Has anyone used the Notgrass Celebrate Series (either the Thanksgiving one or the Christmas one)? I like what I see from the few sample pages but see that it is geared towards ages 7-12. I have a 15, 13, and 11 year old. My questions are would this be too "easy" for them or is it something that they could all enjoy or is even my 11 year old too old for this since she is on the end of the age spectrum?

:lurk5: Any more thoughts? I need help before a spend my Christmas money :lol:

Can someone tell me what the differences are between the two? Can they even be compared? I am just looking for a change in curriculum for my 5th grader. We're working through SOTW ancients right now and have about a forth left. I looked at MFW ECC and I love that. I put together my own countries unit study a few years ago when my 5th graders was much younger so I would love to go through the countries again. Then I looked at Learning Adventures Volumes 1 and it seems similar to Beyond FIAR which I did with my kids when they were younger and we all enjoyed. My 5th grader is a hands on project kid. We love the literature but also love hands on to supplement it.

Thank you! :001_smile: I think I am just going to break down and get it after Christmas with hopefully my Christmas money :D

I didn't check Biblioplan but I will now. Its not that I have my heart set on SOTW, more so that I have all 4 volumes already :tongue_smilie: I love unit studies though and we loved and used Beyond Five in a Row. Before we did that and even now, I put my own unit studies together. I guess I'm just feeling that urge to try something new and break up what we have been doing.

Does anyone here use the 1st volume? Any thoughts, good or bad? I have found some old posts but wanted to know is it comparable to Beyond Five in a Row (we have used all 3 volumes of this already)? Could you use this alongside SOTW or would that be too much? Right now we're using SOTW and activity guide and "extras" that I have been adding which we have been enjoying but I feel like we need some sort of change. Ideally I'd like to use something along with SOTW, maybe something literature wise or something with more hands on. I am looking for a current 5th grader.

Hello! I have always wanted to try vermicomposting and this year I broke down and bought a worm bin and some worms! We've had them for a little over a month now and they are doing well. The question I have is how do I actually use the "soil" the worms are producing in my garden when it is ready to use? Do I just rototill it into the soil? We have a pretty big garden so I know we won't have enough to do that. Can I just sprinkle some in around the plant when I go to put them in the ground? Hoping someone here has done this before and can guide me along! :001_smile:

What more does History Odyessy add to SOTW and the SOTW activity book?

I'm a single parent to 3 and have always been homeschooling. Does she have family near by that can help? Or even friends that are willing to help? As far as schooling, she can get that done at any time (evenings, nights, early mornings, weekends, whatever works for her). The challenging part is bringing income in. For my situation, my mom lives with us so she helps out, I have child support, and then I do some ebay sales as well. It is possible to be a single parent and homeschool! It just takes some creativity in things. I know single homeschooling parents that do daycare which allows income to come in while being with their kids (they just take all the daycare kids along with them on field trips and such), some have several different part time jobs, some work nights (I used to do this), some work long hours and cut their work week, some are able to take their kids along and they work on school, some pair up with other friends that are homeschoolers, some work from home, etc. Like I said, it just takes creativity and thinking outside of the box of a 9-5 job.

I am really liking what I see so far from that Rainbow Science. Does anyone have any hands on experience with it? Anything you liked or didn't like?

Um, we haven't done the levers and pulleys and magnets and stuff. That's a good idea! I've never heard of rainbow science. I'll have to look into that one. Is anyone familiar with that?

We've used Time Travelers and have really enjoyed them!! My youngest that is hands on really liked the projects. There are about 2 pages of background information, then some booklets that you complete to put together in a lapbook when you are all done, some hands on projects, and some penmenship. We have done all her units and I just used those as a spine and added extras as we went along. We're stopping at the last CD she made and are hoping to pick it up again in a couple of years. Hopefully she will have more by then and we can pick up where we left off :tongue_smilie:

We have done Apologia zoology (all 3 books), apologia anatomy, apologia astronomy, beginning chemistry, doing nature studies now, will start botany in late spring and summer, environmental science, and touched on rocks and minerals and weather. I am at a loss on what to cover next for science with my soon to be 5th grader in the fall who happens to love science. A lot of the books we did she was younger but she still remembers them so I am at a loss on what to cover next. We're starting SOTW book 1 in the fall, does anyone who has done that know if I can branch off on some mini science units as we go along?

We used just the student intensive and we all did fine with it (me teaching it-actually we just watched the DVD's together). I did the same thing-could only afford 1 and we opted for the student intensive. :tongue_smilie: Worked just fine for us!

Do you combine the two then (HO and SOTW)?