I also have a 6th- and a 7th-grader. We do homeroom here. Ours is a daily hour (often goes into lunch) where we discuss revolving topics. Monday is Logic / Philosophy; Tuesday is World History, Wednesday is Finance and Leadership; Thursday is Story of Science. Or whatever is in the news or on their minds that is important or impactful. None of these topics has homework or assignments associated with it (of course, they can choose to write about any of these topics in their writing class). My aim is for them to discuss and communicate, think on their feet and how to look at things from a different point of view. Also, I want them to know you often learn more when you aren't formally studying something -- that has always been the case with me and history. : )

We have used McGraw Hill's Treasures in our charter, pre-homeschool. "Eh" is how I would characterize it. Seems behind at least a grade and we never found the samples compelling. We are using as spine: Holt's Elements of Language (based on Warriner's) and Holt's Elements of Literature. Two thumbs up for both. I am also using Write Source, which is under-represented on this forum, but it's not much different from Elements of Language. Plus a host of smaller books for interest. edit: typing errors

Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!!! This is so very helpful. : )

What are the chances that any of you have compiled a list of supplies needed for CPO Sciences? We plan to do Life and Earth at our house next year. I know I can cobble a list of supplies together from the CPO website that will be less expensive than their kits, but if someone has already done that and is willing to share, it would save me a bunch of time and I'd be forever grateful. : ) Thank you!

We looked at Holt very carefully, but decided to try CPO Science. We are really excited about it.

Here goes: Math: Math Mammoth, Simple Solutions Spelling, Vocab, Grammar: VFCR, EM's Academic Vocab, Giggly Guide, Grammar Keepers, Write Source. Writing: Mix of Write Source, Holt's Elements of Language, Writing & Rhetoric, Eggers, various prompts. Reading: MosDos. Some poetry and 5-6 TBD assigned novels. Maybe one Shakespeare in bits? The rest is at-will. Spanish: Destinos!! Super-excited about it. Also Carson Dellosa workbooks, Duo Lingo, Practice Makes Perfect workbook; live discussions with mom and friends. Music: flute Homeroom: revolving weekly discussions on logic, history, finance, leadership: Philosophy for Kids, Fallacy Detective, Story of Science, Story of the World, various leadership and finance books Coding: TBD, Photoshop course likely, but whatever she chooses here US History: Story of US, Zinn Science: Holt Life Science and CPO Life Science with deep dives into Oceanography and Anatomy / Brain. Tinkercrate for fun. Art: local painting class Other stuff: Parkour class, horseback riding, adventure club activities It all fits so nicely in the planner. Will be interesting to see how it actually pans out...

Update: Have decided on CPO Science. Really happy and excited about it, which is saying a lot, since I hate science... !

Thanks for all the replies. It came down to Planbook.com and Homeschool Planet. Once I figured out that HP actually did offer some of the advanced features I wanted (a bit of a learning curve finding them), I am super happy now. Planbook is also great, but some of the features I needed aren't available until July and I wanted to get it all set up now. That's one to watch, though.

SkateLeft, what made you go back to Trello/OneNote? Planbook looks great -- especially if they follow through with the gradebook. Thanks for the tip -- I'm going to try it.

As far as I can tell with OneNote, there is no way to link certain elements (assignments with grades) together to form an overall grade, based on a grading calculator. That's my problem. : /

Hi all: I am working on my lesson plans for next year for a 6th and a 7th grader. I am impressed by both the Science Matters books on the Singapore website, and the Glencoe iScience books (though i don't like all the website bells and whistles). Seems to me the Science Matters program can be done fairly quickly and might allow time for deep dives / unit studies for things we are particularly interested in. The Glencoe books seem much more comprehensive, which is good, but won't allow for any deep dives.It will likely provide a better base, though. (I have also looked at Prentice and Holt, but like Glencoe best.) Neither seem to provide much in terms of labs / experiments. I will be doing Tinderbox to give them some hands-on activities, but these won't be related to the science curriculum. I should say my 6th grader loves science but me and my 7th grader do not. : / I would love to hear what you all thought of both of these curricula, and how much time you spent getting through them: Science Matters 6A/B-7A/B and Glencoe: Life, Earth & Space, Physical iScience books (BTW, anyone know the difference between these and the Integrated iScience 1-2-3 courses?). Thank you!!

Does anyone know anything about the LEMI method and LEMI classes / groups? There are LEMI co-ops in my area and it's hard to read through the gobbeldy-gook on the websites and figure out what the group really is. So far, I've looked into a lot of different homeschool approaches, and they all seem to have an agenda other than simple education. We have the core covered and are just looking for interesting ways to pass the down-time with other tweens / teens. So what is LEMI? TIA.

Great suggestions. I am really hoping for more Trello-ish features, but with the capability of assessing grades on each sheet and having those grades link by subject to a grade calculator. Think I'm stuffed for the moment, but these are all good planners in their own right.

Thank you! Do you know if people generally like the Hewitt guides better, or the Hakim teaching / study guides? I don't know much about either. Thank you for the link!

SkateLeft: where do you grade your assignments? I love Trello too but hate entering things in Trello AND Excel / HP.

FawnsFunnyFarm: do you have a link to the Hewitt guides? I have looked but I can't find a companion guide. TIA.

What say you? I am looking for something like Trello but with better scheduling, time tracking, and assignment grading capabilities. I know, it doesn't exist. So what do you guys use? Homeschool Planet is great but not pretty and the kids aren't huge fans. I have my own Excel sheets that I default to, but I hate entering things once in Excel and again in Trello. Planning Pad seems pretty good, too, but they don't offer a free trial, and, well, I'm not ready to commit. Plus, I can't enter grades on assignments. One Note seems okay too, but not much different than Trello, and I'm still inputting things twice, once in a gradebook and once in One Note. Grrrrr.

Awesome feedback, thank you. I will not be buying this -- you all have saved us a lot of frustration, sounds like!

Thanks, will check it out.

I really enjoy this forum and have learned so much from you all. I have discovered, however, that I am more eclectic than classical in my approach. We are also an uber-techie family, so I was wondering -- Does anyone know of a forum or a sub that brings geek-minded people together to share info about homeschooling? Thanks!

Really? No one? Darn!!

Having a hard time finding info on this. Have any of you tried the Brainology Brain Science Program; it's a Carol Dweck workshop for grades 5-9. I have a "fixed" mindset child, and I thought this might be helpful but there aren't a lot of people reporting on it after having used it. Thought I would put it out there -- it's been out for a few years now and surely someone gave it a try?? TIA!

Ha! I have been waiting for one of these threads. This will be our first year homeschooling full-time. LOL, you will see that we have some catching up to do. DAILY: Math: Math Mammoth as spine but Simple Solutions and Beast Academy for variety Language Arts: Spelling & Vocab: CAP's Word Roots program, starting at 1 and hoping to fly through to more challenging levels. Write Source. Ceasar's English also on the way. Language Arts: Grammar: Write Source, Basic, Not Boring Language Arts;or possibly Analytical Grammar? Not sure where he's at exactly. Holt's Elements of Language as spine. Also using Grammar Keepers, Giggle Guide, Eats, Shoots & Leaves, Strunk & White as reference. I am a grammar nerd. Language Arts: Writing: Mix of CAP Writing & Rhetoric, Wordsmith Apprentice and homegrown assignments. Adding Write Source, Learning Grammar Through Writing and Don't Forget to Write. Portuguese: DuoLingo, Practice Makes Perfect Spanish: Destinos, DuoLingo, Practice Makes Perfect, Power Glide Middle School Spanish or Visual Link 1, Carson Dellosa I for workbook Coding: Various, including Scratch, Animation (2d & 3d), 3d printing, photo editing, youtube channel and content building Homeroom & Discussion: Logic & Philosophy Mondays: Philosophy for Kids, Fallacy Detective, Thinking Toolbox, etc.; Science History Tuesdays: Story of Science; World History Wednesdays: Story of the World; Finance & Leadership Thursdays: 7 Habits for Teens, Motley Fool investment books, Penny Candy, Shackleton, etc. various Roman history and leadership books, basic finance and investing Music: continuing fiddle WEEKLY: US History: History of US and Zinn's Untold History of the US. Deep dives TBD, but likely Ken Burns' Civil War and Westward Expansion Science: Science Matters series, some Dr. Art, Intelligo unit studies as they make sense, CPO Earth Science, deep dive into Oceanography with Ocean First, Geology Unfolded, deep dive into Engineering TBD, TinkerCrates. Art: nothing formal, but will encourage his love of drawing with Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain and Simply Draw PE: continuing horseback, plus skiing, climbing, hiking, biking, skateboarding DIY: hands-on projects to include Airstream remodeling project woodworking with mom, car or go-cart engine project with dad, hunter-safety course, TinkerCrate kits or Mel Chemistry kits We also have a homeschool group that does electives and group science, so we may decide to participate in those and change our schedule accordingly. Who else is over-scheduled already?! ; ) Portuguese: DuoLingo, Practice Makes Perfect

Thanks for the input, ladies! Looking forward to keeping up with these.

Am trying to narrow the field and am chasing my tail here. Singapore Science -- is this the same as Science Matters (Cavendish)? And Science Matters is a curriculum for middle school, with groups of A and B books, right? And of those books -- textbook, workbook, teachers workbook, practical, practical teacher's edition, perfect guide, structured questions -- what do I actually need? Also, Science Matters, when seen on this forum, is generally referencing Cavendish and is not the 400-page Science Matters book by Robert Hazen? But the latter is also considered middle-school level, more or less? Last question -- I have seen some references to Singapore Interactive Science -- is this an older version of Singapore Science? Thank you!!