We started off with doing Singapore for a few years and then tried every math program under the sun, pretty much, before setting on Saxon (which I LOVE!!). BA is too young for your kid. Honestly I would just stick with Saxon but move through it faster if she’s not finding it challenging enough. My gifted DS is very mathy and he hated Singapore style math. Just cause it’s popular with Gifted students doesn’t mean it’s a good fit for all of them. You could look into CLE math... it’s similar to Saxon but I find about 1.5 - 2 years more advanced. I love Saxon though. It’s the closest thing I’ve found to my ideal math program.

Both kids together: -study art history up through Renaissance before trip to Europe this summer using Hillyer’s Child’s History of Art as a spine. -increase activity level, considering Couch to 5K running program and some at home exercise videos for kids... -hands on grammar, and both start Latin and restart German Grade 7 kid: -keep doing what he’s doing. Work on neater handwriting and cursive. It’s too bad he doesn’t want to be a doctor when he grows up cause his handwriting looks just like one. 🤪😜 -more focused vocabulary work -do a lot more memory work, especially Scripture and poetry -finish writing science fiction novel and self publish it -start Leitner memory box system (or something similar) for science Grade 4 kid: -more memorywork -more handiwork and art, maybe get into knitting or embroidery or something -this kid has a natural knack for biology so something along her passions for snakes and horses. Interesting combination, I know.

My favourite for that age is Montessori math. It would not be “open and go” though, there is some learning involved in how to use the material. The material can also be pricey (but then again, so is buying dozens of different math curricula and manipulatives that aren’t a good fit... don’t ask me how I know) We’ve tried Singapore Math, Math in Focus, CLE math, RedBird by Stanford U math online, Life of Fred, Miquon Math, Math Mammoth, Critical Thinking Math, DK math workbooks... The “perfect” math sequence that works the best for us is Montessori math in the early years, transitioning to Saxon Math somewhere between grade 2-4. My daughter is in grade 4 and she is thriving with Montessori math. My son is in grade 7 and we had been doing CLE math for a few years before switching to Saxon. CLE is great also and very similar to Saxon but I like the way Saxon is organized better. Also CLE is a bit too advanced for the grade level, I think it has something to do with the fact they are written by a Mennonite community and they try to squish in math in less years to finish earlier. My son went from CLE early grade 5 straight to Saxon about halfway through grade 7 level, so CLE is about 2 years ahead. Singapore Math was not a good fit for my kid but lots of Gifted kids seem to like that approach. While my son can do math that way, he prefers not to. The sequential method of Saxon is far better, and will take him straight through HS to college. I also appreciate that it’s written to the student so he can do it on his own without my help. Saxon has a proven track record and I feel confident it will prepare my son for the STEM fields he is interested in pursuing in college.

Major overkill to do everything in the workbooks and teachers guide... the stories are great though. I should have listened to everybody when they said you only need the textbook, it’s true! The little intro pages to each story in the textbook are plenty enough. We are focusing on full books in our curriculum right now and not doing Mosdos, just because our time is better spent doing other things right now. That said, the stories in Mosdos have spurred some of the best conversations we’ve ever had. That says something. If our schedule wasn’t so packed I’d consider adding the stories back in. Makes for awesome couch schooling. 🙂

I haven’t heard of these. I have the Great Books set from Brittanica which Mortimer Adler was involved with, and I find them to be a super handy resource. Managed to get almost a complete set at a used book sale for a steep discount. They are the full volumes of original works, I imagine the two sets would work well together so now I’m interested in the set you mention also.

We switched to AO this year. I'm thoroughly impressed with it! Some background info... I have a grade 7 kid and a grade 4 kid and we've been homeschooling from the beginning. I've been drawn to CM methods for years but didn't go all in until after reading a bunch of CM books over the past summer. Prior to this I've done some WTM, and some piecing together my own mostly literature based curricula (so not all that different from AO, but less organized). Most of the AO books are available online for free so that helps. They are also very high quality. There have been a few that I've decided to skip, but for the most part they have surpassed by expectations. I found a link where someone has organized and reformatted most of the AO books as free Ebooks (the ones that are not copyrighted), and they are GORGEOUS! Even though I prefer hardcopy books, this helps with me being able to pre-read the books ahead of time to see which ones we want to use. I'm a major researcher... I've been pre-reading all the AO books over multiple levels. While I may have to do a few substitutions here and there, (probably for science, as both my kids are very set already on heading towards science related careers some day so I prefer using a traditional science curriculum), as a whole I think it goes above and beyond any other curriculum - and I've tried a LOT of different curricula over the last 8 years of homeschooling! The reading level is definitely advanced. I don't look at the levels as grade levels. My grade 7 kid is a very advanced reader and I have him doing mostly level 6 AO books this year. I would just put the child in whatever level fits them the best. I know they say you can jump in at any time without backtracking and doing the books you missed, but there are so many treasures in the years we missed that I've been working on a catch up plan to include a lot of them. So far it's going well and it's been worth it. As far as price goes, I haven't had to spend very much this year. I think on books I've probably spent a couple hundred dollars. Maybe $300? I'll probably make another big order this year yet, but the cost hasn't been bad. Though I'm really wanting to get "A Child's Geography" by Hillyer and that was is $$$. It's not one of the necessary books though, they have alternatives which are available for free. My grade 7 kid does Saxon for math and my grade 4 kid does Montessori math. We use CPO Science for middle school science. For questions about CM style writing and whether it's "enough", I *highly* recommend the book "Know and Tell: The Art of Narration" by Karen Glass.

We are in our 8th year of homeschooling and we switched to Charlotte Mason style education this past year. I love it soooo much!!!! We always incorporated a few of the things, but this is the first year we went all in. Such a huge difference in our year. Don't be worried about the writing aspect. We always did very little writing and focused more on reading. My 12 yr old can read at a college level and he is starting to write well too. He is currently writing a science fiction novel and I'm amazed at the originality and grammar he has picked up just from reading and narrating. I also recommend "Know and Tell: The Art of Narration" by Karen Glass. By and far, the BEST homeschooling book I've read. It was a game changer for me. We pick and choose books from the Ambleside Curriculum, and sometimes Build Your Library. Things I find appropriate and interesting for each child, from various levels. This is working out splendidly for us. For math we do Saxon, for science we also use CPO science textbooks but I approach science with CM style too. Narrating, illustrating, nature studies etc. I follow the topics in the science book but add in my own stuff that's more CM focused. Don't let anyone tell you CM isn't rigourous. If you check out the Ambleside books for each grade level you'll quickly see how advanced it really is! Try narrating passages from the books on your own. It's not easy to do. It's a good kind of challenge though. It's challenging in an enjoyable way. My kids don't fight having to do their schoolwork anymore cause learning from living books is just so much fun.

Read "Know and Tell: The Art of Narration" by Karen Glass and you'll never need to buy another writing curriculum ever again. I really wish I had read it before I ever started homeschooling! (Into my 8th year homeschooling now...)

Fluent Forever is the best book I've found on language learning so far. He's an opera singer who has learned several language to fluency very quickly. His methods just make sense. Far less frustrating than many of the popular language learning methods out there, and I can see why the learning sticks. My second language is actually English, and is my main language now. Last year I started teaching German to my kids and also a group of homeschool students of wide abilities and ages. I did a ton of research into language learning and the best methods and curricula, and this book is the best I found.

Check out "Know and Tell: The Art of Narration" by Karen Glass. I realized the worthlessness of all the writing curricula I've ever bought after reading this book. It doesn't have to be so hard!

I am bilingual. I have actually come across research saying it makes no difference whether you learn a language earlier or later in life. There are no benefits to starting young, besides the fact it's easier to pick up a natural accent. That's the only real difference. Either way, it takes just as much effort and time for a younger child to pick up a second language as an older child or an adult. I highly recommend the book "Fluent Forever". I was taught my second language when I was 6 years old, and even though I picked it up quickly it actually held me back in school and was very stressful and traumatizing.

"Itch" trilogy by Simon Mayo - this is about a Grade 7 kid who discovers a yet undiscovered (highly radioactive) element and a crazy manhunt that ensues. It takes place in the UK. It's very much a thriller and my kid loved it (probably better than Gordon Korman but he likes those too) "Beetle Boy" and "Revenge of the Beetle Queen" by Leonard - this is also a "light thriller" for middle grades. I second "Hittite Warrior" (Williamson). Also all the Jules Verne books, like "Journey to the Center of the Earth", "Around the World in 80 Days", etc "Hatchet" series (they are short though)

We switched to CLE when my son was in grade 3 (I think it was in the middle or end of third grade). We started with level 200s and he accelerated quickly - what I did is just skip the quizzes, tests, and sometimes I'd double up on lessons if they were easier ones and then just cross out a few of the review questions. I think CLE is pretty advanced, at least compared to the other math curricula I've checked. It is so thorough. I think it's common to do it a grade level behind. It seems a lot of people do. We love CLE and it is the best math program for us, but we are still slightly "behind". That said, I'm defintely sticking with it because it works and my kids retain the math and really master it. My aim is for them to be constantly getting 95%+ and really understanding it, and that's what's happening.

Grade 4 and Grade 7 next year. We are pretty chill with academics... both kids are ahead in science so usually by the time I have things organized and ready to go they are ready to move on to the next level... Math: CLE (with a bit of Miquon and Montessori for younger) Literature: Mosdos Press Writing: Voyages in English Grammar: Voyages in English and some Montessori together with Analytical Grammar as needed Science: CPO Physics for Grade 7, not sure about Grade 4. She's obsessed with snakes and dinosaurs so maybe something with that. History: K12 Human Odyssey and "A Childs History of Art" from Calvert and Montessori art history. Latin: English from the Roots Up, and Visual Latin. Doodle Notes from TpT. German: "Nico's Weg" and "Willkommen in Deutschland" PE: homeschool gymnastics Haven't figured out what to do for art besides art history, but I'd like to incorporate a lot more art projects.

Math - CLE Language arts - Voyages in English for grammar and writing, All About Spelling and Megawords for Spelling. Literature - Mosdos Jade Science - CPO Physics History - Human Odyssey K12 with extra books and projects added in Homeschool Gymnastics Maybe Visual Latin. Continue with mama-made German. Reading list from Mensa Kids Reading Excellence and WTM, Build Your Library, Bookshark, etc. Not sure what to use for art, Bible, geography or vocabulary yet. Would also like to add in some mini units like about economics and government.