I tried to sign up too and got the same message as previous poster that you had to refer 5 people to move up the line. Sounds like OP was lucky enough to get into the beta trial earlier. I absolutely refuse to participate in things that require me to refer folks to it so I wish I had known before clicking too! (Not OP's fault!)

DD didn't like naps when she was little because she didn't want to miss anything. She still really loves to be around DH and me. But she also was always overwhelmed by a lot of people or too many activities. However, I think she needs less down time than she did. But, I think it's because now the only extra curricular activities she does are ones that she loves. She's found her own rhythms, and it's not just me choosing things for her to try. So, even when she is physically exerting herself in some classes, it is extremely peaceful to her soul because she is with "her people." She is also one of the most self-assured kids in regards to knowing what she needs. At sleep away camp she said hardly anyone brought books with them, and she said that the other kids said she read a lot. But, it's an easy way for her to pull into herself a bit to recharge amongst the chaos (imagine 84 10-18 year-old talented circus kids--no lack of extroverted energy!). She said she didn't care if anyone said anything, and she really doesn't. She knew what she needed, and she was able to give it to herself, regardless what anyone thought. When DD was 6, I never would have guessed she would go to sleep away camp for 2 weeks when she was 10. It was not even a bleep on our radar; she changed so very much in those 4 years because she found her tribe.

We work together from 6:30-9:30/10am, depending on the day. Then she either leaves for activities or does independent work. I work full time from home and she has a lot of extracurricular stuff. She usually has 1-2 hours of independent work she does between activities. We usually do some stuff on weekends too. Only child, quick learner. Not too tightly scheduled.

Thank you! I saw that picture in the sample and was wondering how we could possibly see any detail. Were you doing it concurrently with medieval studies or was this a special unit? How many days do you think you spent on it? We're spending the whole first semester 6th grade on middle ages, and I'm just trying to figure out how much of that time should be focuses on this particular study.

That's a lot of acronyms in my title! I just was wondering if anyone had experience or tips for the Plague unit from Gallagher: http://www.rfwp.com/pages/shelagh-gallagher/#book-plague-problem-studies-for-one I ordered it, and we plan to use this year. Her one sample schedule showed a 3-week schedule with daily use. I don't plan to use it daily so we are going to spread it out a bit more. So, I guess I'd love to hear how it went for folks and how you scheduled it. I searched and saw lots of people buying it last year, but only a couple reports about how it was going, just went people first started. Thanks!

None of us watch TV; we don't have cable either. DD has access to her iPod and laptop. We raised her completely electronic free until about age 5. That's when she discovered cake decorating videos on YouTube. To date (6 years later), that's her true online love--DIY videos on YouTube. She really doesn't use her iPod much for it. She tends to use it for music, and she sometimes emails and texts friends. But, she is generally just not that interested in devices. She will ask if she can use it and if I tell her she's been on too long (based on some arbitrary mom time assessment), she says okay and does something else. Only child who seems to have no tendencies towards being screen addicted makes it pretty easy around here.

I try really hard not to think about how much time and money we spend supporting her desire to run away with the circus. A remarkable number of local circus people are scientists of some sort at their day job and do gigs and teaching on the side, and that's kinda what she wants to do if professional circus doesn't work out. :biggrinjester: So, not sure it's really extra-curricular for her or not, after all.

DD has several extra-curricular passions, and they are all arts related. Her primary is circus arts, and I guess that's more of a combo of athletics and performance arts. She went to a circus sleep away camp this summer for 2 weeks, and also continued with one weekly class and biweekly private lessons over the summer. Once school starts she will have 2x weekly group lessons (1.5 hrs each) and anywhere between 1-5 (1 hr each) private lessons per week. She also practices at home and at open studios and does special workshops. If we had a larger circus school or broader availability of teachers, I would imagine that she would spend even more time. But, she also doesn't want to drop her weekly chorus group or clay class either. I insist that she participates in one all-day outdoor program. She is also going to be volunteering at a preschool for a couple hours each week. Honestly, she's not a typical AL like many of the kids here. She's definitely gifted, but academics aren't her passion. It's fine because she's able to easily complete her work quickly and give herself plenty of time to focus on the more kinesthetic learning activities where she really blossoms.

I got a response, and she seems extremely flexible and willing to work with anyone's specific needs. We'll be able to make this work without a problem I think.

I was debating whether to say anything or not, but this made me laugh because my DD felt the same way. We didn't get very far before she was begging me to stop. She just didn't need the repetition, and even when I crossed out all the repetitive stuff, she just felt it was pure drudgery. She absolutely loves sentence diagramming, though!

Good idea. I had a couple of other questions too so I sent her an email. Thanks!

I signed DD up for this class at Well Trained Mind Academy, and I was just looking over the syllabus again and now I'm wondering if we're going to succeed at this. It looks like the instructor expects the kids to have a weekly and monthly list of upcoming assignments, short-term and long-term. The weekly isn't an issue for us. But, monthly? Our learning and teaching styles are far more organic than that. I have a very high level plan of what I hope to accomplish over the year, but we go faster or slower as we need to. I change and switch things as we need to. Our school is not at all set up with me having a set of lesson plans organized week-by-week or month-by-month. And, to be honest, I don't want it to be. I usually sit down on Sunday evenings and roughly plan things out for the next week. But, her class is on Friday so I'll need to do that mid-week for the following week so she can turn in her list before class. I work full time so that's more challenging for me. The class content looks just like what DD needs, but maybe our school isn't structured enough for the class. I'm mostly just talking through this with you all here. I think the suggestions will just be that I need to either be more structured or drop the class. But, I'd love to hear from others with kids signed up for this one.

We have been using it for a few months. At first there wasn't a lot of content, but they continually add to it so it's been improving.

Are you sure you are referring to Human Odyssey by K-12? History Odyssey, which she mentioned she was leaving, allows you to do that, but I have never seen that for Human Odyssey. We used Human Odyssey v1 last year but we used it with the OUP series and lots of other supplemental readings. We will be doing the same with v2 this year. But, you can pretty much just read and discuss Human Odyssey on its own. It is complete enough. Last year I just figured out how many cultures we wanted to cover last year and figured out how many weeks for each one. It would have gone much faster with just Human Odyssey.

Ugh! I haven't bought so many things yet. We've been on vacation for the past 3 weeks, and had a slew of family emergencies before this. I hope to finally order this week and slowly get back into the groove the week of Aug 17. I had high hopes for doing stuff over the summer, but not our reality this year!

We started using them in 5th, and I have to admit that we all use his schoodelly pooping term around here now! It just makes us laugh! We just love them and his brother's are pretty good too.

I haven't used it but I would guess that GP would use Spain Spanish. I graduated high school with AP placement in Spanish having only learned Latin American Spanish. I went to college where all the professors spoke/taught Spain Spanish instead. I ended up with one of my degrees is in Spanish, and I lived in Spain. I had no problem communicating with other Spanish speakers, but my accent is now obviously heavily influenced by Spain. There are some vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and slang differences, but it's similar to English variations among English-speaking countries. I think the most likely most obvious grammar difference is that Spain uses vosotros (2nd person plural) and most other countries don't. (Some LA countries use vos instead of tú for 2nd person singular.) Even among LA countries there are differences in pronunciation and vocabulary.

I think a few of us were waiting to see how Blackbird reorganized their essay program. Looks like they have split it into 3 sections now, but it's still an intro to essay program. http://blackbirdandcompany.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9&products_id=82 They added a few other things to their site too. Just thought I'd share!

Honestly, I have a different suggestion, but I'm not an authoritative parent and I want DD to enjoy school. You might not have the right curricula for them, particularly if they are gifted. I think the things you listed are fine and provide a solid education but my daughter would have given up. She doesn't need all the practice that Saxon gives. FLL nearly killed us both with its excessive repetitiveness. She really disliked SOW when we tried it. I have spent a lot of time learning how DD learns and it has meant that I bought stuff that simply doesn't work for her even if it's a solid curriculum choice. But, I take the financial hit and don't make her use it if it makes one of us miserable. So, we keep working through it to find better fits. My favorite school times are when we have great discussions so now I know we need open ended curricula that isn't scripted. We talk together a lot about what is working or not. Good luck!

You never know. My DD is very similar and Beast was therapeutic for her. She loved it so much and somehow managed to push through more with it than other things. I kept telling her that it was challenging math and she shouldn't expect to get them all right. In the beginning I worked very closely with her. It wasn't at all something I could just have her work on by herself, and it was because she would start that panic if she was unsure. But, by 4D (which was really just review because we had moved beyond), it was a totally different experience. She cried when I told her we were ready for pre-algebra and were done with BA...she insists that I keep buying them.

I found this site... http://www.petermaas.nl/extinct/books.htm# The suggestions might be for adults but you might be able to work with them. Lists a moa book!

New American Cursive: Teach Yourself Cursive. It's targeted at grade 5 to adult. DD did it this year because she wanted a different cursive style than HWOT, which she had already completed. She went through it really quickly and liked it well enough. It has some interesting tidbits and information sprinkled throughout to help you find your own style.

I think DD got her first chef knife when she was about 5 or 6. She started riding a horse at 4. At 6 she started aerial dancing. The latter was to finally give her a safe venue for climbing (and I didn't discover the rock climbing place until after she started circus stuff; she enjoys rock climbing now too.). Now, at almost 11, she gave up horseback riding a few years ago because the barn was competitive, and she was not. She cooks with confidence, using the oven and stove. She's become obsessed and very skilled with circus arts and is attending advanced camps this summer. I pay a lot of money to encourage my daughter to run away with the circus. I don't think that's very normal.

We did the videos and exercises on the same day. DD usually watched the video and attempted the lessons first on her own. I helped explain anything that confused her. It was fine to not have videos for them all, and it went quickly. We completed it between November-February according to my notes. Some weeks we did it every day and other weeks we skipped.

I know! I keep tweaking mine. I have too much to do this summer that I still haven't bought everything for next year.