lol, I was thinking the same. It needs to be rigorous...yet gentle...he's 5! Miquon is perfect. I had another look at MEP and will give that a try for now. It's free, so why not. He's not ready yet for BA and I only started the Professor on it when he finished SM3a.

Ok ladies, thank you! I'm overthinking this maybe a bit too much. Will just start with SOTW 1 for now :p I'd love a STOW 4 for littles. Great idea Farrar!

My Ds5 (almost 6) is using Saxon 2 (Yes we love math!), and is flying through it. He really likes it, but it isn't challenging at all. He's also using Miquon but will finish it sometime this year. I'm looking for where to go after he finished these both. I really don't want to continue with Saxon. I hated teaching it, and I actually quit using the Teacher's Guide all together. He doesn't like SM, it's not his way of thinking.I was looking at Horizons, but I'm not sure. We need something gentle, yet rigorous, with plenty practice. Any suggestions?

How about Miquon? I love that it's gentle, perfect for that age.

We did 3a alongside BA 3a. I'm using 3b together with BA 3b and 3c.

Just popping back in again to ask another question. So if I start the cycle now together, what will happen when my 3 year old will join in? He'll be joining us when in STOW 3 or 4, which isn't that great for littles ones. Has anyone done STOW 4 with a 6 year old? My first plan was to start them all in their own place in the cycle. They can read on their own, and I could guide them with the activities. Just wondering. I'm planning on doing science grade 1-4 together and then move eldest to independent science in grade 5. BTW the science cycle as mentioned in WTM doesn't seem to match any high school sequence, or am I missing something?

Don't worry about it Lori D. You shared some great thoughts and ideas. Thank you!

Wow! That's clear: together it is! We'll be doing STOW 1 with science units from each of the 4 years of the cycle.

I want to start doing the WTM 4 year Cycle and am wondering if I should place my children together in the cycle or not. Ds1 will be 8 and Ds2 will be 6 by the time we'll start. Ds1 has studies the Middle Ages and Astronomy and Biology so it kind of makes sense to place him in SOTW 3 and Chemistry. But Ds1 hasn't done any of these and I feel he should start with Biology. What are your thoughts? I'd love to hear from both people that have taught the children together in both history and science, and seperate. Thanks!

I ordered some of the books and have used the spunky books. They are very, very, very behind other math curricula. Especially the Study Time books. They might look good at first glance, but really... do you want to start reviewing 1+1 every single year again? Really!? I did use the Spunky books because I had a very young child interested in math. But I wouldn't use these with a child on grade level. ETA: We love Strayer uopton. It's simple, basic, but very thorough.

Spending less money ;) My goodness that boy costs a lot! I want to use more of the resources we've got, this coming year. I have most AO books for his level, and also loads of books on the Kindle. I really want to focus on Beast Academy and let him do SM on his own pace. The last few months I've been letting him chose the subjects we study and it has worked really well. We'll continue with that, but I'll just be making sure we're covering both history and science ;) not JUST science.

Have you tried any of the other guides? I didn't like the younger guides either, and thought I might like the older ones. When I finally got to try it, Preparing Hearts lasted 2 weeks in our house, it was too easy.

I love Miquon! You could just get he Lab Annotations and teach each topic introduction and start using the workbooks for Grade 1. That's what I'm planning.

I was thinking of maybe a science topic each month. I'd love to have a list of topics that needs to be covered from k-8. For example: land formations, scientific mehod etc, I'm just scared I'll forget to cover something. I know about the WTM science cycle, but I can't imagine studying Chemistry one year straight, at this age. I'm still thinking of a 4 year cycle, but the topics more mixed up.

We really don't want to try another science curriculum. I've got plenty books on all kinds of subjects, I've got books with experiments and dvds. I just need a plan. :) I just want to cover science one topic at the time. Anyone got a list of topics to cover, or a plan they'd like to share? I could make one myself, but finding the time is my problem.