My 7th grader has done BEAUTIFULLY well with RTR this year. In fact now that she is at the last 12 weeks she is considering going double speed (2 days per day) to finish it in 6 weeks. We have rev to rev sitting here and she is DYING to jump into those books. We has become almost totally independent this year with just guidance from me. I think it's PERFECT for 7th grade...we did a mix of the regular story time titles and the extensions and it has been great. She read them herself as I don't have time to read them to her. We also added HSITW project passport Middle Ages in the beginning. It was a perfect fit!

Winners: HOD resurrection to reformation MUS IEW Notgrass Uncle Sam and you HOD preparing hearts Elemental science earth science and astronomy Drawn into the heart of reading--I guess the third time is the charm! Losers: HOD beyond and bigger--they are not bad, my dc were not well placed...these levels are below their working level each should have been up a level or 2.

Simply Charlotte mason has several books about ancient Egypt that are for kids.

What is the lit analysis like for the middle grade? Upper elementary and middle school?

MUS has an online drill. There are several apps for fact practice too. But my favorite way to master facts is by games.

We skip all writing in R&S. it is absolute overkill especially if you have a reluctant writer. IEW actually covers lots of different writing styles, so we are sticking with that no matter what HOD suggests. It's easy to sub it in. We just do 1 lesson per week and its ok.

History odyssey?

I really really really think level A would be fine. IEW does offer a 100% money back guarantee. If you are not happy with it (or if you think you would rather have a different level) return it. They even refund shipping. I think a convention worker would give you the same rec of level a for 5th grade. Now if your 5th grader had previous experience with IEW or if you wanted to combine the 5th grader with the 8th grader then I would recommend level B. I am a certified instructor through IEW and have taught both levels. Truly you can't go wrong with level A. But if you do level B know that the requirements will be longer (read: more writing). Will that be ok for your dd? Like I said my dd has done level A as a 5th grader. It's light but not too light. She still needs help adding in all the dress ups and getting the required sentence openers. Level A is a GREAT intro to IEW. level B will require much hand holding and guidance from you where level A might let her be in the drivers seat with you as a coach.

Have you looked at history odyssey? You could order it all from RR and it would come in a nice big box for you. :)

We take snow days!!! But I have a whole houseful of snow lovers as well as extended family who love the snow, so we get together and play in the snow any time we can! Skiing, snowmobiling, snowmen...bring it on! (Plus we don't get a TON of snow days, so we gotta take advantage of them while we can!)

Your plan sounds great!

We started with theme books. They were cheaper :) also TWSS is very helpful and gives the why and how for the teacher. Especially for the later units. You could probably understand how to get started without it, but then be frustrated because you don't understand the later units. Also it's something you almost need to use for a year or two or three before you get consistent results. This is oldest dd second year with IEW and here at the end of the medieval lessons (she did ancient first) I'm noticing that some of the IEW style is transferring into her other writing assignments automatically.

Either of the above 2 options would be great! I have done level A with my 5th grader this year. All things fun and fascinating theme book. It's been light for her, but I wanted an easy and painless intro to IEW. I think if it is your 5th graders experience to IEW, level A makes sense. I think your eighth grader would enjoy the challenge of the US history based lessons. Just be sure to take longer than a week for some of the more challenging assignments especially since this will be her first experience with IEW. I think it really depends on what you want. Are you comfortable teaching the material or do u want the DVDs to do that? The US history book is written so that the students can read it and will have all the info needs to guide them through the assignments. You will supervise and edit as needed. Also there is a TM to go with it which will be helpful to you while teaching the material.

The content is not the same for SWI a and b. different content. Level b assignments are generally longer. They also might require fewer dress ups and style for level a.

Sorry. I just re-read...so this is a long term plan, I thought you were listing for each child and that u had 3 of them. Lol. I think it's a great plan. Have u used winter promise before?

You are going to run 3 different winter promise guides????????? That's a huge chunk of time unless they are going to do lots of it on their own! Sounds ambitious. I couldn't handle the amount of reading in QAW and that's the only one we did at the time!

If you wanted to do a theme book...medieval has BOTH level A and B assignments in them. I've taught it successfully to a class of students and it has gone BEAUTIFULLY! Of course u will do the teaching but it is all spelled out so well that u really cant go wrong! Otherwise If you want hand holding and u want to have the DVDs then I'd be tempted to tell u to go with level B. u can cut down the assignment length for your younger student. Don't forget to help that one more as they need it!

We use several of them each year with our curriculum. The ebook version is so much lessexpensive than the printed copies. That's my main reason for buying them. I also figure it will save me $ in the long run...

I emailed and they sent me a link. I've been happy with individual purchases from them before. I just figure if I'm going to purchase several books each year it would be more economical for me to purchase them all. Much less expensive.

All those ebooks at yesterday's classics do $99. I know it's been less than tha. I think at least $50. How do I get it for that price? When will it be on sale again?

Bud and me is available as a kindle book for like $10

Guest hollow has some free printable fraction pieces. I also second MUS fraction overlays.

What about the science sold by AIG? http://www.answersingenesis.org/store/product/gods-design-heaven-and-earth-complete-set/?sku=40-1-327 The second book our weather and water looks like it might cover what you are looking for. And I do believe you can use just that book not all of them

The philosophy behind this program is similar to the Suzuki method of music. You could easily get the book only and read at least the intro for that alone as well as how to repeatedly practice the poems. The cd is nice though so the kids can listen to the poems spoken in voice that is not sing song like. I prefer having the book and there are some really great poems that my kids wouldn't be exposed to if I had just chosen them on my own or just picked up any poetry book.

I know HOD has parts that can be used independently by the student. Can the SCM guide be used independently by an older student? Grade 8? That would be important to me because of time constraints with working and three younger students.