I would be interested to hear from anyone who has used TRISMS. I would like to know how they found/ find it and how user-friendly it is? Thanks Julia

What about the joy of learning? When I started homeschooling many years ago I was excited about maintaining my children's love/joy of learning. More often than not I now wonder where is the promised "joy" of learning. I have two very different children. One is very much a let's get this done and over with and the other is an I would much rather being doing something else...although it's not quite clear what the something else might be. Perhaps DD3 will be filled with the joy of learning. Tongue 'n cheek: I feel cheated :-) Don't get me wrong there are a-ha moments and times of being pleasantly immersed in something but joy??

I am so envious and in awe of all you readers. I have a question. "How do you find the time?" And as a follow-up question, "How do you stay awake?" If I read at the end of the day, even with the best of intentions, I fall asleep. I really would like to regain the habit of reading for myself. I read almost all day to my children :-)

Do I hear you about boxed curriculum being tempting. It's just a shame my children just aren't out of the box kind of kids. And then I always feel the need to tinker :-)

I too can relate to the searching, searching and planning, planning striving for the perfect curriculum and then not executing. Twice it has driven me to buy a boxed curriculum which have been terrible flops... my children are just not out of the box students. Two quotes that I have found helpful are... "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing badly." and “Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.â€-St Francis of Assis I hope your health issues are resolved quickly.

I have been looking at AAR for the exact same reason. I wanted something structured for my DD3 (almost 4) so she could "do school" while her older brothers are "doing school". My children also have dyslexic issues and AAS has worked like a charm for them. I think I will go and have another look at what is included. My finger has hovered over the buy button a couple of times. I have everything made up for Reading Reflex which I used with success with my older son many moons ago. Perhaps I will just wait and use that. My daughter has also enjoyed the Bob Books app for ipad. Thanks for posting.

I am considering Winston Grammar because it is hands-on. Perhaps that might help. It has two levels. We have used Easy Grammar in the past but I found my son could do the worksheets but the grammar didn't really stick. We also tried and discarded JAG. Julia

I have been surprised as I try to teach my children grammar how little I know or how much I have forgotten :001_smile: I will be following this thread. Thanks Julia

Living Memory looks like a great resource. Thanks for posting it. Julia

DS12 wants to be an Olympic Gymnast and a journalist covering the White House. DS8 wants to a scientist perhaps studying alternate energy sources. DD3 wants be a ballerina and a gymnast.

Hello I was wondering if anyone has used the following Teaching Company Courses and if so, with what age group and with what success? Nature of Earth: Introduction to Geology How Earth Works Thanks Julia

And oh, as far as the corporate world is considered I think what you say is pretty true of most countries now. Julia

Just thought I would give my penny's worth. We are from NZ and are currently on an extended vacation in the US. We are very happy and would very much like to stay here. Every country has its pros and cons. We have lived in a number of places in a number of continents. We have spent quite a lot of our trip in Utah. We are not LDS but have found that the LDS influence takes off some of what people might consider the "edge" to American culture. The resources for homeschooling are amazing and so accessible. Also the feeling of geographical isolation in NZ (with all its pros and cons) is a reality. As an aside not all of NZ shakes but there are over 60 volcanoes in the N.island (or so I read), 40 in greater Auckland.... most suburbs are named after the volcano they sit on :-). And I do miss seeing Rangitoto (volcano in Auckland harbour) from just about any Auckland vantage point. Julia

Hello Priscilla I am interested to see what replies you receive. Kolbe of course claims to use the Ignatian method. They have a short publication about using the Ignatian method for homeschooling. I would say that Seton is the most conservative of those you listed from looking at some of their material and perusing their website. Seton and MODG both use Apologia for science and lean towards creationism. MODG's curriculum is set to prepare students for Thomas Aquinas. Kolbe does not use or recommend Apologia. You don't include CHC in your list which uses Mary Daly's Universe in My Hands for science and not creationist texts. They also use Catholic Textbook Project texts for history rather than Anne Carroll's books. My only issue with CHC is whether it is academically rigorous or not. It is also workbook based and not really classical. I would also love to give my children the benefit of a Jesuit-like (inquiry-based) education. Julia

We are currently dabbling in K12 as independents. Up until now we have been eclectic homeschoolers. I thought it would suit this season of our lives as we are travelling a lot. The planning aspect (or lack of it :-)) is great and it seems very thorough but it is school at home. I am sure it is a step up on what is offered in most B&M. My children are enjoying the novelty of the OLS and there are webinars and the BigThink for the Learning Coach but in terms of education there is a lot of box ticking. I am sure there would be a lot more of that in a VA and it would be very difficult if we had to keep to someone else's pace. It is a big expense and I am not sure at this stage whether we will continue or not after this year. The no planning and no more late nights is a big pro though. My penny's worth. Julia

The economics/wisdom of a college education seems to be a recurring theme at the moment. My husband was reading bits and pieces out of the latest Newsweek I think addressing the same issue. It would seem that the long held investment wisdom of buying your own home as opposed to renting and investing in your education are no longer so obvious in today's reality. The GBA I am sure would be in agreement. Thanks for posting.

We use Faith and Life from Ignatius Press which is also available online through My Catholic Faith delivered. They also offer other curricula online such as Didache which I intend to use later. Following the liturgical year is a gentle and enriching introduction to Catholicism. There are lots of resources eg domestic-church.com. Catholic Mosaic has already been mentioned which I would also recommend. Have you visited Elizabeth Foss's blog or her board Kind Conversations? There is also the Real Learning forum. Catholic Heritage Curricula is also a good place to start. We enjoyed Marigold Hunt's books as well as the Prove It series by Amy Welborn. Have you looked at Designing your own Catholic Curriculum by Laura Berquist? She offers a lot of good suggestions. HTH Julia

Have you looked at what is available on Currclick? Both Miquon and Math Mammoth are available for download along with lots of other math resources. We used MUS which I guess won't suit your needs. We also did a season of Singapore. Julia

We use MUS. I enjoy its ease of teaching but do sometimes wonder about its effectiveness. I enjoy finding the why behind the math that I was taught in a rote-like fashion at school but I wonder if I can "see it" so easily because I already know it and there is an a-ha moment for me. I am not sure that happens for my son to the same degree since it is all new territory. If that makes any sense. DS12 is currently doing Pre-algebra but after he had finished the Delta book (completing all the worksheets and tests) and put it aside we found we had to return to it because somehow a lot of it just hadn't jelled in his minded. He can do division now, so I guess that's what counts but it was disconcerting at the time. MUS's method is a leap of faith since you can't readily check your child's progress using the placement tests of other curricula but other users who have completed the program say their children did very well in exams. Julia

I have found Book Depository to be an absolute life saver when trying to homeschool using a literature rich method outside of the US. Aphrohead.com is another company based in the UK that offers free international shipping. I have often wondered how these companies can afford to send individual books without charging for shipping when giants like Amazon charge per book and an international surcharge per order. I have found Rainbow Resources to be very efficient and often the cheapest way to get resources even though the shipping is expensive because their prices are so much more reasonable than buying the products locally (if they are available). The same is also true of TImberdoodle...even though the shipping does hurt. I agree that is always frustrating when companies charge a percentage rather than actual shipping. I guess it is just more efficient from their end and I am grateful that they ship overseas as many companies wont. My family and I have been visiting the States for an extended holiday. We are currently in Orem UT. The local library is excellent. I always wondered how people could afford to use all the books that they do but I now think that you could truly homeschool using only a library card for history at least and perhaps science given the wealth of resources available through the library system. The joys of homeschooling outside of the States :-)

Hello Courtney Are you doing K12 through a VA as I didn't think the new math was available to independents? It'd be great if it were. Kind regards Julia

Hello I have also been investigating K12. If you attend one of their webinars (listed under Attend an event on the homepage) or by joining the Yahoo group K12Parent2Parent you can receive a username and password for a OLS (online school) demo account (email one of the Kstars in the Yahoo grp). The passwords generally last for a week and it gives you access to the OLS with a student in each grade so you can see all the lessons and lesson information. If you go here http://www.k12.com/pdf/Material_Kit_Contents.pdf the course materials are listed for each course. I hope that helps. Julia

Hello I am sorry if this is a repeat message. I tried to post a similar one earlier but received a message that I wasn't logged in and lost the message. GRRR I am a homeschooling mother of two boys DS11 (almost 12) and DS8 and a DD3. My children have always homeschooled. We have in the past been fairly ecclectic Classical/CM/SL. I read, tried and put aside TWTM (1st edn) when I first started homeschooling. I have recently reread the latest edition and found it appealing. My experience homeschooling has given me a different lense and my expectations are more realistic. Last year my DS11 did SL core 3 which we greatly enjoyed but we seemed to end the year without having put pen to paper much, so I am reevaluating. I am considering doing TWTM. I have gone through the relevant years and summarised/broken down what is suggested/required. I would start DS8 in grammar and DS11 in dialectic at the beginning of the 4 year history cycle and then gradually work up through the year so they are both at the suggested skills level in terms of written work (narration, outlining etc) for their grade/age. My question is this. I have done quite a bit of searching through past posts and I am curious as to why, given that this is TWTM forum, there so much discussion (particularly for history) of other curriculum SL, MFW, Winterpromise, TOG or whatever. I am aware that the classical method can be applied to other resources, that homeschoolers should adapt/tweak whatever curriculum to their needs, family, stage etc. I am just wondering whether TWTM is more appealing on paper than in reality and whether it is a recipe for burnout. In which case I will reconsider sticking with SL and just add the rigour of TWTM to our written work and then re-evaluate what we are doing for highschool. My question is a genuine one. I would really like to hear the experiences of veteran homeschoolers using TWTM history pretty much as outlined and that are happy. Thank you in advance to those who take the time to reply. I am fully aware of how precious a homeschooling mother's time is. Julia