You'll find lots of helps at the publisher's website. Yes, no Ph.D. here, but I still did it. :0

I would love to know what on-line school is working for you daughter. I have two students entering high school in the fall, but even with 4 years to go, I am looking forward to being done! Blessings to you as you find your way,

Yes, Wheelock's Latin. I did this with an online group MANY years ago. Even if you just get through the first few chapters, it will help a lot. I think the first 10 chapters or so cover most everything in elementary age Latin courses.

Well, Terri, I think you have it exactly right. I wanted to like it. I already have several hundred dollars invested in a program that I am not able to use. Time to move on. Hey, YOU have really helped ME out! :-))))

Ok, Ok, I was on here early this morning and I admit I was more than a bit fussy about LTOW. I was not happy to be told that the files for version 2 were gone and I would have to upgrade for the third time! I have felt bad all day, however. If I made it sound like the program was not REALLY GOOD, I am sorry. I was trying to get across that I could not manage to get my particular son to want to enter into discussion with his mom. Just couldn't get him to think or to talk. Even Andrew Kern himself might have hit this particular kid over the head with the old LTOW 3 ring binder. Yes, the vocabulary is different. Yes, you have to teach this to your kid, you can't hand it to him. Yes, the CDs would better be DVDs for some of us so we could SEE what is going on. Yes, vibrant discussion is going to be hard with one teacher and one student. But, if you can invest yourself in even the first few modules, you will equip your student to be able to quickly and thoroughly outline an essay, research paper, speech, whatever. The nice thing is you may just learn more than your student and you will use it to improve your own research and writing! Well, I hope I have redeemed myself. :) I feel better! I am looking at a different program because I am fussing about upgrading again and I have several other classes to teach next year. Because of that I might like a program that I CAN hand to my daughters to watch the DVDs, and then just check their work. Terri, it does seem a little creepy from your perpective to have all these LTOW staff members and others respond the way they did. I have known Andrew online (from classed, Andrew) for probably 10 years or so and please, just trust me on this, these are REALLY NICE people. Just the nicest, honestly. This isn't about the program for them. I believe they will do everything they can to help you including giving you a refund.

Hi Terri, I expect you have the new and improved version 4? I have to say that I am glad to hear you say this. I have been very tempted to buy the new and improved version 4. I bought the first version years ago and was completely unable to implement it. Then I upgraded to the "easier to implement" version 2. I managed to make it through module 3. At that point they only included up through module 3 (there are 10 I think) and required you to download and print the other modules. I will have two high school students in the fall and went looking to print out the rest of the modules for my version 2. I have been told they are unavailable and given the price for upgrading to version 4. :-( I must say I really love Andrew Kern. He is brilliant; I am not. I tried to be brilliant; I failed. I think I am moving on to IEW at this point. I have been told it is too simple. That sounds right up my alley. I did see someone using these techniques with a class of students. It is a very different dynamic as there are many ideas being thrown out and discussion going on. The discussion I had with my then 15yo son as we tried to fill out ANIs and such was mostly me talking and throwing out ideas for him to say, "Uh" and "Unh-uh." I think I can laugh about it now, 5 years later! Blessings,

Traditional Logic 1 can be done in one semester with TL 2 in the second semester. I thought the DVDs were worth the money. I didn't need to do any prep. work, just watched the DVD with my student each Monday. Then they worked on the Exercises the rest of the week. I don't have my book right here, but I think I remember there were only 4 days of lessons/wk. Blessings,

I have been doing this for a long time and I remember when I was starting out that I wanted my husband to be more involved. Over the years, though, I have seen so much conflict with "involved" husbands. Now I am thankful that my husband trusts me completely with the homeschooling end of things and lets me do whatever I want. He is a sounding board if I need it, but I find better support for making decisions on boards such as these and with other homeschooling moms. My husband did get more involved as my son reached middle school. He was difficult to homeschool, just really never liked academics. My husband took responsibility for his math about 6th grade and that was a blessing. This was much more about relationships and discipline that homeschooling. One way that my husband has been a big help is that he understands that because I am homeschooling I need regular breaks from the kids. This may mean spending the evening in my room reading while he is more relationally involved with them. Sometimes it is getting away for lunch with a friend or whatever. It is just that HE GETS IT, that it can be relationally intense (I am a big time introvert) and that I need space. Best wishes to you! It will take a few years to find your places, but if there is conflict, back off and look for another way through. God has been so faithful to show those ways all along this now 18 year journey.

First at 31, last at 41.

<<And then I wonder why they get stuck using these methods??????:banghead:>> Kirstin, I just want to say that I just finished Zeta, too. The principles illustrated by the rule of 4 will be necessary in Algebra. I am very glad that Steve brings these up now and again so that they will remain familiar to us. I have wondered many times what he is doing, only to find that when we come to what I think will be hard for my girls, he has already been covering it from many angles for years. I trust him as our math teacher. Best wishes with your new math curriculum.

My oldest used Sonlight's Core 530 British Literature when she was a senior. She did it all on her own and enjoyed the selection of books.

We have used MUS with my youngest girls. I did notice my 13yo got stuck using the "rule of four" for everything last year in Epsilon. It was just easier for her than having to THINK about greatest common factor. When I showed her how this keeps the number smaller, she was more willing to use it. We had to work at it for a week though. My younger daughter, however, hates to multiply large numbers (as she has to use paper and not do it in her head, horrors) and will use any shortcut she can. She is the one that finds word problems to be a snap, too, whereas my 13yo really has to think about them and get the right formula to use. We did not get stuck on lining up the decimals. I just asked my 13yo if she remembered it and she said she liked doing it that way and her younger sister hated it. So I am wondering if this has something to do with different learning styles and not MUS in particular. Both my girls do equally well on the tests, but one is definitely more "math intuitive" than the other.

The great thing about SL 3 is that it would be a no-brainer if you get busy with CC. The schedule is so straightforward & all planned out. After SL 3 & 4 you can go straight to SL 6 & 7 which is World History.

Merry, Epsilon first teaches them to divide fractions by using a common denominator. I haven't seen it taught like that anywhere else. It isn't until later in the course that they divide by multiplying the reciprocal.

The first lessons each year are so simple that it is easy to think they will all be that easy. I remember my youngest especially getting frustrated when things started taking a little longer. This made it tempting to move on too quickly and without her mastering all her facts. Don't do it! Slow down when you need to. Even stop and do flash cards for a few weeks if you have to. That is what I learned! We are just finishing Zeta. MUS is a great curriculum and well thought out. I am more amazed as we go along how Steve has prepared them for each new step.

This type of problem was one of the few hang-ups (including tears) my youngest has had in math. There were just so many steps that she tired out very quickly. She was used to doing so much in her head and I think all the writing out was hard for her, too. We suspended our regular math lessons for two weeks and I put 3 problems on the whiteboard each day and stood by her to make sure she did them quickly, maybe a minute or two each? I know that it helped to have the space as she is a messy writer and that was a frustration, too. The lined paper turned sideways did not help nearly as much as writing big on the whiteboard. I did have her say out loud what she was doing for the first of the three math problems. After the two weeks, we went back to the math lessons and she seemed to take them in stride after that.

I really liked Lost Tools of Writing, too. My only caveat is that you need to have students who are willing to engage, get involved in the course. My son just wanted to sit back and have me tell him what to write. He just would not engage in the invention process no matter how much I tried to drag ... I mean invite him in. It was very frustrating to me!

We didn't do much SCIENCE at that age but my girls loved to mix things. We would make clay or anything that you could mix in bowls and then mess around with. Brownie and cornbread mixes are good, too.

I think I'm getting close! This may be 49!

I would go ahead and try one. They will let you know if they want to continue. There are dead bodies pictured at times in this series and so I warned my kids ahead of time that they should look away if they were uncomfortable. We watched two or three episodes and enjoyed them, but didn't finish the series.

War and Peace. I figured it was about time to read it as I am 53 soon.

I am really dumb, so I write "start" with an arrow on my pattern. I used to just put a check mark and I could never remember if that was the starting row or the one I had finished. UGH!

Have her continue to take some sample tests until December. I have heard different things about how this can affect scores. Some say it will make little difference. Others have seen good gains from testing at home.

I take a paragraph from whatever my kids happen to be reading at that time.

Yes, some of the Alan Lee illustrations can be disturbing to younger children. They are beautiful, but very explicit with gore and ghosts, etc.