Of course, being new to un/homeschooling, I couldn't expect every choice to be perfect. I found the Geography book we ordered will be good to test rote memory, but I didn't feel it would give Sage an in-depth understanding of Geography, so I went back to the drawing board and did more research. We have decide to use Mapping the World by Heart, which will also incorporate art:
I also discovered his science textbook was not really a textbook as much as it was just a book full of hands-on science experiments. Don't get me wrong; the experiments are really cool, and we'll definitely do them, but I wanted a more thorough textbook as well. We have decided on Discovery Education's Science Techbook–an interactive digital textbook paired with hundreds of activities:
http://www.discoveryeducation.com/what-we-offer/techbook-digital-textbooks/k-8-science/index.cfm
Sage also enrolled in Youth Digital's Mod Design course, in which he will learn to code using JAVA while creating mods for Minecraft, the game he's obsessed with. He's ecstatic he will be able to create his own armor, creatures, landscapes, and tools! It is a highly recommended program, and kids naturally learn how to code while having fun.
http://www.youthdigital.com/mod-design-1.html
The only other tweak we made was to read Lord of the Flies first because I couldn't get my hands on the first book in time, so we' ll just switch the two. I'm glad we started with LOTF because Sage is really enjoying it! He's already read to chapter 8, and he only has 4 more chapters to go!
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