Julie is right about this. We're working through RTR here, with a 12yo and 9yo, and there's quite a bit of meat to it. It's not fluff! Remember, too, that if you're following the MFW "plan" in order, the oldest child doing ECC would be only about 3rd grade, give or take. So yes, it's very possible that you might find it to be a little light for a 5th or 6th grader. That's why they offer recommendations for junior highers doing ECC. So, keeping that in mind and assuming you're following the year sequence *as recommended* by MFW, you'll find more meat and harder assignments as you go through each year of the program. Including the fact that they have the older student doing research, outlining, and writing reports in Expl-1850 and 1850-Modern. If you have a friend from whom you can get the SL books, go ahead and take them! Or just borrow them (like a library) to use as part of your Book Basket while doing MFW. Lots of people do that. But you'll find a pretty extensive booklist in RTR as it is. As someone else mentioned, print out the sample lessons for all the coming years of MFW and pick through them to see where MFW will take you as your children grow. Doing this was very helpful to me. And remember that you can continue to use other resources for math, LA and foreign language as desired. You don't *have* to use MFW's recommendations. It all depends on what your goals are for your family and how much time you want to put into a day's work. Be encouraged. It *is* enough. :)

We used EG with my oldest for one year and it didn't stick. However, she *liked* it, and I liked it, too. I'd be willing to try it again, only doing it differently the next time. I pretty much just let her do it on her own, and I didn't use either the TM or Daily Grams. I LOVE how EG starts out identifying prepositional phrases first. That weeds out a lot of mistakes from the get-go. I also like the idea of alternating EG with something else from one year to the next.

Just FYI, My Father's World Ancient History & Lit for 9th grade will do exactly this. The student will read through the entire Old Testament, and analyze classical literature in light of biblical context. The program includes Bible, history and literature. Here's a link: http://www.mfwbooks.com/highschool.html