frugalmamatx Posted June 7, 2016 Share Posted June 7, 2016 DD will be doing 5th grade this fall. Trying to come up with a plan for what I'll be using, but I am working with almost no budget thanks to recent hail storms that destroyed multiple windows and our roof {and I have no insurance}. I do have some Amazon gift cards saved for Christmas that I could use if absolutely needed. SO - WWYD for a 5th grader that doesn't cost an arm & a leg? Needs to be open and go, no prep for me as I'm a super busy single mom with health issues. Not something that needs a ton of printing either. I used Sonlight until this past year when it just was too much reading for dd and she got bogged down in it. In a perfect world where I'm not out of the house half the time, it would have worked great, but with my busy schedule it was too many days off for dd to keep up with. DD has requested more workbook based materials - she prefers being able to just fill in the blanks and get it done. I was planning on putting in a request to the Book Samaritan, but it looks like they may have closed as their blog says "moving" and they haven't taken requests in months it seems. Here is what I have so far: Science ~ Apologia Human Anatomy {picked up for $5 at the used book sale} Math: Ace Paces 3rd grade / Saxon 54 1st edition and Khan Academy {We started Khan Academy 6 weeks ago and it truly has helped dd's lagging math skills} Art: Artpac Language Arts: ? {I need something that covers about a 5th/6th grade level AS WELL AS something that covers basic terms that dd doesn't get like nouns, verbs, pronouns, etc} History: ? {Needs to cover American History from colonial to modern as I'm trying to stick to the Sonlight cycle. I was going to get Lifepac Grade 5 history as I think it would work well for us since it's portable & a workbook, but haven't been able to find it in my budget} Our local convention is next week, so asking here first for ideas so I can preview if that publisher is in attendance. Language Arts: ? History: ? {Needs to cover American History from colonial to modern. I was going to get Lifepac Grade 5 history as I think it would work well for us since it's portable & workbook, but haven't been able to find it in my budget} Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momto4inSoCal Posted June 7, 2016 Share Posted June 7, 2016 Climbing to Good English is a good low cost workbook option for english. It is similar to rod and staff. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherry in OH Posted June 7, 2016 Share Posted June 7, 2016 The Complete Book of United States History is a workbook available inexpensively via Amazon. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frugalmamatx Posted June 7, 2016 Author Share Posted June 7, 2016 Climbing to Good English is a good low cost workbook option for english. It is similar to rod and staff. We started out with Climbing to Good English back in 1st, and then tried it again in 2nd. Both years dd got bogged down in it - it was simply too much bookwork for her. I'll look at the 5th grade program - maybe it's less bookwork. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momto4inSoCal Posted June 7, 2016 Share Posted June 7, 2016 Guest Hollow also has a free literature based history of course you would need to check out the books at the library. http://www.guesthollow.com/homeschool/history/americanpdf.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flowergirl159 Posted June 7, 2016 Share Posted June 7, 2016 Xtramath is a free online maths drill program. I have my elementary students work on these most days. It saves me time drilling and is a little more fun that physical flash cards. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmrich Posted June 7, 2016 Share Posted June 7, 2016 Are you close to a library? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frugalmamatx Posted June 7, 2016 Author Share Posted June 7, 2016 Are you close to a library? I am, but we don't use it honestly. By the time I spend $5 a trip on city bus fare to get us there & back, plus the inevitable fines from returning books late due to illness / bad weather / I simply got too busy, it isn't cost effective for us. Plus the closest branch is in a public high school, so I tend to avoid it because I don't want dd exposed to the student's attitudes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theelfqueen Posted June 7, 2016 Share Posted June 7, 2016 Easypeasy? https://allinonehomeschool.com/ Any of these? http://www.onlypassionatecuriosity.com/homeschool-language-arts-1-6th-grade-for-free/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caviar Posted June 7, 2016 Share Posted June 7, 2016 Look up the Book Samaritan online. Located in OK. They try to come as close as they can to what you need. Free! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted June 7, 2016 Share Posted June 7, 2016 You say your daughter gets "bogged down" in a lot of text. Is she good at decoding and fluency when she reads out loud? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitten18 Posted June 7, 2016 Share Posted June 7, 2016 The Complete Book of United States History is a workbook available inexpensively via Amazon.This would be excellent for you. Though I would call it a textbook with a few activities thrown in. I read it aloud to the kids this year, it's really well done and everyone enjoyed it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitten18 Posted June 7, 2016 Share Posted June 7, 2016 I am, but we don't use it honestly. By the time I spend $5 a trip on city bus fare to get us there & back, plus the inevitable fines from returning books late due to illness / bad weather / I simply got too busy, it isn't cost effective for us. Plus the closest branch is in a public high school, so I tend to avoid it because I don't want dd exposed to the student's attitudes.Does your library system have online audio books?Our library has all the Joy Hakim US history books available through One Click Digital, we really enjoyed those as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frugalmamatx Posted June 7, 2016 Author Share Posted June 7, 2016 Look up the Book Samaritan online. Located in OK. They try to come as close as they can to what you need. Free! Right now they aren't taking requests it seems. Looks like they haven't had requests open since early this spring. I was all ready to send in a request and found it when I checked their website for the address. You say your daughter gets "bogged down" in a lot of text. Is she good at decoding and fluency when she reads out loud? She is - she actually is an excellent reader, but the amount of reading for school was killing her love for pleasure reading, which I feel is FAR more important than reading academic fiction. Maybe bogged down wasn't the right way to describe it. She was continually putting off school reading for things like American Girl, Happy Hollisters, Beverly Cleary, etc. On days when I strictly enforced school reading, afterwards she would complain she was bored but didn't feel like reading because she'd already done a bunch of reading for school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frugalmamatx Posted June 8, 2016 Author Share Posted June 8, 2016 Does your library system have online audio books? Our library has all the Joy Hakim US history books available through One Click Digital, we really enjoyed those as well. I will check - we have a digital only library here that has a so-so selection. I second easy peasy language arts! It has really helped my boys! You may want to check out their history as well as it is done in 4 year cycles and would likely cover what you want. You can go to the sidebar on the right and click the individual subjects instead of using the whole program. As another option you could check out spectrum LA books on amazon they seem very good. And for history you could just read historical fiction from the time periods you want. I have wanted to try the big complete books for my kids when funds are tight, this one, this one and this one. I'll look at Easy-Peasy again - I looked at it before and it seemed very disjointed. Spectrum LA is on my look-at list - I think our Barnes & Noble carries them. I probably can get a gift card to pay for them too, since Amazon has them as well. The Complete Book of United States History is a workbook available inexpensively via Amazon. I'll look at this again. I saw a couple reviews that said it left sections of American History out {like Slavery} and had taken it off my maybe list. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almondbutterandjelly Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 Hunter made an amazing plan for homeschooling which uses all free resources. I believe this is the current link. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Fvf4FXKZtobzZKNlZheVdvMmc/view 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Misha Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 If you have a kindle or the app for your phone/tablet/pc you can download books from your library as well. We do that all the time. I only wind up going to the library if I've ordered something that isn't available on kindle or to renew my card. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rutheart Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 (edited) For 5th grade grammar, I've used weekly Mad Libs to give my student easy familiarity with the different parts of speech. They have more fun than if they were doing worksheets, and by the end of the year, they're not asking what each part of speech is anymore. You can find Mad Libs to print for free with a little internet searching. I also used a combination of Easy Peasy grammar and What Your 5th Grader Needs to Know to fill out the rest of the year. I'd use the list in the latter to do things like tell her to research onomatopoeia online and then come give me an example. I posted my plan for the year here: https://westwoodhomeschool.wordpress.com/2016/06/08/5th-grade-grammar/ It was a light grammar year, but we needed one subject to be lighter, since we were starting logic and doing higher level work in multiple subjects. When my younger kid reaches 5th grade, I'll probably use the same schedule, but rearrange the order, so there aren't so many weeks of phrases back to back. I did buy Writing Strands and Vocab from Classical Roots, but I just used novels for lit, so overall language arts wasn't very expensive. I think about $25. ETA: Here's one website with free Mad Libs: http://www.classroomjr.com/printable-mad-libs-for-kids/ Ruth Edited June 8, 2016 by rutheart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emba Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 There is a free Language Arts program online that is called The Good and the Beautiful. I used a little of the third grade for my daughter. It would require printing unless you can have DD do the reading on the computer or an e-reader. If you only printed out the worksheet type pages, it would be significantly less printing. But is a complete LA program - short reading selections, spelling, and grammar. Also a little bit of geography and art. http://www.jennyphillips.com/home-school-curriculum/ I will say, the reason we didn't use it more was because I only wanted the literature sections, and then a lot of them were too preachy for my taste. But I did think it was well put together. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frugalmamatx Posted June 8, 2016 Author Share Posted June 8, 2016 Okay after looking over my shelves again, I have a tentative plan! Still open to ideas so keep them coming please! History: Lifepac Grade 5 {I haven't been able to find anything cheaper that is still workbook based & really covers history the way I want to} with added historical fiction. Science: Human Anatomy Math: Ace Paces / Saxon 54 and Khan Academy. I *think* I can get dd up to 4th grade level in math if we work hard this summer, in which case she could go straight into Saxon 54. I know she'll hate it, but it is a very solid math program. Art: Artpac Language: Spanish {found Spanish for Children set on my shelf!} Language arts is still up in the air. I've looked at some of the free suggestions mentioned on this thread, and haven't found one that would work for us. I went back through my shelves again, and found the old Writing strands level 2 & 3 from the late 80's. I was tempted to use that, but when I started reading through the lessons it was confusing to me {and these were sections DD was supposed to do herself} so that is out. I also found Caught Ya: Grammar with a Giggle for middle schoolers - can anyone chime in on that program? It looks great, but I am not sure if it is supposed to be a program on it's own or used in conjunction with something else. I had found it at a thrift shop a while back and forgot about it. I also am eyeing the Spectrum Language arts 5th grade workbook - I can get it pretty cheaply on Amazon and it seems to cover everything I want covered this year. Maybe the two together? Are there any other subjects, in your opinion, that I need to add in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaquitita Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 We started out with Climbing to Good English back in 1st, and then tried it again in 2nd. Both years dd got bogged down in it - it was simply too much bookwork for her. I'll look at the 5th grade program - maybe it's less bookwork. By fifth grade it's just three days a week. So less book work. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busymama7 Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 Does climbing with good English include spelling? I couldn't tell from the website. I'm using rod and staff spelling and love it. Need something to fill in grammar etc. don't need writing instruction but it's ok if it has it. This is for 6th. Sorry to hijack ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmasc Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 Does climbing with good English include spelling? I couldn't tell from the website. I'm using rod and staff spelling and love it. Need something to fill in grammar etc. don't need writing instruction but it's ok if it has it. This is for 6th. Sorry to hijack ;) Check out Easy Grammar. We just switched over to it this year (5th) and I love it. I didn't need spelling or writing, so this fits the bill! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 Does climbing with good English include spelling? I couldn't tell from the website. I'm using rod and staff spelling and love it. Need something to fill in grammar etc. don't need writing instruction but it's ok if it has it. This is for 6th. Sorry to hijack ;) No, not at that level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 Okay after looking over my shelves again, I have a tentative plan! Still open to ideas so keep them coming please! History: Lifepac Grade 5 {I haven't been able to find anything cheaper that is still workbook based & really covers history the way I want to} with added historical fiction. Science: Human Anatomy Math: Ace Paces / Saxon 54 and Khan Academy. I *think* I can get dd up to 4th grade level in math if we work hard this summer, in which case she could go straight into Saxon 54. I know she'll hate it, but it is a very solid math program. Art: Artpac Language: Spanish {found Spanish for Children set on my shelf!} Language arts is still up in the air. I've looked at some of the free suggestions mentioned on this thread, and haven't found one that would work for us. I went back through my shelves again, and found the old Writing strands level 2 & 3 from the late 80's. I was tempted to use that, but when I started reading through the lessons it was confusing to me {and these were sections DD was supposed to do herself} so that is out. I also found Caught Ya: Grammar with a Giggle for middle schoolers - can anyone chime in on that program? It looks great, but I am not sure if it is supposed to be a program on it's own or used in conjunction with something else. I had found it at a thrift shop a while back and forgot about it. I also am eyeing the Spectrum Language arts 5th grade workbook - I can get it pretty cheaply on Amazon and it seems to cover everything I want covered this year. Maybe the two together? Are there any other subjects, in your opinion, that I need to add in? If it were me in your shoes, I would do Hunter's plan linked above. Or if I loved what I already had and JUST needed LA, I would do Intermediate Language lessons... which is free online... cheap to buy... (also on amazon in hardback or kindle) and also available in workbook format if you are into that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.