It used to be like Christmas here. :) I'd set out all the new curriculum and fun stuff on the couch surrounding a schultute, a large cone filled with the extras like nice colored pencils, little flip books, erasers, a bit of candy...we'd spend the morning looking through everything together and making a schedule/routine for the school year. Then everything would get organized and put into cubbies or notebooks. Day 2 is when we'd get down to business.

There are different types of logic to be worked by the brain. Visual-spatial comes to mind immediately, and that's not one that Latin actively works. We keep ThinkFun games around just for that purpose - same with chess, Khet, Wedgits..then there's logic of reasoning, and while Latin gives that an active workout, it should be supplemented by different materials to exercise that area of the brain. Think of logic like a kitchen. You're given a dutch oven (Latin) and told it's the best, multiuse tool out there for the kitchen. But what about when you need to make a sauce? Melt chocolate? Fry an egg? Give yourself a handful of nice, quality tools to use in that kitchen. You don't need to go overboard, but you should have enough to do whatever you need.

We did something similar. We based ours around a country a month, and worked the rest in. Brazil was also reptiles, rainforests, Portuguese, and celebrations around the world. Have you looked at homeschoolshare.com? They have their learning activities separated by levels or by subject ("connections"). If you look up Human Body on there it gives a ton of things to do and lit. sources. http://www.homeschoolshare.com/connections__human_body.php

Depends. Most of them get a clear NO. Too much time, not enough learning, it becomes 'get it done' work and not enjoyable at all. However, there are the odd occasional times we have done one - like the time we worked on learning the presidents as a side part of history. Every new era, we did ONE president in ONE activity of a lapbook. The end of the year saw a grand total of ten items in the lapbook, but it was a good memory aid over the year and wasn't overwhelming.

Found the one we used! https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Oregon-Trail-Activity-and-Game-69766

A Judy clock, counters, some sort of Base 10 (either actual or MUS style), and a geoboard. For jr. high I'd include MUS's fraction overlays and Montessori square root boards. I have an entire case full of math manipulatives but these are what are brought out most often. The rest of it mostly collects dust.

It varies, as everyone else said. Two things that have helped in our house: 1. No TV from 8-3, and no video games during the week. Ipad is restricted to a few apps only. 2. Actively working on skills and setting up the house to have lots of opportunities to explore and use those skills. Anything from 8-3 counts here: gardening, cooking, playing in the backyard, logic games, board games...the goal is to have a few directed lessons throughout the day and then lots of time to explore independently.

That game is on Teachers Pay Teachers, I think. I downloaded a paper version for at home from there or Currclick and it was a lot of fun.

I would much rather check the books out of the library. :) Instead of 2 hours with it, you could have 2 weeks. Imagine the learning done then! And you could take them to the park, museum, wherever! :)

I don't know if you can find them on youtube, but the History channel (when it was still that) produced a small series called History Rocks. It's a mash of Pop-up Video and history class. They were quite good, using songs from the respective era to convey the sentiment behind each milestone.

I'd add in different electives. A foreign language, perhaps? Or a coding language? It could be what he's asking for is to be seen as separate, and in that case I'd give him different language arts and math. History and science could be with both kids, but you can choose a different curriculum for the other two subjects.

I don't know which would be better for her situation, but if you do switch, I'd switch EVERYTHING: paper, writing instrument, and style. It becomes more of an art form at that point and more likely to get good results. I like D'nealian because the transition to cursive is so much easier than going from stick-ball. They're already used to single-stroke letters; joining them becomes a non-issue. If you do switch you can think of it as pre-cursive. But like you said, whether or not she'll take to it is a different matter.

FLL if those are the two choices, ELTL if you're adding in a third. LLATL was one of the worst we tried here; literature seemed to be the last thing on its mind as it sprinkled dying bits throughout the Tan book.

Team sports are a no-go until age 6 or 7. We'll do clinics and classes, but I'm not throwing a preschooler out on the field in full gear so he can smell the daisies. Individual sports are whenever an interest is shown.

Quad books. It's just so much easier and neater.

We read Blood On The River: Jamestown 1607 before we went. It's very good, and very engaging. The whole story takes place from the POV of a 12yo boy who was on the first passenger list and really enhances the experience. I think there are 20 chapters, but if you assign 2-3 per day for your kids they should finish it in time.

One thing they might enjoy - Letters Of Note is now available in books rather than just the website. Mine always found it interesting to see the smaller bits of history: A letter from Marie Antoinette the night before her execution, a letter from Abigail Adams to her husband...it humanized these fantastical stories and brought them more to life. We also used To Be A Slave, comparing the two distinctive forms of writing (one that had been edited for grammar and readability and one that was a dictation) and the way time can influence a memory. Lettersofnote.com is searchable by time period and author/recipient. It's a great resource.

We use them instead of scratch paper. We have 3: with lines, without, and dual. The chalkboard is handy for teaching children how to write since it slows down the motion and gives them more control. The whiteboards are for taking notes, doing math, diagramming..anything that won't be kept for long term. I'll also say that we don't have large boards. Ours are roughly the size of a piece of paper, maybe a little larger.

Minimalist? Ipad & stylus. PDFs can be worked on there, books can be downloaded and read. White board & dry erase marker - for working math, handwriting, etc. Mechanical pencils, pencil sharpener, colored pencils, rubbing crayons. Blank books, unlined. Ruler & glue That's it.

Thames & Cosmos has several kits. They run about $70, ranging from a specific function robot to general remote-controlled machines. My son liked the remote controlled machines one, and sprang off from there to have an interest more into programming than in the construction side, so it was easy to fill his interest that way.

Blood On The River - the settling of Jamestown from the POV of a 12yo boy. The Ballad of Lucy Whipple - California gold rush The Remarkable Ride of Israel Bissel - American revolution. This is a picture book, but I think it's an important addition (and comparison) to any study of Paul Revere. The Ransom of Mercy Carter - French&Indian War.

DISTAR is what Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons is based on. I grew up with DISTAR. I found it comforting as a child. It was steady, and in a place where children moved in and out often, it was very nice to have that as an anchor. We used 100 EZ Lessons here, not with the hand signals or the Direct Instruction script exactly as written, but both of my kids have thrived with it. So have many others. I can't lump DISTAR in with classroom takeover. It is no different than Nancy Larson or Shurley English or many other programs that tell you exactly what to say, sing, and do as a homeschool teacher.

AAS tiles work. Heck, homemade tiles work. They allow the student to manipulate the sound physically, which is what I like to have available. You can also use non-magnetic ones (we had a set that had raised arrows for tracing while they say the sound) but magnets keep them all on one tray. :) I draw a long arrow on the tray to act as a reading line. When the sounds are on the line, we say them. When they're not, we don't. Between The Lions used to have a fun activity called Gawain's Word where two jousters with a sound each would hit each other and combine to make a new sound. LOL It's a lot of fun for little ones to gallop the sounds toward each other. Or they can slide or swap or..you just want them to be comfortable with any sound combination. Manipulatives help the brain slow down when it needs to.

You've gotten some great suggestions, but here's one more: I think magnetic letters should be in the home of every child learning to read. Real ones- lowercase, one or two colors only. Reading can be tactile. It should be available whenever the child wants to play with them. You can harness his energy by having him smash two together to make blends, do rapid review of endings or middle sounds. Split words into tiny bites. Add tactile methods into any program you chose, but just the body movement helps a LOT for kids who don't respond well to paper.

I don't think we've ever used curriculum that came out exactly equal. By the end of the year, no matter what, we've finished 1-2 subjects, have maybe a day's work left on another and 2-3 weeks left on others. There's always that lag.