Goodness I’m sorry, I didn’t see this prior. We ended up going with Home Science Tools Science Unlocked kits. They are pretty great. The lessons are a good length for us and every single thing you need for experiments/hands on application is in the box.

By hands on I mean finding household objects and working through pretend scenarios with said objects. I am well aware of the need for pencil and paper and am not trying to remove that aspect.

Would you mind sharing what you did for high school, if your student has reached that point? My ideal is that we find the perfect curriculum and stick with it all the way through, but math mammoth only goes to 8th. And yes, I know there is no perfect curriculum but I can dream while I drink my coffee this morning 🙂

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my concerns, that was incredibly kind. I will take another look, as it does sound like it could be a really good fit.

Thank you, I haven’t researched this so I will take a look at it now.

My worry with Math Mammoth is two fold and I disregarded it early based on Kate Snow’s review, but maybe you’ll have different thoughts to share. The review from Kate Snow say there isn’t daily review, which we want and that there isn’t much guidance for parents. This year I have struggled to explain concepts, so I really need more help teaching than I fear a program like that can provide.

I’m trying to choose a new math for my daughter. This year is our first year homeschooling, prior to this my girls were at a private school that used ABeka, to give background. After much research, my daughter and I chose Apologia last year. I loved the idea of hands on projects each lesson and my daughter was excited to try it. After using it, it isn’t a great fit. My daughter hates the hands on projects, I’ve had to supplement math fact drills as she was struggling with previously memorized facts and yesterday she told me she would really like a program with more review, as she feels like she’s forgetting how to do things. She is an average math student, who likes math but doesn’t pick up on it intuitively. I struggled in math and am not confident in my ability to teach upper levels, so I would like to pick a curriculum for 6th and up that has a strong video teaching component and that we can ideally stay with all the way through. She does not want manipulatives or hands on work daily. She does really want something with continual review and after watching her sister do Beast Academy she would like more of a challenge. As just the sample of Beast Academy last year had her in tears I would say AOPS would be *too* much of a challenge. After researching and reading many forums posts I am considering Art Reed dvds and Saxon, but I am worried about the length of the lessons. I know continual review means lessons will be longer, but an hour+ on math daily would be discouraging to her. Can anyone with experience with Saxon & Art Reed speak to this? Any other recommendations of curriculums to look at?

You can use spelling to reinforce phonics. Choose a program like All About Spelling and that will cover that base. Read and discuss with her. I love the Teaching the Classics from Center for Lit. It teaches you as the parent how to discuss literature with your child. As a former high school English teacher it’s what I was looking for from my students when we discussed literature! It’s very gentle and will become intuitive for your daughter if you slowly introduce it.

Curious if anyone has tried this yet?

Guest Hollow Language Arts is so fun! It's very gentle, but thorough.

I'm looking for a science curriculum that is full of science experiments that I can buy a kit for. Right now we're using Apologia's Exploring Creating with Astronomy and frankly we are bored out of our mind. I am looking for a curriculum that is full to the brim with hands on learning. I do not have the margin to think this up my self. I can handle making messes, I can not handle thinking up the experiments and gathering the supplies. I want something open and go, that is very hands on. Doesn't have to be astronomy, as I know the subject matter doesn't lend itself to experiments.

She’ll be in 5th next year.

This was my reasoning for choosing 9th. I think some 8th graders are mature enough, but others wouldn’t be until 9th.

I am sorry, I did an incredibly poor job of explaining what we are looking for. Let me try again! She is in private school this year, using A Beka. School has been really rough this year and through a combination of factors, there is zero love of learning at this point for her. Due to my teaching contract we are finishing out the year and then we will begin homeschooling. We are making a clean break from A Beka. We have tried a few different samples of curriculum, most recently Beast Academy. Her sister, my youngest, fell in love with it and is now working through the curriculum just for fun. My oldest really liked Beast Academy in that if she didn't understand the way I explained something, or the book explained something, she could watch a video. Ideally what she would like is a hard copy textbook with optional videos. Then I can teach her, she can also read the instructions in her book and THEN if she is stuck, she can watch a video. She doesn't want to watch an entire 30-45 minute lesson, she wants a video that is a few minutes long explaining that specific concept. I will edit my original post. Hopefully that clarifies. Again, thank you everyone for your help and I am sorry I wasn't more clear. I should have taken the time to be very specific!

Thank you so much everyone! I will look at all these recommendations. Budget is totally open. My youngest daughter loves beast academy! My oldest doesn’t like it, but *does* love how when she’s used it she can click on a video when she doesn’t understand. I think that’s the video feel she’s going for, but she doesn’t enjoy BA at all.