Thanks for all the responses....just glancing through it looks some options I might be able to implement. I'll read through more thoroughly when I get a moment!

I'm curious, if you are in a co-op or direct one yourself, what the attendance policy is. I run a co-op that accommodates between 65 to 85 children. This semester I'm noticing absences increasing...to the point that some classes are not being taught and someone is having to be moved from another position to "fill in" for the teachers with just review or games. This is really unacceptable for me, and I want to institute an attendance policy next semester to curtail some of the unnecessary missing of days but don't want to penalize those who have legitimate reasons for missing a day or two within the semester. I will note that obviously illness of the parent or children is an understandable reason to miss, as are family emergencies; I even make accommodations for people who tell me at the beginning of the semester that they have x obligation on y day and so won't be able to be there for that day. However, missing due to other opportunities you don't want to miss out on, last minute decisions to go on vacation and miss 3 days out of 8, deciding not to come because you woke up feeling tired from your busy weekend, or not showing up because your child didn't want to come that day are NOT acceptable reasons to back out of the commitment. How do other co-ops handle these types of issues? **Please don't turn this into a "this is why I hate\don't do co-ops" rant. I know those of you who don't like co-ops and I respect your opinion and decision not to participate in one...please be respectful of those who feel differently. :)

Thank you. Some of these things I should have remembered to look at...brain fog. :P

I'm not having any luck with my searches. I'm looking for 9-12 historical fiction and biography selections to go with SOTW3 for 5th-6th reading level. Links to lists are fine or give me your favorites. Thanks!

We focused mostly on Egypt since that's where the interest was for the class. I did pull in a few other projects from the SOTW AG for Egypt but there was more than enough material in the PP program to pick and choose, and the format kept things easy for me to plan and implement for the class. The second semester we did Greek History with History Pockets. Most of the families were doing SOTW at home and adding in projects of their own for the other ancient civilizations at that time, and I myself did much, much more with my own children at home while we studied Ancients...far more than I could ever hope to fit into the co-op classes. I didn't want my dc's exposure to this time period to be limited by what I could get done at co-op. How about using History Pockets? There is an Egypt, Greece and Rome for 4th-6th. There's also an Ancient Civilizations but it's for 1st-3rd so might be too young for your needs, although you might be able to adapt. http://www.evan-moor.com/search?q=ancient+civilizations+4+-+6

Will this co-op meet once or twice a week? How long is the class each time you meet? My concern would be in trying to fit in the reading of two books (even alternated) AND activities into class time if you only have a short amount of time you meet. Wrangling a group of 3rd and 4th graders through a short lecture on the highlights of a topic, doing a quick activity, and then assembling lapbook components takes me all of one hour at my co-op. I've taught Ancients, Medieval, and Greek History. If this were me I would use Project Passport for the co-op class and then just read SOTW at home. There is enough information in the PP material that you wouldn't have to add anything to it for that age, but you could give the other parents a list of suggested chapters to read each week if they wanted to read SOTW or CHOW at home too. http://www.homeschoolinthewoods.com/ancientegypt.html

T turned 6 in December but we've had some delays so had a very, very light K year, but I think the extra time not doing anything formal has been good for her and I'm starting to see those signs of readiness. So, this will be our attempt at a very easy 1st grade: Math - Math Mammoth 1A along with lots of manipulative work and living math. We may just get through 1A for the year. Language Arts - English Lessons through Literature 1 at half pace alternated with WWE1 at half pace (because I can not choose between the two) Primary Arts of Language - Reading Explode the Code 1 and 2 with Beyond the Code 1 and 2 staggered. Art \Artist study - Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists - Rembrandt, Degas, VanGogh, Monet, Michelangelo, and DaVinci. We will spend 6 weeks on each artist, reading the book, doing picture studies of their art, art museum visits, and reproducing certain pieces. Music\Composer study - Getting to Know the World's Greatest Composers - Beethoven, Bach, Handel, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Brahms, Chopin. 6 weeks on each, reading the book, listening to selections, field trip to the symphony a couple times, and using some activities from classicsforkids .com. Science - Whatever science we do at co-op (I'm leaning towards a biome\habitat study for this age level), and if she's up for it, and I have time, I may do a few lapbooks to go with her nature study - bugs and birds for the fall\winter, then botany and amphibians for the spring\summer. Or we might just mix that all up and have her do the lapbook elements for each of the topics in her nature journal as we come across them during the year. She L.O.V.E.S. cutting, coloring and pasting. History - Tagalong with whatever peaks her interest with SOTW3 that ds is doing. I'm looking forward to starting over with Ancients for her when she's in 3rd grade so I'm not pushing any history on her at this point if she's not interested. Geography - Map skills, memorize and locate continents and oceans, and distinguish between continent, country, state, county, and city\town for the U.S. She'll likely do a Spanish class at co-op every week - just basic vocab memorization, and I'm looking at a possible TKD class once a week for her.

My 6th grader has been using this from Memoria Press this year with good results. It only takes her about 30 to 40 minutes per day including the reading and writing portions. It has been completely independent except for the once a week that I sit with her and she shares with me what she's learned over the week. I let her narrate the highlights or parts that she found the most interesting and then we'll go over her student book while I use the TM ... there might be a few questions she wasn't sure about, or I'll randomly ask what she wrote for this or that question. It's not rigorous or exhaustive by any means but she has actually enjoyed the stories and it's more history than she would have gotten had I had to plan and teach history this year. Edited to add: This dd doesn't care for reading either but each lesson's reading is very short so she knows she can get through it in about 20 minutes or less.

Just coming back to update - So, time got away from me and I didn't get around to really planning anything extra for this thinking I would pre-view the lectures for each week then decide what to add. We had our first session yesterday during which we watched the first two lectures. I had 12 students and 6 parents. I started the session by asking them if they were excited about becoming better students...crickets... :lol:. Which I expected. We talked a little about what made it hard for them to study and they came up with various reasons....some of which the parents told me later they didn't even realize. (So there is value in doing this with a group in that it gets the kids sharing more between them...although this probably wouldn't be as effective with children that aren't as close as the students of my co-op). I explained what the seminar was going to be about and why it was important, and talked a bit about them being at an age that they needed to start taking ownership of their education. I asked them if they wanted their parents to treat them more maturely to which they all responded with "YES", and then I talked about how them taking ownership would be a big step in that direction. We watched the first lecture and then took some time to talk about the topics. They did the questionnaire to determine their intelligence strengths and then we talked about those results...some of the kids already knew how they were more inclined toward visual or kinesthetic but they liked being able to see how those can be seen as strengths. I let them re-fuel on snacks and then we started the second lecture. After that one we talked about those topics and then re-visited one of the topics from the 1st lecture which was setting goals. We talked about why that is important and then I assigned doing a goals list as homework. So, without adding anything extra it took up two hours. I'm glad I didn't try to add more to the first sessions, but will pre-view the next two lectures this week and determine if I should add anything or not. I'll try to post here again to update.

Possibly Essentials in Writing if you are looking for a traditional method that will get them up to speed within the year.

Well, I've got two weeks to pull this together so it looks like I'll be writing my own plan. :) I'll come back here and share what I come up with!

Coming back to update again. So we've watched and discussed our second movie now. To Kill a Mockingbird was a hit and 2 of the students decided to read the book after I encouraged them. After watching the movie we briefly discussed the cinematic aspects (sets, costumes, lighting), but we didn't get very far with that since the dc were itching to talk about the treatment of Tom in the courtroom. They were all quite upset that even though Atticus showed that Tom couldn't have done what he was accused of he still was judged guilty. I assigned research based on points they brought up or questions they had. Some included researching the Scottsboro Trial and the similarities between the real events and the fictional trial of Tom, finding out what "due process of the law" is and how juries work, finding out when African Americans and women were allowed to be on a jury, and several questions centered around major events that led up to the Civil Rights Movement including what was going on when Harper Lee was writing the novel. When we met to discuss their findings I didn't even get to share the presentation I'd put together because they'd done such a good job of researching their topics and carried the conversation for the whole class period. They even brought up connections to the Great Depression, which we'd gone over for The Grapes of Wrath, and events in Mockingbird. Our next movie is Something the Lord Made, which will help us carry our investigation of civil rights even further. If anyone is thinking of doing something like this I highly recommend it!

I'm going to be doing a 6 week study skills seminar for 6th-12th graders using HtBaSSS as the backbone. I have some ideas for how I want to organize the sessions but was curious if anyone else has done this and if you pulled in other resources. Thanks!

Is this the book? http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Thesis-A-Rhetoric-Reader/dp/1133951430 I have Lively Art of Writing that I used with both my oldest dds. One learned a lot from it...the other could stand to go through it again. :) Writing across the curricula is something I'm definitely missing for dd12 and am eager to get back to it. It sounds like Big History will definitely give us that for next year. Thanks again! I may have more questions as I dig into this a bit more.

Amazing Rose! Thank you so much for taking the time to type all that up. I've got many of the science supplements you've mentioned since this was a big area of interest for my oldest dd. Now to find the time to sit down and research more of these supplements. :) I'm curious - I know that you had been using WWS with your daughter but that you had dropped it at some point - what did you end up going with? Dd12 is doing EiW this year for something hands off for me since I'd been focusing on my oldest's depression and eating disorder but she is doing so much better and I'd like to work with dd12 on more solid essay writing.

Would love to hear about how you've pulled all your resources together! I'd also love to hear how you've scheduled this if you don't mind.

Considering this for 7th next year...if I can keep myself from starting it now. :P It says it's geared for highschool though so wondering if 7th would be too young. https://www.bighistoryproject.com/home

I'm on my 5th go around with phonics. I've tried different programs with different dc to try to alleviate my boredom....to no avail. I'm just sick of teaching phonics. Dd6 knows her alphabet and knows her basic sounds...that's as far as she's gotten since I get so cranky every time I pull out ANY phonics program. I've been hoping that she'll just wake up one day and be reading. It happens...right?...I've heard of it happening...please tell me that it could happen! :crying:

Just to be clear. This is the only flaw in his behavior toward the children and only occurs over certain things. If they fall and hurt themselves, for example, he tries to comfort them - kisses booboos, or gives a hug to the older ones (although I know this is a challenge for him to do...he has gotten more comfortable doing it over the years). If a pet dies he talks to them about how it's okay for them to be upset. It's only things HE thinks are silly and unimportant that he displays this annoying behavior. I truly believe he thinks that he's somehow helping them toughen up and to not get so emotional over life's little disappointments. I'm not defending this particular flaw since it is a real thorn in my side, makes him seem like an ass in my eyes and in the eyes of our kids, and doesn't have the desired effect he thinks it has, but I'm also not willing to create a huge ugly marital fight over it. There's been some good advice here. I think I will continue to talk to him about it and also start removing myself and the child from his presence when it occurs. At the very least I'm going to explain to him that even if he thinks this somehow helps them get over the little things it upsets ME so he should curtail the behavior.

Thanks....it helps to have validation that I'm not wrong that this is bad behavior. Dh's childhood was awful, but I don't feel that's an excuse since he's overcome many, many other issues. For the most part he's been a good father to our children although the lack of empathy is definitely an issue he has with everyone, not just the kids. I have told him on numerous occasions that he's being an ass ... doesn't faze him. I've asked him if it makes him feel powerful to laugh at a child and he tells me I'm being too serious and making more out of it than it is. I know you all are right that this isn't a behavior I'm going to be able to change in him so I guess figuring out a way to deflect it is going to be the only option. I have told the dc over and over to just ignore him when it comes to these incidents...I've told them that dh has an issue with being empathetic and sympathetic since his own parents treated him so badly. I reassure them that he does love them dearly but that he never learned how to be compassionate and nurturing. I know that's why it hurts them so much when he does it. Because they love him so much...if it were another kid laughing at them they'd blow it off. I don't know how to get him to see that. Maybe having the kids articulate that to him would help. I've asked dh how he would feel the next time he gets upset about something and I just laugh at him and he said that it's not the same comparison since he only gets truly upset about things that are truly important...basically he's saying that most of the things a child gets upset about are silly and trivial; not like real adult issues. Ultimately, I've tried every way I can think of to explain how this behavior is wrong and damaging and he refuses to change or see things differently. The only issue he sees is me being overly sensitive. We're stuck with it until my kids feel confident enough to finally tell him how it makes them feel. I think the next time he does this I'm just going to take the child out of the room without saying a word to him. I'll treat this behavior the same way I treat undesirable behavior in my children - isolation. If you can't behave you need to be alone.

This is not at all a bashing thread...I'm truly trying to get some insight into if this is a man\child thing and if dh is right in his reasoning. I'll use this morning as an example but there have been countless incidents that have been similar to this. We were supposed to get 5 to 8 inches of snow overnight in our area. I knew that we wouldn't because we live in middle TN and we never get snow...only ice. I told the kids not to expect it but the news channels\radio stations did their typical "the sky is falling" routine and kids being kids, they thought they were going to wake up to a winter wonderland. Nope...we have icy sludge just like I thought. So dh was sitting at the table with me when ds came downstairs with tears in his eyes and dh immediately started laughing at him. Of coarse ds started crying even more because of dh making fun of him for crying and then dh laughed even more about ds crying over being laughed at. I told him to stop laughing at him that he was being mean, and then of coarse I got lectured about how that is the way that dads behave and it helps their children grow thick skins. He went on to say that he needs to learn that some things are just silly to get upset about and by him laughing at him it will help him not take things so seriously. This has been an ongoing thing for the last 16 years...he does it with all of the kids..not just the boy. Am I wrong to get upset? Is he right? Do I just need to bite my lip and let him laugh at them when they're really upset about something that, while may not really be important in the scope of things, is important to them at the moment? I've tried talking to him at a different time about not laughing at them when they're upset about something he feels is silly but they think is important...he gives the same argument and refuses to even try to temper this behavior. Thougths?

Just wanted to pop back in and say thanks again for all your help. Our first class was yesterday at my home. We watched The Grapes of Wrath, and while some of the kids moaned a bit about it being an old, black and white movie, by the end they all said that they liked it and that the movie definitely made them more curious about this time period. Our discussion afterwards centered on the cinematic and theatrical effects. I was so pleased that these dc were very interested in comparing this movie to movies made now. Several of them had never seen a black and white film at all, and one of the biggest "discoveries" for them was how film during this time was edited ... no digital editing! When I told them that they had to actually cut and splice the film they didn't believe me so we jumped on youtube for a little video. :) I also spoke to the kids about how the history part of our class could function and they all voted that they did want to do some work outside of class. (Big surprise for me!!) I let them grab the reigns on this and they decided that they would each take a question or point of interest that came up during the movie (I was taking notes of things they pointed out and mentioned while watching) to research at home and then present their findings in class for discussion. I'll also have additional historical information and some clips to show during the class. It is early to say, but if this momentum keeps up we are going to have a wonderful semester!

The Phonics of Drawing from Teach Art at Home might be an option.

HaHa...I wish I'd gotten them all for only $20!! No, I paid $20 each and there are 9 of them.

In the past we've done many, many classes that, although are always co-ed, the boys have liked more than other classes : ~ Project Based Engineering ~ Outdoor Survival - This started out with basic how to and safety skills when hiking or camping but over the last year and a half they've worked up to learning how to make shelters, fires with various methods - not matches or lighters , purify water, and what plants\bugs in our area are safe to eat. Of coarse we have a VERY knowledgeable man teaching this class, but anyone could probably teach the basics of safe camping, fire building, knife safety, knot making and how to use a compass.) ~ The Real History of Night at the Museum - Studying the history behind the characters of the movie. ~ Then there's The Science of Disney's Imagineering series that I'm teaching this semester. I've not started this class yet but have had a huge amount of interest...my own boy loves these. You can purchase the dvds off of Amazon for about $20 with prime. Most of the experiments take basic household materials.