Maybe only the super-high achievers answer on threads such as this, lol!!

I bookmarked this, thanks. For my kids, especially my youngest two, projects are just a better way to learn. I wish I liked projects better! Ugh.

I'm using CLE Reading 6 this year, and I LOVE the fact that it's a one-semester course. That gives me a fighting chance of getting close to the end in one year! LOL!! DS is not too thrilled with the CLE, but really, the stories are thought-provoking, even though they can on the surface give the appearance of being simple. But that's just a mirage. There was one story that actually prompted him to ask me to take him to the library and get a book out (tried not to faint!). I think CLE has been great. That said, I am considering switching to LL for 7 and 8, but have not decided completely yet; we've used CLE reading since 3rd... I need to look at the samples more closely for both for those grade levels. They're both great choices, imo. Haven't used LL at all with older kids, LL would be new for me; I'm trying to figure if we should give up a good thing for the unknown...

Yes!! I have survived! I am surviving! I will survive!! I live with this. It happens to me every year. A few years ago I had probably three years in a row of family crises (my parents took turns getting cancer and dying, and there were some tough times with teenagers at home), so school definitely fell by the wayside. We got into the habit of hardly any school for a long time. Thankfully that dark period is over, but these days I have to fight myself just to get my motivation to carry on. My poor youngest said to me recently that he's aggravated that every year we get off to a (fairly) good start but then we buckle and not much gets done for quite a while. That's true, he's right. And I feel really really bad about it. My answer to how I got past it is that I don't know, all of a sudden I get new energy, and I'm down the road a bit, and I hardly noticed. "Do the next thing" is great advice -- when you don't know what to do, just pick something and do it, it's better than nothing. Even if you just do a read-aloud or something, it helps you feel better than if you did nothing. There were times when in the morning I would announce that we're going to the museum for the day, or some other fun thing, just to give us some life. Honestly, I'm my own worst enemy sometimes. Thanks for asking this question, I am in a funk right now, and this actually motivates me to get going again. I know what I have to do, it's just the doing it that trips me up. There are a lot of moms who need this kind of encouragement, so thanks for bringing this issue to light.

Well, I don't know, I had my science all planned out for the next couple of years. I had forgotten that ABeka's 7th grade science is a general science course. I've seen it. I had it a few years ago and used it with one dd for a little bit. She ended up going to school that year, so we didn't get very far. It was a pretty decent book, as I remember. If your ds loves ABeka, I don't see any harm in using it if you're looking for a general course. The extra added bonus for me would be the fact that it's a 27-week course rather than a 36-week course, because ABeka uses the final 9 weeks to switch to their health textbook. For me, that would make it a little more possible that I might in fact have a chance to get close to the end of the book! :thumbup: So, I guess I have to decide if I want to go for the specific topics of science or do a general course again. I may re-think science now. Hope you find just the right thing!

It's official -- I'm delinquent in this department. There, I said it. Glad to see what you all are doing. I'm nowhere near that.

We're doing 6th this year with my youngest. Here's what we have for history and science: I wanted a two-year history rather than four years, because when he's in 8th I want to do American, then start over with a four-year rotation in 9th (that's my thinking right now anyway). So I have 6th and 7th to fit in the entirety of history. There's so much good stuff out there! I chose BJU for my spine for both 6th and 7th grades, but I added in a lot of things from SL6 and from SOTW 1 and 2 for this year, along with extras such as DVDs from that wonderful list someone posted a while back, and map work, and lots of other great stuff. It's too much! I promised myself that if I got bogged down I would stick with my spine; I've done that, and as a result, a lot of the good stuff I wanted to add in has not been added in. I will have to be okay with that. When am I going to learn I can't do everything I put my mind to, sheesh. I was like a kid in a candy store, all this wonderful material!! Okay, I'm fine, it will all come around again in high school, and we can even dig deeper. I looked around at science stuff, and since we were pretty lean on science up to this year, I decided to go with a general type science text. I chose BJU science 6 for that. We're really happy with it. Not sure what I will do for 7th yet, but I am leaning towards BJU Life Science, then their Space and Earth for 8th. Hope you find just the right thing! Blessings,

I will be interested in taking a look. Thanks for letting us know.

Great to read these suggestions!! Thanks! Glad I happened upon this thread. I had totally forgotten about BF History of Science, I think I will pick that up; I'd wanted to do that in the past, but life got in the way I guess, and it escaped my consciousness. Now, how and where to fit it in... would that work for a summer course? I'll have to look at it online. For my youngest guy I chose the newest edition of BJU for science starting with 5th, and will probably use it through 8th. My progression is: BJU 5 BJU 6 -- this is where we are now, this year; he's enjoying it BJU Life Science (7) BJU Space & Earth (8) then I'm not sure. I will do physical science in 9th, all my other kids did that progression, but right now I don't know which publisher we will use. Two of my older kids did Apologia physical, the other did Prentice Hall. I have absolutely no problem whatsoever doing physical in 9th and biology in 10th. Then chemistry in 11th, and for 12th I think it would be fun to do maybe a semester of environmental science and another semester of something else, like maybe an intro to anatomy/physiology??? Have not planned that out yet and probably won't for quite some time.

Another vote for The Paragraph Book here. I bought the series, started with Book 1. Very easy for the teacher!!!!! EPS has some wonderful choices in a variety of subject areas, even for kids who are not remedial. I agree this particular series could easily be for a wider audience.

You might want to try Critical Thinking books: [url=http://http://www.criticalthinking.com/searchByNeed.do?code=p&catalog=p&catalog2=p&catego ries=bs&subjects=m&gradeLevel=99&x=32&y=5&code2=p& catalog3=p]http://http://www.criticalthinking.com/searchByNeed.do?code=p&catalog=p&catalog2=p&catego ries=bs&subjects=m&gradeLevel=99&x=32&y=5&code2=p& catalog3=p or Educators Publishing Service (EPS): http://eps.schoolspecialty.com/products/?subject=76S I linked you to the math pages of their sites. The EPS book about word problems ("It's Elementary") has a strategy to help kids discipher the language and figure out what is needed in order to solve the problem. Very often difficulties with word problems can be a language issue. Hope you find just the right thing.

I chose Megawords based on many comments from this board. Since my son's spelling was so bad, I decided to start with level 1. It seems to be helping, in that he actually thinks about how to spell words, whereas, before, he would just write any old thing down, lol. I think my favorite thing about Megawords is that it gets the student to think in syllables and therefore attack the word by syllables. It does give rules also, for syllables. If a kid can break down the word into syllables, he has a better chance of spelling it correctly. I like that concept. We just do one page per day. When we do spelling. We're still on book 1 :blush5:. My son's other really big motivator to spell well is -- posting on facebook! He wants to put his best out there, so he's motivated to get those words right.:lol: hth!

I am all for guiding our kids through conflicts, talking about it and praying about it and helping them out each step of the way. That's great training. How I wish my parents had done that for me. Many blessings to you, as you go through this trial.

Hi Ginger, I'm just reading your post now, a bit late. I wanted to encourage you not to feel bad about her low math level. Be encouraged to start at the level where she is at and just keep going from there. There are many of us moms who have had to either back up with a dc and do some levels or concepts over again, or maybe we've had a kid who has been just very slow to pick things up and so we've taken longer to do a level than we might have otherwise. I'm one of those moms. I chose MUS to start over with, because it doesn't take very long to do a lesson, which was really important to my son, and he can handle the thought of it better than a few others we've tried. I backed up with him and started about two levels behind where his grade level says he should be; I'm so glad I did that!! It's turning out really great for him. He still hates math, or so he says, but he's doing it, and he's learning it. Yes, it's a little embarrassing for him to talk about math with peers, you know how some kids (and parents) ask what materials you're using... Also, another negative is that when standardized testing comes up this spring, I know he won't do well. But I have the end goal in mind, and we're working toward that goal, so I know if we bomb this year, that's okay, next year will be better, and so on, until we get to pre-algebra probably in 8th grade. So, no big deal, even if, like your dd, my ds feels "stupid" in math (which he does, but he isn't, but he won't believe me, lol). And even if we don't get to pre-algebra until 9th, I'm still okay with that, and that would not be out of the ordinary for my (very non-math) family. Since he's working on a much lower level than his grade & age indicate, I decided to see if I could accelerate him a bit by trying to do two lessons a day when possible. So, right now I only have 10 chapters (one chapter being a week's worth of material) left in the book that we started in late September, then I hope to get through a lot of the next level this year too. About your dd working independently so well -- do you need to monitor her a bit more, to see that she's getting it and also that she's doing the problems correctly? Just a thought. Personally I would LOVE my son to work more independently, I need to work harder toward that goal. Blessings to you! May this new avenue bring you both more energy to do the work.

L.O.L.!!!! So sorry to hear of your mess, and your struggle. I can't really drink coffee regularly b/c of the caffeine, so I don't do it very often, but WHEN I DO....! AAAAHHHHH!!! Oh, yeah baby. Mmmmmm. Nothing like a french press full of just-roasted Peet's Garuda Blend, I always say. Just smelling it is enough for me. Sometimes. Hey, maybe you have hit the wall and things are going to start to turn around for the better!! I'd like to think so, anyway!! Blessings!

ME!!! I don't! I'm on board with the rationale for it. I wanted to have everyone learn it; I started it with the olders when they were grammar stage, and then had a tutor for it. They did okay. It was only one year. I just can't do it myself; I never learned it and it's too much for me. It's helpful to know my limits. DS12 is going to spend 7th and 8th, at least, doing Latin and Greek roots, though (I'm not telling him yet).

Maybe 4th grade won't be his last year in grammar stage; isn't it a matter of maturity, and sometimes boys mature later. Both my sons in 4th grade were definitely still grammar stage, but I could see the writing on the wall, they were approaching logic. Both my boys have summer birthdays, and we held them back a year, so they were older than other 4th graders. The most noticeable sign, to me, of impending logic stage was their argumentativeness!! It's enough to make you wish for the preschool years again! Now, at 12, my youngest ds is full-blown "pert". Sheesh, what a pain. Arguing about Every. Little. Thing.:banghead: Blessings,

I haven't done this, but I'm planning to do a little of it with my ds next year in 7th. My only reason for having him outline from a textbook is so that he can organize the information. I feel like it's an additional way to get the info into the kid. Also, it will be a great help in retrieving info when studying for tests or doing research from the book. So, imo, it's not necessarily an end in itself, but more a means to an end. That's how I see it anyway. Blessings,

What is your area of study for history this year? My senior-in-high-school dd is doing one-year world history with a textbook, and loving it. My 6th grade mule, er, I mean ds, is doing two-year world history, this being the first year, and we are behind schedule, but I hope to catch up and be able to finish the book. I got bogged down with adding in a lot of fun stuff from SL and SOTW, and it sapped my energy and I lost interest. Boy, I'm my own worst enemy. For the MCT groupies, are you still enamored or has the some of the luster worn off? MCT never appealed to me, and, frankly, I'm thankful it didn't, because one more thing to pine away for would not be good for me, lol. What are your areas of focus for skill development? Writing and literature for dd, who is finally having a good year with all that, thank you God. Basic skills for ds -- math skills all around, spelling, vocab, thinking skills, just everything, because I discovered he really needs his foundation stronger. Is there any tool or resource that you don't think you could manage the year without? Netflix for augmenting our science and history studies. How goes the writing process? Still not there with ds and need to ramp that up, but dd has blossomed this year, and she's graduating this spring, yikes. Late bloomer, always has been. If there is one new, invaluable thing you have learned that is helping you to be a better teacher, would you mind sharing? Please. Long-range planning so that I don't have gaps. Slow and steady. Just keep on going. Wish I knew that long ago. I spent too much time with my olders wondering if I was doing the right thing, and switching things around too much, and they suffered gaps as a result. ******* Let me add one other question: "What are you looking forward to?" I'm looking forward to only having ONE STUDENT NEXT YEAR!!!!!:party:

You can save your treasured much-loved curriculum that was just right for your older dc, and then when your younger one comes along it can be totally wrong for them. Oh, sad! And in the meantime, the publisher updated and came out with a new edition, and now you can't even sell yours any more. Oh, the pain of it all! I HATE when that happens, ugh. But such is our common experience. It's just the way it goes. There was not very much I used both for my olders and my youngest. Too bad. It would have been so convenient! But noooooooo....

I noticed that too. Wonderful! It's a great encouragement to me.

There, you said it more succinctly. That's it.

That's my struggle. I don't know how. I was never taught. I am not the brightest bulb on the tree, but I learned how to put the effort in all by myself; I don't know how to give that to my ds. The only way I can accomplish that, I think, and tell me if I'm wrong, is to dog it out with him every day, do it with him, until he starts to get the picture. Model, model, model. And talk about why it's so important. I think a lot of that rests on me. I am in the same boat with others here in terms of realizing what I haven't accomplished with this ds in particular, so now it's time to bite the bullet and get going. This is where I struggle, because my own education was less than average at best. I was not taught to think, so there's one giant handicap right there, then on top of that, my own brain has deficiencies as well. So, there's a double drawback. Because of my handicaps, I have often wondered if I would be doing my kids a disservice by home schooling them. But I still feel hs is best, especially for this ds. So, I'm going to just dog it out, do the work, etc. with him. I think that's the way he will learn those skills from me. Fighting back all the way, most likely. He has gotten lazy. As he was coming up in the younger years, I had a lot of life stuff going on with parents sick and dying, etc., those were hard times for me, I had little to no emotional room for school, so there were many days there was no school, and many other days there was very little school, so he got used to that. This year, I'm back to my usual low energy self (argh), and he's still on the speedy school track. Boy, I have got some work to do. Thanks for this thread, I printed the article, and I will probably buy the book. I've always said I'd most likely be learning more than my kids with homeschool. That is so true, but what I didn't know was that it wasn't all going to be content. Glad to know there are a bunch of us in the same boat. Let's keep on encouraging one another. Blessings to everyone,

Hi, I'm Diane. My middle schooler is my 4th and last/youngest child. He's in 6th, and this is the first time I've taught 6th grade! My oldest two were in school for 6th, and my third one skipped 6th. This is the first time I have had any inkling of confidence in teaching a kid this age -- thank you Lord! I've been home schooling officially since my oldest was 5 years old in 1995, and have not taken a year off in all those years, even though there were a few years when one kid or another went to school for some reason or another. I have vowed that, Lord willing, and, to the best of my ability, this youngest one will be home schooled all the way through, even high school, and even though he keeps asking to go to school because he's sure it's way more fun (save me, please!). I'm not sure if I have a "style" or not. I use an eclectic approach. I've been drawn to Classical and Charlotte Mason, but I am not really that good at them. I feel the most comfortable with textbooks, because I'm kind of a cut & dry methodical type person. I'm finding the more I teach my own kids that my own education seems to have been quite lacking in many ways. But I'm always learning and gaining confidence in what I'm doing, and I've learned that home is better after all, even if things aren't always going the best. I have two quotes: 1) I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. and, 2) Apart from Him I can do nothing. Both are true. At the same time. Yes, thanks for the middle grade board, I'm glad to have it, and I will continue to look at the younger grade board because I think as an "older" (i.e., further along, lol) woman I can be of some help (sometimes).

Hey Greta, A practical suggestion about using a lower level book with a kid who is self-conscious about grade level: Put a book cover on the book, like right after she sees it for the first time, she will only see the book cover from then on. Also, put a smiley face sticker over the 4 on the cover of the light unit - or keep the pages folded back so that the cover is never visible. I have used stickers over the grade number on things like that before, and it helps :) Have a great time with it!!! Blessings,