Yes, I'd still love the info on the Best of series! I've looked at Bravewriter before and it seems to creative for me, I couldn't wrap my head around it. Of course, IEW might be just as much to wrap my tiny brain around......I have a friend who is going to walk me through it this summer so I can see if I want to use it. But, I'd love any other recommendations!

Thanks! I recently bought Easy Grammar, it arrived yesterday so we'll probably start it next week, after I've had a chance to familiarize myself with it. I've also ordered Wordly Wise, we'll see if LL is enough vocab, we can always add WW if needed. So, would you recommend an additional writing program in addition to LL7? I have no skills and no confidence in my ability to teach writing. Will LL's writing instruction be enough? My focus the last couple years of hsing has been history (that's my passion so that's what's easy for me). My goal next year is to step it up a bit with LA, which I am not very good at. We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to read, but we never do more than discuss it. How can I find out about the "Best of" for 5th and 6th graders? I'd really LOVE to use the same program with both kids, even if I have to use different levels. Then I only have the learning curve of one program (helps when you've got 4 to school!). Any more thoughts??:bigear:

Is Lightning Lit a complete LA program? Would I need writing or grammar to go with it? My dd12 will be in 7th grade next year and I'm looking for a something to teach literary analysis and writing. I've been looking at IEW. (She has almost no previous writing instruction! She did 1/2 of Writing Strands 3 in 5th and then I've been doing a crash course with WWE over the last month or so but that's it since I pulled her from ps in 5th grade). Would these two programs complement each other or be overkill? I've also got a ds10 who will be in 5th grade next year. He's a voracious reader and a deep thinker, but he's still a 10 year old boy. Could he tag along with his sister and LL7? Or, would that kill his joy of reading? Lightning Lit looks so good on the website, is there anything like it for 5th grade? Any input is appreciated!!

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which I use and have loved, you can always add in lapbooks and such from www.handsofachild.com/shop/ They have books for just about everything: from grammar to history to music/art appreciation. They are not terribly expensive and there's not a lot of materials to gather. HTH

Magic Tree House were hits in my house. Henry Huggins, Ramona and Beezus Quimby and Jack and Annie are our friends!:D

My ds7 is finishing first grade and just a month ago was still really stuggling with Level 1 readers. We made a deal, when he can read any level 3 reader I give him then we'll finally let him watch Star Wars Episode 1. He's been begging for this for a year now. I'm amazed how much his reading had improved in the last month! :D:D It's all about the motivation!!!! (Although some kids just naturally take longer than others, dd12 was reading at 4 and dd4 will probably start in the next year....). (Now ds10 and dd12 are begging for a goal that will get them in on this deal with little bro!).

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I grew up in a very conservative family. I couldn't even get my ears pierced until I was 16! However, I think this may be one of those "win the battle, lose the war" kinds of things. (My parents/siblings still have reprecussions from a few of those things). I think it would be better to find a middle ground, perhaps only to certain events or at certain times?? Whatever you decide to do, don't make it a control issue!! Honestly, most of my friends started wearing make up at 12 (and this was 20+ years ago!) They looked ridiculous with big red splotches on their cheeks and big blue splotches above their eyes over bright red lips. But, they wanted to be older, wanted to feel older. 13 is a hard age because you are transitioning. My 12 year-old hasn't asked yet, but when she does my plan is to encourage her to see how beautiful she is without it. If that doesn't work we'll choose the right times/situations where she can wear makeup. She needs to feel some control over her own life, KWIM? Especially if all her friends are doing it. That's obviously not an excuse for poor behavior, but you have to pick your battles. Makeup doesn't seem like a non-negotiable to me, whereas drinking and drugs are non-negotiables, KWIM? Then, when my daughter does start wearing makeup I'll probably take her down to some dept. store that does free makeovers if you buy something. Then, she can have a professional helping her with what looks good on her skin tones and what doesn't. Makeup should accentuate your natural beauty, not change your appearance, imho. Of course, I'm going to look/ask around and pick a professional to teach her with the idea that less is more and respects that she's still a young teenager!;) I'd rather she learn to do it right while she's young than look like a street walker. Just my 2 cents. HTH.

Makita, that looks wonderful, I like that most of the experiment materials are easily available, too. This may be somewhere in the guide that's not included in the samples....but you may want to list somewhere a comprehensive list of what will be needed throughout the year. And, if there are things that have special storage considerations they should be included. I was just wondering at the "1 gram" of a couple things that would need to be purchased a a local plant nursery/hardware store to make a volcano. I have no idea how much that really is and if I could buy what sounds like such a small amount. If I could store it I would want to buy all I needed at the beginning of the year so a comprehensive list would be really helpful. Of course, all this may already be in there! Just a thought, since you asked.;) Of course, science is NOT my thing! My eyes always begin to glaze over and my mind wanders when I read science. It looks like this could work for someone like me because it's written at a level my dc can read themselves and comprehend. Since the samples are not complete I have a question. Where does narration come into all this? After they read the info do they do a summary of that before they do the experiment? Or, do they do a summary after everything else is done? I'm not sure how that would work. Thanks!

Maybe I'll get ambitious over the summer and gather supplies. Buying complete kits is always so expensive I think "I could do this myself for so much less...." but then "life" gets in the way. But, I'm getting more organized so, you never know! Thank you! Anybody else know of a logic stage program? I have kids in both stages.

Paige, I looked through your stuff, thanks for the link! I really liked it, any chance you'll ever market it with the supplies?? That's a real issue for busy moms like me! Any ideas for logic stage classical science?

Do you know of a curriculum that actually does this? I'd love to get one!

Thanks ladies, this has been very helpful. Now, I'm off to really read through the samples!

We just finished 2 years of American history with SL's cores 3 and 4. My dc (12 and 10 now) have loved it. We did add in one of Hakim's books (the one on the Civil War) because my kids were super interested and I felt SL's coverage was not enough for them. Ds10 understood it fairly well, we did it as a read aloud and discussed just about everything. That's probably too much work for each book, but I wouldn't hesitate to give Hakim a try here and there if he just falls in love with a certain topic and can't get enough. SL uses Landmark History of the American People as the spine. We rather enjoyed it, although it's more of a cultural history with a little political stuff thrown in, FWIW. HTH

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I'd love the link when you get it posted!! Thanks! Maybe dh and I can come up with something clever after we see the list. (He's much better at that than I am).

I would LOVE some suggestions, books and projects! Do you really write your own curriculum? My ds6 (7 next month) is reading mostly Level 2 now (although each company who makes easy readers seems to label them differently). His reading has jumped leaps and bounds in the last 2 weeks and I'm hoping by next school year he'll be fluent enough that it's not a "chore" (he's almost there!!!! Yeah!!!) I also have a dd4 who can name a few letters and sounds but I haven't pushed her, we just read together and she sits in on big bro's stuff. Dd12 and ds10 who are voracious readers (SL wasn't enough, I had to add in!!).

Thanks! I'm off to the website to read through the samples!

So charmama4, Did you use everything from level 1? Did you like their maps and such? Did you find that when you lined things up they could have good discussions on what they were studying? In "Jen's perfect world" everyone would be learning the same things at their own level at the same time and we'd have these great dinner conversations each day telling Dad what we learned that day.:smilielol5: In my dreams!!