That looks interesting, however it was a different one.

DITHOR: Drawn Into The Heart of Reading We really didn't like that program, however we are thoroughly enjoying LL7. I'm definitely planning on LL8 too. What is LLftLotR?

From my understanding, CM focuses on what the child got out of a reading by retelling. It doesn't really have to do with details, but rather what the child took to heart and will remember. It should be a pleasure to recall the information, process it and make it ones own before retelling it to another person. This is how things are done naturally anyway when one shares an experience with another person. It is no different with CM narration. My son does narrations for both fiction & nonfiction. WTM would have had him memorize the facts at the grammar level, where as CM would only suggest retelling the story, regardless if he remembered the dates & names. As far as the dialectic level, CM still has them retell the story. This doesn't change throughout the years. What does change is the child and what they glean from a reading. WTM changes how narrations are done depending on the child's level.

We used Core 5 and I owned Core 6, but decided not to use it. From what I remember, there are 3 different IG components, plus the schedule: 1. Literature 2. Historical 3. Read Alouds. 1. Literature: These are the books kiddos read on their own. The IG has some questions about what they read, along with answers. I found it a little annoying because the IG would ask questions that my son didn't know the answers to...in other words, what he got out of the reading was different than what the IG focused on. For example, for one chapter it asked what So&So took on a trip and my son was more focused on the actual trip than what the character packed in his suitcase. We stopped using that component. 2. History: This one just had a brief description of what was going on during the time period. No questions really. 3. Read Alouds: This also just gave a summary of what was to be read in addition to vocabulary words. I don't think there were any questions there either. Just IMO: TOG is much better with Q&A and book selections in the Rhetoric levels than Sonlight. As far as the younger grades, I think TOG has a different focus, but I still think it is a bit better than Sonlight. Sonlight is good for scheduling, but for content & enrichment, TOG wins hands down :) HTH!

I remember a free downloadable programming software for kids, however I can't remember the name. It made it very easy to make games and stuff with detailed instructions. Several years ago my son developed a very simple game using it Does any one know what I'm talking about or could you please give me another free program for programming. lol! My 13yo son would like to play around with one. Thanks!

Caveat about homemade laundry soap...if you have hard water, sometimes homemade stuff will leave your clothes very dingy looking, grey, or yellow. Here there is limestone deposits in the water. All the homemade recipes that I've ever tried leave a yucky film on the clothes or make them look unclean and gross.

lol! Here I thought that napa cabbage was only good for kimchi...I make it all the time and had no clue you could actually do other things with it. :lol:

Anyone else? :bigear: I don't think my ds likes BCM very much and I know that I'm pretty tired of scheduling it out for him...skipping some things, revising, etc. Most the samples deal with things that he doesn't care about, ie: car payments, COGS, etc. If he was older it might apply better. I don't want to buy OM Math 7 if it is behind or if it is horrible. Any one actually use it and have an opinion? TIA

Where is it? Is there a link or site?

Unfortunately it is nothing like XP or Vista. I really don't like Windows 7. It is so un-user friendly. I prefer my XP laptop, but ds uses the Win 7 desktop. :( Anyone? How to password protect on Windows 7?

We have Windows 7. How do you password protect?

We are kind of strict about internet access in our house because we personally know a few kiddos that have had some unsavory experiences online. He is allowed online as long as he asks permission and lets us know the reason. He likes to look up cheat codes, check his email, watch youtube, read game reviews, stuff like that. However recently I found out that he's been getting online without permission. He's always been a good kid and admits doing it when I ask him. Right now I am a bit unsure as to what kind of consequence would be appropriate. It is the 2nd offense - the first time we restricted all electronics for a week. Any ideas, suggestions?

Any one?

I have a 1994 edition of The Kingfisher Reference Atlas and love it, unfortunately it is out of date. I also have a1995 edition of Circling the Globe, which is good, but not as excellent as the Reference Atlas. Might there be a newer edition that is similar in layout to those two? I'm looking for something that has all the countries in alphabetical order, a brief explanation, imports/exports, flags, population, religion, language, etc. I've looked at the sample pages of National Geographic Family Atlas, but it doesn't look like it has any brief explanations about every country, only charts and maps broken down into geographical areas rather than alphabetical country lists. Thanks!

I've heard about this only on the WTM boards and did a google search. The website that came up didn't really make sense to me. Is it a group gathering thing, kind of like scouts or something? Or is it an individual curriculum to use in the homeschool? Thanks!

It is, but he still doesn't understand it nor the examples a lot of the time. I'm not sure why. But if I rephrase what the text says and show him, then he gets it right away. I saw the sample on OM's site and it pretty much used the same language I use when I re-explain concepts to him, that's why I'm curious to see what other's experience of OM's math is.

Has any one used Oak Meadow's math for 7th? I looked at there single page sample and like how it talks to the student, however I'm a bit nervous about the philosophy behind Oak Meadow and how that might affect the math program. Right now we are using Lial's BCM and it is fine, but I'd much rather have a program that ds can do on his own without me needing to clarify some (most) concepts. If you have used OM's math, does it seem to prepare them for high school level math? Is there much review? Too much, too slow? Other opinions? Thanks!

We really liked Horizon Kindergarten Math by Alpha-Omega. We aren't Christian, but enjoyed the program a lot. First, it had color! Lots of colors, variety of topics and the frequency of reviews were great. The TM had pretty cool ideas too.

Oh my! We just finished up with The Underland Chronicles. It is such an excellent book series that is very sweet, heartwarming, packed with action and awesome morals. And since your dd has younger siblings, she would probably identify with the super cute 2yo in the story. Excellent!

Sounds good.

If he is very good at narrations, perhaps just have him start simply with writing them down. For example, have him write the sequence of events in a list format instead of a paragraph. Then the next day have him write a summary from his list of sequences. Bravewriter talks a lot about our misconceptions regarding what writing is and how boring a 5-finger formatted paragraph is. As far as IEW, it's a great writing program. The biggest issue with it, other than the price, is that most people never get around to actually watching the DVDs. I was fortunate to attend a seminar and learned how to use it, however after using it for awhile, we switched to Classical Writing because it was more liberating. What exactly are you trying to implement with the Classical method, other than writing?

CM is a lot more gentle than Classical, but not less academic. Both have different philosophies, so the curriculum isn't really the main factor of either approach. I'm not sure, but perhaps he just needs some work on the basics for awhile. If he is only 9 (maybe 10?), then basics would probably help a great deal. Although 'elephant' is a very difficult word to spell ;) Writing is very hard for boys. I'm not sure if I'd expect compositions at this age. Classical Writing Aesop would probably help tremendously. If you're on a budget, you really don't need the workbook or teacher's guide, the Core book teaches the approach. As far as math, memorizing the multiplication tables would be helpful. However, does he know how multiplication work? If not, it might be hard for him to get it. My son didn't understand the point until we explained it visually.

Teach Me to Do It Myself by Maja Pitamic is a pretty good resource with lots of activities. It is based on Montessori and although I'm not especially fond of Montessori theory, I have found that this book has excellent "educational" activities for about ages 2 through 4/5.

I haven't seen that title before. For Art History ds read through Hillyer's art series. I think Calvert has it republished and uses it for their art history now. We also use Usborne Intro to Art as a springboard to study other artists. Oh yes, we also use the Art Game. There are 3 in the series; Impressionist, Van Gogh, and Renaissance. The books that come with the card game are awesome and have biographies on each artist.

Okay, in addition to all the other fantastic selections, I have to add: Verdi The Salamander Room *anything* by Keiko Kasza not to mention about 90% of the books in Honey for a Child's Heart, by Gladys Hunt :D