HS Check in. Dec 31-Jan 13

[thirdtimemomma]

Chocolate factory.. science, math, history... Everything just about.

History, check out Story of the World and the activity guides.

Science... Don't know. Depends on your prefrence. I have a lot of Christian suggestions.

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[a_marines_wife03]

Originally Posted by thirdtimemomma Chocolate factory.. science, math, history... Everything just about. History, check out Story of the World and the activity guides. Science... Don't know. Depends on your prefrence. I have a lot of Christian suggestions. Sent from my ADR6400L using DS Forum

I would love to hear your suggestions we are a christian family and I am lost on what to do for science.

I will check out the story of the world.

[thirdtimemomma]

It depends on what style you would like to do. The outdoor hour challenge is good. jeanie fulbrights is good. Also answers in Genesis has a science text that is good. We use MFW so our science is included with our history. Ambleside online has some great science ideas too for a livinh book style.

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[tallanvor]

Julie, we really like Apologia for science.

[cedavid2011]

We will be starting Galloping the Globe unit studies. And I got the Funnix reading free download so we are going to start that as well. We will continue with Math-U See and try to do things in a Charlotte Mason style. I like the planning part, but struggle with making time to do it. My mom helps out with the younger ones and she has to spend lots of time at her township clerk job at the beginning of the year, so that's why we will be taking a longer break. The kids will be needing more routine by next week though, so we may do a little school and ease back into things.

For those who were discussing reading...
My DS1 who is 9 1/2 can read, but lacks fluency, and was always fighting me about it. Then our library started offering a book club for 3rd-5th graders once a month. The first book I read to him and it was really funny (which helped). He now wants to read the book every month so he can go to the book club. He is now reading parts of the book to me and really likes it. The last book had 30 chapters! This is a big leap for him so I was really excited. Maybe others might be able to find some similar programs as incentives for their struggling readers.

[LAF512]

Originally Posted by a_marines_wife03 I would love to hear your suggestions we are a christian family and I am lost on what to do for science. I will check out the story of the world.

We LOVE Apologia for science. We did Astronomy last year and are currently doing Zoology 1. It is by far my dd's favorite subject.

[RainandRedemption]

Hi everyone! Hope you all had a great Christmas/new year!

We aren't starting back until Monday although reading through this thread has inspired me to do a little review with ds today.

We'll be looking for something new for next year so I'll be trying to pay more attention to what you guys mention about what you use for each subject and how your kids are doing with it/how you like it. It's hard though because I don't know much about these different curriculums, so it's hard to "log" info about them and compare in my head. I should just take like a full weekend to search the internet for them and reviews and such.

Right now we're using Abeka for phonics and math. Ds is doing really well with it but he says it's boring, so I need to find something that will interest him more. He's 5 this year. And we just follow our own path for history and science right now, but Im going to look into some of the things mentioned here for those for next year. Reading up on story of the world right now.

[2queens&1princenmyhouse]

Originally Posted by a_marines_wife03 I would love to hear your suggestions we are a christian family and I am lost on what to do for science. I will check out the story of the world.

Another vote for Apologia. My girls love it, but if you think it might be too advanced or for older kiddos, I'm going to do a hodge podge with DS for science/social studies. I have a fascinating facts book I got from Scholastic years ago that has a 2 page spread on a wide variety of topics. It's about a 3rd grade reading level, but I think it is written simply enough that he can understand most of it. I plan to do a topic or 2 each week (depending on how things shape up). We'll read each of the little blurbs and if he finds something interesting, we'll go check out a book from the library or do a little internet search about it. I also have all of the Usborne Experiement books (science with plants, science in the kitchen, etc.) and will do an occasional experiment that goes with what we are talking about or whatever fits into our life.

He does sometimes sit in with the girls on their science and enjoys it also, but I was thinking of doing something geared just for him.

Originally Posted by RainandRedemption Hi everyone! Hope you all had a great Christmas/new year! We aren't starting back until Monday although reading through this thread has inspired me to do a little review with ds today. We'll be looking for something new for next year so I'll be trying to pay more attention to what you guys mention about what you use for each subject and how your kids are doing with it/how you like it. It's hard though because I don't know much about these different curriculums, so it's hard to "log" info about them and compare in my head. I should just take like a full weekend to search the internet for them and reviews and such. Right now we're using Abeka for phonics and math. Ds is doing really well with it but he says it's boring, so I need to find something that will interest him more. He's 5 this year. And we just follow our own path for history and science right now, but Im going to look into some of the things mentioned here for those for next year. Reading up on story of the world right now.

I really wish we had some sort of homeschool curriculum store near us that I could just go to and sit down with several things and really look them over. The five page pdf some companies offer just isn't enough for me to really get a good feel for if it will work for my family or not.

I know many people who brag on SOTW and it was a bomb for us. The kids didn't get much out of it. They liked Mystery of History better. That being said, we're dumping ancients and doing US History for the second half of this year. The kids are really excited about it. I'm using Hakim's The Story of US. Anyone have any feedback on that?

[Britches~in~Stitches]

Thank you LAF512 that helps. It's nothing against phonics pathways, but its a bit of a slog at this point. I know some things are like that, but AAR looked more interactive..if it isn't anymore effective then it isn't worth the money though. Plus I really don't need anything else that takes prep work right now.

I have another question for everyone, when do we teach about dinosaurs? I remember learning about them in first grade, but everything I've looked at doesn't seem to include them. We're planning on using sotw as a spine for history next year and we're considering real science odyssey for science...but where are the dinosaurs? :scratches head:

This is where I feel like I'm in the dark, lol. Btw, we use secular curriculums, and Christian curriculums without a strong religious base.

[jen_batten]

Cynthia...You mean cover them in depth, or just at all? We use MFW and we touched on dinosaurs in K.

As for us...we tried to do a bit of school today but it didn't go that well. I think the kids were too excited because they had a friend coming to spend the night.