I took my daughter when she was 11 and we loved it (big HP fan). We had a two day pass and had plenty of time left to see the attractions we were interested in throughout the rest of the park. I think it's worth the trip once, personally. I'm not sure how a sensitive child would feel about it, though. There's a roaring fire breathing dragon, intense rides, etc.

Home CEO Academy is Montessori flavored and has all subjects.

We also skipped it for the reasons mentioned here. She sent me a pdf of the book a few weeks ago to review. For secular homeschoolers, I would really advise against this book. Be prepared to skip at least one entire chapter if you do order it.

What about ScienceSaurus and their daybooks? You buy them at grade level, so no worries there. It's independent reading, worksheets, very little teacher involvement, plus an online component with games, videos, and virtual labs/interactives. We added in TOPS kits for hands on activities using no special supplies (and one had a box of materials you could order with everything you need in it anyways), but you don't really need to add on anything. At that age we used Inquiry in Action for chemistry. Very age appropriate and focused on teaching the kids how scientists actually do science (dh is a chemist and picked it out). It also includes some science history. We added in Basher science and some Eyewitness books, plus a chemistry kit you can get at a craft store mostly for fun. It was a great year! Honestly, I wouldn't recommend McHenry if you are pressed for time. It is very time consuming for the teacher. If you buy it and skip all the activities it'd be a bit of a waste. But the reading and videos she selects were very interesting to my daughter. Maybe you could pick just one or two activities per chapter. She has a suggested age range for each unit which seemed accurate to us.

We did JAG & JAGM in 5th & 6th grade and will probably do AG in high school. I wouldn't use AG at a such a young age, but my daughter is on grade level. If I were you I'd try JAGM (you got through most of JAG by doing 8 weeks of AG). My dd didn't find it overwhelming at that age and the information was useful. But there's nothing wrong with switching entirely if it's a better fit for your family!

What about the Music History As It Ought to be Taught series? Four books, including one on opera, and they're funny. They mention specific songs and modern music that sounds similar. You could read and then listen to the songs mentioned. One chapter per week will fill a school year. Lives of the Musicians seems similar but we haven't read it yet. Do you have a Y? My daughter takes free music classes there. She also takes them at the local public school. She just goes for that class and comes home. Another series we thought was a lot of fun is Music Lab: We Rock! It's a family music class covering rock history and general music vocab starting with Elvis. The music you listen to is already pulled together into free playlists on Spotify. Chrome music lab is a great way to get kids experimenting with music online. Totally hands off for the teacher, too.

My daughter is going to be 4 at the end of November. She's been using Home CEO preschool and knows her letters, sounds, shapes, colors, numbers, and beginning math. Here's our plan for next year's pre-k for 3-4: Continue with the next level of Home CEO preschool. This includes all subjects, themed book lists, printables and more. It only takes about half an hour or so per day and we would recommend it overall. But she loves "doing school" along with her 7th grade sister and me (full-time student), so we're adding more. Everything is done at her pace and at her request at this point. We have a Timberdoodle pre-k set from two years ago. There are logic games and workbooks and a few cutting and drawing workbooks she hasn't finished, and we'll keep working through them. Since I ordered these a while ago I'm fuzzy on the titles. Building thinking skills, mathematical reasoning, night and day.. We're going to use Ordinary Parents Guide to teach reading along with fun-time phonics. Her small motor skills lag far behind her other abilities at this moment, so we like that these don't involve writing. There's some phonics in her preschool packet but it's not moving quickly enough for her and we'll use it as review instead. We'll keep using the beginning handwriting pages in her pre-k packet and switch to italics next year. I just ordered her a pencil grip that we're hoping might help when it comes. For math were adding in kitchen table math. I also got MCP Math Level K to go along with it (slowly) and her pre-k packet has a lot of worksheets about patterns, heavy v. light, etc. We also ordered tons of manipulatives, such as a clock, balance w weights, cuisenaire rods, pattern blocks, geosolids, etc. For history/geography we're using an inflatable globe, a felt map with felt animals from around the world, books and the MESS guide on dinos. The pre-k packet has a lot on different countries, history of holidays, etc. For science we're using Science Play!, MESS guides and the handbook of nature study along with pre-k chemistry and magnet kits. She has tons of books of her own, plus we visit the library every week for new ones. We use story stretchers (both free guides online and those in the books by that name). We're going to introduce audiobooks this year starting with Pooh and Jim Weiss. She memorizes a new song or poem each week (part of the pre-k packet) and has lots of instruments. Her sister teaches her trumpet, drumming, recorder, piano, ukelele, you name it. She loves to paint and use clay. The pre-k packet has lots of crafts, too. For my oldest all we did was surround ourselves with books and utilize teachable moments. Kids are so different. That's really enough in some cases. Even with all this stuff, which may look crazy, she'll spend the majority of her day playing engines or listening to Raffi. Can't wait for this school year :) Please excuse my writing, I'm on my cellphone.

I am hoping that someone will have a recommendation for me here! I am looking for a secular science curriculum for my 10 year old who is a very hands on learner. I would like the science to be heavy in experiments and have no issue supplementing with library books if need be (if the lessons are low on "meat"). Some limitations: we studied the human body and the solar system in depth last year, and we won't do dissections. I would prefer something that contains most of the materials, unless the materials are very easy to find, but that's not my top priority. My main issue is that she has already done a million walk-through science demonstrations. I would love something that makes her think about the question at hand, come up with her own hypothesis, and just generally be more involved in the scientific process than we've had so far. Can anyone help?

Does anyone have a child looking for a pen pal? My daughter is nine and would love one. We are in MA, USA.