etc. Knowing that, do you have different suggestions? :)

I like the looks of this one but some of the reviews concerned me--topics involving abortions and gay marriage? Can you tell me any more about this and/or give me your thoughts? Apparently this is done by Apologia?

Thank you! That helps tremendously and I love seeing the product from start to fininsh.

I read this thread a few months ago and it just simply overwhelmed me! I was a pretty decent writer back in the day and have a background in middle grades education (LA and SS) but I don't feel smart enough to understand half of what Ruth said in that post!

Thanks...going to look at this, too. :)

Thanks. Checking it out....looks NOT overwhelming! :)

I'm completely overwhelmed with trying to find a writing curriculum for next year (6th grade). I have one kiddo (boy) who is in the gifted range and loves math, science and history as well as reading. LOVES reading but heaven forbid you ask him to write anything. I spent this year having him write in a journal a few times a week and occasionally longer writing for history or science. (By longer I mean a paragraph!) We're also doing Veritas Press and/or Total Language Plus literary studies where there is a little writing involved. He hates it. I have to get the boy writing but I don't know where to start. The acronyms overwhelm me, the programs confuse me. I need help! What program will work best for a very reluctant writer who has never done a formal writing program. (He was in private school until 4th grade, so he does have some writing experience from there but nothing as a homeschooler.) Thanks.

Try Bookbyte, too.

We really struggled with the first few lessons because it didn't seem like math. And there were a few problems that he and I just couldn't wrap our brains around. Chapters 2-5 were mostly what I remember from pre-A. We finished the book but I learned that this type of book wasn't a good fit for my ds!

Us, too. I just sold my copy and have quite a few corrections marked in the teacher's edition.

My son is very interested in marine biology--dolphins and manatees in particular. I found a couple of things I'm going to look into more. http://www.homeschoolmovieclub.com/dolphin-tale-2?url=/dolphintale_files/videos/Lesson%201_v1.mp4 Goes with Dolphin Tale 2 www.forsea.org The Marine Biology coloring books like you mentioned above. And these books: a. The Living Sea by Jacques Cousteau b. Dolphin Confidential by Maddalena Bearzi c. Seaside naturalist

I just posted this same thing the other day in regards to my 5th grader. They agreed with these posters! We're voracious readers and doing Latin, so we're dropping spelling after this year!

Thank you! I really appreciate your thoughts!

Done and done. DS will be so happy!

Thanks, Ordinary. I really appreciate your thoughts on this. I picked up the General Science book recently at our local homeschool store to browse; it's so big that it scared me! Maybe I should revisit it though... another friend recommended the same thing (moving into the high school level books) and I just wasn't convinced. Thanks for the good feedback on this. More to ponder...

I so had to laugh at this! My son definitely knows more about space and astronomy than either of the books we're currently using, but he has enjoyed the labs. I'm looking to do at least half a year in Marine Biology next year and not sure what we'll do after that. I had considered the Noeo biology for next year, but now I'm second guessing that based on your comments. I assume the Physics III is aimed more at the high school level?

Thank you all so much! It sounds like I can safely drop spelling then. :) I had planned to do Word Roots or English from Roots Up BUT he's breezing nicely through Latina Christiana so maybe that's redundant to do those other workbooks, too. He's also a voracious reader and we do books along with our history program (Notgrass) and using the Progeny Press/Veritas Press, etc book study guides that have vocabulary built in. Maybe I just dump spelling AND the idea of vocabulary? Is that crazy?

Yes...we were using the younger series and not enough meat. DS is so turned off by Apologia that I don't know if we'll revisit it although we did recently see the Chemistry & Physics book which definitely looked more advanced!

First year homeschooling but ds is very strong in spelling; he's doing Spelling Workout Level F this year breezing through it. He never needs to study or do more than just the few workbook pages to have a firm grasp on the few words that might have been slightly tricky. On top of that, he simply hates it! I'm thinking about dropping it for 6th grade and just going with a vocabulary program--Wordly Wise or maybe Latin/Greek Roots. Thoughts?

Awesome! Thank you!

Neither does the Teacher Manual. Wonder what the purpose is for the Solution Manual

Awesome! Thank you so much!