daysaregifts Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 I'm wondering your experiences with curriculum (esp. history, science, writing and math for a middle elementary student) that has captivated and motivated your child to learn more in that subject--- material that is so well-written, so well-presented, so child-focused, so well-researched and so interesting that they just can't help but learn, and on most days are eager to get back to it! I know not all learning can be this way, but when it can, and it's done well, I want to check it out! I want to light a fire! :001_smile:Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 BFSU Volume 2 has done that for my child, and have the Right Start Math Games for younger (but they would work well for an older child who didn't know all their facts yet). For writing, Bravewriter has changed my son from a reluctant writer to a joyful one. Yes, I said joyful. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shanezomom Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 Veritas Press self-paced online classes come to mind. Our 10 yr old ds loves history and actually remembers most of it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 SOTW 1 and 2 were especially captivating for dd. We used the Activity Guide, and she really loved history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daysaregifts Posted January 9, 2012 Author Share Posted January 9, 2012 Love the thoughts so far!! I hope there are more that are captivating to someone!! :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxbridgeacademy Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 We're really liking our History. Kids beg to do it first. We're using CTT Rome adding in K12 Vol. I, World in Ancient Times/ Rome for DS, and lots of Videos. DD also reads some from SOTW. We don't write as much as CTT requires instead we do the assignments as discussions. Also they love MCT Island, and "Reading-Lit." a vintage book by Treadwell. We analyze the readings for meaning, moral, ect.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Twain Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 CHOW (Hillyer) has been one of our favorites here. I used to read an extra chapter for a special treat or if I wanted to gives the kids a reward. Reading a history book for a special treat--who would have imagined. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 Life of Fred, for math - she adores it and always begs for more (we also do MM, which is great IMO, but not exactly captivating!;)) BFSU for science - we just did a discussion of food chains & food webs, and she was jumping up and down, she was so excited to figure out for herself what happens to a food web if you remove one member! And, weird as it seems, FLL4 for grammar! When we started in October, she always was like "ugghh, grammar" but now she loves it! She *loves* diagramming!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4Kiddos Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 What a great thread! :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMe Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 What is CTT History? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quark Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 I'm wondering your experiences with curriculum (esp. history, science, writing and math for a middle elementary student) that has captivated and motivated your child to learn more in that subject--- material that is so well-written, so well-presented, so child-focused, so well-researched and so interesting that they just can't help but learn, and on most days are eager to get back to it! I know not all learning can be this way, but when it can, and it's done well, I want to check it out! I want to light a fire! :001_smile:Thanks in advance! For math: all the living math-style books we've bought or checked out from the library. Particularly, the Penrose the Cat books and Murderous Maths. These don't exactly count as history, science, writing and math but my boy is really loving Irasshai Japanese videos and David White's Philosophy for Kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarreymere Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 DD loves Life of Fred and takes it to bed with her to read before she falls asleep. She has been reading and re-reading Sentence Island and is begging for Paragraph Town. She also has the D'aulaire's Greek Mythology all dog-eared up. SOTW always goes over well in this house. Classic Science is not met with a groan.....always a plus. And the k'er pays attention when she reads it aloud. DD likes Adventure Tales of America, a FREE online illustrated kid's history of America http://www.adventuretales.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SebastianCat Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 Sonlight for History, definitely. My kids beg for more! We've done Cores P4/5 through C so far, and this year we're doing a SL-style literature based study of state history, then we'll pick back up with Core D in the fall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quark Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 ...DD likes Adventure Tales of America, a FREE online illustrated kid's history of America http://www.adventuretales.com/ Wow, that looks like fun! Thanks Rainefox! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadianmumof5 Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Veritas Press self-paced online classes come to mind. Our 10 yr old ds loves history and actually remembers most of it! :iagree: 100% Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Adventure Tales of America, a FREE online illustrated kid's history of America http://www.adventuretales.com/ My younger will love this. Heck, my older will too :) Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momling Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Story of Science is a winner here. I'm always being asked if we can follow up on things. Same with OUP history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cschnee Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 I was going to add Story of Science too. We love the student guide! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 (edited) Well, frankly, curriculum just never has been the spark that lights a fire for my non-school-minded DSs. However, they did enjoy: - field trips for older kids (gr. 6-12) -- VERY fun! I organized these group field trips for about 4 years, through middle school and up through about 10th grade - Blast Off with Logic; Orbiting with Logic -- grades 6 and 7 - Reader's Digest "How _____ Works" with Mythbuster episodes and lots of science kits -- grades 6-8 - Fallacy Detective -- grades 7 and 8 - made own animation filmmaking course (Lego mini-figs, video camera, I-Movie, and "Attack of the Killer Video Book: Tips and Tricks for Young Directors") -- grade 8 - Literary Lessons from the Lord of the Rings -- grades 8 and 9 - made our own "Worldviews in Classic Sci-Fi Literature" -- grade 10 - Dave Ramsey's Foundations in Personal Finance -- grades 11 and 12 As far as your requests for captivating curriculum for history, science, writing and math for a middle elementary student... Well, I can suggest the following at least were done without complaint (LOL!) -- though there was no jumping up and down for joy or igniting of a passion: Language Arts: - Wordsmith Apprentice - Jump In - Comicstrip Grammar - Giggles in the Middle - Lightning Lit 7, Lightning Lit 8 History Did a year of world culture/geography and comparative religions in grades 7-8; made a very nice break from chronological history, and was a great transition for the following year of getting into more Worldview materials, which they really enjoyed. - loads of movies, living books, made foods, played games on different countries - Sheppard Software geography games - Inside .... (World's Great Religions series) by Milliken - children's picture books of myths with wonderful illustrations in the style of the culture - made own atlas pages each week on 2-3 countries, with flag stickers, marked maps printed from National Geographic Xpeditions website, wrote a paragraph from reading about the country, etc. Edited January 10, 2012 by Lori D. added info Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In the Rain Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Sotw mct la Weird- I tried twice to get those items in all caps, and it won't let me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daysaregifts Posted January 14, 2012 Author Share Posted January 14, 2012 Thanks to all- I've got a lot to look up! :001_smile: For Life of Fred, what's the youngest it could be used for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Embassy Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Excavating English and Life of Fred Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tammyw Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Singapore is great in our house. We do it daily and I really don't have to push it. I love The Arrow lessons, and my daughter is so-so on them. I'll be looking at other of these ideas! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom31257 Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Ds has always loved BJU reading. He enjoys the variety of material and is always happy to read it. His especially loves the plays. We do lots of fun voices for those. He just started BJU 3rd grade science online (got the great deal before Christmas), and it's the first thing he wants to do every day now. I am so impressed with Mrs. Vick. I think she is the best children's science teacher I've ever experienced in my life. She doesn't teach 4th & 5th, but we will definitely be using it for 6th-8th because she is the teacher. Perplexors from Mindware and Balance Benders from Critical Thinking Co. are books that he would literally do all day long. He can't wait until I give him those during the week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForeverFamily Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 (edited) Story of Science is a winner here. I'm always being asked if we can follow up on things. Same with OUP history. Story of Science looks great! What age/grade are the books written for? Are they textbooks? I am always on the look out for ideas for science. Thanks! I am loving this thread so far! Great ideas! ETA: When searching on amazon for Story of Science two different authors came up. Is the book you are talking about the one by Anna Claybourne or the books by Joy Hakim? Thanks! Like I said I am always on the look out for science possibillities for future school years! :) Edited January 14, 2012 by ForeverFamily Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colleen in NS Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 I'm wondering your experiences with curriculum (esp. history, science, writing and math for a middle elementary student) that has captivated and motivated your child to learn more in that subject--- material that is so well-written, so well-presented, so child-focused, so well-researched and so interesting that they just can't help but learn, and on most days are eager to get back to it! I know not all learning can be this way, but when it can, and it's done well, I want to check it out! I want to light a fire! :001_smile:Thanks in advance! Like LoriD, not curriculum here, but rather a variety of methods/resources. Math: we use a curriculum for this, because I could not teach this by myself. It's not inspiring, but it gets the work done. What inspires is the real-life experiences, plus activities to explore math concepts. Some of my favourite activity books are by Marion Smoothey. Writing: I used the methods outlined in WTM for years before WWE/WWS came out. My kids "wrote across the curriculum," so, they wrote about topics of interest that they were reading about. I let them choose topics from within a bigger framework. With that said, I LOVE WWE and WWS!! They have made this implementation so much easier. History/Science: I've used a framework (this year, modern history/literature and physics), and my kids read and write within this framework. They can do supplementary activities if they want to. They read lots and lots in these topics, and they experiment. I would say that all the reading they have done has lit fires in them to learn more. But those fires also come and go, and that's normal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiegirl Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 For math, LoF for both my oldest (pre-algebra) and my youngest (elementary books.) Writing: There isn't anything that spurs my kids on but we started WWS with my ds (10) and I am really enjoying doing it with him. I thought this would be a huge learning curve for him and a bit of drudgery but he is getting it which is a huge relief for me. History: SOTW. We love that here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Thanks to whoever mentioned the Story of Science series, as it reminded me of a science series DSs REALLY enjoyed in middle school -- John Hudson Tiner's books: - Exploring Planet Earth (gr. 4-6) - History of Medicine (gr. 5-8) - World of Chemistry (gr. 6-8) - World of Physics (gr. 6-8) - World of Mathematics (gr. 6-9) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JessieC Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 MBTP is a real winner with my first grader so far, and it looks as if it just keeps getting better. (All-in-one curriculum.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Thanks to all- I've got a lot to look up! :001_smile: For Life of Fred, what's the youngest it could be used for? I've started LOF Apples with DD5, who is in K. This child loves math, and loves doing math problems (she does the MM 1A workbook for fun, after school). She likes LOF, and likes writing down the math problems at the end of each chapter, but she doesn't *love* it the way DD9 does, and I kind of think she doesn't quite *get* the story line. The math is fine for her, but the story she just doesn't quite follow. I'm thinking of putting it on the shelf for awhile and pulling it out again in a few months . . . a maturation/experience thing, I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 At various times, my children have loved the following: MCT Language Arts (lower levels) Ellen McHenry's The Elements SOTW 1 and 2 K12's History K and 4 K12's Human Odyssey RightStart Math Singapore Math K12 Science 1-3 Jacobs Algebra Life of Fred (but I can't stand it as a math program) Understanding the Universe (Teaching Company, a high school/college course) K12 Literature 6-8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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