A recap of my day...and, as usual...a question!!

Oh my, what a day we've had. Been running everywhere.
This morning at 11, Matthew had an orthodontist appt. He now has yellow braces and goes back in 6 weeks. He will be getting them off sometime this summer. May 3, he is scheduled to have a tooth pulled. :-(
Anyway, the orthodontist is clear up on the north side of town.
On our way home, we stopped at wally world for a few things. It was a really good time. Mainly because there were several people who were like, "whoa...are they all yours?" or "FOUR boys? wow your hands are pretty full" And then as they are saying that I can almost SEE them calculating what time it is, and then the question that always follows, "is today a holiday?" Nope, we just homeschool! LOL
So we get home and I realize that tomorrow is yard inspection day, and the lawn needs mowing. Since Zachy was sleeping, I set the boys up with school work and went to town mowing. At one point, Dillon came out to ask me a question. But then he was yelling. Of course the lawn mower was going, so I couldn't hear him.
When I turned it off though, he was yelling about a baby bird, that was still breathing. So I went to go check it out, worried that it was dead. But alas, he was alive. The poor thing had a hole in the top of his head with some blood trickling out. We put him in an easter basket and came in to find the wildlife refuge in town. Well, they were worried because of his head so asked me to bring him in.
Guess where it was? Yep, all the way back up north. We hopped in the car and head out. We get there, hand over the bird, give them a donation and leave. I found myself wondering what my own parents would have done. Would they have paid to drop off a bird that could potentially die? I just couldn't allow my kids to think we didn't do all we could. They so badly wanted to keep him and nurse him back to health. I'll admit, he was pretty cute...and hungry...he was chirping away like mad!
So now we're home, and have eaten dinner, and in about 10 minutes, we'll be heading out to church. What a day!
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Question time.
For all my homeschool readers....
We are currently using ACE paces for the boys. And I'm satisfied to continue on with them for Dillon (starting 2nd grade next year) but Matthew will be starting 5th grade, and I'm not sure I want to continue on with them. Mainly because they are workbooks where he reads and fills in the blanks. I'm not entirely sure he's retaining anything! Although, when I do placement tests, he tests right where he should be. The other thing is, I'm concerned about it getting boring. He also said today that he wishes he could see REAL pictures of things instead of drawings.
So, after 6 years of homeschooling, I think I may be ready to "Switch it up" and create my own curriculum.
Which leads me to my question. What are some great things out there for 5th graders? I would really appreciate any feedback I can get!
Thanks so much