I see this is a really old thread, but I wanted to express my appreciation for the posters here who discussed parts-to-whole vs. whole-to-parts learning. I particularly identified with Spy Car's posts. I was a long time in realizing I appreciate seeing the big picture so I can decide how the parts fit into the whole. My sister is always calling me with new recipes, and she begins by telling me the ingredients list. I have to stop her and ask what we are making. She tells me, goes on with the ingredients, and I can now understand how they affect the recipe. I have reworked entire curricula, extracting the main ideas throughout, so I could see where we were supposed to be going through the program. I do understand that sometimes you have to develop a skill set before you can make any sense out of a big picture. I have always had trouble teaching writing. In school, writing came pretty naturally to me. As a parent, I have not been able to properly articulate what I was thinking during my writing process when instructing my kids. I have struggled to find a writing curriculum that my kids could learn and that I could teach. I have been using Rod and Staff for grammar and a ridiculous number of partial writing curricula for composition. My favorite writing curriculum so far has been Classical writing, but I always felt it was too slow to correlate and integrate the excellent skills taught into the more expected modern essay format. I found this thread after Googling various MCT books. After looking at the sample pages on the website and reading the opinions expressed here, I have decided to order. My dd is a rising 8th grader. I plan to order the level six package with the exception of the writing component. I will be ordering Essay Voyage since that is where I believe we need to begin with composition. Thank you all, Mary in GA Ds 25 Dd 19 Dd 13

Ah! thank you! I tried a google site search, and that turns up what I'm looking for:) Mary

Hi, Could someone please point me in the direction of discussions about math curricula to use after RS math? I have not used the boards much since they've been upgraded, and I must not be searching correctly! Any help appreciated. Thanks, Mary

Hi, I don't often post these days. I did most of my posting back in the dark ages on the old board! Anyways, ds who has been majoring in CS at GT and working a co-op job at GTRI (Georgia Tech Research Inst) has been offered a full time position with GTRI upon graduation. They will employ him in a research and development capacity, which is what he likes, and they will pay for a master's degree. He naturally wants to check out some other options before committing, but I am just so pleased that one of my dc is employable and will not be moving back home! Two more to go. I need to thank you people on this board who have given me so much good advice over all these years, and gosh it really has been a long time! I can't name everyone, but I am very thankful for this forum and all the experienced home schoolers who post here. Blessings to all of you and your dc! Mary

Hi, It's been quite a while since I've posted. I was really glad to see WWS 1 come out! Will there be a 4 yr comprehensive WWS guide similar to the 4 yr guide for WWE? I did do some searches on the boards; please point me in the right direction if I've missed discussion on this! I like to have the big picture view. The WWE guide has been very valuable to me. It helps me focus on where we want to go and outlines a path to get there. I can use the ideas in WWE along with others that move us toward our goal. I'm hoping for something similar for logic stage. TWTM does address writing objectives for each stage, but I'm hoping for something more fleshed out (like the WWE guide!) Thanks! Mary

Fine if he dislikes it, but at this age he should be able to articulate a reason why. I have gone this route with different pieces of lit with kids at various ages. With regard to very young children, it is not necessarily appropriate that they be able to articulate the reason for disliking a piece of literature. However, at the high school level, I really don't think any dislike or like is simply founded on "I don't like it" or "I like it." If dc would rather clean a bathroom than watch the dvd, it is really important, at this age, to get him to articulate why. I have to play this game often with dd 14 to whom many things are boring or stupid or (supply your own adj.) Further discussion often reveals insight into her thought processes. HTH Mary

I've been really interested in this thread. I have one who went the dual enrollment route and was planning to do the same with this next dc. Ds did dual enrollment at a local small university, and some of the courses were definitely what I call soft. I thought the history and English classes he took were way too easy. I think I had a more rigorous experience when I was in high school and took AP. However, if he had taken his physics and calc at the large university he subsequently transferred into, he would have died a quick academic death and never qualified for his excellent co-op job! So it's a mixed bag for me. I would really like dd to have a richer experience in classes like history or English. In this state dual enrollment students attend college tuition free under a program that is a subset of the HOPE scholarship. That's a huge benefit for us. We'll see. Mary

1 pr flip flops 1 pr running shoes 1 pr cleats 1 pr casual boots 1 pr black flats The cleats (soccer) cost more than the other 4 prs combined! Priorities! Mary

I let first dc quit after one year of high school Latin. Big mistake. Looks like I've got to go the distance now! Mary

Wow! You're right! After reading your post, I looked that verb up. I have reached the end of all the Latin I ever learned and am having to study it right along with dd. Guess I need to study harder! Thanks, Kathy! Mary

This is from Wheelock's ch 23, Practice and Review #11 We gave many things to nations lacking hope. The answer keys says: Gentibus spe carentibus multas res dedimus. (please visualize macrons;-) Why is hope in the ablative case? Dd and I thought hope would be the object of the verbal, therefore spem. Should we think of it as "lacking in hope?" :confused: Thanks! Mary

Joint enrollment or dual enrollment like Bev described in her posts. Mary

In our experience no large GA public university we looked at would consider admissions without either accreditation or a battery of SAT 2's. The admissions guidelines are pretty explicitly stated in each university's online admissions info. Some smaller universities may be more lenient; I don't know. Check with any university your dc might be interested in. We initially looked at the SAT 2's, but decided after a few practice tests in a couple of subjects that option was not going to work for us! Some kids don't have a problem with the tests. In my opinion the SAT 2 requirement is punitive. We went the JE route and transferred to a larger university. What you say about getting the Hope retroactively is true (though as another poster said it may soon become a non-issue!) Just an FYI. There are no longer different diploma tracks in the ps http://www.gadoe.org/ci_services.aspx I was really surprised when I began looking into this for dd a few months ago. A lot has changed since ds graduated. Good luck to us all! Mary

Whole family watched it over Christmas break while ds was home. Dh and I both cried! Mary

Homeschooling in GA is very easy from a legal standpoint. But it can be very difficult for homeschoolers to get into a GA public university w/o accreditation, and if students want to take advantage of the Hope scholarship as freshmen; it's absolutely necessary. Mary

Hi Beth, We've graduated one from high school so far. There are schools and home school groups that can accredit your dc's high school work. They vary in what they require from you for accountability. The places I've looked at charge between $200 and $400 a year for this service. You can still school your way. You may be required to list your curricula and test dc in each subject area at the accrediting location, or they may just accept the scores and transcripts you provide. They may tailor your course titles and descriptions to match with courses listed under the Hope system. This is the route we took with ds now a jr at college. And actually we had to get him accredited retroactively so he could do JE before going to university. We were a bit clueless at the time. We looked into the SAT 2 requirements for the university he wanted to attend, and we decided that accreditation and JE was a much better option for ds. With dd going into 9th next school year, we'll begin accreditation so I'm not scrambling. I see you're in Forsyth county. Maybe GHEA has a list of someone near you who provides accreditation. Another poster here got her own home school accredited. I have never looked into that. Hope some of this helps. Feel free to pm me if you want to ask more questions. Mary

DD 8th really has no clear idea what she wants to do. Ds, now 20, figured out in 8th or 9th that he really liked computer programming and is now majoring in CS. We did tailor his high school education a bit to include credit for programming projects he did on his own as well as credit for actual programming classes. Mary

Time Machine is depressing. Especially if the student has the maturity and perspective to make the correlations between the story and our modern society. War of the Worlds is good guys vs bad guys. Our comfortable, secure world vs invasion from a hostile unknown. And the good guys win! Not through any act of human-kind, but through what clearly in the context of the story could be interpreted as divine providence. Enjoy. Mary

We loved War of the Worlds. Time Machine..not so much. Ds 20 loved it in middle school and I read it aloud again to dd last year when she was in 7th. She really loved it and reread it to herself later. We followed it up with the movie versions. I have no idea if that book has a similar effect on other kids, but for us it's a hit. It's pretty short, so not too much time spent in reading aloud. YOu could move on to the Scarlet Pimpernel next. If I remember right, The Scarlet Pimpernel is really long. I've never read it, and I'm probably missing something! Maybe with next dc. Good luck! Mary

Funny! Me too. I can't say if this is the case in general, but at ds's university the deadline doesn't really seem to matter. We have been so late due to some odd circumstances that ds had to go ahead and pay for a semester and then get reimbursed by financial aid. I understand that wouldn't be a workable situation for all. Try not to stress! Mary

Has anyone used this online class? Seriously considering farming this out. Dd would have to get more out of it from someone who really understands this subject. I made it through TL1, but never all the way through TL2 (and this is actually my second pass!) Thanks. Posted on logic stage board too. Mary

Has anyone used this online class? Seriously considering farming this out. Dd would have to get more out of it from someone who really understands this subject. I made it through TL1, but never all the way through TL2 (and this is actually my second pass!) Thanks. Will post on High School board too. Mary

One big difference between EFTRU and Vocab from classical roots is that VfCR always gives you the complete Latin or Greek word and for Latin verbs gives all the principal parts. We like that since we are studying Latin. VfCR can be very dry. Ds was bored silly with it. I never found a way to make it interesting for him! Dd actually enjoys word study so it works well for her. Mary

I have used Henle and Wheelock's for that age. Both are great depending on what you want. Henle was great for ds since there wasn't so much vocab thrown at the student at once. Also, if I remember right, many of the translation exercises in the first book had to do with wars and such. Interesting from his point of view. Dd tends to pick up grammar and vocab much faster than ds did, so I switched to Wheelock's with her. We are pretty much following the 2 yr syllabus from MODG. Good luck! Mary

It's pretty much up to me, but dh does "substitute" sometimes. When the kids are older, he does all math higher than algebra one and also physics. Mary