http://higherupandfurtherin.blogspot.com/ has a list similar to AO, it is actually an adaptation. I have not used it the way it was supposed to be, but it is a great resource.

We do use PLL,and ILL and Grammar rock. We also do IEW. It has worked well here.

We use IEW with MFW. We are doing RTR and using the history based Middle ages book. Works great!

I live very close to there. I don't think thee is anything homeschool unfriendly going on. There is a homeschool group nearby I belonged to for a few years- http://www.emache.org that is in the Eagle Mountain area. Feel free to PM me with any other questions if I could be of any help. :001_smile:

Yes we love the Cosby show, but I haven't been able to find them since we switched to digital TV. :ack2:

Ours is Acorns to Oaks academy. It came from a musical we did in church.

:iagree: We own this one and it is good.

Here is Nan's post- I had to google to get it. I know this thread is old, but I thought maybe someone else would love to have this information: Here is the post I wrote about it. I'm in a hurry, so I'm just copying it in here without reading it and it might not all be applicable to your situation. Sorry. And if I remember correctly, it is a bit of a muddle. Yes, I still like it and am using it. My high schooler is doing Writesmith Craftsman and assorted other things after having gone through WS3-6/7. We only did parts of 6 and 7. My younger one has gone from 3-5 and will do 6 next year. I didn't want him to do 6 too early. I think he'll get more out of it next year, when he is 12. Here is the post: We're one of the people that like Writing Strands. My children apply what they've learned from it and it doesn't cause tears because it doesn't teach style. My children hate having their carefully thought out wording "messed with". They usually catch their own fuzzy wording or repetitiousness when they read their writing aloud to me. I know you might use something else, but I thought that you might like to hear what we did wrong at first and what I did to fix it, just in case you wind up having to use it. If not, just ignore this. ;) If you can get hold of a copy of Evaluating Writing (the Writing Strands parent's (teacher's) guide, it is a good idea to read it. It has samples of conversations about papers that showed me how I was supposed to be discussing the writing with my children. We did all of WS3 before we read this and I go so much more out of the program after I read it. There was so much I wasn't doing. For instance, there is a sample conversation involving a paper that could use some elaboration (too short and simple). The author has the child shut his eyes and imagine the scene and describe aloud it in great detail as he asks questions like, "Where is the little girl standing? What is the weather like? What expression is on her face?" (Or something like that.) Then he has the child rewrite the paper adding in some of the details that he had pictured. In another example, he asks the child if there is a way to say the same thing more vividly. First say several positive things about the paper, then offer suggestions. I thought probably the last thing I said would be what stuck in my children's minds, so I saved the good for last, but that was a disaster. Separate the technical part (spelling and punctuation) from the discussion of the rest and discuss it last. Say something like, "You got a few small technical details wrong, " and pick only a few to correct. Try to work on the same few for awhile until your child "gets" them. The years we did dictation, I corrected the technical details on their dictation and ignored them on WS assignments. Some years I ignored everything but content and organization for history and science reports. I try not to correct everything every paper because that makes my children not want to write anything. I do ask them to do their best, but then ignore the mistakes that don't have to do with the subject (dication, writing, history, or science). Don't assume that because the book is written to the child and appears to be self-teaching, it is. Read the instructions aloud and make sure that they are understood. I usually read the purpose, discuss it a little, if I can figure it out. Sometimes I can't and have to read the directions and examples to understand what it is before I can explain it. Then I read the directions for the whole lesson. Then I reemphasize the purpose and we practise the lesson orally a few times. Then I reread the first day's assignment and have them do it. I check that before letting them procede to the next day's. For example, for the lesson for writing book reports, I gave a few orally and then had my children give a few. We used Peter Rabbit and other Beatrix Potter books because we knew them well without having to reread them first and they were short. Then we tried a few full length books together. Then they did a few alone for me. THEN I had them go through and do the lesson. Or for the assignment on "person", we thought of books that were in the first person, ones in the second person, etc., and then read aloud paragraphs switching the person. If it seems like my children had trouble with the object of the lesson, I have them do it again. It has been easy for me to make up another example for them to try. The way the lessons are spaced, there is time to do this. I try to discuss the writing right away after it is written. I make notes on the paper about what they want to fix. If there is time, they rewrite it right away, but often they rewrite it the next day. The notes seem to be enough for them to remember what they want to fix. Teach your children to type. It is much nice to rewrite something if you can use a word processor. If you want them to practise hand writing things (and I can see why you might), you can make them write everything else by hand and just do WS on the computer. Before mine could type, I was their scribe for the rewrites. My main goal with the WS assignments was to make sure that the children were following the directions. That is how I decided on what to focus on for each paper. Writing is a big subject and everyone, including you, will get overwhelmed if you try to correct every aspect of writing every paper. If an assignment isn't appearing to work, skip it. We usually give up on one or two a level. The "describing the house from different angles" lesson was a dud with us. Not every lesson will work for every person. We skipped the one on aging fruit, also. Ignore the writing in the examples. Even my children could see that the writing isn't very good in some of the examples. I agreed with them and we talked about what struck us as wrong and left it at that. We still learned a lot from the program. I also pointed out that the author uses the informal style to try to make it more appealing to children, and that our family prefers a more formal style. Years of use hasn't made my children sound like the author, thankfully LOL. Ignore the part about skipping every other week. That only applies if you are using the program along with Reading Strands to make a whole English course. There being only half a year's worth of assignments in each book means that you will have plenty of time to rewrite and discuss things. Or you can skip WS on days when you are working on a report or project for another subject. Or you can do another example for the lesson to make sure that your children really understand the purpose or to give them a little more practice. Many of the lessons cycle each year, repeating with more depth or complexity, so if a concept doesn't "click" even after extra practice, skip it. You'll probably get it again later. The exception is the "formats" like the format for a book report. Those you probably want to return to later. Hope this helps someone. I like Writing Strands very much, but it took a year for me to figure out how to use it. Maybe this will save someone else some time. Don't you wish we could practise all this homeschooling stuff on someone else's children?

It is in SOTW 2. We just went through it a few weeks ago.

Can I just say- I just got Tim Hawkins tickets for my son's 13th birthday! He is going to be thrilled, and I am so excited!!!

MFW for us! We did try Sonlight as well, but agree that it was just too disjointed for us. I love the way MFW is linked together. I can always add those Sonlight book choices (which I LOVE) to the bookbasket.

Reading Made Easy. I am using it for the third time here and LOVE how it teaches them to read and keeps their love for reading. It has produced some great readers so far.

There are several on You tube, but the one we sing at church (the kids said it was called The Ten) I did not see. However, I did not spend very much time looking.

Very cool recipe! Thank you for sharing. :001_smile:

Definitely. He is awesome, I love him with all my heart and can not imagine life with out him. I can barely remember me without him.

Hits: MFW RTR- a little slow sometimes, but love how the Bible and History come together. LOF- LOVE this and Singapore Mark Kistler Drawsquad Five in a row Grammar Ace Reading Made Easy- LOVE this! I don't think we have any misses.

Umm... NEVER have I heard of such a thing. I would go to a different recruiting office and see if they say the same thing. That eliminates a ton of Marines- at least the ones I knew.

My Reading Made Easy, Five in a Row manuals and books, and Life of Fred. That and all the old Landmark books I can get my hands on.

The cards did not work for us- so now my son uses a spiral notebook. He does them on his own, and we review them together every 2 weeks. We do 2 words a week, the first day just the word and the definition. The next sentences to go with the word. It has worked well for him.

Also, do not forget http://www.homeschoolshare.com they really can't be beat for really free curriculum. :D

We have Geico- but we have not made any claims. They have been awesome- and they saved me a TON of money!

Nothing at the Grapevine location here in Texas. Bummer!

There must be something wrong with my home connection. My friend opened it just fine, but I could not open it from either computer. I am going to go to her house to look at it. Thank you very much for your help as I think on this.

Pamela- thank you for the reply. However, your link is not working. Could you write it out for me?

I know some of you here have a private school you run from your home. Could you please tell me how you do it and how you got started? What do you teach? What grades? How many hours? How much do you charge? Any helpful information you could share would be most appreciated as I consider this option.